Reading Post #6

This week I finished the book The Sirens of Titan, and it was actually a pretty good book. Like before there were many similarities between this book and Slaughterhouse-Five. Both books addressed the idea of a sealed fate and how everything is set in stone. One of my favorite quotes from this book was when a Trafalmadorian(close to Sluaghterhouse huh?) was on the planet Titan, but he is a robot, and he says, "His mind buzzes and pops like the mind of an Earthling-- fizzes and overheats with the thoughts of love, honor, dignity rights, accomplishments, integrity, independence--". I really like this quote alot because it talks about how this robot was programmed to do something but when asked to do something he was programmed not to do, he changed it and decided to do things for the better.

Finally, this book was another great example of a satirical based book that uses death and diminshes it to make it seem much more pointless. Kurt Vonnegut did a great job at writing this book and I would love to read another one of his books.

Reading Post #5

This week I have decided to read another Kurt Vonnegut novel, The Sirens of Titan. this book follows the story of a man named Malachi Constant. From Beginning to end the book seems Topsy Turvy the whole way. The book addresses many problems in society as well as creating some just for the story itself. When I read this book it did take me a while to read because at some points it did get very boring. But as a whole the book, shows us how absurd and completely proposterous human beings are when it comes to life. Also it shows what happens when someone knows all things that are going to happen and act as a god over other people.

I think that think book is quite similar to Mr. Vonnegut's other book, Slaughterhouse-Five in that it uses the idea of time travel, not completely in the Sirens of Titan, but it also has a much less linear story line compared to other books. Also just like his other books, Vonnegut uses a lot of satire to play down some ideas like death. Finally, another great similarity to Slaughterhouse is that the idea of the pointlessness of war plays another big role. Perhaps, since this was written before, Kurt Vonnegut tried to come up with some of his ideas for Slaughterhouse in some other of his books; many of the ideas in this book are used almost the same in Slaughterhouse.

Reading Post #4

This week I decided to start a another book called The drawing of the Three written by Stephen King. The story follows the life of a gunslinger named Roland. He must get to the dark tower to find out why he is alive in the world; but that is in the seventh book and this is only the second. Anyway, Roland finds out that in order to reach the dark Tower he must find the "Three Doors". The book creates a dual/parallel universe where inside the doors is the "door" to a persons mind, but the thing is that they are in, what it seems like, a whole different dimension as well as different points in time. This sense of altered reality strikes as almost being quite similar to Slaughterhouse-five and I wonder if Stephen King was perhaps inspired by Vonnegut's use of time travel.

Roland's personality is one that he sees other people as a tool so that he can get what he wants. He couldn't care less if a person lived or died just as long as they bring him forward in his journey to the Dark Tower. This book brings a sense of time travel, complete surrealism, as well as euphoric states into a book that helps keep things interesting but still leaving much to the imagination.

Reading Post #3

For this week I have decided to blog about Slaughterhouse-Five written by Kurt Vonnegut. This book explores many different kinds of realities and addresses all of the many types of war. While reading, I noticed that whenever somebody dies he uses the term "so it goes". From his perspective it is from the Trafalmadorians because they time time in one continuous stream. But what I think is actually happening is that he is using satire to play off the idea of death and making it not seem that bad. Like in All the King's Horses Billy Pilgrim almost becomes detached from death and thinks logically and without emotion.
The fact that he uses his life story for the first chapter and melds it into a story inside of a story, shows that many things that he says in this book he agrees with and advocates. Also his sense of skewed time shows how people remember things in many different ways but also shows how people can be thinking.

Also I think that Vonnegut added the dual title in order to almost bring in his sense of how he viewed that war, but then he could also have Billy's "title" of the book as well. Since the book is a mix of a war story with some autobiographical parts in it, Vonnegut was able to not just write another book but indirectly tell some things about his life and how they have affected him.     

