Ants in Manhattan

One By One
byNick Paumgarten
September 22, 2008.

A recent study, done by Columbia Grad Student Marko Pekarevic, showed that ants resemble humans very closely. His study, done in the heart of New York City, revealed that ants pay attention to our human stereotypes as well. The subject of his Master's Thesis was the biodiversity of ants in Manhattan, usually found on road medians. Using Google Earth, he chose 3 main medians: Park Avenue, the West Side Highway and Broadway to conduct his research. The 32 year old, carried around an "aspirator", a plastic tube that he uses to collect ants, for almost 2 years. He inhales them alive, into a chamber, and admits that "they're not happy about it". In his study of the Manhattan ants, he showed that, much like our own stereotypes, ants were more diverse in the Upper West Side than in the Upper East Side. Over the course of the two years, he collected roughly 6600 ants and kept them in alcohol. He then identified 14 species present in New York's medians. The most common ones were the cornfield ant, the pavement ant and the thief ant. Pekarevic noticed that hot and hazy days are not adequate for "anting", because most of them try to hide from such hot temperatures. However, he also notices that on Seventy Sixth Street, all ants go wild for popsicle sticks, Marlboro Butts, pistachio nuts, a plastic spoon and degraded card receipts. On Park Ave though, he couldn’t find any colonies. Two summers ago, Pekarevic has captured Chinese Needle Ants, ants that have never been found north of Virginia. But having to go back to Zagreb to pursue his studies, he left them and never found them again.

Annotated Bibliography

Andre Durand History of the International Committee of the Red Cross Volume II: From Sarajevo to Hiroshima. 1994.

The book gives the reader an overview of the ‘miracles’ done by the Red Cross. It praises the Red Cross and all the missions they have accomplished in the past 50 years. Everything in this book talks about what the Red Cross is all about, their values and principles, as well as what they do in dangerous countries. The book is written about the Red Cross itself, therefore biased. It only includes the ‘good’ things, not what they have had trouble doing or not done at all. The author worked for the Red Cross, therefore biased and doesn’t include everything that the Red Cross has done. However, the book is a good resource to learn about the main missions of the Red Cross, as well as what they have accomplished so far.

Don Habibi page: 3- 35 Journal of Human Rights http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aqh&AN=24175912&site=ehost-live January-March 2007

This article shows the bad side of things. It provides examples on why the Red Cross organization doesn’t always do what it’s supposed to. The humanitarian organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross have lost sight of their own values, established long ago. The author, a professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina, is clearly concerned about Human rights in the Middle East and does not agree with the political side of humanitarian organizations. They follow the United Nations’ political principles, which conflicts with their own ideals. However, the article pertains to fairness and human rights, including unfair justice created by humanitarian organizations in the Middle East. The author, however biased, uses a rather large variety of sources which include the Red Cross itself and Amnesty International.

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies “What we do” 2008
http://www.ifrc.org/what/index.asp?navid=04_01

The article, taken from the ICRC website, is the perfect source to know what they do. The International Committee of the Red Cross created a website in order to inform readers about their principles as well as their main actions in risky countries. They explain their goals in detail and what they expect to do in the near future. The author, obviously working for ICRC, describes in detail everything they do but omits the issues they face or aren’t able to cope with. However, the article gives a full view of what we should expect of a good humanitarian organization, and provides information on their overall goals.

International Committee of the Red Cross “Discover the ICRC” 2008
http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/section_discover_the_icrc?

The website, created by the ICRC (international committee of the Red Cross), is full of interesting facts and ideas. The International Committee of the Red Cross gives an overview of its goals and statistics, as well as its origins. This article completes the preceding article, in a sense that they both talk about the same subject but state different facts. The article only states one of view, which enables the reader to know what the Red Cross says about itself. There is so obvious bias in the article; however its data is well researched and accurate, therefore a good source to use.

International Committee of the Red Cross “International Committee of the Red Cross: Handbook of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement” 2008

The book gives us an overview of the “miracles” accomplished by the Red Cross. It was written to provide information about the organization, and is currently used inside the organization itself. The handbook gives information on the wars and how the Red Cross has managed to help some people in difficult situations, such as in Kosovo. The article shows some bias, because it is written FOR the people of the Red Cross and shows only the Pros, and doesn’t mention the cons. However, the data and the dates are accurate and the events described in the book seem precise. It could be meant to be used as a motivational piece of writing, because they inspire people to do better things for the organization and to get more involved. Nonetheless, the article can be used for dates and events, even though some things, such as the struggles they face, have been left out.

