Blog Post #8

In "When the Levees Broke, Act 1 of 4," it talked about when the people of New Orleans got the first warning that Hurricane Katrina was coming.  The forcaster models showed Katrina quickly intensifying and making a turn for New Orleans.  Even though the governer and mayor both called state of emergency, most residances decided to stay and ride it out.  They thought they could ride it because of Hurricane Betsy in 1965.  Sadly, they were wrong.  Many people lost there lives because they dround and the ones who lived were slowly dying because of the heat while waiting on the buses to arrive to take them somewhere safer.

During the documentary, you can here people screaming for help and saying how much they wish the government would come faster to save them.  The New Orleans people even had days without food and water because the government couldn't get there fast enough with supplies.  It was just sad to see everything that these people held dearly gone in a flash.  The sadest part was when I saw a man floating in the water, because he dround.  Houses with notes on them saying "Dead people inside."  I can't even begin to imagine what they went through, but one thing for sure, is that this story will never be forgotten.

Blog Post #7

While reading "What Makes a Very Good Bad Guy" by Olivia Collette, I started to remember Bane in "The Dark Knight Rises."  In the movie, Bane plays a good villian, however, he is very obvious.  He shows what his weakness is, like the article said, when he simply just had his hands in two fists on his chest, poised to protect the mask.  Bane is a smart villian but sadly takes second place to his partner, Marianda.  Overall through the whole movie, Bane really doesn't have a set purpose.  At least the Joker had purpose and set of morals.  Anyways, I thought that "The Dark Knight Rises" was a good movie, however, next time they need to come up with a villian that has some kind of purpose and a set or morals.

Blog Post #6

 

In Sherry Turkle's presentation "Connected, But Alone?," she emphasises how much we are relying on technology in our lives.  These little devices in our pockets are so psychological powerful that they do not only change what we do, but they change who we are.  We are relying too much on these devices to make us happy, keep us entertained, and change our moods when we should be turning to actual people.  When you think about it, most Americans use their phones for email, social media, and texting.  They rarely call each other.  I can not believe that we are relying on our phone so much that we are letting it control our lives.  For example, I know that it is very hard for me to picture my life without my phone.  I use it constantly and I am always checking it 24/7.  I even sleep with it.  I am so ashamed at myself for not being able to put my phone down or turn it off.  Turkle just wants us to understand how much we are hurting ourselves and she wants us to unplug and turn to actual people versus our devices.

You can find out more in her book:

Freaking out!!

I am so scared about tomorrow.  I have a mid term and I don't know if I will pass it.  I have been freaking out since Saturday.  I don't know what to do besides study and overload my brain with information and hope I remember it for tomorrow.

Blog Post #5

While I watched "Gaming Can Make a Better World" presented by Jane McGonigal, I thought it was interesting how she was talking about how many hours of online gaming to help solve problems in the real world.  Also, I was surprised to find out that we spend 3 billion hours a week playing online games.  To me, that's a lot of online game time.  Jane goes on to say that we need spend more time playing online games, like about 21 billion hours a week of online gaming by the end of the next decade, in order to survive on this planet.

I wouldn't say that this is a bad idea but I wouldn't say it is a good one too.  I am in the middle.  She has come out with very good games that use real life situations to teach us what we should do in a crisis, however, not everyone has the time to play games at least an hour a day.  It's a little much to ask.  I like her theory about how it can really help us in the long run but I am still unsure about it.

Blog Post #4

This is what I went by throughout the whole weekend.  Yes it's karate but I love it and can't/won't live without it!

This was a reminder to get back up and
keep moving no matter how sick or bad
I felt.  Thank you karate for making me
into a strong women.

So system update.  I am currently taking some antibotics and am starting to feel better.  I fought a fever from Friday to Sunday and went to the doctors yesterday to get my antibotics.  What is with doctors that tell you everything you already know when you are there?  Yes, I know I am sick.  Yes my throat is swollen.  Yes, I sound aweful.   I do not go to the doctors just to hear what I already knew.  I go to make sure I am not dying and what I need to do to help prevent this from happening.  Anyways, I scared my doctor when I told him my cray train ride of fevers.  On the first day, I had a 100.8 fever.  Second day, I had a 103.0 fever.  Not quite high enough to go to the ER.  Third day, I had a 101.9.  I had on interesting weekend and I don't want it to happen again.  I felt very weak and couldn't stand.  I felt aweful.  I am just glad to have finished most of my homework except for a couple of things before I got sick.

I hope everyone is well and not sick.  Also, I hope you had a great weekend.  See you in a few hours.

Take Care,
Victoria


Is running a fever.  I hope everyone else is ok and not sick.

I am feeling a little sick.  I have a huge headache and it doesn't seem to want to go away.  I also wish that people would stop causing so much drama.  I haven't done anything to you, so stop doing stuff to me!

Blog Post #3

In "Once More to the Lake" by E.B. White, was talking about his vaction spot that him and his son would go to.  The vacation was a week long camping trip and it would always give him the best memory.  Just the way he was describing the vacation; from the lake to the rest of the scenery made me feel like I was there.  It was so breath taking. I would have to say the overall tone of this story was very calm. It made me think about how much nature does for us and our lives. We don't think about it often as we should.