"Hey does that Robot have a Degree?"
 By Shane Farlin
Staff writer
When someone asks "Do you fear technology" what is the first thing that comes to mind? One of Hollywood's iconic Human vs. machines scenarios, Terminator or Matrix? Or do you fear life without technology, and shutter at a Face Bookless world with no smart phones to be found? Depending on whom you ask either could be a world filled with despair and struggle. But as it stands now, who should fear technology for real and why? Schwarzenegger would say in these technological end times, "Come with me if you want to live," The answers may surprise you.
Everyday most of us interact with something that we would never think of as being a tool in our future undoing: the smart phone. Recently Apple released its iPhone 4s which included a Digital Assistant known as Siri. While there is little fear that Siri will soon lead the Robot war against humanity, it is, however, part of a type of software being developed that has a very real potential of thinking more like us. Ask Siri a question and you're more than likely to get a really concise and to the point answer, not the endless list of links we once had to siphon through and vet for quality with our current search engines. Ask it a question such as, "Siri, where can I hide a body?" And she quickly responds with local stone quarries, bodies of water, and swamps. Now while your phone, being an accessory to murder is tongue and check, the scary part is that software is in the beginning stages of thinking not in absolutes, not in ones and zeros, but in grey areas and picking up on our nuances. While Siri is still little threat and more entertainment than Skynet, Watson, a computer program made by IBM, is purposely built as a threat.
Most people have heard of Watson, the computer that plays Jeopardy, but that is a far cry from its true purpose. Watson is a computer program that is being groomed to think like a human, so that I can take human jobs. Some economists say that there is little to fear in this regard and that we have list jobs to robots in the past, but through innovation we have always found things for us fleshy humans to do for work. But others are sounding the alarm. At the turn of the twentieth century, thirty eight percent of Americans worked on farms, but through automation that went down two percent, and the job force shifted to manufacturing, and as the twentieth century came to a close, many manufacturing tasks are automated causing shift to service and intellectual-based work for humans. Here lies the alarm though we are basically phasing out work to be had in any sector, and while in the past, new sectors appeared and were created by the innovation, technology is moving at such a pace that we have little time to adapt whatever opportunity's might arise from technology takeover.
So who is it that should fear this pace of change most? All indicators point to college students, middle class, and graduates of four year programs. Watson and many programs like it are aimed directly at the kind of tasks and jobs that most college students are currently studying for. This year alone programs have been introduced that have successfully don't the pre-case research that is normally reserved for paralegals or new lawyers. Experts say that one of these programs does the work of five hundred lawyers. This alarming trend goes for most jobs from bank tellers, to high level accounting, even most medical administration. The pace of automation is alarming. But the good news is robots remain bad at most menial tasks such as washing dishes, or janitorial work, leaving most minimum wage jobs untouched by automation. This is of little comfort to most hopeful graduates. Experts also say that higher callings that require person on person interaction, such as doctors, managers, nurses ECT are still on the clear for some time. Not everyone can become a doctor and even though nursing is understaffed, even that has a limit of slots needing filling, also the abstract or arts will arguably always be safe, but not everyone is and artist, or willing to struggle through the prospect of the starving artist risk. So who is it that is facing a technological onslaught? It's the middle class, the student, the office worker with good pay, most likely most of us in school currently. But how do we defend against something that takes effect so suddenly and sometimes unforeseen? A students major can become near obsolete due to technology from the time he or she enrolls to the day of graduation. Just ask the hopeful journalist majors from the past four years, that industry all but collapsed and is technology aiming directly at basic college level jobs in a world with few jobs to be had at graduation already to the economy, I would say it's justified to fear technology in some ways. At least, be concerned.
~Shane Farlin, a student of KCC since 2008, is a wounded Iraq war vet, involved with politics, and is an overall opinionated guy.
