Friday, November 29, 2019

The Impact of Media Violence free essay sample

The Impact of Media Violence While violence is not new to the human race, it is an increasing problem in modern society. With greater access to firearms and explosives, the scope and efficiency of violent behavior has had serious consequences. Day after day children and adolescents are exposed to violent media including television programs, movies, and video games; as a result there appears to be a strong correlation between these and aggressive behavior within vulnerable at risk segments of youth. People need only look at the recent school shootings and the escalating rate of youth homicides among urban adolescents to appreciate the extent of this ominous trend. However, The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has created a list of recommendations to address television aggressiveness. The causes of youth violence are multifactorial and include such variables as poverty, family psychopathology, child abuse, exposure to domestic and community violence, substance abuse and other psychiatric disorders, researches claim that childrens exposure to media violence plays an important role in the etiology of violent behavior. We will write a custom essay sample on The Impact of Media Violence or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Unfortunately, not only violent images on television but also movies, have inspired people to set spouses on fire in their beds, lie down in the middle of highways, extort money by placing bombs in airplanes, rape, steal, murder, and commit numerous other shootings and assaults. The Academy of Pediatrics says: â€Å"More than one thousand scientific studies and reviews conclude that significant exposure to media violence increases the risk of aggressive behavior in certain children, desensitizes them to violence and makes them believe that the world is a ‘meaner and scarier’ place than it is. It increases aggressiveness and anti-social behavior, makes them less sensitive to violence and to victims of violence, and it raises their appetite for more violence in entertainment and in real life. Another important fact, is how media violence is especially damaging young children (under 8) because they cannot easily tell the difference between real life and fantasy. Violent im ages on television and in movies may seem real to these children and sometimes viewing these images can even traumatize them. In addition, risky behavior by children and young adults can include violence against others, lack of remorse for consequences. The type of faulty thinking creates stressors in children which can lead to the onset of many different symptoms. Children who view media violence are more likely to have increased feelings of hostility, decreased emotional response to the portrayal of violence and injury that lead to violent behavior through imitation. An example that the Child Development Institute gives is the television show â€Å"Jack Ass†. There have been several accidents related to young men attempting stunts that are done on the show. The act of imitating what they have seen on a television show causes injury to themselves or others around them. According to a research of the American Psychological Association, a typical child in the U. S. watches 28 hours of TV weekly, seeing as many as 8,000 murders by the time he or she finishes elementary school at age 11, and worse, the killers are depicted as getting away with the murders 75% of the time while showing no remorse or accountability. Such TV violence socialization may make children immune to brutality and aggression, while others become fearful of living in such a dangerous society. By the time the average child is 18 years old, they will have witnessed 200,000 acts of violence and 16,000 murders. Acts of minors killing across the United States is sadly becoming trendy and familiar. School shootings are tragic and yet that is all that is said about them. It seems as though words of action to stop such tragedies are just that. Educated experts study reasons why such crimes take place, but the findings are rarely put into action. In 2001, Time’s article shows how 15 year old high school freshman Charles Andy Williams methodically shot and killed two classmates and wounded 13 others, smiling as he went and stopping at least once to reload the revolver he used in the attack before being taken into custody by sheriffs deputies. He was held without bond and he was charged, appropriately, as an adult with murder (Tragedy at Santee 2001). The violence and content that the media of the country displays to children causes hidden irreversible damage that most deny. Unfortunately, violent situations are all too common in everyday entertainment and there are far less programming choices that are non-violent than there are violent. A media violence statistic shows that the level of violence during Saturday morning cartoons is higher than the level of violence during prime time. There are 3-5 violent acts per hour in prime time, versus 20-25 acts per hour on Saturday morning. This fact alone should be enough for parents to become more involved in what their children are exposed to. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has created a series of suggestions to address television violence. It suggests that physicians talk openly with parents about the nature and extent of viewing patterns in their homes. Consequently, parents should limit the amount of television children watch per day from the average 3 to 4 hours, which is double the amount of recommended hours, to 1 to 2 hours. They will compel their children to do something more productive like reading a book or playing outside. In limiting TV time, parents also need to monitor what programs their children are watching and restrict the viewing of violent programs. Just because a child is not watching as much violence, does not mean he or she still cant be influenced by it. Another way to keep children away from excessive media violence is to teach them alternatives to violence. â€Å"Parents should not be so quick to let their children plop down in front of a TV set. They should interest their children with something much more productive and exciting to do† (Huesmann L. R. 218). However this task is complicated and it is important for children to be given the proper support in dealing with issues of violence. If not, they could end up like one of the thousands of criminals sent to prisons and on death row for mindless and unnecessary acts of violence. Finally, physicians should make parents and schools media literate, meaning they should understand the risks of exposure to violence and teach children how to interpret what they see on television and in the movies, including the intent and content of commercials. In doing so, children may be increasingly able to discern which media messages are suitable. Schools and homes should teach children conflict resolution. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, along with medical organizations, has been a strong advocate for television ratings and installation of chips to block certain programs. Physicians, in their role as health promoters, should become more active in educating the media to become more sensitive to the impact of violence on youth. The content of television is becoming increasingly vulgar and totally unnecessary. Murder, rape, profanity, crimes of all varieties as well as abuse are displayed on television, in movies, etc, just for the purpose of entertainment. Several precautions exist currently to help with the media violence issue and there are various more things that can still be done. Parental advisory labels, television rating systems, movie ratings are fluent and abundant. Even though the causes of youth violence are multifactorial, parents definitely play a significant role in their children’s education, that’s why they need to pay more attention and not sit them in front of the television weather it is for movies, video games, or general television shows. In addition, it is important the education to continue with each passing generation in order to avoid misfortunes like the ones mentioned before. Works Cited Media Violence. Pediatrics. Web. 03 Dec. 2011. lt;http://pediatrics. aappublications. org/content/95/6/949. shortgt;. The Impact of Media Violence on Children and Adolescents: Opportunities for Clinical Interventions. American Academy of Child amp; Adolescent Psychiatry. Web. 03 Dec. 2011. lt;http://www. aacap. org/cs/root/developmentor/the_impact_of_media_violence_on_children_and_adolescents_opportunities_for_clinical_interventionsgt;. Facts and Figures about Our TV Habit. Raw Living Foods Lifestyle ChiDiet. net. Web. 03 Dec. 2011. lt;http://rawlivingfoods. typepad. com/1/2009/12/facts_and_figur. htmlgt;. Charles Andy Williams TIME. Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews TIME. com. Web. 03 Dec. 2011. lt;http://www. time. com/time/nation/article/0,8599,101847,00. htmlgt;. Violence in th e Media Psychologists Help Protect Children from Harmful Effects. American Psychological Association (APA). Web. 03 Dec. 2011. lt;http://www. pa. org/research/action/protect. aspxgt;. Huesmann L. R. , Moise-Titus, J. , Podolski, C. L. , amp; Eron, L. D. Longitudinal relations between childrens exposure to TV violence and their aggressive and violent behavior in young adulthood: 1977-1992. Developmental Psychology, Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 201-221. The Psychological Effects of Violent Media on Children. Psychology Classroom at AllPsych Online. Web. 03 Dec. 2011. lt;http://allpsych. com/journal/violentmedia. htmlgt;. Tragedy at Santee. House Editorial. The Washington Times. 03 Dec. 2011.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Greek Fire Essays - Incendiary Weapons, Medieval Artillery

