I'm running out of titles

For anyone that may purposely, begrudgingly, or unfortunately come across my blog...

December 18, 2008:
Coming in second has its advantages; remember, it's the second mouse that gets the cheese.


December 19, 2008:
Anyone can look up and down a street. A leader is someone who can see around the corner.

Just for kicks

An update on the calendar pages of mine:

12/15: Go to a restaurant frequently enough so they know your name. Then you might get seated quicker on a busy saturday night.

12/16: A man should never stay seated when shaking someone's hand.

12/17: Remember, the weather is indifferent to your opinion of it.


Happy Winter Break!

So long, farewell, adieu, and goodbye

I have unfortunately come to that time when my very loyal blogging experience has come to a minor close. Due to the fact that I will no longer be obligated to blog about the intellectual and thought-provoking classes of my first year seminar, I see the amount of time being spent on my blog as being cut drastically. Every now and I then I may find a glimpse of spirited motivation to express myself through the blogging experience. Overall, I found the experience helpful in writing out my thoughts- which is something I have always had trouble with. Hah, yet I am a journalism major. Although, writing out my thoughts helps then to be able to vocalize them in class. Some people from class may not have ever gandered upon my blog which I regret, because I know that I could have done something in return if I wanted them too. This has been my first blogging site, and I feel satisfied with the experience it has brought me. As a farewell note, I will leave you all with my "life's little instruction calendar" page of the day, which I am stumped by:

Should you be praised, pray it be by honest men.

Perhaps I will post the calendar pages until the end of the year for the pleasurable viewing by all my followers. Have a good one!


"And in case I don't see ya...Good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight!"
TTS

Exista-what?

I unfortunately am only 2/3 of my way through the article covering existentialism. I am once again on the verge of slight confusion. I feel as though the philosopher or author is very sophisticated and speaks in several different perspectives. He gives many different versions of the idea I think and speaks about all of them. I do not feel as though I kept up with the writing so far, except for minor exerpts. One piece that I may have understood was covering taking action. I believe it was along the lines of we must take action instead of letting others do if for us. We cannot be a victim of quietism, which is saying the other man will do what I cannot. I agree with this in that we should not take on this model. Whether or not I will comprehend to final third of his work is ambiguous, but I am hopeful; for some reason, I feel that it is compiling several of the topics we have discussed in class up to this point in the semester.

Hoi Polloi!

Thanks, Merry Christmas to you too.


One of the most interesting parts of the reading in "Health of Nations" that I discovered was the Roseto experiment, which took an Italian-American town in the mid 1950s and studied the social health of the people. To the suprise of researchers (or scientists or philosophers, I really don't know) the town had the same prevalence for risk factors such as heart disease, obseity, high blood pressure, etc. as any neighboring towns yet suffered less than half the rate of heart attack. The researchers found that there was a "striking degree of solidarity with their community. Ther ewas a strong tradition of helping one's friends as well as friends of one's friends. The idea of helping eachother out help significantly to increase health benefits. The culture even had a set of checks and balances (figuratively, im guessing) to ensure that neither success no failure got out of hand. The dress and mannerisms were also very similar throughout the town, thus no one could easily tell the difference between the rich and poor. The fantasy did not last long, however, when the community started to become preoccupied with materialistic goods. Ah yes, Merry Christmas! Anyways, this idea of being able to help eachother out and have a genuine concern for one another to increase health benefits is remarkable.

You gotta be kiddin!

I had to stop in middle of my reading of "Health of Nations" to quickly jot down a blog while the thought was fresh in my mind. I am currently on a segment about economic inequalities and how they somehow propel our nation, yet create major social difficulties. One argument that was displayed was that about education and tuition. As a college student myself, I experience the frequent terrors of experiencing (or my parents experiencing) bankruptcy due to the exploding prices of education. The author mentions that part of the reason for the so heavily increasing costs are due to the skyrocketing administrator's salaries. These salaries are then the burden of those paying tuition fees. What used to be a base of about $3000 at an ivy league school in the seventies is now around $30,000. The line that struck me was, "yet if the number of places at elite institutions remains unchanged, everyone is spending more to end up in exactly the same position." If everyone is striving for the most prestigous job, then it the value of it depletes. It all depends what everyone else is doing. We are spending way more than we did thirty years ago to attain all of the same jobs. However, as students become smarter and more skilled, the bar is raised, and I fear the price of tuition increasing even more. Oh, dear.

*As a sidenote, can anyone please explain to me what an arm's race is? It has been mentioned a few times, yet I can seem to decipher its meaning on my own.