Keeping the Record Straight

Jayson Blair. (http://www.al.com/entertainment/mobile/index.ssf/2009/08/16-week/)

As a journalist your main goal should be to deliver valid information out into the public.  If a journalist fails to do so creates the act of fraud.

A reporter for New York Times, Jayson Blair, committed numerous acts of journalism fraud in his time. This was an enormous deal due to significance of the stories that Blair was reporting.  Blair was committing journalism fraud in a multitude of methods.  He would use techniques such as misleading colleagues, fabricated comments, and concocted scenes.  While doing this he would also lie about where he was, or who he was talking to about a report.  Blair’s career fell back on a heap of lies.

Eventually, Blair’s misleading tactics came to light.  Individuals were picking up on his techniques.  Individuals could not fathom how The Times did not pick up on this situation soon.  Blair was part of a couple hundred stories, and as his deceptions grew by the week the more he progressed through his career.  It was ridiculous the way that this continued for such a long period time.

At the end of the day, Blair ended up resigning from his job with the New York Times. This was huge for the image of one of the most trusted papers known to the United States.  They put out so much information that was not valid.  Although mistakes happen and this was just an issue within the company that was not really known about the New York Times did feel some backlash from the situation.

This goes to show how seriously media is taken.  Individuals must show class in what they do for a living.  Blair is an example not only for those involved in media, but anyone in any career.  It is extremely important as professionals to act accordingly, and follow through our jobs as ethically as possible.

 

Goals

Goals. (http://grow.gardenmediagroup.com/blog/bid/296193/PR-Case-Study-Defining-Goals-and-Objectives)

Setting goals for yourself is an extremely important mental trait to develop.  Not only will it help you achieve your goal inside the gym, but in all aspects of your life.

Without a goal, what are you striving for?  Mediocrity.

There are two types of people out there in the world.  The types to strive for greatness by working their asses off, and then there is those individuals who just seem to think the world owes them something.  We have all ran into both types of people, and it is never too late to change the type of individual you are.

Now, if you are still reading this article I have you engaged.  You either are the hard worker and would like to know what comes next, or you are one of those individuals that believes success will just hit you in the face and want to change that. An easy way to achieve success is to create goals for yourself.

How to Create Your Goals and Reach Success

Creating goals for yourself may seem like a difficult task. Respectively I can understand why. You may find it difficult to know what is aiming too high, or too low. Rule of thumb, YOU can NEVER aim too high.  Strive for greatness. Create a main goal. This goal should be what you would like to achieve long term.  Then create short term goals for yourself. Make sure these goals are realistic and they work towards your main goal. This is important for reaching your main goal.  One last point I want to make is make sure you give your goals a realistic time frame.  If you do not have a certain time to reach your goal you will slack off so put the pressure on and keep building by creating more goals as you progress through the old ones.

Sample Goals

Main Goal-Bodybuilding Competition

Small Goals– Gain 20 pounds of muscle, Bench 225, Squat 350, Drop 8% bodyfat

These are just examples. If anyone has any remarks don’t hesitate to comment below.

Pentagon Papers

The Pentagon Papers revealed through the New York Times. (http://www.ellsberg.net/)

There are individuals within the United States society that truly believe the government keeps secrets from the citizens that occupy it. The pentagon papers are just a product of why there are individuals holding that mindset.

Honestly that may be true, and in rare cases what the government is trying to stuff away from society becomes revealed. The pentagon papers were the name given to documents that were carried by a secret Department of Defense study.  These top secret files were leaked to the New York Times, and revealed secrets about the United States political and military involvement within the Vietnam War.

In the beginning these papers were referred to as the “Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Vietnam Task Force.” The study essentially explained the United States involvement within the war.  This created a big dispute within the country.  The reason being is many individuals opposed the war to begin with, and when actual statistics and other details were released about the war those who opposed the war snapped.  When Americans found out that these documents revealed that,

“the presidential administrations of Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson had all misled the public about the degree of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, from Truman’s decision to give military aid to France during its struggle against the communist-led Viet Minh to Johnson’s development of plans to escalate the war in Vietnam as early as 1964, even as he claimed the opposite during that year’s presidential election.[1]

Now as an American one can understand the frustration that came out in most individuals.  The individual who leaked the study, Daniel Ellsberg, revealed the documents as it became too much of a burden on his back.  He was fed up with what he was learning, and decided to reveal what was really happening during this war.  The result is what we know today, and it is tough not to wonder if things would have been different if Ellsberg decided to keep his cool.

