In this TED Talk, Paul Rothemund uses the programing language of life (DNA) to create physcical structures, in this case smily faces, a map of the American Continetns, or a star or triangle. This use of programing language is compared to the binary system, and other forms of formating. This makes me think of html formatting, and how words and tags combine to form something completly new and hardly resembeling the programming language used.
Friday, December 14, 2007
TED Talks: Unveiling the genius of multi-touch interface design
This TED Talk is used to showcase a new form of interaction that can be used for computers. The multi touch screen has very intuitive controls, and a plethora of uses, from the creative to the useful management of data. I wonder what the potential gaming applications are. Either way, Jeff Han amazed with this muilti touch interface tool.
TED Talks: Kenichi Ebina
This TED Talk is less of a talk, and more of an entertaining dance. Ebina blends several styles of dancing as well as martial arts into an interesting and fun style to watch. Slightly robotic, it amuses and astounds to a point.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
HTML code
I have only used html code once before, and that was without knowing it. It was the
function, and I copied it from someones myspace post and reused it without knowing what it did.
function, and I copied it from someones myspace post and reused it without knowing what it did.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
AI
Artificial intelligence, some spin it as the future boon of all mankind, others label it as the coming doom of all man kind. Imagine the good that an intelligence created by man could be. No more driving yourself, let your car do that. Your computers would be interactive, art creation could be automated, manual labor could be done by machines, international politics could be handled by humanoid ambassadors, warfare and sports could be taken over by robots. Virtually all levels of our current society would be affected. However, we as humans fear what we do not know, or understand. If we give control of our lives to an intelligence that is not our own, and potentially smarter (though can the creation grow beyond the capacity of the creator?) isn’t there a possibility, even the most remote one, of the machines realizing that we humans are the blight of this planet? I don’t want to go off on a Sci-Fi tangent, but with great power comes great responsibility, and if… when AI comes into play as a fully adaptable, and learning computer (or being?), much can and will be relegated to the computers. Let’s just hope they don’t read any Isaac Asimov (I, Robot author).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence gives the definition of the field of AI, the history and the challenges, and the successes (Deep Blue for instance).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence gives the definition of the field of AI, the history and the challenges, and the successes (Deep Blue for instance).
TED Talks: Thomas Barnett
Thomas Barnett’s ideas on the military are accurate (and they should be, it’s his job). His statements about our levitation force are on the money, as is the thinking that we lack the follow through force with the training, and expertise to rebuild countries. Dividing the military into two roles: butt whipping and reconstruction sounds good. This will allow soldiers to be soldiers and will not force them to multitask two very different roles. Likewise the reconstruction side will not be forced to break down doors and shoot the bad guys. As for improvements, I can honestly say that my knowledge is completely outclassed in this instance, and I trust his judgment.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
TED Talks: Jane Goodall
Jane Goodall is a scientist noted for her study of the great apes, and has been researching this for over 40 years. In her TED talk she speaks about the destruction of habitat, culture and environment. Her first reference to the interconnectivity of these problems involves large international logging corporations that build roads through forests inhabited by natives. These natives then use the road to go from hunter gatherers who only took what they needed, to poachers and vendors of meat. They now kill everything that moves, destroying the food chain and screwing themselves in the long run. They take the meat they get from the clear cutting style of hunting they employ and use the logging trucks to sell it for money in the towns. All the wile the loggers deforest the area, further reducing the productivity of the natives hunting grounds. The loggers move on, leaving the road, and waste behind it, and the navies are left with drastically reduced forestland, and food. She also throws her ape research into her speech, talking about how they have emotions, and intelligence, and that the destruction of the forests also harms our closest cousins, who are also deserving of consideration and empathy.
TED Talks: Al Gore
Al Gore, winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, former vice president, prominent environmental activist, and TED talker. Gore’s TED talk involves what we as American citizens can do to reverse global warming, or as he calls it “Climate Crisis” . His opening speech is amusing, his information is well graphed, his message well received and his meaning sincere. I enjoyed listening to all that he said, with the exception of one slide. 
