24 is cool

Twenty four is such a great show. I know that you may say that it’s cheesy and the acting isn’t great or whatever, I don’t really care. The show is freaking epic. I must say that my favorite character is Jack Bauer. That man is so legendary that it’s a real shame that he doesn’t exist in real life. Maybe he really does and he is singlehandedly saving our great country from terrorists. We just can’t know about him because his safety would then be compromised. Either way, Jack Bauer really adds to the epic quality. I guess he carries the show in a way.

            Otherwise, I haven’t seen the show in a while and it’s not as great as it used to be. It doesn’t seem as exciting and genuine as it used to but there are some qualities that make it even better. There certainly is a lot more money and effort going into making the series now. Every year, the plot progresses to a whole new level. In the first year, Jack only had to save the president. In the next season, there was a whole city at stake and implications involving the nation. In the third, the threat to the entire country was real because of terrorists. I lost track what really happened between now and then, but it mostly just dealt with more terrorists who had links to Russians. I despise Russians, but it turns out that they aren’t the greatest threat to our national security. It turns out that the threat comes from within or own borders and among the people who lead our country. Are the creators trying to tell us something. I just wish there were more people in our ranks like Jack Bauer. Someone that is brave, intelligent, skillful, and guided by good morals. Jack Bauer for president! 

A beautiful Sunday afternoon, and more about surfing

            Today is Sunday morning, and it is a beautiful Sunday morning at that. While it may be a little bit chilly, it is a perfect day in my opinion. There is a cool, stiff breeze and the sun is bright. While there are a few clouds in the sky, they are too far to the west to bother us, at least for now. It seems really beautiful to me, because it reminds me a lot of home. I was thinking about it this afternoon when I was going to get breakfast, and yes, I get breakfast at 2:00 on Sundays. So I thought, what is it about today that I find so pleasing to my psyche?

            Then it hit me. Today is exactly the kind of day that the surf is good back home. I know all of you blog readers might be getting tired of me talking about surfing and almost nothing else, but this hobby controls my mind no matter where I am and what disposition I am in. Even though I have been at school for a couple months, I feel that my surfing sixth sense is running strong. Back home, there was just something that I could feel in the air and I just knew that the surf was doing something special. What was it that I felt exactly? It’s pretty difficult to describe how I can tell, but it’s just something that is ingrained in me now. First of all, I can tell by the temperature and dryness of the strong wind that it is blowing almost directly from the northwest. In addition, I see the clear skies and feel the dry air, which is a common characteristic of a northwest wind. Then, I studied the trees and it looked like the wind was blowing from the northwest, judging from where North Campus and the bell tower are. And strangely enough, it’s like I am sensitive to pressure in the air. You may not believe me, but after checking the waves back home and studying conditions multiple times a day, it is something that has become fine-tuned. This tells me that there is a high-pressure over Chapel Hill, and most likely, all of Eastern North Carolina for that matter. The northwest wind tells me that the high pressure is pushing against a low pressure that is currently spinning off the coast. So what does this mean for the surf? The low pressure that should be there is sending significant waves to the East Coast, and probably Ocracoke. The Northwest wind means that the skies are clear and the wind is blowing directly offshore back home, which makes the waves super clean.

            This is basically just a hunch that I have. Sometimes when I have this feeling, I’ll go out to check the waves and find that the waves are small, even though the wind is perfect. So as soon as I got back from breakfast, I checked Surfline.com, my most trusted surf forecasting website. It turns out that the wind is blowing directly northwest, and there is a fast-moving low pressure near the outer banks. The near shore swell heights say there is a 10-11 foot swell for Sunday, but it is moving quickly and won’t quite show up that big. While it is probably overhead in the standout breaks of Hatteras and Pea Island, Ocracoke will probably be showing a chest to head high swell with super clean conditions. Now I’m just really, really sad that I am not out surfing like my friends most definitely are.

