Oh happy day!

Oh happy day!

The following happened to me in the course of about 7 hours:

1. I got back the research paper I was writing from someone to whom I sent it to for review, it was half finished and he still learned something (so he said)
2. Another person volunteered to read it as well
   
3. I took a comparative religious thought "exam" (quiz)
4. My paper was handed back to me from that same class, and I got a 20/20 on it...the professor said it was "like...wow!"
   
5. I was writing my research paper and realized that I needed more sources for France...and it turned out a book I got from the library was never opened and it is perfect!
6. About 30 minutes after that realization, as I was reading my source, the nicest FedEx lady you ever saw knocked on our door and told us that "your computer has arrived". Turns out it's the laptop I sent to HP, and they sent it back a whole 10 days earlier than promised! Now I'm using wifi to write this as we speak!
7. I managed to get a 91% in my Bio Lab class!! Which brought me up to a 88% overall and bettered my chances at getting an A for Bio at all. Now all I need is a 76/80 on this exam to get an A, before I needed a 79/80.

I wonder what will happen next...will I be able to finish this paper by 7pm instead of 9 like yesterday? :D

*Thank you L-rd for the blessings you have shown to me, please allow me to show the same to You*

G-d bless,
the sc

On to the research!

For the research paper I so far have 7 sources, am looking at an eighth, but I still need at least one more on the structures of the French healthcare system. Any ideas?

Of course not. :P

So this post is dedicated to all those struggling with the stresses of finals week: papers and tests galore!

And, yes, I did send in my laptop to HP eventually. They expect to return it by the 15th, boy are they dedicated. -_- Ah well, at least the wireless will get fixed! Hopefully without erasing all my data though, it's a pain to restore everything.

the sc

Project 3

So I finished my last religion project for Friday (last friday) in a night and a half. I had the first half of it done a week ago, but couldn't continue it until Thursday night. So what I did was, I did some until 12am then took a 30 minute nap. Then did some until 3am, and slept until 6:20am. I went to the uni library and started typing like no other from 7:45am to 10am. Results: I had to skip the last class of both bio and English, and the following 12 page (double spaced) paper:

Enjoy! I haven't had a chance to read it in full myself, other than the quick 15 minute scan for obvious mistakes or out of place lines. :)

Principles for Dialogue

In preparation for dialogue, I have come up with two categories that would help in ensuring a smoother conversation. The first category is that of respect; it is important to come to the discussion with an attitude of respect for the other person. When he or she begins to talk, one needs to maintain eye contact as much as possible, even during an interview, it is crucial to keep eye contact while writing notes. All pride of one’s own religion and preconceived notions of other religions need to be put aside while showing a genuine curiosity about the other’s religion. Done properly, these two suggestions may lead the interviewee to be more open and to share more information about his or her religion as he or she realizes that you are here because you are truly interested about their experience, not just to gain information for the purposes of debate. In this way we may be reminded that the person sitting next to us is a person, not a religion, and thus is someone with experiences just like us.

The second category is that of loving the other as we love ourselves. It is a command that we have heard many times before in many places, ranging from the pulpit to the bumper sticker of an automobile. In the context of a dialogue about religion with someone of a different faith, it is perhaps safe to say that love may include, and therefore intertwine with, the first category as listed above. Actions such as genuinely listening to the other’s self-expression, restating his ideas in order to show that you understand, and asking for clarification where you do not, and keeping eye contact, will all display a sense of love towards the other person while simultaneously showing a sense of respect as well.

Most of these principles in the two categories can be surmised as such: if we behave in a manner that when on the other side of the table we would appreciate, it is that behavior that must be shown in all dialogues. This is the very basic meaning of loving others as one loves oneself.

Experience Report

My experience with Jamil Adams Sulemana started off on a rather unusual note at around fifteen minutes passed noon at the Student Center. Apparently miscommunication happened along our brief email exchange, and we misunderstood one another as to where exactly the location of our meeting is to be. A good fifteen minutes was spent on waiting for each other, me at the Student Center and him in the Library, after which I proceeded to call his cell phone number to clear up the situation. It is understandable, however, that such an occasion occurred with both of us coming from different countries and being familiar with the Kent State campus for only around a year miscommunication was bound to happen; but after short pleasantries and apologies were exchanged, the dialogue quickly progressed to “official business” and I began by asking a question that has been on my mind for the past couple of days: how does praying five times a day really look like? Naturally, due to my own limited knowledge of Islam, the answer took a moment or two to be understood. It never struck me as possible that prayer should be guided by a leader or teacher in the mosque and thus further questions came to me as our conversation went on. How do the thousands of participants, like those on the television, know when it is time to bow, to chant, to move forward, to stand, or simply when the prayer is over? As it turned out, the leader is reciting certain Sūrahs that the congregation is expected to know by heart, and it is through knowing the specific Sūrahs that the prayers know when to act how. As an example, Jamil said that when the leader states “G-d is great” in Arabic, the participants are expected to prostrate themselves before Him. I was curious on the specifics of the prayers and so pursued the topic a little bit further by inquiring as to what, exactly, goes on inside the head of the person participating in this activity. Jamil informed me that usually one listens to the leader and meditates on the Sūrahs recited and, in response to my next question, also told me that after this meditative ritual has taken place one is free to talk to G-d about whatever it is they need to talk about, just as I have for my last two projects.

