rjb011's blog

For honors, we had to read an article about biofuels, basically summarizing up the effort of the past few years. It also describes many different ways to obtain ethanol and the research and process involved.

When the war in Iraq started, nobody anticipated that the war would take years and that it would practically encompass the Middle East.  It may not have actually gotten to that point but it is getting close.  Whenever there are “issues” in the Middle East, countries depending on the oil from the ME take a hit for one reason or another, which everybody has experienced at one point or another.  Well, we just got hit hard.  And biofuels became all the rage rather quickly.  Research is being done to effectively eliminate our need of oil, if possible.  That didn’t happen.  Instead, we threw away at least a couple hundred million dollars, if not more.  What kills me is how all of a sudden it sounded like a good idea to research an alternative to gas.  Couldn’t it have been a good idea back in the 1950’s?  Maybe we wouldn’t be in this pricey situation then.

For honors, we had to read an article about divorce.  It gave some history and facts about divorce in general while touching base on some questions and ideas.

Personally, I believe divorce is pointless.  It can all be circumvented by not being too hasty.  Take the time to know that person.  Of course, it is easier said than done.  Still, if we all did this perhaps there wouldn’t be such a thing called a divorce.  Try and work out the problems instead of divorcing that person all because he or she ticked you off.  Who cares if they did?  It is silly to divorce just because you are ticked off.  If that was the trend there wouldn’t be a single married couple left.  They would all have been divorced.  Again, take the time to get to know the person.  That is the only solution.  I wish I had more to say but I am blank.  I rarely talk about this and my solution has always been the same.  Actually, my solution makes it so it is hard to really get into the subject, I believe.

When I read the short story, I was appalled.  I have went through these kinds of situations myself and so, this is not the first time I have heard about this let alone dealt with it.  The drug dude should not have withheld the drug just for profit.  Rather he could still make a profit, but at a REASONABLE price.  Most companies wish they could do ten times the price.  Alas, that is not the case.  So, the drug dude should have realized that and made it a better price at the very least. For instance, not for all of the husband’s money but for half the $1000.  The drug dude would still get his money and survive while the husband gets his wife back.  This would be  better than stealing.  Yet, what is the purpose of laws when it hinders us at these times?  I thoughts were meant to protect human lives…

I admit, they all had some good ideas.  I just couldn’t help it when the boy did a math equation to symbolize moral dilemma. … All I can say is good luck to him.  He’s gonna need it if he truly wants to figure out the real equation of moral dilemmas and whatnot.  Anyway, my response still stayed the same for the most part.   My past experiences were that defining.  In answer to the way the two researchers think I should have answered, I believe they didn’t account for somebody to actually have similar experiences.  Thankfully, my family did not have to go as far.

For honors, we had to read three articles about superfoods.  The first ones gives out a bunch of examples of superfoods, like blueberries.  The second article was asking if superfoods actually exist.  Basically, it was wondering if it’s a sham or not.  The third article was pretty much giving it crap in different ways in many topics.

To be honest, I believe there are superfoods.  Some foods are quite good for you.  For instance, if you are not getting enough vitamin C, eat more blueberries.  Or just take a vitamin, an article said.  So, I see no problem with that.  But, superfoods aren’t like the equivalent of Superman.  You don’t just eat one and you are good to go.  Rather, in the long run it will help you.  In other words, superfoods aren’t that super.  It is simply a food with a high amount of vitamins or whatever it is to help you stay healthy.  I don’t really eat superfoods or worry about it because I take vitamins.  It is actually cheaper that way, at least for me.  And it gives me the nutrients and minerals I need.  Granted, I don’t have any deficiencies to worry about in terms of nutrition.   Anybody that does have that problem should eat the so called superfoods to get back in track.  Superfoods would be useful that way.  But, I am not going to go out of my way to get them when the vitamins take care of that problem.

For honors, we had to read an article about summer vacation for children.  It talked about how it could be effective and how it could be not.  Mainly, not.  It said that summer vacation is actually more harmful for children in school than anything else.  At least, that is their opinion.

Personally, I actually agree with this.  It is quite harmful.  There is no ifs, ands, or buts.  It is.  Yet, if we did not have the summer vacation, it would disrupt many people in running their lives.  Summer allows them to relax or to get some certain tasks or opportunities done with.  For instance, the best time to remodel is during the summer.  Proper weather conditions and availability of kids are quite helpful.  I should know cause I was subject to that.  My parents really appreciate my strength then.  Anyway, that is only one side of the argument.

The other side, which I agree with, is the fact that summers are more harmful to the students in school.  Not college, but public school like High School or Middle School.  In college, one can pretty much learn whenever.  They have the time and money so why not?  Anyway, a student in public school would truly start to forget what they were taught.  That happened to me too.  But, I only need to jog my memory and I remember it all.  I am fortunate that way.  However, there are other people that aren’t.  Thus, they start to forget the subject entirely.  So, a good way to fix that is to do what this one school in Des Moines does.  Get rid of summer vacation and instead have 4 3 week periods of vacation.  Obviously, around the important holidays.  Seems to be working because their grades are better.

