Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

My last piece on Steve Jobs.

I just read the eulogy by his sister: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/opinion/mona-simpsons-eulogy-for-steve-jobs.html

as I read this, I see people grasping at straws.
I see a man who was self-sufficient and good at what he does.
Who was good at being "good" and yet, that's not enough, is it?

Steve was not a saint.  Not even close.  The news/anecdotal accounts/hushed stories attest to that.

and yet, he affected his family so deeply.  the people he touched.  and here is a man, that may be closest to one who universally affected the world.  the contemporary alexander the great, caesar, or King Solomon, if you will.

Yet Solomon's wisdom prevails.  All is vanity.  There is nothing new under the sun.  Steve may have done his best at making his mark, but in the end, he will fade into history.

His last words tear at my heart.  "Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow."  I wonder.  were these words uttered in rapture or horror?  What did he see past those shoulders?  Those two words, expressed through a dying man's lips.  A man whose physical being will pass away, but whose soul will remain forever.

It hurts my heart.  Because he was a "great" man.. but greatness does not make for salvation.

What did he see?  Did he see the depths of hell automatically or did he see the complete righteousness of Christ illuminating the complete failings of his sin?  What will I see?

Even so, it is well with my soul.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Today was a good day for NPR

As i drove down to So Cal, I was listening to NPR and MAN the topics today were spot on.

First there was a discussion about the need for blacks to not let the messenger get in the way of the message (in regards to the Tea Party etc) based on an article written by a republican black woman, Sophia Nelson.  Interested in looking her up.  Good dialogue

THEN there was a discussion about CHEATING in schools.  AGH I actually got off the freeway, pulled over, and spent a good five minutes trying to call in and give my two cents.  Maybe one day I'll write about cheating....
basically how I grew up not cheating but ignoring when others cheated until a certain boy in my high school class whom eVERYone knew cheated got into Stanford..
I didn't cheat in college either... and when I began TEACHING I was really hard on cheating until I went to GCA.
I think I changed my philosophy a little, being lenient on the first one, trying to vary my tests and projects so that kids CAN'T viably cheat, and of course, if they cheat, just give them another assignment for a maximum grade of a C.  Easy peasy..

It was interesting how a lot of students unfortunately aren't prepared to write college-level (works cited, research intensive) work in high school.  ... America and education.  ..::sigh::..

I thought about starting an interactive blog where each post would be something that would be useful to students
like how to cite a book
how to start an intro paragraph

under the idea that we must "first learn the rules in order to throw them out." (yea yea JM!)

it got staticky.

THEN
in LA i listened to a story of an American family that lives off of welfare.  I thought about health a lot.. :-/
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128618224


Other discussions of note:
Debate over high-risk abortion public funding
Republicans blocking extension of unemployment benefits
Army + don't ask don't tell
auto-dealership bailout vs non-bailout / closing dealerships critique


There were random stuff too
like Lilith concert, a probe on Mars (pretty cool tho), human beings evolutionary development in terms of running,... yeah


ANyway, today was especially interesting... http://www.npr.org

I got into the habit of listening and absorbing information that way during my sophomore year when I worked a mind-numbing job and had an ipod.  At first, I couldn't focus, but now, I'm glad I can!

UM, I watched 24:Redemption last night.. and wow, 24 is kind of cool. and I just wish I had more international awareness............

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

ugh - woman finds head in blue ikea bag. lovely

She said: "It didn't look like it had been there a long time. Being an inquisitive person I wanted to find out what it was.

"I tried to open out the bag with my gloves on and look inside .

"I opened the bag and I think I saw hair. The hair had a dyed look and an old look about it. The dye was certainly not something that was done recently. It was red.

"I work with wigs a lot and it didn't feel new.

"I felt a bit shaken and had to go back to the house.

"I hadn't noticed the smell at first, but when I got home the smell on my gloves was really overpowering."

Ms Anderson went home and returned to the scene with her partner, civil engineer Jem Kitchen, 47, who contacted the police.




Okay, what the hay.
who the hECK does that? She saw a suspicious blue back and picked it up. (okay, not that bad). She sees hair. (errm). she doesn't notice the smell til later?! SHE TAKES IT HOME WITH HER? her PARTNER CONTACTS THE POLICE only AFTER returning to the scene? What the.. WEIRDO

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Will life ever change for children like Mohammed? Can it?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8549756.stm
This is an article about a boy named Mohammed who is 11 years old and sells cigarettes for $2/day. His mother is sick and his father is a poor rickshaw driver. Mohammed weaves in and out of traffic, avoiding cars, to sell cigarettes... hopefully avoiding those who'll want to take a cigarette without paying or who would hit him because they disagree about the price.
he doesn't go to school.

Dhaka UN Development Programme spokesman Sakil Faizullah says that most working children cannot afford the time to attend regular schooling.
"Because these girls and boys do not have access to education, they become trapped in low-skilled, low-income jobs, which further push them into the vicious cycle of inter-generational poverty," he said.
"Many occupations involve working in hazardous conditions that endanger the child's physical or mental health and moral development."


how can i actively care?


