Final Photo Essay- Jeff Jensen

London Day 4

Bivens had been talking about this friend of his Jeff Outlaw, who was the Froeign Ambassador to the US Consulate, a lofty position, and he could get us into the Tower of London for free. This would enable us all to save money, as the Tower costs about 14 pounds a person. Bivens ends up only getting 6 tickets, so some people in the group devise this plan that the people who dont pay for the tickets put up halt the money to buy the ones who dont have a ticket, tickets, which ends up being about 6 pounds a person. So we get to the Tower, ask for the Beefeater that Outlaw told us, and they didn't even check out tickets!! We all could have gotten in for free, oh well thats life! Anyway the Tower has always been one of my most favorite places to visit in London, not only because of the gruesome history and all the carnage, but because the Crown Jewels are there and those are some serious rocks! Seeing the ravens is always a fun adventure, espicially since the cheat and clip their wings so that they never leave, because if the ravens do leave the Tower, the Tower will fall and the Monarchy will crumble, but hey, who believes that? HA! So moving on we then moved down the street towards St. Pauls again and partook in some more Yo! Sushi, where it was Monday and they were pricing every plate as 2.20 pounds, such a deal!! We ate our fill there and then decided as a group to head over to Greenwich for the afternoon to take in the Mean Time, Maritime Museum, and the other sites. When we got there, we found out that they were shooting a movie at the old War College and it turned out to be Gullivers Travels starring Jack Black! He was there but we never got to see him, they kept him under lock and key. We then hiked up the hill to the Mean Time center, leaving Emily and Courtney at the bottom of the hill. Let me tell you, the view form there was beautiful, you could see all of London. We had our fill of Greenwich and then headed back to the Center to get ready for Emily's Farewell Dinner at the Hard Rock in London, where Miss Paladino pulled some strings and got us in no problem, you rock Emily!!

London Day 3

If you ask me what day is the best to just walk around London and not get worried about getting hit by a car, my answer would be Sunday. Dani and Meghan asked me to be their tour guide on a day in London to take them to all the tourist hot spots and I agreed. We had the guys come with us, Dakota joined in and we had ourselves a party. We did Green Park, Westminster, Trafalger, Piccadilly, Marble Arch, and Speakers Corner, what a day! Speakers corner was probably the most entertaining, the park was teeming with people on a lovely Sunday afternoon debating, talking, yelling, or dancing to invisible music, what a group. There was one fellow who said he was the Devil incarnate and he was released from Hell to warn people about the dangers of women, smart man I say.....Anyway we moved on from there and crashed at the hotel weary of another big day ahead of us. Dinner was uneventful and nothing too bad, London has great food!

London Day 3

I dont know if you noticed, but I seem to be following the trend of going to museums in London. Well thats because they have some of the best in the World! Today we continued that trend by visiting the Science Museum and the Britishs Museum. To start off with the Science, we saw many exhibits on flight, biology, human DNA, and many more! They even had this game where you were a sperm and you had to race the others to create life, you certainly wont find that game in America! We moved on from there to the British Museum where some of the worlds most famous artifacts are kept. We saw the Rosetta Stone, the key to unlock Egyptian Hieroglyphics, mummies, parts of the Greek Parthenon, and artifacts from the Mesopotamian civilizations. All in all this museum day seemed to take the most out of us and we retired to the hotel early, with the intent to catch dinner at yet another TexMex restaurant that we found when I was here last, the Texas Embassy. Now this was a good idea to start, but I wont go into detail, but let me just say, the Europeans need to learn how to do seperate checks, their lives would be so much easier!!

