NYU Students Would Trade the Right to Vote for an Ipod Touch or Full Tuition

Tuesday in class, Stephen Seymour (4:10 section) showed me a set of statistics on a study done at NYU that appeared in an issue of THE ECONOMIST. It said something like students at NYU were surveyed and would give up their right to vote for a year in exchange for an iPod touch and they'd give up their right to vote forever for free tuition (a free ride). I was stunned.

What's interesting is to compare and contrast the November 22nd print version that appeared in The Economist (very short):

For sale
A poll of New York University students revealed that 20% would give up their vote in the next election for an iPod and two-thirds would do so for a year's college tuition. Half would renounce their vote permanently for $1m.

with the longer version dated November 14th that appeared in The Politico:

...66 percent said they'd forfeit their vote for a free ride to NYU. And half said they'd give up the right to vote forever for $1 million.

But they also overwhelmingly lauded the importance of voting.

Ninety percent of the students who said they'd give up their vote for the money also said they consider voting "very important" or "somewhat important"; only 10 percent said it was "not important."

Also, 70.5 percent said they believe that one vote can make a difference — including 70 percent of the students who said they'd give up their vote for free tuition.

The class — "Foundations of Journalism," taught by journalism department chairwoman Brooke Kroeger — polled more than 3,000 undergraduates between Oct. 24 and 26 to assess student attitudes toward voting.

Which version says more and what difference does it make to the reader? How might the shorter or longer version be better or worse for cultural perceptions of college students? In what way does each contribute to stratification along class lines and to concerns about wealth, power and prestige in the U.S.?

Taimoor's Rap

Ok here's the situation.That girl right there just gave her explanation.Now its upto me to tell you how,The different band societies work now.Ranging from thirty to fifty people,With no individual property ownership,These nomadic populations of food collectorsBased their bands on blood and kinship.They place high values on sharing and reciprocity.Probably the oldest because they're associated with forging technology.They handle their disputes with direct negotiation,So they can get along well with the population.Highly egalitarian, they had few differences of wealth,And took care of each other in really bad health.The people in the bands had little role specialization,Just like the fact that they had the same traditions.And because of the same traditions they had the same culture.And that same culture incorporated their good future.And then there was this band who spoke its own language.But it didn't matter to them as they all understood about it.And all the band members were independent of each other,So they could live in peace and harmony with their prodigal brother.And lastly there was this man from Kalahari.He was the headman of the tribe Ju/'hari.He carried his load on his own two shoulders,And its not because his heart wasn't colder.It just wasn't his culture to take favors,No matter how hard were his endeavors.His leadership role was very informal.It stemmed not from spiritual or physical powerbut based on his wisdom and being novel.So for all you people from distant landsI give you ma' brother Nick, i hope you understand....

Helping De-Worm Haiti's Children

How is it that Aaron Jackson, like Paul Farmer, is willing to pursue what seems impossible and make it look possible? How does traveling (as Jackson and Farmer did--fieldwork of a sort) a catalyst to change? How might your experience in the "field" with your mini-ethnography change you?

"CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute" -- hosted by CNN's Anderson Cooper with Christiane Amanpour -- honors the most outstanding viewer-nominated CNN Heroes as chosen by a blue-ribbon panel of world leaders and luminaries."

• In Depth: CNN Heroes

"These are some of the people among us who look around and see a world of possibility and hope. While they see people and places in need, they also see that their personal power can quietly accomplish remarkable things."

Medical Marvel: Aaron Jackson helps to provide de-worming medicine to Haitian children

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2007/09/11/heroes.aaron.jackson.cnn

Hans Rosling: New insights on poverty and life around the world

Another Ted Talk video!


What point is Professor Gosling making with his finale? Does it work? Why or why not? And for whom might it work? Why or why not?

Le Grand Content - How, why and what is life? An Ethnographic inquiry

I found this on http://www.ethnography.com/category/blogging-gems/. While at first it seems absurd and humorous, there is something dead on and thought-provoking about this animated video. This is a great little short film by Clemens Kogler.

From the YouTube description
Le Grand Content examines the omnipresent Powerpoint-culture in search for its philosophical potential. Intersections and diagrams are assembled to form a grand ‘association-chain-massacre’. which challenges itself to answer all questions of the universe and some more. Of course, it totally fails this assignment, but in its failure it still manages to produce some magical nuance and shades between the great topics death, cable tv, emotions and hamsters.