Greek Fire Essays - Incendiary Weapons, Medieval Artillery Greek Fire GREEK FIRE The original Greek fire was an invention used as a weapon of the Eastern Roman Emperors. It is also said to have been invented by a Syrian engineer, one Callinicus, a refugee from Maalbek, in the seventh century. The Byzantines of Constantinople originally used it. But they never used the term Greek fire because they claimed to be Romans, and never called themselves Greeks. It was like an insult to them because in their times to be Greek was to have a bad reputation. The Greek fire was first time used in the war of seven years. In which the Arabs established a naval base on the peninsula of Kyzikos. This was on the second attack of a battle started by Theophanes. On the third attack of the same battle, Greek fire was used again against the Arabs. The liquid fire was hurled on the ships of their enemies from siphons and burst into flames on contact. As it was reputed to be inextinguishable and burned even on water, it caused panic and dread. Its introduction into warfare of its time was comparable in its demoralizing to the introduction of nuclear weapons in our time. Both Arab and Greek sources agree that it surpassed all incendiary weapons in destruction. It is also possible that Greek fire was really invented by the chemist in Constantinople who had acquired the discoveries of the Alexandrian chemical school. An Emperor, Constantine Porphyrogenitus, said that the recipe for Greek fire had been revealed by an angel to Constantine the Great, and that the earliest chemists called their science the divine art. Constantine Porphyrogenitus (tenth century) in his instruction to his son had commanded him emphatically to keep the composition secret: The secret had in the past been given by an angel to Constantine the Great, those imparting it were anathema, and one about to communicate it had been struck by lightning. Anna Komnena (b.1083), the gifted but vain daughter of the Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, gives the composition of an incendiary material: This fire made by the following arts. From the pines and the certain such evergreen trees inflammable resin is collected. This is rubbed with sulfur and put into tubes of reed, and is blowing by men using it with violent and continuos breath. Then in this manner it meets the fire on the tip and catches light and falls like a fiery whirlwind on the faces of the enemies. She also says it was used in the siege of Durazzo in 1108, when the Normans under Bohemond had mined under the walls, and the Byzantines had countermined until they reached the sap, when the appearance produced by these pyrotechnics would be terrifying but not very dangerous. The Normans, she said, had their beards signed but were not much injured. Kedrenos reported that in his time (eleventh century) the secret of the fire was possessed by Lampros, a descendant of Kallinikos. The state chemist who had the recipe, a secret not to put into writing, no doubt took an oath not to divulge it. And the Emperor, who lent troops and engines to his allies, reserved for himself the secret of Greek fire, and sent it already made as a sort of ancient hydrogen bomb to his worthy but not wholly reliable dependants. It was thought that the secret of Greek fire had been lost; a Dupre, born in Dauphine, claimed to have rediscovered it, and sold the recipe to Louis XV in 1756. The secret was in reality never lost, and Greek fire only slowly made way to artillery and gunpowder; in the earlier stages both Greek fire and cannon were sometimes used together. Greek fire, like hydrogen bomb, was not prerogative of angels or emperors; a chemist, and further east, in Saracen lands had discovered it. There were other chemists no less inventive. The secret behind the Greek fire was handed down from one emperor to the next for the centuries. Rumors about its composition include such chemicals as liquid petroleum, naphtha, burning pitch, sulfur, resin quicklimeand bitumen, along with some other secret ingredient. The exact composition, however, remains unknown. Bibliography the history of Greek fire and Gunpowder

