Horace was a famous Roman poet born in 65 BC. He was one of the most important poets of his time, known for writing Odes, Satires, and Epistles. Horace’s writing is wonderful and is still read all across the world today because his writing is elegant and witty. Through Horace’s writings, it is clear what his perspective was on ethical cause and effect. It is one’s inner character that causes its own happiness and misery, creating a natural cycle of cause and effect.

Horace believed that a person carried their emotional and physical burdens with them (“you drive your own self with you”) and outside factors can’t change that. This means your inner problems are with you wherever you go because they come from within you, not from the world around you. An example is ” Maybe if I move to the country, I’ll find peace.” Using this example, Horace believed that you can’t change or get rid of your problems by changing your surroundings; even if these things changed, the problems you have will still be there. The point being, you can’t escape one’s own character; your inner emotions travel with you wherever you go, so changing external factors won’t do anything.

Horace had a rule called the golden mean that he lived by for a balanced life. This made him practice moderation in every aspect. So, for example, too much luxury makes you soft, but rejecting pleasure makes life joyless. The point is to be in the middle of it all. Another part of Horace’s philosophy is that a person’s own wrongdoings are self-punishing. So he thought there was no need for divine punishment because the consequences came naturally. A liar becomes untrustworthy, a glutton is damaging their own health, and wrath makes you lonely.

The last two points of Horace’s philosophy somewhat tie together. It is the fact that real freedom comes from within, and if you let emotions such as fear, anger, or sadness control you, you have become a slave to those emotions. So master your impulses and passions. The last point is from the common phrase he created, “Carpe Diem”. This means seize the day, do not be reckless with your time, and do whatever is the most fun. But instead, start accepting what you can not control and appreciate the present moment. Horace’s beliefs left a lasting impact on this world and will continue to for as long as his writings are around.

This topic was given to me by my government teacher, and it is truly interesting. The topic means should police be allowed to enforce a politician’s verbal rule, meaning it’s not a law or written rule. In this case, the rule is not being allowed to film the politician at an open meeting (an open meeting is a meeting open to the public). My opinion is no.

A public meeting means something; it’s not just a meeting for politicians and higher-ups, it is open to the public, so they can know what is going on, especially if it has an effect on them. The whole point of an open meeting is to be transparent and accessible to the public. Citizens have the right to record in public according to the First Amendment in the U.S. Constitution. It protects freedom of speech and of the press. Law officers are there to protect, not limit citizen rights. So, for an officer of the law to enforce a rule that was only spoken verbally is odd. A simple verbal restriction said by a politician who doesn’t want what he is saying or doing to be on video holds no legal power. I understand if there is a specific reason for not wanting a citizen to video whether its safety or even in certain rare situations where there is a written rule saying there is no filming.

In most scenarios, if they are on public property at an open meeting available to the public, and a citizen chooses to film, there should be no problem with that. Law enforcement officers should not be allowed to abuse their power, all because a politician has his personal preferences not to be recorded. When a community’s elected official tries to enforce a verbal rule, it ruins transparency, which is essential in building trust. So no, I really don’t think that police officers should be allowed to stop a citizen from recording an open meeting, but that’s just my opinion. What do you think?

I love baking, and I turned my love for baking into a small business. I do hope to turn it into something more one day.

In my business class, we have been talking about simple business ideas, and one stuck out to me. Logo designing. My teacher was showing different platforms that we could start a small business on, and one of them was “Fiverr”, which is a website where you can start your own freelance service business. He was just scrolling through the website, giving us a bunch of ideas, trying to show us that there were many different roads we could go down. When he showed that there was a whole category dedicated to logo designing, it intrigued me. This one stuck out at me the most because it’s something simple enough I could do along with baking. Baking would still be my priority, so I would only do it part time as well as who knows if it would be successful in the first place. The category for logo designing alone is really big. There are already so many established business’s there who have good reviews and plenty of experience. I would have to study a lot on designing and do a lot of practice before I could even start my business. Once I start my business it would be a while before I got a customer because there are so many others I would have to compete with. I also wouldn’t be on the front page which means I’m way harder to find.

So maybe in the future I’ll try designing, it seems really fun and interesting. It is a good way to save money for my future and gain experience in different fields of work.