The air with which our dialogue began was one of an interview and it continued throughout our time together until we both went on our separate ways at exactly one o’clock. Until that time, however, we managed to discuss many different issues in Islam and exchanged certain feelings shared by both of us. Such as the disappointment that both Christianity and Islam are birthing new denominations and the agreement that such division frequently leads to internal bickering between churches. I was surprised to learn that Islam has sects other than Sunni and Shiite, including one by the name of Hannita. I strived to keep my principles of dialogue as written down in the pages above, it was much easier than expected mostly because I was intensely curious as to how another human being carries out his religious duties, and was rewarded in a manner that I never anticipated as I gained an enormous amount of respect for Islam and its adherents. I realized how similar our two religions were really were, that all that separated us was my own belief that Jesus was the Son of G-d and Jamil’s that Jesus was a prophet. I found out that the purpose of all of what we call “rituals in Islam”, the five times daily prayers, the pilgrimage and especially Ramadan is to learn discipline. Prayer is a combination of both worship and discipline, the order being to practice five times a day requiring discipline and the act itself, that of meditating on the Koran and talking to Allah afterwards, being the act of worship. And for that I greatly came to respect Jamil, for he finds time to pray in a manner that requires time to be devoted in a special way. All the more as I found out that both of us are aspiring to get into the Spring Nursing Sequence, something that comes with an inherent amount of stress and maturation. The fact that Jamil is able to commit prayer time each day for the purposes of worshipping G-d still amazes me to this day, and I can only hope that that kind of commitment can be imitated by my fellow Christians around the world.

Spiritual difficulties of our generation

If one takes a look around his or her section of the world, be it a university, the suburbs, the urban area or even just the mall, and observe the behavior of people in that area, one will likely find behaviors to complain about. Behaviors such as someone cutting another in a line, younger children acting out in public, men and women ignoring the mentally handicapped person struggling to cross the street, drivers aggressively cutting off each other on the road and similar actions can be easily ignored on our day-to-day tasks. However, while such actions may seem to be normal and as part of everyday life, it is certainly not the world that we would like to live in, as can be experienced by the crowds patiently listening to the pulpit criticize society as having gone for a turn for the worse. Indeed, while such actions may be ignored on the spot and at once dismissed as being “just rude”, it is harder to ignore once we have time to think about our experience as we lounge inside our home. Is it agreeable that the only homeless in town cannot be taken care of by the city? Is it right that the mentally handicapped be treated with such disrespect in our schools? That the one blind soul is struggling to find a seat on a bus packed with the seeing? The common theme that is generally assumed to be appropriate in public in theory is largely missing from the public in practice, as people tend not to think about what they hear on Sunday mornings after Sunday afternoon. Love is, therefore, turning out to be a rather “nice commodity”, not a “must command”, and this fact I vigorously object to.

Along with loving themselves as they love others, people are more likely now than ever to treat the topic of G-d as a “hush-hush” topic, that is to say that it is frowned upon in today’s society to attempt to start a discussion on G-d in public unless with some very close friends or family members. People are more likely to watch television on a Sunday morning than to attend a church, mosque or synagogue to attend to the spiritual side of life. Even in tighter circles, the mention of G-d can bring about an awkwardness that is hard to ignore, and to overcome that awkwardness one may be expected to end the topic with a joke or change of topic. In this fashion, G-d has become a kind of commodity slightly below football on a Sunday morning. On the other hand, however, a need for change seems to be in the air as more and more books on G-d and love are flying off of the bookshelves. People are looking to get in touch with their “innerself”, which I can only assume to be a reference to the Holy Spirit within, in order to get their lives back on track. This too, however, is a sign of apathy towards G-d: as the only reason to even attempt to find Him comes when material hardships are on the rise.

The two spiritual difficulties have a much larger implication other than the immediate niceties implicated above, large enough in fact to affect the entire world out of the box. As a society places values on its children through its schools, when the children grow up into adults and finally leaders, those same values will be reflected back on society and, in the case of the federal government, the rest of the world. In today’s world it is rather shocking to see how America’s leaders are acting in the face of such issues as mass starvation, genocide and wide-spread infectious diseases, but even more shocking to observe how well the government reflects the American citizenship’s attitudes to these issues. When it comes to genocides, like that of Rwanda and Darfur, the general attitude seems to be to ignore and hopefully it will go away. Indeed, the general public seems to show the metaphorical cold shoulder to even genocides, and by extension towards starvation and pandemics, like the AIDs pandemic sweeping the world as we speak. As it goes, the government tends to listen to the public on issues such as these, so that as the public isn’t demanding anything of the federal government, the federal government will demand even less of the international community. Such a trickle-up effect could be said to have come from the initial attitudes of society, starting with the smallest of niceties neglected, such as directing a visually impaired human being to one’s own seat on the bus or the polite manners on the roads amongst other traveling automobiles, that eventually influence our future leaders who will have the same kind of attitude to much bigger issues affecting the entire world. Many other stumbles stem from the lack of the two main spiritual difficulties, finding G-d and by extension showing love: from disregarding warnings on national security to pretending that another Holocaust is not happening and is not ever going to happen again. That is why I believe the major spiritual difficulties of our world to be a lack of love and a lack of concern towards G-d.

