Dating Advice for Upside-Down People

How to Seduce Any Woman in the World must be the most misleading title of any article I have ever read. I found the advice within to be misleading, irrational, and just plain stupid. This is, of course, looking at the article for what it is trying to be and not what it is. 

Let me elaborate on that statement. This article is trying to be a how-to on dating advice for men, well more like sex advice I suppose. What it really is is an in-depth look at the different ways sexuality is thought of and acted upon in other countries. It is a shame to see that this piece's fatal flaw is simply that it is packaged in the wrong way. It contains information that would be abstract and fascinating were it not for its insistence on turning that info into advice. Just because these methods may work in other nations does not mean it should be given as advice for American men. However, the article was entertaining and that is what it aims to be. In the words of George W. Bush, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Amazing Violinist

What I enjoy most about this article is that it is centered around one small event and the entire article is information that hypes that event up. It makes it easier to follow because everything relates to a single focus point. Being a former violinist myself, I could appreciate this guy's musical talents. Of course, I must admit that at 7:51am I wouldn't be too thrilled to hear a violin playing, no matter how good it may sound.

I think it is important to not criticize the people too harshly for not stopping to hear this guy play. The world is set up to keep us constantly moving. We don't have the time anymore to stop and hear good classical music or smell the daisies. We must instead be worried about our jobs, our families, and the millions of other distractions, which we created, from the simple things in life.

Overall, I think there is little room for this article to be improved upon. It was an enjoyable read and brought a great issue to the surface: the lack of appreciation for the things in life that deserve to be admired. Sad, but the appeal of art is only really appreciated by fellow artists these days. It will live on, but may never shine as brightly as it once did.

Outline: Getting a Girl and Keeping Her, Too

I. Girls X, Y and Z
                A. Derrick and Girl X
                B. Teezy and Girl Y
                C. Peezy and Girl Z
II. To The Reader
                A. Who you are: the loser
                B. Who you should be: the winner
                C. How we will get there together
III. Expert Advice
                A. Tips for success
                B. Getting to the next step with Girl X
                C. Why Girl Y ran away
                D. Talking to Girl Z

The Courage of Detroit

Already what I like about this piece is its scene-setting lead and the fact that the writer has put himself into the story. I like that because when I read a story sometimes I am skeptical to how the writer gets some of the information. Now I can see that he isn't just making things up to meet his deadline. I believe the writer actually investigated.

I enjoyed the writer's segue from the story about the church to talking about Detroit and its optimistic views in times of struggle. It sets up the piece to be all about the struggle of a dead end town trying to be much more than that. It is reminiscent of the masterpiece, Touchdown, Tyler by Derrick Naylor.

It is amazing what an NFL team and industrial power say about a city, and for Detroit the final verdict is failure. It's a shame because the more that reputation grows for them, the more they will struggle and no one will want to live there. The line, "We want to scream" pretty much sums up their frustration.

By the way, Barry Sanders plus Joe Dumars in a room equals "Hey man"? I thought they might have more interesting things to say, but it seems not.

By the end of this article, the writer had romanticized some life into the dead city of Detroit. The way he speaks of it throughout the piece is not of a failing city with uncontrollable violence and poverty, but rather a fallen hero trying to keep from hitting rock bottom. I enjoy pieces like this and hope to write something similar someday.

Interview Questions

For my gender studies teacher


1.) How do gender roles and identity shape the dating world?
2.) What is expected of a man on a date with a woman? Vice versa?
3.) What would happen to someone who decided to step outside the boundaries of these gender roles?
4.) Why is it that women love feminine men as friends but want a masculine man to date?


For a health center counselor

1.) How often do people come to you because of relationship troubles?
2.) What do you find to be the biggest issues within those relationships?
3.) How serious do you believe relationships are in college? Are we looking for true love or just a good time?

99 Bottles of 30A

First off, let me state that I found this article to be extremely drawn out and boring. It sort of rambles on about alcohol, which as an IU student is like a typical conversation you would overhear on the bus. Why be so picky about the taste of the drink? Most drinkers I know do it for the effect. If it was all about taste, it wouldn't matter so much that it was alcohol. No one, regardless of what they say, enjoys the taste of straight alcohol with no flavor.
I thought this was going to be an article all about cool drinking games that people like to play. Instead, I'm not sure what the article is going for and maintaining an interest in it was difficult. I did enjoy the part about the Mixe Indians and their drunken fist fights. Who fights so much while drinking that it becomes a tradition? That's pretty messed up if you ask me.

Goodbye Gideons

I suppose this would qualify as a trend piece, though I'm not exactly sure the qualifications for such. It is true that the world is becoming more secular, and at the same time there is an increased push for religious tolerance. The traditional Christian views upon which this nation were founded on are being pushed back by the views on religious freedom which also founded the nation. With these changes becoming more obvious, it is no surprise to me that less Bibles are appearing in hotel rooms. My immediate response to this article? Duh!

