Video Project

NSA News Report

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Controversy Over a New Bathroom

by Celeste Brown, Kathryn Dawson, and Gwen Schultz

Video: NSA/ Northwood Game

NSA vs. Northwood Hockey

by Celeste Brown, Kathryn Dawson, and Gwen Schultz

Video: Marcel the Shell

Marcel the Shell:

The Inexplicable Internet Sensation

by Celeste Brown, Kathryn Dawson, and Gwen Schultz

 

Proposition 19

Proposition 19
By: John Wilkins
     Proposition 19, also known as the Regulate, control and tax cannabis act of 2010, was put on the California statewide ballot on November 2, 2010, and was rejected.  The vote was close with 54% of voters voting no, and 46% voting yes.  Unfortunately the mass majority of people voting were parents who didn’t want there young children smoking marijuana, and not as many younger people between the ages of 18 and about 25 years old.
     If Proposition 19 had been approved it would have legalized various marijuana related activities allowing local governments to regulate these activities, and to impose and collect taxes.    People over the age of 21 would be allowed to possess up to an ounce of marijuana for personal use.  Cannabis would permitted to be used in a non public place such as a residence or a public establishment licensed for on site marijuana consumption.  Also people would be allowed to grow cannabis in a private residence in a space up to 25 square feet for personal use.
     The question most people are wondering is why legalize marijuana?  Marijuana should be legal for so many different reasons.  Prohibition has failed to control the use and production of marijuana.  It is illegal but for people under the age of 21 marijuana is easier to get than cigarettes or alcohol. A regulated and legal market would reduce marijuana use among children and teenagers, as well as exposure to other drugs in the illegal market.   To get marijuana now you have to go to a dealer who just wants to make some money.  He doesn’t care about how old you are or check your I.D. unlike trying to get cigarettes or alcohol where the salesman can lose his license or job for selling to a person that is under age.  By legalizing it you would be able to control who can get it and who can not.  By legalizing it and making the person have to be 21 in order to buy it, marijuana will be much harder for a child to receive.
   Our government has put criminal penalties on the plant to prevent the use of it, yet it is still being used by approximately 25 million people annually in the Unites States.   This regulated, legal market would then reduce the flow of money to “criminals” and put that money into our economy that is suffering so badly and could help us get out of this depression we are currently in today.
   The legalization of marijuana would simplify the development of hemp as an extremely valuable agricultural crop.  Cannabis can also be hemp.  Hemp is the most durable, robust, natural soft fiber in the world, and has more than 2,500 different uses from paper, to dynamite, to cellophane.  Up until 1883, and for thousands of years before, Cannabis/Hemp was one of the largest agricultural crops in the world. The majority of fabric, lighting oil, medicine, and papers were made of Cannabis/Hemp.  The first marijuana law in the United States was a law ordering farmers to grow hemp in Jamestown Colony, Virginia, 1619.  Benjamin Franklin started one of the United States first paper mills with hemp.  By using hemp for paper like we used to hundreds of years ago we would be able to cut back on cutting down tress for paper, and deforestation.  In fact the first two ruff drafts of the United States Declaration of Independence were written on cannabis hemp paper. 50% of the medicine made in the last half of the 19th century was made from cannabis.  Also one of the most important new uses for hemp today is the use as a bio-fuel.  Using hemp for energy for you car to reduce the use of oil and reduce carbon emissions.
   People were asked in a survey how many deaths per year they thought there are from marijuana use?   Some answered 5,000 others thought 500,000.  But in actuality there has never been a single death in history of a marijuana over dose.  It is scientifically proven that marijuana is not toxic to humans and its nearly impossible to over does on. If there were any, the government would parade it all over the news.  Obviously its not good for your lungs but only because your inhaling combusted plant matter. If look look at death from substances a whole new picture occurs.  The number one killer in the United States, it beat out AID’s, heroine, crack, cocaine, car accidents, fire, and murder combined, this would be tobacco.  Averaging at 430,000 deaths per year its a question why tobacco is legal and why marijuana is not?  Tobacco is even given government subsidies and grown with radio active fertilizer.  Next on out list is Alcohol at second most deaths in the U.S.
