It seems counterintuitive that multi- vitamins are beneficial to our health because they provide all the vitamins that we don’t intake on a daily basis.  Studies show nearly a third of Americans take multivitamins regularly however, we have yet to see significant response from the vitamins.  It’s been declared that when consumers intake the vitamins, they do not possess magical powers like they say. To be healthy we must eat food in order to supply the human body with nutrients and vitamins, not a healthy gummy bear.  In a large study was done in 2009 claimed that women particularly suffered while taking the multi vitamins such as heart disease and lung, breast, and colon cancer. Adding on, in 2011 the following report occurred and the numbers staggered up to 39,000 women.

Moreover, now we can conclude that multi vitamins are not truly what they say on the label. Also, this product is just to make profit for companies. The companies know that consumers will buy anything that will make them look and feel healthy.  In today’s society everything is becoming simpler and easy to access so why not take a dose of gummy bears to complement our healthy needs that we do not get every day.

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/02/econundrums-do-vitamin-supplements-work

It seems counterintuitive that Walmart’s futures of going organic and local possibly reign over big name supermarkets. Walmart is known to be all-around store it includes grocery, clothing, technology, automotive and etc. The company majority sells 18 percent of the groceries which is a lot in the United States. In 2006 Walmart sales increased twice the original estimate and was named number one overall seller for organic milk. After just one year consumers would prefer Walmart over any other superior supermarkets. Thus, consumers are living by the words “Save better, live better” , receiving a great value of organic foods  and getting the best quality just as other higher brand name stores.

Overall, Walmart is becoming a threat to supermarkets, they have reached one goal and there are many to come. Walmart cares for the consumers giving the best quality for great value of price. And there is no better place than Walmart. Even though Walmart has numerous of chains across US, they are potentially to be worldwide.

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/03/walmart-groceries-organic-local-food-deserts

 

Its seems counterintuitive that using treats to build up disciplinary for children leads a better future for them. Walter Mischel’s marshmallow test was to test self-control and he used kids. The kids would receive one marshmallow, if they assured their temptations they would get another treat. This experiment was a correlation of self-control and success of children in future.

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-10-17/what-does-the-marshmallow-test-actually-test

Vancouver combats heroin by giving its addicts the best smack in the world

http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-02-04/vancouver-combats-heroin-giving-its-addicts-best-smack-world

Is Walmart Really Going Organic and Local?

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/03/walmart-groceries-organic-local-food-deserts

It seems counter intuitive that Walmart’s slogan is, “Always Low Prices”, and the prices are only low because Walmart is getting the products for cheaper.  but only is worrying about their self and the company’s profits. Walmart is now pushing to sell more locally grown and organic foods. A typical produce department includes perfect spheres of cabbage, onions, and tomatoes. The greens are huge and crunchy, lemons are sizes of fists, and there are local signs posted throughout the department. Then over in the corner is a few bags of “Organic” lettuces.

Some numbers supporting Walmart trying to go organic and local are as followed: Eighteen percent of all the groceries sold buy Walmart are from the United States. By 2006 Walmart was the nations top seller of organic milk. In 2008, Walmart was on track to buy four hundred million dollars annually in local produce. In 2010, Walmart pledged to sell one billion dollars worth of produce from smaller local farms.

The move to support local growers was more for Walmart than their customers. Local produce come from near by, hence less produce spoils on the trip, leading to more profit for Walmart. A shorter trip also uses less gas and furthermore increases Walmart’s profits. Walmart’s organic push has been mostly focused on non-produce items such as milk and baby food.

 

Upstart lenders have started combing social media sites as they vet borrowers. You’ll be suprised what they’re looking for.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/09/lenders-vet-borrowers-social-media-facebook

It seems a bit counter intuitive that if you have a friend that is late paying a loan back, they can affect your status of a loan application.

