Why Summer Jobs Don't Pay
Why can't kids today just work their way through college the way earlier generations did? The answer to that question isn't psychology. It's math. Having a summer job doesn't have the purchasing power it used to have. With people not being able to pay for college with just summer jobs, I think college expenses should either be lowered or loans should be more open towards people looking to pay off college. Summer jobs should be able to have more pay considering how busy places get during the summer.
Wednesday, July 5, 2017
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Daily Writing
Childhood
From 1992-2002, my father was a UFC fighter. He wasn't around much for me as a kid considering how often he was on the road. April 30, 2007 my dad comes and visits my mom and I in Rapid City. My mom was always worried about the neighborhood that I grew up in. She worried that I would become a dope dealing, street fighting criminal (I grew up on the North part of Rapid). Even though my mom and dad are divorced, she asked him to take a year and train me for self defense and grappling. So that's what my dad did. He trained me everything from how to block/dodge a punch, to how to paralyze a person with a simple tweak in a grapple. As fate would have it, August 22, 2013, I was down at summer nights hanging out with friends. They all had to leave around 9:30. When they left, I called my mom to pick me up. I told her to meet me at Hardee's. I was heading down to Hardee's through Art Alley, and there were three skinny, white, pants-sagging adults to my right. One of those guys starts walking up to me talking smack, saying, "hey, what up white boy? Got any money on you?" His friends were telling him to back off, but he refused. The first thing I could think was, "does he have a weapon on him? And if he does, how can I strip it from him?" His friends must be able to read my mind because they kept telling me, "he isn't armed, don't worry." I'm not scared, I'm not frightened, I'm more concerned as to how many punches he'd throw. I then respond to him, "no. I do not have any money on me. I'm only 13 years old." He responds, "oh yeah? Easy win then."
"If that's what you think, take a swing."
"Don't try me. You ain't grow up in the streets."
At this time, I was 5'8 and only 120 pounds, but I was quick. He still did not scare me. Growing up on the North part of Rapid, there are worse things that happen on a daily basis compared to a simple confrontation. So I start pacing and circling him, trying to find any weaknesses that I could use to my advantage. Through this process I'm thinking to myself, "okay, if he swings I will try to get him down with a hook to the rib, followed up with a few body shots and an uppercut towards his mandible." He starts raising his voice, "stop circling me and fight me, p***y!"
"Give me the best you got."
He throws a straight punch towards my face. Dodged it to the right, hit him in the center of the right rib cage and he backed up. He comes back forward and throws a body shot at me. I grab his arm, lift it up, punch him underneath the armpit (there's a nerve near your pectoral but under your arm that can make your arm go numb if hit hard enough. It's kind of like the funny bone effect but worse). He backs up, shakes out his arm and starts coming towards me again. He tries to tackle me, but he walked right into a hip toss. As soon as he hit the ground, I flipped him over and put him in a camel's clutch (submission move that effects every part of the spine). His friends are just looking on in shock as to how this 13 year old kid has yet to be touched by some punk who has an ego the size of the Himalayas. It wasn't till an officer that was patrolling downtown came in to break us up. He knew instantly that there was no way a 13 year old kid would try to pick a fight with an adult that looks like a punk. Immediately he understood my situation and he put the dude in cuffs and his two friends left. I haven't told my mom about it nor did the policeman want me to tell my mom about it because it was an act of self defense and she could change her view of me over what my father taught me.
