Mental Health Day

            Every year, Webster updates their dictionary to have the newest common slang terms. After reading some of them in an article for The Times Daily, http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20080908/articles/809080321 I found it funny that one of the words was “mental health day” a phrase that I am accustomed to hearing. I wondered what could have caused this to be a common phrase in our society.

            I took this further in my mind and I’m not lying to you, I really have spent some time trying to figure this out. What I think is that people no longer have anything to live for. In a world full of cubicles, suburbs, and housewives, the perfect life is not fulfilling the requirements for sanity. For this reason, movies like Fight Club are so popular. Despite speculation that this movie is popular due to Brad Pitt’s frequent shirt negligence, I believe it to be because this movie gives hope to the millions of Americans who are struggling with themselves to find what it is exactly that makes them happy, and not what they are told should make them happy.

            Is it natural for humans to live the way that they do, and just sit around and work at a computer? Maybe because of our higher brain function, we really are meant to be that civilized. But if you ask me, I will tell you that there is more to life. All that we need to do is to figure out for ourselves what that is.

Invincibility

Now here is a frightening notion. We are now making practical technology that can make paper that is stronger than steel. This paper is called buckypaper and is a revolutionary technology that now seems like an item of the future. When it is compounded it can make a sheet that is 500 times stronger than steel and ten times lighter.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/10/17/buckypaper.invention.ap/index.html

 

In the end, it mentions that the military is researching this technology. Now what better to take all the fun out of war than a soldier wearing this stuff? But in all seriousness, consider this my argument. It is a fact that every major technological advance in weaponry has caused an increase in technology for armor. But with this switch, we can only imagine the weapon that would be needed to penetrate armor like this.   

Thank You CNN

            My homepage for my laptop is the BBC homepage because it is the only real news site that I can find. Yesterday, I got online and read about the Finnish student that killed 9 people in a school shooting. I went to look for more information on CNN’s webpage and found nothing on their homepage. The main stories eventually were about the election and there was another about the best time to have sex.  I thought maybe they don’t have the story yet since it had happened earlier that day, but eventually I found it in the world section. There is no way that you would have seen it if you were not specifically looking for it as I was.

            How could something so important be shadowed by everyday news like the presidential race? The obvious answer is that they are only interested in selling their news. From an economic standpoint, this is a great idea. But just maybe the people are not looking for what they would like to read.  I would really like to read about what I need to be reading, events around the world that are going to change my life and the life of my children.

            The local news companies will continue to give marketable biased material that we cannot even count as a credible source. So what are we supposed to do?  No more reading the paper for me, or perhaps I can rely on other countries to give me what I need to know. This makes me feel like we are in some communist country where we are to believe that everything if fine and dandy, when really the world is in chaos. No thanks, I’ll stick will BBC.

VROOM VROOM

One thing that really has me up in a roar is the new “green” car. I am a certified grease monkey and I love any car that is loud and proud. I hate that the new types of more efficient cars, and alternative fueled cars are taking over. The major car companies are in total control of it and have well prepared for it. Take a look at the Ford’s new Mustang Bullitt, and Dodge’s new Challenger: both are throwbacks of old models from the days of the muscle cars. The reason that they are producing them is because they are all going to switch to the “green” cars. They want you to spend your money on one last speed demon before they take them off the line. 

            I have a nightmare that alternative fuels are the new unleaded gas. Right now automakers are making the switch to full-time production on a competitive level with gasoline cars, and soon it will take over and become the only option. Eventually gas stations will no longer give gasoline and the vision of a muscle car will die. On a more considerate level, this is a good thing. The green movement is a great thing, and will improve the environment. But as an individual looking for a rush, it is the end to my dream. Even as time goes on, I will not be able to afford a green car that can reach the horsepower of a muscle car, and chances are I will not live long enough to see one.