When thinking about it...

James Bond in his off hours

2012-10-24T18:09:00.001-04:00

James Bond, he’s the ultimate spy. Save the world, get the bad guy, and get the girl all while looking good. He has traveled to exotic locations including space without batting an eye. Don’t forget the cool gadgets he gets to use along the way. I can’t help but think. What does James Bond do in his off time? Could there be things he isn't perfect at? Thus my following post of my thoughts.

Instead of just listing things, I have scenarios that play out in my head. So these will be more of small scene set ups in how I see them, and not just bullet point list.

Scenario 1:

It opens with James Bond sitting on a bench reading a newspaper. He’s wearing a hat, a nice fedora because James Bond wouldn't resort to wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses. As he’s “reading” the paper, he’s watching a building entrance. Watching the people enter and leave, until the exact moment, when no one should be in the building, he gets up and casually walks to the door. When he gets to the door, James quickly opens and walks in trying not to be seen.

It’s a doctor office. Casually walking to the receptionist asks to be seen. The receptionist, without asking his name says, “ OK Mr. Bond, just have a seat and the doctor will be with you.” With a weary look as to how she knew his name, James sits down, opens his paper again in case someone walks in.

After a couple minutes, a nurse calls James into the back into the back. Once in a room, James insists on seeing the doctor, prefers a male due to the nature of his visit. The nurse agrees, but asks for the normal vitals, pulse, blood pressure, which James gives his o.k. The nurse leaves telling James the doctor will be in shortly.

A couple minutes later, a male doctor comes in and asks James what the problem is. With embarrassment he mentions how he’s been having pain and annoying itching in his private regions. The doctor asks how many sexual partners he has had. Where James rattles off every woman he slept with, i.e. every bond girl from every movie. Not really up for research and counting, I’d say it’s between 25-30 women. This causes the doctor to state that he needs to be checked for STD’s. The doc then gives him a prescription for some antibiotics, and suggests he picks up some condoms and learns how to use them. The receptionist would be able to give him a couple free if he wishes.

End scene.

This has always been a wonder of mine for awhile. How could he have slept with so many women and NOT have gotten a STD. With the names that some of these women have, you can easily figure they've been with their fair share of men as well. Of course, this may have happened and on several occasions. We don’t know what goes on between movies since the plots do exactly pick up where the previous films leave off, except for Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace.

Now I do have more scenarios about the off hours of James Bond. They will be for future posts. They maybe the next couple posts, I don’t know yet. Something may come up between now and then. But I’ll defiantly try to get back to the other scenarios.

Scrabble Gods

2012-10-19T20:06:00.000-04:00

The game of Scrabble has the following tiles/point structure:

English-language editions of Scrabble contain 100 letter tiles, in the following distribution:

2 blank tiles (scoring 0 points)
1 point: E ×12, A ×9, I ×9, O ×8, N ×6, R ×6, T ×6, L ×4, S ×4, U ×4
2 points: D ×4, G ×3
3 points: B ×2, C ×2, M ×2, P ×2
4 points: F ×2, H ×2, V ×2, W ×2, Y ×2
5 points: K ×1
8 points: J ×1, X ×1
10 points: Q ×1, Z ×1

I bring this up since someone I know was playing Scrabble online and it allowed them to use Jesus as a word. According to the chart above, that means the word “Jesus” is only a 12 word score. To me, being the son of God that he should be worth more than 12 points. It could be worse, God Himself is only worth 5 points.

This got me wondering. If we can use other important religious figures even mythological names, how much would they be worth, and which person is really the best word score. The scores do not include double, triple letter or word scores.

Greek Gods:

Aphrodite 15 points

Apollo 8 points

Ares 4 points

Artimus 9 points

Athena 9 points

Cronos 8 points

Demeter 10 points

Dionysus 12 points

Eros 4 points

Hades 9 points

Hera 7 points

Hermes 11 points

Pan 5 points

Poseidon 11 points

Zeus 13 points

The next group to visit the Norse Gods. Like the Greek Gods, I do not list every single God and Goddess. If I did, the list would be very long, and frankly I’m too lazy at times to go through all the lists. So I went through and picked the ones I felt should belong on the list cause chances are, they’re the most noticeable or recognizable. If you do not recognize them, then go look them up and learn some mythology.

Norse Gods:

Baldr 8 points

Eir 3 points

Forseti 10 points

Freyja 19 points

Freyr 11 points

Hel 6 points

Kvasir 13 points

Lofn 7 points

Loki 8 points

Odin 5 points

Sol 3 points

Thor 7 points

Tyr 6 points

This time I’ll hit the Egyptian Gods. Once again, I picked the Gods I wanted for the list. If you want the full list of Gods, do some research, you’ll learn quite a bit as well as interesting stories.

Egyptian Gods:

Amun 6 points

Anubis 8 points

Bast 6 points

Geb 6 points

Hathor 12 points

Horus 8 points

Isis 4 points

Nut 3 points

Osiris 6 points

Ra 2 points

Sehkmet 16 points

Wadjet 17 points

Now I have not tried these names to see if you can use them while playing Scrabble. Either way, it was quite interesting seeing the points. The Gods for life, love, and basic survival scored more than those for death and war. It's amazing, we can make the Gods with the proper priorities worth more in Scramble, but make the least scoring Gods our priorities as a human race.

WTF is your name

2012-10-06T11:43:00.000-04:00

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet." – Juliet Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

Everyone has a name. Celebrities as well as normal people have kids for some odd reason. These people also think your supposed to be coming up with the most ridiculous names. No longer are traditional names the way to go.

Now I understand changing a letter in a name to make it more unusual, but not letting it get out of hand. A good example is Catherine or Katherine. Not a huge difference, but not overly excessive. But when more than three letters are change, manipulated, or added, this is where the line should be drawn. People just don’t seem to care; they think they are making their child unique by doing this. When in reality it makes people wonder if the parents have an IQ of above 50.

The people I feel sorry for are teachers. Each year they have to learn new names and at higher grades with different classes, there are a lot more names to learn. The worse part has to come the first day of classes. Teachers get their lists of kids for the class and have to figure out how the names are pronounced. I would not be surprised if the first day of classes starts out like this:

“ OK kids. What were going to do is I am going to spell the name, and whoever has that name raise your hand. Then I will write the correct spelling next to your name so I know how to say it. OK. The first name is spelled: G-R-A-I-S-T-I-A-L-E-Y.”