From 1992-2002, my father was a UFC fighter. He wasn't around much for me as a kid considering how often he was on the road. April 30, 2007 my dad comes and visits my mom and I in Rapid City. My mom was always worried about the neighborhood that I grew up in. She worried that I would become a dope dealing, street fighting criminal (I grew up on the North part of Rapid). Even though my mom and dad are divorced, she asked him to take a year and train me for self defense and grappling. So that's what my dad did. He trained me everything from how to block/dodge a punch, to how to paralyze a person with a simple tweak in a grapple. As fate would have it, August 22, 2013, I was down at summer nights hanging out with friends. They all had to leave around 9:30. When they left, I called my mom to pick me up. I told her to meet me at Hardee's. I was heading down to Hardee's through Art Alley, and there were three skinny, white, pants-sagging adults to my right. One of those guys starts walking up to me talking smack, saying, "hey, what up white boy? Got any money on you?" His friends were telling him to back off, but he refused. The first thing I could think was, "does he have a weapon on him? And if he does, how can I strip it from him?" His friends must be able to read my mind because they kept telling me, "he isn't armed, don't worry." I'm not scared, I'm not frightened, I'm more concerned as to how many punches he'd throw. I then respond to him, "no. I do not have any money on me. I'm only 13 years old." He responds, "oh yeah? Easy win then."
"If that's what you think, take a swing."
"Don't try me. You ain't grow up in the streets."
At this time, I was 5'8 and only 120 pounds, but I was quick. He still did not scare me. Growing up on the North part of Rapid, there are worse things that happen on a daily basis compared to a simple confrontation. So I start pacing and circling him, trying to find any weaknesses that I could use to my advantage. Through this process I'm thinking to myself, "okay, if he swings I will try to get him down with a hook to the rib, followed up with a few body shots and an uppercut towards his mandible." He starts raising his voice, "stop circling me and fight me, p***y!"
"Give me the best you got."
He throws a straight punch towards my face. Dodged it to the right, hit him in the center of the right rib cage and he backed up. He comes back forward and throws a body shot at me. I grab his arm, lift it up, punch him underneath the armpit (there's a nerve near your pectoral but under your arm that can make your arm go numb if hit hard enough. It's kind of like the funny bone effect but worse). He backs up, shakes out his arm and starts coming towards me again. He tries to tackle me, but he walked right into a hip toss. As soon as he hit the ground, I flipped him over and put him in a camel's clutch (submission move that effects every part of the spine). His friends are just looking on in shock as to how this 13 year old kid has yet to be touched by some punk who has an ego the size of the Himalayas. It wasn't till an officer that was patrolling downtown came in to break us up. He knew instantly that there was no way a 13 year old kid would try to pick a fight with an adult that looks like a punk. Immediately he understood my situation and he put the dude in cuffs and his two friends left. I haven't told my mom about it nor did the policeman want me to tell my mom about it because it was an act of self defense and she could change her view of me over what my father taught me.
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
News Reading and Response
Google Hit With $2.7 Billion Fine by European Antitrust Monitor
The European Commission has fined Google 2.42 billion euros ($2.72 billion) after finding out that the company used its dominant search engine to drive people toward another Google product, its shopping service. The fine's amount, as the European Commission says, is due to the "duration and gravity" of Google's actions. Google defends the way it handles online shopping, saying that it connects users with advertisers "in ways that are useful for both." I believe Google will be able to get its way out of the fine. With the amount of power and money Google has, there's no way they could possibly lose any sort of debate with how they have to keep themselves in check consistently.
The European Commission has fined Google 2.42 billion euros ($2.72 billion) after finding out that the company used its dominant search engine to drive people toward another Google product, its shopping service. The fine's amount, as the European Commission says, is due to the "duration and gravity" of Google's actions. Google defends the way it handles online shopping, saying that it connects users with advertisers "in ways that are useful for both." I believe Google will be able to get its way out of the fine. With the amount of power and money Google has, there's no way they could possibly lose any sort of debate with how they have to keep themselves in check consistently.
News Reading and Response
Mixing Business and the Presidency, Trump to Hold Fundraiser at his Washington Hotel
President Trump will have some company Wednesday- a roomful of people who have paid as much as $35,000-$100,000 to be there. The money will go to two different fundraising operations- Trump Victory, which will be for the larger donations, and Trump Make America Great Again Committee for smaller donations. This fundraiser I believe is symbolic of how Trump tries to close a circle of politics, money and influence unlike any past president.
