My Inspiration

I was very inspired by my friend from high school.  During her junior and senior year, she created a program at our school called SMASH, which stood for 'Stop Madness and Severe Hating'.  This group was a anti-bullying group, and she created the roots and the outline for the program to take off and originate at our high school.  Watching her run the group was very inspiring, and after she graduated, it was her inspiration that allowed me to inherit her position.  I was inspired by the way she lead the group, ran and organized assemblies, and counseled young students who were experiencing problems with bullying.  I used this inspiration as I ran the group in my own way, and impacted the school in her footsteps. 

Video Notes Oct 20, 2011

• 45 year old love story
• received an expensive and high class education that almost destroyed him
• went to a village and saw people dying of hunger
• told his mother he wanted to work into a village
• he wanted to give something back, because life had given him so much
• his mother thought he let the family down
• he wanted to start a college only for the poor
• you have to have a skill that you can offer to go to the college
• professional- a combination of confidence and belief
• the college follows Ghandi's principles
• the teacher is the learner, and the learner is the teacher
• barefoot college, built by people who cannot read or write
• fully solar electrified
• food is solar cooked.  illiterate women put together a sophisticated solar cooker
• illiterate dentist
• no water is wasted.  collect rain water
• 60% of children do not go to school because they have to look after animals.  created night schools so that the children can receive and education
• children elect a prime minister

October 20, 2011 Free Write

With midterms coming up, I have mixed feelings.  With midterms comes a lot of stress, deadlines, and late nights of studying.  However, so far I have been able to stay on top of my work.  I try to start my work the day it is assigned so it does not accumulate overtime.  While the next few weeks will be every busy, I will try to manage my time wisely and get my work done at an appropriate time. 

Wing 4 Presentation

Take Action

• Alex's Lemonade Stand - help raise money fro childhood cancer
• newsletter to social media - timing is everything, Facebook and Twitter, less is more
• how too get people to help, choosing the right strategies
• pick the right type to ask, ask for time, differentiate between first and second asks
• stay away from asking for money, unless you have developed a close relationship with them
• stick to small actionable goals in the beginning
• Design Principle number 1: Make it Easy
• make i easy for others to act
• Prioritze your calls to action
• Desgin Principle Number 2: Make it fun
• take off the roughness of the topic
• games, competetion, make them feel like kids again
• Design Principle 3: Tailor
• Idiosyncratic fits
• Incorporating friendly competition
• Design Principle 4: Be open
• people can add or tae from, and alter the cause
• provide a frame and empower others
• you can see what you are doing right and wrong and then change it

Battlestar Galactica Epsidoes 33 and Water - Character Analysis

The President: Character Analysis

In episodes 33 and Water, the President of the ship in Battlestar Galactica serves as a very interesting character.  As the president of the ship, she makes the executive decisions, which carries a great deal of burden and stress.  At the end of the first episode, she is forced with the decision of whether or not to bomb the Olympic Carrier. While I understood that the decision was difficult, I was under the impression that her decision was based off of her own safety, rather than the safety of others.  Before her decision, her assistant tells her that either they will die, or the people of the Olympic Carrier will die.  It was not until after this statement that the President decides to destroy the other ship.  This shows her personal fear of dying.

                However, my opinion of the President changes in the second episode when she realizes the mass destruction of her actions.  In essence, she realizes that she ordered the death of 1300 civilians in order to ensure the survival of herself and her carrier.  Although her decision was a difficult one, and I do not believe it was consciously a selfish decision; she realized afterwards that she hurt many innocent people.  When she talked to her assistant afterwards, she showed him a piece of paper with the ship’s name on it that she carries in her pocket to remind her of her mistake.  This second episode highlights her positive qualities, her empathy, and her remorse for the innocent lives that were taken. 

Number Six: Character Analysis

 

In the first two episodes of Battlestar Galactica, the character who stands out as the most “evil” of all of the characters is Number Six.  In the first episode, she convinces Dr. Baltar to lie to the President, telling her that the Olympic Carrier is a threat to them and must be taken out immediately.  Her plan is dishonest, and results in the death of over 1,000 innocent civilians.  She is the most direct of all of the Cylons, and it is easy for the audience to identify her and her purpose.  Her looks are very distinct, possibly to put her apart from all of the other humans and Cylons.  Her blonde hair and flashy clothes help her to stand out, and she often uses this image to her favor.  Just as with Dr. Baltar, she uses he sexuality to persuade characters into doing what she wants.  Also, in the case of Dr. Baltar, she has the power over men to haunt their thoughts and their imaginations, influencing their decisions and their actions.  Dr. Baltar constantly had images of his memories and conversations with Number Six, and they often distracted him from doing his tasks.  Her antagonistic qualities throughout the first two episodes set her apart from everyone else in the series, and she uses her strong individuality and power in negative ways to hurt the human race. 

