Women's History Museum

Today in the New York Times and article was released about the possibility of a museum being created solely about the History of Women (The article can be found here). The new museum would be located in Washington D.C. near the National Mall. The article states that in the past the house has proposed bills that would lead to the creation of a museum on the history of women but it has never had nearly enough support to be passed. Now it is seeming like the odds may be in the favor of the mall.

I feel that the fact that today we can finally come this close to creating a museum for women shows immense growth in the United States of America. Also the fact that America has become supportive enough of women in recent history that enough feats have been accomplished by them to open a museum solely for that also shows tremendous growth. Do you think the museum will end up opening? How do you think this portrays what the future of the United States in regards to women will look like?

Talking to Your Children

An article in todays New York Times talked about a new initiative in Providence, Rhode Island to help close the gap in learning between the rich and the poor (article can be found here). The initiative called, Providence Talks, is geared towards poor immagrants who are statistically shown to be behind in learning when they enter preschool at the age of four. It is believed that children of wealthy families are more prone to hearing and digesting a wider vocabulary at a young age, so Providence Talks is calling for lower income families to have their children wear a recording device one day a week so that analyst can listen to how the child is being talked to.

Providence Talks is joining a growing number of initiatives across the country that are trying to fight the battle against the gap in education based on wealth.  With Providence Talks we are beginning to see a shift in the ideals of Americans who instead of wanting what is best for them is striving for greatness and equality for all. We have seen this occur in other times throughout history but not in this context. Do you think Americans believe the success of the entire country lies on the education of all not just a select few? Do you believe the success of the country lies on the education of all and not just a select few? Please share your opinions.

SAT Overhaul

Yesterday College Board announced that as of 2016 the SAT would be totally redesigned. For a long time people were being judged with scores that often time did not reflect how good of a learner the student truly is. David Coleman, the president College Board, said that both the SAT and ACT have "both become from the work of our high schools". Coleman goes on to say that "What this country needs is not more tests, but more opportunities."

Colman and the College Board team have completely redone the SAT test. More common and important words will be added to the Vocab section, and the math sections would be more narrowed in on certain topics that are crucial to the development of students.

College Board announced that only twenty percent of high school teachers believe that standardized testing is a fair measure of how prepared a student is for college and the rest of their futures. The changes in the SAT are designed to help change this. Also, the ACT has recently surpassed the SAT as the number one standardized test in America. These changes will hopefully help make a change to this as well.

Finally a company realizes what american students really need to become successful. Do you think these changes are beneficial? What else could a standardized test do to change into something that helps judge how prepared a student really is?

Free Tilly

I recently watched a documentary called Black Fish, this documentary primarily circles the life of a whale named Tilikum. Tilikum is the largest Orca, commonly known as a Killer Whale, ever to be kept in captivity and he currently lives down at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida. The movie starts in 1983 by talking about how Tilikum and two other Orcas were brutally captured and how multiple other Orcas died during this process. It then quickly moves on to tell us about  Tilikum's new living conditions and he was horrifically treated by his trainers and the two other Orcas. Since Tilikum was only a child at the time, and not nearly as large as he his now, he was routinely attacked by the two other whales who had to share the small new home with Tilikum. One day Tilikum had snapped and during the middle of a show he attacked his trainer and killed her with little help from the other whales. In return this event lead to the closing of this park and Tilikum was sent to SeaWorld after being bought for a large sum of money. 

Details about the death of the Trainer at Tilikum's first venue were smudged and Trainers at SeaWorld (Where Tilikum was moved to and still resides today) were unaware that Tilikum was the whale that took part in the attack that had lead to such a terrible death. In fact, Trainers were delighted to be able to work with such a "friendly" and "well-trained" animal. As time went on Tilikum began to steal the show at SeaWorld, people would fill the stadium just to see his performances. Over the next twenty or so years at SeaWorld Tilikum has gone on to brutally kill two more people and has shown countless acts of disobedience and aggression. Still SeaWorld has refused to free him after all of this for two main reasons: the money and attention he brings in and the price of sperm. In fact, over half of the Orca's at SeaWorld carry Tilikum's genes. Tilikum is too beneficial when it comes to reproducing more whales rather than capturing new ones. 