Lewis, Neil. "Red Cross Finds Detainee Abuse in Guantánamo." The New York Times
2004

This article made front cover for the New York Times in 2004 due to its contents on torture in Guantanamo. Written by Neil Lewis, the author condemns the US government for using torture on prisoners. He mentions the investigations done by the International Committee of the Red Cross, and argues that the Red Cross should reveal its conclusion to the public instead of keeping them secret. One of the main goals of the Red Cross is to help prisoners of war that have been treated badly or tortured; and the investigations done by the Red Cross relate to that. Many humanitarian workers have complained to the American government, and are trying to change things in prisons all over the country. The author of the article, Neil Lewis, is clearly concerned about the treatment of prisoners and human rights. The investigations done by the Red Cross are clearly what they are entailed to do usually, and help many prisoners. The article provides a good example of what the Red Cross is able to do and can be used as a good source.

“Profile: International Committee of the Red Cross." BBC News 2008

This article, written by the BBC, gives a very accurate profile of the humanitarian organization. It describes its activities in detail as well as its leader, and its main goals. The article contains a lot of information concerning the Red Cross, and can be used safely in a presentation. Because the article has been written by the BBC, an organism that has access to many resources, the data and events presented in this article are believed to be relatively accurate. The humanitarian organization also argues its choices and decisions, mainly concerning confidentiality throughout the world, as it enables them to access places that other organizations cannot attain. Some parts of the article contain only facts, while others discuss issues and leaders. This article can certainly be used as a good source, because it has been backed up by sources as well as re-edited by the BBC.

"Red Cross: Millions needed for Pakistan quake aid." Associated Press Nov 2008
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jQ1xhRo256Itkv8iKFTl8uUTXpAwD946MF180>.

The Red Cross has appealed for $8million in early November, due to a massive earthquake that ravaged Pakistan. This is a short article concerning the actions that the Red Cross has taken in order to help Pakistan especially children and women that need medicine and food. The article, written by Associated Press, can be used as a good source that contains an example of the Red Cross’ actions. The article also contains number and statistics, which shows that they have back up as to whether the information is valid or not. However, the author is unknown; therefore it is harder to determine if the information can be relied on. As an Associated Press article, the reader assumes that the information is legitimate and accurate. It is a good source to find real numbers and stats.

Strom, Stephanie. Red Cross FDA Bad Blood. New York Times, 2008.
http://disc.yourwebapps.com/discussion.cgi?disc=7498;article=3739;title=CJD%20Voice%20Discussion%20Group

This article, published in the New York Times in 2008 might be giving us the ‘not so good’ side of the Red Cross. 15 years ago, the Red Cross received warnings from the FDA (Food-Drug Association) saying that the blood they were collecting and distributed was of bad quality. The author is clearly conserved about the safety of the patients, who can easily get syphilis or malaria. The Red Cross hasn’t done anything to recall the bad blood, and hasn’t recorded the number of people that have been infected with another disease. However, the Red Cross, as the largest supplier of blood in the United States, has been put under a federal court order to improve the way it collects and packages blood. The author, Stephanie Strom, is concerned about the health of Americans, and shows that the Red Cross might not be the safest organization out there. Nevertheless, the author takes both sides, and yet manages to be biased. She doesn’t go in depth about the way the blood is packaged, and doesn’t give a chance for Red Cross officials to explain themselves.




The Nobel Foundation, "International Committee of the Red Cross -The Nobel Peace Prize 1963."
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1963/red-cross-history.html

The Nobel Prize foundation has given 3 Nobel prizes to the Red Cross. As a humanitarian organization, the Red Cross has tried to develop and help countries that are implicated in conflicts with other countries, as well as civil wars. They have mainly tried to help children and women, and the Nobel Committee has given the organization 3 Nobel Prizes. The website, which is written by the Nobel Prize Organization, has given sources and shows a relatively low amount of bias. However the Nobel Prize Organization has given them prizes, and will not go against what they have done. Therefore we can conclude that there is a small amount of bias in the article. Nonetheless, the information given on the website has been checked many times and is backed up by somewhat biased sources.