Florence Nightingale Case Study

Florence Nightingale encountered the system of health in the medical world.  In a world where nurses had a bad moral reputation, Nightingale transformed their career into a respectable and admirable job that not only saved lives, but helped the environment.  The medical system that Nightingale worked to reform was not working towards a goal.  The different parts, such as the cleanliness, amount of workers, and available tools, did not work together towards the goal of helping patients and saving lives.  She worked with the system of medical attention in the military, and then expanded her horizons to everyday society.  She reformed this system and played a key role into developing the success of the medical field today.

                Nightingale recognized the world’s dire need for a transformation of its medical field.  Her recognition started with military soldiers who were sick or wounded.  There were reports of medical catastrophes with thousands of soldiers in critical medical condition.  During her work in the military hospitals of Scutari, she witnessed ill soldiers lined up in cots stretching out over four miles.  These hospitals were not clean; they were filled with dirty clothes, rats, fleas, and the smell of underground sewage.  The bacteria in these facilities caused deaths from illness such as Cholera, typhus, and dysentery.  Water was scarce, and the hospitals lacked basic medical supplies.  All of these factors and different pieces of the system worked against each other, and against the goal of providing the best healthcare for the sick and wounded. 

                Since the system of military health had been the same for years, she attempted to change society’s understanding of the problem by informing them.  She produced and printed her own book called Notes on Matters Affecting the Health, Efficiency and Hospital Administration of the British Army.  In this book, she provided an analysis, using her own statistics, of the causes of death and sickness of military soldiers.  She created diagrams and charts that she later presented to army officials and War Office.  Also, in 1859, she published Notes on Hospitals.  This work discussed hospitals and their flaws in depth, and it came to revolutionize the theory of hospital construction.  Throughout her life, Nightingale wrote an estimated number of 12,000 books, letters, reports, and monographs.  Her research and writing eventually came together to change society’s understanding of medical needs. 

                Nightingale went about changing the system by acting upon it.  In Scutari, she convinced the War Office to send over women to act as nurses to save the thousands of men in need of medical treatment.  She provided new and clean medical tools and supplies.  She provided scrubbing brushes and made sure that the medical facilities were scrubbed clean, providing a suitable environment for patients.  She washed the patients’ clothes.  She built new kitchens, laundry rooms, and a warehouse for the new supplies.  She also authorized construction for a new ward.  She comforted patients, and established reading rooms and recreation rooms.  Nightingale not only went above and beyond to provide a cleaner and safer environment, but she made the hospitals a comfortable environment to help the soldiers feel at home.  Her actions to change the medical system in Scutari ultimately decreased the death rate from 43 percent to 2 percent.  Nightingale was able to reform the parts of the system that were lacking by altering them towards the goal of providing the best care of the patients. 

                However, despite her success in changing the system, she encountered setbacks that seemed to get in the way of her accomplishing her goal.  In the early development of her career, she received a marriage proposal.  The man was smart, charming, and truly loved Nightingale.  However, she declined his marriage proposal because she did not want to be distracted from her career.  She wanted to be an independent woman who could focus on accomplishing her goals.  Also, as her success grew, her failing health created a large problem in her plans to change the system.  However, she tried not to allow her own health become a setback in helping others.  After coming down with a case of Crimean fever during her efforts in the war, she was never able to fully recover from her illness.  She often fainted and suffered from physical exhaustion.  Even though she spent most of her time in bed, she did not let it stop her from working full-time with orders, visitors, and even writing books.  In fact, most of her successful writing was completed in the time she spent bedridden from her disease. 

                Along with these setbacks came people who opposed of her changing the system.  Among these opposers, were her parents.  Nightingale’s father originally forbade her from becoming a nurse after hearing of their reputation for low moral standards.  Nightingale fought with her parents for four years before they finally gave in and let her begin training to become a nurse.  Also, the army surgeons at Scutari originally opposed her and her reformation of their hospitals.  At first, they did not agree with her immediate relief efforts to bring women in to help with the cleaning and the patients.  However, these surgeons gave in to her reform after the Battle of Inkerman when over 500 soldiers came to the hospital, all in need of different treatments.