I believe hotels and other facilities are changing their policies not to promote religious liberation, but to limit complaints and judgement based on such. It all revolves around doing what is best for the sake of business and losing money over something like religion can easily be avoided. Still, I imagine if I would be offended by a Koran in my hotel room and I can't see it becoming that big of an issue. Bibles are always in drawers and never out in the open, at least in my experience. However, the world is full of people waiting for the next reason to be offended, so none of this is surprising in the least.

Lead for Lead

With the city of Lead, South Dakota facing the downfall of its biggest business, the Homestake mine, only one hope remains for its future. That hope lies in a substance known and unknown as dark matter. Dark matter may be impossible to find and may not even exist, but physicists have headed to the small town's 8,000-foot hole to find it.

Lead is not the only city looking to discover one of science's greatest mysteries. Scientists all over the world are counting on this substance to be real in order to avoid invalidating years of subatomic physics research. The find carries with it the power to turn Lead into a booming business town again, but the reality is that another research team could beat them to it.

We're fully prepared that we might not find it ourselves," Shutt said. "But if we as a community don't find it, that will be awfully disappointing.

Where Nerds and WIMPs Unite

I will do this post a bit different than before. I will write it as I read the article instead of after. Why? Just an impulse really. Maybe it will turn out interesting.

My first thought as I am reading is to contemplate the benefits of a lab being so far underground, other than being able to call it the world's deepest underground lab. Good luck ordering a pizza there (See? This is going to be funny!).

I would call the first mention of dark matter a Colonel Trautman moment for sure. I'm so interested to find out what this stuff is. Whew. I thought this was just going to be another story about digging holes.

By the way, I'm glad the author clarified the city's name. I thought maybe it was named after Lead the metal because maybe at one point it was in great supply there.

I am doing my best to keep up with the technobabble, but not sure what "the can" is exactly or what ghastly skeleton they are using to seek out the dark matter. I feel as though the author is aware that many readers will not understand exactly what he is talking about, but he explains it in great detail to emphasize what a complex process this all is. I expect the story to come around by the end.

Wow. They went through all that and now have to try again tomorrow. Interesting that they pose for pictures after. Must be a very motivated crew.

Yes! They are talking more about dark matter, which is the coolest name of anything real I have ever known. Props to Fritz Zwicky, who sadly owns one of the uncoolest names I have ever heard.

After the scientific explanation, I guess dark matter is still cool. Ok, maybe slightly less. Who came up with the acronym WIMP? I bet it wasn't Zwicky.

Well, I'm done reading the article. Sad, yet a good ending that they still have not got the can to fit. The stakes are so high, especially with the author's language in regards to finding the secret to understanding the universe. This was a little too technical of an article for my sleep-deprived mind to fully comprehend, but I got the layout and the main point of the story. Truly this was a well-written article.

Story "Idears"

Getting an idea is fine and all, but get yourself a well thought out "idear" and the sky is the limit.

1.) How-To story on Study methods
In this article i would explore some of the wacky study methods I have encountered since school became challenging enough to need to study. If possible, I would revolve the entire article on my own study methods. However, I could also ask some of the people I know. I once knew a man who would give himself a beer for every 10 pages he read for class. The only problem was that by the end of the night he would be too hammered to remember what he read.

2.) How-To on Finding a Good Woman
For two and a half years i have been looking for a girlfriend with no success. However, like anyone who writes on the topic, I don't feel this should deter me from encouraging others from using my methods. This would be humorous, but also an in-depth look at gender relations. I would even talk to some actual experts on the matter to give the story more depth.

Apple Rules/Drools

Apple products are great. Apple products are the bane of my existence. These two facts will remain true as long as I live. I own an iPod and it has truly been the most influential electronic device in my life, just in front of Playstation 2 and 3. iTunes is the best music organizer I have ever owned and will most likely remain so  for the rest of my life. Still, for reasons made clear in the article, "How Apple Got Everything Right By Doing Everything Wrong", Apple will always be a heartless company run by a mad man to me.

In the  opening to this piece, we see that Apple is run by a no-good stealer of handicap parking spaces named Steve Jobs. For me, that stood for a lot of things. Apple has been stealing handicap spaces for a long time, attempting to monopolize the entire electronic industry. Jobs, the notorious micromanager, makes his employees swear to secrecy about its inner workings. Why? To disguise Apple's plans for world domination. Here is the picture of the earthling as Jobs' dreams. He comes home from a long day at the office using his Macbook all day, possibly sneaking in some iTunes listening while his boss isn't looking. He sits on the couch to watch his Apple TV and lye down on his iPad(what are those good for again?). He then listens to his iPod and falls asleep, dreaming of how his life would be meaningless without Apple's guidance. But i digress.

This article does a good, honest job of portraying Apple as a company. The reality of what they do makes all the sense in the world, though it pains me to admit it. I would run my business similar to how Apple rules theirs: with pure evil.