Do we Really use Algebra in Life?

I have spent so much of my time pondering a single question, do we really use these things we are trying so hard to learn in the real world? Back then, I did strongly believe that we did not. However, I have started to realize how important these skills are. Not just math, but also chemistry, writing skills, foreign language, government. Have you ever stopped to think about how much the world changed in the last century? New fast cars, instant messaging, Internet, cures for diseases. None of this would have been possible without a high understanding of the modern world, and a full modern education.

People are like ticking clocks, every second brings us closer to the day our batteries finally run out. Hundreds and thousands of years ago people discovered the things we learn before we turn ten years old. Why? Because we will advance the worlds knowledge and understanding a little bit more with our generation. Then we will pass and the next generation will learn what took us a lifetime to discover. And so on and so forth until one day maybe all disease will be curable, all the world will know things that we can't even imagine now.

When people at my school tell themselves that we will never use math or science, I always have this same thought in my head. The world is engineered to work with people that are not very highly educated. Most things in our life our laid out in a way that you would have to have little to no education in order to not understand them. If they are not this way less educated people will sue them for hundreds of thousands.

Even though the world is like this, the 1 in 10, in fact maybe the 1 in 1000 that does something because of their education to change the world will be worth the hard work of the other 999. That person who expands our worlds understanding of mathematics or science will be helping out with the cycle from generation to generation. If one person discovered something about the ocean floor, maybe a way to reach it in all areas. Think of the things following generations would discover because of it. All of the education we receive goes into this chance that we will actually use it for discovery, or to teach.

So if you ever find yourself thinking that the work you do in class is pointless, think about the things I have said.

Think Green, Actually Thinking.

Think Green, it seems as if there is no thought involved. What do I mean? I will show you. This is a typical "Green Light bulb" shipping route. Starting in china, the yellow circle. In some factory likely in the vicinity of the red square. From there it is shipped across the ocean on a terrible pollution emitting cargo ship to America, where it is then shipped to stores across the country.

Does this raise any alarm to you? Pollution, China? Think about it, our best plan for saving the energy in order to save the planet is by getting light bulbs from China, which is already dangerously polluted. It is like America believes that we don't share an ozone layer with China. Not only are we killing our economy a little bit more by losing jobs, we are giving them to China, where they can legally work people to death for horrible low wages, and pollute as much as they want.

Why? It is simple, people feel like they are doing something good by buying these light bulbs, and we can sell them cheap because they came from China. Now look at the picture below, this is the shipping route for the old light bulbs, you know? The ones that are a big part of American History, the invention that proved America to be a powerful new country?

It starts in Cleveland, America, and is shipped across the country. Who's economy does this support? America. No black smoke, no disgusting wages, no disregard to basic human rights. When I first learnt of this while watching the news I was very surprised, but then it started making sense. The book Twilight is aimed towards teenage girls, they added ridiculously beautiful characters to a mediocre easy read and suddenly its a best seller and blockbuster. Just like twilight, companies use think green to target people who feel like they haven't done enough for the world. Those people never ask where the product came from, only that it is "Green"

My point is simple, being green is smart. Don't get me wrong, I may have distrust towards Global Warming, but I still believe that we can screw up our planet. If our country invests in solar energy, hydrogen powered cars, and green house items, we can stimulate the economy. Forget the stimulus package, put all of that money into green energy, into finding a safe and cost efficient way to run cars. If we can solve the worlds energy crises we could prove ourselves again. It would be an invention to rival the original light bulb.

Keep up recycling, and keep on switching off lights when you leave a room. My solution is a two birds one stone scenario, the economy, and the environment. The people in my generation, and the next after it need to invest in these things. Humanity's knowledge and invention is always expanding, it will never wear out. In the last 50 years so much has changed, just imagine what the world will look like 50 years from now. 50 years of smart energy, or 50 years of what we thought was smart energy. It is time to stop sitting down and complaining about the economy, complaining about the environment. It is time to start do-ing.

Adam and Eve, the start of the world?

Up above is a depiction of Adam and Eve in their perfect world while the forbidden fruit was being consumed. This is a favorite story of many people, because this is what happened right? These two people birthed the entire world we live in today, therefore we are all related. Which would mean that the world has been practicing incest for all of time. Gross, right? But hold on one second, we have a few things to bring up that might just make this story seem a little less true.

Before you get all "oh no he didn't" on me, read on for a little while. Lets look at the Adam and Eve story in a more intellectual sense, not as something that happened, but as a depiction of something more. Lets think for a second, America is an ocean away from the area where this would have happened. I would say the garden of Eden would need to be somewhere not far from the middle east to north Africa area because that is where the book of Genesis took place. I am going to explore two points about why the Adam and Eve story is incredibly misinterpreted and why it is just a legend and nothing more.

Lets begin shall we, we should have to look at the native tribes of North America. When discovered by the east the Indians were considered savages because their society was so under-developed. So how would these people sail across the ocean and change race? Both are impossible for such people. The only group of people in America that I could think of getting enough together to sail across an ocean would be the Aztecs. They had society, invention and power that could rival Rome's. However, the Aztecs never sailed across an ocean to get to America. They did some crazy things, but not that. So how would the people of the world get spread around, and how would the entire world be re-populated after the worldwide flood that killed everyone but Noah and his pets.

How would Hawaiians have made it to Hawaii? How would animals have made it to America if the only ones that survived the flood were with Noah? Its simple, Adam and Eve weren't the only humans in the beginning, and the entire world was not flooded in Genesis. The fact is that it is impossible! I know what some people are thinking, "Nothing is impossible with God." Well, I don't think that God reached out his hand and threw sheep across the world after the flood, and I don't think that he did that with humans after Adam and Eve.

It is pretty simple, people are taking bible stories seriously that just aren't real. I think that there was a flood in Genesis, but I don't think it flooded the whole world, and I'm pretty sure Noah didn't sail to the tallest mountain on earth, because it was the only land. He just sailed to a higher elevation. And finally, if matter can not be created or destroyed then how would the world be flooded then, but be normal now? You can't take these stories seriously because they are not meant to be taken seriously. They are stories, see that word? The Bible contains an incredible amount of history, but a lot of the stuff in the bible is not meant to be thought of as really happening. It is simply a demonstration of how it happened. Like the birds and the bees. Some parents will tell you about them because you understand it better than the normal "talk." Which would people understand better, Adam, Eve and fruit, or that the world was populated by humans like it was by animals and that they discovered sin. After all, sin is a part of free will.

