Sunday, February 26, 2012

RS 8: Gross Domestic Product

I had no idea what GDP was before this class.  I thought GDP stood for Good Dog Poop.  I had no clue.  I'm not into the whole thing about how rich or poor America is.  But now thanks to my Marco-economics class and my great professor (Engel) I know GDP stands for Gross domestic product.


"Gross domestic product (GDP) refers to the market value of all officially recognized final goods and services produced within a country in a given period." "GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living; GDP per capita is not a measure of personal income."


I was surprised that the United States of America's GDP is actually pretty good at $14.59 trillion dollars. ^^The graph above is the USA's GDP from 1960 to 2010.^^


This part of the blog is my take on the podcast Why GDP Is Like GPA by Robert Smith of NPR. This podcast was air on October 28, 2011.
I agreed with Robert Smith that GDP is like GPA.  GDP is like GPA because GDP is not a perfect number.  GDP and GPA are alike because both "paints a limited picture".  Also GDP is very hard to calculate just like GPA's are.


This part of the blog is my take on the article Why GDP Per Capita Can Start A Bar Fight by NPR.  This article was posted on January 10, 2012.  This article compares Europe's GDP and USA's GDP.  They talk about how each country spends their money to determine their GDP's.  I agree that USA does spend to much on the military.  The USA has to change there ways.


Above is a map of the world with all their GDP numbers.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

RS 7 "Title It Whatever You Want" << I like this Title Tho Engel

This blog post is my take on the video “Ken Robinson says schools are killing creativity” by Ken Robinson. This video was posted in June of 2006 and appeared on TED.  Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we're educating our children.
Sir Ken Robinson discusses how kids are all born artist, but lose it as they grow older.  Which I believe is true.  All little kids are creative, but Robinson believes they lose there creativeness as they taught in schools these days.  I believe this is not 100 percent true because if it was thee would be no artist in the world.  He also talks about we all dont know whats going to happen in 5 years and what the kids (starting school now) are going to be taught (and how if we dont what will happen how can we teach them).  


Robinson thinks creativity is as important as any subject in school.  "The grading system forces children to believe that if you get good grades then you are a smart person." "Kids then do not want to make mistakes because they want good grades making them fearful of taking chances." "Ken’s argument is that we are educating children out of their creativity and we are. Children are creative because they take chances and because they are scared of taking chances they lose their creativity."  He talked about a girl in the 1930s because she would not stop moving.  The doctors check her out and they left her alone.  The whole time they watched her dance.  She became a famous dancer after that.  Now and days they would of gave she pills to calm down.




I believe Sir Ken Robinson has great points.  This video was a great interesting video and it made it better that Sir Ken Robinson was a funny man. I believe you need a balance of both creativeness and education.  Creativeness helps kids express themselves.  Education is the key to this life, I mean maybe in the future is wont be as important.  But for now education is the key to surviving in this life.  Education means everything.  Having an education should get you a job you love, never worry about it, and you come home happy after working.  Being creative can get you place too but you got to get lucky and get discovered. Education is for some and creativeness is for some.  I believe in both and believe I do both.  The picture above^ is a little creation I drew last year during my (block) Media Studies class.^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Friday, February 10, 2012

RS 6 Personality Sorter

Personality test results


Ta-dah, your personality type is ESTP!
Extraverted (E) 57%Introverted (I) 43%
Sensing (S) 50%Intuitive (N) 50%
Thinking (T) 55%Feeling (F) 45%
Perceiving (P) 68%Judging (J) 32%

Artisan Portrait of the Promoter
There are lots of Promoters -- maybe ten or so percent of the population, and life is never dull around them. In a word, they are men and women of action. When a Promoter is present, things begin to happen: the lights come on, the music plays, the games begin. Clever and full of fun, Promoters live with a theatrical flourish which makes even the most routine events seem exciting. Not that they waste much time on routine events. In work and in play, Promoters demand new activities and new challenges. Bold and daring at heart, and ever-optimistic that things will go their way, Promoters will take tremendous risks to get what they want, and seem exhilarated by walking close to the edge of disaster. Because of this, they make the very best trouble-spot administrators and negotiators, and they can be outstanding entrepreneurs, able to swing deals and kick-start enterprises in a way no other type can.

