Assignment Ten

I'm having a lot of trouble thinking of anyone I find interesting enough to want to meet. There are plenty of interesting people out there, but I don't think I'd be particularly excited to meet any. If it could be a dead person I'd probably pick Kurt Vonnegut. He makes me laugh.

baby shaker

A 22 year old women killed her baby by shaking it to death. She did this because her kid cried while she was playing Farmville. She told the police, that she shook the baby, smoked a cigarette to compose herself, then shook the baby again. It's a good thing she had that cigarette. She could have really done some damage otherwise.

civil partnership

I read a BBC article about a straight couple applying for a civil partnership. They wish to make a legal commitment to one another, but don't want to get married. The only problem is that the civil partnership law only applies to people of the same sex. I'm not sure why they just don't get married. They don't need a ceremony if they do not want one. Seems kinda silly to me.

Indonesia

Indonesia just can't catch a break. First they had an earthquake. Then because of that earthquake got hit by a tsunami. And to add insult to injury a volcano erupted there as well. What a week they're having. And I was worried about writing an essay for class.

The Incumbency Effect

I read an article about the incumbency effect not really working this election. The article I read said that 90% of incumbents of previous congressional elections more than 90% of incumbents were re-elected. I like to think people are looking more closely at their government and who they choose to represent them. Even if I disagree completely with someone about their political opinion, I respect an informed person more than someone who just votes down party lines.

Assignment Nine

First off, Stephen Fry is fantastic. If you've never seen the BBC show Qi (which is hosted by Fry) you may be interested in looking into it. I guess thats an addition to the list of recommendations. I agree with him that the "pedants" are a little out of control. I've heard the team "Grammar Nazi" used a lot. But, there still remains people who aren't simply misusing words and grammar. They're not language revolutionaries who are trying to change usage. People, for the most part, are just ignorant to language. Whether they're ignorant to the rules or the beauty in it is still ignorance in the end. It makes me sad, but I'm one of the ignorant people the pedants would attack.

Assignment Eight

My list of stuff. This List includes books, movies and music. This list in no particular order. Sorry if you have read, seen or listened to any of the below:

1. The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall (book)

2. Brick (movie)

3. Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut (book)

4. Bob Dylan's album Blood on the Tracks (music)

5. The Life Aquatic (movie)

7. The Club Dumas (book) Which was also made into a movie called the Ninth Gate. Also a good time.

8. Ty Segall's album Melted (music)

9. Forgetting Sarah Marshall (movie)

10. Isaac Asimov's foundation series. (books)

Assignment Seven

It's pretty wild that there are languages out there that people don't know about. What really surprised me is that the article said a language dies every two weeks. That sounds crazy. Also, there are 6900 known languages. I can barely use the one I know.

d'Artagnan

I'm reading a book that keeps referencing The Three Musketeers. I've never read it or really ever had an urge to read it, but the name d'Artagnan is a pretty awesome name. I think if i were named d'Artagnan I would have a very different life.

Carl Paladino

Carl Paladino is a candidate for the governor of New York. He's pretty entertaining, in a George W. Bush sort of way. He's constantly in the news for insulting entire groups of people. His latest rant was about homosexual people. In his speech he says he's not trying to hurt homosexuals while telling them they aren't as good as heterosexuals. It doesn't look like he's going to win the election, but I'm sure we can look forward to a few more gems like these.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130487561&sc=fb&cc=fp

Miners

The rescuers of the trapped Chilean miners have finally broken through to where the workers have been trapped. I can't even imagine what it would be like to live in the darkness trapped with a bunch of other people for that long. According to the NPR article the miners can start being taken out one by one as early as Tuesday.

Assignment Six

The argument in this article is fallacious. He uses hasty generalizations, such as saying "If we let Texas get away with this medical tyranny ... more states will follow suit." I'm not sure what kind of fallacy this is, but in the writers first paragraph he says "mandating the vaccination of young girls with the HPV vaccine sold by Merck--the same drug company that reportedly gave thousands to Perry's campaign efforts." Who reported this? I could say the tooth fairy is reportedly my dad. But I'm fairly certain the tooth fairy had no part in my creation.

Assignment Five

Happy News: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130199157

This article is about funding being allowed to continue for stem cell research. Good news for anyone who may need a kidney, liver, heart, arm, head and new body. Okay, maybe those last few are an exaggeration but its great news nonetheless. There is a lot of debate around this subject, but since I'm not a religious man, I don't care. Bring on the livers.