Tuesday, June 17. 2025

Today's schedule is CDAB

Last week of Classes in June...don't be Patrick Star

A Block Physical Geography - Don't forget...final quiz tomorrow (Weather, Climate, and Climate Change). We'll take a look at two sections of the National Geographic video "Six Degrees Could Change the World" (1 to 3 degree temperature changes).

You have one question to answer:

1. So, what can you do? What grassroots activism can you engage in to shift peoples’ attitudes towards climate solutions? (Pages 204-5 Geosystems Core)

To that end...I love what Dr. Sam 'Ohu Gon III has to say about Hawai'i as a microcosm for the world and the melding of Traditional Ecological Knowledge with Western science.

"I think it’s too late to be pessimistic. There’s no way to think optimistically or not – we need actions. Everybody has a mission and everybody can do something. The way you live is very important, in your private life. To that end, look at all the good that is going on right now:

The Good News Network: Environment

Seeds of Good Anthropocines

The Daily Climate Good News

Happy Eco News

EcoWatch Positive News

Positive News Environment

The Good News Hub: Environment
Yes! Magazine: The Environment

#OceanOptimism

Green Citizen Inspiring Green News

When hope is redefined as action, it can be uncoupled from the need for a guarantee of success.

B Block Criminology - Cindy, Casey, and Caylee Anthony...I want you to try to make sense of the crime (Casey and Caylee Anthony), the media's coverage of the crime (particularly Nancy Grace), feminist perspectives on criminology, the bad mother motif, Schadenfreude, and the way fictional crime media represented the story (Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit). 

Remember this crime is relevant in that it represents a massive shift in what crimes are reported, spectacle culture and what is considered "newsworthy", how crime reporting changed with different media platforms, the polarization of society connected to injustice and outrage. Nancy Grace helped to shape a decade’s worth of suspected murderers and rapists in the public imagination, stressing their cruelty and alien coldness, tapping into a cultural enthusiasm for righteous witch hunts and armchair convictions (Lots more on this Monday and then next week with the documentary "15 Minutes of Shame")

This series provides an interesting eye on the topic of the media, true crime, and infamy (episode 2 is titled "Media Frenzy" look at the PEW Research Center article Casey Anthony Verdict Top Story for Public and Social Networkers). Please remember from Media Smarts:

1. Media are constructions 

2. Audiences negotiate meaning

3. Media have commercial implications 

4. Media have social and political implications 

5. Each medium has a unique aesthetic form 

We need to think critically about how and why media are made; examining the impact that media have on us and on society; and reflecting on how we use digital and media tools. So what is true crime, in terms of media, why is it produced? How does it get packaged and then what might coverage of true crime media tell us about North American society?

Today we'll watch part 2 and start part 3 of the retrospective 2017 Investigation Discovery documentary Casey Anthony: An American Murder Mystery

Today's Fit...

 

Monday, June 16. 2025

Today's schedule is ABCD

A Block Physical Geography - Today we look at the impacts of climate change.

You have one question to answer:

1. So, what can you do? What grassroots activism can you engage in to shift peoples’ attitudes towards climate solutions? (Pages 204-5 Geosystems Core)

A really fantastic online course is  Earth in the Future: Predicting Climate Change and Its Impacts Over the Next Century

And in terms of British Columbia:

How a 2 C temperature increase could change the planet

Comox Valley regional District (CVRD) Climate Change and Action

City of Courtenay Climate Action Charter

CleanBC Impacts of Climate Change

Climate change making incoming B.C. heat up to 5 times more likely

Climate change is posing a serious threat to Canada — and B.C. in particular

Why British Columbia is especially vulnerable to the effects of a climate breakdown

Natural Resources Canada Canada's Marine Coasts in a Changing Climate (West)

Adapting to climate change Province of BC

FACT SHEET: Climate change and wildfires

Climate Change in Metro Vancouver: Climate 2050

CBC News Climate change in B.C.: Here's how 2050 could look

Government of BC Climate Change Predictions

NASA has a good website (Earth Observatory Global Warming) that tries to explain the concept of climate change and global warming without a biased political viewpoint for or against the subject. Check it out. You could also look at the Hyper Physics website from the department of Physics and Astronomy at Georgia State University. We'll take a look at two sections of the National Geographic video "Six Degrees Could Change the World" (1 to 3 degree temperature changes).

