jenna tynan's blog

So now that election time has come and gone, one of the questions that always comes up in my mind is that don't we sort of buy votes and buy off officials in some ways?  First of all, we have have legislation trying to reduce that such as the bipartisan campaign reform act of 2002, but I think we still buy off candidates in a way.  Especially buy political action committees.  These are usually interest groups that can donate large sums to a candidates campaign and can advertise for the candidate.  Now you know that advertising is one of the most powerful way to get the candidates face out there.  However, I think that's the most of the questionable exchanges that happen in our political system.  However, I'm pretty trusting so feel free to disagree.  Read More »

Allright, so here's a little background on vouchers.  I know that you all probably know a lot about this, but this is just to set the tone for the debate.  Vouchers are given to students that live in school districts that either don't provide a school for the student or the school is significantly below performance standards.  When that happens, the government can provide vouchers for the amount (or maybe a lesser amount) to attend a private school.  Read More »

So if your like me, there's nothing that can give you that refreshing feeling like a good slug of Coke.  Now you might be a Pepsi fan so you can substitute Pepsi for my Coke (however, now that I'm a poor college student, store brand is fine with me).  However, as you know, the coke and pepsi formulas have changed over the years and many say the taste has gotten worse.

Well, they attribute the lesser quality of taste to the sweetener that is used.  Back in the good old days, pepsi and coke used the real stuff, cane syrup.  However, now they use what most other food products in need of sweeteners use, high fructose corn syrup.  The whole issue of high fructose corn syrup and its taste differences and health complications are another blog altogether, but I just wanted to clue you in on something that I heard.  Read More »

So this one is to all you high school students in an economics class and you really want to test your teachers knowledge.  I don't think it works in college because those professors really know their stuff.  Anyway, so most economics classes will teach about the law of demand.  The law of demand states that as price of a good increases, the quantity demanded of that good will go down.  Well, if you're teacher says it applies to all goods, she/he is wrong, wrong, wrong.  Read More »

Allright, here's the scenario.  Let's say that you don't have any other responsibilities such as your school work and family and that the only two things important in your life are your job and your leisure time.  Well, suppose that you make like ten dollars an hour and the wage is raised to twenty dollars an hour.  Would you work more?  I would because the additional twenty dollars I get from working is worth the additional hour of whatever I would do during my leisure time.  So, if wages are going up, why isn't everyone off working 80 hours a week?  Read More »

So many states have implemented laws that require kids to wear bicycle helmets or their receive a ticket as if they were driving too fast or violating some other traffic law.  I know my home state Florida has one and the state I'm currently living in (New York) has one also.  But the question is: should the federal government mandate bicycle helmets?

I personally say yes because state legislation have been proved effective in reducing head injuries and fatalities and I think federal legislation would just have a broader effect.  Of course, there is some offsetting behavior from bicycle helmet legislation such as kids that wear helmets actually ride their bikes in a riskier fashion and reduces the effectiveness of the policy.  Also, because kids don't want to wear helmets, they might actually ride in cars more increasing their chances on injuries in car accidents.  Read More »

So a lot of people just have that one ice cream flavor that they reach for.  Well, I know this sounds ridiculous, but many studies have been conducted and found that different favorite flavors of ice cream actually lead to different personalities and different compatibilities.  If your a butter pecan lover, you're the typical hard worker who sets high standards and works to achieve them and your perfect match is someone with a penchant for mint chocolate chip.  Read More »

So, it's November 10th and midterm time (the most wonderful time of the year, NOT) are coming around the corner in a month.  Now these usually consist of a multiple choice, essay, or fill in the blank exam that takes anywhere from thirty minutes to two hours.  Well, what if I said for two of my classes, I didn't have to take these tests.  Pretty good deal, right?  No, no, no!!!  Read More »