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[cameronredler-blog]

This is the APY 2013 Deep Space Winner called ‘Celestial Impasto: sh2–239’ by Adam Block. The Deep Space category is for photos of anything beyond our Solar System, including stars, nebulae and galaxies. Long-exposure photography is the best way to see and capture color views of our distant neighborhood. Block’s 15-hour exposure was achieved using a Schulman 0.8m telescope, an EQ mount and a STX (SBIG) 16803 camera. Structures like this often seem unchanging and timeless on the scale of a human lifetime years the fierce radiation from the stars in this nebula will erode the surrounding clouds of dust and gas, radically altering its appearance. ‘There’s an ethereal quality to this image,’ said our judge Pete Lawrence. ‘Galactic dust has never looked so lovely.’ I like this photo for a lot of less scientific reasons. There are a lot of cool colors. And all of the surrounding dots, which might be stars, galaxies, or whatever it is, really open one’s mind about the vastness and enormity of space. It makes you wonder about what’s out there and what it means for you. For me, it makes me feel very small and insignificant. What is my purpose in the grand scheme of things? What is any ones? I really enjoy looking at deep space pictures. I’m not actually sure what makes this one special. But space fascinates me. An astronaut was one of my early answers to, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” It think it was many peoples. I’m out of things to say. Congress should fund NASA more and better. It’s one of our government’s most important programs. Inevitably earth will at some point be inhabitable. Our research of the surrounding planets, stars, and solar systems is vital. That’s 300 words. And this should be final post for the foreseeable future.

[cameronredler-blog]

Missouri Happenings

My opinions on these recent happenings at Missouri are all pretty angry and sad. For those that live under a rock, Mizzou students and faculty staged a walkout and protest this week directly targeted at the leadership of Missouri, specifically President Tim Wolfe and Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin. The protesters were protesting the lack of action on the part of these men in response to the racist occurrences on campus, though both had a dubious reign in their respective positions. Protesters skipped classes, marched, and camped in the public Jesse Quad. One student, Jonathan Butler, even went on a hunger strike. These protesters were doing their thing for weeks, but it escalated in the last week. The turning point came when the football players inserted themselves into the protests by boycotting their next football game. A move which would cost the school millions of dollars both presently and in the future. It was too much for the school and both Wolfe and Loftin were ousted within the next 48 hours. This was a huge takeaway from the situation: Athletes reinforced their power. What a dying student couldn’t do, the football team accomplished by tweeting. The athletes showed everyone where the balance of power truly lies in these universities. It’s interesting to see how this precedent impacts the inevitable angry students down the road. Imagine if Alabama football or Duke basketball refused to play until they received compensation for their jersey sales and profits made from their likeness. It could be a slippery slope. But truly this was a sad time. The school received terrorist threats and many classes were cancelled. Angry racists also vandalized the black culture center while harassing minorities on campus. I have friends afraid to leave their dorm. It’s disheartening, Everyone fucked up here. Media coverage, outside of the local, student run organizations, were garbage. So much bias and misinformation was given to the public to spread like wildfire. Protesters weren’t at fault either. They treated the media horribly and, frankly, inexcusably. Then Butler’s lies about Wolfe hitting him with his car also went viral. Both incidents set their cause back tremendously. And the poor behavior of assholes against the movement was shameful. But I’ve touched on that already. The only party which did well in the face of this adversity were the athletics and, specifically, Gary Pinkel. He could’ve easily given in to his bosses, boosters, and conservative pundits. But he didn’t. He united a team that was apparently divided and made the difference in the movement. Then recovered from the off days to upset BYU Saturday to possibly salvage the season. Along with football, the basketball team won twice and the volleyball team won twice. All of these were important first steps to gluing this divided campus back together. That was the glaring part of all of this. The campus was divided, seemingly split in half. It was “our opinion vs. yours.” It’s going to be a while for this university to recover from this. It has caught a bad reputation and rightfully so. In the past year, Mizzou has replaced two chancellors, a president, and an athletic director. It’s in a state of flux, but as I’ve learned in government class, “It will live on.  Bureaucracies are hard to kill.”

