Driven to Distraction #5

In the end of the book I learned about the process towards people defining if they have ADD and how they come to these conclusions. The interesting part of it all is there is not just one certain test that everyone can take to determine if they have this learning disability as there are several steps to take to come to these conclusions. This was alluded to by Edward Hallowell when he said, "There is no definitive test for ADD, no blood test or electroencephalogram reading, or CAT scan or PET scan or X ray, no pathognomonic neurological finding or psychological testing score"(195). This is very intriguing because there is a 4-step process in finding these determinations for certain people. It starts with seeking help from a professional in this field, then you review your history to areas where there can be signs to having symptoms of ADD, 3rd you consider all the possibilities that are signs from this history, and lastly proceed with some psychological testing. In my process my parents noticed some signs of struggles in some of my school work and through my life which led them to send me to a professional to do these tests. It was a brutal process where I had to take several tests pertaining to my attention span, including areas where I struggled in including reading comprehension to define why I had these struggles. After all the testing was done we sat down with my parents where the professional discussed my scores with my parents and how she drew my conclusion that I had this learning disability, partly due to the fact that I couldn't completely focus during stages of the tests. This issue is very interesting to me because I didn't really know much about it all until last year when I went through this whole test. I knew that my brother had ADD as well, but didn't fully understand what it meant. I am glad that I read this book on this commonly known learning disability and I think that many more people need to begin to take some time to learn about this issue that millions of people in the world have because it is something that most people will eventually come across and it will be better if they understand all about it to give them more understanding to where these people are coming from and with some of the things they have to say.

Driven to Distraction #4

As I have continued to read this book I have found so many similarities to these situations occurring with kids and their families through the different short stories to my life. ADD can have many affects on families which can lead to several arguments that are created stemming from this learning disability. One quote that really seemed to stick with me as they gave a concrete example of ADD stating, "You don't mean to do the things you do do, and you don't do the things you mean to do"(127). I found this quote very powerful to me because I feel the same way as I do some things I don't mean to do which can lead to arguments with my friends and family and then think to myself why I did them. With ADD it may cause people to say some things they never mean to say, but have trouble in some situations as you can't take back what you say. This can cause people to be irrational in some situations and will start may arguments which can be very bad for friends and families. When kids with ADD are never diagnosed are off their medicine it will cause them to act in these types of ways and can move families into different directions as it could build them stronger by working through the problems together, or detrimental when arguments are blown up which lead to many issues in the family. The issue is that relationships among close ones can be impacted negatively to those with ADD if kids don't get help with this problem.

Driven to Distraction #3

In the previous chapters I discussed how it was an issue that so many people are undiagnosed with ADD and how it can affect them in their adult lives. As I was to read more of the book and learn more about people with ADD and the way it affects their lives I found another issue behind this problem. Some parents may not test their kids for it which can affect them negatively, but even worse parents can blame their kids for many things that they have no control over since they have ADD but the parents are unaware as many of these children are undiagnosed. A personal story from a girl named Sarah from Tennessee was accused by her father as he is was described, "a woman who was told from an early age by her father that she had no sense than a jay-bird and that her main problem was that she was lazy"(94). It was very unfortunate for Sarah because as she was being accused by her father of being lazy, unorganized, and was blaming her for her struggles in school and for having difficulties with other things in life. Sarah was later diagnosed with ADD and began to take medicine to focus on certain tasks to help her accomplish them at an efficient rate. Her family found vast improvements in her life and her dad finally realized that it really wasn't all her fault that she was struggling in all these areas. This is such an issue because parents could be accusing their kids of certain things because they have trouble in these areas. Since many kids have these learning disabilities but the parents don't know about it, it causes them to blame their children for many things that are almost out of their control. Ever since I have been on my medicine I have been a much more productive student with my work and have been able to accomplish my assignments earlier with better quality. There are so many cases like this and getting medicine for children with these learning disabilities will only help them in their schoolwork.

Driven to Distraction #2

With Attention Deficit Disorder being very common for many children as certain aspects in which the way the act can be hints to if they have ADD, parents have to take the extra step to find out if their children really have it. Obviously some cases are much more severe than others and are easier to detect, but some people may not want to get tested for it because they may think they don't have it. The most evident area to find whether kids make a stronger case to having a diagnosis of ADD is through schoolwork. This was found in my personal experiences with my test scores where my parents had to question some things about me and this was an eye opener as Edward Hallowell relayed to in this book when he said, "The most reliable diagnostic tool is the individuals history as elicited from the child, parents, and, very importantly from teacher reports" (42). School can be a great indicator as the teachers are able to notice trends in their students to areas they struggle and where they do well, evidently giving clues to a possible learning disability. The biggest issue with this is the amount of people that are undiagnosed. It can have a negative effect on their lifestyle as Hallowell said, "There are a great many adults out there in the world with undiagnosed ADD who think of themselves in all sorts of unnecessary negative terms. They may have fast-track hyper kinetic personalities, be impatient, restless, impulsive, often intuitive and creative but unable to follow through, frequently unable to linger long enough to develop a stable intimate relationship" (52). There are social and personal problems that can affect these adults in a negative manner and prevent them from being able to act on the same level as others. I guess I can say there are some positives as well with a broadened imagination as these individuals will be more creative. I am not sure to what extent it has on them, but this could be either a good or bad thing for some people. Overall it is a major problem that so many people are still undiagnosed today because there are so many negative impacts it can have of their lifestyles and they should to their best to make a change by getting tested.

