by Sindya N. Bhanoo

New York Times

I never thought that makeup was benificial, ancient Egyptians wore the eye makeup which was made mainly out of a lead-based product. But now researchers are saying that the toxicity of the makeup killed any bacteria and stopped it from spreading and causing infections. As beneficial as it was, the researchers don’t suggest that you use the makeup yourself, the levels of lead are far too high it to be worth the antibacterial.

SOAPSTone (Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject, Tone)

Speaker: Sindya N. Shanoo of the New York Times

Occasion: January 18, 2010. A new study was published about the eye makeup of ancient Egyptians.

Audience: The readers of the New York Times

Purpose: To inform the people of this interesting find. And to allow them a look into the history of the ancient Egyptians and their extensive eye makeup that is well known around the world.

Subject: Ancient Egyptians extensive eye makeup was made out of a lead-based compound. This lead was strong enough to kill bacteria that got into their eye during when then Nile Flooded, but weak enough to keep them from going crazy. Especially considering they created massive structures such as the pyramids.

tone: Sindya N. Bhanoo seemed just as fascinated as I was while reading this. It’s truly interesting what the Egyptians figured out so long before their time. Bhanoo accurately got the point across while leaving some mystery to the marvelous people.

Ancient Eygpt’s Toxic Makeup Fought Infection, Report Says. New York Times, 18 Jan. 2010. Web. 24 Jan. 2010. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/19/science/19egypt.html?ref=science>.

CNN.com

 It was also less than two weeks ago that Detroit Metropolitan Airport had a Christmas terrorist attempted bombing, it was less than a week ago that I was on a plane, and it was less than 3 days ago that a bomb successfully made it on a plane bound to Ireland, without alerting security. This thought is frightening. To have a bomb that was checked into luggage successfully make it into the plane’s cargo hold unannounced to passengers and security officials.

It was all because of a silly mistake by a police official who was testing sniffer dogs, to make sure they we’re in shape and on alert. The officer put two 3 ounce bags in an unsuspecting “victims” luggage. After one bag was found the dog and police officer got called to another case and otherwise dismissed the second package. It was the officer notified his supervisors about the mistake and they immediately notified alerted the Irish airport. What’s really shocking is that the man who had the bomb in his luggage was taken into custody for the piece which he was not aware he had. Central Dublin was closed and the bomb squad was called to take the package.

To me, the ordeal is very frightening. Just  that a bomb made it undetected on a plane shows that security in all airports needs to be tightened. Had that not been a test we might not have realized the danger. Luckily it has come to our attention and airports are now tightening security for fear of an real bomb with a bomber sneaking on a plane.

Irish probe, Slovak apology after explosive find. CNN, 6 Jan. 2010. Web. 10 Jan. 2010. <http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/01/06/ireland.explosives/index.html?iref=allsearch>.

My eye has recently been caught so to speak, I have found something I want to do. And if you know me as well as some, you will realize that this is a BIG DEAL! I am constantly switching from what I want to be when I grow up, where I want to go, what I want to see. But I have found something that interests me deeply. The history of science. Now in AP Biology we’re working on evolution, and I never realized how fascinating. So when I was browsing the New York Times webpage Science section, this article caught my eye.

It all started on Tasmania, the small island off the coast of Australia. Where the Tasmanian Devil is hurdling towards extinction. Sadly, these well-known creatures are facing extinction because of cancer. Tasmanian Devils are getting facial tumors that during fights, and when they get bites to the face. Originally scientists thought that the tumors were parasites or viruses, but with further research found that they had the same chromosomes as other Tasmanian tumors and not those of the Devil himself. These tumors resemble only one type of other cancer, a disease in dogs known as canine transmissible venereal tumor.

“It is somehow a new organism, I think of it as a parasite.” says Dr Tony Pappenfuss, a bioinformatician at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Australia. This new cancer causes quite a conundrum for scientists. If cancer can now be spread through a bite or contact, then what will happen if this cancer becomes susceptible to humans?

Scientists Discover Origin of a Cancer in Tasmanian Devils. New York times, 20 Dec. 2009. Web. 23 Dec. 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/01/science/01devil.html?ref=science.

