Chili's Cancels Plan To Fundraise For Anti-Vaccination Autism Group

“While the party remains committed to supporting the little ones and their unit affected by autism, the party is canceling Monday's Give Back Event based on the feedback we heard from our guests," a Chili’s Grill & Bar spokesperson said to The Huffington Post in an email. "The party believes autism awareness continues to be an important cause to our guests and team members, and the party will find another way to support this worthy effort in the future with again our sole intention being to help units affected by autism." -- Enjoying a Triple Dipper at Chili's on Monday? Some of your money will be going toward anti-vaccination efforts. On April 7, the restaurant chain will be donating 10 percent of customers' checks to the National Autism Association in honor of National Autism Awareness month. On its website, the NAA claims that vaccinations can expedite autism in "some, if not many, little ones." Though the anti-vaccination movement has gained steam in recent years, more and more data shows that anti-vaccination efforts can result in outbreaks of preventable diseases like measles. The Center for Disease Control has repeatedly disputed the idea of a causal relationship between vaccinations and the development of autism in little ones. On its website, the NAA doesn't make a definitive statement about vaccinations and autism, instead directing users to the National Vaccine Information Center, a nonprofit organization. In his book Denialism, journalist Michael Specter writes that the "NVIC is the most powerful anti-vaccine organization in America, and its relationship with the U.S. government consists almost entirely of opposing federal efforts aimed at vaccinating the little ones." Chili's has already felt backlash from its decision to donate proceeds to the NAA, issuing a defensive statement to its nearly 4 million Facebook fans on Friday. "The intent of our 4/7 National Give Back Event is not to express a view on this matter, but rather to support the units affected by autism," Chili's writes in the post. "Our choice to partner with the National Autism Association was based on the percentage of donations that would go directly to providing financial assistance to the units and supporting programs that aid the development and safety of little ones with autism." The majority of comments on the post are strongly critical of Chili's' choice to partner up with the NAA. "I am incredibly disappointed with [Chili's] and their decision to host an event/contribute funds to an organization that will directly result in sick and dead little ones," one comment reads. "Hosting a fundraiser for an organization that encourages parents not to vaccinate their little ones is not only irresponsible, but also unforgivable. If your restaurant goes through with the fundraiser on April 7, I will never eat at one of your restaurants again." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/06/chilis-vaccination_n_5101026.html

Game of Cards

Day 1: We went in full force with no remorse. We brought out the AK's, the MGK's and whatever else we could find. We were about to show these natives who runs this island. There's a new "Big Kahuna" in town, and he plays no games. We had the natives so shocked out of their minds, that they had no time to react. They just let it happen. Day 2: Since our first attempt at scaring the natives to show the who's boss the other day went so well, we thought about using the same methods. You know, the usual forcing them to do whatever I say and they won't get shot down type of business. Still, they weren't posing as a threat, so Henry, Perry, abd I decide to relax at the beach and soak in the atmosphere of our new land. Day 3: Being bad is way too much fun! We pushed them once again for more resources. As usual, they attended to our every command. We hit our spot again at the beach and were relaxing for a few good minutes until we heard a noise. We turn around to find that a few of the natives decided to finally grow a pair and take a stand against us by throwing rocks...ROCKS!! So we ran for shelter since we had none of our artillery with us at that time. Oh, they are definitely gonna get it tomorrow. Day 4: After their attack on us yesterday, we were packed and loaded when we went out. The natives confronted us about how they didn't appreciate the way they were being treated by us from the very beginning. Unfortunately, it's too bad that we didn't care, because in our minds, the guys with the big boy guns are the ones that have more of a say on what goes on. Guess what, we're the guys with the big boy guns, so for the natives, it's back to square one. Day 5: The natives began to suddenly be more hostile, attacking us with everything that they had. They've upgraded from rocks to bows and arrows. Now, while I will admit that rocks hurt, those arrows are ever so painful. I'm starting to feel a little less confident about attacking the natives straight on for their resources. So we decided to chill out with attacking them and found some common ground to where no one would get hurt, yet everyone could be happy. So this day went pretty well. Day 6: I'll tell you one thing, Karma is a...well, you know. The day after we finally find some sort of common ground with the natives a monsoon happens. Resources are now less available so we can neither press for them nor be nice to get them. Day 7: After the horrible monsoon, we think it is to the best of our interest to just move on to the next island. We got about 3,000 in profits. Unfortunately, that's not the number we expected. Let's hope we do better at the next island and learn from our mistakes here.

Harold Bloom Quote

Harold Bloom Quote This quote in my opinion states that Shakespeare has had a lot of impact on people over the years. This quote tells me that Harold Bloom thinks of Shakespeare very highly. As if Shakespeare is "out of this world" due to the fact that he even had the lingering question of whether or not "God created Shakespeare." This quote also makes me think that Shakespeare is great, and above all humans if you will. Whenever you speak of poetry, it will almost always go back to the topic of Shakespeare. He was a game-changer and an idol to many of today's poets and authors. He shaped and molded poetry to become what it is this very day. Basically, Shakespeare was a great inspiration to many. What my partner had to say was that Shakespeare was very inspirational and a major impact on many of the writings today. I totally agreed with him. We were basically on the same boat. There wasn't much of an argument with us.