[cameronredler-blog]

Why I Hate College

I hate college for a multitude of reasons. It’s difficult and competitive. I live in a small room that I have to share, I don’t have a car to go off campus with, and not much fun stuff is within the city limits of Columbia, a small town mostly populated by the students and faculty of the university. There isn’t the food options I had in my hometown, no fun museums, or ginormous parks. Those are little, petty reasons I hate college. I cope with those alright. The real reasons I hate college is that, despite living mostly independently, I still feel that I have less freedom than when I was a High School upperclassmen and the uncertainty that comes with the degree I will receive. Having a car as a High School junior in St. Louis was great. I could go anywhere and do cool things. I never had nothing to do. My senior year I spent on a tropical island with a population of 8,000 and in Tauranga, New Zealand, which was city the size of Columbia but warmer, with a beach, and because of my situation, with more freedom. I was, in fairness, home schooled my senior year and recognize I may never have that kind of freedom and lack of responsibility ever again. It was probably the peak of my life now that I come to think about it. Maybe that’s the true reason I don’t like college: I know my life is all downhill from here. I forever now will either be in debt, working harder than I probably should, and handle more responsibility than I could ever want. My glory years are over. It’s my turn to pay back society what it did for me growing up. It’s scary to think about what I have to do to live the life that I want. And I’m not somebody that wants much. My favorite food is fast and cheap, despite driving high end VW’s, Infinity’s, and Chevy’s, my favorite car that I’ve driven is my 1996 Mercury Tracer. The fact that it feels necessary to go to college to attain this, but without certainty, is frustrating. That’s why I hate college. Oh, and the racial protesting accompanied with the tension doesn’t help either.

[cameronredler-blog]

How does the advancement of technology and social media change the job of journalists?

This is a question with many answers. A question that could be talked about and discussed as long as one wanted to. But in 300 words... First off, it now gives journalists more responsibilities, which goes hand-in-hand with other answers to this original question. Stories now are reported at a faster, more instant, pace. You can post and share any bit of knowledge or story anywhere at any time. This means it is now a journalist’s job to get a story or update up as fast as possible. It’s a race. A smartphone is essential with all forms of social media equipped and ready for use. It also means that reporters and publishers don’t necessarily have to be very creative or diligent to find a story. They will come to you. Another change in the job of journalists involves internet. Editors and writers must now be capable to produce two separate versions of publishing, one for web and the other for whatever else gets printed and produced. It’s a totally different format and writing style. The digitalization of video as well as countless advanced editing software’s make it easier and simpler to edit footage and sound. It also allows for a wider array of options for effects and add-ons. You can now format packages anyway you want for all media players to see. It makes packages more accessible to the consumers across the globe. Another point, a story or package placed on the internet or digitally archived can be seen at a moment’s notice by anyone anywhere. So, to summarize, the journalism industry has become faster paced and mobilized heavily with the advancement of social media and technology. It adds more responsibilities to editors and writers alike though it also gives them more room for creative expression.

[cameronredler-blog]

College Sucks

Growing up, countless college graduates would tell me that “College is the best time of your life!” Or “It will be the most fun you’ll ever had.” It wasn’t actually until this past summer, the summer before I arrived at the University of Missouri, that I had met someone who didn’t enjoy his college experience. This man was a banker at PNC, though I’m not sure his official title. He seemed to be a relatively content individual with a home and a family. I had a meeting with him regarding troubles with my account. During our meeting, we got into small talk. We got into college. He told me about his time at Southern Illinois Edwardsville, a small school in what isn’t quite a college town, but small nonetheless. So it was a different experience, but still similar in the extent that a young kid lived independently to get an education with like-minded kids his age. Describing his experience, he claimed he was “not the college type.” This statement really has stuck with me. I think I might be coming to the realization that I too, am not the college type. But I’m confused. I’m independent, self-motivated, relatively mature, and smart. I’ve been through a lot and feel wise beyond my years in a variety of topics. I should be the perfect college student. Yet, I’m having a miserable time. I have friends, but none that have filled the void of my high school friends. I’m overworked and sleep deprived. I don’t have a car to go anywhere, or a job to at least give me money to spend. I have no TV or games in my room, though that’s probably beneficial to my grades. Getting drunk and partying isn’t fun to me. Life should not be having to drown yourself in work OR having fun. It could be both. The USA currently has the highest work rate among any civilized country in the world. I have lived in two other countries, and this was a non-issue in both. It should be a combination. I won’t drop out because I can’t. I would be letting down too many people. But this assuredly can’t be the best time of my life. What is life worth living if I can’t live? Maybe things will change. But maybe I’m just not cut out for this. This degree better earn me a shit ton of money.

