Marshall Johnston Public Feed

Marshall Johnston's Benchmark

Posted by Marshall Johnston in Globalization - Laufenberg on
My Benchmark

The most difficult part of this project was finding data about individual aspects of Philadelphia and finding a way to incorporate those stats into the paragraphs. All of the other parts were simple once you stopped worrying about how you were going to get them done and actually started doing them. My first step in getting my pictures was going topic by topic and thinking of something in center city/my neighborhood that involved the topic. Then all I had to do was go out and take pictures of whatever it was. My favorite image is the picture of our school because it's a bangin' picture, but that isn't the image that best encapsulates the effects of globalization in Philadelphia. I do the best job of showing/explaining the effects of globalization in Philadelphia with my image of the GAP bag. Even though I didn't go too deep in depth on the topic, I still wrote more information about that topic than any other mainly because that's the issue I know about more than any topic in the world. Globalization is naturally more prevalent in large cities than in small communities, so there is evidence of it everywhere in Philadelphia. When comparing Philadelphia to the other large cities in the United States, I think that we are all pretty much on the same scale in terms of how prevalent it is.

p.s. I apologize for the crap I turned in, I just figured it was better than nothing.

Marshall Johnston Extra Credit Blog Post Assignment

Posted by Marshall Johnston in Statistics - Thompson on
Of the four benchmarks we've completed so far this year, my favorite would have to be the grocery store benchmark from the first quarter. I enjoy doing work that may have an affect on my life rather than solving problem after problem and submitting my answers for your approval. Of the four benchmarks, the grocery store and study guide benchmarks were the only two that had some sort of impact on my life (other than improving my math skills). Even though this benchmark involved some of the most basic statistics topics we've learned, it still did a good job of challenging me. At this point in the year, we were learning about univariate data as well as some basic ways to visualize that data we had collected (histograms, stem & leaf plots, and box & whisker plots). We took what we had learned about how to collect and visualize data, and we were able to apply it by comparing the prices of certain items at grocery stores in order to determine which stores were the cheapest.

Inquiry: Our initial question was, what are the cheapest grocery stores in the city of Philadelphia?
Research: We researched by having each group member go to their individual grocery store and gather prices for 25 different items.
Collaboration: After each group member had gathered their information, we were able to compare results with each other and together we came up with graphs showing which stores were the cheapest.
Presentation: We presented our results in front of our classmates.
Reflection: Not only did we each have to write a reflection for the benchmark, but we also now know what stores to shop at as well as which products to buy if we are focusing on saving money.

Day in the Life of a Marshallese 12-Year-Old

Posted by Marshall Johnston in Globalization - Laufenberg on
​Here is my project

When I was 12, my day from 7:00am-2:00am was about the same. The only difference was that I was taking SEPTA to school rather than walking. When I came home, I didn't have to pick coconuts or go sell fishes I had just caught, I would just have to clean my room, and maybe sweep the house. However, when I turned 13, I started helping my father with his business a couple times per week. I stopped attending church when I was about ten, and those are the main differences in our day to day lives.

I expected most of the poverty I saw while I was researching because most indigenous people are on the lower end of their new societies. I didn't expect the boys and girls to have equal schooling opportunities from first grade to high-school. The poor children usually don't make it to high-school, but there is no real difference between boys and girls.

There are no real opportunities for indigenous children of the Marshall Islands. In order for a child's education to continue past eighth grade, they need to pay for school. The indigenous population usually can't afford to send their children to high-school, so they stay at home and their lives turn into whatever their mother/fathers life is. Eventually the male will choose a wife from another tribe (usually a distant cousin) and the cycle of life will continue.

Marshall's Q3 Globalization BM

Posted by Marshall Johnston in Globalization - Laufenberg on
My benchmark

The countries I used were Rwanda and Iran, two countries that have been in and out of wars for the last few decades. For each of the five points of collapse, I would research what the status of the issue had been for the last 40-80 years. If the problem was only getting worse, I would give it lower than a five, if it was steadily increasing, I would give it more than a five. How much more/less than a five I'd give the issue was dependent on the severity of the problem within the country. The only part of the five point framework which was difficult to analyze was the society's response to environmental damage. Friendly trade partners tied in with hostile neighbors, and environmental damage tied in with climate change. The societies response was always difficult to find because there are so many different opinions on the matter. If I could change one thing about my project, I'd make it more creative or visually appealing. I'm satisfied with the information I got, but visual appeal has never been a strong suit.

