Outside Event #2

I only just got around to posting this. But my second outside event took place at Burke's Books. The reading was of the book "Something Is Out There" by Richard Bausch. The place was packed, there was absolutely nowhere to sit, so I got to stand like some of my classmates whom also attended. Richard's daughter played a few songs on her guitar, which I felt took a lot of courage, but that is because I have terrible stage fright. I already felt uncomfortable do to the singing and standing. The start of the readings did not go smoothly however,Mr. Bausch started talking very quietly and someone had to tell him to read louder. The reading consisted of a chapter called Immigration. The chapter was about immigrants of different ethnicity trying to gain citizenship in the United States. Richard used some funny accents in his reading which spiced it up a bit. The reading made me realize just how tough it is to completely change your surroundings. They left their land and possibly left some of their possessions to start a new life. Sadly, their new life was not all happiness. There was plenty of struggle. The writing was very thoughtful and I enjoyed it very much.

What If #15

What if you got everything you wanted? Would you ever be satisfied? My belief is that you would never truly be satisfied. As anyone gets what they want, they find that they get bored with what they have and begin to want more. This continues until death. I have caught myself wanting more many a times, after all, I'm only human. I've been reading about the world's wisest man and what he had to say about this world. He saw the world as God saw it, as a place where men toil day after day to reach a point that doesn't matter. At the same time, seeing that it all doesn't matter except for what God has planned for you lead him (and myself) to believe that one did not need to worry about the future. "For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a man's misery weighs heavily upon him. Since no man knows the future, who can tell him what is to come? No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no one has power over the day of his death. As no one is discharged in time of war,so wickedness will not release those who practice it." Ecclesiastes 8:6-8. Not being able to control when you will die lets off a lot of pressure. I don't need to worry about when I am going to die because I can do nothing to prevent it. God already knows what you are going to do and has planned your life to lead up to your death. A misconception with being a Christian is that you will be safe in everything you do. God promises to never take you past your breaking point but never promises an easy life. "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." 1 Corinthians 10:13. It also promises that if you follow the word exactly, you will be persecuted by the world, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven...."
Matthew 5:10-12
But we all have rough parts in our life, and I've had my fair share. "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23
This goes back to the original thought in this blog that we all are going to die eventually. I have embraced that fact and do not fear death at the moment, but there is no telling how one will react until faced with the situation. I know I mess up and I will keep asking for forgiveness and push on. When I mess up, I always remember Alexander Pope's quote, "To err is human, to forgive divine," and how God removes our sins "as far as the east is from the west."

What if #14

What if Star Wars did really take place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far way? I loved Star Wars the minute I saw it. It is a mix of supernatural power and futuristic technology. At the same time, it also shows the many different species and ships that make up the Star Wars galaxy. George Lucas and his crew had to be geniuses to meld it all together and make it flow properly. They started with a small back story and it grew to have a rich mix of cultures, technology, supernatural power, and varied species. Not only were the species cool and interesting, but the characters were very well developed by the plot. By the end of a movie, you feel like you can sympathize with them. Almost no one knew what to think of Star Wars right as it came out, and now it is it's own world. It is almost as large of a world as the Lord of the Rings series. As something popular goes through time, it grows as many people put more and more things into it. Some of the random things that added to my love for the Star Wars world were: of course the movies (IV-VI are my favorites/the original trilogy) various videogames (Podracer, Shadows of the Empire, Jedi Knight Series, Clone Wars, the list goes on and on), and the many books made since the first movie was released. If the movies took place a long time ago, then I wonder what the technology would be like now? They had spaceships and lightsabers for crying out loud, there's no telling what kind of cool inventions they have had since then. The Star Wars world will always be a fun part of my childhood that I can look back and still feel the same excitement I did back then.

