*4/30/06*

Here is my final paper and last blog entry. Thanks for the class Kem.

BenFinalPaper

*4/29/06*

This weekend has been very slow and boaring. Majority of the people stayed in and studied, unfortunally I like saving things for the last minute so I enjoyed many time wasting activities like watching movies and playing video games.

*4/28/06*

Classes are all done and I am relieved. I can now focus on finishing my paper and studying for the four finals I have. On top of this I do have to deal with the ambitious project of cleaning out my supplemental room which has turned into somewhat of a garbage dump.

*4/26/06*

The last week of classes is half way done. As much as I love it here and am enjoying the beautiful weather, I am really looking foward to going home and seeing my old friends. I got my introduction looked over in class today, and got some good ideas of things to change.

*4/24/06*

I was reading about the up and coming gas price spike this summer. I find it silly that people make such a big deal over gas prices. I have always felt that a large contributer to gas price's constant scrutiny was the fact that they are always displayed visibly on large signs. While people will be on fire over a 30 or 40 cent per gallon increase, their cable bill, taxes, and many other invisible charges could be rising far more. The gas price raise is enevitable and there are solutions for people who can't afford it. Personally, when I am at home I drive a car that gets poor gas mileage, and it really dosen't bother me to pay more for gas. I believe gas prices should be higher because the enviormental cost is far greater then what we are charged at the pump.

*4/22/06*

I went to the Blue and White game today. It was a real shame that the weather was ablysmal. It was great to be back in Beaver stadium, do some cheers, and check out our new Quaterback. There was a pretty small turnout to the game that got even smaller at halftime. Despite the crappy weather, I did see tailgateing in full force and many muddy people. Overall it was a good time but the weather really hurt what could have been a memorable weekend.

*4/21/06*

Tonight I was able to schedule my classes and I am thrilled. Not only did I get into every class that I needed/wanted, but I don't have a single class before 12:20 P.M. This is great for me because I love to go to bed late and wake up late. I will probably rarley miss a class with this schedule and I should have a crisp mind all week. Also, pretty psyched about this weekend, being the last real weekend of this year it should be a memorable one. Not really too much to think about at the moment aside from the English Final paper.

*4/19/06*

Just watched tonight's South Park. What a strange episode! This whole new season has been really out there, and I am not quite sure weather I like it or not. Been fairly lazy this week, trying to rest up my mind before the rigorous finals week that is ahead.

*4/15/06*

So far this his been a very boaring weekend. Everyone has gone home for easter. I've been playing a lot of N64 emulators on my laptop to keep me entertained. The memories are amaizing.

*4/10/06*

Was a pretty good weekend, got to get a lot of work done and start thinking more about my final project

*4/7/06*

BenFinalPaperProposal

*4/3/06*

ProposalArgumentFinal

*4/2/06*

Today is my birthday! Beautiful day out, ate lunch at olive garden with my parents. Got a bunch of money and life is good. Unfortunatly I had to work 12 hours friday and saturday, so I am exhausted.

*3/28/06*

Worked at Fresh Express today, my first day of work. Felt good to earn some money. I was surprised at how many people came in there, I must have swiped about 1000 cards. Overall, I am glad I have a job, even though I had to wake up early for it.

*3/24/06*

Got a steak tonight at Garfield's steak house in the Nittany Mall. Must say, pretty good steak for the money. Was a pretty boring night overall but I did get to sleep for 11 hours and watch all the games.

*3/22/06*

Proposal Argument Proposal

As a segway from my previous blog entry, I will write my proposal argument on the underage drinking "problem" amongst students at Penn State University Park. With the recent incident of a Penn State student relying on durastic measures to escape university police, as well as the vast majority of students that enjoy alcoholic beverages that are under the age of 21, a new proposal of rules needs to be made concerning the situation. While everyone can agree that underage drinking is harmful to students on a physical level, most people do not consider its effects on a psychological level. That is, the other options avaliable to students on campus and weather kids feal they fit in doing things other than partying. I was inserted into the "lifehouse" substance free living floor for my first year, and surprisingly enough the majority of my floor consumes alcohol on the weekends. I will debunk the myths of the so-called "lifehouse" and propose a better way to handle underage drinking on campus that wont have students fealing backed against a wall.