Addressing the issues

Each of the five religions studied this past semester, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, address both of the spiritual difficulties discussed above. In all of these, the common theme seems to be one that of love of G-d and our neighbors. As these five religions are the major religions of the world, accounting for approximately 74% of the world’s population according to adherents.com, it is perhaps logical that if everyone went with what their religion teaches on the issues of love and G-d, the world might be a much safer and happier place.

Dharma is a concept in Hinduism that means one’s righteous duty as it pertains to his or her life, this can be seen in the Bhagavad-Gita in Teaching 3, verse 8: “Perform necessary action; it is more powerful than inaction; without action you even fail to sustain your body.” In today’s world, it can be argued that the necessary action today is to love one another. By defining dharma as such, the cycle of no love and inconsiderateness can be broken and the difficulties solved. On a different note, the Bhagavad-Gita states “disciplining himself, his mind controlled, a man of discipline finds peace, the pure calm that exists in me” (Sixth Teaching, verse 15), which explicitly implies a sense of calmness to the man of discipline who controls his mind and focuses on Krishna. Such calmness, when applied to all adherents, can be very effective in controlling any anger that might arise from any situation. On a worldwide scale, the Presidents, Prime Ministers and other leaders of the world might very well avert international miscommunication by acting in such a way. It might be worthwhile to note that while Krishna of the Bhagavad-Gita does encourage a certain distancing from those around us, He does not suggest a total withdrawal, as can be implicitly seen in Sixth Teaching:

He who sees me everywhere and sees everything in me will not be lost to me, and I will not be lost to him. I exist in all creatures, so the disciplined man devoted to me grasps the oneness of life; wherever he is, he is in me. When he sees identity in everything, whether joy or suffering, through analogy with the self, he is deemed a man of pure discipline. (verses 30-32)

These verses seem to imply that Krishna is in everyone, that there is a oneness in life and that the disciplined man is always in Krishna. Since Krishna is the lead god of the Bhagavad-Gita, it makes sense to not harm one another if He is inside of us, and the only way to recognize that he is inside of us is through knowing him through discipline (in this case, yoga) of the mind, thus addressing both spiritual difficulties mentioned above.

The Dhammapada of Buddhism strongly encourages a life of love for our neighbors, be they friend or foe, and addresses most of the issues in the book in way that ultimately asks us to love. On the topic of violence, for example, verse 130 states that “all tremble before violence. Life is held dear by all. Having done the same yourself, you should neither harm nor kill” in a clear message to avoid murder and war for you would not want to be harmed either. In verse 197 it also asks us to live peacefully even in the midst of hostility and in verse 251 compares hatred to seizure. Furthermore, Buddhism seems to be a quest to cure all suffering, as can be seen from the four noble truths: that life is dukha (suffering or pain), that the cause of dukha is tanha (craving), that the way to cure dukha is to remove tanha, and finally that to remove tanha one must follow the eight fold path. With such an emphasis on eliminating suffering and hatred, Buddhism clearly addresses the issue of lack of love in the world today and therefore the increase in apathy in affluent countries towards those in third world countries.

In contrast to the Dhammapada, the Jewish Torah is more directed at finding G-d Himself, at discovering how one could be with the one and true G-d, the second problematic issue addressed previously. In Deuteronomy 11:26-28, Moses is speaking to the Israelites when he says that

I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the L-rd your G-d that I am commanding you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the L-rd your G-d, but turn away from the way that I am commanding you today, to follow other gods that you have not known.

It is clear from these verses that by obeying G-d, that by loving G-d (Deut. 11:1), a blessing will come. Naturally, chapters such as chapter 10 in Deuteronomy lay out the specific instructions which must be followed if the Israelites are to obey G-d and fulfill chapter 11’s instructions. A part of these instructions is that “you shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Deut. 10:19). Deuteronomy 24:19-22 and Leviticus 19 continues this trend of compassion for those around us by instructing the Israelites to leave harvest, olives and grapes for the outcasts, the orphans, widows and strangers. Deuteronomy further continues to give instructions in various disputes, anything from the legal to the personal, in order to avoid conflict and to promote peace and love for those around us. By making love an order, the Torah is also stating that since we are to follow G-d in all we do, and He commands us to love each other, through loving we can get closer to following His requirements for us.

