Review on Colleen's Post

This topic of education has really sparked an intrest for me reading through peoples blogs. I think that there are many issues with the system regarding equality in availablity, quality, cost, and other aspects that can greatly effect a persons life. I think the issue must be adressed by the American public and must be dealt with as soon as possible. I know that our country has other responsabilities and has other priorities but creating an equal enviroment for all those under its arm should be knocked up a couple notches on this list. Although the government has tried for many years to completely set up equal opportunity for all students it still hasn't gotten to the point of complete equality. Even though it is unquestionably better than it used to be there is still room for improvement. One thing I read that intrested me is that Colleen didn't believe that the people could help anymore and that it was strictly up to the government to help with this problem. I strongly disagree with this statement she made. I think that there are multiple things that people could do to help quicken this solution. Fighting for what we believe in is something we have studied alot in this class and I dont believe this topic is any different. If we were to just sit back and wait for the government to fix the solution it wouldn't happen. The people that believe strongly for the cause must make a statement in order to push the governments hand. Having unequal opportunity is unconstitutional and must imediatly be adressed. If the government sees people standing up for this cause they will have to react. The people still do have alot of the power and must use it in order to push for what they believe in.

Review on Kolis's blog

I was really intrested in reading about the effect that music has had on people. I had done previous research on the topic for another class and going reading other blogs just helped me push my knowledge a little further. I had read before about people trying to connect rap and gang violence and never really had put much thought into the idea. Were some people really that effected by the words of their favorite rap artists? Reading through the blog it became clear to me as to how some people get so caught up in these artists lifes and what is going on. For example, I read about how Lil Wayne got arrested an acount of a illigal gun. Do I actually think my view of his music would change based off of what has happened to him? Not at all. I dont think that people see news like this and all of a sudden want to copy what their artist is doing. When you see a news article that says Lil Wayne goes to jail, and underneath says what went wrong? why on earth would that make anyone want to even think about doing something stupid like that? I understand how people make arguments about how it could have an effect on the younger generation but like Kolis mentioned in his blog, i dont think the music industry is what should be blamed. It is infact our culture that has produced these problems. It isn't how certain people rap or sing or act but infact how we are taught. These rappers are products of society we are all apart of. I think that when society puts a bad name on something it makes people want to go against the society. For example, society has put such an emphasis on swear words and how they are inapropriate and such. If we hadn't made a big deal about them do you think that they would be such a prominent form of language now a days? The reason people swear is because it is an act of rebelion. I think the same goes for drugs and alcohol and other illegal things. The main reason why people do them is because its illegal and they know they aren't supposed to. I definitely agree with Kolis that the music industry isn't to blame for these problems but it is infact what our society has become.

Review on Ivonne's blog

I didn't know much about this topic of hispanics and their education. I previously read one of her posts and was intrested in the topic. I really got alot out of eading a couple more of her posts. Its crazy to think about how for many of us in the north shore we are dealing with the problems of doing your act getting a good score and applying to all of our colleges. Many of us don't have the worries about college costs and such. It was always implied that many parents could just pay to the college of choice of their son or daughter. For many hispanics however that isn't the worry at all. It is how are they going to come up with the money for tuition. I was thinking about how the problems are coming up with how certain students are considered illegal imigrants even if they are born in the U.S.. These students then have to deal with the consequences of their parents decisions by not being aloud to pursue their life dreams because they: can't apply for colleges, can't recieve scholorships and other things. It was intresting seeing the different perspectives on the topic. Although I believe that something should be done about this problem I can also see the other side of the argument. There are hundreds if not thousands of American Citizens that already require help with scholorships and college funds and with the addition of all the illegal imigrants there is alot of help that needs to go around. Our country is already in a big financial hole and helping all these students would be a big problem. I hate saying this, and as terrible as it sounds, I think that the problem the illegal imigrants are facing at the moment with their financial aid and other problems should be second on the ladder to those of American citizens. America has a responsibility to first help its own people and then to reach out for those who also need help.

Sources

Barry, Tom. "Electric Cars Can Reduce Air Pollution." Opposing Viewpoints: Energy Alternatives. Ed. Helen Cothran. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2002. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 10 Feb. 2010.