Getting Buff

            This weekend, I decided that I really needed to get out and get some serious exercise. I have been walking a lot and riding my bike up hill has given me some but it wasn’t enough. I decided that I had to check out the Rams Head fitness center because I need to take advantage of these facilities that are paid for in part by my tuition. Basketball is one of my favorite sports and I played that first. Unfortunately, I was really rusty when I got out onto the court. It seriously took me about 10 tries to make my first shot. I was quickly dragged into a full court game. I didn’t take many shots in the first game. I set up some good scores with good passes. Luckily, my defense wasn’t very unorganized and I got several good rebounds, a steal, and intercepted some passes. The second game didn’t go too well. I messed up some good drives with my uncoordinated shooting. I used to do well at laying the ball up but I was too slow in my movements. I shot around a little bit more and then went to work out.

            I like the weight and fitness equipment at Rams Head fitness center a lot. It’s all in very good condition, I think everything works how it should, and best of all, there’s TV! I’m just joking about that last part. I wasn’t too big on watching the TV when I was there. I’m too concerned with trying to get buff. I really have lost a lot of endurance and overall strength since before summer. I was in an athletics class back home during senior year. I stayed fit through summer but I haven’t had much physical activity since coming to Chapel Hill. Besides the fact that it’s good for me, I had a lot of fun and I’m going often from now on.

Presidential election importance pt 1

            Everyone knows that the elections are fast approaching but it hasn’t quite hit me yet the importance of this election and how important this month is. The result of this election guides the next four years of our lives differently than the other candidate would have. I like expressing my political views and with this election, I seriously can’t believe that McCain has as much support as he does. I feel like their supporters are just very narrow minded and don’t question their views or question what the candidate says to the American public. I question Obama as well and while I definitely find gray areas, I think that he is basically the only choice. It just really frustrates me how slim our choices are. To me, it seems almost like our system of elections is a failure because of the people we see before us. I agree that Obama is my favorite choice for the front-running Democrats, but there are others. Biden wasn’t a serious candidate for president, but in some respects I like him more than his running mate. As for McCain, the choice of his running mate should be all the more obvious reason that we cannot vote for him. The job of the VP is to be ready is something were to happen to the president and we need someone to take the helm.

            John McCain’s argument about experience is ridiculous. Both Biden and Obama are highly qualified and well educated. Sarah Palin is a joke for a candidate. Don’t get me wrong, I agree with the millions of Americans that say they admire her and think she’s a good woman. She seems more cut out for the PTA presidency. Even as a governor, I think that she is way way way too ignorant, easily- swayed, prone to changes in decisions, and so on. I don’t ever see anything about any of her arguments that is foolproof against her opponents. I hope you all agree.

Controlling people part 1

I'd like to take this week's blogpost to discuss something that is taken for granted. This is the fact that in many ways, your life is controlled whether you know it or not, or even choose to acknowledge it. 10,000 years ago seems like a really long time ago. It is, but it's still only less than one tenth of human existence. Since 10,000 years ago, various developments and strategies happened to allow certain people to have great control over other people. From the beginning of human existence to about 8,000 years ago, the individual human being was free. By this, I define free as freedom to travel to where you are physically capable of going, no taxation, no governmental regulation, no religion, and no jobs. I'm not arguing that it was better then, only that the freedoms of humans have been drastically altered. 

Before 10,000 years ago, everyone in the world was a hunter- gatherer living in a variety of ways. They reaped from the environment what they needed to sustain themselves and left enough so that there would be more for the future. When domesticates and agriculture were introduced, people slowly began to settle down. Agriculture soon became a method of control. While hunters and gatherers communally owned and defended land, agriculture brought about the idea of individual land ownership. People took advantage of this and established themselves as elites or rulers by buying land and letting others work it. They collected taxes and yeah, we can see where all this is going, government entities were formed. If you think about origins of governments, you see how controlling resources and the surplus that people produced allowed certain people to become elites and make others do what they wanted them to do. 

But what keeps people from rising up against these entities that start taking a part of what they produce? The emerging labor class certainly outnumbers the elites and could rise up and overthrow them right. Soon to follow in agricultural societies was creation of cults of the dead and organized religions. Let me make something up for you. The reason that there is evil and good in the world is because there are two supreme beings that represent each. Let's just say that I am divinely born and I serve as the bridge between these two entities on Earth. Because I am so great, you should worship me and my close followers (other elites), give me a share of what you produce and I will ensure that you thrive, and then I want you to build me a burial mound and put all my stuff in it so that I can have it in the next life. By doing all these things, you are sure to have an afterlife like me and you will live eternally. Go against what I say and the good spirit in the universe will cast you down. Thus, religion became justification for control by elites. I don't mean to offend anyone who is religious that reads this. They adopted their religion because of good faith, a genuine concern for others, and hope that they will have a good afterlife because they lived theirs well. It's religious doctrine that was merely written by elites to take advantage of the good nature of those they ruled over. 