People just don't know what to take seriously, I believe that people take too much of the bible as actual fact, such as Revelation. People who read this seem to throw logic out the window, because dragon chased women and sealed scrolls are certainly a historical account. People think that Revelation was written to our generation, to warn us about the end. Come on people, do you really think that it was written to us, this scripture that is so old? Sure God can see the future, oh wait, I have a few things to say about that. I don't think that God knows for sure what will happen, I think he is smart and knows how things might happen. He also knows what can happen due to him making it happen, he knew that Christ would come again because he is behind it. He can control things but not know things that haven't happened. Sure, different people believe different things. So to anyone who totally disagrees with this, sorry that you don't analyze literature enough to recognise this as a truth. It comes down to common sense, if you think about it it is obvious. But then again, common sense isn't so common any more.

A Quick Reminder

My posts on racism go in reverse order due to the time of posting, so scroll down to the first before you read them all.

Racism Post Three

Wrap things up




Above is the movie cover for Miracle at St Anna. A movie that I thought was good, but I'm going to pick on it a little bit to prove a final point.

Lets begin shall we? I have talked about To kill a Mockingbird quite a bit in my blog, but this is the best use of it that I can think of. I think that book was a golden piece of literature, it displayed racism without making the south out to be bad, and without making whites out to be bad. Sure Maycomb County was pretty racist but unlike movies or stories about modern times it actually fit the year. I respect Harper Lee greatly for her work on that book. Spike Lee however I don't respect. Because in order to make a point about racism he had to make white Americans out to be disgusting jerks that wouldn't even consider treating a black man like a human. True for some, but not for all. There was not one white male American in this film that was not extremely racist. But every one thing that surprised me was that the African American soldiers weren't made out to be saints either. So he got it half way. But still, in fighting racism the movie became racist. Not terribly, but the simple fact of the matter is that not all white male Americans are bad people. There are bad people everywhere, so why peg them out to be that bad guys?

The picture I used to illustrate the first post on this subject had African American men cleaning up racist messages on a wall. All of them were white supremacist messages. That is where I draw the line, making one side out to be heroes and the other out to be monsters. You aren't fighting racism, you are changing it. Perhaps they don't care, because shifting racism would put them on top. Or, as I believe, maybe the group that made that picture is just ignorant. I will not deny that whites have treated blacks terribly in history, but blacks have treated whites bad as well. That is my whole point, that no side is perfect, that in the end we were and are both in the wrong. If everyone recognised that the world would be a much better place.

Maybe if everyone realized that everyone has suffered then everyone would be able to understand each other better. Just because I am white and from Georgia does not mean you know the slightest bit about what I go through, but just because you are black does not mean that I know about what you have gone through either. So please, see people as people, and stop telling yourself that you go through any more or any less then other people, you might, but that's not because of your race. Its because of your mindset, and the mindset of others. The "N" word does not mean a black person, it means ignorance, and slaves were called that because they were ignorant to our society. It, like many other things, has been perverted from a word to a swear, but if people went by its true meaning, then the world would be full of them. The simple fact that they try so hard not to offend makes them one. The fact that they see people differently by race means that they are one. I am glad I wrote these three posts, and if they offend you then I'm sorry. But that isn't for what I have written, It means I am sorry for you. Because you can not recognise the fact that I want the world to see people for their actions not for their race.

I end on this note, Every man is born equal, its what they do after that that sets them apart. That is from Glenn Beck's book, An Inconvenient Book. I agree with it 100%. That doesn't mean that I am racist because I may not see one man as equal to the other, it means that I see people for their actions. Not for the color of their skin.

Racism Post Two

Fear of Racism

Oh no, its a picture of Obama, this is clearly going to be an offensive post! Nope, I will try to not slip my views on our president into this post, simply his race and how it effected America.

I heard something very sad the other day, I heard someone say that he believed that if he did not vote for Obama that people would think he was racist. You know how I feel about that? I feel like every single person who felt that way should not have been allowed to vote. How is it fair to gain voted due to fear of racism? That isn't the biggest reason he won of course, but I will say that it is ridiculous that that ran through Antone's mind.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for change. Just not the change he's selling, I mean a change in racial ignorance. That is the change I am looking forward to. Sadly however people flock to ignorance like bees to flowers, it is almost a worldwide tradition. You will hear me talk about how if people just thought the world could be a better place, well this is it. I am challenging everyone who reads this to think about racism for a second, to recognise ignorance and exterminate it. (I mean in their own lives, not by killing people who are ignorant) I'm sure that a lot of people are reading this because I told them how to find my blog, I did that because they are people that I want to show my thoughts. They are people that I know have good Head's on their shoulder's. So if you are one of them, then I simply challenge you to take in my writing and think about it.

My problem is that people are so wrapped up in not being racist that they end up being biased, and also being a little racist towards people who they see as having been racist in the past. Most often it isn't racism though, its generalization, which I believe is just as bad, no worse and no better than racism. For instance, Michael in NBC's The Office is a boss who tries so hard not to be racist that he ends up being biased and giving colored people special privileges. He also shows a large amount of racial ignorance, Steve Carell is not this way but Michael is. People see his behavior as ridiculous, but they then go and do the same thing. Hmm, do I feel another rant coming on? I will shorten this one up a bit, hypocrisy, racism and generalization are all bad things. And they are all things that everyone struggles with. Except me. Just a word to all readers who just got offended, that was a joke, but I forgot two important things, if they weren't smart enough to understand my use of italics then they probably wouldn't be reading this far into my post, and secondly I don't have any readers. Back to that however, it is pretty easy to stop the cycle of racism-generalization-hypocrisy. It is simply by stopping. Stop generalizing. that's it. Stop being racist, that's it. I would ask the world to stop being ignorant but that would be like asking a brick wall to walk across the room. I doubt I can change the worlds ignorance, but if I can change one persons then all of this writing will be worth it. However the cycle is something I believe I could help stop, because the work has been done for me. I don't need to stop racism, I need to stop people from going from one extreme to the other.

This basically wraps up the topic of racism, but I have one more thought on it that is burning up inside my head, so I will finish up by writing it.

Check out the next post, Racism Post Three

Racism Post One

The Race Card

Lets take a moment to look at racism. I know what you are thinking, that this is going to be offensive. Or maybe you are wondering why I would write about racism, everyone knows what racism is. Right?

What comes to mind when you think of racism? Ku Klux Klan, Nazism, Hitler? That is the problem, why is racism limited to these huge scale events. Why is it limited to the holocaust and slavery? Probably because they were the most recent, but I think that sometimes people love to run their mouth about the two. Its just another thing to blame, another thing people can hold on to just to make themselves feel good, because they have experienced real pain, the kind nobody else has. That's just another way of setting people apart, racism. And I don't mean judging people because of race by setting them apart. Like I often do I am looking at racism from the other side of the coin. The way that it can be used to inflate egos and the way it can be used to set us apart because we know pain, and he has never suffered like we have.

