Freedom of Expression

The title of this documentary is called Freedom of Expression:Resistance & Repression in the Age of Intellectual Property. The documentary is based off the book by Kembrew McLeod and is narrated by Naomi Klein. 


"In 1998, university professor Kembrew McLeod (Associate Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Iowa) trademarked the phrase "freedom of expression" - a startling comment on the way that intellectual property law restricts creativity and expression of ideas. This provocative and amusing documentary explores the battles being waged in courts, classrooms, museums, film studios, and the Internet over control of our cultural commons. Based on McLeod's award-winning book of the same title, Freedom of Expression charts the many successful attempts to push back this assault by overzealous copyright holders. Freedom of Expression is an essential tool for educators, activists, filmmakers, students, artists, librarians, and more. " -IMDB

This documentary strongest arguments starts with peoples own rights to express what they feel. Sometimes we express too much and go a little bit too far and get ourselves into trouble. In this news article it shows a perfect example of how a household brand Costco got in trouble with copyrights.

http://www.insidecounsel.com/2011/08/23/ip-gray-market-goods-spell-trouble-for-companies 

This article clearly shows how companies can get themselves into trouble with really not even doing that much wrong. 

SOPA agrees with limiting the Internet and helping get rid of piracy, but a lot of people in the United States do not like SOPA because of how strict it is and really limits Internet use. People were outraged to see that some organization really wanted to limit the Internet's use .

Chairman Smith of the United States House of Representatives has some words about supporting SOPA.

Chairman Smith:  “I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy. It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products. 

“The problem of online piracy is too big to ignore. American intellectual property industries provide 19 million high-paying jobs and account for more than 60 percent of U.S. exports. The theft of America’s intellectual property costs the U.S. economy more than $100 billion annually and results in the loss of thousands of American jobs.  Congress cannot stand by and do nothing while American innovators and job creators are under attack. 

“The online theft of American intellectual property is no different than the theft of products from a store.  It is illegal and the law should be enforced both in the store and online.

“The Committee will continue work with both copyright owners and Internet companies to develop proposals that combat online piracy and protect America’s intellectual property.  We welcome input from all organizations and individuals who have an honest difference of opinion about how best to address this widespread problem.  The Committee remains committed to finding a solution to the problem of online piracy that protects American intellectual property and innovation.”

 Chairman Smith's Words Supporting SOPAThese are all comments that are supporting SOPA and how SOPA should be passed so the United States gains money back again. 

No Logo

The title of this documentary is called No Logo. The main argument around the document is how different Logos from companies are more famous and more well known than others. Also in this documentary it shows how other companies get back lashed for their logos and brands. Brands like Nike, Banana Republic, and Puma are all trusted brands with very good reputations. Another brand that just went through some heat not to long ago was BP ( British Petroleum).

Naomi Klein who wrote the book No Logo and worked on the documentary dives into the background of Nike. She finds out that at the base of this very successful company that the leader uses cheap labor outside of the United States. This makes this a multinational company which many people are against. For example WalMart  uses sweat shops and is the main culprit of the disgruntled shoppers and citizens of the United States. Many people do not shop at WalMart because the people who make WalMart's clothes are literally only making a dollar a day. This is why WalMart can keep their prices so low is because their labor is malnourished and work about 20 hours a day. 

Back to Nike, Nike uses outsourced offices but only to lessen work costs. The employees are not in sweat shops and don't work 20 hours a day, it is just plain cheaper to make sneakers in China rather than in the United States. 

  

Films love to contradict brands and logos of major brands and companies. Films like to point out how great of a product something is and while the company is doing the exact opposite for example McDonald's Adult Happy Meal comes with a pedometer so it could show how many steps people take in a given day. This is an awful way to advertise healthy behavior where as this is a video of what a person needs to do to burn off a Big Mac from McDonld's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mGQEOZAxiM 

After watching the video it clear shows how much effort a person has to give out to successfully work off a Big Mac. McDonald's has been advertising on television for years about how much healthier it is. While in reality McDonald's is still not healthy at all. 