Thursday, November 21, 2019

HMV music retailer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

HMV music retailer - Essay Example The retailer must have had several issues that were affecting its performance in the market, which led to the distraught performance. First, there is a need to analyse the politics that govern the retailer (Boddy, 2008:21). The politics of the administration affected the running of the retailer in a number of ways. For example, after entering into administration, there was change in the way the business was being conducted. Since new administration comes in with different performance strategies, these strategies failed. Similarly, the political environment of the new administration was not conducive for business. It brought loss of interests as most of the workers and employees were not contented, which brought dire consequences to the retailer.The retailer’s economic position was adversely affected with introduction of administration. In such an instance, the retailer had to incur other costs that are used in running the businesses of the retailer. In this instance, the retai ler’s income was stagnant while the expenses of administration increased. Therefore, the budgets of the retailer were skewed as they had to get more resources to run the business (Boddy, 2008:14). This was a disadvantage to the business. The third aspect that affected the performance of the retailer was the social environment. Previously, the retailer had concrete business bonds with the market. This strengthened its businesses across the competitive market (Johnson and schools, 2008:18). This ultimately led to dismal performance by the retailer.... With introduction of new and sophisticated technology, the retailer is well prepared to make better and improved products. Similarly, the retailer is able to serve a large number of customers in minimal time (Mennen, 2011:11). However, with the introduction of the administration, there was minimal investment directed toward technological improvement. This ultimately led to dismal performance by the retailer. SWOT Analysis HMV as a retailer was well prepared to tackle the market in making substantial accruals in terms of profits and returns. The most prudent decision the retailer should have taken is relying on the strengths and utilising the opportunities it had (Boddy, 2008:23). Similarly, the retailer should have generated strategies to reduce the effects of its weaknesses and reduce the threats that would drive the retailer out of business. In the first place, the retailer had a strong point in that it was well-established in the market. The retailer had opened numerous branches i n many countries across the globe. Similarly, it was a strong retailer in that the demand for its products was escalating. However, the retailer had an internal weakness with the inception of administration. The administration was not apt in executing its tasks. Similarly, the retailer was not keen on extending its market share. This led to murky performance after the threats surpassed its strengths. The retailer had an opportunity in investing in technology and making superb approach to the market. Since it is a music retailer, it had an opportunity to invest in current and sophisticated technology (Pearce, 2009:14). A perfect example is Apple’s iTunes. Apple’s iTunes are appreciating a greater market share due to their compatibility with the new technology. Apple