Promoters also have a hearty appetite for the finer things of life, the best food, the best wine, expensive cars, and fashionable clothes. And they are extremely sophisticated in social circles, knowing many, many people by name, and knowing how to say just the right thing to most everyone they meet.

Charming, confident, and popular, Promoters delight their friends and investors with their endless supply of stories and jokes. At the same time, these smooth operators are usually something of a mystery to others. While they live in the moment and lend excitement - and unpredictability - to all their relationships, they rarely let anyone get really close to them. They have a low tolerance for authority and commitment, and are likely to leave situations where they are expected to toe the mark, or where they must play second fiddle. Promoters understand well the maxim, "He who travels fastest, travels alone," although they are not likely to be lonely for long, since their boldness and sense of adventure tends to make them highly attractive to many other people.

RS 5 Inside the Meltdown



I watched Inside the Meltdown, a documentary about the stock market crashing.  They mainly talked about Bear Stearns was an investment bank company, Lehman Brothers a global financial firm, and AIG an insurance corporation.  Bear Stearns was bought out, Lehman Brothers went bankrupted, AIG was the only one of these three businesses that stayed in business.  "There was literally a pause in that room where the oxygen left," says Sen Chris Dodd (D-Conn.).  This meltdown was extremely serious toward the United State future.  I think this was one of the worst downfalls in America.  I think since the United States government helped Bear Stearns that they should of helped Lehman equally to them.  This should not happen to major companies in the United States.  The United States government should have had a plan already made in case this could happen since it happened before.  I think Paulson and Bernanke were trying really hard to do something to help the United States.  I agree with Paulson and Bernanke’s plan to bail out the stock market.  Paulson got the nine largest banks in America to save the stock market.  I believe Paulson was a good man putting his country first and bring his enemies closer to help get the country out of this disaster.  Like they always said keep your friend close but your enemies closer.  And thats just my.................

Friday, February 3, 2012

RS 4 - A Former Lobbyist Tells All

This blog post is my take on the podcast A Former Lobbyist Tells All by Jacob Goldsteen and Alex Bloomberg of NPR. This podcast was aired on January 27th, 2012.


This podcast talks to a former lobbyist and what they do to get there.  In my opinion I found that if you got money then you can be a lobbyist. The lobbyist go to hundreds of fundraisers and keep some of the money they raise.  The money people get they get facetime with a high powers.  Nancy Pelosi when to 400 fundraisers. The lobbyist are selfish in my opinion.


They are many examples of the guideposts in this podcast. Such as there is no free lunch. The lobbyist paid to move highe up in the ranks.  Russell Simmons is even a lobbyist.


RS 3 My Learning Style

The results of Paul Guarino's learning inventory are:

Visual/Nonverbal 28 Visual/Verbal 22 Auditory 26 Kinesthetic 22

Your primary learning style is:

The Visual/ Nonverbal Learning Style

You learn best when information is presented visually and in a picture or design format. In a classroom setting, you benefit from instructors who use visual aids such as film, video, maps and charts. You benefit from information obtained from the pictures and diagrams in textbooks. You tend to like to work in a quiet room and may not like to work in study groups. When trying to remember something, you can often visualize a picture of it in your mind. You may have an artistic side that enjoys activities having to do with visual art and design.

Learning Strategies for the Visual/ Nonverbal Learner: 

Make flashcards of key information that needs to be memorized. Draw symbols and pictures on the cards to facilitate recall. Use highlighter pens to highlight key words and pictures on the flashcards. Limit the amount of information per card, so your mind can take a mental "picture' of the information.

Mark up the margins of your textbook with key words, symbols, and diagrams that help you remember the text. Use highlighter pens of contrasting colors to "color code" the information.

When learning mathematical or technical information, make charts to organize the information. When a mathematical problem involves a sequence of steps, draw a series of boxes, each containing the appropriate bit of information in sequence.

Use large square graph paper to assist in creating charts and diagrams that illustrate key concepts.

Use the computer to assist in organizing material that needs to be memorized. Using word processing, create tables and charts with graphics that help you to understand and retain course material. Use spreadsheet and database software to further organize material that needs to be learned.

As much as possible, translate words and ideas into symbols, pictures, and diagrams.