President Trump will have some company Wednesday- a roomful of people who have paid as much as $35,000-$100,000 to be there. The money will go to two different fundraising operations- Trump Victory, which will be for the larger donations, and Trump Make America Great Again Committee for smaller donations. This fundraiser I believe is symbolic of how Trump tries to close a circle of politics, money and influence unlike any past president.
Monday, June 26, 2017
News Reading and Response
Man Accused of Making Millions of Robocalls Faces Biggest-Ever FCC Fine
The Federal Communications Commission has proposed a $120 million fine for a Miami resident that was said to be single-handedly responsible for almost 97 million robocalls over the last three months of 2016. Officials say Adrian Abramovich auto-dialed hundreds of millions of phone calls to landlines and cell phones throughout the U.S. and Canada. Even at one point he managed to overwhelm an emergency medical paging service. Making prerecorded telemarketing phone calls without other peoples' consent is prohibited along with making telemarketing calls to emergency landlines and falsifying caller ID to disguise your identity. I believe there should be more consequences for his actions. I myself got a few calls from this telemarketer. He would keep calling back even though I told him I would file harassment if he called again. He should be jailed, fined for $120 million, and give every shred of info as to how he managed to pull that off so it could be prevented from happening again.
The Federal Communications Commission has proposed a $120 million fine for a Miami resident that was said to be single-handedly responsible for almost 97 million robocalls over the last three months of 2016. Officials say Adrian Abramovich auto-dialed hundreds of millions of phone calls to landlines and cell phones throughout the U.S. and Canada. Even at one point he managed to overwhelm an emergency medical paging service. Making prerecorded telemarketing phone calls without other peoples' consent is prohibited along with making telemarketing calls to emergency landlines and falsifying caller ID to disguise your identity. I believe there should be more consequences for his actions. I myself got a few calls from this telemarketer. He would keep calling back even though I told him I would file harassment if he called again. He should be jailed, fined for $120 million, and give every shred of info as to how he managed to pull that off so it could be prevented from happening again.
News Reading and Response
Schools Let Students Take Laptops Home in Hopes of Curbing 'Summer Slide'
Carrie Grant, a graduate from the Lammersville Unified School District in California, said having a device last summer made her life easier. Without the school computer, she wouldn't have had her own laptop at home to work on. She used it to stay connected with her friends through the school's Google Chat system and watched Netflix, but also saved time for academics. I believe if the Rapid City Area School District were to allow students to take home devices for educational purposes, there would be more graduates and more students would graduate with their class. Or it would be a major help for those who struggle throughout the regular school year.
Carrie Grant, a graduate from the Lammersville Unified School District in California, said having a device last summer made her life easier. Without the school computer, she wouldn't have had her own laptop at home to work on. She used it to stay connected with her friends through the school's Google Chat system and watched Netflix, but also saved time for academics. I believe if the Rapid City Area School District were to allow students to take home devices for educational purposes, there would be more graduates and more students would graduate with their class. Or it would be a major help for those who struggle throughout the regular school year.
Thursday, June 22, 2017
Butch Cassidy Response
Response
After watching this film, I believe the reviewer has some very good point about how the film toys with the audience. The reviewer says, "Hill and Goldman are toying with the audience and its expectations." I completely agree with the reviewer. The expectations of the audience are that the film is a completely true film. Although it was portrayed to be a truthful film, instead of looking deeply into the historical record, the film was developed around the legend of Butch and Sundance. Bits and pieces of the filmed story conform to what really happened, but most of it is based on the larger-than-life tales that developed after Butch and Sundance had traveled to the Great Beyond. According to one story, Butch escaped under the cover of darkness after Sundance was killed. Although that story has been believed, the more commonly held version of events has the two outlaws committing suicide rather than facing capture. I would be able to believe both of them committing suicide rather than facing capture. I don't think Butch would go anywhere or do anything without Sundance. This reviewer had a great review of the movie. Giving all of the details on how Hill and Goldman sort of playing with the audience, the history of Butch and Sundance, and giving the reader an idea of how the film was created through Butch and Sundance.
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