Globalization Terms

The article talks about the different terms used in the globalized world. Globalization is the movement that shows that economies, business and our livelihood have become linked and interdependent. In other words, everything depends on something else. Due to globalization, there has been a dramatic increase in trade between nations. Companies operate all over the world, and communicate with their factories across the world. Big, global companies will be more efficient if they produce and sell more to consumers. They bring communities all over the world together, communication has improved greatly over the past century. The major force behind globalization has been technology. Some argue that technology is slowing globalization down, yet technology is the reason why our nations make progress.
But there are actually many types of corporation that drive our economies forward: multinational corporations, that operate in any countries, conglomerates, corporations that operate in many fields or areas, often unrelated. But one of the most important types is maybe merger, the fusion of two or more corporations, in order to increase profits and reduce losses or costs. There is also a reduction in competition, which has been fought against in the United States. One of the major parts of competition includes monopolies, where there is only one seller of a certain commodity. They have in fact never been very popular in the capitalist world, and laws have been created to protect fair competition.

Olympic Postcard: Green Beijing.

Bug Wars
by Richard Rayner August 25, 2008
published in the New Yorker

Kari Heliövaara, head of forest entomology at the University of Helsinki, was recently part of a team hired to prevent an ongoing eco-catastrophe before the Olympics in Beijing. For years, bugs has ravaged nearly all the deciduous trees in Beijing, leaving the branches "naked and ugly". Civic leaders were worried about the environmental image that the country would give during the Olympics and therefore decided to act as fast as possible.
Chinese experts turned to Heliövaara for assistance, and he soon discovered that the larvae of moths and sawflies caused the problem. He soon launched a program called 'Green Beijing'.
Chemical control was possible but ecologically not very friendly, and biological control was much more efficient. Biological control means, in this case, "rearing parasites that attack only the defoliating pests".
This is very challenging because you have to use the right kind of parasite in order to get rid of the larvae. In order to create the 'parasite', you have to capture a female moth, a male moth, make them mate and infest their eggs with the parasite. When the cocoons are put back on the trees, only the parasite survives and then attacks the larvae you are trying to get rid of.
But given the tight deadline of the summer Olympics, more labs were needed. The Chinese government built 20 buildings, in and out of the city in order to create the larvae that would get rid of the moths.
Last summer, Green Beijing had successful trials and decided this year, in May, to release the larvae in all of Beijing. In a matter of weeks, about 20 thousand parasites emerged from each cocoon, killing the sawfly and moth larvae.
Prof. Heliövaara has watched the Olympics on TV, and says he is very happy because Beijing now looks green

Seattle Scene: Grunge.

Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal ad indie rock, grunge is characterized by heavily distorted guitars and angst-filled lyrics. Grunge became commercially popular in the 1990's due to the release of Nirvana's Nevermind and Pearl Jam's Ten.
Grunge became the most popular form of hard rock in the 90's and still continues to impact modern rock music. However many grunge bands were uncomfortable with this sudden popularity.
Their popularity was mainly due to MTV playing Nirvana songs over an over again. The industry even created a grunge clothing line. Grunge was all about rebelling and being independent, but the clothing lines and MTV were not what grunge bands were looking for. It was in fact against all their ideals.