   Unlike Alcohol and Tobacco, Marijuana is not an addictive substance, meaning someone using marijuana will not experience withdrawal symptoms when you are denied the substance for a period of time.  There are more kids in addiction clinics for marijuana than any other drug, which would make you think its the most addictive substance today.  But the DEA never tells you why this is.  A kid gets caught smoking or possessing marijuana and goes to Court, there he is given two options.  You can either do some horrible penalty or you can go into treatment for addiction, so of course they are going to chose that.  In fact if you were going to rate drugs in order of how addicting they are it would go: Nicotine, Alcohol, heroine, cocaine, continues threw more drugs then ends up at coffee, and then more before getting to marijuana.
     Why is Marijuana illegal?  “People will abuse marijuana”, well you can abuse cheeseburgers too does that mean we should go around closing every cheese burger place in America? I can jam a fork in my eye, does that mean we should we outlaw forks? The first thing that seems odd about this is how legal it once was.  It wasn’t only just legal it was one of the largest agricultural crops in the world, including the United States.  Prohibition is based off of lies and false information.  “Reefer Madness” came about in the early 20th century when yellow journalism had surfaced.  Articles about Blacks and Mexicans as “Frenzy beasts” who would smoke marijuana, and plays devils music, as well as disrespecting the leadership (which the majority were white).  Offenses such as looking at a white women twice, laughing at a white person, or even stepping on a white mans shadow.  Hemp continued to be illegal until World War II when the government decided hemp was a good thing again and even came out with a video “Hemp for Victory”.  Then it was made illegal again after the war, but this time for the exact opposite reason.  It didn’t make you angry or aggressive at all, it turned people into pacifists and make people not want to fight.  Also the hemp industry was a big threat to the tobacco and paper industry and they were so big that they helped criminalize it.
     Crime and marijuana.  As a police chief, Norm Stamper says he saw time and time again “the obvious evidence of harm cause by alcohol, and the absence of evidence caused by marijuana.  And I mean the complete absence, I cant remember a single case in which marijuana contributed to domestic violence, or any crimes of theft.
By legalizing marijuana we would stop waisting tax money on the failing prohibition that is obviously not working today and put money into our economy from the sales revenue and taxation of marijuana.  We could also lower numbers of children in rehabilitation centers,  and people in the over crowded jails we have today.
   By voting yes on Proposition 19 you would have voted for individuals from the age of 21 and up may, under state law, possess and cultivate marijuana for personal use in limited amounts.  In addition the state and local governments may regulate and tax commercial marijuana-related activities under certain conditions, all though these activities would continue to remain illegal under federal law.
  By voting no to Proposition 19 voters would be voting to keep the possession and cultivation of marijuana illegal under state law for personal and commercial use, unless allowed under the states current existing medical marijuana laws.
  This bill has many pros to it.  Stops waisting tax payers money on the obviously failed marijuana prohibition.  Controls and taxes marijuana like alcohol and tobacco.  Makes marijuana available to ONLY adults.  Adds criminal penalties for giving it to anyone that is under the age of 21.  Weakens drugs cartels and even generates billions of dollars in revenue.  
  Of course with the list of pros there is always a list of cons.  It is opposed by “Mothers Against Drunk Driving” (MADD) because it allows people to smoke marijuana until they get behind the wheel.  Endangers public safety (which I personally do not believe is true because it makes people peaceful not aggressive).  Jeopardizes $9,400,000,000.00 in school funding, billions in federal contracts, and thousands of jobs (even though it will create thousands of jobs).  Also it is opposed by California Sheriffs, Police Chiefs, Fire Fighters, and District Attorneys.
   During the prohibition of alcohol everything got worse.  It gave rise to huge criminal groups and was worse than marijuana is today.  Alcohol poisoning went up 600% during the prohibition of alcohol.  It led to a general disregard to the law, as well as a general disregard of police activity.  This is because most of the people would not obey it.  There were many problems during the alcohol prohibition that went away when it was legalized.  This is the same for marijuana, once it is legal people will not have to buy from a criminal market.