*3/21/06*

I am saddened by the incident of a Penn State student climbing out of a window and being severly injured to escape getting an underage charge. While this is an illogical occurance, skewed by the vicitms drunken state of mind, we need to think about ways to prevent such extreme measures of escape from happening again. Something like this could happen in many different situations, for example running from police and getting hit by a car. I believe there is a better way to handle the underage drinking "problem" at our campus. I think the rules should remain, but be loosely inforced, and only those acting drunk outside of their rooms should be given underages. There is no easy way to stop college kids from drinking, it is a part of the culture here. There should be a respectable policy that won't face college students to overly harsh consequences, such as hundreds of dollers in fines and other things that can detract them from their studies. Basically, if someone chooses to drink responsibly, they should not be punished.

*3/20/06*

CausalArgumentFinal

*3/19/06*

St. Patrick's day weekend was pleanty of fun. Friday night was filled with the usually debauchary times two. Pleanty of drunk people were around starting very early in the day. I watched pleanty of NCAA Basketball, and eventhough my bracket is a mess, I still can't get enough considering most every game is extrememly close. Saturday I got a chance to lift weights at midnight at the white building, which was also an interesting change of pace.

*3/17/06*

Today I got in a "which way to go battle". We have all been in these situations, where your walking twords someone and you go one direction to get out of their path, and the other person goes the same way, you continue to correct your directions, sometimes lasting 4, 5 even 6 times. It is silly instances like this in day-to-day life that reminds me that we are all really animals. I think some sort of agreement should be made via a chain of handsignals or blinks that can indicate which path someone is going to take. This will avoid further humiliation in the form of "which way to go battles".

*3/15/06*

Back after spring break. I highly enjoyed my spring break. The vast majority of it consisted of me sitting or lying down, playing video games and watching TV. While this lifestyle gets to me after a while, and I feel the need to be constructive, the 8 days of sitting on my ass were HIGHLY appriciated. My mind is clear and crisp and ready to study again. I think these breaks are important to the well being of all students, especially considering many of them are sleep deprived. Best of all, now that I am back to studying, I am enjoying what I am learning instead of forcing it down like I did pre spring break.

*3/3/06*

Casual Argument Proposal

My casual argument will be concerning the Obesity epidemic in America. I have always been health conscious and enjoy living a healthy lifestyle. I have also researched the area of nutrition heavily and have many reasons for why Obestiy is a sudden epidemic and how we can remedy this problem. I will start the paper by introducing the problem of obesity and citing several statistics that support its significance. I will then discuss, what I believe to be, the causes of the obesity epidemic, as well as what many other reputable sources believe. To close the paper I will offer suggestions of how we can become a more healthy nation and dispell the belief that we are fat slobs consuming massive quantites of the earth's resources.

*2/27/06*

BenBlogEvaluationFinal

*2/26/06*

I find this debate over what to call the War on Terrorism to be silly. While 'The Long War' has a more textbook friendly tone to it, I think that whatever the inital name is, in this case, The War On Terrorism, should be stuck with. Each name has its advantages over the other, and can be argued for. The Long War explains that this war is unlike any other and could span 100 years, or last forever. The War on Terrorism explains what the war is actually concerning. In the end, I think it is foolish to over-argue the name of the war, and more important to actually discuss what is going on and weather it is ethical and right or not. The leaders of this country should not be at a desk brainstorming names for the war, but rather working on making it at least a minor success.

