Fit to be Citizens Response

In the chapter "Interlopers in the Land of Sunshine" the city thought "confining these problems to a single city space seemed both possible and rational.” Does that mean they were discriminating against the Chinese for the “greater good”? A lot of the social Darwinism seems very similar to Nazism; if history repeats itself then America has ADD. So really what would qualify as the greater good? As a society how far can we go today to abuse people to achieve that “greater good”? In the article from The San Diego Reader “The Ugly Trailer Park across the Water” the city deemed the park to be unprofitable and wanted to get rid of it. The city put up fences around the area, took away basic amenities, and posted security guards who harassed the elderly. I guess money is worth breaking ribs and face planting senior citizens to the City of San Diego?

Last year in class we talked about how one war justified the means for the next, first the enemy was labeled as Nazis, then the communists, and now terrorists. I think this concept also applies to racism. Segregation set the terms of engagement for the Chinese, Mexicans, and Japanese populations. The use of propaganda was used in newspapers to enforce the racism the city wanted just as war propaganda cultivated nationalism through fear. I mean even Hitler used “scientific” evidence to condemn the Jews but today we know that the evidence was nothing short of pseudo-science. Another question might be once racism has been thoroughly repressed, nature abhors a vacuum; will regionalism become a problem in the future?

Socratic Seminar Response

Coming to the seminar I had a burning question: “Do the laws put in place by the government truly protect us?” And then Rachel brought up a good point, how many people are actually in jail for a violent crime? According to cga.ct.gov in October of 2008 only 14.5% of inmates were jailed for a violent crime (Assault, Homicide) with drug offenses being the most prosecuted offense with 19.5%. Now if you want to count in other crimes that aren’t violent but affect our safety, it comes out to 23.4% of inmates. (Reinhart) This begs the question: are the laws really there to keep us safe, or is there another agenda behind enforcing them?

In California there’s a law that states “Animals are banned from mating publicly within 1,500 feet of a tavern, school, or place of worship.” Does it make us any safer? I don’t think so. To put this in a more serious light, depending on your criminal record, California’s “Bad Checks Law” can be a felony, having fireworks can land you anywhere from $1,000 and a year in jail to $50,000 and up to three years in jail and this also counts as a felony. Receiving stolen property can also charge you with a felony and anywhere from $1000 to $10,000. Under Penal Code 484 and 488 with the shoplifting of property valued up to $950. Although the offense is a misdemeanor, a second offense can be charged as a felony under Penal Code 666 (Petty Theft with a Prior). What makes this law particularly bad is that you can do this on accident by having an item that didn’t scan properly and still be convicted. Now all of these laws don’t make us any safer (and there are plenty other laws like this) on top of this California has the three-strikes law, it says that if someone commits a third felony after committing two prior similar felonies, then the sentence is a mandatory 25 years to life. (Lawyers)

          

       What also popped up during the seminar is the question do a society’s morals and ethics shape the law? And if this is true, what would compel us to put such harsh penalties on minor offenses? If you commit Assault, you get up to six months in county jail and a max fine of $1000. Does this paint a messed up picture? 3 small felonies lands you 25 years in the clinker, you violently assault a human being and you only have 1 year? And get this, if you commit second degree murder, if you avoid the life sentence you only stay in jail for 15 years! How does our society count 3 felonies worse than taking the life of a human being?

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Lawyers, Los Angeles Criminal Defense. Shouse Law Group. 2011. .

Reinhart, Christopher. BREAKDOWN OF PRISON POPULATION BY OFFENSE CATEGORIES. 22 October 2008. .

RE: Brandi

http://brandicoley.blogspot.com/2011/04/semester-dos-honors-blog.html

June 15th, 1942

Dear Samantha,

I fear this may be my last letter for a while, we've failed the Filipino peoples and MacArthur. I write this as I hide from the Japanese, falling back through the country side. My battalion survived the invasion, but we don't have enough men to continue defending. I'll be fine, there are plenty of places for us to hold up in. Good to hear you have my back with the planes, send us a few when MacArthur returns? You won't believe how hospitable the locals are. They gave us something like lemonade, but instead of a lemon it's a small orange fruit, I wish I could have sent you some it's even better than what Mom and Dad made. The weather here is hot and humid, I think I'm sweating through my helmet. This letter left with the last US aid to arrive. I'm running out of parchment to write on, keep your head up and let MacArthur know we fought the good fight but we need him to get back here - with love from your brother Sam Stanford

Blog 11

If you were President, how would you confront the multiple issues surrounding the Geneva Conventions that we have discussed in class over the past week?

