Sport and Society

Just posted over at The Social Lens

Sport and Society

Allow me to introduce..the Turtleman

Just posted this over at the Social Lens.

Language: from coke to Coke

Just published this blog post over at the Social Lens.

http://thesociallens.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/language-from-coke-to-coke/

Symbols: Meaning and Interpretation

Just completed a blog post over at the Social Lens.

http://thesociallens.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/1062/

A Call for Immediate Disaster Response

The events of the past week in Haiti have been unbelievable. The complete destruction wrought by the earthquake has made an underdeveloped nation rely on far less than nothing.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, I watched in agony the incredibly slow response of national and international assistance to a human population in need. Many of us throughout the world are witnessing and reliving the agony of a slow response to a human population that is desparate and strugglng to survive.

There are two projections that I'd like to call to our attention: 1) the global population is expected to rise from 6.5 billion to near 11 billion in the next 100 years; and, 2) global warming is expected to result in a highe number of catastophic events and with greater intensity and impact.

Our state, national, and international responses need significant attention and investment, a new strategic focus is in order to meet the needs of an evergrowing global population that will continue to fall victim to an increasing number of powerful disasters.

A legitimate reponse time of 7 days is unacceptable. The international community, while it's ciizens and institutions come to help in times of desperate need, has to get immediate response organized, distributed, effective: now. We must start thinking about waves of response. Emergency medical care, water, and food must arrive within 36 hours of the event. Necessary equipment and so on arrives 48 hours after, 3 days, etc. We do not seem to be prepared for what will become more and more common: natural disasters.

The work of groups such as the Red Cross and others is not in question. It is time for both the public and the private to step up and better organize a response strategy to address what the future holds for people and the planet: an increasing number of disasters which will require more resources, quicker response, in the efforts to adequately meet the coming tidal wide of human need during times of crisis.

The global population is expanding, and our planet is sick and getting sicker. How will we plan and respond?

The Sociology of Avatar

Just completed a blog post over at the Social Lens.

http://thesociallens.wordpress.com/2010/01/15/the-sociology-of-avatar/

Haiti: poverty and disaster

Just completed a blog post over at the Social Lens.

Haiti: poverty and disaster � The Social Lens

A Nation of Hunkered-Down Homebodies - Room for Debate Blog - NYTimes.com

Good take on recent population shifts (or lack thereof) in the US.

A Nation of Hunkered-Down Homebodies - Room for Debate Blog - NYTimes.com

Planet Slum

I came across this very intriguing photo essay entitled "Planet Slum" today via Sociological Images on Twitter, found on the Foreign Policy website.

This is reminisicent of the work of Jacob Riis.

http://is.gd/5KOFv

New Year, new opportunities

Greetings with a New Year to colleagues, friends, students, and followers!

I was really pleased to look back on 2009 and see that I had indeed increased the amount of blogging for the year. There is no doubt that my Twitter use greatly influenced that change, along with the purchase and robust use of my iPhone.

This year, particularly over the course of the next six months, my blogging will continue to increase as I add blogs to six sections of sociology, in addition to a partnership that I have with Pearson Education to blog at The Social Lens.

I also am looking at expanding the topics that I cover, and developing a range of content. The content will range in quality as well, as my dive into Twitter has impressed upon me the possibilities with content. Some posts will be more developed, some won't.

I continue to work to integrate a variety of services which house my content, and am currently developing a local project which will exhibit that same type of integration. I hope to speak and post more about that within the next few months.

So let's welcome the New Year, keep our sociology eyes open and aware, and further the introduction to sociology and our perspective on the world in which we live.

Chad

Corporate, retail driven society

Today is New Year's Day. Christmas was just a week ago.

By the way, Happy Valentine's Day!!!




--at http://thesociologyblog.blogspot.com