"Communication Revolution of the 19th Century." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 29 Jan. 2010.

"Harry Truman: Hiroshima atomic bomb announcement (1945)." World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2010.

Jean Peduzzi-Nelson. "Adult Stem Cells Are More Promising than Embryonic Stem Cells." Opposing Viewpoints: Stem Cells. Ed. Jacqueline Langwith. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2007. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 8 Feb. 2010.

Moran, Tim. "Dealing with realities of an electric-car fleet.(Automobiles)(GREENTECH)." The New York Times. 158. 54566 (Jan 25, 2009): 7(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 8 Feb. 2010.

"Transportation Revolution of the 20th Century." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 28 Jan. 2010.

Tucker, Spencer C. "Dropping the Bomb Saved Lives." World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2010.

"World Wide Web." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2010.

Backround Analytical

The automobile industry has been for the last 100 years one of the fastest growing and most prominent industries in the world. It has evolved from the horse and buggy to the ferrari's and porche's of our time and continues to grow and develop. The automobile has helped develop our world in hundreds of ways. The transportation revolution of the 20th century was loaded with inventions and technological advancements. The was first introduced in the 1800’s and has come so far in barely over 100 years. Its uncomprehendable to think that our society transformed from a horse and buggy and railway based transportation system to the automobile system we now have. The auto industry has continued to eveolve late into the 20th century and beyond with the inventions of the electric cars and more and more ways of making this industry more affordable and green. Our society has grown to revolve around transportation and in the lifes of Americans now is a neccesity. American's lives are based off of flexibility, availability, and readiness. The automobile industry has provided these essentials and has continued to become more affordable.The car has become so essential because of how it has impacted the working people. Before the time of the automobile people needed to live in the city in order to work in the city, a horse and buggy couldn't transport them everyday back and forth from work. People would have to live in the city in order to work at their jobs without an extremely expensive travel every day. However, with the invention of the car people were able to live outside of the city and still maintain the same jobs they held in the city. The car therefore helped people to take their family outside of the city into a more preferable enviroment for a family. Parents were then able to raise their kids outside the city and all the action in their own private home enviroment. It gave families a bigger sense of protection being able to live outside of the big city and on their own. In this way the impact the auto industry has had on our world can’t be overstated.

Literature Analytical

Interurban Queen is a fictional story written about a man around the beggining of the automobile industry. The story is intresting because it is a what if story, like what if the U.S. didn't drop the atomic bomb. This story is written about the intoduction of the automobile into society. It talks from many differents peoples differnt points of veiws about what the automobile would do for our country. The story has many different symbols and shows how important these cars have been for our society. The first man says that although the horse will be eliminated from the main form of transportation that the automobile wont take off and the railroads that will take off. The man is saying that although the horses and the things of the past will be improved and advanced upon, the automobile wont be able to progress. He says that it gives people too much independance and arrogance and will therefore never be able to be used in a succesful society. He believed that the people will break apart and live more for themselves if the auto industry ever became the main form of transportation because of how much flexibility it allowed the people. He then talked to another man who also believed that the cars would never be able to replace the other forms of transportation. This man believed so because he said even the nicest men can be changed by things of power like the horse. A man on a horse assumes a new person and becomes a dangerous machine. A man in a car is hunderds of times more dangerous and will become even more arrogant. He believes that the flexibility isn't worth the danger that this industry brings with it. "It will breed violence on a scale never seen before." (241) He believed that the amount of power given by these vehicles will make every man become tyranical and. Not only will the auto industry not take up but it would be morally wrong for our world to ever let it happen. Lastly he talked to a rich man. This man discussed how much he infact loved the car industry because of how free it made him and how royal he felt driving his cars. However, he said that the automobile will only ever be "a rich man's pride." He didn't think anyone but the rich and truly wise should ever be able to own a car as the normal working man shouldn't ever be able to hold the same arrogance as the rich.
All these men in the story represented different pros and cons with the automobile industry going forth in our society. The first man brings up how the automobile industry will give men freedom however they will break off from their community with this new given freedom. The automobile has given the world more freedom than any other invention ever, the ability to travel wherever and whenever you want has become a huge part of our society. However, the benifit will come with a consequence as people wont have the same connection with their home and community lives because they are so readily able to go back and forth anywhere they please. The second man brings up the idea that the cars will give extreme freedom for men to do what they please, along with the freedom however comes an overpowering feeling of arrogance. A man in a car has a imense feeling of power and is therefore extremely dangerous. For our society to ever let the automobile industry flourish would be imoral. The only thing the automobile will create is an inner tyrant in any man. Although the automobile has given man freedom it is infact extremely dangerous. There are millions of deaths in car accidents and thats exactly what the man predicted. The third man discusses how only the rich should be the only ones aloud to drive a car and that the working man should never be able to have the same luxury as the rich. This shows that even though it is a luxury to own a car its very expensive, the car itself and maintenance. The car must be constantly maintained with gas, washes, and check ups and is very expensive. I think the bigger meaning to the cost issue however is the cost it has had on our world in general. The automobile has created so much permenant polution. This story symbolically showed many problems with this industry that are not neccesarily evident. The key to this story was the underlying meaning of all these men.