Reduce emissions from your home energy use (better design, insulation, green electricity)
According to the Tennessee Center for Policy Research Al Gore consumed 22,619 killowat hours in the month of August 2006. This is more than twice what the average American family uses per year. Personal hipocracies asside, Gores’ message is still an imporant one, considering that the vast majority of Virginia will be underwater before to long if the crisis is not averted.
Reduce emissions from your home energy use (better design, insulation, green electricity) According to the Tennessee Center for Policy Research Al Gore consumed 22,619 killowat hours in the month of August 2006. This is more than twice what the average American family uses per year. Personal hipocracies asside, Gores’ message is still an imporant one, considering that the vast majority of Virginia will be underwater before to long if the crisis is not averted.
RSS
Traditionally I have had problems remembering to check current events for my Political science class. The teachers’ goal is to have his students be up to date with the happenings in the world. However my busy schedule (who am I kidding, playing video games) doesn’t allocate much time for watching the news. This RSS website I subscribed to: http://rss.news.yahoo.com/rss/mostviewed allows me to skim through the superfluous stuff (like anything with the words OJ or Anna Nicole) to get to potential current event topics.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Ted Talk: William Kamkwamba
An interesting and inspiring story of William Kamkwamba, a man who studied at the library at age 15, came home to his relatively remote dwelling, and built a windmill that generates electricity. As he modestly puts it, he didn’t follow the book by the letter, but used it more as background reading to get a better understanding of the materials used. Then he used some wood and scrap materials to make the windmill. The voltage output is about 12 volts, and that is enough to power four lights and two radios for his home. He desires to go on to create more windmills, for his village. The plan for the next one is for it to be double the voltage, for use with irrigation and water pumping.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Social Networking
Social networking has bloomed over the past few years, with the front runners being Facebook and Myspace. Myspace is the one I am most familiar with, and there are distinct pros and cons to it, and social networking as a whole.
The obvious pros are that you can connect with a vast variety of folks, from different walks of life, in different places, and who enjoy various activities. Myspace is an excellent place to pick up chicks, or communicate with them, particularly if you get stressed out around the opposite sex or find yourself fumbling telephone conversations. Myspace lets you connect and find other people who have similar interests, through the uses of clubs or groups. It also allows for folks to show pictures of themselves, and put a little chunk of who they are (whether accurate or not) to show anyone who comes looking. Myspace also is a new youtube, with lots of amusing, and annoying videos added daily (for annoying see that Crocker idiot). Myspace allows people to advertise businesses, music, themselves (as in the case of politicians).
However there is a darker side, one of annoyance and immaturity. This is the seething underbelly of filth, and that is “Myspace whores”. This term is not to imply physical looseness, merely an over usage and reliance on Myspace. The usually victims of Myspace whoreism are women from the age of 13 to 36, though many men are affected as well. What happens when someone becomes a Myspace whore is this: they begin posting bulletins (messages that are visible to everyone on your friends list). There is absolutely nothing wrong with posting bulletins, in moderation. But the Myspace whores slowly but surely begins to increase the bulletin number per day, to insane proportions. Soon things like “im going to bed txt me plz” or “got back from school” or “IM DELTETING YOU IF YOU DON’T COMMENT ME” start filling up. I literally counted 11 of these bulletins in a two hour time span, from one person. The underlying mental philosophy is that all of the people in your friends list actually care about your daily “goings on”. This self centered behavior is almost always incorrect, unless the friends list consists exclusively of the individuals’ mother, and in most instances Myspace whores can just open the door and let mom know what they are doing. Further signs of Myspace whoreism are posting lots of surveys (one or two a day is plenty), having a ton of pictures at weird angles, (such as a camera below the sink) negative emotional messages about how their life is terrible, and chain mail.
However, if you don’t mind a few cluttered bulletins, and advertisements saying, and I quote “Find Ur Crush!” (I shudder every time I read that), social networking is worth the time and effort.