Outside Event #3

My last outside even was the reading of Asleep by Molly Crosby. She read about many case studies of encephalitis lethargica and the effects it had on many people. The book focuses on the stories behind the people in the case studies and what the disease did to their personalities. The disease eventually makes you fall "asleep" until a doctor discovered L-Dopa. The drug allows the brain to suppress the effects of the disease. The victims were allowed to walk around and learn, but sadly, only for a little while before the amount of L-Dopa needed was too much. The reading from the book made me depressed as I heard about how this disease destroyed so many lives, permanently changing the personality of those lucky enough not to fall asleep forever. Insane asylums and institutions made the book sound very dark. The doctors did not fully understand the disease so it was very hard to diagnose the diseases correctly. Many case studies went unsolved, especially after the random disappearance of the disease. Overall, the reading was very interesting from the neurological standpoint as well as emotional standpoint. If I had the time, I would read the book.

What If #13

What if the Earth stopped spinning? Would there no longer be any gravity? What would happen to humans and other animals? Well I have researched a little bit into this interesting topic, and this is what I have come up with. If the earth suddenly stopped spinning, the Earth's atmosphere would still be moving at a constant rate of 1100 mph. The Earth's surface would be wiped clean of everything that isn't anchored down and strong enough ti withstand over 1000 miles per hour wind. The case would be different if the Earth slowly stopped spinning. When the Earth stopped spinning as much as physics will allow, the Earth will have permanent spots of day and night in a cycle around the sun. If the rotation reached 1 revolution per 365 days, sun synchronization would take place, which is the cause of the permanent night and day in a year. The increased temperature at the equator would cause the wind systems to move away from the equator toward the poles rather than parallel as they are now. Another theory tied into all of this is the magnetic field of Earth would possibly deteriorate, leaving us with no protection from cosmic rays or high-energy particles such as UV light and radiation from other stars. This would cause many people to die if they stayed outside for any great amount of time. The Earth's gravity would be effected as well. The spin of the Earth diminishes a very slight amount of gravity. Imagine being on a carousel or any spinning ride, when the ride spins fast, the spinning tends to pull one towards the outside of the ride. This is due to centrifugal force, this force alleviates some gravity from Earth's mass as it spins. Without that spin, the Earth's mass would have a greater effect, but only just slightly. The earth's pull of gravity is equivalent to 9.78m/s(with spin figured in), without the spin, the earth's pull would be the normal constant used for gravity, 9.81m/s. This is only a difference of 0.3%, so if you weighed 200lbs now, you would be 200.6lbs if the Earth stopped spinning. An interesting fact that made me laugh, was that water would start going straight down the drain instead of swirling in a direction towards the equator. Next time you flush, watch the water go down, it spins clockwise if you are in the northern hemisphere of the Earth, and counter-clockwise for the southern hemisphere. This is due to the Coriolis Effect. The same effect also has to be taken into account in far distance sniper shots. The Earth's spin actually moves the object rooted to the Earth at about 1,000mph in relation to the object no longer moving with the Earth. Think of it this way, if we could make a ball float in the air indefinitely without any obstructions or outside effects(weather, wind), the ball would rotate around the Earth just as the moon does. The ball would end up on the other side of the world due to the spin, but this could never be experimented because of wind, atmosphere, and other outside forces. Remember that the Coriolis Effect is only an effect and not a force, it only explains what the spin does. The Coriolis Effect also determines the spin of long lasting vortices such as hurricanes, typhoons, and cyclones. The spin is opposite in vortices in weather patterns due to the force of the air trying to rush towards a low pressure area. Overall, I think that the Earth no longer spinning would be terrible for all life. Save Earth, it's the only planet with chocolate!

