jlf009's blog

The first article talked about the Occupy movement and how there are protests all over the world. I haven’t really been following this at all but I was surprised to see all the different countries that have protests about it. This is a huge problem and people aren’t going to back down until there is a change. In the second article the people said they would stay there as long as necessary.

I think there is always going to be a very large gap between the rich and the poor. I don’t think there is a way to convince some people that they don’t need all the money they have. Although, with the large protests that have been going on we might see some changes. The more people that protest the more the likelihood that there will be a change.

When schools need to make budget cuts it seems like some of the first things that are taken away are some of the most important. People may not realize it, but the arts are very important to a child’s education. It allows them to think for themselves and not be forced to do something a certain way. In other subjects like math and science, when doing a problem it has to be done a specific way, but in art you have much more freedom. Art allows students to express what they see in their own way. There is no right way to do it or right answer in art. This type of thinking is important to have. It helps you learn to come up with other ways of doing things that aren’t the obvious answer.

In the reading it talked about how the arts provide emotional and spiritual well-being. If this is true then shouldn’t students be required to take some form of art? Maybe this has a link to students who are struggling academically or emotionally.

Hitchhiking is not really very common anymore. It’s just something that doesn’t happen very often, and for good reason. Hitchhiking is not safe, no matter whether you are the person picking up the hitchhiker or you are the hitchhiker. Who in there right mind would pick up a random person on the side of the road? You don’t know anything about them. You don’t know why they are doing it. Then on the other hand why would someone want to get into a car with a stranger? The lady on the podcast who talked about being kidnapped by the people who picked her up was right in saying that you are essentially handing your life over to whomever you get in the car with. It’s just not worth the risk in my opinion.

If you are worried about being “green” carpool with someone you know. In today’s society it just isn’t safe to hitchhike. Even though there are probably only a few cases where something bad actually happened to a hitchhiker, that is enough for people to not want to do it. We live in a world where we are taught to fear strangers. I don’t think that is going to change.

The comparison of people still swimming in the ocean even though they could be attacked by a shark to that of taking a risk of getting into a car with a criminal is interesting. I never thought of it in terms of they both have small risks but why are we so much more willing to swim in an ocean than to let people hitchhike?

This weeks reading was about how we celebrate Christmas and how it came about. I was really surprised to think about people not celebrating Christmas like people do today. It’s such a popular holiday and everyone gets really into it. I feel like recognizing the birth of Jesus is a good thing. Although, I feel like a lot of times the true meaning of Christmas isn’t acknowledged like it should be. The point of Christmas is to celebrate Jesus’s birth not to see how many gifts you can receive. I will admit I like all the traditions of Christmas but I think it’s important to remember what it’s all really about. I like all the decorations and the sense of cheeriness that you get from people. Also, all of the baked goods that are made around Christmas are nice too. As long as people are celebrating Christmas for the right reasons I think that all the traditions that go along with it should stay.

As I read through these essays it seemed like he was just rambling and jumping from topic to topic. He tells many stories and shares his opinions on some rather serious issues. He tells most of these from a pessimistic view.

One point stuck out to me in his first essay. Near the end of his speech to the class at Bennington College he talks about how people their age are supposed to be the people changing the world and making it better. He said that they don’t have the power nor the money, which is completely true. Someone who has just graduated from college is probably fairly poor; and lets be honest what power could they possibly have? I think that Vonnegut is correct in saying that it is up to older people to make a change in the world and the younger people are there to assist. If you have no experience in leading something big, to make a drastic change, it will probably fail. To make a change in the world you need people who have experience in leadership.

Also, Vonnegut makes it clear that you can’t start big and expect changes immediately. Start with small changes that lead up to something greater. I agree with him on this point. I think that doing small things first will give you more insight and experience to do something greater.

Summary:

The episode was about the discovery of fractals and how they can be used in many different areas. They can be used in finding things out about nature. Noticing that there are patterns in nature, and it’s not just random. They are also helpful for the medical world. With more research they are beginning to relate fractals to tumors. Then, they are also used in something that people use constantly, which are cellphones. Fractals can be seen in and help us understand many different subjects.

Response:

I was amazed to see how math can be related to so many things. The discovery of fractals has enabled many other discoveries. Fractals are seen everyday. Without the use of them cellphones would be much different. Learning how to scale down antennas has made cellphones smaller and be able to do many more things without having lots of different antennas sticking out of your phone. I never realized that you would need different antennas for all the different functions.