Reading Post #2

The more that I read this book, the more I think about the possibility of either another life form outside earth or that what the book suggests as humans who left their technology because of the lack of people to maintain it. Because the amount of people needed to sustain that technology was so great, the "humans" of hundreds of thousands of years ago could not maintain. The thing that really gets to me is the idea that some of these things have actually happened but the government is keeping all of it a secret. 

.As the story progresses that main character stays in the same kind of development the whole book. He stays the straight lined "Im gonna save the girl and the technology so that it isnt used for evil!" . There is very little twists and turns as well as good character development in the book. Even though the book is quite interesting and I keep reading, it feels as if I am only reading it based on its plot and not the symbolism, or lack there of. As I am almost done with the book. I think that I will choose a book that I can divulge into a little more and a little easier than this book was.

     

Reading Post #1

I am reading a book called Saucer by Stephen Coonts. It is basically about a group of archaeologists finding an alien saucer in the middle of the Sahara Desert. The thing thats most important is the fact that it is 140,000 years old. In order keep the saucer from being stolen by a bunch of Australian Commandos, Rip, the main character, must fly it out of the desert with the help of a female test pilot from the Air Force. Let alone faced with the dilema of trying to fly hundred thousand year old saucer out of the desert, they have to get out with the Commandos firing on them. The juxtapose of the saucer 140,000 years ago and the saucer today makes you realize how much trust Rip had in the saucer becuase if he was wrong he would have died. He creates the "trusting" hero part of the story so that you have someone to believe in. But by doing all of those things he puts himself in a very bad situation that causes him to get chased all around Africa.

Based on what has happened so far, Rip will porbably have to not only try and get away from the people chasing him, but find a way to tell the truth about the saucer to the people of the world. The thing that causes me the most trouble is that it seems like it will be virtually impossible for them to be able to get away safely without causing too much trouble anywhere in the world.

Overcoming Odds

I recently read an article in the Charlotte Observer about a boy who was burned extensively on his body, 87 percent, with third degree burns. The boy was outside tending a fire when all of a sudden it blew up on him as well has his mother who received second degree burns on her face and third degree burns on her hands. He was placed in a medical induced coma while doctors tried to reconfigure all of his skin.

Connor, the boy who was burned, finally was taken out  of the coma after two months. His body was quite frail due to the extensive amount of time spent laying down and being still. He will have to learn how to walk again and regain the use of his muscles.

I think this reminded me a bit of Night because while on the way to Auschwitz, they see flames coming from the crematorium. 

Jo Talbot Balasco, Mary. "Burned teen is overcoming odds, but still has way to go." Charlotte Observer 15 Mar. 2009. 22 Mar. 2009 http://www.charlotteobserver.com/597/story/598757.html.

     

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Love

     I recently read an article on the Popular Science website about how the feelings of a long, old married couple, are quite the same to a new romance.  In  a study, 10 women and 7 men were scanned on their brain activity on how they loved their partner. The study then took another 10 women and 7 men who were much younger and asked the same type of questions.  Surprisingly, the researchers found out that the brain scans looked almost the same; showing that even though someone may be old, they still have a very deep love for each other.

     I liked this article because it shows that even though these people may be old, they are not boring old people who don't sleep in the same bed and go to sleep by 7 o'clock.

Durfee, Rachel. "Everlasting Love: Science Proves Initial Passion Is Far From Fleeting." Popular Science. 17 Mar. 2009 http://www.popsci.com/node/29595.

War

I recently read in the New York Times about the increase in the number of stray dogs in Baghdad due to all of the fighting. As much as 10,000 dogs have been slaughtered since january because there have so many dogs running around the city. Because the majority of people in the city are Muslim, they think that dogs are unclean animals that they cannot touch.

     Organizations have been poisoning meat and then throwing the meat all around the city so that they can get rid of all of the dogs. Even without the poisoning people have been beating the animals to death and even have been shooting them. Many people pity the dogs but don't do anything to help them.

     Lucky for some stray dogs, an international S.P.C.A has been formed where American Soldiers, after returning home, will be able to adopt some of these dogs so they are not killed.