Driven to Distraction #1

For my book this semester I have been reading Driven to Distraction by Edward Hallowell and John Ratey a book about Attention Deficit Disorder and how to recognize and deal with it from childhood throughout the rest of people's lives. This was an intriguing issue that I wanted to read more about on because as I did not discover until my junior year in high school that I had ADD I wanted to see how parents deal with their kids in recognizing potentials kids of having it and how they deal with it. This disorder is one of the most common disabilities in the entire world and the most amazing this about it is that so many people do not realize that they have it because they are never once in their lives tested for it. Hallowell alluded to this when defining ADD as he said, "Many of the symptoms of ADD are so common to us all that for the term ADD to have specific meaning, rather than just be a scientific-sounding label for the complex lives we lead, we need to define the syndrome carefully. The best way to understand what ADD is and what it is not is to see how it affects the lives of people who have it" (3). The fact that ADD is so common many people don't realize that it could be affecting their lives in some ways and there are ways to fix it, but since there are not scientific labels for it, that is the reason so many don't realize they have it. For me I have always been able to get all my work done on time, but throughout my high school career I have procrastinated constantly and have seen drops in my grades due to poor grades on my final tests. These final tests were always a challenge for me and that was one of the reasons why I got tested on top of the fact that it took me a while to finish up tests, in hopes of maybe getting extended time for my ACT. I was diagnosed with ADD, but didn't havethe credentials to get extended time for the ACT. I have been taking medicine ever since and it has definitely made a significant positive difference helping me concentrate in class and be a much more effective student.

Gambling #4

Today I read through two of my last sources of this project and learned about some of the negative factors of gambling and its relation to the economy and how different types of gambling are available in all states. When I think of gambling I just think of Las Vegas people going to the casino playing blackjack, roulette, craps, and other games. The lottery that is legal in all states in the U.S. is another form of gambling that can be seen on a smaller sector. Gambling is a form of putting money into an investment where no one knows the outcome of it. This fits the lottery as people put wages into the lottery with uncertainty if they will win the big jackpot gambling their money away to this industry. There are so many negative aspects to gambling as some critics from ABC-CLIO talked about gambling saying, "it is immoral, it destroys families, attracts crime, and leads to addiction, infidelity, and bankruptcy. Some critics also argue that gambling addiction can even be responsible for divorces and suicides." With all these factors in the air when gambling is involved, this industry can do nothing but hurt the economy. People argue that this industry actually helps the economy because it creates more jobs, and gives the government more money to invest in necessary areas. This will not be an industry that creates more jobs, it actually loses jobs as people get addicted to the game and let it take over their lives which can lead to them losing their jobs and money. The money that these citizens are losing in the casinos or through the lottery are losing the money that they would spend on necessities such as clothes, household goods, and food. It is more important to maintain an economic strength in these areas because they are the industries keeping the economy alive, while gambling is moving the economy in the opposite direction. The negative aspects completely outweigh the positive ones of gambling so that is why I am a firm believer that they should not make it legal to gambling in Chicago is it will hurt our economy overall.

Gambling #3

In my research today I focused on the state of Illinois and the new laws to allow gambling throughout the state and the different perspectives of the citizens living in the area through a few articles from the Chicago Tribune. In the first article I read they talked about how McHenry county was allowing gambling in their area, and initially they were completely against the idea because of the concerns of gambling addiction problems that would occur to the people in the area. In essence they thought about gambling and how other areas are allowing it and making a ton of money off of it so there is no reason why they shouldn't make it legal in their area. Surprisingly this article did not really highlight the positive reasoning's behind why they would make it legal in their county other than they will generate more revenue to give themselves more spending money. In the second article I read from the Tribune, I was able to read up on the voters in the state and their opinions on gambling being allowed in the state. The citizens were torn between allowing it, having no opinion, and making illegal in the state, but the highest percentages where people opposing it as 48% opposed it, 29% favored, and 23% had no opinion. People are clearly opposed to this because it really has negative impacts on people and their families.Therese Hendrix, a 39-year-old poll respondent from Lansing was strongly opposed to it as she said, "Gambling destroys families and people's lives and I don't think it really increases revenue for the state like manufacturing or other types of jobs would". Seeing all the different statistics within state citizens being opposed to allowing gambling in different areas of the state and how it could impact their voting for state mayor, showed this issue can really impact people's lives. Before my research I was sort of in between to rather I was in favor or opposed to making gambling legal in the state of Illinois, but after my third day of research, reading these articles today I've realized that we do not need this in our state as it will only be causing problems to peoples lives.  