December 21st 2009

It has been one day since my last post, and I have finished Full Frontal Feminism, and let me tell you. I am deeply impressed. Not only was the end just as interesting as the beginning, but Jessica Valenti incorporated may facts that helped her writing along. Throughout the ending, in addition to critical information, Valenti added statistics and exerts from many qualified people in whatever subject she was doing. Not only that but what she was writing about was interesting which kept me (and probably many others) very interested. Valenti talks a lot about unfair treatment of women, and how the media portrays women as equal when in reality their not. She uses a lot of real life scenarios that create a lot of emotional appeal. Not only that but also in her real life examples she takes from people who went through a situation that relates to her topic directly, not just a situation that kind of relates to what she’s talking about.

In the chapters titled “Beauty Cult” Valenti reaches into her own past and digs up the uncomfortable memory of being called ugly by the boy she liked. She continued on talking about how devastating it was to a woman to be called ugly, and how that one simple word gives men all the power. Valenti even writes an exert from her journal in middle school. Valenti says, “We’re brought up by the media and influenced by cultural standards to think about men, relationships and weddings constantly, we’re taught to be forever worried about our appearance…the more we’re worked up about how fat we are or how hot we want to be, the less we’re worried about the things that really matter, the things that will affect our lives.” (Valenti, 199).

December 21, 2009

Article Video

So, while taking a break from reading Full Frontal Feminism I stumbled across this article. I was looking at the progress in Afghanistan when this article popped up. The title said “Afghan women hiding for their lives,” and it hit me. There are so many women and children caught in the line of fire over in the middle east, and we’re here, living with all the luxuries available to us. I was taken aback by the hurt I felt, and how much those women spoke out to me. To read their stories.

Author Atia Abawi visits a safe house where 52 women and children stay, it is the only place they are safe from rape and punishment. Abawi interviews two tenants, one being just 8 years old, both with tremendous stories. Little Hosnia, an 8-year-old who was raped and left for dead on her farm in northern Afghanistan at the age of 5. Her father saying that the only way her child will make it is in the safe house, safe from the place where rape victims are punished for what happened to them.

Manizha Naderi is the director of the Women for Afghan Women (WAW) says “”They see their mothers being beaten, they see their sisters their aunts, everybody, so that’s what they expect.”

Another story is the one of Shameen, a woman who’s own husband brutally raped and stabbed her within an inch of her life. Shameen says that it’s what Afghan women are accustomed to, it’s what they grow up thinking is acceptable. Shameen’s sister was burned to death after displeasing her husband, and “Shameen says when her sister was killed, her parents turned a blind eye.”

Speaker: The speaker is Atia Abawi, a women who was visiting a safe house in Afghanistan.

Occasion: Atia reports because of the rise in beatings in Afghanistan on women, especially the unreported ones.

Audience: She is addressing the American people.

Purpose: She’s writing this article  in hopes that they listen to the stories of the women that are being hurt and beaten, to maybe shed some light on what’s really going on in Afghanistan.

Subject: The stories of the young women who are being mistreated, beaten and raped with no consequences to those who are committing those terrible crimes. 

tone: The tone of the article is one of grief, guilt, and hope

Afghan Women hiding for their lives. CNN.com, 24 Sept. 2009. Web. 21 Dec. 2009. <http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/09/23/afghanistan.women.abuse/index.html>.

December 20th, 2009

I’m reading Full Frontal Feminism, a Young Woman’s Guide to Why Feminism Matters by Jessica Valenti