"In Hard-Bitten Baghdad, Tough Tactics on Strays." The New York Times. 15 Mar. 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/world/middleeast/15strays.html?ref=world.

Japanese Persecution

">http://sks.sirs.com/

• persecution caused by the attack on Pearl Harbor
• 1942
• 120,000 people of Japanese Descent(2/3 american citizens)  put into internment camps
• Executive Order 9066; Signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt
• Most internees released after 1944
• abrogated 7 of the 10 articles of the bill of rights
• $1.25 billion dollars in reparations, and a formal apology from the U.S. Government
• Japanese people held as "Model Minority" of the U.S.; many feel it masks a persistent racism

Nakao, Annie. "Executive Order 9066." 1992. San Fransisco Examiner. SIRS Knowledge Resource. 18 Mar. 2009 http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=SMN0307H-0-9230&artno=0000006269&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=Japanese%20American%20Internment&title=Executive%20Order%209066&res=Y&ren=Y&gov=Y&lnk=N&ic=

http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?

• fueled by tensions of churches and white supremacy groups
• Issei(first generation) and nissei(second generation) Japanese people were taken to camps
• Executive Order 9066; authorized military commanders to exclude certain groups of people
• Curfew set for only people of japanese descent
• Most people went but some refused; Fred Korematsu
• Fled and then tried and convicted. Brought case to Supreme Court for deprived of civil rights because of race
• 6-3 vote on Supreme court said it was not on race but of a military necesity
• As many as 30,000 Japanese Americans still served in both theatres of WWII
• $20,000 payment to all surviving internees

"THE BILL OF RIGHTS: JAPANESE-AMERICAN INTERNMENT." 1999. Mandarin Inc. SIRS Knowledge Resource. 18 Mar. 2009 http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=SMN0307H-0-9230&artno=0000105857&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=Japanese%20%20Internment&title=The%20Bill%20of%20Rights%3A%20Japanese%2DAmerican%20Internm

Imperialism

New Imperialism is the idea of the European Powers splitting up and taking over different parts of the world. Most of these European countries did this for power, glory, but most of all "the white man's burden". Following the ideas of Count Gobineau, many of these countries believed that these "darker" colored races had once been part of the pure Aryans race, but after many years they had darkened in color. It was the right of these more powerful countries to help bring these people back to civilized life and the true religion of the world, Christianity.

     When all of the European powers began taking over Africa, almost everything was taken over, except for Liberia and Ethiopia. The taking over of africa caused much turmoil with these people and made many people mad.

"New Imperialism." Wikipedia. 10 Mar. 2009 .

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

Global Issue

I decided to write about the global issue of Global Warming. Global Warming is the increase in the average temperature in the atmosphere in the world. Almost all causes have been from something man-made, and very few being natural. Projections for humanity from  this event have been very grim; increased strength of weather events, increase in precipitation, and even the release of methane from the shrinking ice caps.

There have been numerous attempts to create a way to diminish the effect of the CO2. Among others, the biggest is the decrease of the carbon footprint from cars. As easy as it sounds, this "idea" has had very little progress. Apart from the decrease of what is already there, many people now are turning to the idea of natural energy like solar, wind, and even wave powered energy.

"Global Warming." Wikipedia. 8 Mar. 2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming.

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

Holiday

For my blog post I decided to write about the Holiday of Easter. Plain and simple, Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Crucifixion. At around the year 325 A.D, Constantine I held the Council of Nicaea, which determined the date that Easter would be celebrated on. They determined that Easter should be celebrated on the first sunday after the full moon of the vernal equinox. But at around 1928 the British parliament clamied that the celebration of Easter would be held on the first sunday after the second saturday of the month of April. 

       The reason why Easter is always shown with the symbol of a rabbit is because one of the Anglo-Saxon goddesses of fertility was always shown with her symbol as a rabbit.e "The History of Easter." History Channel. 3 Mar. 2009 http://www.history.com/content/easter/history-of-easter.

