My initial impression of Tinker Cad is that it's super cool. I didn't even know we had a 3D printer, let alone an easy to use website for 3D printing. I think that the building process is fairly easy, I'm just having a bit of trouble with some of the controls. The measurements are in millimeters which makes it difficult to gage how big my technology will be. I also think that Tinker Cad is fun and really helps release creative tension.
0 Comments
Technology has become one of the main forms of entertainment and communication in the past couple of decades. It brings together people from all over the world, expands your knowledge on websites like Google, and informs people on current world events. There are downsides though. Technology in students can distract from work, and being on your phone before bed negatively affects your sleeping patterns. In the end, technology can help and hurt our society.
The Last Storyteller is about an old man trying to tell is technology obsessed great-grandson a story. The boy questions if he has things like a "quadraphonic soundtrack" (Fritz par. 8). The boy almost freaks out over the fact that his great grandfather doesn't need equipment to tell a story, so he gets his handheld story teller instead. The man never gets to tell his story. This reading is a satire on kids obsessed with technology. This story pokes fun at the fact that kids can't live without technology. It exaggerates the fact that he can't hear a story unless there's equipment involved, which really shows how idiotic this issue is. This issue can be easily fixed if people limit their kids with the amount of technology they get, an/or make their kids do activities that aren't technology ridden for once. In reality, kids these days (hopefully) don't tech their love of technology as far as Mark Fritz wrote about, but this could become a bigger issue if we don't do what I've listed previously.
Propaganda is the main way language is used as an instrument of social control. Squealer, the pig representing propaganda, is a perfect example in Animal Farm. Whenever the animals become suspicious of Napoleans actions, Squealer persuades them that everything is fine. He typically ends his speech with asking them if they want Farmer Jones to return. Another example in Animal Farm is the sheep who constantly chant, "four legs good, two legs bad!" This basically means the animals don't consider humans as one of their own. In The Wave, Mr. Ross was adding on words to the chalkboard daily. These included discipline, community, action, and strength. Having students repeat these phrases persuaded them that only the people who follow these rules are worthy of their attention. Some of the leading students of The Wave, like Robert, began saying things along the lines of, "The Wave is the best!"
War is when two opposing forces go into battle, and this fight greatly affects the people of each side.
War can be emotionally destructive, or it can be politically destructive. What we don't realize is a war cost billions of dollars and lives. Regardless of what we think about it, everyone should agree that war is a negative thing that causes death, debt, and emotional scaring. War changes us by making everything in our lives a constant struggle, whether it's economically, emotionally, or politically. I think Mr. Phillip's speech on equality in our society today was truly inspiring. From demonstrating what someone with autism hears, to giving us the facts of how cruel our society really is.
Everything happens for a reason, whether it is a horrible tragedy or a confusing turn of events. For example, James Costello was at the Boston Marathon when the bombs unfortunately exploded, "severely burning his arms and legs" (Banerjee, Bloom par. 1). One of his rehabilitation nurses, Krista D'Agostino, and he developed a relationship. They soon became engaged. Some people agree that everything happens for a reason, but in a religious way. Most religions have a God that "plans for us, sends us messages, rewards the good, and punishes the bad" (Banerjee, Bloom par. 3). A study from the Yale Mind and Development Lab tested people by asking why certain events in their lives happened. It's not a surprise that most of the religious believers said these events were "purposefully designed", most likely by their God (Banerjee, Bloom par. 4). Surprisingly, many atheists (people who do not believe in a God) in the study believed everything happens for a reason, but in terms of fate. Speaking of religion, karma is another factor of everything happening for a reason in a religion. Karma is the Buddhist term of a positive or negative reaction to every single person's actions. As The Tree of Awakening says, "you alone are responsible for your actions" and that you deserve all of the "good or bad" that happens to you (par. 4 and 5). Everything good or bad that happens to someone happens for a reason. Even if someone's not Buddhist, they can believe in karma. Umair Haque makes a good point by saying everything happens for a reason, but you are "the maker of the reasons" (Haque par. 21). As in, if someone believes everything happen for a reason, then it does! This ideology is more from the heart than the brain; a person will use their "feelings, intuitions, [and] instincts" when they believe everything happens for a reason (Haque par. 19). Does everything happen for a reason? Yes. Maybe it's religious reasons, like karma or just believing in a God. Maybe someone believes it does, so everything does happen for a reason. Works Cited Banerjee, Konika and Bloom, Paul. "Does Everything Happen for a Reason?" The New York Times.
The New York Times, 17 Oct. 2014. Web. 8 Feb. 2017. Haque, Umair. "Does Everything Happen for a Reason?" Umair Haque. Umair Haque, 2 May 2016. Web. 8 Feb. 2017. "Is There a Way to See into the Future And Control Your Own Destiny?" The Tree of Awakening. The Tree of Awakening, n.d. Web. 8 Feb. 2017. |