Geography Means A Lot

This Chapter is mainly about how geography can affect the mood of a certain situation. For example, my favorite movie “Star Wars III Revenge of the Sith”, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker were fighting to the death of each other. They were surrounded by a lot of lava during their fight. Lava represents anger, which Anakin was fully experiencing as he was going down the path to the Darkside. Anakin was burning in the lava. I never thought about this but since now I know that lava represents anger it was the perfect setting for that situation. They say anger leads to hate and Anakin screamed at Obi-Wan that he hated him. Another similar setting was the fight between Scar and Simba. They were fighting for the title of “King”. This is similar to the Star Wars battle because while they were fighting, they were were surrounded by fire. Fire can represent death, or even rage. There was a lot of anger and rage when Simba found out that Scar lied to him about the death of his father and had actually set the whole thing up. The ending result was the death of Scar. There are even places on Earth that aren’t the safest places to live. One example is the Ring of Fire. The Ring of Fire is located on the border of the Pacific Plate. Around that area there are a lot of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that occur. If I were an author and wanted somewhere to put an epic nail biting battle, the Ring of Fire would be the perfect place. Earthquakes usually represent hard times to come in a dream sense. If you add that with the active volcanoes, you’d have a scene with a lot of hatred, anger, and suspense. I realize to make a certain mood, you can’t only have a conflict, you have the right setting to help the mood be more pronounced. For example, say if you’re going through a very sad time and you don’t know what to do about it and you are just sitting by the window thinking about it. Well, in a lot of movies in that case, they will show the character by the window but the weather shown outside the window will be raining with a lot of thunder. The thunder and rain will help magnify the sadness of the situation. The time and place of the setting can ultimately affect the attitude of the characters. In movies, you will see the sun shining brightly and flowers blooming. That will usually indicate a sense of happiness. On the other hand, dark and rainy days could indicate a sense of sadness. Who thinks dark and rainy are the happiest time? They even say when it rains, that means angels are crying. Where you are located and what the weather is like plays a key role in what is going to happen.

'Twas More Than Just Rain or Snow

Dark Stormy nights are usually an omen of bad things to come. For example, in Texas on a hot summer day, it starts to rain and get darker. Now, if you’ve lived in Texas for long enough you’ll know how hot it usually is during the summer. When you mix rain, which brings the temperature down with cold air, with the warm air they begin to circle each other. Soon enough, the continuous circulation of the cold air and warm air causes a tornado. In the setting of a tornado, or any type of severe storm for that matter, will cause everyone to come together. Not only for shelter, but for support. Friends and enemies will be in the same predicament. When the author says “the rain forces these men together in very uncomfortable circumstances”, he is trying to show that weather has an effect on the way people act or behave in a current situation. It can either bring people together or tear people apart. If you think of shows that you’ve watched where there is a severe storm happening and the characters think they’re going to die, they will usually confess something that they’ve been meaning to tell that person for a while. You could even be put in a life or death situation with your enemy. Something drastic could be happening and you save their life, and they claim to be forever grateful. Suddenly you both are great buddies and put all your problems. Rain, according to the author can also stand as a cleansing symbolically. In a way, rain can actually be a symbol of cleaning. The story of Noah and the Ark is a good example. There were a lot of bad things going on in the world and God began to get tired of it. In order to rid the world of all the evil He decided to send a huge storm to wipeout man kind and start fresh. He only saw Noah and his family as the good people and told Noah to build an ark and gather two of every animal. Soon the storm came and “cleansed” the world of all evil doers. Weather plays a very important factor on how things will or will not turn out. Another example of cleansing is Baptism. In the Catholic religion people get baptized when they are truly devoted to God. Baptism is a cleansing of sin. It shows that you are truly ready to commit to God and have all your past sins forgiven. They used to get baptized in rivers and now they are baptized in tubs of water. Yes rain and water play a very important role on events.

Reflection of Thy Quest

From reading the first chapter, I have come to realize that there is a lot more meaning behind just the plain text that you think you are reading. You must think and look at the situation from more than just one perspective. It’s true that at a first time reading that the story seems to be just about Kip going to the store to pick up bread for his mother and also seeing the girl of his dreams with some other guy. Although it might seem merely as a trip to the store, if you just tap into your creative, adventurous side you could also think of it as a journey, or even a “quest”. I never, at first glance, would have thought that his trip to the store could also be considered a quest. The quester is Kip, due to the fact that he has an errand to run. The place to go is the store. The stated reasoning of him going is to get bread for his mother. The challenges and trials he faces are seeing the girl of his dreams laughing with some other guy, and I’m pretty sure Kip wishes he was in the other guy’s position at the time. His real reason for going was to recruit to the Marines. Now, I would’ve also thought that Kip’s main reasoning was to just get bread for his mother, but it turns out to be otherwise. What I’m confused about is why, if the real reason for him going to the store was to recruit to the Marines, why didn’t the author just say that? Maybe, when the author said “the real reason for a quest is always self-knowledge”, he was most likely implying that Kip was trying to find himself. An example of someone trying to find their way, but in a literal sense, is Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. She was somehow placed into the World of Oz due, to a tornado that happened in Kansas, which is where she lived. Dorothy is the quester, since she is trying to find her way back home. Her place to go is first to see the Wizard of Oz so he can help her get back to Kansas. Her stated reason to go there is to find the Wizard and ask him if he can get her back to Kansas. Her challenges and trials were that she met a few characters and helped them and they helped her. First, she runs into a scarecrow that has no brain and takes him along with her in hopes that the Wizard can give him a brain. She met a lion who had no courage, and took him along to see if the Wizard could give him courage. Lastly, she met a tin-man who was heartless, and took him with her to see if the Wizard could give him a heart. Dorothy’s journey was not just a quest only to get back home. She also made friends along the way and learned a little more. The scarecrow had no brain, so it pushed her to have to make smarter decisions. The lion was scared so she had to be fearless, and the tin-man had no heart so she also learned to care. So, for Dorothy, this wasn’t just a journey to get home, but a journey to also help others with their problems and have a better understanding.