To conform or not to conform?

 Sometimes I can't tell if I'm really smart or really stupid. An assignment in school said to pick a question that they provided and write a full 500 word report on it. I wrote answers for all of them, picked the longest, most complicated one, and fleshed it out. It resulted in a great point consisting of 89 words. ....Yeah. I didn't want to defeat it's purpose by needlessly fattening it up, so I added a note arguing my decision to hand in the report as is. I thought that you might enjoy it, so here it is! =D

"I have ruled that a report of that size on any of these subjects would very quickly result in me stating my point, offering examples, then adding many pointless facts and filibusters in order to reach the 500 word requirement. As I can prove my point in much less space, I will disregard said requirement and focus on handing in a good report.

My report is as follows:
'Mythology is a collection of tales belonging to a culture. It is used to teach morals and values unique to a culture, and so can be used to provide insight on said culture.
Modern America produces it’s own mythology on a daily basis. Every family story, every newscast, every urban legend has it’s own place in our culture and so can be viewed as our mythology.
In as little as a couple of centuries, our descendants could still be telling the story of Jimmy Carter’s rabbit incident with pride.'"

I think that just about states my point
I also find it funny that my argument was actually much better then the report itself. XD

JAPANDAPANTS?? O_O

On a less intellectual level, I just thought of something!!
JAPANDAPANTS.
Yes, you heard me. Japandapants.
I'm still not sure exactly what they'd be, but they are obviously pants and may have a mix of any of these qualities.

Made in Japan
Feature Japan
Made for the Japanese
Made to be worn in Japan
Made with pandas
Feature pandas
Made for pandas
Made to be worn in a panda

I'm kinda for them being pants made in Japan and/or feature Japan that are meant for pandas, but that's just me. =)

My essay about drug abuse and social norms

This is an essay that I wrote for school today. I'm actually pretty darn pleased with my communication skills, considering that it only took me a couple minuets. I was so pleased, that I thought that I should share it with you guys! =)
I hope that you find this fascinating (Eehheh. Pardon my Spockish speech patterns. I've been on a TOS (Star Trek The Original Series) kick lately... XD) and/or informative! =^^=

People always face many obstacles and challenges, and people in their teenage stage are most certainly no exception. We are constantly battling and contradicting ourselves as we go through many stressful changes to become adults. This obstacle comes to mind:

Conformity and adaptation to social norms
As social beings, we must change and adapt to fit in, and be accepted in a social group. However, many of us don’t want to change or even fit in. We are afraid to lose ourselves in the public’s identity and instead strive to create our own identities. This is usually a good thing, as creative and pro-active people are necessary for change. However, it is only a good thing when taken into a healthy moderation. Those who stand out too much will have to deal with hardships, accusations, and the public’s disapproval. Some people just aren’t strong enough or ready to deal with this aspect, and can develop a very strong rebel attitude (which is really beneficial to no one) and sometimes even self-loathing.

On the other hand, others will actively try to blend in with the social norms of their peers. Such people find it comforting to be in a group where no one stands out, and rules are already laid out for them. While this is a good survival technique, the unfortunate aspect is that there is no individuality and people in a peer group will actively try and become more like those around them even if their peers are unhealthy.
Take the abuse of drugs for an example. If drug abuse is the social norm for some one's peer group, one can bet that this person will at least experiment in drug use, if not become fully addicted.

Homer has created a very frank view of addiction and the abuse of consumables with his story of the Lotus Eaters, who were people addicted to eating Lotus blooms to the point of forgetting everything around them. When the story’s protagonist, Odysseus, and his men encounter these people, the people come up and offer some Lotus blooms. Odysseus is wary and instructs his men to not take them, but a few disobey and eat them anyway. These people very quickly join the others and ‘zone out’, forgetting their mission and those around them to just eat the blooms. It is my assumption that drug abuse must have been prevalent even in those days, and was a reference in Homer’s story. Whether or not this assumption is correct doesn’t really matter to us. The message is still clear. No matter what our peers pressure us to do, always trust in one’s own logic and go with the healthiest option.

ALGEBRA WIN. O_O

*Ahem.*
ATTENTION WORLD:

I won algebra. AND IT WAS PRE.

