Sick and Tired:)

I have not been sick in a really long time. A few years, I guess, is a long time in a lifespan of only twenty-four years, thus far. I don't recommend it to anyone, but if you have to get sick, don't get sick over one of the only holiday's that gets you time off work and school and back home to see your family. I am not sure what caused it, but the day after the day after thanksgiving I completely cleaned out my system. That would be all well and good if I could then fill it back up again with more of the Thanksgiving fixings, but I have traversed back across the cold wasteland of Nevada and the turkey is now 700 miles away from me. I couldn't really eat for a few days afterward anyway so I guess it wasn't all bad. #2. I wouldn't recommend getting sick the week that all the projects and midterms are due before finals week. Oh, that happened to me too. I could count my blessings and say that I caught up on a lot of sleep deprivation, but sleeping when you're sick doesn't quite rejuvenate like a well-placed siesta or twenty-minute power nap. So that makes me scrutinize the phrase “sick and tired” because from every infirmed experience in my life, sickness is always accompanied by tiredness. I suppose like the rectangle is not a square, tired isn’t always sick but the idiom doesn’t read like that. Lesson learned. Of course, you can’t pick when you get sick, but from what I have divined, I can always expect that when my life is going great, I will receive a trial during finals week.

RA 12: Speech

Winston Churchill's first speech as Prime Minister was a stirring rhetoric for the British people to "Arm Yourselves and Be Ye Men of Valour." In a time marked with desperation and fear, Great Britain needed a little persuasion to fight back the ensuing horde of German troops. Churchill spoke these words to his audience of British nationalists who needed encouragement that the fight was not lost. The enthymeme for this speech is German armored vehicle attacks will not be enough to destroy this people because German attacks do not have the same passion and cause that the defenders possess. Churchill reassures them that the forces fighting against Germany have great records and skill. He boasted that the French and English armies recover and counterattack well and have dogged endurance and extreme fighting power. These words would conjure pride in where they come from and where they want to be. It would have been easy to say all is lost and this will be a very costly war in terms of destruction of property and lives lost if they continued. Churchill persuaded them that even though the situation looked bleak, it was far from lost. He used phrases that they could agree with logically. The army of tanks could not just roll over the armies of 3-4 million Frenchmen. He claimed with statistical evidence that they were equally matched with manpower and resources. His authority as the prime minister who meets regularly with the generals and leaders of other countries would give him more knowledge about what was really happening for the whole effort rather than the hearsay rumors spreading through families and communities. His position and confidence would be very persuasive for a majority of his listeners. He committed that the parties of England that once were divided now stand unified and agreed on the best course of action. Those people who side with one ideology or another would be sure that their interests were protected and their voice was heard. The unity of the whole country was paramount to their winning the war. This speech changed many opinions about the war they thought futile.


(Text of Winston Churchill's Speech)

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/winstonchurchillbemenofvalor.htm

I speak to you for the first time as Prime Minister in a solemn hour for the life of our country, of our empire, of our allies, and, above all, of the cause of freedom. A tremendous battle is raging in France and Flanders. The Germans, by a remarkable combination of air bombing and heavily armored tanks, have broken through the French defenses north of the Maginot Line, and strong columns of their armored vehicles are ravaging the open country, which for the first day or two was without defenders. They have penetrated deeply and spread alarm and confusion in their track. Behind them there are now appearing infantry in lorries, and behind them, again, the large masses are moving forward. The re-groupment of the French armies to make head against, and also to strike at, this intruding wedge has been proceeding for several days, largely assisted by the magnificent efforts of the Royal Air Force...
Today is Trinity Sunday. Centuries ago words were written to be a call and a spur to the faithful servants of truth and justice:
Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valour, and be in readiness for the conflict; for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altars. As the will of God is in Heaven, even so let it be.

Is Cash Better?

Many stores and businesses these days feel it is an advertisement to reduce the price of their merchandise if a consumer pays in cash rather than with a credit/debit card. Somehow this must be related to the increase in bad checks and bounced card transactions, but it leaves you wonder; are they rewarding an antiquated currency? Secure electronic transactions must be the payment of choice in the upcoming century. It is bulk-less, faster to process, and has fraud and theft prevention. I am not saying that we will always carry the magnetic striped card in our wallets forever. Those things can get lost and no one even checks whether you have your card or the one you swiped off some old man’s dashboard. The instant electronic transaction will one day be impervious to identity theft and hacking and will probably be integrated in some computer mainframe where with the right retinal scan your money can be accessed from any kiosk in the world with the proper exchange rate taking place instantaneously. Money is so dirty and cumbersome, but gas is seven cents cheaper if you pay with cash than with the card. Apparently, Chevron has never seen the Visa fiasco where the teller actually has to stop and count the money instead of swiping one purchase after another. One day this will all be sorted out but one thing is for sure: money is not going anywhere fast.

