CEJ #5

Tech

Nic Halverson

February 21

New Google Glass Video Gives Glimpse Of Future

Glasses come in all kinds of different styles. Different frames, different colors, different patterns and so on. But have you ever heard of glasses to take photos? Or take a movie? How about a search engine built into it? No you say? Well these are the glasses of the future. Google Glasses are the newest thing in eyewear. They are currently being developed to enable features to many wearers. Google Glasses are voice activated with the prompt “Ok, Glasses” and then say your command. For example, say I wanted to take a video while I was hang gliding. I would say “ Ok, Glass, take a movie” and it would start taping. The device is lightweight and it is made of flexible material. Google is currently selling these for about 1,500, the price a really good laptop or computer would cost but quite spendy for glasses. But after all, they are Google Glasses. (No quotes in article)


When I read this article, I thought it was a really cool invention. I think a lot of people have had the weird thought or wish that they could take photos with their eyes. Well now you almost can. The thing i would like most about Google Glasses is that you can use handsfree. Sometimes the best moments to capture are when your hands are full.I wouldn’t buy this product though because for one, I don’t wear glasses, and two, the price is way too much for me. I think it might get kind of awkward when you’re in a group of people and you’re taking picture with your glasses. Or what is people were videotaping you with them and you didn’t want to be but just couldn’t tell that it was happening? Sure, it’s a cool idea and all, but I don’t think I will buy something like this.

http://news.discovery.com/tech/gear-and-gadgets/new-google-glass-video-future-130221.htm

Ode to my Bed

Soft sheets

Downy pillow

Comfy mattress

All these things add up to my best friend

My bed

After a long day of school

I’m tired

I collapse onto you

You let me stay there all night long

You’ve done everything I have ever asked of you

Keep me warm

Make me feel safe

Give me a place to relax

I never really have found a way to repay you

I apologize

I’m sorry if I kick too much in my sleep

I’m sorry I eat on you sometimes

I’m sorry I abuse you on weekends

But really

I do all of this for one reason

I love you

Sometimes you are the only thing that makes me feel better

When I’m sad I come to you

You let me cry into your sheets

When I’m mad I come to you

And you let me scream into your pillows

When I’m just plain tired I come to you

You give me a place to sleep

You are something not everyone has

Some sleep on the ground

Some sleep in their car

Some sleep in tents on the side of the road

But me?

No my love

I have you

And my dearest bed,

I am forever grateful

Ender's Game questions 9-11

Ender Games Questions

Chapter 9:

    1.  In the unspoken battle between Valentine and Peter, Peter is the manipulator and Valentine has the real power. Peter convinces her that they need to try to get involved with the war by sort of using her. He cries too, and this just makes her feel sorry that she wasn’t going to do it at first. He makes her feel bad to get in his “side” in a way. Valentine has more power in my opinion because she has the better heart and I think she’s smarter than Peter.  

    2. Locke is Peter and Demosthenes is Valentine.  In the writings that they make, these are their fake identities but they relate to them in real life too. Locke was known for his “modern conceptions of identity and the self” and he believed knowledge can only be retained through experience.  Peter is playing the role of someone who is moderate in his writing and gets his point across without it sounding like he’s being too dramatic and trying too hard. Demosthenes was a Grecian radical man who was an orator. Valentine becomes very dramatic with her writing and everything she says in the articles she writes, she gets a strong hard point across and is very firm and fluid with her words.
   

3. Ender is still angry because he thinks the Battle school controls everything way too much which is completely true. He was tired of being given strict rules and having people run his life.  He doesn’t want to do all the things they tell him to do. He hates the games and the fact that the one person that he thought he could really trust is now “one of them.”

Chapter 10:

    1. Ender was a good leader, managing to get his point across while still cracking a few jokes, He has more sympathy for the younger kids, like Bean, because he was just like him when he entered battle school I think Ender should learn how to be a little more attentive to ALL the students.

2.  Ender was kind of using Bean as an example for the Dragon army to watch and learn from. He is very smart for being underage and when he asks for a toon in Ender’s army, Ender pushes him against the wall and tells him that he needs to show him that he can earn the people that would be in his toons respect.

3. Salaam is a greeting in Arabic tradition meaning “peace be with you.” religious identity is very important because it is part of who you are, what you believe in, how you treat others, the way you say things, do things, and has affect on how you go about doing everything.

4. The end of the chapter, Ender is realizing that Valentine is becoming a “stranger.” The letter that she wrote to him was edited and it wasn’t really like her writing it. He felt sad and frustrated with the teachers. I think the teachers kind of made him feel this way on purpose because they wanted him to realize that even his shining memory of his sister is now fading and he has to come to more of the reality of the Battle School. Ender decides that with the anger that this is giving him, he wants to turn it against the teachers.  