Facebook- not so good

Facebook:
What Is Facebook Addiction?

Facebook is the most popular social networking site in the world today; it has more to it than meets the eye.

Facebook was founded in 2004 by a young genius, Mark Zuckerberg. The site began as a networking site for the 4000 students at the university of Harvard.

It quickly grew into a nation-wide college networking site and soon after became a worldwide site used by over 500 million people.

Facebook used properly has all sorts of great uses.  Facebook users create a personal profile where they can include whatever they’d like to share about themselves. They can download pictures, videos, add other Facebook users as friends, join groups and download applications.

College and high school graduates can get in touch with old friends who would otherwise be lost to them unless they went to a reunion.  Kids who go away to boarding schools or colleges can keep in touch with friends from home. They can keep in touch with the friends they made while they were away.

You can send invitations to friends for social events, fundraisers, and work or school related events.  Facebook sends notification reminders of the event to the people invited to and attending the event. 

Facebook has an application that tells you about all your friends’ birthdays for each day.  I have personally been saved once or twice by this notification; sisters don’t give good birthday gifts to little brothers who forget their birthdays.

Facebook is a good way to get a hold of people. If you don’t have someone’s number then you can always Facebook him or her by using either mail or instant messaging on the Facebook homepage.

Facebook is also a good way to meet people who may be interested in the same things as you if you are someone who are into the whole cyber-friend thing.

Although there are many things that make Facebook great, these things happen to be same reasons that Facebook is the devil.   The worst thing about Facebook is how addicting it can be.  There are 500 million active users. On any given day, at least half of those users will log onto Facebook.            

Two hundred million of these users have Facebook on their mobil device; these users are twice as active on Facebook then non-mobile users.

People who are truly addicted are like alcoholics; they need to “Facebook”.

Addicts spend all day uploading new pictures playing games and making sure everyone on Facebook knows exactly what they’re doing.

Addicts tend to post things like Cameron Bobeck –“I’m cooking a feast tonight. NY strip. Sliced cheese potatoes casserole and croissants. Apple pie for desert. What’s good chef Bobo.”

Thanks Bobeck. I was wondering what you were eating tonight.

The world spends way too much time on Facebook. People spend more then 700 million minutes on Facebook each month. (Facebook.com)

There are many applications or “apps” that people waist hours of their day working on. For instance, last year’s phenom app. Farmville. An application that became very popular at the end of 2009.  It seemed like everyone had a little pretend farm that they were attending to with utmost vigor and consistency.

Farmville is a simulation game that replicates running a farm. You can plant crops and take care of animals and buy whatever farm equipment you would like with the money you make.

The thing about Farmville is that you have to tend to your farm; if you don’t water your crops or feed your animals, they die.

 So the pathetic part is that everyone who got sucked into Farmville would have to get on Facebook at least once or twice a day to make sure his or her farms stayed “alive.”

At my school, kids would have competitions for having the largest farm. They would spend whatever free time they had tending to their farm.   I even caught a teacher on Farmville during class.

Although farming isn’t the most glorified job, Farmville has more then 53 million active users.

The “book” serves as a distraction even for those who aren’t addicted.

People who have jobs where they spend lots of time on computers and kids who have to do a lot of school work with computers can easily get distracted on Facebook, since it is just a click away.

At my school you can walk by someone on his or her laptop and expect him or her to have Facebook open somewhere on his or her computer.

I have found if I just shut “the Book” out while doing work, I’ll get work done twice as fast and I don’t even consider my self as a big “Facebooker.”

