Entry #10 Are you kidding me

Be careful when you pick a topic!

Finals week is coming up in my computer science class. We have an open design project with a five page research paper on our design. There are some really interesting creative people...and then there is me. It seemed like nobody had a problem coming up with an invention. Of course I waited until the very last minute to come up with an idea for an invention. Finally the teacher said "give me your topic now" put on the spot I blurted out "I don't know, a potato lamp?"


One guy is making a 3-D holographic projector and I am over here working with a potato. I was proud to have finally come up with a project until I remembered that I have to write a 5 page research paper on it. Ummm, can I triple space it with five inch margins?


I came up with a great idea to use an led light bulb that has a Bluetooth speaker with flashing lights. This is going to be awesome! I bought the $50 light bulb. Once again, I guess I should have researched before I bought it. Turns out a potato only generates .8 to 1 watt. So do you think 40 potato's would work?


Procrastination - the action of delaying or postponing something. If there was a class on procrastination, I would get an A, but I would probably put off taking the class. The lesson here is that you should not only give yourself enough time to complete an assignment, but you should also take more time when picking the topic for that assignment.

Entry #9 Media in the 21st Century

I grew up (and am still growing up) in the 21st century. I have never known life with out the internet, social media, and 24 hour streaming news. I've never put a lot of thought into what media is because it has always just been incorporated into my way of life. I guess I just take it for granted. There was a time when kids could only watch cartoons on Saturday morning. Now we can watch it 24 hours a day on several different networks. The news only came on 3 times a day for one hour each time and other than that there was a newspaper. My family recently cancelled the newspaper when my dad finally got a smartphone. He had this old flip phone with no camera until 2015 when it finally broke.


Once he got his new phone he finally realized he could watch ESPN any time he wanted. The power of media.
But he still drives a 1998 Honda Civic with 220,000 miles on. I guess he is slowly moving into the 21st Century.

But is all of this advanced media good? In my opinion it is both good and bad. We are a more informed society, but not all of the information we are given is accurate. Digital media is readily available at any time of the day, but libraries and newspapers are slowly dying because of it. Facebook started out as a way to stay connected with family and friends and now it has become a massive media outlet filled with hate, discrimination, bullying and advertisements. Social media, digital information, smart phones, activity trackers, texting, online banking, mobile banking seems to have become the umbilical cord for staying connected. But this also makes us vulnerable to hacking, tracking and blackmailing.

We as a society have become dependent on media. We connect to the TV, internet, phone more than we connect to people. We text our family member's to come to the dinner table to eat. My parents can track my driving and know when I am speeding. One time my friends wanted me to lie to my mom about where I was at and I was like, dude....she can see where my car is on her phone app. We have an addiction to media.
                      What would we do without Google? I don't know, Google it.

Entry #8 Stan Lee

"With great power comes great responsibility" 
I hear this quote is some form or another every day. People like to change it to replace the word power with another word to make it some witty joke. We have Stan Lee to thank for this quote. He started out his career with the goal of becoming an author of books but that didn't work out so well for him and he ended up taking a job in the comic industry. He got tired of writing the same generic story lines so at the age of 30 he decided to write what he wanted to write. He developed characters with super human powers but also with flaws and ethical struggles. This made his characters relate-able. My favorite characters are:

  Spider Man                                                                                                    
                                                                        (tormented by teenage angst)                                         
                                                  Iron-Man     

                                                                             

                                                      (weak heart/alcoholism)

Black Panther 
                                                                             


(father issues)








Stan Lee created characters that are loved by children, teenagers and adults. He changed the industry and became the father of modern comics. From his first super hero, "Captain America" to the last superhero "Dirt Man" he has provided endless entertainment for all ages.  The stories he created had many emotional levels.  He could make you laugh and then in the next scene bring you tears. His stories dealt with social, political and cultural issues. He made a cameo appearance in every movie. My favorite was "I have a package for Tony Stank." The comic world will not be the same without you Stan Lee.

                                                         Rest in Peace

                                                        1922-2018

Entry #7 #HASHTAG

A hashtag is a way to categorize certain topics so that other users can view what is trending. I don't really know much about hashtags because I don't use them very often. I don't use them because I've outgrown the thought of using hashtags. I feel that mostly the younger and older generations use them the most. For example, I was looking through my mom's Facebook the other day and saw that a large group of her friends used hashtags in their posts. There was a post about someone's dogs and they said "#yorkiesofinstagram", they had posted the picture on both Instagram and Facebook. Hashtags are used so that people can see what someone else has posted under the same hashtag.