We had to read 2 articles about the MW3 commercial and watch a video for honors.  One of the articles supported the commercial while the other basically made crap out of the commercial.  The video was about when the USA imprisoned the Japanese Americans during WW2.

With the MW3 commercial, I had no problem with the commercial.  Actually, I thought it was funny.  But, I kept in mind that it is a commercial depicting players competing with each other online.  It is basically a digital version of a sport.  Yes, it is about warfare.  But, that is just what the theme happened to be for MW3.  The theme could be racing.  It could also be a puzzle.  It could be anything.  I’d like to point out that the people we shoot in MW3 are either other players or enemies that are practically lifeless.  I mean, the enemies are bots.  That’s it.  It is not like we are shooting actual humans with emotions and real-life fear.  No, these bots fear nothing.  Not even pain. So, we are technically not shooting humans.  Rather, we are taking part in a training exercise.  In fact, that is exactly what MW3 is.  A training exercise for real-life warfare.  The army does use this game for certain exercises and to promote the army.  So, yes warfare is bad, but this game is not meant to represent warfare.  It is meant to be a game.

The video about the imprisonment of Japanese Americans was a little bit strange.  I mean, really?  It was right to imprison these dudes?  Seriously?  Did we do that nowadays with the people of Arabic descent?  No we did not.  Actually, I was a little bit surprised that we didn’t.  Not because I wanted the Arabic people to be imprisoned.  Rather, based on the history, I was surprised.  At the very least, it means we learned from our mistakes.  That is the whole purpose of history anyway.  To keep ourselves from repeating that mistake.  So, because of history, we were able to not have that mistake repeated again.  Otherwise, we would be making that mistake now rather than 60 years ago.

For honors, we had to watch a couple of videos and read a couple of articles.  The first video was simply talking about women in video games in general.  They especially talked about Lara Croft.  She is basically the one female icon that started the process of unrealistic … curves.  The other video was a “commercial” about fotoshop by adobe.  Fotoshop is a program that can make a supposedly ugly woman into a beautiful woman.  It can also make an old woman look young again.  The first article was about the Fat Princess game.  It explained about how people were upset about the title and the purpose of the game.  The purpose was to stuff the princess with food in order to get her too fat to move and kidnap her.  Yet, it received numerous awards.  The second article was about the Riace Warriors and their sculptures.

I must admit, I am not complaining about about how women are depicted are in video games.  They are certainly easy on the eyes.  But, in terms of the concept behind it, it is wrong.  Women don’t always have big boobs.  A man might wish so, but that is a fantasy.   Truly, video games shouldn’t depict women as, to be blunt, unrealistic whores.  Yet, in their defense, they must do so in order to get people to buy their games.  After all video games are mean to be fantastical.  They are meant to be fun.  Just like the Fat Princess game is quite fun.  Sure, you stuff the princess with food so she will grow too fat to be able to move.  The first time I saw this game, I laughed my butt off.  Yes,I agree it is mean in a way.  But it is still fun.  Where else can we do these kinds of things if not in video games?

The fotoshop video shocked me.  I knew you could tweak certain features on  the face.  But, make an old woman look young again?  Really?  Talk about sending the wrong message out there.  “Here ladies!!  You must be this beautiful in order to survive in this world!!”  If ever there was an example of peer pressure, here it is.  Because I am a man, I really don’t know where to start.  I agree it is wrong and I know what it is like to go through peer pressure.  Granted, it was around 6 years ago with the peer pressure.  Yet, what can I do about it?  I can’t just walk up to a woman and say “You do not need to be beautiful.”  She might think I would be crazy.  Or am. Or both.  Men simply cannot lead this type of movement.  It will have to be women.  Thus, women will essentially have to lead themselves because the men have no idea.  I admit I am clueless as to how harmful this could be.  I have an idea, but I never experienced this kind of pressure.  I would have to be a woman.  But, I cannot imagine myself wearing a skirt and being a woman and all that and for good reason.  I would be accused of being a male cross-dresser even though I would happen to be a female in that case.  Scary.

The article was debating and throwing out facts about each side, clinical research or educational research.  Seeing if one side was better than the other or more useful for certain topics or subjects.

Truthfully, I really don’t see much of a difference.  They both have pros and cons.  They are beneficial if done correctly.  Even then, they might have some flaws.  Truly, I do not see a difference, as mentioned before.  Or, rather, there is no one good way to go at research.  Research is done in many different ways.  These 2 examples are only a couple.  In other words, I’m not picking sides and I don’t see the issue in between these 2 kinds of research, let alone any.