I'm going to be looking at this in three ways, firstly, slavery in comparison to the holocaust. And after that I will look at why those are such popular perspectives on racism. Finally I will talk about how racism is not confined to one versus the other, but how races have judged each other for all of time.

First Section The Holocaust and The South

Alright, why is it that on television or in everyday life you hear about racism between whites and blacks. You see on the news about hate crimes between the two, and another special about the heroes that rescued slaves and the evil southerners who made slaves work. Here is my question, in all this talk about racism why on earth is it confined only to slavery and blacks and whites. I won't deny that blacks have been persecuted, beaten, judged, enslaved and even sometimes killed because of race. But what about Jewish people? Did it even cross your mind that Jewish people have had slavery, a holocaust, and have been driven out of their rightful homeland because of crusades and holy wars. Jewish children would have to watch their parents gunned down at their homes doorsteps, and then be dragged off to concentration camps. They would have to live in ghettos or even in hiding just hoping that someone would come to save them. Egypt enslaved them and made them work in bible times. Their homeland has been in conflict for almost all of recorded history! But we never hear about big bad Nazi who came and killed a Jewish person. We hear about big bad farmer who was raised to have a slave work his farm, isn't that farmer just the devil!

I'm sure much of it is because slavery happened in America, and the holocaust happened in Europe. However, isn't it time that people quit pulling the race card? You see it every day, on television and in real life. Its simply a matter of fill in the blank, "Is it because I'm a ____?" I'll give you an example really quick, when I write this post many people will call me a racist, but the fact that every white American in the movie Miracle at St. Anna is a terrible racist is just historical. Because after all, there couldn't be a white man who isn't a complete racist, that wouldn't make sense? Why is it that modern day society is blinded by the past and can't see whats happening now?

I won't deny the fact that America has treated blacks very poorly in its day. But I do not tolerate racism towards whites just because of slavery. Lets me tell you something, when I moved to Pennsylvania I left Georgia, and I had many African American friends there, but the second people heard I was from Georgia I was branded a redneck racist scumbag who wasn't worthy of being in the great north. African American kids didn't even acknowledge my existence. What did I do to them? I never owned a slave, I never committed a hate crime. But I'm from redneck infested Georgia so I am bad. I'm going to let you in on something, Georgia isn't full of rednecks. I met more rednecks in PA then I even thought existed. Georgia had some racism, but I noticed as much if not more in PA, and Ive noticed racism in Oregon as well. But the south is the cesspool of it all, the south is automatically bad right? Wrong.

Second Section: Racial Ignorance, the most common form of racism.

I can't even count how many times in my middle school someone would hear the word Negro in to kill a mockingbird, and they would laugh. Or how they would be eating mnm's and see a dark one and say "Mnm dark, that's racist ha ha ha." This is just ridiculous. It disgusts me, yes DISGUSTS ME that people are so ignorant. Without ignorance, the south would be recognised as a good place, racism would be cut in half. Mnm dark wouldn't even cross someones mind as being racist, even in jest.

The fact is that racism is mostly made up of ignorance. Some people truly hate blacks, but others hear about slavery, the holocaust, it goes in one ear and the remainder of their intelligence jumps out the other. People joke about racism, that is a lot of the ignorance there. People look at African Americans, they see a different culture and they either worship it or hate it. Because they don't think about equality, its one extreme or the other.

Lets look at the worship part, people see African American styles and boom, all the kids are wearing them. People see a black person in a gang and here comes a new style. People see the music they listen to and bam! Hello new favorite style of music. There is a line between being intrigued and interested in different cultures, but intrigued and interested is a lot different the infested into it. People become obsessed.

Here is the other side, hate, or racism. Which is pretty simple, people dislike the other culture because it intimidates them. That is it.

Section Three: Greed

You all remember greed, if you read my blog that is. People use racism to their own personal gain IE the "Race Card." You remember the "Is it because I'm ___?" That is it, the race card, you want someone to do something and that's their reasoning. their race. Pretty simple, I have pretty much ranted enough on the subject in this post, I am sure that you understand my point.

I try to avoid general statements, but before I go to post the second and third installments of this little miniseries I want to inform you all that I know there are good and bad people everywhere in the world, no matter the color of their skin. I am simply combating racial ignorance. Nothing else.

Rome wasn't built in a day, but the sandwich was.

Think for a second, what if Rome was built in a day? It would have been amazing, such a famous city, but for it to be good it would have needed careful planning. I heard a friends say once that a bike ramp he had built wasn't good because it was made quickly, it seemed fine to me. That made me think, why can't the world change in a minute, and has it ever?

Think about this, If you ask people where Rome is on a blank globe they wouldn't know, but if you ask them what a sandwich is they will know immediately. Rome, one of the most incredible cities in the world, is less famous then meat stuffed between two slices of bread. Is that a bad thing? I don't think so, because it proves that the world can change in an instant. The second that card player asked for meat between bread to keep his hands clean the world changed. Just like the instant where the chocolate chunk cookie was accidentally made. This proves that anyone can change the world, that card player wasn't famous, neither was the toll house cookie shop.

People act like the world is how it is, the seek out normal lives like they can't change something. They can't invent something, they can't gain peoples respect. They can't leave their comfort zones to try and make something new. But that is completely untrue, anyone has the means necessary to change the world, we all have a voice, that's all we need. We all have minds, that's all we need. Never tell yourself that you aren't good enough, because you are.

Smart Stress

When I think of stress, I typically think of a soap bubble floating around, the slightest bit of contact with anything will make it burst, and over time even the friction of the air will eventually make it burst no matter what. But it doesn't have to be like that, letting out the stress can be a lifesaver. Not taking time to de-stress is about as smart as the French Military trying to battle against an amateur paintball team. They would obviously fail, so why not stop and think about it? But then again, who am I kidding? Its not like France has an army.

But lets not steer away from the topic of stress, France is another topic for another time. Back to stress, In my mind there are three types of stress, Anger, Depression, and Sickness. Shall we start?

Anger

Anger, being angry, not a good thing. When you are angry or frustrated it shows, and it effects everyone around you. But it is truly a pointless act. I of course never get angry, but we can't all be perfect. That was of course a joke, I get angry as much as the next guy, but I can recognise how anger is a pointless thing. What happens when you stomp around screaming and whining, or when you break something. What do you gain other than lost time and lost whatever you broke. Every second you spend in anger is a second that whatever made you angry has power over you. If you are getting mad because your closet wont fit an extra pair of shoes then congratulations, a closet has power over you. Just don't let stress get to you.

