5 Types Of Monster Roommates You'll Probably Have

Living with other people can be fun. Having someone to come home to at the end of the day, sharing the housework and, perhaps more importantly, the rent with is something a lot of young and single people enjoy. 

But it can also be a nightmare. Sometimes you find yourself in a house full of strangers and sometimes friends you thought you knew before turn out horrible to live with. 

Here are the 5 types of monster roommates you’ll probably have at some point in your life.

Donald Trump, The Flag, And The True Meaning Of Patriotism

What most news reports don’t talk about is the good stuff. The old adage that “It’s not news when a dog bites a man, but it is news when a man bites a dog” is alive and well. The only thing that’s really changed is that we now have news on demand and the internet allows citizens to act as reporters.

Let's take a brief look at what it means to be patriotic, and let's use a sampling of news reports -- both mainstream and homegrown -- to ask some hard questions.

First up, here's an Illinois woman who says vandals cut down her flag. She says those who act out destructively to push their own agenda are "animals" whose actions threaten our freedom of speech. It's a "sick society," she says, when people have to be afraid to stand up for what they believe.

Here are some of the comments the video collected on YouTube. Which do you think express patriotic views? Is it those who would allow the lady to stand behind the candidate of her choice? Or do the ones who claim they have the right to destroy your property in the name of morality express the more patriotic view?

(License: Image author owned) 

And a couple of more...

(License: Image author owned)

Which is the Patriot - Is it the One Who Flies the Flag or the One Who Removes It?
A dictionary definition of "patriotism" goes like this:

Patriotism is an emotional attachment to a nation which an individual recognizes as their homeland. This attachment, also known as national feeling or national pride, can be viewed in terms of different features relating to one's own nation, including ethnic, cultural, political or historical aspects (Wikipedia).

On first blush, it would appear both the flag flyer and the flag destroyer are patriots -- since both are acting from an "emotional attachment."

That would open the gate a little wide, though. Emotions lead to murders, rapes, and rages daily... and none of those seem patriotic.

How about the etymology of the word, where did we get the idea of "patriotic" in the first place?

Here's the origin of "patriotic," according to the Online Etymology Dictionary:

1650s, "of one's own country," from French patriotique or directly from Late Latin patrioticus, from Greek patriotikos, from patriotes...

The raw definition doesn't help a whole lot, perhaps, but both do point back to "patriotism" as being passionate about ones country, as being in support of the virtues the country symbolizes.

For the United States of America, the primary virtue is FREEDOM.

Which is proclaiming freedom, then? Is it the one who raises an American flag along with a flag supporting her choice for president?

Or is it the one who takes a saw and fells the pole, flags and all?

Aren't both free to do as they wish?

A couple of quotes come to mind:

"My freedom to swing ends where your nose begins," (Abraham Lincoln and others).

And another, that may express the root of genuine American patriotism:

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it (Evelyn Beatrice Hall).

Here's a look at a local news media story that brings patriotism to a level that may bring tears to some and give others reason to mock.

Let's turn now to a big news story about patrotism.

Professional football player, Colin Kaepernick says "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color."

Kaepernick's decision adds an even deeper layer to a discussion of patriotism, one that is reminiscent of remarks made by a U.S. Senator in 1872.

Should one stand by his country no matter what?

A toast proposed by noted American Naval officer, Stephen Decatur, Jr., was popular at the time. At a party, Decatur held a glass high and proclaimed, "Our country – In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right, and always successful, right or wrong."

In popular usage, the quote "went viral," but it was rendered, "My country, right or wrong!" At first glance, that may seem to be a rallying cry for "true patriots."

Senator Carl Schurz, however, took issue with that position. Speaking from the floor of the Senate, he made a remark that reflects what I believe to be the essence of patriotism:

'My country, right or wrong.' In one sense I say so too. My country; and my country is the great American Republic. My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.

Events that stir our patriotism create huge demands for more flags. This one, courtesy of The Flagmakers (License: Image author owned)

The United States of America constitute a floating platform of freedom on a globe marked by forced silence and external control.

Everyone who enters the country is quartered on a raft where individual rights are championed, but not at the expense of others. We're not here to guarantee success, but to create the environment where everyone has the opportunity to succeed.

From the beginning, some took liberty to mean a release of responsibility. The opposite is true. Freedom for all requires and depends upon every individual contributing to the effort. We are a free country, but not a free ride. We are a country where right laws are upheld and wrong actions are stopped. Without law, there is no freedom.

