Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Entrance into UC or CSU - what are the requirements?

California has two public university systems: Universities of California and California State Universities.  These two systems have the same course requirements to enter their Universities.

GPA of 3.0 for UC
GPA of C for CSU

High School Course Requirement Minimums:

  • History/Social Science - 2 years
  • English - 4 years
  • Mathematics - 3 years, 4 years recommended
  • Laboratory Science - 2 years, 3 years recommended
  • Foreign Language - 2 years, 3 years recommended
  • Visual & Performing Arts - 1 year
  • College Preparatory Electives - 1 year

Friday, November 25, 2011

Navigating Grocery Stores for Healthy Choices

Whenever you shop and make choices for your family, your grocery store collects data.  One of the most famous data mining discoveries was done collecting your data so that stores could sell more products.  They discovered that on Thursdays fathers were sent to the store to pick up diapers but while they were there they also picked up beer.  By Thursdays, moms had run out of diapers and since dads were in the stores anyway, they picked up some beer.  Stores decided to place the diapers closer to the beer to make dads trip more efficient.  In addition they added some quick snacks that dads would choose such as chips and dip, pretzels, and some other salty beer drinking foods.  With this arrangement everyone was happy.  Dads spent less time in the store, got beer even though they also had to get diapers and the stores got more sales because of the close proximity of diapers, snacks and beer.

Grocery stores have thin margins and are willing to work the angles in order for you to buy more.  Sometimes this works in your families favor.  Sometimes not.  Just be aware.




What Your Supermarket Knows About You

As the recession lurches on, retailers have adjusted their marketing tactics to appeal to your hoarding instinct
Chuck Keeler / Getty Images
CHUCK KEELER / GETTY IMAGES
Lindstrom's latest book isBrandwashed: Tricks Companies Use to Manipulate Our Minds and Persuade Us to Buy.
The global financial crisis of 2008 hit consumers hard. Two years later, and they’re still reeling. Spending is down across the board, and even the more affluent are watching their pennies. In this fearful climate, retailers are applying ever more scientific and psychological tactics to lure them back. This was made clear to me on a memorable day in 2010 when I visited the laboratory outside of Chicago of one of the world’s largest consumer goods manufacturers.
After driving for nearly two hours, I reached my destination: a huge, imposing warehouse, with no outward signage, and a vast parking lot full of cars. A friendly receptionist checked my identity, had me sign all sorts of paperwork, and directed me through a door labeled Control Room. It was massive, and resembled images I’ve seen of NASA’s operations area — row upon row of people staring intently at hundreds of screens, only they were monitoring shoppers pushing carts around the aisles of a supermarket that had been designed to test their responses to different marketing strategies. “Take a careful look at this lady,” said one of the monitors, pointing to a middle-aged woman on the screen. “She’s about to enter our latest speed-bump area. It’s designed to have her spend 45 seconds longer in this section, which can increase her average spend by as much as 73%. I call it the zone of seduction.”
This particular section of the market was different from the usual aisle. For a start, it had different floor tiles — a type of parquetry imparting a sense of quality. And instead of the cart gliding imperceptibly across nondescript linoleum, it made a clickety-clack sound, causing the shopper to instinctively slow down. The shopper’s speed was displayed at the top of the screen, and as soon as she entered the zone, her pace noticeably slowed. She began looking at a tall tower of Campbell’s soup, and then plucked a can off the top. Bingo! The sign in front of the display read: “1.95. Maximum three cans per customer.” Before the shopper slowly sauntered off, she had carefully selected three cans for her cart.
Sophisticated as we may be, there’s no getting away from our more primitive survival technique of hoarding food to see us through lean times. So when we come across a deal that appeals to this ancient instinct, dopamine is released in our brain, giving us an instant rush of pleasure. My guide explained the exercise: “Yesterday we ran exactly the same offer, with two distinct differences. There was a dollar sign in front of the price, and no ‘Maximum 3 cans per customer’ line. We also gave the shoppers smaller-sized carts and changed the floor tiles.” These seemingly small changes translated into big differences. On the first day of the experiment, only 1 in 103 purchased Campbell’s soup. Today, however, it seemed that 1 in every 14 succumbed — a sevenfold increase.
Over several months of experimenting with signage, the team noticed that using a dollar sign in front of the price decreases our likelihood of making the purchase. The dollar sign is a symbol of cost, rather than gain. Removing the sign helps the consumer sidestep the harsh reality of outstanding bills and longer-term financial concerns. No doubt the larger cart and the changed floor tiles also played their part, but what was most surprising was our need to hoard. The dictum allowing only three cans per customer that sealed the deal.
The next time you go grocery shopping, take a look at the signs, the type of floor, and even the carts. Everything has been designed with an eye towards getting you to grab those three cans of something that was not on your list. The more attention you pay to the details, the more aware you’ll become of how you’re being manipulated. One thing is for certain; whoever made those three cans will be watching you just as closely.
Lindstrom is a marketing consultant and the author of Brandwashed. The views expressed are his own.


