So, I've decided to do a little experiment. I am at the stage in schooling where I have written quite a few papers. Ok, tons of papers. Papers every semester of every year at college, dozens of them. So, by now I should be pretty good at them. I've decided to see just how long it takes me to write a 10-12 (plus works cited) page paper. It's going to on a topic I know pretty well, teaching English as a Second language, with a focus on building vocabulary, so I am estimating five hours. I have already spent 20 minutes acquiring materials (checking out four books, printing two journal articles, and pulling out any of my personal books which might be helpful), so only four hours and forty minutes to go.
20 minutes - Gathering books and printing journal articles
60 minutes - Looking through books and journals and organizing an outline
10 minutes - Writing an introduction
90 minutes - Sipping coffee and halfway finishing a rough draft at Perkins
60 minutes - Finishing the rough draft and completing works cited page
40 minutes - Printing and editing the rough draft
20 minutes - Proofreading rough draft and printing
And for a final time we have.....
.....Holy Cow. Wow. Exactly five hours.
(And it's a pretty darn good paper.)
I never would have thought it would somehow work out to EXACTLY five hours. Now I know that if I have a paper due on a Monday, all I need to do is set aside Sunday afternoon and I can finish it. It helps that I used a lot of my own reference books, so I knew where to find the information I needed, and it was about a topic (teaching a second langauge) that I am very familiar with. A paper on the Russian Revolution, I would need a LOT more time!
I need to add something. Usually I proofread and edit three or four times, so just having done it twice for this paper was grating on my mind. I broke down and spent another 40 minutes reading it through again, fixing mistakes, and printing it off. I'm glad I did, because there were some pretty ridiculous word mishaps here and there (work for word and so forth). So I can't say I finished it in five hours anymore...although if I had HAD to turn it it, it still would have been an acceptable paper.
Saturday, November 07, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
According to CNN most people have only read six of these. Let's see how I do...
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen x
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien (I will one day, I swear!)
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling X
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee X
6 The Bible X (I was forced)
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte X
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell X
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman x
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens x
Total: 8
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott X
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller x
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (Complete works? Are you kidding me??)
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien x
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger X
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger X
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
Running Total: 13
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell X
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald X
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams X
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck X
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll X
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame (Another I mean to read...someday)
running total: 18
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis X
34 Emma-Jane Austen x
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis X
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini X
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden x
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
Running total: 23
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell (I remember reading this and totally not understanding its significance...then reading it again in high school and finally getting it. It's not just a story about farm animals, just so you know) x
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown X
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery x
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding x
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan x
Running total: 29
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel X
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen x
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon X
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens (Man, I haven't read ANY Dickens, and he keeps showing up and knocking down my score!)
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley X
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon X
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Running total: 34
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck X
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold X
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas X
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding x
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville (Read the abridged version, take it from me) X
Running total: 39
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker X
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett x
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno – Dante X
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
Running total: 42
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens X (Finally! I read one Dickens!)
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker x
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazui Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White X
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom x (Guh. I don't see the value of this book at all!
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
Running total: 46
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad X
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint Exeupery X
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adamson X
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas X
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare X
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl X
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo X
53
This really makes me think about the "classics." Did I learn more from these books than I would have from other books? What makes these better? The amount sold? What the critics say? Looking back, I read a lot of these for school (High school and an undergraduate degree in English), and a lot of them were pretty meaningless to me life. I particularly hated reading, "The Great Gatsby." To be honest, it turned me off reading a little bit. Not as much as "The Scarlett Letter" did though. Did I read these book so that I would be able to pass and class and then check these books off a list of the classics later in life? Because I have a feeling that for many of these books, that is the only value I have gleaned from them this far! Hmmm....food for thought.
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen x
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien (I will one day, I swear!)
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling X
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee X
6 The Bible X (I was forced)
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte X
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell X
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman x
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens x
Total: 8
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott X
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller x
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (Complete works? Are you kidding me??)
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien x
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger X
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger X
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
Running Total: 13
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell X
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald X
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams X
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck X
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll X
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame (Another I mean to read...someday)
running total: 18
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis X
34 Emma-Jane Austen x
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis X
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini X
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden x
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
Running total: 23
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell (I remember reading this and totally not understanding its significance...then reading it again in high school and finally getting it. It's not just a story about farm animals, just so you know) x
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown X
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery x
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding x
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan x
Running total: 29
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel X
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen x
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon X
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens (Man, I haven't read ANY Dickens, and he keeps showing up and knocking down my score!)
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley X
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon X
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Running total: 34
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck X
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold X
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas X
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding x
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville (Read the abridged version, take it from me) X
Running total: 39
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker X
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett x
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno – Dante X
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
Running total: 42
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens X (Finally! I read one Dickens!)
