In today’s society, there is a
strong correlation between low income and obesity. In fact, the
relationship is so high it has attracted the eyes of many
researchers, economists, politicians, etc. worldwide. If you take for
an example the average low income household in Atlanta, you will see
that there is a huge void between what their income allows them to
purchase versus what the family actually needs to live a healthy
life. More than 23 million Americans, including 6.5 million children,
live in low-income urban and rural neighborhoods that are more than
one mile from the nearest supermarket. If you take it a step
further, you will see that the community around low-income households
does not have sufficient resources supplied. These communities, where
access to affordable, quality, and nutritious foods is limited, are
known as “food deserts.” In these communities, grocery stores
that sell healthy foods such as fresh fruit and vegetables are
inaccessible or healthy foods are too expensive.
For example, in the
Bandhead area of Atlanta, there are approximately four corner stores,
three gas stations and no grocery stores in the highly populated
neighborhoods. Therefore, not only can households in the Bankhead
community not afford proper nutrition in their community but also
they have to drive or find other means of transportation to get to a
proper grocer to obtain their weekly supplies. (See US Map Below)
Many a time gas stations and local stores contain foods that are high
in sugar and salt, low in proteins and vitamins and full of
preservations and chemical additions, which are harming to ones
health.
As you can see the
obesity epidemic is a complex issue, which needs prevention
strategies and policies across multiple levels in order to have a
measurable effect. Recent studies have shown that since certain
health efforts have been implemented in schools, obesity rates among
children have decreased. (See graph below) However, there is still an
increased rate of obesity between both young adults and adults. In
order to properly rectify the rising obesity rate among adults, I
believe more grocery stores like Kroger, Wal-Mart and Publix should
start marketing themselves to these communities as way for them to
obtain proper nutrition. Not only will these suggestions assist with
a decrease in the obesity rate but it will also decrease unemployment
and increase consumption. Changes should also include high-level
global policies from the international community and coordinated
efforts by governments, organizations, communities and individuals to
positively influence behavioral change. When there is both a positive
influence on behavior and an increase in spending, the entire
community reaps the benefits of both a healthier and more prosperous
life.
In the midst of another injustice ruling from the Trayvon Martin/ Zimmerman case, we come to ask ourselves what does the does the justice system has against blacks. Or are we overreacting? Well, let’s go back two years ago with the infamous Troy Davis case. In case you don’t know what or who I am referring to I will provide a quick synopsis. According to Wikipedia, “Troy Anthony Davis was an American man convicted of and executed for the August 19, 1989, murder of police officer Mark MacPhail in Savannah, Georgia.
MacPhail was working as a security guard at a Burger King restaurant when he intervened to defend a man being assaulted in a nearby parking lot. During Davis's 1991 trial, seven witnesses testified they had seen Davis shoot MacPhail, and two others testified Davis had confessed the murder to them among 34 witnesses who testified for the prosecution, and six others for the defense, including Davis. Although the murder weapon was not recovered, ballistic evidence presented at trial linked bullets recovered at or near the scene to those at another shooting in which Davis was also charged. He was convicted of murder and various lesser charges, including the earlier shooting, and was sentenced to death in August 1991.” Now that you are caught up, here were some reasons why he should not have been executed.
1.Of the nine witnesses who appeared at Davis's 1991 trial who said they had seen Davis beating up a homeless man in a dispute over a bottle of beer and then shooting to death a police officer, Mark MacPhail, who was acting as a good samaritan, seven have since recanted their evidence.
2. One of those who recanted, Antoine Williams, subsequently revealed they had no idea who shot the officer and that they were illiterate – meaning they could not read the police statements that they had signed at the time of the murder in 1989. Others said they had falsely testified that they had overheard Davis confess to the murder.
3. Many of those who retracted their evidence said that they had been cajoled by police into testifying against Davis. Some said they had been threatened with being put on trial themselves if they did not co-operate.
4. Of the two of the nine key witnesses who have not changed their story publicly, one has kept silent for the past 20 years and refuses to talk, and the other is Sylvester Coles. Coles was the man who first came forward to police and implicated Davis as the killer. But over the past 20 years evidence has grown that Coles himself may be the gunman and that he was fingering Davis to save his own skin.
5. In total, nine people have come forward with evidence that implicates Coles. Most recently, on Monday the George Board of Pardons and Paroles heard from Quiana Glover who told the panel that in June 2009 she had heard Coles, who had been drinking heavily, confess to the murder of MacPhail.