London Day 2

Day 2 in London, whew!! Who knew the third time here would be the most exhausting? The 90 degree heat in August of 2003 was bad, but this is way more walking that I've done in awhile, but my parents raised me to walk so it's no problem for me. Today we had the wonderful experience of going to St. Pauls Cathedral, form Mary Poppins. I have never been in there before and let me tell you, it was amazing, simply breathtaking. The ornate workings in gold around the dome is enough to invoke the God fearing man in any person. I also was able to take a little time and offer a prayer for my Grandma who recently passed away, I know she would have liked that. We left St. Pauls looking for some place to eat and we stumbled upon a place that my Aunt had reccomended we go for years and years, Yo! Sushi. This place is a wonder just to sit and watch. Basically the premis is it's a sushi bar that they put in on conveyor belts and it rolls around the restaurant for you to pick up and eat. At the end of the meal, they total up your color coded plates worth different money values and that's your bill. It was so delicious, we ate so much! Rachel gave birth to a rice baby shortly after lunch and named it Edward, they are both in good health and doing very well. After st. Pauls we moved on to Harrods, any women's Heaven. We spent a good hour walking around in there, me basically following Rachel while she moved around the purse depatement with the attention span of a Goldfish, trying to find the perfect bag, which she did and she's very happy with it. I also made a purchase from the Sporting Goods section, an Arsenal jersey, they're a soccer team in London, much like Chelsea. So we escaped Harrods and went to meet up with the group at the Museum of Natural History, a place I've never been before. Now, one problem with this place was the fact that it did not have AC, on one of London's hottest days, filled with screaming and rnning kids. I have patience, but they were running thin after 5 mins in that place, interesting but not totally worth it. We caught the train back to the hotel and found dinner, concluding another successful day in London!

London Day 1

We finally arrived in London at the Queens Park Hotel, not the Ritz Carlton but then again, I've spent 11 straight days in a tent, I can handle no AC, but some people just can't I guess. Anyway we got the gang together and went out to explore London. This was my 3rd time being in London so I pretty much knew the Underground, or the Tube like the back of my hand, but it never hurts to look at the map again and again. We went to Westminster and walked by Big Ben just in time to hear him ring in the hour of 5pm. More protestors were outside the Houses of Parliment protesting some unfair treatment of the people in Sri Lanka. I never knew there was a problem down there, go figure in my American bubble, but I like it in there! We walked through Green park following this card or 2 mile walks that Cory had got from Barnes and Noble back home, very cool walk that took us behind 10 Downing Street, no we didn't see Gordon Brown. We walked up through the park, saw Buckingham Palace and the Queen was in residence because the flag was flying, thats how you know! After that we went bakc to the hotel and chilled until we had to go meet the Barnetts for a nice Mexican dinner at a place called Pacifico where the men shared a bucket of Coronas and the ladies had Sangria, very delicious!

England Tips, Likes, and Dislikes

So, you're thinking about coming on the England Study Abroad Trip. Take it from me, DO IT!!!! this is by far the most amazing trip you'll go on. Sure Spain is fine and dandy, if you wanna lose your liver in the process and not learn anything, but in England, you can party it up and still learn about our technical Mother Country. But a few words of advice to help you along your way.
1. Don't be afraid to meet knew people, that's the whole key of the trip
2. Listen to the professors when they tell you how much clothes to bring, if you think you wont wear it, 9 out of 10 you wont
3. Plan to take taxis everywhere after dark, walking is NOT the way to go, trust me
4. Don't forget a converter, your life will suck without it
5. Use cash, but be responsible, cash is the easiest way to go, not everywhere takes cards here, and Bank of America is the best option, no ATM fees
6. Explore the manor inside and out, leave no door unopened, thats how you find the ghosts, ask Rachel Cross
7. Bring a rain jacket, umbrellas just dont cut it, they end up getting given to the rain gods in the trash can
If theres anything else, read other people blogs, but take it from me, this is by far the best trip of all the study abroad trips!

Likes: I liked the fact that we had more scheduled trips, like Scotland and Wales, and the perfect time in London. I liked the fact that we get money when we leave the manor, and the professors trust us with it. I liked that we were a small group, 70 people is impersonal and it needs to stay like 20-30 people, that's the way to go.

Dislikes: We did't go to Paris. We didn't spend enough time in Scotland. We didn't have enough train passes, we needed like 8. There's not that many dislikes, but those were my main gripes.