*2/22/06*

I found "My America" by Andrew Sullivan to be a great little essay. I think that the example he gave about his encounter with a boy on his bike was very truthful. Not every random person here shouts out hello to everyone they see, but as a society Americans are doing a good job at treating people as equals in comparison to the rest of the globe. While the writer is cynical of America in many of his statments, they are valid critisims. I also found the ending to be powerful, "They don't celebrate themselves, they celebrate their good fortune". While I do not think that many Americans truly apprcitate what we have, I think it is a beautiful thing that we have a holiday devoted to how good off we are, especially considering we are the one true international superpower.

*2/17/06*

Evaluation Proposal: Racial Profiling

My evaluation will be concerning the controvercial issue of racial profiling.Racial Profiling profiling has been a point of debate for decades, but after the terrorist attacks on September 11th, it has become a more important issue to our society than ever. Dictionary.com defines racial profiling as

“The consideration of race when developing a profile of suspected criminals; by extension, a form of racism involving police focus on people of certain racial groups when seeking suspected criminals”

Before 9/11, the first thing that came to my mind when thinking about racial profiling was prejudging Blacks and Hispanics for committing crimes before hearing the facts. If you have ever watched the show “Cops”,(TV series should be italicized or underlined. See WikiStyle to learn how!) you will see this prejudging spotlighted quite well. It seems that in post 9/11 life the concept of racial profiling is less focused on that of black Americans, and more on people of Arab descent.

There are two core viewpoints concerning the issue, those who believe it is acceptable to make judgments based on nationality and act upon them, and those who believe that everyone should be viewed as equals. In my definition paper I will aim to explore the variety of ways that racial profiling can be interpreted. Does racial profiling have all to do with race? Or do other physical characteristics contribute to the judgments? After considering the different interpretations of the term, I will establish my opinion and argue for it, while providing a well rounded argument from all sides.

Citations:

Bruce J. Terris. Civil Liberties. Auriana Ojeda, Ed. Opposing Viewpoints® Series. Greenhaven Press, 2004

Heather MacDonald. Civil Rights. Karen F. Balkin, Ed. Current Controversies Series. Greenhaven Press, 2004.

Extra!. The Terrorist Attack on America Mary E. Williams, Ed. Current Controversies Series. Greenhaven Press, 2003.

John Derbyshire. The Legal System. Laura K. Egendorf, Ed. Opposing Viewpoints® Series. Greenhaven Press, 2003.

Heather MacDonald. Crime and Criminals . James D. Torr, Ed. Opposing Viewpoints® Series. Greenhaven Press, 2004.

"Racial Profiling" Dictionary.com. 27 April 2004 <http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=racial%20profiling>.

"Racial Profiling" Wikipedia.com. 6 February 2006 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_profiling>.

*2/16/06*

Response to Declaration of Independence

While I think the declaration of independence needs revamping, reading this Declaration reiterates how powerful this document was and is. One of my favorites lines is as follows:

While we still have a hard time, to this day, treating everyone as equals this goal is powerful. One may argue that this goal is still not followed to this day. While the government still fails to treat everyone as equals, they are doing better. One must also consider that it is human nature to create prejudices against those that are different. I believe that the rest of the declaration contains a lot of filler and obvious statments. The ending is powerful though.

*2/15/06*

I found "My America" by Andrew Sullivan to be a great little essay. I think that the example he gave about his encounter with a boy on his bike was very truthful. Not every random person here shouts out hello to everyone they see, but as a society Americans are doing a good job at treating people as equals in comparison to the rest of the globe. While the writer is cynical of America in many of his statments, they are valid critisims. I also found the ending to be powerful, "They don't celebrate themselves, they celebrate their good fortune". While I do not think that many Americans truly apprcitate what we have, I think it is a beautiful thing that we have a holiday devoted to how good off we are, especially considering we are the one true international superpower.

*2/13/06*

BenBlogDefinitionFinal

*2/7/06*

I commented on WikiHatesMe's Definition paper.

