What You Can Expect From The XXII Olympic Winter Games (Sochi) 2014

The Olympic Winter Games start on February 7th and the United States has high expectations. When it comes to Summer, the U.S. has won 2,400 medals overall making it the top country for most medals. In the winter, however, the U.S. has 253 medals second to Norway’s 303. This year you can bet that the United States will work towards narrowing that gap.

Despite all these medals, the U.S. still has yet to win gold in every event. In one event, the biathlon, the U.S. hasn’t medaled in at all but will see its best chance at one in years, Tim Burke. Having already won a world championship in the event just last year, the odds are in Burke’s favor and the country will be behind him every step of the way. The U.S. has also never won Olympic gold in ski jumping, luge, cross-country skiing or curling. Perhaps this year America can get a surprise victory in one of these events.To add to the opportunity and excitement, this years games will see new events all together. The Olympic games will see for the first time ski slopestyle, snowboard slopestyle, mixed parallel snowboard slalom, women’s ski jumping, ski halfpipe, team-relay luge, mixed-relay biathlon and mixed-team figure skating.

Though there are many events to watch, there are few as popular as hockey. Not only are the games in Russia, but the Russians haven’t won a gold medal in men’s hockey since 1992 so you can expect they will be desperate to win. In women’s hockey the United States has been beaten by Canada the past 3 Olympics. Perhaps this time team USA could finally be top of the podium this year.

Last but not least, the world will see the return of Shaun White. Not many athletes have dominated their sport like he has and the defending two-time champ of men’s snowboard halfpipe is favorited to win again. At these games one can be sure that the world will be looking to change that. It’ll surely be an exciting turn of events.

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Test Tube Art Strikes the Eye

Michael Mapes is not your typical painter, writer or sculptor. He is an artist who believes that every piece of art is a collection of individual parts. The unique thing about his art is that he takes hair samples, old photographs, handwriting samples, jewelry and other valuable items of that person and places them in test tubes to make up a section of the piece. He mainly focuses on self portraits and pictures of people who actually lived in the past and the present.  Mapes wants to use actual items of the significant person to either recreate an original piece or make a new piece of his own. He says that his art is made up of “Biographical DNA” which include the personal items of that specific person and either places them in test tubes or plastic bags which he then arranges to create an image from a distance.

Mapes’ interesting approach to old art creates a symbolic message because of the personal materials that he uses to do so. Creating his pieces out of items of that specific person makes his art that much more meaningful to an artists today. He isn’t one to use paint or pastels, he is one to use the natural color from tangible objects that are found in this world. Mapes wants to change the way art is made and with his method he continues to do so by using the objects that were once important in that persons life.

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Top Five Reasons Why Kale Should be a Major Ingredient in Your Diet!

While ‘going green’ is one of the most growing concepts within today’s health industry, people all over the country are saying goodbye to fast food and fattening meals and inviting loads of green vegetables and healthy, nutritional foods into their body. Throughout the past couple of years, the strive for living a more nutritional and healthy lifestyle has been in. People all over the country have been looking for different ways to exercise, eat clean, and stay healthy. And while eating your vegetables has always been a given, there is one vegetable that stands out above the rest, that veggie is one mean, green, super antixodant and nutriationally rich machine! It’s known as kale and you can count on some unsurpassed health benefits that will blow you away when you read what this veggie can do for you. I will give you five major reasons why kale should be a major ingredient in your diet and by the 2nd reason, you will already be on board!

One- Kale fights off cancer! Kale not only is a cancer preventive vegetable, but because of the two major types of antioxidants within the veggie, carotenoids and flavonoids helps with the passage of these two carotenoids. These two antioxidants within kale go from the human digestive tract up into the blood stream, which has demonstrated the ability of kale to raise blood levels of these carotenoid nutrients. This find is extremely important because it not only protects the body from oxidative stress, but it also decreases the risk of cataracts, atherosclerosis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Among these chronic health problems is cancer and because our overall risk of cells becoming cancerous is due to oxidative stress, kale wipes that away, so get in your comfy shoes, relax and enjoy the kale because this green veggie will make you relax your way to a stress free and chronic free life!

