Fuel Efficient Cars? hmm...

In 1975 the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards resulted in vehicle weight reduction which in return caused about 2,000 additional deaths. The goal was to get more miles pre gallon, as we later discovered, at a great cost. Since 1980s the combined average for cars and light trucks was about 25 miles per gallon. With the gas prices significantly raising the U.S. senate proposed some alternate solutions. In order to keep driving affordable there are some laws being passed, encouraging the use of the most current technology to increase fuel efficiency.

The goal is to reach an overall average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020 without sacrificing safety. Defining vehicle class would eventually result in discouraging the automakers from shrinking cars to enhance fuel economy. The solution here is to use lighter, high-strength materials in auto frames and bodies, which would decrease the car weight without forcing manufacturers to build smaller cars.

Another way to gain about 40-50% percent efficiency is by using currently available and used technologies. Some car engines already have variable valve lift and timing, which provides greater control over the flow of air into and out of the combustion chamber; until now it was only used to get more horsepower, but it can be also applied to increase fuel economy.

I think that there are numerous alternatives to the current technology used in car building. It is just a matter of research and motivation. I think the car makers are not living up to our current needs and the government has to do something to encourage them to fix this problem. I am a driver myself and the one part I don’t like about driving is when I have to go to a gas station; for one simple reason: the gas prices are ridiculously high.

Read more about Hybrid-Electric Vehicles here.

Acting on the Stage of Life

“Life is a stage and we are all actors on the stage of life” is a correct interpretation of our lives. Every day we are faced with situations, in which we “act” to make an impression, we have to act differently depending on whom we want to impress with our acting. Sociologist Erving Goffman who developed the idea of Dramaturgical Perspective uses theatrical terminology to describe actions in our lives. Everyone in their life puts up a performance, not necessarily everyday, but it does happen fairly often. In fact, next week I will be putting up a “performance” in my theology class.

One of our assignments for the class is a group presentation on one of the Saints. My group will be presenting Saint Thomas More, an English philosopher and thinker. It will be a ten minute long spectacle where everyone in my group will have a role to play. We are responsible for the job of both the directors and actors. All of us got together a couple times throughout last week in order to work on our show. The first step that we took was discovering who our audience will really be. Will it be the rest of our class or our theology professor? We all agreed that it will be a performance for both the students as well as our professor. We have been researching the information and preparing the script for our big day. I am personally responsible for the technical aspect of the show; I will be in charge of the computer and our power point presentation. Another person will be the leading character in our show; she will be presenting the earlier prepared information on our saint. She has an incredibly difficult job since all the eyes on audience will be focused on her for the most of the show. She will have to put on a mask and leave the stress at home. Our theatre will be a fairly small classroom, our stage will only be about ten feet long and three feet wide, our space will be limited, but it is more than enough for our needs. The spectacle itself will be a one act presentation, there will not be any intermission; probably just a short session with a series of questions from the audience to the actors.

Every play requires its actors to have a certain dress code, our play is no different. The whole group has agreed on our costumes. We all believe that the scenery and our serious play demand of us to present ourselves in a professional manner. We all have to rehearse our individual scripts along with our outfits and the whole play altogether. It is a crucial part of the preparation process and it has to be rehearsed to perfection, until every single detail is mastered.

My “performance” that is scheduled for next week’s theology class definitely qualifies in the category of Dramaturgical Perspective. All of us have been working really hard to prepare to the best of our ability. We all believe we have been doing everything in our power to do put on an interesting act and hopefully our audience will appreciate us. Stage is a test for an actor, it verifies our ability to perform and it is an opportunity to become known the way we want people to know us.

Culture - From the Sociological Point

Everyone has been born and raised a certain way. Every single person learned the ways and absorbed the information that he or she was exposed to since early childhood. Most of us do not remember our earliest memories, but the knowledge that we acquired since we were kids is what makes us who we are. The customs and traditions that we practice are a large part of our Culture. Culture includes everything: customs, language, material objects, as well as the way we view the rest of the world. In The Nature of Culture, a video, Culture is broken down using specific examples.
History provides us with many examples of encounter of different cultures. In today’s world we encounter different cultures on a daily basis. Years ago, when travel was much more difficult the confrontations were not as common and when they occurred they were more intense. For instance, the film speaks of the reaction of the Spanish who came to the “new world.” The Spanish conquerors have never seen anything like that before and the idea of cultural relativism was clearly present in their description of the Native Americans. They were questioning themselves: who are these people? Why do they dress in such a weird way? In their description the Spanish looked at the natives with ethnocentrism; they called them savaged and were convinced that they were inferior. Right away they began to dictate the natives and began to establish themselves as the dominant culture; they were more powerful than the Indians.
Sometimes we do not even have to look back into history in order to find examples of cultures that change. Present-day Kenya is a country that is going through a phase of change. The people in Kenya believe that God created men and cattle at the same time; it is an important aspect of their nonmaterial culture. People of Kenya, especially the Boran people, move with their cattle in search for pasture. Their culture is persistent, but just like any culture it changes over time. The government of Kenya wants to modernize the country and is therefore introducing new technology. The Boran people are experiencing culture lag; they are struggling to adjust to those changes. The government also wants the kids to start attending schools which is a complete cultural shock to the people. The society is going through a time of transformation and it definitely won’t be an easy process.
The Nature of Culture is a film that speaks to our imagination. It opens our eyes to see the bigger picture, Culture, which is ever present in any society. Changes in culture and diffusion are unavoidable. Any culture that wants to survive has to be able to adapt to changes as it is an important attribute for survival. Some cultures die out completely; they simply vanish from the face of the earth because they are unable to keep up with the changing world. When a culture dies it is death to us all, as it removes one block of our existence. Despite our differences and, sometimes, opposing points of view we should offer our aid to any culture that struggles to survive; who knows, maybe in the future the struggling culture will be our culture, what then? Are we going to be just as indifferent when it happens to us?

