Blog Post 12

This course was pretty challenging, but really push me as a writer and for that I am grateful. The difficulties I had in this course were turning things in on time and keeping up with the class. I usually don't have trouble in this area, but I think I found my way at the end. This class challenged me to think outside the box and find new ways to write and see things from different perspectives. In the future I plan on taking a lighter class load and planning things out better. I found each topic interesting, and each topic gave me an opportunity to learn more than just grammar. Through this course I learned about American history, technology, and how to achieve a happier life. I enjoyed the technology unite the most because while writing my paper and discovering different points to add to my essay I learned a lot about history and media. Aspects we learned in this class and by writing our papers really come into use in our daily lives and I really appreciate that. The blog is pretty cool because it gives us a chance to voice our oppinutes and read oppinointes of those around us. Overall the class was great. The first semester was easier to keep up with than the second and I would stress that to people planning on taking the second portion of this class, but in a whole the class really does challenge students so that is a definite positive.

Blog Post #11

Denmark seems to be the happiest place on earth, according to the article "The Secret To Danish Happiness" by Huffington Post writer, Jessica Alexander, Danmark exceeds in happiness because of the "Danish way of hygge...derived from the Germanic word hyggja, which means to think or feel satisfied".  The article describes hyggie as having no direct translation, but summed up to mean "drama-free togetherness", and "homey". I believe that having satisfaction in yourself and your life is happiness. When taking a look at some of the wealthiest people in the world, we see that some of them acquire material things like cars and homes,yet describe themselves as unhappy and even depressed. That should be a clear indication that money does not equal happiness. Measuring happiness is a lot deeper than what's in our pocket book.  As much as I would like to accredit positive self outlook to being the only driving factor for the Danish happiness, the UK Dailymail published an interesting article which states "According to research from the University of Warwick, genetics could be the key to explaining a nation’s levels of happiness". After looking at survey data from 131 countries, researchers at Warwick found that "Compared with people from other countries, Danes were less likely to possess a short version of the gene linked to low levels of life satisfaction". This of course got me thinking that if there are genes linked to depression, then why can't there be genes linked to happiness. Even though this research seems to be still pretty new I think genes could potentially be a big factor in why Danes rank so high in happiness. Happiness might be what you make it, but maybe moving to Denmark would make it a little bit higher.

Blog Post #10

Paul Keegan's article "Here's What Really Happened at That Company That Set a $70,000 Minimum Wage" is a real eye opener. The article highlights the daring entrepreneur Dan Price. His decision to equalize pay among his staff surprises me in the sense that I didn't believe moguls like himself really cared about what lower level workers had to say. Keegan describes Prices realization that his wage cuts were too extreme when "an entry-level employee named Jason Haley got really pissed off at him"(Keegan). Now I don't know about most people, but I think it's pretty crazy that Haley had the guts to go up to his boss and say "You're ripping me off", from reading that far I thought Price would fired Haley on the spot, but instead Price listened to Haley's complaints and actually sought out to make changes.It's pretty extraordinary that Price went as far as increasing pay up to 70,000 minimum. It's expected that he faced controversy from critics, but what I found most surprising was his brother Lucas Price sueing him. I can't imagine money getting to be so important that I would sue my own brother. It's wrong that Lucas would sue his brother over money, but I find it uplifting how upbeat Dan stays throughout the ordeals he's had to face.

Blog Post #9

 I have come to the realization that happiness is subjective, it's dependent on our personal wants, goals and desires. The movie Happy made this realization even more apparent to me. From visiting different countries and people the movie shows that the idea of happiness is not universal. For example the  rickshaw operator in India. He lives a very poverty induced life but yet finds happiness in his situation. For most of us living in a first world nation we would see his life as a living hell, but he finds contentment in his situation. For the man the love of  his family and stability in resources are enough  to sustain overall joy. I couldn't help  but compare his life to the lives of many Americans I know who have beautiful things, but spend so much time working they don't find time to enjoy what they are working for. The most impactful part of this movie was when they traveled to Denmark and interviewed a single mom with two kids who  joined a co-housing community when she had financial difficulties. This portion of the film touched me the most because when I was younger my mother had to do a similar thing.  The film showed how co-housing communities took the financial burden off people and give them an extended family and sense of belonging which promotes a deep sense of happiness.  This was not the entry case during my situation, but the landlord was very helpful when pushing back payments for the complex. During this time of my life my family didn't have lot. but I remember my siblings and I being very happy in our situation. I also found it interesting how the people of  the Himalayas believe their government is responsible for the happiness of the people and therefore, keeps track of their gross national happiness through supporting spirituality.  In America the poverty in this country is not as extreme as the poverty in their country, but a lot of Americans blame government for the issues they face. I am interesting in focusing on 
the topic of happiness being contentment. 
All those who were interviewed in this documentary lived extremely different lives but found happiness because they were content with their situations. I believe this idea can foster an interesting paper. 

Blog Post #8

 Well I have heard of some crazy apps like ones which tell you whether or not you're a good kisser. This app requires you to kiss your phone for about 10 seconds while the app analyses your kissing skills. It's a bit of a ridiculous app, but after searching the internet I have found that the "kissing" app is just the brink of the iceberg.  Yes this is a real app where you just pop virtual bubble wrap on your phone. As much as I like to pop bubble wrap I really find this app quit crazy. 