[cameronredler-blog]

John Oliver v. NYT

Just because he talks about things you were too lazy to read about yourself, Oliver isn’t a Journalist. This man was brought up as a stand up comic and still performs around the world. He hosts a satirical comedic podcast and is host of a stand up show on COMEDY CENTRAL, also his former full time employer before he made the move to HBO. He’s also been a reoccurring character in the COMEDIC show Community. He has no journalism degree and no journalism background. Only Comedy.

Comedy is defined as professional entertainment consisting of jokes and satirical sketches, intended to make an audience laugh. THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT OLIVER DOES ON HIS SHOW! He has sketches, every interesting point or statement he makes comes partnered with a joke. He isn’t in the field breaking stories for us. He and his team diligently watch the news and find something he feels passionate about enough to commentate on it. And that’s what he does. He commentates, pushes his opinions, and makes people laugh. He adheres to no rules of journalism.

Don’t get me misunderstood, I love this man and his show. But labeling him a journalist is about the worst thing you can do. It’s an unfair standard that the New York Times can’t compete with. They can’t curse and make calls for action. They can’t push their biases. Admittedly, he presents information in a way that is top notch. He articulates what’s happening in the world better than most. But to put him in the same category as the the times is wrong. They are not the same thing, clearly. Calling him a journalist blurs the lines of what Journalism actually is, retarding the prestige and responsibility of, say, a New York Times writer.

If he is a journalist, hold him to the same standards. No comedic commentary, no bias, no sketches, no songs, no end of the world videos, etc. You cannot simply change the definition of journalism because you were too lazy look something up on your own. He doesn’t break stories. He pushes biases. He makes people laugh. End of story.

[cameronredler-blog]

Commentary on a Vice Article

http://www.vice.com/read/who-is-watching-all-the-porn-marketed-to-orthodox-jews-915

That is the link to a Vice article I just read. It’s titled Who Is Watching All the Porn Marketed to Orthodox Jews? and is written by Arielle Pardes.

The article goes in depth on Frum Porn or porn for ultra-Orthodox Jews. Pardes talks about multiple websites and producers of said pornography and goes on to compare it to the usage of other similar types.

Pardes investigates whether it is alright within the Orthodox and Hassidic communities to watch it, and if there is even a market for it. She later finds a craigslist post from a frum male looking for a frum female to cheat with in an attempt to get in the mind of frum people.

It’s a weird article. I know and am related to many orthodox Jews and wonder if this is something they partake in. People are weird.

[cameronredler-blog]

A time I have experienced bias, a time someone has made an assumption about your identity or a time you have been a victim of stereotypes. What I learned from the experience, and how I can take what I have learned from this experience and apply it to my future career as a journalist?

I am an upper middle class white male from an affluent suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. My education was great, I lived comfortably, and generally reflect on my life to this point as pretty alright. I’m heterosexual as well. I belong to the demographic that have the privilege, power, and false sense of entitlement. I never have had to become a victim of stereotypes or generalizations. The only I bias I receive is positive. I, just this past summer, got pulled over for having a broken taillight. Just five minutes before this happened, friends and I finished a 15 minute hot boxing session in my car. It was obvious, there was no hiding it. We all smelt and had bad red eye. The officer who stopped us was young, white, and male. I gave him my ID, after a 15 second struggle to remove it from my wallet. He asked us if we ever smoked and if we were aware that the car smelled like marijuana. I answered both questions with a respectful, “No sir.” All while trying to avoid eye contact. He went back to his car, came back and let us go. He could’ve easily taken us in, given us a ticket, or whatever happens to marijuana offenders. It was a close call. And not the first time I’ve had a marijuana run in with the police. Now I don’t know if he let us go because we were all white, male, straight, or what. He could be a pot smoker himself and have made a chosen to not bust pot offenders. But what I do know is that I’ve seen people get arrested, abused, and killed for lesser offenses. These people are typically minorities. Now about how I can apply this to a future in Journalism, I don’t know. I was raised in a liberal household and tend to keep an open mind about most things. But we all have preconceived biases, whether right or wrong. My job as a journalist is to observe and always be looking for something funky. I don’t think my identity or my biases should have any influence on my journalistic career.

