This video is very messed up and I do not really understand the point of this video. To be honest, this video sheds a bad light on an entire religion and that is not an easy thing to accomplish in just a four minute you tube clip. I realize that you cannot relate a terrorist group to an entire religion but at the same time it is hard not to. I once heard something about the fact that you cannot relate jihad to Islam as a whole just like in the 1940s you could not relate the Nazis to Christianity or Catholicism. I really enjoyed both the extra credit opportunity on Tuesday night and the lesson in class on Wednesday. Both of these presentations by the very intelligent lady went back to the class on empathy. And the class on empathy really made you think and wonder about the supposed “enemy” in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. I thought that class was one of the more powerful classes this entire semester. In every scenario life throws at you, you have to understand both sides of the conflict. You have to understand both sides way of thinking, there background, how they were raised and then you can understand why they might be acting the way they are. The lady during the extra credit opportunity this past Tuesday really put into perspective the conflict between Israel and Palestine. She understands both sides of the conflict because her family is Jewish yet she understands what the people of Palestine are going through and how hard it is for them to basically just have to give up there land. She is truly a remarkable person because at such a young age she understood how to really look at things. She was able to look at both sides of every situation which is not easy for some adults to do and she was doing it in grade school. This video is pretty scary and I hate terrorism. It really sent shocks up and down my body when I was watching it. I would just like to say that this is the last blog of the semester and I really enjoyed blogging and expanding my thinking for the past 15 weeks.

I thought this video was very interesting because not only did it discuss the budget of Americas Department of Defense but also because it gives us insight on what the spending is used for. The United States of Americas military spending accounts for fifty percent of the entire world. Seven of the ten largest military companies in the world are America companies. These companies also do not just sell to the United States government or even are allies. Seventy percent of US arm sales agreements went to “developing countries”. These are things to ponder about. Are we selling weapons that American companies make to our enemies? Are we selling these same weapons to leaders who are going to kill their people? I don’t really know the answers to these questions and I don’t think anyone really knows. When Sam had two ex-CIA agents into his class and they didn’t really know what happens in the United States Government tells us something about how little we actually know. We all say that we want to know everything that goes on in the government but do we? Do we really want to know? I don’t know but these are questions that Sam is definitely making me ponder. But War is a battle over resources and that has been the case since humans have existed. And if any other country in the world had the military capacity that we have, then wouldn’t they use their brute force as well to gain resources for their people. It is about electricity, cars, and everything as a country we take for granted on a daily basis. The resources that our government gain help us as a country function. I don’t know if it is definitely the right thing to do but who does. Sam gives us very curious things to ponder and they are definitely very curious because there is no real right answer to any of them I feel like. I do not like bashing my country or my government because I live very happy here in the United States and I wouldn’t chose to live in any other country.

The oil industry in my opinion is one of the most interesting industries not only the United States has to offer but the entire world. There is so much controversy when discussing the oil industry and in DC it is always one of the hot topics. I did not know much about it before we watched the video on the Marcellus shale and I thought that video was so interesting. But Sam did mention something that I really understood and agreed with. You have to listen to about fifty percent of the information because producers of documentaries are so good at twisting and turning the truth to make the viewers believe that there side is the right side. That is what makes a successful documentary filmmaker. They have the uncanny ability to make an argument go their way. And the filmmaker of the Marcellus shale video that we watched in class did a great job of building up his argument and giving history to the story. And I feel very bad for the people that are negatively affected by the drilling. Water is life. People need water to survive and function and be productive citizens. But there are positives from the drilling. Clean energy, natural gas and oil is all being taken from the Marcellus shale. For every positive thing in life, there is a negative. And this negative is definitely a bad thing. Politicians making decisions in Washington DC are of the upper class and they are definitely looking out for their own behinds. There making rules and passing laws to have the drilling and extracting of these natural resources not be affected. But you have to understand there point of view also. I understand that it is not fair for the people that cannot have clean water to drink or shower with but they are also giving Americans a cleaner and cheaper product. It costs a lot of money to transport the oil from the middle east and to get the resources from the United States saves a lot of peoples time and money. I know this documentary was very powerful ad informational but you do have to look at both sides of the story.

