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"Art and War" Podcast

This podcast was titled "Art and War". I found also it on Nation Public Radio's website. It was about an artist who wrote music that wrote abstract music. His music was greatly influenced by the war. He is asked questions on how his music relates to the war, and how the war affects his music. He lives by inspirational sites but he says it doesn't affect him, he simple writes music.
 http://podacademy.org/podcasts/graham-fitkin-art-and-war/

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Drugs are Wrong

Drugs Paper On August 7, 2007, at 8:51 P.M., Barry Bonds smoked a pitch from Mike Bacsik 435 feet. This pitch would be Bonds’s 756th home run, passing Hank Aaron for most home runs in history. This achievement changed the game of baseball and the season for the San Francisco Giants. In April 2008, Bonds tested positive for using performance enhancing drugs. His seemingly extraordinary record was now just a number with an asterisk. This is just one of many examples of drug problems that ruin a game. We should allow open drug tests because of this, the health risks, and for the sake of the game. For the talented athletes, when they take steroids the effects are never little. One example is the steroids will dope up the athlete. They take the steroid to give them the advantage of better performance and will over dose the amount. These make the athletes far more aggressive and fierce. Some say that drugs are the backbone of America, but then they make those backbones weak, and they then fall to the ground, wincing in pain. That’s why drugs suck. Okay, they suck, sure they may be cool, but they’re like donuts, you're going to get fat. Don’t do it. This is why drug testing is necessary. We don’t want Mr. five foot one, hitting a 500 yard home run. Kids, stay in school, eat your vegetables, and shut up. Drugs are cheating and should not be allowed. I mean Hank Aaron without using the drugs had the most home runs based on his own body standards. He did not cheat and take steroids so he can hit home runs easier. Barry Bonds cheated and broke the home run record, but luckily he was caught by drug tests and they erased his records. That is why we need drug tests, so we can stop these bad people. It is cheap for people who do not take the drugs. They my friends are true athletes. Steroids may help you to become a big macho man, but they will also destroy parts of your body. Using steroids increases your risk of prostate cancer in men. It also increases a person’s chances for contracting AIDS and HIV. It causes premature skeletal maturation and accelerated puberty changes in children and teens. They can also cause severe acne and fluid retention. Your kidneys can be damaged enough that you will have to get a replacement. Steroids also damage the heart, cause high blood pressure, and changes in blood cholesterol leading to increased risk of stroke and heart attacks.

What is Delicious?

When one thinks of delicious, one might think of a tasty deli, a scrumptious muffin, or even a refreshing box of oats. If you thought that, your dumb, because it is a social site for bookmarking. Hey I got this site and I don't know what to do with it!? DELICIOUS IT UP!

Our Teams Feeling on Video Games

WHY VIDEO GAMES ARE GOOD FOR YOUR LIFE! Like that of a great rivalry, the topic of video games has no justice. With ones supporting, comes those of the unequal contrary. Coming from the wise words of Batman, “What comes out of a gun, injustice!!! This is what we believe the haters of video games include in their pitiful accounts of “truth”. That’s why video games not only help your future, but increase your focus, independence, and well-being. Though many claim that video games are known to, and cause violence, a U.S. Secret Service study showed that only 1 in 8 of Columbine/Virginia Tech-type school shooters showed any interest in violent video games. This doesn't even include the numerous other school shooter, only the ones that were interested in technology. Not only that, but also a U.S. surgeon general’s report found that mental stability and the quality of home life, not media exposure, were relevant factors in violent acts committed by kids. All that in consideration, you can conclude that video games have little to no influence on kids’ violence, but in fact, it is there mental state and how their home-life is that causes the violence. Also, violent stories have been around for thousands of years. Think of Grimm’s Fairy Tales. They are extremely graphic in their description of brutality. How many huntsmen cut out the hearts of boars or princes, which were then eaten by wicked queens? How many children were nearly burned alive? Disney may have whitewashed Grimm, but take a read of the original, nastier stories. They pulled no punches. This book was written in 1807, and has been with us since. How did this not have an influence on kids? People for over two hundred year have been reading these stories to their kids and they are far more graphic in the depictions then any video game I've ever seen. How didn't all the population just die from all the violence these would have caused when you compare it to today’s “violent” video games. Even though it has also been proven that playing violent video games have decreased violence rather than increase it, people still do not believe it. Gerard Jones, author of “Killing Monsters: Why Children Need Fantasy, Super Heroes, and Make-Believe Violence” says “Through immersion in imaginary combat and identification with a violent protagonist, children engage the rage they've stifled . . . and become more capable of utilizing it against life’s challenges.” This is saying that everyone has rage built up, whether they realize it or not, and video games can help get rid of that rage. Not only that but it is also saying that everyone has a desire to be something. Whether it be a soldier in the front lines of the army, a gang member, or an Italian plumber, and video games can help get rid of those desires, and if need be, can help you if you are in one of those situations in real life. Moving on, video games have a positive impact greatly on physiological functions. Studies have shown from Dr. Daphne Bavelier, that video game players have a lot better focus than non-players. The most focus they get is mostly from the shooting action genre. Moderation is needed or the positive impact will go away. Her research also proved that it makes peoples vision better. Video games, if in moderation, prove to be positive on physiological functions. Next, video games also have a positive impact on emotions and feelings. A study by Allaire showed that seniors who play video games increase greatly in their mood. They are a lot more happy and enjoying life. Seniors who play video games have a better emotional being then seniors who do not play video games. Video games are actually very positive mentally and also can be physically. Additionally, many believe that video games are something that one can only play without using the mind. This is not correct; all video games are filled with an assortment of characters and ways to play. It can make children or adults have a certain emotion when playing such as a war game. It helps them learn to be quick and think smart through using a fictional character. There are children who live in a violent environment and only learn how to act this way in reality. By giving them violent games, it helps them avoid the dangers of hurting anyone in reality and sticking to killing in a simple game. For boys, violence is amusing to them and they want to do dangerous things, this is where the rough video games are handy. They can just sit safe and kill or explode something that doesn't even exist. It does not dummy down the brain but helps the kids learn certain skills and keep them safe from danger. At any rate, video games can work in many ways that are safe and can really help someone in different ways. Researchers have shown that video games have been able to help children with anger management difficulties. With these games certain emotions are needed in order to help the player succeed in winning. When angry children play a violent game, they can release their anger, by killing a fictional character. When these kids play a game that requires extreme skill, and composure, they are able to learn how to become and stay calm. It helps keep the heart rate down at a calm level and become better to communicate with. Researchers learned that angry kids get better treatment than by taking anger therapy. These games assist in helping kids learn how to control their emotions when going into different environments. Although some people may say that video games are not good for someone’s brain they can be used for good things that impact your brain. A big way that these games can help is awareness learning. Whether we want to believe it or not, video games can help people learn. They can learn self-control, like when to walk away, they can learn how to communicate with all different types of people, and understand that when they get upset that it is okay to walk away from a situation that they are not going to do things that they would not be proud of the next day. There are positive effects of playing video games even though they are not talked about as much, they do exist. It is so common in our world for people to only see the bad side of video games and not even begin to look at some of the positive effect of them. In conclusion, there is injustice about the topic of video games. People think that because there have been things said about truth, that they are true. Most of the “truths” that are accepted today are just stereotypes. Because they play video games they are crazy, murderous, lazy, and have no ambition; but this is untrue. There are many people that play videos games. These games can help your future, boost independence, increase your focus, and improve well-being.