B Block Criminology - In the class this week as I would like you to look at the Casey Anthony trial and specifically the media coverage of her trial in the United States. From the Biography Channel,

Casey Anthony, a young, attractive, single mother, stood accused of the murder of her adorable two-year-old daughter, Caylee. Hailed as "the trial of a decade," the proceedings generated a media feeding frenzy as each shocking new disclosure provoked a blizzard of coverage leading up to the shocking verdict

In June 2008 Casey's daughter Caylee went missing and was found dead later that December. Due to inconsistencies in her story, her delay in reporting her child missing, and increased public pressure and scrutiny, Casey was charged with Caylee's murder. A ferocious media storm ensued and Casey Anthony's trial was conducted both in a Florida courtroom and the national media in June 2011. This crime is relevant in that it represents a massive shift in what crimes are reported, spectacle culture and what is considered "newsworthy", how crime reporting changed with different media platforms, the polarization of society connected to injustice and outrage. Nancy Grace helped to shape a decade’s worth of suspected murderers and rapists in the public imagination, stressing their cruelty and alien coldness, tapping into a cultural enthusiasm for righteous witch hunts and armchair convictions (Lots more on this tomorrow and then later this week with the documentary "15 Minutes of Shame")

I want you to try to make sense of the crime (Casey and Caylee Anthony), the media's coverage of the crime (particularly Nancy Grace), feminist perspectives on criminology, the bad mother motif, and Social Comparison Theory connected to Schadenfreude. Today we'll watch part 1 and some of part 2 of the retrospective 2017 Investigation Discovery documentary Casey Anthony: An American Murder Mystery which provides an interesting eye on the topic of the media, true crime, and infamy.

Today's Fit...

 

Friday, June 13. 2025

Today's schedule is DCBA

B Block Criminology - Today we'll do some prep work before our Casey Anthony true crime media analysis. If Casey Anthony was the most hated mom in America the most hated husband in America was Scott Peterson (who was convicted of murdering his wife, Laci, and unborn child in 2004). A&E TV did a retrospective six part series called The Murder of Laci Peterson and you can stream the six episodes on the link by signing in to your Telus, Shaw or Bell service provider. From A&E

The mystery of Laci Peterson’s disappearance on Christmas Eve 2002 captivated the nation. Eight months pregnant, she vanished without a trace. Her body and that of her unborn child, Conner, appeared four months later on the shores of the San Francisco Bay causing a media frenzy on both a local and national level. To this day, no one knows exactly when, where or how she died, only that her husband Scott Peterson was convicted of murder and sentenced to death, despite the absence of DNA evidence or eyewitness testimony. Scott Peterson’s conviction was less a tribute to the efficacy of the legal system than it was a case study for the overwhelming power of modern media to deliver the facts of news in a way that creates irresistible tabloid fodder.

Today we'll watch part 2 of the retrospective "The Murder of Laci Peterson". Pay special attention to Nancy Grace and her explanation of why she does what she does. This case was the bridge between OJ Simpson and Casey Anthony. I mean who doesn't like a good witch hunt in today's society...really? 😳

A Block Physical Geography -  Today Anthropogenic Climate Change. A rapidly rising population, the escalating level of industrialization and mechanization of our lives, and an increasing dependence on fossil fuels have driven the anthropogenic climate change of the past century. The biggest anthropogenic contributor to warming is the emission of CO2, which accounts for 50% of positive forcing. CH4 and its atmospheric derivatives (CO2, H2O, and O3) account for 29%, and the halocarbon gases (mostly leaked from air-conditioning appliances) and nitrous oxide (N2O) (from burning fossils fuels) account for 5% each. You have two questions to answer (links and videos below will help)

1. Burning fossil fuels emits CO2 to the atmosphere via reactions like this one: CH4+ O2 → CO2 + 2H2O. Describe some of the other ways that our extraction, transportation, and use of fossil fuels impact the climate. (Pages 194-5 Geosystems Core)
2. Which is the most powerful positive climate forcing agent? Which is the most powerful negative radiative forcing factor? (Pages 196-7 Geosystems Core)

The 2021 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states unequivocally that humans are to blame for the warming we are experiencing. 

The IPCC Synthesis Report: Climate Change 2023 and the Summary for Policymakers

The History of Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Department of Environment and Natural Resources Canada Causes and effects of climate change

NASA Scientific Consensus: Earth's Climate Is Warming

NASA Climate Change: How Do We Know?

Natural Resources Defense Council What is Climate Change

The Royal Society Basics of Climate Change

The Royal Society Climate change: evidence and causes

Today's Fit...

