The internet is an important tool in today’s society.  When used safely, it can be an all-knowing vat of information, and a great communication tool.  As long as you know the downside to the internet, you can avoid some of the bad effects of the internet.  They say people don’t get enough face to face contact or exercise. Well fix that by cutting down the amount of time you spend gallivanting across cyber space and go for a run, of play a game of football or basketball with some friends. Bam, face to face contact with real live people aaaaaaand exercise.  People say that you can get scammed or conned, well A, don’t put enough personal information on the internet to get attacked and B, don’t just talk to random people and certainly don’t meet with them in real life if you don’t know who they are.  You just have to be smart about you internet usage.

The chapter we read was about randomness and chance.  I especially liked the part with the fighter pilot instructors, and how the successes and fails of the trainees are more random chance than getting better or worse.  I also found interesting the part about the Star Wars movies and how they speculate one would bring in more revenue than the other.  I feel like whichever had the better trailer would win out in the end.  But the experts say that people just randomly gravitate towards one or the other, and that I can understand too.  If one person randomly sees a movie, then they recommend it to their friends, and all their friends see that one, and more and more people go to the one over the other.  Makes sense to me.  Random things happen to everyone everyday, so this book can relate to anyone who reads it.  I wouldn’t mind learning more about the psychology behind randomness, maybe I’ll finish the book when I have time.

The excerpt we read was all about jobs that are difficult.  Not all of them were legit jobs though, some were just duties people had to others.  The part about the farmer, he talked about how he liked his job because he was helping people, and didn’t do it for the money. He talked about how he doesn’t even make that much money, and how it is all invested in machinery.  He also goes on to talk about how his job security was at risk, with all the city expansion.  the next article, about the waitress, was all about how she had a crappy job and how she made the best of it.  She didn’t even care about the tips, she just tried to keep things up to date and different. The house wife just sort of went about her day to help those she loves, and doesn’t mind having to do work.  She has a fairly good attitude about life.  The part about the guy taking care of the woman who had a stroke is just kind of sad. He is devoted to taking care of this woman, and has to do so much to help her, and doesn’t really get anything out of it. She is just as important to him as anyone else in his life, and everything he does he is trying to keep her comfortable or healthy.  He does his tough job very well.

1. I think that they make a good point. school should be more affordable, but at the same they should be careful how they do it.  Law makers don’t want to rush this kind of stuff,  or it will end up doing more harm than help in the future.

2. The “Obama Addresses College Affordability” article was probably more political, because its sounds like it is talking directly about the speech, about what it said and stuff. The other one sounds more like a reaction to the speech, not really telling what it was about.

3. I wouldn’t mind getting increases in the amount of money available to normal college students, I’m just worried about where the government will get the start-up money.  I mean, once kids start paying back those loans, they will be alright, its just, where are they gonna get the money to start this whole shindig up?

The first reading about how rap got started was fairly interesting, because i never knew where rap originated and how political it really was.  I don’t really listen to rap, or know a whole lot about the history or early popular artists, so it was kind of fun to learn those sort of things.

In the second reading, I kind of agree with the statement “it is impossible to prove whether or not music is political.” There are some songs that are directly political, and I am sure there are some songs that have a sort of second meaning that is political.  I personally can’t say one way or another because I am not great at figuring out the meanings of songs, unless it is obvious or someone tells me.

My super bowl prediction: 21 – 24 Giants win. I bet a field goal in the last minute or two wins it for them.

not entirely sure if there is something specific to blog about this time…. so i suppose that i will just blab about what i read?

so Write Thompson goes to a friends house, and brings some famous pizzas.  then he tells the story of how the restaurant got started.  how it was a bar first then the owners were selling pizzas as appetizers and then got into selling a variety of pizzas. he talks about the strong family ties to the restaurant; the workers pass their jobs down to their children.  he goes on to talk about how he and his friend’s family devour the pizzas and about how they are amazing.

the second reading is about how he goes to a friend’s house, and they pull out a special bottle of bourbon.  it was the guy’s late grandfather’s hidden bottle of Jim Beam, he would sneak a few sips of it over three decades. wow that’s a long time for one bottle.  the bottle reminds people of different things.  it reminds the guy of his own late father, and about the possessions of his that he owns. pretty intense article

To answer the first question, the situation could go both ways.  No the guy shouldn’t steal from the Doctor, the Doctor has the right to profit from his discovery.  But at the same time, the Doctor could have a little compassion and let the guy set up a payment plan or something.  His wife was dying of course he would do what he could to save her.

Ok, so after reading the article, I think I answered closer to the little girls answer. But at the same time, I think that my logic is closer to that of the boy’s.  I said the man should not steal, but the logical thing for the Doctor to do would be to sell the drug on a payment plan.  He could charge interest and make more money. The Doctor needs to look at the situation as a profitable experience, instead of just letting the woman die.