A little girl raises her hand. “My name is Crystal.” With a raised eyebrow the teacher writes the name on the sign in sheet.

“ OK. The next name is: M-Y-I-E-A-C-L.”

A boy in the back raises his hand. “It’s pronounced Michael.” Shaking the head the teacher writes the name on the sign in sheet.

“Next name…oh dear God. We have: Q-U-I-O-T-Z-L-A-N-C-I-F.” This causes two hands to be raised. “Seriously?!? Two of you!?? How do you say your names?”

“Tim.”

“Mary.”

Rubbing the head, the teacher lets out a sigh. “ OK class. I’m going to stop now. I’m going to give each of you an assignment for tonight. Go home and kill your parents for giving you such F’ed up names. You will get arrested yes. But when you go to court and state your case. I'm sure the reason that your parents gave you such a crazy name. I guarantee, 99% of all judges will understand and let you go.”

Now, as a disclaimer, I am not promoting anyone with a messed up name to go kill their parents for their screw up. So if you do it and try to blame me, you’re S.O.L. This was done as a comedic reason and I am now innocent. So you’re on your own.

For anyone thinking that I was exaggerating with the spelling of names, obviously you have looked around. While normal parents do these as well, you don’t hear about them as often. While celebrities are plastered all over, it isn't hard to see some of the crazy names given to their kids.

Since I was going on about long weird spellings. I’ll reveal some crazy spelling of names of celebrity kids. While, some names are completely ridiculous, like Moxie Crimefighter, the spelling is correct. So here are a couple examples of crazy spellings of celebrity kids names:

Helen Hunt / Matthew Carnahan Makena'lei Gordon

Ving Rhames / Deborah Reed Reignbeau

Olympia Scott-Richardson / Al Richardson BreAzia Ranee

Lisa Bonet / Jason Momoa Nakoa-Wolf Manakauapo Namakaeha

From the Tap?!?

2012-09-29T16:00:00.000-04:00

We all have memories from the past that we always bring up either because they remind us of the good times, sometimes for those bad times like for a close friend or family member who died. Maybe it was that night you got so drunk it was like The Hangover the next day figuring out everything you did and now it’s why you don’t drink.

I had one of these memories recently, particularly with my wife. It’s one of those events that we bring up every now and then to each other and each time it brings a laugh for both of us. It will be one of those stories we’ll be telling our kids and grand kids someday.

The story goes back to the first day we met in person. I clarify in person because we met through an online dating site. We talked for a couple months before we finally met at her dorm room.

Her dorm room was one of four in a small apartment setup. So she had three roommates. During our first meeting, I met two of them. It doesn't mean much for how many I met, but that I met one in particular. It’s because of her that we have our laugh.

Her roommate was from a city, and not used to a country setting or people from the country. So as we are sitting and talking her roommate from the city comes in from her class. Where upon meeting, she asks me some questions, including where I live, I say where it is and that it’s in the country.

Hearing I live in the country, the first follow up question was if I lived on a farm. I don’t mind the ignorance that her first instinct is that you live in the country you’re automatically a farmer. I can over look that since her first instinct wasn't that because I live in the country I’m automatically an inbred redneck hick with a deformed family member who plays the banjo.

I do inform her that I do live near some farms, but I don’t live or work on them. Her next question was if I ever see cows on the farms; a logical question. Her IQ must have risen 1 point with that question; my thought is maybe she’s not completely stupid. So I answer honestly that yes, I have seen cows before.

Now the follow up question is what my wife and I laugh about and recall just for the shear ridiculousness of the next question she asked, and remember she was completely serious when she asked the question. Do I have enough build up yet? The follow up question was:

Have you ever drank milk from the tap?

This is the face my wife and I made when we heard that. I think my IQ dropped when I heard that question. All I could do was stammer out the question, you mean drinking right from the utters? She responds, yeah, like right from the cow. I honestly can’t remember the next couple minutes following that because of the shear magnitude of my brain regaining any type of function. All I know is that we managed to set her straight that she meant unpasteurized milk and it would be drunk after being extracted from the cow into a bucket or container. There’s less than a 1% chance that there is someone getting under a cow and directly sucking on a teat for milk.

So my wife and I joke around with “drinking from the tap” every now and then. And I hope it becomes a weird lesson of there is such a thing as stupid questions.

Untold Stupid Stories of the ER

2012-09-24T20:13:00.001-04:00

I have recently been lucky enough to be in a local Emergency Room of a nearby hospital. Why I was there or whom I may have or may not have been with doesn’t matter. Because it was the other people that night that got me thinking about this post.

On TV there are plenty of shows, real or not, that talk about weird stories, or even miraculous events to patient that have come into the hospital. Untold Stories of the ER depicts real events that have happened. The show is very interesting at times, from the doctor of a small hospital, so small that they don’t even have a maternity ward, try to deliver a baby in his ER, while another patient in near cardiac arrest at the same time. To the car accident that had a metal pole impaled through both the driver and the back seat passenger. Most the hospital drama shows tend to draw their storylines from real hospital events, with exaggeration at times to make it compelling TV.

But, as I sat in the ER waiting room, being a bit nosey, I overheard some things that came in to be seen, and either it was ridiculous or the patients made it seem worse than it was. For example, someone came in because of a toothache. A TOOTHACHE!!! I eventually inquired about it from a nurse and found out that toothaches happen quite often. What happens is the person will ignore the pain until it becomes unbearable. Then they call the dentist and find out they have to wait two weeks to be seen, so they come to the ER. Most they do is give the patient some antibiotics and send them on their way. This hospital does not have a dentist on staff or on call, so it maybe different at a hospital that has such access.

There was another man who walked into the ER, emphasis on WALKED in. I wasn’t paying attention, so I didn’t hear why he wanted to be seen, I assumed for his back. Why do I assume such? Well, after talking to the clerk, they told him to have a seat when he blurted out, very loudly: “I can’t sit down, my back is broken.” Now, by no means do I even come close to a medical degree, but if this guy’s back was broken, I’m sure there’s about a 95% chance this guy wouldn’t be able to move.

