After staring at this worksheet for all of five minutes, I’ve given up. What’s the point? I’m sure I’ll find someone else who has that class in the morning, and if not, eh, I have that class last. I can do that during another class. I don’t need to know any of that stuff until the day of the test anyway.
Before school: It’s too early to do work. I just got up an hour ago and drove here. Besides, I have the rest of the day to do it.
1st-3rd hour: It’s still too early to do work. I might just do my homework during lunch.
Lunch: People are so much more important than that homework. Socializing is obviously the only point of school.
4th hour: I just got done with my lunch. Why on earth would I do homework after that?
5th hour: Uh-oh. I completely forgot about my homework until 10 minutes before the class ends. Thank you, teacher for assigning such an insane amount of homework. One worksheet is going to be the absolute end of the world- the end of my half-way decent grade in that class.
6th hour: (As the teacher is going around and checking homework) I didn’t have time to do my homework. Could I please have an extension on my homework? I should be able to turn in my homework late just this one time. Or… could I have some extra credit? It’s late in the semester, and I need an A. Because of all the homework I haven’t done this semester, I think I should be able to get an A.
We live in a world which has widely accepted the concept of evolution and natural selection. Because of this, it would do a great service to the human gene pool if all laws against violent crimes were nullified. If laws against violent crimes were nullified, think of how strong we would be! The ones who survived long enough to reproduce would be the best of the best. All the weak would be dead. The weak ones were a burden on society anyways. It is far better to kill off the weak members of society and put them out of their misery. Their lives are aimless and have no purpose whatsoever. Any children they produce will be like them, weak and incapable of surviving. The entire point of natural selection is to improve the gene pool. With the dismissal of violent crimes, we would be doing what nature wanted us to. Heck, while we’re at it, let’s just let the entire world descend into anarchy. After all, that’s how it all started, so it can’t be wrong. Right?
Concerts are awesome. Concerts are fun. Concerts are wonderful. They are especially awesome and fun and wonderful if your seats make you see the performers as ants. But let’s look at the glass as half full - at least you are there, right? Correct. My favorite things about these concerts are the contests that all of the local radio stations have leading up to the concerts. Some of them require you to do a little work, but whats twenty hours of extra work in one week? No big deal. The best part of these contests is that just because you spend all of your free time working, you are not guaranteed a prize. A radio station - such as, oh, I don’t know, 98.1 - tells you to come early to the concert, scream really loud for two and a half hours, and they will judge your poster. Then they pick the girls who have the least amount of clothing on and give them the biggest prizes. This is probably one of the best systems I have ever heard of, and should always be used at concerts to reward the most deserving fans with the best prizes.
War!
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing Ending slavery, stopping Hitler, stimulating the economy, winning freedom from oppressors
The art of war is of vital importance to the State. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.-Sun Tzu
War is inevitable. Though it is man-made and fought by humans and the machines they create, war is a natural occurrence. Throughout history war and the warriors who fought them have provided a vital balance in the world. War has kept the balance of power relatively stable throughout history. Whenever a nation has grown too strong, they have fallen, and while some of this may be due to internal pressures, war played a vital factor as well. One just has to look at Persia, Rome, the Arab Caliphates, England, and Nazi Germany, to see that war is a crucial factor in the world balance of power.
There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.-Niccolo Machiavelli
In its time, the Persian Empire was the major power in its region. When they set their sights on Greece, the Greeks had no choice but to fight. The Greeks were one of the last civilized peoples in the way of the Persian advance. If the Greeks fell, the whole of Europe would be open to the Persian advance. The Greeks had no leverage to negotiate with. They had no economic power, so an embargo was out of the question. They could only fight. They inflicted heavy casualties at Thermopylae, and slowed the Persian advance. They lost Athens, but beat the Persian navy in a decisive battle at Salamis. The lack of the naval support forced the emperor Xerxes to retreat back to Persia with most of his army. The Greeks then defeated the remaining Persians at the battles of Plataea and Mycale. This ended the Persian invasions of Greece. Had the Greeks given up, and just been absorbed into the Persian Empire, not only would the Persians have taken all of Europe, but Western Civilization might not have developed along the lines of individualism that it did. Later, Alexander the Great waged one of the greatest military campaigns in history to topple an empire that had gotten too strong ad had threatened the balance of power in the world. His own empire then collapsed due to internal warring after his death, keeping the balance of power stable.