Analytical Current Events

One of the major problems with the automobile industry is the undending amount of pollution it has caused. With millions and millions of cars in our world the amount of pollution created even everyday is eye opening. A big emphasis of our society in recent years has been to go green with everything, trying to save our world by: preventing pollution, saving remaining natural resources, and recycling. Hundreds of companies have changed the basis of their product(s) to fit this new trend. The auto industry has finally began addapting to this new push by the creation of hybrid and electric cars. These cars are made to reduce their pollution put out and also reduce their intake of natural resources required to run. However, there are many problems with the new electric cars that must be fixed in order for them to take over as the main form of transportation. For example, they have a very long recharge time for such a low range. The completely electric cars usually have around a 20 hour recharge time while having less than 300 miles of time. The recharge time must be reduced, and the cars must have a much larger range in order to be completely functioning for people. Atlanta is one city that has taken on the challenge of using these cars by introducing around 200 recharge stations within the area. These charges are much cheaper than refueling for gas. Another large problem is that cars now can be almost completely recycled and all the parts may be reused. The same goes for these electric cars except for their batteries. The batteries required for these cars to run are highly acidic and provide a large problem for auto makers. A safe solution of disposing of these batteries must be found in order to have a safe transition to this industry without creating more harm to our enviroment. If these cars are able to take off and completely replace the gas running car we will be on the first massive step to maintaining our world and saving many of its natural resources.

Interurban Queen by R.A. Lafferty

This peice or writing by Lafferty takes a look at the beggining of the car industry and how it would effect the world. It is very intresting however because its story is written as if the car industry never was succesful and infact crashed right away. It gives a completely different perspective on the story and a what if factor that keeps a reader intrested. It begins in 1907 when a man attains a considerable inheritance. He was determining what to do with the money and decided to either invest in the auto industry or an interurban railway stock. He asked wise men which he should invest into. Many of the men said that the auto industry destroyed a part of themselves, said it will destroy a part of the society. Another says that the car will never be able to be a main form of transportation because it wont be able to transfer cattle and won't be able to perform the same type of functions as a train. Another rich man who owned many cars himself said "No the automobile will never be anything but a rich man's pride" Another person said that the car wont be succesful because it can't be compared to the man on horse. A man on a horse has a sense of arogance about himself just like a man in a car. That is why the automobile will be so dangerous, "The kindest man in the world assumes an incridible arrogance when he drives". He is saying that the car will make every man so independent and arogant that they will become tyranical. All these men believe that the auto industry wont be succesful for all these differant reasons. In the story the man still invests in the automobile and loses all of his money.