Two- Kale is not only extremely low in calories, but it is also high in fiber and has absolutely none, whatsever fat grams! Eating kale will not only allow your body the ability to increase its digestive tract by eliminating all the toxins and digesting all that is good, but by eating kale, you can eat less and feel full for a longer amount of time due to the great fiber content within kale. Kale is filled with so many nutrients, vitamins, folate and magnesium that, to not eat kale would just be a sad!

Three- Have you been feeling tired and exhausted lately? Well no more worrying about barely making it up the stairs because there is a superfood ready to works its magic! Kale is high in iron, which means no more feeling tired all the time. Although many people take for granted how important it is to have a sufficient amount of iron in your body, many would be surprised to know that low iron is the most common nutritional deficiency in the U.S. Without healthy red blood cells, your body cannot get enough oxygen and if you’re not getting a sufficient amount of oxygen in your body, then that is why you will feel fatigued and tired. By eating kale once a day, you are putting iron back into your blood stream so that this key ingredient will make you feel more energized throughout the day. Iron will not only make you feel more productive throughout your day, but by eating kale, the iron within this nutrional veggie will also make your skin, hair, and nails look healthy, strong, and beautiful!

Four- Kale provides valuable cardiovascular support in terms of its cholesterol-lowering ability to the body. Our livers use cholesterol as a basic building block to produce bile acides, these acids create molecules that absorb within the gall bladder. When we digest kale into our body, the fiber nutrients in this vegetable bind together with the bile acids to work together in moving it inside the intestines and pass out of our body in a bowel movement, rather than getting absorbed along with the fat they have emulsified. By eating kale, your not only putting good food in, but your getting so much good out. Eating healthy makes you stay healthy, and by eating kale your body will digest the nutrients and take the fat and toxins you’ve always wanted out, out!

Five- Kale is high in Vitamin C, Calcium, and is a great detox food! Not only does kale help your immune system, your metabolism and your hydration, but, by digesting this highly nutritional veggie into your body, the high doses of vitamin C found within this vegetable will aid in preventing bone loss, osteoporosis and maintain a healthy metabolism . It not only helps maintain cartilage and joint flexibility, but this high fiber veggie is a great detoxer for your body while keeping your liver healthy so you can stay happy!

Now it’s time to head down to the grocery store and load up on your kale, because a kale chip a day, will keep the doctor away!

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Coke Steals Super Bowl Talk

A lackluster and utterly disappointing Super Bowl 48 provided the stage for a 60 second ad to become a national conversation. The Seattle Seahawk’s blowout victory over the Dallas Broncos opened the door for talk to focus on the spectacle that’s become Super Bowl commercials, and more specificially an advertisement by the Coca-Cola company. Similar to the way Cheerios challenged the status quo of mixed race couples, Coca-Cola’s “America the Beautiful” advertisement has challenged the idea of patriotic American songs only being sung in English. Despite the ad’s efforts to show America as a cultural melting pot, detractors of the ad have cited the lack of English as a reason for the decline of America because of language differences. However there are a large number of people who also took the opposite side and praised the commercial for spotlighting the United States’ unique position as a country built upon an immigrant population.

Another unique feature of the ad was the first same-sex relationship family in a Super Bowl ad. And as the fight for LGBT rights continues to rage among various social groups, it’s a large step forward towards total social recognition of these issues. And as expected, this was another source of conversation, however not to the extent the main message of the ad provided. Ironically, Coca-Cola has managed to both divide and unify the country socially through this ad. It may very well be Coke attempting to draw attention to immigration and immigration reform before states hold elections for Congressional positions later in the year and throwing some support towards certain candidates. But one thing for sure will be Americans will continue to buy Coca-Cola, even if those against the ad say they won’t buy a Coke product ever again.

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Abortion on the Low and Birth Control on the Rise

A new study has confirmed that abortion rates have dropped to its lowest rate since the 1970s.

Authors of the recent study, which has followed the decline since 2008, say that the low rate most likely has nothing to do with the recent state laws that are suppose to restrict the procedure and more to with birth control methods and “day-after” pills.

In 2011, the study showed that 16.5 out of a 1000 women, 15-44, revcieved the medical abortion which is the lowest statistic sense 1973, the year the Supreme Court legalized the procedure. The rate of births have also gone down which leads one to conclude that safety education, birth-control practices, and other “just in case” methods are becoming more and more popular.

