Journal 3_8

Question from last week:
Find a phenomenom of the natural world and how it works.  What ethical environmental challenges come from this phenomeon?

http://cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2011/03/25/lah.japan.town.leaders.gone.cnn

This video is one of many of the natural disaster that took place in Japan this past week.  The earthquake and tsunami were two of the most extreme natural disasters seen in a long time.  Astronomers believe the quake and tsuanmi were so severe because the moon was closer to the earth than it has been in twenty years, causing the tides to change drastically.  Japan is also situated on a fault line.  The destruction was already massive, but then nuclear plant problems increased the damage even more.  As the destruction caused lack of available water in the cooling systems of Japan's nuclear plants, more explosions caused radiation and destruction.  Right now, the radiation in Japan's sea water is 1,250 times the normal amount. 


Many Japanese have been faced with the dillema to stay and help or leave their hometown and country.  Staying with that kind of exposed radiation is dangerous for the human body, and yet some people don't know anywhere else but their small towns in Japan.  It is a tragic loss of an emerging country.  The world sends hope to those survivors as they make life changing decisions.

This week in class:

A) This week we began the study and watching of a documentary about the deaf community and a new invention called the cochlear implant.  A cochlear implant, or bionic ear, is a surgically implanted electornic device that provides a sens of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing.  Many deaf, especially young children, are beginning to turn toward this device as a means of hearing.  The younger a person has the implant, the more successful it is.  This documentary focuses on the debate between two deaf parents allowing their five year old to recieve the surgery.  The father is against the surgery, as he believes that the deaf community is more beneifical and that his daughter can find a home within that specific culture and community, while the mother think it may be beneficial for her daughter. 

B) As a "hearing person" I know I don't fully understand why a deaf person would want to remain deaf.  The father says that he, "likes being deaf, it's peaceful."  But he also believes that life started for him when he learned sign language, his form of communication.  Though this family seems to get along fine with sign language, in today's society communication and information rule, and this five year old could learn to speak the way that the rest of the world does, what is the harm in that?  Today, over 188,000 people have recieved the surgery sucessfully, so why not give it a try?  It is a completely different perspective.  Before this documentary, I never knew the extent of deaf culture and deaf communities.

C) To bring another disability into the discussion, my family has a family friend who is blind.  She has been blind since she was four years old, and can only sense when it is light or dark outside with her vision.  She is also a graduate of Jullliard and a professional pianist and composer.  She lives with another "legally blind" man and they take care of each other.  Their culture of blind muscians is strong, and they are happy people.  When I think of them, I understand the point of the father of the deaf child in the documentary.

Question for next week:
Is there a deaf community in Richmond?  What kind of work do they do?

Sources:

"Radiation in Seawater off Nuclear Plant Spikes to 1,250 times Normal - CNN.com." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. Web. 26 Mar. 2011. http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/26/japan.nuclear.disaster/index.html.

Cochlear Implant." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 26 Mar. 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochlear_implant.

Herskovitz, Jon, and Paul Eckert. "Tsunami and Radiation May Sink Japanese Fishermen| Reuters." Business & Financial News, Breaking US & International News | Reuters.com. 26 Mar. 2011. Web. 26 Mar. 2011. <http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/26/us-quake-japan-fishing-idUSTRE72P0ZK20110326>.

Journal 3_7

Question for next week:
Find a news article that interests you.  What interests you about it?  How does it effect the rest of the world?


 As we talked about new inventions in class this week, I stumbled upon this "Light Radio" which is going to revolutionize the cell phone industry.  Many of the lead phone companies are going to being using this technology.  Basically, this 2.3 centimeter rubix cube sized box will become the replacement for old, inefficient cell phone towers.  They can be placed anywhere with their size, and cell phone companies wiill be able to control them virtually.  It will be saving money and time for everyone.

This week in class:

A) This week in class we discussed the ideas of new inventions and how our world will revolutionize in the next years.  I was asked to decide what technology I relied on most...and I honestly couldn't give a straight answer.  To me, technolgoy is a part of every day life.  Half the time I'm using it I don't even give it a second thought.  Cell phone, laptop, printer, wireless internet, GPS, cars, radio...all these things I use on a dialy basis and don't give more than two seconds thought to.

B) Throughout class, we also watched an amazing TED talk about an inventor merged the world of the computer with the physical world.  This groundbreaking idea is where technology should be headed in the future.  Though technology is so much more efficient and necessary in todays modern world, one of my greatest fears is that the human race will succumb to sitting in front of screens all day.  This inventor found a way to connect that screen with traditional moving around and exploring the physical world with the virtual at hand. 

C) The most important new technology we can create in the generation is a better rechargeable battery.  This will make electric cars affordable and effect the green movenment greatly.  Smartphones have a battery life of 4 hours!  How ridiculous is that!?

Question for next week:
Find a phenomenom of the natural world and how it works.

Sources:

Goldman, David. "LightRadio: The Tiny Cube That Could save Wireless - Mar. 21, 2011." Business, Financial, Personal Finance News - CNNMoney.com. 21 Mar. 2011. Web. 21 Mar. 2011. http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/21/technology/light_radio/?npt=NP1.

 

TED: Ideas worth Spreading. Web. 21 Mar. 2011. http://www.ted.com/.

 

Benway.

Question for next week:

Journal 3_6

Question from last week:
Research for my Hero Imagination Project about successful mentor programs for children who have been through traumatic situations, such as Rwanda.  What methods did they use?  What were their mentors like?