Gambling #2

In today's research I read through one my sources in depth from Gale Virtual Library about all the background behind gambling and the lottery. Within this database it linked me up to another article that was very interesting about a personal story from Tony McDew where gambling took over his life. McDew was a technician who was doing pretty well bringing in income, but he always felt that he needed to make more money to buy things for his girlfriend and have more spending money. This was when he turned to gambling as another hopeful source of income. As he first experienced playing on the slot machines he made some money, hearing the lights go off and goes spill down into his pocket. This glimpse of victory was only a bad turning point in his life as Tony became very addicted to this game and didn't want to stop playing. McDew never had any drug problems, but he explained the exhilaration of winning by saying, "it's like you're getting high" and this addictive lifestyle took over for him. He even went far enough to compare himself to a crack addict cause it was something he couldn't stop. He kept losing thousands of dollars playing these games and he had to make excuses to his wife as if he was jumped and robbed and that's why he never had any money as he was taking his paychecks straight to the casinos. Overall he lost over $35,000 and he is a prime example of the basis of the pathological gamblers he get addictive to this game and take a very negative turn in their lives. Though this billion dollar industry is helping the government in some ways with having more spending money, it is ruining the lives of many citizens lives in terms not allowing them to consume in the economy.

Gambling Post #1

Today I searched through several different databases to learn more about my topic of gambling and all the places it impacts from the people to the government. Overall I gathered together six sources today from many websites from the library subscription database to other great sources such as CNN and the Chicago Tribune. One of the websites that was very insightful to me was ABC-CLIO which talked about the economic side of gambling. The gambling industry is one of the most profitable business areas in the entire world and it is intriguing to see if this business will help or hurt the economy. It could go either way because on one side of it, the government will be able to generate billions of dollars in revenue and then they are free to spend it on necessary things that will help the country out. On the other side of it, the consumers will be losing so much money from the addicting game and then the consumers will not have money to spend within the market of the economy making the economies profits lower. Through ABC-CLIO they took the approach that this industry actually helps out the economy as more money comes into the economy instead of it staying with their consumers and allows the government to spend money of necessary things such as construction and maintaining parks. This sources believes that if there is more money in the government, they will have more money to build necessary things, that will help generate more jobs in these areas. This is just the beginning of my research, but the facts and analysis I learned from this one article has not swayed me to believe that gambling actually does help out the economy as a whole.

NBA Veteran Jason Collins coming out

NBA twelve year veteran center Jason Collins has came out today and announced he is gay becoming the first male athlete in professional sports to come out as gay while being active as a player. This is a monumental moment in the sports industry because when role models such as Collins have things like this all built up, it is hard for them to let out, as they are uncertain how the media and the rest of society surrounding them will react to it. In the article I read about this news off USA Today Collins said, "I even got engaged. I thought I had to live a certain way. I thought I needed to marry a woman and raise kids with her. I kept telling myself the sky was red, but I always knew it was blue." This shows he had some insecurity about living his life the way he should and just since it was the social norm to marry the opposite sex he believed back then he should do that. After the news was surfaced all over the media he got major support from athletes all over the country supporting him and his decision to stand up for himself and be his own person. Collins who played this last season with the Washington Wizards also got much support from their organization, and as Collins will be a free-agent this offseason it will be interesting to see where he goes from here. It might be weird for some of the players to hear about this news, but you can do nothing except support someone like this who was the courage to do something like this as an active player so i'm sure he will be able to stand up for others in a similar situation that he was in.

School shooting's continuing to occur

About 30 minutes ago I just heard the news of a student who pulled out a gun in his classroom and attempted suicide in the classroom when shooting himself.  The investigation is going on currently trying to find out why this student decided to act upon himself inside a classroom and his intentions around it. The only news they have gathered so far is that the student was not trying to cause any harm to anybody else besides himself as the students all gathered in a separate room crying. The kid is at a hospital currently in critical condition where they are trying to keep him alive from this shooting. There are several problems involved in this case one being gun control that has been a major issue in the United States. The U.S. has more deaths by shootings than any other country in the world and this is partly because of the easy access kids have to guns. President Obama and others are trying to make changes to prevent these tragedies from occurring by making the gun laws more strict in a push to make citizens feel more safe. The other issue raised here besides gun control is the mental health of Americans. Many citizens in this country have mental health problems, but are not given the correct treatment to help them deal with them, which can lead to them acting out making them threats to society. In part with health care, it should include mental health as well because it as just as much as a problem as the regular situations health care covers. With these mental health problems involved in many U.S. citizens it is causing them to have horrible thoughts making them feel self-conscious, leading them to do horrible things like this and attempting suicide just like this kid did. President Obama has a lot of problems on had and he needs to make a strong push to stop tragedies from helping and solve the issues of gun control and health care.