LendUp, based out of San Francisco is a new network that can be used to look at Facebook and Twitter. This network can see how many friends people have and how often the friends interact. Companies use LendUp as a scalar to indicate stability for new hires. Neo, based out of Silicon Valley, looks at the quality and quantity of an applicant’s LinkedIn contacts. Moven, based out of New York, uses Twitter, Facebook, and other social media networks in their loan application. Lenddo, is a company that will deny a customer a loan if they are friends with someone who was late repaying a Lenddo loan. Eventually, banks across the nation will soon enough use these types of procedures to evaluate credit and other bank information.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) are the two biggest laws that ensure companies’ collection and use of the customer’s credit information is fair. With that being said, it is unclear if customers use of social media networks is covered under the FCRA. The Federal Trade Commission declined to comment on this question. On the other hand, the ECOA does not cover these new forms of discrimination found on social networks. Now applicants will not know that their social media networks were the reason they didn’t make the cut for the job.

1. How To Change the World

It seems counterintuitive that people around the world do not want to make it a better place.  Somethings go untold through media which should be shared while others are shared that is just for publicity.  Everyone knows what a business entrepreneur does but does anyone know what a socialentrepreneur do?  No, because it goes unsaid what they do for the world.  The article is basically how they help the social life the same way that business is helped by business entrepreneurs.  There are people all over the world doing things to keep other countries safe and healthy but they never go told in stories on the news.  The book can describe ideas on how to make the world a cleaner and safer place.  Lives are being saved while you have no idea that is happening.  One person can make a difference in this world and that one person can become a hero.

https://davidbornstein.wordpress.com/books/how-to-change-the-world/

 

2. Men Defining Rape: A History

“You cannot thread a moving needle”.  It is counterintuitive that rape is not reported as much as it should be.  This article is here to bring back the old times of what rape really meant.  It its definition changes as time moves forward in the world so what really is rape. You can not have sexual intercourse with a female against her will.  That will always be rape.  From having to pay the father of the virgin you raped a certain amount of money, to having to go to jail for a long time. We see how the times have changed and this determination of taking someones else body for granted is always added you because it should not be a real idea at the end of it all.

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/08/men-defining-rape-history

 

3. Does Using Paper Take C02 out of the Environment?

It seems counterintuitive that people or carpenters cut down trees all the time for reasons to get paper and other things that are just recycled again.  You can ask yourself that when some cuts down a tree, isn’t it possible to just plant one in the same spot and have nothing change at all?  This article is about how cutting down the trees releases carbon dioxide into the environment is very bad.  We have to send our paper across the country just to have them send it right back which doesn’t make the most of sense.  To much of what goes on with cutting down trees can hurt our environment and the more we do it, the more we will pay.  When you are done with something that can be recycled, you should do that because one at a time it can help save our world.  Trees are very important to our ecosystem and we need to keep them in the forrest with the carbon that they possess.

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/04/paper-carbon-dioxide-sequester

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/05/ptsd-war-home-sebastian-junger

It seems counterintuitive to me that this article compared rape to PTSD.  Honestly I have never thought of it like that being a former veteran majority of this article was dead on right.  This article claimed that rape was more traumatizing but less harder to recover from.  War is like a drug because once you get that first high of being in a combat zone it kinda never goes away you just in a sense come down from it with time.  I believe combat is both more traumatizing than rape but that is only based off my opinion using my own experiences.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/raymmar-tirado/is-is-time-to-say-yes-to-_b_6110718.html

It seems counterintuitive to me that this article asked the world a simple question “Is it time to legalize steroids in professional sports?”  Steroids are performance enhancing drugs also known as PED’s.  Although critics may say that it is cheating I believe it helps good athletes become great.  This article mentions well known for getting caught using a PED the great Mr. Alex Rodriguez.  This article asks do we even care anymore?  In my opinion no.  Critics say it’s cheating but if everyone did it myself along with the author don’t think that would really be the case.  It would make the sport a lot more competitive and the author of this article feels the same way.