Surfing Sunday

            This weekend, I went back home to wonderful Ocracoke Island, my dear home. I’ve come to miss it more and more because it is so relaxing and peaceful there. Every morning, I can go to the Flying Melon Café and get the dankest food. This stuff is good. I often eat a lot of food from there when I’m home because it’s easily accessible, I can ask for special orders, and I usually don’t have to pay. The flow of my day seems much more organic and matters seem a little less important at the moment. The same goes for my nights. I can walk to all my friends’ houses in five minutes and people just take things easy. The thing I miss most of all is surfing. Whether the waves are good or not, I don’t care. I’m always ready to hit the water and have some fun.

            Surfing this Fall Break wasn’t anything special at first. On Thursday morning, I caught some waist high peelers on my six foot superfish. Every so often, there was a chest high-or-so wave that would break far out and would give me a really long ride. While the waves weren’t especially powerful, the nice shape and substantial robustness of my surfboard gave me the speed I needed.

            Then, because of unfortunate, unavoidable circumstances, I was forced to stay for Sunday. The waves had been basically flat since Thursday and I didn’t expect much increase. I was in for a surprise. Because of an extended sporting tournament into the late hours of Saturday night, I stayed in bed until late. When I arose from my slumber and called my buddy Tristan, I realized it was on. The north end of the island was handling the extreme northern angle of the swell pretty well. The sometimes-bad northeastern wind was offshore. For those that don’t understand what I’m saying, the elements had come together to make good conditions. The waves were sick! A couple hours later, I pulled up and observed the lineup. While the air was cold, the wind was colder, and the water was deep brown with stirred up sediment, the waves formed into very long lines. I still had my superfish by my side because I knew it would serve me well, even if it wasn’t my best board. On Thursday, I had surfed in shorts and felt great. Come Sunday, the water forced me into a wetsuit. I hit the water and after a little uncomfortable paddling and diving, I made it into the lineup. I caught some waves, but none were like my last one.

I was surfing by myself in an area with plenty of shark sightings so I had a bad vibe. I saw a bomb coming and I thought I might have to paddle over it. But because of the strong wind blowing at the wave, the lip held. I took off at a critical spot. The wave peaked and threw a mighty lip forward just a moment after I took off. After an extreme air drop into the pocket, I braced myself in the perfect spot. The wave was perfect and I got barreled for seconds in the meanest pit I had surfed in a long time. I could see the sand being sucked up from under me and over my head. As soon as I came out of it, I was so pumped that I was shaking for like seven minutes. Anyway it was a lot of fun.

Plaguing America

Fellow citizens, today I want you to take notice to a very important issue. The regulation of Corporate America is an issue that must be addressed immediately. The policies of our last, and certainly not our wisest, administration focused on deregulation and cutting taxes for large corporations. Cutting taxes on these companies is effectively subsidizing them. I won’t lie. Subsidizing big names like Wal Mart and ConAgra lowers the prices of their goods. More people can afford their products and thus more can contribute to our growing economy. But how else does it affect the majority of Americans?  These subsidies are what we call socialism, effectively pushing small business and retail out of competition. When my opponent, John McCain, says that he wants to lower taxes, he’s wants to lower the taxes on the rich that run our large corporations. This only increases the burden for the American middle class, because the largest contributors are having their taxes cut. Barack Obama has proposed increasing responsibility for corporate heads that go bankrupt or commit fraud. But he doesn’t go far enough to oppose corporate handouts and tax breaks.