14 year-old professional Phenom

With The Masters golf tournament starting up yesterday continuing through Tiger Woods has not seemed to be the major headline of the tournament, rather 14 year old golfer from China Guan Tianlang makes history as the youngest player to ever compete in a major golf tournament. Tianlang was the winner of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship which helped put him in this position to be able to compete with the best players in the world in this tournament. To even think about a kid playing in this tournament at my age of 18 is crazy, but the fact that this kid is in eight grade and has not even experienced high school is unbelievable that he is competing a such a high level. On top of being the youngest to ever compete in this golf tournament, he amazed many viewers yesterday as he played unbelievable on his first day in the match shooting a 73 just one over par putting himself in place to qualify to making the cut. He has already surpassed all the expectations on the first day by playing this well, so if he makes the cut that would be a remarkable accomplishment. He only weighs about 130 pounds and he is able to crush the ball with his drives putting him in position for success which is so impressive. I will continue to watch this tournament over the weekend and no matter how Guan does in the rest of the tournament he will still be the headline story. I am excited to see where this kids future goes starting at such a young age and from this start he might go down as one of the best golfers of all-time if he can keep up the work and live up to his current hype.

 

Hidden Biases

After looking over my results from this test it showed that I have a moderate preference for European Americans compared to African Americans. When looking at this data I am not very surprised by the outcome because in today’s society whites are more associated with good characteristics and blacks with bad ones so I think it was first nature for me to react in this way even though I feel that I do not have any bias towards one race over the other. Dating back to the days of slavery African Americans were always seen in a negative aspect and given the labels are lesser human beings associated with bad reputations. Now that slavery is over there are still the stereotypes for blacks that they are involved in gangs and crime laying a horrible image on their culture. I feel like this test cannot be an accurate interpretation of bias just by this game being played by everyone as it seems like most people will get similar results whether they have racist opinions or are neutral like I am.

When analyzing this page covering the stereotypes and prejudices that occur around the world every day, people have to understand that to have these stereotypes are much different than discriminating against others. People might have some opinions about race just because of how people are perceived in society, but there is a huge difference when people actually express their beliefs by singling out other races. This discrimination is all derived from the prejudices and stereotypes and are the building blocks that make people act on their opinions and discriminate against certain culture groups. As seen in the media people always try to exaggerate the truth and that is what starts all these stereotypes, prejudices, and biases, so after reading this page I have realized that the mass media is a vital piece to the reasoning of all these reputations for certain races. Hidden biases can make an impact on how I act because though I may not believe I have these biases, based on how things are perceived in the media and in society I naturally have these opinions and can force me to act in certain ways when being around these groups of people.

After taking this test from Harvard University it has given me insight to the reasons people are still so segregated today just like it was shown in the film “I Sit Where I Want”. In this film many students tried creating a movement to desegregate the seating arrangements in the lunchroom so that there were a variety of races sitting with each other instead of all the groups at the lunch table being separated by their race. The information I learned today has helped me discover why these people where not really able to make a change to who they sit with due to the hidden biases that everyone has. Since all the races where sitting with each other every year at lunch they felt more comfortable being around their race and since they didn’t know much about other races because of stereotypes they had if scared them away from trying to open up their horizons and interact with the other races. I think people need to try and block out all the stereotypes they have towards certain races and cultures and give them a chance because if you open up your opportunities and try to learn more about other cultures it can help eliminate the negative hidden biases and help to meet more people, creating a larger range of friends

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Lil' Wayne in Coma

On Friday March 15th the news came out the YMCMB rapper Lil' Wayne was found in a hospital in critical condition after he suffered a serious seizure that caused him to be in a coma. This story was completely blown up all over the media as TMZ reported that Wayne was in a near death situation and this news erupted all over the social media of Twitter and Facebook.  Dr. Michael Privitera, a professor and the director of the Epilepsy Center at the University of Cincinnati Neuroscience Institute explained that these seizures could happened for various reasons. In Wayne's case it was believed that this occurred due to the overdose of strong prescription drugs like codeine, in which Wayne is notorious for abusing. Wayne has had previous incidents of a seizures in the past, but nothing serious has happened from them like the one from this weekend. YMCMB President Mack Maine was very angered with the media coverage of this story when it was reported his fellow rap artist was near death as the media blew up the story and exaggerated some of the facts. The prescription drug of codeine cough syrup has been popular in the rap industry as one of the drugs that has been abused and there have been concrete evidence of this drug having an extreme negative effect on the body as former rapper Pimp C and DJ Screw both died from the overdose of this drug. The main problem here is that these rappers know the negative affects of this drug such as seizures that could lead to death as it has with the prime examples of former rappers. If this incident to Wayne doesn't stop him from abusing this drug, then I don't know what will because as he was reported to be in a coma and near death it should show him the signs that death could be upon him if he continues this path. Hopefully this story will make a difference to some of the drug abusing that is going around the world and make a stop to people torturing their bodies like this.