---

[1] http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/pentagon-papers

3 Steps On How to Become the Healthiest Version of Yourself in College

College is a challenging time in your life the way it is. Let alone having to worry about your health.  Students have to manage school, jobs, extracurricular activities, and a social life.  This makes it quite difficult for students to be concerned with what they are eating, or whether or not they are exercising enough. However, I want to stress the importance of exercising along with having a well-balanced diet. By taking care of your body you are ensuring that it will be capable of working to its full potential. Our body’s function like machines, meaning they have to be maintained and taken care of in order to work properly.

“Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live” -Jim Rohn
(http://exploreallquotes.blogspot.com/2013/06/health-quotes.html)

Step 1

Exercise three times a week for at least an hour each session. Exercising has a multitude of benefits.  Not only does it help you maintain a healthier physique, but it also helps regulate your body.  As you begin to exercise you will begin to see changes, and I am not only talking about changes in your stomach.  Exercising stimulates a chemical that when released into the brain will heighten your mood.  Along with being in ab overall better state of mind, exercising also promotes more energy and regulated sleeping patterns.  This is important for college students for a plethora of reasons.  If a student is in a better mood it is easier to get through those tough days filled with exams, meetings, and work. Also, if you are getting more sleep, and are more energized  throughout the day chances are you will be more productive.

Step 2

Eat as healthy as you can. Eating healthy in college can be challenging.  It is difficult for various reasons whether it’s due to money, the inability to cook, meal plans, or social activities.  For most college students the most common issues with eating well is expense and social activities. Whole foods do not come cheap, and it is almost impossible to afford them in college all of the time. Unless you have a hefty amount of funds to work with you will most likely not be able to eat right 100% of the time. The best advice I can give is to make do in this situation.  Make the best possible choices you can.  Stay away from fast food, or complete junk food that you know is unhealthy for you.  Try to feed your body with the most nutrient dense foods to obtain the best results. On the other end of the spectrum, eating healthy can be hard due to pressure to fit in during social events with friends.  Drinking is not a healthy habit for your body, nor is it near good for you. It can hinder your results in the gym.  However, if you do partake in these type of events do it in a controlled manner.  Count your macronutrients so you are not completely killing it on the carbohydrates that day.  You can easily maintain your health along with your social life, just like stated before do it in a controlled manner.

Step 3

Set goals for yourself. This step is probably the trickiest of the three.  The reason being is it is hard for individuals to wrap their heads around their goals.  Individuals tend to make excuses for themselves before they even give themselves a chance to prosper. Do not be one of these individuals. It is extremely important to set goals for yourself. Whether your goal is to gain weight or lose it you have to go and make it happen. If you want to gain weight you have to eat big, or vice versa if you want to lose weight you have to be taking in a caloric deficit. The positive for us college students is that most of us still have fast working metabolisms so whether we are bulking or cutting we should be able to maintain a lower body fat percentage. However, with this being said, yes our diets can be a bit lenient, but I suggest still trying to eat the best you can in order to build good habits for the future.  It is important to set short and long term goals in order to make progressions in your physique, and training.

These are just three easy steps in order to become the healthiest you in college.  These small staples will help you reach your goals.  It is important to stay consistent in your training and nutrition, and by following these three steps creating a healthier you is possible.

The Man America Trusted Most

(Walter Cronkite getting some work done.)
http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1911504_1912241,00.html

In the world of broadcasting, and journalism every individual should have the common goal of succeeding due to their trusted word.  One man, Walter Cronkite, made this dream possible, and did this by earning the trust of millions of individuals across the states.

Walter Cronkite was former anchor and managing editor for the widely watched “CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite.” This program became America’s most trusted news television broadcast show due to the valued word of Cronkite.

However, Cronkite was not always America’s most trusted news broadcaster.  Cronkite started his career off as a writer and editor for Scripps Howard and United Press.  During this tenure, Cronkite was a correspondent for the United Press due to the United States was fighting in World War II. After the war subsided, this part of his career came to a close for the time being.  Looking for work Cronkite decided to open up a news bureau for UP in Amsterdam and Brussels.  This part of his career did not last very long; however, Cronkite was ready to take his career to the next level.

CBS offered Cronkite a job as a news correspondent. Later on down the road, Cronkite was named anchorman for the “CBS Evening News.”  After about a year of doing this he launched America’s first 30- minute news broadcast.  This was a huge step in the world of broadcasting.  However, this is not exactly what made Cronkite America’s most trusted man.  It was his stories that lite the eyes of Americans across the world.  He reported stories such as John Kennedy’s assassination, civil rights movements, the Apollo Moon landing, the Vietnam War, and the Watergate Scandal.  All these stories were big parts of American history, and is the reason Cronkite captivated the audiences he did.  Cronkite changed news broadcasting forever, and it is because of him that all the journalist and broadcasters that would like to follow in his footsteps are held to such a high standard of trust.