Start your own Business with eBay

Just recently I was surfing the web and I noticed an interesting article about ebay. It was different than most other general informative articles, it provided statistics and interesting advice for those interested in opening their own business with ebay.com, who knows maybe you are the next E-billionaire?

eBay, formed in 1995, has become the world's biggest marketplace for anything you can imagine. At any given moment around 29million goods are available to a customer, 3.5 million are added each day and $1,000 worth of merchandise is sold every second. There are 135 million registered users on ebay in 32 international markets, in just United States alone around 430,000 people make a full or part-time living.

"If you think eBay is just about bobblehead dolls and Pez dispensers, think again. While $2.2 billion worth of goods in collectibles were sold on eBay in 2004, antiques and collectibles ranked only No. 6 among eBay's sales categories. The five highest were: automobiles and auto supplies ($11.1 billion); consumer electronics ($3-5 billion); computers ($3.0 billion); clothes and accessories ($2.9 billion); and books, movies and music ($2.4 billion).

Real people are making big bucks on eBay--and thousands have even reached PowerSeller status by maintaining at least $1,000 per month in sales for three consecutive months. Case in point: Angle Cash, 37, a stay-at-home mom who started selling on eBay nearly six years ago because it was "something I could do and watch the kids at the same time." Today, her Kennesaw, Georgia, company, Cashco1000 Inc. (www. cashco1000.com), sells thousands of home-decoration and other items each month on eBay and expects to break $500,000 in sales on eBay this year."

findarticles.com also gives suggestions how to start your own eBay business, where to look for things to buy, what price to buy them at, and what price to sell them at.

The article can be found here.

Les Miserables

I have not seen a play that is sang until two weeks ago when I saw Les Miserables on DVD. I have heard about the play last year when it was on Broadway, but I was never really interested in seeing it. In fact I was not interested in any plays at that time in my life. Not until I saw “Wicked” in October I began liking theatre. After watching Les Miserables on video I really want to see the show live as I believe it is spectacular. I base my opinion on the original play because I have not seen any recent productions. Les Miserables appealed to me because of its realistic plot and the amazing musical performance.

Les Miserables takes place in France in 1815. Jean Valjean is released after being in jail for five years. He steals again, but is rescued by the Bishop and promises to him that from now on he will be an honest man. Right away he is followed by Javert who is convinced that Valjean will start his criminal lifestyle. He makes a good living for himself and owns a factory, he then meets a prostitute, Fantine, and she was fired from her job. She has a daughter and Valjean promises to the dying Fantine that he will take care of her little girl. He finds the girl, Cosette, and they both move to Paris. Ten years after they move to Paris, a bunch of students are preparing to revolt against the government. One of the students, Marius sees Cosette and immediately falls in love with her. Another one of the students, Eponine falls in love with Marius, but she knows that he has feelings for Cosette. When the students decide to revolt, Valjean aware of the fact that Marius loves Cosette joins the revolt. Eponine dies in the battle; she is shot and dies in Marius’ arms. Valjean carries Marius’ body home and he encounters Javert, who lets him bring Marius to the family and then realizes that he has misjudged Valjean. Not being able to deal with that fact, Javert commits suicide. Marius and Cosette soon marry and when Marius finds out that Valjean is an ex-convict he doesn’t want Cosette to see him anymore, but once he learns that it was Valjean that saved his life they come to him and ask him to come live with them. Unfortunately it is too late Valjean sees the young couple happy and slowly after that he dies.