I am a huge sports fan and I understand the fact that sports can give people an outlet from daily stresses and problems. But if you factor in a huge natural disaster like an earthquake, sports can do wonders. This story has huge similarities to Hurricane Katrina and what the New Orleans Saints did to the city of New Orleans to help them move on from such a big catastrophe. The Saints gave the people of New Orleans hope and sports has that unbelievable power of giving people hope and a certain energy that no politician, no leader can even dream of giving there subjects. It’s the moment in time when people start believing in something, that it really turns around. And teams and sports give people something to believe in. The people of Haiti needed something to turn to when the earthquake hit and soccer was there choice. Soccer is the world’s sport because every nation can play. It doesn’t matter if you are the most wealthy nation in the world or if you are a third world country, you can play soccer. All it takes is a ball and a goal. Some kids around the world play with no shoes on. It is truly amazing how much people love soccer. I just the love the fact that when people are in crisis, thy turn to sports. And that is what exactly happened here. People of Haiti who really needed help and deservedly needed help because there country was in ruins. I just absolutely love athletics because they mean so much to me. I was the captain of my lacrosse team and football team in high school. I was the quarterback of my football team and it was the best experience of my life. To be the leader of a team that is forty-eight strong is one of the best feelings in the world. I love athletics and will always love sports because it brings people together. And that is what happened in Haiti. People who were separated because of an earthquake were brought together because of a sport that everyone loves.

I am a huge sports fan and I understand the fact that sports can give people an outlet from daily stresses and problems. But if you factor in a huge natural disaster like an earthquake, sports can do wonders. This story has huge similarities to Hurricane Katrina and what the New Orleans Saints did to the city of New Orleans to help them move on from such a big catastrophe. The Saints gave the people of New Orleans hope and sports has that unbelievable power of giving people hope and a certain energy that no politician, no leader can even dream of giving there subjects. It’s the moment in time when people start believing in something, that it really turns around. And teams and sports give people something to believe in. The people of Haiti needed something to turn to when the earthquake hit and soccer was there choice. Soccer is the world’s sport because every nation can play. It doesn’t matter if you are the most wealthy nation in the world or if you are a third world country, you can play soccer. All it takes is a ball and a goal. Some kids around the world play with no shoes on. It is truly amazing how much people love soccer. I just the love the fact that when people are in crisis, thy turn to sports. And that is what exactly happened here. People of Haiti who really needed help and deservedly needed help because there country was in ruins. I just absolutely love athletics because they mean so much to me. I was the captain of my lacrosse team and football team in high school. I was the quarterback of my football team and it was the best experience of my life. To be the leader of a team that is forty-eight strong is one of the best feelings in the world. I love athletics and will always love sports because it brings people together. And that is what happened in Haiti. People who were separated because of an earthquake were brought together because of a sport that everyone loves.

I am a huge sports fan and I understand the fact that sports can give people an outlet from daily stresses and problems. But if you factor in a huge natural disaster like an earthquake, sports can do wonders. This story has huge similarities to Hurricane Katrina and what the New Orleans Saints did to the city of New Orleans to help them move on from such a big catastrophe. The Saints gave the people of New Orleans hope and sports has that unbelievable power of giving people hope and a certain energy that no politician, no leader can even dream of giving there subjects. It’s the moment in time when people start believing in something, that it really turns around. And teams and sports give people something to believe in. The people of Haiti needed something to turn to when the earthquake hit and soccer was there choice. Soccer is the world’s sport because every nation can play. It doesn’t matter if you are the most wealthy nation in the world or if you are a third world country, you can play soccer. All it takes is a ball and a goal. Some kids around the world play with no shoes on. It is truly amazing how much people love soccer. I just the love the fact that when people are in crisis, thy turn to sports. And that is what exactly happened here. People of Haiti who really needed help and deservedly needed help because there country was in ruins. I just absolutely love athletics because they mean so much to me. I was the captain of my lacrosse team and football team in high school. I was the quarterback of my football team and it was the best experience of my life. To be the leader of a team that is forty-eight strong is one of the best feelings in the world. I love athletics and will always love sports because it brings people together. And that is what happened in Haiti. People who were separated because of an earthquake were brought together because of a sport that everyone loves.

I agree with Richard when he says religion will not die. I believe that in order for people to feel like they have a purpose in this world, they need to believe in something and religion is what the majority of human beings turn to to truly believe in something. Religion answers a lot of the sociological questions that we as human beings ask on a daily basis. Like why are we here? Why do we die and why are we born? I believe religion is in some ways a way for people to keep their sanity. If human beings keep thinking about the questions that no one really has the answers to, then they will lose their minds. But religion gives people answers to those very tough questions in life. When you talk about a creator and a “god” the questions that I asked earlier in my blog are basically all answered. Religions disagree with a lot but at the same time, there are a lot of similarities between them. And if people would just listen to each other and understand different religions, than wars and uprisings and riots would not happen. Its when people are ignorant about other peoples backgrounds and religions and races that stupid fights break out. All religions are really quite similar. There are a couple differences here and there but not anything way drastic, especially in all of the different Christian religions. Catholics, Protestants, Episcopalians, Lutherans, and Congregationalists all really have the same viewpoints on a lot of things. There are a couple minor differences here and there but nothing drastic enough to start debacles about. I think religion is a very good thing. It gives people hope and it gives people reason to live and to work hard. It gives people reason to try and spread good in this world. I am Episcopalian and I do not go to Church very often. I usually go twice a year, once on Christmas Eve and once on Easter but every time I do go, I feel a sense of pride and a sense of right. I wish I would have gone to Church more to get that feeling every Sunday.