However, they do have a definition for just one of the many “Just-in-Case” methods on which they include a non-surgical abortion procedure performed outside of the hospital. This procedure is still considered an abortion even though the recipient may not be sure they are even pregnant and that they are doing it just in case. This method has gone up 17% since 2008 which is parallel to the decline of actual surgically performed abortions.

One of the authors of the study has commented on the lack of evidence that state regulations have declined the number abortions by saying

“while most of the new laws were enacted in states in the Midwest and the South, abortion incidence declined in all regions.”

He also goes on to say

“And some states that are generally supportive of abortion rights, including those allowing Medicaid payment for abortions for poor women, experienced declines in their abortion rates comparable to, and sometimes greater than, the national decline”

Other likely reasons for the decline of abortion also include the economy and the recession that made it hard for women to afford abortions along with women choosing to not have children due to the lack of financial grounding. Between 2008-2011, fewer women,overall, got pregnant and the birthrate fell by 9%. The author of the study also commented on this development saying:

“Presumably then, more women and couples were making conscious decisions to avoid pregnancy and so resumed or continued using contraceptives.This strategy would be expected to have a bigger impact on the rate of intended pregnancies than on the abortion rate, but could also have averted the 5 percent of abortions that followed intended pregnancies”

  • http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/01/31/269557336/abortions-reportedly-drop-to-lowest-rate-since-1970s
  • http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/03/us/abortions-declining-in-us-study-finds.html?_r=0
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Details of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death come to light

Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman had recently passed away, unfortunately dying of an apparent drug overdose. Police reported that the 46 year old actor was found dead on his bathroom floor with a syringe stuck in his left arm, with empty containers and bags that police concluded had been filled with heroin. In Hoffman’s New York apartment, 50 bags labeled “Ace of Hearts” and “Ace of Spades”, street names for heroin, were found, along with 20 empty syringes in a plastic cup. Other findings in the apartment included different types of prescription drugs and other bags filled with white powder, presumably heroin. Police sources told the media that they are beginning to piece together the timeline of the last few days of the actor’s life.

Hoffman was supposed to pick up his three children from his ex-partner’s house, but after failing to do so Mimi O’Donnell (Hoffman’s ex-wife) called Hoffman’s assistant asking him to go to the apartment. 30 minutes later, he called the police. O’Donnell later mentioned that when she had previously seen Hoffman on Saturday around 2 p.m., she thought that the actor was high, although she reported that 30 minutes earlier when speaking with him on the phone, he had sounded fine. The timeline leading up to the actor’s death still has some fuzzy details, yet to be cleared up by authorities.

Sources also confirmed that investigators are also trying to figure out the details as to how he acquired the amount of drugs found in his apartment. The details of Hoffman’s recent life have yet to be completely uncovered.

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Are we putting too much money into the Super Bowl?

Over the years, Super Bowl Sunday has turned into an unofficial American holiday; kinda like Halloween. It has all the parties, all the TV specials, and all of the special costumes & food to go with it.  Yes, it has all the hype & energy of major holiday. All it’s missing is a sanctioned day off from work & school (but, ironically, you almost don’t need it)! Not to mention, people spend money like crazy on wings & pizza on top of all the other things that come with hosting a party. (I feel bad for all of the people who took bets on the Denver Broncos to win. Meanwhile, I’m jamming out to the new anthem of Seattle: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ song “Can’t Hold Us” every time the SeaHawks score a touchdown.)

I did some research and found out just how much money people spend on Super Bowl Sunday.  Last year, over 3.5 million Americans bought brand new furniture just for the occasion and probably to impress their friends coming over for the super bowl party.  The hosts also collectively bought (& consumed) 1.25 billion chicken wings, 15,000 tons of chips, and 27 million slices of pizza (and that’s just from Pizza Hut & Domino’s, who knows how many more from everyone else)!  You can find these and more statistics about the Super Bowl at this link: http://www.odysseynetworks.org/video/5-things-you-dont-know-about-the-big-game.

The amount of positive impact that we could have upon the world with the same amount of money is staggering! Imagine if a major company invested in world hunger instead of advertising on a Super Bowl commercial. According to SciencePorn on Twitter, “The cost of the halftime commercials during the Superbowl could actually feed the world’s entire refugee population… twice.” It’s statistics like this that make me wonder if we are really investing in the right priorities.