What If #12

What if the President of the United States made a mistake by cutting funds for purchasing F-22 Raptors(last picture)? If you think that the F-22 is the best plane ever built and nothing can ever defeat it, then you are wrong. Other countries, including some enemies, are already working on new fifth generation planes. A fifth generation aircraft means that they have high-performance airframes, internally carried advanced air-to-air, and air-to-ground weapons, all aspect stealth, Low Probability of Intercept Radar (LPIR), and networks for shared situation awareness. Their advanced highly integrated avionics systems, with on and off-board sensor fusion, free pilots to focus on the task, rather than the different systems that generate the information. Some examples of fifth generation aircraft are the F-22 Raptor, F-35 Lightning II, India's Medium Combat Aircraft, China's Shenyang J-XX (first pic), Russia's Sukhoi PAK FA(second pic) and the Sukhoi/HAL FGFA (joint Russian and Indian plane). At the moment, Russia and India are considered allies, but China is a different story. At the moment, they seem to be the biggest threat to the United States when it comes to aeronautics. The new planes all have the same capabilities as the F-22 Raptor has, and if they build way more of their planes than we do, then we will become way outnumbered. At the current date, the United States has only purchased 187 Raptors, with no current plans to produce any more. The plane itself costs $142.6 million per unit with the whole program costing more than $65 billion. Obama just recently signed the new budget without procuring money to Lockheed Martin or Boeing in order to start production of the 187 aircraft. The aircraft cannot help defend the country if they aren't even built yet. The technology on the plane is pretty neat. The radar cross-section of a Raptor appears to be the size of a metal marble on a radar screen. This makes it nearly undetectable to enemy missiles and radar. The newer, but less technological, cheaper version of the F-22 is the F-35(second picture). The F-35 has a new cool Helmet Mounted Display System (HMDS) (third picture) that allows the Heads Up Display (HUD) to move with the pilot's head instead of it being static on the front of the plane. The pilot can now look towards an enemies position and gain information or even acquire missile lock and fire. This now allows pilots to fire missiles when they aren't even facing the enemy. So no more Top Gun-like dogfights where you have to line up the enemy, you just simply look at them. The technology of all nations is constantly being upgraded, are we starting to lose the race for air superiority? Obama tried his hardest to shut down the F-22 program, but only succeeded in stopping production of the 187 aircraft that will be purchased. We can only wait and see what happens.

What if #11

What if the war in Iraq had never begun. Would we still be in the other countries fighting for something that doesn't truly effect us. I understand that the best defense is a strong offense, but we are loosing more men than is needed (even though our numbers are nowhere near any other conflict in respect to time/casualty ratio). We are policing a country that will fall apart the second we leave. The job should have been finished long ago. This same situation occurred in Somalia, Vietnam, and various other conflicts. The politics hold back the military so that they cannot finish the job. What if when we entered Iraq and instead of trying to avoid killing civilians, we just carpet bombed the entire area until all resistance stopped. That's what happened in World War II. We didn't bother to avoid bombing civilians in German cities, as a matter of fact, we purposefully attacked civilians in order to demoralize the enemy. Over 14 million Russian civilians died in the continuous bombings and horrible conditions that the Nazis put them through after capture. That number puts the Soviet Union's civilian casualties at around 48 times that of the United States MILITARY casualties (416,800). The Soviet Union's total casualties (24 million) were greater than all other countries' military casualties combined. To win wars, there has to be no mercy. Do you think that Truman thought about mercy when he dropped over 21 kilotons (21,000 tons) of TNT on Nagasaki and over 18 kilotons (18,000 tons) of TNT on Hiroshima? No, I don't think so, we deemed it necessary, and in the long run, it saved many American lives when the Japanese surrendered. We no longer had to invade the Japanese mainland. Admiral "Bull" Halsey was quoted saying, "Before we're done with them, the Japanese language will be spoken only in Hell!" I don't quite agree with his statement, but it shows the way we felt about our operations, it was no-nonsense. They got the job done and moved on. I wonder what happened to our way of thinking?