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

World Literature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

World Literature - Essay Example It was probably composed in the 8th century bc. After the fall of Troy at the end of the Trojan War, Odysseus is forced to wander for ten years before returning home to his wife Penelope in Ithaca. This story has a lot of women characters who each played an important role in Odysseus’ life and influenced his decisions. Penelope, his wife struggled to maintain her loyalty and affection as well as the integrity of her household during Odysseus’s long absence. She was depicted as resourceful and intelligent as her husband. Penelope was a picture of a woman with whom any man is willing to do anything to keep her or to get her. In this story, Penelope was wooed by a lot of suitors and all of them are willing to kill her husband Odysseus just to win her heart. Odysseus on the other hand was willing to endure sleepless days and nights, dangerous adventures and fights in strange lands just to get back home to his wife. The tender Calypso, the sinister and beautiful sorceress Ci rce, the singing Sirens and the charming Athena has made Odysseus travel both difficult and victorious. This play shows that a woman can have a different face – wise, cunning, sinister, temptation, love, hope and death – a man just has to wise enough so as not to be fooled. Agamemnon, in Greek mythology, is the king of Mycenae and commander of the Greek forces in the Trojan War. He was the son of Atreus and suffered the curse laid on his house. When the Greeks had assembled in Aulis for their voyage to Troy, they were held back by adverse winds. To calm the winds, Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to the goddess Artemis. Artemis is a goddess of hunt and was known to be a friend and protector of youth especially young women, but in this scene, we saw that in order to please the gods Agamemnon was willing to sacrifice his daughter and his daughter in turn just submitted. In as much as Agamemnon would have objected it

Monday, November 18, 2019

The perception of color Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The perception of color - Research Paper Example The Development of Color Vision in human beings, and the eye itself, is a remarkable evolutionary process. The human eye itself did not develop in a linear straightforward manner. It most likely began as a light sensitive pigment on smaller creatures and then became more differentiated creating light sensitive structures that began to be dispersed inside of a the forming eyeball to become the retina. At first the retina was most likely a movement sensor but over time the ability to delineate details and the ability to see color was developed. (Gordon) The evolution of the eye is a standard development in all vertebrates as well as many non-vertebrate species as well.But what exactly is color? Color and light go together and are inseparable companions. One object can emit light and another object can reflect that light. The former is usually undergoing some chemical reactions that create color and is dependent on the material it is combusting for the color spectrum it emits, objects s uch as the sun, or a light bulb for example. The latter objects which reflect light are a combination of the color range of light hitting their surfaces and the reflective properties of their surfaces. For instance, the leaves of most trees reflect green light because of the chemical chlorophyll, which fuels photosynthesis, however they are also designed to absorb the spectrum of red light which activates the chemical reaction turning carbon dioxide into breathable oxygen. There is also a considerable variance of color by the perceiving entity. There is a wide variety in the range of vision across many different organisms, largely dependent of possible evolutionary and ecological needs. This ranges from seeing only in black and white to an even broader distinction of colors than humans possess. for instance, the ability to see into infra-red or ultraviolet wavelengths â€Å"†¦ color is a heterogeneous collection of perceptual concepts generated from wavelength-sensitive data f or a variety of specialized purpossess by cognitive systems with different neuro-computational structures and evolutionary histories.† (Matthen 186) Humans possess what is known as trichromatic vision. Tri (three) and Chroma (color). Our human eyes have three color receptors that are individually sensitive to red, green, and blue light . While dcecptively simple these three receptors allow humans to distinguish about 2.3 million different varieties of colors. (Kleiner 12) The following figure is a photoreceptor nerve grouping: Figure 2: Photoreceptor Grouping (Farndon 57) There are two types of light-sensing cells: (1) rods, which are used in most low light situations and distinguish between differing shades of grey and the three kinds of (2) cones, that are sensitive to the color spectrum to the particular wavelength of light as described previously. (Savage) Humans actually perceive quite a very narrow range of the electromagnetic spectrum, from 400 to 700 nanometers. Figure 3: Electromagnetic Range of Human Vision, Rods & Cones (Color Vision A) Trichromatic vision is actually a bit of a rarity when you consider a species wide analysis of all organisms that have optic nerves and eye, even just among the mammals only a few possess trichromatic vision. When comparing dichromatic species, those who perceive only the blue and red zone of the spectrum, with trichromatic species there is no apparent Darwinian direct line of descent. (Matthen) The following figure is a simplistic rendition of this concept: Figure 4: Divergence of color perception over time (History of biological Evolution 2007) Why develop this extra range of color vision, or for that matter why develop color vision at all? Some researchers believe that a declining sense of smell in came hand in hand with the rise in color vision. This newly developed perception allowed those species with color vision to detect edible fruit from greater distances thus improving their change for