Bollywood

After watching Bride and Prejudice, I decided to blog about how much these movies normally cost.  The average Bollywood film costs at least a couple million dollars to shoot. And even some higher end movies can cost an equivalent to around one billion dollars. In India, it used to be illegal for a bank to fund any kind of tv, music, or theatre production. But now the law has been lifted and the amount of money that can be spent on production is much more.

Even though many of the big movie making companies in Bollywood receive money from banks and other institutions, many smaller companies have been funded by the Mumbai Underworld. These people have been known to help pay for the movies and then try and put an obscured view on their kind of "patriotism".

Because there are so many people in India, there has been an increase in the number of bootleg copies made by illegal companies in their country. Many of the poor people there can only afford these versions and their involvement has only helped increase production even more.

     

"Bollywood." Wikipedia. 2009. 1 Mar. 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bollywood.

Culture

     This week I decided to blog about Islamic Art. Unlike Christian art, the art of Islam is much more basic and contains very little. Even when there are people in these paintings, they are very geometric and contain little or no detail. The reason that many of these paintings are so sparse is, obviously, because of their religion. They believe that when you are in a portrait or painting, you are trying to make yourself an idol instead of keeping faith with Allah. Many of these traits have lessened due to the fact of Western culture taking its tole on people's lives. Only the most devout and Orthodox Muslims still take part in this.

     I think that this really shows how Muslims are much closer in respect to their religion and take a lot more seriously than many other people do.

"Islamic 

Culture." Wikipedia. 24 Feb. 2009

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

Change

     I found an article in the New York Times about the recent surge in Britain of people using Vegetable Oil for use in their cars. There have been many different small-company proprietors(fish and chip stands) who have been advertising the sale of their oil for use in cars. The business is more of a direct-buy system where the customer comes to wherever the business owner keeps their oil and then they just pour it into some one's car.

     The downside is that it can only be used in diesel cars but at around $4.33 a gallon, it is still 10 percent lower than the national average in Britain. As the price in oil started plummeting, large venture companies started closing but the use of much smaller companies has actually increased.

     There have been many controversies regarding that if someone puts this oil in their car that it might get rid of some one's warranty, or that the inconsistency of the oil could clog the injection system.

     Personally, it would be very hard for me to just go along and put some vegetable oil in a car and hope that it works. It would then be very hard to replace it it ever failed.

"British Fight Climate Change With Fish and Chips." The New York Times. 2009. 22 Feb. 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/science/earth/22cook.html?_r=1&ref=science.

Hope

     This week for the blog post on hope, I found an article from the American Cancer Society about a just out of college third grade teacher who acquired a type of bone cancer when he was just seventeen years old.

     Craig King teaches, a third grade teacher, was an avid basketball and baseball player when he found out that he had cancer in his knee, and that he might even have to have his leg amputated. During his chemotherapy, he had his shin replaced with another donated shin so that he would be able to start walking again. It took him well over a year to walk again; he started on a wheelchair, then to a brace, then a walker, and then finally on his feet. After attending college he helped start a fundraiser with his family that received over $5,000 dollars for one fundraiser. He always lets his class that he has had cancer and that even these kinds of setbacks should never stop you from reaching your goal.

     I think this can relate to Nectar in a  Sieve because, just like Puli, Craig never let his "disability" stop him from doing things that people do every single day.

"A Career Back on track, Despite Bone Cancer." American Cancer Society. 14 Feb. 2007. ACS. 17 Feb. 2009 http://www.cancer.org/docroot/FPS/content/FPS_1_A_Career_Back_on_Track_Despite_Bone_Cancer.asp?SiteArea=.

Religion

     Since we are just finishing up on Nectar in a Sieve, I decided to do the religion that Rukmani always wondered about; Islam/ Muslim. There are many rules and laws that one must adhere to be a devout Muslim.