This is where my idea sprung from. For every legitimate case that comes through the ER for a real emergency, I would assume there are about three stupid cases that come in. This is a show I would love to watch: The Untold Stupid Stories of the ER. I know of one case that can be taken from the actual Untold Stories show. I remember seeing an episode, where a guy had broken his foot, and decided to make his own cast. He decided to pour cement directly over his foot to make his own cast. While it is stupid, I know the severity of the issue as the show portrayed. The cement dried directly on the skin cause even more problems than an already broken foot.

As a warning, the following paragraph/example is very gross, and should only be read if you really think you can handle it.

Another example, a story I once heard. A man came into the ER because of a potato stuck up his butt. The first question that comes to mind is one of the following: Was he drunk? Or how did a potato get up there? He was not drunk. Apparently the guy was with his mistress, and being unusually kinky, she put the potato up his butt. Unfortunately, the guy’s mistress did such a good job that they could not get it out. They had to come to the ER and he ended up having surgery to remove the potato. My guess, no one in the ER or OR staff had French fries for a few days.

This is where you should read again if you skipped that last paragraph.

If they can have shows on television talking about real cases, or even exaggerated cases. Then I want a show about the stupid, funny or outrageous cases that come in. The show shouldn’t be done in a cheesy manner either. No laugh track or host trying to make “funny” jokes. I think it would be more entertaining if the stories were being told with a completely straight face.

Netflix, I love you really, but...Part Three

2012-09-15T18:33:00.002-04:00

Here we go, third installment, and should be the last.

Netflix should allow user profiles on accounts. Allow 5 profiles per account. The purpose of multiple profiles is so different family members can have their own Netflix tailored to their profile. The first profile set up will be the main user, be it a parent, or main subscriber paying for Netflix. The following features should be allowed for profiles:

· The main profile has full access to all profiles.

· The main profile can be password protected.

· The main profile can control access viewed by other profiles to limited movie ratings or categories.

· The main profile can give full access to other profiles may act like the main profile for access purposes.

· Each profile will have their own instant queue to view.

· The main profile(s) will have access to view all instant queues.

· If the Netflix account has DVD queue as well, the main profile(s) can few all movies in the DVD queue and rearrange as desired.

· Non main profiles can view only DVD’s they have added to the queue and what number on the list without ability to modify.

· Profiles can be named to reflex members on the account.

I’m sure there can be plenty more to be added to the list of what profiles can do. The main reason I suggest individual profiles be made is for convenience. For me, my wife and I share Netflix. In our instant queue we have over 200 items saved. To take the time to sort out hers and mine would take a very long time. Then, if more titles get added, we both add what we want, when we want and if we don’t arrange them, they just get inner mixed again.

By having separate profiles, I can add what I want, she can add what she wants, and we can access our individual queues and know its only items we want to watch separately. As an alternative, we can use a new profile for movies and shows we both are interested in, so we can easily access that profile when we are together.

By having multiple profiles, everyone in the family can have one. Having the ability to limit access and monitor can make it easier for parents. If you have young kids that can navigate Netflix without help from parents, you can make sure they don’t end up watching movies they shouldn’t be watching. Personally, I wouldn’t want my kid stumbling across a Quentin Tarantino movie. For people that do have kids, I’m sure they want every cartoon possible, and there are a lot of cartoons that can clutter up your instant queue.

Each profile should be tailored to that individual profile. Just like the site does now with suggestions based on recently viewed or movies in the queue, each profile will see suggestions for their profile only.

While having all these features on the website would be nice, I like a lot of Netflix users use a consol to watch on my TV. So naturally these features from all 3 parts should be made accessible on the consoles. So when you go to Netflix, the first thing that appears is the profiles to select, and you can go about your merry way watching that profiles queue. There should also be category on the consoles to easily switch between profiles. So if my wife is watching in her queue, then I come home, we can easily switch to the profile we share to watch what we want.

As I said before, this would be a huge revamp of the websites, as well as the console for Netflix viewing. But with such features, it makes Netflix more appealing, in my opinion, and making everything for family/user friendly can make it more desirable over the competition. Will Netflix ever see this? I don’t know. If people think they should, then I say go ahead and show them this, see if they take it under consideration.

Netflix, I love you really, but...Part Two

2012-09-11T06:23:00.003-04:00

I left off with more suggestions for Netflix, so I’m not going to waste more time with an introduction, let’s get right to it.

An issue I have with having instant is the lack of knowledge to what is appearing to view on instant and what was taken away. If I have a movie or TV show in my queue, online I can see about two weeks prior that I will be losing the movie or TV show. I have noticed Netflix seems to add/take away on the 1^st and 15^th of the month. While they do have a recently added section, some items stay on the list for a couple months, and they get inner mixed with new items, so it can make it tough to figure out if it’s something new, or I forgot was already available.

Therefore, Netflix should revamp an existing section, and make a couple new sections as well. First, revamp recently added. Next add a section called recently removed and a coming soon section.

Recently added should be revamped to include a drop down. The drop down should go to the dates when major content was added, such as the 1^st and 15^th when they tend to add/take away movies. So I can see just what was added on those dates without overlapping from previous release dates.

A new section called recently removed should be viewable. Many times I swore a movie or show was on instant but I cannot find it, when the movie or show was recently removed and I wasn’t aware of it. Similar to the revamped recently added, a date drop down to view the removal dates to see what movies or shows recently were taken away from instant.

The third section is coming soon. Netflix knows what movies it will be able to release to instant, on DVD queues they put a date next to the title a couple weeks prior. So why not have a section showing what is coming to instant. Similar to the prior two, have a drop down for each big release dates. Knowing what will be released in the coming months can get current subscribers enthused about what’s to come instead of them being released and play the game of figure out what’s new.

I’ll touch briefly on the auto play option they have going for instant viewers on the web. It actually is a nice idea. To continue watching one episode after another without having to select the next one is great for the lazy person. I know they plan to release the option to all the game systems, Wii, PS3, X-box. I know one has it already, I just can’t remember which one. I have the Wii, and I know that the option isn’t available, and will be grateful when it comes. The wife and I do have marathon runs of shows occasionally, and not having to constantly pick up the remote to start the next episode can save on battery life. The only important thing is to have an option to turn off the feature. I have seen plenty of people hoping for this feature and it does make sense to offer such.

No I am not done with Netflix. I have one more large suggestion to add to the list. I think the length of the last suggestion will be quite sizable that I want to extent it to a third part of this series. As of right now, I don’t think that there will be a fourth part to my suggestions, but it’s hard to say right now.

