Yep. It has been a while since I wrote much of anything other than school work. And this is no exception. Having completed my math course successfully without having my head explode, I'm now in Sociology. A course which I enjoy immensely as it forms a symbiotic relationship with history. This weeks studies have focused on Societal Stratification and Class Differentiation as well as Global Inequality, the Legacy of Colonialism, Gender and Racial Stratification and the role Mass Media plays in the socializing of children and adults. I'm not going to bore you with all of those topics, just one. My opinion of the sociological construct that is the middle class.
Falling between the upper class and the lower class there are three other classes within the sociological model. These classes are labeled the upper-middle class, the lower-middle class, and the working class. Roughly 80 to 95 percent of the population can be ascribed these labels of societal stratification. A widely accepted definition of what it means to be middle class is if the household income falls between 75 and 125 percent of the nation’s median household income (Roughly 35k - 65k.)
As the gap between the upper and lower class continues to deepen, the middle classes are under intense pressure as well.The high concentration of vast wealth in the hands of a relative few, hearkens back to the feudalism of bygone eras, where wealth and power rested entirely with the land owning aristocracy. It was the emergence of the middle class in medieval Europe, in the form of merchants, craftsmen, and the priesthood that began to loosen the grip of the landed gentry. Our society has concentrated the wealth in the hands of relatively few, while at the same time weakening the middle class. The possible dangers range from minor to exceedingly dangerous. On the minor end would be a reduction of standards of living. If one cannot afford to own the newest, shiniest piece of technology, one may be disadvantaged in some respects, but can certainly continue living. Further down the scale would be lack of access to healthcare, housing, or economic security as well as other aspects of society that will have continue to exert disadvantageous pressures. At the far end of the scale would be revolution or civil war. If enough of the population living under what Marx referred to as “false consciousness” wake up and assert themselves, then massive social upheavals could result. Examples would include the French Revolution, the Servile Wars of Ancient Rome, and of course the Russian Revolution of 1917.
The middle class in my opinion serves as a safety valve of sorts for society. It gives people something to strive for, in our society this would be wealth and economic security. Without this possibility the poorest and disenfranchised have no goal to strive for, those who once held middle class status may become upset and agitated that said status was lost. In short, the middle class may be thought of as a sort of opiate for the masses. Without the hope of advancement, people would be much more likely to objectively look at their position in society and the inherent inequities of power and wealth distribution.
Schaefer, R.T. (2009) Sociology: A brief introduction (8th ed.) New York: McGraw Hill
So being who I am, I have to share this to make sure it's not just me. I am presently undertaking SCI 207 Environmental Studies. Essentially its one big happy science class with a hippy, tree hugging twist. I cannot really complain about that, as the class is actually pretty interesting and a great refresher on life sciences basics. Plus cool things like the Cambrian explosion and mass extinctions and lions and tigers and bears oh my!
Anyways, This week, one of the discussion questions was in regards to nuclear power. Here is a post written by a fellow student from the discussion boards . (Direct Cut and Paste, No Alterations):
If you had to argue the benefits of nuclear energy, they would be nuclear power plants are more safer during the last years. Better calculations risks of technical systems. The more complex a system is, the higher the likelihood of missing out certain risks. The problem is perception the waste problem has a solution the current policy is to bury-long-lived wastes in a respository that is under construction, with current technology they can be consumed. There are various risks involved when using nuclear energy as a source of power. We argue that the benefits greatly outweighing more. If this would occur there would be no way of preventing the reactor from overheating. The use of nuclear reactors to generate electricity continues to increase all over the world.
Seriously?!? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!? Let's break that paragraph down.
If you had to argue the benefits of nuclear energy, they would be nuclear power plants are more safer during the last years. Serious Grammar Nazi Alert! So your saying that reactor walls and containment systems become stronger with age?
Better calculations risks of technical systems. That's right, do not push the shiny red button, might be risks of technical systems
The more complex a system is, the higher the likelihood of missing out certain risks. Well shit Joe Bob, make it more complex, that way we miss out certain risks.
The problem is perception the waste problem has a solution the current policy is to bury-long-lived wastes in a respository that is under construction, with current technology they can be consumed. Ok, at least here there is something resembling an idea or two, they are just jumbled, intertwined, and hopelessly confused.
There are various risks involved when using nuclear energy as a source of power. At Last! A complete rational thought!