Chapter 11.
         
        1. I think the computer “knows” Ender through the information that the monitor stored when it was in his head. But there are still some things that it doesn’t know about him. I think the computer is kind of meant to make him think that the computer really does understand everything that’s going on just to confuse him.  

      2. That quote is when Ender is talking to Bean. I think it means that Ender feels like he has to win all the games that he plays now since he’s built such a big reputation to win. He wants to prove that even though he got the army of misfits/outcasts/launchies from other armies, that with the right training, anyone can go far.
   
    3.  I think the teachers are pushing Ender so hard because they are trying to see how he does under so much pressure. Fighting several battles in a day with his army is difficult and tiresome. I don’t think the teachers will end up getting the best of him though. He is really strong willed and has a very high tolerance level. He knows how to control his army really well and if he uses his skills to ignore the pressure given by the teachers, then he will be fine.
   
    4.  The last few sentences are about Bean thinking of strategies in battle. Ender told him to come up with stupid things to do that the other armies won’t expect because he has run out of ideas himself. He reminds Bean that he is the quickest thinker and believes in him. He gives him 5 students to teach in a extra practice time so that Bean can teach them the new “stupid strategies”

5.  I think Veni vidi vici was a good title for this chapter because it means “I came, I saw, I conquered” Ender CAME to battle school as a young boy to learn how to fight and be in battle. He SAW how it was done, and retained all of the things he was taught. And when it came time for his own army to fight, they CONQUERED and won all of their battles.

Drones Response

Drones Response

All together I think that Drones are really interesting inventions. But the idea of a robot flying around as a weapon of warfare seems kind of dangerous . People say “we are only human” and yes we are, but they are only machine and they make mistakes too. I guess the best part about them is that they will bring down the number of deaths in war...I don’t think they should be used in battle or armed with missiles until they are sure that unintentional killings won’t happen. I think they’re really cool when their used as spy cameras that can go up to 3 miles in the air and still get great images.  It’s also cool how they can be controlled with a Xbox 360 controller. The video we watched in class about the dead cat on the mini drone was hilarious even though it did seem a little cruel. haha :)

CEJ #4

Alyssa

2/12/13

World

Cukavac, Tyrus

www.scholastic.com/pope

The Pope Resigns

The Catholic religion has had the Pope, Benedict XVI ,for 8 years. He was elected at age 75, almost the oldest Pope ever elected. And in the last few days he has declared that he is resigning. At nearly 86 years old, the Pope feels that he isn’t able to support the Catholic religion with as much power as someone else could. “I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to the adequate exercise of the ministry” he says. The Pope’s “job” is basically to be the head of Catholic religion, a master teacher in the subject of church and the most authorized person to speak on behalf of the ministry. When John Paul ll died in 2005, Benedict became the 265th Pope carefully chosen by the Cardinals, the highest regarded Catholic officials after the Pope. When he resigns the whole process of choosing someone to take his place will begin again. Benedict is the second Pope ever to resign after Gregory XII resigned in 1415 to make way for a new leader when the church split. His last day as Pope will be February 28th.

When I read this article, I was surprised to hear that he was resigning until I learned he was almost 86 years old! I remember being in Kindergarten and hearing everyone talk about having a new Pope. This didn’t really have any affect on me in any way though because neither of my parents are Catholic. To be honest, the reference I hear the most of the Pope is on Thanksgiving. When the turkey was finished that night, or bagged up for leftovers, there were two traditions in my family; the breaking of the wishbone and feeding the Pope’s nose to the dog. The “Pope’s nose” was referring to the butt part of the bird and our black labrador got it every year , even a week before she passed last November. This doesn't have to do much with the actual Pope, just something that this article reminded me of.

CEJ #3

lAlyssa

US 2/6/12

Huff Reporters Post

Northeast Blizzard Warnings

East Coast U.S.

                           http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/08/northeast-blizzard-warnings_n_2644643.html#liveblog
You may have heard about the big blizzard on the East Coast. But it may be actually bigger than you think.  The super big blizzard named Nemo is raging through New York all the way to Boston and even past that. Before the snow started even falling, the weather reports were so crazy that school was cancelled and a lot of areas and more than 3,700 flights were cancelled. "This one doesn't come along every day. This is going to be a dangerous winter storm," says Alan Dunham a meteorologist from Massachusetts. Wind gusts have already reached up to 75 mph and hopefully won’t take the power out of too many homes.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has put 250,00 tons of salt and tons of plows on stand by. "We've had instances where they have predicted something big and it's petered out and I don't think this is going to be one of those times." said Dennis Smith a DPW worker in Massachusetts.  Amtrak has cancelled their service until the storm is over. The East Coast
has once again been partially devastated by yet another natural occurrence.