Electric Car's Effect on the World

This article discusses the pros and cons of the electric car and how it will effect the world. The article is promoting the cars because they: Release less polution than regular cars, require less maintenance, and will eventually with increase of demand decrease in price. A big focus in the article was that the cars "Run silent, run fast, run clean". This is important becasue its trying to say that the cars run just as well as other cars if not better but also help promote staying green. With the massive emphasis placed on recycling and staying green as of late the electric car is ready to launch its industry. The timing couldn't be any better for these cars to be released to the public, as long as the prices can be dropped the cars will be an instant success. The cars will continue to increase in range, speed, and flexibility with the more technology that comes out. The cars will begin to drop in recharge time while being able to travel longer off of each charge. Atlanta is one area that is really making a push for the release of these cars as they are projected to have over 200 recharge stations in the years to come.
I think that with the introduction of the electric car our country will begin to really become more green. We need to realize how fast we are destroying our world and that every single persons choices can help. If every person bought a electric car to replace their own the amount of polution we would be preventing is astonomical. The electric car could be one of the first steps to really helping preserve our natural resources and saving the world.

Source Citation:
Barry, Tom. "Electric Cars Can Reduce Air Pollution." Opposing Viewpoints: Energy Alternatives. Ed. Helen Cothran. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2002. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 10 Feb. 2010 http://find.galegroup.com/ovrc/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T010&prodId=OVRC&docId=EJ3010220227&source=gale&srcprod=OVRC&userGroupName=deer63488&version=1.0.

The Electric Car

Although most think the electric car has seemingly been a recent atempt to improve the automobile, it has infact been a concept since the beginning of cars. Technology hasn't been able to produce an electric car that has made enough sense economically to mass produce, untill now. Companies began making hybrid cars that were built to although still revolve around their gas powered engines were also able to use a battery in order to improve gas consumption. There are many problems however with the new fully electric cars: What is the easiest way to charge the cars? how long will the batteries last? Will they have the same functionability as gas powered cars? Many companies believe that the technology is still not yet available to produce the fully equiped electric cars however Chevrolet is releasing its Volt late next year and believes that it will be succesfull. Another big problem is with the audio systems, air conditioners, how much battery power will be needed for a car to function properly? At an auto show many automakers were comical with the introduction of hours-to-recharge on a cars dashboard. The Volt will take close to 23 hours for just 150 miles of driving.

If this market is ever going to take off I believe that they need to find a much faster form of recharging these cars. The automobile industry took off becasue of the flexibility it gave people with such a low downtime. All people had to do was fill up with gas, taking maybe 5-10 minutes of their days and were then able to drive upwards of 500 miles. Now, these new cars need a full day to travel less tahn 1/3 of that distance? The sales of these cars will never come close to that of regular cars untill they can fix this problem. Another big problem with these cars is that once a normal car has retired it can be almost 100% recycled and reused in other cars or other industries. When a battery powered car is recycled the battery is filled with toxic waste that can't be easily dealt with. Automakers must find solutions to these problems before they should try to release their products. I do think however that once these problems are fixed that these cars will be the thing of the future. Especially with the focus on staying green with the turn of the century, these cars will help us preserve our natural resources in the land. With all the new technology we have destroyed our earth and many eco friendly people will see buying these cars as a first step to helping save the rest of our beautiful earth.

http://find.galegroup.com/ovrc/retrieve.do?subjectParam=Locale%2528en%252C%252C%2529%253AFQE%253D%2528su%252CNone%252C12%2529electric%2Bcar%253AAnd%253ALQE%253D%2528LM%252CNone%252C4%2529News%2524&contentSet=IAC-Documents&sort=DateDescend&tabID=T004&sgCurrentPosition=0&subjectAction=DISPLAY_SUBJECTS&prodId=OVRC&searchId=R5&currentPosition=5&userGroupName=deer63488&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&sgHitCountType=None&qrySerId=Locale%28en%2C%2C%29%3AFQE%3D%28SU%2CNone%2C12%29electric+car%3AAnd%3ALQE%3D%28LM%2CNone%2C4%29News%24&inPS=true&searchType=BasicSearchForm&displaySubject=&docId=A192577555&docType=IAC

Source Citation:
Moran, Tim. "Dealing with realities of an electric-car fleet.(Automobiles)(GREENTECH)." The New York Times. 158. 54566 (Jan 25, 2009): 7(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 8 Feb. 2010 .