"In one sense it is easy to understand why Ms Klein and her camp feel as they do. The word “brand” is everywhere, to the point where Disney chairman Michael Eisner calls the term “overused, sterile and unimaginative”. Products, people, countries and companies are all racing to turn themselves into brands—to make their image more likeable and understandable. British Airways did it. Target and Tesco are doing it, while people from Martha Stewart to Madonna are branding themselves. Britain tried to become a brand with its “Cool Britannia” slogan, and Wally Olins, a corporate-identity consultant and co-founder of Wolff Olins, a consultancy, even wants to have a crack at branding the European Union" - The Economist .

Mean World Syndrome

After watching the video I completely agree with how Americans act towards violence.
First of all media violence has been in an all time high with violent video games and cyber bullying. An example of a violent video game would be the video game Doom which caused two teenage boys to kill their own class mates in the "Columbine Murders" and then they eventually committed suicide. Cyber bullying has also been a very big act of Internet violence because people would bully a person to the point where they take their own life because they don't think their life is worth it anymore.
Branching out more a lot of violence now is due to racism. Now a days a lot of Caucasian people judge African- Americans, Muslim-Americans, and Latin-Americans because the color of their skin and stereotypes of how they are violent people, extremists, and sketchy people due to the fact that the media shows that image of them.

The media shows these people has terrorists or rapists and this enhances peoples beliefs in these people because the media is showing how "bad" these people are. Now to me I am from New Hampshire where there isn't that much racial diversity but I have been taught to treat everyone with respect no matter what skin color they are. Granted there will always be racist people in the world but the fewer the better. Even though there are Muslim extremest out in the world doesn't mean all of them are and not all African- Americans are  murders. There are a lot of good African- American people like Martin Luther King Jr. who wanted peace for everyone and I guarantee not all Muslims are extreme.

To change the general public view of these "people" the media really has some cleaning up to do. They have given the minority races a really bad reputation because whenever they are in the news its only for bad things. Whenever a Caucasian person does something wrong it isn't in the Breaking News section while if an African-American did something wrong than it would be in the Breaking News section. If we eliminated racism in America there wouldn't be this racist media view. The media wouldn't pin point the minorities as violent people.

To me everyone is created equal. Even after 9/11 I was racist towards Muslim-Americans I will admit that but I don't think a single sole wasn't a little bit racist a week after the attack. For the most part I am a non racist person and will is completely fine with different races that inhabit the United States. I have the most problems with Caucasians if it makes any difference, I deal with them everyday and they can be very snobby and uptight and think they are better than everyone else. This attitude will change over time if the media changes its view and stops pointing out minority races in the news and all over TV.

Micky Mouse Monopoly

Try to imagine a world without Disney. A world without magic, whimsy, and optimism. Disney transformed the entertainment industry, into what we know today. They pioneered the fields of animation, and found new ways to teach, and educate. Starting out in the 1940s Disney has changed the media due to the fact of how interesting and fascinating Disney was to everyone. Mickey Mouse was Walt Disney's first character and he has been the trademark for the company ever since. Ever since I was a little kid I have been in love with Disney. Disney Channel on TV is one of the largest television networks for children in the world. They have Disney Original movies and have plenty of television shows for any children to like. This is Disney's selling point is its amusement parks. DisneyLand in California and DisneyWorld in Florida. I've only been to one of those amusement parks but every time I go I have an amazing time. "To all who come to this happy place; welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past .... and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams and the hard facts that have created America ... with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world" Walt Disney.Also another huge project Disney has is its cruise line with their own private island. This brings in a lot of revenue due to the huge success of Disney media mogul and how successful it is. I have had the pleasure of being on a Disney Cruise and it was the greatest cruise I have ever been on. We started the cruise in Miami and cruised to the Bahamas and their own private Disney Island that is populated with carnival rides and water rides for people to play on. 

I believe that Disney will continue to being the biggest media mogul in the world and the most successful one. Because they use the media to their advantage. They attract young children as their main customers because boys and girls watch Disney Channel and they are the ones that want to travel to DisneyWorld or DisneyLand. This makes their parents bring them there on a vacation to fill their needs. 

Disney will far go into my kids generation and one day I will be bringing my kids to DisneyWorld. With each new generation it is a new cycle so Disney does not actually lose revenue they only gain revenue. "Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world" Walt Disney. Disney was absolutely right because even though he has passed on the imagination is still there and there are people who work for Disney now still have a mind for imagination and will only let DisneyLand and DisneyWorld grow for the future.

