Wednesday, June 19. 2019

Today's schedule is BADC

B Block Human Geography - After today there are just 2 classes remaining in the semester, in the learning commons, to complete your geo inquiry story. Analyze all of the data you have collected. Create various maps and charts representing various findings. As you begin the analysis, look for patterns, clusters, or trends that might help you answer your Geo-Inquiry Question. You have now (hopefully) answered your Geo-Inquiry Question and created a compelling Geo-Inquiry Story to tell next Tuesday morning.

From the 2007 BC Energy Plan...yep 12 years ago

A Block Physical Geography - Today we'll be back in the learning commons to continue your work on your final exam, the BC renewable energy activity. Remember you need to examine the five most common renewable energy sources (hydroelectric, geothermal, wind, biomass, marine hydrokinetic, and solar) and provide sound reasoning as to why you believe your top choice should be chosen as an energy project here in BC. The provincial government’s CleanBC plan calls for a massive program of electrification of homes, industry and transportation with aggressive greenhouse-gas reduction targets set for 2030. By 2040, every car sold in B.C. is to be zero emission, while every home is to be net-zero energy ready by 2032. More links:
EnergyBC
Canada’s Renewable Power Landscape 2016 – Energy Market Analysis
Could BC become a 100% Renewable Energy Region?
Clean Energy BC Clean Energy BC Clean Energy Sectors
Natural Resources Canada Renewable Energy Facts

And here is the viral photo from Qaanaaq, Greenland, that Danish climate researcher Steffen Olsen took; which is a visceral depiction of the top layer of sea ice...notice it isn't there...AKA melted; you know showing the reality of climate change...like now?!

D Block Law - After today there are just 2 classes remaining in the semester, in the learning commons, to complete your civil litigator project. Your major project is due this Friday...so it's nose to the grindstone time; pound out the work and do the best that you can. Good Luck.

C Block Criminology - In order to help your answer the big exam question, today we'll watch an episode of Person of Interest from Season 1 "Cura Te Ipsum". Person of Interest premiered in 2011, starring Michael Emerson as reclusive billionaire genius Harold Finch, Jim Caviezel as burned CIA operative John Reese and an ensemble cast of supporting characters who work together to try and prevent crimes before they happen. They’re able to do so with the guidance of Finch’s invention, “The Machine,” an artificial intelligence with unfettered access to all means of surveillance in the country. The entire, seemingly fictitious premise of “Person of Interest” surrounds a top-secret system of nationwide surveillance that turned out to be pretty real with the 2013 NSA PRISM revelations.

In this episode, the Machine gives up the number of Dr. Megan Tillman, a promising young physician, and Reese undertakes 24-hour surveillance of the doctor to determine the threat against her.

How TV’s “Person of Interest” Helps Us Understand the Surveillance Society
“Person of Interest”: The TV Show That Predicted Edward Snowden
‘Person of Interest’ and real-life surveillance

Remember I will show you four US crime serials in class: Lie to Me, the Mentalist, Elementary, and Person of Interest. I want you to critically examine these shows thinking about messages they deliver about detective "experts" and what these shows say about the public's view of modern police forces.

All media tell us some kind of story. Often that story is a re-presentation of what the creator of it sees in society (that means it may reflect the reality of the world we live in as the person who made it sees society). The four crime serials I am showing you focus on solving crimes. They tend to be realistic and deal with plausible crimes. They focus on solving a crime, usually a murder or a cold case. It may not involve organisations such as the police, but could include private investigators, authors, or anyone who wants to solve a crime.

The narrative of the drama is often organised around opposite pairs (also known as ‘binary oppositions’ - a theory by Levi-Strauss). In this, we understand the world (society) through a system of power-weighted oppositions. The conflict between these opposites drives the narrative forwards and generally the binary opposites are good/evil; hero/villain; cop/criminal. At the end of each episode the crime is usually solved.

So these stories say something about society and crime (it's bad, done by bad people, the police are good and crimes are solved so we are safe). These stories represent our reality. Representation refers to how people, places, objects and events have been reflected in a media product. When a media product is produced, whatever is being reflected is a representation constructed by the producers. A key element to understanding this is to ask yourself the question:

‘Do you believe everything you read, listen to or see?’

Representation involves the interpretation of:

• WHO has been represented?
• WHAT has been represented?
• WHERE has the representation taken place?
• HOW have they / has it been represented?
• WHY have they / has it been represented?

So...in the end my question is how do these shows represent society? "What do these shows reveal about what we think is the reality of crime and the control of crime in North American society"?