B Block Criminology - Today we'll start with time for the Think-Pair-Share activity we began yesterday in class. I'd like you to make a list of real and fictional heroes. Who is your favourite hero and why? What are their good qualities? What are their faults? Do they have a dark side? Partner up and share and then we'll reveal what we think as a class. Remember...
From a symbolic interactionist perspective, media creates and spreads symbols that become the basis for our shared understanding of society. These symbols can influence children's perceptions of reality, their self-image, and their understanding of their roles within society. Remember...THINK, FEEL, DO.
We'll take a look at "infotainment" (the blurring lines of entertainment and information) where shows like Dateline and 48 Hours Mystery shape the public's views on crime and crime control often connected to moral panics. From Britannica...
Historically, news organizations maintained a distinction between “hard” news and entertainment, or “soft” news, programming. In the 1980s, communications theorists began to use the term infotainment (a portmanteau of information and entertainment) as a synonym for soft news. Hard news was generally defined as breaking developments involving major leaders or issues, public policy, or disruptions of daily life such as natural disasters or calamities. Soft news was less institutional as well as more personal and immediate in nature, with an emphasis on human-interest themes.
Stephen A. Kohm wrote a piece that "examines the way shame and humiliation in criminal justice have become increasingly commodified, enacted, and experienced through hybrid forms of mass media that blur the boundaries of reality and entertainment". In it, he argues that, "public narratives about crime in the news media operate on a distinctly emotional level, weaving powerful messages about not only the nature and extent of crime, but also how audiences ought to feel about crime. To Catch a Predator similarly plays upon and appeals to emotions running the gamut from outrage to humiliation".
A Block Physical Geography - Today we'll continue our look at severe weather focusing on mesoscale convective complexes and tornadoes. First, though, you have time to finish yesterday's questions:
- What constitutes a thunderstorm? What type of cloud is involved? What type of air masses would you expect in an area of thunderstorms in North America? (Geosystems Core p.110)
- Lightning and thunder are powerful phenomena in nature. Briefly describe how they develop (Geosystems Core p. 110)
After a bit, I'll show you some footage of a tornado captured on video by a Kansas television crew. This footage was actually detrimental to tornado safety as most people who saw it assumed that a highway overpass provides shelter and safety. This proved deadly with the May 3, 1999 Moore Oklahoma F5 tornado.
So, why is it dangerous to hide under an overpass when a tornado strikes? Look at the rotation of the funnel on this tornado...
From 2013 a storm chasing team inside the Tornado Intercept Vehicle (TIV2) again consider rotational speed...
Today we'll watch a video about the Joplin, Missouri, tornado from 2011 (above) and then tomorrow we'll watch a really good video of the El Reno Oklahoma EF3 Tornado of 2013.
Oklahoma typically experiences around 60 tornadoes a year, as it is part of Tornado Alley. Most tornadoes, about 77 percent, don’t cause death or widespread damage however some can spin up to create something spectacularly dangerous. The El Reno tornado, that struck central Oklahoma, measured 4.2 kilometers (2.6 miles) wide at its base and killed 18 people including veteran tornado researchers and storm chasers Tim and Paul Samaras and Carl Young (National Geographic did an excellent piece on Tim Samaras called "The Last Chase")
A really good article on the El Reno Tornado and the storm chasers around it can be found at Outside magazine online When the Luck Ran Out in El Reno
Don't forget questions:
- Evaluate the pattern of tornado activity in Canada and the United States. Where is Tornado Alley? What generalizations can you make about the distribution and timing of tornadoes? What happened in 2003?
- Describe the formation process of a mesocyclone. How is this development associated with that of a tornado?
NWS Jetstream Tornadoes
Weather underground Supercells
How Mesocyclones Work
Weather Network Tornado Alley
CBC What is Tornado Alley
Canada's Tornado Alley may be moving from Prairies to Ontario-Quebec, warn researchers at null
NOAA/NSSL Severe Weather 101: Tornadoes
NOAA/NSSL Severe Weather 101: Tornadoes
...and because I'm a nerd...do you know that chasers have their own vocab? Check out the article Do you speak storm-chasing? from TED. Or the National Weather Service Weather Glossary for Storm Spotters
Today's Fit...
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