Reading Blog 12/28/08

This Christmas Eve, instead of going to CPC, we went to a family friends Lutheran Church in Bloomington. Supposedly, the preacher was very good. I was enjoying the service until he had his sermon near the end talking about 3 points of the confused, convinced, and non-believers. He was pretty much saying that there are the confused people who don't know what religion they are, the convinced people who are convinced that they know the extent to which god reigns over, and the non-believers whom do not believe in god. Throughout his sermon he talked about the real meaning of Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ our savior and how he was brought to this earth to relieve us of our sins. But, with taking European History, we covered the whole Martin Luther and Lutheranism deal, and some of the things he said angered me because they went against what I was taught in class. For instance, he said that the pagan (separate religion from state and science) philosophes or people brought about the wreck of the faith in God. This is not true because without the Pagan philiosophes or the Pagan people in general, there would be no society today pretty much because without them there would have been any scientific, agricultural, or industrial revolutions and no enlightenment which would have kept the world from being modernised. 

Reading Blog 12/24/08

In an online CNN article w/no author titled Rice: People will soon thank Bush for what he's done, was mightily controversial. She claims that even thought he wasn't a very popular president, people will start to realize how many things he had to do with all of this negative attitude toward him. In explanation, she decrees "This isn't a popularity contest. I'm sorry, it isn't. What the administration is responsible to do is to make good choices about American's interests and values in the long run- not for today's headlines, but for history's judgement." Also she said that good historians are making predictions of the lasting effects of president Bush's rule, but in reality, good historians are still writing books about George Washington. 

Reading Blog 12/21/08

I recently read an article in the Star Tribune Newspaper California Surgeon Used Human Fat to Power Car by Carrie Jonson. In this article it talked about how a former Beverly Hills doctor used the fat he liposuctioned out of patients to fuel his car! The California state health officials said that the practice was illegal and that there is an in depth investigation going on to make sure that this actually happened by the California public health department. Former patients are filling lawsuits because they claim that he allowed his unlicensed girlfriend to perform procedures, causing the patients to be disfigured. 

Reading blog 12/17/08- St. Judes candy cane cola

Recently I went to Lunds and I found a display full of cans of Candy Cane Cola. I was curios so I bought a couple. It turns out that during the time of Christmas, St. Nicks beverage company makes a special Candy Cane Cola to raise money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Also, St. Nicks company vows to donate a minimum of $250,000 to be donated to the Hospital. I found this to be a very effective way of raising money. Last year, they raised over $740,000 dollars for the Hospital which enabled them to undergo a new enzyme research program and also to give less expensive care to patients in need. So, this holiday season, when at your local Lunds or Byerlys, take some time to buy a can or to of St. Nick's Candy Cane Cola. It is very inexpensive and it tastes great too!

Reading blog 12/14/08- Acorn Shortage

I recently read an online article Scientists baffled by mysterious acorn shortage by Marsha Walton from the CNN.com/technology section. The article addresses a key problem, a Nation-wide acorn shortage in the U.S. The thing is that oak trees have already shed their leaves, but the usual amount of acorns underfoot is not many. In the far corners of  Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, scientists have found no acorns at all. A cause might be the bumper crop of acorns last year, which many other's say may be one reason for this year's scarcity. Also, another cause is the dramatic increase of precipitation because if there is too much rain for the oak's, they cannot grow acorns. The shortage isn't a crisis level, but it is important to watch it closely. 

Reading blog 12/9/08 Vermont teen vanishes on way home from work

In the news, I recently read an article on a teen who went missing in Vermont on the way home from work. Her name is Brianna Maitland and she was just 17 years old. When Brianna insisted on taking a job and living with s roommate before starting college, it wasn't what her parents really had in mind. She had just started a job as a waitress at the Black Lantern Restaurant when she vanished into the night. She supposedly left work at around 11:20 on March 19, 2004, intending to go straight home. She got into her car and drove off, but has not been seen or heard from since. In 2006, someone reported her to be at Ceaser's Place casino but her parents couldn't tell through the video if it was her due to the grany video. The parents are still hopeful and offer a 20,000 reward for any info leading to finding her or to the capturing of the people responsible for her vanishing act. 

reding blog: 12-7-08- WORLD'S OLDEST ANIMALS

I was online looking at random news articles and I found one that seemed pretty interesting. It's from the website: Telegraph.co.uk. and the article is titled: World's oldest animals by Daily Telegraph reporter. It talks about 8 animals who are supposed to be the oldest of their type. What I found the most interesting was that they classified a clam as a pet. The clam was thought to have been around 410 years old!! It was passed on from family to family in Iceland were it had its own aquarium type living space. Another of my favorites was the Rabbit named George from Tewksbury, Massachusetts who was fourteen years old. The average life expectancy of a rabbit is six to eight years, which made George about 160 years in human years!

Reading blog: Concerts

Recently, I was looking at many different articles and also checking out ticketmaster about concerts for singers. It seems as though all the "good" concerts are around right at this time of year, but beware of fraud tickets online and inflated prices. One website was offering 1 ringside ticket to Britney Spears and it costs--- $3, 456 dollars! wow! I thought that was an outrageous amount to pay, well okay, if you are a die-hard fan of her go ahead and spend that much but I'm pretty sure you could find tickets close to the front stage for much cheaper. Also, right around the corner is Jingle Ball which many are eagerly awaiting and is december 15th. Another thing that comes to mind is, what really causes this high inflation. Well first off everyone hears about the concert then people think if I don't buy tickets within the next day they'll all be sold out. This in turn causes more demand then supply, so the price and value increases. There are also ticket scalpers who wait until the second they are out, buy them, and re-sell them for outrageous and much higher prices than they are originally worth. It is a sad dilemma in our world, but for some it is a rare once in a year treat and also a chance to hang out with friends.