The Learning Center

The Learning Center is wide open and has a vaulted ceiling to prevent it from giving the feeling of suppressing ideas or not allowing thoughts to grow. There are no dividers, it is like everyone’s thoughts are supposed to be free to swim around the room, and around each other, and around each person like many fish around a reef. The constant sound of keyboards typing and people discussing quietly amongst each other sharing thoughts, ideas, and knowledge can be heard. There are many windows allowing light in, and if it is dark outside enough lights, to keep people from having to use their ideas light for anything other than its' intended purpose. There are tables that allow seating for two and others that have space for twenty; with so many views there needs to be places for them to be shared. There are also both large and small pillars that seem to say there are no ideas that are too small or too great, and no matter the size they are still important.

If an idea is struggling to stay alive there are people that sit and wait or walk around to offer the aid it needs to continue on. There are also people and computers available to help encourage the production of new thoughts and the supply of knowledge that has come from those before. There is no one subject that dominates here, everything from philosophy to physiology, from maternity to mathematics; there are no boundaries or restrictions that try to keep the brain from growing. Instead the gates are wide open allowing anyone who comes in to take whatever information they want, and either share it or keep for themselves, in the long run it doesn’t matter because the information will always be available here regardless.

Art or Trauma

I do actually have a tattoo. It was something I had thought about for some time and when my wife went to get hers modified, I got mine. I didn't get it for fashion, I don't brag about it, I don't even show it very often, and when I do it is usually because my wife wants to show it to someone. I have joked that it was because I didn't have any other marks to identify my body or pieces of my body in case of incident, but it does somewhat have an identity for me. It shows that I am a flight medic, and that's about as much description as I will give. I put it on my right shoulder because that is where the flag on my uniform is, and my personal experiences made that location significant to me. It isn't one that all flight medics get, and I think it is safe to say that there is no other like it; so it doesn't include me into some brotherhood of people who get this tattoo. As I think about the reasons for it they seam somewhat foggy. My duty and training was something I was... am, very proud of, so I wanted something that when I looked down I would remember all that I had done to get it and what I had done with it.
So I guess Josie would say I shouldn't have got it; but I disagree about getting a tattoo for fashion. Fashion comes and goes, I think tattoos should portray what truly mattered to you at the time and what was of great importance. I don't think they should be used to make yourself feel better about something, and as far using them to "let go"... how can you let go of something that is permanently inked on your body? I try not to judge others alterations, but I agree with Josie that there are very wrong reasons to be pierced or inked.

You're killing me people!

I haven’t really wanted to come across as a jerk or an ass, which is why I am writing this here instead of in comments. I also have started to wonder if anyone looks at any of my blogs anyway, and I guess this might let me find out. English Composition 121 is in fact a college level class, and as anyone should be able to surmise, it requires writing. When I see writing that only has two upper case letters in the whole thing, I can’t help but wonder what the hell is going on in schools today. How about using “defiantly” in place of “definitely”? It can work, but it says something entirely different from what is supposed to be conveyed in the writing. There’s also “one” instead of “won”, and “by” in place of “buy”. Then there is the use of, or should I say lack of, punctuation; a paragraph that consists of two sentences when it should have four along with some more commas. I can admit I’m no master of writing skills and make mistakes as well, that is one of the two reasons I am taking this class.

As far as I am concerned, the education system has failed you, you are now walking around with a piece of paper that says “I know and understand at least the basics, if not more”. That piece of paper, in truth, was required for you to take this class and be in a “college level” institution. You may read the quotation marks on “college level” as me saying Red Rocks is not such an institution or its faculty could do better when looking for a job. That is not the case in any way, what I am trying to say is “college level” seems to have dropped a few levels. But, don’t think I’m letting you off so easy. I may have a couple years on many of you, but not that many. I don’t see how there is any way you could possibly not know how to form a sentence or use the shift key. I also can’t figure out why you wouldn’t use a word document to type it out, correct it, re-read it, fix what the spell check didn’t find and then copy and paste it into the blog. By that simple action alone you would start learning spelling and punctuation, it won’t always replace the wrong word you used with the correct one, but that’s why you look it over again!

If you see mistakes on what I write, please let me know. When I post something and there are misspelled words or grammatical errors, I feel embarrassed, and most of the posts I make are read by people who will never meet me or even see me. As I said, I’m not without fault, but I sure as hell try to better myself.

I know it isn’t really fair for me to point out all that is wrong and ask “why aren’t people doing better?” when in fact there are plenty who do well. A few of them I read and think that in future text books I am going to see that story as an example of what the times were like “back then”. I can tell pretty easily who takes pride in their work and who either doesn’t care or needs a lot of help. So to those of you who do well, keep up the good work; those of you who have a hard time with it all… you’re killing me here.

I'm suppose to write what?

After the first time Amy tried to explain what she wanted everyone to do, I sit here thinking to myself “as the cave man said in the Geico commercial ‘uh, what?” After a little further explanation though I think I understand, and if not I’ll write a few paragraphs and call it good anyway.