[cameronredler-blog]

The Adam Carolla Show 9-14-2015

The Adam Carolla Show is a comedic podcast released every weekday. It’s hosted by comic Adam Carolla and his crew. I’ve been a fan of Carolla since his days working with Jimmy Kimmel on the Comedy Central show, Crank Yankers. He worked on that show with friend Jimmy Kimmel and also works with Kimmel as a writer for Kimmel’s late night ABC show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!. He’s a very funny individual with a very funny podcast. The latest episode I listened to had guest Jim Jefferies. Jim Jefferies is an Australian and absolutely my favorite standup comic in the world. Both of these guys are hysterical, so just listening to them tell stories and discuss life in general is quite a good time. They lead off the hour and 30 minute long program with Carolla telling a story about a delay at the airport. They then move into talking about 30 million dollar cars and Jefferies’ tour dates in other countries. Jefferies reveals he alters his sets for each country he goes to. This is about 25 minutes in and is Jefferies first notable contribution to the show. It’s a shame. Jim Jefferies is among the funniest people in the world and he gets out talked by Carolla and his crew for most of the show. I understand it’s Carollas’ show, but he absolutely dominates Jefferies more than he should have. There is no reason his assistants should have out talked Jefferies. They then take a caller and shift into Fantasy football. Apparently Jon Hamm got booted from their fantasy league, a funny story. They discuss Arnold Schwarzenegger hosting apprentice, best hecklers, Carolla’s friend Mike, Jefferies’ Carnegie Hall show, more calls, horders, Nicki Minaj, and news. All in all, a very funny show with a great guest. I’m not much into podcast, but this one is as good as any. I’m always on the lookout for good guest to listen to. Look forward to future listens!

[cameronredler-blog]

Ethics

Ethics. What are they? Ethics, or moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct. Journalism is odd. Journalist seemingly have their own culture and rules. They use different writing styles and English. Words have different meanings to them. To a journalist, it takes an entire page to define what’s ethical, at least according to The Society of Professional Journalist. This isn’t just exclusive to journalists however. There are codes of ethics for business and other workplaces as well. Ethics are different for everybody. An individual can derive their ethics from influences such as faith, family, or media. No two person’s ethics are the same. For some, their sense of ethics is still developing whereas in others, they feel comfortable in what they already know and believe. This always makes for an interesting contrast in perspectives and ideologies. It never ceases to amaze me that on a planet with over 7 billion people, that no two are the same. I’ve lived in three countries and both hemispheres and I haven’t found two even remotely close. Not even within my own family. As I was saying about journalism, the code of ethics is a lot to digest. The big points are as follow: • Seek Truth and Report It. • Minimize Harm • Act Independently • Be Accountable and Transparent The SPJ break all of these big concepts down to make it easier and more clear to understand, but those are the key points. From the SPJ website, “It is a guide that encourages all who engage in journalism to take responsibility for the information they provide, regardless of medium.” This is interesting because this document defines how a journalist should act but not who is a journalist. It mentions “regardless of medium”. This leaves open a very broad interpretation of who is and isn’t a journalist. It could mean that someone who tweets and periscopes are journalists who should abide by their guide. It could also allow those who don’t believe they’re journalist to break these rules even when doing journalistic things. Tricky. I’ve covered a lot about ethics and journalism. I’m sure I could digress more but I won’t. I hope, if you’ve read this, I’ve at least given you something to think about when you’re bored lying in bed like I am right now.

[cameronredler-blog]

Mary Rowlandson Response

Mary White came to America with her family at a young age. Her mother was a prominent church figure everywhere they lived in America and Mary eventually grew up and married reverend Joseph Rowlandson. Like her mother, Mary became very active in the Protestant church. Though the English and Native Americans had live in peace for so long near the village of Lancaster, one day, Mary’s village was raided and destroyed with Mary being taken hostage. Mary Rowlandson made sense of her captivity through her puritan religion, through which she saw a larger meaning for herself and New England as well as shape her hatred for the Natives.

