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Some main visual elements are that this is a family sitting at the dinner table having a meal. The kid as a cap on sideways and the parents look like they’re expecting something. This issue the cartoonist is talking about is technology is interfering with daily life and is breaking relationships. The cartoonist’s opinion is that technology can be annoying and hurts a good family. The parents are frowning and so is the child. In the quote below, the word “tell” is underlined. This cartoon is ironic, because I’m typing on my blog. Maybe the cartoonist should have put in thought bubbles for all members of the family to make the message more clear.

www.sandiegohomeblog.com

Kurt Vonnegut quote

“Do you know what a Luddite is? That’s a person who doesn’t like newfangled contraptions. Contraptions like nuclear submarines armed with Poseidon missiles that have H-bombs in their warheads, and like computers that cheat you out of becoming. Bill Gates says, “Wait till you can see what your computer can become.” But it’s you who should be doing the becoming. What you can become is the miracle you were born to work—not the damn fool computer.”

- Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut makes a very good point when he says, “But it’s you that should be doing the becoming.” I realized that we, as the people, need help from machines. Maybe even more than ever before. Kurt Vonnegut is right, but at the same time he’s also wrong. Machines are making us lazy. For example; we are all using computers to write up essays and stories, whereas before, we used to write them out by hand. This has made us a bit lazy. Some people don’t even walk. They use machine to do it for them. Machines have not only made us lazy, but it has destroyed lives of thousands. Weapons are the main problem. I’d bet that if all weapons where to disappear, thousands of lives would be saved.
Unfortunately, Kurt Vonnegut is also wrong. The computer has helped us stay in touch with friends, learn (language programs), post information, and much more. We have used technology to discover new vaccines and medications. We have used it to educate people, to help disabled people, to save lives. We have a great need of technology. We just need to set the limits.
Kurt Vonnegut is wrong. It doesn’t mean that I disagree with him though. Technology is needed to save many lives. For example; if there wasn’t technology, my grandmother would have died of breast cancer. I would have wondered why no one could have done anything about it. Technology is a great help, yet it’s a burden too.

Technology

Technology is any highly developed product that is new and more useful. Technology doesn’t necessarily mean that it has to be all computer chips and metal, it could be a sewing machine or a pencil.

In school, I’ve noticed that we’re using a lot of technology. Some examples of the technology we use in school are; smartboards, laptops, internet, projectors, and much more. In Algebra, there is quite a bit of technology use. My teacher uses a smart board to draw pictures, a camera and a projector to look at homework. In science, we use the projector to look at science videos. I could give many more examples of technology use in school. Using technology in school is a good idea, IF there are no problems when you use it.

The 5 most important technologies today:
1. internet
2. ultrasound (to determine the sex of a fetus so that the parents can get ready for it.)
3. iPod
4. mobile phones
5. bicycles

The 5 least important technologies today:
1. ultrasound (people can use it for female feticide if they prefer boys)
2. guns (if you want to fight, do it the old fashioned way!)
3. bombs
4. dryers
5. tanning machine

End of 3rd quarter

My goals for last quarter were;

•To have AR done within the first month of this quarter
•To study harder for tests and quizzes (spend more time studying…. Maybe half an hour more)
•To research more thoroughly for the projects that I will have in this quarter

When it came to AR, I didn't get it done within the first month, but I got it done quite soon. I could still use more work on studying for tests and quizes. I am definitely researching more thoroughly for projects. (UbD!!!)

My goals for next quarter are;

• Take more efficient notes
• Read more
• Get more descriptive for writing
• Get to know how to balance my homework and my free-time

This week's feedback

The phrase "Holy War" is an oxymoron, because no war can REALLY be holy. All the religions go against killing. When these people came up with the phrase "Holy War", they were only thinking of the clash of religions. Many conflicts are based upon religious differences, because some people can't accept that people have different beliefs than them, and some people just don't like people who are different.

Cold War Simulation

In the Cold War simulation, there were five teams; USSR, U.S.A., Latin America, Africa and Europe, & Asia. The goal of the USSR and the U.S.A was to get as many allies as they could. The goal of the other three teams was to get as many points as possible from the U.S.A. and the USSR. My team was the U.S.A., and we did a good job getting more points, but when it came to getting more allies, we had less than the USSR. The continent that had the most points was Africa and Europe. The team who won was probably
Africa and Europe, because they managed to ally all of their countries and get the most points in the whole game. No-one really lost. If anyone did; it would be Latin America, because they had the least amount of points. This game was a fun experience and I hope we can do a simulation like this again.

VC Project

At first, my group decided to do our project on the Cuban Missile Crisis, but then we couldn't make up our minds and changed our subject a few times till we decided that we liked the Cuban Missile Crisis. When we were using Visual Communicator, we had a lot of trouble. At first, the audio wouldn't work, so we called for help from the teachers. After that was fixed, we had trouble with a particular picture. Every time it got to that one picture when we were recording, the screen would freeze and we wouldn't be able to read our next parts.

Three tips when using Visual Communicator:

~ each work on your own parts on different computers (actions, pictures, transitions.etc.)
~ Save!!! as often as possible
~ LEAVE THE MIC. ON!!!

TWO BEST ASPECTS:

~ learned something useful for future projects
~ found a creative way to present info.

TWO WORST ASPECTS:

~ V-screen didn't work at times
~ the audio was annoying