Last blog

Well this is my last blog. I am glad to finally be done with them but some of theses blogs have actually been kind of fun and even sometimes therapeutic for venting emotional build up. It has defiantly been on of the oddest things i have ever had to do for a class if not the oddest but it wasn't too bad. And since i just reread the rubric and it said that one of our blog entries needs to be our manifesto as well at the turned in paper I will post it on this one.

The Reasons We Should Lower Drinking Age

             There are approximately three hundred countries in the world, eighty-six percent of whom support a legal drinking age of eighteen or under. The United States of America however falls into the minority that continues to insist on maintaining a drinking age of twenty-one.  Prior to the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, which set a nationwide drinking age of twenty-one, thirty-eight of the fifty states had established a minimum drinking age of eighteen. This act was created as an attempt to reduce the number of fatalities caused by drunk driving among teenagers every year. Although this act may have slightly decreased drunk driving related deaths in the years after it was established, many people in today’s society argue that due to the modernization of our country a limitation such as this would have little to no impact on the present day United States.  Some would even go as far to say that by lowering the drinking age there would actually be a decrease in the number of teenagers who die from alcohol poisoning and drunk driving each year. My experiences have lead me to the conclusion that lowering the drinking age would lead to a great number of benefits, and by reducing the minimum drinking age to the rights of legal adults under the age of twenty one would no longer be unjustly restricted.

 By lowering the drinking age teenagers would learn to become more responsible with alcohol from an earlier age, and it would greatly reduce drinking related deaths among teenagers. There are a couple of reasons teenagers are so irresponsible when it comes to alcohol. Many teenagers start drinking in high school solely because it is illegal and due to their rebellious nature, restricting them from doing something just causes them to want to do it more. It is this kind of attitude that results in the extreme misuse of alcohol in the form of binge drinking and driving home after drinking at a party. If the drinking age was lowered to eighteen, or even sixteen, teenagers would be more responsible with alcohol and abuse it less since it would no longer be against the law, thus decreasing this appeal. Driving while intoxicated is not only against the law but also extremely dangerous and reckless which is why over the past decade police officers have become increasingly stricter in cracking down on drunk drivers. Teenagers who decide to get behind the wheel while under the influence of alcohol are going to most likely do so whether it is legal or illegal for them to drink in the first place, but by lowering the drinking age, hopefully they will learn to be more responsible and either walk or call someone for a ride. Having more safe and legal experiences with alcohol at a younger age would allow a great number of teenagers to learn the importance of not misusing or abusing alcohol.

My parents allowed me to try alcohol at a very young age. I was nine the first time I tried alcohol and I absolutely hated it, but around thirteen I started enjoying it and on occasion had a glass of wine with dinner. Since I didn’t have to sneak around behind my parents back to try alcohol, I never felt pressure or the need to drink anywhere but at my house with my family. Growing up this way caused me to enjoy wine and beer solely for its taste and taught me to be responsible by only drinking in moderation. During high school I became curious about drink making after my dad bought a Margaritaville machine. I soon became quite skilled at making drinks and ended up bartending some parties for my parents. It was through my experience as a bartender that I gained the skill to accurately judge how much people are able to handle. Now I always look out for people at parties and make sure no one has more than they can handle, and if someone drinks I make sure to confiscate their keys and to get them home safely. By not having a drinking age growing up I learned how to handle alcohol appropriately, and I became responsible with my own drinking as well as with the people drinking around me.

When a United States citizen reaches the age of eighteen they become recognized as an adult by the legal system of our country and gain the right to vote. This is known as reaching the age of majority. If at eighteen people are finally considered adults why then are they not allowed to drink until the age of twenty-one? Keeping the drinking age at twenty -one is an infringement of our rights as free American adults. Lowering the drinking age to eighteen to match the age you become an adult seems not only appropriate but necessary so that our rights are not unjustly restricted.

The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 was created in order to help our nation reduce intoxicated driving accidents among teenagers, but now it seems we must reverse it to have the same desired effect for the modern day United States. I understand the controversy behind making such a large change to society, but the possibility for positive change far outweighs the negative. Personally, I would have been a much different person than I am today if my parents hadn’t treated alcohol the way they had, and for it I am a better, more responsible man.

The rewrite paper

I am adding all the final touches to the unit paper that I am rewriting. I am rewriting the unit two manifesto. The first time I wrote it on how I believed the SAT was an unfair test. I didn't really connect well enough with the topic well enough to really get into the paper so it didn't turn out very well, but the topic of the new paper it the lowering of the US drinking age which is a topic that I have a lot of great experiences that can support this topic.

