This is Weird

        Bassam was talking about how people were ripping on Oakland and saying how bad it is. I don't think it's that bad. Reports tell how bad Oakland's crime rate is, but everyone just carries on with their daily lives. No one is hiding at home just because they are scared of getting shot. Our education system is horrible, but we have some companies headquartered in Oakland. This tells you how large and important this city is. The big idea isn't about Oakland though. I was reading along and I ran across this quote:

I bought my PlayStation 3 for only 50 dollars and it was in perfect condition i also buy things like iPhone's and other electronics. the reason that they have all that stuff is because they still from people and sell it then they still it again and sell it again. i am not aloud to go down there even though it is only 10 blocks away from my house, because my dad told me not to blend in with the crowd because he does not want me to steal things like they do.

Although I agree that Oakland is not that bad, Bassam does a really bad job of proving it. There are many things wrong with this quote. First off, why would anyone go down to a bunch of thiefs and buy something from them. They might betray you and mug you. Then they can take all your money. I think Bassam is taking a huge risk by buying merchandise from strangers.
         Secondly, why would you buy stuff that you know is stolen. The stolen items are evidence to whatever case the police are working on. If they manage to track the item to you, you could be arrested because the evidence is in your hands. It wouldn't matter who actually stole it.
         Lastly, why would you post online that you bought stolen items on the streets. You just made it public and now the police can track you to your address using your ip address. Overall, it is not a good idea to tell people that you do this stuff.

Unwind final discussion

        I finished this book long ago because I read ahead. This tells you how interesting this book is. Yeah can you believe it? I'm actually sucked into a book. I guess this novel is an exception to my opinion of all books are boring.
        Starting off on a reference, both the tithe at Happy Jack and Arianna have pigment injections that change their eye color. The author is trying to hint that Arianna might also be an Unwind by using the reference. The Admiral states that he is living on a twenty five percent alive heart. I don't know how that is possible.Wouldn't he die of cardiac arrest. During the unwinding process, the Unwinds aren't put under. I question the necessity of this practice because in other surgeries, the patients are given anesthetics.
        At the scene where the clappers are ready to detonate, neither one of them wants to explode first. I question why they would want to stall their deaths. They seemed very committed to cause chaos, but they decided to wait. Maybe it's the fact that when it's time to act clappers realized what they are doing is insane. Somewhere in the book, it says clappers are fed lies.
        At Happy Jack harvest camp, I don't know why the Unwinds won't revolt. They outnumber the guards and all the latter can do is fire tranq bullets. Even if the guards had real guns, they still should revolt. Better to die than to be unwound and there is a chance you could survive gunshots. They can't unwind an injured person.
        A big question in this book regards whether unwinding is the same as dying. The only possible way to find out is to unwind someone and then put them back together. If they are still alive by then, then the answer is no. If it is the opposite, then the unwind is dead.
        Although this is a creepy book, I am impressed by the quality of the work. It is one of the best books I have ever read. I give it a 10/10 and would recommend this to any teen or adult.

The Oakland Raiders Season So Far

        The Raiders are surprising this season at 6-6 and 2nd in the AFC West behind the Chiefs. I am very optimistic about the results because I found out about this fact from Camal's blog:

So, this year has been a breakout year for the Oakland Raiders. Their current record is at 4-4 (four wins and four losses) and its been a LOOOONG time since I have seen them with four wins this early in the season. Considering there are sixteen games in one NFL season, the Oakland Raiders are one win away from tying the most wins that they have had in the last seven seasons after they went to the Superbowl in 2002.

Although the record is outdated, the Raiders are currently still at .500. This is how the season went. Season opener started out at Tennessee and Oakland loses there. Not a big deal since it's only the first game, but I thought the team was going to have another losing season. Oakland next played St. Louis at home and beat them by a two point margin. At Arizona, Oakland loses by one point after Janikowski misses a 31 yard field goal. I was pretty frustrated at the result and that one game could be the difference between making the playoffs or getting second place in the division. The next week they play Houston and lose again. The team gains some momentum by upsetting the Chargers. Up next was the winless San Francicso 49ers and I thought Oakland was going to win, but it was the opposite. The next two weeks the Raiders crushed Denver and Seattle. It looked like the silver and black were back.The game vs the Chiefs was the center of attention. It was a fight for first. Oakland won in OT by a field goal. The Raiders started sliding again after losing to Pittsburgh and Miami, the latter of which should've been won. Last week, the Raiders faced the Chargers in a rematch. Oakland not only upset them. The Raiders crushed them by 15 points. As of now, Oakland is two games behind the Chiefs.

