Quote

“The consequences of being at war, and therefore in danger, makes the handing-over of power to a small caste seem the natural, unavoidable condition of survival.

            This is a quote from Goldsteins book. He is describing how the governments of the superstates use war as a means to control the masses. War does not have a concrete purpose, it is not fighting for survival. War is only used for control. Orwell wrote this book in 1949, soon after World War Two. His descriptions of war in the novel are likely influenced by his point of view on war, and how the second world war killed millions of people, and resulted nothing much less than the destruction of a large part of the world.

Page 163 out of 245

Opinion of the book so far

I love the book so far. It is very cool to see how George Orwell’s predictions all the way back in 1949 have played out in the last sixty or so years. The planet Earth portrayed in his book isn’t real, but it written in a way that the reader believes it to be so. Just as Winston is frustrated in the book, as I read it, I feel his frustration too. The author does a fantastic job of immersing the reader in the book.

Page 77 out of 245

1984 by George Orwell

The most important thing I’ve read about so far is the work that Winston does at his job. Him and many of the other people who work for Oceania are in charge to rewriting the past to fit what the government wants it to be. Doing this writes a false past but since it is written as fact, all past history is erased forever and replaced with what the government wants. This is important because it shows how dishonest the government of Oceania is.

Page 62

A Trip to Barnes & Noble

I stand outside of the store, the air is cold and crisp. I raise my arm and look at my stop watch. 30:00 is blinking on the screen. I ready my finger on the start button. I press go and run into the Barnes & Noble, I have 29 minutes and 55 seconds to find an independent reading book. I immediately speed walk past the New Releases stand at the front. I whiz by the World History collections, the Biography books, and the Almanacs, my eyes glued to a section in the back left of the store - Fiction. I look at my watch, 27 minutes and 48 seconds to go. Luckily, I was prepared. Yesterday I asked Mr. Yost for a suggestion on which F. Scott Fitzgerald novel to read. He told me to read none of them, and to choose The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. My eyes went to work, scanning the shelves for the letters "HEM." Found it! I pulled a copy of The Sun Also Rises out of the shelf. This one had a tear in the cover so I exchanged it with one in better condition. I look at the watch, 25 minutes remaining. I sprint full speed back to the front of the store and get in line at the register, anxiously tapping my foot waiting for the woman in front of me to spend about two minutes deciding which type chocolate truffle to purchase for her grandson. Finally it was my turn and the transaction was taken care of. I run out the door, almost knocking a young girl to the ground. I take one final look at the watch... I made it in time.

college

http://nplusonemag.com/bad-education

                This article was about college education in the United States. Prices of college education have been rising, student debt has been increasing, but the amount of opportunity for jobs of college graduates has been declining. It then goes on to explain some agencies that helped grow the bubble of college education loans.

It is interesting how it is taboo to challenge the notion that a college education is important, even though it causing so many monetary problems in the country. Some have wondered why the cost of education has increased so quickly. One could say that the quality of education has gone up as extreme as the price, but this is not the case. The simple answer is that no matter what colleges charge, people will still pay for the degree because it is such an integral part of our society. I read in an article several weeks ago that a college received more applications one year after raising their tuition. By the laws of supply and demand, the higher the price, the less demand there should be. In economics, we learned about a type of good called a Veblen good. Veblen goods behave the opposite of normal goods, in that as the price rises, there is more demand for the good because it gives the impression that the good is more valuable. It seems as if college education is not exactly a Veblen good, but sometimes it can act that way.  

                My peers and I will be going off to college next year so this article applies to us. College education is supposed to be a gateway to a better life - one of financial stability. With total student debt surpassing one trillion dollars within the past few years, it makes me wonder if a college education is always the right thing. I think that many kids my age look at fellow students who choose to go to community college or not to go to college at all, and think down on them as if they aren’t smart. Maybe they are the smart ones, for they know for a fact that in four years, they won’t owe tens of thousands of dollars to some bank.

Adam Knox

http://rilf.godengo.com/November-2011/Our-worst-fears-have-come-true/

This article, written by Tom Knox, is about Tom’s brother Adam who died while serving in the army in Iraq. Adam was in the army as a person who would work with Iraqi citizens and leaders to try and maintain good relations between them and the US soldiers. He was shot by a sniper in Baghdad. The sadness that was in the article acts as a representation for the sadness felt by thousands of American families over the years who have heard the bad news. One of the main ideas in the article was about how to deal with the death of a loved one. The author struggled with wondering whether he should always think about his brother and feel sad, or sometimes try to forget and move on. The only person close to me who has ever died was my grandmother a few years ago. I also struggled with this for the time after her death. It is hard to always think about a deceased love one because it brings feelings of sadness but there is also that feeling of guilt in trying to forget. Towards the end of the article, the author begins to write about how he is going to move on. His brother died over five years ago and having Adam out of his life has become the new norm. I think humans have the natural ability to be able to cope with death and adapt to new situations. Like the narrator, I have gotten used to my grandma being out of my life, and driving down to Atlanta twice a year is now something that me and my family do not do. Last week, the Iraq war came to its official close. I wonder how the families of soldiers who were killed in the line of duty feel knowing that the war was not very successful. Do they feel as if their children, brothers, spouses, and parents died in vain? I think that this is a curious subject that will come to light in the coming years.

Steve Jobs

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/11/14/111114fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=all


This article was written by Malcolm Gladwell and is about Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs had a bad side to him. He was a perfectionist  and he always gave other people a hard time when he did not get his way. I think that many times people in positions of power, like Steve Jobs, have very demanding and sometimes rude personalities. The article talked about how Steve Jobs was more of a tweaker of past inventions than the innovator and visionary we have all come to think of him as. One of the ideas of the article was how many times people aren’t given credit for their accomplishments. Steve Jobs took a lot of the credit for ideas and designs done by his staff. In our lives, we can try to look behind an invention or an accomplishment of one person and try to see all of the people who deserve credit for it. One example is a new world record in a team sport like basketball or football. One player may get the record, but they certainly could not have done it without an entire team’s support. Gladwell also gives the reader examples of other people who remade previous inventions and had a huge affect on the world. The example Gladwell used was British inventors in the Industrial Revolution who improved the spinning wheel. There are plenty of other objects today that would not be the same if it weren’t for “tweakers,” such as the telephone, automobiles, and shoes. Often it is the first invention that does not change the world,  but a remake of it that made it better. I think that is how Jobs became so successful is because he built computers and mp3 players from improving on other already-made inventions. After reading the article, I have a new perspective on the creator of Apple. He was not perfect and certainly was not as remarkable as I previously thought.