Who Killed The Electric Car?

Who did kill the electric car? The blame can't be pinned to one person and one person only. No no, it should be spread around to pretty much everyone that got in its way. Whether they were wrong or not in their reasoning, yep, they are guilty. I don't care if they were thinking of the bigger picture or not, they killed it and that makes them bad.

So it goes.

I never really understood why Kurt Vonnegut always said "so it goes" in his book Slaughter-House 5, and I still don't, but I now feel that it applies here. Yes, the electric car died, but this movie (Who Killed The Electric Car?) makes everyone out to be responsible for some horrible crime against humanity. In reality, however, they were twisting the facts to make it seem a lot worse than it was. Only until the end (and even then only for a short segment) do they even talk about the other side of the table: they actually let the accusees speak on their own behalf (amazing!).

That one guy who was in charge of CARB seemed to be smart and sensible and sure of his decision without being demeaning or snide. And I got this from his brief interview segment. Of course the editors would cut out the parts that didn't make him seem like a total loon or devil in disguise, but even without those clips he still seemed sincere as if he were actually looking out for the people he was serving (imagine that: a public service official actually doing his job).

This movie had an agenda, and after finishing it last night I got irritated. Yes, it would have been nice have the option of an electric car for the past 2 years (the last one was crushed in 2005 if I remember the movie correctly), but we should be trying to find ways to bring it back by changing policy. The major problem I saw was that big companies had a monopoly on the car business and enforced policy that would halt projects aimed at decreasing oil profits. But now there should be enough opposition to oil companies (what with oil prices rising and global warming becoming a major issue) that these policies can be changed and taken out of the control of big comopanies and put in the hands of the majority: the people of the United States.

Who Killed The Electric Car? did it's job when it comes to raising awareness of this issue and possible energy source for Americans and people world-wide. I only wish it hadn't been so coniving and blamed people that were just doing their job and looking out for the interests of the people to get there.

Prom Policy

So tonight is senior prom! It's a time to have fun and let loose after a year of hard work and four years of high school under your belt (almost). But it's that "almost" that is key. Drinking is common among those that go to prom, but some aren't careful and do stupid things.

My sister's school had their senior prom a couple of weeks ago, and a bunch of kids rented a school bus to take them to prom (wierd, I know, but there were apparently a lot of kids). Anyway, when the bus got there, all of the kids got off and the bus driver went through the bus to make sure no one forgot anything and what do you think he found? Yes, you guessed it, bottles and bottles of alcohol. He promptly alerted the chaperons and the kids that had been on that bus were sent home from their prom. A couple had to be taken to the hospital for alcohol poisoning and at least three were suspended. The last I heard the authorities at the school were trying to decide whether they would have to expel those seniors. It was their senior year and because they made a bad choice at prom they might not be able to graduate.

I personally don't think it's a big deal what other people do at prom, but if it endangers others or themselves then I have a problem. I think it would be the worst thing in the world to be so close to the end and then be expelled for making some really dumb decisions. Sure, have fun in whatever way you want to, but don't draw so much attention to yourself that you ruin it for others and especially for you.

Prom is a time to have fun, and I hope that everyone going has a blast! I just hope that everyone is "safe and smart" (to quote pretty much every adult in the world).

Lack of Light

I believe it was St. John or St. Augustine that said that God is light, and darkness is a lack of God. This is true for many things. Not really in the sense that God is something else, but that light is the presence of something (in this case light waves that produce an image), and darkness is the lack of something. For example, colness is a lack of heat; boredness is the lack of something to do; hunger is due to a lack of food.

In one of my classes today, we were discussing opinions, knowledge, and ignorance. We agreed that ignorance is a lack of knowledge, and that knowledge is truth. Opinions are somewhere in between and are based on faith instead of truth. This was very interesting to think about because it can be applied to so many parts of life. We grow up by learning, but what are we learning? Are we learning truths, which is knowledge, or are we gaining opinions, which cannot be proven true? And if we are learning opinions, which I believe we are, who are we to believe them? Why must we learn the opinions of others? Why can't we learn the truths and form our own opinions?

What is math but a truthful set of solutions to numbers we created? We know that math is true because we created the system ourselves, so math is knowledge. However, science is math but it is based on opinion instead of fact. Everything you do in science and in most other subjects then, are opinions. In fact, isn't math an opinion as well because we have faith that the system we created is truth? How can we be sure that ANYTHING we hold to be knowledge now will not prove to be wrong, and therefore an opinion, later on?