 There are multiple hashtags going around about some of my favorite games that are out, so I like to go under those topics and watch clips of the game to see how good other people are. These topics are interesting to me because video games have played such a big role in my life and it's cool to see how it's changing others lives in the same way. All of the hashtags going around show how our culture is so into social media and how some are using the hashtag to show awareness within their posts. For example, the hashtag "#bluelivesmatter" is raising awareness that police officers lives matter too and how dangerous their jobs actually are since there is so much controversy going around with policemen all over the country. The diversity with all of the different hashtags show that there are many problems and social issues going on in the country that people are showing awareness for.

Blog Entry # 5

Political Rhetoric

Okay, so I read the article that was assigned, Ducey: Why Arizona needs more college grads, and I really didn’t have much to say other than “that sounds good.” Doug Ducey said he is excited to join a new community-led, statewide effort to improve educational attainment in Arizona. That sounds like a solid plan to me. I agree that we need increase college readiness in K-12 students. I knew that wouldn’t be an adequate blog, so I asked my mom for some input. Whatever you do, DO NOT ask a person in public education about their thoughts on Doug Ducey’s plan for “raising the bar” of education in Arizona. When she read the article, she said this is just political rhetoric, but she used a little more colorful language. She has been a teacher in a public-school district for over 20 years. She went off on a rant about Proposition 123 and some lawsuit between education and the state. She used terms like robbing Peter to pay Paul, whatever that means. I didn’t know what she what she was talking about, so I just sat there nodding and occasionally going m-hm. So, I guess what I learned is that you shouldn’t form an opinion based on one article.

Blog # 6

To test or not to test...that is the question.

The other day I heard a commercial about a genetic testing company. I thought it would be pretty cool to find out who my ancestors were. Maybe I am a decedent of somebody famous. And, for those who believe in reincarnation, they might find out who they were in a past life. Why is it that people are always somebody famous in a previous life? You don’t hear people saying they were somebody who was a horrible person in a previous life. My mother says she must have been hung in a previous life, because she doesn’t like anything around her neck. She won’t wear turtle necks or necklaces. That kinda makes it easy for Mother's Day presents.

Another benefit of Genetic testing is you can find out if you are genetically predisposed to any medical issues. With that information, you can make choices that would help prevent or at least be prepared for any medical conditions that may arise. Sounds great right? I thought so too but I did a little research. Now although these sites say that your information will be kept private, can you really be sure of that? Most of the genetic databases are not currently being used by law enforcement agencies. From what I have found, there is only one database that is used by law agencies, Gen Match. This database was used to catch the Golden State Killer. He was identified by a familial DNA match. Some relative of his uploaded his DNA information into the genetic database and they were able to match a genetic profile. This was great for not only law enforcement but also for any future victims. The information that was able to be obtained from the genetic database, helped to catch a very bad person and prevent future crimes or horrible acts. Gen Match can be used to help law enforcement find not only perpetrators of crime but also victims. There are several unsolved criminal cases where victims have never been identified. With a genetic data base, victims can be identified. 

So here is the moral dilemma, by uploading your genetic testing results, you can help catch a criminal or identify a victim, but you will also be putting in DNA that will affect not only you, but your family, extended family and future generations. Will it be used in a positive way by halting crime or, will it  be used in the future for other means that we aren't even aware of yet. It is not out of the realm of thinking that insurance companies can decide not to insure because of a genetically predisposed conditions or things that are not related to the innocent question of ancestry.  

Blog Entry #4

Dogs vs Cats

I am a dog person all the way, unless it is a tiger.  Dog's are loyal animals. We have three dogs at home. My mom likes to "adopt" dogs. We have a little female dog that she adopted after hurricane Katrina. She is a mix of between a basset hound and beagle, we call her a bagel. My little brother is obsessed with Pugs so my mom found an old pug at the humane society but he had to be adopted with his buddy which was another old dog. They almost paid her to take the two dogs. The pug is twelve years old and the other is fifteen. We are basically just giving them a nice comfortable home to spend their golden years in before they go to doggie heaven. I like the other old dog instead of the pug. He is cool even though he is blind, deaf and arthritic. Sometimes he jumps around all excited like he is a puppy. It only lasts for a few minutes and then he has to go lay down and rest for a couple hours.

On the other hand, my Aunt has a cat. One cat. The reason she has only one cat is because that cat is mean. You can't bring another cat or dog into the house or she has a fit. That cat literally runs the house. She isn't very social, anytime someones comes over she runs and hides. The only time she comes around is when she is demanding a treat. Dogs beg, cats demand. When I come home, the dogs are at the door waging their tails excited to see me. I picture her cat sitting there with a look on her face like "oh it's you,  your late, give me a treat and then go away."

There isn't really a comparison, dogs are just a better pet than cats. Sorry cat lovers.