What If #10

What if Delta Force actually existed? Haha, it's funny because they are real. The 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment Delta (1st SFOD-D) has been around since 1977. The group was started when Charles Beckwith became impressed by the British Special Air Service (SAS) after serving as an exchange officer in the 60's. Top military and government figures were also impressed by the idea of a direct action force. The United States government, to this day, denies their existence. They are mainly involved in counter-terrorist or hostage rescue operations. Being an integral part of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), they are under the direct control of the Department of Defense. They have taken part in many operations including: Operation Urgent Fury (invasion of Grenada), Operation Just Cause (invasion of Panama), Operation Heavy Shadow (possible scenario for killing of Pablo Escobar), Operation Desert Storm/Shield (protection of General Schwarzkopf / SCUD missile hunts), Operation Gothic Serpent (capture of Mohammed Farah Aidid / Blackhawk Down), Operation Enduring Freedom (hunting high value targets), Operation Iraqi Freedom (involved in capture/killing of Saddam, Uday, and Qusay Hussein(pic at top w/delta wearing protech helmets at front, house where Qusay was getting hit with TOW missile), and Al-Zarqawi / inserted into Baghdad before invasion) This short list is just a few major operations they took part in. There are many more, some that may even still be active or classified. The most famous of the operations would have to be, in my opinion, Operation Gothic Serpent. It took place in Mogadishu, Somalia, in August - October, 1993. The force was named Task Force Ranger and consisted of 75th Ranger Regiment, Delta Force operators, 160th SOAR(Special Operations Aviation Regiment), Navy SEALs(DEVGRU), Air Force Pararescuemen, and combat controllers from the 24th Speical Tactics Squadron. This operation was made famous by the downing of two UH-60 Blackhawks in downtown Mogadishu in the event that came to be known as The Battle of Mogadishu. This battle is portrayed in the movie Black Hawk Down. Most of the events in the movie are real, except for certain characters who were changed for a more dramatic effect. The Rangers and Delta operators fought through an area of the city known for housing rebels, trying to capture a warlord who had the area under military siege. Two blackhawks were shot down by RPG's that hit the counter torque blades of the helicopters, making them spin out of control. The operation then turned from capturing high value targets to rescuing downed pilots and soldiers. Paul Howe, a delta operator portrayed by Eric Bana in Blackhawk Down, lead a team to rescue the pilot of the second helicopter, but did not make it in time. Two Delta snipers, Randall Shughart and Gary Gordon, who were providing sniper cover from a Blackhawk, volunteered to land and provide assistance to the downed helicopter. The team was allowed to land and fought off crowds of rebels that eventually overwhelmed and killed them both. Their actions saved the life of the pilot Mike Durant. Both Delta operators were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. The pilot was captured but later released by the rebels. Overall, the operation was considered a failure with 18 U.S. soldiers dead, 73 wounded. The Somalian casualties are unknown but believed to be around 1,000 dead, 3,000 injured. The part that pisses me off is the fact that the ground forces requested an AC-130 and APCs to help with the operation, but the Clinton administration deemed the assets to be unnecessary and too high profile. The APCs would have allowed the rescue forces to break through the enemy gunfire to rescue the downed choppers faster and under much greater protection than the HUMVEEs. Clinton's Secretary of Defense, Les Aspin, resigned in late 1993 after he was specifically blamed for denying the US Army permission to use the armor units in place in Somalia, units which might have been able to break through to the trapped soldiers earlier in the battle. US political leaders felt it would be bad for the peacekeeping image of the mission if tanks were in country. Osama bin Laden, who was then in Sudan, cited this operation, in particular the US withdrawal from Somalia, as an example of American weakness and vulnerability to an attack. Mark Bowden, who wrote the book(way better than the movie) about Blackhawk Down before it was a movie, had this to say about the gruesome battle, "The parallel with Mogadishu is that gunmen in that battle hid behind walls of civilians and were aware of the restraint of the (Army) Rangers. These gunmen literally shot over the heads of civilians, or between their legs. They used women and children for this. It's mind-boggling, when a ten-year-old is running at your vehicle with an AK-47, do you shoot the kid? Yes, you shoot the kid. You have to survive."