I really liked the music in the play. The song “Look Down” marks the important moments in the play. It is the entrance song; it is present in Act II, as well as in the scene after Valjean and Cosette move to Paris. It is important to the play as it shows the lack of faith of the prisoners. “Look down, Look down, you are here until you die” does not sound too optimistic. The workers, when singing, refer to Jesus saying that he does not care as he has forgotten them. It creates a very pessimistic mood in the play and is incredibly influential. Another really sad song in the play is called “Empty Chairs and Empty Tables” and it is performed by Marius after the revolt where most of his friends die. He says “we could see the world” and he also says that those chairs and tables will be empty as all of his friends who sat at them are all dead now. The song is very depressing and gloomy, but it perfectly fits the atmosphere of the play.

The plot and the music make Les Miserables an incredible piece of Art. The play is based on realism and incorporates many important themes. It is one of those things that you have to be there to see it, and that is mainly the reason why I plan to see this play once it makes its return to Broadway. I will definitely not miss it this time.

Champions League: 1/4 (Round 2)

After this weeks game everything is now clear. Manchester United, Barcelona, Liverpool, and Chelsea London are the four teams that we will see in the Semi-Finals of 2007-08 Champions League.

One of two teams that pretty much secured their Semi-Finals spot last week, Manchester started the game with many starters on the bench. Cristiano Ronaldo as well as Wayne Rooney started off on the bench. It didn't make any difference for the strong English Premier League side as they easily beat AS Roma 1-0. The Italian side came to Manchester with no desire to even try to win, they came convinced that they will lose and return home. And that was exactly what happened. Roma didn't provide any challenge for the hosts and once again was eliminated by the "Red Devils" from the most prestigious soccer tournament in Europe. An important fact is that Roma was forced to play without their injured captain, Francesco Totti.

The second team that put themselves in a very comfortable position before this week's games is Barcelona. Barca defeated Schalke again, 1 to 0, this time playing at home in Barcelona. The game was fairly close. Barca, knowing that no damage can be done to them, played slowly and defensively and did not try to force the tempo. Schalke on the other hand, tried to construct offensive opportunities, but nothing really came out of them. The deciding shot took place in the 43. minute, right before the break, when Yaya Toure placed the ball in the net of the visitors. Barcelona advances to the Semi's where they will face a tougher challenge - Manchester United.

The biggest surprise of this year's competition, Fenerbahce Istambul took on Chelsea London. The game was played in England and Fenerbahce had a historic chance of eliminating a giant after their 2-1 victory in the first game. There was no surprises, however, Chelsea scored as early as 4. minute of the game and pretty much controlled the rest of the match scoring again in the 87. minute sending their fans into raptures. "The Blues" won this game 2-0 and they will join Manchester and Barcelona in the Semi Finals of the competition, where they will play the winner of the Liverpool - Arsenal match.

After last weeks tie, 1-1, both teams still had a chance to advance to the Semis. Liverpool played at home this week. The game itself was a drama that even Alfred Hitchcock would applaud. In the 13. minute Arsenal took the lead after Abou Diaby beat the Liverpool keeper, Pepe Reina. The fans had to wait to 30. minute of the game to see another goal, Liverpool's Sami Hyppia scored a beautiful header after a precise pass from the Corner Kick. The score was 1-1. Both teams slowed down and concentrated on not losing any more goals rather than scoring. in 69. minute Fernando Torres put Liverpool to a 2-1 lead. The last six minutes were simply a goal feast. First in 84. minute, Arsenal striker Adebayor equalized, but only a minute later L'pool's captain, Gerrard scored another goal and Liverpool was ahead, 3-2. In extra time, Liverpool knocked out their opponent by scoring again. Liverpool will face Chelsea in the Semi Finals!

The first two semi - final games will take place on April 22nd and 23rd. Liverpool will play Chelsea at home and Barcelona will host Manchester.

Jazz: A form of Art

Music is an incredibly expressive form of art and it is present in every culture around the world, it has been there since the first primitive civilization. It comes in many different types and forms. One form that I admire is Jazz. Last week I went to a Jazz concert. It took place on Thursday, April 3rd at 7pm. It was hosted in the Brooklyn Central Library in Park Slope. I was really lucky because I have got a chance to see Ben Allison whose record was just at the very top of Jazz charts. The rest of the band included Ron Horton who played the Trumpet, Michael Blake, saxophone; Steve Cardenas, Guitar; and Mike Sarin, who was the drummer. The concert was literarily “music to my ears.”

The Concert was really unbelievable. The audience was fairly small which really surprised me, maybe because it was in the middle of the week. The music was flowing, it had a rhythm. It made me forget about everything around me, I just sat there and could not take my eyes off of the band. In addition to the great entertainment that they provided the group was also humorous. Ben Allison especially, he told a couple of jokes that made everybody laugh. This created a friendly family atmosphere in the auditorium. There was also this little boy that sat in the first row with his dad. As the band was playing he was moving left and right, clearly enjoying the performance. It was not a long concert, it took about an hour from start to finish, originally they were scheduled to play for about forty minutes, but everyone encouraged them to keep going and they did.

