Consequences

       After lighting himself on fire, Brent cannot handle the heat so he calls for help. Craig, his little brother, runs and dials 911. Ambulances and firemen finally arrive to aid Brent. Disturbed at this sight, Craig begins to cry and punch the wall. This might have something to do with the fact that Brent had told him about his suicidal plans, yet he did not care, probably thinking Brent was not capable of doing so.

       Brent doesn't seem to be too concerned about his own health but more about what is happening around him. It might be the adrenaline. He begins to have all these sidetrack thoughts and on the helicopter ride he even says: "I wonder if I'm going to the hospital near where my dad works. I could het a ride home with him later, oh, but he's in Arkansas or something. I wonder where he is."(page 19). This shows how he does not appear to understand the severity of the incident, yet.

       At the hospital, It takes him a while to gain full consciousness after waking up and falling asleep several times. He is under the effect of morphine, but still in great pain. Brent then catches sight of a rod in is side. Here we see that he experiences a massive change already: "If they unplug me, I'll die. I could die. Maybe I should ask them to unplug me. But I don't want to die anymore."(page 28). This is huge because we already know that he has wanted to die for quite a while know and this suddenly gives us hope. So what caused this realization? Was it the painful surgeries he has gone through? His brothers angry reaction? Or his mother's loving eyes when he is lying burnt on the kitchen floor? Whatever it was, I am glad he has had this epiphany.

Saturated (adj) page 32: soaked, impregnated, or imbued thoroughly; charged thoroughly or completely; brought to a state of saturation.

Why Would You Do That?

       At first glance, Brent seems to be quite normal. In fact, he is actually quite popular, or at least he claims so. "I really started to hate GT (Gifted & Talented group of students). I started calling it Goobers and Twerps because all of the kids that were in it were real dorks. None of the cool kids were in it, None. Well, one, if you count me"p. 8. Although he might have a problem with being humble, he did seem "cool". Brent was funny, he had friends, and he was good with the girls (especially with Abby, whom he got quite intimate with on the bus ride). 

        However, he begins to tell us that he has suicidal tendencies and has tried to kill himself a couple of times already. This is the part that really confuses me. He is not bullied or mistreated by anyone, so why do this? Even if you are a victim of bullying it is no excuse for suicide, nevertheless Brent Runyon was normal and popular. It really makes me wonder what is going through his minds. Life is a precious thing that we all must value and appreciate.

       After an incident in gym class where he purposely started a fire in the locker room, Brent seems to have gotten in a lot of trouble. The school claim they will expel the person responsible. Brent finds out that they will use fingerprints to find whoever is guilty. Suddenly he decides he is going to burn himself. First I thought he was joking, but when he gets home Brent pours gasoline on himself and lights a match.

Vocabulary:

1) arson: (noun) the act of intentionally or recklessly setting fire to another's property or to one's own property for some improper reason

2) clot: (noun) a mass or lump, as of coagulated blood

Did You Really Think You Are Safe?

Click here for documentary on safety around CNG

Casino...Buy Them Today (Cigarettes Commercial)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIYevXIEcdg&feature=youtu.be

A Haitian Boy’s Needless Death From Diabetes

       Jean Paul was 12 when he died unnecessarily. Even though he was a diabetic, he might well have lived if not for a tragically simple problem, common in rural Haiti: the glucose test strips available did not match the only glucometer available in the undeveloped district hospital.

       Jean Paul could have easily survived if not for the money hungry diabetes testing supply companies. Glucose test strips are a major source of the profit for these companies. Conglomerates like Roche, the leader of the $8 billion a year diabetes testing industry, have made these strips proprietary (each strip fits only into a specific machine). While glucose test strips cost pennies to make, they sell for 50 cents to one dollar per strip, and diabetics use several strips per day. I urge you to help fight for the solution by making more people aware.

     

 It is important because the needs of the many should outweigh the wants of the few. Companies should avoid being greedy and maximizing profits because this is killing many. The solution is simple: Create universal test strips that will work in any available glucometer machine, in the same manner that USB cables can link all brands of computers and devices. Universal test strips would lead to cheaper strips and increased availability. This would ensure that people (like Jean Paul) in rural areas can measure their sugar levels before it is too late. ARTICLE

Legen--wait for it--RHETORIC

       After carefully analyzing an episode of NBC´s How I Met Your Mother, I noticed that there is much more to it than just plain laughter. It is filled with many figures that are mentioned in Heinrichs´ book. It is these play on words and techniques which are the root to the show´s  hilariousness. According to Heinrichs, rhetoric figures of speech help you become more adept at word play, they make you sound clever and can also help persuade. 

       The first figure that I witnessed in the show was a cliché twist. This is when you take your opponents cliché and give the expression a twist by sticking a surprise ending to it. An example of this in the episode is when Marshall is blabbering non-stop about how his and Lilly´s (his wife) dreams were being destroyed (this idea is a cliché). So the women beside him who his annoyed and trying to get some sleep makes the cliché literal and says: "You are destroying a lot of dreams right now". This is a clever way to persuade Marshall to shut up and let her rest.

        Next, Ted Mosby makes a rhetorical fallacy in his attempt to convince Lilly that using driving gloves is important. He claims that "in 99.9% of highway accidents, the driver was not wearing gloves". This logic is just absurd and when Lilly catches onto it she says its stupid. Ted then retorts with a pun in another attempt to persuade "Then why is it called the glove compartment?".

       Once Daphne (the big women trying to sleep beside Marshall) has had enough of Marshall and his excessive talking, she asks the steward to move her to another seat. Unfortunately the flight is fully booked, so she says: "Hell I´ve been going to pilates, I can just hold on to the landing gear like this".."Well I´ve only signed up for pilates, I actually haven´t started going yet".."I haven´t signed up". This technique is called to edit yourself aloud, it consists of interrupting yourself to correct yourself. According to Heinrichs this makes your audience believe you have a passion for fairness and accuracy. These are just a few examples of rhetorical figures used in the show. 

Lionel "Good Boy" Messi

       There is no doubt that Lionel Messi is one of the greatest players of our time, but the real question is: Does he deserve all four Ballon d'Or? The answer is NO. Last year, Messi won the 2012 prize for his outstanding performance, yet his team did not win the league. It was Ronaldo who led Real Madrid to victory in "La Liga" during the 2011-2012 season. Messi did not even lead Barcelona to Champions league glory, Chelsea beat them in the final that year. Some fans argue that he deserved the award because he broke the goalscoring league record. However, when Cristiano Ronaldo broke that same record one year before, Messi had also been awarded the Ballon d'Or. So why is Messi worshipped so much? The answer lies in his decorum


       Everybody loves him and thinks of him as the poor guy who grew up with growth hormone deficiency. They think of kid who was given a once in a lifetime opportunity and signed his first contract on a napkin. The general audience feels empathy for him and his initial struggles in life. Messi is also, in the eyes of many (not me), a very humble player who cares for others.

There was a recent outrage in which even Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA, favored Messi over Ronaldo. During an interview he was asked by a student to choose between Messi or Ronaldo, his response was actually quite expected. He said: "They are both exceptional players but they are totally different...Lionel Messi is a good boy who every mother and father would like to have at home." Here we begin to see why most people tend to prefer Messi. But wait, there is more. "he's a kind man, he's really good, he's a good boy. And that's what makes him so popular and naturally he will always get a lot of votes because he is this nice man"

AHA! This is the reason for his four Ballon d'Or. Messi has been crowned the best player beacuse of his popularity and because the media has began to overlook his flaws rather than putting his performance under a microscope. This just goes to prove the power of decorum and how it can persuade people.