Categories

spring break

I cant remember if anything was supposed to be posted this week or not so i figured id ramble on for a little bit just in case. Ive gone to the beach like five times this week and while its always been fun its been far too cold to swim like i would like to. tuesday i think it was i went to one beach and there were dolphins all over the place and they were actually jumping out of the water which i had never seen them do outside of places like seaworld were the dolphins are trained to do all kinds of jumps and whatnot. yesterday and the day before i spent in st pete yesterday on the beach. there is no place in the world with a higher concentration of old people than st pete, im almost certain of this. there were about 30 games of bachi ball going on on the beach, and all the cars driven were lincolns buicks and cadillacs. it wasnt just the beach it was all of st pete i still cant believe how many old people populate that place. spring break has been good outside of that as well, friends from tallahassee have come to spend time in tampa giving me people to hang out with i usually dont see, and would love to see much more. this is the only work ive accomplished over the break and it is likely to remain that way until sunday night. hope spring break is going pretty swell for everyone else as well.

Stephen Glass

Steven Glass is one incredibly crazy man for attempting what he did. As a writer for a prestigious news source it was his job to report truthfully on what was occurring in the world around him. That being said i have trouble holding what he did against him. i think he was too likable a character to really fault him or hold anything against him for writing such ridiculous stories. he was ridiculously entertaining and as such he deserved his job as a story teller, he needed someone to ensure his stories were true though. glass didn’t seem to truly appreciate his position of power and was more concerned with telling great stories than telling the stories that were actually occurring. he was often on the right path but didn’t do the research or bother with finding actual sources and eventually lost his job because of it. Stephen Glass deserved to lose his job, he wasn’t researching real events and he wasn’t delivering correct information, therefor he did not deserve the job of reporter. stephen glass was an awful reporter but he was an incredible story teller that had an odd sense of what is ok to do and what is not ok. he never realized that what he was doing was truly wrong and as such i dont believe he should be hated for it, he should not be allowed to keep his job or continue as he had previous but he should be forgiven. he was not a bad person just a bad journalist.

topic of choice

Back when i lived in nh i used to go and watch live music quite frequently, since moving to florida i havent been able to go even once. i dont know any local bands and have no idea where the local places where the bands play are. none of my friends are into the local music scene and id really like to meet someone that is. Some of my favorite bands from nh were The Human Flight Committee, The Flaming Tsunamis, and And Then There Were None which come to florida on occassion but theres a very slim chance ill be free on the day they are in tampa and usually cant find anyone to go with me at any rate. there was nothing like a good show though, there is so much energy when you are there for live music its so easy to get lost in it. sing along and make friends, sometimes you leave with your ears hating you but youve had such a good time you can always live with it. its always nice to see someone trying to follow there dreams and make it as a musician, these are people with such an incredible love of what they do and a passion for music. Some of the best music ive heard comes from unsigned bands that play the same venue every saturday night. popular bands are not always the best, just the most marketable. dont get me wrong there are some really awful local bands but there are some that are definately worth listening to as well. if anyone knows some local bands around i would love to hear back.

Ethics the war in Iraq

Im going to go the unpopular route on this one and state we shouldn’t support the troupes in Iraq. They are not putting their lives on the lines for America’s freedom but for an American supported government in Iraq. The news informs us we are giving the people of Iraq democracy but the people there do not want that government and as such is it democracy if we are forcing it upon them, as democracy is choice by popular opinion and popular opinion leads against this government. The media talks about all the American lives that are lost in the war, dont get me wrong these are young kids i really wish they wouldn’t be put in this situation they are far too young to face death, but they made the decision to join the army in the knowledge that a war was going on. on top of this they are killing the Iraqis in far greater numbers than they are facing themselves. We are an invading country over there and are soldiers didnt join because they wanted to protect the nation, all of the soldiers there now have had time to learn whats going on before joining as weve been there for eight years. no the soldiers that are there now joined to make money, they made an informed decision to take part in the iraq invasion and force a government on its people for the purpose of financial gain. I wish for all of them to get home safely but i cannot support what they are doing there, they are invading and killing a people standing up for what they believe in for financial gain and as such do not deserve support.

Iceland

I hope to live in iceland someday which is hard for me to figure out since i really hate the cold. i think i could live with it though because everything there is well heated with the country’s geothermal power. i think it would make the hot springs even better too, i really love just sitting in some hot water especially in a really cold environment like iceland could provide. the country has some of the happiest citizens in the world and was recently rated the best country to live in. Something i really like about iceland and the original reason i started to look towards it was there desire to be completely energy independent using all renewable resources, they have the only hydrogen fuel stations in the world and 90 percent of the country’s energy comes from geothermal energy. they hope to be completely energy independent by 2020. iceland has a glacier which i think would be a wonderful feature to have relatively close to my house. there are also bountiful amounts of whales and seals near the mountain. polar bears can be seen on the island as well as the arctic fox. im sure i make iceland out to be better than it actually is but im confident i would really love to live in such a land. and while the national language is not english most people can speak it at an almost first language basis. i sure hope to move there someday.

my dream to be a space entrepeneur

one of my dreams, along with becoming president, owning a car company, moving to iceland, and traveling everywhere in a zeppelin, is to start space tourism. i believe i can start a las vegas meets disneyworld in space. there would be a dance club several large hotels, perhaps a casino, and a ton of different electronic exhibits that would teach something about space and dazzle the eyes. the centerfold of my attraction would certainly be the dance club, i personally am not much of a dancer but i believe a club in space would be the greatest draw to people that wanted to experience space and have fun at the same time. the centerfold would be a waterfall or fountain that goes up, or perhaps across the room as im not sure i can define up and down. all of the walls would be dance floors. this might seem to attract too small of a crowd due to financial reasons although if transportation prices decrease most anyone with some money would want to visit the first tourist attraction in space. it would be the only anti gravity hotel and amusement area for the general public, and many celebritys are always looking for new things to do and extravagent ways to spend their money. the dance club in space would be an experience like no other and i would love having a part of starting such a place.

