Current Event

On thursday Supreme Court ruled that terrorism suspects being held at Guantanamo bay have the Constitutional right to challenge their detention in courts. In addition it was ruled that the Bush administrations means of classifying detainees as enemies didn't meet the basic legal standards. This happens to be the third time that President Bush's plan for handleing foreign terrorists is unconstitutional. This is a long awaited realization that the U.S declares they are the law abiding nation when in reality they are covering up the fact that they do a lot of unconstitutional or unlawful acts behind their citizens backs.

Rockin' in the U.S.A

Metal is said to have started in the 1950’s and 60’s with bands playing with heavy distortion and blues-rock roots. It started with bands like Led Zepplin and the Beatle’s Helter Skelter, which used the heavy distortion, scream like lyrics and sometimes (more with the later bands of the 80’s) tapping, which is where the guitarist will tap a fret instead of strumming the guitar with his right hand (or left if switch) then play something else with the left hand. This soon changed with bands like Judas Priest who claim that they don’t use blues techniques at all, they instead decided to just use the speed technique, which is exactly what it implies just really fast playing. This led to a new change because teens wanted different music that they felt truly related to them. That’s why underground bands like Metallica where really popular because they used “heavy” riffs and scream like music that kids felt they could really relate to and that truly expressed the way they were feeling about certain political or just events in general. This led to people like Ozzy Osbourne and Randy Rhdoes who started a new trend called Neo-Classical Metal which incorporates more classical techniques thus, leading to more complex solos while still maintaining that heavy distorted feeling that everyone loved.

"The Dumbest Generation? Don't Be Dumb." Current Event 5-30-08

This article discusses the fact that many high school graduates are ignorant of much of the United State’s history. For example many didn't know who America's ally was in WWII. (Soviet Union). Nor did they know things like, "What is the largest lake in North America?" (Lake Superior). All these facts are evidence that is brought up in a recently published book by a man named Mark Bauerlein, the book is called "The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future." As stated in the title this book discusses the idea that technology is making people dumber and it's retracting them from more important things (studying Vietnam war, Iraq etc.) This has sparked some relatively heated debate because according to some studies video games and this new emphasis on multitasking actually can be beneficial to the brain. It is said that video gaming can teach problem solving techniques, it also teaches them how to deal with many specific calculation that they normally would hate to see in class. In other words, with video gaming they get to learn in a new fun way. Games also can teach cause and effect for example they mention the SimCity game taught a young seven year old that" high tax rates in a city's industrial zone can deter manufacturers from relocating there." It is very impressive that a seven year old can come up with conclusions like that from gaming. A final argument that is made in this article is that judging a generation before it is 30 is just absurd.

Response to "My Architect" movie

Louis Isadore Kahn was born February 20th, 1901 in Kuressaare, Esonia but he soon immigrated to the United States with his Jewish family. One of the very distinct features that Louis possessed was a few scars on his face that he attained by putting some hot coals into an apron he was wearing and caught himself on fire. His father was not so sure Louis would (or should) make it, although his mother convinced him other wise. Louis grew up in a very poor family, they couldn't even afford pencils. They were able to improvise and created charcoal sticks that were just as effective in drawing and writing. As it turned out Kahn got a scholarship to go to the University of Pennsylvania, where he focused on drawing and eventually moving on to attain a Bachelor's in Architecture. After college, Kahn had sort of a tough time trying to get his career of the ground but, with the help of his first wife, he was able to get a little place where he could focus and do his work. The only trouble was that, for Kahn, he couldn't really find his own unique style of Architecture.
That all changed when he took a trip to the Ancient Ruins where he finally (at the age of Fifty) discovered a form of architecture that really touched him and meant something to him. He took sketches of the ruins he saw and incorporated them into his drawings. His form of architecture became so huge and breathtaking that the University in which he had attended asked him to design some of the building on campus. He also designed a building that is here in La Jolla.
He definitely had a unique way of constructing that was incredible and fun to look at. He really knew how to appeal to his audiences and incorporate old ideas into the new world. I truly respect his audacity by bringing in this new form of architectural design (that a few people were opposed to) that was completely different than what most Americans were used to, and making it successful.
It is unfortunate the way he died. He was found dead in a bathroom located in the Penn Station in New York. It is said that he died of a heart attack. What was strange though was that the address in his passport was scratched out, which led to the three days of which he was unidentified.

Response to Article

Ethics is a concept that cannot be taught by anyone. You must experience things on your own and determine on your own whether something is right or wrong. If someone tries to say they can teach you ethics, they are not aware of how deep and complicated it can be to teach someone about morals. Making it a requirement to pass an ethics class in school is just flat out absurd. Humans are capable of learning from experiences and from these experiences you'll be able to mold your own idea of what is right and wrong.

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/Departments/eLearning/Default.aspx?article=WhatHappenedEthics>1=27001

Ellis Orozco
Book Report/ Novel Summary
Crichton, Michael. Prey. New York. HarperCollins Publishers. 2002

Reason, type and setting: This book was recommended for me to read by my super mother. This book could be classified as a horror kind of a technological book. This book takes place in today’s modern world in California.

Plot: This book is about a computer programmer named Jack who gets fired from his job and turns into a stay at home father. He is having marital problems; he thinks his wife is having an affair at work due to the fact that she stays at work for long hours. Later he finds out that although she was having an affair it was much more than that. While she was at her work (a nanotechnology lab) she was trying to create a new way for the pentagon to take photos and spy on their enemies by means of nano-cameras that have just enough memory to hold the images. Unfortunately, something went horribly wrong while creating a batch of them and they escaped into the desert (the cameras) and developed a way to learn and evolve which made hard incredibly when it came to trying to “kill” them. The developed a way to kill and “eat” animals and humans. That is when Jack gets rehired to try to stop this killer swarm of nano-cameras. The rest of the book is filled with near death experiences for Jack as he tries to figure this swarm out and stop them. He ends up losing three of his friends and his wife due to the swarm taking over their bodies but, eventually, he kills the swarm.

Character; Jack Forman is a curious and caring father of two children (and wife). Jack is a very inspirational and daring person throughout the novel. When he was faced with death (which happened a lot) he completely ignored it and did the right thing by continuing on to try and stop a swarm that had the potential to kill populations of people. In the end, Jack ended up being more skeptical about advances in technology because there was no telling what we could end up. He was afraid of another thing closely resembling the swarm being created again.

Evaluation: This novel was incredibly interesting and scary. It has made me incredibly paranoid. Whenever I hear about new advances in technology I am always afraid that something like the swarm will happen. I know it’s silly but this book was incredibly insightful, interesting and scary all at the same time. If I were put in Jack’s place I probably wouldn’t have done half of the things he did. He had some serious guts and talent to do what he did.

Author, Context and trivia: This author has also written many other books namely; Rising Sun, Jurassic Park, Congo and The Andromeda Strain. I don’t really know much about the author just that he is an incredible writer. I have never read any books like this one but I would definitely like to read more like it.

Current Event 5-23-08

So, the FBI is being sued by the highest ranking Arab-Anerican in History due to the fact that he hasn't been allowed on any of the counterterrorism cases, He clamis that he has been thrown "under the bus" and denied raises. He also is trying to get the point accross that the FBI is incredibly understaffed and ill prepared to prevent another attack from the middle east because they do not have the assets.
This is very dissatisfying considering the fact that they are the ones who are supposed to play a role in keeping us safe and well protected. It is conserning that the FBI does not contain the tools to protect its own country. What else are we losing out on?
Below is a link to the article.
http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/DOJ/Story?id=4905061&page=1