What if #9

What if your entire ruling party died in a plane crash. This leaves you with little left to rule your country. It would be a sad day in your country. Well, all of this happened to Poland not even 7 hours ago. A plane carrying the President of Poland Lech Kaczynski and his wife crashed in Russia while traveling to Katyn. Katyn was the site of a massacre of Polish prisoners of war by the Russians in 1940. The plane was full of the President's top cabinet and many war veterans going to Katyn to commemorate the many that died that sad day in 1940. "With a single swipe, the plane crash that killed the President gutted a nation's leadership and silenced some of the most potent human symbols of its tragic and tumultuous history(Stack, NY Times)." The fact that the crash occurred on Russian soil already opens up old wounds between the two countries. Among the 97 killed in the crash were the army chief of staff, the head of the National Security Office, the national bank president, the deputy foreign minister, the deputy parliament speaker, the civil rights commissioner, and members of parliament. The flight was a 26 year old Soviet-designed plane full of iconic Polish figures headed to a Catholic Mass to honor the 70th anniversary of the deaths at Katyn. The flight crashed due to fog on the ground and a hurried Polish aircrew who wanted to land in Smolensk due to time constraints. The Russians warned the pilots to not attempt to land in Smolensk, but the pilots continued anyway. The plane never reached the runway, it flew into trees before the runway, the plane was torn apart and there were no survivors.

What If #8

What if I could take all of my classes when I wanted to take them. There always seems to be a scheduling conflict, or something messing up with permits on the Memphis website. Classes would be much easier if they could be taken on our own time and not when they are scheduled. I am actually taking a history class online over the summer, so hopefully I will be able to do the work when I want to do it. I am sick of going to this 5:30 Biology class, it is too late and I do not usually feel like going. It has become better due to daylight savings time. It is no longer dark when I leave class. Before the time change, it would feel like I was walking out of the Life Science building after three hours of class, it was unbearable. There is too much information to take in. Now I can walk out of the building not feeling like I have wasted the entire day. I only wish that Dr. Martin taught earlier so that we had to pick between failing during the day or barely passing at night. School is very tough this semester, my two labs take up almost as much time as my other classes combined for one day. Monday, Tuesday, and Thursdays are my long days, on Tuesdays and Thursdays I do not get out of class until after 7, and then on Monday I have Chemistry II lab until 4. I am ready to have some easy classes where I can be out of class on each day by about 12:45.

Periodic Table

Periodic Table Reflection
The first chapter was almost impossible to follow due to all of the Hebrew and the large words that Primo Levi uses. The gratuitous use of Hebrew language really took away from the meaning of the first chapter. His use of language and even the writing style seemed to change after the first chapter, Argon. The book seemed to be a mix of stories that were put together to tell the story of Primo’s life. The friendship he finds throughout the book made me feel warm inside, because I knew what he had to go through in Auschwitz. My favorite part of the book had to be Primo’s random travels into the Alps of Italy. I have always wanted to go to the Alps, so this was just another way for me to experience the Alps through someone else eyes. I was amazed at the amount of detail taken into consideration for all of the sections of the book. The part with the lab beaker exploding due to left over potassium that mixed with water in the air. He actually went back and looked for clues to tell him what went wrong. This tells me that he is not self-absorbed because he is willing to write about a mistake he made. He then tells his superior of what happened when he did not need to, this shows that he had a great deal or respect and was very responsible. One thing that really surprised me was that he did not seem to make friends very easily. I do not know how he can remember all that has happened throughout his life. I would think that he would try to block out his past due to the torturous nature of the death camps, but he embraces his past and wants to share it with others. Primo Levi confused me with his constant comparison of fascism to chemistry. I could not grasp the concept that he was trying to convey by comparing the two. I am amazed by chemistry and the way things are put together, so I enjoyed reading his stories of the chemistry labs and all the stuff he made.

