Quarter 2 Post 7

Well, this book is getting pretty interesting. Joe and Sam are working to complete their first comic book, The Escapist. They've hired Sam's friend Jules and his roommates to work on the content, but it's up to Joe and Sam to create the cover. The Escapist is a huge man, wearing a tight midnight blue top (long-sleeved) and long midnight blue tights. Emblazoned on his top is a golden skeleton key. He is fighting against the forces of the Iron Chain, who imprison people for evil. Sam made this up after walking by his father's broken dream, a stage where he never perfomed.

Quarter 2 Post 4

Let's see... where did I leave off... oh yeah, Joe and Sam were trying to come up with characters. They go to Jules and his brother's apartment (called Palazzo Studios) to brainstorm. Joe scales a fire escape to try to enter the building (it's locked) and in the process sees a woman in her bed. Jules, the perv that he is, pays Joe 3 dollars to draw it for him. Joe, clever devil that he is, draws it, but leaves out all the "inappropriate" parts. When Jules protests, Joe says "That's all I can remember for 3 dollars." I like that there is some comic humor to this tale. Once the three are in the building, Sam gets an idea. The Escapist is born. Joe draws a quick sketch, and then Sam starts a backstory. The Escapist is Tom Mayflower, an engineer on the set of The Mystical Mysterioso. When The Mysterioso is shot during an act, Tom has to replace him for the last trick. After the performance, Tom goes to Max (The Mystical Mysterioso)'s bedside in his apartment underneath the theater. Max tells a story of how he was kidnapped as a boy, but he was saved by a man from the League of the Golden Key. Max gets a key and is told to liberate others. He then proceeds over the years to find Alois Berg, Omar, and Miss Blossom, all chained in their own way to bondage at the hands of the League of the Iron Chain. This gives Tom (The Escapist) a "why". The "why" is so important to Sam because otherwise a superhero is nothing. I think there is some truth to that statement. If someone is just doing random acts without a reason, wouldn't it seem strange? I think so.

Annotated Bibliographies!

Ford, Peter. "Behind Bad Baby Milk, An Ethical Gap in China's Business." The Christian Science Monitor 17 Sep 2008

The author, dedicated writer for The Christian Science Monitor, comments on the dramatic happening in China. Milk buyers were boosting the milk with melamine, a hazardous chemical, to increase the amount of protein. The buyers would purchase milk from Chinese farmers and add the melamine before selling it to the large corporations. One major company that unknowingly bought the tainted milk, Sanlu was greatly affected my this incident. It appears that these men tainted the milk to get more buyers, because higher protein content means healthier milk, and that would increase demand. This is a serous ethical problem because these men were dangerously injuring many just to make some more money.

Unknown, "Business Ethics." Wikipedia. 2008. Wikimedia. 7 Dec 2008 .

The contributors of this article discuss and define business ethics and it's components. There are examples of issues, different categories, and further links on business ethics. This illuminates my topic because it further defines it. My paper is about business ethics, but more specifically ethics and production. This is defined as defective/dangerous products, ethical relations between the company and the environment, ethical problems out of new technologies, and product testing ethics.

Multiple Authors, "SIRS Leading Issues: Business Ethics." 2008: 1-7. SIRS. SIRS Researcher. Business Ethics. 08 Dec 2008 .

This is a comprehensive compilation of written documents pertaining to business ethics. The multiple authors discuss what business ethics is, examples of it, and different sides of the issue. This is different from my other sources because it is a compilation of documents, not just one document. This is a research guide intended for students writing a research paper.

TodaysMarketer, "Business Ethics." [Weblog HubPages] HubPages. 8 Dec 2008 http://hubpages.com/hub/businessethics.

This is a blog about business ethics. It defines it and even gives other sources to find info on business ethics. It appears that this blog is geared more towards working adults. It discusses resources for business ethics which points towards business managers teaching about ethics.

