I Mustache You a Question.

You might have noticed that during November more guys are sporting the facial hair. You might also be wondering why? Could it be simply because its getting colder and guys want to keep their faces warm? Or is it something else? Although some guys might be growing facial hair to keep their faces warm, most people are drawn to something more exciting. No-Shave November. In cause you have not heard of this event, guys all around the world, usually high school and college students, decide not to shave to show their support of manliness. As admirable as this might be to some people, the real question is where did this come from and how did it gain notoriety? The answer comes from Australia where the idea for this event began. Over there they have a Mustache November, or Movember, but there event is actually a movement. People register and try to raise money for prostate cancer research. Although this started out as a small thing-- less than 500 people registered for it in its first two years according to the website-- the movement has grown to almost 500 thousand participates last year. The growth of Movember is not limited to just number of participants. The amount of money raised has also rapidly increased to 80 million dollars last year alone. Movember started as a small almost laughable thing in 2003 with 30 registered participants. However, it has now grown into a huge movement in this world. The Movember Campaign is making charity work something different and original. This is the kind of innovation we need in our charity work, so people are more willing to do it.

Music and Exercise

Dr. Len Kravitz's article "The Effect of Music on Exercise?" highlights the research he did linking music to various things related to exercise such as heart rate, physical strength, endurance, and motor skills. His article provided interesting thoughts on whether music could be a major factor in physical activity. One of the first points  of the article is that music can increase and decrease people's heart rate. This is one of the points from the article which suggests a correlation between the type of music people listen to and the amount of physical activity people get. If a person listens to very fast, uptempo music, then there heart heart could get increased resulted in them wanting to do something active. At the same time, someone could listen to more mellow, relaxing music which could possibly result in a decreased heart rate and a lack of desire to do something active. Another point Kravitz brought up in his article was how "music appeared to provide a motivational construct to exercise"and positively mental attitudes. Once again this could provide some evidence for a connection between the amount of  physical activity a person gets the genre of music to which they mainly listen. Although it might differ from person to person, people probably have a type of music which provides them with the motivation to do something active, and this music could be similar for many people. Kravitz research has provided interesting looks into how music and physical activities could be linked. This article could prove valuable in trying to discover a link between music and exercise.

Mozart Effect

Allisa Quart wrote an article detailing the Mozart effect, and the business spawned from the idea. If you are unfamiliar with the Mozart effect, it is a supposed effect which stipulates that listening to Mozart increases the increases the short-term spatial thinking which people have come to believe means you will become smarter. This effect is based off research done in 1993 by Gordon Shaw and Frances Rauscher. Their research has lead to a giant phenomenon of products aimed to make babies smarter. There is a multi-million dollar business in selling parents these products which are supposed to give the parents children a better chance at life. This seems like quite a massive industry for having such a loose foundation. The results of Shaw and Rauschers research have never been replicated even after numerous attempts by various PhDs to reproduce the results. It seems what is really is going on here is businessmen doing questionable things. This whole industry appears to prey on the fears of parents. Every parent wants a good life for their child. A better life than they had, so of course people will spend money to try and give their kids that chance. This business is a blatant exploit of the fears of decent parents. It seems a business like this is something which needs to have light shed upon it. Parents are too easy a thing to manipulate when it comes to their kids. This is completely understandable. The blame parents have, for not doing extensive research to find out the validity of the Mozart Effect, is minuscule in comparison to the blame the companies need to get. Although, they can possibly be without full blame because the research is there. Most of the companies would probably do the research to check the validity of their product before marketing it in mass. They would find out that the research has never been reconfirmed. Although they might never care because they knew parents would buy their products until Mozart effect was proven wrong. The businesses are exploiting the fears of loving parents, and this puts them in a shameful light. 

