This video, "The Cost of the Empire" was very interesting to watch. It was interesting to see the actual number of how much the United States is spending on its military. From class, we learned that the United States accounts for almost half of the military spending of the entire world, so such a large number given in this video should not be surprising. It is surprising to learn about how many bases we have and in how many different countries and how we feel it is our right to have them there even when may of these countries clearly do not want us there.The amount of money spent at these small bases where we shouldn't even be is astounding. Its just asserting its right to be there because it is the biggest and the baddest, like the "school yard bully" reference made in class. It is clear that throughout our assumptions of being the best and the biggest it causing us to lose our actual power and respect we had previously from other countries, or our supposed "empire". If we do not keep expanding and getting bigger and having the biggest numbers, we will be seen as weak and losing our own power to other countries and that would be just as bad as actually losing any power. All this money being is spent is to no avail, nothing can predict the future and what will actually happen, the only thing that seems certain is that every empire will fall and we just have to wait for our fall. Greed and assumed power is the downfall of all tyrants....having to face reality is the hardest thing to do. And its easy for us at home because we don't actually have to deal or think about these problems. We just say hey, we're the United States and we are the best. Why are we the best? Because we have the biggest military out there and everyone else is afraid of it? Not that I'm saying I don't love my country, because I do, but it would be interesting to see how it all ends and how much longer we can keep up this military spending and being the biggest bully of the world.

It is difficult to read this article and to think that I would personally ever have a need for evacuation plans or be faced with some sort of disaster that I would face in order to be in this type of situation. But with the very real events that happened in Japan, it's hard to continue to be ignorant. Especially because I live within 20 miles of the nuclear power plant mentioned within the article, Indian Point. Though I am not within the most at risk area, I am not very far off. What will happen if there was an accident to occur there? Not only would I probably be required to evacuate, I would have to deal with the people flowing into my town who live 10 miles away, trying to get away. The article addresses this issue. I know how our highways are with rushhour traffic, I could only imagine what it would be like if our actual lives were in danger. However, in these kinds of situations I think about the essay we had to read in our SOC book for the first exam about panic. There are very few, if any, recordings of panic in our history. Most people are aware that the best way to handle that kind of situation is to stay calm and make sure everyone is able to get out. Even people who were required to leave for Hurrican Rita were not dying because of panic reasons but because of previous health reasons combined with the unusual circumstances. But the nuclear power plant near me has the most concentrated population within 50 miles of it then any other power plant, according to another New York Times article I read last week, all within the New York suburbs. That is a LOT of people to have to evacuate and theres only so many places they have to go. Nor do we get any evacuation plans in case that was to happen, or what to do with people who live even closer to the plant and are trying to get away by passing through our town. I think these are issues that people making these plans have to take into account, but its really hard to make plans for things you don't is coming. Indian Point is far enough away that it isn't a constant worry in our minds, but its always there. It is good to have guidelines for evacuation plans so that people have a general idea of what to do if disaster were to strike, but if that were happen, there are so many other variables that would have to be taken into account that no one could possibly forsee. One just has to pray that we are never in that situation and that human nature to not panic and using the guidelines given to us to evacuate will aid us.

