In this Ted talk, Daphne Bavelier discusses the effects that a video game has on an individual’s brain. She is a brain scientist who has done a lot of research on the statistics of it all and what these video games do for us. Daphne states that constantly sitting behind a television screen and playing video games is not healthy for the brain, but playing it in small dosages is a good thing.  Action-packed video games tend to serve humans with a good purpose by improving brain cells, according to Bavelier. She mentions how these video games that include shooting zombies (for example), “have quite powerful effects and positive effects on many different aspects of our behavior.” Daphne shows how people who sit in front of a screen around 5-15 hours per week compared to others that don’t, have better vision.  Aside from vision, these action-packed video games have proven to improve attention, logic, and spatial reasoning.

In this video, Daphne Bavelier is pretty much stating how we could use these findings and see how we could potentially apply it to older people to help improve their vision, etc (in which I found very interesting). It is said that even though children are found to be the main source of playing video games, adults are the ones who are behind the screen later on themselves more than the children. Although Daphne states how these action-packed video games can help improve a lot of cells in our brains with everything else, maybe there are other alternatives that can be used when children are playing video games. Instead of children playing games where they have to shoot zombies or people, perhaps studies throughout time will find that there are other types of games that children can play while improving eyesight, and other brain cells. Although I find it interesting that vision is shown to improve while sitting in front of a screen for a few hours, I’m a little skeptical of that because I don’t necessarily agree that that is how it is for everyone (maybe a few people). Other than that, I like the take that Daphne Bavelier took on this topic because I have never heard someone discuss this side of it (the good side) of playing video games  and I can’t wait to see what will come next along the way.

In The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch was a professor that taught a few subjects at Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Randy was then diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer (begins in the organ lying behind the lower part of the stomach- the pancreas). The cells can then start to multiply which leads to a tumor. Once he heard of his cancer, and how he didn’t have much time to spare, Randy decided to give a lecture called “The Last Lecture”: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, in 2007, which ended up turning into a book. In this lecture, Randy discussed three main components of his life, as it was coming to a near. In the lecture, the three focuses were of his childhood dreams and being able to access those dreams of others. Altogether, Randy’s whole purpose of giving this lecture was to share all of the lessons that he had learned throughout his life and his endeavors.

While watching Randy Pausch’s lecture, it really taught me a lot about life and how much we should really cherish what we have while we have it. The fact that this man was able to stand up in front of a huge crowd of people, and share his life’s accomplishments and what he learned along the way, in the midst of what he is going through, is truly astounding. Randy Pausch is someone that I admire, and look up to.. just from one lecture. Each word he said made me look up to him in a sense that, whatever I’m going through that feels like it is too much to deal with, I just have to be strong throughout the process.  I believe that anyone who views this lecture and listens to each word will learn a lesson that will carry on with them throughout life. I HIGHLY recommend viewing this lecture :))

Over the years, a lot of young teens have become well familiar with the brand name, Brandy Melville. I, myself, love Brandy Melville, but I don’t agree with their slogan. Although the brand carries a lot of fashionable items that are very appealing, some find the brand to be rather offensive due to the fact that it is very contradicting of “one size fits all” when in reality, their clothing only fits a size small. In an article by The Huffington Post, Kim Bhasin goes about with her article by saying “Small,” reads the label dangling from the first tank top on the rack at the Brandy Melville store in SoHo. So does the one behind it. And the third, fourth, fifth — they’re all small. In fact, nearly every single piece of clothing in the store is either labeled “small” or “one-size.” Though some people who aren’t a size small still wear each article of clothing that the brand produces, Brandy Melville should be true to what they are pouring out to each individual, instead of hiding behind a lie (in most cases).

Link to image: Brandy Melville

Read more from the article here:

Teens Love Brandy Melville, A Fashion Brand That Sells Only One Tiny Size

The horrible shootings that we always hear about that are being taken place in the United States 24/7, are continuing to happen elsewhere all around the world. Recently in Quebec City, Canada a horrible shooting took place which ended with six lives being taken and eight being wounded. Where most people go to pray, as a safe place, it turned out to be the complete opposite on January 30th, 2017. The authorities seem to believe that it couldn’t have been too many suspects other than the ones they arrested (2), and believe that the attack was by Muslim-Canadians as a terrorist attack. Aside from the shootings that took place at the Mosque, a pig’s head (which read “Bonne Appetite”) was left outside the mosque last June, which is frightening considering the fact that eating pork is forbidden in the Religion of Islam.

I don’t understand why these attacks are even happening in the first place, anywhere, especially at a holy place (the mosque in this situation) where people go to be closer to their ‘higher power’ and feel safe; not dangered. These shootings must come to an end, as they keep getting worse.

Read more about article here:

Shooting in Quebec City

On January 20th of 2017, Donald Trump was officially brought into his presidency as he gave his inaugural address in Washington, D.C. Trump’s whole speech was centralized around the whole notion of creating a better tomorrow and really changing the outcome of not only the United States but the entire world. A lot of people are still warming up to the thought of Trump actually being the 45th President of the United States, and that may take a while to get used to. The start of Donald Trump’s presidency began with a women’s march on Saturday, January 21st. When it comes to giving the newest information in regards to our newest president, CNN seems to be in favor of Trump and Fox gives out the opposing side. According to CNN’s article titled “Trump wrote inaugural speech himself,” the news found out that Trump was planning on writing his inaugural speech from two senior Trump transition officials. CNN proceeded to show Trump’s Twitter picture of him writing his speech and the caption from Trump stating, “writing my inaugural address at the Winter White House, Mar-a-Lago, three weeks ago. Looking forward to Friday.” CNN is advocating for Trump because of how they choose to show him off which makes it pretty obvious as to what side they are really on. On the other hand, Fox gives information that is different. Fox’s article titled “Krauthammer: Trump’s Address Will Be Remembered as ‘Forgotten Man Speech,’ due to the fact that everything he pointed out in his speech may offend the rest of the world. According to Krauthammer, “the way that Trump spoke about the outside world was the most aggressive, most hyper-nationalist and in some way, the most hostile of any inaugural address since the second World War. He drew a picture of a zero-sum world, where what we have done for the world, they have been stealing for us,” said Krauthammer. With that being said, Krauthammer said Trump’s “America first” message is going to have a “huge effect around the world” as it becomes policy. This side of the news shows how Donald Trump’s address may come off as an insult to every other country around the world. Both CNN and Fox show factual information, with bias in between their articles that may be “too” biased, whether it is good or bad.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/17/politics/donald-trump-inaugural-address/

http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/01/20/krauthammer-donald-trump-inaugural-address-what-his-presidency-means

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