6. Apart from the witness evidence, most of which has since been cast into doubt, there was no forensic evidence gathered that links Davis to the killing.
7. In particular, there is no DNA evidence of any sort. The human rightsgroup the Constitution Project points out that three-quarters of those prisoners who have been exonerated and declared innocent in the US were convicted at least in part on the basis of faulty eyewitness testimony.
8. No gun was ever found connected to the murder. Coles later admitted that he owned the same type of .38-calibre gun that had delivered the fatal bullets, but that he had given it away to another man earlier on the night of the shooting.
9. Higher courts in the US have repeatedly refused to grant Davis a retrial on the grounds that he had failed to "prove his innocence". His supporters counter that where the ultimate penalty is at stake, it should be for the courts to be beyond any reasonable doubt of his guilt.
10. Even if you set aside the issue of Davis's innocence or guilt, the manner of his execution tonight is cruel and unnatural. If the execution goes ahead as expected, it would be the fourth scheduled execution date for this prisoner. In 2008 he was given a stay just 90 minutes before he was set to die. Experts in death row say such multiple experiences with imminent death is tantamount to torture.
Innocence until proven guilty? Riiigghht.
Now let’s switch gears for a second and take in perspective another highly criticize injustice case.
This one was the Casey Anthony Case. According to Wikipedia, “Caylee Marie Anthony was a two-year-old American girl who lived in Orlando, Florida with her mother, Casey Marie Anthony, and her maternal grandparents, George and Cindy Anthony. On July 15, 2008, she was reported missing to 9-1-1 by Cindy, who said she had not seen Caylee for 31 days and that Casey's car smelled like a dead body had been inside it. Cindy said Casey had given varied explanations as to Caylee's whereabouts before finally telling her that she had not seen Caylee for weeks. Casey told detectives several falsehoods, including that the child had been kidnapped by a nanny on June 9, and that she had been trying to find her, too frightened to alert the authorities. She was charged with first degree murder in October 2008 and pleaded not guilty.
Casey Anthony Web of Lies.
Now I don’t want to pull the race card just about yet but I provided ten reasons why Troy Davis should have not been executed, so let’s see if I can provide ten reasons why Casey Anthony should have not been found innocent for murder. Amber Cabrera, a yahoo contributor said,
1. Did not report Caylee's absence for 31 days. Only after she was found by her mother, Cindy Anthony and after extensive questioning by her family did Casey admit that Caylee had been "missing" for 31 days. Casey can be heard on the 9-1-1 call just as stoic and non-emotional as she remains in court, while Cindy is absolutely frantic.
2. Lied to police investigators about everything. Casey never tried to help investigators find her daughter. She lied about working at Universal Studios, going so far as to take them there until she could no longer lie her way out and finally confessed that she didn't work there any longer. She has never cooperated with investigators to search for her daughter Caylee. This is suspicious of someone who already knew the fate of Caylee and did not see the need to search for the little girl as she already knew what happened to her.
3. Went on a shopping spree immediately following Caylee's disappearance. Did not buy anything for her daughter. Did buy lingerie, alcohol. Are these the actions of a "loving mother?" Would that be the first thing you do after your daughter goes missing?
4. Went to the movie store with her then boyfriend. Even if she accidentally drowned, would you be out the same day buying stuff for yourself or your boyfriend? Not to mention making it a "Blockbuster night?"
5. Shows absolutely no remorse for anything happening. Something in her cranium isn't firing off right. The only emotion she shows seems to be for the jury or when the topic is about her. This is the most brilliant show of victim self pity I have ever seen. Of course she doesn't want to face the pictures of the daughter she literally threw out like garbage. That's not the reaction of a mother who has lost her child. It's the reaction to a sociopath who is only sad because she's realizing that the walls are closing in on her. She's sad for her situation, she is not sad because she is no longer saddled with a child. I am absolutely convinced that even at the prospect of spending life behind bars or being executed, Casey Anthony still believes she made the right decision to kill her daughter. Now the attention is all focused on her more than ever. Just turn on your TV.