The Science of Hit Songs

One of the arguments this article makes about how people are driven to read books or listen to certain music based on what their friends are listening to or reading. Matthew Salganik, sociologist at Columbia University, argued "a desire for compatibility with others could drive the choice" of music and reading "since much of the pleasure from listening to music and reading books stems from discussing them with friends." Salganik does bring up a valid point. Some people would be influenced to listen to a song or read a book because they want something in common with a friend. However, those people would definitely need to be at least somewhat predisposed to wanting to read that book or listen to that music. They have to, at the very least, have a small desire to try to read or listen. People are not going to do something they are not receptive to; therefore, people will need to have their own motivation outside of simply talking about it with friends. People will need than just the prospect of a short lived conversation to make then take up a venture like that. Plus even if they do try it and find themselves not liking what their friend is showing them, eventually they will stop listening to the suggested music or reading those suggested books. It will all come back to how much does that person really want to try those new things. Instead of how much there friends want them to try that new song they love or that brand new bestseller.

Accounting For Taste

The article aims to provide connections between certain personality types--introverts, extroverts, etc.-- and what those different personality types will enjoy in art and music. Also, the article tries to explain how these personality types will want to interact with other individuals. Although this article does have some compelling points and evidence, the article has some trends which make it seem a little unreliable. At times, the article seems to leave out important information like how scientific information was gathered. For instance, extroverts were found to actually salivate more when watching the movie Friday the 13th, indicating higher alertness. However, no mention of how this data was collected or any type of science behind the claim was ever stated. The article fails to provide a background for that information; this makes the information seem somewhat questionable. Also, there is a trend in the article to generalize the statements they make. At the end of the article, there is a table which states some glaring generalities. The table states "if you love rap, funk, or electronic/dance" music "then it might be the case that you're an energetic and social Obama Supporter" which is such a rash and frankly shocking statement. To put these three fairly different types of music in one group and making a huge claim about people's political attitudes based on this seems very inaccurate. These generalities really take away from the good point which are made in the article. The article does lots of good things and bad things, so it has value beyond just the points in it. It helps show what are some good things to do when writing a piece similar to it.

Degrading lyrics in Music

Although the article by Martino, Collings, Elliott, Strachman, Kanouse, and Berry does provide some decent evidence to support listening to degrading lyrics in music increasing sexual activity in adolescents, the fact is far too many factors go into the development of preteens and teens to say that one factor, such as music, has that much of a significant effect on adolescents. Teens are influenced by a multitude of factors including: parents, older siblings, friends, role models, TV, internet, movies, books, and education. To attempt to pinpoint which of these factors is most significant, or rank how important these factors are to an adolescents involvement in sexual activity are basically impossible without complete and total monitoring of preteens and teens. Since "big brothering" of this level would never be allowed, nor is it even remotely possible, the article can not be given too much weight. Although it is almost certain that music does contribute to young peoples choice in sexual engagement,  it seems a factor like older siblings or internet use would have a more profound effect because of how much more direct the influence is. Music merely talks about sexual things, degrading or not. However, older siblings and the internet can directly tell or show young kids what sex is or what some sexual things are. Because of this, these factors are far more important in trying to determine why a child got involved in sex early.

Week 2 - Getting Stronger

 The Last Days of Brother Ray by David Ritz

The piece detailed Ritz's experiences with Ray Charles. It started with Ritz's writing of Ray's autobiography. Then progressed into the later years of their friendship. Ray had been religious his entire life, but once his health began to seriously deteriorate things began to change. Although Ray might not admit he changed because as he put it he never changed no matter what(Ritz 117). However, toward the end of his life Ray caring a lot more about his religion. The younger Ray seemed almost anti-religious. He seemed to have loved the church, however religion was something Ray didn't really seem to like. Later in Ray's life, Ray began to become deeply religious which he wasn't when he was young. When Ray was in his final years, Ray began saying he was weak but getting stronger(Ritz 128). Although it might seem as though he was talking about getting physically stronger, Ray really meant he was finding his faith. Ray began to believe more and more as he was dying. Every time Ritz would take to Ray he would hear from Ray that he was getting stronger. Not physically, but his faith was getting stronger and stronger. When finally confronted with the end of his life, Ray Charles discovered his true faith. He seemed to become deeply pious and much stronger. In The Last Days of Brother Ray, Ritz showed just how important the church was in Ray's life. Although Ray seemed somewhat against religion when he was younger, once Ray had almost nothing left he clung to the thing which was most important to him. His faith. His religion.