Depression

Depression is a sort of "meh" subject for me. Its a complicated thing with two sides, medicated and counseled depression. Don't get offended by my next statement because it is simply an opinion, and do you want an opinion to have power over you? I believe that medicated depression is a lot less trustworthy than counseled, a counselor can help you with depression, but just because you are sad does not mean you need to pop a few pills. I believe that depression medication has some good intentions but like those little daily vitamins they simply feed off of peoples paranoia. I'm sure that the meds help some people but mostly its just I'm sad I need a doctor. That is the kind of depression that I think people manufacture. Paranoia sales is one of the smartest ways to make money, mean, but smart. The thing about depression meds is that they think it works because of a few changed signs in the brain, whoopdy doo! The brain holds so much in so little space that a changed sign could mean ANYTHING. So because there is one that means the magic happy pill works. Believe what you want but my opinion is that if a counselor can't help you a pill cant.

Sickness

Ah, here we go, lets get into the final part of stress. Sickness, stress is proven to be able to give you a stomach ulcer. This is much more concrete than the "magic pill's brain wave," Because it has been tested, several different times, with rats and humans. Rats were once put in a cage with other rats in unhappy conditions and eventually they all had stomach ulcers and died, that birthed the idea of "stress." Stress can do things anywhere from making you throw up to destroying your stomach. This is really the one bit of stress that I buy into.

Conclusion

I believe that stress is a much manufactured term that has been perverted from real physical things to "I yelled, it wasn't my fault! I'm stressed!" People like to have things to blame, stress is one of them. You get mad, its because you are mad, not because of stress. No magic pill will cheer you up, and you can't just blame living life for your mistakes. Everyone goes through frustrating situations, and everyone gets angry, but that doesn't mean that it is the worlds fault, it is theirs for not handling in a health way.

So, that's it. Everyone gets mad, it doesn't make you bad. But stress is the physical things that happen due to bad situations. I believe the rest is just in your head, because we can control anger, but you cant pick when you will have a stomach ulcer. That is my pure reasoning why I think that stress is simply peoples way of blaming others, congratulations, you spilled hot coffee on yourself at work, you screamed at your friend when she tried to help you, while that was happening someone was shot, and they handled it better. You go ahead and whine because you stubbed your toe, when Jesus Christ was tortured and crucified, and he handled it better. This anger caused by "stress" is just a part of our spoiled society. Because if Jesus can handle torture better than you can handle a rough day at work then there is something very wrong with the world. Sure this may sound quite harsh but it is truth, we live the best lives possible in America, we can call up pizza or watch a movie with the press of a button, we have the Internet, which is the whole world at our fingertips when our world could be no more than a room in a house. So we take bad situations in a worse way then someone who lives a rough life. I know I have an incredible life, and I know that I often don't take anger well. But that can change for everyone if people would realize how easy we have it here.

The I.R.A Terrorist

Up Above, you can clearly see two soldiers. Men of duty, but seemingly completely different. There is a clear difference in weaponry among the two, also a difference in uniform and overall evil appearance. The world will typically tell you that on the upper left is a hero, and on the upper right is a terrorist, or a radical. The left is a depiction of a continental soldier during the American Revolution. On the right is an IRA soldier during a north Ireland "Struggle."

Funny isn't it, two soldiers who are fighting for the same thing, yet have been painted out to be complete opposites? One a hero, and one a terrorist. What are they both fighting for? Independence from England. The IRA has an interesting past and present, I am going to take a deeper look into it.



Home Rule (1870-1914)

Home Rule was an act that was brought up by the Home Rule League in 1870 which would allow Ireland to be self-governed but still remain in the u.k. Several attempts were made to get the act into effect but they were unsuccessful. However on May, 25, 1914 a Third Home Rule was passed, although it was rejected by the House of Lords three times the Commons used the Parliament Act to get the act passed without the House of Lords. This "Third Home Rule" Divided Ireland into Northern and Southern halves.

The Act was postponed until the end of World War I, The Irish Volunteer Army was also split, most of them accepted the promise of the home rule act, but some of them split off to form the IRB which fought for Irish Independence before the home rule was enacted. Finally however it was, in 1922 most of Ireland was self ruled. This was accepted by many as the first step towards full Independence.




The Unionist Rule (1921-1972)
North Ireland was still largely a Protestant state while "free" southern Ireland was catholic. Northern Ireland was ruled by a Unionist style government. It was declared a Protestant state for Protestant People. In the 60s, inspired by Martin Luther King, the North Ireland Civil Rights Association started up, leading to several civil rights protests. One Sunday The 1st Battalion of the British Parachute Regiment opened fire on civil rights protesters, killing 27. Bloody Friday was the IRA response, several bombings on North Ireland economic and military places. This however did not hurt Britain, it hurt Ireland. The IRA Issued an apology after the events. Saying it was not their intent to kill non combatants.



The Direct British Rule (1972-1999)

Britain decided that they needed to take charge in North Ireland, they decided to rule it directly from that point onward. In the 80s the IRA used a weapons shipment from Libya to battle for freedom, these efforts failed. But the violence eventually led to a more republican style of rule for North Ireland. The IRA continued to fight for Independence until 2005 when they gave up violence. North Ireland has had its new form of government since 99, who knows what will happen in the future, but if it does flare up again, pray that the worst is already over.



The IRA

In 1916 the IRA was formed, before it were some movements for Independence but not as powerful as this. Its full name was the Irish Republican Revolutionary Organisation, which was then changed to the IRA Team, no these are not the super soldiers you remember from television, this was the IRA Team. It is now simply known as the IRA. From 1919-1921 they fought a small war against Britain, and they fought again from the 80s until 2005 when they agreed to give up violence against Britain.



Conclusion

If you have indeed stayed with me through this unusually long and dry post that feels like it would serve better in my computer's recycle bin than on my blog then you are in for a little treat. This is the part where I tie everything together in an interesting way and try and add a comedic aspect to a few things while maintaining the serious nature of the subject. The IRA may seem like terrorists, but that is the tactic, not the people. Sure terrorism is not the best way to handle fighting a war, but it has been proven effective in our own revolution against England. When you call an IRA soldier a terrorist, just note that terrorism was used in our own revolution and civil war. The two soldiers you saw at the top of this ridiculously long and slow paced post were not that different from one another. It is quite sad that through heavy weapons shipments from two nations and through several battles the IRA was not successful in achieving their goal, what better way for the victims of Bloody Sunday to rest in peace would there be than their full country having full Independence. I believe that with the odds stacked against us so highly in the revolution, it was God himself who helped us through to the end. Perhaps in the future God will help Ireland in the same way.

And that's the post, hope you enjoyed it!

December, 21, 2012

December, 21, 2012, that is the date we will all die! Sure... Lets take a little look at the theories about 2012.