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker x
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazui Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White X
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom x (Guh. I don't see the value of this book at all!
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
Running total: 46
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad X
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint Exeupery X
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adamson X
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas X
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare X
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl X
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo X
53
This really makes me think about the "classics." Did I learn more from these books than I would have from other books? What makes these better? The amount sold? What the critics say? Looking back, I read a lot of these for school (High school and an undergraduate degree in English), and a lot of them were pretty meaningless to me life. I particularly hated reading, "The Great Gatsby." To be honest, it turned me off reading a little bit. Not as much as "The Scarlett Letter" did though. Did I read these book so that I would be able to pass and class and then check these books off a list of the classics later in life? Because I have a feeling that for many of these books, that is the only value I have gleaned from them this far! Hmmm....food for thought.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Scrapbooking Time
I have been trying to minimize my possessions lately because I'm preparing to live and teach English abroad in a while. I want to be able to leave my scrapbooks safely at home but still have the photos with me, so I am saving them all electronically. I will post a few of my favorites online every once in a while.
Thursday, October 08, 2009
The Daily Show
I sometimes forget how much I love "The Daily Show." I'm not really the type of person who is watching TV at 10:00 at night, so I hardly ever catch Jon Stewart's show. But I did last night. One of his guests was William Kamkwamba, a whiz kid from Malawi. He built a windmill when he was 14 years old from a diagram in a book, using spare bicycle and tractor parts. He's pretty big news right now, he has written a book, "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind," is working on a documentary film, and has been interviewed by many magazines and newspapers and so forth.
This sort of story inspires me so much. I sometimes get caught up in the trappings of modern conveniences and the comfort that a nice salary provides. I am currently browsing the job market in Japan and getting excited about actually making some money instead of taking out endless student loans. I'm excited about paying off my debt and being able to put some saving away for the future.
But this sort of story reminds me that I didn't start out wanting to teach priviliged children studying English so they could make it into the best colleges so they could be a lawyer. I started out wanting to teach children so they could lead fulfilling lives, make the world a better place, and learn the skills to pull themselves, their family, and their community out of poverty, just like William Kamkwamba did.
This is his website:
http://williamkamkwamba.typepad.com/
And this is a link to the clip of the Jon Stewart Interview:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-october-7-2009/william-kamkwamba
P.S.
For some reason it wouldn't upload so I could just put the clip here. I would like to have the clip ON the post, but there was an error. It said, Your HTML cannot be accepted: Tag is broken and I couldn't figure out how to fix it. Any computer nerds out there who can offer support I'd be grateful.
This sort of story inspires me so much. I sometimes get caught up in the trappings of modern conveniences and the comfort that a nice salary provides. I am currently browsing the job market in Japan and getting excited about actually making some money instead of taking out endless student loans. I'm excited about paying off my debt and being able to put some saving away for the future.
But this sort of story reminds me that I didn't start out wanting to teach priviliged children studying English so they could make it into the best colleges so they could be a lawyer. I started out wanting to teach children so they could lead fulfilling lives, make the world a better place, and learn the skills to pull themselves, their family, and their community out of poverty, just like William Kamkwamba did.
This is his website:
http://williamkamkwamba.typepad.com/
And this is a link to the clip of the Jon Stewart Interview:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-october-7-2009/william-kamkwamba
P.S.
For some reason it wouldn't upload so I could just put the clip here. I would like to have the clip ON the post, but there was an error. It said, Your HTML cannot be accepted: Tag is broken and I couldn't figure out how to fix it. Any computer nerds out there who can offer support I'd be grateful.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Italian Food in Taiwan (Siezeria)
We went to an Italian restaurant the other day in Taipei, Taiwan. We had tried to go eat there a few days previous, but got there just as they were closing for the night. We were so disappointed! We traveled back to the restaurant a few days later, dragging a few friends, because it had looked soooooo good. We didn't want people to miss out on this chance to eat delicious Italian food. We had been in Taiwan for about two weeks at this point and rice wasn't really cutting it anymore. Jon was going to get delicious pizza, and I was going to get delicious spaghetti with tomato sauce and tuna....we looked forward to it all day.
We placed our orders and waited anxiously for our meals to arrive. At this point we were all ridiculously hungry. I about ate my menu. (In hindsight, I wish I had.)
Liv's and my soup arrived first. The minestrone pictured in the menu had beans, noodles, big chunks of tomatoes..., what you would expect out of a minestrone soup. The "minestrone" we received was red water with tiny pieces of cabbage floating in it. It was approximately a half of inch deep in the bowl. At this point Liv knew exactly how the evening would end. I was much more naive.