The obvious pros are that you can connect with a vast variety of folks, from different walks of life, in different places, and who enjoy various activities. Myspace is an excellent place to pick up chicks, or communicate with them, particularly if you get stressed out around the opposite sex or find yourself fumbling telephone conversations. Myspace lets you connect and find other people who have similar interests, through the uses of clubs or groups. It also allows for folks to show pictures of themselves, and put a little chunk of who they are (whether accurate or not) to show anyone who comes looking. Myspace also is a new youtube, with lots of amusing, and annoying videos added daily (for annoying see that Crocker idiot). Myspace allows people to advertise businesses, music, themselves (as in the case of politicians).
However there is a darker side, one of annoyance and immaturity. This is the seething underbelly of filth, and that is “Myspace whores”. This term is not to imply physical looseness, merely an over usage and reliance on Myspace. The usually victims of Myspace whoreism are women from the age of 13 to 36, though many men are affected as well. What happens when someone becomes a Myspace whore is this: they begin posting bulletins (messages that are visible to everyone on your friends list). There is absolutely nothing wrong with posting bulletins, in moderation. But the Myspace whores slowly but surely begins to increase the bulletin number per day, to insane proportions. Soon things like “im going to bed txt me plz” or “got back from school” or “IM DELTETING YOU IF YOU DON’T COMMENT ME” start filling up. I literally counted 11 of these bulletins in a two hour time span, from one person. The underlying mental philosophy is that all of the people in your friends list actually care about your daily “goings on”. This self centered behavior is almost always incorrect, unless the friends list consists exclusively of the individuals’ mother, and in most instances Myspace whores can just open the door and let mom know what they are doing. Further signs of Myspace whoreism are posting lots of surveys (one or two a day is plenty), having a ton of pictures at weird angles, (such as a camera below the sink) negative emotional messages about how their life is terrible, and chain mail.
However, if you don’t mind a few cluttered bulletins, and advertisements saying, and I quote “Find Ur Crush!” (I shudder every time I read that), social networking is worth the time and effort.
Spore, Part 2
After watching the three videos (Spore, The Web's Secret Stories, and Fantastic Voyage Inside the Cell) the only one that really sparks my interest is Spore again. Hopefully there isn't a rule about recovering a topic.
Spore is being hailed as a potential game of the year, for combining game play with creativity and allowing the player to innovate. However one of the greatest and most revolutionary aspects of Spore was glossed over in Will Wrights Ted Talk. He explained how players love to create, and how when a player uses their imagination to mold out their own content, they are much more attached to said content. Spore takes this concept and runs with it, and instead of the designers creating levels and enemies to face like traditional games, they modify the tools they use to create the world and release it to the gamer.
Typical games last anywhere from 20-100 hours to beat, depending on the type and game itself. Role playing games and strategy games usually take longer to beat than action games. There is one major exception to this, Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (or MMORPG’s) are often designed so that the game never really ends, and so the player never stops paying for the game. The most famous example of this is the World of Warcraft, played by some 8 million worldwide. However every bit of WoW was created by game designers, every piece of weaponry, every character face or movement, every level and tree and monster in the game was painstakingly created and implemented in the game. That makes for an enormous amount of work for the game designers. Then they use that content, and make the player go over it again and again to progress. This is called the “Grind”, and gets boring fast.
Spore’s major innovation is that players become the designers. Lets say I create a creature I call the Humdinger, with 6 legs and a big mouth. This creature is then uploaded to a central database, and redistributed to other peoples worlds, seamlessly. So someone in Australia playing spore may run into my Humdingers, and decide to make peace with my civilization, and start trading with them. Then someone from Canada also meets my Humdingers and decides to annihilate the civilization by destroying our home planet. Neither of these actions affect MY game, my home planet is not harmed on my side of the server, but the other players get to experience new content daily, so that there will never be a “Grind”. Endless worlds can be explored, made of many different creations from many different players, not limited to the creatures, but vehicles (air, land, sea and space) vegetation, buildings and the planets themselves. Instead of having a team of 100 designers flesh out a level, you have thousands of designers, all creating, all allowing you to have more to explore and interact with. When uploaded into other peoples games, the creatures you have created will behave as you have played them, being as aggressive or as peaceful as you made them. The idea is that Spore is a Massively Single Player game. Thus, the game will never run out of content for you to explore, and is never ending.