The rapid expansion of Rome began around the third century BC. The Romans defeated the great maritime power of Carthage in the first Punic War. By the last Punic War in 149 BC Rome had destroyed the major power in Africa, and made the Western Mediterranean into a Roman lake, and with the defeat of the Macedonian and Seleucid Empire in the 2nd century BC, they had obtained dominance over the whole of the Mediterranean. After a brutal civil war between Gaius Marius (the reformer of the Roman Army) and Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Gaius Julius Caesar emerged as the prominent political figure in Rome. Caesar joined with Marcus Crassus and Pompey to form the “First Triumvirate”. Caesar all but completed the Roman conquest of Gaul, and started a few incursions into Britain. When Caesar led his legions across the Rubicon River to take Rome, a Civil War erupted between Caesar and Pompey. Caesar was victorious, though he was later murdered. His murder leads to the Second Triumvirate (Mark Antony, Octavian, and Marcus Lepidus), which later collapsed amid infighting and led to the Roman Empire under Octavian. So far, the Roman military machine had been unstoppable. Sure, they had suffered minor setbacks, but they had chugged on. Then, in 9 CE, the Germanic tribes under the tribal chief Arminius destroyed three Roman Legions using guerilla tactics in the battle of Teutoburg Forest. This marked a turning point in Roman history. The Romans had found an enemy which they couldn’t conquer. This ended Roman expansion into Northern Europe and stopped the Roman Empire at the Rhine. A decisive defeat of the world’s preeminent world power by “barbarians” had checked the expansion of Rome. After the division of the Empire into East and West in 285 AD both Empires still remained regional powers, though not on the level of a united Rome. The Western Roman Empire fell first, succumbing to a combination of internal turmoil and invasion by nomadic peoples from the north. The Eastern Roman Empire however, persisted all the way up to the fifteenth century as the Byzantine Empire, before succumbing to the invading Ottomans. Once again, it can be seen that war struck that vital balance in world history.
Every nation rises and falls to its own self-interest. The most effective way of projecting one’s interest in a forceful way is through war. Treaties can be broken. Leaders lie, in fact, they lie a lot. The Munich Conference, the result of which was thought to be “peace in our time”, actually led to an increase in Hitler’s strength. It showed him as bold and daring, while painting England and France as weak and eager to appease Nazi Germany. In the same way, the multiple compromises on slavery and state’s rights only postponed the American Civil War. In fact, it might have been better if the issue had been resolved earlier. By the time of the Civil War, the tactics of both armies had not evolved to match the new technology. Both armies were still using the tactic of masses musket fire. This tactic, combined with the advances in reload time, accuracy of fire, and ammunition (the minie ball) lead around 600,000 deaths. The peace brokered by the Camp David accords lasted only the life of the leaders. The gains which Israel made in its numerous wars with its neighbors, however, have endured in some form up to when I am typing this period.
The great questions of the day will not be settled by means of speeches and majority decisions but by iron and blood.-Otto von Bismarck
War is always the lesser of two evils. However, it is almost always the most effective form of dealing with the other evil. Hitler would not have succumbed to an embargo. King George III would not have given up the colonies just because the colonies asked nicely. While war is evil, the systematic slaughter of over 12 million innocents is worse. Or maybe that’s just me? Usama bin Laden wouldn’t have just laid down and died. We had to go and get him. Our nation war forged from war. The nation which we broke away from also emerged from the flames of conflict. While war may be awful, it is also the necessary catalyst for change in the world which we live in.
War is hell. -William Tecumseh Sherman
It is well that war is so terrible. We should grow too fond of it.-Robert E. Lee
Most of the alternatives to war are weak and ineffectual. If some nation decided that they wanted to embargo the United States, we would be just fine. The world is too big and there are so many sources to buy from, that any embargo is ineffective. If an embargo is effective, it is because one nation controls so much of the trade with another nation that the nation being embargoed is starved for resources by the embargo. This is just a form of natural selection. It eliminates weak nations from a stage at which they don’t belong. In other words, if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen. Most of the other options which are not war are so close to war that they might as well be. Blockades, no-fly zones, and UN action almost always involve the use of military forces. Even the peaceful embargoes and “official censures” require something to back it up. And what is that something? That something is military power, the threat of intervention, the threat of war. If Equatorial Guinea decided they were going to tell the United States to stop meddling in the Middle East, we would be rolling around on the floor laughing. However, if the United States decided to tell Equatorial Guinea to stop funding partisans fighting in civil wars around Africa, they would most likely do it. Why would they do it? Because we have the force to back it up. We have the means to enforce even our peaceful options.
In order to rid the world of war, we would have to forsake all which makes us human. Our drive to improve and expand our sense of individualism, and our competitive spirit are all human characteristics. All of these are characteristics which have led to our greatest scientific and cultural accomplishments. They are also the characteristics which have led us to war amongst ourselves. War is not what makes us human, but what makes us human leads us to wage war.
Only the dead have seen the end of the war.-George Santayana
War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means.
Karl Von Clausewitz
War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means.
