Global Warming Videos

The two videos we watched seemed to be quite different. The Doomsday Called Off videos do not think that global warming is caused by humans, unlike Al Gore. They say that cities are getting warmer, but not because of greenhouse gases. The cities are getting warmer because of the surroundings. The more buildings around, the more heat kept in the cities. Also, the scientists in the Doomsday videos believe that sea level has gone down, and they present this by showing a tree on the beach that could not possibly still be standing if the sea level was rising. Gore believes that sea levels are rising and one day Manhattan, Florida, and other states and countries will be under water. Gore is not a scientist, how could he possibly know that sea levels are going up? He probably is working with scientists, but the scientists in the Doomsday videos seemed a lot more credible than Gore. The scientists in the Doomsday video also say that Antarctica cannot possibly be melting, unlike Gore who says it is. The scientists say the air is way too cold; if the climate got warmer it would make Antarctica grow because it would just melt and immediately freeze due to the air being so cold.

In my opinion, Al Gore does not seem too credible when he was speaking with Charlie Rose. Gore said that there is no debate from scientists about global warming because it is happening, but that's not the case considering the scientists in the Doomsday video say it's not happening as fast as people think. Gore talked about all of these people he talked to, but they were all "off the record." That seems a little fishy to me. In my opinion, Gore's interview did not impress me too much, and I thought the Doomsday video was very impressive.

Chapter 9

Chapter 9 basically focused on cell phones and e-waste, hence the title of the chapter! Slade talked about how cell phones contribute the most e-waste in the world. Slade noted that in 2001 the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition estimated that the amount of electronic consumer waste entering America's landfills that year would be between 5 to 7 million tons. Slade states that the lack of durability of electronic products grows from a combination of psychological and technological obsolescence. Slade doesn't really talk much about e-waste in the beginning of the chapter because much of his focus is on cell phones and the use of them. Slade presents Colin Campbell, a sociologist of consumerism. Campbell talks about neophilia, which is the love of new things. He presents three varieties of neophiliacs. The first kinda acquires new products and discards older ones in order to sustain a pristine self-image. The second type are people who crave the newest product lines and the very latest technology. The third category are people who are hypersensitive to the latest styles, which creates new wants. These neophiliacs describe much of Americans today. Slade also mentions that cellular phones are taking over landline telephones today, which is very true. Many people like the fact that they can take their phones with them wherever they go and can use them whenever they need to. Landlines cannot be used outside of the home. The last few pages of the chapter talk about what can be done to reduce e-waste. Most countries have the Basel Convention which constricts the flow of toxic e-waste to Asia, but America does not have that yet. It states that America brides the custom agents so that the e-waste can get through customs. Americans need to be informed more about e-waste and its effects in order for anything to change.

I know Slade was trying to get his readers to understand why there is so much e-waste, but I don't think he talked about e-waste enough. He presented e-waste in the last couple pages of the book and that was about it. He should have talked a lot more about e-waste, and presented us with a solution to the problem we have.

Chapters 7 & 8 summary

Chapter 7 starts off talking about personal computer emulation and miniaturization. IBM sales soared and made the competition obsolete. The IBM was faster and they started producing them smaller because the previous computers were extremely large. The PDP-8 minicomputer was the first to have integrated circuits ever used in computers. DEC was the producer of the PDP-8 and it was very successful. After the emulation and miniaturization section, the book gets into talking about the death of the slide rule. In 1935 John Atanasoff began to contemplate a digital computer. Basically the computer took over the slide rule by doing calculations faster and more accurately. Ted Hoff suggested the central processing unit be put on a single chip. After the computer came the hand held calculater which was quite popular in the 70s. At the end of the chapter was video games and the pin ball machine. The video games slowly made the pin ball machine obsolete because they were more action packed and fun to play. Pin ball was very popular when it first came out but video games made it fizzle out. Atari and Nintendo were the new crazes of the video game world.

