If only...Romeo and Juliet and Text Messaging

Back in the industrial revolution, technology got a bad rap. Think of the film Metropolis and Fritz Lang’s depiction of the future of industrial labor under the strong arm of technology. However, today’s college students can hardly scoff at technology, as it drives their lives in nearly every aspect. Journalism classes at Purdue University require Twitter accounts; New software called Hotseat allows students to ask questions live, during class via their facebook, twitter, myspace or sms accounts. Think of the limitless possibilities of social media technology in light of past predicaments. If only Juliet had text messaging, that whole “I just committed suicide” misunderstanding could have been avoided. I can see it now…Juliet texts Romeo “brb…taking fake poison…napping, catch you later in tomb”. Easy as that, no communication problems. Think about Twitter and the Holocaust…”Hitler’s an ass…I don’t buy a word of his crap”. “Germany is killing Jews, wtf are they thinking!”. Or how about the fall of man:

Eve: Hey Adam, thinking of taking a bite…opinion?

Adam: OMG!!! He will be so pissed!

Eve: No, check out @Satan, he’s got great ideas. #EatTheApple

Adam: He friended me last week but I blocked him. Don’t trust him.

Eve: He’s legit; he’s got a LinkdIn page. Gabe is on it.

So if social media could have saved Romeo and Juliet and the whole world could have known about the Holocaust, couldn’t the technology we embrace today help us make the world a better place? Absolutely and it’s starting in the college classrooms with innovative educational uses. College students need to embrace the technology available and participate fully in the advantage that tools like Twitter and Facebook can bring to the classroom. Encourage professor’s to use new technologies and integrate them into the day to day lectures, lessons and tests.

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The trend of classes moving online

In a new study released by the research company Ambient Insight, it is revealed that currently 1.25 million college students take all their classes online (Nagel, 2009).The future looks to have this number tripled by 2014, making online classes the most common way of attending college. The cost of an online degree is significantly below that of many traditional universities. For example, the price of an M.B.A. at the University of Phoenix Online is approximately $23,230, one-third less than the same degree at Harvard University. However, the tuition at the University of Phoenix Online is higher than some for profit universities. A comparison between Phoenix Online and Georgia Tech indicates that the cost of an online degree is almost two times that charged by Georgia Tech. However, online students have a cost advantage over traditional college students in that they do not have to pay room and board expenses.

Online universities differ in the types of textbooks required. While some use the same textbooks as traditional colleges, others use digitalized forms of the traditional books or ones created especially for the course.

Online degree programs have benefits over the traditional degree route for a number of individuals. For many adults, online universities provide the flexibility needed to secure an advanced degree. The quality of the education offered at some online universities mirrors that of traditional brick and mortar colleges. Depending on the degree sought and the university selected, the cost of obtaining an online degree may be significantly lower. However, online universities are not appropriate for all students. Young students who value the socialization process associated with traditional colleges are unlikely to enjoy the online environment. The age, schedule, and flexibility of the student will determine which type of college education is best for each particular student.

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Netbooks are perfect for college students

Netbooks have received a vast amount of criticism over the past year but one area that they excel in without debate is for use in the educational setting. Cheap, compact and powerful enough for student applications like word and the internet, netbooks seem tailored for college students.

While cheap generally is connotative with “sacrifice what you really need”, I find this not to be the case. I work weekends on a netbook from a hotel room and not once have I ever run into a situation that I felt a lack of memory, power or screen space. I even do web development on my Toshiba NB205, and find the 10″ screen just fine for seeing the big picture.

For college students, netbooks are perfect. They fit well on small desks in large lecture halls. And speaking of small spaces, they are great for dorm rooms and having on your lap as you work on your bed, the one piece of furniture that you’re given, other than a rock hard desk chair. If you have the room in your dorm room, put in a 21″ monitor and just plug the laptop into when you’re stationary. Then you have all the benefits of a desktop system and a big screen for YouTube Videos! They also fit great in a backpack, something that a 17inch screen doesn’t really. I know I used to hate lugging my laptop and a separate back pack to the library. In fact, I’m relatively sure that is how I injured my shoulders, not 4 years of pitching softball.

And finally, the best part of netbooks for the college student…Price! At $350, yeah, it’s not going to last long but then you can get 2 netbooks for the price of one regular laptop and I would rather have the most up to date technology every two years than a bloated, hard to carry, overpriced full laptop that doesn’t fit the college lifestyle.

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Herta Mueller's Nobel Prize makes a great research paper topic

Herta Mueller, tenacious and stubborn, most certainly would be the topic of a research paper worth writing! With her vivid and moving descriptions of Romania under communism, Mueller can be a research paper case study in one that truly deserves the Nobel literature prize she received. Overcoming the obstacle of being banned in her own country, Mueller managed to get published in Germany and launch her career among international controversy. Her first collection of short stories, Niederungen, illustrated the hardships of living in a tiny village in Romania under the communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. She followed her first publication with her brilliant work Oppressive Tango, but also received harsh criticism of the writing from the Romanian National Press.