England Log

Well, we've arrived at the last day at the manor, man time flew by fast. Well when you consider the fact that we were leaving every other day on trips of our own and doing so many wonderful things it's hard not to believe it. Ireland seems like forever ago and London still seems like an eternity away. this week was filled with manor parties, class skits, memorable trips, and beer festivales, but I digress. By far, if I had to pick one, the best thing we did this week was go to Cambride, at Chelsea and Juanita's urging, and go punting. the punting was fine and dandy, but tey thing that made it all worth it was our punter, Sam, and his teling us of a Beer Festivale going on in town. We were all taken aback by this and decided that that was the way to go!! So we got off the boats and make our way there and I kid you not, kegs upon kegs of amazing beer and cider goodness! So much to drinki, so little time. We barely made it back in time for the train back to Grantham. While on the way back, we were feeling overly American, so we had the cab driver stop at McDonalds for us, don't judge....

Photo Story 5: Lincoln

Response Essay 3

There's an old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. Now I'm sure that's been used before, but there's an unlimited use for that particular phrase. When talking about tourism photography in particular, we have to answer the question of why we take pictures on vacation anyway. What is the fascination with taking pictures of everything we see while on vacation, of people we know, and will never see again? The author claims that "either the interaction between tourists and nature or the environment" is why tourists take photos. Although I do agree in part with Steve Garlick in this assertion, in other parts I need some more convincing. Tourists take photos of the places they visit to cherish the memories of the places they've seen and may never go back again. The fact that he states that tourists think that taking photos of the things they see gives them a sense of owning the thing they see is wrong. It's not simply a sense ow owning, it's more like capturing a slice of time to remember forever the place you have visited. Moreover he gets a quote from Susan Sontag "to photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they never see themselves, by having knowledge of them they can never have; it turns people into objects that can be symbolically possessed". This statement can be considered half true, just taking pictures of people without their permission is wrong, but if you ask them, more often than not they will oblige. all in all he makes a few assertions that i do not agree with, but there is some truth to his statement that tourism photography gives the user exclusive access to the memories of the trip.
When addressing the question of why I personally take photos on vacations, it's for the pure fact that I want to remember the places I've been and the things I've seen so I can look back on the memories and share my experiences with the world. I tend to focus on important landmarks, things that interest me, and wildlife when I'm taking photos. Occasionally I'll take urban shots, but my favorite type of shot is overlooking an entire city skyline, especially at night, that's when the true essence of a city comes to life. When it comes to pictures I take at home versus school, I take more photos at school with my friends because mom takes the pictures at home. I may bring my camera when I go out with my friends, but mostly I forget I have it. After I'm done taking pictures I put them up on Facebook to share them with my friends and now family. It's the easiest way to get the pictures to everyone without spending money on printing them up.

Response Essay 2

Image is everything in today's society, which is why the doctoring of photos has become so widely popular by the media. People no longer take beauty for what it's worth, instead relying solely on the fact that if they don't like the way they look or the shape of their body, it can be fixed. It is this belief that has given the people who are victims of this either by choice or by circumstance legitimate gripes when it comes to the discovery of these pictures. And yet some magazines still run fixed images and even run disclaimers that say this image is either a composite or it is not actually a picture of the person depicted. Take for example the picture of Martha Stewart, who was recently released from jail on insider trading charges. The cover of Newsweek depicts her coming out of a curtain with a smile on her face and much skinnier than when she went in. It was later learned that this image was just Martha's head, the rest of her body was that of a model. Newsweek called it an "illustration" but the public knew better. In terms of the Tienanmen Square photo where the lone student stands up to a row of tanks, that photo later was doctored by adding rows and rows of people surrounding the tanks on the sides of the street. The effects of this experiment by UC Irvine shows how people recollections can be stirred and public opinion can be changed by simply combining two events of the same nature. When talking about deceptively doctoring photos, we only have to look at the covers of Newsweek and Time magazines featuring OJ Simpson. Newsweek ran the original mugshot of OJ, while Time added black shadows to his face to make it look more sinister. To me, regardless if you thought he was guilty or not, he has the right to a fair trial and this picture already depicts him as guilty and in an unappealing light. In my opinion, the only legitimate doctoring or fixing of a photo should be white balancing it and making the colors more vibrant to look at, therefore making the picture more appealing. Fixing people or making them look skinnier, prettier, or not using their bodies at all is just unethical and deceptive.