Polar Bears Vs Oil

the article im reporting on is about oil companies buying rights in alaska for drilling. Activists in the area are trying to prevent this from occurring by placing the polar bear on the endangered list. While getting the bear on the endangered list wouldn’t prevent the oil companies from purchasing the rights it would certainly deter them as it would be much harder to do what they would like with the land if they are worrying about the polar bear. The US government is expecting they can list the polar bear as threatened but feel it is very unlikely that they will label them as endangered. i wanted to talk about this article as i really love the polar bear and would really like to see him protected. i dont like to think they are in danger enough to be listed as endangered but it would be better off for them to get such a title. the alaskan wilderness is an incredibly beautiful area and i would hate to see it disturbed so big oil companies can suck more oil from below the earth’s topsoil. the tougher it is made for oil companies to get oil the more likely it is for the population to push for renewable resources. i really hope the activists can have success in enlisting the polar bear as an endangered species to hinder the drilling of the big oil companies.

man i love florida winter

Last winter i spent in nh as i had the 17 prior to it and by the end i had become so tired of it that i was ready to leave for college in warmer weather. i got down last june and and two weeks later the ac in my car decided it hated me and stopped working, the summer was hot but the sour taste from last winter was still in my mouth so i put up with it. the fall rolled along and i heard of the brilliant fall foliage but i was still not bothered as the weather was fine and i was still able to remain scantily clad. when winter finally arrived i was repeatedly reminded that i had made the best decision possible. at the beginning of december i would talk to my dad and he would inform me of the weather which was always well below freezing and often filled with the white horror that is snow. at the end of december i took a flight back to nh and the state took no time in reminding me why i left. it began to snow shortly after i landed and took the snowy approach five other times during my stay in the granite state, often on days that i had plans, such as the day i planned to go to a hockey game with 20 friends and 5 backed out because of snow. the day i left had an expected high of 11 degrees. when i finally returned to florida i returned to weather in which i could wear shorts and a t shirt and enjoy the weather. i recently went kayaking and spent a day at the beach even swam a little, which is phenomenal considering last year at this time i spent all of my time on the couch wishing it would heat up a little. work was the worst as i pushed carts and often the temperatures would be well below zero while i wandered the parking lot. now i am able to sit out by the pond at the school and watch ducks or bike around tampa without worrying about slipping on ice. moving to florida was one of the most intimidating decisions i made in my life, staying here for the next few years will likely be amongst the easiest ive ever had to make.

financing the homeless

When i see a homeless person i always feel obligated to give them some money, but more often then not i dont give in to this urge. the last time i gave some money the homeless couple then began to pressure me about purchasing drugs. Its very difficult to determine who has become homeless through tough circumstances and who has lost there home because they are either lazy or addicted or perhaps even going through mental issues. if you really want to help contribute to their cause you should put your money toward programs that help the needy or perhaps even dedicate your time and energy to something like a soup kitchen. Money may help them out but it is just as likely to contribute to whatever put them in that position. i once knew a man that got food stamps and would then sell his food stamps so that he could purchase more alcohol. its a really tough decision when you see someone who is not well off and a dollar doesnt mean much to you but in all actuality you would be doing a lot more good if you donated that dollar to an organization or if you were to spend it on some food and give that to them. i know it seems insensitive to deny someone in such a hard place some money but it can be nonbeneficial to give them the money.

There Will be Blood post

So i definately went to see there will be blood today and first off it was an absolutely incredible movie from start to end. The basis of the story is a man of humble beginnings trying to find his way through mining oil, he begins alone digging in a cave when he finds a rock, he sets up some dynamite and falls back down the hole after the explosion, but for someone having just broken his leg he didnt seem too broken up about it as he had found what he was looking for. From there it goes to him a couple of years later where he is digging again this time not in a cave and he is not alone, he does not appear to have reached oil and at one point in the scene one of his companions is killed by a piece of mining equipment. the next scene he is drilling with more advanced machinery when a pipe falls into the ground and oil begins to ooze out. From here he goes into a scene where he refuses to consider buying land because there is too much chaos when someone else approaches him and informs him where land is for money. He goes to check out the land he was informed about and finds it to be very good to him, and ends up purchasing the area for drilling. from here the story is about his power struggle with one of the townspeople whom owns a church, and his struggle with family issues and competing oil companies. Through all of this he continues to put oil and profit as his top priority and in doing so as a person he continues to degenerate throughout the course of the movie. This movie has one of the greatest music scores i have ever heard to a movie. The cinematography is also beautifully done doing a great job making you feel like you are there and experiencing all of the dirt and oil that is flooding the screen. the actors did a phenomenal job portraying the characters in the movie. Overall this is one of the best movies ive seen in a really long time, its lengthy at 158 minutes but the movie is at no point boring and the length should not scare you away.