Reading the account of this man's life literally brought tears to my eyes. I could never understand how people could be so cruel. Especially parents to their children. What kinds of things were messed up in their heads in order to allow this? Even in his brother and sisters eyes he was seen as less than. I feel like they deserved just as much hate as the parents do. Not even sitting back in order to not get abused like their brother, they encouraged his parents to abuse him, Even after he had killed his parents, they refused to back up his story. His parents and his brother and sister knew it was wrong because they went to such great lengths to make sure that he would never tell anyone. What makes a person deserve his parents to try and kill him after numerous nights of being raped? Its also strange to me that when he did try to anybody, no one believed him or even felt the need to have it being checked out. I know my most adults in this day and age are extremely sensitive to making sure children are safe. But to anyone, a parent being abusing and raping their children is foreign and so wrong it is hard to believe. Of course the parent is going to tell people that he is an extreme liar and everything done is his fault, but how do you detect the truth from a lie? The problem is most of the times you can't. This man is incredible because he managed to live well into his 30s before he killed his parents. Maybe jail was the best place for him to go because it seemed that his life was extremely difficult as it was, even as a middle aged man. I feel that it would be harder to deal with people not believing him out in the world and having to adjust to the new freedom that he would have. It is easy to read this story and assume he was lieing, but then you would be lumping yourselves in with the hundreds of people that this man has had to deal with his entire life who didn't believe him. The only reason he is in jail is because no one believed him. Why does a man who is now in jail for life without any chance of getting out have a reason to lie? There are more people likely to believe him in jail because there are more likely to be people who have gone through similar situations as he has. He still has to deal with the fear that he had lived with for 30 years and its truly unfortunate that out of his siblings, he was the one chosen for this abuse. Many people would ask why him? What made him different? But the fact is is that it happened and there has to be some way that he had to deal with it. I hope now that he is in an environment that is a little less fearful for him and he continues to try and make himself be a person who can deal with the horrors he went through during his childhood.

Happiness is a relative term; happiness to one person may not make the person next to him happy. However, I think that most people would agree that if they were to win the lottery, they would be happier and better off. But if you read the CNN article, it begs to differ with this generally agreed upon statement. People who are suddenly thrown millions of dollars have no idea what to do with it. They think they can spend it all right away, because they have never had that much money before they do not know how to spend it. Most people who end up 'unhappy' after winning the lottery probably do not keep track of how they are spending money and still feel like they have to prove that they are rich instead of just being rich. There is a big difference. There is a lot of pressure on acting like you have money and that you deserve the money that you got and may be why people have such a hard time transitioning from being poor to rich. If you work hard for that money however, it comes over a gradual amount of time and careful planning that in the end you know that you deserve the title of being rich and that you worked hard to get there, there is nothing to prove to anyone else. That is also why winners of the lottery have to deal with people trying to take their money and take advantage of them. There seems to be a curse with lottery winners. However, I do not believe it to be so much a 'curse' as it is false expectations. People generally have higher expectations for their lives after they win the lottery and if these are not met they feel depressed. Or most people feel that winning the lottery will solve all their problems, most do not realize that it is just adding more problems on top of that so they become even more overwhelmed because they couldn't even deal with their problems beforehand. Few people could probably handle the stresses that come to them after winning the lottery, but I doubt that the majority of them can. It is such a life changing experience that it is hard to deal with it and few things in life can help you prepare for it. Like all huge life changing experiences people have, there are some serious problems you have to push through in order to finally be happy, and in this case it may be too much for most people.

It is obvious from this video that outside factors affect how we feel and how we act. Everyone knows the feeling when winter comes along. After the nostalgic feeling of snow, the harsh cold and the harsh conditions makes winter get old really fast. Seeing the snow set at 5:00 makes it difficult to continue to stay motivated to get things done during the day. When night hits, all you want to do is crawl into bed and do nothing. Hence the lethargic feeling people get during the winter. Because we have to stay indoors much more, people tend to eat more and so gain more weight. Without the desire to go outside or to get up and workout, this makes people more depressed. I could only imagine how much worse it is in Finland. This video shows people saying that they do feel depressed with just the few hours of sunlight a day. They have to change their lifestyles around. Whereas we are so used to doing things by 'daytime' activities such as school or work or going outside to run or play etc and 'nighttime' activities such as hanging out with friends or relaxing etc (generally speaking), these people in Finland have to adjust their lives so they can get more done in their 'nighttime' activities. Imagine going to work or school in the dark and having to pay attention when your body wants to sleep. These people have to find some inward motivation to get things done in the dark than in the light. This motivation is hard for most people to find, also a reason why many people become depressed. It is hard to imagine this in a society where a good percentage of the population is already depressed for their own reasons. How do these numbers change when darkness hits? How many more people become depressed, or since it is just 'seasonal' does it not really count as being depressed? I do not think that could be a fair assumption because being depressed takes a real toll out of your life. It is a huge issue to deal with in many factors of your life most people aren't even aware of. It is good to see their government taking steps to making some beauty out of the dark. However, I cannot see how the lights can help people with seasonal affective disorder truly because most people feel depressed due to the lack of sunlight. It is still a good attempt to make people, because I cannot think of anything else that they could do. It is a factor completely out of anyones control and the people who live there must find some way to deal with it. If the only they can deal with it is through their depression, they have to find something that can bring them out of it and help themselves.

