Blog 5

I found that compared to a traditional essay, the blog format was easier. The reason I feel it was easier is because it was informal, I was able to put my voice behind my words. At first I had a hard time understanding the format of a blog because I have personally never written one. Compared to the other college classes I have taken the blog format was completely different and it took some getting used to. I really enjoyed the opinion aspect of the blog, I was able to put my own opinions behind what I wrote and relate my own personal experiences which made them some of the best essays I have ever written. I also was very appreciative that there was a blog grading rubric provided, it allowed me to have something to follow while also having the freedom to enjoy writing the blogs. After this class I think I may continue to write blogs, I really enjoyed them :)

Blog 4...Picture Worth a thousand words

A picture is worth a thousand words. What does this really mean? Can I picture really be worth 1000 words? Who came up with that saying?

This age old saying came about from a Chinese proverb that made its way to the United States in the 1920’s. “This phrase emerged in the USA in the early part of the 20th century. Its introduction is widely attributed to Frederick R. Barnard, who published a piece commending the effectiveness of graphics in advertising with the title "One look is worth a thousand words", in Printer's Ink, December 1921.”

A still image can depict so much, such as what a person was feeling at a specific time. A picture allows us to have a glimpse into someones feelings, how their eyebrows are positioned and what their body language is saying.

It seems that we are in the midst of a technology driven era where texting and emailing prevails over the face to face contact and even verbal communication. Think about this, when you are typing an email or text where is the emotion? Can a person really know how you meant what you said. How many of us can admit that sometimes we have misinterpreted something someone said by adding our own emotion.
Take it a step further. I see pictures of animal abuse all the time. These pictures do more for my emotions than words can describe. Those pictures of bloody faces and eyes that have lost their spirit say so many different things. How about a picture of a delicious breakfast, how many words and feelings start running through your mind when you are hungry and theres a picture of a stack of fluffy pancakes, perfect butter on top with oozing syrup over the top of them all. All of this with a side of crispy perfectly cooked bacon and eggs, and possibly some golden hash browns. Without the use of words, that picture says a lot to a person.

What about pictures from our ancestors or from our past. When I look back at pictures of my baby and his first Easter so many words come to mind, you can tell a whole story from one still image. As a young child my great grandmother would pull out photos of her race horses. She could tell me stories about raising them from a foal to their first win. This whole story could be told from one small black and white picture. When we lose the ones we love, we have pictures to look back on and remember them by.

In my opinion, a picture is worth more than a thousand words. A picture has a story to tell, an emotion to evoke, a legacy to carry on. A picture is something to hold on to forever in your mind, your actions and your heart.

For some reason Im not seeing my hyperlinks in my paper so here are the links:
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/a-picture-is-worth-a-thousand-words.html

http://oels.byu.edu/student/idioms/proverbs/a_pic_thousand_words.html

Blog Post 3...Conspiracy?

Blog Question, " What is the role of modern technology in generating, spreading, or sustaining conspiracy theories?"


Wow! The power of the world wide net! This technology is a mixed blessing, you can almost find anything you want to hear or want to know using the internet. From research on papers to the latest gossip you will find it all on the internet. Sometimes this easy access will lead to a large conspiracy which may have started out as a joke between a few friends to something that everyone tends to hold as truth and base many of their actions on it. Another possible evil is the television, how many times do you flip through the channels and the news has something interesting on that you just have to watch. How many times have you watched the political debate and wondered why it tends to only be one sided? If its on an authoritive news station than it must be true right?? How many times have you heard or read something on the news and took it as truth but later found out that it was false? These new technological advances appeal the many people who thrive on gossip, drama, or even just the latest ideas in America and around the world. There tends to be a large connection between how largely a story or idea is publicized and how accepted it is.
Lets take the news for example and a political campaign. Many people rely on the credibility of
things they read on the internet and things they hear on the news for their answers. If the news and internet is biased to a certain candidate, you can bet that more people will vote for that person because it seems as though “everyone else is voting for that person”. Another idea would be the idea of a conspiracy
concerning 911, by simply typing in 911 conspiracy, I had pages and pages of search hits.http://www.911truth.org/
How about landing on the moon? A classmate of mine posted on the discussion board “ I know we landed on the moon, I saw it on television.” How many people if you ask, “Did we land on the moon?” Would have the same answer? Now we may very well have landed on the moon but with the advances in modern technology and special effects that can be made up, it is possible that we didn’t land on the moon and that all the pictures and video we have seen on it was all a hoax.www.ufos-aliens.co.uk/cosmicapollo.html Was landing on the moon a conspiracy?
The point is that although the internet, television , and news are all great tools that should be utilized for good, they can also be used for generating and sustaining conspiracies. Technology should be user, listener, and reader beware. Do not be easily convinced, do your research and draw your own conclusions. Just because many people say and believe something doesn’t make it true. As my mother would say, “if everyone else jumped off a bridge would that mean that it’s a good idea to do that?”

Perfectionist Possibly?