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Overview of Leadership Styles

Overview of Leadership Styles Leadership Styles Democratic Leadership: In this approach the leader asks the group to become part of the decision making. The leader still has full control of the group and still has the final decision but decisions and input from the team is encouraged. This allows the leader to draw upon how good they are and their experience of a team in order to get the best results for everyone. This also helps them develop skills within the team.. This style of leadership isnt used very much within the public services, this is because the democratic leadership style takes time to discuss everything and public services may not always have the time to do this. Bureaucratic Leadership: The bureaucratic style of leadership is a style of leadership that focuses on rules and procedures to manage teams and projects. It is a style that is spread-out among some departments or people and there is a strict set of rules. This is a classic style of leadership and is used quite a lot in organizations that dont encourage invention of new things and change by leaders who may be insecure and uncertain in what their role may be. People that want to use this style of leadership are often familiar with the many policies and guidelines. This approach to leadership is commonly used in statutory and non-statutory services. Situations where the bureaucratic leadership style may be useful for example where in a job is something commonly done and doesnt change over a long period of time or either that a job needs/demands a definite set of safety rules or working guidelines in order to obey the law. Transactional: When group perform well, they receive a reward. When they perform poorly, they will be punished in some way. The transactional style of leadership is pretty straight forward but it uses rewards and punishments to motivate the team. This style of leadership is very similar to the autocratic style but it is not as extreme. Leaders of both the transactional and autocratic are very similar, they are direct and dominant and spend a great amount of time telling others what is expected from the team as a whole. There are many advantages and disadvantages of this style of leadership, for example some of the advantages are: the leaders monitors the work and each and every one individual performance, rewards, there is also a clear chain of command, not only these there are many other advantages. Unfortunately there are some disadvantages in this style of leadership: team members may not get job satisfaction but of the reward/punishment routine, it assumes that people are only motivated because of money and not because of the reason why they actually want to do it. Laissez-faire Leadership: The Laissez-faire approach of leadership can also be called the hands off, free reign and the delegate approach. This style differs from the other styles. The leader exercises very little and lets the members of the group to establish their own roles and responsibilities. The members of the group are given a very little direction but a lot of freedom and power. The power that they are given should be used to create goals, make decisions and resolve problems that should affect them. If all the members are highly motivated that the laissez-faire approach is the most effective leadership, experienced and well trained. It is very important that the leader can have full trust in the members of the team. An example of this style of leadership in the public services is if there was a murder investigation and someone gets sent to the scene of the crime, they know what they are there to do and they can then be left there to do it without any supervision needed. People Orientated Leadership: People Orientated is slightly similar but a bit different to the task-orientated leadership. Within this style of leadership, this style focuses on participation of all the team members, clear communication, supporting and developing the individual in order to improve their skills. The members of the team are very competent in their role and inspire other people by unlocking their own potential. They allocate others roles based on others strengths and individual skills. This style of leadership is participative and encourages good teamwork, loyalty and creativity. The key to this style of leadership is very good people power. People can be very successful if they use all the following: knowledge, skills, abilities, life experience and talents of all the individuals and of the group. Task Orientated Leadership: In this style of leadership its all about getting the job done. Its all about the key of the task rather than about everyone else in the team. Their main focus is just to get the task done weather it instructed or destructed. They will define the work and the roles that they are given and put structures of the task into place, plan and also organise the whole of the task. This style can have many difficulties such as difficulties of the lack of motivating and the retaining the team as a whole. Task orientated style of leadership is slightly different to people orientated, as an example, a police inspector organising crowd control at a football match may use a task-centred approach, but back at the police station when dealing with junior police officers, she might employ a people-centred approach. Transformational Leadership: The transformational style of leadership focuses on the teams performance as a whole; it encourages everyone to think of the group as a whole and rather not just themselves. It is all about moving forward as a team and not just several individuals in one group. Transformational leaders aim to make their team members better people by encouraging their self-awareness. They want team individuals to overcome self interest and focus on the goals and purposes that are shared as a team. Transformational leaders spend a lot of time communicating with the team to gain support through their enthusiasm. The transformational leadership style can have many advantages and disadvantages. To start of with there are a couple of advantages, for example, they have beliefs in others and themselves, they spend time coaching and supporting their team, people will follow their leader because of their energy, passion, commitment and enthusiasm for the team and finally, they care about their team a lot and work hard to motivate them, if they do this then this reduces stress levels and increases the well-being of the team. Not only are their advantages to this style of leadership, there are also disadvantages, in fact, there are more disadvantages then advantages to this style of leadership. Some of these disadvantages include, Leaders can only see the big picture but not all the details, leaders always believe that their vision is right when sometimes it isnt, large amounts of a lot of enthusiasm can tire the team out and last but not least, if the team is not convinced with everyone else they ma y not share the same vision as what everyone else has. Authoritarian Leadership: Authoritarian/Autocratic leadership is where someone tells you what they want done and how they want it accomplished without be able to get any advice from other people. It is good to use this style of leadership when you are either all well motivated, you know all the information to complete the task or you are short on time. This style of leadership is only used on rare occasions. If you have the time and want to gain more commitment and motivation then you should use a different style of leadership. This style of leadership is used in some public services in the UK. The main of example of the use of this style of leadership is used in the army. For example, if you were fighting in the war and you were told to get down then you would have to get down, otherwise you may get shot. This style is used in most regiments of the army. Not only the army, this leadership is used in many other public services this is because most of the time you are told what to do and where to go.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Personal Narrative- Concert :: Personal Narrative Essays