What is Crossfit?

In one sentence Crossfit can be defined as a training regime for individuals who are looking to achieve overall fitness.

As I first started looking into Crossfit I was pretty skeptical.  I could not fathom how this type of training can possibly work.  Some of the movements, even though all of them functional, seemed to be a bit ridiculous. On top of the movements some of the workouts only lasted 5 minutes.  Regardless, I decided to give it a whirl, and surprisingly could not be happier with the results.

Still what is Crossfit?

Crossfit is functional training; its main purpose is to help an individual achieve overall fitness by varying your workouts. No one day is exactly the same.  It makes the workouts unpredictable which creates confusion in the muscles which ultimately prompts more muscle growth.  Crossfit works highly on strength and endurance training. They do this by using Metcon (1 round for time), AMRAP (As Many Reps as Possible), and round training (as many rounds). These diverse group of  workouts create the results you are looking for.

Example Workouts:

Day One:

Back Squat

2-2-2-2-2-2

Metcon (Time)

1 bar

20 Deadlift (275/205)

20 Front Squat (185/115)

20 Squat Snatch (135/95)

Day 2:

Metcon (AMRAP – Rounds and Reps)

Chelsea:

30 min EMOM

5 Pullups

10 Pushups

15 Air Squats

If you fail to complete a minute, the workout turns into an AMRAP for the remainder of the 30 min

(examples from http://www.crossfitmayhem.com/ )

(3 time Crossfit Champion Rich Froning)http://www.appforhealth.com/2013/08/best-crossfit-moves-to-get-you-fitter-faster/

With that all being said like any workout program there are advantages and disadvantages.

Disadvantages:

The biggest disadvantage that surrounds the Crossfit community is injury.  With the workouts being heavy loaded power movements mixed with the competition of time your body becomes highly susceptible to injury.  This becomes even more so true during the Crossfit competitions because as an athlete individuals will put their bodies on the line to win.  With this being said, it is true there is a risk of injury, but anytime you are putting your body under stress you are putting your body at a higher risk to injury.

 

Advantages:          

There are many advantages to doing Crossfit. For one the workouts do not take all day to do.  They are mostly short intense workouts. Also, like I stated previously Crossfit is a mix of varied functional movements.  These varied movements create a fully functional body ready to take on anything thrown at you.   It changes your body. Because it incorporates strength, and HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) training aspects you gain strength as well as lean down.  You begin to build an athletic physique that is ready to take on whatever is out in front of them.

Woodward and Bernstein Scandal leads to Nixon’s Resignation

(Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein discussing the exposure of the Woodgate scandal.)
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/bernstein-joins-woodward-in-turning-on-obama/

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein emerged as the two of the top journalist after revealing a scandal that would later become the biggest story to be released in American politics. It was between 1972 and 1976 that these two started uncovering a story that would change America forever.

The Watergate Scandal was made up of over 40 burglars several of which were arrested inside the Democratic National Committee (DNC), which resides in the Watergate building located in Washington D.C.  This robbery was different from any other that America has ever. The reason being is that the robbers were involved in President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign.  With that being said, a story such as this could not go without an investigation.  As the investigation begun some shocking evidence was found.   During Nixon’s reelection campaign those individuals who were arrested phones were tapped, and investigators found out that the robbers had wiretap phones and stealing secret documents.

What exactly does this mean?

Well, to be completely honest it’s up to your own interpretation.  After the investigation started Washington was kind of flipped upside down.  It was almost as if President Nixon was sweating over something he might have done.  Woodward and Bernstein reported stories about how Nixon was trying to “cover up his footprints.”  Nixon began raising “hush” money for burglars that were now being questioned. It was also reported that he was trying to diminish any reason for the Federal Bureau Investigation (FBI) to look into the case any further. Not getting far in stopping the investigation, Nixon resigned from President, and Vice President Gerald Ford took his place. Ford immediately gave Nixon a hall pass for any crime he had or had not previously committed.

This story solidified fame for Woodward and Bernstein.  As it surfaced throughout the media the game of politics took a turn.  Now whether or not you believe it was Nixon or just some of the individuals from the DNC committing the crime.  It is all open to your own interpretation and regardless of what either one of us thinks this story changed politics forever.