My spaghetti with tuna arrived. People made fun of me for ordering this, but I love mixing a can of drained tuna in with my spaghetti sauce, just as people add browned hamburger to their sauce. (Tuna spaghetti is really good, trust me.) My spaghetti looked ok, if the sauce was a little sparse. I took a bite. They had poured the red water-soup over the noodles! The tuna was obviously the type of low-quality tuna that is made from the sweepings off the floor of the good tuna canning factory....then they mixed it with sawdust. They didn't drain the tuna either, the bottom of my plate had oil a fourth-inch deep. How did I know what the bottom of my plate looked like? Yes, I was THAT hungry. I scraped off the tuna, let the noodles drip as much as I could and ate about a cup of the pasta. Every single other person's meal was just as bad.
The pictures in the menu looked so good that Jon ordered five different things- the same minestrone soup, a seafood salad, garlic bread, shrimp rice casserole, and a pizza. He said they all tasted the same- like old bread and socks.
Andrew told us that his baked rice casserole was pretty bland, so he mixed it with his also-bland soup and then his meal tasted just plain.
Ugh.
Never get excited about non-Asian food in Asia!
We placed our orders and waited anxiously for our meals to arrive. At this point we were all ridiculously hungry. I about ate my menu. (In hindsight, I wish I had.)
Liv's and my soup arrived first. The minestrone pictured in the menu had beans, noodles, big chunks of tomatoes..., what you would expect out of a minestrone soup. The "minestrone" we received was red water with tiny pieces of cabbage floating in it. It was approximately a half of inch deep in the bowl. At this point Liv knew exactly how the evening would end. I was much more naive.
My spaghetti with tuna arrived. People made fun of me for ordering this, but I love mixing a can of drained tuna in with my spaghetti sauce, just as people add browned hamburger to their sauce. (Tuna spaghetti is really good, trust me.) My spaghetti looked ok, if the sauce was a little sparse. I took a bite. They had poured the red water-soup over the noodles! The tuna was obviously the type of low-quality tuna that is made from the sweepings off the floor of the good tuna canning factory....then they mixed it with sawdust. They didn't drain the tuna either, the bottom of my plate had oil a fourth-inch deep. How did I know what the bottom of my plate looked like? Yes, I was THAT hungry. I scraped off the tuna, let the noodles drip as much as I could and ate about a cup of the pasta. Every single other person's meal was just as bad.
The pictures in the menu looked so good that Jon ordered five different things- the same minestrone soup, a seafood salad, garlic bread, shrimp rice casserole, and a pizza. He said they all tasted the same- like old bread and socks.
Andrew told us that his baked rice casserole was pretty bland, so he mixed it with his also-bland soup and then his meal tasted just plain.
Ugh.
Never get excited about non-Asian food in Asia!
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Fortunes
This past week has been really enlightening in terms of my future. During a long train ride, we played the elementary school game of MASH and I learned that my future holds the following.
-I will marry Jon.
-I will be a teacher.
-I will die at 80 years old.
-I will live in Japan.
-My mode of transportation will be a buggy.
-My pet will be a stegosaurus.
A few days ago we went to a Taiwanese fortune teller. We told her our year, date, and time of birth. Then we had to change our time so that it matched the time in Taiwan. I found out that in my previous lives I was:
-A man who was a “playboy,”
-A businessman,
-A servant for the Emperor, and
-Some sort of half-god half-demon spirit.
My personality is that I am stubborn, I love to waste money, but it is easy for me to make more money, I have a good relationship with others, I am polite, I am the boss of my family, and if someone begs me for help, I will help him/her; however, if someone demands my help, I will NOT help him/her.
Also, in terms of Jon, I should,
-do good for him and
-satisfy him.
It turns out that in a past life I cheated on my girlfriends a lot (because I was a playboy), so now I am trying to make up for that by being mean as little as possible.
I prefer MASH, I think.
-I will marry Jon.
-I will be a teacher.
-I will die at 80 years old.
-I will live in Japan.
-My mode of transportation will be a buggy.
-My pet will be a stegosaurus.
A few days ago we went to a Taiwanese fortune teller. We told her our year, date, and time of birth. Then we had to change our time so that it matched the time in Taiwan. I found out that in my previous lives I was:
-A man who was a “playboy,”
-A businessman,
-A servant for the Emperor, and
-Some sort of half-god half-demon spirit.
My personality is that I am stubborn, I love to waste money, but it is easy for me to make more money, I have a good relationship with others, I am polite, I am the boss of my family, and if someone begs me for help, I will help him/her; however, if someone demands my help, I will NOT help him/her.
Also, in terms of Jon, I should,
-do good for him and
-satisfy him.
It turns out that in a past life I cheated on my girlfriends a lot (because I was a playboy), so now I am trying to make up for that by being mean as little as possible.
