Issue 3

Issue 3 on the Ohio ballot is the “Learn and Earn” Amendment. What it will accomplish, if passed, is to place about nine different casino-like areas to be created in northern Ohio, namely Cleveland. Though these aren’t full-fledged casinos, the amendment provides for 3,500 slot machines per location.

The reason this is even on the ballot is that a portion of each location’s house winnings are kicked back to the government to be used for education. With 30% going to scholarships and another 8% going to general education, this seems like a beneficial addition to our current form of paying for public schooling.

Unfortunately, gambling is addictive. These games are made to allow an occasional large-scale win with many more, smaller, losses. This makes the possibility of either winning big, or more commonly, breaking even, quite possible and very enticing.

The house earnings are divided up to include “gambling addiction services,” but, like any addiction, gambling addictions have a stage of denial that is seldom escaped.

Also, these sorts of locations attract various, unwanted social groups such as gangs, drug dealers, and black market gambling operations. These side jobs are what will eventually destroy the good that the gambling spots that this amendment is trying to create.

In this case, I believe that the bad that can come from these government casinos far outweighs the good that has been foreseen. The only suitable decision is to deny this bill’s passage into the Constitution of Ohio.

Art-WORK

This block on end makes me think about the balancing act that we all play. We balance of our emotions, our jobs, our friends, and our families. Sometimes we fall, but inevitably, we have to get back up on end, precariously leaning in various directions, just trying to stay up and look like everything is under control. We’re so hung up on staying up and keeping our straight lines perfect, that we forget to just be ourselves and have fun. Cultural norms constantly pressure us to work impossibly hard to balance in this way instead of laying down and taking it easy on one of our flatter sides.

The golden edges of the cube are almost like “gilded edges” in the fact that they seem to only exist for the purpose of showing off to the rest of the world. Much like our clothes and appearance, we use our outer essence to hide who we really are inside. It’s too dangerous to actually show our emotions. We don’t want to get hurt and instead we create alternate realities and hurt others by shutting them out. Pain is only avoidable if we inflict it. That’s the entire purpose of a comeback. Revenge is our way of keeping our wounds to a minimum.

We feel as though it is our job to serve justice. Karma isn’t given a chance anymore. Instead, we attack in and effort to come to our own defense. Retaliation replaces forgive and forget. Pain, though only an intangible feeling, is powerful. Aside from constantly fighting off foes, we decide that intimidation is safer. We either choose to use “pre-emptive” attacks and be a bully, never to be dethroned, or we set up a façade like the golden borders of the square on end.

Also, the indents in each side seem to extend inward to infinity. This proves to be a symbol of inner turmoil. By isolating ourselves so much from the pain of the outside world, we push inward continually until we create sharp, piercing points perforating our soul. This inner angst is black and rigid. The sharp, right angles are meant to be painful and incessantly pests that probe our inner thoughts and desires. All this pressure makes us change our goals and wishes in life from those that we truly want, to those that we think that others want. The black abyss of what is left behind is all that remains for us to salvage after the inconsiderate actions of others have come and gone.

I would never

I would never actually wish for someone to die. I’m not a vengeful person. I admit that at times my anger has taken over my mouth and has cursed someone (who deserved it by the way) to a painful, agonizing death. I’m even against the death penalty to tell the truth. I would prefer to get rid of the “cruel and unusual punishment” clause and just beat the living daylights out of convicts. Death is an escape, not a punishment.
That’s the other reason that I don’t really wish death on a person. Death is really not something to be afraid of. It happens everyday. Its not like its going to make that big of a difference if one more person doesn’t grace this earth. So why bother making yourself frustrated with someone to the point that you wish that you had the finger of lightening? Just let it be.

UA Aeronautics Research Takes Flight

This article is kind of interesting, or maybe that’s just me because I’m geekish. (and yes that’s a word) Basically this article talks about the gas turbine facility and what the university is planning to test in there. What they want to do is test the effects of birds on jet engines and also to test the benefits of other materials. The article continues on stating that our facility is the only one designed to actually do destructive tests as opposed to the ones in Cincinnati or Ohio State.

As for my opinion of the article, I found it slightly underwhelming in depth and in anything new learned in the article. Oh, and the title was realy cute too. I suppose this is only an introductory article and either there is going to be a follow up story or you as the reader are expected to look deeper into the subject. This just seems like too short of an article for the subject that it takes on. Perhaps the writer didn’t spend much time getting background on the topic or only took interviews over the phone. Either way, I would have liked to see more concentration on the facility.

Yesterday was the future of the day before.