5-photo essay

Posted by Marshall Johnston in Globalization - Laufenberg on
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The United States is now notorious for our consumption of ludicrous amounts of energy. The majority of European nations was at one point standing in our shoes. Over the last decade, they have been turning to both nuclear energy and using more renewable energy sources in their efforts to go green.

http://elkolocalnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/renewable-energy2.png
http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/autopia/images/2007/07/04/greenhouse_gases.jpg
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/09/10/energy_crisis_1_2.jpg
http://pasco.ifas.ufl.edu/images/Light_Bulb_Idea.gif
http://www.ecosprinter.eu/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/nuclear.jpg
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Marshall's Q2 Benchmark

Posted by Marshall Johnston in American Government - Laufenberg on
LINK

The hardest part of this benchmark was finding specific laws/bills that were directly related to me. I had to take almost all of my examples from topics dealing with education because that is the largest part of my life which is controlled by the government. If I were eighteen instead of seventeen, this project would have proven a lot easier because it wouldn't take as long to find bill and laws that directly affect me. The older one gets, the more affects the government has on their every day life. A large part of this is because the older we get, the more we contribute to "the machine" as citizens; our largest votes are made with our wallets. I would like to analyze corporations roles in the United States government because they have so much power of everything that gets decided.

Liquor License Reflection

Posted by Marshall Johnston in American Government - Laufenberg on

My partner and I researched the long process of obtaining a license to sell liquor in the state of Pennsylvania. The first thing we found in our initial research was that liquor licenses are extremely specific. They are different for bars, restaurants, corner stores, etc. There are certain qualifications and papers you must fill out to distribute certain types of liquors. Purchasing a license alone has been know to cust up to 400,000$ in the state of Pennsylvania. There were about a dozen pieces of paper we had to fill out, and basically all of them asked for the same information. They were separate papers asking for the same information to be sent to different departments; it gets frustrating very fast. The process itself has many checks and balances to make sure that the people whom sell the liquor will be responsible, however the paperwork is still too much. The paperwork doesn't operate as part of the checks and balances system, it's just tedious repeated information. This could be a stretch, but I think the system became complicated after prohibition ended. Prior to prohibition everyone could sell alcohol which is why it used to be such a bigger problem then it is today. Prohibition ended, but regulation strengthened, thus we have the system we see in place today.

Blog post #3

Posted by Marshall Johnston in American Government - Laufenberg on

Legislature status in the long run great. Status as of now, eh....not so great.

Many states across the nation are having internal battles to legalize medicinal marijuana. Since those who tend to support medicinal marijuana are fairly liberal and those whom oppose it are fairly conservative, we start to see lots of controversy in the states that tend to not vote the same way in each election; among those states is Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is abnormal if anything when it comes to democrat vs republican. Making up for a large portion of Pennsylvania’s population is Philadelphia. In the city of Philadelphia, over 80% of residents tend to vote democrat (liberal). Once you travel outside of Philadelphia, you start to see the republican numbers skyrocket. If all of Pennsylvania were like Philadelphia, then there would be no controversy around medicinal marijuana in this state.

What is the status of this issue at the legislature?

There are two main bills pending in the house and the senate that are fighting to approve medicinal marijuana; House bill 1393, and Senate bill 1350. Both bills basically state the same thing, they want medicinal marijuana to be approved. The reasons for this vary from the amount of money it would save to boost our economy, to the number of lives it could help and potentially save from terminal illnesses. The house bill was referred to the Health and Human Services departmenton April 30th, 2009. The senate bill was referred to the Public Health and Welfare department on may 4th, 2010.

Who is essential to the outcome?

Representative Mark B. Cohen is the democratic majority caucus chairman, he is largely backing this bill, along with senator Daylin Leach, the democratic legislator. A group called L.I.E.V.E. Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, they are all ex-policemen/women or currently employed policemen/women whom get a first hand look at what banning marijuana does to our society. The biggest obstacle/opponent we have to get around is the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), the ones who have the power to allow these bills to pass.
A link for almost all you need to know: http://www.phillynorml.org/medijuana/about/history

Blog post #1

Posted by Marshall Johnston in American Government - Laufenberg on

What is Medicinal Marijuana?


Medicinal marijuana is a topic that isn’t touched upon enough in our country. For many of Americas citizens, marijuana is a word that makes them jump. The ignorance around the so called “drug” makes many think it has some horrible effects on people who use it. When in truth, the side effects are hunger and sleepiness. Medicinal marijuana if used in the right cases can have dramatic positive affects in the process of fighting and curing certain deceases. According to Live Strong, a cause group that raises millions each year to help cure cancerous diseases, medicinal marijuana has uses such as, pain relief, decreased nausea, muscle relaxation, to treat glaucoma, and having an increased appetite. (http://www.livestrong.com/article/85963-benefits-medical-marijuana/)


Why is This Important to me?