6. Lied to her family during jail visits about the location of Caylee and Zenaida Gonzalez. Casey Anthony lies when there isn't even a reason to lie. She lies for the sport of it. So much so that she made up a story about a fake nanny to explain away any child care concerns that her family may have had- two years BEFORE this incident! More than that, she continually lies to her parents during hours of recorded and videotaped jail talks. She knew full well what happened to Caylee and still allowed her parents and the nation to continue searching for her. She has no remorse for all of the time and money and concern and sadness that total strangers have had for HER daughter.
7. Google searches on the home computer for "chloroform" and "neck breaking" Can someone say pre-meditation???
8. Evidence of decomposition in her car. C'mon, trash? Really? So the multitude of experts who have personal first-hand experience on what human decomposition smells like must be complete idiots. It was really trash in the car. That must explain the evidence of human decomposition that was found in the trunk as well as the overwhelmingly high amounts of chloroform. Obviously the defense is busy throwing spaghetti at the wall to see how much of it will stick. Go back and listen to Cindy Anthony's 9-1-1 call where she states that it smells like there's been a dead body in the car. The first reaction is usually the truth.
9. She is blaming her family for her guilt. After three years, this is the first we've heard about the accidental drowning theory and the sexual abuse allegation. You know a person is pure evil when no one is safe, even her own family. Why would they be? She murdered (allegedly, blah blah) the person that should have been the most precious to her, why not throw her family under the bus? There was no previous inkling of allegations over the past three years about any of this being the cause or contributing factor to the events that unfolded. Why now? How convenient when her defense team needs to say SOMETHING to keep her off death row.
10. If it walks, talks, acts like a duck... Fortunately and unfortunately the law is based on proving a case based on the evidence. There is a lot of circumstantial evidence in this case. Will it be enough to convict her? Ultimately, she will answer to this crime. Will it be in a court of law, in front of God or both?
Other than tables and charts, another good way to present data is with maps. To use maps in a presentation, the data needs locational information (for example, state, zipcode, lat/long, street name and/or street numbers).
For this assignment you will need to find some data with locational variables, so fusion tables can geocode each record. Remember each row is a record and each column is a data field. Make sure the data you get has a few numbers-based data fields (example:building size, sales price, land acreage and/or year building was built).
What to do:
1) I recommend going to http://www.netronline.com.
2) Then click Public Records Online from the top menu
3) I have researched the states and counties and I recommend you gather sales date from one of the following: (you can use any other state/county that allows you to download your results in excel)
Georgia/Fulton County
Florida/Duval County
Florida/Orange County
4) Search for property sales using any criteria you want - you need about 200 to 300 records in your results
5) Download the data into excel
6) Clean up the data by eliminating columns you do not need, rows with empty cells (I did this in class)
7) At the end you will need about 100 records
8) Create the concontenate column (see video below) remember Monday's class
9) Use Save-as to make sure this file is saved as an excel file (.xls)
10) Upload into Google Fusion Tables
11) Map records
12) Change style (see video below)
13) Add Legend to map (see video below)
This Homework #6 is due Sunday November 10, 2013 at midnight.
There is no online exam this time.
Once you finish your Google fusion table, save it and then share it with me at os3@aol.com. Make sure you either make it public or available for viewing by me. Your grade will be based on how well your map looks and the coloring of the location dots based on sales price, city or date.
I will be available for a one-on-one on Skype (username: osistrunk3) or join.me.
Just text me (4045090533) to set an appointment.
Do not wait until the last minute.
You will need a Google account (Gmail, Drive, Blogger or other). Any account should work. Once you have one Google account, you can add other services. Google fusion tables are on Google Drive. If you do not have a Google account, sign up for free, for Google drive.
What is Google Fusion Tables?
It allows you to visualize data in a map format instead of a table or chart format. You can upload excel data with locational information (Lat/Long, addresses, city and etc.). Once you upload this spreadsheet, you can map each row (record or transaction) to Google map. It allows you to show your data in a map format. Google will map each row. Once mapped, you can use the informational data about each row (the columns) to highlight what is important. For example, your data has addresses. You can map each address and show them on a google map. The you can change to color of each dot based on other information in the spreadsheet, like sales price.
In 2011, Google released its first laptop called the Google Chromebook (link this here: http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/). This light-weight, inexpensive computer runs the latest Google Chrome OS, a web-based operating system utilizing Google’s web browser, Google Chrome. Google Chrome, amassing a little above 50% of the global web browser marketplace, has simplified the internet browsing experience, while catering to its users unique experience, offering a set of themes, applications, extensions, and other features specific to the unique Google marketplace.
