Emu Tastes Freedom for a Few Hours in North Devon

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9708838/Escaped-emu-detained-by-police-after-going-on-the-run.html

Okay: you’re happy at home, sitting on your couch. It’s an early morning in the UK; you’re enjoying your coffee watching the news before work. All of a sudden there’s a knock on the door. Who could that be? You’re not expecting anyone…  You go to the door and see a four foot tall emu, looking you dead in the eye. You close the door and go back to your coffee, and the emu goes to the next house, trying to get in. Finally, one of your neighbors calls the police. Acting Sergeant Zoe Parnell and Stephen Huxtable from the Cornwall police come to catch the runaway bird. According to the Sargent, she had no beneficial training for this situation. Eventually the two officers lured the bird into a woman’s living room and… arrested it? Well, they captured it somehow. The Emu is now facing breaking and entering charges ans well as fleeing from the police. The emu, also known as Cobra, is facing life in prison (The emu was actually returned to its owner and all is well in North Devon).

 

Wouldn’t you call animal control for this sort of thing? Does Cornwall even have an animal control? Who has an emu and why? I know they’re considered farm animals, but what purpose do they serve? They don’t pull a plow or anything. Are their eggs valuable? Are they fluffy? In my experience, emus are mean. They peck at me and attack me for no reason. So I get back at them by giving them a face juuussttttt outside of their pen. Right where they can’t reach me. I hate all birds. I walked into a pet store once for cat supplies, and a parrot flew in and got caught in my hair. All birds hate me, and I hate all birds. Once there was a peacock outside my house. It was a refugee from a peacock farm a few miles away. Why would you farm peacocks? Are their eggs valuable? Are they fluffy?

Please Mark Gender: Truth Optional

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/brazil/9707693/Mother-brings-up-baby-girl-as-a-boy-for-two-years.html

 

A mother in Brazil actually convinced everyone around her that her baby girl was a boy. After having the baby, she removed the marking of female on the baby’s birth certificate and successfully registered the baby as a boy. “Samuel” was thought of as a boy for two years, until an aunt managed to take a peak and be shocked at the lie provided by the mother. Even the father and grandmother of Samuel were convinced that she was male, and no one checked until two years of Samuel’s life. The mother said she wanted her baby to be thought of as male so that Samuel would not be abused and discriminated against like she had throughout her life. It is unknown if the baby and mother lived with the father or not, so Samuel is now in foster care while a judge reviews the case and decides what will happen next.

 

Without knowing much about Brazilian culture, I understand where the mother is coming from. It’s hard being a girl sometimes. You’re expected to be sweet and obey and what not. I remember my brother refusing to let me play with him and his friends because I was a girl, and I had to be alone. But I was able to push my way into the boy group by beating most of them up and being able to burp louder than them. Did the mom do something wrong? Yeah, she lied and falsely registered her child as the opposite gender. But she meant well, and was just doing what she thought was right. I guess I think that it should be up to Samuel, if she wants to be more female allow her to be. If not, she can fight her way in with the guys. It’s hard to keep in mind though that Brazil is much different from the US. I don’t quite know the social norms there. I’m just speculating.

 

And she would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for that meddling aunt.

“Independent Reading”

Well, the book I’ve chosen isn’t stellar for the project ideas… I guess the only question that this book relates to, since it’s a fictional novel, is numero one. “Are people of the world more alike than different, or more different than alike?”. So far in the book (Erebos), these high schoolers have become addicted to a stalker computer game that they aren’t allowed to talk about to anyone, both online and in the real world. The main character, Nick, is addicted to the game like everyone else who plays it. He has become a jerk to his friends who don’t play the game, because he is up all night playing it and wants answers as to what the various quests are and who created the game and what not. I can relate this to question one, because I get addicted to games all the time. Now I’m not to the point of a crack addict like Nick is, but I do stay up all night playing some games. The book is set in Britain, so I guess that’s technically another part of the world. Teens all over can become addicted to games, making them similar all over the world.

 

Unfortunately, I have no idea as to what to do for a project. I have no art skills what so ever, and I don’t think I can do a million page essay on the first central question. I may just scrap Erebos and pick another book, because so far I’m half way through and I think it’s fairly boring. Unless in the next chapter or two kids start to over throw the government or develop super natural powers because of the game, I might rage quit and find something else to read. I suppose I could relate the game to the addictiveness of various drugs, but there aren’t any drugs in the book. Just the game. I really have no idea, unless the book suddenly gives me something to build on.