To be honest, I’ve had my own encounters with marijuana, and I can say from a personal stand point that nothing bad happened to me. I didn’t become addicted,  I didn’t grow into a couch potato, it didn’t affect any of my relationships, etc. Many of the arguments against using medicinal marijuana are because of their fears of all of this happening. On sites such as abovetheinfluence.com, they say things like, “Heavy marijuana use impairs young people's ability to concentrate and retain information.” this is true, however when used moderately for medical purposes, these kinds of side affects rarely occur.

When I was seven years old, my mother died. She died from a mixture of scleraderma and lupus; one of the main contributors to why it got worse and worse was the fact that she rarely ate. She was given pills by doctors to try to arouse her appetite, but she would refuse to eat. If medicinal marijuana could have been used in cases such as this; it could have a great impact on many lives.


Who supports medicinal marijuana?

On the east coast, medicinal marijuana has three main supporters; senator Daylin Leach(district 17), senator Lawrence M. Farnese Jr. (district 1), and senator Jim Ferlo (district 38). Each of the three are liberal politicians and senator Daylin Leach sits on the Public Health & Welfare committee where the bill that would allow the use of medical marijuana was recently sent.

“act providing for the medical use of marijuana; and repealing provisions of law that prohibit and penalize marijuana use.”-
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/billinfo.cfm?syear=2009&sind=0&body=S&type=B&bn=1350
    

Evolution of Taste Buds

Posted by Marshall Johnston in Science and Society - Best on
 

            The evolutionary process is relatively simple; if something about ones biology helps them to survive and thrive over others, then that trait will be passed down through their DNA sequence and those without it will slowly die off. This then begs a basic question: 

How come our taste buds haven’t evolved to appreciate the taste of fruits and vegetables over sugars?

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  • The answer to this question lies in our young history as a species.

          

            In most cases, obesity is a product of eating many foods that are unhealthy. Those with obesity have a much higher susceptibility to many illnesses such as diabetes. Since this is true, wouldn’t those with a liking for fruits and vegetables and a dislike for sugars be reproducing more leading to a decline in obesity?

            However, this is not the case, at least not yet. Only in the last couple hundred years of our history have we been able to obtain sugars whenever we get a craving. For the large majority of human history, our only natural sources came in small dosage along with whatever naturally produced food the sugars resided in (usually fruits). If we look at the problem this way, then we can make the prediction that if our eating habits continue like they have been over the last 100 years, obesity will eventually cease to exist.


The book, In Defense of Foods, Michael Pollan writes, "Sugar has it is ordinarily found in nature-in fruits and some vegetables-gives us a slow-release form of energy accompanied by minerals and all sorts of crucial micronutrients we can get nowhere else. One of the most momentous changes in the American diet since 1909 has been the increase in the percentage of calories coming from sugars, from 13 to 20 percent."


Why do we still crave sugars?

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             We still crave sugars because it takes hundreds of generations to evolve. We are still in the early stages of evolution when it comes to our new agriculturally sound diet. In due time, we will probably start to enjoy all foods equally and just proportion them so that we get the correct dosage of each every day.



Sources

http://blsciblogs.baruch.cuny.edu/mpenaz/files/2010/09/taste-6.gif

http://mikesmixrecoverydrink.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/sugar.jpeg

In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan

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Voter Interview

Posted by Marshall Johnston in American Government - Laufenberg on
I interviewed a 19 year old boy, yet he was extremely educated in political issues.

Q: What motivated you to come out and vote?
A: He was very involved in politics and believed it was one of the four most ways to cause change in a society.

Q: What would you like to see change in our political system
A: He wants to see more bipartisanship, he never wants people to think of government in the way that  Mitch McConnell does. Mitch McConnell said, "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for president Obama to be a one-term president." Instead of focusing on the issues at hand, McConnell feels that having one party rule the white house is the most apparent goal.

Q: Do you know why we vote on Tuesday?
A: Yes (surprisingly)

Q: Where have you encountered the highest amount of ad campaigning?
A: Television

Q: Are you always sure of who you are going to vote for when you walk into the booth or are you still deliberating?
A: He does thorough research before stepping into the booth so that he always knows who he's voting for.

Q: Did you learn about voting in school? If yes, did that impact your willingness to vote today?
A: Yes, learned about voting in school; yes it impacted his willingness to vote.
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