What is power?

Power comes in many forms. The exact definition of power is hard to pin down, but a loose definition is the ability to control or manipulate others in any way shape or form. The more control you have over other people, and the more influential they are, the more power you have. In order to understand power, it is important to look at it in many contexts. Four good examples of power are the four central topics of the year.

The central topic of the first quarter was the industrial revolution. The industrial revolution was all about countries getting industrial power. This meant that they were racing to improve production in various industries. This would give them power over the customer. The revenue from making the products gives the companies power, since throughout history, money is always power.

In the second quarter, we studied imperialism. This was a stage in world history where the European countries were vying for power through control over parts of Africa. In imperialism, recourses were the main form of power, and Africa was full of untapped sources. Land, labor and capitol were

During third quarter, we studied conflict. Conflict is, simply, the struggle for power between people groups, or countries. Usually the struggles are centered on religion, political power, or social power. Conflict in Africa is mostly about which party controls the government of the country. Conflict in Europe during WWI and WWII, was about diverging ideas, Germany’s quest for power, and later, Germany’s hatred of the Jews. Conflict may have different combatants, but in the end, its all about power.

Quarter four was all about technology and globalization, aka how power will affect the future. In the future there will be different units of power, but most likely it will be technology. In the future, conflict will still have its roots in power.

quickwrite

Control is one of the main themes in The House of the Scorpion. Control is one of el patron’s favorite things. He (before his ‘tragic’ demise) wanted everything to be under his control. He monitored the whole estate from a room filled with camera feeds, he created the eejits, and he took everything with him to the grave. Matt, at first, uses el patron’s control as his own to influence other people. Later in the story, when matt is captured by the keepers, he creates his own control underneath theirs. By refusing to confess, he gains power and uses it to control the other boys. Overall, el patron is in control throughout the book, wither it be directly thru him or thru matt.

net affects of globalization

Globalization is the name for the gradual shrinking of the world due to increase global communications and multinational business. One example of globalization is a Korean company setting up operations in Delhi to manufacture brake pads designed in China and tested in Japan to be sold in the US. A second example is an Indonesian teenager who lives in Singapore taking on-line classes offered out of a university in London. These examples were not possible 25 years ago before globalization.

Some of the benefits of globalization include: increased free trade among nations, outsourcing (from a financial prospective), off-shoring, jobs gained by people in third world countries, and service efficiency. Some of the disadvantages of globalization include: flow of jobs (skilled and non-skilled) from developed nations to nations with cheap labor.

Image source:
http://webhome.idirect.com/~eyvnxeyq/images/globalization.jpg

population project debrief

I learned several things during the population project. The three most important things I learned were:

1. How to write a five paragraph essay. Before the population project, I was afraid of the five paragraph essay. Now, I think I understand how it is structured and how to fit it together.
2. I learned some general information, including: what air pollution is, how air pollution is measured, how 2 stroke and 4 stroke engines work, how CNG works, how complicated vehicle emission standards are and how they are different country to country and even city to city.
3. I learned how to manage my time more effectively. I have always had some trouble, but I learned a lot about how I work during the project.

Technology and Schools

Main visual elements of the cartoon are the dad the kid and the dinner table. The cartoonist is talking about technologies use in school today. I think the cartoonist thinks that technology is being overused in schools. I think this because the cartoon implies that the kid would rather have his parents check his blog than tell them how his school day was. This is ironic because you think that the parents are more likely to have blogs as a means of communication. This relates to our study of technology because technology is starting to take over our lives and we may not realize how much. The only thing I can think of to improve the cartoon is to have a line like "just because we're your parents, doesn't mean we'll be your facebook friend.

Population project timeline

I already have a rough outline but it will need some revising. I have not created any note cards. I hope to at least get three out of five paragraphs done before the end of the week. I think the Intro and concluding paragraphs might be a little hard, but the pros, cons and alternatives paragraphs will be easy enough. I think I already have more than enough information and may have to trim it down a little.

technology

1. technology is an invention or set of knowledge that is discovered for the purpose of convenience.
2. laptop, internet,USB drives, books, cars;;;alarm clocks, random electrical doodads, electric pogo stick, battery powered battery changer that's only good for changing it's own batteries, chi machine
3. I think aes has a lot of technology at the school. I like the laptop carts that allow students and teachers to take laptops for word processing in classes. i liked having two computer labs last year but one is fine. i think that the smartboards are not entirely necessary, but enable teachers to present without having to stay at their computers.

Kurt Vonnegut

I think the quote by Kurt Vonnegut is partially right. I think that some technology is just a newfangled contraption, but there are some technologies (like the laptop i am currently writing on) that, if used correctly and in some moderation, can help people do things such as express their opinions to a wide audience. some examples of this are cell phones and the internet. i don't, by any means, assume for a single minute, that these technologies are anywhere near perfect. these technologies are easily misused or abused. my only point is that technology has the potential to help people become more successful. Kurt Vonnegut has a very strong opinion against technology and expresses himself in his writing by exaggerating technology to extremes .So overall, I think Kurt Vonnegut is both right and wrong.

third quarter goals

My third quarter goals were: achieve at least an A- in humanities, To understand any assignment on the day it's given, and to turn in all my assignments. I didn't meet my first goal and I think i set the bar a little too high on that one. I think i met my second goal. i also met my third goal.

my new goals for fourth quarter are: to get at least a B+ in humanities, to get at least a B+ on the population project research paper, and to get at least an average of a B+ on all the Socratic seminars.

Holy war oxymoron

I think that ‘Holy war’ is as much an oxymoron as ‘cafeteria food’. This is because of the definitions of the two words. The definition of holy is: having a spiritually pure quality/entitled to worship or veneration as or as if sacred, while the definition of war is: armed fighting, as a science, profession, activity, or art; methods or principles of waging armed conflict. These are very opposite definitions. The very idea of a war fought over religions is ludicrous is you look at the fact that most religions are strongly against violence. I think the whole point of holy war is either that the two opposing religions want to change something about the other religions because it’s different from theirs, or the two sides want to fight and are using religion as an excuse.