Spore is being hailed as a potential game of the year, for combining game play with creativity and allowing the player to innovate. However one of the greatest and most revolutionary aspects of Spore was glossed over in Will Wrights Ted Talk. He explained how players love to create, and how when a player uses their imagination to mold out their own content, they are much more attached to said content. Spore takes this concept and runs with it, and instead of the designers creating levels and enemies to face like traditional games, they modify the tools they use to create the world and release it to the gamer.
Typical games last anywhere from 20-100 hours to beat, depending on the type and game itself. Role playing games and strategy games usually take longer to beat than action games. There is one major exception to this, Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (or MMORPG’s) are often designed so that the game never really ends, and so the player never stops paying for the game. The most famous example of this is the World of Warcraft, played by some 8 million worldwide. However every bit of WoW was created by game designers, every piece of weaponry, every character face or movement, every level and tree and monster in the game was painstakingly created and implemented in the game. That makes for an enormous amount of work for the game designers. Then they use that content, and make the player go over it again and again to progress. This is called the “Grind”, and gets boring fast.
Spore’s major innovation is that players become the designers. Lets say I create a creature I call the Humdinger, with 6 legs and a big mouth. This creature is then uploaded to a central database, and redistributed to other peoples worlds, seamlessly. So someone in Australia playing spore may run into my Humdingers, and decide to make peace with my civilization, and start trading with them. Then someone from Canada also meets my Humdingers and decides to annihilate the civilization by destroying our home planet. Neither of these actions affect MY game, my home planet is not harmed on my side of the server, but the other players get to experience new content daily, so that there will never be a “Grind”. Endless worlds can be explored, made of many different creations from many different players, not limited to the creatures, but vehicles (air, land, sea and space) vegetation, buildings and the planets themselves. Instead of having a team of 100 designers flesh out a level, you have thousands of designers, all creating, all allowing you to have more to explore and interact with. When uploaded into other peoples games, the creatures you have created will behave as you have played them, being as aggressive or as peaceful as you made them. The idea is that Spore is a Massively Single Player game. Thus, the game will never run out of content for you to explore, and is never ending.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Ted Talks: Spore
There is one video game that I just cannot wait to come out. I have been subscribed to the newsletter for months, and first started watching the development of this game since last December. Even hearing the word sends shivers of geekness up my spine. Spore.
The game Spore is spearheaded by the mastermind behind SimCity, the Sims, and many other Maxis simulation games, Will Wright. His games have always been about allowing the player to create the world, instead of merely playing through it. This gives games unlimited replay value, and since the player created the city, or house and family, they are much more attached to their creation. With Spore Wright is going to allow the player to create not only a house, or a city, or a family, but a civilization. Spore allows the player to shape their own form of life starting with a single celled organism, and ending up as the ruler of the planet. You gain control of not only the species you are guiding, but the cities, vehicles, buildings that are in the city, the plants on the planet, even the planet itself. And then you get to explore countless planets full of other peoples creations, interacting how you will, Terriforming inhospitable planets, colonizing hospitable ones, trading with other sentient life, or conquering them.
Will Wrights Ted talk is based on how his game can be used to help show teach term dynamics, as well as amplify creativity.
As for the schools killing creativity, I say we make all biology classes have to beat the game spore, thus teaching about evolution, showing the possible effects of global warming (you can overheat a planet in Spore, causing it to become a ball of lava) and re-igniting creativity. Two birds, one stone.
Monday, September 10, 2007
My Internet Endeavors
Quite a bit of the time I spend on the Internet per week is while playing games. I would say I spend between 30-35 hours a week online, often playing Warcraft, or other multiplayer games online, or just searching the web for interesting things.
