Welcome to the Bronx

Blowout

Tommorow is the last day of classes, I can honestly say I did more work this year than in my last two years of High school. Im glad classes are finally over but that was just the battle, Finals are the war and we havent even begun finals as of yet. Many of my friends plan on getting let me just say "decent", I however, am not even partying. I have my first final on Monday and it is on 26 chapters for statistics, so Im not playing around. I feel like I have all summer to party and to jeopardize my exam grade for a night of fun is just stupid.

Analysts That Downplay War

Analysts are paid to downplay negative aspects of the war and talk up the administration's message. Their goal is to counter what many real journalists were reporting. This doesn't really surprise me considering how badly the administration has taken hits. Something had to be done to improve the view of the administration. This certainly doesn't help the view that many people hold that the government hides alot from us. This most certainly isn't right but I am not surprised.

NBA Playoffs

The NBA Playoffs begin this Saturday, April 19. The Celtics and Pistons are favored to come out of the East, even though the Cavaliers won the East last year. The West is so jumbled up the winner is too close to call. The Lakers hold the #1 overall seed but any of the other 7 teams can pull a not so "upset". I'm very excited about the upcoming playoffs although neither of my teams (New York Knicks & New Jersey Nets) made the cut.

The matchups are as followed in the East:
(1) Boston Celtics vs. (8) Atlanta Hawks
(2)Detroit Pistons vs. (7) Philladephia 76ers
(3)Orlando Magic vs. (6) Toronto Raptors
(4) Cleveland Cavaliers vs. (5) Washington Wizards


The matchups are as followed in the West:
(1) Los Angelos Lakers vs. (8) Denver Nuggets
(2)New Orleans Hornets vs. (7) Dallas Mavericks
(3)San Antonio Spurs vs. (6) Phoenix Suns
(4) Utah Jazz vs. (5) Houston Rockets

Students' Lecture Notes Infringe on Professor's Copyright

I wrote my 20 page senior thesis on copyright infringement, this however doesnt make me an expert. With that being said, in my opinion the students actual notes are not copyright infringement, its repackaging and sale is though. In order for something to fall under the fair-use umbrella the purpose and character of the use is examined. The distinct purpose of the notes is not to help students in the class but to make money, I believe this makes it infringement. There is however no right or wrong answer to this question, although rules are in place, the rulings are on a case by case basis. The ruling is ultimately up to the judge's interpretation of fair use, and if he's liberal or conservative.

Facebook

I like most of my peers, am indeed a Facebook addict. I find myself facebooking alot more than notetaking in classes. The remedy...leaving my computer at my dorm. I also suffer from a disease affecting millions of Americans known as Procrastination. I find myself up at 3am writing a paper due the following morning, well not quite writing. Because even then at 3am, Im refreshing my facebook page like some one could have possibly wrote on my wall or sent me an inbox message. The is no cure in sight for me, perhaps, I will outgrow it like asthma or old clothes. Some may say the solution is the destruction of my account with facebook, but, many of the events on campus and even school related activities are delegated by FACEBOOK!!!!!!!!!!!

Search Abortion: No Results

What stood out to me from the articles were thes two quotes "USAID denies funding to non-governmental organizations that perform abortions, or that 'actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations" and "We recently made all abortion terms stop words, as a federally funded project, we decided this was best for now." It seems as if the federal government is bullying organization, so that the will take their side on issues. Abortion is just one issue in which the government exercised its power to control the information being dispursed. Who knows when this may occur or has occurred. Another quote states "We are part of the Bush administration, so we have to make sure that all parts of the story are told, the administration's policy is definitely anti-abortion, and the administration does not see abortion as a part of family planning policy." Now this blatantly seems like an attempt to hide information that is against what the government percieves as correct. The keyword "abortion" is being restored, however, it should never have been removed. The website gave no warning at all and acting due to their personal beliefs not in the nature of freedom of speech.