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Tax Revenue Getting Higher in Colorado Thanks To Marijuana Sales

Colorado made headlines a month ago with the news that they would be making recreational sale of marijuana legal.  Only one month after this groundbreaking legislation, Colorado has raised more than 1.24 million dollars in tax revenue.

This information comes from a group of 18 Colorado marijuana retailers.  Some of these retailers, due to issues with licensing, were only able to start selling recreational marijuana 4 days ago, so the tax revenue for future months is expected to grow.  With the excitement surrounding the legalization of recreational marijuana, most businesses are being forced to close early because they are out of product.  There is even a state wide shortage of pot due to the high demand.  It seems that the state of Colorado drastically underestimated the success of this legislation.

When legalization of recreational marijuana was on the ballot, lawmakers estimated that they would be able to make around 67 million dollars in the first year, but the success of the first month shows that that the real figures could be much higher.  If the retailers are able to get the the licensing taken care of, and find a way to supply the demand for marijuana, the tax revenue from pot in February could be as high as $250,000 a day.  This means that the real number for marijuana tax revenue for the first year would be closer to 100 million dollars.

Colorado’s economy will benefit greatly from this surge of tax dollars.  The first 40 million has been promised to be used to build schools, but thats just the tip of the ice berg, the money will be used for road projects and other improvements.  Other states are catching on and starting to push for legalization.  It seems like Colorado’s early success may be leading the way for legalization and regulation rather than criminalization.

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Peyton Manning: Hall of Fame QB Struggles in The Spotlight

The night filled with clear cold skies and thousands of flashing cameras came to an upsetting end for Denver Broncos Quarterback Peyton Manning with a loss the the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl. Peyton Manning, for those of you who do not know, is one of the most revered QB’s of all time and completed the best passing year ever for a QB on his way to being named league MVP. Manning, who commanded the number ranked offense in the league was matched up with the number one defense in the league; a defense that would make Manning’s night very long. With two interceptions, one being returned for a touchdown, Manning was visibly upset during the lackluster performance and some wondered if this was indeed the last time Peyton Manning would ever grace a football field.

Manning in a post game interview said he has all intention on coming back to the NFL next year and looking to win his second super bowl. This may all sound good and fans are happy, but, Manning who is coming off of 4 neck surgeries still has to pass a league mandated physical in order to even be eligible for next year. Manning no matter if he returns or not is a first ballot hall of fame quarterback who will always be looked at as a QB that changed the landscape of the position and bringing in a faster pace to the game. Peyton Manning has an overall record of (1-2) in the super bowl and is looking to make that (2-2) by the end of his career.

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GMO’s and What They Mean To The Consumer

It’s been one of the hottest topics in the media in recent years. The food industry  has been using Genetically Modified Organisms, or better known as GMO’s, as their main crop yield to feed to the public. For those that don’t know what a genetically modified organism is or what it means, I’ll elaborate. A GMO is an organism that has been genetically modified using genetic engineering. The food industry is a key role player in this particular engineering technique to harvest our vegetable and fruit crops. Though there are seemingly many benefits to the genetic altering engineering that is being done to our food, such as the crops being more resistant to herbicide, resistant to insects, and increased nutritional value, studies also show that GMO’s have been linked to increased carcinogens and even birth defects.

The fact that the government and the FDA approves such substances to be incorporated in our foods should raise alarm. With such side effects, much of the public has signed petitions to put a ban on the use of GMO’s and to also  enforce policies that mandate companies to label their food as either GMO or non-GMO.  Another downfall associated with the GMO industry is the impact it has on local farmers. One of the biggest most well known biochemical companies, Monsanto, is largely responsible for the production of the GMO seeds used to grow such crops. Because they have control over the seeds and have political power in the farming industry, they have more of a hand in politics and powerful lobbyist that are able to get what they want. If this keeps up, we can expect to see more and more diagnoses of cancer and food will no longer be the food we’re used to eating. They will be clones of the real fruits and veggies we once knew to be real. Still, organic is, hands down, the best way to go. It may cost more, but your body will thank you.

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