We argue that the benefits greatly outweighing more. Ummm there is more than one of you trying to type? Is that why it is difficult to make this a useful informative sentence such as, "I would argue that the benefits of nuclear energy greatly outweigh the negatives associated with its use."
If this would occur there would be no way of preventing the reactor from overheating. By Olympus!! Sure would helpful to know what exactly is causing our reactor to meltdown.
The use of nuclear reactors to generate electricity continues to increase all over the world. All right! The second cohesive thought present in this paragraph. How exactly am I supposed to respond to this fellow student in an appropriate manner? Sure I can pick it apart and make fun of it, maybe even divine some of the intent behind it, but seriously comment on it? Highly Doubtful.
Yet more random thoughts and musings from the mind of Foodie.
To Whom it May Concern:
Every one in life has something they are skilled at or have a talent for.
Everyone makes mistakes.
Unfortunately, your talent appears to be making mistakes and what's worse is, you never seem to learn from them.
To Whom it May Concern: I told you there would be at least 3 Super Bowl commercials that had monkeys. At least I won one of my bets. Stoopid Packers.
To Whom it May Concern: Lunch was great, we really have to do it more often.
To Whom it May Concern: Today is day 46
To Whom it May Concern: 6 years, 357 days, 16 hours, 29 minutes, 42 seconds.
To Whom it May Concern: The pen might indeed be mightier than the sword, but words only have as much power as one allows them to have, while a gladius thrust into your midsection is going to hurt regardless.
(Sorry bout the subtitles)
To Whom it May Concern: What would be the coolest gift? An orbital Space Cannon with plasma discharger and GPS targeting! Or you know. . . socks are cool too and probably more useful.
To Whom it May Concern:
Have we reached the tipping point over the cliff of collapse? Or is there still time to save the world from the destruction we hath wrought?
No, this time I'm not even thinking about the potential for political ruination and civilization crumbling to barbarism. Though barbarism is certainly the path of least resistance if there is world wide famine or gods forbid global warming and shit.
Yeah, Ive heard that quote as well. I don't think the exact number of meals away from anarchy we are really matters. The point is; take away all the creature comforts, deprive people of food, rest and relative safety and those wonderful, intelligent, caring, ethical, talking monkeys are going to be up in arms willing to do anything to survive. or you know, at home waiting for the government to save them.
Yeah and then the aliens show up. Dude seriously, how do we get from environmental studies class to space aliens in the span of a couple minutes?
I was speaking broadly about things like monoculture fields, our dependence upon pesticides selecting insects with immunity to survive, Monsanto's Terminator technology and domination over agribusiness, pollution of every sort, clear cutting, etc. etc. etc. you know that environmental mix and how much of our food supply is corn and soy.
First of all it doesn't matter if the aliens are cannibals because cannibalism implies you eat members of your own species, secondly If your not going to take this seriously, I'm going to have to find somebody else to help me with my homework.
What ever dude, I'll call Alf. at least he ate cats.
To Whom it May Concern: Why is the Alphabet in the order its in? No seriously, Why? Who got to decide and when?
To Whom it May Concern: The movie "The Sweetest Thing", yeah I liked it. Not sure why, but perhaps its satirical look at women and relationships, with characters that were complete caricatures and exceedingly bawdy humor. Especially the line, "How do you not know what a glory hole is?!?" or "That is the funniest thing I have ever seen in my entire life. I mean, I flew across that room. And you got fucked in the eye!" That's pure comedy gold my friend.
To Whom it May Concern: Wow, all I can say is Wow.
To Whom it May Concern:I hope the weather is nicer next week when you come for your visit.Though part of your Minnesota cold weather endurance may yet be intact, nobody really enjoys -2.
To Whom it May Concern: Hakuna Matata! At least you are out of an untenable position.
Catching up on random thoughts and musings from the mind of Foodie.
To Whom it May Concern: Today is day 39.
To Whom it May Concern: I'm so glad Starz produced Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, even if it is only a 6 episode arc designed as a stop gap measure while they recast the lead role. Spartacus is a totally kickass show! That is if you like equal parts intrigue, sex, violence, and political power plays done in fine Ancient Roman Fashion.
To Whom it May Concern:
Yes I understand that 70 is indeed numerically greater than 69 or 42, But I think your missing the point.
To Whom it May Concern: It can't rain all the time.