     The Five Pillars of Islam are the five practices essential to the religion of Islam. The first pillar is called the Shahadah which is a creed that is the foundation of their beliefs. The second pillar is the Salah, which is a prayer that one must say five times a day, and must always be said while they are facing Mecca. The third pillar is called the Zakat, which is the giving away of money for the poor. Many Muslims who cannot afford to do this are exempt from this; only those who have enough money are required to do this. The fourth pillar is called Sawm, which is done during the time of Ramadan where they must not eat or drink anything from dawn until dusk. The final pillar is the Hajj, which is where all able bodied Muslims must, at least once in their life, must go on a pilgrimage to the great city of Mecca.

     Islam and Christianity are very close in belief; they both believe in a monotheistic religion and even a type of "bible" called the Qur'an. They fall short of each other when in Islam, they believe a 7th century prophet was given holy words from the angel Gabriel. 

"Islam." Wikipedia. Wikipedia. 15 Feb 2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam.

Gender Roles

     I recently read in the New York Times about how gender roles play a very key role in restaurants. When a woman was opening a restaurant, her hired servers had asked her if the software for ordering food contained a punch button that would determine if the person ordering that food was either male or female. Her response to that question was, of course, no. Why would that matter? Not so, a women even commented that" Women should be served first!".

     Even though many people don't like to admit it, gender roles still play a very big part in determining how we see a person. Still, women are being paid less than a man who holds the same job title or even lower. 

     I think that this is shown in Nectar in a sieve when Arjun is complaining about how he is always hungry, and Ruku replies and says that she serves him the second most food, next to Nathan of course. This shows that men were, and are, given more priority than women in almost all situations.

Bruni, Frank . "Old Gender Roles With Your Dinner?". . nytimes.com. October 7, 2008. . February 10th, 2008 . http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/dining/08gend.html?pagewanted=1

   

Culture

     Going along with what we are reading, I decided to blog about the culture of India. With over 1 billion people living in the country, its key trait of the country is that there are so many diverse and different cultures. 

     India has around 216 different official languages, but with regional dialects, the country contains more than 1000 different languages. Going along with the hundreds of languages, it also contains one the most religiously diverse countries in the entire world; Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Muslim, etc. But of course the majority of Indian people, 827 million people, are Hindu. Just like Nectar in a Sieve, arranged marriages are still quite prolific and the divorce rate is  about 1.1%, quite a bit lower compared to the US's 50%. All arranged marriages are scrutinized and perfected based on the caste to which the people are in, height, weight, age, and many other determining factors in the modern age.

"Wikipedia.com". Wikipedia. February 8th,2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/culture_of_india

     

Struggle

     I recently read an article on cbsnews.com about a a group of people from Myanmar who fled from that country's dictatorship so that they would not be religiously persecuted. The group of  Rohingyas, an ethnic group of muslims from Malaysia, had first gone to Thailand where they worked illegally but were then found my Thai officials, beaten, and then discharged from the country and forced to leave on an engineless boat.

     The Indonesian Navy found the group of people almost three weeks later and helped treat the people. Myanmar's state-controlled newspaper issued a statement saying that the Rohingyas were not even apart of their hundreds of ethnic groups found inside their country.

     This story reminds me of Nectar in Sieve because these people wanted to be able to get away from their opprresion, just like what Kenny wanted for all of the people in the town, and start a new life.

"Myanmar Refugees Rescued By Indonesia." CBS News. 2 Feb. 2009. 4 Feb. 2009 .

Natural Disasters

     I recently read an article on msnbc.com about the improvement of New Orleans from the perspective of the increasing growth of their food industry. Many people in the New Orleans area treat food as a comfort and use it as conversation starter, but when a hurricane rips through a city like Katrina did, it is very hard to get the economy up and running again.

     There were some of the crazy people who actually came back only five days after the hurricane had happened who tried to assess the damage and try to figure out when they could re-open their restaurant.

     When someone is able to re-open a business after a major disaster, and do well, I can guess that the person who owns it would feel very proud of the fact that they were able to do that and they can get a sense of accomplishment that is like no other.