The infamous Hot or Not app which rates your face on a scale of 1 through 10. Not only is beauty extremely subjective, but the idea of a computer rating your looks has to make you wonder what are the criteria of beauty the app is working off of? 

When I first saw this app I thought "no this can't be real life." This is a Korean made app which caters to those who wish to have a girlfriend, but are just not ready for the real thing. The app is called "Honey It's Me" it sends video messages and calls from 20 different women a day. Not only are these models sending an hello through cyberspace, but they also add interaction with their family and friends... the discovery of this app leaves me speechless.

Well as silly or extreme apps can get overall I feel as though they are fairly harmless. These silly things should never be taken seriously, but should be used as conversation starters, ice breakers and fun ways to take up time. I do believe apps like " Honey It's Me" can be easily taken seriously and sadly I believe it was created to be taken seriously. This app cries out social negatives in Korean society. I have seen documentaries about cities in Asia like Japan and countries like China which as so technologically advanced that the population is rapidly decreases because many people don't see a need for sex because they have supplimented such desires with technology. This can be seen as a scary foreshadow of America's future with our rapid progression in technology. 

Blog #6

The two sources I have found so  far are an article from Engineering and Technology wiki titled Fax Machines and an article from the The Glider Lehrman by Wendy Wall titled "Anti-Communism in the 1950's".

I chose the article Fax Machines because it helps he defend claims I make in my essay and it is a very reliable source. In my essay I write how advancements in technology are part of our natural evolution towards the furthering of our society, I use the Faxing boom of the late 1980's to early 1990's to defend this claim because it shows how faxing is a natural progression from mailing and improves our communication just as email and text do today. The article forces on the progression away from mail with emphasis on the faxing era. This is a reputable source because it is by Jonathan Coopersmith  an Associate Professor of History at Texas A&M University. He teaches the history of technology and modern European history. He's a  former member of the IEEE History Committee, he is the author of numerous articles and a monograph, The Electrification of Russia, 1880-1926 (1992). Coopersmith’s Faxed: The Rise and Fall of the Fax Machine will be published by The Johns Hopkins University Press in January 2015. The other article I chose is Anti-Communism in the 1950's" by Wendy Wall. It is about the 1950's and forces on the lies told by government to the American people. I use this article in my paper to show how before the internet it was easy to lie to the the general public because they had so little resources to fact check the information given, and to show how helpful resources like Google are to the world today. This is a reputable article be Wendy Wall is a Wendy Wall is an associate professor of history at Binghamton University and the author of Inventing the “American Way”: The Politics of Consensus from the New Deal to the Civil Rights Movement, along with that The Glider Lehrman is a site that post artilces for the use of students on research assignments.

Blog Post #3

Psychologist, Sherry Turkle's Ted Talk "Connected, But Alone?" is one that comes off a bit self righteous, but yet inspires  listeners to do a little self reflection. Turkle begins the talk by quoting a text she received from her daughter, Rebecca moments before her talk telling her "she will rock"(Turkle). Turkle describes receiving Rebecca's text as "getting a hug". Regardless of the pleasant feelings texts can bring to Turkle's life, she still dedicated a majority of her talk to focus on the negatives of technology. From there Turkle continues her lecture by reveling to the audience her history with technology. To explain her relationship with technology Turkle takes the audience back to 1996  when experimentation with chat rooms and virtual communities was just beginning. Turkle describes her self as excited by the technological evolution taking place. Turkle was so  moved by the events taking place in technology that she "[wrote] a book that celebrated our lives on the internet [and because of her book] was about to be on the cover of Wired magazine" (Turkle). Turkle's introduction shows listeners that Turkle's views on technology are not completely biased against the technological movement and is useful as she devoulges deeper into the downfalls of technology.Today, Turkle states she is "still excited by technology, but believe[s]... we're letting it take us places that we don't want to go"(Turkle). Turkle informs listener that it is because of this belief she has been doing further research about the effects of advancing technology in our world. Since 1996 Turkle has done numerous studies on technologies of mobile communication and have interviewed hundreds of people about "their plugged in lives" (Turkle). From her studies Turkle found "that our devices, are so psychologically powerful [and] they don't only change what we do,[but] they change who we are" (Turkle). This statement might be true for an older generation who grow up without cell phones and tablets, but for the younger generation who have always had these advancements in technology  this statement could be seen as false. From there Turkle further explains how technology cause people to be withdrawn from the now and completely submerged into their different devices. Turkle uses the explain of an " an 18-year-old boy who uses texting for almost everything says to [her] , "someday, someday, but certainly not now, I'd like to learn how to have a conversation." Turkle uses the explain of the 18 year old boy as though he speak for an entire generation, but does not take into account that there are a lot of young people who do enjoy social interaction along with their technology. Even before cellphones and the internet many people had trouble socializing so all blame cannot be directed toward our devices. Even though the majority of Turkle talks is points out the negatives of technology  she still acknowledges that internet will not be forgotten anytime soon, but ends her talk urging  listeners to  "use digital technology, the technology of our dreams, to make this life the life we can love" (Turkle).