Web sites I visited this week:
If you visit any of these sites, check this one out, it deals with brand new technology utilizing what you are looking at right now! Internet Imaging Technology
My Myspace, to see if anyone sent me anything important (I just get surveys and chain mail : D )
WoW Azgalor Forums (yes I am a large nerd)
Photobucket One place that hosts picture files
Putfile A second place that hosts picture files
Blogger for homework
Youtube for entertainment
Blackboard for homework
Google To find things
Web sites I visited this week:
If you visit any of these sites, check this one out, it deals with brand new technology utilizing what you are looking at right now! Internet Imaging Technology
My Myspace, to see if anyone sent me anything important (I just get surveys and chain mail : D )
WoW Azgalor Forums (yes I am a large nerd)
Photobucket One place that hosts picture files
Putfile A second place that hosts picture files
Blogger for homework
Youtube for entertainment
Blackboard for homework
Google To find things
Chapter 2 Internet and Education
The internet has been vital to my education, utilized in high school for research projects in particular, all the way through now with this course being taken across only the internet. Currently I have two FLO classes, courses taken via the internet, as well as one course that is taught in both campuses, at the same time, by the same teacher. The teacher is at our campus one day, and the other the next, but each class gets to see what is happening, and hear what is being said in real time. The internet is used to project the video image of the class on the other campus, as well as an extra screen to show our class, or an overhead/computer screen for notes. So the internet has been used as a research tool, as a vessel to make learning easier and more effective for a class divided by a long drive, as well as the means to teach entire classes.
The future for the internet and education lies in more video conferencing, I theorize that one day physical classes will be the exception instead of the norm. As the chapter discussed, internet cuts down on costs for transportation, and paper, saves time (and time is money) is better for the environment, as well as safer. If the publishers of textbooks find a way to curb their hitherto unchecked greed, they will be able to publish entire textbooks entirely online, saving paper and thus the environment as well (and hopefully saving us some money to boot).
As for connecting nations of the world in an academic setting, the tools already are present today. For instance, every Friday morning, I log onto World of Warcraft and play games with friends from around the world, including folks in Australia, Singapore, Japan, China, as well as closer places such as Canada. We also speak in real time (well, with a second or two delay) as easily as if we were in the same room despite the ten thousand miles that separate us through a program called Ventrilo. All that is needed is a microphone, and a server for people to join. As long as someone pays for a server (or someone knows the information to one already being paid for) the program download and connection is entirely free. With a little orchestration, classes all over the world can benefit from oral lectures via the internet, and leaders of any field can be guest speakers able to speak to a class, as well as hear students responses. All while everyone is still in their pajamas, in the comfort of their own home.
The future for the internet and education lies in more video conferencing, I theorize that one day physical classes will be the exception instead of the norm. As the chapter discussed, internet cuts down on costs for transportation, and paper, saves time (and time is money) is better for the environment, as well as safer. If the publishers of textbooks find a way to curb their hitherto unchecked greed, they will be able to publish entire textbooks entirely online, saving paper and thus the environment as well (and hopefully saving us some money to boot).
As for connecting nations of the world in an academic setting, the tools already are present today. For instance, every Friday morning, I log onto World of Warcraft and play games with friends from around the world, including folks in Australia, Singapore, Japan, China, as well as closer places such as Canada. We also speak in real time (well, with a second or two delay) as easily as if we were in the same room despite the ten thousand miles that separate us through a program called Ventrilo. All that is needed is a microphone, and a server for people to join. As long as someone pays for a server (or someone knows the information to one already being paid for) the program download and connection is entirely free. With a little orchestration, classes all over the world can benefit from oral lectures via the internet, and leaders of any field can be guest speakers able to speak to a class, as well as hear students responses. All while everyone is still in their pajamas, in the comfort of their own home.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Do schools kill creativity?
I must admit my mind was already leaning towards no when I began watching this video, however his talk was well researched and presented. The conclusion I arrived at after watching Sir Robinson's video was simply yes. Yes, schools do deplete creativity in kids, as well as plant seeds of bias in individuals.
I must admit that personally, the word art has often a negative connotation in my mind. Even though that many of my closest friends are artists, and my father an accomplished musician (go watch the band Slapwater, my dad plays the keyboards) I still have a negative internal tag attached to the word art. To elaborate, the epitome of my negative stereotype would be a beatnik sitting in Starbucks, on a Mac computer (I even loathe to capitalize the word Mac) writing poetry publicly. All of those aspects have a negative stereotype for me, particularly free verse poetry (which is basically talking with a fancy name). Now I must ask the question how I came to dislike the arts.