I prefer MASH, I think.
Hot Springs Rules
Ahhhh! I guess you can't read it very well. I will write a few of my favorite phrases.
"In forbid cameras. Soaking. Food. Running. Caper. Clamors and affects other people the behavior."
"Refuses to rub the body in the pond."
"Serious illness refuses into the pond, the young boy advanced age."
"In fobids soaking the foot."
Friday, August 07, 2009
Taiwan Typhoons
This weekend was supposed to be Taroko Gorge weekend.
However, because of this-
-our plans were canceled. We went to the store with every other citizen of Taipei to fight over bottled water and ramen noodles. We planned to stay inside and have a Typhoon party. Cases of beer were purchased. ..and then carried the twenty minute walk home. We waited for the Typhoon.
We fell asleep to an gentle rain and awoke the next morning prepared to wait out this storm. We went for a walk to relieve the boredom. When the typhoon got here, probably after lunch, it sure would be rough, and we wouldn't be able to go outside, so we better go for a walk now to prepare for being stuck inside for two days. The rain continued to splatter down....we went for another walk and planned to go to a pizza buffet for dinner.
We cursed the light-but constant-drizzle that was a Taiwan Typhoon. I went out for a moment to get a photo of the lame rain. At that moment a gale force wend swept up. It destroyed my umbrella and then went back into hiding.
Never mock the Typhoon!
However, because of this-
-our plans were canceled. We went to the store with every other citizen of Taipei to fight over bottled water and ramen noodles. We planned to stay inside and have a Typhoon party. Cases of beer were purchased. ..and then carried the twenty minute walk home. We waited for the Typhoon.
We fell asleep to an gentle rain and awoke the next morning prepared to wait out this storm. We went for a walk to relieve the boredom. When the typhoon got here, probably after lunch, it sure would be rough, and we wouldn't be able to go outside, so we better go for a walk now to prepare for being stuck inside for two days. The rain continued to splatter down....we went for another walk and planned to go to a pizza buffet for dinner.
We cursed the light-but constant-drizzle that was a Taiwan Typhoon. I went out for a moment to get a photo of the lame rain. At that moment a gale force wend swept up. It destroyed my umbrella and then went back into hiding.
Never mock the Typhoon!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Arguing a Point
There are so many touchy issues in politics today. Gay marriage, abortion, national health care, etc etc etc...
These are the types of issues that really hit a chord in people, who then tend to forget how persuasion works. They try to appeal to people's emotions, use slippery slope arguments (if this happens, then this will happen, then this, and then we're wearing government issued coveralls in the United States of Communism.) I know that people have strong opinions, and it can be tempting to exaggerate and make pretty ridiculous analogies, because a lot of the time, those sorts of arguments can seem to work. However, wouldn't we rather have a nation of people who want to see both sides of the issue? People who can listen to an argument and decide for themselves what they believe? Shouldn't we encourage open discussion from both sides? I like the website,
http://www.balancedpolitics.org/index.htm
I think it's a great place to learn about BOTH sides of the story on lots of hot topics. Sometimes the arguments get heated, but at least you're reading both sides of an issue and you can pick what you believe. The following video is an example of something that DOES NOT provide all the information you need to make an informed choice...or any information really. I don't even want to post it, but it's an example of what I'm talking about in terms of biased arguments, so I will.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqMKK8AoLCw&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fallaboutalls.blogspot.com%2F&feature=player_embedded
I am not a political expert and I'm not so sure where I stand on health care, and this isn't really even supposed to be a blog about health care, it's meant to be a blog about how to argue a point without infuriating the very people you're trying to convince. Do they think anyone who disagrees with National Health Care is going to convinced by that video?
The following is an example argument for both sides of health care from the
http://www.balancedpolitics.org/index.htm website. It got really long, so I just included the first two arguments for each side.
Overview/Background
It's no secret that health care costs are spiraling out of control in this country. On average, we now spend more per person on health care than both food and housing. Insurance premiums are multiplying much faster than inflation, which prevents economic growth and leaves businesses with less money to give raises or hire more workers. While the quality and availability of medical care in the United States remains among the best in the world, many wonder whether we'd be better off adopting a universal government-controlled health care system like the one used in Canada.
Yes
1. The number of uninsured citizens has grown to over 40 million. Since health care premiums continue to grow at several times the rate of inflation, many businesses are simply choosing to not offer a health plan, or if they do, to pass on more of the cost to employees. Employees facing higher costs themselves are often choosing to go without health coverage. No health insurance doesn't necessarily mean no health care since there are many clinics and services that are free to indigent individuals. However, any costs not covered by insurance must be absorbed by all the rest of us, which means even higher premiums.
