Annotated Bibliography

Cross, G. (2004). Wondrous Innocence: Print Advertising and the Origins of Permissive Child Rearing in the US. Journal of Consumer Culture. 4(2) p.183-201. DOI: 10.1177/1469540504043681.

Gary Cross’s 2004 article for the Journal of Consumer Culture reviews print advertising from the early 20^th century to the modern day. He also compares and contrasts techniques used and comments on how advertising has affected the popular ideas behind child rearing within the US. It was found by Cross that advertising has popularised many ideas behind ‘correct’ child rearing that are associated with consumer products. Multiple techniques are used to promote idealistic child rearing, including making parents feel guilty or inadequate for not providing the correct healthcare, nutrition or educational products for their children. Sadly, many of these meagre child rearing standards have been openly accepted into the mainstream and still circulate among parents today. Cross references many experts in the field of early childhood development and contrasts their arguments for what important aspects of a child’s life need to be cared for and cultivated, with that of the common idealism put forward by prominent print advertising giants. Sadly there appears to be quite a disparity across the board in what is accepted as good child rearing standards. However, there is at least a positive economic growth from the consumption within the world of child rearing in the US.

Dorling, P. (2012, October 18). Revealed: Canberra shared intel on Assange with Washington. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved from: www.smh.com.au

Philip Dorling, for The Sydney Morning Herald Oct 18, 2012 reports that Wikileaks and Julian Assange has been the subject of intelligence exchanges between Australia and the US for more than two years. Dorling’s article revisits key information in the Julian Assange and Wikileaks case and attempts to raise light to the fact of how closely connected the Australian and US intelligence agencies are by stating that all of Australia’s intelligence agencies are represented in Washington, however details of the information exchange have been withheld on the grounds of protecting international relations. This gives little hope for Assange in receiving any sort of diplomatic support from the Australian government and is only reinforced by unsupportive comments from former and current foreign ministers, Kevin Rudd and Bob Carr.  The fate of Assange is still vague at best; however his indefinite stay in London’s Ecuadorian Embassy is undoubtedly more comfortable than that of colleague Bradley Manning who still awaits trial on possible espionage charges that carry with them a life sentence.  Dorling’s article skilfully pieces together new and old pieces of information in the Wikileaks story and leaves the reader well positioned to make an informed stance on the issue.

Press Association. (2012, September 27). Julian Assange: Hague says Britain is obliged to extradite WikiLeaks founder. The Guardian. Retrieved From: www.guardian.co.uk

 In the September 27, 2012 issue of The Guardian newspaper, the unnamed author writes of the UK foreign minister, William Hague’s statements toward the Julian Assange case after meetings with Ecuador’s foreign minister Ricardo Patino. The meeting between foreign ministers was in regard to the UK’s “…obligation to extradite Mr Assange to Sweden” in order to face alleged sexual assault charges states Hague. The problem arises in the fact that UK law does not acknowledge the concept of diplomatic asylum which is well established and exercised in Latin America. Assange has now spent an excess of one hundred days in the Ecuadorian embassy with an unsure future, however, Amnesty International has suggested that both Sweden and the UK offer assurances to Assange that we won’t face extradition to the US if he returns to Sweden to face possible sexual assault charges. Nickola Duckworth of Amnesty International argues that it is important for Assange to be able to safely face charges in Sweden as the current situation makes it impossible for either Assange or the women involved to receive justice.

Staff Writer. (2012, September 27). Julian Assange, WikiLeaks now ‘enemies of US' as Ecuador, UK to discuss Assange at UN meeting. Herald Sun. Retrieved from: www.heraldsun.com.au

On a recent video link from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, Julian Assange has publicly spoken out in regard to Wikileaks and prosecution by the American government. Assange specifically condemned the US in relation to the treatment of Bradley Manning for detaining him without charge and for mistreatment. According to the US military, Assange and Wikileaks members are now in the same category as the Al-Qaeda terrorist network and the Taliban. Any member of the US military found communicating with Wikileaks will now be faced with charges of “communicating with the enemy” which faces the maximum penalty of death. The article goes on to outline the future meeting between UK foreign minister William Hague and the Ecuadorian foreign minister Ricardo Patino over the fate of Assange in regard to the values of human rights and the integrity of sovereign nations. Hague also plans to meet Ecuadorian vice president Moreno in regard to the fate of Julian Assange. The article outlines current state of affairs regarding Wikileaks and founder Julian Assange, however, could provide more in-depth information and perspectives on the case. 

Jour1111 Picture Stories: Asleep at the Wheel

So the first time I uploaded this it was removed for "being too long" and after jumping through some annoying little hoops my video is finally up:
   
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqtmqFDvApg&feature=plcp

Picture Stories: Asleep At The Wheel

Maybe They Evolved From Us

Genius female chimpanzee found to be smarter than U.S. high school students

Tuesday, August 28, 2012
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com

(NaturalNews) A twenties-something "genius ape" named Natasha has been found to demonstrate more intelligence than a typical U.S. high school student. The findings have been published in the peer-reviewed science journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.