Outside Event #1

This particular event was a speaker talking about the importance of arguments and its components. They tested a group of students on their understanding of the concepts of an argument and compared their results. The results were very interesting. The speaker was a woman from another college who was an expert on the subject. She made up a curriculum to teach the students how to better understand the arguments and its parts. The whole thing made me feel awkward because she was talking about the material like everyone should know about it, and I was partially lost throughout the presentation. The other thing that made me feel awkward was the fact that, other than Casey and Jessica, I was the only person in the room that was under the age of 25 (a guess). There was one student and one professor that asked all the questions throughout the presentation. There were moments where we all laughed and the presentation was very well though out. The data made sense and was well put together. The presentation made me think of how much I don't know about arguments and their importance in every day life.

What If #7

What if I didn't sprain my ankle 2 hours into spring break? I might be out doing something instead of dragging my foot everywhere. My injury came about due to my friend’s basketball goal being located next to a hill. The hill starts at the far edge of his driveway and there is a small plastic wall sticking out of the ground to stop erosion onto his driveway. I went in for a layup and came down onto the plastic piece; my foot rolled and then hit the concrete. All of about 180 pounds plus gravity fell on my then completely sideways ankle. Needless to say, I could not walk for about a day, and it still effects me almost 3 days later. Luckily for me, it is spring break and I did not have an trips planned, so I have plenty of time to heal. It just sucks when you are looking forward to freedom for the weekend and you screw it all up. My week is going to be spent working on English and Chemistry homework. I want to get my homework out of the way so I can enjoy my spring break and be able to study for my biology test on Tuesday. I still enjoyed my weekend with my friends; I just could not run anywhere. I had to wobble everywhere we went and I slowed us all down. After the accident when I could not walk, I began to truly appreciate the drive-thru at fast food restaurants, they saved my life! This also made me think of all those who cannot walk at all, it would make me very depressed to never be able to walk again, to deal with the pain forever… I would not be able to take it, but I am healing and will be able to run around in a day or so, hopefully.

What If #6

What if we had never made it into space? We would not be as far into our technological advancement if not for our space travel. Velcro was perfected by NASA for use by the space program. It allowed for an astronaut to stick something to his or her suit and not have to worry about it floating off of what would have been some sort of hook. So next time you use something with Velcro, thank NASA. A list of other inventions originating in space are: satellite dishes, medical imaging (CAT scanner/MRI), vision screening system( the big E at the top), the ear thermometer, fire fighter equipment, smoke detectors, sun tiger glasses, automobile design tools, cordless tools. aerodynamic bike wheels, thermal ware, space pens, shock absorbing helmets, ski boots, failsafe flashlights, invisible braces, edible toothpaste, joystick controllers, and advanced plastics. The list is massive, and none of these would have come about if not for our push to be the first nation into space. Can you remember those little freeze-dried balls of ice cream called Dippin' Dots? Those were invented for astronauts while they are in space. NASA even helped develop a process for new-age pavement where old tires are cooled to below -200 degrees Fahrenheit to separate the elements that make up the tire. Specific parts of the tire can then be used to make new pavement. All those who wear glasses can appreciate NASA's work on scratch resistant glass. On the medical side, NASA helped develop the technology that allowed the satellites to send signals and receive updates remotely without having to make contact with the dish. This led to the wireless capability of pacemakers to send signals to doctors without them having to open up the patient. Last but certainly not least are your "kicks". The soles of your shoes are most likely composed of viscoelastic bubbles that are designed to contour to your feet as you apply pressure and then return to normal. The technology derived from NASA's material that was used to cushion astronauts during the high G forces of liftoff.

