"The Rebelution"

When trying to find something to write about for this blog, I remembered a book I read a few summers ago (yes, I read a book...in the summer!); it was called "Do Hard Things." While I don't remember exactly what the book was about, I do remember that it was basically challenging today's youth to step out of their comfort zones, take a look at the world around them, and do something to change it, challenge themselves, and better their lives and the lives of the people around them. I googled the book and found their website. The name of the website is "The Rebelution," proposing the idea that teenagers should rebel against the low expectations that society has of teenagers, and instead choose to do something productive and useful, proving that we are capable of much more than we are often given credit for. The "Rebelution" is on tour, with several conferences across America. They also have a forum on their website, with over 5,000 registered users, and over 100,000 articles. The whole thing started in 2005, with two passionate brothers who are now only 19. On their site, the brothers say, "In 1 Timothy 4:12, the Apostle Paul tells Timothy, 'Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.' In other words, as young people we are called to be exemplary in all areas of life...We call it the 'myth of adolescence.' And the Rebelution is all about busting that myth."
I think while the whole "Rebelution" thing sounds kind of corny and unrealistic, the people involved really are taking action, and pushing the limits in regards to what many people think teenagers are (or aren't) capable of. Bauerlein said toward the end of chapter six, "The Dumbest Generation cares little for history books, civic principles, foreign affairs, comparative religions, and serious media and art, and it knows less." While this may be true for much of our generation, I think it is encouraging that some of our peers are taking a stand against mediocrity, and are encouraging us to "Do Hard Things."


In regards to chapter six itself, I found it to be very difficult to understand. What I got out of it is that our generation cares very little about civic responsibility, and unless we change that, we "may even be recalled as the generation that lost that great American heritage, forever." I know that I, personally, have never been interested in civics. I don't know if it's because of the generation I'm in, or if it's just the way I am. I realize that I should understand certain rights and responsibilities, but frankly, it's hard to care sometimes. I see what Bauerlein was saying when he said that our generation may "lose our heritage," but on the other hand, I know that there are plenty of young people who are passionately involved in civics and politics.

Is Social Media All That Bad?

The first part of Eric's post really got me thinking. If our generation truly is as stupid and incoherent as Bauerlein believes, is it our fault or our mentors fault? Bauerlein states that it just might be our mentors or teachers fault. In this case, Bauerlein would absolutely hate Ted and everything that he is trying to accomplish with our seminar class. Facebook posts, blog posts, and a wiki would all be truely terrible things to learn according to Bauerlein. I'm not sure about anyone else, but I believe what we are learning in this class will be important for the rest of our lives as technology advances. Yes, we might not be learning about the Civil War or how to pass a calculus test, but we are learning how to survive in TODAY'S world. And as far as skills besides technological and social, thats why I'm also in an English, business, and Phycology class besides our digital seminar class. So while we might not be totally concentrated on the history of the Middle Ages (Which would be extremely valuable information...yeah right) we are helping ourselves prepare for tomorrow.

After a little searching on the web for something to go along with this, I came across a video on Youtube that reports that kids across the UK will now be taught a social media class. It will cover aspects of Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, various blogs, and a number of other technological social skills. The video states that these classes won't be so much for the "social" aspect, as much as it will be for the "communication" aspect. This makes sense to me as communication is being done less and less in person and more and more by technological means. In essence, if a person doesn't learn how to communicate on a computer, they will not be able to survive in today's world.

Our political system

I was reading micahs blog post (which was excellent) and I had to comment because i was thinking about the same topic. In today's society voters don't really take the time to go out and find out the candidates stances on many issues. For example, my uncle votes democrat no matter what the candidates views are, because he is in the union. The union pretty much tells them that if they don't vote democrat than they are possibly putting themselves and many of their co-workers out of work. Yet they can vote how they want, The choice doesn't seem to be theirs anymore. This is one problem i have noticed with our generation, many people just vote how their parents or relatives voted without even studying the issues. So please take the time to find out for your self and form your own opinion before voting in 2012.

Tyler J. Immethun

Phyiscal Storage vs Digital Storage?

Okay so I know Micah touched on this but on pages 212-213 Bauerlein talks about a very important issue in our world today. He talked about how people have no clue who they are voting for in elections anymore. Most people just vote for the candidate that they here the most about and who they think is the cool choice. They really have no clue what this person plans to do in office. That is ridiculous and unacceptable. Like stated in the book, if we don't change this democracy cannot be effective. I don't know if any of you noticed this among peers in the last election but I definitely did.