Stem Cell Research

Stem Cell Research has been a huge new technology advancement in the scientific field. Stem cells can be used for hundreds of medical and scientific purposes. Jean Peduzzi-Nelson has determined through research adult stem cells have a much higher success rate than that of embryonic cells. While embryonic stem cells are very usefull in drug testing and are able to form into all different types of cells. Adult stem cells on the other hand are infact one of the safest and best treatments and suprisingly hasn't really even been introduced to the public. The adult stem cells are able to bypass rejection, disease transmission, chromosomal abnormalities, and uncontrolled growth because the stem cells can be taken from a persons own body. Stem cells are a huge focus for medical technology because they are projected to eventually be able to cure hundreds of different of diagnoses and could be one of the biggest medical advancements in history. Doctors believe that this future for medicine isn't too far away and more and more reseach is being done every day. While adult stemcells are continuously succeeding they won't become the main sorce of stem cell treatment untill a more safe way to derive the cells is found. One of the biggest questions is if they can be found in sperm?
How amazing would it be if doctors could take your own cells, treat them, and then replace them into your body to heal a disease or other diagnoses. Science and medicine has advanced so much in recent years and its too crazy to think about. What if these cells could be used as permenant treatments for AIDS, cancer, and other huge problems. Society must realize how close we are to something so big like this and help with donations for research and helping in any other way they can. Treatments like this could change our world forever.

http://find.galegroup.com/ovrc/retrieve.do?subjectParam=Locale%2528en%252C%252C%2529%253AFQE%253D%2528su%252CNone%252C12%2529%2522Stem%2Bcells%2522%2524&contentSet=GSRC&sort=Relevance&tabID=T010&sgCurrentPosition=0&subjectAction=DISPLAY_SUBJECTS&prodId=OVRC&searchId=R7&currentPosition=6&userGroupName=deer63488&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&sgHitCountType=None&qrySerId=Locale%28en%2C%2C%29%3AFQE%3D%28SU%2CNone%2C12%29%22Stem+cells%22%24&inPS=true&searchType=BasicSearchForm&displaySubject=&docId=EJ3010453227&docType=GSRC

Jean Peduzzi-Nelson. "Adult Stem Cells Are More Promising than Embryonic Stem Cells." Opposing Viewpoints: Stem Cells. Ed. Jacqueline Langwith. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2007. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 8 Feb. 2010 .

Where I'm At

So far the topic of science and technology has been very intesting for me. There are so many different angles you can take when approaching the topic and it gives you a lot of flexibility to explore what really intrests you. So far I've looked at transportation, communication, and im starting to get a little more specific while looking at the atom bomb. I'm really excited to see where I'm going to end up taking this topic. So far tho, so good.

Truman: Atomic Bomb Announcement

President Harry Truman made this anouncement to the American people in a nationwide broadcast 16 hours after the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. In the broadcast he informed the United States of the dropping. He explained that "With this bomb we have now added a new and revolutionary increase in destruction to supplement the growing power of our armed forces." He is saying that this new developed weapon is so destructive that it is harnessing the power of the universe. He doesn't explain however the possible consequences of this decision. He doesn't tell the public that there is a chance other countries might get this same technology and use it against them. This massive power he compares to the power of the son isn't strictly for America.
Truman says, "We have spent $2 billion on the greatest scientific gamble in history--and won." The real question is have they won however? They killed over 150,000 people with the dropping of the two bombs and started an atomic war that will change the course of the world forever. Have they infact won on this gamble? Maybe short term Truman can convince the people that this is a victory however once the atomic race began it was very clear how badly this gamble went. Truman says at the end of his speech that congress must controll the creation of the atomic power in order to maintain worldwide peace. He thinks that with the power of the atomic bomb congress will still be able to control it with other countries. Looking back at this speech its so hard to think how he ever thought this would be possible.
http://www.worldhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display.aspx?categoryid=33&entryid=325580&searchtext=atom+bomb&type=simple&option=all

"Harry Truman: Hiroshima atomic bomb announcement (1945)." World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2010.