Christianity continues in the steps of Judaism through encouraging the order to love by separating it into two commandments that summarize all the other laws of Judaism. These commandments, that of to love G-d with all our heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:29) and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:31), were said by Jesus in response to a question on which law of the Torah was the greatest of them all. Jesus’ response was a clear commandment to love everyone as ourselves and that by doing so we are doing G-d’s will. In this way Christianity and Judaism has common ground, both address the two issues of apathy towards G-d and lack of love towards man as being just one issue where the other (love towards man) is dependent on the former. The New Testament of the Bible instructs these two types of love in numerous occasions, mentioning “love” 234 times in the New American Standard Bible, including the profound verse in John 13:35 where Jesus says that “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you should love one another.” With such an emphasis on love, it is not surprising that many key figures of Christianity continued emphasizing love; like Mother Theresa who stated that “Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.” The Christian is, therefore, expected to strive to solve both issues of apathy towards G-d and a lack of love towards man, first by seeking G-d and then therefore through loving others as commanded by G-d.

The Quran of Islam places an even greater emphasis on obeying G-d and seeking Him out, stating in Sūrah 17:23 that we are to worship none but the L-rd and that, in verses 25-30 that in order to worship we need to be kind towards others. On the topic of forgiveness, Sūrah 7:199 says that we should “hold to forgiveness; command what is right; but turn away from the ignorant”. In an effort to practice the latter of this verse, Mohammed asked his followers to pray five times daily in order to practice discipline and to worship Allah. Furthermore, in confirmation with that order, Sūrah 16:128 states that “Allah is with those who restrain themselves, and those who do good.” Such orders to worship and be kind to one another are applicable on an international level as well, Sūrah 8:61 urges nations to not make pointless wars with each other, that if a nation searches for peace we should search for peace as well. In this way Islam addresses both issues as well, but places emphasis on worshipping Allah and following His commandments in everything.

As we can see, each religion addresses the two main spiritual difficulties affecting our world today. The overwhelming theme is to love G-d and to love our neighbor, with many times the second being the result of the first. The second is not only the result, but in religions where a heavy emphasis is placed on a god, loving your neighbor is usually a command along with loving your god; with the exception being the Dhammapada which does not emphasize the god concept but rather strives to free all human beings from suffering through achieving Nirvanah in a meditative state. If all adherents of these religions, 74% of the world population, followed these specific verses and instructions, the world might very well be rid of most of its violence, hostility and ignorance towards those less well off than we, we can only hope and pray that future generations will take seriously these very serious commands to love everyone, regardless of who they are and where they stand in the global, local and social societies of our making.

the sc

Spiritual difficulties of our generation

Yes, it's for another paper. But there's only two more papers for this semester so bare with me.

I need to write a 4-5 page paper on Islam. The first two need to be about something that I am unclear on and am awaiting a response from the professor. The next two are supposed to be an interview experience report with a Muslim, but my dialogue is going to be on Wednesday. The last part of the paper, one or two pages, is supposed to be on "the spiritual difficulties of our generation" and we are to "remember to distinguish social, economic, and political problems from spiritual ones". Hmm...the assignment also states that next "write about the resources that you find in the religions we have studied"...write about the resources I find? I wonder if it's a "what did you take away from this class" type of thing, or if it's more of a "these religions all support that the spiritual/economical/political/social problems that our generation will face is...". Hmm..

I suppose I can start doing an outline on the very last part of this paper, I'll start that here. I know I still didn't do that research paper outline (!!!!!) but the professor kindly extended the due date until Wednesday because of the computer issue. So here we go:

1. Spiritual difficulties word blaster:
   stress, morality, government, politics, democrats, republicans, abortion, pro-life, pro-choice, democrats, liberals, Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, peace, life, love, understanding, misunderstanding, conflict, adulthood, children, babies, wife, husband, pornography, difficulties, nursing, jobs, growing up, distractions, dvds, movies, sex, internet, tv, radio, music, talk shows, war, peace, conflict, middle east, europe, healthcare, national healthcare, conflict, africa, poverty, war, depression, capitalism, socialism, rich countries, poor countries, money, evil, brainwashing, nazis, soldiers, warfare, Iraq, debates, talk shows, G-d, real, not real, Jesus, history, staying up late, writing about nothing, distractions.

All I got so far. Some key words I listed:

Stress, conflict, peace, war, poverty, distractions, economy, Middle East, healthcare, family.

Those were the main ideas apparently. Let's see if I can narrow it down to just two-page material:

Conflict and war come hand in hand...as does the economy and healthcare. So how they all conenct:
Conflict=>war=>poverty=>bad economy=>low health=>need healthcare=>to keep family alive=>very stressful=>need no distraction=>to reduce stress.

Right...but how do these help me in getting some ideas for difficulties that we face? Well...so far the difficulties I'm noticing are...
Conflict (social kind, like gossipping), war (moral), poverty (moral), healthcare and social security (economical and political), finding G-d (spiritual).

Of course, I can basically use up all the types of difficulties and say that war and poverty are the bigges spiritual, moral, economical and political difficulties that we all face today. And that is going to be my thesis for the one or two page paper.

Woo!

the sc

Guess I'll continue this tomorrow

I started doing an outline for my research paper, honest!

Just too dog-gone tired right now to continue it. Instead, I'll try to make a plan for tomorrow:

First things first, gotta study that biology for the exam on Monday (!).
Next, that darn paper, and hope that my interviewee responded to my email for the religion paper.