DisneyWorld will still be one of my favorite places in the world and Disney itself is one of my favorite companies that I have ever known.

RS -THE END

To me this whole semester was a mess. At the beginning of the semester it was amazing, I was happy to be back at Sacred Heart and I heard about how cool of a Professor Dr. Engel was. These assumptions turned out to be right. He was the reason why I chose my major ( Finance and Economics) and I actually liked learning about economics because I like making money. But then right before spring break I got mononucleois. Which makes a person extremely tired and unmotivated to do anything. So this happened at the most crucial point of my second semester and literally threw me off of all my classes. I tended to miss easy/fun homework assignments because I physically couldn't do them. It was the most miserable month and a half of my life.

The past couple of weeks have been very tough because of how much make up work I've had to do, but surprisingly I haven't done too-too bad, but not nearly of where I am capable of.

I guess I started off this blog post like that people I know I could have done so much better but ever since having mono, I fell behind in everything and didn't really catch up to where I wanted to be.

But other than my unrelated story the time that I was in this class I loved. Dr. Engel always had a good story to tell before class either about something funny about drugs/alcohol or about Florida State being the center of the universe. Also these blog posts are one of the coolest things I've ever personally done in a class. I've never had a teacher or professor that actually had us Blog about certain topics or how we were feeling towards a situation.

In years to come I know I want to take Dr. Engel again because I actually did learn a lot from his class even though my grade doesnt show it as well as it should.

Thank you Dr. Engel for an awesome semester, and please don't think I'm just trying to suck up to get a better grade!


-John Callahan

Interview

1.       In your lifetime, what city that you are familiar with has changed the most (both positive and negative)?

Grandfather- Bedford, MA. When I grew up it was a very small town but then local business started to bring up the town economically, which made a lot of its citizen’s pretty wealthy. A negative effect of the town was that big business never really came into Bedford.

Dad- Andover, MA. With the help of small and big business and colleges in the area, Andover became a pretty wealthy town. On the negative side the town lost a lot of its “mom and pop” stores because of big business.

Me- Nashua, NH. I’ve grown up in Nashua, NH and I see the change all around me. Big business is starting to move into the city which will help it grow even more. Negitive sides are the public school system is really starting the slack and that is the core of our future is education.

2.       In your opinion, what president had the biggest positive impact on the economy? Why?

Grandfather- Ronald Regan. He helped promote small business which made the economy grow and make more money.

Dad-Ronald Regan. He promoted small business which helped me with my career and make my money.

Me- George W. Bush because after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 he helped us get out of it and got the economy back on track.

3.        What is your first memory of a major economic event impacting your life?

Grandfather- I was born in the Great Depression Era and at a very young I knew something was wrong with the country. This hurt my family a lot and this is what helped motivate me to make a lot of money.

Dad- The collapse of the housing market, this did not help my career at all and was a major setback.

Me- These past couple of years with the recession the United States has been having, and its been really hard economically on people.

4.       How do you get economic news? How has this changed over your life?

Grandfather – I watch Fox News every day or the Stock Market Channel ( NYSE). Well in my business I need to check my stocks to see how my money is doing, so if I am generating money or losing money.

Dad- I watch NYSE all the time. I also have money in the stock market so I have to see if I gained money or not.

Me- I really don’t watch economic news. Sometimes I do watch Fox News.

5.       What is your definition of economics ( when you hear the word economy or economics what do you think about)?

Grandfather- Economics is the gain and loss of money in a certain system.

Dad- Economics is using goods and services at a certain price.

Me-  Economics is the science that deals with demand and supply.

6.       How do you deal with rising prices e.g. substitute cheaper brand, stop buying? Any examples?

Grandfather- Rising prices in the United States is tough. Since I am retired I no longer need to worry about business related price increases but for example gas prices has sky rocketed and to me this is very bad news and we need to figure out a new form of transportation without using gas.

Dad- I deal with rising prices by buying less of that brand and try to do more with less.

Me- I need to stop buying expensive things ( clothing) that I do not need.