Make It Legal

So I just started writing my public interest paper yesterday in class and it got me all excited because I thought about all of the possible topics I could talk about. One of the topics that popped into my head (probably because I had just read a post by one of my classmates on the subject) was Teen Drinking. In class we read an article about binge drinking in colleges and our group discussed the problem together during that time. We came to somewhat of an agreement: that binge drinking occurred because the alchohol was illegal. MADD was the leading cause of raising the drinking age to 21, but what was the point of that? Wasn't the driver that killed that one boy in his 40's? What was the significance of 21? Does 3 years really make that much of a difference?

I think that this is a problem of inexperience: if young adults don't know how to drink they will abuse it and go overboard. But, if they learn how to drink and are able to manage how much they drink and know their limits early in life there wouldn't be this huge dilema. Take Europe, for example (although I believe it was Cameron who pointed out Europe has a slight problem with young drinkers abusing alchohol as well), where children are given alchohol (mostly wine, I suppose) from a young age and learn to drink it when they are still adolescents. This provides them not only with the opportunity to try different forms of alchohol and develop a better pallet for the varying levels of quality of alchohol so they can appreciate it more, but also gives them a safe environment to learn their limits and become responsible drinkers.

Teenagers in America have a severe problem with drinking, mostly because it is illegal. If drinking alchohol was legal, the thrill would be gone (except for actually drinking the alchohol), so most of the hype would disappear. It's the same with drugs, in my opinion: the fact that they are illegal makes kids want to do them more because they are "off limits". Like I said in class, in a smoking movie I saw in biology a young teenager said (and I believe correctly), "If you tell teenagers not to do it they're going to want to do it more". So, taking this to heart, drinking is only special and "cool" because teenagers know it's against the rules. They want to rebel against the world that they feel is unfair, and they take this opportunity to do that. If it weren't a big deal to drink, fewer young people would feel inclined to abuse it.

So why can't/doesn't our government address this issue? I hope that more is done to fix internal problems in our country and less is done to create problems abroad when the new president, whomever he or she may be, takes office in 2009.

Crunch Time

I's coming down to the wire here at the high school track, and what a turn out it is, Bob!

Yes, it seems that most juniors have turned on the boosters and most seniors have hit the emergency breaks, George!

Well, Bob, this might be the closest finish we have ever seen. Who will make it to the end: the over-it seniors or the just-starting juniors? We'll just have to wait and see.

I guess that's right, George. This is crunch time, ladies and gentlemen; it's time to put everything you can muster into this final stretch of school and get to the end! The pit stop is just around the corner, you guys can make it!

From what I've seen in previous years, Bob, the juniors save some gusto for their final lap around the track, but the seniors putter in and put everything they have into this last quarter (or at least those that have saved anything for this final period) of play.

That's too bad, George, because the seniors have another race starting almost right after this one!

And what's that one, Bob?

It's the college race.

That's true, Bob.

I know, George. I know. That race is just as intense as the high school race, but the stakes are higher and the rewards are greater. Or so I've heard, considering I have not competed in the college race yet. This is total speculation, George.

I think you're right, though, Bob. It is the same length as the high school race, but competition is more intense at the college race. Only the qualified racers go that track. Some clubs forget that when the majority of their racers qualify for the college track, but other clubs understand that only the racers that show potential and drive make it into the prestigious college track.

Well, George, let's hope that the seniors can muster up the same vigor they had as freshmen racers in the high school race so they can be just as alive and rearing to go for the four laps of the college track!

Well, Bob, before we get carried away with the college race coming up next for the seniors, let's focus back on the current high school race winding down here.

Good idea, George. We don't want to get ahead of ourselves. Well, would you look at that, EVERY SINGLE RACER SEEMS TO HAVE SLOWED DOWN! Not just the seniors, George, but also the juniors! What kind of a strategy do you think this is?

Well, Bob, I think that they are all trying their best, but they've just run out of that gung-ho attitude booster that got them through the prior 3/4ths of this lap.

I think you're right, George. They seem to be frustrated at the length of the track. I think that we shouldn't have made the last quarter of the track the longest part; they seem to be noticing it now.

Yes, I think they are finding the extra 100,000 feet of track in the fourth quarter of this lap to be extra difficult. Maybe we should think about making the last quarter of the track the shortest part, and make the first quarter the longest?

I think that's a great idea, George! That way it will feel the same length all throughout the year! Brilliant!

Well, that's all the time we have, folks, but come back in about a month and a half to find out the ending to this exciting high school race! And to all those racers out there, keep it up, you're almost there! This is Bob and George, signing out.