 

https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_64,_Marijuana_Legalization_(2016)

It seems counterintuitive a state that legalized medical marijuana already now wants to piggy back on Colorado and make marijuana legal for recreational use.  Who are they kidding it pretty much is already legal down there everyone knows California is known for its potent marijuana.  This is mentioned in various types of music and celebrities endorse it.  This article is a proposition.  It goes on to explain if legalized pretty much what would happen and how cannabis would be handled.  Marijuana is a popular drug among younger people but even with older people and I believe that eventually more than half of the United States will legalize recreational marijuana usage to the uproar.  This could help be an end to the War on Drugs.

 

 

Vancouver combats heroin by giving its addicts the best smack in the world

It seems counterintuitive that addicts of heroin are getting treated by having clean heroin injected into themselves. It seems strange that people believe that the cure to the addicts is giving them clean heroine.

In Vancouver, they are being known as one of the worst for having drug addicts in particular heroin. It is weird to think that doctors are describing there patient heroine 2-3 times a day based on the doctor’s order. They won’t subscribe medicine that cure the need to help your need to take a needle or anything.

Vancouver has heroine shipped to them where they can monitor it  by nurses to make sure the needle are clean and everything has no harm to it, also so that the addicts won’t get arrested by the police if they take it in the safe zone which is where the nurses can give you your heroine.

 

Francine Prose Explores Anne Frank’s Literary Genius

It seems counterintuitive that Anne Frank’s diary was more of a piece of literature rather than an own personal journal where she can write down her day to day experiences.

In her diary she would use words that would help paint an image for the reader’s head rather than just saw what happened when she reread it and have imagination about what happened but she was looking for the full vivid image. The way she would write was almost more looking for a reader’s opinion and interest rather than just telling her story for her future self.

Many interrupted her diary as a novel for the people rather than just a diary for her self to look back on as she grows up.

 

Is PTSD Contagious?

It seems counterintuitive that one can obtain PTSD without even going to war. PTSD is now being said that it is contagious and there is a chance that one can obtain it without going to war.

Branna Vines is believed to have PTSD without going to war, but her husband on the other hand has been to war and came back with PTSD. Brianna had an incident as CVS were it was claimed that she believed she had a case of PTSD. The sound of money flickering around triggered her PTSD, nerves in her brain made her snap and freak. There are even times where she hears loud noises such as her washer and dryer, the noise from that triggers her PTSD and she freaks.

PTSD should not occur to the ones who don’t go to war, but by being around loved ones it is starting to be contageous.

 

Dress Codes cause Bullying

It seems counterintuitive that dress codes are causing children to get bullied, since the point of the dress code is to make everyone look the same to protect students from being picked on, however that is exactly what is happening nationwide.

In many schools across the country school dress codes are being enforced. Students are required to wear basically a uniform and whenever out of uniform they are picked on and punished. In a school where students are require dot wear navy slacks and a white collared shirt or a navy jumper with a white shirt underneath, if a student even remotely breaks this they are punished and caused to stand out in a negative way. Not only does this cause an issue with the teacher and student but now is giving fellow class mates a reason to pick on the student.

Dress codes are no longer implemented to protect students, yet they are causing more of an issue and seem to just be a sense of control on the schools part.

Store Bought Herbal Supplements are not what they say they are

It seems counterintuitive that herbal supplements sold in stores are filled with things, that are not on the label and really have no national value. Herbal supplements are sold nationwide and millions take them to improve their overall health.

In an investigation conducted by the government they found that in 4 large chain stores their store band herbal supplements did not have any traces of these vitamins that were said to be in the bottle. Upon further investigation they found many fillers such as sand and powdered rice filling these supplements, giving them no nutritional value at all.

Is it really Organic?

It is counterintuitive for organic products to be labeled organic of they are not actually, however this is exactly what is happening. For food to be labeled made with organic ingredients if less than 70% of the ingredients are actually organic. The label of just organic is used if 95% of the ingredients are produced organically and the only time the buyer will get 100% organic product is if it says 100% organic.

 

 

 

 

Principal Encourages Cheating

It seems counterintuitive that a principal, whose job it is to enforce and promote a love of learning, would encourage teachers to help students cheat. However, at Cayuga Elementary School, that is what is allegedly happening.