The Solar Flare

Lets see here, one of the most popular theories about 2012 is that there will be a giant solar flare that will destroy our atmosphere and kill us all! But wait a minuet... we've been hit by solar flares before... right? Correct, in 2003 we were hit by the sun's most powerful flare, the X class flare. What did it do? Did it leave some sort of destructive chemical in our planet that will kill us all in 2012? No, it did nothing. So if we were hit by the most powerful flare from the sun and it did nothing then how could we be killed by a solar flare? Because its gargantuan and huge and... It will kill us! Wrong. Next theory.

The Nuclear War

This is probably the only theory that is even plausible, a lot of people think that North Korea will launch nukes at America and kill us all. Ill show you a picture of what a bombing from North Korea would look like.

Wow! That is intense! That's actually just a pitiful firecracker, to show the likeliness of North Korea being able to destroy an entire country, that's about as likely as a firecracker destroying Portland. Now, other countries are a bit different, but if there is a nuclear war, why would it happen in 2012, America will still be too valuable to other countries for it to be nuked into a wasteland.

Planet X

Have you heard the news? There is a planet that is coming in and out of our solar system that is due to crash into the earth on... you guessed it! December, 21, 2012. All based on one mans book, the book is a warning to humanity to prepare for our demise. But how did this man get the information about Planet X? It is very interesting, he was abducted by aliens and became a contact on their ship, they told him about it! There you go, we are all going to die, no doubt about it! Isn't that terrible, darn aliens had to ruin all of our fun. And speaking of aliens...

Alien Invasion

This is certainly the most possible of all theories. Aliens will send a super bomb to destroy earth during the year 2012! But why would aliens travel millions of light years just to blow us up? Hmmm....

We Will Die!

This is the last resort of 2012 fanatics, their logic lies within the realm of "Because I said so." I would like to ask each and everyone of them to give me one shred of evidence to support their theories.

What birthed these theories?

Lets see, first off the Mayan Calendar, it ends in 2012. Even though there is no talk of the end of the world in Mayan history... ever, this must mean that the world will end. Wait a minuet, doesn't our calendar end on a certain date too? Maybe they wanted to make a new calendar after 2012. But that wouldn't make any sense, would it?

And also, some mystical Gandalf bearded man who supposedly predicted 911 (which was obviously planned by the aliens) said that the world would end in 2012. Come on people! Your theories are absolutely ridiculous, because one guy said something that means the world will end! Think! That is all I ask of you, just think about all of what I've said, google it if it makes you feel any better. Just think about things before you rant about the destruction of earth!

Rich or poor, how does it change you're life?

How does money change you're life? Or does it change you're life? I believe that it does change things very much. The more green you have the more opportunities you have, right? I think it makes sense, but look at it differently, its not about more, its about different circumstances. If you are rich you will have the opportunity to buy a nice Bentley, if you aren't you might not have that chance. If you are middle class or poor you will still have the opportunity to buy a car, just a different car. But what is better, a Bentley or a truck? A Lamborghini or a sedan? A viper or a minivan? The truth is you put the same gas into it and you push the little pedals and it goes to 80 miles per hour in 5-15 seconds depending on the car. My view on it is simple, if it can drive I'll take it. Its nice being able to drive some car that makes people turn their heads, but ultimately the main thing about sports cars is their speed and going at the speeds will most likely get you crashed into a truck, and viper vs. ford truck doesn't sound like a fair fight (kind of like rocky vs. that Russian on steroids,) the truck would tear right through you, or you would ram into the back because you are traveling at star trek hyperspace speeds.

Lets move onto houses, a mansion has a roof, same as a shack, isn't that what having a house is all about? If you can have a room and a bed its no different depending on how many there are. I like a nice four bedroom house, with heat and a.c. That isn't that hard to get is it? Sure it will probably still run you more than you could dream of making on any game show but people have handled the costs for decades before us. If you get a big house then you need to get big locks, then you need to get a security system, and then you will realize "Oh shoot, I have two kids, a wife and 45 bedrooms..." If you have a fortune of money and you want a fast car and a house that takes as much power as Manhattan in New York then more power to ya, but come on people, the rich lifestyle isn't what we fantasise about. Its great I'm sure but I believe that a man with 1 dollar and a man with a thousand dollars can both change the world in their own ways. "The goal is not to live forever, but instead to make something that will" Anyone can change the world, every day you get another opportunity, whether it be change the hearts of a nation or the heart of a man, you have still changed the world for the better.

There are two sides of being rich, the trust fund babies and those who earned it. Bill Gates deserves to be rich, he created windows which was incredible. But the trust fund babies don't usually deserve the money, it often spoils them. Not to be to general but that is in my opinion a truthful statement. Another thing I would like to talk about is privilege, for instance, taxing rich people more than middle class people. Taking money away from some of the best people on earth who created groundbreaking technology to help someone who got fired and never bothered to find another job and move out of their parents basement. No matter the circumstance you cannot tax due to privilege, sure rich people have money to spare but that money often goes into businesses, which drives the economy of a country, which lets people invest in those businesses and make money which furthers the economy of a country.

I won't tip toe around this subject like some others, the fact of the matter is rich people are like seeds. and their money is like rain that blooms a good economy. People often dislike the rich because they are jealous of them, but as I presented you can still live a fulfilling life, so why bog it down with envy and hate? You may not like their attitudes (if they have bad attitudes) but this is another issue that people simply do not think about. Just think, that is all I ask. The entire goal of this blog is to get people to think, sometimes about funny things or interesting things, but often about real world issues. God gave you that little round grey thing that looks like a wrinkly fat rat for a reason! It is for thinking, it is always good to take a moment to sit and think about the world, so many issues could be solved through thinking. I won't deny it, I often feel envy towards the rich, but please give them a break, they really do help the world for the better.

Regarding Suicide

This is a little post regarding a tough subject, suicide. The picture above depicts something that has nothing to do with suicide, but it does have something to do with greed. That will play into this in a little while, but for now let me spread my opinions about suicide. Because in an earlier post I discussed that suicide was a permanent solution to a temporary problem, this came from one of my father's sermons.

Suicide is a horrible thing, but I would like to talk about the big thing in suicide, teen suicide. It seems that more and more teens have been killing themselves, and thousands and thousands of teens have been threatening to kill themselves. The typical term used to describe suicidal people (at least among teens now a days) is "Emo." Meaning emotional, which doesn't quite make sense because if I'm angry I'm emotional... but people don't really think about, well anything anymore.

This term has lead rise to a popular trend among teens, the Gothic look. Some people believe that the kids who dye their hair black and wear dark clothing deserve pity and need to be loved. Don't get me wrong I'm all for love but the problem is people have realized that they can get attention through these means, through pretending to be suicidal. The problem is that these posers take the spotlight off of the people who truly need help.