Chapter 8 talked about the cold war and how the USSR basically stole all of the technology ideas from the USA. The tactic was espionage. One of their satellilites failed because it was equipped with stolen American computer chips. The Soviets were using stolen information and technology from countries in order to survive because they did not have the technology to survive on their own. This chapter was all about how the Soviet Union had stolen technology and information.

Reaction to Dr. Murphy's Presentation

Dr. Murphy's presentation was very informative, and I thought it was a lot better than Dr. Reed's presentation. His presentation was about e-waste and it was tied to obsolescence. We throw so many electronic components away which leads to e-waste. This waste seeps into the soil and makes the soil polluted, which is harmful to humans. If there weren't obsolescence then people would not have as much electronic waste. 

This presentation also tied to oil with the energy that is wasted everyday. Oil is in everything and the electricity we use uses oil to power. 

Dr. Murphy talked about Japan a lot in his presentation and how Japan is trying to manage waste better. He told us that since 2001, TV and appliances must be disassembled and processed. Japanese must recycle their bottles and cans. They no longer allow direct landfills, the trash is either reprocessed or incinerated. They also convert waste to energy. Japan is trying to create a better environment and be self-sustaining on waste.

Dr. Murphy also talked about many laws and policies that Japan has to reduce disposal of toxic waste. One of these laws was Promotion of Effective Utilization of Resources Law. There are many other that he mentioned but I cannot remember what every one of them were. 

With all of the waste disposal that we are creating we face major pollution in the soil, which in turn is in our food that is grown in that soil. The toxic waste that is in the air is harmful to our health and that could lead to major health problems in that future. Another problem that everyone is talking about now is global warming. Some of the metals released in the soil and react with water. When it rains it can cause the metals to explode or catch on fire which releases more toxins in the atmosphere.

Dr. Murphy's presentation was a lot better than Dr. Reed's, and I thought it was very informative, but he talked a lot about Japan and I would have rather have heard what is going on here in America.

Made to Break

Many themes seem to converge in the text of Made to Break. Throughout the chapters that we have read so far there seems to be two very similar advances that stuck out. One was radio. It went from strictly AM broadcasting to FM, which is what everyone uses still today. AM radio did not even compare to FM. AM has a bunch of static and the quality is not good at all. FM is clear and sounds great! AM radio history compared to FM.
Another item that was used over another was nylon. It replaced silk. Nylon was less expensive and was made very durable at first. Wallace Carothers created Fiber 66, also known as nylon. This new innovation made silk not wanted as much. Nylon was cheaper and was "new." People seem to like new items more than the old. If there is a new fashion out there everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon and try it out. This is similar to radio because FM radio was the newer and better invention. People wanted to listen to FM more because it was much better to listen to and comprehend. The whole book is about newer technologies making the older ones obsolete, and these two innovations show that well.
Slade does well talking about the different technologies that were created and replaced, but he uses a lot of unnecessary information. I am more interested what products were replaced, not the history of the people in history. He also talks a lot about different authors and people in history. He references a lot of different authors that wrote about the same thing he is trying to present. I believe that he trys to back up his information too much. It is good that he does it, but he does it a lot and too often. He just needs to focus more on obsolescence and not so much on the people.

Topic for proposal

For my proposal topic I want to focus on Going Green. I want to show how our habits right now are not good for the environment, and that if we don't start doing something that our world will be in a downward spiral. I have sort of a working thesis right now: If people do not start taking care of the environment and realize that they are emitting harmful waste, then the world will deteriorate and the carbon footprint will increase dramatically.
I will show all the bad things we are doing to the environment, and that if we do not start taking action what will happen to our world. I will present actions that we can start taking to improve the quality of our environment and make our world a better place to live.

Sources:

Dwyer, Todd. "Our 15-Day Green Adventure." 23 Oct 2008. ReGeneration. 25 Oct 2008
.

Go Green Initiative. 2007. Go Green Initiative. 25 Oct 2008 org/>.