So, biology=around 5 hours.
Writing paper=around 6 hours. 5+6=11 hours. 11-2=9 hours, have to factor in eating and whatnot.
Right now it's 11:21pm. Gonna have to wake up at around 7:30 to still get my 8 hour sleep. 7:30am + 9 hours= 4:30 pm.

And I still have 4 hours to spare, during which time I will do biology. So, schedule:

• 7:50am-1pm: biology
• 1pm-1:30: lunch
• 1:45pm-2:30pm: outline
• 2:35pm-7:45pm: rough draft for research paper.

And there you have it, my Saturday all planned out in 3 minutes (it's 11:24pm right now).

G'night all,
the sc
Ps. Yes, I did manage to recover all my files. I just simply installed Vista on a separate partition and was able to access my XP files (of course, this idea having come to me after 100$ have been spent at the Geek Squad), now my entire laptop will be Vista until at least Christmas break. At which point I will do my best to build us a home server, linux based, that will automatically backup all computers on the network...might have to use Windows Media Home Server software, but we'll see. :)

Finding sources again

Bah, who would have thought that finding my old sources all over again would be so difficult? Lemme see...I'll try to write down what I remember of them in this post. Now I understand why all my teachers told us to make notecards while reading our sources, and not type them up.

• Source number one: a testimony by a Hungarian sounding senator on how the health care system in the US is faring.
• Source number two: a website by (whom I assumed to be) a scholar about the French healthcare system.
• Source number three: an online book about healthcare systems outside of the US. One of the Basics series.
• Source number four: a website about something...can't remember what
• Source number five: just took it out of the library, am in the process of reading and taking notes on it. The politics of health in Europe by Richard Freeman. Very interesting read for anyone doing a research paper. Unbiased and full of facts.
• Source number six: I still need to find one, if anyone has any tips it would be great if you could share by commenting (comments won't open in a new window, they are javascript so if you click it'll just unroll below my posts).

Alright, on to the search! Oh wait, I made an annotated bibliography for class, I can get some info from there! *smiles*

the sc

Bad luck weekend...

Just a quickie post:

How my weekend turned the badway:

1. My dad and I were insulating the side of the house, I was left to put up the Tyvek covering alone at night when he had to leave. It was 16F and dark.
2. I have two papers, a religion and a research paper, due next week friday. My laptop broke with all notes, sources and papers on it.
3. Was up till 2am trying to fix said laptop. Failed, people tell my my files are corrupted.
   
4. I took my laptop in to Best Buy's Geek Squad. They refused to fix it (under warranty) and forced me (charged me, but I had to because of point two above) to pay $100 for a 9gb backup.
5. I came home to realize I forgot to mention which folder is the first priority to backup. Called back, they wouldn't pick up at first (they did once I called again).
6. Brother said he could have backed up data by removing the hardrive and attaching it to his computer. Would that have even worked? Him having a PC and me a laptop...
7. Someone posted two hours after I went to bed to say this problem (laptop not starting up) happened a lot to them and they knew how to fix it and were willing to help over MSN. I noticed the post 10 minutes ago.
   
8. It's 10:15pm right now and I'm exhausted.

G'night all!

It’s that time of day again

So it's almost midnight and I'm trying to write a rough draft for my research paper on national healthcare for tomorrow. I assume everyone already knows that me being up this late generally means that I am:

• having a writers block
  
• having a writers anxiety attack
  
• procrastinating
  
• or (I must admit) fall into bad habits
  

That said, I will try using this time right now to brainstorm some ideas for tomorrow's rough draft...so here I go...all thanks to the suggestions of a poster on CF and this Purdue resource.

How will I organize this paper? Let me see.... (need to keep in mind that this is supposed to be 6-8 pages long by December 5th or so)

1. Introduction to the debate on healthcare
   
   1. Outline my "argument" (remember, this is an interpretative argumentative research paper, I need to show info and then interpret it and argue for/against national healthcare in the US)
      
      1. First the US side of things
         
      2. Then French side of things
         
      3. An analysis of both
         
      4. And then the argument
         
   2. Introduce my research question and thesis statement: "It is the proposal of this paper that, with certain key modifications, the adaptation of a similar program to that of the National Health Insurance (NHI) provided by the French government might prove to be a successful resolution." (from annotated biblio)
      
2. US
   
   1. Do some gallup polls
      
      1. Bring up American's dissatisfactions and satisfactions with the healthcare system
         
         1. Can later tie this in to the argument for a combined system
            
            1. Longer lines
               
            2. Better technology
               
            3. Satisfied with own coverage, but not with Americans' coverage
               
   2. Bring in info from that senator's health testimony
      
      1. Bring up healthcare costs
         
   3. From the health care book
      
      1. Make sure to cite it as a paper, not a book. It's a collection of essays
         
   4. Social Security
      
      1. Give some details of how it works
         
3. France
   
   1. Bring in info from that basics book
      
      1. Outline how the French system works.
         
         1. It is both government and private controlled.
            
         2. Many, many benefits
            
   2. Introduce costs of French system (from France paper)
      
      1. How it is still lower than the costs of the US system
         
      2. How it is more widespread
         
      3. How it satisfies more people (gallup poll time)
         
   3. Had a huge reform in 2005, extended eligibility to all residents, covers 100% of people in France.
      
      1. Get some more details on this
         
         1. Does this mean if I go there as a tourist who just "happened" to have a knee problem I can go to the hospital for free and get operated on?
            
