Wednesday, December 29, 2010

History Doomed to be Repeated?


Traditions are important to many parts of the world. Without history there would be no progress. There would be no Statue of Liberty, no knowledge of our round Earth and no Wrigley Field. Of all our traditions from history however, how would we do without slavery? Perhaps you would prefer the tradition of holding women back from voting? Maybe the Dark Ages of flagellation and burning books would be more enjoyable?

When reading an article by ABC's Blog titled, "Hunting For the Truth," by Tony Barrell, from April 15, 2009, I found something remarkable. The Japanese have tried to make whaling and whale meat a tradition from the years in the past.

"The 1911 riot is analysed by Hiroyuki Watanabe, research fellow at Kyoto university, who says his compatriots had little long term experience of the cetacean, cooked or otherwise, until industrial scale whaling was introduced into Japan. Watanabe did his research in 2002 but it has just been published and updated in an English version. He says he is neither pro nor anti-whaling, but suggests we stop thinking that Japanese 'tradition' justifies it," said Barrell.

Not only are some of the Japanese people able to whale over 800 a year for "scientific research" said Barrell but most of the meat caught is given away to schools, unwanted.

"If you accept the idea that a 'tradition' has to have been part of a culture for many generations, or centuries, then whales have never been a "traditional" food for the majority of Japanese. Nor has whaling as we know it been a 'traditional' activity," said Barrell.

As the whaling laws become more strict some countries want to keep their traditions. In the United States a popular phrase of, "save the whales," has survived. Popular television shows such as Whale Wars which is promoting their new season, "The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's ongoing struggle to end Japanese whaling will continue on Season 4 of Whale Wars premiering Summer 2011."

How do we let other countries know that the only way to save the fish, to produce food, to keep the ocean alive, to keep our industries flowing is to protect the ocean?

picture from foxnews.com

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Cookie Traditions


Christmas always depends on traditions.

Every year I am always intent on keeping them. One of our favorite parts of decorating is Cookie Day. On Cookie Day, my mother and I watch the movie Dogma and make snickerdoodles, oatmeal scotchies, oatmeal raisins and chocolate chip cookies.

This year I decided to make a "gingerbread" house out of graham crackers and other sorts of candies.

It reminds me of what is truly important this Christmas. As I read the outside of the house a giant MU in black and gold shines... Insight bowl 2010... I'll be there. GO TIGERS!

Monday, December 13, 2010

Animal Health in Kansas City


While visiting in Kansas City this weekend I noticed that there is a growing industry for animal health care. Not only are laboratories and veterinarians growing around this area but also pharmaceutical companies and there is a communication industry revolving around this. One of the most impressive companies I have found being represented by Fleishman- Hillard and Grey Group Healthcare is Bayer Animal & Human Healthcare. This company has been helping animals since 1919 and has updated information about animal veterinary research.

I have interest in their company because they are a company that cares about animals, yet, cares about humans also. This seems appropriate and logical in the animal field.

I also enjoy their company because they believe in research. Research not only helps humans but animals as well and has created a rich field in the economy.

Kansas City has offered a large area for biotechnology, animal expertise, pharmacology and communications for animals.

I believe in the future this company will be important to know in current events.

I also believe that if there was a way to help animals without having euthanize them we would all be happier people. Animals don't live as long as humans but they are still part of our families. I know my animals are as well as the ones I work with at the vet (Animal Clinic Suburban, P.C.). This is why I am so passionate about animal health care and am hopeful to indulge in this industry in the future.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Yep. Thanksgiving post.


This is going to be a busy three days for me so I decided that I would do the "Thanksgiving" post tonight.
It is usually a time of year when food and football are around and no, I'm not one of those mushy types but we all have to be thankful for something? Today I would like to make a confession, not in my wildest dreams would I say this in front of anyone but today I would like to say that I am thankful for Pillsbury Crescent rolls. They not only bring the family together but they bring me to the table! I'm not a huge fan of turkey (the meat kind), sweet potatoes, cranberries or Waldorf salad but these rolls are the greatest little balls of dough you have ever set your eyes on.
Not only can you just eat them in baked form you can create recipes that you wouldn't have ever dreamed of: Cheese triangles, crescent pecan pies, bacon cheddar pinwheels and so much more. The possibilities are endless.
I know what you're probably saying...."What if I don't like them?" Then there is a simple solution really? Play with your food. I'm sure the dough boy would do the same thing.
There is nothing wrong with marketing such a product. Clearly they have their "stuff" together. They not only have a character mascot that is adorable and made out of dough but he goes "Woo hoo" when you push his belly button and he loves cookies. I would expect nothing less and frankly, have grown up with this lovable creature my whole life. The color scheme also works nicely with the blue and white complementing each other.
The best part about the whole crescent roll experience is that you will be able to eat in peace without gagging at aunt Gina's horror of a potato roll or uncle Billy's torched turn-overs.
So the next time you are sitting at your table and are about to say your Thanksgiving prayer everyone really try to remember what you are thankful for. And... if your going to pray, pray for a better season in football...