England Trip Log: Scotland

Wow, Scotland was amazing, I wished we could have spent a few more days there. We got to Edinburgh in the afternoon to a rainy and cold Maelstrom that claimed many an umbrella in our group, made me glad I had my Lands End rain jacket, thanks Mom and Dad! The guys and the girls got seperated after we checked into the Royal British Hotel, so Bivens, James, and myself wandered around the city, found dinner at a great Italian place that gave student discounts then just crashed in the hotel until the morning. We all had breakfast in the Castle Room before we headed to Edinburgh Castle for our tour. It was basically a self guided tour, but that was ok, it gave James and myself some tome to make some funny videos in the exhibits about Prisoners of War. We got out of there with the group and shopped High Street for all things Scottish and got away with minimal purchases. Rachel was looking for a new scarf, but couldent find one that wasn't really expensive. She also wanted a stuffed Highland Cow, she was gonna name him Harry, but she struck out there too, bummer Rache. We made our way down the street to an adjacent hill where Bivens and I promptly became famous for rolling down, him intentionally, me, not so much. After that we scheduled a Ghost Tour for the Mary Kings Close tour, the one Stroop recommended. the tour itself was freaky, not so much OMG WTF was that scary, more like, the nervousness of the group made everyone unseasy. James jumped the most when a stick hit the ground in the ghost room, worse than Rachel, I was proud of her for that, maybe she's on her way to not being such a scardy cat. We had dinner at the same Italian restaurant with the group again and once again enjoyed it very much. After dinner we pretty much passed out from walking around all day. We caught the bus to Grantham the next morning with a stop at Hadrians Wall on the way, very cool Roman architecture. This is our last week in the Manor, so I'll have to try to find the other things that I haven't found yet before I leave this place forever. Until next time

Response Essay 1

In today's world that we live in, it is becoming ever present that the media is being granted more and more freedom when it comes to what it can and cannot show in papers and on TV. But this great responsibility comes with the duty to decide what pictures could potentially be too gruesome for the public eye. My take on disturbing images is that yes they should be shown, only after a panel specially appointed by the newspaper or TV Station that they are working for has approved the image as publicly safe and taken into account what most people feelings may be. the editor then must have the final say in whether or not it gets run. Sounds kind of like Congress when you look at it, but hopefully the editor in question will have the trust in his panel that they would not put too bad of an image on there. if these images are simply too good to not be shown, then there should be a disclaimer or advertisement somewhere in the paper that should state, " To see more images about this event, please visit our website, WARNING: Images are of a graphic nature" Some papers have already followed the trend of piggybacking their online papers and TV stations with their main publications with rapid success, an example of convergence. That way the paper or station would get their hits in the web world as well. People in today's society don't like to be over exposed to dangerous world events, the statement "ignorance is bliss" comes to mind when describing people in this fashion. Unfortunately others in this world choose to look at these images and demand that they be shown, regardless of who's lives they are hurting or emotional wounds they are opening up. In the article from the Poynter Online Database, I do agree with the post that states, "Journalists have a duty to help the public wrestle with tough societal issues and thorny national policy questions. Photographic images of important events and places help accomplish that goal." To a certain extent this is true, but there needs to be a line drawn in the sand that says how detailed these pictures can be. the pictures of the Tsunami victims, especially children, should not be shown to the public on the front page of a newspaper with the grieving mother right there. Ethics come into question here about the whole showing photographs discussion. The second Poynter Online Article raises the question about the debate with the appropriately dubbed cereal test the editors go through to censor images. The article states that, "Most respondents described gut feelings, though, telling them when that reality was too gruesome for publication. Many journalists invoked the so-called "cereal test," newsroom slang for a simple question: Would I want my family to see this photo at the breakfast table tomorrow morning?" I completely agree with this statement, would you want your families looking at gruesome images at the breakfast table? Wally Rayl is true in stating that not being able to face reality in this nation is a problem, but the question isn't truly about facing reality, it's about ethics. These problems of ethics vs. reality will continue to rage on for years and years until the censorship is ended completely or increased like it used to be, with the latter not likely to happen ever again. In the end, the responsibility should remain with the papers and stations to censor pictures and video for the public, with disclaimers pointing out where to find the disturbing images online with proper security.