      2. Anti-competition rules when it comes to Funds.
         
   4. Is there a French equivalent of Social Security?
      
      1. If not, bring up how they calculate how much each person is going to pay towards NHI
         
4. Analysis of US and French systems
   
   1. Won't really have to do, they've been outlined in the points above.
      
5. Argument
   
   1. Because of the high healthcare costs in the US, the low satisfaction rate, the high concerns with it, and (don't emphasize this point, just casually bring it up) that the US is the only industrialized nation without some type of universal healthcare/insurance, we need to switch to a French type of system.
      
   2. French system better.
      
      1. Higher satisfactions
         
         1. Bring up a horror story from the US system
            
         2. Bring up a good story from the French system
            
         3. French are overall happier than US
            
   3. Lower costs
      
   4. Better morals
      
      1. ???
   Hmm…I think that's it for brainstorming right now. Maybe I'll continue later on (in a week or so), right now I need to write a page or two for my rough draft.

the sc
Ps. I wrote this in Word 2007, please forgive the formatting issue...I still need to figure out what default font and size is in this blog.

About that quiz...

Oral pig quiz went fine, the proff went through it lickety-split. I think I got an A, if not a perfect score then one point below the perfect score.

The most exciting part of that day though...I went running, and kept running for 15 minutes straight around a neighborhood block. Almost gave up towards the last 2 minutes, but I made it through from the stoplight to all the way down towards a middle school, and then turning back up on a different street to come back to the stoplight before the one I started on. My method was a 5 minute warmup (walking and slowly accelerating) then the 15 (woot!!) minute run and then a 5 minute cool down.

For some reason, however, today I've been starving all day. To convey my puzzlement, here's a list of what I ate so far (its 7pm right now):

1. Breakfast: Homemade "McMuffin" made of: 'fried' eggs, whole wheat english muffin, American cheese and Canadian bacon.
2. Snack: Starving here, 2 hours after breakfast. Started starving during bio class. For snack I ate a slice of pumpkin cake and yoghurt with cereal.
3. Lunch: Hungarian "cabbage noodles", the thin plate-like kind noodles. Kind of like stepped-on spaghetti with cabbage bits in between (yum!)
4. Snack: Apple before I left for my next class at 1:30.
5. Dinner: Baked potatoe with sloppy joe and baked beans and cheese.
6. Snack: Don't know yet, probably cereal.

Bah, the miracles of the human body...you never know what it demands. :P

the sc

All that studying paid off

Got an A on my Structure and Function exam, in fact it was 2 percentage points higher than my best exam in that class so far! I'm so psyched! :D

Speaking of psyched...I'm not so psyched about this oral pig quiz today, but at least we'll get back our lab reports. Will let you know what's going on with that in a couple.

Well, that was my quick update, if you're curious what I'm doing right now:
http://www.watchshowsonline.tv/Scrubs/Season-2/Episode-19---My-Kingdom/Videos.htm

Scrubs. ;)

the sc

Using a VPN

I'm using a VPN right now to access my Uni's library catalog and research databases. Fun stuff! :D

the sc

No classes today!

No classes today, hurray!

In other news, I handed in a religion paper and a lab report yesterday, been on campus from 7:45am to 7:30pm in order to do so. Okay, maybe not to only do that, but still. 12 hours is a long time. :P

So what am I going to do today? Well, I want to bike on the city's bike path, but it's 32F outside. And I have some studying to do, it's the sacrifice I made for my paper: I got off schedule in my studying and now I have to make up 12 pages of bio so all I have to do tomorrow and Thursday is review for the exam Friday. Sweet, sweet sacrifice. Speaking of sacrifice, I better get going. It takes me on average one hour to truly study and know one page of bio, so considering it's 9:20am right now, if I start at this second I should be done by 10pm.

Wish me luck!

(For those wondering what Obama is planning so far, click here to read his plan to transfer Guantanamo Bay suspects to the US. Which I fully support.)

G-d bless,
the sc

Amazing day today + brainstorming

It's 70 degrees, sunny with literally not a cloud in the sky. Wish I could enjoy this, instead I'm stuck in the library writing an experience report for my religion class. Not that, that isn't fun (I prefer writing on experiences over writing a research paper, it comes easier) but I don't know what to really write about. Hmm...

Over the past few weeks my assignment was to "love your neighbor and love your G-d". Fair enough. The only problem is that I don't know how to do said assignment. I've been struggling with the question of love eversince I realized what being a Christian meant. How do you, exactly, love a G-d? Loving a person is fine, but a G-d? Maybe I could discuss this in the first half of my paper...I could discuss my efforts at knowing G-d this past week, and maybe briefly bring up my history with G-d over the past year or so. I've been meditating, trying to sort out everything that happened so far.