First order of business would be to crack down on past cases, and re-word the conventions so laws don't say "Don't do this..." it will be "If you do this, this WILL happen..." clear cut punishments that lawyers can't weasel around. Even though people will always manipulate the language, you can always trust evidence, and to achieve this I would setup a cell of investigators that does specifically that, they'll be committed to reporting on the story from a 3rd perspective. It'll take some more refining to make sure it won't become biased and how do they report on the bigger picture. What they report will be secretly shown to the jury during deliberation to compare to what they just heard. So if any of the lawyers warped anything it will become obvious.

Blog 10

"When World War II started in 1941, my Grandpa and his family escaped towards the mountain because the houses were bombed and raided by the Japanese. Due to the harsh life in the mountain, three of his brothers and two sister died because of sickness. They only ate whatever they can harvest in the mountain like yams and some vegetable leaves to survive. Sometimes they will use their banca (small boat) to fish but when Japanese planes came to do an air raid, they have to hide in an enclosed area not to be seen!

They went under the Japanese regime. Sometime during the day, Grandpa said they were obliged to watch a Japanese show and taught how to count in and speak Japanese. You were not allowed to yawn or close their eyes at all!

If you don’t obey, or stay focused you get slapped many times or you get killed.

One day, a Japanese army was patrolling my grandpa’s area and my grandpa

saw how this Japanese soldier used his bayonet to toss a baby in the air and killed the baby with his bayonet. He cannot forget that grim sight.

His sister got spared by a bayonet because as the Japanese was going to attacked her, the door was swayed by the wind and the bayonet landed

and poked the door instead of his sister. His sister’s life got spared!

My Grandpa wanted to get drafted in the Philippine Army during this war at the age of 17, but his Mom freaked out and fainted when she knew! My Grandpa backed out!

As promised, Gen. MacArthur returns to the Philippines and lands on the island of Leyte. This marks the beginning in the liberation of the Philippines on May 20, 1944. That time, my Grandpa was already 19 years old. They ended up migrating to Bataan where he and his older brother were adapted by a priest and sent them to continue high school. Then he followed his brother and stayed in Manila after the liberation. His brother pursued to be a doctor and my Grandpa wanted to be a Pharmacist. He worked in a Pharmacy and learned how to mix medications and give shots for cough. Being a Pharmacist didn’t happen because he ended up being an Accountant. He migrated to a City close to Bataan called Olongapo, where the Americans established a military base facility. He applied as an Accountant at the Naval Supply Depot. This where his love story started…

He met my Grandma Amelia Salang who worked as a secretary of the Admiral in Naval Air Supply Cubi Point. They got married December 7, 1957."

Without WW2 and the US involvement in the Philippines I wouldn't even be here. It was because of the US my grandpa got a job and met my grandmother. And maybe if he did enlist, there's a good chance he wouldn't have met my grandmother either. Without the 4 freedoms it might not have been a priority to even liberate the Philippines from the Japanese atrocities.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_the_Philippines_during_World_War_II

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2U32LVgFYI

WW2 Imagery

Not sure of the background info but this is WW2

This reminds me of the "last war always creates the means for the next" because the last one was fought for liberty, so is this one.
Glenn Grothe 1942

This poster is a scare tactic, saying that if he isn't defeated your freedom from fear will be taken away

A smiling japanese officer, with his civilian victims in Nanking

It's an example of how when somebody is indoctrinated with the thought he is higher than his fellow humans, this is only one step away from that.

Semester 2 blog 8

1. What stands out to you most in this interview?

When the interviewer said "A rather large weapon." vonnegut could have agreed or gave a simple acknowledgment or short answer but he gave a rather detailed paragraph. It really shows how much of a writer he is outside of just simply writing on paper.