The Google Chromebook starts selling at around $280, relatively cheaper than its other competitors. It updates automatically, so it won’t slow down your computer over time, it has virus protection installed, multiple layers of security, and verified software to help keep you safe from viruses, malware and other computer nasties. You can get up to 100 GB of cloud storage for free, also meaning you can access all the information in your Chromebook from your phone, tablet, or other device easily. Its price, features, and usability have been just a few of the reasons why schools have begun to purchase Chromebooks for education.
Using Chromebooks as opposed to other devices in the classroom has many benefits. Students and teachers can collaborate using all of Google’s apps and products that are embedded into Chrome and that are accessible from the web-browser such as Google Hangouts for remote teaching; Google+ for discussions, groups and chatting; Google Calendar for events, assignments, and deadlines; Gmail for email management; and Google Drive for presentations, documents, spreadsheets and more! The Chromebook uses less than 8 seconds to start up, even after being in sleep mode. They also have a battery that lasts about 8 hours, which is the same time as an average school day.They also have built-in wifi and 3g, so that you can use your Chromebook basically anywhere. Since the Chromebook is a web-based computer, all your information is stored in the cloud; that means you can access your information from just about any device by simply logging in.
Administrators can control and manage the Chromebooks for students through a web-based management console which allows for administration to manage a large number of user accounts without a lot of overhead and IT issues. Because of its cost-effectiveness, every student can have a custom, personalized user account. Chromebooks for education can save schools over $5,200 per device over three years.
Check out these videos to learn more about how other schools are using Chromebooks for education and go to google.com/chromebooks/education to learn how your school can be involved!
Gigaom
reports that many US customers pay more money for slower Internet and
services than other countries around the world. Their
answer to this problem is competition.
When a small number of large corporations handles the Internet demand
for local markets; new entrants are hindered from entering, decisions
to expanding networks are delayed, and innovative efforts are slowed,
which keep Internet prices high. The same is true for our wireless
phones. With AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint as the main players in the
wireless industries, they are able to control the market price for
mobile phones.
In
Atlanta, Xfinity, U-Verse (AT&T), and Clear (Sprint) are the
major Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Xfinity’s cheapest
Internet plan offers the customer 25Mbps for $40/month. AT&T
U-verse’s plan starts at $41/month for 3Mbps. While Clear’s
cheapest plan costs $35/month for 12Mbps. Unknowing to some, these
plans are often plagued with throttling and data caps. [Throttling is
a measure that ISPs use to regulate network traffic by slowing users’
data activity if they feel they are using too much data. A data cap
is a monthly data limit.]
The
cheapest Internet offered in the world is currently in Seoul, South
Korea, where they pay $31.47 for a triple play bundle, Internet,
television, and phone service package, which delivers Gigabit speeds.
Seoul is known as “the bandwidth capital of the world” with three
major ISPs. The Gigaom report concluded that places with the best
speeds, for the lowest prices, tend to be areas that have at least
three competitive service providers.
Based
on a report by the New America Foundation, it stated in their 2013
Connectivity report that:
“Chattanooga,
Tennessee and Hong Kong continue to offer world-leading gigabit
speeds, but Seoul and Lafayette, Louisiana also joined the speed
leaders, along with Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City,
Missouri”…“In larger U.S. cities, we continue to observe higher
prices for slower speeds by comparison.”
EPB,
an ISP in Tennessee, charges $70/month for their 1GB plan. After 4
years of operating, they automatically upgraded all of their current
users from 50Mbps, 100Mbps, 250Mbps plans to their new standard speed
of 1Gbps. Google has entered Kansas and Missouri introducing Google
Fiber, which offers Internet and HDTV at competitive rates. These are
the kinds of competition needed to lower prices across the nation.
The status quo needs to be challenge to compel change.
In
class, Professor Sistrunk told us that during the 1996 Olympics; a
lot of fiber was laid throughout Atlanta to support the event’s
live coverage. But unfortunately today, we only use a small
percentage of the city’s total capacity. If companies would stop
trying to make a profit by using their current limitation and
increase their capacity by bringing the unused fiber online, Atlanta
could become a competitive market.
Some
feel that the most effective way to become efficient with our
Internet and Mobile needs is to have the US government set up the
necessary infrastructure then charge Internet and Mobile Providers to
use their established network. Compared to having each company set up
their own infrastructure from the ground up, which wastes time,
money, and resources.
