Tools That Change The Way We Think

"Back in 2004, I asked [Google founders] Page and Brin what they saw as the future of Google search. 'It will be included in people's brains,' said Page. 'When you think about something and don't really know much about it, you will automatically get information.'

'That's true,' said Brin. 'Ultimately I view Google as a way to augment your brain with the knowledge of the world. Right now you go into your computer and type a phrase, but you can imagine that it could be easier in the future, that you can have just devices you talk into, or you can have computers that pay attention to what's going on around them and suggest useful information.'

'Somebody introduces themselves to you, and your watch goes to your web page,' said Page. 'Or if you met this person two years ago, this is what they said to you... Eventually you'll have the implant, where if you think about a fact, it will just tell you the answer."

The way we learn and work now may be more efficient than ever, but those lessons don't necessarily stick as well as they used to. People are replacing their own thoughts and intuition with findings on google and other sources as our primary views on the world. Filter bubbles are taking the openness out of the world. Instead of a vast array of seemingly unlimited views on something, technology is taking the humanity out of exploration. We as a generation are ushering a world dependent on technology, instead of using trial and error and finding things out for yourself. Technology is the best and worst thing to happen to us, so it is up to us as a generation to control how we see the internet.

Filter Bubbles

After watching the video I learned that the internet really does a lot more than it says it does. It was shocking how invasive they can be, but it is amazing the lengths they go to to improve efficiency and overall satisfaction.
This has changed the way I look at information because now I see it more as the internet showing what they think I want to look at, instead of simply opening up the world. I feel like I'm being used whenever I go on to the internet and that my thoughts are a product I'm selling for free. I don't want a filtered world, I want an open one for what it really is.
This video raises questions like, "Just how much do they really know?" and, "What makes my searches so important.? Why are mine just like all the others?".
I agree with Loren's method of improving my searches by choosing search engines that only give me the information I search for. I don't want to be cataloged and put under a category as another oblivious "consumer". I want to be a consumer, using a free service for what it really is: an open door to the world.