Quarter 2 post 4

Joe Kavalier has arrived in New York, and is staying with Samuel Klayman. Soon after his arrival, Sam sees some drawings Joe has done and thinks they're impressive. Sam gets an idea. He takes Joe to his boss, Sheldon Anapol, to offer him a business proposition. While Sam propagates, Joe quickly tries to complete a portfolio, considering he left his real one in Prague. Sam is a great talker, so Shelly (that's Sam's nickname for his boss) decides to call down the publisher. The publisher, Sheldon's brother-in-law, comes down and, upon seeing Joe's impromptu portfolio, gives the two a week to come up with a character and a storyline, compiled into a rough comic book. Sam and Joe are elated, and they immediately get to thinking up ideas. They also decide to take aliases, that of Kavalier and Clay. Sam realizes that they need more people to help fill out the comic book. He takes Joe on a little walk, and after a few blocks, they run into a friend of Sam's, Julius. Julius, or Jules, also has an older brother who enjoys drawing as well. Jules, after a little persuasion and an offer to get a cut of the pay, agrees to help Sam out with his comic book. He also tells Sam that he will get his brother in on the production. I personally think it is so cool that they are creating comic books. I would love to have "comic book creator" as my profession.

Quarter 2 Post 3

For now, the story decides to follow Joe as he continues his escape from Prague. He and Kornblum intend to sneak Joe out in the coffin of the Golem, a Jewish relic made out of clay. They plan to disguise the Golem as a dead giant that needs to be shipped to his home in Lithuania. However, in order to smuggle the Golem out of the country, Kavalier and Kornblum need to find the Golem. Rumor has it that it is hidden in an undisclosed apartment in the city. The two disguise themselves as census collectors and go around the building seeing who is and isn't answering the door. They figure out that there's a window where nobody sees any faces during the day. So, they break in through the window that night and find the Golem in it's simple pine coffin. They get it out the window and manage to get the coffin back to Kornblum's apartment. Now there's a problem. The Golem is a clay sculpture. Joe and Kornblum need him to be a dead giant. They need clothes. Joe is forced to confront his shame and go to his house to retrieve some of his father's patients' clothes. In the dark of night, he goes to his apartment building, sneaks in, and goes to his door. He is surprised to find his little brother sleeping at the door! He eventually wakes up, and swears him to secrecy. He gets the clothes and leaves. Joe has a really hard time with talking to his brother, because he was stiff and cold when he left on the train. Having to run into his brother and face his feelings was difficult, but Joe feels better after leaving his house because he feels redeemed for being so mean to his family. Joe and Kornblum manage to smuggle the Golem out, and Joe makes it to Lithuania. He then succeeds in somehow getting to Japan where he boards a ship for San Francisco, wires Mrs. Klayman for money, and arrives at Sam Klayman's Brooklyn apartment.

Quarter 2-Post 2

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay is a good book. So far, I've learned that Sammy Clay is just another Brooklyn teenager, but he doesn't go to school, so I think it's summer. He lives in a very small apartment. Joe Kavalier has a more interesting history. He grew up in Prague, and when Hitler and the Nazis invaded, his family used up every penny to get him out, and the only reason they could was because he was born out of Czechloslovakia and his aunt is a foreigner. But, ten km from the border, Joe is stopped and thrown off his train because, after the immigration laws were changed that morning, he was one stamp short of having a complete exit visa. When he gets back to his hometown, he's so ashamed of himself that he goes to his magic teacher's house to ask for help. Then, there's a flashback to Kavalier learning the art of Houdini-style escape. His teacher, Bernard Kornblum, is the most famous escape artist since the great Houdini. Josef would go to magic lessons twice a week where he learned how to escape from chains, pick locks, and learn how to control his breath. Meanwhile, Sammy Clay is collecting comic books and hiding his cigarettes from his mom. When Joe arrives at Sam's house, (the book skips around a lot as far as time goes) he uses Sam's old cigarettes to create a cigarette for them to share. It's a very ingenius, and it actually works. I think it's interesting how Kavalier and Clay smoke like chimneys, but Joe is only 19 and Sam is only 16. Sam works for a company that sells everything, from seeds and candy bars to combs and shoelaces.  I wonder why the boy isn't in school. Also, Joe is very connected to his family, which, considering the circumstances of his life. He probably wasn't allowed to go to college, so he lives at home and helps support his family. Imagine how hard it would be to have to live at home with your whole family and have no creative outlet.

2nd Quarter Book

The book I chose to read for my quarter 2 outside reading book is The Amazing Adventres of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. I chose to read it because I heard it was a good book from a lot of people, like my older sister. It's about a Jewish artist/escape artist who escapes Nazi-invaded Prague and ends up in New York City. He and his cousin (from Brooklyn) Sammy Clay create stories, characters, and art for comic books that they plan to introduce to America. Some of the characters they create are the Escapist, the Monitor, and Luna Moth. It's supposed to be funny, so I think I'll enjoy it.