7.       What product or service has most changed over your lifetime?

Grandfather- Throughout my life time, the telephone has changed the most. At first the telephone was huge and not wireless. Now they are small and wireless, they can do all sorts of things like take pictures and even go on the internet.

Dad- Building Commercial Construction, this has changed throughout the years because of how different the labor is now and how much faster buildings can be put up.

Me- The telephone has changed the most throughout my life. They came out with new and improved phones every year. It is pretty crazy that how fast technology is moving along.

8.       How have you handled saving and how has this changed?

Grandfather- Ever since I was young I have always saved my money. I never really had the chance to even spend money because my family was very poor. So the only thing I could spend money on were “needs” not “wants”.

Dad- Saving has always been a big resource in my life. I used to love spending money when I was a kid but now I need to save money because I want my family to live happily and comfortably.

4.  What was the price of gas when you got your first car?

Grandfather- .31 cents in the 1950s.

Dad- .52 cents in the 1970s.

Me- $ 1.79 in 2009.

6. What was your wage at your first job?

Grandfather- 5 cents. I was a plumbers assistant.

Dad- 25 cents. I worked construction.

Me-  $7.25 I am a golf cart boy.

RS- Not Everything Sucks

The first video was on the wealth and health of 200 countries in 200 years.  Hans Rosling took a really creative approach to this with the help of a technical group.

They effectively made stats of the richness of a country and health of a country into a very interesting 3-D graph. Seeing all these countries rise and fall during different times in the world was very cool. Rosling specifically pointed out WWI and how the countries who lost that war fell dramatically. And then fast forwarded to present day and see how the future looks very bright and how every country has improved.

I really wish in stats class we did projects like this because that was very interesting and had a really cool outcome.  This just shows the statistics is a cool subject even though when sometimes it seems really dry.

The second video was on Peter Diamandis talking about the world and the US’ future. He is very optimistic about the United States and the world’s future because how much it is improving. He even says "I’m not saying we don’t have our set of problems; we surely do. But ultimately, we knock them down.”  

The future looks bright for us. Even with rising prices there is still hope and even these two men still believe in a bright future.

RS- Spring Break

1.       What is your strongest memory from this class so far

My strongest memory from this class so far is making the Xtranormal video with Tom Breen and Nick Ballas. To me this was a fun way to learn more about economics while also putting humor in it. It was a different method so the students weren’t stuck doing the same thing over and over again.

2. What is your strongest memory about an economic concept

My strongest memory about an economic concept is learning about supply and demand curve because economics is all about supply and demand. If the supply and demand curve change the whole outcome of revenue will change and that is really important.      

3. Why do you think I had you create the xtranormal video

I believe you made me create the xtranormal video to expand our horizon on economics and also our creative side. Everyone knows that sitting in a classroom doing economics problems is better than watching Jersey Shore but sometimes people have to do something different and I think the xtranormal was that different thing to keep us interested.

4. What was your favorite topic to write a blog post about? Why?

My favorite topic to write about on a blog post was probably this one. This one is my favorite because they are questions that I can answer directly.

5. What blog post do you think you did your best work on? What was good about it?

 The Katy Perry blog post I believe I did the best work on because the information I got on her also because I love Katy Perry. The music industry is also very interesting to me to I really wanted to look into the financial side of it.

6. What about the Engel Indoctrination Program (this class) has made you a better person? Or are you worse? If so, why? As always, creativity counts

I know this class has made me a better person because I have learned to be more economical in my decision making and know how to manage my money better. Also I have learned  that you love Florida State University and this had made me a better person listening about all the great things FSU has done in the world because besides Sacred Heart University, Florida State University is the best University ever.

RS 7- Moon Shine

This podcast was published in August 2010 and it is about the Alcohol Prohibition.

The prohibition was awful for people in the United States. Alcohol is such an economic growth for the United States. So in the prohibition people used Moonshine which was inelastic good because people will still buy it. People will also still drink is as much as possible because it makes people happy. Even though most people don’t know that alcohol is a depressant.

                FDR used to go to a little cove in Georgia and buy moonshine. FDR loved moonshine and even swore to protect the law against drinking alcohol. People still loved alcohol during moonshine and still drank it.