Read more: http://ideas.time.com/2011/10/21/what-your-supermarket-knows-about-you/#ixzz1ekRgZhQb

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Fluoride in the water - impacts on health


Your parents have said it, you've said it to your kids.  "If everyone jumped off a cliff, would you do that too?"

Across the country cities are taking sides as to continue fluoridating their water or stop and others are deciding whether to consider fluoridating.   Even though the CDC says that fluoridated water is safe, if you ask your child to think about it, is it safe?  Putting a chemical in the water that is difficult to remove - is that safe?  Putting a prescription drug into the common water supply to protect teeth when nutrition counseling or dental clinics would be less impactful on the environment - would your thoughtful child say this is safe?

Fluoride is not a vitamin.  Fluoride is a chemical ion and how it is manufactured is of great concern for those who have fluoride placed into their water.  Investigate the standards for fluoride manufacturing in your city.

The chemicals most used to fluoridate drinking water are silicofluorides, contaminated waste product of industry, that were never safety tested on humans or animals. Meanwhile we are conducting a massive toxicological experiment. Our children are the test subjects.

Silicofluorides are linked with children’s increased lead absorption. Studies link fluoride chemicals to bone fractures, lowered IQ, thyroid dysfunction, cancer, allergies and more.  For those with thyroid conditions, they should not drink fluoridated water.

On your toothpaste it says 'if swallowed contact poison control immediately'.  And yet we put it in the water to drink?

If you wanted to get fluoride at Walgreens you would need a prescription.  We are putting a prescription drug in the water to prevent tooth decay.  Should we put antibiotics in the water to prevent flu?

The CDC recommends that we drink fluoride and that it does no harm.  Fluoridation is in their top 10 successes.  The CDC does not have the best track record and ask yourself what you ask of your children.  If everyone did it would you do it too?
Although CDC succeeded more often than it failed, it did not escape criticism. For example, television and press reports about the Tuskegee study on long-term effects of untreated syphilis in black men created a storm of protest in 1972. This study had been initiated by PHS and other organizations in 1932 and was transferred to CDC in 1957. Although the effectiveness of penicillin as a therapy for syphilis had been established during the late 1940s, participants in this study remained untreated until the study was brought to public attention. CDC was also criticized because of the 1976 effort to vaccinate the U.S. population against swine flu, the infamous killer of 1918-19. When some vaccinees developed Guillain-Barre syndrome, the campaign was stopped immediately; the epidemic never occurred.  The CDC makes mistakes, as does everyone.  http://digitaljournal.com/article/313892

We have the technology that if we choose to take a fluoride pill we could do so.  Why not respect individual choices to take a fluoride pill or not and trust that individuals, when given the correct information, will make responsible decisions.  Why medicate the entire population when only the wealthy will have a true choice to obtain reverse osmosis ionized water purified of fluoride?

Sign the professionals petition to ban fluoridation

EPA Professional Scientists Oppose Fluoridation

City of Austin finds Fluoride Too Toxic

10 Reasons to Oppose Fluoridation

Cities that have Stopped Fluoridation

50 Reasons to Oppose Fluoridation

Pineal gland disrupted by fluoride