Essay Question 2.

In fiction and film, stepparebts and stepchildren usually have bad, and occasionally abusive relationships, like my old family saying "I'll beat you like a redheaded stephild." They usually have some form of conflict, be it direct contact and quarrel, or giving the lead a reason to leave and better theselves.

I have had personal knowledge of being a stepchild, because my mom did remarry, and i did have a stepfather. My brithers and I did not get along with him well, and he was not well in his mind, so he did not really treat us well. As for barriers to overcome, we never did because of the tension, however it did bring my older brother and I closer.

However I believe that in the average Step-relationship, there would first have to be a bonding stage to get comfortable, a "warm-up" if you will. Then the parent, if they had children of their own, would have get over the fact that "it not THEIR kid" and accept them as thir child. The child would also have to accept them as their parent. It's all just a matter of if they can get along together or not.

I never personally had any positive aspects in my step-relationship. I did not get along with my step-parent, and that person wasn't able to handle having step kids. He did not have a very good job, and spent more than he brought in, making money very tight. He was also constantly fighting with my mom and brother, and that made hose life very miserable.

In the average step-relationship, I could see many advantages to having a step-parent. They would be able to do things that your other parent may not be able to do, or teach you different things. They would help to create the image of the "model home" and make you feel more at home. It could make for a more positive upbringing and happier child.

Essay question 1.

When King Claudius says "Madness in great ones must not unwatched go" he states a truth that meets with any society in all ages. Is is true in today's age with all of the power hungry politicians that will do anything to keep their power, and possibly increase it. Our society has their own way of dealing with these types of people.

First and formost in our defence against the madness, we have the people themselves. Since we have a government set up where the people choose who is in charge, we can keep them from ever getting their power in the first place. However, this isn't the best tactic, because the ploiticians lie, and will say anything to get your support. There are also ways to make them behave in whatever position they hold.

The limitations on every job in government keep them in their boundaries, and from abusing their positions. They also have other people that they have to report to, and usually get the okay from. This limits what they can do, and makes it very difficult for them to use thir power for personal gain. However there are persistant people who are very clever, and manage to get around the red tape. So we can also remove them from their posts.

If the people find that their political choice is not doing what he should be and doing alot of what he shouldn't, then they can be removed. Clinton and Nixon also abused their positions are were removed from office, showing that even the big dog president isn't safe from replacement. Another tactic that societies use to keep their "great ones" in check is fear.

Fear is a tactic that almost every society in every age has used to keep people in check, and it's no different for people in power. With the idea of being punished, be it prison or simply fearing for their lives, one way of another people will do their best to stay in line. Add all of these together, and it makes it very difficult in this day and age to not stay in line and get away with it.

Parents Spying

I believe that it is not necessicary to spy on your kids unless thay give you a reason to spy on them. If yuo have a good child that you feel is trustworthy, then you should give them their space. However if they give you reason not to trust them, then you would be a bad parent if you didnt try to keep them out of trouble.
They should not abuse this because it makes the kid feel like they have to sneak around, which is the opposite effect they should be desired. It makes them feel like they arent trusted, and that is also has a bad reversing effect.

Act I scene 3

There is alot of valuable advice is this section. I have used alot of it. Like when Polonius gives the advice to be honest so that others will not doubt you and they will trust you...I try my best to be as honest as i can, and i think i do a good job because alot of my friends will confide in me when they need someone to talk to. That also goes into him saying to keep his friends close. My close friends and i know that we can always depend on each other if needed.
When he says give each man thy censure, but reserve thy judgement, i believe that i do that as well. I have trouble judging people at all, and i wont until i get the full story. Getting back to my friends,i do not fight with them unless it's something serious, and i can usually talk it through with them.
My friends have confided in me with secrets, and i keep them. I am there for my friends if they need help, or money (if i can), or even someone to talk to if thats all they need. If my friends are telling rumors, i don't believe them until i know for sure, and if they're wrong, i dont judge them for spreading the rumors.

revenge

i do believe that beople still take revenge when they've been wronged. Wasnt the whole Iraq war revenge for the terrorist attack on 9/11? I'm pretty sure that was a big one. They bombed the twin towers and killed thousands of Americans and then we brought it back to them
Also, the entire football team has taken revengo on one of the "coaches" for waking us up at a rediculous hour at an already miserable camp. We gave him a rediculous amount od crap all year, and he'll probably get it next year as well from the seniors.

