99ers: Unemployment Revisited
Two years ago, I wrote a column about the growing number of unemployed and some of the things to watch out for if you knew someone who had lost their job. Now two years on, there is a new club out there, a club no one wants to join but they may not really have a choice. 99ers are those people who have been unemployed for more than the state and federal unemployment benefits allow, that is, ninety-nine weeks. After this point, there is nothing else. Nowhere else to turn. They simply slide off the government doles, perhaps producing a slight downward trend in unemployment because they are no longer considered. Unfortunately, initial claims for unemployment have been on the rise again. We seem to be stuck in the one step forward one and a half backward situation. more »
A Change to New English
English is becoming, if it isn’t already, the lingua franca of the world. That term springs from the middle ages when French was the language of the many royal courts throughout Europe. It was not the first language that had spread to cover a large geographical area crossing linguistic and cultural boundaries. While English may not be the hardest language to learn as a second language (nor the easiest), there are some problems inherent within it due to the simple fact that English is the mutt language of Europe with influences coming from French, Latin, German, and Greek. Because of its evolution, there are a number of problems with the language. more »
History and Patriotism
I thought I had posted this one in a timely manner but better late than never.
Memorial Day Weekend is one that many people look forward to as the official beginning of summer. In addition, it is time to remember all those who have died in military service defending this country. But today, Friday the twenty-eighth of May is another anniversary. I’ll get to that in a moment.
First let me ask you a question: what does it mean to be a patriot? What is the difference between nationalism and patriotism? All these car lots with American flags flying from their cars, does that mean they are patriotic, does it mean the people who buy them are? What about the man putting up a flag against the HOA covenant? With cookouts and beach-going, how many will truly take time this weekend to remember those who have died in the past. But not just for the defense of the country. Others have been killed by our government because it was considered in the best interest for the country. more »
What Good are Computers?
Even the most sophisticated super computer, at its very heart, is simply a calculator. With all the videos, music and graphics that run across our screens, the only thing that the CPU looks at are ones and zeros—that’s it, nothing else. The CPU then moves these binary strings of numbers around to different areas of control throughout the computer, producing everything we see and hear.
In addition, computers can only do what they are programmed to do. If you were to look around, you could find software that could do just about anything you wanted. Running simulations, meteorological, medical, astronomical or mechanical is one of the computer’s fortes. Add to this the interweb and we have more information at our fingertips than at any other time in history. In a matter of seconds I can find out about rainfall in Tajikistan or the number of high school graduates who don’t know who the first president is. Anything you want to find out is at your fingertips. more »
What Kind of Education Do You Want?
What do you want from education? What should be taught in school, how should it be taught? It seems that there is a gold standard of education somewhere out there but we never really get any closer. Do we know if we are getting farther away? This is becoming an ever-more complicated world and to survive, no to live the way one should be able to live students have to learn more and more as time goes by. more »
New Identity Card
This is not one of Laskoc’s, but rather of my own. It was written for a class in German Literature in translation while we were reading Kafka. We had an option of writing a short story instead of taking the Kafka test. Even though I could have written the exam, I chose the story instead. It is rather funny that I learned more about writing fiction in this class than in either of the two creative writing classes I took. This is a short one and as always there is a PDF at the bottom for your convenience.
New Identity Card
It was a glaring day with due to both the sun and a difference. Thomas Morgath did not have to go to work so he could go to the Office of Identity and get a new identity card. He rose at the usual time because he didn’t know how to rise at a different time. He hoped to get his new card quickly so that he would have the rest of the day to himself. Since it had been a long time that he had a day off from work there was also an air of excitement and mystery because having not had any free time in so long, Thomas had no idea how he would spend it. more »
The Only Two Tips You Will Ever Need For Better Writing
Although this advice would certainly work for writing any kind of fiction, or perhaps even creative non-fiction, it is aimed at the literary style of writing. Although there are only two rules to becoming a better writer, they are somewhat involved so I will try to be both thorough and succinct.
#1-Read the best books you can get your hands on.
Yes, this does mean the classics, but so many others as well. Seek out the best writers from South America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Look beyond the walls of English Literature. See this for a small list of books you may want to look up. The main reason I read so much literary criticism isn’t to see what people think of such and such a writer or the expounding of theories, but to find new books I have never heard of before. If you truly can’t stomach reading criticism, then go to the library and look at the works referenced sections of these books. Reading, though, is where this tip gets involved. more »
Art of the Republic-Pt III
This is the final installment. I hope you have enjoyed it and there is a PDF at the bottom for your downloading ease.
Art of the Republic
A month later, I sat on the stage at one end of Patriot Square. There were a few other artists present, Halpern and Erzberger, who were high-ranking members of the Academy, and officials including Cerny, the chief of the Department of Information. The sun was nowhere to be seen, gray clouds piling up over the city. Novak had been asked if he wanted an awning erected over the painting, but he refused saying that the weather couldn’t do anything to his painting that the crowd couldn’t do as well. Whilst those officials milled about in the capacities of their duties, Milat pulled me to one side of the stage. more »
Art of the Republic-Pt II
This is the second installment of Art of the Republic. The third and final part will be posted this coming Friday along with a PDF file for your download convenience.
Art of the Republic
“I am sorry, but I must attend to this. I Have to meet someone crucial to the work at hand.”
“I understand completely. I assume that it will be sometime before I hear from you?”
“Ha, ha. Yes, back to the hermit’s life for me. Well, I must be off.” And with that Milat Novak left.
I was happy to see Milat so enthusiastic over a work, and a new major work at that, but there was something else, something underneath that forced my brows together when I was trying to dispel any malthoughts. It had flashed across his face for only an instant when Milat had read the note: fear. I got up and retrieved my coat before I had even made up my mind to follow Milat, but out the grand front entrance I saw Novak moving across the square. I had never been one to pry into the lives of my friends, especially that of Milat Novak. He was the only one I knew who was more adamant about his privacy than I was of my own. But Milat’s strange behavior had piqued not only my curiosity, but also my concern. Just as seeing Milat talk about his work had sparked the idea that would perhaps grow into one of my own, perhaps it was this other person, (his muse manifested?), that was partly or wholly responsible for Novak’s new burst of inspiration. But why then the fear? What does the artist have to fear? Failure? No one could call oneself an artist if they did not have a growing field of failures whose fruit was the compost out of which successes could grow. more »