Literary Analysis #3

Give Me a Break by John Stossel
Topics and Events
1. This book is written by a correspondent for 20/20 and Good Morning America, John Stossel. In the novel he tells of all of his interviews and confrontations with scam artists ranging from simple "Work From Your Home" scams to complex cases of clinics charging patients for procedures they didn't even need, or the procedure didn't even take place. Some of the most shocking examples of fraud took place in our own government, and throughout the book he debunks the trustworthiness of the Liberal Media.
b) Basically he starts out as a journalist for his college and works his way up to newspaper journalism and wants to bring the true truth on news that is actually useful. He has revealed numerous scam artists from low-life's in a basement to full time politicians or doctors.
2. The author chose to write about this because it was his career. He was writing about his life dedicated to exposing the people who cheat their way through life and proving that the truth always comes out.
3. I chose this book because my dad recommended it to me saying it was a really good book( he is very republican and so is the author and it is very obvious throughout the book) and once I started reading it it was very interesting to me. Its filled with interviews and basically him telling stories of all the confrontations with the people and the legal and personal consequences. It had a lot of human interest.
4. I found the book very realistic because there are always companies and scam artists cheating people, and its nice to see them pay for it. I could find a connection with the author because we have a similar personality and he lived for journalism. He actually doesn't even really enjoy being on TV, but he does it because it needs to be done to bring these people to justice.
People
1. The author's subjects he wrote about were mostly scam artists and dirty politicians. He didn't choose to write more about one group of people over another. These choices say that the author is fairly unbiased, as he is a journalist that wants to bring out the truth. His tone is demeaning of the subjects and this says that the author doesn't respect these people and sees them as below himself.
2. Pamela Farrell is an African-American hair stylist and is one of the best at hair braiding in her area, but gets put out of business due to licensing issues with product she was using. She is just a typical case of someone pursuing her own American dream, but it is taken away due to frivolous legalities. I would agree with the authors use of direct characterization of looks but indirect of personality. Another is Mark Genauer, Stagelight Cosmetics President, who along with other companies such as Calvin Klein were selling grossly overpriced cosmetics due to their "secret formula". He is a scam artist. I would use his actions to indirectly describe what hes like. If he is scamming thousands of people, I doubt he's a good guy.
3. What makes these people interesting enough to write about is the fact that they represent the conflict between achieving a dream, and cheating people. Their are numerous examples of both of these types of people and it personifies the struggle of the American Dream.
1. Two examples of direct characterization used are when the author introduces Pamela, describing her looks and back ground, and when he describes his younger self as shy and with no idea of a career. Two examples of indirect characterization are his tone when he describes his confrontations with scam artists as they avoid the questions and act very suspicious. Another is when he uses actual interview conversations, and the conversations make their personalities apparent to the audience.
2. When the author focuses on a character, his diction does change a bit. He is usually more laid back and casual with his vocabulary but when he talks about a specific character his tone changes to really show how he feels about them. He doesn't blatantly say he doesn't like these people, but he talks in a derogatory tone. Like when he talks about the cosmetic salesmen, he talks in a way that portrays them as conniving intelligent individuals who are good at what they do; which is lying.
3. The protagonist is fairly static as he is the same throughout the book. He is round because there are many sides to his personality. At some points I saw him as a typical person and at others I saw him as a brave journalist.
4. I do feel as if I had met the author. He gives a good amount of back story so I could really see where he was coming from when he talked about certain subjects. One example is where he talks about how he didn't have any idea on what he wanted to do when he was in high school, and I can really connect with this because I'm still open to many ideas.
Style
1. Being that the author was a professional journalist, he wrote in the style he was accustomed to. He used a lot of real life examples with statistics and well known companies. An example is the numerous interview lines he added in to the novel so you can see the actual words that were said.
2. The author focuses on equal amounts of action and dialogue as he would say what literally happened and add in the dialogue, notes style. This affects the book by making it feel faster paced, as if he has a lot of information to give in a little bit of time. It makes it more fun and interesting to read.
3. To create tone and mood the author starts chapters out by stating a general problem with a market and gradually describing specific situations and ending the chapter with something similar to a summary of the theme or central idea of the chapter.
4. The author feels like his subjects aren't necessarily bad people, but just make selfish choices. He recognizes that these people are just trying to make a living. How he feels about the audience is as if he is giving a lecture. He throws out lots of examples and information basically to show just how untrustworthy businesses can be and to be skeptical of them. I feel like he is mentoring the audience on how to not get screwed.
5. The author includes many interviews. This mattered in my thinking because it showed that we do have reason to be skeptical and that these people will still lie, even when they believe they aren't on camera. It made the authors opinions more impacting on my own because he had logical reason for it.
Enduring Memory
My lasting memory of this novel is that running an honest business is very difficult. There is a lot of temptation to overcharge or charge for things that customers don't really need or even want and it is forced upon them, such as faulty car repairs. What this really translates to is that the American Dream has so many hurdles to get over that even when you reach it, just the fact of reaching the finish line is well worth it. An example is Pamela. All she wanted was to come to America to be a hairdresser. She was the best at braiding and special things like that, but in all the excitement of achieving it, she overlooked the technicalities. Her competing businesses told the authorities she didn't have the proper licensing, all because they knew she would be raking in the success, even though she didn't even want all the monetary success.  It requires people to have pure motives for doing something for society and if someone really wants to be something, for the sake of being whatever it is, then they will reach it if they truly want it. The temptations of money weed out all the others that don't have the true desire to be something.

Vocabulary List #8

cursory-looking over something rapidly without noticing details
ex: He looked over the essay with cursory,

 impetus-stimulus or a moving force
ex: Hitler was the impetus behind the third Reich.

 pinnacle-the peak or best time of something
ex: He was at the pinnacle of his career.

 contumely-insulting display of contempt in words or actions
ex: The argument escalated to a series of contumelies.

 bereavement-period of mourning after death of a loved one
ex: He was in a state of bereavement after his wife's death.

 cache-a hiding place in the ground for storage
ex: Its the best thing ever when you find your secret cache of candy in your room.

 consummation-the act of completion or fulfilled
ex: The exchange of rings consummates a marriage.

 calamity-great misfortune or disaster
ex: War causes calamity among the people.

 avarice-insatiable greed for wealth
ex: The king had an avarice that made his subjects hate him.

