Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Observing a Basketball Game

There I sat, in a sea of people wrapped around the inside of an arena, all seemingly with little blood in their alcohol streams. I can hear all 20,000 people screaming and yelling, but can not understand one of them. It almost sounds like I am in the mouth of an Asthmatic trying to catch their breath. And even though everyone is at their loudest, my ears only hear a muffled hum that seems to only be getting fainter and fainter. My head is throbbing with the overload of noise.

Maybe, I am going deaf.

I then sat back, where I am crammed between two bolted-down rows of blue plastic. My back feels like a skeleton as the hard-plastic tucks into my bones. When I crank my head to the right, a pair of bifocals stares back at me. His two-tone hair piece looks restless and grungy. My only hope is that he killed it before he came to sit by me. His face is covered in musty scruff, as his face is precipitating pretty heavily at this point. I can now smell the beers he had slammed down minutes earlier. I am beginning to almost taste it too, so I turn my head to the left.

It is an empty seat.

The plastic bottom is flipped-up like a tray-table in an airplane. The spotlights above flicker into my pupils, off the blue plastic. I remember my friend went to get popcorn, but boy will his face be red. I mean there is enough popcorn layering the ground below our feet, it could fill a bathroom tub. Unfortunately, it would probably taste like it too.

Then I decide to watch the basketball game again.

I sat three stories above the wood floor. It was covered in reflected lights and giant men, but from here, it merely looks like clothed ants dripping left-to-right, and the converse on a glossy two-by-four board.

Makes one almost feel like their on top of the world.

Too bad in the scheme of watching sporting events, that’s not always as good as it sounds.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Life is Longer in the Right-Hands

Right-handed people live substantially longer than left-handed people, according to a recent study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The study, which was conducted by Diane Halpern, a researcher at the University of British Columbia, compared the death and accident rates of right- and left-handed people.

“The results are striking in their magnitude,” said Halpern.

The Researchers studied 987 death certificates in two Southern California counties, and found that on average right-handed people lived nine years longer than left handed people. According to the study, right-handed females lived an average of six years longer than left-handed females, and right-handed males live 11 years longer than left handed males.

The accident rates do not fair-well for left-handers either.

In fact, left-handers, who make up 10 percent of the U.S. population are four times more likely to die in injuries from driving, and six times more likely to die from any kind of accident. Which Halpern says is not just a coincidence.

“Almost all engineering is geared to the right hand and right foot,” she said. “There are many more car and other accidents among left-handers because of their environment.”
But still, these results are not cause for drastic fear in left-handers, the right-handed Halpern says.

"It is important that mothers of left-handed children not be alarmed and not try to change which hand a child uses," she said. “It (predominant-hand) should not of course, be used to predict the life span of an individual. It does not take into account the fitness of any individual.”

And according to Halpern, there still is one thing that can not be denied by anyone.

“There are many-many old left-handed people.”










Tuesday, February 2, 2010

assignment 4

Question 1: U.S. Census Statistics

Q. What is the total population for your state based on the most recent census statistics available?

A. Colorado has a population of $ 4,939,456 according to Census of 2008.

Q. What was the population of Asian and Pacific Islanders in your state in 2000?

A. 2.9% in Colorado, so about 107,000.

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/08000.html

Question 2: Crime Story #1

Q. Find a site that lists sex offender registries in the U.S. What is the URL?

A. http://www.nsopw.gov/Core/PublicRegistrySites.aspx

Q. Check the sex offender registry in your state and identify any offenders in your area.

A. There are 3 sex offenders in the highlands ranch area

Q. Check the Maryland sex offender registry and click on the interactive map to find registered sex offenders near colleges in Maryland. What is the URL? What type of information is available?

There are pictures, information on what they did, and a map where they are: http://sorm.towson.edu/mapview/

Question 3: Crime Story #2

Q. Check the police statistics on your own university’s Web site (if they are listed) and compare them with the ones listed on the education site.

A. The University site shows 4 in 2006 and 2 in 2007. The education site shows 10 in 2006 and 8 in 2007.

Q. How many forcible sex offenses were reported on your campus (from the latest year available)? How many burglaries?

A. Both sites showed seven forcible rapes, and the university site showed 44 burglaries reported, while the education site showed 59.

Question 4: Political Reporting #1

Q. What are the latest totals for money your two senators received?

A. Mark Udall- $11,234,485

Michael Bennett- $ 3,454,203

Question 5: Political Reporting #2

Q. How much money did your governor receive in campaign contributions in his or her last campaign?

A. Just over $ 4 million

Q. What was the total amount of contributions the governor received in the last election?

A. just over $940,000

Q. What is the limit on the amount of money for personal contributions to a campaign in your state?

A. not over $525 per person

Question 6: Government Statistics #1

Q. Find the latest government figures for tuition costs of college and universities. (Check under fast facts for education).

A. www.collegeboard.com

b. What was the average tuition, fees, room and board at four-year public institutions for the latest year available?

A, 13,400,000 dollars for tuition and board.

Q. What was the average tuition, fees, room and board at four-year private colleges and universities?

A. 30,400,000

Question 7: Government Statistics #2

Q. Write the URL.

A. www.colorado.gov

Question 8: Government Statistics #2

Q. Write the URL.

A.www.ci.littleton.co.us