The Unfortunate Facts of Life

Next year... Election time...

   Just under a year till the next presidential elections. This is exciting for me because it will the first presedential election in which I vote in. For most of my life so far I have sit by and watched my family discuss who to or not to vote for, and waved bye as they drove of to mark a ballot. However, after looking over the candidates I am not entirely sure who I should vote for myself. The Republicans talk of how the Democrats are ruining America and the Democrats respond with the same message. Who do you believe? Both sides have done great good, but also great evil. Both parties have their dirty secrets and the Republican candidate Herman Cain is in the middle of fighting for his reputation as women have come forward saying they were sexually abused and assaulted by Cain. It seems no one is clean in the world of politics no matter how nice they may seem. Personally, I do not agree with everything Obama has done over the past few years, but compared to who is running I would rather handle a known evil than an unkown evil. True, the other candidates maybe better than our current president, and many would agree with that, but the risk of the unknown is simply to large to gamble on political and religious ideology.

Thoughts on Syria

So it would seem peace has finally come to the Middle East. Syria has called a cease fire and al-Assad, President-Dictator of Syria, has agreed to step down. This is what some would like to see in the news. What has actually happened is that the Arab League has agreed to suspend Syria’s membership on the grounds that the Syrian government did not stop the violence as they had promised. I do not know what this means for the people of Syria or how this will affect the nation as a whole. What I do know is that this is at least a step in the right direction. A sort of foundation with which the people of Syria can start from in order to make a more ideal country for them to live in. Will this transition be simple and painless? Not by a long shot. Two countries that had similar situations, Libya and Egypt, had to go through violent protests followed by full on revolutions , in which hundreds of people lost their lives, in order make the changes they wanted. This process that the people of Syria have initiated is a long and painful process. A process filled with violence, bloodshed, death, and tears; a process that sadly could have been avoided, if things had been more diplomatic. Another tragedy is that the peaceful, diplomatic talks will not happen as their too much tension between the two parties. The people want freedom and change, and the president wants stability and to keep his position through any means. Whether or not the result of the people of Syria’s hardships is something worth the lives lost and the suffering caused is up to the people left after the smoke clears.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/14/world/meast/syria-unrest/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

Krost Symposium

After having attended Dr. Sherry Turkle’s presentation, “Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other” I find that I agree with her on how  technology has reshaped how people interact with each other and that the changes made need to be reworked for the better. The reason is, as Dr. Turkle said, people have become so linked and attached to phones, computers, and various social programs and websites  that countless hours are spent tailoring and remodeling online selfs in order to make them perfect and escape from the real world. For example, Dr. Turkle talked about a man that spent hours on SecondLife talking to another user, so far as to convince her not to committ suicide. It was later revealed that the other user the man had been talking to was an older man from Florida. This made up world the first man had been living in was pulled out from under him. Everything he thought he know about himself had been taken away and brought into question. Adults  are not the only ones with problems concerning technology and social media.  Dr. Turkle said, during the presentation, that many kids and teenagers find it difficult to talk to their parents because their parents’s attention is not on the kids, but on computers and cell phones. What this is teaching kids, Dr. Turkle said, is not how to be alone, but how to be lonely. However, like Turkle, I belive there is hope still left in this digital world. People just need to find that balance between their lives and their technology that works for them. If they ever get the feeling that they are addicted to any of these thigns then they should simply put it down and back away from it for awhile and see how they feel about it afterwards. In the end the matter of whether or not any of theses problems are problems for anyone lies with the user. It is the user’s choice to bring these thigns into their lives and reshape how they live it.

Old Friends

  Now that college has been going strong for a little over 2 months I have realized that I haven’t really stayed in contact with my friends from high school. The main reason is that we are all too busy with school to get together or take the time to conversate with each other. Some are going to school in Austin, Texas, in Lubbock going to Texas Tech, and the rest have jobs or are looking for one. That, and with a graduating class of over 500, keeping in touch isn’t the easiest of things to do even with my friends. I talk to them as often as I can and it is usually on Facebook. Given the choice I would talk to them more, but I am not sure how I would do that. I am just too busy with school and my new friends. In conclusion, I do keep up with my high school friends but not as much as I would like.

Life and little keys

    Another week down, and making it one week closer to the end of the semester. So the question is “What did I learn this week?” The answer is that I learned to try and keep up with my keys better. More than once I have had to call my roommate to let me in because I left my keys sitting on my desk, and just this past day I had to call the R.A. on duty to unlock my door because my roommate had gone home for the weekend. To be honest my key sits on the end of a long red necklace/lanyard thing, but it is the only thing on it. That, and trying to keep up with school, friends, family, and everything else, keeping up with a little key is not exactly on the forefront of my mind. True, the key is of the upmost importance as it is the key that lets me into my room, but all things considered it isn’t an uncommon occurrence. It could be worse. It could be my ID card or phone that I am misplacing. In conclusion though, from this week on I will do my best to make sure I have my key at all times.

Living without the telly

   Could I live without TV for a week? Sure. Why not?  It is not like it is the most important thing in life right now. I mean that I am simply too busy most of the time to bother with finding something to watch. If I really wanted to watch a show I would simply use my computer as I am usually on it anyway. Why is TV so important anyway? It takes up space no matter how flat it is, and for the same price of a good TV I could buy a decent computer and do so much more with it than I could if I had bought the TV. That and this is something I have already done before. It wasn’t difficult. It just seemed that time went by slower as there wasn’t a dozen images flashing before my eyes every second. What did I do with the time no longer spent watching TV? I read mostly. The rest was spent doing homework. Overall, not watching TV for a week can be a productive thing and a much needed break from society’s pressures. Just sit back and enjoy the silence.

Post 5 or My choice of Super Powers

 If I could choose any one super power which one would I choose? The super power of my choice would be the ability to transform into any creature. With that power my options on what I could do would be endless. There would be a contingency plan for nearly all situations. For example, there are multiple choices for flying, swimming, running, stealth, and strength. Also the tactical applications of such an ability are a deciding factor. The opposition wouldn’t be able to prepare as they would never know what to expect. I could transform into a mouse and sneak into an enemy base. I could become a bird and scout out enemy positions, or I could be a cheetah, escaping dangerous situations with ease. The enemy would never be ready. They would literally have to make a plan for every animal on Earth as each has their own strengths and weaknesses. It would be too much for them to handle. On the other hand I would have to make strategies for each animal as well and also consider plans that use multiple transformations. As time goes on though, with much training of course, I would be nigh unstoppable. Another reason for choosing creature transformation is freedom, the freedom to choose one’s destiny, one’s path in life.