Netflix, I love you really, but...Part 1

2012-09-07T06:16:00.002-04:00

I’ll start by saying I love Netflix. It’s a great service, and been enjoying it for years. I doubt I would've watched even a fraction of the movies and TV shows if it weren't for Netflix. My problem with Netflix, and I believe I’m not the only one, is their website. Don’t get me wrong, they have a good website to navigate, but it can be much better. So I offer my opinions on how they can improve. Maybe they will see this and implement some of my suggestions. If not, I at least feel like I got it off my chest and in the open, even if no one reads it.

First off, the good, most everyone want to hear the good first. I love the categorization. They do a great job of breaking down the categories. Take action and adventure movies. Action classics, action comedies, action thrillers, adventures, Asian action, comic book and superheroes, crime action & adventure, foreign action & adventure, martial arts, military action & adventure, spy action & adventure, Westerns. Splitting them into so many sub categories, makes it easy to narrow down the search.

Next is the home page. They do a good job of offering many suggestions. Right off the bat, they have the top 10 suggestions based on what I’ve watched. As I scroll down the page, it offers categories that I would like to see. Movies or shows I might like based on what I just watched, even a section for new releases to watch.

Before I continue, I must clarify that my wife and I use Netflix for instant watching. So my suggestions are laid out for instant layout. I assume the DVD side is in a similar layout. So my suggestions may apply to that side as well.

For starters, they have two categories that bug me, recently added and new releases. Recently added I understand; movies that Netflix has received permission to finally release for instant viewing pleasure. Makes sense to me.

New releases on the other hand have me a bit confused. Are they new releases because they recently came out on DVD? Doesn’t seem to be. I have seen some movies that are several years old in the category. Also, if they recently were released on DVD and also instant then shouldn’t they now be considered a new release? In a similar respect, I have seen movies that were taken away from instant and then brought back, and some of them appear in new releases section. This also makes no sense. New episodes available for TV shows do make sense, but at the same time, they are recently added. All together, new releases category should be merged with recently added and then new releases category removed.

Back to those categories I so love. While they have the movies broken down greatly, when you get into a category of your choosing, you have two search methods, gallery view and sortable list.

The gallery view, to me, is the better of the two and what I use when looking. The gallery view shows the movie cover. Making it easier to get a better idea of what the movie is. In my opinion, being able to see what the movie or TV show is with a picture gives me quicker recognition of the movie or TV show, reducing the time spent searching. An issue with a lot of movies is remakes. By viewing the cover, it is easier to discern if I’m looking at the original or a remake. In some cases, I am not a fan of certain actors or actresses, so if I see their face/name on the cover, I skip over it. Or I could see a movie with an actor or actress that I didn’t know they made, and that can catch my eye.

The downside to the gallery view is I have no idea how they have it set up. Why some movies appear before others. It could be based on rating. But I see the star rating system all over the place. I could see a couple 4 star movies, then a two star movie, then a five star, so that isn’t the reason. The only reasonable conclusion I can come to is by most viewed appear near the first couple pages because as you get further into the pages for the category, the movies become movies that no one knew existed. Although occasionally I’ll see well known movies further down the list behind others that wouldn’t seem highly watched. But with gallery view, how they put them is how you see them. No way to sort through them in anyway shape or form. You can’t sort alphabetically, by year made, star rating, or by maturity rating.

This is where the sortable list excels. You can sort the list as you see fit. You can make the movies alphabetical, by year made, star rating, or by maturity rating. I love the ability to do so. But the downside is I cannot see the movie covers like in gallery view. Most the movies in every category I do not recognize by name and if I do recognize it, I stop to highlight it to confirm it’s the movie I thought it was. I find myself stopping at every movie to see what it is. I would say 75% of the movies I would skip in gallery view and with good reason. Finding them in the sortable list makes it tougher to want to see the movie once I mouse over to see the picture of the movie. With as many movies that Netflix has, if I can narrow my search time with gallery view, I will.

Netflix needs to merge these two options together. Get rid of the sortable list altogether. Make only the gallery view available. Along the top of each page you have drop down options to narrow your search or more convenient. Allow the gallery view to become alphabetized. Let me see the top rated movies. Here is how I think the drop down options should look/contain:

Alphabetical	Viewer Rating	Year	Movie Rating	TV Rating	Netflix Viewers

A-Z	5 Star -> 0 Star	Present-Earliest	R-NA	TV-MA -> TV-Y	Most viewed
A-M	5 Star only	Present-2010	NA-R	TV-Y -> TV-MA	Least viewed
N-Z	4 Star only	2009-2000	R	TV-MA
Z-A	3 Star only	1999-1990	PG-13	TV-14
	2 Star only	1989-1980	PG	TV-PG
	1 Star only	1979-1970	G	TV-G
	0 Star -> 5 Star	1969-1960		TV-Y7-FV
		1959-1940		TV-Y7
				TV-Y

These options should be mix and match. So if I want to see 4 star ratings of movies in the 1980’s from A-M, I should get my search narrowed down. It can be a great way to help the search process. I can weed out lower rated movies or shows I might not watch or discover new movies I didn’t know existed. With all the choices, some search items won’t be able to go together, and there are set ups that once selected makes other choices obsolete.

Obviously this has plenty in it at the moment. This is not all my ideas, as I will follow up with more of my ideas in my next post. I understand my ideas have a lot of work behind them. If Netflix does these, it would mean a complete revamping of their website. But I think it would defiantly be a lot better. I enjoy

Euphemism or soft language

2012-09-04T12:49:00.001-04:00

My last post I talked a little bit on the term of euphemism. So I figured I shall expand on that. This post will be easier for me, since I have talked about euphemisms and used them for a couple of my college classes. I’ll take the easy route and copy and paste an essay I did regarding euphemisms. Hopefully you’ll find it informative.

Euphemisms in language have been around for years. Although the use of euphemisms will never go away, there are some words and subjects that should not be euphemized. Some subjects have a sense of seriousness to them that should not be made to sound any worse than it actually is. Serious euphemisms cross over many subjects. I will focus on three subjects, military euphemisms, prison euphemisms, and some medical euphemisms. The three subjects that are not completely related, to show how euphemisms can extent over different areas of language.

