When a Parody Become Plagiarism

We have all heard of the televised new and improved from of the throw blanket called the snuggie. A snuggie is unlike any other blanket in that it has sleeves so that the person wearing the blanket can achieve tasks that would otherwise be difficult to do with a normal blanket. Snuggies have been the hip new thing for the last year and a half and they have flooded American homes in every color, pattern, and even sports team logo. They were one of the top gifts at Christmas time and are still being bought at a steady rate. But what makes these blankets so appealing is the preposterous infomercial that advertises them. Whether it is the overly done excitement for the snuggie or the lame excuse for the need of a snuggie, the American public has gone crazy for them. That is where the parody of the infomercial comes in. This remake of the commercial is not only mocking the blankets but is taking an idea that most of society already knows it silly and making it appear even more ridiculous. They use every shot from the infomercial to make their own point about how stupid the snuggie is to them. Though they may be making fun of the snuggie the video they made was to show others how unnecessary the snuggie is when a person could just buy a normal blanket. By doing this they add yet a creative and humorous spin to the already ridiculous snuggie infomercial.

Even though this video is entertaining and allow it’s viewers to have a good laugh, they way they made the video is illegal. Under plagiarism and copy right laws the people who made this video are not allowed to use the footage from the actual infomercial without the permission of the makers. They are taking property that is not theirs to take. If the makers desired to do something about this the people who made the parody could suffer major consequences for it.

Now we as a group have nothing against the snuggie, in fact some of us own ones, but we do however enjoy this video and how it makes fun of the blanket with sleeves.

Let's Get Creative!

Sometime life puts us into situations where a solution to the problem seems almost lost. These situations that Mike, Dylan, I have faced are all time where we have had to get creative to come up with a solution. Times when we had to think out of the box to solve our problems.

Heather:

Over Spring Break I was faced with a challenging task that I was left alone to do. That task was to transfer Jeffery and Stanley, two very important souls, back to my house without the help of anyone. Now, one might ask so what is the big deal, transferring these two cannot be that hard. Well the deal is that Jeffery and Stanley are beta fish that live in a small divided tank in my dorm room; they aren’t something that can be easily transferred. My roommate had left for Houston and I was getting ready to leave for a ski trip. I knew that I could not leave them alone in at the dorm for a whole week with no food. I knew from experience that they could go a few days without food, because come on we all know college students are busy and they get distracted, but a whole week? No way. Let’s just say my fish do get feed, just not necessarily every twenty-four hours. Anyways back to the real issue. I knew I could not leave them and there was no one around to help me transfer them to my house, so I had to get very creative. Normally when I have to take them back to my house I have a friend hold their small tank while I drive back to my house, but this time I was all alone. So after I had packed all of my bags and carried those to the car I came back for what I knew would be the most difficult thing to pack. As I carried them as steady as I could to the elevator I wondering how in the world was going to get these fish to my house without spilling the tank or killing the poor fish. Well I had finally made it to my car, which was crammed full of all of my bags, opened the door and stood there thinking of all of the possible things I could do to get them to my house. I thought of everything from holding them in between my legs to wedging the tank between my bags and hoping that everything would stay put. I soon realized that those probably were not the smartest ideas and would probably end in disaster. I was on the verge of calling a last resort, when the idea came to me. In my car there is a small gap between the two front car seats, kind of where the console is. Now I was relying on the space being the perfect fit and as I went to place the tank in the opening it was like the people who made my car knew that someday I would being transferring a fish tank. The opening was just tight enough on the tank to hold it in place, which preventing the tanks from sliding all over the place. I knew the moment I had put the tank there that I had found the solution to my problem and it was going to be a successful trip home. I got in my car completely satisfied with my success and drove all the way home with no problems.