What If #5

What if I had a super car? Which one would I pick? At the moment, the Ferrari F430 and the Lamborghini Gallardo come to mind. What car would you have? There are so many choices when it comes to very nice cars. These include: Dodge Viper SRT-10, Ferrari F430, Lamborghini Murcielago or Gallardo, Buggati Veyron, SC Ultimate Aero, Audi R8, Porsche 911 or GT series, Mercedes McLaren SLR 722, Pagani Zonda, Aston Martin Vanquish, the list goes on and on. But my dream car has to be the Lamborghini Gallardo. The Gallardo may not be the most expensive of the list, but it would have to be the most fun to drive. The thrill of going almost 200mph down streets in a Lamborghini instead of 45mph in my Honda Civic would be crazy. The Gallardo would cost about $220,000 with the e-gear, carbon ceramic brakes, navigation, and other options. This car will drain your wallet, but that is why it is called a dream car, money isn't in issue in your dreams. Driving a super car would be tons of fun, but if I had a choice, I would rather have a fighter jet. But that is another dream. The Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560-4, the current model of Gallardo, sports a 5.2L V10 direct injected power plant that provides 552 horsepower and 398 foot pounds of torque. The Gallardo can reach from 0 to 62mph in 3.7 seconds and 120mph in 11.8 seconds. I have no idea where I could take advantage of all that horsepower, because there are not many straight roads around Memphis that aren't patrolled by cops or are way too busy at all times. Just the looks of the car alone is enough to make me want to buy one. If I ever have a few hundred thousand bucks laying around, I'll be sure to go pick one up, preferably a black one.

What If #4

What if the periodic table made any sense? It might be much easier to read. Why does Primo Levi constantly compare fascism to chemistry? The guy cannot seem to keep writing on one thing for a whole chapter. His language seems very loaded and the words only seem to confuse me even further. It would be more interesting and easier to understand if half the book wasn't written in Hebrew. I like the plot so far, it is just that he cannot keep it going, I understand what he is getting at but I have to sit down and decipher each page. I can normally read about 50 pages in an hour, but I have been reading this book for almost 3 days, and I'm still on page 65. I have great respect for Primo Levi and have empathy for him and what he had to go through, but I have to say that I am not enjoying this book so far. I can only hope it gets better as I read further. Did anybody else make any sense out of the first ten pages of the book? There are just too many people and Hebrew words to keep up with. This book is going to be very difficult to finish reading by the fourth. I do not know how I am going to do it, but I will push on.

What If #3

What if Memphis wins the national championship in basketball next year? The new team is looking quite fierce, and there is no doubt that we will be a national contender. With the number one recruiting class, we may be able to go all the way and finish what we could not while Derrick Rose was here. The number one obstacle for the Memphis Tigers next year will be, in my opinion, the Ohio State Buckeyes. With the number two recruiting class just behind Memphis, they will be receiving quite a bit of talent. I do not know how Pastner will try to use all the talent he is bringing in, but I know for sure that we will have a much deeper bench for all the grueling games where players will be fouling out. Hopefully these new prospects will stay at Memphis and be able to hit free throws. If Memphis wins it all, it will be our first ever national championship victory. The new recruiting class will bring in not just more point guards, but some talented power forwards and a strong center. The new recruiting class consists of Tarik Black, Chris Crawford, Joe Jackson, Antonio Barton, Will Barton, Jelan Kendrick, and Hippolyte Tsafack. The number of players being recruited are enough to start all of them together, but we know that is not going to happen. The talent will be spaced out with the veterans in order for them to grow more comfortable and learn the strategy of the team. I believe Pastner can pull the team together with the new recruits to create a powerhouse for next year. It should be a lot fun watching Memphis run an undefeated season.