Atomic Bomb

The atomic bomb was one of the most controversial war tactics of all time. The U.S. used the atomic bomb to put an end to world war two by taking out Japan. The U.S. initially dropped "Little Boy" on Hiroshima attempting to dismantle the country and have it surrender in the war. This bomb killed tens of thousands of people however Japan remained in the war. The U.S. then dropped "Fat Man" on Nagasaki, a huge industrial center for Japan, by annihilating Nagasaki the U.S. destroyed Japans income and forced it out of the war. The combined bombs killed upwards of 150,000 people. Although at the time taking out Japan seemed like it was the only option looking back the impact the atomic bombs creation has had on the world is devastating. The amount of nuclear power in the world right now could destroy the world multiple times. The amount of power many countries now hold is far to much. The fact that bothers me the most is that our own country was the leading country in the atomic race. We failed to realize the underlying consequences in these actions and have now caused a huge problem for the future generations. Multiple countries could end the world by the click of a button because of our mistake and it is inexcusable. In all honesty I don't think anything will be able to be done about this becasue all of the countries will continue to make their atomic weapons, even if they agree to stop making them. Each country needs to make its own to feel safe from the other countries because they need to have the same weapon capability. While everyone continues to make more and more bombs however the world just continues to lose its safety. Because of the U.S.'s one decision to drop the atomic bomb our world will never be the same.

http://www.worldhistory.abc-clio.com/Explore/Display.aspx?categoryid=13&entryid=1185821&searchtext=atomic+bomb&type=simple&option=all&filterid=

Tucker, Spencer C. "Dropping the Bomb Saved Lives." World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2010. .

The World Wide Web

The internet has become by far the fastest growing industry in the world since its introduction to the world in 1989. The internet is another example of how the world is using technology to make everything in life easier, and simpler. Any question you could possibly have is just a couple clicks away on the internet and that availability wasn't even an option about 20 years ago. Its amazing to see how our generation revolves around the internet while it is so new to the world. Its so funny to see our parents and grandparents struggling with all the new technology. They are busy searching through the newspapers for news while we just pull up a website and can search for anything of intrest and within seconds have hundreds of documents to look through. Even though it is so simple and second nature for us we sometimes fail to realize that our parents never grew up with these same tools that we have built our lives around. They couldn't just google their questions or map quest directions to their friends houses. This generation doesn't even think about how dependent we are on the internet. So many people will come home from school, check their facebook, stream music off the internet, play online games, and its amazing to think how little we appreciate this availability in our lives. Even now we are using this blog website for our classroom work in American Studies. Its so much simpler than writing every day in our journal and then at the end of the quarter checking everything in and having the teachers read it. Instead, we are able to just send the teachers a link and have them read it off our own website. I think that after doing alot of this research on technology is to realize how easy our lives have become based on the things that we have grown up with and appreciate them and not just take advantage of them. I think thoreau said something about with the invention of the cart men lost the ability of their feet. He was so true in saying this because we musnt lose our ability to function without the ability of the internet, computers, and phones.
http://www.americanhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display.aspx?categoryid=27&entryid=961743&searchtext=the+internet&type=simple&option=all

"World Wide Web." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2010. .

Comunication (Telephone)

It has always interested me how drastically our communication has changed over the years. Just being around my parents they are struggling to use their iPhone and such and its second nature for us. And then my grandparents still write letters and don't know how to turn on a computer. Its amazing how over the years how evident the changes in technology are. A huge technological advancement within the last 100 or so years was the phone. Our country evolved from using the written word to communicate, (letters, newspapers, etc.) to using a vocal approach. (Telephones, Television) The creation of this new technology made huge improvements to our society. It created a faster, easier and more useful way to communicate. Not only does the cellphone bring a more useful way to communicate but it has evolved many other industries. Phones now have cameras, games, navigation systems, Internet, and multiple other gadgets that make our lives rotate around that little phone. I couldn't even imagine going through my day without a cell phone because of the flexibility it gives me.
As all of these advancements come with the cellphone are people beginning to lose an essential part of their communicating ability. Instead of calling or talking in person now we are able to just text a message to someone. Although nobody really thinks about it because of how easy texting makes our lives are we losing the ability to communicate on a different level? I think an actual experiment of some kind would be very interesting testing the different generations for their ability to communicate in the 2 major forms, in person and on the telephone.

http://www.americanhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display.aspx?
categoryid=27&entryid=263201&searchtext=telephone&type=simple&option=all

"communication revolution of the 19th century." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 29 Jan. 2010. .