A perfect moment

I am sitting outside my front door in a beanbag chair gazing at the magnificent, clear night sky with the soft sounds of a concert in the distance while a light, prefect temperature breeze rolls through the trees around me gently ruffling their leaves . It is perfect moments like these I count myself lucky to be alive. Moments when you forget about all the troubles of life and just fade away into the universe. The moments you feel that if your life was to instantly cease you would be completely content with the life you've lived. God I wish moments like these could last forever.

quik

I only have three minutes to write this blog. my internet was just out for the mast coupple hours and litterally just came back on. two minutes left oh god i need to learn to type faster. I really cant think of anything specific to say or i might run out of time well thirty seconds so hope this is enough.

FINALS SUCK

I recently have come to the conclusion that finals is a stupid system. I don't think it is a good system, because all the hardest tests are in the same week. This of course prevents a student from being as prepared as they could be if they were to have different dates for their tests. In fact, simply choosing how to allocate your study times is as hard as a final itself! I think that schools should begin to spread out finals dates in order to test someone more efficiently. If you have already learned the material, why should you be retested on it??

study break

I decided since it was taking a while for my world history study guide to print I would go ahead and write my blog since I probably won't stop again before two o' clock in the morning when these things are due by every day. Been studying math for eight hours now and I decided it is probably time to switch to history even though I've only barley scratched the surface of the math material. Also sometime tonight I have to type up that journal thing so I can turn that in. I really hope I don't forget to do it... Well till tomorrow.

studying

So I have 2 finals on Monday and told myself that I would study for linear algebra today and for world history (two) tomorrow. But I kinda slaked off all day today so I kinda ruined those plans. So tomorrow it seems like I'm going to have to cram for two entire finals in one day. Not looking forward to that.

Korra

I just watched the legend of korra episodes on the nick website. the new series is looking very promising but it is going to be hard to live up to the original avatar series. The main character is a little headstrong and too cocky for my tastes but she seems like she will make for a good story never the less.

Sick

I feel like I am starting to get sick. i have that like pre sore throat feeling and i have been feeling excessively tired all day long. It is extremely annoying, I hate getting sick so much. Well my left contact just went blurry so that means i should probably head to bed. Well good night all and good luck studying.

my thoughts

Well it is currently o' one hundred hours give or take a couple of minutes for me to finish writing this train wreck and I have a couple of friends over "celebrating" the end of classes before we have to start studying for finals tomarrow. I really hate how tomorrow is spelled it should so totally be tomarrow. Well this was just another segment of random thoughts of Topher.

KINECT

Kinect for xbox three sixty is definitely one of the greatest inventions of the twentieth century thus far. Being able to command your TV to select, pause, and play movies and shows from netflix and hulu plus as well using it to play games through its motion capture. But it can be used with dvd's.

sleepy

I am feeling so tired right now so I probably wont be able to write a very good blog entry. my eyelids are feeling extremely heavy and I feel like giving into their wight at any moment to I will try to wrap this up so I can hurry up and get to posting a comment.

hmmm

So what the heck should I write about tonight. Honestly, I really have no idea what to write... what soever. For some reason a picture of a space ship just jumped into my head. Maybe because I just watched an episode of Bones dealing with space ships and astronauts. word.

Contacts

Gah sometimes contacts are such an enormous pain. Like I hate how when it gets late at the night time and your eyes get all goopy and blurry and it is just extremely annoying. Also I hate how if just the littlest thing gets under your contact it absolutely destroys your eye if your don't get it out right away.

In class

Just sitting here before class and i thought to myself that I should post from in the classroom today so i don't forget to do it later. But since I probably will not have enough time to also read and comment on a blog right now so I will still have to remember to come back and do that later tonight when I am sitting in my bed before I go to sleep.

FInals

Finals week is coming up and I am sure all of ya'll are dreading it just as much as I am. World history two will be fine, I'll just study from 12:00 to 8:00am like I normally do and probably make a 95. But Linear Algebra and Physics two are gunna be a bitch. I am probably going to have to teach myself the entire book since i haven't really learned anything prom either professor this semester.  

Avatar tlab

Avatar the Last Airbender was one of my favorite shows as a kid. I couldn't wait for the live action movie to come out. But then it came out with M. Night Shyamalan as its director... sigh. I am ashamed to be the same species as that man. The single most horrifyingly pretrial that could have possibly been made of the tv show. Changing the names of almost every main character to get back to its asian origins even though the writer of the show is a caucasian guy who lives in california.

Avatar

This one is going to be about the blue people avatar I'll git to the other one tomorrow. I despise the people who bag on Avatar. They are always like, "Oh the plot is terrible. Its just a recreation of Pocahontas." Well first of all its not but even if it is similar how many Disney movies are Shakespearean plays or so other bland adult story. If making kid story out of adult ones does so well then why the hell is it unacceptable to make a kid movie into one of the most visually stunning, other worldly movies of all time. And rewatch Pocahontas and tell me which one is better.... oh and the Na'vi don't have pet racoons.