For me personally two songs stood out in their performance. The first song is called “Language of Love” and it was written by the guitarist, Steve Cardenas. The song starts off slowly and only with string instruments and percussion. Later they are reinforced by the trumpet and guitar, which come in playing the same notes. We then see an amazing solo performance by Ben Allison. An interesting observation that I made is how those guys “live” the music. Ron Horton, while standing on the side, moved his head to the rhythm of the music. I think that was very intriguing. Then at the end the saxophone joins the rest of the band. Another piece of music that I will not forget for a long time is “Cowboy Justice.” It was simply a mess. At first the band began to play as if they have never played together before, but of course, that was on purpose. The sounds were disjointed. It began with the drummer doing a solo and then at one point everyone else joins him. That song will stay in my head because it brought back the old days. It reminded me of West Side Story, in particular the fight between the two gangs; similar type of music was played in the background then.

The Jazz Concert at Brooklyn Central Library was a great experience. It was nice to be able to see top quality jazz without having to travel far. I went there with a classmate and my girlfriend and all three of us had a good time. I wrote down the name of the album that the band released (“Real Things Run the World”) because I plan to purchase it soon. If you have a chance to go don’t even think about it just go and take someone with you.

Champions League: 1/4 Finals (first games)

Manchester United, FC Barcelona, Liverpool, and FC Fenerbahce Istambul are all close to the semi-finals of Champions Leauge of the 07/08 season.

Manchester, "The Red Devils," were drawn with a familiar Italian side, AS Roma, in the first quarter final pair. Last season, Manchester played Roma as well. The most memorable thing that comes up right away is the destruction of the Italian team at Old Trafford where they lost 7 to 1!!! The "Red Devils" emerged victorious from that encounter last season and advanced to the semi finals. This season, when the teams were drawn again, the fans of Roma had high expectations for their players, once again, however, the players did not rise to the challange. AS Roma lost their first home game, 0-2, and will have to put up a performance of their life in the next game at Old Trafford, Manchester where Manchester doesn't lose this season.

Game two, where the Spanish runner-up, FC Barcelone faced german Schalke 04 Gelserkirchen at Arena Auf Schalke in Germany, the spaniards won thanks to a goal from their 17 year old midfielder, Bojan. Barcelona needed this win, after a disasterous game in the Spanish Premier League where they lost their chance for the Championship. Schalke pretty much lost their chance for any trophy this season, and winning at Comp Nou in Barcelona will be quite a challenge.

The biggest surprise was the loss of Chelasea London to Fenerbahce in Istambul. The English side lost, 2 to 1, because they simply underestimated the Turkish champions. Chelsea, a team with the biggest bugget in the tournament, was expected to "devour" the Turks with no trouble at all. As we can see, money does not play, and the ambitious players of Fenerbahce beat the English team after demonstrating great tactical discipline. The two team will meet again in London, where it is expected that Chelsea wins and advances to the semi final, but Fenerbahce can surprise us again and eliminate the giant. This is definatelly a must-see.

Liverpool and Arsenal, two English teams were drawn against eachother for the second time in a row. Last season, Liverpool eliminated "The Gunners" and advanced to the semi-final. After the first game, where Arsenal only tied the Liverpool side 1 to 1 at home, Liverpool is again closer to the semi-finals. Arsenal demonstrates great performance when playing under pressure this season, they have won many important "last-chance" games and it will be very interesting how they motivate themselves for the second game against Liverpool.

The second set of games is scheduled for next Wednesday and Thursday, where it will be determined which teams advance to the Semis.

Over - Family Guy

Family Guy is an American animated television series about a dysfunctional family that lives in the fictional town of Quahog, Rhode Island. It was created by Seth MacFarlane for Fox Broadcasting Company in 1999. The show uses frequent "cutaway gags", jokes in the form of tangential vignettes that do not advance the story.
Family Guy was canceled once in 2000, and again in 2002, but strong DVD sales and the large viewership of reruns on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim convinced Fox to resume the show in 2005. It is the first canceled show to be resurrected based on DVD sales(wikipedia.org).

On the video we see Stewie, a diabolical child with adult mannerisms who speaks fluently with an upper-class English accent and stereotypical arch-villain phrases. Living with the family is Brian, the family dog, who is highly anthropomorphized, walks on two legs, drinks Martinis, and engages in human conversation, though he is still considered a pet in many respects.

Family guy, althought it copies "The Simpsons" in many aspects, is a classic in its category. It literarly mimicks everybody and everything without paying any attention to comments and criticisms. The show lives its own life and doesn't follow any particular story line. Randomness is a big attribute of Family Guy. The popularity of the show is immense hence the return after cancellation. The brutal sense of humor is something that some hate and oters admire, which group do you belong to?