I would first like to start my blog off by saying that my heart goes out to not only the people in Japan but also everyone who has been affected by the horrible tsunami and earthquake. It is just so sad. It is something you do not ever want to see and it is especially something you never want to witness firsthand. And the thing about natural disasters is that there is no one to truly blame. After or during a horrible disaster or war or attack people love to have someone to blame. It makes them not necessarily feel better but it lets people bond together and come together for a cause. There is a sense of revenge that allows people to at least for the time being forget the hideous act that took place. What happened in Japan was truly an unbelievable event. For one earthquake and one “wave” of water to cause that much destruction is unthinkable. And I truly believe that the day the earthquake shook Japan and made people across the world tremble was not the worst day, the days following the tsunami and even up to today has been maybe just as bad. The nuclear power plant is a major problem in Japan. Several reactors have exploded and that is a terrible thing for Japan because radioactive material has been released into the air. Japanese residents are now in danger because of that terrible radioactive material. I feel so bad for Japan because recovering from a tragedy like this is so hard to do and it takes time. The hard work towards the light has only just begun. I remember when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and wreaked havoc. It was a tough time for Louisiana and the entire gulf coast region. But you have to at least recognize some of the good that came out of it. It united a city, it united a state and bonded together people that would have never ever met before. It is a tough time in Japan but they need to realize that the light at the end of the tunnel will be spectacular. It might be a lot of hard work and the tunnel will be very long but the light at the end of the tunnel will be worth all the hard work.

Seasonal Effective Disorder
That video is very informational and makes me think how fortunate I am to live in a place that has more sunlight in the dead of winter than just five hours. It obviously takes a toll on your mental aptitude and your level of happiness. It shows right here in State College. The first nice day in March or April after a long, long winter is one of my favorite days of the year. Students are walking to class in flip-flops, shorts and a t-shirt. People are just outside in their front lawns and backyards throwing the football around or catching some rays. Everyone is just so much happier!!! It makes me so much happier when everyone is out and about and the weather is so much nicer. The sun is out and the skies are blue. It is the most amazing day in the world. But my hats are off for the city of Helsinki for trying to make the best out of a very difficult situation. How are you supposed to deal with five hour lit up days? But they obviously try there best and they are doing a pretty good job. The “Season of Light” is a great idea to get the residents of Helsinki out of their homes for a couple hours during the darkest days of the year and see what the artists in the town can do with just light and their imagination. And some of the art the artists came up with were just magnificent and it is about so much more than just themselves. It is about the people of Helsinki that will benefit from there creations. It will give them some happiness in to their very dark lives because at the time of “Season of Light” they will only be getting five hours of sunlight in a day. It will give people hope and light. I also liked the ideas of the new lamps in the workplace and in homes. That gives a totally new sense of happiness in the workplace. You don’t realize how much light truly makes a difference in your light until you go without it for an extended amount of time.

This poem by the Pennsylvania lifer is such a powerful one. The Pennsylvania lifer poems are my favorite blogs to read undoubtedly because it teaches me how to appreciate the little things in life. It’s the little things in life that the prisoners try to appreciate and it’s the little things in life that keeps these people who are in jail sane. Imagine knowing that you are going to be in the same place for the rest of your life. I would be really scared and have a lot of fears because I would not know what to look forward too. And it would be really hard to try and enjoy the present. I believe that it is very important in life to not only enjoy the present but to also have something to look forward to. If you have something to look forward to, then it is much easier to get through the difficulties in life. But this poem is so powerful and so true in so many ways because people are truly driven by the fear of failure. And when you look at this fear of failure from a sociological perspective, it is society that truly drives this fear. When someone fails, they feel like they not only let themselves down but they feel like they let down their family and their friends. They feel like they let society down. The thing that really amazes me in this poem is the fact that he is so positive. He has been in jail for thirteen years and he has been in jail since the age of eighteen. But he is still thankful for the person he is today and how he can face his fears. I would truly like to meet this man. I consider myself a very positive, happy person but this puts positivity on an entirely new level. And I really enjoy the last paragraph because the way he explains fear. I think fear can be a positive thing because without fear, society could not function as smoothly. Fear is what drives people to work hard and achieve their goals because people in our society hate to fail. And society especially hates failures.