Black Friday? No thanks.

As you all know, Black Friday was a week ago. I'm sure many of you go out and shop on that day, however, I refuse to get out there in all that insanity. The one day I was out on Black Friday, I was working at Bed Bath and Beyond. We offered coupons, I think they were 70% off coupons, to people who showed up extra early. People were practically getting in fights over them! If someone dropped theirs, someone else would run up and try to snatch it before they noticed they dropped it. Some would have advertisements for the early coupon and try to use that as their coupon and were irate when we told them that wouldn't work. It was complete chaos!

I read an article on the Fort Worth Star Telegram's website titled: "Dallas-Fort Worth stores report good Black Friday traffic as shoppers hunt for deals." This article mentions that Toys R Us opened their doors to shoppers at midnight November 27 while other big retailers opened to the public at 5 am. It states that the lines were horrendous. Some showed up in line at Toys R Us around 5 or 6 on Thanksgiving Day to ensure they would get the good deals.

Every year there is some kind of injury. Last year people were trampled and killed. The article tells of a deputy sheriff trying to confront a suspected shoplifter and was pushed into a clothes rack, cutting his arm open.

What I'd like to know is when did family values get replaced with materialistic ones? People are supposed to be especially loving and caring during the holidays but instead people are killed, shoved aside, and seriously injured due to selfish desires! I don't care if there are major deals on Black Friday. I spent the day with my mom, we took our dogs to the dog park to have fun with them and each other and to enjoy the nice weather outside. My sister spent the day painting for my grandmother. That is what I feel Thanksgiving and Christmas should be about, family bonding and helping others. The rest of the year is filled with hectic hustle and bustle and it's nice to have a break from that and just relax with your loved ones or help the less fortunate who may not even be able to buy Christmas presents for their children. No, instead the majority of the United States goes out and spends thousands of dollars on frivolous items that essentially mean nothing. I think, as Americans, we should rethink our values and concentrate on what really matters in the end: relationships, not stuff.

Get your butts off TCC campuses

I saw the article "At least, clean up your mess" in the Collegian and was immediately intrigued. When I first heard about the possibility of a smoking ban being introduced on all TCC campuses I was really happy and couldn't wait to see that law in action. I have problems with cigarette smoke because when it gets into my lungs, my airways close off and I can't breathe. Not to mention it smells horrible!

Last semester I was at the south campus and went outside the science building to use my cell phone and when I walked back in, there were six or seven people smoking right in front of the door. I had to walk through a cloud of smoke to get inside. Once I was inside I noticed my hair and clothes smelled like smoke, just from walking into the building. My classmates knew I didn't smoke but they had to ask, "Did you just smoke a cigarette?" When I explained the situation everybody thought it was really unfair, especially since they had a rule (and signs) stating that smokers couldn't be within 30 feet of the building. Nobody listened to that, obviously.

This semester I was looking forward to the clean air and was really satisfied when I could actually smell it. That lasted about 2 days. By the end of the first week of school I saw students walking around smoking and even teachers standing in front of their buildings (by the doors) smoking. I was upset but thought that the campus police would do something. When I saw that they hadn't, I went online to see if there was any way to email them about the situation but was unable to find a way to contact them.

The article mentions all the butts that are in the parking lots, on the sidewalks, and in the grass. The writer says that the ban should be lifted because it would results in less butts and would allow the campus police more time to take care of other things. These arguments don't really hold up because obviously campus police aren't doing much. I saw a police officer just sitting there in his car while three students were walking around smoking. He did absolutely nothing to stop them so their time isn't necessarily wasted on the smokers, although it may be wasted just sitting there in their cars. Also, the littering of the butts hasn't started recently. I've noticed that ever since I starting coming to TCC and it's at every campus. Police need to enforce this new law because as of now, it's like the law has never existed.

Rate My Professors

I'm sure you all know what Ratemyprofessors.com is. If you don't, it's a website students use when registering for classes. It lists most teachers and students can rate the teacher on their past experiences. This helps students decide if they want to take the class with that teacher or choose somebody else.

The article on this website in the Collegian interviews students as well as teachers on the effectiveness of this online tool. I first learned about this website when I was a senior in high school. My church got some of the college students to come and talk to us about what we need to do to make the transition into college less stressful. All of the college students had all used the website and agreed that it really helped them find a good teacher. So, thanks to their advice, I've been using this site ever since I first registered at TCC 2 years ago.

I really recommend this website. Most of the students have good advice and warnings about the teachers. I do agree with the article that some students just give the teacher bad reviews because they can or because they were lazy and wanted to blame the teacher for their low grade. It's best to see what the majority said. Last spring, I didn't listen to what the reviews said and I suffered greatly for it. I took 3 really hard classes with 3 really hard teachers. Let's just say I had a bad semester. 2 C's and a D. When I pay attention to the ratings and get good teachers, my grades reflect it.

I told my sister about the website since this was her first semester in college. She didn't listen to my advice and didn't use ratemyprofessors.com. Needless to say, most of her teachers can hardly speak English and don't really help their students. She'll be using the website next semester. I'm transferring to UNT in the Spring and I've already done some research on the teachers for the classes I need to take. Without this website I think I'd be lost. If you're not using this site as an aid when you sign up for classes, do it. It's free, it's easy, and it's going to help you through your college career.

Wikipedia Research

I was intrigued when I came across the article on Wikipedia in this week's Collegian. It tells of the changes Wikipedia is going through to make it a more reliable site.