Transportation Revolution of the 20th Century

Transportation is a neccesity for the lives of people in america. Americans depend on transportation in order to travel from homes to work and also to transport goods. One of the most important technological advancements in the last 120 years is the car and airplane industries. The replacement of a horse and buggy for most people to a car was essential to their success in their businesses while also allowing many people a lot of flexibility in their lives. Something amazing is that actually electic cars were made as early as 1891. I had always thought that these cars were just recent inventions and phenomonal inovative ideas that could change the world forever when in fact these ideas are merely being built off of work people did over a 100 years ago. At the beggining of the automotive era.
Although maintaining these cars was extremely expensive the impact on america can't be heard enough. The ability that these cars gave people, to work in the city while having their family living in the country allowed people to move away from the big cities. The impact these advancements in the automobile industry had can't be overstated.
I think that although these advancements in society have greatly helped our advancements as a country I believe that it will eventually become a 1 step forward and 2 steps backward process. Although we are now able to have all this availability because of this industry eventually once the fossil fuels run out our country will be in desperate need for people to find a permenent solution to these fuel problems. Our country is so used to these advancements that without them it could mean big problems for many people. How could companies afford to transport goods without a convinient system? How could even families still be able to live in rural areas? Although electric cars are being worked on and are seemingly just around the corner, inventors must find a permenent solution fast before it is too late. Our country wouldn't be able to function without the transportation these industries have given us and unfortunatly these industries can't function when the world has given us all it has. We must find a way to save the worlds fossil fuels and also save our own society.

http://www.americanhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display.aspx?categoryid=26&entryid=312726&searchtext=advancements+in+technology&type=simple&option=all

"transportation revolution of the 20th century." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 28 Jan. 2010. .

Science and Technology Initial Response

Science and Technology have become a necessity for our societies survival in the 21st century. I'm intrested in this topic because of how great of an impact it has on our society today. I always think about how much technology has transformed even in the last 50 or so years. My mom talked to me about how in medical school their computers they used for reasearch would sometimes take up an entire room. Its amazing to me to see how the same amount of technology has changed from the size of a room to a ipod thats smaller than your hand. Also, i've been wanting to see how the new technology has effected our culture. How have peoples lifes ultimatly been effected? Has the new technology made our lives easier or has it in fact crippled the society. Although new machines and other technologies can do mans work doesn't that just allow our society to become lazy? Will technology ever be able to replace mans work force? The technology era has swept the late 20th and 21st century and might not be a good thing at all.

Obama's State of the Union Adress

I was very interested to see this speech because for Obama there has been so much difficulty in this country. So many people have turned against him and lost faith in what he had initially promised this country. When he said at the beginning of his speech, "It's tempting to look back on these moments and assume that our progress was inevitable – that America was always destined to succeed." I was so amazed by how true and to the point he was. In reality our society has never expected difficulty, with all the new technology and the Internet our society is built around ease for the people. And now that there are difficult times people don't understand how to deal with it. I think Obama understands this completely. That the people are used to success, ease, and progress and in times where these things are few and far between that we must truly be a unified country, and turning against your leader is the first decision on the path to destruction. Obama then says, "So we face big and difficult challenges. And what the American people hope – what they deserve – is for all of us, Democrats and Republicans, to work through our differences; to overcome the numbing weight of our politics." Obama realized that in order for this country to overcome these difficulties we must be a united people. As soon as he said this it brought me back to our studying of the preamble and how we discussed the Perfect Union. How this union was necessary in order for this country to flourish. Then Obama said, "Despite our hardships, our union is strong." He is confident that although we have gone through so much as a country in the last couple years that there still is that bright future. That all those that have turned away must understand that only in perfect unity as a country can we ever establish the country that truly is a leader and model.

First Post

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThQaYNXXL4Y

Porti Volare is the best song ever.