Gender wise, the concepts of dance and most particularly ballet and tap are introduced negatively (at least usually), shown as a female thing, or an activity for gay's. Honestly, if a straight man takes ballet, think of all the attractive women he gets to hang around. However I can firmly conclude that public school were not responsible for my lack of enthusiasm for dance.
Next for my mental discussion would be traditional art, painting, drawing and such. For me there is not so much negative thoughts attached with this (with the exception of abstract art) but my personal dislike of being wrong, to paraphrase Sir Robinson, has always held me back. I would rarely attempt physical art, and if I did it would be secret, or hidden, so my amateur attempts would not attract too much scorn. It is possible school was partly responsible for this, as well as society (though I hate to blame others for my own shortcomings, it is also mostly my fault for not perusing art). Instilling the value of being right, and attaching the negative stigma to being wrong possibly has held me back creatively.
Drama has some negative stigma attached to it in my mind, but mostly due to the individuals involved. In high school I was in drama class three out of the four years I was there, but usually acting behind the scenes, facilitating others, assisting them in the spotlight. I was in two school plays, “South Pacific” (2004 I believe) which I assisted back stage, and “Little Shop of Horrors” in 2005 which I was the puppeteer for three quarters of the puppets. The main reason for the activity in drama was fun and the camaraderie of a stellar bunch of people (though many are prone to excess drama in life, occupational hazard of enjoying drama). The only negative association with drama dealt with some individuals who were less than wonderful people.
Music has never had a negative feeling attached to it, probably due to my father playing for as far back as I can remember, and introducing me to different forms of music. He showed my how to enjoy music, and I watched as music made him feel elated. In my mind music is the highest form of art, the most valuable (though I cannot find a tangible reason for this) and the one I enjoy the most.
Lastly in the look inside my own cerebellum to see my prejudices, I come to creative writing. In my mind I don’t even see this as art, even though I know it should be. This is probably because I am at least decent at this, whereas any form of the others I fail to pass muster. Reading and to some extent writing, has always been enjoyable, ever since Cat in the Hat.
I believe that public schools do indeed squash creativity, the only method of artistic activity positively endorsed in a class considered “core” would be creative writing. However, since not everyone is good at different facets of artistry, it would be difficult to test everyone on drawing, or singing, so part of the focus away from the arts is understandable.
Sir Robinson mentioned the main reason for the crushing of creativity is based on the industrial revolution. That is when the public education really began, and the emphasis was on training people to become effective workers in that days work force. Present times however, it is much more likely to be able to make a living on being an artist, thus our school system is lacking in that area.
The only remaining question is now “What can be done” which is a lot harder than critiquing the system already in place. This question’s difficulty for me is amplified because of how ingrained I am in the very system I am being asked to change. Perhaps by implementing more after school programs, or doing more creative writing assignments.
I must admit that personally, the word art has often a negative connotation in my mind. Even though that many of my closest friends are artists, and my father an accomplished musician (go watch the band Slapwater, my dad plays the keyboards) I still have a negative internal tag attached to the word art. To elaborate, the epitome of my negative stereotype would be a beatnik sitting in Starbucks, on a Mac computer (I even loathe to capitalize the word Mac) writing poetry publicly. All of those aspects have a negative stereotype for me, particularly free verse poetry (which is basically talking with a fancy name). Now I must ask the question how I came to dislike the arts.
Gender wise, the concepts of dance and most particularly ballet and tap are introduced negatively (at least usually), shown as a female thing, or an activity for gay's. Honestly, if a straight man takes ballet, think of all the attractive women he gets to hang around. However I can firmly conclude that public school were not responsible for my lack of enthusiasm for dance.
Next for my mental discussion would be traditional art, painting, drawing and such. For me there is not so much negative thoughts attached with this (with the exception of abstract art) but my personal dislike of being wrong, to paraphrase Sir Robinson, has always held me back. I would rarely attempt physical art, and if I did it would be secret, or hidden, so my amateur attempts would not attract too much scorn. It is possible school was partly responsible for this, as well as society (though I hate to blame others for my own shortcomings, it is also mostly my fault for not perusing art). Instilling the value of being right, and attaching the negative stigma to being wrong possibly has held me back creatively.