During Prohibition you couldn’t get beer because it was hard to hide. So spirits and hard liquor was easy to hide so more people started drinking that which helped the economic growth in revenue. 

When FDR was running for president he said he would repeal the 18^th amendment and people loved it. This was also very economical because once he took office the U.S was in the Great Depression and after making alcohol legal this helped the United States make peace with the Great Depression.

I learned that Alcohol is an inelastic good and always will be one because how much people enjoy it.   

RS 7 & 8 Mix-up

Sorry Professor Engel, I accidentally wrote RS 8 for RS7 and RS7 for RS8.



---FSU ACC Champs....got to love it

RS 8- Why a Dead Shark Costs $12 Million Dollars

This podcast was produced by Jacob Goldstein. This article is about a piece of art and how it is priced. Sometimes people think it is way too high while other people could think the piece is worth a lot more. Formula for the price tag is, the size, intensity, and medium ( what the art wood is like a painting or sculpture). 

The reason why the Shark made of aldehyde is worth 12 million dollars because the artist is very famous. The piece is rather large and really rich people would love a shark made of aldehyde in their mansion.  This piece is also very rare. There are not many pieces that are full length sharks. This makes the price go up even more and also the shark being in aldehyde will help preserve the shark for a very long time.

These are some reasons why this shark would be worth $12 million dollars. I would never want a shark in my house in the first place but I guess to some people that would be pretty cool.

RS 6 - Personality Test

Personality test results

Ta-dah, your personality type is ESTJ!

Extraverted (E) 64%	Introverted (I) 36%
Sensing (S) 59%	Intuitive (N) 41%
Thinking (T) 65%	Feeling (F) 35%
Judging (J) 77%	Perceiving (P) 23%

RS 5- Inside the Meltdown

This blog post is about the documentary called Inside the Meltdown and it is about the Stock Market crash in September 2008.

                On September 18^th 2008, there was an emergency meeting in the White House. If they didn’t do something about this then in a couple of days the whole world financial system will shut down. On March 10, Bear Stern’s stock going down and their running out of cash and they might be in trouble. People kept taking their money out and so the stock went into a free fall. They were big in mortgages and this did not help with the housing market because that had a really big drop in sales. The housing market was awful.  Everyone thought the housing market was a great way to make money, but in 2007 fore-closers started to happen and people started to stop putting their money into mortgages, Bear Sterns didn’t. The Federal Reserve Bank was Bear Sterns last hope. If FBR did not help Bear Sterns then Bear Sterns would go bankrupt. FBR found a lot of credit default swaps, Bear Sterns did not have the money to pay them back. If Bear Sterns went under it would have a domino effect in Wall Street.

                Therefore the FBR could not let Bear Sterns go under because Wall Street would go under.  They gave a loan to JP Morgan which was Bear Sterns bank, and JP Morgan gave the loan to Bear Sterns. The next morning the news went out the next day and was basically singling out Bear Sterns and this was an instant death sentence.  Every investor basically sold all of the Bear Sterns stock they had so they did not lose a lot of money.

                Finally Bear Sterns was being sold to JP Morgan for $2 a stock and after that there was no such thing as Bear Sterns.

                People started buying houses with money they did not have. People started thinking their houses were going to make them rich, but that was not the case. The housing market went toxic and soon had a huge downfall. This was why we had a “recession”. So people owned banks a lot of money because they would never pay their housing bills. People thought if they bought a big house and then sold it for more money they would be super rich. That obviously wasn’t the case and these people soon went broke.

                As for Bear Sterns it is still today JP Morgan and JP Morgan is still a Fortune 500 company. As for the housing market it is slowing creeping its way back up to being content again, but for a couple of years it was a really bad time to be a real estate contractor.  

RS 4 A Former Lobbyist Tells All

This podcast was by Alex Bloomberg and Jacob Goldstein and the title of the podcast is called A Former Lobbyist Tells All.

Tax Reform needs to close a lot of loop holes who can pay lobbyist to pay to get things into the law. Jimmy Williams worked for National Associations for Relators. Which is an infamous relators group in Washington DC and there is tens of thousands of them. And they flood to DC to lobby on bills and laws.