it is easy to see why parents are so scared of their children being kidnapped after seeing this video. Stories like these seem to dominate the media and make it seem like child kidnapping are very prevelant and a huge problem in our society. However, when looking at the numbers of actual child kidnapping, we see that this actually is very rare. Most people are not out looking to steal children, most people would be willing to help a child who is lost. I believe that most parents would believe this and want to change what they teach their children. However, I do not believe it is so much a matter of not agreeing with the numbers, it is most parents would absolutely not be able to live with themselves if they were the ones to say, if you see help go up to the first stranger you see and ask them for help, and that is the one person that would be out to steal their child. Even though the numbers are very low for stranger kidnappings, it is still something that can happen to their child. I believe parents even knowing this will not change what they teach their children, they will still teach them to not talk to strangers. It is also to be a parent, because they always feel a constant judgement from other parents. Not only do you see this happen on tv, but my brothers are still at a young age and I always hear my mom and my aunts gossip about whose parent let their kid do what. If a parent were to tell their children it is okay to talk to strangers if you are lost or even what we were talking about in class, letting your child walk to school by themselves, would be judged by the other parents in your child's class and that sometimes is not worth putting yourself and your child through. Even though I believe it is not something parents would change their minds about, I had an experience that proved what psychologists are saying.
For my brothers bithday we were in Florida and we went to MGM. Around ten to fifteen minutes after arriving we realized we could not find him, he was not in the store we were in. We began to panic and retrace our steps searching for him everywhere. Finally my dad went back to the information place at the entrance of the park and there was my brother, safe and sound. He had gotten distracted and was watching a performance while the rest of us kept on walking. As soon as he realized he was no longer with us, he went straight up to a women and said "help me, i lost my family" and she brought him to the information place to wait for us. I doubt my parents had ever told him to do that, but at 7 years old he was able to not panic when he found out he was lost and used his judgement to not go up to a random stranger but to go up to one of the character ladies who obviously worked at the park to ask for help. He knew in such a big place, he probably would not be able to find us but someone would be willing to help him. If more children were able to think like that and use judgement to find someone quickly who would be most likely to help them. This proves that by altering the way we see the world, rather than following what the media tell us, would probably help our children out more so than by outright telling them they can not talk to strangers. By doing so, they are probably putting them at more risk to attract attention from someone who might actually want to hurt him.

I really enjoyed this video and think that it points out obvious things that most people don't take into account. When most people think about love, they think about the people around them. However, in relation to the whole world, one individual only interacts with so many people. As he points out, for a person to find the ONE other person that is perfect for them is not only slim, but probably impossible. By making a joke out of it, he also makes people aware of the fact that what they might believe is love is just an illusion...something the force themselves to see because they want it. This then becomes a personal issue for the individual. If one believes they find love they might begin to think what if? What if there is something out there that is better? Is one willing to just 'settle' with the person they found or would they spend their whole lives searching for something more? I believe it is foolish for someone to give up what they believe is love for this reason. This person would then be living a life unfulfilled because there is no such thing as perfect. One might believe that this would be 'settling' for someone, but really if someone is able to recognize a good thing when they see it they should hold onto it and not let go. If they are able to do that, they would not have to worry about what might be out there, what they are missing out on. More people need to appreciate what they do have. If you are meant to find someone else, you will and you can deal with that issue then, however, a person should not give up on love in fear of what they might be missing out on.
There is also the 'invisible strings' a person could think about. These invisible strings connect everyone together, making the likelihood of meeting your 'soulmate' much more likely. Many people don't believe you can find the one person that is right for you at a young age. However, if you think about it it is not that strange. A person is more likely to have more in common with the communities they live in and similarities between people are what attract each other. They are more likely to share the same values and the same ideas and enjoy the same things. A person who lives in America might be the soulmate of someone who lives in China, but it is probably highly unlikely because of the different cultures and lives they lead. They would not have enough in common to ignite a spark that most people expect to feel when they are in love. The invisible strings are more likely to attach two people who live close together than they are two people who a
are at a great distance to never meet each other.
I believe that the guy in the video makes many points. There are probably many people out there who would do, but it is important not to spend your whole life searching for someone who might be a bit better than someone you already have.