To Whom it May Concern: Why are these women going back? I've watched 3 episodes of Teen Mom 2 and I'm pretty sure these guys are complete and total chadbags. Well maybe Corey isn't so bad, though it is funny that MTV feels the need for subtitles in case his drawl is a bit too thick for us Yankees.
To Whom it May Concern:
This is why one should never do their homework based exclusively on information from the internetz-
I'm guessing some 7th grader somewhere received a boatload of trouble for putting Gaytard down as an answer on a biology/life sciences test. And for some reason I find that thought absolutely hilarious.
To Whom it May Concern: Henry Rollins may not be all that familiar to you, but he should be.
To Whom it May Concern: Repeating the same actions over and over while expecting different results may not be clear cut insanity, but it does come pretty damn close.
To Whom it May Concern: Sometimes police officers aren't so bad. I wonder how many are named Chad?
To Whom it May Concern: 6 years, 351 days, 17 hours, 33 minutes, and about 31 seconds.
To Whom it May Concern: Have I mentioned I like Breasts?
To Whom it May Concern: Sweet!
To Whom it May Concern:
What did I learn in class this week?
That species are going extinct at a rate 10-1000 times faster than "normal" background rates. Depending upon which scientist you ask, these rates are similar to those evidenced in the prior five mass extinctions of geological history.
Also; How to be a responsible Eco-Tourist. I jumped to the back of the book to see if there was a guide to Eco-Terrorism for the more hard core set.
To Whom it May Concern: It might be time for a batch of Papa George's Bean Soup
To Whom it May Concern: Wipeout is one of the funniest Television shows I have ever seen. Ridiculous I know. Essentially it's "Owww My Balls" from the movie Idiocracy. Presently on ABC, Thursday's at 7c/8e
To Whom it May Concern: Stoopid Cheddar Monkeys
To Whom it May Concern: Here is a bet I'd like to make in Vegas with regards to the super bowl- Who wins in a hair pulling fight Clay Matthews and his golden locks or Troy Polamalu and his Samoan Warrior Mane?
To Whom it May Concern:
Lets say I buy into the premise that in the future, Wars will be fought with robots.
I will even grant you the whole, robots only fight other robots argument.
But if they are not self replicating, or at least capable of replenishing and maintaining their population independent of human interaction, some nerdy,brilliant, yet disaffected programer will insert a subroutine that will kill us all. or you know at least maim us.
I don't know, perhaps the classic "take a chance"
So your saying the robots will be operated by tele-presence and it will be a gentleman's agreement not to use such devices against civilian targets? As opposed to all the other inventions that we expertly employ to provoke death?
Oh I see, yeah they only build these robots in deserted areas, and the fights can be televised. Seriously dude, I pretty sure that's the story behind the craptastic movie Robot Jox.
No I saw it once and that was enough. You want to learn more about your Reservation Rumbling Robots of Doom, you hunt that movie down your self.
Yeah, Netflix should have it, but trust me just go with your imagination, its bound to be better.
To Whom it May Concern: Not exactly a song stuck in my head, so much as the background soundtrack that has been playing in my mind off and on for about 2 weeks now.
To Whom it May Concern: Fenske's Wych Cult Stands Undefeated. Not bad for a bunch of space elves, with a penchant for latex, leather, whips and chains. When a national champion begins adapting his lists to reflect yours, you know you are on top of your game. And seriously, Reaver Jet Bikes rule! Combat drugs are just a nice bonus. The days when the Space Wolves or Ghost Warriors would crush Nurgle's Onions or the Tau Pansies on a regular basis wasn't that long ago.
To Whom it May Concern: Dude it was great you could make it out for gaming sunday. Seriously hope the next time isn't another decade.
To Whom it May Concern: Egypt.
To Whom it May Concern: What percentage of humanity is required for a fundamental shift in thinking? Or a fundamental shift in reality? Is such a thing really possible?
To Whom it May Concern: You know what they called the "storm of the century" in Minnesota? An Average Monday in January.
To Whom it May Concern: Seriously I love tacos! Tacos and Boobs. When I die and you go against my wishes and bury me with a headstone and stuff it better say that. He loved Tacos and Boobs.
To Whom it May Concern: Season three of Star Wars: The Clone wars is totally bad ass.
To Whom it May Concern: I just realized that I fill the requirements according to the Constitution to run for President. Who wants to be my running mate and who wants to give me money?