Lets take a moment to talk about the posers, the people who made the term "Emo" and Suicidal mean someone who wears a big frown on their face and sits in a corner in schools all day. Ive heard many times that people who are really suicidal don't usually show it to the public. You can typically spot the real from fake. The point of this entire post is simply this, why are the kids with 64 inch plasma TVs and blue ray playing computers ranting about how their lives are terrible and how they have no friends. First off, if you stopped ranting about your life being terrible you would have friends, and if you had friends you wouldn't think your life was terrible. How is raving about how no one likes you going to make people like you? Once again, people don't seem to think about anything.

My heart goes out to all of the people who's lives are truly terrible and want to kill themselves, but I still stand by the truth that kids now a days don't realize that they are just going through high school and puberty like... everyone else! So what makes them so special that it is any worse for them? I'm sure that a lot of them are truly in bad places but I hate it that as I said before the spotlight is on the people who do it all for attention. And considering that many of them have such great lives I think that their pathetic cry for attention is purely because of greed. That is why the picture is there.

Don't get me wrong, as I said before my heart goes out to all who are truthfully considering suicide. But I encourage those who fake it for attention, and all those who give those people attention to think about what you are doing. Because as I said before, you complain about your life being bad and having no friends then you won't get any friends, but if you stop you will get friends, and when you have friends you will not think your life is so terrible. it is a cycle that is easily broken.

Our need to be Loved

As Humans, we have a need to be loved. No child would be the same without the love of a parent, no pet would be the same without the love of an owner. If someone who is important to you tells you that they don't love you it can affect you in a very negative way. If they were serious of course, sometimes its a joke and sometimes it is serious. One excellent example would be Boo Radley from To Kill a Mockingbird. As explained to scout, Boo was locked in his house mentally, he wasn't chained to a bed but he was beaten down with words. My teacher and I discussed it and we decided that Boo must have been told many times by his parents, the ones who he needed love from the most, that nobody loved him and that he was hated by all. They would tell him about the rumours that he was a bloodthirsty monster, he thought the world hated him so why would he hurt others by going outside and being in their presence. All because he was physiologically abused by his parents.

Everyone needs loved, lack of it can destroy you. Many people commit suicide because they feel that they have no one, but as my dad said in one of his sermons, suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. There is someone on earth who loves you, no matter what society tells you. If you treat someone as a friend, spend an hour with them and give them your number, they will eventually call you up to spend another hour with them. Just as when someone leaves food out for a stray cat the cat will come back. Cats need food, we need love, being friendly to people is showing them love. A smile could save a life, showing someone who is seriously considering suicide love could change their entire life. All it takes is a smile, or a friendly gesture. We show each other love everyday, so please don't stop, it is as necessary to human life as water and shelter. Even Stalin, Hitler and Saddam Hussein need love, other things can factor in such as mental instability and other things, but maybe if someone would have shown Cho some love he wouldn't have killed so many in Virginia Tech. Maybe if someone would have shown Hitler some love he wouldn't have been inspired to gain power by killing. But then again people can be insane, it is very possible that Hitler would have done the same thing as he did if he had been shown more love. But the chance is always worth it, you could change a life and not even realize it.

Are we Human? Or are we Dancers? Are we Letting our Days go By?

Are we Human, or are we Dancers? What do they mean? The Killers are a great band but I can't credit them for meaningful lyrics, except for this song. At first listen you probably won't catch it, but listen to certain lines such as "Cut the Cord." What I gathered from the song was about falling into a routine life, doing the same thing over and over again. Like a dancer, but then I realized it was something more, "Cut the Cord," Refers to a puppet. That line can change the whole meaning of the song, but it isn't a universal change. The song is not about falling into a routine but instead not being yourself, or not being allowed to be yourself, to be "Human." And "Cut the Cord" means being freed. It means being freed from this forced lifestyle, some people don't even realize they are in it.

You wake up, you go to Starbucks, you work nine to five, you go home and relax, watch the days new episode of whatever cop show you watch. Go to sleep and repeat five times a week. That may sound nice, but the truth is you are getting two or three fun things in a day. Starbucks, maybe a good sale and C.S.I NY. Sure you have to work or go to school, but you need to live a little. Spend time with friends, Call a relative, Even go golfing! Anything to break away from the nine to five life that many people live. We all need to rest don't we? In the case this song portrays a boss, parent, or partner are making life hard. Not letting you be yourself.

"Let me be myself" I always found that term a little humorous. No one can let you be yourself, you are who you are and the truth is the puppet master in your life isn't that boss you are trying to impress by reading a, 1100 page book, its you making yourself read that book because you think you need to to be loved. All humans have a want for love, you do, I do, Hitler did! Everyone has a natural need for love, it is as important as food and water. But lets get back to the main point. You would impress that book worm boss of yours more if you said that you enjoyed a book with action rather than long scenes of talking leading to an unsatisfying end. He might not like you putting it in that light but he wants to see the real you. Great line from the movie Hitch with Kevin James and Will Smith, "Be you, she may not want to see it all at once but she does want to see it." What Will Smith means is being yourself will get you farther than putting on a fake face. This next song by The Talking Heads is called Once in a Lifetime.

In this song it deals more with what I though Human did. About falling into a Routine. Letting your days go by can ruin your life, but the worst part is you won't notice until you have already lost too much time. We are only on this little blue rock spinning around the big yellow light once, and if you don't live it to the fullest then what is the point of living it?

Hiking Trip

July 9-10 Garth, Ben, Brandon, Dean and I went on a hiking trip at a place called Eagle Creek, a trail about ten minutes away from Multenomah Falls. We hiked to the 7.5 mile camp, camped and walked back 7.5 miles to the car. Let me explain, we hiked 7.5 miles with about 45-75 pounds of weight (depending on pack) in our backpacks and then slept under the stars, we voted to not have a tent to save time. We ate some delicious spaghetti cooked by Garth's wife Kathy. We cooked it on the little propane camp cooker we packed and ate ourselves full. For desert we had the most delicious little watermelon balls that Kathy had made using a melon baller kitchen tool. Then we went to sleep, I apparently kept brushing against peoples feet and waking them up but I slept through the night. We ate omelets in the morning (again courtesy of Kathy) and we went up the trail back to the car. After a two hour ride and a bit of panic for Garth's poor Jeep being rained on without the top we made it back to town.

The scenery was incredible, we walked behind a waterfall, across a deeper-than-average puddles and trudged our way through fields of rocks next to cliffs of doom. But it wasn't really that rough. It was at least five times longer than the longest hike I had taken (Turkey run, a 3 mile trail, Eagle creek, a 15 mile hike) but I made it through like everyone else. Coming in took a while but on the way out we hiked like champions, four stops, 7.5 miles. We had lunch at Punchbowl Falls, (a place with a waterfall and a punchbowl, with a glacier water swimming hole)we ate peanut butter and jelly sand witches and drank our flasks down to the bottom (we didn't really have flasks, we had water bottles... it was a joke.) That's that, Keep checking my blog for future posts and have a great week!