Globalization

Over the course of the 20th century, globalization is all we talk about. It has considerably improved our living standards, all over the world. Globalization worldwide has boosted productivity, by using workers in more productive ways, which enables a better development overall. Consumers are also buying more foreign goods, and trade has flourished greatly over the past century.
Some critics might argue that globalization brings more competition between developing countries, and destroy jobs and push down wages, in developed countries as well. One of their arguments is that countries reduce wages, taxes, welfare benefits and environmental controls to make themselves more 'competitive', which is brought by the competitiveness between countries. There are obviously positive and negative effects coming from globalization. But to understand what is really happening we have to look at the definition of globalization and what is meant by it.
Even though people still argue that globalization is new, it has been happening for longer than we think. Globalization started 50 years before the first world war. But it ended abruptly due to the first world war, and did not start again due to the second world war and the Great Depression. To restore their prosperity, firms and government agreed to reduce trade barriers. After 1995, trade flourished again due to the GATT, the General Agreement on tariffs and Trade, which organized a series of negotiations that gradually reduced import tariffs. By the end of the 1970's, one of their systems collapsed, enabling currencies to "float" against one another, at whatever rate the market set. This was the rebirth of global capital markets. Most of Europe followed the American trend except France and Italy. Continental European nations are now worried, because America has been exposed to capital markets for much longer.
Two forces have been driving globalization forward. One of them is obviously technology. Everything has become cheaper due to the falling costs of production. Communication has become much better due to technology, and firms can communicate with their entities all over the world whenever they wish to.
The second major force driving globalization forward is liberalization. Almost every country has lowered its barriers to foreign trade and international capital. For example, Britain and France are more open to trade than they used to in 1913, while Japan is less open now than then. In theory, the wages and prices of goods should be the same in countries all over the world, yet there are some major differences between the United States and Europe or Japan. This reflects a variety of factors including tastes, transport costs, difference in taxes and inefficient distribution networks.
But while capital and product markets have been increasingly integrated, labor markets have not. This means that even though tens of millions of people work outside their home countries, the labor force is less mobile. There are many reasons for it, such as language, cultural barriers, and incompatible educational and professional qualifications.
Could globalization be reversed a second time? Doubtful. Because of technological advancements and lower communication costs, as well as better foundations for market systems, it is less likely that globalization can be reversed at this stage.

Chapter 2 "No Logo"

Children are now the next target for the big brands. By trying to advertise their brands when they are still young, the corporations now they will have them "for life", and will recognize it as adults. By having the name of a brand on a T-shirt, they are becoming walking billboards, living advertisements. By having the brand there, it is showing that the product was expensive and it is almost like keeping the tag on for everyone to see. But corporations now have gone to the next level, sponsoring sport events, concerts, music festivals. The way sponsors have changed, is that they now put on their own shows, and make sure they have enough people to sell their porducts at the place. They then try to find a celebrity that will perfectly fit the image of the brand, someone that can advertise their lifestyles. Personalities are now associated with brands, such as Tiger Woods and Nike, or Michael Jordan and Nike. They are in fact living ads, and attract so many buyers. Entire streets can also become ads, one street was painted totally silver for a Jeans company. TV shows, such as Dawson's Creek are sponsored by clothing companies, such as J. Crew. Everything is now sponsored, and events are even created by the sponsors themselves, and will import celebrities to their shows. This will bring them exclusivity and they will not have to share their fame. Firms want better connections with the culture, and is in fact becoming our culture. All we know are brands, logos and price tags.

"The Climate of Man - 1" Annals of Science

"The Climate of Man - 1"
Annals of Science, published in the New Yorker by Elizabeth Kolbert

In the 1990, researchers began to notice something unusual happening to all the glaciers in the world, melting at extremely high rates and shrinking rapidly. It was actually the beginning of global warming. The ice is now melting earlier in the spring and forming later in the fall, which was the signal that some tribes in Alaska had to move to the mainland, and couldn’t stay on the ice. The first study about global warming, in 1979, showed that greenhouse emissions could have severe affects on the environment. Unfortunately, no one paid attention to the study when it was published, and we now suffer the consequences. The world is now warmer than it has ever been, and the glaciers in Greenland and Iceland have melted 1100 feet in the last decade. It is also predicted that all the glaciers and ice will have melted by 2080 if we keep producing this much carbon dioxide and methane. In fact, humans have been the major factor to all of this, due to the increasing amounts of carbon dioxide released by humans in the last 30 years.

Branding: The new Art.

LIFESTYLE AD:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTT9MqcVhTA

Ralph Lauren Commercial

They are selling a lifestyle, something that reminds you of summer, something happy and beautiful. But it is actually a commercial for a perfume, which brings you a lifestyle. It doesn’t talk about the actual product but what it could bring to your life. It is a fragrance for girls, and the main character in the ad is wearing beautiful clothes and looking literally "hot".
Ralph Lauren is using a beautiful model to attract younger female viewers, bring them to buy the product in order to look as pretty as the model. The ad is NOT about the perfume, but shows videos of beaches, something that will give you the incentive to buy the product.