Sides of Greek Life

It was very interesting seeing the video in class about the young kid who passed away at college due to alcohol poisoning where he drank way too much for his body to handle when being part of this frat life. After watching this video of all the horrible things that go in Greek life whether it is the hazing or drinking people might question why anybody would want to join a frat. These people are just completely ignorant because from seeing one video about all the negative aspects of joining a frat do not nearly compare to the thousands of different frats around the country. There are so many parts to joining a frat that bring positive aspects to yourself and the ones around you. I definitely plan on joining a frat when I go to college because I believe it is a huge part of the social life. Though I might have to go through some hazing which will be bad for the time being I know that it will not be nearly as brutal as the things described in the Dartmouth article, or anything near that. Joining a frat house is always given the stereotypical of all being about partying and getting drunk with your friends in college. In reality, this is not nearly what the Greek life is all about as there are so many other positive aspects to it that some people may not realize until they join a frat and nobody is necessarily going to make you drink. For example, my dad was in a frat when he was in college and though he was not a big partyier or drinker, he was able to focus on his degree of getting a CPA in the business school and told me that joining the frat was one of the best decisions he made in college. He strongly suggested me to join a frat because you can create so many connections with people from all around the world and these relationships built through the social life can only impact you in a positive way. If strong bonds are built with your brothers around you it can help in the future when making connections in the working environment and if you portray your image in a positive aspect then it can do nothing but help to build success to your resume. Overall after seeing these videos and reading these articles my decision has not changed to my choice of wanting to join a frat because I believe all the relationships built within them is worth it all and having a balance between a good social life and schoolwork is important to have throughout your entire life.

Drew Peterson locked up

One of the most recognized mass murderers in the media, Drew Peterson was finally sentenced again to jail to 38 years in jail for killing his third wife Kathleen Savio. Peterson has been surfacing the news for several years as two of his four wives were found dead and many believe that they were both linked to a homicide committed by Drew Peterson. After Peterson was found guilty back in September of a murder of Savio, his defense team asked for a retrial as they believed the death was due to the accident and that this was not a deliberate murder. On February 21, 2013 they found Peterson guilty once again and as he pleaded for his innocence by saying "I did not kill Kathleen!" that wasn't nearly enough to all the evidence linked to the homicide and that was why he was forced to be locked up in the jail cell for the remainder of his life. His fourth wife Stacy Peterson was also found dead back in 2007, but her disappearance was never solved though several people Drew Peterson was linked to her death as he was believed to be the murderer of her as well. After hearing this sentenced of Drew Peterson going to jail for the rest of his life brings joy to me and many other people around the world. There were never any charges that could be put on Peterson for the death of his fourth wife Stacy because of the fact that there was no concrete evidence in that case, but the point that the jury all found Peterson guilty of the murder of his third wife Kathleen Savio proves that this criminal deserved to be put in jail. This man was an extreme threat to society as he was a possible mass murderer being linked to the deaths of two of his four wives and if this man was free to the public no one knows what criminal mistake he would make next. It's about time that this man was put away and it is nice to see that any joy in this guys face was taken away after hearing his sentencing from the judge.

Murderous Blade Runner

Yesterday on Valentines Day we found out that Double Amputee Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius was charged with the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. After becoming a role model for several young kids and all amputee victims around the world that you can compete with the best in any condition, his image and reputation began to disintegrate as the story of this tragedy began to unfold. Police investigators said that there had been previous allegations of domestic nature and previous incidents at their home, but nothing that was ever serious enough to see something like this occur. The girlfriend of the blade runner started the day off happy as can be as she went on twitter to say "It's a beautiful day! Make things happen. Starting my day off with a yummy healthy shake from my boo,". It is so sad to hear about this tragic event that occurred on Valentine's Day when the life of a young model was taken away when killed by several gunshots from Pistorius. It crazy how his image has flipped so rapidly from being a motivational story when being able to compete at such a high level running with the best in the world and representing his country of South Africa, and then having this burden on his life of having the image of being a murderer. I understand that nobody is guilty until they are proven it in court so we don't know if the accusations are too harsh at these times, but it is completely saddening to hear that the innocent life of this model was taken away.  