Post 7

I read chapters 4 and 5 of my book, The Kitchen Boy. These chapters really focused on the shocking optimism and tenacity of the ill-fated Romanovs. They talk about how every day, even right up until they were killed, the Russian royals still held out hope that someone, any ally they had left, would come and liberate them from their prison. Things start looking up in this chapter. I might not have mentioned this in my last posts, but the Romanovs weren't even allowed so much as and open (or uncovered) window when they were being held captive during the Bolshevik Revolution. The windows were covered over with lime so that they couldn't communicate with anyone. Not only that, but they also weren't allowed to open the windows, which made the house very stuffy and hot. This was especially harsh because it was summer when they were trapped in this house, where the heat would often get above 30 degrees Celsius (about 90 degrees Fahrenheit). But, their Bolshevik captors weren't totally inhumane. They were allowed about 3 hours (broken up) outside a day. Even though they were treated like prison inmates, this family was always happy. I can't imagine how my family would react if this happened to us. I don't think we would be as optimistic. In fact, I think we would freak out. But this situation probably doesn't happen very often any more. I actually find it hard to believe that they were so happy, but the Romanovs were a different type of royalty. They didn't marry off their children to random strangers, even though when they were captured, their youngest was 15. I think this is a good thing, because it means that they were probably a lot happier than many other leaders of the time. I'd like to think my family could be as strong as they were, but I just can't tell unless we were actually put into this sort of situation.

6th Post

I read chapters 2 and 3 of the book The Kitchen Boy. Leonka receives a message in a milk bottle from a nun, which he passes on to the Tsar. Nikolai and Aleksandra decide to make Leonka the runner for their secret messages for the plot to liberate the royal family. The royal family is treated terribly by their bolshevik captives. I feel terrible that these people were treated like slaves, especially because they were just a family who focused more on their family than their country. While that is a problem, it doesn't mean that they deserve to die for it. Another thing I found interesting was the fact that the narrator, old Leonka, said that it was partially his fault that the Romanovs were killed. I don't know what this means, but I hope Leonka will reveal his supposedly fatal error, because this is intriguing. I personally would feel terrible if there were any way that I had endangered an entire family. It is nice to know that even when they were in distress, the Romanovs were still respectful and not overly arrogant. Leonka said that they were always courteous and occasionally treated him as a member of the family, even though he was just a fourteen year-old kitchen boy. Kind of off topic, but I thought it was interesting that the youngest Romanov, Anastasia, had the same kind of dog as me. She has been described as always paying attention to her dog in the book thus far. I hope that at least some of the Romanov family survives.

5th Post

This week I started reading a book called The Kitchen Boy. It's a fictional story about the boy who was with the royal Romanovs when they were killed. It's in the point of view of that boy, now 94 years old, telling his story to a tape recorder to give to his daughter. When he immigrated to America he changed his name and tried to forget the whole ordeal. He had told no one of this story except his wife, and she died a long time ago. I haven't gotten into the story yet, but I think it will get pretty intense. Also, there's another storyline with the daughter. She went to someone's house in Russia in the prologue, and I think it was her grandmother, but I'm not sure. Maybe she will visit her father while he is recording his story. Or, maybe she will learn her father's story from this woman she visits. It seems like a good plot, and I think it's also a memoir, not just a story. I hope that the man, whose name is Leonod (Leonka for short), tells of his interactions with the royal family, and what he knows about the two bodies that were missing from the secret family grave and the many carats of family jewels that were lost after the family was killed. This story also seems to have a hint that Leonka will learn something about himself in the process. Maybe to not be so reserved and secret, or maybe telling his story will allow him to die. It seems intriguing that someone knows what happened to this mysterious family and is finally telling what happened. This book looks like it will be a good book, and I think I will enjoy it. But I'm only done with the first chapter, so I'll have to see what the book has to tell. 