Municipalities allow something called tax increment financing. This practice is redirecting the property tax and sales tax we pay to chain businesses. This tax that we are forced to pay for at the register or for our property becomes designated to develop more chain businesses or corporate development. In some cases, it increases commercial development, but at the cost of development in other zones, mostly small business centers of town. We average American citizens have to suffer by paying for government action to bail out companies that have brought themselves to bankruptcy. So why do my opponents, Barack Obama and John McCain both refuse to confront these issues? Just take a look at the top contributors to the campaigns of both candidates. Among them, you will see familiar names. As of September 29^th of this year, financial institutions like Citigroup, Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Chase & co. are top contributors on the lists of both candidates, with Goldman Sachs being the largest for Obama and Merrill Lynch being the largest for McCain. Here I would like to raise a question that neither of my opponents would be inclined to ask. Why did these companies fall into such turmoil while paying for the campaigns of both presidential candidates?

This brings me to my other topic relating to big business regulation. The heads of these big businesses are giving their assets to candidates at all levels. In return, most candidates vote to give these corporations subsidies, tax breaks, and the competitive upper hand. Goldman Sachs for instance has contributed over $730,000 alone to Barack Obama’s campaign. The heads of that company alone now wield more power than the average voter. They wield more power than many of us combined. Don’t you think that this is a profound problem with the fundamentals of our democratic society? This isn’t capitalism. My opponents stand for picking the winners in business and advocating them over others. This is corporate socialism and it decreases the power of the voting individual in America. I think we need to step up and question this: Do we need to limit the involvement of government in business? Or do we need to limit the involvement of business in government?

 

P.S. For all of my advocates out there, please help me in spreading my message. Please donate because I will soon be done in. The massive amounts of money given to my opponents can easily out-campaign me. Hope is not lost however. You can donate to the campaign or do your own individual part by helping to spread my objectives to others.

 

Sarah Palin?

To those who are reading this blog, you have probably thought to yourself, "What was John McCain thinking when he picked this inexperienced nobody governor from Alaska." I know I have. Really, if it wasn't for all of the conservative media outlets portraying her as a prepared maverick reformer, her and McCain would be done. I have given it some thought and I think I know why John McCain picked Palin. He thought he could find a woman who served merely as an icon. He wanted a family- values, good-willed, political puppet who was untouched by the scandals of Washington. He chose someone who could appeal to families and conservatives who advocate local government. He chose someone so generic, so appealing to interest groups and values voters who go to the poling place with her superficial characteristics in mind. 

What is so great about an outsider to national politics who wants thinks that a bailout will help the interests of health care reformers. Seriously, does anyone ever watch her interviews? I know its one thing to not be great at interviews, but she doesn't know dirt to back up what she preaches. If you watch the interviews, notice how she answers questions. She does something like this: She starts by kissing the asses of conservatives for local government, "Well, as a mayor of a town and later, a governor, I think it should be a state's issue." She then goes onto talking about, "As a hockey mom that also works a hard job, I really connect to pro-life voters." When asked about Roe v. Wade, she mentions the role a state should have and then talks about how smart and wise Americans are in their foundations, for a majority of her response. She then can't even name another supreme court decision that she disagrees with. She only appeals to every issue on the conservative platform for the time being, but doesn't even know why. 

Now, I appeal to you because I am scared. I agree with a lot of people that she is a nice lady but she seems like she is more cut out for president of the PTA, not president of the United States. And for those who want to vote for her because she'll only be the VP, don't believe it. John McCain is old, unhealthy, and on plenty of serious medication. She can't even handle a basic interview, let alone the nation when called upon. So what kind of maverick- reformer is she? To me, it sounds like she's calling for everything that George Bush and staunch conservatives want. She only says that to appeal to people who want serious change in the presidency which has recently brought us economic ruin. If she can't even back up the lies that she gives us, what does that say about her as a potential president?

Crash time

Of the many things that have changed for me at Chapel Hill, my sleeping pattern is one of the most affecting. There are a few reasons why I think my sleeping pattern got out of whack. One reason is because of the sleeping patterns of my suite-mates. Either they don't like to sleep much, or they are doing there homework at later times. Because a couple of them are pledging to fraternities, they have to study after they finish with their commitments. This has led me to do my homework later and later. This is beneficial to me in a way because I capitalize on my late night study sessions while I also do work at other times. The earliest I need to wake up is at 10:00 a.m., so I still have more time to sleep that others in the suite. 

         But recently, I've started to notice a negative effect carrying over to the next day. On some nights where I don't get the best sleep, or if I was up real late, I've felt like I can't get out of bed in the morning. But, when it gets back to 11:00-12:00 and I feel like I need a little catch- up on sleep, I just can't make myself doze off. It is quite frustrating and is even harder when my suite- mates are playing Super Smash  Brothers.