Cabaret!

"Life is a Cabaret oh chum, come to the Cabaret!"

Today I saw the play Cabaret performed by the Aloha High School Theatre Department. It was fantastic, I would say it is the best play I have seen yet. The acting was mostly good and the singing was phenomenal. If you haven't yet seen this than see it, if you don't live in aloha than fly to aloha and see it.

The story is about a writer who falls in love with a "lady-of-the-night" during the rise of the Nazi party in Germany. It takes place in Berlin mostly in the "Kit Kat Club" which is a nightclub in the city. The story looks at the lives of several different people, all in scenarios involving the main star Cliff, an American who goes to Berlin for inspiration to write.

Several youth group members were in the play including Tiffany, Alissa, Sam, Kenny, Kevin and my brother Ben.

Overall I would rate the play as I would a movie, and by using the same math.

You pay fifteen dollars at the most (if you are an adult going to a normal showing and paying at the door.) You not only get a whole Cd's worth of awesome music that will be in your head for a while, but you also get a good story and you get to support about a third of the ACOG Youth Group. Also all the money goes towards the Aloha High School. Even if you pay fifteen dollars you will still come out on top, by a fair amount too!

My overall rating would be 9.5/10, don't think I'm a pushover because the last two things I've rated have been have been high, I am actually very strict when it comes to rating.

Santa Friendly? Think again!

Have you ever taken a few hours to deeply think about santa claus? Well if you think about it he has the means nescessary to take over the world! Just think if he can build enough toys to give them to all children on earth then he could manufacture weapons, vehicles, armor and bases. Also think of the elf army he could make! If he can travel across the planet in one night then he could engineer bombers and fighters that fly faster than any other planes.

Just think with me here, don't turn off the computer or navigate away from this page thinking "this guy is crazy!" If santa claus began influencing children he could persuede them to form him a human army, and how does he deliver presents? Dropping through a chimney is impractical for a man with so much technology at his disposal as santa would. He would have a tactical aim and drop system for chimneys, therefore he could engineer the most tactical bombers the world would ever see. Think about it, just his airforce would be able to stealthily bomb select targets across the globe in one night!

Now lets talk about vehicles and navy, his elves could construct the most tactical powerful ships there could be! With the present aim system previously explained and the speed that he uses to get around earth he could certainly make powerful war ships.

And finally what about infantry? He has the trust of children across the world and an army of elves! But what more could he have you ask? AN ARMY OF PENGUINS! What? did he just say penguins> Yes I said penguins! Think about it, March of the penguins, ever see it? I haven't but the name clearly suggests that penguins have been practicing military techniques. Also surfs up? I haven't seen it either but in it the penguins surf, that means they could travel to other countries! And finally the movie happy feet. In happy feet a cute little penguin dances for us... awww... Yeah right! that penguin isn't entertaining us! he is transferring anti-human propaganda to hundreds of other penguins, remind you of any dangerous world leaders that nearly took over Europe in the past sixty years?

So there you go, you can worry about the economy or the "2012 Apocalypse" crap, or you can recognize a real threat... the threat of Santa launching an operation to take over the world!

Les Miserables Review

"What crime did you commit? - Maybe I killed someone... how do you know I'm not going to murder you? -How do you know I'm not going to murder you? - Whats that a joke? - I guess we'll just have to trust each other. - I didn't kill anyone... I'm a thief... I stole food, stole but I payed for it; nineteen years in chains. So they let me out and gave me a yellow passport, what can I do with a yellow passport? I have to go to my parole officer in Dijon and then what, starve to death? (chuckles) Nineteen years and now the real punishment begins. - Men can be unjust - Men not god? Thank you, whoever you are... a meal and a bed to sleep in... a real bed. And in the morning, I'll be a new man."

(about for minuets later in the movie) "And don't forget, don't ever forget. You've promised to become a new man. - Promise... why are you doing this? - Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil. With this silver, I've bought your soul. I've ransomed you from fear and hatred... Now I give you back to god..."

In this movie Liam Neeson plays Jean Valjean, a thief who is on parole after nineteen years in prison for stealing food. The quote up above takes place during dinner, Jean is let into the home of a priest and they talk about his parole, he has to show him his yellow passport before entering their home so they know he is a criminal. He promised to become a new man, that night he steals from the priest and leaves, the guards in the town catch him and he claims the priest gave him the silver he stole. The priest says that he did in fact give him the gold (he didn't of course, but this is necessary information to understand the quote) and the guards release him. Then the priest says to Jean the second quote up above.

Now, normally I would never go this far into a movie, I decided it would be fine in order to get the important quote considering these events happen in the first seven minuets of the movie. It is obviously told in the trailer that he is a thief, so I figured a little elaboration wouldn't hurt.

Lets get in depth with why this movie is good. First off its long, but it holds your interest. That type of movie is for me much more entertaining. Also this movie has Liam Neeson and that should be a rating category in its self. In my opinion Liam Neeson plays an even more Christ like character in this movie than he did in Narnia, where he was playing a character resembling Christ.

I think that any and everyone should see this movie, it is moving and powerful and thought provoking. This is the kind of movie that you can model your life after, and the kind of movie that inspires people like Braveheart or the Pursuit of Happiness. Time to do some math!

Lets see... you pay about five dollars to rent this... but wait! This is the kind of movie that you DO NOT rent, you buy it. This movie can be watched over and over again. Pay twenty dollars for... Liam Neeson... French people... Amazingness... and a message like no other. The only other way you could get this experience is if Liam Neeson was an amazing french pastor. Sadly he is not, so this is what we have to settle for. Twenty divided by good movie minus the Liam Neeson Epicness Discount and the Awesome French Name Discount... Wow if you buy or rent this movie you will come out way on top. I am not at liberty to discuss the specific numbers due to my math being a very complicated ritual, but I can say that this is a movie like no other. I won't be surprised if a clip from it shows up in one of my dad's sermons one of these days, it is such a moving film, It has a unique message for everyone who watches it, I am confident that movie would be meaningful to any person in any situation. If you want to spend your money on an action film or some zombie flick that's your choice, but trust me Les Miserables is a movie that you just have to see.

The ultimate rating would be...

Well I hate to give a movie a ten ten but I honestly can not find a single thing about this movie that I didn't like, there isn't a dull moment in the whole thing... well actually the credits are a little less exciting but hopefully you understand what I mean.