 fortify-to protect against attack
ex: The soldiers fortified their positions.

 erratic-deviating from usual course or thought
ex: Women have a habit of being erratic.

 ubiquitous-existing everywhere at the same time; always present
ex: There was an ubiquitous presence of ants at the picnic.

 fortitude-mental strength when faced with difficulty
ex: The man had a strong fortitude.

 nonchalant-casual; unexcited
ex: His nonchalant attitude was annoying.

 affect-to produce a change in something
ex: Weather affects plants.

 effect-something produced by a cause
ex: The medicine has many side effects.

 misappropriate-to put to wrong use
ex: Old people misappropriate sport cars.

 pragmatic-pertaining to a practical point of view
ex: The author writes with a pragmatic view of life.

 metacognition-higher order thinking that enables understanding
ex: Wisdom comes when a person achieves metacognition.

 devoutly-devoted to divine worship
ex: He was devoutly proud of his religion.

What Is a Life Worth

1. I have not read anything from Time Magazine.
2. I know that Time Magazine is a very well known and affluent publication containing many articles about news today.
3. The types of articles that are included are exposes, interviews, and national and international news about politics and technology.
4. Typical adults could read Time Magazine but its usually more affluent people that read it such as lawyers, doctors, etc.

Courtesy of Angel Vega
1. I can predict that the article will be about the moral controversy that a life has actual monetary value, something offensive to the families involved.
2. They both talk about valuing life economically, not philosophically.
3. I think the article will be from a third person point of view because the article isn't written by a person that this has happened to.

Courtesy of Matt Reynolds
1. The article is fairly unbiased as it does show equal examples and scenarios describing why it is so controversial even though the government is just trying to do the right thing and do the most they can do short of bringing them back.
2. The author uses a few different types of evidence such as family portrayals, statistics, and some examples of events the author has attended in regards to it. The most effective of these is the family portrayals because they are very emotional.
3. I think the information in the article is trustworthy because Times Magazine is a very reputable publication and things like this truly do happen in society today because due to the abundance of people in the world life has become less precious and lives are measured by monetary means.
4. The authors evidence is based on his use of both logic and emotion to show how offensive this is to the families involved. The family examples stir up a lot of emotion in the text and the statistics backed up those emotions with reason for it. Shakespeare uses more and stronger emotions such as the conflict of reason and action.

Velue of Learning/Value of Life

My week to be will include updating my blog, which is why I'm posting a couple days late. I plan to do the readings What Is a Life Worth and A Human Life Value Calculator.

Melancholy Grad

Fellow Alumni, wow we can actually say that now. When we look back on these four years, what will we think of? Will we think of all the successes and failures? The societal do's and don'ts? Only if we did those things together. No one person made it through High School without the help of even just one person. Remember that one kid you cheated off of in Van Patten's? Well he got that answer from the girl across the room with sign language. You see we couldn't have done this alone. I'm not saying that cheating is right, all I'm saying is that the trials of High School is what brought us together. It brought us together because we all had the same goal. The same goal of passing that test or winning that championship. We're probably going to forget how to find the hypotenuse of a triangle after 10 years. However after those ten long years at the High School reunion, your still going to return to this campus and feel like nothing has changed. You'll be able to sit at any table and talk for hours about all the memories you had here. This place isn't a place of learning; it is a place that lays the foundation for a successful life. How to work together toward one goal is the foundation for any job. Just remember that it isn't just me that is graduating today, it is US that is graduating. We as a family is moving on only to meet again. Thank you. Thank you for everything.

Literary Analysis #2

Topics and Events
1. A Long Way Gone is the true story of Ishmael Beah, who becomes an unwilling boy soldier during a civil war in Sierra Leone. When he is twelve years old, Beah's village is attacked while he is away performing in a rap group with friends. Among the confusion, violence, and uncertainty of the war, Ishmael, his brother, and his friends wander from village to village in search of food and shelter. Everyday is a struggle of survival, and the boys find themselves committing acts they would never have believed themselves capable of.

Its basically about his life and all the things he had to go through just to reach freedom.

