Huck Finn

Well, I finished reading Huck Finn. I don't really have anything else to say besides, "It was ok." Before I read it, I thought I would probably hate it. I hate most classics, so it was a safe bet. But it was ok. Not the best book I've ever read, but not horrible like I figured it would be. Unlike many previous students who have read it over the years, I never fell asleep from boredom while reading it, so I guess that means it was pretty good. Huck's language was interesting to read an entire novel with, and it even had me talking like him for a day after reading it. The fact that Jim's speech was so weird made me really pay attention and stay concentrated on the novel, which is more than I can say for other books that I've read. It was full of action, which is good I guess. I even found myself being able to interpret some of the symbolism and satire, which I've never really been able to do with a book before. So I guess what I'm really trying to say here - and this is going completely against my better judgment - is that I actually liked it. I actually like a literary classic! I've never liked a literary classic before! This is crazy... Phew! That was easier to say than I thought it was going to be... Anyway, I'm not really sure why I liked it, its just one of those things where you come away from it with a good feeling. I guess its time to go read Tom Sawyer, and see if I can bring my list of literary classics that I actually like up to two...

Why Not Eat Insects?

So I was watching this talk, and I noticed that even though the idea seems pretty gross, this guy swayed me. First of all, his accent made you listen closely to everything he said so that you wouldn't miss anything. He used the whole green/red color thing, showing how much money insects currently save the economy in green, and showing the almost equal cost of the Iraq War in red. He used pathos by showing how eating insects could save the environment; in all of his pictures that contained people eating insects, they were smiling, looking like they were loving it. He employed logos much more frequently, though. He showed us how many types of insects could be eaten, and how much more nutritious than our meat they are. He got really effective when he showed how insects would be better than cow or pig meat, though. First of all, he said, for every 10 kg of feed, insects would yield 9 kg of meat compared to cows' 1 kg. Not only did he state this fact, he made the picture of the insects big and the picture of the cow small, to get us to side with him. He went on to state that insects would make less manure, which in turn would mean fewer greenhouse gases. With this statement, he's getting us interested in the environment as well! Dicke's most effective tool, however, is his humor. He entertainingly points out that we're already eating loads of insects and getting a lot of protein from them. Simple things like making a cartoon smell cloud come out of a manure picture and a video of someone making funny bug treats tickle the audience's funny bone. When he employs his point system for the insects, giving them a point for each issue they are better than red meat in, the audience howls with laughter. Even though his argument was kinda gross, it was extremely effective. Though insects might taste disgusting to our mouths, they sure would taste delicious to our bodies!