10/10

UPDATE: Oh and by the way sorry this post came late, my computer wouldn't play sound so I had to work with that and then watch the trailer. Check out the blog later for a bit about science and a lot more.

Les Miserables Trailer

Update

I figured I would post a little update on whats been going on with me, also a few awesome pictures of my favorite pets, cats! First off a little bit about whats been going on, I have been doing a lot of work in school and therefore have been very busy. Considering my blog isn't my highest priority I decided to focus more on studies and homework.



Well that's basically it, I've just been doing school and being busy, I will be posting a review of the movie Les Miserables tomorrow around five o'clock. And later in the week I will write about the book "To kill a mockingbird" and also my personal experiences from living in Georgia. And finally Saturday I will post a random thought I have, just for fun.



So check out my blog over the week, hopefully you will be pleasantly surprised!

Defiance Review

Defiance is a true story that takes place in Russia during the Holocaust. Daniel Craig plays Tuvia Beilsky, a Russian Jew in the middle of the holocaust at first trying to save his brothers. After a while they run into more and more survivors and soon form a whole town in the forest that they are hiding in. It has a very good meaning to it for Jews and Christians alike, I wont spoil what it is but it is very interesting. It's amazing to see how the Jews were treated during the holocaust and how some of them would fight rather that die, this is truly worth seeing or renting.

Once again I will do the math: Action plus A True Story multiplied by Daniel Craig minus $12.50 Equals... a certainly good deal. I really could not find anything about this movie to complain about, it was just all around good.

Defiance Trailer

Multenomah Falls Hike

Last Sunday a few members of the Aloha Church of God Youth Group went hiking up Multenomah falls. It was cold and raining but it was one of the most fun hikes I have ever been on. On the way there we had the windows off of Garth's Jeep which made it freezing cold and wet with air rushing in. Who proposed such a thing? I did! We voted, and the vote was in favor of no windows on the way. of course after experiencing it everyone but me wanted the windows off on the way back. Multenomah Falls is very beautiful, a pinnacle of creation and a breathtaking sight! The hike was a little hard on the way but harder on the body on the way down, going uphill takes your breath away and going downhill puts pressure on your bones. It was about a mile each way so it was a pretty fair hike (many people would call it a walk but I wouldn't.) it was a very fun experience and if you haven't hiked up it then you should, and if you don't live in Oregon you should probably move to Oregon and hike up it.

Oregon Food Bank

Last Saturday a few members of the Aloha Church of God Youth Group volunteered at the Oregon Food Bank. It was actually a lot more fun than I thought it would be, something about working is very calming. We scooped out two pounds of oatmeal from an eighteen hundred pound bag and then tied it and put it in a box. For the first thirty minuets of our two hour shift I helped Garth and a man named Darell (I think this is the correct spelling) with making boxes. I was then recruited into scooping because the team was one short, I used two cups to scoop rather than one to make it a bit faster and soon after a few other people did as well. On the top middle it shows how many people we fed how many meals were served and how many pounds were served, we served 311 people each!



The best three things about working there were A, the good feeling B, the hairnets and C, the fun. I would definitely recommend volunteering there whenever you can, the fun more than pays for the work, you could pay twenty dollars on a trip to the movies for two hours of entertainment or you could help others and get even more fun. That was certainly a good Saturday!

From a Name to a Number

Today I met a holocaust survivor at school named Alter Wiener. He has a book called From a Name to a Number, (Amazon link below) which tells his life story. He talks about all the horrors that go on in a concentration camp and about how he was transferred from camp to camp. He talked about running with his mother and two brothers from they're town to try and escape the Germans and then finding out that where they were fleeing to was already occupied by Germans. he and his mother and brothers returned to they're town and found they re own father half decomposed in a ditch and then his brother was carried off into a concentration camp, soon after that he was as well. He stayed in that camp for a little over 2 months and then he was transferred to another camp to build a highway. After that he was transferred again to another work camp near a work site for German women, he talked about how one woman risked he own life thirty different times just to give him a sandwich. her workplace had signs up all around saying things like "If you look one of the prisoners in the eye you will be executed" yet she gave him food.

After being relocated to another camp to build warehouses for the Nazis Russians liberated the camps and allowed the Jews three days to hunt Germans for revenge, Alter Wiener was too young to go hunting and the Russians had no food for the prisoners, many of them died but he survived and returned to Poland to find his family. Sadly after all he went through he found out his entire immediate family was dead (around 140 people) and all of his friends. However he didn't know if his brother was dead or not because he never heard about him until recently, a man approached him at a holocaust survivors of Oregon meeting and he said he worked for his father and at a work camp he had to throw Alter Wiener's brother into a furnace to dispose of the body, so after that he knew the fate of his family.

Now he is eighty two years old and he has a wife and children. Warner Pacific College gave him an honorary degree for speaking there and all the things he had to go through both physically and emotionally. He has now given his testimony at over four hundred and seventy places and his main points are that racism and sexism don't make any since and that no matter what group of people someone is in they still have good in they're hearts.


This is the Amazon link for his book:
http://www.amazon.com/Name-Number-Holocaust-Survivors-Autobiography/dp/1425997406

Taken Review

"I don't know who you are, I don't know what you want. If your looking for ransom I can tell you that I don't have money. But what I do have is a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now that will be the end of it, I will not hunt you. but if you don't I will look for you, I will find you. And I will kill you,"

Taken is truly an amazing movie. Starring Liam Neeson who obviously plays some sort of assassin or soldier type. The "Bad Guys" in this movie made one very big mistake, they kidnapped Liam Neeson's Daughter. I won't spoil anything in the movie that isn't already spoiled in the trailer.

I would give taken a 4 and a half star rating, it was extremely good but still it wasn't extremely original, how many movies are about assassins now adays? but everything but that in the movie is incredible, and without that it wouldn't be the same as it is today. Just think, Action plus Movie multiplied by Liam Neeson minus 12.50 for a ticket and drink at movies on tv is way worth it considering a movie with Liam Neeson in it is worth its weight in gold, 12.50 for that is like paying a dollar for a palace in Egypt.

Taken Trailer

Drumming

Drumming has always been a favorite hobby of mine, even for the time that I couldn't drum due to not having a drumset at my house. That was 4 and a half months ago, we lived in a smaller home so I chose to have the house have more room rather than set up my drumset. Because of this I gathered up some books and other old things I could find and would drum on them in my room. As a result of that I can play now almost as good as when I last played.

Now that I have started playing again I have been working on five songs. I can now play "Draw Me Close" (one of the songs we sing in church services) and "Ill Do My Best" (whitch is a song we sing in youth.) The songs im working on to learn right now are "You Found Me" by The Fray, "Here I am to Worship" and "Freedom." Hopefully soon I will start playing in the worship band on sundays and the youth worship band on wednesdays.