Karl Von Clausewitz
Although I personally find there is no place for war, in the sense of man to man combat for control of area of land, the people within, or whatever, it exists today. By that means, there must be some place and time for war, as it does exist. This does not however, make the situation morally right. The concept of men (humans) killing one another for reasons dating back so far back and as trivial as “my god is better than your god”, that it disgusts me. Most if not all situations that have been solved through war could be solved through a non-violent pursuit, such as the U.N. or other governing body deciding the compromise. A country should only go to war if it is attacked or could be harmed as the result of another countries actions. If no countries harmed one another, this would be a simple solution. Were it so easy.
I can’t honestly believe that war is the only solution to any problem. It can be helped in other ways. The only time for war, I think, would be when there is absolutely no other way to solve their problem. Even so, it is not morally right, and it will never be morally right, to fight in order to preserve the idea or even the people that you are defending. There is no reason for so many people to die- just so that minds can be changed. Although war changes the situation of the fighting areas, it still can’t be justified. People can’t be punished for what their government has decided to do, no matter their opinion on the matter. Sometimes it seems that people only notice what we put into action, the “actions speak louder than words” philosophy, but when you act on something and that action is war, it seems that we have gone too far. If we have to settle every problem with a war to get something done, we need to rethink our strategies, before there is no one, or no group, to have those problems with. As Bertrand Russell stated, “War does not determine who is right- only who is left.”
Throughout history there were times when war was obviously necessary. World Wars One and Two were both completely valid wars that caused great changes in our nation. But, some wars could have been avoided with a little discussion and compromise. When it comes time for war, the ones that I believe to be valid were both morally and logically correct. The Holocaust was one certain time when countries around the world had a responsibility to go to war. I am the type of person who believes that there is always an alternative to every situation. So I think that there are definitely alternatives to war. Debate on whether alternatives could go be more or less effective could go either way depending on what the proposed alternative is. One of the problems with war is both sides not playing fair. Tactics such as manipulating weather through environmental warfare have been the works for future use. If two countries used this tactic at war, they would end up fighting about weather instead of fighting about the real issues.
Fears-Failure
Annoyances-People who think they should automatically get respect. Respect has to be earned
Accomplishments-N/A
Confusions-People who can’t make up their mind
Sorrows-lack of accomplishments
Dreams-do something useful with my life
Idiosyncrasies-extreme stubbornness
Risks-None really yet, but I really want to try BASE jumping
Beloved Possessions, Now and Then-now: lacrosse stick. Then: Can’t remember
Problems-Complacency
BASE jumping is one of the most adrenaline-inducing activities anyone could ever do. The BASE stands for Buildings, Antennas, Spans (bridges), and Earth (cliff). Basically, it’s skydiving, except instead of jumping from a plane, you’re jumping off of a stationary object. This object is also closer to the ground than an airplane, which greatly increases the chance of death. This actually feeds into a few of those different categories. Obviously it fits into my Risks section, but it would also provide me with an accomplishment for that category. It would also definitely cure me of my fear of failure, and it would count as something useful for the dreams section. The main reason I want to do this is because the adrenaline rush would just be amazing. Specifically, I really want to try wingsuit BASE jumping. Basically, you put on a suit which makes you look like a giant flying squirrel, and you glide as low to the ground as you can before pulling the chute. Just the sheer amount of guts you need in order to just jump off the cliff has to be staggering. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaMTSOI1Zk4
Crickets and beetles
Deception
Spanish
Life in general
Loss of control
Something new, exciting
Hands
Change
From both now and whenever, journals
Relaxation… or the lack of it
I think that one of my biggest fears, other than the obvious ones (being crickets and beetles), is probably going through a major change. This is mostly due to the recent things that have been going on in my life. When your life changes, I suppose, it makes you want some parts of your life back, no matter how much you wanted to get away from everything in the first place. For example, when I moved 3 months ago, I missed having a room away from everyone else, but I knew that everything was better off the way it is now, even if I didn’t have the privacy that I had before. Even though someone might want to change certain aspects of their life, they still want some of it back, no matter how difficult or otherwise frustrating it might be, especially in the transition between the two different situations.
1940 - World War II: the McCollum memo proposes bringing the U.S. into the war in Europe by provoking the Japanese to attack the United States.
According to http://www.historyorb.com/events/october/7 , this happened on October 7th, 1940. I think this is rather obviously a bad occurrence. It also had a rather large significance on the world at the time, completely altering the scale and path of the war. As for effects on a particular nation, I think the fact that it brought us into the war is enough to say about that subject. Any particular city this effected, I think our reaction with Hiroshima speaks for itself. I have absolutely no idea how this effected my existence, however. I’d have to say that I rather loathe this event, just because of the magnitude of deaths it caused.