Mueller’s work are as follows:

* Niederungen, short stories, censored version published in Bucharest 1982. Uncensored version published in Germany 1984. Published in English as Nadirs in 1999 by the University of Nebraska Press.[4]
* Drückender Tango (”Oppressive Tango”), stories, Bucharest 1984
* Der Mensch ist ein großer Fasan auf der Welt, Berlin 1986. Published in English as The Passport, Serpent’s Tail, 1989 ISBN 9781852421397
* Barfüßiger Februar (”Barefoot February”), Berlin 1987
* Reisende auf einem Bein, Berlin 1989. Published in English as Traveling on One Leg, Hydra Books/Northwestern University Press, 1992.[5]
* Wie Wahrnehmung sich erfindet (”How Perception Invents Itself”), Paderborn 1990
* Der Teufel sitzt im Spiegel (”The Devil is Sitting in the Mirror”), Berlin 1991
* Der Fuchs war damals schon der Jäger (”Even Back Then, the Fox Was the Hunter), Reinbek by Hamburg 1992
* Eine warme Kartoffel ist ein warmes Bett (”A Warm Potato Is a Warm Bed), Hamburg 1992
* Der Wächter nimmt seinen Kamm (”The Guard Takes His Comb”), Reinbek by Hamburg 1993
* Angekommen wie nicht da (”Arrived As If Not There”), Lichtenfels 1994
* Herztier, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1994. Published in an English translation by Michael Hofmann as The Land of Green Plums, Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt & Company, New York, 1996[6]
* Hunger und Seide (”Hunger and Silk”), essays, Reinbek by Hamburg 1995
* In der Falle (”In a Trap”), Göttingen 1996
* Heute wär ich mir lieber nicht begegnet, Reinbek by Hamburg 1997. Published in English as The Appointment, Metropolitan Books/Picador, New York/London 2001
* Der fremde Blick oder das Leben ist ein Furz in der Laterne (”The Foreign View, or Life Is a Fart in a Lantern”), Göttingen 1999
* Im Haarknoten wohnt eine Dame (”A Lady Lives in the Hair Knot”), poetry, Reinbek by Hamburg 2000
* Heimat ist das, was gesprochen wird (”Home Is What Is Spoken There”), Blieskastel 2001
* Der König verneigt sich und tötet (”The King Bows and Kills), essays, Munich (and elsewhere) 2003
* Die blassen Herren mit den Mokkatassen (”The Pale Gentlemen with their Espresso Cups”), Munich (and elsewhere) 2005
* Atemschaukel, Munich 2009

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Obama Talks Climate Change at Summit in NYC

Worries that tariffs and restrictions on tire imports to America from China would impact China’s willingness to talk global climate change were put to rest in New York this week, as China talked a surprisingly strong and encouraging rhetoric for meeting stringent carbon targets. However, in a disappointing show for the host of the summit, President Obama failed to deliver a 1-2 punch type of speech and merely reiterated the warnings against a path to failure if complacency continues. Perhaps Obama felt pleased that the talks were even taking place after China angrily retorted at the Obama administration for cutting its throat on tire imports to America. However, I would expect that the leader of one of the top industrial nations in the world and the host of the summit would take no prisoners when it comes to climate talks.

I had high hopes for Obama on the environment. An educated man with few ties to oil (a refreshing change from the past 8 years) can certainly see that America needs a boost in its effort to establish a global climate policy that leads the world. The United States typically obstructs rather than leads the world in addressing climate change, as demonstrated by Presidents Clinton and Bush. The most significant issues related to global warming include the following: 1) The costs and benefits of climate changes; 2) What actions should be taken to mitigate these changes; and 3) How the available policies may vary amongst countries over time. Some areas of North America are particularly vulnerable to potential damage, such as New Orleans, while others, such as Canada, may benefit from such climate shifts. Time is of the essence, since there are a number of extended intervals between changes.

The issue of global warming possesses a number of serious consequences for Planet Earth. The increased emission of greenhouse gases and other related concerns has led to widespread shifts in climate across the world. In North America, a number of areas have been dramatically affected, including the Great Lakes Region, which has experienced increased amounts of snowfall over the past few decades.

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Sierra Club Helps Students Fight Against Coal on Campus

College students are in a very powerful place in their lives to make change on a grand scale. The 18 to twenty-somethings are grouped together, educated and generally open to looking at the world in a new light, as they are recently freed from the influence of their parents. We encourage the college students we work with to become involved in active in the educational process beyond the classroom, that is, what is going on socially with their peers. Social change can happen on a grand scale, beginning with the college campus. Take the example of protests going on all over campuses over the use of coal. From Penn State to Georgia State, students are protesting the use of coal-based fuel, some of which produces the majority of power on campus.

Coal was among the first fossil fuels to be collected for producing energy or power. It lost favor when oil and gas were found to burn more cleanly. However, coal has once again become useful for generating power or providing heat or electricity. New technologies have reduced the harmful emissions that result from burning coal.  Students on the campuses that use coal are concerned that the harm to the environment isn’t worth the cost savings of using a non-renewable resource. Furthermore, students are upset over the message that colleges are sending. As institutions of higher learning, colleges should be ashamed of campuses that operate coal plants. Coal, just like wood and other fossil fuels, is a limited resource.  The over-use of coal, with its inevitable carbon dioxide emissions, is attributed to increasing the greenhouse affect. Keep an eye on how well students are doing in kicking coal off college campuses.

