Wednesday, April 13, 2022

Thursday, April 14. 2022

Today's schedule is DCBA

D Block Physical Geography - We'll continue with our look at weathering (chemical and physical) today. From Yesterday, remember, you'll need to define frost action, exfoliation, and pressure release jointing along with carbonation (solution), oxidation, and hydration. Lastly you'll need to work on questions 2 & 5 from page 442 in your Geosystems text; questions 13, and 15 from page 442 of your Geosystems textbook (you can find the answers between pages 420-423 in the text) and finally questions 17, 20, and 21 from page 443 in the Geosystems text (you can find the answers between pages 423-427 in the text).

For help with the definitions and questions check out:

C Block Human Geography - Today we'll look at the key question, "Why Is Access to Folk and Popular Culture Unequal?" We will really focus on the diffusion of popular culture and look at the mass media of television. The world’s most popular and important electronic media format is television (TV). While the Internet has grown in popularity and importance in recent years, TV remains the foremost electronic media format. Television is a mirror of our world, offering an often-distorted vision of national identity, as well as shaping our perceptions of various groups of people.

In March 2011, then U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made the argument that U.S. television was giving people around the world a distorted view of Americans
"I remember having an Afghan general tell me that the only thing he thought about Americans is that all the men wrestled and the women walked around in bikinis because the only TV he ever saw was Baywatch and World Wide Wrestling," (a side note, at its peak, Baywatch was broadcast in 142 countries and around the world more than 1 billion people have watched the show).
So you'll have some questions about television to work on today and then the Internet and Social Media including "Why do developing nations view television as a new source of cultural imperialism?"

How to stop foreign TV eroding local culture
What is reality TV's influence on culture? 
How have 24-hour sports stations changed society?


We'll also examine the Internet and Social Media's influence on popular culture. The Internet has been a key factor in driving globalization. At its core, globalization is the lowering of economic and cultural impediments to communication between countries all over the globe. While some political and social barriers still remain, from a technological standpoint there is nothing to stop the two-way flow of information and culture across the globe.




So, the Internet has made pop culture transmission a two-way street. The power to influence popular culture no longer lies with the relative few with control over traditional forms of mass media; it is now available to the great mass of people with access to the Internet. As a result, the cross-fertilization of pop culture from around the world has become a commonplace occurrence.

Valerie Berset-Price wrote a lovely piece called From Pop Culture to Global Culture: How Millennials and Technology Are Influencing Our World. In it she states

For Millennials (although you are iGen in the context of this quote that would be you - my inset), two things are happening simultaneously: culture is impacting technology, and technology is impacting culture. On one hand, culture serves as a standard of judgment. It places an importance on what is acceptably good, valuable, and ethical. It conditions how and what we communicate, and it is the lens by which we perceive the world and, in some ways, the way the world perceives us. On the other hand, technology has served as a force for sweeping cultural change, joining the ranks of war, colonization, religious influence and military expansion as cultural modifiers. The expansion of the internet has allowed global communication and information to permeate everything from apartment walls to international borders...Such global exposure has provided the basis for peaceful international homogenization as well as deep conflicts of perspective, and technological advances have increased the speed and frequency of both.
In addition to individuals contributing to culture, Multinational, nongovernmental corporations can now drive global culture. This is neither entirely good nor entirely bad. On one hand, foreign cultural institutions can adopt successful American business models, and corporations are largely willing to do whatever makes them the most money in a particular market. However, cultural imperialism has potential negative effects as well. From a spread of Western ideals of beauty to the possible decline of local cultures around the world, cultural imperialism can have a quick and devastating effect. (from Understanding Media and Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communication).

Today you'll need to answer:
  1.  Social media (Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube) is changing the way that popular and folk cultures are diffused. Give and support an argument for how the Internet might aid the preservation, or even expansion, of some folk cultural elements.
  2. Why do many governments consider it important to limit the freedom to use social media?
  3. A recent study of University of Maryland students found that not using any electronics for 24 hours produced anxiety, craving, and other symptoms akin to withdrawal from alcohol or drugs (FOMO). How do you think you would react to a 24-hour ban on all electronics?
For help check out:
Has technology changed cultural taste?
How the Internet has Changed Pop Culture

B Block Criminology - First we have a quiz on violent crime. You may use your notes to help. After the quiz we'll start with our look at property crimes, where we'll discuss the history of theft and make sense of the differences between occasional and professional thieves. You'll need to answer the following:
  1. What are the differences between a professional and an occasional thief?
  2. What is a "situational inducement"?
  3. What is a "Booster", a "Snitch", and a "Fence"? 

A Block Legal Studies - Today we'll focus on How a Criminal Trial works, including the presentation of evidence (Crown first then Defence), the rules of evidence (including voire dire -  A Voir Dire is usually referred to a "trial within a trial". It is usually held during the Crown's case in order to determine the admissibility of evidence. For example, Voir Dires can be held to determine whether a confession is voluntary and admissible or whether it should be excluded under section 24(2) of the Charter. If the evidence heard in the Voir Dire is deemed to be admissible, counsel can agree not to repeat the evidence and the Voir Dire will form part of the evidence at trial. Two very common Voir Dires are a challenge to the admissibility of items seized in a search and a challenge to the admissibility accused confession to the police), and types of evidence (circumstantial, hearsay, privileged, and character).

Before a trial takes place, at the arraignment hearing, some of the things that will be discussed are:
  • whether the prosecutor is proceeding summarily or by indictment;
  • whether the prosecutor has made full disclosure (given all of the information the defense needs, like witnesses’ statements);
  • the number of police, expert, and other witnesses that the prosecutor plans to call if the case goes to trial;
  • the time estimate for the prosecutor’s case; and
  • whether an interpreter is needed.
The arraignment hearing will likely be handled by a judicial case manager. At the hearing, the judicial case manager will ask how the defendant wants to plead. At this point, the defendant has three options:
  • plead guilty (before a judge),
  •  plead not guilty and set a date for trial, or
  • ask for an adjournment

There are basically seven steps in every criminal trial:
1. The case is called.
2. The trial begins.
3. The judge makes the “exclusion of witness order” if asked by either the Crown or Defense.
4. The Crown prosecutor presents the Crown’s case. Defense may cross-examine (question) each witness called by the prosecutor.
5. Defense presents their case by calling witnesses and possibly the defendant speaking themselves.  The prosecutor can cross-examine Defense witnesses.
6. Both Defense and the prosecutor make closing submissions to the judge.
7. The judge makes a decision.

Witnesses must answer all questions put to them unless it is considered privileged. Privileged information includes:

i) discussions between a client and his or her lawyer in situations when the lawyer was acting in a professional capacity,
ii) any information tending to reveal the identity of a confidential police informant, unless disclosure is the only way to establish the innocence of the accused, and
iii) communication between spouses.

A witness is required either to swear an oath or to solemnly affirm that he or she will tell the truth. Section 16(3) of the Canada Evidence Act permits a witness who is able to communicate the evidence, but does not understand the nature of an oath or a solemn affirmation due to age (under 14 years) or insufficient mental capacity, to testify – as long as he or she promises to tell the truth.

The judge decides whether to admit or exclude evidence, as governed by the laws of evidence, case law, the Charter, the BC Evidence Act, the Canada Evidence Act, and the statute creating the offence. Evidence must be relevant to the facts in issue. The facts in issue are those that go to establishing the essential elements of the offence and any legal defence to that offence. Evidence may be presented with respect to other issues as well, such as the credibility of a witness, provided that the evidence does not offend the collateral evidence rule. 

 

No comments: