Mission Critical

I found the Mission Critical website and Casual Argument section very useful. I found the bullet-point style simple and easy to use. It was clear what I was clicking on, and going to read. As much as I liked the simplicity of the website I found it to be lacking luster. The website looked as if a High School student designed it during their free time. I think it would be better if there was a navigation bar on the left hand side which was available at all times with all the same links on them, this would help greatly because it would allow people to navigate the whole website without having to click through a lot of other links to get to a certain page. I also think that it would help if there was a little description below the link or something like an annotation. This would help me know (and remind) me what that link was about.

Horoscopes

Capricorn horoscope: A colleague's motives could seem rather sinister today, Capricorn. This person has a definite agenda of his or her own that may not take into account the needs or feelings of anyone who could conceivably stand in the way. This person isn't to be trusted. Don't excuse his or her behavior. The best course of action now is to stay out of the way and protect yourself on all levels.

 

In my opinion, this prediction is too vague to say if it could be right or wrong. It is nearly impossible to be completely sure of another person's intentions, even if they swear they are being honest with you. Also, I interact with a lot of different people everyday and I do not have the time to sit there and assess everyone's true intentions. It is very unreasonable to have to "protect yourself on all levels" while trying to go through the course of a normal day. The statements from the horoscope are hard to define as falsifiable because they are so vague. I feel it is also common sense, if a colleague's motives seem sinister then of course you would avoid them and protect yourself. Also, if they seem sinister you obviously would not trust them fully, and be cautious of them.

Social Networking

Social networking has blown up in the recent years especially with Facebook and Twitter. I believe that social networking sites are amazing because it allows people to connect with each other from around the world. People can share photos, videos, and chat with each other as long as there is an internet connection. It makes the world a very small place. But there can also be a consequence to having such a connection with someone over a social network. Of course, with a new way of communication means a there is a new way to bully and harass. People have faked who they are on social networking sites just to creep on other people's lives. People should realize that what they post on the internet is for everyone to see, not just for their circle of friends. Even if they set their privacy setting so that only their friends can see it, an acquaintance of the friend can log into their account and see everything.

Plagiarism

I believe Sadler's argument is the better of the two. She argues that "plagiarism violates the trust upon which higher education is established," which aims at the moral issue of plagiarizing. As much as teachers and staff can (and try) to prevent students from plagiarizing it is impossible to stop it, so why should students stop? Because it is wrong. When we were growing up we were told not to steal, lie, cheat and plagiarism is all of these things. Just because we are older does not mean we should cease to live by our morals that our parents' instilled in our youth. I honestly think that plagiarism is the easy way out of doing the work. Some may see it as a harmless filler in an essay, but I see it as a person who can not fully commit to doing all of the work, and doing it right. Plagiarism subconsciously teaches that it is okay to okay to take the easy way out and steal someone's ideas and works and use it as our own.

Misleading Observations

Today, I saw a girl walking down the street with a Gucci bag and Gucci shades and I made the assumption that she had a lot of money or had a man that had a lot of money. (For those that do not know, Gucci is a high-end brand name.) I later met the same girl who happened to be the girlfriend of my friend. We talked and as I got to know her I had realized that she was not all that rich. I mean, she obviously had the money for the Gucci wear but I was expecting her to have a lot more money. She told me she worked really hard over summer to be able to buy those things for herself. She was actually going to school still and paying off a lot of debts from loans and such. Scientific knowledge played a role when I discovered that she was not all that rich because she still had a lot of debts to pay off because of school.

Media Experiences

When I was growing up, I thought that news channels such as FOX, CNN, and NBC told the whole truth and nothing but the truth. As I grew older I began to notice that one news channel would report a story, and another news channel would report the same story in a completely different light. So I began to question: what is the truth and how are we, as citizens of the United States of America, suppose to distinguish fibs from the truth. Recently, the media coverage of the uprisings in Libya and Egypt have expanded my views of other countries and their suffrage. Also, the Internet allows for a free and open flow of discussion and debate. So everything I heard on the news channels, I would look it up on the internet and see what other people had to say about it. This way I got other sources and other people's opinions which helped me develop my own ideas and conclusions.

Marketing Research

One concept that I found very interesting is that companies research their consumers. Marketing research is done by companies to find consumer's "hot buttons" meaning what their consumers are interested in and what they are not interested in. Surveys, observations, and experimentation are all good ways of conducting market research. Surveys and group brainstorming seems to be the best way to conduct marketing research because it allows for the consumer to directly speak their opinions. Also, surveys can be conducted in many different ways such as over the phone, email, internet, and by person which allows for a wider consumer opinion. Observation is when a research group observes consumers' buying habits, which is useful but different consumer's have different habits and can be read the wrong way depending on who is observing. While experimentation has a lot of different variables which makes it hard for a research team to keep an accurate record.

Wootan Vs Liodice

Though I believe that children are being wrongfully targeted by advertisements, I do not believe that the government, or anyone else, has a right to limit free speech. Wootan argues that companies should be regulated in what they can and cannot advertise, while Liodice argues that regulating such things, even a little, is an attack on the constitutional rights. I do believe that purposely targeting children with unhealthy sweets is morally wrong, but people are going to do what they need to do to earn an income regardless of what I say, or the government does. They will always find a way around these laws, so limiting what people can and cannot say will not dramatically influence the outcome. I ultimately think that it is the parents'/guardian's fault for childhood obesity. For example, after Halloween I had a bag full of candy and chocolate and my dad warned me that if I ate them all I would regret it. I laughed and ate as much candy as I could, and soon my stomach began to ache. I quickly learned that eating as much as I did was not a good idea and my dad was right. After that, I limited the amount of candy that I ate and did not feel tempted by advertisements of candy and chocolate. The government should do more to promote parental influence in a child's life, not blame and limit a company from trying to sell a box of cereal.

Strategies of Marketing

One marketing strategy that I found very interesting is the use of symbols to represent a company. For example, when people see an apple with a bite taken out of it, people think of the Apple company and when people think of Apple they think of MacBooks, iPods, and iPads. Another symbol that generates a lot of conversation is the Nike Swoosh. When people see the Nike Swoosh they think of everything related to Nike, even their slogan "Just do it." The slogan "Just do it," also promotes impulse buying. This is purposely done by advertisers to make consumers feel like they need that material object that instant. Even the way something is written can be a symbol, such as Coca Cola. The way the cursive C has a sort of ribbon at the end of it. I have personally seen other companies use the same font as Coca Cola to make a joke about something because when everyone reads it, "Coca Cola" is in the back of their minds.