Unwind second paper clip

        I found three typos in this book and presented them to the discussion. Although there were only three, that's still a lot for a book. Those errors left me wondering who edited the book. There was another topic that originated from a quote. On page 172, Connor offers his opinion:

Just because the law says it, that doesn't make it true.

At first, I thought this was not the case because I was only thinking about U.S. laws, but I decided to look at history. Not all laws are the truth. Examples of these are laws made by corrupt rulers and monarchs. The reason those laws are false is because only one person makes laws. The rulers need a congress to verify that the law is legitimate.
        Lev is on the run with CyFi and the latter reveals that he had stolen shiny objects like such as a diamond bracelet. When CyFi tells Lev to get rid of the stolen merchandise, he secretly takes one piece of jewelry. My question is why would Lev only take one when he can take it all, sell them, and then buy necessities needed for survival? I know stealing is unethical, but Lev is desperate. He ends up with 1500 dollars from selling that one piece of jewelry. Although that is still a substantial amount, it won't last that long.
        The original purpose of unwinding was to offer dying people a chance to live via organ transplant. It seems this idea has been corrupted by money. They charge people for getting new organs. What about the people who can't afford organs or can only afford defective ones? They might as well get organs from dead people. Emby, a boy who breathes from his mouth, only gets one lung because his parents can only afford one. The lung also has asthma. This seemingly good program has gone bad.
        I can tell that the relationship between Risa and Connor is about to change. In the warehouse, Risa sees Connor drawing a picture of Arianna, a girl he knew back home. She gets jealous and criticizes the drawing.

wade phillips being fired

        With all the troubles the Dallas Cowboys have been having this season, someone's got to be blamed for their woes. This someone is Wade Phillips, the Cowboys head coach. He was fired in midseason after collecting one win through eight games. That's a 1-7 record. I disagree somewhat with what Colin says here:

They had the chance to be in the superbowl in their own home stadium but they messed it up. I think they could have done this earlier and kept their chance at getting to the playoffs. I think that having an offensive coordinator as a head coach will benefit them because their offense is not very good and they will get more work if the head coach is an oc. I think the dallas coybows are going through the season like the 49ers.

Colin says that they had a chance to be in the super bowl. I believe they had a minimal chance of making the super bowl. They have to contend with the Giants and Eagles in their own divisions. Neither are pushovers. In the NFC, the Saints and Packers are at large and one of them is 2010 super bowl champion so there's a lot of competition. I have never considered the Cowboys to be the best team in the NFC.
        I agree that having an oc as head coach helps the offense, but the problem is finding a replacement. Even if they manage to do that, the offense still has to adjust to the new oc's coaching style. They have to reestablish rhythm. The defense isn't exactly stellar either and appointing an oc as head coach doesn't help that problem.
        The Dallas Cowboys are indeed going through a season like the 49ers. They were thought to be good teams, but they disappointed their fans. Before the season, analysts said that the Cowboys were supposed to be contenders and not cellar dwellers. There have been rumors that the team have not been trying hard in games and losses crushed their morale. The injury to Tony Romo also hurt the team. As of today, the Cowboys are 3-7 and two wins are under Jason Garrett.

unwind discussion

        The discussion went well for our group in terms of participation because everyone participated. The first topic was why would Connor save Lev if Lev wanted to be unwound. He views it as a holy mission and his parts will help people around the world. Lev shows his determination to be sacrificed by biting Connor's arm who is trying to save him. The book later explains that Connor is guilty about all the deaths he's caused with the freeway incident, so he wants to do something good. This explanation does not satisfy because Connor is on the run. He is supposed to be on survival mode. If I was him, I would leave him be.
        On that same incident above, Pastor Dan tells Lev to run when the latter almost reaches the car. Why didn't Pastor Dan tell him the truth about being a tithe rather than wait until the last minute. If Dan had told Lev the truth before, Lev could plan his escape earlier.    
        Speaking of Lev, he seems to love being a tithe which is essentially the same as an unwind. This is because their society has made unwinding sound okay. They keep telling people that being unwound does not mean you die. I believe dying is better than being used as parts. They also make brochures for harvest camp, where unwinding takes place. They make the place sound like a vacation resort.
        There was also a mention of two quotes,"You can't change human nature without changing the laws" and "You can't change laws without changing human nature". Not much of a debate came up over this. We all agreed that the former was correct because the law is above all individuals.
        An interesting fact that came up, but was irrelevant to the plot was that the trucker's arm was actually that of an unwind's. It still performed tricks that the trucker couldn't before he got that arm and he says it's the muscle memory. This is creepy in that an arm can still remember tricks even after the original owner is terminated. Those were the main topics of the discussion.