Just got back from the Women/Children's shelter. makes me think. makes me discouraged. makes me tired. makes me grateful. makes me think.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Mary Jane: my legal friend?

Selina, my coworker told me that marijuana is now legal in California. I flat out said, "No way, I don't believe you!" My reasons being that there has been no hoopla over this, and yes, there already might be legal medical marijuana, and California is a more open state, but for SURE there would have been some sort of hullaballoo over this, no?

But then, onto my trusty NY Times blares this headline: Committee Approves Calif. Pot Legalization Bill

Say what?

And indeed, that does seem to be the case:
A bill seeking to legalize marijuana in California won initial approval from a legislative committee Tuesday in what may be a purely symbolic vote because a second committee likely won't take it up in time.

The state Assembly's public safety committee voted 4-3 on the measure that would tax and regulate marijuana in the same way alcohol is controlled.


However, upon closer inspection, it probably won't come to be.

But the health committee also must approve the measure by Friday before the full Assembly can consider it, an unlikely scenario.

The health committee is not considering the bill during its meeting Tuesday. And the bill's backers would have to get a special waiver to reconvene the health committee later this week.


Which allows this substance-free being to relax a bit. But then, what is up with this? "a purely symbolic vote"? You know what this is, right? It's injecting it into the system. It's making the possibility of such a bill a plausible reality... and usually, the way our relative society works is
1) mention something AWFUL/WEIRD/CRAZY
2) Keep on mentioning it (subliminal! .. or not so subtly)
3) Make waves proposing something crazy
4) Garner more popular support from people for various reasons
5) Slowly the idea is no longer crazy
6) A modest, cautious compromise is made
7) Later on down the years, the previous "making waves" news is waved in with the times.


Sometimes this is a good thing (ie getting rid of slavery). Most times, we don't always have that blessed discernment.

ANYWAY BACK to this issue, it appears that people agree with me

If the bill does die, a spokesman for the bill's author, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, said the San Francisco Democrat would hold off on reintroducing legislation until after the November election, which could feature a marijuana legalization ballot proposition.

Though the successful committee vote could end up being purely symbolic, pot advocates hailed it as an important step forward.

''We're thrilled,'' said Stephen Gutwillig of the Drug Policy Alliance, a pro-legalization group. ''This to me, this is the formal beginning of the end of marijuana prohibition in the United States.''




But this isn't what irks me.
What irks me is this:
The legislation would allow adults 21 and older to legally possess, grow and sell marijuana. The state would charge a $50-per-ounce fee and a 9 percent tax on retail sales.

State tax collectors have estimated the bill could bring in nearly $1.4 billion in revenue.


A HA!
I remember last year listening to the radio about how legalizing marijuana could do wonders for California's economy... and how "cooperative" and eager such growers are to comply. (sure sure, let's fast forward ten years when Pot Lobbyists take over our government. LOVELY! absolutely LOVELY!) AND NOW look.

What bugs me, is this bid to legalize marijuana is from greed, and from a desire for a simpler solution to get out of this economic mess that California dug itself into. What the California, can't we do better than that?

AND I bet we'll reach a calmer solution.
We'll mollify the public by giving more money to schools, lowering the UC system fees hike by 15%, and stressing that there would be regulation and rules (just like how we successfully controlled cigarettes and alcohol ... except the last time I checked cigarettes and alcohol related deaths still rank in the top ten causes in the US)


oh and of course:
Under the bill, much of that money would go to fund drug abuse education and prevention programs. Republican Assemblyman Danny Gilmore ridiculed that idea during the hearing at the state Capitol.


Oh whew. Thanks~! Great, now I can rest easy.

I think this dude says it best:

"We're going to legalize marijuana, we're going to tax it, and then we're going to educate our kids about the harms of drugs?'' said Gilmore, a 31-year veteran of the California Highway Patrol. ''You've got to be kidding me.''


This is retarded.

Where were these people in 7th grade when we learned that "marijuana" is the gateway drug.

SURE.
LAUGH AT ME!


or tell me to "take care of my own life" and don't butt into others'.


The thing is; when people start smoking, drinking, engaging in weird substances, it DOES affect me.
* drunk drivers
* second hand smoke
* second hand marijuana smoke (favorite Breakfast in Berkeley I tell ya)
* lobbyists who are filthy rich
* (future/past/current) friends who get addicted
* (future/past/current) friends who don't have all the pieces together in the mental department.



whatever, there's more.
whatever.

this is just dumb and makes me mad.

Oh yeah.. it MESSES WITH YOUR MIND!



and i mean when I was in high school there were PLENTY of people smoking pot when it was ILLEGAL! How much more kids will be doing this when it's legalized? COME ON! How many kids would not start if they see their teachers taking an MJ break? Come ON!