Mike:

I’ve been a connoisseur of those little Lunchables pepperoni pizzas since I can remember. I’m near 95% percent positive it was my first self-efficient “meal,” and I still have at least three in the little refrigerator in my dorm to date. But Lunchables pulled a quick on me and removed the spreading-stick for the pizza sauce around 6^th grade. How cheap are you to remove the stick to save probably two cents per serving? Meanwhile I’m in stirring darkness, resorted to spreading sauce like a caveman with only the tools evolution gave him. And in that darkness I remained for eight years until I arrived at college. One fortunate night of “inspiration” (the quotations denote only a college student would consider this night inspirational), the idea struck me like a revolution. The solution had been there all the while, just hiding in my hands. The sauce packets have rip-able tops, which I always simply tossed back into the bin and resumed making my pizzas. But the disposed tops were perfectly apt for my sauce-spreading needs, the Enlightenment to my Dark Age. But I’ve been selfish with my discovery and haven’t spread the word, but this blog will advertise nicely. So based on

responses, I’ll have my answer as to how the world will handle this bold epiphany. 

Dylan:

It was my jr. year of high school at the Jim Darnell Stadium in Midwest City Oklahoma where this problem occurred. The Midwest City Bombers were playing the Yukon Millers and the game came down to the 4th quarter. I started at the tight end position for the Midwest City Bombers. There was 5 min. left on the clock and we drove the ball down to the Yukon 6 yard line. We were up 35-28 at this point in the game. Coach Huff gave us the signal from the side line because we ran a no huddle fast pace offense. The play was black right 46 power O, and I was the tight end and lined up to the call side of the ball which on this play was the right side, the play was to my side. So our offense took our positions, and went to the right side and got in my stance. I then bent my knees, cocked my feet in perfect position, placed my hand on the ground, ready and waiting for the quarterback to say ready hit. The play started i blocked down on the defensive end to my inside shoulder, our running back got the ball in his hands, running straight of my block to get in the in zone. I then saw that our tackle to my inside shoulder missed his block and the defensive tackle was pursuing our running back. so i took a good angle, took my right steps to make the block happen, and then kept driving my feet as hard as i could. i then made the defensive end i was blocking knock down the defensive tackle that was after our running back. That then freed our running back to dash into to the end zone to score to touchdown that clinched the win for our team. The Midwest City bombers went on to win the game 45-28.

Although our problems were kind of silly except for Dylan’s, we all found creative ways to solve our problems. Both Mike and I were a last resort solution. However Mike’s problem is something that he has been dealing with for years where my problem was more of a one time situation. Dylan’s problem required him to think on the spot while Mike and I had time to think about other solutions. We all had to use our brain to solve our problems because the solutions were not obvious.

A Credible Source or a Crudible Source?

As college students, Mike, Dylan, and I are constantly using the internet as a way to gather information not just for our classes but also for our own personal use. When using the internet though it is important for us to be cautious as to which sites we trust to get our information from. Each of use certain things to help determine if the website we are looking at are a credible source or not.

Mike: Using sources is a very helpful tool in writing. It can lend credibility to a writing, make you sound smarter than you actually are, or just take up some space on a paper. But equally crucial as correctly using sources is making sure they are credible, which is becoming increasingly difficult, especially on the internet. But I remember a few tips that help assure I use the right sources. First, I make sure the internet page focuses more heavily on fact than opinion. Blogs can be helpful for gathering testimonials, but are usually not concentrated on recording facts. Next, I check to see if the page was produced by a popular source or one I already know. Sites that are not visited often are more likely to be less credible. The more popularity a site has, the more accurate its information will usually be, unless of course it’s a very popular blog. And lastly, I always pay mind to any biases that may be inherent on the page. This step may take a little more time and “dirt-digging,” but there are other sources that may be a little more obvious. Everyone knows that Fox News is so right-wing, they’re falling off the edge.
Heather: Whether I am looking for research for paper, reading the recent news, or looking up my favorite actors, I use the internet to gather the majority of my information. Although the internet is an easy way to gather information quickly and easily, I have to be very careful as to which websites I use. The internet is full of credible sources and sources that are not even the slightest bit correct. When I go to search something on the internet the first thing I do is look at the URL ending. If the ending is .edu or .gov then the website is probably reliable. The next thing that I do is to look carefully at the website I am on and make sure the overall purpose of the website is legitimate. Basically, making sure the website is not an advertisement or some gimmick, but an actual source that is trying to provide the correct information. The next thing I check is to see if the website provides citations for where they got their information. If a website has citations then it is a pretty good sign that they are not just making up their information. If I can do all three of these things then I know I have found and good source and that I am not just reading some person's random thoughts.

