Petition

For many years the debate of lowering the drinking age has drifted through the nation. Yes, no, never. Would 18 year old teens ever get the chance to drink before they turn 21, legally.  Still up to today we have laws that are attempting to protect us from the worst possible outcomes.  But is the MLDA 21 law really doing it's job and protecting the young adults?  There are many young adults who have been drinking since they were very young. While debate upon debate is made Dr. Engs who is an Applied Health Scientist at University of Indian Bloomington, talks about why the drinking age should be lowered.  Dr. Engs talks about in her article, that having the MLDA 21 law only creates the forbidden fruit figure to young adults.  There are many young adults who still, with the current MLDA 21 law, consume alcohol on the weekends.  

College is a big step and an even bigger transition.  Again, like said many times, there is underage drinking on college campuses, and that problem is one of the hardest to regulate.  How does a cop know whether or not everybody at the party that is bumping down the street is underage?  And not to mention it would take hours to ask everybody at that party to pull out their I.D's and prove their innocence, or worse their guiltiness.  

Although many support lowering the MLDA 21 law, many are also very passionate about keeping the age at 21.  The Drug-Free Action Alliance created an astonishing argument to keep the MLDA 21.  They go into all of the aspects many of the pro MLDA 18 do not touch.  The Drug-Free Action Alliance talks about how alcohol effects the brain of a young adult.  They also discuss the fact that the earlier young adults drink the more likely they will be alcoholics in the future.  

If you believe that the MLDA 21 law should be lowered to 18, there is a petition you can sign and help show the officials that is really what America wants. Get your voice heard, and earn the respect you truly deserve.

Cool Pix.

Cool pix camera by Ashton Kutcher is the brand new Nikon camera that is getting all the rave. It is marketed as "Small, Sleek, Stylish".  The camera is small, sleek, and stylish with all of the different colors you can chose from.  It is also a brand new touch screen camera which has not been brought out and mimics the IPhone.  My own opinion I do believe Nikon picked a great person to endorse this product.  Ashton Kutcher is one of the best looking men in Hollywood.  Having a good looking guy advertising a camera, or even any sort of product will create a huge crave to buy that product.  I own a Nikon Cool Pix, not because Ashton Kutcher advertised it, but because Nikon cameras really are a good investment.  Again, adding on, a well put together product, with a very good looking man creates a demand for the product.  Seeing the commercials on tv with Ashton Kutcher all the young girls are going to want to buy this camera.  I do believe that the endorsement with have this desired outcome because anybody who doesn't think Ashton Kutcher is a great actor, and a good looking guy, proven, is not right in the head. 
I believe that Nikon made a very good choice when picking Ashton Kutcher to be the endorsement for the Cool Pix camera for all of the reasons above.

To be or Not to be?

While doing a research paper on lowering the drinking age, I decided this topic would still interest me and I could dig deeper and find more controversies on this topic. I came across a website that is from the 60 minute show and it is on the debate of lowering the drinking age. The article talks about how on college campuses the presidents believe that this MLDA 21 is not helping, it's actually hurting. The article goes more into depth talking about a boy who is in a fraternity, at 18 years old, and how the leaders made them drink x amount of alcohol to be blood brothers.  The college presidents are concerned either way that binge drinking is going to be the main problem with alcohol.  Binge drinking is already the number one problem in which MLDA 21 does not address.  The main idea MLDA 21 is addressing is to minimize the amount of alcohol related car accidents, and there is nothing to do with the binge drinking.
The other website I stumbled across was the DWI website, and like I said above, it addresses only the drinking and driving portion of the situation.  The article debates on how when the drinking age was lowered to 18 a rise in car accidents started to show up. 
While reading both of these articles I do believe the more persuasive one would have to be the DWI website about not lowering the drinking age. This website has cited sources and actually has statistics as compared to the website on the 60 minute show just addressing college students.  I do see a different side to this controversy now and completely understand where the MLDA 21 comes from.  I also still have a tough time with the binge drinking.  
The only argument I would add would go along with the binge drinking I still believe that the this is a number one aspect the law makers have to take into mind. Although the drinking age is 21, there are 18 year olds off in college drinking themselves to a black out night and waking up wondering what happened. Obviously this MLDA 21 law is not working, and either the law needs to be cracked down more, or the officials need to fix the law.

Fresh Food and Exercise

Availability of fresh food, exercise linked to healthy living, was about how grocery stores are not normally located near black neighborhoods and how there was more fast food around those neighborhoods also. Also the article talks about how having fast food restaurants around certain areas creates the obesity factor, which is why more blacks and latinos are obese. The article talks a little bit about how bad the health of colored children are becoming sick and also have less health benefits so they are more likely to have heart problems or cancer. Exercise is also incorporated in the article. There are many neighborhoods that do not have the areas for parents and their children to get exercise and lack of exercise is also jeopardizing health problems. Overall the article is pulling together how lack of grocery stores, and space is destroying our health, and how also too many fast food restaurants in certain areas are affecting lives.  
In this article, I was shocked when I read about the obesity rates going up. There are many poor neighborhoods who do not have the privileges to go outside and play because of the area around their house. Reading articles which talk about the poor and how they are so underprivileged compared to many Americans. I know for myself I am fortunate enough to be involved with a sport and stay thin and healthy. There are many children who's parents cannot afford to place them in a sport. 
Also in this article it is highly unfortunate there is not a grocery store close to the impoverished areas. The changes of diets and the eating of fast-food is obviously the trend of obesity. Experts say that, "Studies in the US and Canada have found neighborhood differences in the price and availability of food, with ‘healthier’ foods generally more expensive, and less readily available, in poorer than in wealthier communities". This ties into my argument perfectly because experts are finding that grocery store locations and fast-food availability has a high affect on the poor people.