The military is great for their use of euphemisms. But the problem with the military is they create euphemisms for everything they do, and this includes serious terms that should not be softened.

To start things off, whenever our military is activated to go to war, one of the first terms taken away is the term of war. Although the public refers to them as wars, the military with the help of the government, wars are quickly hidden under different terms. Going back to the Korean War, it was referred to as a police action. The next war that came through was the Vietnam conflict. Although the next couple wars, the Gulf war (Operation: Desert Storm) and war in Afghanistan are referred to as wars. The latest war in Iraq is being called Operation: Iraqi freedom. All these were wars, regardless what you refer them to, so there shouldn’t be a reason to be called anything else.

We have been in the age of nuclear weapons for over fifty years. We know how powerful these weapons can be due to the testing and the usage of these weapons dropped on Japan during World War II. With advancements in technology, it’s not a surprise we don’t hear the terms of A-bombs or H-bombs. But the problem comes with the renaming of some of the newer technologies. They refer to the group as devices, instead of even calling them bombs (Rawson 76). Two examples of different names are low yield thermonuclear device, or called a 5-megaton device (Rawson 77). The problem with these names is they hide how powerful these devices can actually be. The power behind these devices is equal to a million tons of dynamite. Some devices can be hidden behind the name of a tactical nuclear weapon. This essentially is another name for a mini nuke. The power of these weapons can be summarized in these quotes: “Even the tactical nuclear weapons supposedly designed for ‘limited’

wars were not an answer…some of these ‘small’ weapons carried a punch five times more powerful than the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.” (Sorensen 165) “The main difference between strategic and nuclear weapons is the difference in range. Tactical Nuclear weapons have a shorter range but are sometimes more powerful than strategic weapons…the use of 10% of the 7000 United States tactical nuclear weapons in Europe would destroy the entire area where such massive nuclear exchanges occurred.” (Center)

The final area of military that I will touch on is how they handle the death of people during a war. In war there are two types of people that are killed, active military soldiers and civilians. With military soldiers they are killed in action, they don’t deny it. But the problem comes when soldiers are killed on accident by their own side. This death is called friendly fire (Rawson 116). Besides being a euphemism, this term is also an oxymoron. There is no such thing as friendly fire when it means death by a gunshot wound. Civilians killed during wartime have a more hidden term. Anytime an innocent civilian is killed, they are referred to as collateral damage (Rawson 52). This term does not come even close to defining the severity of its meaning.

The prison system has had many changes throughout the years, as well as the language used. The first stop is in the name of the prison system itself. While the name of prison is still being used, most facilities have changed their names to Correctional Facilities (Rawson 61). Even the National Prison Association has changed its name to correspond with the new prison change and have become the American Correction Association. The following was noted in 1972 in “The Official Report of the New York State special commission on Attica: Effective July 8, 1970…there were no more prison; in their places, instead, stood six maximum security “correctional facilities.” The prison wardens became “institutional superintendents”…and the old-line prison guards awakened that morning to find themselves suddenly “correctional officers.” No one’s job or essential duties changed, only his title. Certainly the institutions themselves did not change…To a man spending fourteen to sixteen hours a day in a cell being “rehabilitated,” it was scarcely any comfort and no reassurance to learn that he was suddenly an inmate in a correctional facility instead of a convict in a prison. (Mitford 84)

There is also a different type of prisoner. This person is held for political reason instead of criminal reasons. These prisoners are referred to as detainees (Rawson 75). These detainees are arrested and then put into detention (Rawson 75). Detention, although sounds innocent enough actually refers to imprisonment without trial. So technically, being a detainee is worse than being a convict in a prison because a detainee has committed no crime and is being held in a prison without having a proper trial. Detainees are not in foreign countries and can happen in our own country as proven by New York Post columnist James A Wechsler’s response to his ‘Improved’ FBI dossier: My file reveals that from June 1942 until February 1945, I was on the FBI director’s list of Americans targeted for ‘custodial detention’…(Lavine, Wechsler)

There is a crime that is committed, that works into the medical field. This crime is rape (Rawson 23). The act of forcing someone to have sex against their will. A very serious crime which most of the victims are women. But the term is not used as often anymore, instead it’s replaced with a softer term, so not to make it seem like such a serious issue. The most common use is calling it an assault, usually a sexual assault, or other times possibly referred to as an improper or indecent assault. Although referred to in different terms, such an act should not be made to sound like it’s not as horrible as it actually is.

Rape does deal in the medical sense cause of the attack on the victim, usually ending in medical treatment in an Emergency Room. And when dealing with medical issues, euphemisms are once again used and again making events sound better than it should. Such a medical issue is abortion. The problem with the term abortion is that everyone thinks that it means intentionally killing the fetus, which it doesn’t. Abortion in general is the death of a fetus, but doesn’t mean purely intentional. But because the term has been deemed such, the reference to when an unborn fetus occurs that is not intentional; the term is called a miscarriage (Rawson 183). But a miscarriage is an abortion, but because of the common misconception we separate them do to the sound of one being nicer to deal with.

But the euphemistic term surrounding an abortion has gotten to the point of choosing for or against an intentional abortion sounds nearly the same. One is pro life, the other being pro choice.

To someone who doesn’t follow closely to the subject of abortion, it would be difficult to tell the difference. With pro life being against someone having an intentional abortion, and pro choice is for having an intentional abortion. Even having an intentional abortion, in some cases it’s not referred to as an abortion. Some people refer to the procedure as a criminal or an illegal operation. Not voicing an opinion on whether or not I agree or disagree with an intentional abortion. It should be made clear that ending the life of an unborn fetus should not sound as calm and not so serious sounding pro choice. From the aspect of intentional abortion being bad, the sound of the act mustn’t be referred to as if it sounds like what was done wasn’t really done.

Lastly, I will enter the world of the doctor. Not all doctors are perfect, no person is. But there are events in which the doctor makes a mistake. In some cases, this can cause serious problems. Uncommon cases causing the death to a patient, a big problem. This was known for a long time as malpractice. Once again, this term cannot hide from being euphemized and made to sound a lot less severe. The issue of improper treatment by a doctor became a therapeutic accident (Rawson 280). If it resulted in death, it maybe referred to as a terminal episode, possibly therapeutic misadventure due to negative patient care (Lutz 230).