(Continued) this is another invisible string that connects Americans, we live in a country that has many vacation destinations to offer that other countries do not. People in Europe grow up crossing countries borders which is equivalent to an American crossing state borders, just one requires a passport and one does not. Since we have so many options at a true convienence, it does not seem plausible formany Americans to have passports. This lso explains why the number of Americans with passports went up when itbecame required to have one to go to Canada and Mexico. They are countries that are a convienence toAmericans, which combined with our desire to work cause few Americana to travel outside the country. These invisible strings connect Americansmuch more than the average person may believe them to.

Many people I have talked to, family or friends or colleagues, all talk adamently about how they want to travel a lot during their lives. The article talks about ignorance of the people who live in America, however, I doubt there is a single person in the country who does not wan to travel to hotspots such as England, Italy, France or even Caribbean islands. This desire however does not explain the very low travel rates for Americans. This has to be due to the 'invisible strings' that connect us. It must have something else to do with our culture and I believe that it has to do with Americans desire to work and take few days off. Have we ever heard of something really bad happening to someone who decided to take a vacation? No, but the thought of it still makes us feel uneasy. From as early as we can remember, we are programmed to work extra hard in school so we can get into college where we work even harder to get a job as soon as we finish for the rest of our lives. From the time we are 5 years old, we work hard to achieve this goal. How can we justify taking an extended vacation, or even any vacation, from something we've worked so hard to achieve? I know that even at my part time jobs, I hate asking for time off, I couldn't imagine when I have a real job. Even people who do take vacations would probably choose someplace that is within the country because of its convience.

It is clear from this story that the 5-year old child should really have no blame in this and it should all be placed on the stepfather. However, it is sad that the teachers and principle could not just take take gun away from him and send him back to class and just deal with the stepfather. To do that to such a young child might make him think that there would be no serious consequences to what he had done and that he could do it again, because in the end even though the fault is the stepfathers, it is the young child is the one who actually did it. Had it been two or three years later, more serious action could have been taken place on him. I believe that the most frightening part about this is not that he had a gun in his possession, but that he doesn't understand the true value of what was in his pocket. He didn't understand that something could have easily gone wrong and someone could have gotten seriously injured. I truly believe that the child deserves no blame, however the article suggests that he knew at some level that he was doing something wrong. It said that for almost an hour the child had a gun in his pocket and he did not tell any of his friends or take it out to show off. At such a young age, you would think the first thing a kid would've done was to show it off, to show his friends how cool he was to have a gun. I have younger siblings that are close to that age and they know what a gun it as I'm sure all young children do from seeing them in movies. They look cool and especially since his stepfather uses one, the kid probably wanted to be cool and act older. But at some level he must've just wanted to take that risk, even though there was a chance that he might get in trouble. I believe this shows that his stepfather must've taught him how bad guns are and how he should not touch them or else he would've showed it off. However, this does not excuse the stepfather from having a loaded gun lying around in the car for his child to easily take. I believe this shows carelessness, but not neglect from the father as the principle of the school seemed to think. As I said there was evidence suggesting that the stepfather had taught the kid about gun safety, he just seemed to have not followed his own advice. I believe the school is correct in punishing this kid because it makes him see the full value of what he has done and to, hopefully, never do anything like that again. If he is suspended at 5 years old he will not have the urge to take a gun or to take a stupid risk like that again. This incidence I believe, is a good way to show how many people blow things out of porportion and are very quick to assign harsh consequences and blame on people without taking into account the many factors that affect a person's life. It is very easy to judge someone when it is not happening to you. However, I do believe the stepfather was wrong to have a loaded gun lying around and even though nobody got hurt, hopefully this story reaches other parents who have guns and make them be extra careful on what occurs with their guns and their young children.