On the recent assignment given to us, we were asked to choose a item that will or will not sell during the holidays and write a hypothesis on why it would sell. The product I chose that I believe will sell this holiday season is the PlayStation 3, I believe it will sell because it is just coming out before the Christmas season so not many people will have it. When people don't have the newest technology that usually makes them want to go out and buy what's hip and new, thus making the Playstation 3 a hot item for this season. I also believe it will sell more because the last gaming console to come out was the XBOX 360, that came out almost a year ago so many people already have it and have no need to buy another. The gaming industry is also becoming larger because kids younger and younger are getting into playing these games, the industry is becoming larger based on the fact that more people are getting into it younger kids means more people and even older people are getting into gaming. Gaming on these consoles is compared to playing a board game 25-30 years ago.

On Oct. 9, North Korea conducted its first nuclear test. During this test the Chinese Communist regime was holding the sixth plenary session of the 16th Party Committee. The news of the nuclear test shocked the communist leaders. North Korea says it needs a nuclear arsenal to deter U.S. aggression. When Washington got word of that they stated that they had no interest in aggression towards North Korea. North Korea doesn't believe that and says they will continue the nuclear tests if the US continues it hostile attitude towards the communist regime.

Allen R. Sanderson brings up a good point when he discusses the issue about how society complains about how much professional athletes make when none of them complain about how actresses and actors make much more money for doing the same amount or less work than athletes. Considering that Ray Romano makes $50 million dollars a year, about $1.8 million an episode of "Everyone loves Raymond". Pro baseball players make an average of $2.5 million a year and they can only play base ball for a few years because they get old and younger better players replace them. So lets say that in a baseball players career they make a good $15-$25 million dollars, society complains about that baseball players make so much when Ray Romano makes double that in one year. If society should complain about how much a certain profession makes annual it should be actors and actresses, not athletes.

Allen R. Sanderson also brings up another good point about how parents complain that it is too much money to take there whole family to a baseball game or a football game when they dish out the money to take there family to an amusement park like Six Flags, some type of concert, or an expensive restaurant. Some times it can be more expensive to take a whole family to an amusement park, or concert than it can be to take a whole family to a sporting event. With inflation and the growth in personal income, baseball ticket prices are one of the best entertainment values around, because once you calculate the costs for eating and souvenirs at a concert, or an amusement park it cost much more than it costs to go to a baseball game.

And why is it that it is unfair for a baseball player to turn to pharmacies to get muscle enhancing drugs or something else to improve his game when actors and actresses are getting cosmetic surgeries, and taking diet pills to look better, which in turn will help them get more money annually. When athletes are basically shunned when they use these performance enhancing drugs to also get the same effect, more money per year. Society shouldn't complain about how much athletes make, they should complain about how much actors and actresses make its much more every year for much longer of a time period.

Ford Assignment

Ford is having financial problems due to outsourcing, competition, and many product decisions. Products that are made in the U.S. can be made cheaper in countries to the east. Ford is also losing money due to early retirement plans that they are offering, workers can get up to $140,000 for retirement based on how long they have worked there and how close they are to retirement. There cars also aren't the best on gas so Ford isn't selling as many cars as imports do due to gas prices.

Pacific Weather assignment.

El Nino is forming, this will raise equatorial water in the pacific ocean which will cause a terrible weather condition. It is expected to last into 2007, it is said that this helped to make the Atlantic hurricane season milder than expected. This also will bring warmer temperatures to western and northern Canada and United States.

Assignment 2

Cost/Benefit for college

The average cost for a public state college is about 5 thousand dollars a year, this price has been increasing each year since college has almost became a necessity. Getting a 4 year degree at a state college will cost you about the same as one year at a private college. So say you decide to go to the state school and stay living in your parents house, you have to spend money everyday for transportation, if you don't live close enough you might have to eat lunch at the college or restruant near. With lunch and transportation you probably are spending a minimum of $10 a day. So with spending $10 a day and having to go to school 5 days out of the week, that's $50 a week. When you are at college you probably are only working a minimum wage job when you can, so your not making a ton of money. The benefits of going to college are worth the 4 years of struggling for money to pay for everything. You are more qualified for a job than a person without that degree and some job experiance. On average you make 7 times more in your life time if you go to college than someone who dosent go to college.

Assignment 1

1. The basic irony expressed by this letter is that this couple wanted to tell the government that they wanted to do what there neighbors were doing, they wanted the government to pay them money to not raise pigs. This couple had no intuitions to ever raise pigs, they just wanted to be paid by the government to not raise pigs.

2. The government is trying to regulate the amount of pigs that are in the United States.

3. The critic of the government use irony, by saying that they want to start a business of not raising pigs.

4. This story conveys a low social value because people would want to not raise pigs and get paid for it. When they never raised pigs, while the government paid people who raised pigs for a living to stop raising them.

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