100% Juice For 100% Kids?

When I was little I was either drinking Juice Boxes or Juicy Juice. And what better claims did the television make for the product. It was assumed to be 100% juice for 100% kids. But is that advertisement really correct? Is Juicy Juice really 100% juice. I always thought that Juicy Juice was a product to keep your body healthy and strong because of the advertisement on t.v.  But I never looked into the facts or understood what good or bad nutrition was. I always thought Juicy Juice was good for you when I was younger, but when I grew more aware of the situation of nutrition today, I began to wonder, is there really no preservatives added to the beverage. As I reached into some research on the Juicy Juice website and found that an expert Dr. Yinka Davies, Pediatrician said that "In order for a product to be labeled juice it must contain 100% juice. If a product has less than 100% juice it will be labeled as either a 'beverage', 'drink' or 'cocktail'" So assuming that Juicy Juice's label says 100% juice makes claims that this product really is 100% juice. So basically what you see with this product you get. When mothers are looking for juices for their children experts recommend to look for the 100% juice on the label to make sure there is no concentrate or cocktail added. When I looked up the nutrition label of Juicy Juice there were only 4 items in the juice and I remember Michael Pollan saying if there are less than 5 items in the product than you have the green light, the product is safe to eat/drink. 


There are different types of Juicy Juice that mothers are really questioning. Such as, Juicy Juice Brain Development which is supposed to boost your toddlers brain quicker and at earlier stages. Sheila Innis, who is the director of the nutrition research program at University of Columbia Vancouver, says "it's plausible that products like this could be useful in children that don't eat much fish". She agrees with the Juicy Juice company that their product may have the same chemicals that can help a child grow healthier and smarter.


I would recommend this product because experts are saying Juicy Juice is really 100% juice and the Juicy Juice Brain Development has many resources to helping children. This product seems to be advertised just right and mothers should buy the juice for their children to drink. It's delicious and healthy for young and older humans. 

How would you like your meat?

Seeing as I cannot prepare my own meal in a dorm room, I will pretend like I am preparing myself a delicious and appetizing meal.  I went to the grocery store and bought myself chicken breast, honey, barbeque sauce, a head of broccoli, and a couple potatoes. After I come home from the grocery store I took out all of my items and being the cooking.  I first would mix the honey and barbeque together in a small bowl to make a delicious honey barbeque sauce to saute the chicken breast. I would take the chicken breast and put it on the grill for however long it needs to be cook without getting dry. As the chicken is cooking I would slice my potatoes and put olive oil on them with some seasoning. I would then put them on a tray and put them in the oven for an appropriate time. At the same time as the potatoes I would boil the broccoli and cook it until the chicken is done.  After the chicken is done being cooked I would lather it in sweet honey barbeque sauce, butter the broccoli and then salt and pepper my potatoes. After that I will eat my delicious meal I would clean up my dishes and that would be the end of my meal.  In Michael Pollan's arguments I do agree with him because he is right, it is so hard for us to actually pick out good foods when we are so bombarded with advertisement of different kinds of "good food". Like different kinds of cereals that have all the nutrients. I still agree, the meal I made actually was healthy and full of nutrients.  The meal I made did not actually falter my meal. In this article it explains all the healthy choices you can make to keep your body in shape and to make sure that you have a healthy living style.

Real Vs. Fake Food.

I never thought that eating "food" would be so unhealthy for you. Especially when you are eating it every single day.  I have always been a coffee drinker, but it was never just black. It had the delicious creamers and the sugar. Oh the sugar. When I was younger I always used to drink coffee in the morning and my dad would put the real cane sugar in my coffee.  But after our most recent findings, "artificial sweeteners" have become popular.  Everywhere you go you see "artificial sweeteners".  The artificial sweetener is not different in smell or taste, but it has different textures and obviously different benefits.  Real sugar is grainy and is bigger in size, but the fake sugar is very small and it just looks pure white. There isn't any difference in the size of the "fake sugars" contents.  Fake sugar does not provide any essential nutrients/vitamins to us, it is actually bad for your health.  It is not equivalent to regular cane sugar.  I believe that any kind of "fake food" is not going to be very healthy for you or provide your body with the same vitamins/nutrients the regular food is going to give you (sugar really isn't a good example of what is good for you). It is even thought that "artificial sweeteners" may cause some form of cancer. When you eat in a restaurant it is so easy to be fed "fake food and you're not even aware of it.  Some of the reasons people today have fake sugar is because cane sugar is not cheap. Although I do still use regular sugar when I'm at home, it is so much more convenient to just find a little bag of "artificial sweetener" and put that into your coffee or wherever you're using it. I believe that if people really are aware of their health then cane sugar will come back around, I do not believe that everybody will go back to the regular sugar because of the economic downfall. Science even tries to prove to people that fake sugar is not healthy for you. In this article it explains how unhealthy the "artificial sweetener" is for your health.