Steve Jobs

I really enjoyed last class. First we learned to present like Steve Jobs. It was interesting because one of my undergraduate professors had taught us a similar approach for teaching lesson plans. Then we got to listen to Steve Job's graduation commencement address. I really enjoyed listening to his speech. But my favorite part of the evening was watching the release of the new iPad. I was so excited about the iPad 2. After watching the presentation, especially of the new garage band, I was determined I needed to get the new iPad. My mom has an original iPad that I have the opportunity to use, but the iPad 2 seemed so much cooler. Now two weeks later, the newness of the iPad 2 has worn off and I no longer am as determined to get one. I think it would be cool to play with the iPad 2 and the new garage band features, but I think for now I'll just stick with my five year old MacBook.

Hydrofracking

It was interesting to learn more about hydrofracking last week. Before the presentation, I was not even sure what hydrofracking was. I learned that in hydrofracking they drill horizontally as well as vertically. They can use multiple wells at each site. Each well uses 5 millions gallons of water and 100,000 pounds of chemicals. I thought it was interesting that the people involved in hydrofracking state that the chemicals are only .5%. It is much scarier to think of it being 100,000 pounds! While I think it is important to hear about the dangers of hydrofracking I would like to learn more about the benefits as well.

Digital Nation Continued...

I think what concerned me most was the military's use of technology. While having pilots control drones may keep them safer, it scares me to think about the distance this puts between the pilots and the war. While they mentioned that the cameras are not advanced enough for pilots to tell for sure if they have hit civilians, the pilot they interviewed is positive that that has never happened to him.

Furthermore, the military has a recreation center open for children to come in and play war games. They are using this as a recruitment strategy. By blurring the lines between the virtual world and reality, they make war seem like just a game. And if these children go on to get jobs where they are controlling drones and still placed at a distance from the actual war, how can we be sure they do not just think of it as a game?