Are we getting lost in the iworld? Andrew Sullivan, editor of Andrewsullivan.com, with a doctorate in political science from Harvard believes we are. In his article Society Is Dead: We Have Retreated into the iWorld, he clearly states how he believes new technology such as ipods and walkmans are taking away the "worldly sounds" of the streets. That cheerful chatter or the rush of the subway train.
He uses a very professional sounding argument with no bias, stating that, he too, is victim to this new iWorld that is ever changing. He backs up his argument, with clear and concise statements. He makes his article informative yet fun to read at the same time. Not to mention the fact that the topic is very interesting since we can all pretty much relate to the use of ipods, or some form of musical technology.
His topic and article make you want to take a step back and look around for yourself at what the world has become. Personally, I think that the world evolves, and the technology grows, as does the community along with it.
I think that overall, he put together a very nice article and and supported his facts and arguments very well. He made you want to jump right in and see for yourself the changes of the world around us and how we are supposedly shutting out communication of our daily lives just walking down the street. Although he does have a very real and valid point, I doubt that now that we, as a people, will ever back out of the iWorld now that we have been introduced to it. It is always changing and evolving and that is just what we are going to have to do to keep up with it.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Life on Social Networking
The title of the article I read was called Is Myspace Good for Society? A Freakonomics Quorum. This article posed a good question, "Are social networking sites beneficial or harmful?" Now this question has been hot debate ever since the launch of sites like Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter. The article did a very precise job on answering this question through a series of responses posted by "wise people who spend their days thinking about the issue"(p. 281)
This article was written by not one author, but a series of authors. Each one, with good credentials such as a professor at the M.I.T. media lab, or a professor of psychology at Sheffield Hallam University and social networking site researcher. This lets me, and all of the other readers, feel assured about what the article is talking about. It's not just written by some bums off the street.
Some of the authors address different questions pertaining to the fact of social networking facts being beneficial or not. One came at it from a psychological perspective, and another talked about how they have changed our lives. One thing that all the authors had in common, was the fact that it helps us keep up with our friends, and what's going on in their lives. One author, Martin Baily, states, "An example is the spread of air conditioning, which makes us more comfortable, but those who grew up before its invention speak fondly of a time when everyone sat on the front porch and talked to their neighbors rather than going indoors to stay cool and watch TV." This is a good statement regarding the question as to whether or not social networking sites are a drawback for communication.
All in all, I believe they all bring a lot to the article and the layout is also interesting, since it looks like a webpage. This article gets a "well done".
This article was written by not one author, but a series of authors. Each one, with good credentials such as a professor at the M.I.T. media lab, or a professor of psychology at Sheffield Hallam University and social networking site researcher. This lets me, and all of the other readers, feel assured about what the article is talking about. It's not just written by some bums off the street.
Some of the authors address different questions pertaining to the fact of social networking facts being beneficial or not. One came at it from a psychological perspective, and another talked about how they have changed our lives. One thing that all the authors had in common, was the fact that it helps us keep up with our friends, and what's going on in their lives. One author, Martin Baily, states, "An example is the spread of air conditioning, which makes us more comfortable, but those who grew up before its invention speak fondly of a time when everyone sat on the front porch and talked to their neighbors rather than going indoors to stay cool and watch TV." This is a good statement regarding the question as to whether or not social networking sites are a drawback for communication.
All in all, I believe they all bring a lot to the article and the layout is also interesting, since it looks like a webpage. This article gets a "well done".
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Mad Diaries of a Hostess
As a hostess, I see many different types of people come into the buffet where I work. Many of them are regulars...and old, which is fine, because some old people can be a little precious. However, back to the point at hand, which are five of the worst pet peeves that annoy me as a hostess:
1.) People who seat themselves.
Now of course there will not always be the need for a hostess. But when the sign is up that says "Please Wait to be Seated", it actually means WAIT TO BE SEATED! It is up there because it is busy, and sometimes there is not always a seat available at the time you walk in, so people who just mosey on in are wandering around looking real stupid because they can't find a spot so they try and sit at a reserved table or one that isn't even cleaned yet...which is gross.
2.)People who bring strollers into the restaurant.
Ok, so one thing I will never understand is the need for a stroller to walk the short distance into a buffet. I especially hate it when people bring these huge strollers in and think that they can just park it anywhere. Like, sure I'll just take up half the aisle, no worries.
3.)People who put their dirty plates on the clean table next to theirs.