                However, although society forced Nightingale to deal with setbacks and opposers, she also had allies who supported her efforts to reform the system.  The secretary of war, Sidney Herbert, was her political ally.  At the start of her career, he asked her if she could take over the military hospitals in Scutari.  After her success, she was welcomed back to England as a heroine, and was even interviewed by Queen Victoria.  Also, Sidney Herbert persuaded the Royal Commissions to investigate the health in the military society.  Although Nightingale was not allowed to directly help the Royal Commissions, Herbert’s support allowed her to guide their relief efforts.

                After Florence Nightingale’s work, the new system of nurses and the medical field completely transformed.  Nightingale put her knowledge and research into action to change the course of nursing for years to come.  Today, nurses have a positive image; their career is admirable and professional.  Hospitals take great care in keeping their facilities clean and sanitary, as to not spread the germs of others that are sick or wounded.  The system works together for the common goal of keeping hospitals clean and safe for incoming patients and visitors, as well as helping patients to recover to good health.  Military nurses work every day to help those soldiers in need of medical attention.  In today’s economy, the medical field has become one of the only stable careers because the world will always be in need of doctors and nurses.  Without Nightingale’s knowledge and efforts to reform the system, the medical industry would not be nearly as successful and life changing as it is today. 

Unwind Summary - Part 1

In his novel, Unwind, Neal Shusterman tells the story of three young teenagers whose parents have signed them off to be “unwound”.  In their culture, children who are unwound are taken apart piece by piece and their body parts, organs, and hair are distributed and reused.  In a sense, they are organ donors who give away their entire body.  The novel focuses on the stories of Connor, Lev, and Risa, who are living with their parent’s decision to have them unwound.

                The novel opens up with each individual story of the three kids when they find out that they are being unwound.  Connor and Risa are very upset.  While Lev is upset at first, he seems to come to terms with the fact that being unwound is his purpose in life.  These three teenagers, who are originally strangers to each other, cross paths in an accident.  Connor realizes that Risa is an unwind, and he tells her to run with him.  She is hesitant at first, until she realizes that it is her only chance of survival.  Connor also recognizes Lev’s fate and takes him along.  Lev is surprised when his Pastor tells him to go with the other unwinds when they run away.

                The three unwinds do not get along at first.  Risa yells at Connor, and Lev does not understand why they “kidnapped” him.  The three are now runaways, on the run from the police who know they are unwinds.  In a hectic scape, Connor makes the mistake of taking a baby that the mother does not want.   The kids are now forced to take the baby with them and take care of him.  The unwinds go to a local school to hide and try to blend in with the other kids.  They hide in a bathroom and strategize what they are going to do.  While Risa and Connor are discussing the plan, Lev sneaks out of the stall and goes to the office of the school.  He does not agree with anything that Connor and Risa are doing, and he does not think that they should have the baby.  He tells the office that he had been kidnapped by unwinds who were hiding in the bathroom.  The police are called in, and Risa, Connor, and their baby have to make a quick escape.  A teacher at the school recognizes that they are unwinds by the looks on their faces.  Not wanting to know anything about them, she agrees to help them escape.  She also tells them to go to the antique shop close by for a place to hide.  Risa and Connor now get along with one another because they bond their anger at Lev.  Lev feels slightly guilty for turning Risa and Connor in to authorities.  Risa and Connor have a discussion about the storking of babies, and how the world would be a better place if life was welcomed and embraced, rather than discouraged by so many people.  I believe that here, they were not only referencing the fact that families give away their children, but that families can sign their children off to die, as their parents had done to them.

                Risa and Connor go to the antique shop and Sonia, the woman who works there, brings them down to the basement.  In the basement, are other children who are either unwinds, or abandoned by their parents through storking.  Risa and Connor talk to the other kids, and they hear the story of Humphrey Dunfee, whose parents had him unwound, only to change their mind and try to piece him back together.  They are there for multiple days, and before they leave, they give the baby to their friend Hannah, who can take better care of him.  However, they miss the baby after they give him away.  Risa, Connor, and the other unwinds decide to go from one safe house to the next, as they literally run for their lives.