Although Facebook is a social networking site it can ruin real social experiences for people.

Individuals stop socializing in person but via Facebook instead ruining real social experiences.  Often people become Facebook “friends” with people who they don’t know or have met only once.

Some people send requests to people who they don’t know or accept requests from people they don’t know so that they can increase their friend’s list.  Their friend’s list becomes a sort of fantasy list of people they would like to know.

Some users with a low self-esteem will create a profile of themselves that is really a portrayal of someone who they want to be, not who they actually are. 

They take pictures with angles in the mirror that show their good sides, have only pictures that make them look good, make their profiles say the perfect stuff. They lie about their age and say what ever seems to be appealing.

In an article I read about avid Facebookers being narcissistic, there was a quote that I believe sums up most “Facebookers.”  “Using Facebook is the online equivalent of staring at yourself in the mirror.”

While this doesn’t apply to every Facebook user, it may apply to the 200 million with Facebook on their mobile device or to the kids putting “1 arm pull-ups in Chile” or “Just did 45 min. of intervals” (thank you Logan Mackie for letting us all know about your athletic abilities.)  

But the perfect example again goes to our favorite bigheaded NSA graduate, Cameron Bobeck, “so I’m in the gym lookin’ ripped. All hot and sweaty. Hot chick keep eyeing me and dropping hints. yet i still say nothing to her and walk out like a little wimp. what the”.

Kids put way to much information on their Facebooks.  Young kids put their names, numbers, addresses and other personal info up that people from around the world can see.

While this doesn’t pose a problem when their true friends are looking at their profile, the thing is their friends aren’t the only ones looking. There are predators all over the web.

Although there are many ways to hide your information, and make it so only select people can see it, Facebook can provide all the information some of these sick people are looking for.

Facebook can get people in all sorts of trouble.

Kids can forget that they’re not the only ones on Facebook,.  One kid may post pictures of parties, or whatever shenanigans their friends and them are involved in on Facebook.

School, parents and bosses look at their pictures. Then they find themselves getting in all sorts of trouble just because someone decided they should post a picture.

Facebook can also be used as an electronic type of bullying or harassment. This is called cyberbullying.

People can have pictures and information posted about themselves by other people. Even if someone doesn’t approve or want something to be posted about themselves online.  

Once someone posts something there is little anyone else could do about it. So I could post an embarrassing picture of an individual and all of my friends would see it.

It’s easy for someone to mess with a person’s profile. If some one leaves their profile logged in on a computer or has a password that someone else knows.  It’s possible to change all their info to say stuff that would make a mockery out of the person.

At my school, a kid forgot to log out of his Facebook and some of his friends messed with his profile and sent some stuff to a few friends. Although they didn’t post anything too serious, the kid who’s profile was used was irritated by it.  The school found out and the kids got in a boatload of trouble.

Facebook gives folks a great opportunity to make huge idiots out of themselves.  Facebook has taken over the Internet.

Facebooks chat box has made Instant messenger obsolete people used to communicate through AOL’s instant messenger but instead now they just log on to Facebook.

Myspace was one of the first online social networking sites; it was the most popular site for a few years until Facebook took over.

 Although I can’t say I am very disappointed that Myspace is out of the picture… there were way to many creepy people on that site.

Facebook becomes more and more like a billboard everyday.  When Facebook first began there was a few advertisements on it but it has quickly blown up.  There is advertising all over the site.

Although I’m sure it is beneficial to many companies, it get a little annoying to have so many products waved in front of my face whenever I log in.

My cousin deleted her Facebook profile a few years back.  When I asked her why she didn’t have a Facebook any more, she gave me a long spiel about how bad Facebook was.  Well a few months later I got a notification that she was back on Facebook.

Although my stance is clearly against Facebook, I am not going to delete my profile because, well, I think it’s obvious how that would end up a few weeks later! Instead I am going to move it from being my first bookmark on my laptop’s toolbar to the last, right after the new bookmark.