The Power Team

Honestly I am one of the least religious people i know.  This isnt to say i am atheist or dont beleive in any higher power, but it is to say im not sure what i beleive in and I never go to church or any thing like my mother and father always were forced to when growing up.  So to be honest to me, this article essay was just a bunch of words on paper because i don't really know what i beleive.  To me it did seem that the power team was a group of magicians trying to be religous, but then again i really dont know.  It's hard to ever beleive if a group of people can get rid of the devil and it was interesting that they were broadcasted on televison.  Who really knows whats true or not? Religion is a very difficult subject but one thing i do beleive is that the more technology grows, the more religion dies.

a plague of tics

A plague of tics was one of the most interesting essays that i have read.  It's very hard to think what life would be like if I had obsessive compulsive disorder.  A kid in my high school had it and he would always be made fun of but it obviously wasn't his fault.  There's nothing you can do about it.  This essay is really funny and really interesting, and this guy seems to have one of the worst cases that there is.  I hated the part where his father punched him in the face thinking that would be a good solution.  It was funny how the author made that a funny part and said that he enjoyed it.  This is a terrible condition because the brain has all the power over ones actions.  I also thought the whole college section was funny.  Its funny to think that as much as you could hate or be annoyed with someone with a disorder such as OCD, they might hate you 100 times as much.  Pretty ironic.

Response To Chuck Klosterman

The essay "Ha ha," he said. "Ha ha." was probably my favorite essay that i have been assigned to read in english class, ever.  This is the first essay that i've read that really connected to me and most of my generation because I love to watch television.  I also enjoyed his style of writing which was sophisticated but he made it easy to understand.  Klosterman brought up a lot of very good points some of which I subconsciously knew and others which i didnt but thought were very interesting.  His story of how germans think we are retarded hit home with me because it made me realize how often i laugh, even when i dont think something is funny.  Sometimes i will give a little fake laugh just hoping that this person will stop talking without hurting their feelings.  Another point that he made that I found funny was how people often over laugh at jokes that aren't that funny to let other people in the room know that they got the joke.  To the best of my awareness i dont do this very often but I can definitely think of some friends that do.  Klosterman explains how he thinks people like tv shows like its always sunny in philadelphia (non canned laughter) more then shows like two and a half men (canned laughter) because as an audience we think they are taking us more seriously, but i disagree.  I think we just like shows like that because they are more funny.  I have always wondered why television programs used canned laughter but I have never thought they were less funny because of it.

annotated bibliography

Annotated Bibliography
"National Security Letter." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 2 Sept. 2008. Web. 06 Feb. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=National_Security_Letter>.
 
Summary: This was an article about how the USA patriot act has affected thousands of US citizens.  The article summarized how it often hurt their lives in numerous ways.  The article also specified on one certain case called Doe v. Ashcroft.  This case was brought forward by an unnamed internet service provider who had been served with numerous national security letters.  This man claimed that the letters were unconstitutional and his case was brought to Judge Marrero.  This judge decided parts of the National Security Letter were unfair and has caused revisions to be made to the USA patriot act.
 
Although the source is wikipedia and that in itself is one big source that takes from others the article does seem credible to me.  The person who gave me the article does not seem like a man who would give out articles that would discredit him.
 
This source was helpful to me when writing my interview assignment. It connected well to my interview and the person I interviewed

Reaction to Your Brain on Computers

Your Brain on Computers was an article designed to explain to readers how technology is changing our brains because of multitasking.  However to me, the article seemed more about a family who is kind of klutzy.  There were definitely parts of the article i agreed with, and sure everyone gets distracted by technology every once in a while but often times in this article it just seemed as if though Mr. Campbell and his family were just being flat out moronic.  Obviously technology can distract and isolate people but mrs. campbell burnt the cookies twice because of facebook and texting? To me it is not that difficult to juggle texting and baking cookies, especially if you have experience with cooking.  I think it is possible that are brains are being rewired, but a lot of this article was just this family making silly mistakes.

introduction

Hi everyone,
                   My name is Dylan Spradling and I am studying small business management at indiana university of pennsylvania.  I like to play sports hang out with friends and I am in the sigma chi fraternity.  I also enjoy playing poker, going to the beach in the summer time and partying.  Go eagles and the steelers suck! Kind of jealous though.