"Go Green! Monthly Newsletter." 2008. United States Environmental Protection Agency.
25 Oct 2008 .

FGCI

I believe that having FGCI here at the university is going to change a lot of things campus wide. Listening to Dr. Reed speak was quite motivational. He gave us the cold hard facts and showed us what was being done on campus. When he told us that some lights stay on all day and night it floored me. I immediately thought that that is our money being wasted. We the students have to pay for a lot of the energy used here with our tuition money. That makes me mad. Why should we have to pay for someone not turning off a light? Shouldn't something be done about that? The best solution would be to put in motion lights. Then the lights will turn off if there is no one around. It turns the light off and saves a lot more energy than anyone would think. I think the Green Initiative is an excellent idea for the campus and also for our environment. It will get students involved and teach them about the environment and what we can do to make a difference. If we don't start saving energy now, our world will detrioate.
Dr. Reed's speech made me want to get involved in the FGCI. In my cottage I am making my roommates recycle and I have asked them to turn off lights and the TV when they are not in use. Even though we do not have to pay for the electricity, it is still wasting energy and that is not good. I also started saving my water bottles and just filling them up with tap water instead of constantly buying more cases of water. I am trying to do my part in helping the environment, and I hope this speech led others to do the same.
This speech correlates quite a bit with the themes we are studying, especially obsolescence. If we keep throwing items away and not recycling then eventually they will be no more, because wasting energy and electricity makes it harder for manufacturers to create the items. Everything coincides. We could stop wasting so much oil as well. If new, more efficient cars are created then the need for oil will lessen, and we will have more oil to use elsewhere. We can do our part little by little to help the environment and save our world!

Obsolescence in my life

Throughout my life I have experienced quite a bit of obsolescence, but the one that I think I have experienced the most is cell phones. I have had a cell phone since I started driving at age 16. We have a 2 year contract with Alltel so every 2 years I get to renew my contract and upgrade my phone. The phone could be working perfectly fine, but I want a newer and better one! Sometimes my phone has broken and I have had to get a new one before the contract is up. That cost money but I got a new phone so the other phone became obsolete. Many people experience this. I don't know many people that don't have cell phones. If it is time for an upgrade they get a newer, more stylish phone. It has to work well and have a lot of features or people don't really want to buy them.
This obsolescence isn't always a bad thing though. Technology is always changing and it is usually better when it changes. Cell phones have really advanced over time. Most cell phones these days have internet, email, cameras, etc. People like these features on their phones because it is always there when they need it. It's "convenient". Americans these days are always looking for easy and convenience in technology. Pretty soon people will be able to do everything from there phone, even their jobs! This is why obsolescence isn't a bad thing.
I have also experienced obsolescence in clothing. My style always changes when there are new fashion trends. The styles that aren't in anymore just sit in my closet or I give them away. They can be perfectly good clothes, but if I don't like them then I don't want them! I buy new 'cooler' looking clothes so I look trendy and fashionable. This is what most young Americans also do. I give my clothes to Salvation Army or Goodwill, so I do not technically throw them away and they may get wore down before they are thrown away, but it is still obsolescence in my eyes.

Chapter 2 theme and reaction

Made to Break is very interesting to me! I never want to stop reading it even though I have to! Chapter 2 brought some things to my attention that I had no idea even happened. I think the basic theme for this chapter was how psychological obsolescence took over the manufacturing of cars in the early years of production. The manufacturers changed models often to satisfy their customers that tune into the customers styles and likes. The Model T had quite a bit of competition in this aspect. Henry Ford had many manufactures trying to make his Model T obsolete, and it worked. Henry could not make the model of his car work with the styles that many consumers were wanting. He struggled a lot throughout his manufacturing days. This was surprising to me. I did not know that Henry Ford had such a hard time selling his models of cars. He did try to make his model the way people wanted them at that time, but all of his models just weren't working. It surprises me that he could not get his model more stylish. The psychological obsolescence focuses the attention of the consumer on the visual aspects of various products, and the Model T was not what consumers were attracted to at the time. GM and other car manufactures came out with cars that were more appealing to the consumers and that caused Ford to kind of fizzle out for a bit. They were not making cars that women liked and they were not classy and stylish for the people who could afford the cars. Those people wanted to flaunt their cars and show that they were stylish and in tune to the styles of the times. Basically the chapter was all about how Ford couldn't keep up with the changing times, and how psychological obsolescence took over the manufacturing market.

