things that I would bring with me in case of a fire

1) a picture of my family(in case any of them did not survive the fire)
2) a backpack(so I can carry all the stuff I bring with me)
3) some packaged food that will not perish (for emergencies)
4) a cell phone (so I can be contacted)
5) some clothes (to wear)
6) my glasses (so I can see)
7) my laptop (many pictures of family and friends and other  important files stored on it)
8) money (emergency for food, water of clothes, transportation)
9) passports/other government ID (in case we move after the fire/ need to rebuild house)
10) a sleeping bag (for sleeping while the house is being rebuilt)

Epilogue reaction

Marcus is now fighting injustice in a diferent and better way. He makes a video that shows how Carrie Johnstone gets out of court without punishment even though she did not say anything during the entire prosecution so that the prosecutor could not prove anything against her. This is abuse of  the judicial system because the prosector could not fight the case fairly. The public knows that she did horrible things to the prisoners in the Gitmo-by-the-bay, but because she did not say anything, the prosecutor could not defend his or her case. The rule "innocent until proven guilty" should not apply to this particular case because the defendant did not do the same to all the other prisoners. The prisoners were all guilty until proven innocent, and that was injustice. But Marcus is now protesting peacefully because the video does not cause harm to the gerneral average person like the jamming did. He has learnt his lesson that you cannot use the same antics that the DHS use to fight them. You have to be peacefull, otherwise you will get blamed, like the Xnetters, and eventually punished, like Marcus was the second time the DHS caught him. 

Chap 21

The ending of the book was just as everyone would have expected, Marcus overcomes the DHS. But other than that general statement, many event happen that you would never think would happen at the ending of a book. First, Marcus is still a criminal after the DHS was pushed out by the state troopers. He still has to go to court to be prosecuted and he is even charged with a crime and is forced to live at a halfway house for three month. Also, instead of Darryl being normal after he gets out of the Gitmo-by-the-bay, Darryl seems like his scarred for the rest of his life or traumatized for a long time to come. Darryl says the same things over and over again, even when asked different questions. He probably had to endure the punishments Marcus did, but for a longer period of time. Zeb had said before that the DHS questioned him about the XNET, which Darryl had not known existed. He would not have any answers like Marcus did to get out of torture. Anyone would have been traumatized after being punished brutally for no reason. Marcus seemed to be best friends before, but after the Bay Bridge attacks, Marcus said that they rarely spoke to one another. Everyone would have expected everything to return to normal, but it didn't. Marcus and Darryl's friendship seems to have been destroyed by the DHS.

end of chap 20

End of Chap 20

I was surprised at the amount of good food Zeb found for free. He said that you could get yogurt and fresh fruits at the grocery store because the owners would throw away a whole box of fruit if one went bad and the owners threw away yougurt one day after the best before date. There is a lot of wasting in San Francisco, and in general, everywhere, and I  think that it would be easy to cut down on the amount of wastage in every city. I was also shocked to read that the DHS had located Marcus even while he was in hiding. He was eating food out of the garbage can and living in a tent under the highway. I found it surprising that Marcus considered himself a victor after he was in jail. He was tracked down even while he was trying to hide. The government could do what ever they wanted with him and he could have a horrible life, but stil he thinks that he had won. He was waterboarded once or twice to get his login information from him. I cannot even imagine what they would have done with him if the severe haircut lady and the guards were not arrested.

Up to pg 119

I did not get to read a whole lot today but here is what I thought about what I read. I think that it was really ironic that Marcus ended up running right to the place that started everything, and right where the picture on the phone was taken. Out of the whole city, he ends up in the same place that changed his life forever. He reads the article about Darryl on the same bench that he was rested on after he gets stabbed in the BART station. I thought it was very lucky that the first two people that Marcus asks for an Xbox and a TV allowed him to do so. The people could have turned him into the DHS, but they didn’t. It was very risky, but I guess he didn’t have any other option. The children admire him like a hero, but they shouldn’t. He was just an ordinary person who used all of his resources to bring down the DHS in San Francisco. It was something anyone could do, and they just had to have the motivation that Marcus did. So Zeb contacts Marcus and asks him to come underground with him. He does and gives the phone and pictures to Van to give to the article publisher. Van ends up kissing Marcus as soon as she meets him. I will be honest in saying that I would have never expected Van to be the one to reach out to Marcus. 

Chap 19 reaction

The scene with the DHS and the vampmob reminded me of the concert in many ways. The Xnetters did not disperse when told on both occasions and there was loud chanting of "DON'T TRUST ANYONE OVER 25" and "BITE BITE BITE BITE BITE" from the crowd. Eventually the crowd was gassed in the end, even though the vampmob was completely non-violent. Ange's disappearance seemed to contribute to Masha's possibility of being two-faced. She also gets all of Marcus's IDs and also uses the DHS authority to drive Charles away. I think that Marcus was being a little impulsive about Masha's phone and the picture of Darryl. Masha had driven off Charles, who had evidence against Marcus and could have gotten him arrested, so she had proved that she was trustworthy. She had also told Marcus that she would send the picture to him after they reached Los Angeles. But instead of waiting, he tries to reach for Masha's phone which leads to Masha almost deleting the picture. So Marcus takes the phone and runs out of the truck, risking getting caught and any chance to get innocents like Darryl out of prison. He could have gone underground and come out after the story is published and people are alerted about the DHS's activities. 

Chap 18 reaction

I found that the idea of LARPing would be fun. It seems like a good way to spend a couple days having fun with friends. Charles's character is revealed a little more in this chapter and it shows how much of a bully he really is. We already knew that he was a tattletale and gets Marcus and others in trouble on a regular basis, but now we know that he has little self control or chooses not to follow the rules himself while getting others in trouble. He seems like the type of person who turns on his friends or acquaintances. I think that the distraction would not be big enough because if people think that LARPers are the biggest hoaxers, then they would not show up. If the police show up and the DHS shows up, I don't think that there will be enough people to hide Marcus, Ange, and Masha. Then they will be caught and there will be even less of hope that Darryl and other innocents will get out of the Gitmo-by-the-bay. I think that the spread of information is reflected by the hoax that Marcus made up. Misinformation travels very fast and it shows because the Italian blogger's thoughts eventually reached America's newspapers, where it was corrected.