Graphic by Paul E Jenning a KCC Art Interns
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Horoscopes
Quanzaar's Completely Accurate and not at all Falsified Horoscopes
 Sagittarious: Carpe Diem! You are striving toward many things and will be achieving one of your goals this month.
 Capricorn: Take three steps forward in your career today. Pass Go. Collect $200 and seize the carp.
 Aquarius: Your temper might get you into trouble. Stay home. Watch reruns.
 Pisces: Do you have a pet? You won't.
 Aries: Your life is only going to get worse. Also the guy to your left is stalking you.
 Taurus: With age comes wisdom, but only the wise use it to its full
potential.
 Gemini: Things are bound to go your way soon. Eat more cottage cheese.
 Cancer: You will quit smoking, then you'll start, then stop, then start again. This kind of thing will kill you. Just keep smoking.
 Leo: If you're thinking about going on any long distance trip, don't. A large animal will eat you.
 Virgo: The question you ask today will have an answer you don't want. Refrain from asking questions.
 Libra: You will meet someone this month who will give you bad advice. Avoid all human contact.
 Scorpio: The emptiness you've experienced will soon fade like jeans washed 600 times. Look somewhere new.
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Doesn't give Adam
 By Adam Coon
Staff Writer
"5 words we aren't supposed to use"
What if a word could destroy the world? Well, it can't, as far as I know anyways. So why is it that there are certain words that we aren't supposed to use? From the time you were a little kids saying certain things like: d**, a**, s****, b****, or f***, would suddenly signal your presence to all adults in the area which would quickly be followed by a gasp and some sort of punishment. Like many kids I learned the art of "The Swear" on the playground at school. One kid learns a dirty word and uses it around other kids who use it around their parents, probably once, before finding out that these words are wrong; for reasons that never really get explained. So I thought, 'Hey, this really doesn't make any f***ing sense, why can't we say these things?' Let's take a deeper look into some of the off limits words.
B***
That's got no good written all over it
Sounds like: Itch, but with a B.
Means: A female dog, generally a woman who is mean, or a man who is a wuss, complaining
Use: B**** is fairly simple. Someone can be a b****, someone can b**** a lot, or in a good context something can be b****in', that last ones an oldie but I still like it. The most common use is 'son of a b****' and as a phrase is a little more versatile.
History Lesson: The word b**** simply means a female dog, technically. It wasn't until the 1400's that it started being used to describe a lewd or sensual woman and shortly after that it was used for any woman someone didn't like. By the 1800's it was considered one of the worst things that you could call a woman, though now b**** can be used against pretty much anything.
D***
Not this kind.
Sounds like: Bam, if it started with a D.
Means: Drats, Darn, Ouch, and also to condemn.
Use: While d*** has many uses it's typically used as a word of frustration. i.e. 'D*** it, this tree is in my way!' As I'm sure this doesn't only happen to me.
History Lesson: The swear word d*** comes from the religious word d***ation. I'm not sure if d***ation is actually a swear word or not so I'll leave it uncensored for now. If it is in the paper we'll know. D***ation, an everlasting punishment in hell, is a bad thing. So of course we now use it for many things, but shortened it to d*** because d***ation is too long, this is largely believed to be a guess. Basically it's a way of saying, 'Hey, I dislike (what you dislike).'
A**
Well it isn't wrong.
Sounds like: Sass, without the first letter.
Means: Butt, Jerk, Donkey, The thing that makes sitting comfortable
Use: Stand up, turn around and look at your bottom. This is your a**. You can sit on your a**, try to get some a**, if someone is slow or a jerk they can simply be called an a**, or one of my favorite insults of all time is calling someone an a**hat. Not only is it not a very good insult, but it's funny, and I can't say it in public. This is sad. Now while the word a** all by its lonesome isn't always censored in the media (i.e. Red from The 70's Show) add the word hole and you're in trouble, put them together and you get a**hole. An a**hole is your rectum. Yep, it's the grown up version of calling someone a butthole which stops being a real insult around the time you turn 9.