Free Write 10/11

One system that I am involved with is the golf team at Siena.  We have scheduled tournamants and practices every week.  We have a scheduled method of who practices with who, and if there is a problem in the schedule on any given day, it alters the course of practice for the entire week.  Myself, my coach and my teammates depend on each other, and if one of us is having an off day, it affects the rest of us.  We work together everyday, both on and off the course, and our everyday efforts affect the team as a whole 

Wing 2 Presentation

• "Tweet for Trunks"
• focused on grabbing and HOLDING attention
• the people muste want to know more
• unique and difference
• first principle is to get personal- facebook can allow people to make personal connections.  emotionally intense pictures are stimulating.  
• the idea of time investment attracts customers
• principle number two: deliver the unexpected.  humans are designed to be in tune to surprise
• present something that is interesting and relatable; start with a fact or a question, employ humor
• (not everyone has the same humor so you must be careful)
• principle number three: visualize your message
• remember 85-90 percent of what we see
• physical characteristics shape our impressions
• marketers uses images: juxtaposition, replacement, and fusion
• principle four; make a connection
• use sensory based images to grab attention
• colors, sounds
• personal, unexpected, visual, visceral
• measure your engagement, through social media and establish a baseline

Robots or Reality? The Emergence of Sentience

As the time that the iHumans spent on the Earth increased, the line distinguishing human behavior and robotic behavior began to blur.  The more that the iHumans interacted with people, the greater understanding they had for human behavior.  In their interactions with humans, their robotic “minds” started to pick up on the way that humans would think and interact.  These observations fed their robotic wavelengths and taught their humanistic qualities to expand and grow.  Likewise, as the robots became increasingly human-like, actual humans began to lose qualities of their everyday lives.  They started to mimic the behavior of the robots.  As the people became accustomed to the iHumans doing work for them, they began to lose their sense of life purpose and personality.  They became careless, and their interactions with robotic artificial life seemed to alter their view of how they should behave and interact.  They lost social skills and their personalities gradually became numb, as they began to go through life like it was a system without any feelings or thoughts.  As time continued, the distinguishing traits between the iHumans and real humans deteriorated, and resulted in a disastrous planet where God’s creation of the Earth is turned completely upside down. 

                The daily lives of the humans completely changed, and the human race forgot how they previously lived before their assistance of artificial life.  They lost all motivation to work, provide for families, and maintain their health.  iHumans began to take over their occupations, receive an education, and develop technology in the replace of the humans.  Their robotic minds became so advanced that they were able to continue the creation of more artificial life of their kind, and the iHumans seemed to completely take over the Earth and all of its responsibilities.

                In the time of this extreme social change, there were few people who recognized the danger that continued to arise.  As the years went by, there was the occasional group of Apple employees who managed to salvage enough of their human intelligence to understand that humans were, in essence, becoming obsolete.  Like the man in Plato’s allegory, they were able to open their eyes to recognize the new reality that the human race was almost useless to the modern society.  In their efforts to inform the people of the dominance of their technology, the humans did not believe them.  The human’s lack of thinking was clear in their incomprehension of the world’s recent social change.

                While the humans failed in their efforts to stop the continuous production of iHumans, the iHumans themselves were developing feelings of anger and betrayal from their creators.  In the extended time that the robots had interacted with humans, they started to obtain their feelings and emotions that went along with certain life problems.  They became offended that some of the Apple employees wanted to cease the production of iHumans.  They became angered not only because they had developed an individual mindset with and ego and self-accomplishment, but they also cared about the other iHmunas and did not want anything to happen to them.  As their emotions grew stronger, the spine of the iHuman would light up.  The brighter their spine shone, the stronger they felt.  As the years continued, their understanding for human though and emotions continued to increase.  The shine of their spines became brighter, and it became a permanent physical trait of the iHuman.  With the ability to feel emotions, there was nothing more that the iHumans needed to obtain in order to control the entire world, forcing the human race to become outdated.

                Ultimately, the interaction between the natural life and the artificial life became the ultimate downfall for the human race.  The humans lacked the recognition for a daily life schedule, and their thought process slacked because of the work that the robots would complete for them.  The more the robots worked for the humans, the more they began to act and feel like humans, showing emotion and care for others of their kind.  The robots became a reality to the human race and their sentience they learned from their creators helped them to achieve power and dominance over the world.