The saying “price controls are people controls is a political slogan often used against government intervention in setting prices for items and services. The slogan aims to convey that when the government sets price controls, it affects both buyers and sellers. An example is minimum wage laws. The purpose of minimum wage laws is to protect workers from exploitation and to provide them with a sufficient income for a basic standard of living. Price controls are often put in place with good intentions, but still end up undermining market efficiency and individual freedom.

Prices show the producer how a product is doing through supply, demand, scarcity, and consumer preference. So if a product is in high demand, the seller is going to usually raise the price to reflect that it is in high demand and people are willing to pay more. When it comes to scarcity, the price is also usually raised because it is harder to obtain. With consumer preference, people are willing to pay more for a specific service or product just to have the one they prefer. When there is a free market and sellers are allowed to set prices without restrictions, it allows for mutual benefit for both parties.

When certain rules are put into place, it leads to a whole bunch of problems. First off, some sellers can’t charge what they believe their product is worth, making them spend their time working hard on something just for it to be priced below the time and effort put into it. So some sellers resort to bad quality services or products. This then makes consumers frustrated due to the poor quality. An example is a rent control limit forcing a landlord to lower prices that were higher, so he could afford repairs and maintenance.

So the point of the saying “price controls are people controls” makes sense because price controls control the choices both sides are making, therefore controlling the people. These rules give people less freedom and cause them to make choices that could really change their lives.

I have had a small business for almost a year, and it has taught me a few valuable lessons. I started a baking business last fall, and since then, it has been off and on. I used flyers for advertising, but it was challenging to create them because I didn’t have access to a printer. Once I ran out of flyers, I had to wait until my mom could take me to the post office so I could print more, so until I could get more flyers, I didn’t have a way for people to place orders.

Nevertheless, I still have enjoyed running a business, and I have learned a lot. First off is keeping up with demand can be really hard. There would be points where I would have to make multiple orders all in one day, and some orders would have customizations. Multiple people would ask me questions about items all at once while I was already caught up with something else, adding to my stress. Next is when I switched to using a Google Doc instead of flyers, and there would be technical problems at the worst times. There was one night when I was getting ready to go to sleep and I had a customer blowing up my phone. I had to call her and help her with the problem and it was over all just a very stressful situation. Third being figuring out how to price all of my items. When creating my flyers and it came time to price things I had to think about the cost of my ingredients, the quality of my items, as well as do research on what other business’s were pricing there items at. So running a business has been fun and stressful but I am glad I learned these things sooner than later.

Online education has become more popular and accessible, which brings up the question what are the effects of online education. Theres a difference between homeschool and online school, they are similar but not the same thing. The key difference between the two is scheduling and who teaches. In homeschool you are normally either self taught, taught by a tutor, or by a parent. Homeschool is very flexible and you are able to set your own schedule. On the other hand online school is still controlled by a school and you’re being taught by certified teachers. The only difference is your classes are online instead of being in a classroom. I like homeschool because usually the material your learning is more important compared to public school. Online school is still the same material as a public school so kids aren’t learning the right things and grow up with little knowledge about the real world. A common problem in both of these forms of education is socializing. Since you are not in a classroom with other students you have to make sure you’re finding other ways to socialize. For example it can be through a sport or a homeschool co-op. Overall, both are very similar but I think homeschool is the better option for a better education.

A franchise and your own business are two very different things both with there own pros and cons so today I’m going to look at both. A franchise is an already established business that somebody has made multiple of, Mcdonalds for example is a franchise. The franchisor who is the owner of the business, I’m going to use Mcdonalds again for an example has other people doing all of the work like flipping burgers, taking orders, cleaning, etc. So if you work for a franchise you’ll do one of those jobs and always work under someone. Working at a franchise means you’ll have a pretty stable job and not have all the stress about owning a business that you have to keep afloat but you’ll always have to take orders from someone higher up. When it comes to entrepreneurship all of this changes. Lets say you started your own burger place you would be in charge of everything. You would need to hire people to clean, manage, cook, take orders, and all sorts of things. You would also need to make sure you have food to sell so you would have to find a good food vendor that meets all of your requirements. There is a lot more to do when you are the one in charge although there is a better reward. If you are the one who owns the business you are the boss and you don’t have to report to anyone as well as your the one making the most money. So over all starting your own business is better but it depends on your life and if you have the time or money to do so.