Teachers at Cayuga Elementary have confessed that they were told by their boss, the principal of the school, to “do whatever had to be done” in order to improve scores on the upcoming state exam. Those statements are backed up by research showing that the odds of a pattern of erasures on a fourth grade reading test were one in 100 million.  With a national education system that puts so much emphasis and power on exam scores, it does not seem so far-fetched. Since improving the district’s test scores, cheating or not, Cayuga has been granted more flexibility in curriculum and more money. According to reports, Principal Cortez was going out of her way to cheat on these exams. Between bluntly telling teachers to check student’s answers before writing them in the booklets, or coming in suspiciously early and going into a locked room where the test booklets were kept, Cortez did anything possible to improve the test scores.

Overall, Cortez might not be the only one to blame. When a school’s performance is being based solely on one state test, even a powerful figure may feel like there are few choices besides cheating. The fact that possible cheating was able to reward the Cayuga district with more funding and more curriculum flexibility even though the students were not really performing at the expected level, shows that maybe school evaluations must go a little deeper than just one state exam.

Do Multivitamins Really Work?

It seems counterintuitive that multivitamins, which have been promoted by countless doctors and media outlets, could really be doing nothing to strengthen human health. In reality, multivitamins may just be perpetuated by business who want to make a profit.

The supplement industry is a 28 billion dollar business and it’s continuing to grow. Today, about one in three people take multivitamins. However, research has shown that not only are vitamin deficiencies rare in the US, but the multivitamins don’t do much to make the average person more healthy. In fact, some supplement takers may actually be exceeding the recommended amount of vitamins. To top it all off, research has concluded that nearly one third of labels on multivitamins are misguided or somehow at fault. So the multivitamin that claims to boost immune systems, may actually be causing vitamin overdose which could lead to several health issues such as birth defects or heart disease.

All in all, most healthy Americans do not truly need daily multivitamins. Despite persuasive ads that make people believe that multivitamins could help them in more ways than one, businesses are just feeding off of the nutritional insecurities that Americans tend to have.

Men Defining Rape

It seems counterintuitive that men have dictated the meaning of rape since the beginning of time despite the fact that rape happens to both genders, and more often women. However, that is what has happened over the course of history.

It all began in 1290 in Britain when Todd Akin attested that if a woman got pregnant then she could not have been raped, since only consent allows conception. In this case, technically, it is legal to rape a woman if she became pregnant because in their eyes it was not rape. As a male, it would be impossible for him to know for sure that in every case where a woman became pregnant she gave consent. The only parties that would know would be the people directly involved in the behavior, and it would be unique to every case. Another example of a man deciding when it is or isn’t okay to rape a woman took place in 1670. Sir Matthew Hale dictated that a man could legally rape his wife because she was bound to him. Even though these example seem far in the past, this is still happening today. The majority of males from the Republican Party press for bills that defund services for rape victims. Their justification is that “non-forcible” rapes should not be covered by federal funding. As with the case in 1290, how is a man to judge whether a rape is non-forcible? The woman victim is the one who knows whether or not she was forced, not the man who judges whether or not to fund her abortion.

The future is not all dark, though. Over time there has been a new wave of feminism that is challenging male power on the topic of rape. Many men do not take these women seriously but they continue to fight and some changes have been seen. The male domination on this topic has led many women to be fearful of even telling anyone about their rape. It is time that men begin letting women have a say on rape, so that all victims can feel safe and protected.

 

It seems counter-intuitive that a government would give its citizens heroin for free. Heroin in many countries is taboo to the extent that it is not only illegal but frowned upon. Governments tend to reprimand individuals who use illegal drugs, but not Vancouver. Vancouver is giving heroin to it’s addicts for free.

Vancouver has had a history with drug related crime for years due to the vast amount of heroin addicts present in the city. Initially, a safe zone was instilled for addicts were they could use heroin with the supervision of a nurse without the threat of being arrested. This place is known as Insite. Here they give them clean syringes, antiseptic wipes, and other equipment that makes taking heroin a bit safer.