2. The author chose to write about this because it was something very personal and rather amazing that he is still alive today. There are extremely people who have had the life that he has had and lived to find freedom and the fact that he learned to write like he can is simply amazing. He was writing his personal memoirs so that his story is forever recorded.

3. I chose this book because it sounded really interesting and I read a summary online on my phone before I bought it. The book  appealed to me because I had personally been to Africa and heard a lot of different stories of child soldiers being used and he wasn't much younger than I am so I could've connected to him easier. The book came to my attention when I was in the library and saw the cover and it caught my eye. It had a child walking with an RPG round so I had to look in to it. It looked interesting. What kept me reading was his amazing story. The plot and anticipation kept building.

4, I found the book very realistic because things like this still happen today in Africa and it is no different. I couldn't really connect with many people or events throughout the story because it is a really tragic story and I have a fairly normal life. I could only connect with the fact that he was around my age and suddenly was on his own so I could imagine that feeling of dissolution.

People
1. The author met a lot of people and his life, some of them suffered along with him and some would save him and change him. The main characters in the story are those that were either his friends that helped him get through it all, or adults that served as parent figures for him as his were murdered. This says that he definitely lacked parental guidance and would try to find these qualities in the adults he met that brought him some good. The author's tone is fairly depressing and without hope. He writes with a tone that definitely captures the emotion of the situation. What it says about his subjects is that although he recognizes their existence as a sense of hope and common ground, he still doesn't find the point in life and only sees the pain and torture of it all.
2. Uncle Tommy is an older man probably in his 40's which is fairly old for people of his situation. He is a carpenter and is very kind to Ishmael. If I were to write him as a fictional character I would use indirect characterization because he does a lot of actions that would describe his personality. Esther is a nurse working for UNICEF and is very sympathetic for child soldiers, she is in her mid 30's. She is very kind and basically a life saver for Ishmael as she takes him in and rehabilitates him. Again I would use indirect characterization because she is very influential on his life with her actions.

3. Uncle Tommy was interesting enough to write about because he filled in a lot of the gaps in Ishmael's memory of his child hood and basically gave him his impression of the family he used to have. Esther was interesting to write about because she took him in and rehabilitated him and showed him that life isn't all pain. She brought him back to life basically.

1. Two examples of direct characterization were in the beginning when the author was describing his family and when he was describing Esther. He said what her job was and that she was very kind to everyone, something he wasn't used to. Two examples of indirect characterization is when he was directly describing the refugees that came into his village. He said that he could literally see the fear and pain on their faces and imagined all the things they endured. Another is when he first got captured and he told all the horrible things he was forced to do and his addiction to drugs and this was indirectly characterizing the leaders, they basically forced the children to do all this because it made them better soldiers. The use of both approaches makes the reader more in tune with the story and characters because every description will make the reader think if its literal or figurative.

2. When the author characterizes, his diction and syntax doesn't really change that much. He doesn't change the tone and writes as if he was describing the people as if he was doing it at that time and place. Like when he was describing the generals, he still used some rather vulgar language but it doesn't take away from the meaning because he hated them so much and that captured the feeling.

3. The protagonist is fairly dynamic. His personality changes with whatever is going on. If a glimpse of hope is seen, you can definitely tell it turns his whole day around. Throughout the story he begins to understand what is happening around him and falls in to the temptations he faces. He is also round because the reader has a good idea of who he is from the start. This helps the reader to connect more with the protagonist because they understand him.

4. After reading I definitely felt like I had met the author. He described his life story so vividly and perfectly that I felt like I knew him. I could have talked to him about his own life and know what he was talking about. A good example of this is when he described how he was wondering the country with his friends. Just them and the world. I could connect with this because I've been backpacking with friends and I know that feeling of freedom.

Style
1. The author used some foreshadowing and anticipation to show that his life was always changing and he had to adapt. He foreshadowed by using happy times to give the impression that something ominous was on the horizon. The audience knows that he had a very dramatic life, so a happy moment just wouldn't seem right.

2. The author uses rather short descriptions and uses the characters actions to fill in the blanks. There is a lot of action that happens throughout the book because his life was very eventful. More action than just dialogue. This choice has the effect of making the reader think for themselves a little bit. It gave me more room to imagine what people were like instead of having direct characterization to make me feel a way about the characters.

