Advincula, Jerome Englcom Comparison and contrast essay: Driving cars and driving bikes

^{Tired of the mundane activity that involves moving your feet forward one at a time? Want to have something faster, more exciting, thrilling, and risky. With today’s growing economic demands, traveling great distances, relaxing from stress, and enjoying life are needed by almost everybody; all of these can be found in one activity which is driving. Driving is done by maneuvering a vehicle. The very essence of driving is to transport people or objects from one place to another at a fast rate at the same time gain enjoyment and satisfaction from it, and then danger follows as well. With driving being much faster, it is a great alternative to walking. Driving, which is a means of traveling distances, relieving stress, and having fun, can be done in two ways, either by driving a car or driving a motorcycle or bike, for there are three things that separate one from the other which are the experience, safety, and energy efficiency.}

^{Although quite similar, the experience you get from driving a car and driving a bike is definitely different. Driving a car may be less thrilling for some because if its security and protection compared to a bike. When you are inside a car, you are confined and secured. You and the outside world or the environment are separated, though this might not actually be a down factor for some. Driving a car means being behind a window and being inside of something, except for convertibles where the upper part of the car may be removed to give a more open experience. On a bike, you can feel the wind, the road, the motor, and the sun. You are very exposed to the elements. You will also have to shift your weight around when driving a motorcycle to make a turn. Bikes do not have any doors to separate you from the asphalt, windows to shield you from the wind, and roof to protect you from the sun or the rain. By not having those, the motorcycles can go faster than cars by getting lighter. It carries less weight because it includes them only the necessary stuff for traveling. Also with driving motorcycles, people can avoid congested traffic in urban areas by lane splitting or using the space between cars as passage. (“Motorcycles”) This method is very apparent in the Philippines.}

^{Safety is another huge factor for both and this factor is obviously one-sided. Statistically, cars are safer than motorcycles according to data gathered b the UK transportation. (“Cars”) Driving a car is safer because it has more safety features; aside from that, the car also protects the driver from the external environment. Safety features of modern cars commonly include airbags, safety glass, seatbelts, crumple zones, collapsible steering columns, padded dashboards, puncture proof gas tanks, blowout resistant tires, onstar, GPS navigation, anti-lock brakes, and headrest. (“Cars”) These safety features are easier to apply in cars; they are also more effective and efficient in it. Sacrificing a lot of stuff, including safety, for the authenticity of the experience and the essence of traveling, driving bikes are exciting yet dangerous. Driving motorcycles are more dangerous and risky than driving cars. The chances of a fatal crash in motorcycles are four times greater than cars. The rate of accidents for cars have declined while the rate of accidents for motorcycles have increased. (“Motorcycles”) A person driving a bike is very exposed to the external environment. Aside from that, it carries less safety features than cars. Many of the technologies that have been long present in cars are just starting to be used in motorcycles, such as catalytic converters, fuel injection, anti-lock brake system, and airbags. (“Motorcycles”) If you crash while driving a bike, there will not be anything that will hold you back from the impact which means you will be thrown in mid-air.}

^{Due to the awakened concern of the public to the environment, energy efficiency plays a bigger role in choosing what to drive now than ever before. Most cars today still use gasoline. It is well known that using gasoline is not very energy efficient. Gasoline burns faster than water and cars burns gasoline faster than bikes. Cars are bigger, heavier, and stronger than bikes, because of this, they will need more torque which means they will need to burn more fuel to move. Burning more gasoline also means more air pollution. One of the major causes of air pollution is transportation, specifically the smoke released by oil-burning vehicles. An average car can release 5 tons of carbon dioxide. Although humans are also affected by these unhealthy gases, the one that is more affected is the environment. The habitats of plants and animals are destroyed and polluted by air pollution caused by cars. (“Cars”) Most bikes today also use gasoline but bikes use a lot less of it than cars. What attracts people into driving motorcycles rather than driving cars, especially these past years, are its fuel efficiency and fuel economy. Motorcycles are also greener than cars because of its lower per-mile carbon emissions which is 65% lower than cars. (“Motorcycles”) Developing countries, like India, prefer to use motorcycles because of its good fuel economy. (“Motorcycles”) A lot of people in the Philippines have shifted their method of traveling from driving cars to driving bikes. With the sudden rise of the price of gasoline and the insidious decline of the supply of oils, people use bikes as an alternative for cars for the sake of conserving energy and saving money.}

^{In the end, driving a car will give you more safety than driving a bike but driving a bike will save you more money. It is up to the driver to choose what he or she thinks is more practical and important. Making the wrong choice could have serious outcomes but it is important to remember that accidents could be avoided if people act carefully and responsibly. Both have their own unique experience in driving.}

^Sources:

^{From the internet: Motorcycles – Environmental Impact by www.wikipedia.org}

^{From the internet: Motorcycles – Mobility by www.wikipedia.org}

^{From the internet: Motorcycles – Safety by www.wikipedia.org}

^{From the internet: Motorcycles – Fuel Economy by www.wikipedia.org}

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorbikes

^{From the internet: What safety feature has a modern car got that an early car didn’t have? By www.answers.com}

^{From the internet: Cars – Environmental Impact by www.wikipedia.org}

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cars}

Advincula, Jerome Englcom Process essay: Guardin' Gnome achievement!!!