Euphemism can be infectious. In our changing world, in which we feel the need to protect ourselves from everything bad, we should be cautious of what we protect ourselves from. There is a certain level in which we must not run away from certain actions. Changing the wording for certain actions or objects does not change the actual meaning. Trying to hide or conceal how bad a meaning is by making it sound nicer should not be done. We must accept the reality of such things and not try to replace them because they scare us, instead they should be embraced and face them as they are.

While I hope no one decides to steal this for their own use, and if you do, I hope you get caught doing so. The only issue would be if you needed a works cited, then you’d have issues since I didn’t put them here.

My inspiration for this topic comes from the great comedian George Carlin. For the bit that got me inspired see the following video, caution strong language:

America needs to fix its use of Abortion

2012-08-31T16:54:00.001-04:00

I know I said I’d do a comparison of the presidential nominees and myself. With the crazy announcements of the Republican national convention, it’s safe to say that more surprised words will be spoken to change how Mitt is seen and his political stances. Same can go for the President. Next week, the Democrat’s will have their convention and who knows what will be said there, especially if they let Joe Biden talk.

So, I want to talk about something else, Abortion. I am not going to lecture on if it’s right or wrong, or my views on either side of the issue. I’m going to talk about the usage of the word, and how American’s have altered the term and how it is perceived.

Merriam-Webster defines Abortion as:

1: the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus

A: spontaneous expulsion of a human fetus during the first 12 weeks of gestation

B: induced expulsion of a human fetus

C: expulsion of a fetus of a domestic animal often due to infection at any time before completion of pregnancy

2: arrest of development of an organ so that it remains imperfect or is absorbed

3: the arrest of a disease in its earliest stage

Number 2 and 3 of that definition have no part of my arguments, but I left in for full disclosure of the definition. I will be focusing on the number 1 definition, as well as part A and B of the definition.

Our culture likes to use euphemisms to great lengths. For those unaware, a euphemism is creating a nicer sounding word to describe something that can be perceived as offensive. A common use is saying someone passed away than say someone died.

Abortion has been manipulated to a euphemism as well as a harsh thought. Because of media, American’s have grasped onto the notion that Abortions is when a woman electively chooses to kill her baby. This is only partially correct, as evidence by part B of the first definition.

A miscarriage is the unexpected loss of a fetus. There a numerous reasons as to why a fetus will stop growing, and unfortunately a woman will lose her child. Miscarriage is used by the media as an unfortunately and natural event, and so when it happens, no one screams murderer at the woman. If you got to part A of the first definition, you find the definition used for miscarriage.

The question then becomes, why have two words which are part of the same definition created or used when a miscarriage is an abortion. So anyone who says they are against abortions should realize that they are against miscarriages too. The issue comes from Media, and American’s using euphemism’s to give hope to some and create fear for others. In the use of politics, the term abortion has really exploded with its term as a bad issue.

I know at this point, there can be some people thinking, there is a clear reason for the separation of the terms. Miscarriage is the body’s natural reaction to a fetus that will not be able to carry to term. Where as reference to abortion are to the people who are careless unfeeling people who will willing kill a fetus that can be carried to term, a clear distinction. So then we can say if we want abortions to be legal or not, definition A versus definition B. Wrong.

In many cases, a miscarriage, as defined by part A of the definition, the fetus does not naturally pass from the female. If this does not happen, complications can arise for the female, the most dangerous, infection. If the female cannot pass the fetus naturally, the female would have to undergo a procedure to clear out the fetus. This is where an issue arises. If the procedure is needed, then you are entering part B of the definition. So if part A does not work, part B is required. Therefore, the bad abortion we are known to call it is required to treat a miscarriage.

So go back to the “clear” distinction of calling them separate names and then banning abortion and not miscarriage. If you ban abortions, you ban life saving procedures for a natural event that may not properly pass. Ultimately, a miscarriage is an abortion, just a type of abortion often referred too as a spontaneous abortion, still an abortion.

I really think the definition and distinction should be made aware to the public, and be used and clarified when people talk about such issues. When people say they are against abortions, usually heard on television, my eye twitch’s and I want to reach through the television and strangle the ignorance out of them.

It should be stated that someone is either for or against the elective abortion not due to a spontaneous abortion, or if sticking with the euphemistic language, miscarriage. But it won’t happen because we’re all happy with our simple ignorant terms.

My political party can beat your political party

2012-08-27T20:59:00.000-04:00

One of the big things with American’s is stating your political party because as American’s what political party you’re in, really means jack squat, but we make it seem like it is. American’s are very stick and structured on what they believe and their political party. I think I’d be more scared to be in a room with one democrat and a republic than in a room with a blood and a crip. To clarify, I’d be more scared by having to listen to the democrat and republic argue like neither one can do no wrong.

Am I a democrat or a republican? Answer: neither. Am I an independent? Answer: doubtful, mostly because there have been a couple various versions of independents, and I don’t even think they know what they stood for. No offense to anyone who is an independent. I consider myself an American, not to be mistaken with the American party, or the know-nothing party. I like and support ideas from both parties, but can’t say I waver for one party over the other.

I personally think the country would be heading in the right direction if both parties understood that neither side is correct on its own. If congress would get their own heads out of their asses, the country could see some improvement sometime soon. But there is no bipartisanship happening in congress. Both sides think they are right and do not budge to even consider what the other side has to offer. It’s this thinking that’s given this congress it’s lowest approval rating in history, so far.

Now to compare what democrats, republicans, and I believe I found a good website that compared the two for me, and then I will add my opinions to them. The website I used was:

http://www.diffen.com/difference/Democrat_vs_Republican

I will keep the set up the same to make the comparisons easy to follow. If you still can’t follow along, then it’s not my problem.

	Democrat	Republican	Me
Economic Ideas:	Favor minimum wages and progressive taxation i.e. higher tax rates for higher income brackets.	Believe taxes shouldn't be increased for anyone (including the wealthy) and that wages should reflect free market.	This one I am split on. Taxes should be increased a bit more for higher tax brackets. Leaving wages as a reflection of a free market allows employers to employee more. If the minimum wage is forced to increase, employers will be more inclined to decrease hiring and possibly fire people to compensate.