What The Prize means to me

The Prize is a very interesting book. The three basic themes I got from the book were the how oil has been found and maintained throughout the world, the people who were involved with oil, and how oil has impacted our lives and the lives of many other people throughout history.

The book started off by finding oil in Pennsylvania. Oil was initially used for light, but now is a huge asset to our every day lives. As soon as word was out that oil had been found, the oil industry boomed with people trying to start up businesses and maintain a fortune. Oil kept surfacing in many places throughout the U.S. and eventually many places throughout the world. Many businesses came about as oil was being found. Standard Oil was the biggest player and maintained that position for many years. Oil had to have a way to travel and in the beginning it was by train on the railroads, but eventually it turned to oil tankers used to ship the oil across seas. Texas was a huge success for oil throughout history, but it also caused a lot of conflict between the various oil companies.

Finding oil was something that many people wanted to do in their lives. It meant money and was called "liquid gold." There were many companies throughout history that contributed to the oil boom. The biggest player in history was Standard Oil, and the founder of that was John Rockefeller. Another key player in the Standard Oil business was Walter Teagle. He was head of Standard of New Jersey. He played a huge role throughout the history of oil. Shell was another big player in the oil business. Marcus and Samuel Samuels were the founders of Shell. After awhile Shell merged with Royal Dutch to make Royal Dutch Shell. Henri Deterding was a major player in Royal Dutch Shell. Those are just a few of the major companies in the early years of oil, but oil has certainly come a long way from that. All of these man named were wealthy man from oil and were huge players who basically made oil what it is today.

Without oil our lives would be pretty bland. Oil was first used in lighting and then became used in almost anything we use today. Oil is used in almost all of our every day products and without it we would be lost. Transportation would be much slower. We would be in a dark world. Many of the cleaning products we use would be non-existent unless they were made from something other than oil. Oil is something that many people take for granted and without it we wouldn't be where we are today.

The Prize basically shows how greedy and selfish people can be when something as powerful as oil in put out on the market. Many of the man were manipulative and played "dirty" in the oil industry. It really showed the true colors of many people throughout history. Many of these men were very wealthy and I think they may have taken that for granted sometimes.

Chapter 14 summary

This chapter had a lot going on. Enjoy!!