Photo Story 4: Edinburgh Castle

England Trip Log

Well I'm well over a week into my study abroad trip and things here are pretty much amazing. The weather here has been perfect, with exception to the past few days of light rain, the sun has been out every day. The pictures have been flowing and the people are great. Have to stop staying up so late though, I can get away with it in the states, but over here its taxing, I passed out right after the Man U game and went to bed shortly after. the excitement of our day yesterday was going into London for the day. We went to the Globe theater and saw Romeo and Juliet, but only stayed for half of it because of our tickets for standing room were trying on our legs. Most of the group dispersed and the guys went on a little tour of our own. We got on the tube and popped over to Parliment, saw the PM's motorcade, and that's the truth. Walked up to Trafalger Square, took the train over to Picadilly Circus and saw what there was to see there. We didn't take many pictures because we'll be back there in a few weeks, so I'll be snapping photos like crazy then. We then walked to Chinatown and had an absolutly delicious dinner at this small restaurant that we will be going back to when we come back. Funny story, Bivens and I asked for water, but forgot to tell them we wanted tap water, not bottled. So they brought out this elaborate bottle of water with ever mineral in it except Uranium. It was expensive, but it was the best tasting water we ever had, it went down so smooth. We then caught the trian back to Grantham and just made it back in time for the Man U game against Wigan Athletic, which Man U won 2-1 in the final minutes. Tomorrow bright and early we're getting up and going to Scotland to enjoy the sights, maybe do a ghost tour or pub hop, nothing to fancy. I'll blog more about Scotland when I get back, see ya Sunday.

Photo Story 3: Bunker Down!

Taking a trek to the WW2 Bunker behind the manor.

Second Photo Story: Ireland

Trip Log

Well here we are, in England, and what a lovely time it is. We've been doing so much that its exhausting at some points! We just got back from a trip to Ireland and that had its rewards. We stayed in a beautiful hotel, we got to sample Guinness, and now I am a true believer of how great it really is, but I'll stick to light beer. St. Patrick's Cathedral was breathtaking and Christ Church was also very entertaining, since the had a organ player there playing religious organ pieces that made you feel like you were part of something bigger. I don't know what it is, but every time I go into Cathedrals like that, especially the grand ones that have been around for hundreds of years, it always brings out the God fearing man in me. I also left a prayer in St. Patrick's for my Grandma who recently died, wishing her peace in her new everlasting life and that I loved her very much, that made me tear up little. Well that concludes our trip to Ireland, next up is our day excursion to London, I promise I'll be more diligent with this thing when we get more active in the country. Farewell from England!

JJ

Photo Story: Coventry Cathedral Spire

Ok, so these are some epic photos of our journey to the top of the Old Coventry Cathedral Spire by Cory, Rachel, and yours truly!! Enjoy them, because they're hilarious!

The FSC Men's Basketball team faces two tough tests by playing Purdue University and the University of Illinois in the preseason

Look at This

It's a Big Blue Watery Road!!!

Florida Citrus Freeze Scare

LAKELAND, Fla. (February 10, 2009) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today released its February orange crop forecast for the 2008-2009 season, reducing its earlier estimate by 2.5 percent, or 4 million boxes.
The USDA did not attribute the decline to the freezes that hit the Florida citrus belt in late January and early February. The USDA attributed the decline to smaller sizes and increased fruit drop and said it would continue to assess the impact of the freezes. The crop is now expected to total 158 million boxes.
“The USDA has taken off several million boxes since their original orange estimate in October and with the field reports we’re getting regarding fruit damage and juice yield loss from the late January and early February freezes we would expect less juice production than we were just a month ago,” Michael W. Sparks, executive VP/CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual said. “As a result, we would anticipate better grower returns for the late crop than what we experienced for the early crop.”
Florida citrus was hit with a cold spell on January 22 and February 5 dropped temperatures below 28 degrees for several hours on both nights. In its release Tuesday, the USDA said “A freeze survey…conducted on (January 27-28) showed little or no damage at that time. Additional assessments will be made in mid and late February.”
The USDA makes its initial forecast in October and then revises it monthly until the end of the season in July. In 2007-2008, Florida harvested 170.2 million boxes of oranges. The USDA maintained its prediction that 23 million boxes of grapefruit will be produced in ’08-’09. 
The early and midseason crop is now projected at 83 million boxes, down from 84 million boxes. The Valencias projection is now at 75 million boxes this season, down from January’s forecast of 78 million boxes. The yield for from-concentrate orange juice (FCOJ) is expected to be 1.61 gallons per 90-pound box, down from 1.62.
The Florida citrus industry creates a $9.3 billion annual economic impact, employing nearly 76,000 people, and covering more than 576,000 acres. Founded in 1948 and currently representing nearly 8,000 grower members, Florida Citrus Mutual is the state’s largest citrus grower organization. For more information, visit the Florida Citrus Mutual website.