Now this is just rude. I can't tell you how embarrassing it is to be seating someone, and when you walk up to the table you intend to sit them at, there is a stack of dirty plates just chillin there. Other things that fall into this category, are people who decide to sit their stuff at the table next to them.
4.)People who waste platefuls of food.
I get that this is a buffet, but just because you cover up your plate with a napkin doesn't mean that the food will magically disappear underneath. You know what happens? It gets thrown away, wasted. I know because I have personally thrown away countless numbers of plates. People will order a steak or a stir fry, and then go eat more food while they wait so that when their steak or stir fry comes, they are full, and just throw it away. Either that, or they pile the plate with something, eat one thing, and then throw it away.
5.)People (parents) who let their kids run wild.
Need I say more? Who wants to eat with a bunch of kids running around the buffet playing with chopsticks and food and their parents just ignore them, or sit and do nothing. CONTROL your KIDS!!
I would have believed that most of this stuff was common sense not to do. I think that many people have forgotten simple manners that they should show while out in a restaurant. I think we should re-visit some of these, or at least think about what you are doing while out.
1.) People who seat themselves.
Now of course there will not always be the need for a hostess. But when the sign is up that says "Please Wait to be Seated", it actually means WAIT TO BE SEATED! It is up there because it is busy, and sometimes there is not always a seat available at the time you walk in, so people who just mosey on in are wandering around looking real stupid because they can't find a spot so they try and sit at a reserved table or one that isn't even cleaned yet...which is gross.
2.)People who bring strollers into the restaurant.
Ok, so one thing I will never understand is the need for a stroller to walk the short distance into a buffet. I especially hate it when people bring these huge strollers in and think that they can just park it anywhere. Like, sure I'll just take up half the aisle, no worries.
3.)People who put their dirty plates on the clean table next to theirs.
Now this is just rude. I can't tell you how embarrassing it is to be seating someone, and when you walk up to the table you intend to sit them at, there is a stack of dirty plates just chillin there. Other things that fall into this category, are people who decide to sit their stuff at the table next to them.
4.)People who waste platefuls of food.
I get that this is a buffet, but just because you cover up your plate with a napkin doesn't mean that the food will magically disappear underneath. You know what happens? It gets thrown away, wasted. I know because I have personally thrown away countless numbers of plates. People will order a steak or a stir fry, and then go eat more food while they wait so that when their steak or stir fry comes, they are full, and just throw it away. Either that, or they pile the plate with something, eat one thing, and then throw it away.
5.)People (parents) who let their kids run wild.
Need I say more? Who wants to eat with a bunch of kids running around the buffet playing with chopsticks and food and their parents just ignore them, or sit and do nothing. CONTROL your KIDS!!
I would have believed that most of this stuff was common sense not to do. I think that many people have forgotten simple manners that they should show while out in a restaurant. I think we should re-visit some of these, or at least think about what you are doing while out.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
"My Daughters Have No Mother"
The article I read was about how a gay man refers to his daughters' surrogate (biological) mother, as an oven. The author, Max Mutchnick, leads with a confusing opening. The book proposes a "pre-reading" question about our thoughts possible developmental issues of a child being raised by a same-sex couple. That coupled with the title, "My Daughters Have No Mother" lead me to believe that the article would be about children being raised with no actual mother (as in a female) and the effects it would have. However, it was more about how he calls the surrogate mother an oven, because he does not want to refer to her as the mother to his daughters.
This is understandable, but I still believe that he should explain to his daughters where they actually came from. However, to his benefit, as I understand it, this is his response argument blog posted to argue the Huffington Post blog. Knowing that this is more of a blog than an actual article, I can give him some leeway for not exactly being "put together."
The article does include a little insight into the process of getting a child if you are a same-sex couples. It talks about how he went to a website full of woman ready to be surrogate mothers. "She's just three clicks away." (Mutchnick) All in all I thought that the article as a whole was well organized, just a bit confusing in the middle, with a misleading title and pre-reading question in the beginning.
This is understandable, but I still believe that he should explain to his daughters where they actually came from. However, to his benefit, as I understand it, this is his response argument blog posted to argue the Huffington Post blog. Knowing that this is more of a blog than an actual article, I can give him some leeway for not exactly being "put together."
The article does include a little insight into the process of getting a child if you are a same-sex couples. It talks about how he went to a website full of woman ready to be surrogate mothers. "She's just three clicks away." (Mutchnick) All in all I thought that the article as a whole was well organized, just a bit confusing in the middle, with a misleading title and pre-reading question in the beginning.
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