	Democrat	Republican	Me
Stand on Military Ideas:	Decreased Spending.	Increased Spending.	I fully agree with the democrat’s. We can decrease our military spending. The cold war is over. Yes there have been cuts in the military. Bases have been closed. With limited threats, there isn’t a huge need to such a large military that we have. Technology has helped increase our power and help reduce casualties in the field. The budget for 2012 for the military is over 1 trillion. I think that’s a high enough number.

	Democrat	Republican	Me
Stand on Death Penalty:	Support for the death penalty is strong among democrats but opponents are a substantial fraction.	A large majority of Republicans support the death penalty.	As of right now I am in favor of the death penalty. As I was looking into the subject of costs, it seems the costs of giving the death penalty is more than someone to be in prison for life without parole. I will investigate more and maybe do another article on the subject. So my opinion can change on this issue.

	Democrat	Republican	Me
Stand on Abortion:	Should not be made illegal; support Roe v. Wade (some Democrats disagree)	Should not be legal; oppose Roe v. Wade (some Republicans disagree)	First off, abortion by definition is the loss of the fetus, by purpose or not. So a miscarriage is an abortion. A rant on a future article. Purposeful abortions should be legal, but with stipulations. Those conceived via rape should be allowed. If the fetus show signs of permanent deformations that will not allow the child to live a normal mean of life should be allowed. There can be a few more stipulations, but at this time, those two will do for now.

	Democrat	Republican	Me
Stand on Gay Marriage:	Support (some Democrats disagree)	Oppose (some Republicans disagree)	I am in support of gay marriage. I see this as a human rights issue. In a country where all men are created equal, we fail to do so throughout the years. Slavery was a huge issue. Then the rights of blacks had to be fought to win them. The current fight for rights is homosexuals. For those who say it’s an abomination against the Bible and therefore should not be made law. I refer to the first amendment of the constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” Unfortunately, it doesn't mean states have to follow suit.

I think this was a good comparison to show where I stand. There are items missing that I will expand on in further articles. I think for the next article, I will do a comparison between the two presidential candidates and myself.

Does Gregoresque sound better?

2012-08-21T06:11:00.001-04:00

I know the proper term is Kafkaesque. But if I only talk about the book The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, I think I should be able to call it Gregoresque since he’s the main character of the book for this section I will be talking about.

This is a common read in English classes. Depending on what school you go to, it could be various grades in which it is read. If you never read it, try it. It might interest you. Personally, if I never read it again, I would not regret it.

Short synopsis: Gregor Samson, the main character, wakes up one morning and is transformed into a cockroach. The story follows Gregor and his continuing change to his eating habits, to his behavior change. At the same time, Gregor watches his families struggle with the change that has happened to Gregor and his impact on their mental and physical state.

Now I chose to talk about this book, because this book drove me insane. Not because the book was boring, stupid, or ridiculous. I was annoyed more at my teacher with this book. Like all English teachers and stories, there are always meaning in certain parts of the story and their reflection on life. But at some point, it seems to get over the top. The point it peeked in the book was during one particular part. Gregor escapes from his room, and is spotted by his family. The dad in a fit of rage, starts grabbing from the nearby fruit bowl and starts throwing them at Gregor. A pear bounces off his back, an orange hits him in the eye, and an apple gets lodged into one of his ribs of his shell.

This is where the teacher asked us about the symbolism of the attack. After seeing the class look at him like he was speaking German. He explains the comparison to the Bible. Still confused? So were we. He explained the apple, just like the Bible, was the bad fruit. The apple ended up in the ribs of a man, in which woman was formed. In case you weren’t aware, woman ate the apple that basically got humans banned for life from the Garden of Eden.

If you’re partially like me, you would think this is a far stretch. Others would see the representation. And a select few will still be scratching their heads still trying to figure out Gregoresque. If you’re in the others that see the representation, I twitch my eye at you, and suggest you try to see things my way. Maybe you’ll think just a little bit differently.

Now, I know the Bible makes women seems like the ultimate mistake of God. With Genesis alone, the whole apple eating deal, portray woman as weak willed, ignorant, and the reason man will never get in God’s good grace to re-enter the Garden of Eden. A tad much in my opinion, but who am I to argue with the “word of God.”

So now, I can somewhat see the comparison. But I don’t like it. I think it’s just being read into waaay too much. It’s this type of example that makes me think English teachers really reach at times to make connections, when it’s very likely it was all a coincidence. My thoughts on the whole scene, Kafka was writing the story and had gotten to the point of Gregor escaping and his family seeing him. As he was decided what their reaction would be, he reached into his own fruit bowl and grabbed an apple to think. When the idea came to him, they throw fruit at the ugly bug. Since he had an apple in his hand that was the lucky one that gets stuck. And since the only place anything can get stuck in a cockroach, it ends up between his ribs. Voilà. I think that has more credibility than he’s comparing the whole scene to Adam and Eve and the evil apple of knowledge and exile.

Now I know there can be some interpretation of Kafka’s works that indicate comparisons to the Bible, but many have thought to say that too much is being read into his work to connect the two. For some more read on it I refer you to the following website.

http://www.kafka-franz.com/bible.htm

This concludes my English adventures, at least for now. Maybe in the future I will remember something from that year to share, or that stemmed either from 12^th grade or another time of learning. Since I have posted one article regarding the current political election, I shall go into that area next. So if you’ve been intrigued so far, I hope to keep you intrigued. Remember tell your friend, family, or just random people on the street or internet about me. Post the link on facebook that you’re reading my blog, who knows; maybe people will think more of you reading a blog that seems interesting and thoughtful.

Tax returns and the two evil politicians

2012-08-18T20:06:00.000-04:00

Now I will be continuing my fun filled history. I will even get more into my political background and opinions. But I’m going to step in early with a topic that has seen annoying me during this campaign. The releasing of Mitt Romney’s tax returns. Obama’s campaign has asked he release the last 10 years of his tax returns. On Friday August 17^th, Obama’s campaign asked he only release the last 5 years. The exact quote from Jim Messina is:

"So I am prepared to provide assurances on just that point: if the Governor will release five years of returns, I commit in turn that we will not criticize him for not releasing more - neither in ads nor in other public communications or commentary for the rest of the campaign."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/obama-campaign-romney-release-years-tax-returns-ll-call-truce-tax-issue-article-1.1138398#ixzz23pQTvkUf

My personal opinion on Romney releasing 5 years or 10 years is: I DON’T CARE!!!!! Releasing tax returns, in my opinion will have no basis on why a person should be elected president. The releasing of Tax returns has been a role in past elections. And knowing the outcomes of the elections, the releasing of tax forms seems to have no merit on who wins.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57473424/outrage-over-tax-returns-a-replay-of-past-campaigns/

Obama’s campaign is going to use the tactic throughout the campaign. Obviously their hope is the Romney is so secretive that your only choice is Obama. This in my opinion is a horrible reason for someone to win.