If you found this article interesting, here are some more links that may intrest you.
Florida Southern College Citrus Department
Florida Juice Land
WCTV Tallahassee
Ultimate Citrus
Reuters Story

Steroid Use in College

In sharp contrast to the past, the use of steroids in college has drastically declined, but it is still a problem.  According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the use of anabolic steroids among college athletes has drastically dropped over a period of 5 years.  Though the decline is drastic, the problem is still imminent among the college community.

Wednesday Assignments

Ok, here are my assignments for wednesdays class.

The first site i examined was AirCongress.com and from the get go this looked like a simply set up site. It seems slanted towards the right side of politics and isnt set up like a real news site at all. It looks like more of a blog than a news site that really tries to be one.

The second one I examined was OurMedia.org, which with the .org it is an orginazational website, which would make it seem like a site to trust. Upon opening it you see a whole bunch of lines and podcasts and music and it makes you think that wow, is this really a news site? Deff would say that this is a democratic site.

The third site i looked at was mediastorm.org and once agian we find a site where the .org is used. This is the site that actually is a non biased media outlet. Run by the Washington Post, it offers indepth looks at real news media stories and news that was prevelant to todays world. It really didnt slant either way, it was more balanced that most

The fourth site reviewed was salon.com, the true left centered site. Filled to the brim with Obama stories and pro Clinton advetisements and stories that would make any Republican cringe. Some crdible news stories but mainly just pro democrat things dominate this site that is hard to focus on at times with the color of the font and the flashing videos

Holy Cow! Who called that??

Well this has been an interesting Bowl season hasn't it?  Starting off with the new MagicJack Bowl, (how many more of these things are we gonna have?) South Florida used home diamond advantage to hammer Memphis, not like this was an upset, but point out the redundancy of the bowls, how long until we see the how many people can you name.com Bowl?  anyway, in the realm of upsets we look to the top spot, the Sugar Bowl.  Alabama, fresh off their loss to Florida in the SEC Championship was supposed to beat the ever living tar out of Utah and send them back to Bringhamville crying.  Well apparently they missed the memo saying that because they showed up to play, beating the Crimson Tide 31-17.  Utah quarterback Brian Johnson shook off early jitters to solidly lead the Utes down the field and shock the partisan Tide faithful in NoLA.  But all is not lost in Tuscaloosa, afteral, they may get to play Vandy next year! Speaking of Vandy, the mighty Commodores actually made a bow game this year, first time since 1982, all be it the Music City Bowl, 6 miles from their campus in Nashville.  The drew the tough ACC opponent Boston College and their tough defense.  Vandy started off holding BC on defense and marched down the field for 2 field goals, but BC led 7-6 at the Half after a quick strike score.  The tide turned in the 3rd quater when a Vandy punt was touched by a BC player and recovered in the endzone byt Vandy for a TD.  BC scored to take a 14-13 lead, but Vandy drove to the 35 where Brian Hanfeldt hita 47 yard field goal to give Vandy the 16-13 lead for good.  BC had a chance late, but their hopes were dashed by a Myron Lewis interception and Vandy won their first bolw game since the 1955 Gator Bowl.  Soak it in Vandy, you never know when it will happen again.  Well, that about wraps it up for me today sports fans, nex titme out we'll review the National Championship and talk a little about hockey.