The Big Three

I agree that we should make them merge because ending the competition would help the companies strive for excellence. They'd be able to maintain a higher quality and keep the prices down as well. The economy can't afford and also doesn't need 3 major automakers, so 1 major automaker would help us substantially.
The only few downfalls i can think of are that the single automaker could easily abuse
its role in our economy. It would be able to drive prices up as high as it would like,
and there would be no competition to keep them level. Theres a part of this
that destroys the idea of American muscle cars.

College OPTIONS

It is important to make students more aware of college because, if you get down to it, they simply wont know that college is important for their future. they won't know how important it is to forther their education. They wont know that their education levels can increase their chances of getting a job, or give them their particular choice of a job.
If they don't know what education that they'll need to get their preference of a job, they won't be able to get the job they want, if they get a job at all. college options is important because if there are more educated people, there will be more jobs for them. In shasta county, we have a significantly lower average for post-high school degrees, and we also have a very high unemployment rate. They also say the the average for seniors going onto college after graduation is just 11.6%, although that is argued.
The program helps students get free elp that will assist them into getting more education after high school. when it was formed in 2003, collge applications went up 33% that year. It's no coincidence, and something that should be taken very seriously. Considering that state of the job market right now, it's almost impossible to get a job without at least a high school diploma, and if more kids had a better post-high school education, then the job market would not only be more accessable to them, there would also be more jobs created for them.
The statewide average of 29.5% to the Shasta county average of 18.8%, it's easy too see that it's important that we get the information that students need in order to be able to got the education that has become (almost) necessicary in today's world. If they knew of the options that were available, i believe that most of them would persue those options for a career that they would enjoy. But that can't do taht if they dont' know that the option is there.

Bridge to nowhere

The bridge to nowhere is a bridge that was promised to an alaskan town 30 years ago, so that the town could be connected to the airport that was located on a diferent island. It is famous because Sarah palin made a joke about it in one of her speeches of how she stopped the "bridge to nowhere". the writer's problem with it is that what Palin said is a false statement, that they are not "nowhere".
He convinces me that his opinion is correct simply by telling a little bit about what happens in the town. Like when he refers to the fact that over 250,000 people pass through the airport in one year. Or the fact that it is the 4th largest community of the state. Or even the fact that they get all of thir tourists, nearly a million a year. I believe that he is in the right about this issue.

Zakaria

I do believe that it is a fantastic idea, however, i dont thnk that today's society will work well with that, and will probably ignore it until it gets so out of hand, that they are all just screwed. I believe that we should because it would create less wast, which we have a great abundance of in this country. It would give us time to evaluate the economy, and make the drasitc changes that we needed in order to prosper again.
He doesnt convince that we MUST, but that comes from a stubborn part of me that always thinks that there is onther option. He was very thourough in his arguments, and i would agree that he has a very good idea. I dont believe it will work because of the people, as i said earlier.

Worst ads on TV

I agree that we should not advertise prescriptions on tv. America has enough problems without thinking that they should take a pill to fix them, but actually makes more? Steven king also makes a very good point with the 9/11 comparison. Why should they be allowed to advertise something that is potentially harmful to people? Should we also advertise for terrorists, as long as they fork out the cash? People also might get it in their heads that they have problems they dont really have, or diagnose themselves with something and be "sick in their heads" like they think they're sick, but they're actually healthy, and they imagine they feel the way the symptoms describe. It's just not good, and just so people can make money. Like i said before, we're already a messed up country, we dont need to make it any worse.

Samuelson

Samuelson's point is that we are not necessicairily going into a depression, that it is probably just a recession. He is trying to point out that people are just over-reacting. He believes this because it has happened several times in that last 60 years, and always gets worked out.
He also feels we need to have more government action, because they are off to a very slow start. he feels more action should be taken before we actually go into a depression.
He also has several examples of how bad our recessions get before they pull out, and start heading back up.

next year

My plans are to go into the army to make money to get into college. i also think that it would be a great expierence for me, and that i would learn alot from the army. Another main reason that i want to join is so i can get out of this town. I really want to get out of here as soon as possible.
I will give me training that may be necissicary, if there is a draft, to stay alive. I have no desire to get caught with my pants down. It will just be a very good idea for me so i can financially support myself throughout college.

wall street

i dont think that we should bail them out because it is coming out of the taxpayers pocket, for something that will not exactly benifit them greatly. It is an excessive amount, and might be acceptable if it was not such a steep price. It is also their fault, so i dont se why the average person should have to bail them out. The fact that they're paying interest is a plus, but still doesnt make it okay.

