debatechick's blog

This topic is one that I have been pondering on for sometime now. Do commercials actually sell more of the product they are promoting. Sure in some cases they do. Even I enjoy those late night informercials selling new inventions produced by the 'Made for TV' company or 'IGIA.' Had 'Twist a Braid' or that machine that sucks the air out of huge bags filled with clothes or bedding, making these items easier to store, never been advertised on television, I would never have know they existed. But the focus of my agument is not on uncommon products, but rather everyday products- like milk for example. Everyone drinks it. Everyone is going to buy it whether they see it on TV or not? So why waste money advertising it?  Read More »

I know I should have expected this movie to stink- and its my fault for going into the theatre expecting the movie to be a five star film, but I was super disappointed after seeing 'The Break Up.' Vince has to be one of the funniest men in comedy on screen right now. After favorites like 'Old School' and 'Dodgeball', and don't forget 'Wedding Crashers,' I really expected even a movie made with his girlfriend to be good. But lets face it, maybe Aniston's career should have ended after 'Friends' like many of her costars' did.  Read More »

As we all know very well by now, at the heart of every world problem is America. The topic of the day "Its America's fault that OPEC has had to raise the prices of oil." According to various sources, OPEC reached a somewhat informal agreement today that they will not reduce the amount of oil that is being produced. Now if you were to read that statement without reading the rest of said articles, you might walk away from the computer feeling at ease. Perhpas you would say to yourself, 'OPEC was going to reduce the amount of oil on the market! That is a bad thing! I am so glad they made this decison!' However OPEC'S decsion is a BAD one. Basically during their talks today they refused to lower the price of oil, decided that it is the US's fault that the price of oil is higher than it was in the past, stated they think that oil prices are stable, oh and tough luck America!  Read More »

In society today, or at least America, we view cursing as a bad habit. For some reason, we believe that cursing somehow determines a person's character. For example, someone who swears frequently, or even sometimes, is considered amoral, while those that abstain from cursing are considered polite. But, as many linguists have pointed out, words are only what we make of them. In other 'words', we choose to view certain phrases with scorn and connect negative connotations to them. In the same way, we choose to view other words that have the same meaning as 'acceptable'.  Read More »

In one of my recent blogs, 'An open letter to the Progressive U community' I mistakenly stated that the Contest ended on June 1, when it does not end until June 30! As another user pointed out, I probably derived this information from the fact that new users cannot sign up for the contest after June 1.  Read More »

THIS HAS BEEN EDITED- I ORIGINALLY HAD THE DATES OF THE CONTEST WRONG IN IT! SORRY ALL!-  After my somewhat recent post, 'An open letter the editors of progressive u,' I received several suggestions, or complaints- however you choose to look at it, that instead of complaining about overbloggers, we as a blogging community should write encouraging posts and comments focused on tips for new users, if we feel that the problem is too overwhelming, or that we should just basically 'deal with it.' These comments were specifically pointed at me because at that time I was the featured blogger. Although I would agree, I believe that those comments apply to many of us. Many of us bloggers have felt agitated over certain bloggers at times and have made snide comments or posts complaining and have, in some cases, even directly emailed the editors. I replied to these allegations by saying that I do make positive comments on new bloggers posts and that I have even received personal emails from new bloggers asking for advice and that I have politely responded to all of them- I really do just want to make this community stronger and help us to be portrayed by outside sources as an intelligent society of young adults. However my attemps have obviously not been noticed by all. So, in the rest of this post I would like to thank the editors of PU, because they have done an excellent job of trying to fix the problems we have complained of and answering our complaints. If you are not aware of certain things they have done, or would like to comment in thanks to them as well, continue reading! If not, thanks for reading thus far, even this paragraph gets the point that I am trying to make across, which is Thanks Administrators of PU and dedicated members of PU for making this a 'good run!'  Read More »

Invisibility has always been an idea of fantasy. An idea in books and movies, such as living on other planets, that was absurd and has previously been thought of as impossible. But, apparently, Ulf Leonhardt, Professor of theoretical physics at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and a team of other scientists have found a way to create an ‘invisible cloak’ similar to the one described in Harry Potter. Bloomberg reports that while the garment is not currently in existence, Leonhardt, David Schurig, a scientist at Duke University, David Smith, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke, and professor John Pendry at Imperial College London have stated that the garment ‘could’ be created.  Read More »

In the rest of the post that you can read by clicking above is a message that I sent to one of the founders of ProgressiveU that I have decided to share with you all so that people realize that I am not just being whiney- I am being whiney and attempting to fix the problem. Thanks for supporting me, and one another in the fight for those who deserve to win the scholarship. Standing together in times of adversity- with people you do not know from adam is what I define as being progressive. On another subject, here is a pole for everyone. Who should win the scholarships (up to three- and do not say yourself, lol).  Read More »