2. Health care has become increasingly unaffordable for businesses and individuals. Businesses and individuals that choose to keep their health plans still must pay a much higher amount. Remember, businesses only have a certain amount of money they can spend on labor. If they must spend more on health insurance premiums, they will have less money to spend on raises, new hires, investment, and so on. Individuals who must pay more for premiums have less money to spend on rent, food, and consumer goods; in other words, less money is pumped back into the economy. Thus, health care prevents the country from making a robust economic recovery. A simpler government-controlled system that reduces costs would go a long way in helping that recovery.
No
1. There isn't a single government agency or division that runs efficiently; do we really want an organization that developed the U.S. Tax Code handling something as complex as health care? Quick, try to think of one government office that runs efficiently. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? The Department of Transportation? Social Security Administration? Department of Education? There isn't a single government office that squeezes efficiency out of every dollar the way the private sector can. We've all heard stories of government waste such as million-dollar cow flatulence studies or the Pentagon's 14 billion dollar Bradley design project that resulted in a transport vehicle which when struck by a mortar produced a gas that killed every man inside. How about the U.S. income tax system? When originally implemented, it collected 1 percent from the highest income citizens. Look at it today. A few years back to government published a "Tax Simplification Guide", and the guide itself was over 1,000 pages long! This is what happens when politicians mess with something that should be simple. Think about the Department of Motor Vehicles. This isn't rocket science--they have to keep track of licenses and basic database information for state residents. However, the costs to support the department are enormous, and when was the last time you went to the DMV and didn't have to stand in line? If it can't handle things this simple, how can we expect the government to handle all the complex nuances of the medical system? If any private business failed year after year to achieve its objectives and satisfy its customers, it would go out of business or be passed up by competitors.
2. "Free" health care isn't really free since we must pay for it with taxes; expenses for health care would have to be paid for with higher taxes or spending cuts in other areas such as defense, education, etc. There's an entitlement mentality in this country that believes the government should give us a number of benefits such as "free" health care. But the government must pay for this somehow. What good would it do to wipe out a few hundred dollars of monthly health insurance premiums if our taxes go up by that much or more? If we have to cut AIDS research or education spending, is it worth it?
These are the types of issues that really hit a chord in people, who then tend to forget how persuasion works. They try to appeal to people's emotions, use slippery slope arguments (if this happens, then this will happen, then this, and then we're wearing government issued coveralls in the United States of Communism.) I know that people have strong opinions, and it can be tempting to exaggerate and make pretty ridiculous analogies, because a lot of the time, those sorts of arguments can seem to work. However, wouldn't we rather have a nation of people who want to see both sides of the issue? People who can listen to an argument and decide for themselves what they believe? Shouldn't we encourage open discussion from both sides? I like the website,
http://www.balancedpolitics.org/index.htm
I think it's a great place to learn about BOTH sides of the story on lots of hot topics. Sometimes the arguments get heated, but at least you're reading both sides of an issue and you can pick what you believe. The following video is an example of something that DOES NOT provide all the information you need to make an informed choice...or any information really. I don't even want to post it, but it's an example of what I'm talking about in terms of biased arguments, so I will.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqMKK8AoLCw&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fallaboutalls.blogspot.com%2F&feature=player_embedded
I am not a political expert and I'm not so sure where I stand on health care, and this isn't really even supposed to be a blog about health care, it's meant to be a blog about how to argue a point without infuriating the very people you're trying to convince. Do they think anyone who disagrees with National Health Care is going to convinced by that video?
The following is an example argument for both sides of health care from the
http://www.balancedpolitics.org/index.htm website. It got really long, so I just included the first two arguments for each side.
Overview/Background
It's no secret that health care costs are spiraling out of control in this country. On average, we now spend more per person on health care than both food and housing. Insurance premiums are multiplying much faster than inflation, which prevents economic growth and leaves businesses with less money to give raises or hire more workers. While the quality and availability of medical care in the United States remains among the best in the world, many wonder whether we'd be better off adopting a universal government-controlled health care system like the one used in Canada.
Yes
1. The number of uninsured citizens has grown to over 40 million. Since health care premiums continue to grow at several times the rate of inflation, many businesses are simply choosing to not offer a health plan, or if they do, to pass on more of the cost to employees. Employees facing higher costs themselves are often choosing to go without health coverage. No health insurance doesn't necessarily mean no health care since there are many clinics and services that are free to indigent individuals. However, any costs not covered by insurance must be absorbed by all the rest of us, which means even higher premiums.
2. Health care has become increasingly unaffordable for businesses and individuals. Businesses and individuals that choose to keep their health plans still must pay a much higher amount. Remember, businesses only have a certain amount of money they can spend on labor. If they must spend more on health insurance premiums, they will have less money to spend on raises, new hires, investment, and so on. Individuals who must pay more for premiums have less money to spend on rent, food, and consumer goods; in other words, less money is pumped back into the economy. Thus, health care prevents the country from making a robust economic recovery. A simpler government-controlled system that reduces costs would go a long way in helping that recovery.