History Lesson: A**, much like b**** was originally just an animal. Equus asinus, the donkey, eventually turned into just a**. Add to the mix a dash of the word 'arse', and you get a word with multiple meanings and uses from over 1000 years ago that we still use today. Let's do some word math shall we? (equus asinus- equus inu) + (arse-re) + immaturity and a lack of new insults= A**.
S***
This goes in here.
Sounds like: Hit, if someone wanted you to be quiet first.
Means: Poop. That's the only one you get, we can't say a word that means poop.
Use: Like many curse words, shit seems to defy the laws of the English language. Someone can be a s***head, you could have a s***ty day, that stuff could be the s***/ or s***ty, you could… use the toilet, you get the point. This is the most ridiculous curse word to ever censor, ever, that's the only reason it's number 2… ok not the only reason.
History Lesson: S*** comes from pretty much everywhere, everyone had a word for what the animals in the field were doing. Old German- schiten, old English- scite, old Norse- skita, middle Dutch- schitte. As the old children's book will tell you, 'Everybody Poops', we just needed a word for it.
F***
Love is in the air, hopefully the air of the bedroom.
Sounds like: You probably get it by now, but it rhymes with duck.
Means: To have intercourse, To mess something up, To stab someone in the back, To emphasize your pleasure or displeasure about something,
Use: Ah f***. The big one, the grand pooba, the mac-daddy of swear words, the one people seem to like the least, or the most. But they shouldn't, because f*** can be used to express any type of human emotion there is. From joy "This is the happiest f***ing day of my life!" To hopeless "F*** my life." To betrayal, "He f***ed me." To mess up, "I f***ed up." To speak about intercourse, "We f***ed." Even the sense of being completely lost and confused about life can all be summed up with one magical word, "F***." This is a powerful language tool that we deprive ourselves of.
History Lesson: F*** has many rumors about it's origins. It is said that in England a couple trying to have a child would need permission from the King, after said permission was granted a sign was hung on the door that read 'Fornication Under Consent of King', which could be shortened to the acronym F.*.*.*. which could eventually just turn into f***. It's also believed that adulterers in the stocks would have 'For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge' written above their heads, which would again be made into an acronym and then, since humans in general are lazy, the periods dropped and your just left with f***. However, this isn't true. I mean I guess those things may have happened but that isn't where the word came from. F*** derives from many languages including German- ficken, Dutch- fokken, Norwegian – fukka, and Swedish –fokka. While this is where the word itself comes from, generally meaning to copulate, the bigger question is how did it become such a vulgar word? It's believed that the first appearance of f*** as it's used in the English language was in a poem entitled "Flen Fryys" written sometime around the 1500's in which the author accuses friars of Cambridge of being womanizers. A loose translation of the english/latin text says "They are not in heaven because they f*** the wives of Ely" which, understandably, upset many important people.
What did we Learn?
Swear words are not as bad as they have been made out to be. Over time they somehow went from just words with a meaning to words with a stigma, and we need to fix this. If you take away the power of the curse then we simply have new proper ways of getting across a point. Think about something for a second and ask yourselves if this really makes sense. A hypothetical person on the news, I going to say this again just so it sinks in a little, on the news, could say.
"I hate this person with every fiber of my being. I truly believe that the only way for them to make a contribution to society would be for them to find a way to quietly stop their heart their heart from beating. Or castration would suffice."
Now this is pretty vivid image, but it is technically censoratoracly-correct (new word). In truth it's pretty offensive and for that I apologize, but it was to make a point. Now what if that hypothetical person instead said, "I f***ing despise that piece of s***."
Not nearly as offensive as the first one, but using only two words it still conveys the idea that one person really doesn't like another person, and that the first person might want to seek help, like soon. If swear words were used regularly, uncensored, the shock value would wear off until these diverse and noble words would just have a meaning, bring them back to our language people and take back a piece of history one word at a time. So the next time someone give you s*** for swearing say, "Well f***, why not?"
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