Summary

This video from Nova was describing to us what a fractal is. A fractal is a shape that is very jagged. Beniot Mandelbrot was the main discoverer of the fractal. You could make a fractal by taking a normal shape for example a triangle and continue to break down the triangle by adding more inside of the original. This discovery led to many discoveries and advancements. Special effects have extremely been affected by fractals and are now able to look real. Also they were able to use computers to create fractals and then able to produce designs on clothing. Another example was cell phones and wireless computers. Fractals enable us to carry around smaller devices and still access power and internet and other sources. Fractals are everywhere landscaping, in objects, they make up the human body, and much more. Fractals are hopefully going to be able to help us discover cure for cancer. Fractals are also used to determine that larger animals use less energy. This is found by a mathematical formula. Fractals all trace back to math and even deeper to geometry.

Analysis

I thought this was very interesting. I really enjoy math and have always been good at it but I never looked at it in this perspective. I always saw it has numbers and general shapes. I think the shapes and designs they are able to create now with the discovery of fractals are crazy. I believe this is where I see beauty and individuality. I thought this weeks reading assignment was cool because of the fact that it made me analyze math deeper than just numbers and general shapes.

Summary:

In whats ‘manly,’ and whats not for athletes it described how women are starting to not be housewives and are becoming part of the workforce but not many are sports broadcasters. It also gave an example of Mark Sanchez taking off the playoffs for maternity leave and how people were appalled and upset. Then in The Televised Sports Manhood Formula discussed how it is a majority of white men watch sports and are seen on the commercials. It also talked about how women are usually found only as sexy figures or paired with a male. Finally the video clip was on the top ten shots in hockey.

Reaction

In the first article I have to say that I think it was dumb of the fans to get upset for him leaving for the birth of his child. He is a human too not just an athlete and he has a life outside of football. I would want my husband there. It is a once in a life time chance. I think it is very true what was said about males watching sports and how it is manly men who watch them. I also agree with the fact that it is usually better when men broadcast sports than when women so. I’m not saying women can’t or aren’t good at it but usually men are more natural at it and it also attracts men to watch the sport more than if a women was broadcasting. I also really liked the clip insert.

Summary:
Book one is mainly about speaking and He talked about how you must speak with wisdom and eloquence to be heard and for it to be worthy speech. He also went into the goods and evils of speaking. He also talked about being persuasive and how there has been good that comes out of persuasion. You must draw in your audience.

I also read the speech The Morality of Birth Control where it talks about the different views and the three groups of society. It talks about how women should have the right to use it and that it should help regulate population. The steps are to one have the backing of the audience and two to give the right of population control.

Analysis:

I believe that defining if a speech is “beautiful” or not is determined by the listener. Everyone has their own tastes that is what makes us individuals. For me personally it’s not always about the content of the speech as it is about the way it is presented. Also I am going to find a speech better if I enjoy the topic than if I don’t care about it. What makes a “beautiful” speech?

In the speech I read I also have mixed feeling about not only if it was a ”good’ speech but also with the content. I believe the speech could have elaborated more and found more pros and cons of birth control

Summary: In this world there is the option of calli which is a devise that turns the part of your brain off that judges beauty of the face. Calli is an option. In this story there are numerous different views presented. Also there is a girl Tamera who had calli until college when she got it switched off. There are many different views where people wish to make it mandatory for everyone and then there are people that want to eliminate it. Tamera finds that after going a few weeks with her calli turned off that she likes it better with it on. The real debate is whether or not it should exist and if physical appearance is what corrupts our world today.

Reaction:
As of right now I stand pretty close to the middle of this discussion. I believe that there are way calli could be a great thing to have. I have to agree that it is very intimidating to see models and to want to be like them. There are many people across the world that spend their day comparing themselves to others around them. I believe that calli could be a very helpful attribute for job interviewing.Another way it could be beneficial is when finding a soul mate. There is a great possibility that the number of divorces could drop significantly because marriage would be more based on compatibility than on looks. I also believe that if calli were to be used it would have to be used by everyone and there would not be the choice of turning it off.

There are reasons I don’t think that calli should exist. I feel that God made us who we are because that is how he wanted us to look. I’m not saying judging is a good thing by any means but I also believe that each individual is unique and calli might take that uniqueness away. Each individual has their own talents and I believe we should use those talents to our advantage.