This is really deep. I feel like I’m almost supernatural knowing what happened on yesterday, because I can relate the two days events. In another way its kind of depressing. We always look to the future as some kind of amazing new technology or as a place where things are better. But looking at this phrase, you can realize that to “the day before” the future was what you now know as yesterday. And if you remember, “yesterday” isn’t always that fascinating of a day. This phrase also reminds me of another little phrase: “Do you feel better each and every day? No, I just inched closer to my grave.” What happened yesterday is now dead. But to “the day before,” it hasn’t happened yet. Its still in queue to happen. I almost feel like I’m looking into a weird sort of crystal ball. Like I know what is going to happen and that there is nothing that I can do to change any of it.

Meet my pet: Peeve

My biggest pet peeve (aside from these durnt laptops) would have to be bad grammar.

I said it! I said it! Yes, my biggest pet peeve is when people don’t be using the grammar well. The one thing that bothers me the most is when people mix up the “doesn’t”s and the “don’t”s. For example, “She don’t understand what I’m saying to her face.” I barely understand that you passed the fourth grade! Dur-hurr!
Admittedly, this is probably one of the most forgivable crimes. But when you come from Jackson High School, one of the top 25 high schools in all of Ohio, you best be knowin’ that you should speak with the propah English! Come on though, really! “She don’t…”? PUH-LEEZE!!! You friggin’ sound like a hick. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Joe Dirt was a very good hick. And look where he ended up.
Alls I’ma sayin is, LISTEN TO YOUR ENGLISH TEACHER! She is paid to know how to speak in our native tongue, English. That will be all.

Roy G. Biv

To tell the truth, my first thought at the sound of our topic today was that phrase about the colorless green ideas or whatnot. But upon further thought process and cognitive action, I soon thought of another subject on which to write about.
My favorite color is red. No really. I’m not making this stuff up. Actually I have two favorite colors, which are black and red. With these two colors I was able to decorate my room back home. I chose something like “Shut up Piotch, Black” and “Supah Brizzight Red” for my paint colors. The red however made for an awkward situation at The Home Depot paint counter. While manly men watched on with their neutral deck paints and cream kitchen wall colors, the paint mixer came back with my can and opened the lid. Now make sure you understand, this was as red as you can get before someone dies of a red overdose. But anyways, all these homophobic and extremely masculine men looked at me oddly after seeing my choice of color.
My room, now with opposing walls of black and red, suits my inner decorator to the highest degree. The boldness of my scarlet offset in alternating walls with my depths of abyssal black serve as a true picture of me: Completely torn between whatever it is that I friggin’ want. But we’ll leave that can o’ worms for another blog entry.
Join us again for the ten o’clock news at eleven. This is Rich Butler saying, “Good News, and Good Cake.”

It was the best of jobs. It was the worst of jobs.

Well, my best job ever, and my worst job ever, would have to be Wendy’s. Actually it’s been my only job so far. It’s not such a bad job. It’s just my boss, Jeff, that would get annoying. He had to be one of the fruitiest men to ever maintain his closet-dwelling outer persona. His manner of management along with his terrible sense of humor made him the butt of many versions of evil and stupid boss jokes.
Though this job is deffinately not the most glamorous, with its greasy floors, terrible pays, ugly uniforms, and lack of high quality food (not that it was poor quality mind you), it was made enjoyable by the others that had to swim in the pool of misery that was Jeff.
As for one particular incident, I accidentally got some of the fry grease splashed all over my hand. Now let me just say that I wasn’t over-joyed that it happened either. The next time I came into work (my hand wrapped in swaddling bandages), Jeff had the nerve to ask me into the back office, and tell me that what happened was wrong. OOOHHHH. Seeing as how this is a public blog, I’m going to refrain from typing the words that were flying through my head. I’ll give you a hint though. It started with an F and rhymed with “Buck you Jeff!”
Bittersweeetly, I no longer work there. I quit in early August to prepare for my semester here at Akron. I do miss the people that work there. However, the best thing is going in as a customer. I get to see my friends but also get to make Jeff work for me!

I hate to admit it, Butt.

I hate to admit it, but I'm actually not a student.

In fact, I'm not really 18 years old. I'm part of the NSA, keeping tabs on one of our top public enemies, Lauren Garcia-DuPlain.

I was only given a short briefing (get it? short? brief-ing?) on her. I wasn't even given any background information. My superior only told me, "Keep an eye and an ear open for anything...hmm..." He turned to his secretary with a pleading face. She whispered in his ear. He turned back to me, "unusual." Man I need to get out of the kick-around business.

Another thing that I hate to admit is that, should Lauren's outfit look more profitable than the NSA, I plan to defect to her side. What can I say? I'm in the NSA. I already lost all my morals on sign in.

Oh, one more thing. I hate to admit it, but this entire blog will be erased from your memory in three, two, one...







Damn it! Friggin' thing's broken again! Oh well. Plan B. You're getting very sleepy....

Confucius say

"You may be conservative, cautious, and practical."

Oh! Really? Could I? Gee, I needed a fortune cookie to give me permission on being "conservative, cautious, and practical."