2. What experiences led Vonnegut to write Slaughterhouse Five?

The bombing of dresden how he survived in a meat locker in a slaughter house

3. Prior to reading Slaughterhouse Five, what would you like to ask KV?

Do you think you could have written slaughterhouse five without waiting all those years?

Is there anything that gives you inspiration or would you say inspiration is unpredictable?

http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/3605/the-art-of-fiction-no-64-kurt-vonnegut

Blog 6

http://evanglynscoolblog.blogspot.com/

Evanglyn has a good base idea starting off with the economy. Everybody is affected by the economy and is easily relatable to everybody. She has a multitude of anecdotes, statistical and shocking facts available to her to support her article.

http://humanities-tosti.blogspot.com/

Tim has a lot of creative options that can possibly be used to create an interesting article. Although the first one is normal nothing good writing can't spice up. The script seems like it could be used to effectively show a "day in my shoes" kind of story. The comic would be challenging and out of the ordinary but would take up a lot of pages.

http://brandicoley.blogspot.com/2011/02/semester-dos-blog-five.html

Brandi seems to want to talk about her internship experiences exclusively although I think her last option would give the most to the audience as it talks about her experience and her real life relationships she formed. If her experiences and relationships are communicated well I think it should work.

Blog 5 Pitches

Pitch 1

Answer a key question

Build off of that

Answer at the end with cumulative ideas

Pitch 2

Start or end with anecdote

analysis

End with Loop

Pitch 3

Sarcastic article talking about adults in the professional world, what to expect, what to do

mention experience as a salesman. Build off these ideas to show nothing is as you expect it.

Blog 4

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2011/02/14/110214crat_atlarge_gopnik

I like this article because it's very relevant to every reader assuming they have internet. The author has included one picture with a funny caption. It's a broad topic and the author goes through opinions, points, facts, and ideas in a logical manner. No matter what the idea is it still leads back to the main idea. Great example of the engines tip.

http://www.slate.com/id/2123213/

I want to write something more humorous yet still have a purpose like this one. It's talking about a serious problem but with a light connotation. The author states his opinion clearly and backs it up with facts and logic.

http://www.slate.com/id/2284358/pagenum/all/#p2

This article talks about a very unique issue, reverse parking. In my article I want to write about something that hasn't been talked about a lot, or is just plain bizarre. One thing that bugs me a lot is when things become cliche', drives me nuts.

Blog 3

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/johncassidy/2010/01/interview-with-eugene-fama.html

This interview has a short intro paragraph giving the reader context to what they were talking about and the rest is setup with his questions italicized and her answers in normal text. He ends with a funny line. The interview itself is interesting enough to fill the piece, but the paragraph style answer and question makes it read more like a story.

http://movies.ign.com/articles/433/433111p1.html

This actually reads more like an interview but in the beginning they mention some of colbert's achievements and information about him. And it ends with a question about the future. The Author also has pictures to related topics they're talking about in the piece.

Blog Two

What have you read lately (say, since last semester), that you found interesting?

I mostly read things science-related. New findings, and things for brandon's bio engineering team.

Why did it catch your attention?

Science is what I enjoy the most, what interests me the most, and is what I am best at. I also want a position in the bio pharmaceutical industry as a possible career path.

Semester 2 Blog 1

What are the big ideas that you are taking from internship into the next steps in your life?

The relationships I've formed are opportunities, esteemed individuals like Dr.Weinreb have expectations of me that I should strive to meet. And now that I know what I enjoy a little more, I am able to pursue it clearly, this means more internships and contacting pharmaceutical companies.

What are your plans for the coming semester?

Get enough sleep, complete my work, and pursue real world opportunities that have a larger impact on my life.

Final Internship Blog

Describe what you are most thankful for in your internship experience—what experiences, what people, and so on? What new appreciations have you gained through internship and how did you develop these?

Nowadays it's not what you know but who you know (but knowing is still important too.) I'm extremely thankful for the connections I made made through this one the distinguished doctors who doesn't let people have vacations after their dad dies, and gives old pizza to his co-workers... is buying fresh pizza for my presentation. As my mentor puts it: "WHOA You're on the fresh pizza level!" I've made a contact with a scientist and I have opportunities through my mom's patients.