Monday, November 15, 2010

Monday Morning Warning


You may think of the African Elephant as a powerful, strong, majestic creature but that is not stopping this Nile Crocodile from clamping onto the tusk of this mother elephant. I thought this was an amazing picture and shows that crocs aren't just creatures of sneaking beatings of turtles and snakes they have a power unadjustable to size. This picture was taken by tourist Martin Nyfeler of Switzerland and was taken from National Geographic's story, "African Ambush," by Brian Handwerk found at croc story online.

Although, the attack might have been a mistake the elephant was able to drag the reptile away from the water and leave the scene with her calf right beside her. A good story for a Monday morning. Take on the elephant today on a Monday and get dragged out of the water...

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Turtles are really taking the toll...


As I read National Geographic Daily news daily, I have realized that turtles are taking the toll compared to other animals. These Green Sea Turtles are found to be taking ridiculous amounts of run-off nitrogen from our sewers, farms, houses...etc and scientists have found led to the herpes virus.
This article by Rebecca Kessler called, "Sea Turtles Herpes Tumors Linked To Sewage," talks about "cauliflower- like tumors which can sprout on a turtle's eyes, mouth, joints and internal organs."



Some people believe that this could be due to the results of the British Petroleum Oil Spill although, no direct evidence. The website Oil Spill Wildlife Crisis article "Green Sea Turtle," by Kristin G. Sekeric, talks about one of the most endangered animals due to the oil spill, the Green Sea Turtle die premature to normal turtles due to this herpes virus.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Thought this was interesting


I follow a man named whysharksmatter on twitter and he pointed out this article about how jellyfish cells can detect cancer. jellyfish article

Monday, October 25, 2010

National Geographic Picture Winners


The winner of this year's Marine Photobank's 2010 Ocean in Focus Conservation Photo Contest
was Guy Marcovaldi from the "Projeto Tamar Brazil, Marine Photobank."
It is a picture of "17 sea turtles drowned by a discarded fishing net off the Brazilian coast."

This story by Sean Markey is telling the significance of photographs and saving the ocean. Because we cannot all go dive with the sea turtles these stories and still pictures in are important to sustain life in the ocean because it creates a still moment like a headline or a slow motion shot.

The next picture in particular moved me. The "Mourning of a Fallen Giant." It is a picture of a Whale shark that was left to die by poachers off the Philippines coast. This story by National Geographic and photo by Peri Paleracio got straight to the heart of many because not only did the poachers leave the shark to die by just cutting its fins off but the woman who felt for this giant helpless creature. Whale sharks are some of the most gentle animals in the world eating only small "plankton or other microscopic plants and animals," (wikipedia.org).



Tuesday, September 21, 2010

La Notte Italiana 2010


I had the pleasure this year of getting all the food and wine donations... Everyone come there will be music, food and silent auction to fund all of our local campaigns this year and help send us to nationals in Washington DC.
Here is our facebook link to RSVP----La Notte Italiana
Tickets are 20 in advance or 25 at the door
or if a student 12 in advance and 15 at the door

Thursday, September 16, 2010

To social media or... to not...?


Although sometimes we feel like we should trust our lives with twitter and facebook we might just be focusing on the wrong aspect of promotion and marketing.
According to the article "If Social Media Is Just Another To-Do List Item, Don't Bother Doing It," by David Warschawski, Social media is just a tool to for the taking and not necessarily a main use of marketing or promotion. In this article he explains tips about using social media and what is important about it.