No
1. There isn't a single government agency or division that runs efficiently; do we really want an organization that developed the U.S. Tax Code handling something as complex as health care? Quick, try to think of one government office that runs efficiently. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? The Department of Transportation? Social Security Administration? Department of Education? There isn't a single government office that squeezes efficiency out of every dollar the way the private sector can. We've all heard stories of government waste such as million-dollar cow flatulence studies or the Pentagon's 14 billion dollar Bradley design project that resulted in a transport vehicle which when struck by a mortar produced a gas that killed every man inside. How about the U.S. income tax system? When originally implemented, it collected 1 percent from the highest income citizens. Look at it today. A few years back to government published a "Tax Simplification Guide", and the guide itself was over 1,000 pages long! This is what happens when politicians mess with something that should be simple. Think about the Department of Motor Vehicles. This isn't rocket science--they have to keep track of licenses and basic database information for state residents. However, the costs to support the department are enormous, and when was the last time you went to the DMV and didn't have to stand in line? If it can't handle things this simple, how can we expect the government to handle all the complex nuances of the medical system? If any private business failed year after year to achieve its objectives and satisfy its customers, it would go out of business or be passed up by competitors.
2. "Free" health care isn't really free since we must pay for it with taxes; expenses for health care would have to be paid for with higher taxes or spending cuts in other areas such as defense, education, etc. There's an entitlement mentality in this country that believes the government should give us a number of benefits such as "free" health care. But the government must pay for this somehow. What good would it do to wipe out a few hundred dollars of monthly health insurance premiums if our taxes go up by that much or more? If we have to cut AIDS research or education spending, is it worth it?
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Soul
What do I mean when I say, "Soul?" I mean I want to see something that affects me, something that makes me feel something. Here is an example of something that I think has heart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxPZh4AnWyk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxPZh4AnWyk
Dear Director; Michael Bay and screenwriters; Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Ehren Kruger
There were so many things that I hated about Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. It has such promise. I mean, the huge aliens TRANSFORM from one cool thing to another cool thing! What cooler premise could you ask for in an action movie? However, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Ehren Kruger (screenwriters, whom I will refer to hereafter as OKK, even though I wish their initials spelled LESS THAN A TRACE AMOUNT OF TALENT) you wrote an insulting, tedious movie.
First of all, the comic relief came in the form of fast talking, hillbilly, crude twin autobots. As soon as I saw these twins, I thought, "Oh no. Not Jar Jar Binks again!" But they were worse. They were loud, obnoxious, and even worse, they were meant to be funny and never once were. Their jokes came from cheap sexual refrences and insulting each other. It was just tiresome OKK. There was not a single bit of smart humor in the entire movie, and, as previous mentioned, I felt insulted as an audience member.
The other comic relief in the film came from strategically timed swear words and dogs or mini-decepticons humping things. Always a fresh and witty way of making the audience laugh. You three should be ashamed of yourselves. Were you making a movie solely for sixth graders?
As a 26 year old, I imagine I am starting to sound elderly when I mention the length of the cuts. I think was the average cut length was .05 seconds or so. The shot never stood still for one goddamn second! It was always spinning or panning, zooming in or out, I just about had a seizure. When there is no substance to the non-action part of the film, quick shots don't make me care any more about the characters. When Shia is about to leave for college and is on the cusp of saying "I love you," to Megan (which we, as an audience, don't care about), the camera zooms around them in circles so fast I assume it wasn't manned by human hands. I would have liked some still shots and slower shots to see the characters transform. The camera was always panning to the side, with explosions blurring the screen as the transformer clicked through a thousand changes
And the love story? OKK obviously were like, "Hmmm...we have to have at least five minutes of the film be some sort of plot, lets have boy and girl argue about who has to say the "L" word first." And then, at the end, when one of them finally says it, it was super contrived and stupid.
I guess the main problem with the movie was that I didn't care about what happened. It was tedious. You can't make people care, Michael Bay, but making it louder and longer. It had no soul!
Jon told me that I was being too critical of the writing, that if I had seen the original Transformers cartoon I would have thought the screenplay was Shakespeare. But I am not satisfied with that. Moviegoers expect a lot out of their films (Norbet aside), and with the advent of people who have been raised making and writing films at home, directing and filming movies on the their computers since infancy, people are only going to expect more.
So, Michael Bay, OKK, my only advice is to improve and realize that CGI is not going to make a good movie.