Definition Paper Proposal Reviewed by ArtVandalay

*2/5/06*

DEFINITION: Racial Profiling

Racial Profiling has been a point of debate for decades, but after the terrorist attacks on September 11th, it has become a more important issue to our society than ever. Dictionary.com defines racial profiling as

“The consideration of race when developing a profile of suspected criminals; by extension, a form of racism involving police focus on people of certain racial groups when seeking suspected criminals”

Before 9/11, the first thing that came to my mind when thinking about racial profiling was prejudging Blacks and Hispanics for committing crimes before hearing the facts. If you have ever watched the show “Cops”, you will see this prejudging spotlighted quite well. It seems that in post 9/11 life the concept of racial profiling is less focused on that of black Americans, and more on people of Arab descent.

There are two core viewpoints concerning the issue, those who believe it is acceptable to make judgments based on nationality and act upon them, and those who believe that everyone should be viewed as equals. In my definition paper I will aim to explore the variety of ways that racial profiling can be interpreted. Does racial profiling have all to do with race? Or do other physical characteristics contribute to the judgments? After considering the different interpretations of the term, I will establish my opinion and argue for it, while providing a well rounded argument from all sides.

Citations:

Bruce J. Terris. Civil Liberties. Auriana Ojeda, Ed. Opposing Viewpoints® Series. Greenhaven Press, 2004

Heather MacDonald. Civil Rights. Karen F. Balkin, Ed. Current Controversies Series. Greenhaven Press, 2004.

Extra!. The Terrorist Attack on America Mary E. Williams, Ed. Current Controversies Series. Greenhaven Press, 2003.

John Derbyshire. The Legal System. Laura K. Egendorf, Ed. Opposing Viewpoints® Series. Greenhaven Press, 2003.

Heather MacDonald. Crime and Criminals . James D. Torr, Ed. Opposing Viewpoints® Series. Greenhaven Press, 2004.

"Racial Profiling" Dictionary.com. 27 April 2004 <http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=racial%20profiling>.

"Racial Profiling" Wikipedia.com. 6 February 2006 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_profiling>.

*1/30/06*

The wikipedia article on terrorism, as usual, is very informative and interesting. The common consencous of the dictionary is that terrorism is the act of terrorizing. I can agree with this, but what exactly is terrorising? What we are doing to Iraq now could easily be argued as terrorism. I think the U.N's short legal definition of "peacetime equivalent of a war crime." makes the most sense today. This also creates a convenient loophole for the US goverment. Because we are "at war", terroizing the nation's innocent people is acceptable. In my opinion, what we are doing in Iraq and Afganistan is not terrorism. We are not targeting innocent people, as the terrorists on 9/11 did. We are, however, targeting killers. Killers being, people who go against peaceful life and freedom. While the definition of terrorism can be manipulated in seemingly infinate ways, I don't feal as though the US army is terrorists, as some extreme Liberals claim.

*1/27/06*

While I am not a Bush fan, by any stretch, I found this speach to be very powerful. I believe it gave American's comfort, security, and unity in a time of chaos. I think quotes like the one that follows help to let Americans to begin to heal and make us feal as though we are in this together:

My favorite part of the speech was:

I believe that what Bush mentions here is perfect. Even though I doubt that he wrote this speach, I am sure that he believes in what he is saying.

*1/25/06*

I enjoyed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I think it was comparable to "The Four Freedoms" in that it outlined ways for us to live as a society. My favorite line was the first article:

I strongly believe that all humans should respect one another, simply on the fact that we are all made of the same stuff and live on the same planet. While some of the Articles seemed to get repetitive and were a little to obvious I think the morals behind this declaration are right on.