Henri Deterding rented the property of Achnacarry Castle for a month. Joining him were Walter Teagle, head of Standard Oil of New Jersey; Heinrich Riedemann, Jersey’s chief man in Germany; Sir John Cadman of Anglo-Persian; William Mellon of Gulf, and Colonel Robert Stewart of Standard of Indiana. This meeting was to be kept a secret but it was leaked out. They met to search for a solution to the dilemmas of over production and overcapacity in their industry. They wanted a formal treaty for Europe and Asia to bring order, divide markets, stabilize the industry, and defend profitability. The flow of Russian oil brought the men to Achnacarry. The price war had gotten out of hand and turned into bitter global warfare, prices were collapsing, and none of the oil companies could feel secure in any market. A concordat was the objective of the oil men of Achnacarry.
The Hand of the British Government
The British government was prodding and pushing the companies toward collaboration in the pursuit of its own economic and political goals. Sir John Cadman was the successor to Charles Greenway as the chairman of Anglo-Persian. He chose to set up joint ventures with established companies and divide the markets with them, making an arrangement to pool markets and facilities in India with Shell as well as Burmah, which was Anglo-Persian’s second-largest shareholder after the British government. The Admiralty feared the Anglo-Persian might be absorbed by Shell, which would go against the most basic tenets of government policy. They thought the tensions might lead to pressure on the government to sell its holdings in Anglo-Persian. This would be bad for the Royal Navy and not good at all for the Exchequer.
Winston Churchill, Chancellor of the Exchequer, played a pivotal role. He came to the conclusion that combination was the best policy, not to mention the cheapest. He told the Committee on Imperial Defense, “The alternative to the proposed working arrangement was for the Anglo-Persian Oil Company to fight for the market in Africa.” The government gave its firm support to Cadman’s efforts to form his African “alliance” with Shell.
“The Problem of the Oil Industry”
The two weeks at Achnacarry resulted in a seventeen-page document, not signed, called the “Pool Association.” It was better known as the Achnacarry or “As-Is” Agreement. It summarized the “problem of the oil industry”, which was overproduction, the effect of which “has been destructive rather than constructive competition, resulting in much higher operating costs…Recognizing this, economies must be effected, waste must be eliminated, the expensive duplication of facilities curtailed.”
The heart of the document was: each company was allocated a quota in various markets—a percentage share of the total sales, based upon its share in 1928. A company could only increase its actual volumes as the total demand grew, but it would always keep to the same percentage share.
Absent from the Agreement was the Soviet Union. Even though Deterding and Teagle disliked doing business with the Soviet Union, the major companies reached an understanding with the Russians in February 1929, which gave the Soviet Union a guaranteed share of the British market. The agreement explicitly excluded the domestic U.S. market, in order to avoid violating American antitrust laws.
Many “fringe” players in the oil firms did not hesitate to nibble away at the market share of the major companies. Seventeen American companies combined to form the Export Petroleum Association, which would jointly manage their oil exports and allocate quotas among them. They were acting under the Webb-Pomerene Act of 1918, which allowed U.S. companies to do abroad what the antitrust laws did not permit them to do—come together in combination—so long as the combination’s activities took place exclusively outside the United States. But the association never attained the critical mass and they could not come to satisfactory agreement on prices and quotas. There were too many producers and too much production outside the “As-Is” framework, and in the surge of uncontrollable production, the Achnacarry Agreement was washed away. The oil companies began attacking one another’s markets once again.

Discord Within “Private Walls”
Standard of New Jersey, Shell, and Anglo-Persian tried to reformulate on alliance in 1930. The revised the “As-Is” understanding in the form of a new Memorandum for European Markets. The system proved ineffective again.
By 1931 Jersey grew disenchanted with unworkable global alliances. John Cadman stood up before the entire membership of the American Petroleum Institute to declare that “the principle of ‘As-Is’” has “become the keystone of cooperation in international petroleum trading outside the United States.”
A new version of the “As-Is” was created. It stated the Heads of Agreement for Distribution, which “should be used as a guide to representatives in the field for drawing up rules for local cartels or local Agreements.” The initial adherents to the Heads included Royal Dutch/Shell, Jersey, Anglo-Persian, Socony, Gulf, Atlantic, Texas, and Sinclair.
Being as unstable as the “As-Is” agreements became much more effective with the Draft Memorandom from 1934 on. In early 1938, Jersey gave verbal notice of termination of the “As-Is” agreements. Any surviving “As-Is” activities came to an end in September 1939 with the outbreak for World War II.
The Mexican Battle
The point of dispute in Mexico was described in paragraph 4 of Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution of 1917, which was the clause that stated that underground resources belonged not to those who owned the property but to the Mexican state.
President Plutarco Elias Calles ordered General Lazaro Cardenas to prepare to set the oil fields on fire in the event of a U.S. invasion.
The largest foreign oil company was Mexican Eagle. It was responsible for 65 percent of Mexico’s total production. The American companies produced another 30 percent. The companies did not was to risk new investments in the face of the unsettled conditions in the country, they just wanted to maintain what they had. Production fell drastically.
Cardenas was to extend government control over the oil industry.
On March 16, 1938 the oil companies were officially in a rebellion. On March 18, Cardenas told his cabinet that he intended to take over the oil industry. It was better to destroy to oil fields than let them be an obstacle to national development, he said.
Mexican Eagle had the most to lose. It was controlled by Royal Dutch/Shell Group and its stockholders were largely British. The British government took a stand against Mexico. It insisted that the properties be returned. Mexico severed diplomatic relations.
Nazi Germany became Mexico’s number one petroleum customer with Fascist Italy next. Japan was also a major customer.
In a military crisis, production in the Latin American countries would be essential to Britain. When it came to oil Mexico was far more important to Britain than the United States.
“As Dead As Julius Caesar”
After outbreak of the war in Europe, interests of the expropriated American oil companies and of the United States government diverged more sharply. In the event of American entry to the war, the U.S. government wanted access to Mexican oil supplies. The expropriation was the major obstacle to cooperation with Mexico. U.S. Ambassador Josephus Daniels to Roosevelt that there was no sense trying to restore and defend a status “as dead as Julius Caesar.”
Mexican Eagle and Shell did not settle with Mexico until two years after the war’s end in 1947.
The Mexican expropriation was the biggest trauma that the industry had experienced in many years. The 1938 nationalization was seen as one of the greatest triumphs of the revolution. Mexico was the complete master of its oil industry, and Pemex would emerge as one of the first and most important of the state owned oil companies in the world.