Students can make a difference on a global scale. Get involved in social change issues on your college campus and you’ll meet people, learn about change in a changing world and do something productive with the power you have.

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Michael Duvall Compromises Self over "eye-patch underware"

How could sex, ethics, politics and the California political crisis not score with professors for a research paper topic! At Paper Masters, we are constantly trying to give our readers fresh ideas on how to approach writing research papers with fresh ideas and angles that will give professor’s something interesting to read about while illustrating a thorough understanding of the topic area. Mike Duvall is a gift from the Research Paper Gods! Last July, Duvall, a second-term California assemblyman, gets ready for a televised committee meeting, not knowing his microphone is on. The self-proclaimed christian conservative with staunch family values begins spouting off about his sexual conquests with a lobbyist and his many other triumphs of philandering, cheating on his wife and various other activities associated with bodily fluid emission.

So how would I work Michael Duvall into a research paper? Go ahead, give me any course and I’ll tell you how…

Sociology – Topic: Michael Duvall is a classic case study of Christian Conservative morals not living up to societal standards. A paradox of values that conservatives represent yet fail to live by.

Political Science – Topic: (Oh so easy!) Correlate corrupt politicians and personal life scandals with the state of affairs of the district or state they represent.

Education Majors – Topic: Does a lack of a high school diploma make one any less able to maintain a position of leadership? Does a lack of a high school diploma make one more likely to be attracted to “eye-patch underwear” and boast about sexual conquests?

And I could go on and on…Men like Michael Duvall make a college student’s job of creating interesting research paper topics so very easy.

Thank you Assemblyman…I mean former assemblyman Duvall, you provide such rich and pathetic material.

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Obama Gives Back To School Speech

Partisan politics at its best! President Obama gives a back to school speech encouraging excellence and participation in politics in students and the GOP goes nuts! Tuesday’s back to school speech included encouragement from President Obama for students to write letters on how they can help the President or what they admire about him. Conservatives in Washington went ballistic with claims that the President is pushing a liberal agenda in schools and trying to sway students to liberal politics. In light of pre-speech backlash, President Obama canceled the lesson plan that was prepared by the White House to go along with the speech, as it aired in schools across the nation. However, amazingly, the President was able to send the message of “stay in school and work hard” to the students without any Republican backlash. Whew!

With the rise of partisan politics, the possibility to consolidate support has become a defining element of citizen involvement in the political process. Individuals became fiercely loyal to their part of affiliation, and these parties in turn try to curry favor from the individual in ushering in their own choice of political agendas. In this era of the “neo-politics of party” era, we can see that this partisanship is affecting every aspect of American life. Our children can’t even receive a school lesson from the President.

Creating and acting on a cohesive goal in such an environment has been becoming increasingly difficult in an era where partisan politics is the norm and bi-partisanship the rare exception.  Many researchers have argued that the oppositional two-party paradigm has led to chronic gridlock and consistent inability to establish any type of meaningful doctrine in the presidency.  While at times in the past the two leading political parties have been able to cooperate in furthering Congress’ own agenda, those days may be gone forever.

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Baby Chick thrown into grinder

I always appeal to the intellect of the nations youth when I read stories like the one from the Associated Press on ground up baby chickens. Are omelets, eggs over easy or my once beloved Huevos Rancheros really worth it? Undercover video was shot by Mercy for Animals showing how male baby chicks are ground up alive as a means of quick disposal of the unwanted chicks. Since male chickens produce no eggs and hatchery’s do not raise chickens for slaughter due to the length of time it takes to fatten them up, what else can they do but grind them to shreds alive. Some are pushed to the floor to be swept away and die slowly with the other debris in the hatchery. So what does this have to do with you, my college aged friends?

Everything. This story of the male chick is only one of the many ethical dilemmas that will come along as you move through college life. Do you recognize that every egg you eat contributes to the industry that carelessly disregards and wastes potential life. Whether it’s life for consumption and sustenance or life for the sake of being a living creature, the waste is unforgivable and there is something you can do.
Think about how bad you need that egg next time you go to the commons and choose your breakfast. Don’t support the industry that makes common practice of grinding baby chicks alive or sweeping them away like trash to die a slow death. United States Egg farmers should know better…send them a message that you know better too and you’re not going to stand for it.
Not convinced? Take a look for yourself – Hatchery video

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College campuses are advising students to do all the right things – eat right, keep your immunities up don’t share cups, razors or any items that germs can be passed upon. Basically common sense health care and diligence will keep college students safe from the spread of any flu virus. Swine flu isn’t that unique among flu viruses except for the fact that those with compromised immune systems can become extremely sick. Eat right, exercise and get plenty of rest and more than likely swine flu will not be a concern to any college student. Be careful of stress, as stress weakens the immune system and is responsible for a fair amount of sickness in young people today.

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