Thursday, January 12. 2017

Today's schedule is D-C-B-A

D Block Crime, Media and Society 12 -Today we'll watch the fictionalized version of the Russell Williams case from Law & Order: Los Angeles "Silver Lake". This episode aired on April 16, 2011...that's 6 months after Russell Williams plead guilty. To film a television show (like a 1 hour drama police procedural) takes anywhere between six to eight days. A day normally begins at 6am and runs 11 to 13 hours long. It takes between 60 and 96 hours to produce 44 minutes of program content (for a 60 minute television show). That's just filming - don't forget script writing, set construction and post production work too so NBC "ripped from the headlines" the Russell Williams story literally as it was happening. If you think that's fast consider that NBC's Dateline aired "Conduct Unbecoming" on Friday, February 18, 2011 (4 months after his guilty plea) and CBS aired the 48 Hours episode "Name, Rank, Serial Killer?", the one that we watched yesterday, on April 9th, 2011 (the L&O:LA episode aired one week later!).

So we'll watch the episode and then I have three questions for you to answer (from yesterday):

1. Do you think the news coverage of Col. Russell Williams' sentencing was too sensational? Do you think the court was right to release so much information and that the Canadian press were right to publish it all, or do you think that there is such a thing as too much information, and that there are some details we really don’t need to know?
2. How did the Canadian and American coverage of the Russell Williams case differ? Use the Dateline episode "Conduct Unbecoming", the 48 Hours episode "Name, Rank & Serial Killer?" as well as the Fifth Estate episode "Above Suspicion" as your sources of information.
3. Why did the Rob Ford story garner so much attention in Canada and the United States? Was too much information revealed about Rob Ford's problems? Given the different socio-economic backgrounds of Williams and Ford and the different crimes they committed was the Ford case more media worthy than Williams? Why?

C & B Blocks Social Studies 11 -Today we'll continue with our focus on the end of the war in the Pacific looking at the Manhattan Project and the use of nuclear weapons in Japan (Hiroshima and Nagasaki). This takes us to V-J Day and the end of World War Two. I'll have you work on questions 1-4 on page 121 (Is the use of Weapons of Mass Destruction ever justified?) and questions 1 & 2 on page 122 from the Counterpoints textbook. We'll watch "Seconds from Disaster: Nagasaki"



A Block Geography 12 - Today we look at the ethics associated with resource use along with the different forms of "capital" and understand the concept of "natural capital". We'll also look at renewable and non-renewable resources along with the four ethical views on resource use (economic/exploitation; preservationist; balanced-multiple use; and ecological or sustainable). We'll talk about over-consumption and unsustainable resource use practices using the example of water consumption and the Aral Sea and we'll end the class with a seemingly simple question...."How Much do You Consume?"
 
Don't forget that I need you to continue tracking your family's water consumption for the week and you can use the water footprint calculator at the H20 Conserve website.