Drama has some negative stigma attached to it in my mind, but mostly due to the individuals involved. In high school I was in drama class three out of the four years I was there, but usually acting behind the scenes, facilitating others, assisting them in the spotlight. I was in two school plays, “South Pacific” (2004 I believe) which I assisted back stage, and “Little Shop of Horrors” in 2005 which I was the puppeteer for three quarters of the puppets. The main reason for the activity in drama was fun and the camaraderie of a stellar bunch of people (though many are prone to excess drama in life, occupational hazard of enjoying drama). The only negative association with drama dealt with some individuals who were less than wonderful people.
Music has never had a negative feeling attached to it, probably due to my father playing for as far back as I can remember, and introducing me to different forms of music. He showed my how to enjoy music, and I watched as music made him feel elated. In my mind music is the highest form of art, the most valuable (though I cannot find a tangible reason for this) and the one I enjoy the most.
Lastly in the look inside my own cerebellum to see my prejudices, I come to creative writing. In my mind I don’t even see this as art, even though I know it should be. This is probably because I am at least decent at this, whereas any form of the others I fail to pass muster. Reading and to some extent writing, has always been enjoyable, ever since Cat in the Hat.
I believe that public schools do indeed squash creativity, the only method of artistic activity positively endorsed in a class considered “core” would be creative writing. However, since not everyone is good at different facets of artistry, it would be difficult to test everyone on drawing, or singing, so part of the focus away from the arts is understandable.
Sir Robinson mentioned the main reason for the crushing of creativity is based on the industrial revolution. That is when the public education really began, and the emphasis was on training people to become effective workers in that days work force. Present times however, it is much more likely to be able to make a living on being an artist, thus our school system is lacking in that area.
The only remaining question is now “What can be done” which is a lot harder than critiquing the system already in place. This question’s difficulty for me is amplified because of how ingrained I am in the very system I am being asked to change. Perhaps by implementing more after school programs, or doing more creative writing assignments.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Thomas's Bio
Hello, my name (as you have probably guessed) is Thomas, and I am currently 20. This is only my second semester at RCC, having worked at Brent and Beckie's Bulbs and later Lowe's after leaving high school (it took almost two years of manual labor to show me that it is a less than desirable long term career). I just obtained a position at RCC (workstudy) for Student Activities, so if you are on campus and see the door open in the lounge, stick your head in and ask for me.
My hobbies include: sailing, fishing, body surfing, swimming, and most notably, computer games. I am and have been a computer geek for quite some time now, having built and maintained my own personal gaming computer since I was 15 or 16, with uncountable hours spent entertaining myself on the computer. My most recent gaming delights include: World of Warcraft (or as my father affectionately calls it, Warcrack), Bio Shock and Call of Duty 2. I am eagerly awaiting titles such as Spore and Call of Duty 4.
I am taking this class to deepen my understanding of things internet, to be honest checking E-mail, playing games, using ventrilo and Myspace are the general extent of my internet prowess. As for my plans for the future, honestly I have been rather poor at deciding the ultimate goal, and I fail at looking ahead in general.
Am I addicted to the World of Warcraft test results:
My hobbies include: sailing, fishing, body surfing, swimming, and most notably, computer games. I am and have been a computer geek for quite some time now, having built and maintained my own personal gaming computer since I was 15 or 16, with uncountable hours spent entertaining myself on the computer. My most recent gaming delights include: World of Warcraft (or as my father affectionately calls it, Warcrack), Bio Shock and Call of Duty 2. I am eagerly awaiting titles such as Spore and Call of Duty 4.
I am taking this class to deepen my understanding of things internet, to be honest checking E-mail, playing games, using ventrilo and Myspace are the general extent of my internet prowess. As for my plans for the future, honestly I have been rather poor at deciding the ultimate goal, and I fail at looking ahead in general.
Am I addicted to the World of Warcraft test results:
Your Score: Totally addicted
You are 80% Addicted!
When the server's down, its like the end of the world. You check your auctions before going to work, you love the game and everything it involves. Remember that other game called real life? Its not any fun, anyway! Keep it up! And remember, its just a game, but its the best game ever!
| Link: The World of Warcraft Addiction Test written by survivedestiny on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test |
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