It’s December 20th 2009 and I’m 80 pages into Full Frontal Feminism by Jessica Valenti and already my eyes had been opened. It was about 20 pages in that I realized what I had truly gotten myself into. And  it didn’t take long before Valenti’s words got to me. It was the chapter titled The Blame (and Shame) Game. That chapter single-handedly changed my view of what was really going on. Valenti talks about how “young men in the United States have been brought up to think that they have open access to women’s bodies and sexuality,” this in and of itself baffled me. Another thing that really stuck out to me was women’s “rape schedual.” Jessica Valenti said that a teacher of hers brought this to her attention. The scary thing is we all have a rape schedual, and now we know it. A rape schedual is what we do throughout the day to protect ourselves because we’re so afriad of getting assulted, or raped. Between locking the car when we first get in, or carrying our keys in our hands when we walk. Or looking behind us when we hear a noise to make sure no ones there. Or even thinking of how you’ll react and protect yourself if someone approaches you. Reading about the “rape schedual” and then how men think they can just have their way with women made me realize that if we weren’t shown so much of how we need to conform to societies beliefs then we wouldn’t be afriad of rape. A statistic Valenti said that “according to a 2004 National Crime Victimization Survey, almost 2/3′s of all rapes are commited by someone the victim knows.” Now I don’t know about the rest of women, but this scared me. I realize that men have unrealistic expectations of girls. A double standard still exists. Now here I go to finish this book. Hopefully the rest isn’t as scary as the beginning.

Speaker: Jessica Valenti, author.

Occasion: Jessica wrote this book because she spent a long time she was confused about why more women didn’t believe in feminism. And why so many didn’t believe in what she thought was “the greatest thing ever.”

Audience:  The audience Valenti was hoping for was women, hopefully interested in feminism.

Purpose: To hopefully change their view on feminism and if not, to open their eyes as to what feminism is and their view of what it was.

Subject: All things feminism.

tone: Positive, Confident and powerful. Jessica Valenti knows what she’s talking about and knows how to explain it in order to get her point across in a clear and powerful manner.

obsequious powerpoint

 Over the past few weeks the talk of swine flu has been incredible. Many people continue to worry about this H1N1 virus to the point where the president advisory committee has issued a plausible scenario that a pandemic might occur. But is this statement cause for panic? The Center for Disease Control says that the number of deaths due to Swine Flu would not come close to the estmated 90,000 deaths otherwise said.

The report given by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology states that this is not given fact but a general idea for the government plan for such epidemic. It states, the H1N1 Swine Flu could produce symptoms in 60 million to 120 million people and cause as many as 90 million to seek medical attention; up to 1.8 million could be hospitalized, 300,000 could flood into crowded I.C.U.’s, and 30,000 to 90,000 people could die.

Just a little dramatic don’t you think? People on the Council have even mentioned that their predictions may be a tad high. In recent polls as well, many people will not be getting the vaccine for the Swine Flu, or the regular flu for that matter.

What my mom tells me to do? Wash your hands, keep good hygene, and don’t go around licking pigs noses.

Preparing for the Swine Flu

Glee,

Glee, it had viewers hooked from the first sneak peak. But some say that their early marketing strategy was risky, even for the hit. When Glee first premiered with its pilot episode after American Idol, many weren’t sure if it would catch or not. But after its first week it appeared to be doing well. But once again, the skeptics spoke again. Many questioned whether the high standards of the show were because Glee was the only thing on during President Obama’s health care address. Regardless of its early start, Glee kept its fan base interested. During the summer tours with the cast, Twitter, and Facebook regularly showed specials and sneak peaks to fans. So when the season aired in September people young and old were ready to see what all the buzz was about.

In the star-studded show, many singers from Broadway and other musicals have made their way to the little screen. In this hour long show viewers hear about the hard times of high school kids in the glee club, many fans (especially those in high school) can create a personal attachment with the characters. Not only that, but the format in which Glee is presented is very appealing to those who watch. I am personally a huge fan of Glee, and never miss an episode.

Glee banks on Risky Strategy by Lisa Respers France

When it comes to the predictions of “Great Birds will come from the sky and end a great city to the north at 9/11/01,” and 9/11, some are frightened. It is easy to believe with this prediction then September 11th that the Mayan’s are right. But with further research I found that the topic has been disscused for years, but both sides have been argued and debated. Yet, neither side has come to an actual conclusion both sides have strong arguing points. Regardless, the Mayan’s are still looked upon as evolutionary for their historical record keeping, astrological understanding, mathematics, and ground-breaking architecture.

Mayan History

New York Times Post: Maya Predictions