Black Friday

Every year you see the same report on the TV, “Person trampled in (enter store here).” Frankly, I don’t see the point in going to the stores on Black Friday. Don’t get me wrong, there are great deals on basically anything out there, but I can’t justify going to the store just to become part of the mass frenzy that occurs there. The amount of security at the stores just isn’t enough to handle the influx of people and it quickly becomes out of hand.

Not only is it not a friendly environment, but it also takes forever to just get done shopping in one store unless you are one of the first people to the registers. A clear alternative to shopping in the stores would be to shop online. Shopping online gives you better deals, a peaceful environment, and no waiting in lines. There is literally no downside to doing all of your Black Friday shopping online. I believe the only reason that people go to stores on Black Friday is to be a part of the mob mentality. If people would stop being dumb when they are in a giant group then going to the stores wouldn’t be a bad experience.

Video Games & Violence

My topic for this argumentative essay is going to be the misconception of the influence video games have on violent behavior. I chose to do this topic because I often play video games and don’t like the way people view the gaming community. More often than not, the people that avidly play video games are perfectly normal people. The violent people are the ones that already had some sort of issue and it was just not noticed.

What I hope to find out about this topic is that I am correct in my assumptions. I would like to reassure myself that video games aren't the sources of evil that the news makes them out to be. I would also like for other people to realize that playing video games is just like any other hobby, it consumes time and is not necessarily good for you.

Compare/Contrast Essay Summary

My compare and contrast essay is about the similarities and differences between PCs and Macs. Throughout my essay I point out how Macs tend to focus more on artistic aspects whereas PCs are able to supply you with everything else that you may need. I start off by giving basic definitions of what each of them are and their basic functions. Although this essay both compares and contrasts, I tend to lean in the favor of PCs as I see them to be far superior.

For the first three paragraphs I talk about Macs. I go into multiple subjects such as the security, the sacrifices made to get this security, the main uses for the Mac, and also other basic uses for them. The second half of the body for this essay is about PCs. Just like I did with the Macs, I go into detail about the security features, the main uses, and the other uses. I also talk about the customization of each as well as the target consumers. For my conclusion I did a basic summary of each and restated which I thought was best.

TED Talk: Classical Music

In Benjamin Zander’s TED talk “The transformative power of classical music,” he presents the idea that it is not us who are voluntarily acting in a way to classical music, but that it is the music that is making us act that way. Zander starts his talk by reminding us of two things, the first being what people who have just started playing sound like. The second thing is to what group of people we belong to in terms of the amount of classical music we listen to. Zander then goes on to talk about how as a conductor, his job is to get his people to be at their best and inspire them. He talks about how his goal in life isn’t money or power, but the number of shining eyes he can get while utilizing classical music.

This TED talk was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. Zander was pretty funny and did a great job portraying his views on classical music. I liked how he started off by addressing how different people respond differently to classical music. By doing this I think that he was able to connect more with his audience. When he started to talk about leadership and said, “It’s one of the characteristics of a leader that he not doubt for one moment the capacity of the people he’s leading to realize whatever he’s dreaming,” I feel like a he made a good point in that if you don’t believe in people, then they will never be able to meet your expectations. This TED talk was actually entertaining and I wouldn’t mind watching more talks by Zander.

TED Talk