            Mary used her Puritan beliefs to make sense of her captivity. She believed god made this happen as punishment saying, “I then remembered how careless I had been of god’s holy time…It was easie for god to cut off the thread of my life, and cast me out of his presence forever.”(74) By her slacking on her worship, god has answered she believes. She quotes bible verses too. One of the first verses she reads after receiving her bible is “There was mercy promised again, if we would return to him by repentance.”(77) Rowlandson is under the impression that this bible verse will guide her to freedom of this captivity. Rowlandson uses her Puritan beliefs to make sense of her entire life as it is so important to her.

            Mary Rowlandson saw larger meanings for herself and New England in captivity. She quotes another bible verse when she says, “I shall not dy but live, and declare the works of the lord.” She went on and published this book in which she does exactly that. Rowlandson went through tough times and learned a lot. After her journey ends and she concludes her story by saying, “We must rely on God himself, and our whole dependence must be upon him.”(112) She believes that the meaning of life for her and her people is to please god.  She later explains why she wrote the book. She says, “I speak it in the presence of god and to his glory.”(107) This reinforces that the larger meaning for herself is to spread god’s word. Rowlandson’s larger meanings for herself and New England was to depend on god and spread their beliefs.

            Mary Rowlandson always believed that the English and Puritans were above the Native Americans, but she is conflicted. She references them as “wretches” from the first page, but she questions god treatment of them. She wonders about “…The providence of god in preserving the heathen…”(105). She has only seen the Natives win battles and celebrate happy lives while she struggles. She later ponders why “Strangely did the lord provide for them.”(105) She doesn’t ever cross the line of arguing with god though. She admits, “God many times leaves us most in the dark.”(104)  Rowlandson questions why the Native Americans get better treatment than her and other Puritans.

            Mary Rowlandson made sense of her captivity through her puritan religion, through which she saw a larger meaning for herself and New England as well as shape her hatred for the Natives. She questions her own faith and looks to the bible to make sense of her captivity. She believed the larger meaning for her and the New England people was to depend on and spread the word of god. Puritanism also gave her a superiority complex, despite the well treatment from her god. Rowlandson, quite the life.

[cameronredler-blog]

The Rams haven’t made the playoffs since 2004. The Seahawks have been to the Super Bowl in back to back seasons and were one yard away from winning both. The Rams were winless in the preseason while Seattle won twice. Yet when the two teams met up on Sunday, September 13, 2015, in what could’ve been the final home opener in St. Louis, the Rams were the better team.

I’m a Rams fan. I’m one of the few left. This once nationally-respected powerhouse, known as “The Greatest Show 0n Turf!” quickly became the laughing stock of the league. Over a five year stretch from 2007-2011, they won a total of 15 games (with seven in one season). Three a season! It was the worst five year stretch in NFL history.

People like to say, “St. Louis fans only like baseball!” or “St. Louis fans are fair-weather!” WRONG. St. Louis fans have been just about as good as one can expect any fan base can be. Why would anyone spend their hard earned dollar on such an awful product year in and year out, without even a sliver of hope? No fan base would sell out for a three-win team. These same Rams couldn’t make it in Los Angeles before they came here. If a team can’t make it in the league’s second biggest market, can you realistically expect them to make it in the 21st.

The fans aren’t the problem. The fans showed up for all of the glory years in masses. Sunday was a holiday in St. Louis when the greatest show took the field. They sold out every game while they were great as well as all of the mediocre years that followed until they sank like the titanic. The problem is the greedy, awful owner. He thinks he can produce a crap product and then force us to get on our knees and beg him to stay. The same owner who has avoided punishment from the NFL for years for breaking ownership rules regarding ownership of franchises in other sports. He’s billionaire who wants another billion.

This leaves the team and the city in a tricky spot. The Rams beat the defending conference and league champions, in what could be their final home opener, while the stands were less than 80% full. I don’t want to project, but the team at last looks like it may be decent, but the only people that will get to witness this might be living two time zones west.

[jacamrose-deactivated20160628]

A homeless man has paid with his life after he helped save a woman taken hostage

[cameronredler-blog]

Not a homeless man, a hero.

[cameronredler-blog]

Seen on Mizzou campus. Give this squirrel a glass of lemonade or iced tea!

[street-bleach]

[cameronredler-blog]

The square root of 69 is Eight somethin', right?