 

Thursday, June 12. 2025

Today's schedule is DCBA

B Block Criminology - Today we'll finish the documentary 15 Minutes of Shame, which looks at public shaming in modern day culture. This original documentary film examines social behavior by embedding with individuals from across the U.S. who have been publicly shamed or cyber-harassed – while exploring the bullies, the bystanders, the media, psychologists, politicians and experts in between. Clearly Nancy Grace and her 5 year (still doing it today too) public shaming of Casey Anthony could be seen in a range from free speech/public knowledge to obsessive harassment along with everything in-between. So, we'll watch we'll watch "15 Minutes of Shame"

We need to think critically about how and why media are made; examining the impact that media have on us and on society; and reflecting on how we use digital and media tools. So what is true crime, in terms of media, why is it produced? What stories get told? From the News Literacy Project:

As high-profile court cases unfold, journalists monitor and sort through hours of proceedings in real time. News organizations work to spotlight and explain standout moments for their audiences, who may be aware of a trial but aren’t following it gavel-to-gavel. So, how do journalists decide what to cover? Understanding the criteria that standards-based news organizations use to determine what is “newsworthy” is a key news literacy concept. The poster [below that I've added] outlines the factors that determine newsworthiness, which impacts what issues and events get covered — and how prominently. These factors include how timely, important, interesting and unique a story is. What happens, for instance, when a story is timely without being particularly important, interesting or unique? Is it still newsworthy? Do some factors weigh more heavily than others, depending on the story?  

How do true crime stories get packaged and then what might coverage of true crime media tell us about North American society? What makes a true crime story newsworthy?

Remember you have a question to answer...and I do need you to use some of the information from the 15 Minutes of Shame documentary (specifically schadenfreude)

Why do you think True Crime is such a popular content area/genre in mass media and what are the potential effects of consuming it? Are the voyeurisms of consuming the True Crime genre of media an example of curiosity or exploitation? Does it teach? Does it normalize? Does it Rationalize? Does it Trivialize?

Our Shortsighted Addiction to Shaming and Schadenfreude

Not Just a German Word: A Brief History of Schadenfreude

The Problem With Public Shaming

The Shaming-Industrial Complex

The power of public shaming, for good and for ill

Cancel Culture and social media as the new stage for public shaming

From Public Shaming To Cancel Culture

In the age of cancel culture, shaming can be healthy for online communities – a political scientist explains when and how

The Long and Tortured History of Cancel Culture

Why we can’t stop fighting about cancel culture

Americans and ‘Cancel Culture’: Where Some See Calls for Accountability, Others See Censorship, Punishment

Can we cancel ‘cancel culture?’

And from the article

The Opposite of Schadenfreude Is Freudenfreude. Here’s How to Cultivate It.

“Schadenfreude is one way we try to cope with jealousy and vulnerability,” said clinical psychologist Emily Anhalt, co-founder of Coa, a mental health app. It’s an “ego protector” that shields people from pain and reinforces social bonds within a group, like when joy erupts among sports fans after their rival faces a humiliating loss. One study found that schadenfreude on social media can ice out empathy, making people less compassionate toward those who differ from them. Other research suggests that delighting in the mishaps of others can actually lower a person’s self-esteem, especially when they are comparing themselves to high achievers.

A Block Physical Geography - Natural climate forcing and climate feedbacks today.

1. Milankovich Cycles (eccentricity, or orbit; obliquity, or tilt; and precession, or wobble)

2. the Thermohaline circulation system, and
3. Climate Feedbacks (including the PETM - Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum)

You have three questions to address:

• How do volcanoes act to both increase and decrease temperatures on Earth? (Page 185 Geosystems Core)
• What are the three components of the Milankovitch cycles and what are their timescales? (Pages 182-3 Geosystems Core)
• If the major currents in the oceans were to slow down or stop, how would that affect the distribution of heat on Earth, and what effect might that have on glaciation?

To help with question 3 above feel free to use Extreme Climate Impacts From Collapse of a Key Atlantic Ocean Current Could be Worse Than Expected, a New Study Warns

Today's Fit...

 

Wednesday, June 11. 2025

Today is the last Flex day of the semester (which ends a week from Friday). If you are a student who is in need of assistance in Criminology or Physical Geography, there is an expectation that you will be here today to get caught up. 

Don't let your marks be like...

Come in to get help so your grades will make you like...

And then we'll all be like...

 Today's Flex Fit...