The experience of being able to be in a work environment and being able to work in a lab is amazing. I appreciate my mentor being incredibly nice and supportive, although now I don't want to be a programmer I do know a few skills I can take and use in other applications. Being a programmer is a very tedious and painstaking process and sometimes you're not appreciated as much as you deserve to be. But My skills as an IT are very much applicable to everyday life assuming you are in contact with people and a computer is around.

Internship post 3

You are half-way through your project. How is it going? What challenges have you faced? What have you learned? What are you doing to ensure a successful completion of your internship project.

Funny you should ask, I pretty much completed it, in a sense the websites are ready for the research teams. It's just that in the months of warning they never really got their content ready. So, it's just become a waiting game. I've also completed a few tutorials and how to's for the IT department. A big challenge I faced was the learning curve that comes with programming, it's difficult to retain what you've learned unless it's actually needed for the project. I've learned a bit about php and html but not nearly enough to write a full script without referencing. Since I completed my project I've been talking with my mentor to polish it and work on other smaller tasks until the content is produced.

Choose your favorite photos from your photo essay—post these highlight photo and a caption explaining what we see and what makes this significant to you.

This is the master key I have to carry around if I leave my office, it's attached to a 300 lb resistance bike shock by a cut usb cable. I always get the weirdest stares when I carry it around.

This is the "thinking cap" the bulb lights up the fan spins, and so does Jackie Chan. Because every good idea begins with Jackie Chan. That Jackie Chan came from my birthday cake when I was little.

This is the hallway to the closest bathroom, I drink too many liquids and frequently visit it. Coincidentally it is one of the most quiet hallways, and they laid down this annoying sheet of plastic for some reason. Every time you make a step it sounds like sizzling bacon.

Internship post 2

What limitations have you recognized in yourself that you want to overcome, or use this experience to help you overcome?

I noticed I learn slowly without direction, and I need to pick up on PHP and HTML web programming fairly fast. But what does help is using a project as a tool to give me direction. Such as having my own website, theres coding I can practice on and start small projects for it http://www.algorythmzsd.com/ I am hoping by maintaining this website and continuing to modify it I can teach myself these important skills.

How do you see your role as a working professional in the future? (entrepreneur, employee, freelance, etc).

I see myself doing a lot of benchwork, I like to make things and follow procedures. At internship I was surprised to have an opportunity to shadow one of the researchers in her lab. I had the opportunity to run a gel electrophoresis to help in the process of genotyping mice. Compared to what I do in my office I enjoyed this much more and I would love to run lab procedures every day if I could. But I also had the opportunity to be a salesman as I procured some beats by dre tour earbuds from an office mate and was commissioned to sell them. Lesson: customers are skeptical, I spent many hours convincing potential buyers that my products were not chinese clones. That forced me to do a lot of research and put in a lot of effort to do that. And I didn't want to spread false marketing, as it would affect my reputation. So there's always that balance between marketing your product in an appealing way but it's risky to sacrifice reputation for money (although people do it all the time).

Internship post 1

What are you excited about, nervous about and wondering about?

I'm excited about working towards a product that's going to be viewed and used by distinguished individuals and thousands of people, as well as contributing to a real work environment. I am nervous about not being able to study to prepare myself for when school starts up again, and even worse not being able to pick up on php and html web programming. I'm mostly wondering on what's going to happen after internship, I'm not really confident in the school's math system and I've been anxious about that. I think ALEKS is a good practice module, but leaving it to teach us? It's really affected my will to learn and schedule. Papers and textbooks are much easier to prioritize than a website that is very one-sided in explanations. I also wonder what would have happened if I got another internship, things like would I be competent enough, what kind of learning curve would there be, what new opportunities would have opened up?

Describe the project you'll do at internship, including the skills and technology you need to do it and what you hope your project looks like as a final product.

My main project is to configure 3 websites for 3 different research groups. I'll need some knowledge in php and html programming and be familiar with wordpress, apache, mysql, and filezilla. Hopefully the sites turn out to be clean and streamlined, and more aesthetic than our competitors' sites, I am working on this with a very knowledgeable person and we should pull through.