Iraq Border Blast

I recently read an article on the new york times website concerning the recent activity on the Iraq-Syria border. It says that U.S. military operations have gone into Syrian land, and both Syria and Iran condemn this. The Syrian news channel reported an attack of four US helicopters on a civillian building that was under construction, resulting in eight deaths. The US confirmed a special operations mission in the area, but would give no more details. Syrian officials are calling this "criminal and terrorist aggression" and call it "a war crime". I do agree that it could be a war crime because I'm pretty sure this whole debacle we are in right now with Iraq does not include going into Syria unannounced and killing innocent civillians. I wouldn't go insofar as calling it a terroristic threat, but they put up a pretty good point about how it doesn't seem like a mistake. I think the US really has to watch their boundaries in Iraq because we already have enough enemies, and one war is enough.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/28/world/middleeast/28syria.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

The Path

Polaroid Abandons Instant Photography

The article I read was about how the company Polaroid is going out of the instant photo business. They were the original inventors of the polaroid camera, which was so popular due to it's instant photo feature where it spits out the photo moments after you take it, and is visible a while later. They filed for bankruptcy in 2001, and said that they will still be manufacturing film until the end of 2009. I think this is a pretty interesting story because it shows how old companies are having trouble keeping up with new technology, and it seems many like Polaroid are filing bankruptcy and are having to shut down.



http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/08/polaroid-abandons-instant-photography/?scp=4&sq=photography&st=cse

Buddhism in Japan Dying Out

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/14/world/asia/14japan.html?_r=1&scp=4&sq=buddhism&st=cse&oref=slogin

When I think of major religions of the world, one that comes to my mind is Buddhism, but according to New York Times writer Norimitsu Onishi the religion is dying out. Many Japanese Buddhists are pretty relaxed in their studies of the religion, and Onishi states that the only really major Buddhist tradition still left around is the burial ceremony. It's mainly becoming less popular because people find that they focus more on the dead than the living. Also, Buddhist priests are becoming afraid that no one will be there to replace them when they stop preaching. Low birth rates in the heavily Buddhist rural areas are also contributing to the decreasing popularity of this religion. A question one could raise from this article is what religion would replace Buddhism in Japan? If Christianity were to take over, that would lead to a more centralized world, and would probably create an even better relation between the U.S. and Japan.

Would Odysseus be a modern day hero?

I do think that Odysseus would be considered a hero in the modern day world. Although he does lie, and has a problem with pride, so do our modern day heros. Many heroes the population at large look up to such as sports stars and politicians lie on a daily bases such as baseball players who take steroids and politicians being sneaky in general. Odysseus has to lie in The Odyssey when he is concealed in the fog that Athena creates for him to get into the palace of Alcinious. He also has to lie and hide his feelings/conceal his identitiy while the bard is singing of the sacking of Troy. Another point in time he lies is when he tells Polyphemus that his name is Nobody, but that lie in turn leads him safely out of the Cyclops' grasp. Some lies such as the last one do lead for the greater good but others not so much.
Odysseus does also have a very strong pride. One example of his pride is when he so dearly wants to hear the siren's song that he lets his crew tie him up on his ship, just to listen to it. This could have worked out very poorly for him if he got free because he would go crazy on his crew. He overcomes this still and does not go crazy on his crew. Also his pride gets him into trouble when he starts yelling back to Polyphemus when they are escaping. He scorns him, and Polyphemus starts throwing boulders at him. This is comparable to trash-talking in sports like football, and sometimes you can get a penalty for it. Chad Johnson has pride and is cocky like Odysseus, but he is also a hero to lots of people even though he has very colorful touchdown celebrations.