To Whom it may Concern: Seriously, WTF? Grabbing a gun because you were kicked out of a bar? WTF is wrong with you? Grabbing a gun to save a child or to hold off ravening hordes of looters that I can see, but because you were kicked out of a bar is just plain retarded. Thankfully no one was hurt physically, emotionally and mentally may be a different story.
To Whom it may Concern: Thanks for inviting me out for dinner and an evening of fun and excitement. Even considering what happened, it was a better evening than sitting at home.
To Whom it may Concern: Quitting smoking sucks, even with Chantix.Moral of the story: Don't ever start.
To Whom it may Concern: Stop being Crazy.
To Whom it may Concern: J-E-T-S Jets! Jets! Jets! I'm sure B is quite Happy even though the Jets had to take down The Pats to get to the AFC Championship.
To Whom it may Concern: I tried Listening to the 2 songs you told me about: The first one by Mr. Travis I had to stop before my ears started bleeding. The second by Mr. Strait was much better.
To Whom it may Concern: Deer Suck.
To Whom it may Concern: Sometimes one just needs the right soundtrack for life
To Whom it may Concern: Steaks were hella good!!
To Whom it may Concern: Illusions are sometimes better than reality, but very rarely.
To Whom it may Concern:
So this show is about a bunch of retarded chadbags and mean bitches who all hail from Jersey?
Yeah I get that it is a dramatic disaster and it's hard to look away from a train wreck.
I see the parallel with The Real World, but this is like The Real World's bastard offspring with Tony Soprano as the father and some coked up street walker.
Ok, I can see why you watch this show, it's like America's Funniest Home Videos, it's hilarious when it's happening to someone else.
I've got to get my DTF o'meter checked.
Yeah, I'll be watching it again. Stoopid Jersey Shore
To Whom it may Concern: Ever Wonder Why?
To Whom it may Concern: I cannot believe I am forced To root for the Bearsand Jay Cutler. Mr. Cutler is the Poster Child for Chadbags everywhere. That being said at least he isn't wearing green and gold, playing for the Cheddar Monkeys.
Time yet again for a collection of random thoughts and musings from the previous week.
To Whom it May Concern: I always wondered if you went commando when wearing those pants. Now I know and knowing is half the battle.
To Whom it May Concern: You can spread all the blame you want, but getting a political pundit to take responsibility for anything is an up hill battle.
To Whom it May Concern: What do school bus drivers do between the time they drop the kids off at school and pick them up?
To Whom it May Concern: I do indeed believe that you have more lines than a notebook. If you need a place to party let me know, dependent upon your mothers permission of course.
To Whom it May Concern: Example where I think the original is inferior to the cover version (From the totally kickass film "Donny Darko")
To Whom it May Concern: Idiocracy is the wave of the future.
To Whom it May Concern:First shots fired in the Second American Civil War or Lunatic Lone Gunman? I especially like the part where Gabby Giffords opponent held a fund raiser where the main draw was being able to shoot military small arms. Link. The Article is about Half way down.
To Whom it May Concern: I could sit here all day and listen to you talk about your lesbian fetish, but I really should do some work. WTF? Good thing I didn't say that aloud.
To Whom it May Concern: Your brother needs your help. He may deny it, he may run away from it, and he may make it near impossible do so, but you know he needs it.
To Whom it May Concern: How much longer do I have to listen to 89.3 the Current before I'm considered a hipster? Because, Seriously, like you know, I'm not patient and stuff.
To Whom it May Concern: Snow in Texas? Snowing as in actual accumulation of frozen precipitation upon the ground? Thought that didn't happen in the southlands. I better ask to be sure.
To Whom it May Concern: Exitus Acta Probat?
To Whom it May Concern:
No I'm pretty sure robbery falls pretty squarely under the category of morally unethical.
Yes, even if the proceeds are then dispersed to the poor and indigent. Action B does not negate the the ethical responsibility for Action A.
Because Robin Hood and his Merry Men, sounds better than Crusher Steve and his Armed Hoodlums
Look I'm saying that a bunch of bandits with the right P.R. firm can have people looking the other way as long as they get a part of that money.
To Whom it May Concern: Diversus est Bonus
To Whom it May Concern: Wii is pretty badass. Wipeout seems like a kickass show.
To Whom it May Concern: It's all right, there is always tomorrow. Hakuna Matata