No individual is above the law, and every law should uphold the Constitution. Without law, there is anarchy. When every man does what he wishes, no man, no woman, no child is safe.

When protestors smash windows and burn buildings, they aren't helping a cause, they are adding to the problem. They are attempting to achieve right ends by the wrong methods. 

The USA isn't a perfect boat. There's much work to be done.But to drill holes in the bottom, to set fire to the gunwales, to attempt to silence those who love the ship and want to see it stay afloat... that is treason.

You have the right to raise a flagpole with the flag of your choice, you have the right to sit or stand when the anthem is played, you have the right to run for office and to vote for the candidate you deem best.

True patriotism is to work together to build the country, to correct her errors, and to ensure every person's right to the blessings this country affords.

Use that freedom to build the boat, not to sink it. Use that freedom to respect others, not to belittle them. Use that freedom to truly KEEP America great. For she is.

About Today's Contributor
Don Sturgill writes about health of body, mind, and spirit. Find out more about the Roadturn philosophy on Roadturn.com, or contact Don via Twitter @DonSturgill.

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Rihanna Appointed Global Ambassador To Champion Education

Hugh Evans, CEO of Global Citizen, with Rihanna and Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Chair and former Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, announce partnership with Rihanna's Clara Lionel Foundation where she will serve as the Global Ambassador for Education. (PRNewsFoto/Clara Lionel Foundation,Global)

Rihanna is to join a campaign to ensure that girls and boys in the world's poorest countries can get a quality education.  Rihanna's Clara Lionel Foundation today announced a multi-year partnership with the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and international advocacy group Global Citizen.

The partnership will advocate for the rights of the over quarter of a billion children and young people who are not in school today and an estimated 330 million who are in school but not learning.  

Operating across more than 60 developing countries to ensure that every child receives a quality education, the partnership will prioritize the poorest and most vulnerable, including girls and children affected by conflict and crisis.

Indie Sci-Fi '2307: WINTER'S DREAM' Wins in Los Angeles and Gears Up for NY Festival Premiere

2307: WINTER'S DREAM, starring Paul Sidhu (right) as Bishop and Arielle Holmes (left) as Kix (PRNewsFoto/ULTRAMEDIA)

The post apocalyptic sci-fi adventure, 2307: WINTER'S DREAM, written and directed by Joey Curtis, writer of the Academy Award Nominated BLUE VALENTINE, received the LA INDIE Film Festival's 2016 award for Best Direction at the festival's closing ceremony Sunday night. Curtis, who was in attendance with the film's producer, Robert Beaumont, thanked Beaumont as his long time collaborator and close friend. 

The SoCal native also credited the talented cast and crew, particularly the film's star Paul Sidhu, and the festival for hosting the sold out LA screening.

We Should Remember HG Wells For His Social Predictions, Not Just His Scientific Ones

Angela Harburn / Shutterstock.com

By Simon John James, Durham University

No writer is more renowned for his ability to foresee the future than HG Wells. His writing can be seen to have predicted the aeroplane, the tank, space travel, the atomic bomb, satellite television and the worldwide web. His fantastic fiction imagined time travel, alien invasion, flights to the moon and human beings with the powers of gods.

This is what he is generally remembered for today, 150 years after his birth. Yet for all these successes, the futuristic prophecy on which Wells’s heart was most set – the establishment of a world state – remains unfulfilled. He envisioned a Utopian government which would ensure that every individual would be as well educated as possible (especially in science), have work which would satisfy them, and the freedom to enjoy their private life.

His interests in society and technology were closely entwined. Wells’s political vision was closely associated with the fantastic transport technologies that Wells is famous for: from the time machine to the Martian tripods to the moving walkways and aircraft in When the Sleeper Wakes. In Anticipations (1900), Wells prophesied the “abolition of distance” by real-life technologies such as the railway. He stressed that since the inhabitants of different nations could now travel towards each other more quickly and easily, it was all the more important for them to do so peacefully rather than belligerently.

Best-selling Children's Author Mo Willems to Match Donations to First Book Up to $50,000

Author Mo Willems (PRNewsFoto/First Book)

Mo Willems, author and illustrator of the award-winning Elephant & Piggie books, and his wife Cher are matching up to $50,000 in new donations to First Book, a nonprofit social enterprise that provides new books for children in need. 

Thanks to their support, individual contributions to First Book will bring twice as many books to schools and programs to fuel learning.