Binge Drinking

I believe that we should lower the drinking age to 18 for several reason, first and formost, if you can die for your country at the age of 18, you should be able to drink alcohol. It's just stupid to have that as a rule.

Also, it would make drinking less of a big deal, and they would not be as reckless as if it was illegal, simply because they wouldnt have to hide it and be sneaky about it. It should be incorporated as young as possible in order to take, the "wildness" out of it.

Also, in other countries, it is looked down upon to be drunk in public, and people follow this "social rule" because thats how they feel. If we wernt so uptight about ceartin things, drinking wouldnt be such a mysterious thing that youths would seek after.

Kids would be also getting into less trouble, because there would be less laws to break. It would lower the crime rate significantly. They would have less chances to get themselves in trouble and screw up their futures, messing up scolarships etc.

They also would not drink so much at once because they would not be confined to a single drinking activity, they would be able to whenever they wanted.

Gas Addiction

We have started on a few alternate energy plans, but we aren't as far along as we should be. We need to dedicate more time and energy to this instead of things that are less important to our nation. My family has stopped going into town as much, and i have to get rides when i want to go places. We have always used our fireplace for heating, or my mom uses out heater when she gets cold. Our best alternative would be to either stop messing around and being stopped by red tape and just take over iraq so we can concentrate on a new energy source or figure out something that will be cheap and efficent.

Thoughts on the LHC

I do not beleve that it is worth the risk at all. it is took big of an investment, with too many potential extremely hazardous concequences. On one end, if they're right, then alot of religions will become extremely angry and there will be extreme chos. If they're wrong, then they just wasted over 5 billion dollars on a machine that doesn't work.

There is also the possibility that if the scientists are wrong, that they could possibly make a black hole, and destroy the earth. It just seems to me a very illogical endeavor, and that modern day scientists aren't thinking about the concequences of their actions. Apparantly it rocket scientists aren't as smart as we thought.

Sir Maleagant

Sir Maleagant was a very small villain in the legend of King Arthur, however he was important because he was one of the first of Lancelot's quests, and of of his first parts in Arthurian history. He became less popular with the appearance of Mordrid, but appears in most accounts of the kidnapping of Guinevere. The story goes that he kidnaps Guinevere, but is found and killed by Lancelot, with the help of Gawain. He is based on a historical King of Glastening called Melwas, and was actually an origional Knight of the Round that nobody liked.

heroes

jonny depp is one of my heros because what he's done is something that i would strive to do woth my own life. Even though HIs life dodnt go exactly as he wanted, he did something that made him happy, and he exceled at it. He is admired everywhere that he goes, and will be remembered long after he has passed.

My uncle eddie is a hero of mine because he also has something that i partioally want to eventually have. he joined the military right after school and he got to see the world, meet some amazing people, and do spectacular things on his own. After he was done, he settled down and has a nice family, and does what he loves for a living, and ejoys geting up in the morning.

My brother is also a hero of mine, Solon. my older brother isnt well known among my friends because he moves out my 8th grade/freshman summer, and nobody got to meet him. he's a hero of mine because no mater how much trouble he causes, or how many people he pisses off, he will always fight for what he thinks is right. he will not back down, and will do anything for the people that he cares about.

Grendel

Beowulf

1st. blog entry: Beowulf is the 1st english hero. what does he learn from his battle with Grendel and his mother?

In his battles with Grendel and his mother, Beowulf learns that there is always a more menacing monster, no how grusome the last monster is. He learns that he can overcome any obstacle, because he is Beowulf. Others may have limited options, but because of his "divine favor" as he calls it, he is not beatable. I know it's not said exactly like that, but thats the gist of it.
I also believe that he did so well was because he was alot smarter that all the others and thought outside of the box, not just charging with a sword. He didn't even have a sword, he went bare handed, because of his "Divine favor" trip, but we'll overlook that minor detail.
He also learned that his journey will never be over, until the day he dies, because the people will always need their savior, and their hero.