The Guardin’ Gnome achievement is an achievement in Left 4 Dead 2. Achievements are something you could brag about to other gamers, telling them you were able to do this; it is only available in the Xbox 360. Once you accomplish the Guardin’ Gnome achievement, it will be permanently registered in your GamerID. The Guardin’ Gnome achievement involves carrying the favorite gnome in Left 4 Dead 2, Gnome Chompski, throughout the rest of the campaign [Dark Carnival] once you acquire him.

When you accomplish the Guardin’ Gnome achievement, you will get 30 Gamerscore in your GamerID. You will also get a hot Depeche Mode avatar shirt prize for your avatar. It is 1 of the 5 achievements in Left 4 Dead 2 that offer a prize when you finish it.

The Guardin’ Gnome achievement is fun to do; you will be able to appreciate the game better because you will have to focus on a new goal, not just to survive and finish the campaign. It is like playing a game within a game. It is better to play it in groups although finishing it on single player is possible. It is better to play it in groups because you would not have to single-handedly carry all the burden and because the nature of the games is multiplayer. When you play it with friends, teamwork is vital. Everybody has the role of watching each other’s back and prioritize saving Gnome Chompski. The enjoyment and satisfactory of the game is multiplied when you play it with friends. It is not all fun and games if you want to do this achievement, surprisingly it is pretty challenging. The idea of carrying the gnome up to the finish might be simple but applying it in the actual game is hard. It could also become a frustrating achievement especially when you set the difficulty in advanced or expert, if you do, you should be prepared to spend hours in the playing the game as well as have the patience to repeat levels in countless times.

The Guardin’ Gnome achievement is a fun and interactive achievement but it is also difficult and challenging. The purpose of this essay is to make things easier by guiding players on how to accomplish the achievement. To start things of, play the campaign Dark Carnival and choose Chapter 2: Fairground as the starting point. It does not matter what difficulty you choose but the recommendations are easy and normal difficulties for novice players, advanced difficulty for casual or experienced players, and expert for die-hard veteran players.

After the game finishes loading and you are in the initial safe-house or the Fairground safe-house, exit and turn right. You should see the Whispering Oaks sign; go in the carnival thru the ticket booth below the sign. Going straight from the ticket booth, you will pass by two empty booths then you will arrive at the Peanut Gallery (it is the shooting gallery).

The Peanut Gallery is actually a mini-game; play it by pushing the red button in the middle. The objective of this mini-game is to earn at least 750 points in 45 seconds by shooting the characters of the gallery. Shooting the skeleton with the red or blue bag will give you 10 points and shooting Moustachio the self-proclaimed strongest and fastest bearded potato will give you 100 points. Avoid shooting Mr. Peanut because it will give you a deduction of 100 points. If you have gathered enough points after the time runs out, a buzz will sound to notify you that you have won. Claim the prize, Gnome Chompski, at the left side of the shooting area in the red box; it should be opened by now.

The next step is the most challenging of all. That is carrying Gnome Chompski to the rest of the campaign. There are 4 chapters left to finish, most of these are the most difficult and most memorable ones in Left 4 Dead 2. Carry Gnome Chompski to the next safe-house so that you could proceed with him to the next chapter. You do not have to carry him all the time for when the need arises, drop him in an area you and your friends can reclaim him easily. Gnome Chompski is practically invulnerable, he will not get destroyed even if thrown in the fire; the only problem is either he could be lost or he could be left behind. There are places in Left 4 Dead 2 that are unreturnable once you pass them so make sure do not leave the gnome behind those places; if you do, you have to repeat the chapter again and take him with you this time unless you want to fail to accomplish the achievement. If you die or all of you dies (if you are playing multiplayer), you will have to restart in the safe-house, as always, but Gnome Chompski will also be with you in the safe-house unless you failed to bring him with you in the safe-house during the end of the previous chapter.

When you reach the last chapter which is the concert, make sure you bring him with you in the helicopter; if you do not, you will end the campaign not getting the Guardin’ Gnome achievement and you will have to repeat the entire process. You also need to carry him when inside the helicopter, do not just drop him anywhere in the helicopter because you will also end up not accomplishing the achievement and you have to repeat the entire process from the start which could really be frustrating. It is important to tell you this because there were a few people who have fallen as victims of this. They ended up having to attempt to accomplish the achievement twice because in the first attempt, they just dropped Gnome Chompski in the helicopter; they were not aware that he had to be carried (talk about high maintenance) while in the helicopter until the end. If you successfully accomplish the Guardin’ Gnome achievement, you will be notified by the console that you have achieved an achievement.

The Guardin’ Gnome achievement is possible to do even without a guide but given the difficulty of Left 4 Dead 2 especially at expert and the obscure information on how to acquire Gnome Chompski, having a guide is a lot of help. Things will run smoother and you will avoid blaming yourself or your friends for failing the achievement just because of some insignificant-but-disastrous-effect mistake.