Physics Studying

I definitely do not love doing physics homework and studying for giant physics tests. I am currently seven and a half hours into studying for my third Engineering Physics two exam and I am starting to feel like i want to start pulling my hair out. So much tedious studying when there are only 9 questions on the exam which only account for about twenty percent of the material we need to study for each exam. (sigh) Well back to studying.

Pandora

Isn't Pandora Internet Radio just awesome! My roommate had the great idea to start a station off of closing time by Semisonic lets just say the rest of the day we jammed out to the best songs of the 90's at full volume dancing around like idiots singing at the top of our lungs. Good times. so next time your on Pandora start a station from closing time and you will be launched back in time to the good ol' days.

Running out of ideas

I seem to be running out of ideas to blog about, so if anyone has any good topics they would be greatly appreciated. Now I have to come up with enough words to fill this stupid blog entry, adjective time. I am just sitting here on my couch in the family room re-watching the first episode of the awesome new series that came out last fall, Terra Nova

Card games

I love all types of card games. I grew up playing a variety of car games, almost weekly. I had to learn two radicaly different card games from each side of my family that they have been played since they were kids. from my mothers side comes conasta, a lengthy,complex game played with two decks. And from my dads side comes sheep head, a northern game that is fast paced and played with about half a deck.

Video Games

Video games are wonderful things. They allow us to escape harsh, boring reality and live out our wildest fantasys. Such as being a super solder in the future fighting off a covenant of aliens who wish to destroy all  life in the galaxy. Or a warrior or mage in a land of elves, humans, and orcs fighting magical creatures from Oblivion from taking over the world. Or maybe your a sports or dance game person. Whatever your desires, video games can help you live them.

sleep

Why does it always seem that you can't get sleep when you need it and have all the time in the world when you are well rested don't need any more sleep. I love shallow sleep the most, when you still have most of the control over your dreams. Its also funny how out cold people are when they are in deep sleep, such as staying asleep while being ductaped to a cot and moved.

Cellphones

Where would we be without cellphones? Cellphones have become such a curtail part of today's society that I honestly believe that we could not function properly without them. And now there are all these smart phones. With one little devise you can call people, have thousands of time wasting games, and hours and hours of songs at the tips of your fingertips.

Posts

What makes a good post? Is it the quantity of the post or is it the quality of the article? I believe good articles can come from many different sources and can be about any subject, they just need to be well worded and clearly written. I need four more words.

Movies

I will start this blog the way I start most of my entries, thusly:  I love movies. I love how directors invoke emotion though elaborate story telling. I love how they cause adrenaline rushes through explosions or extremely gruesome and gory scenes. My dream job is to one day be a special effects engineer.

Cooking

I love to cook. Cooking is one of the most useful skills to have. Even though I started cooking simple things in scouts I have expanded my knowledge to include a vast variety of dishes. I believe everyone should learn how to cook. And I know some people say that there is no way they can learn all you need is the ability to follow instructions and patience. Once you learn recipes and get the general idea of how things are combined and how to cook certain things it becomes easy to start making your own recipes and dishes.

MATH

I love math. I'm trying to teach my business major roommate calculus tonight. Let's just say its not really going so well. He says that math is useless and that Isaac Newton is a torturous bastard. I laughed and went about giving examples of all the wonderful things that calculus can do. Then tried to break down some of the problems into very easy steps but only to be scuffed at before he smacked his head on the table.

Guns

I am a big believer in the right to bear arms. I think all citizens deserve the right to own, buy, and carry firearms. I do agree with certain requirements for people wanting to purchase guns but I don't agree with the whole price jacking and ridiculous restrictions Obama put on firearms to try and make it harder to purchase them.

Coffee

Isn't coffee just great? Our entire society pretty much runs off of coffee now a day. Such a wonderful drink with such an unusual back story. One of the many origin stories of how this glorious bean was discovered is that sheep herders noticed the sheep being energetic and lively after eating these certain berries. So the herders started making stews out of the berries to gain extra energy. And thus coffee!
 

Well

Since everyone else seems to just be blogging about their days and random whatnots, I guess I am allowed to also write about such random things. I finished up mass effect three today. The game is the last of an epic trilogy that takes place in the future around 2127 when all the life in the galaxy is threatened by a extremely powerful AI called the reapers. I strongly recommend this trilogy.

Roommates

What kind of roommate do you have? The annoying type who eat your food, leave messes all over the place and don't clean up, and wake you up at all times of the night? Or do you have the awesome type who you hang out with all the time, keeps everything clean and neat, and shares food with you.

Drinking age

This is one that i think most of yall can relate to. I believe that the drinking age should be eighteen. The United States is one of the only countries who insists on having the legal drinking age of twenty-one. But why? around 18 when kids are going to college and even before then they start drinking. Why not just make it legal if they are going to do it anyway. Also many teens drink just because it is illegal, cause its the bad and dangerous thing to do. With a lower drinking age maybe people would be less careless with alcohol. My parents have let me drink since i was fourteen. The fact that I was allowed to do it made me responsible with alcohol now that i am older never getting too drunk and making sure no one goes over their limit at parties.