Short Essay Intro and Sources

Here is my introduction to my paper. Tell me what you think!!! My thesis and counter arguments are in italics.

Throughout history oil prices have fluctuated, but no fluctuation compares to the one we are experiencing now. Gas prices have skyrocketed to over $4 a gallon for regular unleaded fuel. In 2003, when many current college students were given the privilege to drive, gas prices were just above $1.50 per gallon. Today that is cheap, but even then that was a high price. Many people have tried to come up with alternatives to gasoline, mainly because many oil experts think oil is at its peak and are afraid it is going to run out. Oil is a huge product and is used in almost everything we use today. Some products that have oil in the them are antiseptics, aspirin, crayons, carpets, detergents, food packaging, panty hose, toothpaste and yarn just to name a few. If oil is depleted then many everyday items that people use will no longer be available. Electric cars, hybrids, even ethanol fuels were created as alternatives to gas, but none of them have surfaced and stuck as of now. There are many pros and cons to all of these different cars and fuels. Which alternatives will be the best to use other than gasoline? Are any of these actually efficient or is there a “catch” to all of them? We are going to look at which fuels and automobiles will be the best alternatives to gasoline. We will also look at the carbon footprint to see what our automobile emissions are doing to the environment and what we can do to help make our world a better and safer place to live in this time of financial hardship.

Dabek, Bart. Solar Powered Cars. 23 Mar 2008. AboutMyPlanet.com. 15 Sep 2008

aboutmyplanet.com/science-technology/solar-diy-car-kit/>.

If diesel engines are more efficient, why do most cars have gasoline engines?. 1998-2008.

HowStuffWorks. 15 Sep 2008 .

Individual Emissions-Personal Emissions Calculator. 9 Sep 2008. Environmental Protection

Agency. 15 Sep 2008

html>.

Legislation Mixes Drilling and Plug-In Hybrids. 19 Sep 2008. HybridCars.com. 21 Sep 2008

html>.

Newman, Rick. The Pros and Cons of 8 Green Fuels. 11 Jan 2008. U.S. News & World Report.

15 Sep 2008

pros-and-cons-of-8-green-fuels.html>.

News and Information About Hybrid Vehicles. 24 July 2008. U.S Department of Energy and

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 15 Sep 2008

hybrid_news.shtml>.

Sony Pictures Presents: Who Killed the Electric Car?. Sony Pictures. 15 Sep 2008

sonyclassics.com/whokilledtheelecticcar/electric.html>.