I think that this is absolutely crazy. The East Coast is still trying to put the pieces back together after the horrific Superstorm Sandy and this is the last thing they need. I have so much family back east and before I read this article, I hadn’t even heard about it. I am seriously freaked out about how my family is getting along. They live in Boston, New York, and New Jersey and those are some of the most affected areas. I will make sure that I call or Skype my family to make sure everything is going okay. I feel really bad for the people back there to have to deal with all of this and I hope they are all okay. No bias of this story, just the plain ,harsh reality of Nemo, the blizzard.

Ender Games Questions Chapters 6-8

1. I think that that point of The Giants Drink is to think outside the box, be creative, and do what you need to do to get the job done. When Ender went for the Giant’s eye and scraped it out, it was violent. Ender had the brains to figure out that the drink was gonna kill him either way, so he went for it. I think it was a creative and crazy idea and it doesn’t make him a murderer, because it was a video game. He probably would have figured out another way to beat the Giant if it was in real life.

2. Alai and Ender have been forming a new friendship that is pretty strong. Alai said “Salaam” which is a sign of respect and a well wishing to Ender.  He kissed him on the cheek too. Alai told him that they were “always friends, the best of friends”  and I think this is really good because it is like the first true friend Ender has had at Battle School. This is very important because even though he technically a soldier, he is still just a little boy and he needs friends who he can count on at that age, especially if he isn’t with his family.  

3. I feel like when Ender says “just living” he means having somewhat of a normal life. He says he has never really had one, and this is pretty much true. He had the monitor in his neck and then he got brought to Battle School. And he was born a Third.  These are things that won’t result in a normal childhood. He says he wants one or feels like he needs one. I think if I were Ender, that I would feel just like him; wanting a normal life but having to deal with the situation he has been put in.

4. Petra is the only girl that the story knows so far, besides Valentine.  I think its really good for Ender to make a friend that’s a girl. She tells him about how Salamander Army is basically just full of jerks and to not really listen to them. She seems really sweet but also a smart ass who could easily get her way. She tells little Ender a lot of things he should know about how rude Bonzo is and perfect he tries to be.  I think temporarily she is sort of like a mini Valentine replacement. She seems like she could protect Ender when he needed it.

5. Bonzo is really stuck up and thinks he’s the best.  I think what Ender has learned from Bonzo is how NOT to act as a leader. If you want people to follow your orders and be able to boss them around a little then you have to gain their respect. Ender thinks of Bonzo as an “ass” Ender had been capable of more things in the battles and Bonzo told him not to shoot. How is Ender supposed to learn anything if his “boss” tells him not to practice? When Bonzo trades him to Rat, he gives him, some strong punches and hurts him. This is not a trait Ender would ever want to pick up either.

6.  When Graff said that Ender was stronger and smarter,I think this is probably true. Ender is a little boy, strong enough to leave his family, come to battle school and kick butt at all the things he tries to do.  Graff says he’s trying to bring out the genius in him by doing all these battles even though he knows that Ender has the guts for everything that he might throw at him.

7. “So teach me, so learn” to me, means that sometimes, you are the only one who can teach yourself something. When he is talking to Dink, he tells him that he wants to learn how to shoot better because Dink said he wants to teach him better than Petra ever did. But Dink tells him he basically has to learn for himself, or find some other way.  Maybe Dink is saying to learn how to teach yourself how to do the things that Ender needs done because he isn’t always going to have someone else to help him.

8. Ender’s attack is very well strategized. Before centipede can even get through the doors, Ender is shooting and freezing a lot of them. He wasn’t even taught this method, he just did it. He then became 1st in the standings because he had beat so many of them with his little plan.  

9. I think the snake reflection of Peter represented that it was something Peter would have done. When Ender beats up the snake, he really beats it up. Ender sees the reflection and doesn’t like it because he knows that Peter was brutal and he doesn’t want to become that.  I think it was a mini wake-up call to Ender to stay true to who HE is without the influence of anyone else, even though he might have not even realized he was doing it.

10. I think the game knows because of the monitor that was inside him for so long. It recorded people that Ender had fought with before Battle School and put them in the game so that Ender might have a different approach, now that he remembers how he fought them.  The monitor also recorded all the feelings he had towards them and maybe those were put in the game so Ender would get a taste of that.  

11. This is a sad paragraph that is almost suicidal, like Ender was giving up who he was for the benefit of being a tool for someone else. He doesn’t care that he hates the part about him that they want to see from him. He wasn’t upset when the snakes in the game killed him. He was actually glad and agreeing with the snakes for doing that. I hope Ender starts thinking otherwise in other chapters to come.