We are bombarded by media, and the only thing that comes close to a protective border is that which we put up ourselves and even that is extremely limited. By not watching TV and not bothering with the trendy magazines we can limit our exposure, but unless you become a hermit and never venture outside your home, don’t get mail, and never watch TV listen to the radio (to include music) or use a computer, exposure is imminent. Although someone might try to argue about auditory stimuli, think about what the brain does as you listen, as you make a mental image of what you are hearing. Just like text, there is really now getting away from it. Even in the supermarkets, when you go to the check out to legally acquire you subsistence, there’s Cosmo and People among others. Much like Bordo mentioned, there are either celebrities on new diets (whether they are actual diets or disorders), ways to please your man, or in the case of men’s magazines how to get a woman to please you.

I don't even know what I am trying to write here.

OK, so I tried this assignment the way I thought it was suppose to be done, and as you can see from above, and am giving up now. Instead, I'm just going to try rambling. I read a couple of the other posts and what I noticed the most is the mention, in one way or another, of censorship. By and large, censorship is usually not a good thing. Sure on TV nudity or profanity is hidden to an extent, but as time has gone on all those censors have eased to a point that, for anything other than comic effect, they seem to have no purpose. I realize that TV and radio is censored by the FCC, and I actually am not sure what censors reading material, and that both have different standards. If you go into a store, you can find just about everything but nudity in magazines. Cosmo talks about sex position, Maxim and FHM talks about ways to "hook up no strings attached" and so on and so forth. I admit that at times the editors and writers can make such things entertaining (in the humor way) and I think I am just about all for that; when it comes to humor I am pretty accepting of whatever it may be. What I want to know is when and why did it become so acceptable for such things to be public knowledge. I'm sure I would be called "old fashioned" but I say what happens in the bedroom should stay there, and when bedroom happenings happen elsewhere, there's really no need to share. Some wonder why the world is in such a poor state, but it seems obvious; what is expected to happen when the "do what makes you feel good" is promoted and the "do what is right" is not only hidden away, but also ignored when it does show up. I would also like to point out that even with all the super model images, obesity is rampant. Is it because the images say "this is what you need to look like" and some just say "well that will never happen so why try"? For some, that could be part of it, but I think there are other issues here.

You may ask, "What the hell does that have to do with any of this assignment"? Well, I was rambling, but I will tie it in now. Censorship and all these super model photos is not the real problem. Sure, it promotes some of what is wrong in the world, but if people took the time to educate and help each other out, the media would probably start using other imagery. I would say that this responsibility falls mostly on parents’ shoulders, but at this point, it is past that. It is now not just the kids that are growing up that are in such desperate need but the ones that have "grown up" and have no idea. It seems like common knowledge that much of the imagery is "enhanced" with computers. Why doesn't anyone acknowledge that when they are trying to look more like the "super" model? What I noticed on one post, was that the person (I am sure unintentionally) called the "much thinner image" perfect. That is how to industry wants people to view it as, if you can get people to think that whatever it is you're advertising is perfection, they have done their job well. That is what most of it really comes down to, convincing people that a product will make them pretty, better, perfect.

Frickin China

I wrote this response to an article written by Military.com about China hacking into the Pentagon. The site allows members to post comments on just about all their articles. People can be as ignorant or as informed as they want and still comment. This is what I had to say, I didn’t read the article and therefore didn’t comment until there were already fourteen pages of comments. Here is the link, and if you want to look at the comments, go to the bottom of the page and click on the “Join the discussion” link. There are a few things I would like to change in how and what I wrote, but since I can't change them on the site I posted them on, I won't change them here either.

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,148037,00.html?ESRC=dod-bz.nl

In the words of Homer J Simpson “We’re going to rule the world soon anyway… Wait… We’re China, right.”

In 1996 Clinton allowed China to launch US satellites (or try to at least). They blew up one satellite belonging to Loral Space & Communications Corp. Loral then taught the Chinese how to build rockets so they wouldn’t blow up and would get to where they were going. Meanwhile Clinton was meeting with Chinese Mafia, military, and Intel people; China was selling parts for nuclear weapons to Pakistan, and the PLA was putting funds into the Democratic Parties account. That was all in just the first six months of ’96.

I don’t know what, if anything, Bush has done. But, if it is anything like Clinton, I don’t see the big deal in China’s spying since we will probably just give them anything and everything they want in the long run. China has also been known for reporting a defense budget that is significantly lower than what they are actually spending. They have a larger military then what they report, and like Russia continue to sell arms and technology to the enemies of the US. I fully realize that they really have no obligation to be honest with most of what I have talked about, but why wouldn’t they unless they have something up their sleeve?

So, those of you who are saying “ah, it’s not a big deal, we do the same, blah blah blah’ and spew ignorance like it is going out of style; open your eyes and do a little investigating of your own.

Some other interesting things: Alaskan fishing companies sell their catches to China; China turns around, packages it and then sells it to the US for more than what they bought it for. While the US fights in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Chinese are studying our tactics (Sea, Air, Land, and Electronic), and finding ways to counter it all. Infantry tactics says a good ratio for battle is three (us) to one (them), with the size of the PLA (Peoples Libaeration Army) this wouldn’t be possible.

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/06/ap_pacechina_070604/