“Caveman” Diet

(Ripped caveman holding spear.)
http://depositphotos.com/23371464/stock-illustration-Cartoon-caveman-with-a-spear.html

 

Can you imagine life during the Paleolithic Age?  A time without bread, pasta, and all our favorite desserts.  Well as awful as that all sounds this new Paleolithic diet is really starting to thrive within the fitness community.

In a previous article I touched very broadly on what nutrition is.  I talked about how it is difficult it is to find valid information on the internet.  With that being said, there are some nutritional diets that I would like to touch base on.  I chose to start with the Paleo diet because of how rapidly it has begun to trend.

What is the Paleo Diet?

The Paleo Diet is one of the most popular diets currently on the market.  It follows a high protein high fat macronutrient ratio.  The diet has a few main principles, and while difficult to understand for many this diet makes quite a lot of sense. The whole idea is to eat how our bodies were intended to.

3 Main Principles

1. Eat like our ancestors.  Our descendants did not have access to processed food such as bread or pasta.  These are the foods that were not intended for our bodies to consume. The Paleo diet takes out all processed foods.  The reason the diet does this is because processed foods are unnatural for you.  They have added sugars, and our body was not intended to ingest them. This means that you must eat high quality nutrient dense foods. (meats, vegetables, quality fats)
2. Limit your sugar intake. This principle almost goes along with any diet.  Sugar is bad for the body due to the increase in your body’s insulin levels. As your body’s insulin levels increase it will begin to store fat, and regardless of how much you exercise your body fat levels may never reach its low potential.
3. The last principle is just more of a reminder of how Paleo works.  Because the Paleo diet takes out processed foods, and you are not consuming the amount of carbohydrates that a typical person does, your fat intake increases substantially.  It is hard to wrap your head around at first, but if you follow the rest of the diet correctly you will lose weight. The macronutrient ratio that worked for me should be a 40p/35f/25c.

Negatives

There are some negatives that come along with committing to the Paleo diet.  As I continued doing this diet I did run into some complications. For one, it takes a substantial amount of commitment.  The preparation is difficult because everything you consume is a whole food.  So there is not quick pasta, or the quick sandwich as your walking out the door.  Secondly, Paleo can become very expensive.  The last negative for me was it was hard to gain weight. As a hardgainer I would not recommend this diet to anyone who is trying to bulk up.

Positives  

Despite some of the negatives the positives still outweigh the negatives.  This diet is great for individuals who are looking to feel better, eat healthier, and maintain weight.  It is also great for those individuals who are trying to cut up for a competition or shoot.  This diet, if done correctly, will help you drop body fat.  I also felt a lot less sluggish and full of energy on this diet.

Conclusion

In conclusion, every individual has to look at themselves in the mirror, and ask themselves one question.  What is your ultimate goal during this cycle of training?  If you are looking to put on weight Paleo might not be the diet for you.  However, if you are cutting up I highly recommend using this diet. It is a great way to really bring out that definition, and standout from your peers.

Kerner Commission Report

Kerner Commission Report

(The 11 member committee put together by President Lyndon Johnson to write the Kerner Commission Report)
http://www.detroits-great-rebellion.com/Kerner-Report—The-Great-Rebellion.html

The world we live in today is much different than the world our parents and grandparents grew up in around 50 years ago.  Back in the day, society just thought a little bit differently, and it caused problems throughout America for quite some time.

Most individuals know about the civil rights movements, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King. These are the names that are familiar to us because that’s what we learned throughout grade school.

Do you ever wonder about all the conflicts that happened in-between the movement?  How the United States that we lived in today handled those conflicts?

After a series of serious riots throughout the cities of America, President Lyndon Johnson constructed an 11-member Commission to figure out what was causing these riots. After discovering the problem it was their job to figure out a solution, and show America how to push through this crisis and become a stronger nation.

The commission did come up with a solid report of what had happened during these riots.  The problem was at the time in was the 1960s, and African Americans were still being treated unfairly.  These riots were caused due to the unfairness in society, and they all had reasons to be upset.  America was setting limits on African Americans, and any human being would protest and fight.

However when this report surfaced it gave these African Americans a shot to get out of the slums.  It stated that they would create more opportunities by opening up jobs, training programs, and giving them a decent home. President Johnson declined this report, and shortly after Martin Luther King was assassinated.  There were over 100 riots following the situation.  They believe that this was due to a racial divide, and clearly was.  What has to be known is that because of the actions of President Johnson America the issues surfaced, and if this reports solution was initially taken seriously maybe we would be discussing things a little differently.