*1/23/06*

Response to FDR's "The Four Freedoms"

Franklin D. Roosevelt's speach "The Four Freedoms" was given when he was addressing congress in January of 1941. I find the speach to be extremely truthful and a very powerful work. Unlike many of the modern day presidents, FDR does not "beat around the Bush" (yes, Bush). One part that I found particulary powerful was as follows:

This passage puts it out on the table to congress that everything of concern is not just in their peaceful cushined seat in congress, but rather in the vast reaches all around the globe. FDR then goes on to say

Is this something we want our president to say? Our country has one hand tied behind it's back? And its attempting to fight the whole world single handed? While FDR's words are shocking, and pehaps a shade harsh, they do serve to get his point across in powefull fashion.

Finally, twords the end, FDR outlines his "Four Freedoms". The ones we were so eager to hear about after hearing the title. They are as follows:

I find these four freedoms to be extremely powerful. If any president of current days had these as his four core philosophies, I would support them 100% immidiatly. While these freedoms are lofty goals, compared to what is currenly in place, I think they set fantastic goals for what we should strive for as a society.

*1/22/06*

I am disappointed with Penn State's current avalibility of weight rooms. Whenever I go to lift at the IM fitness center, there is a line and I have to wait 20 minutes to get in, even after I get in it is crowded. I think that if kids go out of their way to try and stay fit and healthy they should at least be provided with a FREE and WAITLESS gym experience. I have recently become aware of a secret weightroom located in Pinchot Hall. This weightroom was locked up years ago, and contains tons of great equipment that is just sitting there. If ANYONE is interested in helping me fight to reopen it to serious lifters, let me know. With the upcoming construction at Rec Hall, something needs to be done about this situation soon. Two gyms for forty thousand students is horrible, and there are long lines to proove it.

*1/21/06*

I'm writing today in response to the "Lack of Xbox 360s" article in USA Today. I think that it is embarassing that 3 months after this game system launched, it still can't be found anywhere. Personally, I wanted one as a christmas and my parents could not get there hands on one. The console is also very expensive, another reason why I didn't get one this holiday season. I am a big video game fan and have always followed the so called 'console wars', between all the large console manufacturers. Of this new generation of systems coming out this year, I think that the PlayStation 3 seems to be the one to get. All in all, I am surprised to see such a wealthy and reputable company such as Microsoft unable to meet supply after several months. I would think Mr.Gates would try to avoid a shortage like this at all costs, as it tarnishes the company's image.

*1/20/06*

I found the article on Neural Marketing to be very interesting. As a student who is interested in the field of Marketing in general, I believe there are strong truths in neural marketing. I think that the Pepsi symbol is one of the most obvious displays of this. Interestingly enough, when I consider in my mind which cola is more American, I still think of CocaCola. While the studies done at Emory are interesting, the impact that Neural Marketing, such as changing a logo to match a country's colors, is questionable.

*1/18/06*

I would like to compliment the Penn State East Side Eateries. I have always been satisfied with this food, and generally impressed. The 16oz Porterhouse Steaks this week were a great treat and really helped me heal my hard working mind. In general, I think that people complain too much about things such as food quality, and class difficulty. I lack respect for hollow arguments such as "this food sucks" and "Wow, I have so much work, I hate my life". I think that if you look at life with a head up, then very few things can really be taken as negative. Bottom line, love the food here, especially the demo cooking.

*1/16/06*

Dr. Kings words in "Letter from Brimingham Jail" are founded in deap truths, especially for the time, but still very applicable to todays society. It truly is the white moderates, who make up the majority of our political structure and population that have the most control, and also the most uninspired mindset, rooted in procrastination(indirect action). I think that this letter is a great example as to the power of Dr. King's writing and really helps to emphasize his importance to people such as myself, that weren't around for his influential movement.

*1/12/06*

My name is Ben Bachmann, and I reside in Morristown, New Jersey. It was a nice place to grow up and I went to a very diverse high school. I'm a freshman here at Penn State and would like to enter the Smeal College of Business ultimatly. I'm pretty excited about this english class, becuase I'm not a big fan of reading pre-selected books and I love to write and argue.