Down For Maintenance

Every now and then, websites go "down for maintenance". The websites do this for different reasons: improving the quality of the feed, fixing errors on some of the pages, or because the site needed to be updated. But when websites go down for maintenance they prevent anyone from using that site as a resource. I have experienced this many times in my life, and let me tell you, it is NOT fun.
For example, I recently tried to post on this space and it said that I couldn't because the site was down for maintenance for one hour. This was during the school day, so one hour from when I wanted to post I would be in class (most likely), which completely screwed up my posting. You see, I usually forget to post by the time I get home, so I try to do it while I am at school, or when I can remember (I have rediculously bad memory). But if I am not able to post when time permits, the next time I will be able to post might be two days from now. It's difficult to have to work your schedule around the timing of a site's maintenance hours.
Another example was not necessarily with a website, but it was the software on my computer. The software was out of date (what software isn't these days?), and my computer recommended that I update to the newest version. Because it was software I had used before, I decided to download the newest version to my computer. Of course, being the great multitasker that I am, I continued to run other programs such as Firefox, Word, and iTunes. But, once the software had been downloaded, it told me that for the new software to start working I needed to shut off my whole computer. That was very inconvenient, considering I had been researching information and writing a paper. So, I had to save my work, shut down my computer, and finish the process for the new software to take effect.
I understand that it is a necessary part of the updating process and it is beneficial to update software on my computer, but to get it and to be victim to the terms and agreements that come along with the updates is a pain! I wish there was some way that sites could update but not shut themselves down to the public. I also wish that software would automatically update and take effect when the computer turns off and on when it is convenient for the user instead of right in the middle of work. Maybe in a few years engineers or scientists could design computers and programs and sites that actually DO do that.

Opposite Day

There never was not many nights not every year where nothing was the right way. That is not a tribute to this night. How do they not know where to go not being forward? It is not difficult. April Fool's Day did not get you thinking about that subject.
Okay, for now, we'll take a break from the backwardness. What does it mean to say the opposite? Is it just saying the opposite verb, or are we supposed to also say the opposite nouns and adjectives and adverbs and pronouns as well? Or can we be opposite on a grander scale, where the sentence has the opposite meaning instead of just having each word be its opposite? It would be so much easier if that were the case (unless that was a backwards sentence). Doesn't thinking about this make you paranoid? It makes me uneasy trying to distinguish whether someone was being opposite or not.
I hate how opposite day doesn't actually have a date. It can come at you at any moment. All of a sudden your friends start talking in gibberish and you know that it's opposite day. I think that this day is just a way to act ridiculous while having it be acceptable in everyday life. When the government or when a large group of people support the movement it becomes acceptable, even if it is not necessarily proper or right. That is what is wrong with this system. We cannot have this day just floating around in time because then large groups of people will not be able to support it like we support Chirstmas and Thanksgiving and Easter in the United States. Instead, we have sporadic outbreaks of Opposite Days every so often, but no real day that we can claim as a day of opposites.
I have realized how the system works! Wikipedia agrees with me, as they allow changes based on what the populous thinks is right. The way to get things done is to be a part of the majority. But to do this we must conform. But this goes against the American individuality code that we have in place in the US. So how are we supposed to get anything done if everyone has their own opinions and they are too stubborn to conform (because it's bad, naughty conformists!)? A problem in the system? Or maybe it's a good explanation for why we don't get more done. For example, the UN is notorious for not getting anything done because the leaders are too full of it to reconcile differences and work together to accomplish common goals. People need to learn to work together to make things work. That doesn't necessarily constitute conformity, it just means that there must be some give and take. For example, to make Opposite Day work, people need to agree on a set date, even though this date might not be the ideal time for everyone. It's a tough world, but that's how it goes.

The Pollution Problem

They say a picture says a thousand words. But what is it saying? Sometimes a picture depicts its subject negatively and sometimes positively. This is exactly what advertising takes advantage of. Luckily, most of the time the advertising is positive, but there are some subjects (pollution, for example) that are shown in a negative light.
These pictures of smog and traffic polluting the air with exhaust makes me sick. It looks horrible, and I can't believe people would live somewhere where they are forced to breathe in that aweful pollution every day. I'm sure that the people living in smog-covered cities don't notice it (I didn't when I went to LA), but it probably affects them more than they know. The gases in the air are pollutants, so they are putting unwanted chemicals into the air we breathe. We breathe it in and then our lungs deal with the pollutants. It's like second-hand smoke!
Okay, so I'm sure that the pollutants aren't as toxic as cigarettes, but they definitely should be avoided and removed from our atmosphere. Pollution is a problem, and air and water pollution directly affect us because we need clean air and drinking water to survive. If we continue to pollute the atmosphere and water systems in one hundred years our grandchildren really won't have anything to live for. I hate to sound like Al Gore, but it's true. This is a problem, and I don't want to be responsible for wrecking the world.

