Don't Worry!!!!

People of today like to worry about everything, and I mean everything! My aunt watches the TV in such disgust at all the bad things that happen on the news. Everytime reporters report a death, suicide, rape, abduction, etc., she mumbles about how awful the world is. Yes, every death, suicide, rape, abuction, etc., is awful, but what about he good things people do; what about lives that were saved and not lost? Do we ever about the good events in life as much as the bad ones? So on that note, I am going to clarify about some myths that people love to panic about. Everyone of these facts were reported by a 20/20 anchor, John Stossel, so I hope you know I am not talking out of my... well, you know.



The first myth I want everyone in the whole world to stop panicing about is the big cancer scare. Every day we here about new cancer cases. But what happens if one looks at actual cancer stats? If one did, it would appear that only lung cancer has really inclined since the 1930's. Other cancers such as uterine, stomach, breast, and lukemia has all stayed realatively the same since the 1930's. And also keep in mind that some people today are living long enough to have cancer. So if anyone uses cancer to try to scare you, just think to yourself about how the actual number of cancer death rates has flatlined for the past eighty years.



Another myth I want everyone to stop worrying about is that our forrests are getting diminished by the day. In grade school, I heard frighting statistics about how all the forrest lands won't be around in the next 40, 50, or sixty years. I remember actually going home and wondering about how the inevitable day that no more forrests will be around. But what I heard wasn't actually true. Today, the United States has 747 million acres of forrest. In 1920, we had 725 million acres of rainforrest. So in actuality, forrests are not actual getting cutdown, but are actually growing. The main reason for the increase of forrest is that farmers are five times more efficent, which means farms are smaller and forrests have replaced the unwanted agriculture farmers once had. And to be quite honest simply cutting down trees isn't going to deplete a forrest. For example, if people were to vanish off the face of the earth, every big city, no matter how paved it is, is going to turn into a forrest. Only problem of deforrestation has been in under developed countries where an increase population has caused and increase in food demand.

And one of the last myths I want to debunk is that the United States is getting overwhelemed of trash. This is simply not true. The whole trash crisis got started when a barge tried to dump out trash in North Carolina, but didn't get accepted there. When the barge arrived at the location is what suppose to go to in the first place, New Orleans, it didn't get accepted there either because of all the bad publicity surrounding it. In actualality, there is more than enough land to dispose our trash. According to Jeremy O'Brien, a member of the Solid Waste Association of North America, we have enough land to last for thousands of years. If you can believe this, land fill owners actually compete for our trash. Garbage crisis? Hardly not.

To end my blog, I want to answer the one big question about why would anyone want to scare us into believing in this myths. The answer is money. Associations make money off our fears. People watch the news because hearing about a murder is much more interesting than hearing about how a local school donated food to a local pantry. Think about it, would an organization get money donations if it tried to convince you that there is no problem actually happening? Of course not. I think the one thing you should learn from this is to stop worrying about what people are telling you and actually research what is actually true.

The Badger Experience

On Saturday, September the 12th, I went to one of the craziest events I've ever gone to. That event was hosted at Camp Randall stadium with 81,000 people attending. If you were a college football fan, you would know that I am talking about the Badgers game against Fresno State. On paper, it was just a college football game played between two unranked schools, but in actuality, it was a monumental game in which fans of Wisconsin cheered and chanted throughout the game. I was not ready about what was about to happen when I stepped through the gates of Camp Randall stadium.

As soon as I arrived through entrance, I was in aw of what the stadium contained. Since we arrived early, there was just a sea of bleachers waiting to get filled. Two of my friends and I found our place on the benches and waited around for the game to start. As we were waiting, my friend told me about some of the traditions that the student section did during the game. The most notable traditions are: the wave with a twist (after the whole wave goes around the stadium, the students begin a slow motion wave), jump around dance between the third and fourth quarters, and some chants that are definitely not school appropriate. After a long forty-five minute wait, the kickoff finally began. The poor badgers got unlucky and were down 0-14 midway through the second quarter. From that point, I thought that the Badgers were going to get blown out, but they made a quick comeback right before half time. After the two quarters were done, I must admit that I was a little tired from screaming out, "ooohhhhhh!" every time the defense had the ball and was thirsty due to the mid-eighty degree weather throughout the game. From the third quarter and on, I decided to lay low so that I could have a voice the next day. After the third quarter was done, the Badgers were in the lead and everyone was awaiting the "Jump Around" song and sure enough, it did. The students raised their hands and began to jump wildly in the stands. I started to jump just like everyone else, but it was awfully hard to do consecutive jumps cause the benchers were very narrow and were also bending, making it hard to stay on them. The rest of the game was filled with big plays and drama, finally coming to an end in the second overtime with the Badgers winning 34-31. After the game, everyone was excited and flocked out of the stadium. My friends and I went to the college cafeteria, got a drink, and reflected on how the game went. Overall, my first college football game was a great success and can't wait to go to more games in the future.

The Real Football

Not many people know what the real football is. If one would ask anyone around La Crosse, he/she would most likely get an answer about American football and the Green Bay Packers, which really is my favorite sport, but the real answer to what is the real football is soccer. Sounds boring right? I used to think so until I actually played a game of soccer. When I was done playing, I thought to myself, "Hey, this is fun." A short while later, I heard about the United States Men's National Team was going to play a world cup qualification game and I decided to watch it. My first thoughts about what was happening were not really all that good. I thought that the game was slow and nothing was really happening. After not liking that game so much, I decided one day to try out a game called FIFA 09. FIFA 09 is a video game for the xbox 360 that can be compared to Madden 09, but for soccer fans. Playing the game, I learned about the rules of offsides, peanly kicks, substitues, free kicks, passing, and so on. Thanks to FIFA 09, I am now a passoniate fan of soccer. Everytime the US plays a game against another country, I turn up the volume, cheer at our scored goals, curse at every concieded goal, and celebrate or weep depeneding on if the US won or not. Just recently, the United States played their arch rival Mexico and lost 2-1. It's safe to say I was very depressed that whole day. But the main reason why I am sharing this is because an event of great perportions is going to take place this summer in South Africa. Every soccer fan from the United Kingdom to Uganda are counting down the days (275 days left to be exact). That event, of course, is the 2010 Fifa World cup. Thirty two teams compete over a one month time span to see who is the best country at soccer. I am very optimistic that we will do well but I am saddened to think that I am a rare minority of people who will be yelling at TV set at every goal the US conceides and will be hurt if the US fails to win the precious world cup.