Short Essay Ideas

For my short essay I decided that I would like to focus on topic number 2. I believe that it will be very interesting viewing all the alternate ideas for the future in the automobile business. There are many different fuels out there that people have tried to use and I am going to research and see which ones have been and could be most effective. I would like to look at what the automobile companies are doing considering many people are not buying cars much anymore (or at least the bigger cars). How are these companies effected by the high gas prices? What are they doing to change this? I will also look at the automobile companies throughout the world to determine who is doing the best on selling and what their tactic is.

I would also like to look at what is happening with diesel vehicles with the prices of diesel also skyrocketing. How is this effecting farmers and truck drivers who are the major sources of our food? How do diesel powered vehicles differ from the gasoline powered vehicles?

What are people doing other than driving? Is there alternatives to the gas inflation? Are people buying different kinds of cars that do not necessarily need gasoline? I want to look at what cars are being developed that do not need to use gasoline to work. Is solar power an option? What about batteries?

I feel this topic will be interesting to research and I think I may find out some things that I do not know at this time that could be beneficial.

"There Will Be Blood" and The Prize

"There Will Be Blood" is definitely an interesting movie! In the beginning, seeing how dangerous oil drilling was in the late 1800's early 1900's was intense. Many men lost their lives working down in the wells before there were actual mechanical drills. Daniel Plainview, the main character, is just another man searching for oil in order to compete with Standard Oil. He turned out to be portrayed as a very greedy man. It seemed as if the oil business had many greedy men in search for lots of money. They sure did get it though!!! We ended the movie in suspense only seeing the beginning of a very heated fight. That made me want to go out and rent it to see the rest!

The Prize and "There Will Be Blood" tied together well. In the movie and also the book we see the struggle to find oil in The United States. Once the oil is found we see the race at who gets to own and manage the wells. The biggest connection that I saw in the movie, as stated above, was the Plainview was trying to find land that Standard had not found yet, just like in the book with all the different oil companies trying to compete with Standard. Plainview and his son H.W. seemed like a deceiving pair, like many oil men in the book including Rockefeller. Plainview seems to not care much about anything other than the oil. That's how most of the oil men seem to be. Basically, if this movie were non-fiction, it would be a great example of how the oil business was early on.

I have not yet rented the movie, but once I do I would like to see if Plainview was successful in his business or if his failed like many others. At the rate that he is going in the movie I do not see him being very successful. He causes a lot of controversy and that does not help to have a successful business in any workplace.

Assignment #1

The movie "Oil, Smoke and Mirrors" made me think a lot about our government and the way they handle certain situations. The movie started off talking about oil and how it is peaking, and then went into 9/11. I feel the movie focused on 9/11 a little too much, but brought up some very interesting points the associate oil and 9/11.

Basically, the men were saying how we needed a way to get into the Middle East to get oil and 9/11 was the perfect excuse. How could the government make up such an enormous excuse to get oil? Many people died in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center Towers. Those are lives that the government could have probably saved if they had taken the proper steps. One of the men stated that we knew about the attacks an hour and a half before the plane hit the pentagon. The question is why didn't we try to stop that plane from hitting the pentagon in the first place? I feel if the government really wanted to, they could have prevented the planes from hitting the pentagon and possibly even the second tower that was hit. A tragedy this large did not need to be a reason for us to go over and start a war with Afghanistan just so we could get over there and get oil. Yes, we somehow needed to get over there and get oil obviously, but did the excuse have to be of that magnitude?

Many of the men interviewed in this movie were not American, but some of the things they stated made me think a lot about what the government does to keep us safe. Many American's have died, in the attacks and fighting for our country. Wouldn't you think that the American Government would want to save as many lives as they could and not risk so many. I know there are other reasons for the "War on Terror", but could 9/11 have been staged? Could the American Government pull off such a vicious stunt? These are many questions I am pondering after watching "Oil, Smoke and Mirrors".