3. The author uses blunt vulgar descriptions to create tone and mood. A lot of dramatic and emotionally jarring events happen throughout the story so that's the best way of putting it. Basically saying it is what it is and its unchangeable.

4. The author sounded fairly disillusioned throughout the novel. His story was depressing with the fact that just simple innocent children are being forced to kill and steal. His attitude was that he hated who he was becoming. He used to be a typical good boy but he was forced to deal with the realities of war. His innocence was ripped away from him.

5. The novel didn't really include any documents or anything. This didn't matter in my thinking because I knew that he was writing about his true life events so that they were credible enough just because he experienced them first hand. I didn't need real evidence to believe that these things actually happened.

Enduring Memory
After reading this novel my memory is going to be the fact that the world is as happy and fair as it may seem. We are very fortunate to live in the place we do now. A place not in civil war, forcing children to fight along side adults against their will. No person should be forced to fight for something they don't even believe in. They don't even know the cause and they are just basically fighting for survival. Children shouldn't have to question whether or not they even want to live to see tomorrow.

Vocabulary List #7

cursory-looking over something rapidly without noticing details
ex: He looked over the essay with cursory,

 impetus-stimulus or a moving force
ex: Hitler was the impetus behind the third Reich.

 pinnacle-the peak or best time of something
ex: He was at the pinnacle of his career.

 contumely-insulting display of contempt in words or actions
ex: The argument escalated to a series of contumelies.

 bereavement-period of mourning after death of a loved one
ex: He was in a state of bereavement after his wife's death.

 cache-a hiding place in the ground for storage
ex: Its the best thing ever when you find your secret cache of candy in your room.

 consummation-the act of completion or fulfilled
ex: The exchange of rings consummates a marriage.

 calamity-great misfortune or disaster
ex: War causes calamity among the people.

 avarice-insatiable greed for wealth
ex: The king had an avarice that made his subjects hate him.

 fortify-to protect against attack
ex: The soldiers fortified their positions.

 erratic-deviating from usual course or thought
ex: Women have a habit of being erratic.

 ubiquitous-existing everywhere at the same time; always present
ex: There was an ubiquitous presence of ants at the picnic.

 fortitude-mental strength when faced with difficulty
ex: The man had a strong fortitude.

 nonchalant-casual; unexcited
ex: His nonchalant attitude was annoying.

 affect-to produce a change in something
ex: Weather affects plants.

 effect-something produced by a cause
ex: The medicine has many side effects.

 misappropriate-to put to wrong use
ex: Old people misappropriate sport cars.

 pragmatic-pertaining to a practical point of view
ex: The author writes with a pragmatic view of life.

 metacognition-higher order thinking that enables understanding
ex: Wisdom comes when a person achieves metacognition.

 devoutly-devoted to divine worship
ex: He was devoutly proud of his religion.

To Be or Not To Be

Translation:
Should I change the world and myself, or stay how I am?
I wonder whether it is better to endure the ridiculousness of life or go against the wrongs of life and eliminate them
By going against the things that are wrong, I could finally rest soundly
By killing myself I would end the pains of life that are natural
It would be a completion of life that shows our commitment to final rest
By dying could finally dream of all the things that could be
And that is the problem. Live and settle for how things are, or die for a chance to dream of how things could be
In death we can finally dream as if we were never mortal will give us a chance to think
This is the effect that makes pain and suffering the stuff that makes life seem so long
The people who have been wronged and have experienced pain,seen the ill effects of pride and love and loss, felt the feeling of vengeance, and seen corruption don't know these things in death
Who would endure life with all these pains?
It is the fear of what happens after we do something, that prevents us from doing it
It is over thinking something that prevents us from doing it
When you see where the flow of time and paths turn away you lose a sense of action
All my actions will be remembered
b) The level of understanding that speaks to me most is the second one. Everyday we make choices on our lives and the social norms of them play a huge role. Sometimes we have to go against those to do what we know is right.
c) The path I will take throughout life is the one first paved by social norms and refined by my own values. The general path of it would be one parallel to the things that should be done throughout life, but with my own added choices based solely on what I hold to be true.