Earth Day Resolution

I'm a big fan of helping the environment, and I always say I'm going to do more, but then I wind up giving up. Well, I found out about a new concept: making an Earth Day Resolution. For awhile now I've been considering the idea of harvesting rain water, as well as composting. With composting, the most I do is through the waste in my backyard. No more. I'm going to make a solid commitment to both of these goals.

Websites you will love while preparing for colleges

1. Fastweb

2. Cappex

3. College Prowler

4. Your future school's website.

Banned Books Logic

Image by mySAPL via Flickr

I didn't become aware until today that this is Banned Book Week. Rather than review a banned book, I've decided to write a little bit about reading banned book.

There are some books that I've only read because they are on the Banned Book list. Out of those, there are many that I'm glad I did. On the other hand, there are a lot of books I've read that I suspect are only popular reads because they have been banned so frequently. Some of Judy Blume's books are good examples of this, such as Deenie. I didn't find it all that believable and I can't help but think that it was written in order to be controversial.

Another example is Sex Education by Jenny Davis. The premise is alright, and starts off reasonably. But some of the characters are over the top and their motives do not always make sense. The ending is not only disappointing but rather extreme as well.

The topic of Banned Books brings up a second moral issue. Is reading a book just because it's banned all that different than not reading a book because it's banned? Also, is there ever an acceptable reason for keeping a book away from readers?

Finally, I would like to know if your school does anything in honor of Banned Book Week.

The Websites You Will Love in College

The useful:

• About.com
• Wikipedia.org (just don’t cite this on a paper or refer to it in class. The teacher will lose all respect for you.)
• Ehow.com
• Facebook.com (I know it seems weird to have this on a list of research sites, but it will be extrememly useful for contacting your classmates or figuring out what to get a friend for their birthday.
• Google News (news.google.com)
• Amazon.com

On Twitter

I just got a Twitter account for this blog. My user name is CollegiateDown, so please see if you can find me. Also let me know if you have a twitter for your blog and would like to be followed. I will gladly comply.

Personal Ethics and the Job Hunt

In applying for jobs, I cannot help but notice a lot of the jobs that are hiring are companies that I don't feel right working for. I know that in this job market I can't always be picky, but its more than just a matter of not wanting to do the work.

As an environmentalist, I do not support a lot of energy companies' practices. I would feel like benefiting from working for, say, a coal company, would make me hypocritical. Or I've seen job ads for various alcohol or tobacco companies, but seeing as I'm pretty against their product, especially tobacco, I haven't even considered applying for any of those jobs.

I guess it all comes down to where I want to draw a line. Sure I may not like brand name drug companies and the way they sell drugs, but am I willing to work for a generics company? For a long time I've tried to support small businesses, but so far that hasn't extended to only applying at local companies that support the local economy.

Fun uses for credit cards

This is just a random story I found awhile back. As soon as you turn 18 it seems like you get bombarded with credit card options and this is just a fun way to make use of them. Just make  sure that before you throw out any credit cards, make sure they are destroyed completely.

http://allweirdnews.com/crazy-uses-for-credit-cards/