So while I was stumbling no the web I found this pretty cool website. It is a website that compares the media storage of physical disks, records, and cassettes vs the new digital media storage of iPods and other devices. I found some of these facts pretty fascinating and I think all of you will as well.

Physical Storage vs Digital Storage

Bauerlein, Its Not Your Culture Anymore!

I despise this man! He first decides that he is going to pick on the "Digital Generation" for their lack of intellegence, then he decides that the mentors are part of the cause of this problem.


Bauerlein keeps metioning culture. On page 202, he says, "...but it wont sustain the best civic and cultural traditions in American history." What Bauerlein seems to forget, is that culture changes. This isn't back in the 20th century where there was no internet, no video games, no social networks. This is the 21st century where these things are popular. Stop trying to compare us to the past. We are not in any way like the previous generations. There is more than just reading and intellegence. More than just books and studying. What happened to community. Oh, thats right, Facebook sort of does that for us. I believe that our generation has brought out something that lasts longer than intellegence: community.


After searching, I found this video talking about Parents on Facebook. Notice how the older generation is actually using Facebook. Not just a miniscule amount neither, about 45% of Facebook users are over 25. Our influence seems to be spreading to the older generation. We must be doing something right. Sure they are accepting our norms, but thats our new culture. Mentors have not allowed mediocrity in any way. Instead, they are actually connecting with their kids. Not building a wall between the two generations. So stop comparing this culture with yours, Bauerlein. We are nothing like you, and im sick of the complaining.

"Only the broad education of each generation would sustain the nation"

After Bauerlein retells us the story of Rip Van Winkle, which I have already heard countless times, he goes into civic knowledge as described by Thomas Jefferson. Bauerlein states that, "Only the broad education of each generation would sustain the nation." He proves this with a quote from Thomas Jefferson, "(If) we leave the people in ignorance," old customs like, "Kings, priests and nobles...will rise up among us." Bauerlein believes education is the key; well of course it is.
The internet and television are great sources of knowledge. They provide us with knowledge that, Bauerlein probably dreamed of before the 'terrible' internet came along. I found a site, The World Without Us, that spoke about what would happen if we just left the earth one day, and what would happen to the earth and its living things after we had gone. With sites like these we can help realize the lives we are living and help us move forward as the human race. How could this be a bad thing?

Social and Leisure Time

http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-96210701/social-capital-and-leisure.html

One of Bauerlain's arguments is how social and leisure time are making our generation, the dumbest generation. He says that they are important, but that they also take our knowledge away and leads to a conclusion that has something to do with the idea that our generation will not be able to fullfill the jobs our the last generation.

The article is about how social and leisure time can affect one's health in a positive way. One of the facts was, "Low levels of leisure time physical activity are associated with low income, low education, and low socieonomic status." So is leisure time actually good or bad for one's health? Bauerlain states that social life can perhaps hurt us, while the website clearly states that not having enough leisure and social time can lead to low education.

I can see where Bauerlain is coming from, but I think he needs to make a new argument and back it up a little better. It seems like Bauerlain wants the world to be a very efficient, boring, and robot-like world. As humans we are not perfect and usually do the things our instincts tell us to. I think social and leisure time is just as important as school and reading time.

Online Education Beats Classroom Education

An article I found that goes a long with this chapter and the book in general is called 'Study Finds that Online Education Beats the Classroom.'  I found it interesting because it was more than just a quick study done by a researcher or newspaper but instead took 12 years and is documented 93 page report. In the report, it found that students who do some or all of their work online tested in the 59th percentile while the average classroom student ranked in the 50th percentile. I tend to agree with the findings because you can learn pretty much anything if you know where/how to look and today, kids are learning how to do so at a very young age. There is only so much iformation in a book but the knowledge on the internet is never ending. So I have to disagree with Bauerlain that we are all falling behind and learning slower because of the internet and new technology. 

I found chapter 6 to be very long and somewhat boring. I thought that the opener about Rip Van Winkle seemed more like a synopsis of the story rather than something that related to the rest of the chapter. He talked about a lot in this chapter such as voting, how our mentors have failed us, culture wars, and democracy and in my opinion it all ran together a little. Is anyone else glad that the book is over and we'll now be reading a much more positive book in terms of technology??

Internet Song/ Bauerlein

I was stumbling along the web, surfin' it up, and i came across this series of random videos playing music, and they all go along with each other. This goes along with on what Bauerlein says on how the internet is ruining our generation. But after watching these videos and listening to waht is going on. This stuff is pretty sweet how they developed this song.

Check out this link if you want to watch this link.