But really, I don't fully agree with this nugget of fortune. Actually I don't agree at all at this point. In this, my first semester at A-K-Rowdy, I don't think that being silent, shy, reserved, and all-in-all, boring is a good idea. Now I'm not saying that I need to go and do something outlandish just to establish a name for myself. But now is not the time for the "Sound of Silence."

But maybe these numbers enhance what ancient chinese computer sputtered out. Let's see, "5, 11, 17, 29, 32, 37".

Nope

Nothing there

They don't even add up to my lucky number. I don't know. I think that this entire fortune experience has made me more cynical and grumpy. I'm done with this!

SHUT UP!

Colorless Green Ideas Sleep Furiously

As I was sitting in my English Composition I class, attempting the first time to log into Blogger.com, a strange, cryptic message was scrawled on the board. “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously. What this weird combination of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs meant was still a mystery to my eyes. Had my instructor actually lost it? It was only the third week of classes. I haven’t been that annoying yet. Sure, I have driven some of my teachers in the past insane, but this is a new high score!
Or maybe, this encryption is a secret code of unknown origin and meaning. Perhaps I was not in my English Comp. I class but rather in a psychology class. The whiteboard in the front of the class was not actually a board, but a one-way window for another class to study my “class” in. They were trying to test the effects of a random word generator on a given test cross-section of campus students.
But what if it really did have meaning? Am I completely missing the point? Am I missing out on a hilarious joke the rest of the class is enjoying? Am I the one now going insane trying to decipher this strange sentence? Do I have to keep writing this entire paragraph in questions? Why do I keep adding question marks to the end of this paragraph?
I will not let them get into my head!
The simple explanation for this phrase is obviously “omega.” The expression is a complex rationalization of a top secret government priority target. They need my input as to the final code word of the launch sequence. Other agents in the room are sending in their pass-phrases as I type. Mother-bird! Mother-bird! Come in! This is WhiteBlaze! Execute order Charlie! Confirmation is Omega!
Suddenly I see my white robed enemies approach. I must end this transmission immediately. I only ask one thing. Quickly, find me and release me of this prison. They have others here too. They have done evil things to them. They’re all going insane. No! They’ve injected me with the serum again. I’m losing my consciousness. I must leave now. Long Live the King!

Fear

Rich Butler
English Composition 111:801
Lauren Garcia-Duplain
6 September 2006

Our Friend, Fear

The police siren blares down the highway. Another “perp” is going to get his comeuppance. Sure he’s carted off, and depending on what he did, he’s going to get a fine or maybe even some hard time. Yet, fortunately for the rest of us, this scene isn’t an all-day affair with cops dashing from one occurrence to another. But why? Take burglary, either petty or grand theft. It seems like a smart way to make a living: taking other people’s hard work and making it your own. What’s lying within reach is good for the taking. If there was no fear of legal repercussions, annoying people could easily be dealt with through murder and incomes would be unnecessary because whatever you wanted, object or action, would be yours at your command. However, we, as America, have decided on a number of morals that are agreed upon to be best if upheld with the help of law enforcement. Still, as seen on any news station you happen to turn on, law enforcement doesn’t stop these “immoral” actions. However it is considerably less than what it could be. But why is that? Citizens as a whole are afraid of their police. Is this good? Is it O.K. to use “the right kind of fear [to keep] us from doing wrong?”
Firsthand, I have witnessed this. As a simple example, speed limits are a barrier that the fear hopes to hold in check. The speed limits themselves don’t keep people from surpassing them. It’s the police. And even then, that doesn’t stop everybody, also a firsthand experience. But since the police can’t be everywhere at once and make sure that people obey these laws, all they can do is hope that the laws are being complied with. They hope that the driver will be in a constant state of fear so that paranoia will set in. They hope for paranoia to the point that the driver will stay below the limit in fear of a police car popping up at moments notice. But still the question remains: Is it good or right to use fear in this way?
In some instances, yes. The cases mentioned early on, burglary and murder, would cause a general chaos should everyone act upon these principles. Anarchy, which is what would ensue, is derived from the prefix an-, without, and the root arch, meaning leader, exactly what has happened, a lack of leadership. The leadership in this case is fear. Through fear, we had order and guidance.
However, what right does anyone else have to set us in this constant state of apprehension? “It’s My Life” says Bon Jovi and Queen asks that you “Don’t Stop Me Now.” Music aside, each of us has his or her values and priorities. And what right does anybody have to govern what I feel is right and what is wrong?
Personally, I feel that the fear that our government instills in us is being used for the right reasons. Those reasons are the protection of and the provision of equality for all American citizens. Without this fear to keep us in line, our free will would eventually lead to such a state of chaos and disorder that it would almost be impossible to differentiate humans from the other animals of the earth. It is the fear that separates us from the wild and the beasts.