I was private schooled until twelfth grade when I transferred to Martin High School in Arlington. When I got there, all of my teachers were saying not to go to Wikipedia for information. I was a little shocked because I had been used to using Wikipedia, not as a source but as a type of reference.

I think it's great that Wikipedia is trying to make their site more accurate and taking away the option where anyone can edit because people would just give their opinions and not actual fact. However, some of the faculty interviewed said that they would still tell students not to use it and recommended the TCC databases instead. In all honesty, I don't like the databases! I've been through 3 database studies and still can't figure it out. I can't ever find any information with depth or detailed information. I prefer using Google as a search engine for sources but now teachers are saying that even Google is a hindrance and we should all just start on the databases...like that's going to happen.

Sites like Google and Wikipedia are, in my opinion, good search engines to start the research. Wikipedia isn't something you'd want to include in your sources but if you have a topic that's hard to understand then I think it's perfectly acceptable to use it in order to grasp the topic. After a few minutes on the site, go to a "scholarly website" to find the creditable information. Teachers should be saying THAT instead of just pushing the idea away completely.


"Wikipedia's Webs site going through changes"
By: Dea Ozegovic
Collegian Volume 22, Issue 10, Page 4

It's up in the air...literally

Tonight I was watching the news with my dad when I saw an interesting story about a 6-year-old boy and a giant balloon. I pulled up the Fort Worth Star Telegram's website and read the entire article. If you haven't read the story yet then you definitely should...it's fascinating. http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1688307.html

Honestly, I don't know how the parents didn't check every spot in their house. The search for the boy went on for 2 whole hours. If it had been MY son, I would've searched every closet, every room...everywhere. The fact that they didn't find him for the whole 2 hours amazes me. I also think it's weird that a little 6-year-old boy would sit still and quiet in a cardboard box for 2 hours. The article said that he felt bad after his dad yelled at him, but seriously...2 hours??? I can't wrap my mind around that one.

There's some debate about this being a hoax or not. Some think the family planned this little adventure. I don't think they would plan something like that. I saw the dad cry tears of pure joy tonight on the news because he had his son back in his arms again. I know, it's not always too hard to force tears on camera, but I think it's just a little far-fetched. It's not fair for the media to turn this ordeal around and blame the family. It was an accident, things happen....just not usually with huge airborne balloons.

Are ethics history?

After reading just a few of these ethics I started to think that bloggers and twitter users actually apply some of these ethics to their writing without even realizing it. Many times if they write a news update, they'll include a link to a video or the source to where they found the information. This would be under the ethic of identifying the source. They also usually have headlines or subjects that aren't misleading and try to find an accurate picture that isn't distorted.

I noticed that a few of the ethics were also thrown to the side, regarding several methods of online information such as forums, answer sites, blogs, and social sites like facebook and twitter. These 3 grabbed my attention quickly:
— Examine their own cultural values and avoid imposing those values on others.
— Avoid stereotyping by race, gender, age, religion, ethnicity, geography, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance or social status.
— Support the open exchange of views, even views they find repugnant.
People can be harsh! One of my friends wrote about Michael Jackson's funeral and how she was excited that the excessive news coverage was finally over. This opened up a big window for arguments and attacks on her and her beliefs. They started attacking the fact that she was a Christian and criticized her for being judgemental and hypocritical. In my opinion, she should've worded what she said more carefully; it's very easy to offend others.

I think minimizing harm is difficult to do, especially over the internet. It's hard to know if what you're talking about will bring up bad memories for others. You never know if what you're talking about will reach someone who was involved in the situation. Many people don't show good taste online and just write what they feel like writing without taking any kind of consideration into how it will affect others.

I found the last statement under the section "Be Accountable" very interesting. It says, "Abide by the same high standards to which they hold others." There is a double standard, people want to be treated with a certain respect but when it comes to their own opinion they don't care who they hurt or offend. Some people try as hard as they can to act how they expect others to act, but most are completely tasteless and rude.

Overall, I think it's about equal. I think many ethics are applied to online journalism but the ethics that I see as most important are thrown out the window, making the internet a very dangerous, harsh place.

Ellen Degeneres new title: American Idol Judge...?

In all honesty, I didn't see anything particularly interesting in this week's Collegian. I'm going to voice MY opinion about an opinion piece titled "Jury out on Ellen as new Idol judge." This article states that Ellen Degeneres has signed on to replace Paula Abdul as an American Idol judge.

I agree with the writer, Ellen has NO musical background. I don't think she'd be a good fit for the job whatsoever. There's so many people out there with musical talent and history that would be able to give better input than any singing advice she could offer. She also recently served as a judge on So You Think You Can Dance. I don't see why she was considered as a guest judge for that show either. She doesn't have any dancing experience...unless you include the silly dancing intro she does on her talk show every day.

I don't know why American Idol chose her, of all people, as a judge. Much less, why they gave her a 5 year contract and I'm assuming a pretty good amount of money. I don't think she'll be much of a contribution to the contestants trying to make a singing career. They're looking to the judges for constructive criticism, they expect it. The judges who they'll be looking to for advice now are Kara DioGuardi (singer and song writer), Randy Jackson (former record company executive and music performer and producer), Simon Cowell (Sony/BMG music executive), and Ellen Degeneres (comedian and daytime talk show host). One of these things is not like the other. I'd love to know the reasoning behind Ellen's newest title.