Simplicity

I don't know about all of you but I love it when things are nice and simple. I'm sick and tired of all these strings that are attached to everything. I wish I lived in the medieval times when all you had to worry about was survival and your laborious job like a blacksmith.

sigh 2

I think thinking of a title for the post is just as bad as coming up with something to write about, so i plan on making them random crap from now on. I believe that being random and spontanious is one of the best ways to keep things fresh and not boring.

Topic

I defiantly decided on a topic. The ethics of overlooking or bending guidelines /building codes to make the job easier and move along faster. I am going to Interview my sister (the expert) and my roommate (not an expert) tomorrow. My sister, who is an industrial engineer, actually has experience with this issue first hand with some of the people she supervised during her summer internship.

Here's a good one

I finally thought of a belief that is relevant to something I'm doing right now. I am currently doing some physics homework (for context sake). I believe homework should not be mandatory. Many math and science teachers I have had agree with me. Yes everyone knows homework is helpful if you do it, but it shouldn't be held against you if you already know the concepts and don't need the practice.

sigh

I really hate having to do these things. I don't really have fifty words to say on purely academics let alone my thoughts, feelings, or ideas every single day. (sigh) So I guess here it goes another thing I strongly believe in is that these things are boring and a waist of time. If we could write about anything we wanted to these things would be much more enjoyable.

some ethics ideas

I really have no earthly idea what ethical issue I am going to do this project on but I guess i have a few maybes. First is the ethics behind builders using cheap low cost materials instead of better higher cost materials. The second is using environmentally safe materials instead of harmful ones.

Bike people

I believe bikes (biking people) should not be allowed to ride on the road. These "marathon bickers" are an increasing plague on the American road system. They ride along on the side of the road without any remorse for the massive amount of room they take up and swerving near cars when they pass.

Rest of SAT intro

Well since I think I am going to stick with this topic since its do tomorrow here is the rest of my introduction paragraph:
           I don’t believe so. I believe that the SAT is a poor assessment of the average person’s intelligence. The SAT has a tendency to be extremely bias toward good test takers

More SAT ideas

I guess I will try to type up a few sentences for my introduction paragraph. Why is the SAT the universal American standard for which colleges use to judge a student by? Does it really do a good job at giving everyone an equal opportunity to get a good score on it?

new idea

I am thinking i might try out a new topic so tell me what you all think. the topic is the strong belief that the SAT is a poor assessment of a students potential and does not properly tell collages a true depiction of what a student has to offer.

Trial Intro

Here's my intro so far tell me what ya think:
        What is intelligence? Is a person's intelligence labeled on them by the scores they make? Or is it something else? Such as a person's ability to succeed and retain knowledge about what they think and love to do. I believe that a person's intellect isn't simply defined by their test scores, it is their strive for success and accomplishment.

Something...

Well I'm sitting here at eleven thirty trying to think of fifty words to write about beliefs or this project. Its harder than I thought it would be but i guess here we go. I was thinking about changing to something on the belief that one’s schooling and test scores don’t always reflect that person’s intellect.

Hmmmmmm...

Well i guess if we need  this expeiences things supporting our belief, then maybe the whole "goodness of man" thing might be better. (sigh) Writing about what you believe is trickier than i thought it would be. Because beliefs are primal, fundamental. Your beliefs are who you are. They are your identity. so trying to put your beliefs into words is like trying to answer the question "Who are you?". And before you answer with some smartass remark like "I am myself" or you say bob (etc...), the question is meant to inquire what makes you who you are. Try to sum up who you are with three words. Do they really tell everything about who you are and why you do what you do?

Need Some Input

Hello internet. I can't really decide on a good belief to do. I wrote my unit two short write thing on the belief in the goodness of man, but I think that is kind of broad and it would be really hard to write seven hundred fifty word about it. I thought of another one but it makes it sound like I'm not religious which isn't entirely the case. The belief is that being a good person and having good morals has not connection whatsoever to being religious. Man chooses his own right and wrong. Just because someone goes to church a lot doesn't mean they actually abide by morals laid down by the church. Just like how someone who doesn't go to church is an ideal citizen, never committing acts of malice nature and always helping out their fellow man. Tell me how yall think about this one. I might try a different one if yall think this one is too touchy or sends the wrong message.

Whos Topher?

I'm Topher! Christopher John Dicke. The nick name comes from the usually neglected portion of my first name Chris-Topher. I gained this nickname freshmen year in high school, and soon my entire family was referring to me by it whenever i acted silly or A.D.D. Well I have to get back to the rest of the stuff we need to do this class so, peace.