         Therefore, I sometimes drink coffee when I rise to give me the added boost. Coffee is a great thing. However, like many of us have seen on the 5-Hour Energy commercials, coffee makes you crash. This has often been the case when I have a cup in the morning and I feel alert and tentative in Astronomy. Then, I get to Philosophy and my eyelids feel heavy. This might be because of coffee crash, but I’ve often considered whether it has more to do with Philosophy class itself. I believe this because I do not crash in English class, which comes a couple of hours after I start class on MWF. Sometimes, everything that I have done all week and the sleep I have missed hits me all at once and I have one big crash in which I doze for hours.

criticism of Israel/ anti-semitism?

Being Sunday afternoon, more like morning for me, you would think that I would rather use 300 words about something trivial and easy to confront. This is not the case this Sunday. Because I want to speak my mind and express myself politically, I will speak about one of the more pressing issues affecting the world today. I now look at the US and where we find ourselves among other nations. Much of our policy in the last thirty years or so has been focused on Southwest and Central Asia. We continually look to these areas and we accuse many of their governments of humanitarian rights abuses. Generally, these accusations are mostly directed at anti-US political groups such as Hezbollah, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Justice and Development Party of Turkey, Hamas, etc. However, our government rarely acknowledges abuses done by our allies, namely Israel. 

Much of our concern with Israel deals with trying to protect its sovereignty and maintain them as an ally in our war on terror. Our government continually bickers with countries such as Iran, Syria, and Egypt to recognize Israel's place in the Middle East and we wonder at why these countries cannot accept this reasonable proposal. At the same time, we reject their demands to create a state for Palestinians. These people have been driven from desirable lands, fenced in (or out), and now could lose even this unfavorable status if it were not for their allies, Syria, Iran, etc. Now why can't we accept a two- state agreement? Media has brought us to think that the issue is too complicated and delicate, that the Palestinian side wants more than they have and that the sovereignty of Israel will still not be accepted. This is not true. In 1989, the United Nations consisted of 154 member nations that decided on this issue. It called for these things: 1-Israel's withdrawal from territories occupied since 1967, 2-cancellation of measures to annex these territories, 3- placement of these territories under jurisdiction of the UN, temporarily, 4-solution to Palestinian refugee problem, 5-freedom of Palestinians to worship at their holy places in Palestine, 6-Security Council arrangements for security for all states in the region (including palestine). The world, or 151 nations of the world agreed to this settlement that recognized the state of Palestine as well as Israel. The dissenting three were the countries Israel, the United States, and Dominica. Because the United States is on the Security Council, any result was blocked. Now there are 191 member states of the UN and the consensus on this issue has remained stable. Whenever this issue is addressed, there again is the world voting for the settlement, and always the same dissenting against it. Since 1989, the additions to the dissenting side are the Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Tuvalu, and Palau. This stance that we have taken speaks for itself. 

Before I go further on this issue, I would like to address a specific question that myself and many others have pondered, and I would like your comments on this. Is criticism of Israel anti-semitic? When I discuss this question among friends and peers, they often try to accuse me of such a thing. I have no problem with the Jewish religion or the people that practice it. I am directing my criticism at a political and national entity. Let me end this post with another question. If I criticize or attack the American/ European genocide of Native-Americans and the takeover of their lands, am I being Anti-American? Anti-European? Anti-Christian?

discussion on profanity

During class on Friday, we decided as a class whether or not profanity would be allowed on our blog posts. Personally, I don't think there was enough deliberation on this issue. It was obvious to us that profanity might be considered offensive depending on the degree of the words used and if it is directed at certain individuals. While improperly used profanity can be of great offense to people, used properly explicit words can express strong emotion and ideas in an effective way. While any profanity, used in ones own words and opinions, in high school was strictly frowned upon, we have moved into the world of college education. If everyone in the class is 18, then that would make us all adults. Most people in class, or at least enough to carry effect, voted that profanity could be offensive to peoples' blogs. This offense would be very disrespectful to people's ideas, which goes against our golden rule. Personally, I have no problem with people using profanity to comment on my blog if it is used in proper context. 