..... Not a very amazing win, I know, but a great triumph for me none the less. I was struggling to understand algebra up until this point. Now I do. I'm not quite sure what brought this change, besides my awesome Dad's help, a cup of disgusting yet energizing coffee, and a whole ton of practice. Maybe that samurai book I was reading?..... Could be. XD
Anyway, I passed the lesson practice, and I'm going to take the test and move on to the next lesson after my break!! WOOOT!!! xDDD
I got all the answers but one correct (I ignored question 16. It was sports related and had some gibberish about innings and runs, and neither my Mother nor I knew if it was a base 10 system....), but besides that, I TOTALLY ROCKED.

..... Just thought you all might want to know... *proud face* n_n

It's FAAABULOSOOOO!!!!

I was sitting at my dining table today, trying to finish my math homework. (Algebra. Gotta love it.) After a while of staring at the gibberish marked across the page (I wonder how those got there? The last time I checked, my math book was for doodling, sketching, obsessively drawing Punnett squares, practicing writing in Elvish, translating phrases into binary, and figuring out ways 42 can be applied to daily life. NOT for doing my schoolwork.) my eyes started to wander around the room. They soon found Martha, our cleaning lady's (who, by the way, is one of the snakiest, quickest, coolest people I know) bottle of purple cleaning fluid. "Heh, I thought that bottle of purple cleaner said 'Fabulous.'" I thought. "But wait. What DID it say?" I looked closer and found that it didn't say 'Fabulous.' It said FABULOSO. And it a rainbow. And flowers. AND SPARKLES. Openmouthed, I pointed this out to Holly, who immediately gasped and said 'Faaaabulous...' Martha didn't understand our fascination with her frivolously fabulous Fabulous cleaner, so we explained that we just like to say the word.

Anyhoo, I liked the cleaner so much, that I pulled up a pic when I took my break!! =D
Here tiz.

The only way this could get any better is if there was Sir Iian McKellin and pink unicorns on it. O_O

SOPA BLACKOUT

Well, as many of you probably now know, our government has purposed a bill that would constrict our freedom on the web. It is supposed to stop online piracy (hence the name 'Stop Online Piracy Act'). Now, I have nothing against stopping piracy, but this seems to go beyond that. If passed, this bill would allow our govt. to sue and take down sites, domain names, and any other data that they don't approve of. All well and good, right? Wrong. Think about it. They could delete everything you've worked for with a couple clicks and some false accusations. Just take a look at the bill itself. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204555904577167040770940440.html
Kinda sketchy, right?
Besides, take this into consideration. PIRATES ARE PIRATES. People will always find their ways around things like this. ESPECIALLY if they have no respect for laws in the first place.

We have to protect our freedom of speech.
To learn more, go here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:SOPA_initiative/Learn_more
and here
http://sopablackout.org/learnmore/

A Rats View part 2

Issue #42   -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Tuesday January 17, 2012

The end of our world?

 It has been predicted by local scientists that the world will end by 2012. On the New Year, multitudes of beings held their breath waiting for their demise. When it never came, we all breathed out our fears and anxiety. We all believed that we were safe.

Until now. The latest news leads us to wonder 'Did we rejoice too soon?'

According to local news officials, the Goddess Mommera is planing another attack upon the gentle rat community, and this time, she means business.

Our intelligence has taken numerous notes on the Goddess's strange shopping habits, and the results have left our country in utter turmoil. The more squeamish readers may want to look away.

The question is how far will Goddess Mommera go? Let's ask some of the locals.

We found and interviewed a rat living in the backstreets of the Laundry Room who claims he actually saw the Goddess.

[Interviewer] "So I was told that you saw the Goddess just yesterday. Would you care to tell the story?"

[Vernin J.T.] "Well, I wasa in deh drum of deh laundry machine just yesterday, and ye know jest kinda sortin through. It's kinda a job ye see. Ye know, gnaw a bit here, snatch some chonies there. Real under the table ye know, wink wink? Anyhoo, I hears her I do, and quick as a light. I'm gone. Vanish inta the crack above the washer's drum. Never seen, always heard right? Well, I'm gettin old and the arthritis must be spreadin cause I hear her gasp. I look, and me bloody tail's all pokin out! Well that's not *ffin good, I think. So's she opens the lid. Man, all females look tiny compared to this lady. She be HUGE and there's these little crackles lectricity runnin from her eyes! So she leans over and she screams. I've never heard somethin more shittdang terrifying. I took off- BAM! And left her shakin."

Well there you have it.

The second Purge may be on it's way.

__________________________________________________

That concludes this issue of Rat Weekly.

News from a rat's view.