As the paper documents, Natasha repeatedly demonstrates skills and reasoning that escape modern-day high school students. "The caretakers named Natasha as the smartest chimpanzee, precisely the same chimpanzee that our tests had revealed to be exceptional," wrote authors Esther Herrmann and Josep Call of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (reported at Discovery.com, link below).

According to these scientists, Natasha has demonstrated the following skills; all of which escape the dumbed-down mental capacity of a typical U.S. high school student:

• An ability to repeatedly escape the chimpanzee enclosure using planning skills.

• An ability to disable an electric fence by throwing branches on it and observing the sparks. Once the sparks stopped, Natasha knew the fence was disabled and then proceeded to climb it. (A typical U.S. high school student cannot figure out how to pull his pants up around his waist.)

• The ability to wield a special tool to avoid a trap while locating hidden food. (U.S. high school students eat toxic food chemicals every day which trap them in a lifetime of chronic disease.)

• According to scientists, "ape intelligence might be a bundling of skills related to learning, tool usage, understanding of quantities, and an ability to reach conclusions based on evidence and reasoning." (http://news.discovery.com/animals/ape-genius-chimpanzee-intelligence-...) U.S. high school students, on the other hand, largely run their lives based on drama, jealousy, sex and emotional reactions to simple stimuli such as corporate logos on basketball shoes.

• Intelligent chimpanzees are well known to manufacture their own tools in order to extract (yummy) termites out of holes in trees. A typical U.S. high school student barely has the skill to open a frozen burrito wrapper and punch "START" on a microwave oven.

On a similar note, it is well known that the U.S. military conducts vaccine medical experiments on human soldiers for the sole reason that "humans are cheaper than monkeys." Lab monkeys actually try to escape from vaccine assaults, while humans actually line up at pharmacies and PAY to be injected with experimental vaccines!

The question isn't whether apes are smarter than humans... it's actually this far more important question: Are many humans dumber than apes?

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/036980_genius_chimpanzee_intelligence.html#ixzz256bgr0Sn

I hope heaven is actually like this

Slash: Brisbane Riverstage 23rd August

Former Guns n' Roses guitarist, "Slash" visited Brisbane last week, playing at the Riverstage for the Australian tour of his new album "Apocalyptic Love". Slash's supergroup of collaborating muscians includes vocalist Myles Kennedy, bassist Todd Kerns and drummer Brent Fitz. Despite not being a massive Guns n' Roses fan, I find it hard not to appreciate the performance of such a talented muscian with a stage presence as impressive as Slash. I last saw Slash play at Soundwave 2010, where he played a daytime set for a moderately sized crowd, competing with other artists from that years lineup. However, the Brisbane riverstage at night seemed to be a much more comfortable environment for the rock legend. Scoring a free ticket to the gig only that night, I arrived early into the set, waded my way through the sea of stoned, middle aged metal heads and found a great vantage point just in time for the Guns n' Roses classic, "Sweet Child O' Mine". The atmosphere there was tangible, a sea of awe-inspired eyes looked to the guitarist as the bodies they bolonged to swayed gently in time to the classics of their younger years. As I managed to make my way into the mosh, I became surrounded by the six-foot plus, 80's looking punk crowd, wondering if they rocked out as hard as they looked. To my suprise, it was one of the most tame mosh pits that I've ever experienced. Instead of the usual agression and intensity filled atmosphere of a rock-metal concert, there was a much calmer atmosphere of nostalgia and comradery amongst the sea of people. There really is something beautiful about music and the way that it brings strangers together to enjoy special and surreal evening. Thanks again music.

Jour1111 - Week 2 Lecture

Week 2 Lecture; New News

Once upon a time, there were only few ways of distributing media to the consumers of news and advertising. We knew these mediums as newspapers, magazines, television and radio. However, with the emergence and evolution of the much more efficient forms of mass communication via the internet, the "old media" was naturally selected by us the consumers, to die a slow and painful death. Web 1.0, the first generation of internet platforms was much like an extension of offline media in the way that it was presented and utilised and paved the way for a wave of "new media" which we came to know as Web 2.0 or "the social web" for it's introduction to the world of social networking. The sudden burst of social networking over the internet began to transform consumers in producer-users. This then continued the evolutionary path for Web 3.0 which changed the way we used the internet by adding machine-readablemeaning to the packets of information being sent paving the way for "meta tags". This technology also exploded into the mobile phone world making mobile internet more effective and efficient than ever. 

But what does this all mean for news and journalism? As news platforms began to adapt to these technologies, news and information began to become much more of a collective resource than a media commodity. Newspapers had to expand to online publications to keep up with the demand of instant news and information from their consumers and competitors, however, also creating the problem of how to sustain consistant profit margins. The new tools provided by Web 3.0 and social networking then gave way to a new generation of advertising and thankfully, creativity within online advertising in order to financially sustain online publications. But will this threaten the careers of medern journalists? Hopefully not. As we saw cassettes, VHS and now even DVD's be over run by new media platforms, some older media forms such as vinyl (yeah vinyl!) suffer, but begin to thrive in its new world of technology. In my opinion, newspapers will be the vinyl of the news media world.