There are so many issues today that arise that have more than one solution. Many people tend to be uncomfortable with the fact that there are more than one solution to a question or problem. I am one of those people.
I would consider myself somewhat of a perfectionist. I have found myself struggling with classes such as this critical thinking class. The reason I struggle is because I want to do things the right way and answer questions with the right answer. When there is more than one answer I get very uncomfortable. Honestly, the discussion board is one of those areas, many of the answers are opinions based on what you read and how you interpreted the information. I am constantly concerned that I may have interpreted the information incorrectly. I think that others that share the same perfectionist type behaviors would also have a hard time with problems that have more than one correct answer and more than one solution.
Being that I work with dogs, I feel that this is a very pertinent example of a problem with more than one solution. From the basic level of training such as sit and down there are many many many different ways to teach the same dog. I would love to find one training method that trains every dog successfully, but I have yet to find that method. This is a huge controversy in the dog world because everyone has their own opinion on how a dog should be trained. Should it be all postive or should there be some type of correction? Seems like every trainer has a different idea.Popular TV personality, Ceasar Millan creates a lot of controversy on his training ideas.
But many dog trainers and behavior experts criticize the show, advocating a
gentler approach to training that replaces coercion and physical behavior
corrections with food rewards and other forms of positive reinforcement. They point to new studies that have placed the two popular dog-training methods head- to-head and almost universally shown positive training to be more successful than punitive methods in reducing aggression and disobedience (peeples)
Will there ever be a correct answer? Probably not in this case. The reason I feel that there is no right or wrong way to train a dog is because every dog is different.
In the case of things being different there is also differences between people. Every person has an opinion about issues. A hot issue in the news today is healthcare. There is such a division on what should be done that the country is truly divided on the issue. Everyones situation is different so everyone has an idea of what would fix the problem. Some feel that other countries have uniform healthcare so we should follow. Some feel that the healthcare should be left alone and kept the way it is, still others feel that it needs to be regulated. "That's why I think a lot of people are frustrated," [Jim Ferio] says. "They want decisive action." (Daley)
No matter what happens someone will disagree. I feel that in this case there is more than one solution. It is likely that this will cause tension even after someone has come to a conclusion whether that be to change it completely, alter it slightly or leave it alone all together.
I believe that everyone should take a class on critical thinking. It helps to ease some of the stress that arises when a problem has more than one solution and it also allows a person to be more accepting of others opinions and appreciate that everyone interprets things differently.




Peeples, Lynn. "Critics Challenge 'Dog Whisperer' Methods LiveScience." LiveScience Science, Technology, Health & Environmental News. 12 Nov. 2009. Web. 08 Mar. 2010.
http://www.livescience.com/animals/091112-dog-training.html.

Daley, L.. "State of Reform. " Pittsburgh City Paper 17 Feb. 2010,Alt-Press Watch (APW), http://proquest.umi.com.proxy.yc.edu/pqdweb?index=1&did=1976929481&SrchMode=1&sid=5&Fmt=4&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1268030629&clientId=1407ProQuest. Web. 8 Mar. 2010.

Unit 1

It is a well known fact for many, that American society has changed dramatically in just the last few generations. American technology has grown and we have become a society that completely relies on our technology to get us through our day to day lives. But has this technology come at a price? Are we smarter with the new technology or has it actually starting to wind us backward?

In my opinion our technology is a double edged sword. In some instances we have grown as a society intellectually because of our technology. In other ways we have become less active and lazy. With regards to the internet, anything you want to know you can virtually find on the world wide net. People that were unable to attend school because of family and work obligations are now able to get a college education because of the new technology. This technological advancement has absolutely made us smarter. Some technologies has made it possible to do higher research on cure for diseases. And others have mengaged the problem solving part of our brain. We also are constantly thinking of new ways to make our lives easier with technology as we move forward in a fast paced society.

As far as the negative impact technology may have, I don’t feel that it has made us “dumber” but in some ways it has made us a lazier society. Rather than talking to someone on the phone, writing a letter, or visiting, it has been made easier to text or email. Rather than walking to the store or to school or anywhere else in the town for that matter we can take an automobile, subway, tram, etc. Lazier would be a better fit than dumber. I personally cannot think of an instance where this new technology based society has made us dumber.

A blog from Dwight Silverman that I recently read up on made the statement that things such as calculators are being used rather than the brain. For this gentleman’s daughters college entrance exams she was brushing up on her skills to use the calculator rather than her ability to work out the math problem on her own. This type of behavior can compromise some mathematically ability, however, you are growing as a person that can use a piece of equipment. Our brain will still have the ability to make decisions and reason regardless of the technology.

Being that we are such a fast paced society we have also discussed in class how we can sometimes miss the details as we just go about our day to day lives. Although the gorilla that just walked right in the middle of the video was fairly obvious, I didn’t take the time to look and see the details of the gorilla because I was t consumed with counting how many passed the people in white made. Sometimes I feel that our society has become so fast paced by means of technology that we all sometimes fail to “stop and smell the roses”

In conclusion, each person can draw their own conclusion on whether our society has a positive or negative impact on our intellectual ability. I believe that it has more of a positive impact rather than a negative one, but that truly does all depend on each person as an individual. There are definitely more benefits to technology, it allows for education that would not have been possible in my parents generation and it allows for quick answers. There is also a degree of problem solving that goes into each new device as you learn to navigate and properly use it.

Blog from Dwight Silverman link: http://blogs.chron.com/techblog/archives/2005/09/does_more_tech.html