Hot Zone Reflection

The Hot Zone really scared and interested me at the same time. The thought of a level 4 biological agent getting loose in a heavily populated area should scare anyone. It takes a certain amount of lunacy to work in a level 4 biolab. Any mistakes you make become amplified due to the infected area you are working in. Only three layers protect you from one of the nastiest diseases this world has seen. The black plague does not even hold a candle to Ebola. The parts of the book that took place in the biolabs left me breathless and restless. You never know what is going to happen. If something does happen, there is no way to know if they are infected until they start showing symptoms. The lives of many hung in the balance during the outbreak of Ebola Reston. The efforts of many brave men and women helped eradicate the outbreak and contain it in the monkey house. As we know now, the Reston strain of Ebola does not affect humans, but they did not know that. They showed great courage to walk into the area knowing that it was infected so that they could make it safer for others. The book interested me because the Ebola strains may have been around since before humans even developed, according to evolution. The smallest thing can still overtake one of the most complicated systems in your body and essentially turn it against you. A breakout of Ebola that has the ability to transmit through the air and have the same effects as Ebola Zaire could take out a significant number of the population of earth. A single cell organism could effectively wipe out 50%-90% of the Earth's population of humans. If we assume there are currently 7 billion people on earth, which is a death toll of roughly 6,300,000,000 people under a worst case scenario. That would leave around 700,000,000 people on Earth; that is just a little over twice the population of the United States alone. The amount of power contained in the single cell organism that is about 300 nanometers is both awe-inspiring and downright frightening. Let's all hope we can stop the next breakout before it becomes too dangerous.

What If #2

What if there was life on other planets. The world as we know it would never be the same, especially if the other life forms were invading. The planet could be taken over and the human population could be wiped out or made into slaves. The aliens do not necessarily have to be invading; they could be coming to help us out. They might show us how to perfect fusion power so that we do not have to pollute the world. World religions would change overnight if a sighting occurred that nobody could denounce. Not only would current religions be affected, but new religions, cults, and other groups would appear. Everything you have ever thought would be challenged; the world would forever appear differently due to the new extraterrestrials. The repercussions of a stronger more advanced species coming to earth would be that all humans would look at each other differently. The borders and cultures that separated us would no longer be as apparent. The human population would either feel or actually be threatened; the will to survive would overcome the will to stay separated by race and culture. But no one can be sure of what we would really do because we have never been in that situation. It would be interesting to see how it would all turn out. If a superior technological alien race decided to attack our planet, how fast would we be able to counter attack and defend ourselves? Would we trust each other to give up our government’s secrets in order to better protect each other? When I think of different cases of this happening in fiction, I tend to think of Independence Day and Halo. Halo is different because the human population had already spread from earth. Independence Day took place during the current day and we had not moved from earth. The different nations had to join military power to take out the aliens and return earth back to normal.

What If...

What if there were no movies? How would the world get the majority of its entertainment? Many movies are based off of books that were written long before the film was released. But would the world have the want to read books, especially now. Plays and books would still be the only way to entertain ourselves similar to movies. One major difference I can see is that there would be no TV since TV shows arrived due to the invention of film. Radio may still be around, but the idea for picture and sound would have to eventually enter someone's mind. Many cultural icons have arisen from films, as well as clothing fads. Our culture revolves around movies. The plots and characters influence us in ways we may not even realize. Emotional movies make you think about choices you have made recently. One great example of a movie that has influenced me is The Book of Eli. I recommend seeing this movie, it is both emotional, full of action, and makes you think. The United States even has a part of a city that revolves around movies. Hollywood is a district of Los Angeles, one of the largest cities in the United States. Around the year 1900, Hollywood started construction of movie theaters and other productions sites. Hollywood would never have grown into the city it is now without the help of all the actors and actresses that make movies. My biggest concern for the absence of movies would be my absence of a job, seeing as I work at a movie theater. The amount of money earned by the movie companies also helps keep the economy from tanking. Think of all the $500,000,000 that James Cameron spent on Avatar to make it into the movie it is today. Years of thinking goes into successful movies, take Avatar for example, James Cameron had been working on Avatar since 1994, it was not completed and shown until almost 15 years later in 2009. One of the largest cinema releases that I can fathom that were originally based off of a series of books would be Lord of the Rings. Many now know the world of The Lord of the Rings, but only because they watched Peter Jackson's cinema version and not because they read the original book by the creator of all thing Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien. Another large series of movies based from books is the Harry Potter series. My point is that many others would not know the adventure and entertainment of these wonderful series if not for the invention of the movie.