Another U.S. Shooting

Today on February Monday 11th 2013, another shooting in the United States occurred as two women were shot and killed inside of a courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware as well as two officers being shot, but were not wounded because of the bulletproof vests they were wearing. The story is still developing as it occurred this morning around 8 A.M., but news reports believe that the killers estranged wife was seemed to be as one of the victims. Ironically this shooting happened on the day that the police chief of Wilmington, Delaware was scheduled to be in Philadelphia to attend a round table discussion about gun safety where Vice President Joe Biden, law enforcement officials and members of Congress were expected to be there. After discussing gun control and all of the shootings that have been occurring the U.S. it doesn't seem like there are anything stopping these criminals from causing tragedies to many families in these murderous acts. When we finished watching the film by Michael Moore of Bowling for Columbine it was clear that the regulations for people to receive these hazardous weapons was way too easy and this was one of the reasons for so many gun killings every year. It is nice to hear that Joe Biden was planning on having a meeting about gun safety because in America it is outrageous to the amount of deaths every year just from gun shootings. The government needs to continue to regulate the laws around gun control and the selling of these weapons and there needs to be a change to stop all of these tragedies from happening so often.

Sexual Assault

After exploring more of sexual assault through the discussions we had in class and within the different articles read I have learned that there are so many sides to these stories and that the people involved in the incidents can vastly change the outcomes of what the consequences are to come in the future. With the article we read about the girl who got raped by two football players that attended Stubenville high school when she was out unconscious shows the impact of how the people involved with the incident significantly changes the outcome. In this town it seemed like the only thing the people cared about was the football and their success as a team and when this terrible event occurred everyone was focused on the players and not the humiliation and pain suffered by this young girl. The same things occur at these fraternities when sexual assault occurs they seem to only be focused on these frats being suspended and kicked off campus rather than what happens to stories of the people impacted by it. I think there needs to be a stop to this sexual assault around the country, but this is just not a reasonable thing that will happen because people will continue to make these choices but there should be a change to how these stories are presented as they should focus on the people impacted not on the other side of the stories that seem to be getting the media attention.

Armstrong becomes weak

After being on the top of the world for the majority of his life becoming on of the best cyclists of all-time winning the Tour De France 7 times, Lance Armstrong finally turned weak as he could not live his life with this lie his whole life and he confessed with his involvement with the most successful doping program in sports history. This story came to a surprise to everyone because it was different than the performance enhancing drugs the baseball players used as it was vivid that they became much bigger and stronger and had a huge impact on their success in the game. With Lance there were never visuals when seeing his body that he was using these performance enhancing drugs so investigations like the ones conducted in the MLB did not occur for him. The story of Armstrong being able to come back from cancer and succeed was a great story that inspired many, but the fact that he cheated his way to have this success loses all my respect I've ever had for him and I give him no praise for the success he had in this sport. It was also great that he was able to raise awareness for his campaign of Livestrong where he raised millions of dollars to do research for cancer, but I do not feel any sympathy for him as he did this in the wrong way and made people feel bad for him while he was cheating the sport. Armstrong threatened the ones that knew about his doping that if they told anybody about the performance enhancing drugs he was using that there would be major consequences for them. After hearing of this story I have lost all respect for him as he ran one of the largest successful doping programs in the sporting worlds history and cheating people into investing into his campaign I will never be able to look at him in a positive way again. 

Manti Te'o

Manti Te'o the Notre Dame Linebacker claims to have been a victim of a hoax in which a girl he created a close relationship and considered his girlfriend was a false person and the news of her death dying from leukemia was never a true story. There are so many skeptical parts to this story that are confusing and the fact that this story received so much media speculation questions my beliefs of Te'o through this story. The story of Te'o and his girlfriend claimed that the unfortunate events of this fake girl being diagnosed with leukemia motivated Te'o to play his best football ever which helped in leading his team to a BCS championship. The thing that makes this story so skeptical is the fact that one of the most recognized college athletes in the country would have a girlfriend through the Internet that he never had face to face interactions with the real person. He could probably be able to get plenty of girls at college, so why would he ever have an online girlfriend? There are many spins to this story and according to one source at deadspin.com that was quoted in the L.A. Times as they claimed they were "80% sure" that Te'o was involved with the whole story. I understand that I do not know how credible this source is, but the fact that this popular football player would ever have a cyber relationship with someone he barely knows. I am curious to hear more information about this investigation and to hear all the facts about it, but though I understand he may have a great heart I believe that he may have been involved with this whole story in order to get media attention as I think he knew about this all along