RA 11: Music Video

Side note (Unfortunately I couldn't write about the same song I chose because youtube disabled the embed feature, but the song "Minority" by Green Day has a music video full of rhetoric to analyze)

The enthymeme for this music video is if you are a minority with a different look and demeanor than the rest of the world then you will live a successful life because being a minority keeps you from the fake trivial world of the normal American. The audience would have to be the fence sitting youth that want to act out against the class that they don’t belong in and follow their instincts. Both the lyrics and the camera sequences portray this theme. Perhaps the most unique city in the world, New York was the perfect place to shoot this music video. They used the parade that would have been better suited in “Macy's Day Parade” on the same album, but this was a great way to introduce the individuals in their message. Each person following the Green Day band float had a little bit different look, depicting the ones that don't fit into the American mold. A major point they reiterate is that they want to ignore the moral majority and be their own person, undoubtedly without the fear of retribution and criticism. What they allude to is that they want the undecided masses fed up with the system to follow their example and be an edgier character like they are. These Punks and Goths and other unique classes follow Green Day down the Street and become a Green Dayte, part of the anarchist minority. What makes America so great is that these people are allowed to express themselves that way. The clips are accurate and relevant showing each individual for who they want to be and Green Day obviously is fed up with the system and shows that through their actions and lyrics. It is definitely specific to the audience shot in a new age style and with the right graphic edge and style that would get their attention.

Old passions renewed

When I was growing up my dad and I spent a lot of time together working in the backyard or the garage on different projects. He taught me many things about carpentry, masonry, and every other aspect of construction. I gained an appreciation and passion for tools and hands on projects. Now I am older, married and have the money to get my own tools and do my own projects. The past few months have been fun collecting different tools and making things for my house. I built a padded headboard for our new bed that my wife absolutely loves. I also built a frame for a wall mirror. My wife also loves that I know what I am doing and do not rely on other people to do things for me. I grew up in a house where we do pretty much everything ourselves. Hopefully I will have the money to have the things I want done, but I would still like to maintain my abilities and do most things for myself. Instead of buying a flimsy router table, I designed and built one out of wood and metal. I made some mistakes because I still don't have all the tools I need to reproduce things that my dad and I made together. I need to get back in my groove and eventually plan to have a workshop with everything I need to make great furniture and do every project myself. Currently, I am designing two nightstands to match a dresser that we bought and a covered ottoman with storage capacity for our living room.

RA 10: Song

"Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" by Good Charlotte is a song about the rich persuading them to stop complaining over simple problems. They offer simple solutions to these issues that the rich would not agree with. The audience of this song is the rich who complain about stupid things in the media because they have a misunderstanding of real life problems. It is hard to see what happens in real life when people throw money at you because you are talented. Good Charlotte explains that the rich complain about how hard life is in their magazines and celebrity news when they could not handle the real hard issues that many people face. The enthymeme for this song is rich people could not handle the same problems as the poor because rich people have been fed with a silver spoon so they have no real life experience. The song cites a number of examples that rich people get out of problems that others cannot because of their money and prestige. McDonald's won't hire a drug user, but the rich can get away with it and even politicians can escape the backlash. The rich can even get away with more severe crimes because they can get a good lawyer. Good Charlotte says that if they take all their money from them they will understand what real problems are. They use relevant evidence and repeat their claim in the chorus.

Student Opinions

I love reading the student opinion section in the daily universe. These days with the elections and controversial ballot initiatives the opinions seem especially polarized. I love that even at BYU there is a forum that people with opposing ideas and ideals can express them. Then I can read the agitated response by the person who took offense to the original comments. There is usually about a week long feud between these agitated journalists and then the editor decides to give someone else some column time. It may just be me but it seems the BYU democrats assume that there will be some outrageous backlash to their opinions so they include some of the responses before they get any feedback. I haven't seen such bold stances in the three years that I have been a student here. I think it is the candidate that they support that gives them courage. While I must say I enjoy the political banter much more than arguments over babies and laptops, I think that people forget that they are still on the same side in things that really do still matter. I've got to say that you've got to be pretty brave to sign your name to those entries unless you enjoy going in the ring for a round or two with very opinionated people. I personally like playing devil's advocate, unless it for things that aren't correct and then I only like advocating it if it will make my wife scoff.