People basically donate to lobbyist so that they help congressmen make decisions to help the people. To most lobbyist money equals face time with congressmen. Congress people themselves need this constant flow of money to run for reelection.

Jimmy Williams is a former lobbyist and is now trying to stop the system that made him rich. Jimmy Williams wants to change the Constitution and ban money from politics.

People are telling Jimmy Williams is going crazy, he is making half a million dollars a year and is just giving it away. He doesn’t care about the money any more he just wants this system to stop. His view of this country has changed and he wants to be the first one to help change the United States.

         

RS 3 My Learning Style

Visual/Nonverbal 26 Visual/Verbal 26 Auditory 24 Kinesthetic 30

Your primary learning style is: 

The Tactile/ Kinesthetic Learning Style

You learn best when physically engaged in a "hands on" activity. In the classroom, you benefit from a lab setting where you can manipulate materials to learn new information. You learn best when you can be physically active in the learning environment. You benefit from instructors who encourage in-class demonstrations, "hands on" student learning experiences, and field work outside the classroom.

 

RS 2 Katy Perry

This blog post is my take on the podcast “Katy Perry’s Perfect Game” by Zoe Chace . This podcast appeared on the NPR website on January 20^th, 2012.

1.       The main point of this article is to tell the listener how much success Katy Perry had in the year 2011. Katy had her biggest years coming off 5 number one hits off of one album. Right off the beginning I was surprised that Katy Perry was played the most on the radio and that she had 5 number one songs on one album. Also I was surprised that the record companies don’t make much money off of music tracks. I guess now with so much pirating music these companies lose a lot of revenue.

In this podcast it was talking about the record company makes barely any money making a record. Most people think they make a lot of money because of all the success the artist have but the record company doesn’t get any of the profits from t shirt sales, posters, etc. Those go to other companies and the artist. The only person or people that make a lot of money is the artist or artists.   

                This past year was an amazing year for Katy Perry. Having 5 hit singles on one album is an amazing accomplishment for an artist. Most artists would be happy with at least one hit single on their album, but 5 is an amazing feat.

                Making an amazing record isn’t cheap either. It cost the record company $1.5 million dollars to produce Katy Perry’s album. But luckily having an artist like Katy Perry she made the record company $8 million dollars. So $6.5 million dollar profit which is really good in today’s economy.

RS1- How to Be a Genius

The main point of this article is telling the reader that genius' are made not born. People put in the time and effort to become genius' at anything. For example Mozart with the piano or Einstein with mathematics. It didn't surprise me at all to see what they had to say about genius'. I have always believed that anyone can be a genius if they work hard at something. No one who was a genius didn't work hard.  "You have to put in at least a decade of focused work to master something and bring greatness within reach" (2 Dobbs).

The authors view of talent started when his mother always told him " SMARRR-ter than the average bear" ( 1 Dobbs) and after that he always thought he was a pretty smart kid. He grew up getting good grades in highs school and saw that his writing talent was way beyond average. He did have a set back in his twenties when all of his ideas were not so great, but he bounced back in his thirties and with a lot of hard work he produced the first large collection of expert reviews called Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance. The book explains to the readers how normal people think of genius' as really just normal people that work extremely hard. " Geniuses are made, not born" ( 1 Dobbs).

Hard work and determination prove to be factors that lead people to become genius'. Like I said earlier no one becomes a genius without hard work or determination. Tiger Woods didn't become the best golfer in the world by sitting on his couch and watching tv. Everyday after school him and his father went to the driving range and hit golf balls with every club in his bag. He hit every club everyday so he could master all of them at a young age.

Leading to success encourages me a lot. I have always wanted to be successful. I don't know why anyone wouldn't want to be successful. People who are successful are usually very hard workers. I feel as I am a very hardworker. I could have overwhelming problems in front of me, but that wouldn't stop me from trying to be the successful person I want to be.

I think you assigned this reading to see if your students are going to work hard in your class and not take an easy way out. Also to maybe do something different because I have never made a blog in my life ( not including Facebook or Twitter) but not a real blog. Lastly, I believe that it is an exercise that is very interesting to most students and will help them learn

First blog post ever, and I think it was pretty good.

-John Callahan