Blog Number Five

I thought the blog assignments were just different in the sense that they could be viewed by anybody in the whole wide web. My writing style had to be a bit different to conform to this type of anonymity. The production of a blog is quite self explanatory, but the creation of a blog web page and dealing with a whole new medium was truly a pain! An essay is a onetime thing vs. a blog is updated periodically and the website has to be maintained. Also, if you have a significant following the comments can be time consuming to review. Whereas, a traditional essay does not get as much scrutiny as a blog does because usually only one or two people read the essay.

The blog assignments did relate to the various class topics and course objectives because the whole subject matter of humanities revolves around being involved and aware of things the blog was just one way to get us to talk about what is going on around us. It also made me more aware of some of the issues that are prevalent today and how it affects me not only right now but also in my future.

I am not really sure what is meant by the non text element? If you are referring to any of the presentations, I thought they added an element to the class that was quite interesting. It is always intimidating to stand in front of your comrades and do a presentation unless this is something you do consistently or you are one of the few that is comfortable with public speaking. I myself, am comfortable with public speaking so it did not affect me negatively, it allowed me to express myself in an organized and structured environment.

Another Bolg Assimgment (Pics Won't Upload!)

Is a picture REALLY worth a thousands words? Of course it is. However, not every picture is worth a thousand words to everyone but everyone could find at least one picture that is worth a thousand words to them.

Can I put down on paper a thousand words describing this picture means to me? You bet I could. Some people out there could probably write more than a thousand words. Once you consider just being able to describe what you see the colors the objects and so on. Then you cold go into how the picture makes you feel. What feelings arise from looking at this picture? For me this makes me feel proud. Proud that I live in a country where I am free. On the other hand I feel sadness because this flag also represents sacrifice. Specifically the sacrifice of our armed forces men and women thru the years that have given their lives defending what this flag represents. And of course you could talk about the memories this picture conjures up. One of my earliest memories of the American Flag is the raising of the flag every morning in Elementary school and saying the pledge of allegiance as they do. And I was on describing the flag in this picture. Now I could go on and on once I move to the scenery in the background and foreground. Most people can relate to this picture and can form an extensive opinion one way or another. Whether they are for it or oppose it, I’m sure both views can be very opinionated.
This next picture on the other hand can be described in lots of detail because there is a lot of stuff in the picture but for them this picture it very personal. It not only represents the objects in the picture but it also represents a milestone in my life and a very memorable experience.

For someone who is close to a particular picture it can mean a lot more than a thousand words. This picture for example most people might see a messy room with blankets on the floor with a dog sleeping. I see a big leap for me. This happens to be what our house looked like on the day we closed escrow and were given the keys. We drove here from San Diego and of course we had not furniture. Some people might think that it’s just a bare room but the milestone this picture represents means so much more. It means finally making that final step forward to complete a change that started more than 5 years earlier. It means the beginning of a journey that has no end in sight but we were willing to make the change because we felt it was the right move. Of course I could go on and on about this particular picture but I think you get the picture.
So to answer your question is a picture really worth a thousand words? I say YES!

Those who know work for those who know why!

In the western culture as well as most civilized nations that have industry there are two types of people in the work forces. Those who have the knowledge and ability to command; and those who have the ability to follow direction and have the skills to perform tasks. There are also those in the academic sector who command and or get commanded, teacher student relationship. What is the difference between these two classes of people?
In the working world there seems to be a fairly simple structure to the work force as seen in this Hyper Link. The chart shows that there is a straightforward order to the structure of a company from the CEO down through the working class. There is another class of folks called the “capitalists” that is not a matter of topic for this paper. Back to the people who know why, and why do we work for them?
At the top of the cooperate ladder is typically the CEO (Chief Executive Officer). Why is this person in this position? Who put him there? How did they get there? It would seem that there is a certain personality type. One who is willing to go the extra mile; so to speak? A person that takes inicatiave in there own carrier path, a leader.
As for the academic setting there are teachers and students. It seems that one who takes a whole lot of classes and obtained some sort of a degree is somehow worthy to teach. Not really sure how that adds up, I have hade some idiots throughout my ten or so years of higher education studies. So I can not really comment to much more on how that higher archery works.
The working class is really the backbone of the “those who know how”. These are the get er done kina of folks with know hidden agenda. There are happy to just get the job done and go home and be with the family, get up and do it again the next morning.
So we have those that work for those that know why. This topic is what makes the working world go round and round. Without it we would all be Coe’s and nothing would ever get done.