Personal Narrative- Concert As the dark stadium filled with fire, with the sounds of guns and bombs exploding everywhere, the crazed fans yelled at the top of their lungs. The enormous stage was rumbling with the sound of a single guitar as the band slowly started their next encore performance. Soon after I realized that I was actually at the Sanitarium concert listening to Metallica play "One", I thought to my self, "Is this real, am I actually here right now?" I had a weird feeling the entire time because I had worked all summer to simply listen to music with a bunch of strangers. The day started off pretty normal, well, besides the fact that we had all stayed in a house with nothing but an old Nintendo system and a couple of lawn chairs. We went to breakfast at Denny's, after which we made our way to Denver, the site of the day's big event. On our way to my cousin's apartment, we drove by the multi million-dollar complex. It had a huge billboard that said "Summer Sanitarium." To my surprise, I kind of got a nervous feeling. Why? I do not know. We proceeded to my cousin's apartment where the entire group conglomerated in preparation of the concert. We had a large group of people that consisted of Carter, Josh, Seth, Sam and his two brothers, Tim, Kim, Eric, my brother me and. While waiting for the right time to arrive at the event, we had the radio turned to a station that was playing Metallica in honor of their presence in Denver. The moment had finally arrived, we were about to enter the newly built stadium. As we approached the entrance, there was a small line of people waiting their turn to be frisked. While waiting in line, I noticed that there were certain things not allowed into the stadium for safety reasons. One lady had a large chain that resembled a dog chain in her pocket. The guard told her to take it back to her car or throw it in the trash. When the lady threw her chain in the trash I realized how devoted some of these fans really were. I thought to myself," maybe I'm not as big of fan as I thought," and continued through the gates. After our entire group got through security we had to separate, due to the different seating assignments.