Most people do not even know enough about twitter to say anything or use it properly. Although, there is a stretch to use the tool because of the new technologically savy audience to use it the tool is not validated through all audiences. So what should you know?... your audience. Most people are more likely to use traditional media. For example, "Traditional media, including TV, radio and newspapers, are the first news source for 72% of Americans, according to a 2009 survey from the First Amendment Center. While only 15% of consumers said they turn to the Internet as their first source of news, 1% reported Twitter, 1% reported social networking sites and 1% said e-mail," (2010,Warschawski).


With the use of audience in mind the other key advice that Warschawski makes is to use it only as a tool to market that certain audience in part of a bigger strategy. Companies that are successful with using social media do well because they incorporate it as a tactic in an overarching integrated campaign and view it as one of the many powerful weapons in their arsenal. They understand that social media should not become a stand-alone strategy or campaign, but part of a holistic approach meant to strategically address your business goals," (2010,Warschawski).

Although, personally I use social media tactics for all campaigns I do in Maverick Solutions our University of Nebraska at Omaha's firm connected to prssa's MaverickPR, it is merely one tactic to help promote or market the campaign/event. A combination of traditional media and social media is important for an overall marketing strategy in today's growing technological market.
picture found at: google image site

Look for upcoming events such as Omaha 10-10-10 with Rick Murray, president of Edelman in Chicago to talk about social media in the decade past and the decade to come on Oct. 10. Keep up with University of Nebraska at Omaha's facebook pages for more information. MaverickPR and Maverick Solutions.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Best Friends and Odd Couple


I was visiting with a friend last week and she pointed out this video.

elephant and dog

I had to blog about it because I do agree that this pair is a pure example of my life and my love for animals. If these two distinctly different creatures could spend hours upon end with each other why can't we all have that with whoever or whatever creature we want? I feel that feature stories are more fun because they tell of weird touching moments that do in fact impact one another. I love doing profiles on people that have been touched by something that is going on in the world. I realize most people would refer to this as fluff but I think this moment was more important that what happened in the stock market today.

I have to be honest the last line intrigues me what if we all could make friends far different from ourselves?

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Maybe Omaha isn't so cold afterall...


As I sit in my living room with the windows open I think about how fast winter will come. Will it be like last year? Winter in Omaha last year was reason enough to get me to move. However, on my daily quest to find interesting under water creatures I find that maybe it isn't so frigid here after all.

On a CBC story on December 1, 2008 called, "
Narwhal cull approaches 600 near Pond Inlet," fishermen in the Baffin Islands area are finding that narwhals are being trapped in the ice. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans find that over 500 narwhals were trapped in the ice. Hunters then kill the narwhals that are trapped for themselves. In fact media is often unable to fly into the area because the hunters are refusing media to enter the area (from: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2008/12/01/narwhal.html)

Narwhals are called the unicorns of the sea. They have a giant 8ft tooth (or often called tusk) that reaches straight out of their head. They use this tusk to fight for a female mate. The way they feed is from the ice making fish more vulnerable. They are pod animals and have been seen in large numbers (from: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/narwhal/)


In an article on August 25, 2008 by Fox News called, "
Narwhals more at risk to Arctic warming than polar bears," talks about how polar bears were the animals most vulnerable to global warming but now scientists are saying that this creature might be even more vulnerable because of their constant need for ice (from:http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Apr25/0,4670,ClimateArcticAnimals,00.html) Regardless of their story, it makes me appreciate the fall for a little longer. These creatures roam the cold their whole lives dodging polar bears, sea lions, Inuit hunters and now large patches of ice as they try to grab a cold trapped fish through the Arctic seas.


picture from: (http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/narwhal/)


Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Is it bad that this story touched me?


Friday night and I don't feel like being pushed around a crowded bar or staying at my apartment alone so I ask my dad, who is also solo, if he would like to have a movie night after I get off work. He agrees and I meet him after work. When I get to the house I see that he has not arrived home yet so I call to find that he has cleaned out the movie store with many possible intriguing flicks. The first I see that he has gotten especially for me is the National Geographic special, "Great White."

I have always loved animals, especially working at a vet with domestic dogs and cats but one animal intrigues me more than any other--the great white shark. Although, I believe I should have become a vet or a marine biologist I picked something else to concentrate my school on--Public Relations. I am trying to figure out how I could possibly fit this into my dream job. Any sharks need representation?...

Well at least they have a bad reputation. However, with that reputation I found that this story was actually touching. It made me sympathize with a great white and with the name Nicole and the distance she traveled it was pretty easy to find this animal amazing.