As for fractals in nature, I thought it was really neat how they discovered there is a pattern to how rain forests are set up. I always thought that trees were just randomly scattered. Also, I never even thought that certain trees would have a different pattern depending on what kind they are. I always assumed the branches were random. It will definitely make me look at things in nature differently now. Knowing that many patterns on different scales, make up what we see in nature will make me want to look for those patterns.

Lastly, finding out that our body is made up of fractals makes a lot of sense. There are so many things in our body that have to fit in a small space it just makes sense that these fractals are evident.  Using fractals in a small area will give you more surface area than if they weren’t used.I think that with more research on fractals and tumors it would be really cool to see doctors detect tumors sooner and help save people.

Summary:
It was a study on what boys are seeing/hearing on the sports that are commonly watched among boys ages 8-17. It wasn’t just about the sports shows themselves, but it was about the commercials and the commentators also. It talked about the racial/gender discrimination that is seen in these shows and on the commercials. Also, it talked about why athletes make risky decisions and if that’s related to wanting to be “manly”.

The short article was about famous sports stars doing “feminine” things, such as taking a leave because they have family commitments. Or, if doing things like fashion spreads makes your level of masculinity go down. It also mentioned how women don’t usually call games, and men responded with that they don’t like women to do that because they sound awful.

Response:

I have never really payed any attention to commercials as far as them not portraying women and men equally. I’m not really surprised by this though. Today women are still viewed as somewhat inferior to men. Things are getting a lot better as the years go by but I would say that there are still some cases where we aren’t considered their equal. Clearly, this is true in the commercial world. Is it a coincidence that men are the main people in commercials? Women are just as capable as men are to do commercials, and act well in them. So why are women not being seen in commercials as much as men are?

As for male athletes trying to portray masculinity by playing even when injured, I think that is not a good thing. You have to know your body. If you are seriously injured and it would cause you more injury to keep playing, then why do it? Some men must have it in their mind that they can’t let down their team or they want to be the hero. At what price though? They need to consider the future affects it would have on them. For example, if they have a wife and children to take care of, I would think that’s more important in the long run than being able to play for one more season. Or if a minor injury turns into something big and you need surgery, is it really worth it to push yourself to the breaking point? Now I know that nothing really great is ever achieved without a lot of hard work and some painful moments, but when you get hurt badly, should you risk your well-being to show masculinity?

Summary
Book one talks about whether the fluency of language had been beneficial or not to men and to cities. You must have eloquence and wisdom to be helpful to your country when speaking. If you lack either of those you are of no help.

There was a time when humans did things based upon bodily strength without using their mind to consider the best option. There was a man who saw this savage way of life and thought it should be changed. He gathered followers who would listen to him and learn a new a way of doing things from him. By speaking with eloquence and truth he changed their whole lifestyle, because those people “bought” into what he was teaching them.

Although, there is some evil in speaking with eloquence. Some men are so good at speaking that they persuade others to believe something that isn’t necessarily morally correct.

Response

Without the eloquence of wisdom and truth that some people have learned to speak with we would most likely live in an uncivilized world. If you think about it if no one had stepped up and persuaded others to a certain belief our world would be chaos.

Learning how to speak with wisdom and truth makes what you are saying come across stronger. People are much more likely to believe something that is delivered with eloquence and wisdom.

I think though, that you can’t let a good speech always persuade you to think a different way. Some people can give good speeches and convince you to believe in something that isn’t right or maybe isn’t good for your country. You have to consider the outcome and decide whether it was just good speech giving skills or if it was a genuine speech.

Response

This reading really summed up how people in our world view things. We tend to focus a lot on people’s appearance rather than who they truly are. Growing up with calli really changed the way Tamara viewed people as opposed to someone who didn’t have calli. As a child Tamara couldn’t see the difference between someone who is good looking and someone who is not. This was in a way beneficial because it took away the ability to judge someone based on what they look like. She could get to know a person by their personality and interests without ever thinking about how they dress or if they have a nice haircut ect.

I don’t believe this is all beneficial though because not everyone in the world has calli. Is it really fair for some people to have the ability to notice people’s appearance but not others? Like it said in the reading, if some people had calli and some people didn’t, employers could allow more attractive people to have better jobs and the unattractive people would have jobs that aren’t as high up. People who have calli wouldn’t even see this discrimination that is happening. They would be blinded to it altogether.

Another scenario is when the physician was talking about how it is important for them to really see people’s true appearance because that can help in diagnosing some illnesses. So it’s really not realistic for everyone to have calli, therefore I think that no one should have it.

Also, is it really right to alter someone’s thoughts when unnecessary? If they are a perfectly healthy person, physically and mentally, there is no reason to change the way they think. I think education on accepting differences and not judging people by their outward appearance is a better method than scientifically altering a person’s ability to see physical differences.

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