Ok, to be honest, I've been studying more than focusing on the research project. I mean, I have 2 exams and a quiz next Friday (Structure and Function, Modeling Algebra, and Religion), a project presentation Monday along with a progress report about a College Writing project our group is doing (which is why I'm in the library, waiting till 5pm when our group is supposed to meet). S&F has been taking up most of my time though, our last exam was 2 weeks ago in that class. I've written two papers in two weeks and done a ton of math homework. Did you know that they named every little groove in the body? I've taken a midterm in S&F lab on all the bones and muscles in the body and their functions. From small things that you can't see unless the lights are just right to big holes. But that's it for the ranting. Back to the research paper.

I'll try to break it down into more of a list type organization, hopefully that will get these neurons firing (if you want to know how they do that, I can tell you in depth...just leave a comment if you're serious, I've been studying neurons for at least 3 weeks). Boy I wish I kept a journal. :P

Loving G-d over the past 3 weeks. I figured if we love G-d first, the love will show to those around us, based on John 4:8.

1. Meditating by the riverside (again), for just a little bit though. Around 15 minutes.
2. Praying every morning in the share, it's a daily confession I've been doing every day for the past year or so.
3. Paying attention at church, singing songs with a full heart.
4. To be continued....

Loving People over the past 3 weeks. Hardest point for me, I am more shy by nature than anything.

1. Can talk about what happened this Monday. I was all committed to try something new in loving somebody, but when I saw someone struggling with their car my shyness stepped in and told me to not do anything. I went back to see if they need help though, but the guy was gone by the time I got there.
2. Can talk about my failure to do simple things, like opening doors for others
3. Can talk about my success in trying to love my family more. Trying to spend more time with my brothers and mother, helping out in homework, trying to get to know what's going on in each of their lives.
4. Being more understanding of others, etc. but that is more my nature than a part of the project.

Conclusion, sort of.

1. Try to work towards this: I haven't been that able to love others and G-d as much as I wanted to, but the class discussions on (especially) the historicity of Jesus helped a lot. It seems as if I've been too preoccupied with the thought that G-d might not be real, and then all of this would be going to waste. But even if He's not real, it's not going to waste. People out there really need love, and we need to give it to them.
2. Halfway realizing what Brother Rogers (of Taize, France)
3. My increased resolve to go to Taize

Remember, stuff that the professor doesn't want to see in the paper.

1. Chatiness, it's a sure sign that you didn't do the project. So while I want to talk about Taize and about my past, I can only mention them. Half the paper cannot be about what Taize is, or how I want to go there. It must stick to the topic of loving G-d and others and how you attempted to do that during the past few weeks.

Stuff to reference, either links or verses or class notes. Especially for analization of the experience from a Jewish perspective.

1. http://www.taize.fr/en_article7353.html
2. John 4:8
3. The notes on the historical Jesus

Alright, I think that's about it for now. I'm going to go eat something in about 5-10 minutes and then come back to find a table to sit at while I wait for the rest of the group.

I do apologize for the rather depressing mood of this post. And no, I still couldn't figure out how to post a video I made of that porcupine in our trash can, hopefully my brother's USB will work somehow.

May G-d bless,
the sc

The ultimate futurist post

I've been reading Time magazine tonight and found these gems on their 50 best inventions list:

1. Bionic Contacts: Finally, the future is on the doorstep. Mark my words, this is the first step towards seeing the map while you're driving...hands free! It'll app Of course, there will probably be "bionic ads" and such, stuff that cannot be seen by the naked eye, but only with these bionic contacts.
2. Thin Film Solar: Been hearing this for a while, it's a solar panel that is manufactured (by Nanosolar) on an assembly line, it's as flexible as plastic and is 100x thinner than what we think of when we say "solar panel". 100 times thinner. Think on that for a moment.
3. Biomechanical Energy Harvester: Basically long for "walking energy". This 3lb device lets you charge your electricals by walking...pretty cool, although the design could use some work.
4. Airborne Windpower: According to this article, if we harvest 1% of the high altitude winds we can power the entire world. Now that would be the ultimate coolness. The entire world, powered. 
5. Smog Eating Wall: Innercity pollution solved. 'nuff said.
6. Camera for the Blind: It's self explanatory. The camera that allows the blind to take pictures, by raising the image of whatever the lens sees on a Braille-like screen. My cousin would appreciate this.

Pretty darn cool stuff I say. For the other 44 inventions that Time listed, you may click here for the slideshow or here for a quick list.

Gender Stereotypes

I posted this on CFT (Christian Forums Teen section) in response to a post on gender stereotypes, I will expand on this as time allows, but I just wanted to post what I got so far here:

Question: What gender stereotypes do you fit/not fit?

