What not to do.

Well, please let me start by explaining that there has never been a more ironic event in all of history than me giving writing tips to someone else. I don't think I have ever written more than two sentences of a paper before midnight, ever. So, what better way to utilize my knowledge than to give tips on what not to do when you write a paper:

1. Do not procrastinate. I know this isn't really a tip--it's something we should be masters of by now (the point where we are paying for our education). However, if you are like me, you are quick to figure how late you can wait to start the paper the minute you receive the assignment. This is bad. The more often you write (five one-hour sessions are much more beneficial than one five hour session), the easier your paper will be to write.

2. When you're writing, do not stop! Just keep writing. Even if it is total shit. So much time can be spent staring at your heading and the blank document that lay below it. Use this time to edit whatever nonsense you've mananaged to get down. This will prove a much more efficient use of whatever time you dedicate to writing

3. Don't be completely rigid when it comes to your topic. Upon research, you may find that it would be easier to change your thesis statement a little. Reward yourself for this observation and give the change a try. It could be that break you need to wrap the thing up or meet the length requirement.

4. Do not copy and paste, then edit in word. This will just end up exposing your lack of mastery of word formattting and make you paper awfully choppy.

5. Do not write your paper while under the influence. As enticing it may sound, there is a devastatingly low success rate when it comes to drunk writing. On top of a broken computer, you'll end up with a paper that is made up of 50% quotes from whatever songs you were listening to Anne maybe some lines from Rocky.

one truth, one lie and one truth.

Shortly after graduating high school, I took a road trip with a couple friends.  We ended up coming home (me to Missoula and them to Boise) through Tillamook County, Oregon.  I approached an unmarked, fish-hook turn going a mite faster than suggested and had a head-on with a Winnebago.  We all managed to basically walk away from it, except my car.

While in Germany, I took a pub crawl tour of the Bavarian beer gardens in Munich.  I received taunts from a kiwi (a bloke who hails from New Zealand) who claimed "No Yank will ever out drink anyone except an Asian!"  I proceded to drink this guy under the table with the support of some friends who dragged my ass home.  I still don't actually remember the other guy passing out, I have only pictures and friends to tell of how it all went down.

I was born and raised here in missoula.  My parents moved here from California while my mother was pregnant with me.  My dad had family who lived here in Missoula and my parents moved here without seeing it once. They relied purely on the fantastic recomendations of our family.  

Cognition

After reading the excerpt given to us on Friday, I have a few thoughts to share.  There are plenty of inter-woven issues pressing the entire world at this very moment, complete with dynamic characters and twisting plot line.  People watch TV to be entertained first and foremost.  When I get ready for a much anticipated movie or television show, I smoke a joint. I don't do a sudoku to warm my brain up for some real thinking time.  I sure as hell don't watch the screen for any kind of actual intellectual stimulation.  I imagine the only reason people enjoy these "multi-threaders" is because, to quote the great Ernest Borgnine in Baseketball, "People today have attention spans that can only be measured in nano-seconds."  They start a new scene with pretty new faces every couple minutes because that is what it takes to keep people from flipping the channel.  Shows are made to do your thinking for you.  How much personal emotion you decide to throw into watching them, however, is entirely up to you.

Red Dwarf is a late 80's/early 90's British science-fiction sitcom which provides a wonderful escape from all that heavy thinking about Tony Soprano's latest contribution to the East River.  It features four main characters: a human (maybe the last in existence), an android created to serve humans, a hologram of a dead human and a humanoid derived from 3 million years of the isolated evolution of the common house cat.  They are stuck 3 million light-years away from Earth and, consequently, 3 million years into the future.  Their journey home takes them on 8 seasons of strange and laughable adventures, each more ridiculous than the last.  And my favorite feature of the show, it can be enjoyed while engaging in any number of additional activities.  The activities may include, but are not limited to:  doing homework, cleaning, making a playlist, folding laundry or managing finances.  Of course, if you can enjoy the dry silliness that is British humor, the show is entertaining enough as a solo activity.  The show tells a story for a half an hour and then rolls the credits. 

It makes me cringe to think of how many people will die without knowing how to navigate a newspaper, while being able to recount the plot of Lost in its entirety.  People will watch the news for thirty minutes, watching everything a station wants you to know for an average of 30 seconds a story.  People will not pick up a newspaper for thirty minutes to read the full story of whatever the please.  The personal pursuit of knowledge without some kind of finger pointing the way.  I'm with Mike Judge's Idiocracy; people seem quite content with letting Hollywood guide their cognition.  If you have doubts, take a look at the Science-Fiction Channel's new name and logo (It's SyFy, just for the record).

Op-eds, in a word.

Geert Wilders is the leader of the Dutch Parliament's Freedom Party.  Geert Wilders does not like Muslims. He does not want any Muslims in or around the vicinity of the Netherlands.  He thinks Muslims are "retarded."  This thinking and his public expression of these thoughts has led him into some trouble with the Dutch court.  He currently faces up to sixteen months and $10,000 for his words.  Melody Moezzi is a Muslim-American.  She believes in free speech for everyone, including Mr. Wilders--despite his position towards Moezzi's culture (she does not agree with Iran's current regime, btw).  She starts off with a dose of ethos, clarifying her political and social views, as well as boasting her unique perspective as a Muslim, "outspoken writer and attorney."  Then she ends with some pathos, likening the story unto what would happen to her, should she return to Iran after speaking out against the way they run things over yonder seas.  Overall, I agree with Moezzi--freedom of speech for all.  But I don't think that Geert is crazy, well not any crazier than anyone who believes their religion is better than someone else's.  Crazy is crazy is crazy. 

Judith S. Beck has a Ph.D. in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. She deals with many people who suffer from a belief that they are, in some way, inherently wrong.  These people hate drawing any kind of attention to themselves.  They feel entitled to nothing. This makes me shudder with a sickening grief (pathos ?).  I imagine that most of us have, at some point in our lives, felt inadequate or inferior in some way. I couldn't imagine feeling like that all the time.  This idea of everyone judging everything you do is something most people ditch in elementary school or earlier.  A small degree of it stays with us through adolescence (everyone in class in watching me).  The other day I was watching this adorable kid play with one of those car-shopping cart things and I looked up to see five or six other people just staring at this kid.  He then looked up and saw six or seven people just staring at him.  He retreated between his mothers legs.  It's no wonder we grow up with the belief that everyone is watching and judging everything we do--while we're young and cute, everyone does watch everything we do. 

So Google has apparently introduced a newer version of Google search, enticingly named "Google Instant."  Bunmi Zalob doesn't think Google should "waste their time helping us waste our time."  She offers little Ethos, but tries to fill you up with a heavily sarcastic hit of logos.  It packs a wallop of laughter, I tell you what.  I chuckled anyway.  She gives one of the all-time greatest pie-graph prefaces, in my opinion: "The graph below is based on data collected from my assumptions."  This provides me with all the Ethos I needed to finish the article in a hurry and click over to the "Blogger" tab to finish this very post. Fin.