The Hunger Strikes

I forget what I was doing when I heard this, or where I heard it from, or even why I was listening to this, but someone at some time was saying (I'm not even sure if it was to me anymore) that hunger in the world is due in part to the inability to spread the food around. This got me thinking: if it was possible to deliver food around the world, would countries do it? I think not.
There are too many political issues to just have any country give aid to any other country. Would we be willing to send starving North Koreans food now? ARE we willing to send starving North Koreans food? No. Or if we are willing, we will find some reason to send a minimal amount because we are on the fritz with Kim Jong Il at the moment. This is a perfect example of how we would put petty disagreements on political issues before saving the lives of millions of people starving in areas of the world unable to access fertile land.
I read all the time about starving babies in Africa and how they are so hungry that their stomachs are swollen due to some form of malnutrition. The pictures are horrible. I don't understand why we would not help these poor children! We are supposed to be a "Chirstian nation", and we are supposed to care about others, so why is it that we are only thinking of oureslves? Think about it: the only reason we don't send more aid is because the countries with starving peoples don't have anything to give us in return. Sure, there are some organizations that help regardless of what these people have to offer, such as the Salvation Army and the Red Cross, but why doesn't our government act? They should be leading us to bettering our world, yet they don't help those that obviously need help abroad.
I understand that we have our own problems with security and hunger in the United States, but it is insignificant when compared to the plight of so many others around the world. But if we have a surplus of food we should be willing to provide for others, even if the people are too poverty-stricken to give us anything but their thanks. That should be enough

Spring Break

Is it just me, or does it not feel like Spring Break? Vacations always have that feeling. You know what I'm talking about: a calm comes over you, and you feel relaxed and have no problems to deal with. But for me, that feeling never came. Well, actually, that feeling never really left.
It's hard to explain. It's hard for me to differentiate between weekdays and weekends, which isn't good, because I can't really enjoy my time away from school. I've been on Spring Break for two days already, and I feel relaxed, but with mixed anxiety that I have so much to do. I sleep in, I eat like crazy, I do nothing, and I watch my dose of television (GO GEORGETOWN!!) But I can't seem to get that feeling of "This is not break, you can't do this, GET BACK TO WORK!" out of my head. It feels just like any other weekend.
Help me appreciate my Spring Break oh Spring Break GODS!! HEAR MY CRY FOR HELP!! Before I know it, it will be time for school again, and I will have waisted a whole week of my life without enjoying my well-deserved recuperation time.

Reflections on Blogging

Okay, so basically, this is cool. That's the bottom line. The summary. The end. But does it actually benefit the students? Is there a negative effect on the schoolwork or the mentality of the students if their class is focused solely on blogging? I beleive there is.
I think that blogging is a good way to try different techniques to get our creative juices flowing. I enjoy typing a lot more than writing because I type faster, so I can keep up with my thoughts. Also, there is so much more students can accomplish from writing on a blog on the internet than from writing in a journal. For example, Mr. Watson gave the example that if someone posts something on or blogs, lots of people can see our post. Therefore, more people can comment and/or give feedback to the work posted on the blog. If we write in our journals, our work is shared with a much smaller group, maybe only Mr. Watson. Bummers. Also, it is so much easier to copy and paste an article you found fascinating to use as a prompt than to either print it out and paste it in the journal, or copy it by hand. That takes so much time! Students get a lot of their information from websites now, so most of the information we would ever need could be found on the internet. If we are able to bring our writing to our resources, I believe our writing and our work could become much better, due to better ability to compare the original information to our interpretations of the text.
Although I am a fan of the blog, I also see a downside. I like the feeling of a small group of people able to discuss a certain topic in the comforts of a classroom. It seems to bring the class together, and they share that class and grow closer from their experiences in that class setting. If our class was based on the internet or on a blog, there is just so much going on that the students would no longer be focused on the same thing at the same time, and they would not form that closeness of a class in the classroom setting. Each student would get something different from the class, but not in a good way. Some people would focus on posting, some on commenting, and some on some other thing on the bog. But it would not be an experience that they would really share in common. I don't know, that's just my opinion though.