The journey begins off the Coast of Holbaai, South Africa in 2003 by a team supported by The Wildlife Conservation Society in association with Marine and Coastal Management, the White Shark Trust, the Universities of Cape Town and Pretoria and the South African Museum. They tagged a shark that the team tracked for 99 days where the 12.5 foot great white Nicole made a journey of 11,000 kms from her original site to the western coast of Australia.
The film illustrates the difficulties a migratory shark has to go through. The depths that the shark faced which were about 300ft were cold and caused the shark's warm-blooded body to suffer. Killer Whales also kill sharks in the cold waters on Nicole's path. Nicole even went through Australian hurricane season but soared so low beneath the surface that she surpassed the elements. Nicole even passed the deadly fishermen who leave deadly nets and hunger for the ancient shark fin soup. The film talked about the way sharks used electromagnetism to find their way on their long 99 day journey.
This story is fascinating to me and I believe is one way for us to really think about sharks. They aren't just killing machines they are animals with purpose. They are survivors and one of the most ancient creatures on planet Earth. Plus... I love them.

To learn more about Nicole and National Geographic's shark endeavors check out:
http://www.whitesharktrust.com/migration.html

Monday, July 19, 2010

Getting a Job...


So, I do have a new computer now so I can finally blog. This is my senior semester. I am working on an internship with the American Red Cross, chairing the Italian Night fundraiser food Committee, recruiting more young eager students (being the PRSSA recruitment director and all) and working two jobs... I am trying to figure out how to get a job in Kansas City where I very much would like to end up with all this going on! I know that monster.com is good to post information and a source told me that it was a good idea to start now but what is more appropriate for a job? I would take a reasonably paid internship as well but it is hard to find jobs when you are from another state. Does anyone else have ideas?

*La Notte Italiana is one of our greatest fundraisers of the year. It is a night devoted to an atmosphere of Italian food from local restaurants around the Omaha area, a silent auction with prizes from businesses around the area and entertainment. The date to save is:
September 26 at 7:00pm at All Saints Episcopal Church
if anyone is interested contact Jennifer Lane at jllane@unomaha.edu.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Word.
So with all the new technology is it weird that I just want email? Try not having a computer for a while. Today is a way of change. Trying to fix resumes. Are there any ideas? 1 or 2 pages? What if you have a lot of experiences? What is you have results? Should you put jobs that you use to make money or experience? Help a blog girl out!

Thursday, March 11, 2010




Hello fellow bloggers! I am very interested in finding bloggers who talk about organ donation! I am the event coordinator for National Organ Donor Awareness Campaign this year on my campus and we need to get the word out! I figured because it was kidney awareness month that we could find some bloggers who were already ready to start the campaign awareness!
The event is April 22nd
It is called, "Go Green- Donate Life!" We will be having a band and a "build a life" contest between student groups at University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Our brunch with panel of experts from National Organ Recovery Systems is April 20th with coffee and bagels.
Here are some of the groups are working with.
go spread the word!

Monday, February 1, 2010

Social Media *IS* Important today- but in the correct way.


What does one do when it comes to social media? We all have our personal reasons... (rate hottest celebrity?) but how can it help us in the world of business? I have learned a lot from Friday's PRSA (public relations society of America)'s professional conference.

The first speaker was the infamous Peter Shankman from New York. He was the most influential speaker in my opinion. He talked about some important things:

1. Transparency- make sure everyone can see through your company and you have no secrets.

2. Ask your audience- for instance ask if your clients catch up most information on your website. If they do, you can use it!

3. Embrace the concept not twitter- twitter is a good resource but only if people use it which leads to my next point...

4. Use the written word. No one will read it if it is not written well, especially media or for jobs.

5. Keep in touch when you don't need anything- if you are there in the slow times people will find you more appealing.

Most importantly the average attention span of Americans today is 2.7 seconds!!!! So make your point correctly and accurately but fast!


When it comes to social media I believe that the most important part is to keep in touch with everyone. There is a new product these days called a poken which is sort of like an electronic business card. If you touch it to someone else's then their information is put on your hardrive. Best of all it changes when that person changes it! So if I change my email it will change on their drive because it is on the same network.


More importantly it comes in cuteness!
Also if you want to learn more about pokens look at this website. It's a Youtube video by Google that talks about how to use it and what they are for.
Happy tweeting.