PRODUCT AD:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rx-HoaJtRwY&feature=related

Pepsodent Toothpaste Commercial (1957)

This commercial shows the actual product, a toothpaste. The brand is advertised, but more than that, the product is supposed to change the way your teeth look. No more yellow, simply whiter. This ad is showing the actual product, and is not necessarily selling a brand.
Pepsodent, in its commercial, uses cartoon characters to advertise its product. It doesn’t sell a lifestyle, but only the product. Unlike Ralph Lauren's ad, the product is life changing. No more yellow and cleaner teeth!

"No Logo" Chapter One

The main purpose of the first chapter was to describe the way companies decided to sell images and lifestyles rather than products. To achieve that, firms create logos that evoke familiarity, like Aunt Jemima or Uncle Ben. They have replaced the shopkeepers that guaranteed you quality products, and rely on the image they produce to make profits. The more money they spend on advertising, the company then is worth more. They are now selling fewer products, but everything is made around the lifestyle they wish to sell you. What started the branding revolution was the purchase of Kraft Foods by Phillip Morris for 12.6 billion dollars in 1988. Companies use advertisements because their products need to “stick out”, since they are essentially the same products as everyone else’s. The more money they spend on branding, the more recognizable their logo will be, therefore the more profit.

Mini-Me

Merchants of Cool- Viacom

BET Networks
BET
BET J
BET Gospel
BET Hip Hop
BET Event Productions
BET Pictures
BET On Blast
BET Mobile
BET International
CMT
CMT Pure Country
CMT Loaded
CMT Mobile
CMT Radio
CMT On Demand
COMEDY CENTRAL
GameTrailers
GT Marketplace
GoCityKids
Harmonix
Logo
AfterEllen.com
AfterElton.com

MTV Networks
MTV
MTV Jams
MTV Hits
MTV Books
MTV Tr3s
MTV2
MTVN International
TMF (The Music Factory)
Game One
Flux
VIVA
QOOB
MTV OVERDRIVE
Lazona.com
MTV Boombox
MTV Revolution
mtvU
mtvU.com
College Media Networks
RateMyProfessors.com
Neopets
Nick at Nite
Nick Jr.
Noggin

Nickelodeon
Nick GAS
Nicktoons Network

Nickelodeon Consumer Products
Nick Arcade
ParentsConnect
Quizilla
Rhapsody
Spike TV
Spike Filmed Entertainment
The N
The Click
TV Land

VH1
VH1 Classic
VH1 Soul
VHUno
Vspot
Virtual Worlds
Virtual Hills
Virtual Laguna Beach
Virtual Pimp My Ride
LogoWorld
Xfire
Paramount Pictures Corporation
DreamWorks Studios
MTV Films
Nickelodeon Movies
Paramount Home Entertainment
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Vantage

Tractor Cab - Le Convoi

The truck features an advertisement from McDonald's, which includes Ronald McDonald on the truck. Ronald, the mascot of the company, has always been happy and smiling.
There is most likely a partnership between the toy company and McDonald's, to attract the children, they are being targeted by aspirational figures.
Kids are targets that have been studied for years and are used by the multinationals in order to make more profits. The toy has pictures of Ronald MC Donald, skateboarding, which will attract the young consumers and create a picture of happiness that they can only get by getting the toy and by going to McDonald's. The logo on the truck is a subtle way of advertising, leasing its logo to benefit both firms. The two companies work in what we call "external corporate synergy", which means that they interact with each other in order to make a better product, and both benefit from working with one another.

Young children are very good demographic targets, because parents spend "guild money" to please them, buy things instead of spending time with their kids. They compensate for their lack of responsability and want to feel like "good parents".

Vision of students today

My average class size is 10.

I read about 20 books a year

2400 facebook profiles

1820 web pages

I get about 8 hours of sleep each night

I spend 3 hours a day online

3 hours studying

4 hours listening to music

and 2 hours on my cell phone

I spend 7 hours in school everyday

That's a total of 27 hours per day. I multitask.

Global Me

Wears outfits from:

American Eagle (Pittsburgh)

Gant (Massachusetts)

Puma (Germany)

Dolce & Gabbana (Italy)

Polo Ralph Lauren (United States)

Calvin Klein (New York)

Tommy Hilfiger

Nike (Seattle)

Abercrombie & Fitch

Hollister

Lacoste (France)

Converse

Longchamps (France)

Oakley

Wilson

Speaks: French, English, German.

Has lived in: France, United States and Switzerland.