Till this day Tilikum spends most of his days confined alone in the smallest tank SeaWorld has to offer and he only comes out to perform in rare, short parts of shows based on his behavior. Former trainers of Tilikum are supporting a movement called Free Tilly Now. From personal experience these trainers know how SeaWorld alter facts both to their trainers and people attending their shows about their whales and they now believe it is time for this to change. Tilikum is clearly no longer fit for this life style and it is only fair for him to be freed. 

Unfortunately, many people believe that as long as the businessmen surrounding SeaWorld care more about profit than they do about the safety and well being of both their whales and trainers things will never change. It seems to be a driving theme throughout history to present day that money what is most important even if it put others at risk. In addition to this many trainers in at SeaWorld are over confident and under estimate the animals that they are working with. These humans do not realize the severity of working with a 12,000 pound animal that they can hardly communicate with. Do you think this is a common American theme? Do you think the treatment of Tilikum is just? Please share your comments.

 You can visit Free Tilly Now's web page here.

Iran: Safer than Before

This morning a deal was signed between Iran and the United States that would make Iran nuclear free for the next six months. All nuclear facilities would be halted and they will be forced to undergo inspections at the scrutiny of others. Secretary of State John Kerry said that "From this day, for the next six months, Israel is in fact safer than it was." Safer in the eyes of Americans, not safer in the eyes of Iranians. Of course American nuclear facilities will not be shut down or inspected by international organizations, this is a very one sided deal.

This brings me back to a conversation we had in class last week about America having the a larger military than all other countries combined. The United States has more nuclear weapons than most countries combined as well, so why is it fair for the United States government to be putting a ban on the construction of weapons in other countries? It almost seems hypocritical. In a New York Times article I read, which can be found here, it was stated that "the deal would make Israel and Persian Gulf allies of the United States more secure." Although this seems like a large reason as to why they would want to partake in making this deal,  there could also be a hidden agenda. If the United States is already so intent on having the biggest and strongest military compared to other countries then wouldn't it be in their favor to halt the nuclear process in another country? What is the United States really trying to accomplish by making this deal? Do they have other potential goals when making this deal? Please leave your comments below.

Own Your Favorite Players

Recently a new company called 'Fantex' started a unique business platform in which many people would have never seen coming. Fantex is a brokerage service where you can buy and sell shares of your favorite sports players. Based on how well the player and their team are doing the cost of the shares my rise or fall accordingly. Currently Fantex only has two players that have agreed to become part of of this new stock exchange; Arian Foster and Vernon Davis. Unfortunately for Fantex Arian Foster is expected to be having a season ending surgery on his back and Vernon Davis suffered a concussion in this weekends game.

Fantasy Football leagues have become exceedingly popular in the past few years. It seems as if anything that people can have the thrill of putting their money on the line while cheering on their favorite teams is a good idea. Fantex could just be the next step to something like Fantasy Football, just a source of gambling and fun. Contrary to this though Fantex seems to look at their selves less as a game and more as a possible business venture and I also would argue towards this. Fantex says on the homepage of their website "the dollars, accounts, trades, risks and rewards here are all very real." The website can be found here. Fantex makes it very clear that it is not just a game and that everything that happens is real. For Americans simply cheering for a team just does not seem to be enough, it does not have the thrill you get from gambling. Do Americans no longer appreciate sports for what they really are? Do they need an added aspect to enjoy sports? Or is Fantex just a business venture for its users? Does Fantex seem like something you would want to use? Please share your feelings on the topic.

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Airports: Are They Safe?

Today at LAX airport on Los Angeles a TSA agent was shot dead by an attacker inside the airport. This morning a man identified as Paul Ciancia entered the airport and opened fire with has automatic rifle on any TSA agent he could find. Ciancia ended up only killing one agent but injured at least three more. Today marked the first time a TSA agent was killed while on duty since the creation of the agency. 

With all of the added security at airports nowadays it seems to always be expected that it is a safe as can be inside. Yet, today it showed that even when inside it is not as safe as we think. Ciancia was able to conceal his weapon and his over one hundred rounds of ammounition just by putting into a traveling bag. Once inside he was able to quickly take it out and open fire. Even though Ciancia did not get to a plane with his weapon or into the heart of the airport he was still able to do the damage that he wanted to do. 

Are airports as safe as we think? Is an addition to security screening necessary? Are Americans becoming over worried when this is the first time an agent has been killed in the twelve years the agency has been operating? Shar your thoughts.