Dylan: When I go to find source on the internet I try to be aware of if a source is credible or not. To do this one of the things I check is the popularity of a website. When I search a topic I choose a site that is usually at the top of the listing because that is a good sign that the website is viewed often. This is a good way to check the credibility because if the site was not credible then people would not visit the site.

Perspiration Factories: Should we be more Aware of what we Wear?

Sweatshop labor is a topic not many Americans want to address. We just want to buy our shirts and wear them too. We don’t care about the origins of our fabrics, but just like every issue, this one has two sides too. The decision to support the existence of sweatshops or to stand against them is not only an extremely hard one but one that we are not even sure can be done. After reading Barboza's article and Kristof's article there are advantages and disadvantages to both sides of the argument. (Barboza arguing against sweatshops, and Kristof arguing for sweatshops.) While we all disagree with the treatment and conditions of sweatshops, we are more aware of the importance that some children have jobs so that they will not starve to death. In other words, we can see both sides of the story.

The image in American minds of sweatshops is a run-down, hot basement passing for a factory in some far-off, impoverished village. But the reality is much different for many who work in the sweatshops, especially children. To the workers, the sweatshop is the much preferred alternative to working in the fields, and it is the only option for many struggling residents. Not are sweatshops the only the best work options but most child need to work in sweatshops to be able to eat.

 So should one go as far as to boycott sweatshop-produced goods? We suppose that depends on your stance in the sweatshop issue, but that’s a decision we are not going to make for you. But we can tell you what will likely happen. The sweatshop-produced shirts will still sell. Even if the origins of our threads are a Google search away on our iPhones, the shirts will still sell. Like we said earlier, we just want to buy our shirts and wear them too. We don’t expect this blog to make activists out of any of our readers, but next time you see “Made in ______” will you think twice about that blank?

Memories of Reading from Three College Students

Learning how to read is an important part of growing up. There is not a certain formula for the correct way to learn, it depends on the person learning. Everyone has different people influencing their learning and do not necessarliy learn how to read in the same envrionments. Heather, Mike, and Dylan, all college students at OSU describe their personal experiences with learning how to read and their earliest memories of reading.

Heather:

My earliest memories of reading are from reading bed time stories with my mom or dad before I went to sleep. Every night before I went to bed they would have me pick out a book for them to read to me and then we would work on reading through it together. Both of my parents were patient and encouraging during this time. I can also remember back in kindergarten when they were teaching us to read they would bring in blow up letters that would have names and stories behind who they were. A new letter would show up each week in a mysterious way. I can remember looking forward to meeting a new letter each week. It was a fun and exciting way to get us interested in reading. Another thing that helped me learn to read was watching Sesame Street. I loved this show! I remember them teaching a letter and number a day. This show was a big help when it came to learning all of the different letters and the sounds that they make.

Dylan:

The first thing that comes to my mind when I think about learning how to read would be staying the night with my grandparents. My grandma would always read to me before it was time to go to bed. I don’t really remember exact books, I just remember big pictures with very few words on a page. After several times of reading to me she then started making me attempt to read and if I couldn’t say the word she would pronounce it for me and make me repeat it until I said it right. After staying the night with her time and time again I then started getting better and eventually learned how to read.

Mike:

I don't believe reading is an act that is taught; it is a discovery. The language of reading is all around us, writing is just the convenience. We all naturally discover the essence of reading, it is only in school that we learn the mechanics. My process of learning the mechanics of reading was one school-facilitated in pre-kindergarden, but I can remember the summer I discovered reading. It was the summer after 1st grade. It wasn't three months of page after page, rather I would read my father's Sports Illustrated magazines when I'd be in his bathroom. That summer I learned the importance of the word, the vitality of literacy, and the beauty of writing that can sometimes be surpass reality. That summer I fell in love with reading, and I like to think S.I. was my teacher.

All three of us remember a how important the learning process was to us. Some of us learned from  important figure in our lives, others learned or discovered to read on their own, honestly though the important factor in all of our stories is that not only did we learn how to recognize symbols that stand for certain terms, but that we all gained the knowlegde of how to relate to other through reading, how to gain knowlegde on our own, and how to dive into a new world of information just because we learned to read.