First of all, the comic relief came in the form of fast talking, hillbilly, crude twin autobots. As soon as I saw these twins, I thought, "Oh no. Not Jar Jar Binks again!" But they were worse. They were loud, obnoxious, and even worse, they were meant to be funny and never once were. Their jokes came from cheap sexual refrences and insulting each other. It was just tiresome OKK. There was not a single bit of smart humor in the entire movie, and, as previous mentioned, I felt insulted as an audience member.
The other comic relief in the film came from strategically timed swear words and dogs or mini-decepticons humping things. Always a fresh and witty way of making the audience laugh. You three should be ashamed of yourselves. Were you making a movie solely for sixth graders?
As a 26 year old, I imagine I am starting to sound elderly when I mention the length of the cuts. I think was the average cut length was .05 seconds or so. The shot never stood still for one goddamn second! It was always spinning or panning, zooming in or out, I just about had a seizure. When there is no substance to the non-action part of the film, quick shots don't make me care any more about the characters. When Shia is about to leave for college and is on the cusp of saying "I love you," to Megan (which we, as an audience, don't care about), the camera zooms around them in circles so fast I assume it wasn't manned by human hands. I would have liked some still shots and slower shots to see the characters transform. The camera was always panning to the side, with explosions blurring the screen as the transformer clicked through a thousand changes
And the love story? OKK obviously were like, "Hmmm...we have to have at least five minutes of the film be some sort of plot, lets have boy and girl argue about who has to say the "L" word first." And then, at the end, when one of them finally says it, it was super contrived and stupid.
I guess the main problem with the movie was that I didn't care about what happened. It was tedious. You can't make people care, Michael Bay, but making it louder and longer. It had no soul!
Jon told me that I was being too critical of the writing, that if I had seen the original Transformers cartoon I would have thought the screenplay was Shakespeare. But I am not satisfied with that. Moviegoers expect a lot out of their films (Norbet aside), and with the advent of people who have been raised making and writing films at home, directing and filming movies on the their computers since infancy, people are only going to expect more.
So, Michael Bay, OKK, my only advice is to improve and realize that CGI is not going to make a good movie.
Friday, March 06, 2009
No more veggies
So about a year ago, July of 2008, I decided to try vegetarianism. I had a number of reasons
-I watched "Meet your Meat." http://www.meat.org/
-I realized that the rising cost of food (in developing countries) is due, in some part, to the fact that grains are getting fed to cattle, pigs, and so forth rather than being sold to people. (Rising costs are due in other part to ethanol. Ugh. That's another story.)
-A couple other minor reasons I won't bother to go into.
So, I decided to try and stop eating meat. That didn't work out SUPER well. So, I switched to flexitarianism. I ate meat rarely, like when someone made a nice meal for me, or when I was dying for some chicken broth (maybe once every other month or so).
The other night I was at a restaurant eating my Caesar Salad and mini-pineapple pizza when my pal ordered some buffalo wings. They smelled like heaven. I know for a fact that they tasted like heaven, because I remember fondly how good they taste, though I haven't had them for, hmmm, could it be since before I started paring down my meat consumption? Maybe it has been that long.
Anyhow, I realized that there are other ways I can make the world a better place, only eating free-range chickens, eating minimal meat (still eating the fake-veggie ground beef and garden burgers), donating to UNICEF, etc, etc, so I am going to put my vegetarianism/flexitarianism on the shelf indefinitely.
I don't imagine I will still eat that much meat, maybe once a week or so, but now I won't feel like I NEED to deprive myself when what I really want are some buffalo wings with hot sauce.
-I watched "Meet your Meat." http://www.meat.org/
-I realized that the rising cost of food (in developing countries) is due, in some part, to the fact that grains are getting fed to cattle, pigs, and so forth rather than being sold to people. (Rising costs are due in other part to ethanol. Ugh. That's another story.)
-A couple other minor reasons I won't bother to go into.
So, I decided to try and stop eating meat. That didn't work out SUPER well. So, I switched to flexitarianism. I ate meat rarely, like when someone made a nice meal for me, or when I was dying for some chicken broth (maybe once every other month or so).
The other night I was at a restaurant eating my Caesar Salad and mini-pineapple pizza when my pal ordered some buffalo wings. They smelled like heaven. I know for a fact that they tasted like heaven, because I remember fondly how good they taste, though I haven't had them for, hmmm, could it be since before I started paring down my meat consumption? Maybe it has been that long.
Anyhow, I realized that there are other ways I can make the world a better place, only eating free-range chickens, eating minimal meat (still eating the fake-veggie ground beef and garden burgers), donating to UNICEF, etc, etc, so I am going to put my vegetarianism/flexitarianism on the shelf indefinitely.