Masculine:

1. I enjoy working out. Granted I haven't worked out since around May, but I'm starting up again during (or hopefully before) winter break.
2. I'm a mess. My room is the typical messy guys room: backpack somewhere on the floor, stuffed animals (from way back) under the window scattered around, desk full of papers, hats, wallets, mp3 players, cds, tissues, headphones, etc.
3. I'm kinda geeky. While this isn't really a masculine stereotype, normally when I say "geek" you think of "guy with huge glasses". I don't have the huge glasses, but I am a guy who is interested in the latest tech. I just found out the joys of blogging and participating in Yahoo Answers. I have my own laptop and a Zune, which I make sure is automatically updated everynight with the latest podcasts from Zaproot, NBC, Cnet's Loaded, Rocketboom, Ted Talks, and more. Of the 80GBs, my Zune is loaded with 10-20 gigs of podcasts (depending on the day updated) and 10 gigs of video (from various sources...including some DVDs we have that I ripped, like Sicko and the Incredibles). I also read my daily RSS feeds on Google Reader, and am looking for more blogs that interest me.
4. My clothes are just that. Clothes. While I do try to look nice in the morning, the rest of the day I can't be bothered with how my shirt or pants look like...most of the time, see my feminine side.
5. I love games. Specifically computer games, although those will be listed later.
6. I am reserved. If I talk about myself I quickly regret it later, I prefer to let my emotions stay inside of me and then vent them out later to G-d. If I had to choose between telling a guy or a girl about what I'm feeling, I would choose the girl...and then promptly regret I didn't get out of this situation sooner.
7. I really don't like gossip, and (probably because I'm concentrating so much on studying right now) am avoiding any emotional discussion whatsoever.

Feminine:

1. I am told by my brother that sometimes I type like a girl, and was once (1-2 years ago) referred to as a "she". Ah well.
2. I love running. I didn't know whether I should include this under "workout", but I figured since most of the runners I see on the track are ladies, it must be a more feminine sport.
3. I am probably more emotional than most guys, though I see more and more "outwardly expressive" guys as of late. Even though I don't like to express my emotions, you won't catch me dead complaining to someone about the way I feel, I do struggle with some of the baggage.
4. I can relate. I find that most of the girls I try to become "just friends" with usually tell me their lifestory sooner rather than later. Sometimes it's the same with guys, but guys usually rather tell their stuff to girls. I like helping people out, to be a listening ear (despite point 7 above).
5. I am concerned about my body shape. I check myself in the mirror every morning before I shower and weigh myself (including fat percentage and water percentage) once a month. I am proud that I lost around 45 pounds over the years (from 200lbs to 165, and now that I started running every other day I lost 10 more pounds to 155lbs) and am constantly comparing myself to how other guys look like around me.
6. I really don't like to watch sports, I think it's a waste of time. I would much rather play them if I had to.
7. I enjoy reading and listening to songs.
8. I enjoy quiet times by the riverside, or I used to until it started snowing today...they it's supposed to be 60F on Friday so I will try going then.

If anyone who is reading this has anythoughts or would like to comment and add their own stereotypes, go right ahead!

G-d bless,
sc

I'm in class right now

Testing out the email function of blogger, I wonder if gmail will add anything to the end of my post...

 

Anyways, the proff is going around the class making sure our midterms are ready for friday. Good thing too, I neglected to add 1/2 of the project! Ofcourse, while I'm waiting for my turn, I'm browsing some flickr photos/slideshows to pass the time. That, and reading up on some of my favorite blogs (like Feljegyzesek Eszak-Irorszagrol). I must say, I never knew flickr could be so interesting when you're too embarrassed to look at your daily geeky sites, like spore.com, sporeum.com, xspore.com, freewaregenius.com, and so on.

 

I did manage to write that annotated bibliography by the way, Took me a couple hours, mostly due to the internet's cursed distractions, but it turned out pretty good for a 2am paper!

So it finally all paid off...

I've been studying for the Structure and Function exam for at least two weeks now, and I got the B, an 86%. Or 69/80 for those curious, with each question worth 1.6 points.

To be honest I am a little disappointed, but not by much. On my last exam I got a 74/80 (an A), but I've been studying 8 hours a day for a whole week for that exam, and dedicated 2 days for review. For this exam I just reviewed the day before, that is one day. So even though I studied for a whole 1.5 weeks, the review killed it. That, and my overconfidence. I was slacking off on purpose, thinking that even if I get a C on this exam my average would be a comfortable B. Which is true...but I set myself on an A so hard that now I'm just crushed.

Ah well, at least I'm not alone in my studying:


He's probably going to get an A on his geography test.

I know, I know

I'm starting this baby back up again. :P

Only this time, there will be no long posts. I don't have the time for such things anymore, whatwith Nursing studies and all. In fact...I should be getting back to biology right now.

But instead I'm browsin'. And found this neat website (a couple months ago):
http://www.freewaregenius.com/

To all you free-software lovers out there.

What's been up?

Hey journal readers,

I haven't been able to post for a long, long while now. In fact, I started a Fitness Blog for myself just a couple weeks (months?) ago, and haven't been able to do anything on it either. Why? Well, it's finals week! Yay!

I am about 1/2 way done with my research paper (due tomorrow at 10:15am sharp) and about 1/2 way done with studying for ochem and micro. It really is a pain, but you gotta do what you gotta do...

Anyway, this is just a very quick update for now, before I get too sidetracked with blogging and invest my new found energy in that rather than using my whole body to write one more page for the paper. So I hope to see you guys soon!

sc