"Bad Bet" Blog Post Five

Now that I have finished up with Bad Bet by Timothy O'Brien, I have really been able to get a grasp and understanding about the entire gambling industry and all of the aspects that come along with it.  I was able to see all of the perspectives from the lives of the gamblers, owners, employees, and other residents living in these areas along with the impact that this had on their lives. It was interesting to see how the gambling industry impacted the lives of so many people from hearing stories about notorious poker players who dedicate their lives to understanding the strategies of the game and being able to read their opponents to help in making certain wagers throughout and having deception to simply beat out the weaker links in the game. It was nice to see the other perspective of the gamblers on the older side who enjoyed the thrill of playing the slot games when receiving the accommodations of free food and drinks to go along with them as they went to their usual spots with friends in hopes of making some cash. I was able to learn so much information about all of the games in the casinos in the ways to play games such as craps and roulette to learning the strategies that blackjack gamblers take in counting cards to give themselves better odds at winning. It was very intriguing to learn about all the things that go on with the gambling industry and all of the work done by the owners and their respective hotels/casinos. With the history of dealing with Mob members to generate revenue, to the present times of billionaires such as Donald Trump and his adventure of getting loans from several places in order to open many extravagant casinos to compete with the most luxurious casinos in Las Vegas. There are several dangers within the gambling business and with real life situations displayed in this book makes me want to not get too involved with the industry as it can impact my life and cause a downward spiral. I would highly recommend this book to anyone out there as it is  very informative about everything going on within the gambling industry and many perspectives are able to be seen through the different personal stories.

"Bad Bet" Blog Post Four

As I have progressed further in this book I have seen some of the issues that the casinos encounter through their journey of the hundred million dollar revenue generating business. Now that these casinos have moved past their involvements with Mob affiliated associates because of the problems they encounter with them they are not able to generate an enhanced rate of revenue with millions of dollars being exchanged sketchily. While this has not impacted the casinos these days, the strategies by the gamblers have negatively impacted some of the gains by these companies. The aspect of card counting has been a way for gamblers to play of the game of blackjack differently as they count cards in order to give themselves a better chance of winning more money. Players can count cards by assigning -1 to high cards and +1 to low cards and then keep a track of their count while playing the game and place their wagers and make decisions during the game based on the current count. There are no laws that exists that disallow the ability to count cards, but if the casinos suspect you of counting cards they could kick you out of the casino and other consequences could occur to those gamblers. In the late 1970's and throughout the 1980's the casinos would deal with these people differently as on top of kicking them out of the casino they would take them outside and beat them brutally trying to teach them the lesson to not count cards in a way the casinos think they are cheating the system. As lawsuits started to pile up because of this physical damage the casinos ended these physical messages sent to the card counters as they were losing more money when being sued by these customers. For some players that card count they are never count because they are not placing large enough wagers at the casinos which are not impacted the money lost in the casino, but the card counters who are making the big bucks are the ones that these casinos crack down on. Tom Hyland a notorious blackjack card counter is recognized is several casinos as he and a group of trusted others place large bets in their success to making a lot of money. Hyland and his team wear wigs and mustaches to cover up their image, but as they are well known by many casinos and have had many bad interactions including being held at gunpoint and being threatened for his card counting. Hyland and his associates have wiggled their ways out of these situations and have continued to make money in different casinos. There is the issue that casinos feel they are being cheated by these gamblers by this strategy, but I do not believe it is a corrupt way to manage your money because just since a gambler may know how to count cards does not mean they will be making a lot of money because a huge part of the game of blackjack is luck through being dealt good cards. Counting cards doesn't guarantee anything and many of these gamblers have lost thousands of dollars also through this strategy. This method takes intelligence and confidence as these customers have to think on their feet and react quickly during the game while having to make their decisions and keeping the count in their head with each card. Many of these gamblers do this as their main job and make up to $100,000 a year but this aspect of life takes in too much stress with the ability to lose thousands of dollars every day along with the anxiety of getting kicked out of the casino if the gambler is recognized when making too much money.

"Bad Bet" Blog Post Three

Gambling is a game that has the compulsive and addicting aspect to it that keeps customers at tables and sitting at their computers for hours in hopes of eventually getting on a roll to make some money. In this book Timothy L. O'brien stated that on the basis of a Harvard study conducted back in 1997 there were 14.82 % of adolescents were considered to have a gambling problem as they were considered as active risk-taker when participating in this activity. The problem in this case here is that gambling disorders have been increasing vastly since this study was conducted around fifteen years ago and these Casinos are striving to keep these customers to coming back. The gambling industry is attacking this problem by doing everything in their power to grab the customers attention and continue to poke at these customers problems. On top of continuing to take money from these people, though they are doing well themselves they are making a negative impact on the current economy. Compulsive gamblers are taking any money that they have on them and this leads to problems being created with the IRS. These risk-takers are deciding to use their money on gambling and are not able to pay off their own bills. This creates problems with the IRS and only makes a bigger debt towards the overall debt that has topped over trillions of dollars and has added on to one of the main problems that the government is trying to deal with. The casino is not the only place that these companies are making money from, but they are also generating millions of dollars from their five-star restaurants, health spas, beauty salons, shopping center, and huge showrooms. According to this book some of the large casinos such as the Mirage are making over 2 million dollars a day and these facts were recorded in the 90's so you can only imagine that they are making even more everyday in these modern times. Hopefully one day I will have the luxury to be able to stay in one of these nice Las Vegas hotels one day and spend some money like they want me to do, but for now there is no need to be blowing any cash on unnecessary things like these compulsive gamblers are continuing to do.    