To say because he is hiding secrets from the public, he is unfit to be a president. Last I checked, the government holds plenty of secrets from the public. So that sounds more like a reason to have Romney as President, he can hide secrets and stand behind it.

I have read about secrets from the past of Obama that have not been released. The biggest one, in which some have said Romney should pressure Obama, is about his College years. Based on a recent contact on Sean Hannity, his sealed documents hold a new conspiracy to Obama’s past.

http://www.examiner.com/article/you-show-me-yours-and-i-ll-show-you-mine

To me, the demanding for tax returns from democrats is creating a group of democrats that are acting like the republican birther’s. I hated the still ongoing controversy of Barack Obama’s birth certificate. No matter how many people view it, people will constantly think he was not born in Hawaii. Even if Romney gets elected, and he doesn’t release his past returns. Democrats will attack that fact through his 4 year term, it’s a guarantee.

With all these “horrible secrets” that the candidates are hiding, maybe I should look to ads to help me see their ideas for presidency. Seems like the legit thing to do. But one slight problem, I can barely find any. Why? Because both sides seem to be on their way to having another big smear-mest. Both sides are attacking each other without revealing much of what they plan to do for the next 4 years. Now, I think it seems like I am over exaggerating, but 50,984 negative ads over a 2 week period seems high to me.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-07-16/obama-romney-bash-each-other-with-90-percent-negative-ads

Now, 50,984 ads do not seem like a lot, but let’s break it down:

1,529,520 seconds

25,492 minutes

424 hours

There are 366 hours in a 2 week period.

So, for a 2 week period, there was an ad starting less than every minute. So no matter at what point of time during that 2 weeks, and ad was playing for someone. What’s worse is that most ads are not played in all 50 states. They are played mostly in swing states. Those are the people I feel sorry for.

With non stop attacks ads, I don’t know which one to vote for. The rich millionaire politician who wants to destroy America with his secrets. Or the other rich millionaire politician who wants to destroy America with his secrets. Decisions, decisions.

The story goes on

2012-08-17T07:33:00.001-04:00

Welcome back. I know right now, I have no one reading. But it doesn’t stop me from typing up my blog with what I want. For now, this seems like a biography. I think I can get several posts just from my history before I even get close to other posts and where I could go with this blog in the future. And now, back to my past.

I enjoyed what he did for the class. He treated the class more like a college class, to help prepare us for what we could deal with at a higher level than high school. He also set up his class with specific reading material, as do all English classes. But his was set with literature that more philosophy based. Designed to get beyond the normal way of thinking, to think outside the flow of life, and expand outside the narrow sight so many set themselves into.

The literature that I remember most and had the biggest impact on me was “Allegory of the cave” by Socrates. Side note, I still like to say his name pronounced So-crates, instead of Soc-ra-tes, for the pop culture reference. Back to the story. Short version, men chained in a cave who are fed shadows on the wall. These men believe the shadows are real. One of the men gets released. He discovers the shadows are made by real objects. He eventually discovers the exit of the cave, and the rest of the world. After seeing the world, the man returns to the cave and the other chained men. He tries explaining to them about what he saw, but they do not believe him, since all they know is the shadows. And since they can’t see anything but the shadows, they refuse to believe anything else.

It’s a pretty self explanatory message. But in case you didn’t get it; just because you are told/taught/shown something, does not mean that something you were told/taught/shown is everything and nothing else. Simpler version: don’t take things at face value. Learn to find the cave entrance and live life beyond the shadows in front of you.

I feel this is a good stopping point. Am I done with my 12^th grade English class/experience? No. I think there will only be one more post regarding that. Well, at least at this time I believe so, but only time will tell.

How do you start?

2012-08-13T21:13:00.000-04:00

How to start out a blog? When I have never done one before. The best I figure is a giant introductory about me, with some of my views and beliefs to give a better idea of how I think. My thoughts are, if you know about the author, you can get an understanding of what you could get yourself into by reading my future posts. Hopefully my introduction post will varnish continued interest in my posts. If your one who does not see the interest to continue, then I am very sorry to lose a reader.

So, as an introduction, I think about what should be contained. I can’t think of everything that could be included. At the time of typing this, I can only think of a few points, I feel can give a decent idea of how I think. First off will be my influences into my critical thinking. Who taught me, and how they helped shape me. I also picked two other categories to start with, politics and religion.

Life experiences/ Education:

I am in no way a scholar. I do not have a complete college education. I am working on my degree in business management. With the education I’ve had, combined with the experience and teachings that have helped me be more thoughtful. While I do see myself this way, does not mean that I hold an ego thinking I am better than others, or think less of others opinions.

I have changed a lot from high school. In high school, I didn’t think about as much. I never cared what was going on in current events. I wasn’t even one to care much for the work. I felt like I was there to get through it all, with no idea what I wanted to do. It’s why I never went to college right away; I went to work out of high school. Now that things have changed, I’m now going back to school for a degree. I have been on a couple year hiatus unfortunately due to expenses and have been unable to afford the classes. I am aware of financial aid and student loans, but having issues trying to get financial aid, and I refuse to gain student loan debt.

Getting back to high school, it seems bad, but never hit a large thought of life until 12^th grade English class. Everyone called him Doc. I never asked why or found out. My only theories come down to; he had a PHD. Not sure he did, but would not surprise me if he had one. Next theory, due to his facial hair, and glasses, he resembled Doc from the seven dwarves. Only other theory is that he was a fan of Back to the Future movie. For all I know, it’s a completely different reason why. Whatever the reason, he was my teacher for 12^th grade.

Apparently, my posts for beginning will be longer than anticipated. That’s perfectly fine. Just means I’ll have more posts to get me going for awhile. So I think this will be a good stopping point. Stay tuned for my fun adventures in 12^th grade English. I know, English doesn’t sound fun, but maybe you get something to think and ponder about, similar to what I did from that class.