I don't imagine I will still eat that much meat, maybe once a week or so, but now I won't feel like I NEED to deprive myself when what I really want are some buffalo wings with hot sauce.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Leisure Time Activities
So, a few weeks ago, I was feeling really down, and couldn’t figure out why. Was it the cold, cloudy weather? My stressful class schedule? Vitamin deficiency? Precariously low bank balance? Something else? I realized I was just bored. I was especially bored with my hobbies. Or, lack of hobbies, as it turns out. In college my friends and I had so much fun. We started a band together, disbanded it, and started a new one. We went rock climbing whenever it was warm. We trained horses. We went on three day weekend camping trips. We played pranks on friends, tried cooking new and interesting foods, climbed trees, went to concerts, got crazy jobs together (box folding factory anyone?), etc. etc. etc. I tried to think of the last time I had done something other than watch TV (Season one and two of 30 Rock) or go to the bars with my friends on the weekend to play pool and talk. I really enjoy those activities, but not as much as I have been doing them. I remembered the last time I had had a lot of fun doing something interesting and different. It was the week before school started when my roommate, Ryan, spearheaded, "International Karaoke Week." We spent all week singing our hearts out. Molly even made T-Shirts.
So, it would seem the solution to my discontent is a variety of new, interesting, (inexpensive) hobbies or even one time activities. I made up a list of things I want to do in the next few months. Some are more feasible when it gets warmer, some aren’t the most original, but I am excited to cross all of them off the list, and add lots to the list and THEN cross them off, and refrain from adding some to the list for legal reasons, and THEN cross them off…
-Feed the Ducks/Geese
-Walk Timber down by the River
-Explore what touristy activities River Falls and surrounding areas have to offer.
-Picnic down by the river
-Paint (acrylic and oil)
-Board games with friends (Maybe with a theme)
-Rent a Movie (prime example of an unoriginal idea, but one I haven’t done for a while)
-Cook an ambitious meal
-Horseback riding
-Factory Tours http://www.leinie.com/av.html
-Make a friend who happens to own Rock Band and play it often. I call drums! (Trish and Michael, darn you for getting me addicted!)
-Read literature applicable to my field, but for my own enjoyment and learning
-Explore more of what the Twin Cities has to offer
So far, I have participated in two fun, atypical activities. Jon and I went rock climbing, which was fun, although my wrists, fingers, and side muscles were sore for five days. We also went target shooting. I have gone target shooting maybe eight times in my life, but I always want to go more because I think I'm pretty good at it. And it IS fun when it isn’t eleven degrees outside. (Turns out there’s a gun club in River Falls. Shall I join? Who can tell the future?)
Future activities include a wine appreciation class and a Spring Break trip to Puerto Rico. I don’t like wine, I never have. However, I never liked salads until I was 25 years old. Now I love them. I’m hoping the same thing happens with wine. Also, I’ve never gone anywhere for Spring Break. My first University didn’t have one, and last March I had 50 hours of observation to finish for one of my classes, so all spring break I was at high school.
Feel free to send me any suggestions for fun, inexpensive, leisure time activities.
So, it would seem the solution to my discontent is a variety of new, interesting, (inexpensive) hobbies or even one time activities. I made up a list of things I want to do in the next few months. Some are more feasible when it gets warmer, some aren’t the most original, but I am excited to cross all of them off the list, and add lots to the list and THEN cross them off, and refrain from adding some to the list for legal reasons, and THEN cross them off…
-Feed the Ducks/Geese
-Walk Timber down by the River
-Explore what touristy activities River Falls and surrounding areas have to offer.
-Picnic down by the river
-Paint (acrylic and oil)
-Board games with friends (Maybe with a theme)
-Rent a Movie (prime example of an unoriginal idea, but one I haven’t done for a while)
-Cook an ambitious meal
-Horseback riding
-Factory Tours http://www.leinie.com/av.html
-Make a friend who happens to own Rock Band and play it often. I call drums! (Trish and Michael, darn you for getting me addicted!)
-Read literature applicable to my field, but for my own enjoyment and learning
-Explore more of what the Twin Cities has to offer
So far, I have participated in two fun, atypical activities. Jon and I went rock climbing, which was fun, although my wrists, fingers, and side muscles were sore for five days. We also went target shooting. I have gone target shooting maybe eight times in my life, but I always want to go more because I think I'm pretty good at it. And it IS fun when it isn’t eleven degrees outside. (Turns out there’s a gun club in River Falls. Shall I join? Who can tell the future?)
Future activities include a wine appreciation class and a Spring Break trip to Puerto Rico. I don’t like wine, I never have. However, I never liked salads until I was 25 years old. Now I love them. I’m hoping the same thing happens with wine. Also, I’ve never gone anywhere for Spring Break. My first University didn’t have one, and last March I had 50 hours of observation to finish for one of my classes, so all spring break I was at high school.
Feel free to send me any suggestions for fun, inexpensive, leisure time activities.
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