"Bad Bet" Blog Post Two

Now that I have gotten further in this book I have been able to learn about the gambling industry and how it came up throughout the years and has become one of the largest money making industries in the world. In the 1930's when Las Vegas started to separate themselves from all the other states in the U.S. there was a ton of competition among the casinos to have the most appealing place trying to attract the most customers as possible. Instead of the normal casinos containing just the usual blackjack, poker, craps, and other gambling tables many owners decided to make a change to the outlook of their place in order to get everyone to come so that they could generate more revenue. With the majority of gamblers having the likability of losing money the owners and general managers of these casinos wanted to do anything to wipe out those negative aspects of the game so they could just have a good time and not think about how much money they would be losing. Casinos were willing to lose some money to their customers because they felt enticed that they would make the money back from the gamblers so they offered their customers free food, drinks, and even lodging at their hotels. This was already intriguing for the customers that they would get all these free accommodations if they would gamble, and on top of this they would have entertainment to attract them even more including acts by famous musicians such as Frank Sinatra, entertain them with cocktail parties, trapeze acts at the front of the casinos, merry go rounds, and more. As the casinos like Caesars, Desert Palace, Circus Circus, and others competing against each other for customers they were willing to do anything in order to get them to attend their place. It seems like there are no issues going on with the casinos, but on the other side of it there were  reasons for the casinos being able to afford all of these expensive entertainment. The Mob was highly involved with much of the success of these Las Vegas casinos at these times. Many of the biggest casinos had sketchy business transactions with Mob members and were able to make up from any of the money they lost by being connected with these criminals. Later through investigations by the FBI and discoveries by the IRS where millions of dollars had not been recorded in the casinos books but were part of their revenue. As they cracked down on these members such as Frank Costello, Edgar Hoover, and Michael Sarno the casinos had to pull back on some of the entertainment and other accolades of the casino. Some casinos stayed away from the high roller methods of betting and were able to attract more people based on the lower wages that many people in the time were interested in. It is clear that all these casinos were able to make up for the problems they had with the involvement with Mob members, but this was a major issue in these times. There are schemes going on in everyday businesses and though they will have their luxury for the time being they will eventually get caught for these actions and they will serve major consequences (like Bernie Madoff). The possibility of being on top for a certain time is not worth the risk because when these criminals are caught their life makes a 360 and they will be leaving their families with uncertainty of where to go in the future. Hopefully the large industries can continue to stay clean and these investigations will not have to occur again.

"Bad Bet" Blog Post One

The gambling industry is one of the most successful businesses in the world because of exciting thrill of having a chance of winning money creates an addicting activity that brings in millions of dollars in revenue every year. In Timothy O'Brien book of Bad Bet, he explores the variety of places where the gambling business is striving and how the Internet is starting to take over around the world. With sportsbetting and other types of gambling being illegal in all states in the U.S. besides Nevada, many websites from countries all over the world are beginning to create large revenues within their businesses when people are confound to the ability to gamble within their own home on websites based outside the U.S. In one of the websites talked about in this book, Centrebet, an online sports betting site based in Australia has had success bringing in revenue from customers all around the world to join this virtual casino. One of the General managers of the company said, "I think it's a great innovation that people can sit in the confines of their own home and disseminate information and place a bet without the stigma of walking down to the corner and placing a bet with a bookie"(Ian Loughlin, general manager). This is the issue right here because as the United States is trying to crack down on this addiction of gambling, there are so many different escape routes to get back into this game and end up losing money when having several options of virtual casinos online based in different countries. This gambling addiction can immediately ruin any happiness in a persons life as these places are so inviting and intriguing to play the games and within an hour thousands of dollars can be washed down the drain as these online casinos continue to make millions. I understand these possibilites first hand as I enjoy making bets within my friends and family to make the games more enjoyable and competitive when money is on the line. The way that this has not become a problem within my lifestyle is because the wages I make are at low amounts and I do not let it get into the way of my daily routine. The outcome of if I win or lose does not impact my life significantly and these gambles have not become an addiction to me. Casinos and online sports betting websites will be available to me once I am of age, but I know that I cannot let them get in the way of my life to a significant amount because if a lot of money is wagered it can change the way I live and go about things and can change who I am as a person. The Casino industry will continue to have success because of the addicting aspect of the game, but people need to find better ways to invest their money in gambling situations. I have a different way to gamble that is a safer and smarter way to manage my money which is in the stock market. Any day I can lose or gain a thousand dollars here or there, but since I know my money is in a safe place I try to stay content with my money flow everyday as I am confident that I will be making a profit in the end, and so far the strategy has worked out well for me.