I think there is a time and place for everything, and profanity especially has a time and place to be used. For one thing, you are quite a pottymouth to be using it in regular speech without provocation or appropriate emotion. Curse words carry strong meaning and power in speech or writing, but if you take away the meaning, then they are just offensive words that are not to be used lightly. Second, the way that a profane word is directed would greatly offend me. If I said that I am against the Iraq war because I believe that it is neo-imperialism and somebody said, "f*** you we're in Iraq for national security," I'd be real pissed. If somebody disagreed and said, "no we're protecting our f***ing country," I would disagree but I would feel where their emotional comment was coming from. In this way, the curse word is elaborating on the importance of protecting ourselves and how much we love our country. In the forbidden sense of using the word, the person is directly insulting me. Another wrong way to use profanity in our class is to use it directed at somebody's ideas. Personally, I don't mind if you use profanity on my blog as long as you follow the class rules: don't disrespect, be serious, etc.

Surfing

Right now, it is Saturday afternoon and I am trying to get my homework done so I can prepare for what is at hand. As many of you may know, Tropical Storm Hanna is bearing down on our beloved state of North Carolina. Now is a time for waiting. As I look out the window, the sun is shining very bright on Ocracoke Island. This is strange because we are experiencing the tail end of a major storm and experiencing 40+ mph winds. 

I continue to watch the flags, waiting for the much anticipated wind switch. As the storm moves by, we stop experiencing the southeasterly blow and the wind begins a steady shift westward. Hopefully, the wind will soon be blowing the desired northwest causing the waves to clean up and organize. I looked at the surf this morning. It was a tad bit out of control breaking on the fourth sand bar out and maxing at fifteen feet. These are not quite the desired conditions.  The surf forecast looks golden. Today is a day of waiting, with the possibility of a wicked evening session, but tomorrow is looking great. At approximately 8:00 p.m. the wind will shift around to the northwest, blowing towards the incoming surf. This will sculpt the waves into desirable form and will reduce them to a more manageable size. Hopefully, when I wake up tomorrow morning I will experience six to eight foot, head high to three foot overhead, waves with good conditions. I'm stoked.

I must pick out my best choice from my arsenal of surfboards, also known as a quiver. My choices include my 6'2" Aloha (great if you don't want to break your board), 5'10" Kechele quad-fin, 6'0" Kechele thruster, 5'10" WRV potato chip (potato chip means very thin), or my 6'0" 7S superfish. Overall, I think it makes most sense to use either my 5'10" quad or the 6'2" Aloha if it is too big. The superfish is a good choice but the other two are dinged so I will use the Aloha or quad.

Why Chapel Hill is the place for me

In my senior year, I felt excited to leave high school and move on to college education. I felt bored, unchallenged, and frustrated at my classes, many of my peers, and day to day life. I was eager to move on to not only a new curriculum, but also a new kind of life. Within days of arriving at Carolina, I realized that this was the place for me. Not only do I love the campus, and most of what is on it, but I also think that Chapel Hill, Carboro, and the whole triangle area has a great atmosphere. There are three main reasons why I am particular to my new life at UNC Chapel Hill. These three things are the educational components, the people, and the nurturing atmosphere.

At this point, the most important part of Chapel Hill to me (and especially my parents) is my education here. I still haven't begun to tap the resources available to me, but I already see that the school is trying to do all it can for me to get through while letting me obtain the education I desire. I really like my classes. On Ocracoke, I didn't even get to really choose my electives because there had to be enough people in that class. Mostly everyone in the grade had to agree to take the same elective. I've been getting some of the best sleep of my life while I've been here. None of my classes are before 11:00, and that only occurs on Wednesday and Friday. Otherwise, I'm waking up at 11:00, hitting the excellent exercise facilities, getting lunch, and then going to class at 12:30. In addition, I was allowed to pick the classes of my choosing. These classes are interesting, challenging, and have good professors. This kind of thing makes school less of a dreaded task, and more of an intriguing educational experience. Furthermore, lazy classmates are not holding me back and I'm studying something that I want to learn in. Studying in my dorm room isn't a problem yet, but if I did have issues with that, I could go to the SASB or Undergraduate Library. Having everything on blackboard helps too for studying on my own time and not having to write down every assignment. 

to be continued...