Feb 15th Post

A question, posed to me in a blog assignment was “Given the US economy is it patriotic to Shop”? Well in my biased opinion it is neither patriotic to, or not too. It seems the common belief that both the marketing companies as well as the stock holders would want you to believe that the way to help an economy out of debt would be to shop. Bull Sh!t I say! The shopping that they expect us to do will not benefit the general public like they want you to believe. Let’s take one of the more recent economic endeavors that encouraged folks to shop.
First, How about “Cash For Clunkers” that program was supposed to help stimulate the US economy be allowing us citizens to keep their manufacturing jobs, and promote US. based manufacturing companies, and of course clean up the air. That would seem to be not so much according to this report from ABC News. The cars that were on the promotion were already built and were essentially over stocked inventory. The only people that really benefited from this program were the Auto Manufacturers, the car dealers and the lending financial institutions. None of the US manufacturing jobs were saved by this promotion. Unless you work for one of these three fields or have stock in any of them then you saw no benefit from this program.
There is also the Economic Trends and their report by the Federal Reserve Bank Of Cleveland that pretty much states, by spending we are helping the economy. This report suggests that indeed we should spend our money as fast as we can. The more you make the more useless stuff you should buy. There is always something at Wal-Mart you cannot live without!
But wait… If that spending really stimulated the US economy you know I would be all for it. So I ask; where does all that money go? You get paid; the IRS takes its unfair amount out to support pork barrel spending. The local state takes its cut, and then there are taxes on what you buy at the store, but where does the money you spend go? Have a look, Check this out. If 90% of our goods are manufactured in China, where do you think 90% of every dollar we spend go? CHINA!
So, back to the question; is it patriotic to Shop? I guess that depends on what you are shopping for? If you are patriotic to China then I say YES! However, we live in a very materialistic society and of course with the economy so bad we all have to do what we can to get by, and that unfortunately leads us spending some of our money in stores like Wal-Mart. As much as I can, I try to by items that are stamped “Made in U.S.A.”! So I might be un-patriotic? Or because I choose not to spend my money frivolously just for the sake of spending at stores that stock their shelves with foreign goods I might be the patriarch of patriotism, you tell me…

Pop Culture

Over the course of a few days I tracked my pop culture exposure as assigned in my humanities class by our instructor. Since I live in a small town in northern Arizona and am working on either homework, or my yard I had too really be observant of my exposure, and here are a few pop culture experience I noticed.

• The radio, both music and talk.
• Phone Texting (Still kinda new too me).
• The World Wide Web, way too much time spent there.
• A stupid changing billboard that you can never read from the highway.
• Walking thru the mall. When did it become cool to wear a dog collar?
• Some TV. With way too many adds about things to waste your money on.

I am sure there must be more! But our culture is so imbedded with Pop culture crap that I am quite numb to it. Attached in a video, a version of culture entitled “The Pledge of Allegiance”. It is not popular; as a matter of fact it is quite irrelevant in today’s culture and by no means POP, but still culture.

Truth be told...

Ok, ok, truth be told the bloger thingy is kinda cool, and not to mention it is a requirement from my instructor. Nevertheless, I stand by my conviction that this type of communication detracts from face to face personal encounters…

Time

Why Blog, what is wrong with using the services on the blackboard porthole? Why waste time learning another program only to forget the one it so long to learn? How fascinating all this communication is only to bring man kind further and further away from a hand shake and a smile.