Now, instead of just giving someone instruments for heroin use, in extreme cases they distribute heroin to them for free as well. This counter-intuitive idea is not for everyone. Currently only 26 people in Vancouver are given heroin due to their inability of their bodies to take to the heroin alternatives being studied and the heroin must be prescribed by a doctor.

By giving these individuals heroin and a place to use it, this program is a form of harm reduction. Drug users are synonymous with  crime such as armed robbery, breaking and entering, sex trafficking, etc. This is due to the physiological and physical dependency on the drug. By giving them a place to use the drug, the instruments, and the drug itself.

Although at first glance the program Insite is absurd, after learning about the good it is capable of as far as the community is concerned, it is exactly what the city needs. By eliminating the reason a group of people commit crime and giving them what their body is hooked on so they will not die, is killing two birds with one stone.

https://mic.com/articles/110344/14-years-after-portugal-decriminalized-all-drugs-here-s-what-s-happening#.UHn1lq2E3

It seems counterintuitive that a country could decriminalize all drugs, and yet, the amount of overdoses in that country decrease over time. About 15 years ago, Portugal did this. You can now have a maximum of a 10 day supply of any drug with no legal consequences there. The 15-24 year old population has decreased their volume of drug usage significantly. In addition to that, drug induced deaths and infections from needles have both also declined. This makes me wonder how these statistics can be true, just from simply giving the people easier, consequence-free access to illegal narcotics. I just think that what makes drugs so popular among teens and young adults is the risk factor. People get an indescribable thrill from doing things they are not supposed to do. When you randomly declare that narcotics are no longer illegal, i think the majority of drug users were eventually discouraged from using because they no longer felt as though they were breaking the rules. This example is living proof that different forms of reverse psychology can be effective. Not that this method is guaranteed to be effective everywhere, but it was a good thing in Portugal. But who knows; it could be equally effective other places as well, considering that drug usage does not seem as cool when everybody can do it without repercussions.
http://wxxinews.org/post/dying-man-s-last-wish-ends-fight-donate-his-organs

It seems counterintuitive that a person could willingly end their life to save the life of another person. A resident of South Orange, New Jersey was nearing the end of his battle with ALS, and wanted to cut his battle short to make his death meaningful in a positive way for somebody else going through their own struggles. He was denied at first, but strongly believed in what he was doing so continued to push the envelope. Approximately 22 people dying per day in the United States while waiting for an organ transplant is an astounding number. This statistic proves how meaningful something like that is, because you know new organs are in high demand for many people. In the long run, they were able to find a match, and the transplant was successful. Nevertheless, it is still crazy to think that this man could fight as long as he did, and technically pull the plug on himself. An act of courage that serious provides hope for humanity now and in the future. Extending another person’s life in the process of losing your own is an incredibly selfless way to die. It has to be extremely difficult to make that decision, but that is the definition of living a purposeful life. The man was able to bring happiness to his loved ones for as long as he could, and then bring the happiness that comes along with saving a life to a family in need.
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/05/toms-shoes-buy-one-give-one

It seems counterintuitive that a company can increase their profit margin by giving their product away. Toms shoes claims that for every pair of Toms they sell, they give a par to somebody in need in a developing country. Taking into consideration how cheap it is to make Toms, giving them away does not hurt at all when you look at all of the exposure the company is getting. There are plenty of people that want to help the cause. People see that they help children and need and are immediately on board. The company probably sells them for double or triple what they cost to manufacture, meaning that free pairs still lead to a huge profit on a global scale. Not to be taken out of context, I believe this is a great idea and has helped countless amounts of needy children and families over the years. Nevertheless, it has been discovered that Toms has very limited information on their website regarding how many people they have helped or how many shoes they have sold. Interesting statistics that somebody supporting the cause would love to see, are not there. I have seen pictures of underprivileged children wearing Toms and I know many people have been helped by this, but it is just slightly suspicious why facts like this cannot be seen on the site. Without a doubt, they are a productive and helpful company. But, in a world where everything is a business when it comes down to it, you wonder who actually does things like this for the right ethical reasons. Much like most other companies, Toms would have never started and would not still be here today if they knew they would not be putting money in their own pockets as well.