There are thousands of mentors programs connected to the fellowship on mentoring.org.  There are twenty on that site just from Richmond.  It's amazing to me how many there are and yet how they must not be that effective.  I also talked to my aunt who is a "big sister" mentor in New York City.  She and her little sister, and girl with a hard life at 18 years old, meet twice a month.  My aunt helps her with jobs, taxes, finding people to help sit her kids etc.  She says that she has learned so much from her little sister, and believes that the girl has beneffited a lot from the relationship.

I think that the New York City big brother/big sister program is a fairly effective way to mentor.  My aunt said it was easy to sign up and find someone she was compatible with, and that they have helped each other survive life in the big city for over a year now.

This week in class:

a) This week in class we talked about Tank Man and Tianamen square. Though I missed a lot of class this week, the sections of the Tank Man lesson I got to see were very interesting.  Tank man is a symbol of a citizen standing up to communist China for a voice and better standards of living.  In a peaceful protest, he sparked what turned into at first the biggest peaceful protest in China, to the most bloody massacre of the modern age.

B)  Learning about China was very interesting to me.  The idea of the mass production and focus toward economics is mindblowing.  Having entire cities dedicated simply to one industry is effective and efficient, but makes life in China very mundane for its citizens.  When the documentary we watched in class interviewed three chinese women between the ages of 17 and 22, my perspective changed drastically.  These women worked in a factory where they sewed one line of stiches on to pillow cases for twelve or thirteen hours each day for very low pay.  The company provided them with room and board, and so all the money they made was shipped back to their families hundreds of miles away.  What a selfless, unfufilling, mundane existence!  Why has the world come to this? The other thing that fascinated me about China was the idea that the top students at the University of Beijing had no idea about Tianamenen Sqaure, the Tank Man held no resemblence to them.  How does China believe they will shape their new generation of world leaders if they are not fully informed on the issues of the past, present and future. 

C) It is a known fact that the U.S government keeps information and government projects from the citizens it watches over.  My question is: are we as bad as China if our government does not keep us fully informed?  In a democracy, aren't the people supposed to be aware of the government's actions and be able to vote on them at all times?  What goes on behind the doors of congress?  Is it unethical?  I believe that in some ways, yes, it is unethical, but also pratical.  It is for the greater good.  The confindential information keeps our country safe.

Question for next week:
Find a news article that interests you.  What interests you about it?  How does it effect the rest of the world?

Sources:

"Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City." Web. 21 Mar. 2011. http://www.bigsnyc.org/index.php.

 

"FRONTLINE: the Tank Man | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 21 Mar. 2011. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tankman/.

 

MENTOR. Web. 21 Mar. 2011. <http://www.mentoring.org/>.

Journal 3_5

Question for next week:Find a TED talk that is particularly interesting to you.  What is it?  Why did you pick it?  What can be done with it?

This talk is not what I was looking for when I thought of the question last week, and I know I have already talked about Wael Ghonim, but this talk connects with so much we have talked about in the last few weeks that I had to write about it.  Wael Ghonim was one of the leaders in bringing the Egyptian people through technology in order to start the Egyptian Revolution.  He is an inspiritng figure and a great example of the power of youth and new technology. 

In his TED talk, Ghonim talks about the phsycological barrier of fear.  As we studied weeks ago in Ethics through the Solomon Acsh Experiment and Milgram Experient.  Both these experiements prove exactly what Ghonim is saying: that with the use of new technologies and virtual communications, the people of Egypt broke the barrier of fear and were able to revolutionize successfully.

This week in class:
A) This week in class we are learned about the Rwandan genocide.  The genoicde is one of the most terrible things to ever occur in human history.  I must admit, the footage of the documentary we watched shocked me.  The brutalness of killing with machetes and leaving dead bodies on the road is just completely foregin to me. 

B) The most interesting aspect of our untit was the letter sent by a Rwandan to the U.N that described what was going on in Rwanda at that time.  It amazes me that even with that letter, the U.N decided to pull toops out of the country and not supply the remaining troops with more supplies.  I do not believe that the United States should necessarily be to blame for not intervening, even though it is a responsibility of a superpower, but the U.N. should have certaintly advocated more peacekeeping troops to at least save more innocent lives.

B) To compare the genocide to a personal story,  last friday, March 4, 2010 I witnessed something that will stick with me for a long time.  My friends and I were driving to a birthday party on a Friday night, when there was a road block with several police cars stopping us from getting where we need to go.  We had to take a detour and turn around and go back the other way.  When we passed by on the other side of the road, we witnessed a dead body laying in the middle of the street.  The body we saw was a man who had been hit by a car.  The paramedics were already placing a white sheet over him, and the sheet was already stained with blood.  It was a tradgedy and one of the most shocking things I've ever seen.  My friend who was driving had to pull over, none of us had ever witnessed a dead body before...espeically in the street.  When I think of the children in Rwanda, and the footage I saw in the documentary, I wonder how they must have been affected.  One covered body will stay with my friends and I for a long time, if not forever.  What did the children, men and women of Rwanda do?

Question for Next Week:
Research for my Hero Imagination Project about successful mentor programs for children who have been through traumatic situations, such as Rwanda.  What methods did they use?  What were their mentors like?

Sources:

"Wael Ghonim: Inside the Egyptian Revolution | Video on TED.com." TED: Ideas worth Spreading. Web. 07 Mar. 2011. http://www.ted.com/talks/wael_ghonim_inside_the_egyptian_revolution.html.

 

"BBC NEWS | Africa | Rwanda: How the Genocide Happened." BBC News - Home. Web. 07 Mar. 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/1288230.stm.

 

"Solomon Asch, Opinions and Social Pressure (1955)." Panarchy.org : Index. Web. 13 Feb. 2011. <http://www.panarchy.org/asch/social.pressure.1955.html>.