4th Post

This week I read an article in Time magazine on tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is a disease that affected 9.2 million people in 2005, and killed 1.7 million. The more dangerous part is that drug-resistant strains of TB are showing up in developing countries like Russia, India, and China. While these strains only make up 5%, or half a million cases, they are mushrooming. This disease is also producing multi-drug resistant cases. It does succumb to powerful medications, but the countries that need them most don't have them. And even when those who need it have it, it is poorly used and the patients aren't responsibly taking their necessary daily medicine. This medication must be taken every day for six months to fully eradicate the infection from the body. The World Health Organization has suggested implementing a new, more rapid TB test. This probably won't go to work in most countries, because they need the lab upgrades that are difficult to afford in the areas where TB is most prevalent. Doctors say that this disease is fully treatable and preventable, but some areas are unable to receive the necessary equipment to treat TB. TB has been a killer for over thousands of years, yet an antibiotic-based treatment has only been around for decades, but the bacillus itself had been identified only a century ago. 

3rd Post

This week I read an article about how Mikhail Gorbachev is branching off to form a new political party in Russia. He isn't alone in his venture, he's supported by Alexander Lebedev. This is a party independent of the Kremlin. The name of the party is the Independent Democratic Party, and it probably won't be very popular. This is because even though Gorbachev is liked in the West, he is disliked in Russia by the government because he was the ruler of the Soviet Union when it fell apart in 1991. In fact, when he last ran for president in 1996, he only won a half of a percent of the vote. The party wants legal and economic reform and wants independent media. Gorbachev doesn't expect to get any seats in parliament, but he does want youth and party splinters to join his party, especially with the lowering popularity of the right-wing SPS party. Gorbachev is smart about voicing his opinions on the government. For example, instead of directly criticizing the Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, he merely criticizes the practices of the ruler. This is smart because by not directly attacking the Prime Minister himself, Gorbachev manages to evade being killed by the Prime Minister's men. Gorbachev's new party would favor less state capitalism, which means he wants less government involvement in the economy. This is quite different from the current system in Russia. Gorbachev is also admired by the western countries because he won a Nobel peace prize for allowing peaceful revolutions that would eventually lead to the fall of the Soviet Union.

2nd Post

For this post, I decided to read a short story in the book Skin by Roald Dahl. While Dahl is most known for writing children's books such as Matilda and The BFG, he also has written fractured fairy tales and some short stories that are a little dark. The story in Skin that I read is the title story, Skin. The story is about a man who got a tattoo of his wife on his back when he was nearly passed-out drunk. The tattoo artist was a melancholy painter who first painted a portrait of the man's wife, then tattooed over it. The painting was actually more in the mannerism style than a true still life, but it was beautiful. The man remembers that night when he sees a painting by the same artist in a gallery. He goes into the gallery to see more paintings by the man, but he is asked to leave. Drioli, the main character, gets very frustrated, and tears off his shirt as proof that he has a work by the artist in question. The people in the gallery see the tattoo, and a man offers 200,000 francs for the work. Drioli asks how that would happen, and the man invited him to dinner so they could discuss the plans. One idea was for him to live with the man at his hotel, but that was tossed out. The two went to dinner, and Drioli and the man were never seen again. Later, the painting showed up for sale in Buenos Aires, but it wasn't on Drioli's back, if you catch my drift. Another creepy fact is that the buyer didn't own a hotel in Cannes as he said. This story is creepy on so many levels. The ending is open-endedly chilling and kind of scary if you think about it. However, Drioli wouldn't have suffered the same fate if he had listened to his wife and the painter and had not gotten the tattoo. Still, I don't know why the man would go to such lengths as to cut the design off of his back to get a beautiful painting. I guess some people will go to great lengths to get what they want.

1st Post!

So I read this article on the internet. It was kind of creepy. It was about this mom who stole her 15-year-old daughter's identity to go back to high school and become a cheerleader. She said she went because she wanted to get a high school degree and because she never got to be a cheerleader in high school. She got caught because the check for her uniform bounced. I think this lady is messed up! I mean, why would she steal her daughter's identity? And on my list, the two reasons she gave didn't count. But I have to give her credit, I mean, to make the cheerleading team at like 33 is pretty impressive. But maybe she made it because there was a small amount of people (i.e. everybody gets on the team).(150) The daughter was currently attending a high school in Nevada where she was living with her dad. Obviously, the daughter had no idea that her mom was posing as herself as a cheerleader. The mother, Wendy Brown, has had problems with identity theft in the past, and could face 6 years in prison and a fine of $10,000 if she's convicted. I also think it's strange how the mother had the daughter at 18, which probably contributed to the mom's "lack of childhood" that drove her to do this. Also, I found this article on comcast.net, it was a headline of the news feed.