The Worlds Wonders/Bauerlain

As I was stumbling on SU I found a very cool article about ten strange places around the world. I looked at them and was in awe that earth is inhabited with these awesome sites. Not only that, but it is amazing that we can take pictures of these places and let everyone in the world see by posting them on the internet. There is no telling where the person who got these pictures is from, but I am suddenly connected with that person and I am connected to these places that are millions of miles away all because of ten photos. These are really interesting places and it makes you wonder how they were made also. Here is the link if you'd like to check it out.



Now, I have also found something in chapter six of Bauerlains book I would like to talk about. He talks about how people who are voting for our presidents and everyone else don't have any idea really what they are voting for. I very strongly agree with this statement because I believe most people never look into things whenever they are voting. They watch the news and listen to what other people tell them, but they don't go and really get background on all that information. I think it is a problem in our country today.

Twitter

According to Bauerlein our mentors have failed us. We do not read as much anymore and we are supposedly more stupid because of it. Take a look at this video and watch how teachers are now using kids/teens addictions in an everyday classroom.

Teachers use twitter to help kids socialize more in class discussions inside and outside of class. Twitter helps the kids who normally would not speak up in class, to post whatever he would like to say without speaking out loud in class. Outside of class kids can still ask their teachers questions and also talk to their classmates and see what they think. Twitter allows a direct connection to everyone because it can be hooked up to your phone. It has been proven that kids are now more hooked in class discussion than they ever have been before. The only problem with teachers using this in class is that it socially hurts kids. Kids will never grow up learning how to face their fears and talk face to face or give a presentation or even speak their mind in a group of people.

Post

I do not agree with Bauerleins statement on how he thinks that our mentors failed us. Yes some kids now a days do not read as much as they should or as much as kids did back in the days. But were finding other ways to learn. There are new ways of learning and teaching every school year. The way I was taught thing in 6th grade have changed over the past 6 years and now my brother is in 6th grade at the same school I was, he is being taught the same concepts but in different ways.

LEGO Artwork

I saw this awesome site that has twenty awesome LEGO creations. I'd have to say that this is the coolest looking LEGO art I have seen. These pieces of art were all done by Nathan Sawaya. I found it quite interesting that he went from being a lawyer to a LEGO artist. He is touring North America with his LEGO art in a show called, The Art of the Brick. You can see the rest of his work in this link.

Any Flintstone Fans?

So I was just "stumbling" as they might call it on Stumbleupon.com and I came across a very funny picutre that took me back to my childhood. This house is located in Nas montanhas de Fafe, Portugal and it's called "The Real Life Flintstone House." Could you imagine in living in something like this? I have seen a lot of strange looking houses over my years, but never anything like this. Could you imagine having trying to gut that thing so you could live in there? This house is pretty amazing and definitely is one of a kind.

Cell Phones and the Environment

Ok, I found a really cool site that i think Bauerlein would have loved to been able to use in his book. However, seeing as it took me an hour to find it he probably would have thought it was too much time spent just surfing the web. So, I thought reading it was pretty cool. It is about cell phone usage over the entire world, and how its is ruining our environment.

sayiamgreen.com/blog/2009/09/the-environmental-impact-of-cell-phones//

Mash-Ups

Seeing as how Ted talked about mash-ups in quiz 3, i decided i wanted to take a closer look at these interesting videos.I found some videos made by djearworm that combined the top hits of each year into one song (mashup). These videos are awesome. I can't wait till 2009's comes out. If we can combine these 25 songs into one what else can we combine to make something great? Technology is awesome!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwaNiikdQ8E

The new "Phone Call"?

While I was sitting on my computer and skyping with my boyfriend, I realized what a good blog entry "skyping" would be. I browsed the internet and found this article called Making Phone Calls Over the Net, that says internet phone calls are predicted to be the next revolution in telecommunications. It talks about how much cheaper it is and about products that are being made to contribute to it. Not only are you able to talk to people by just speaking but you can view them with a webcam at the same time. All you have to do is download the file on the internet, get a webcam, and start communicating! It didn't cost me anything. So could this really be a transformation from the way we talk to people on phones? Will it replace it? I wonder what Bauerlain thinks about it? Probably that we are all still idiots that find a lazy way to do things.

Michael Phelps - Oplymics 2008

Does Bauerlein watch the Olympics? You can’t read Olympic winners out of a book the day it occurs. Unless someone was in Beijing watching Phelps, you had to be at home watching through the TV. You can always read it in the news paper a day later but you will not get the adrenalin pumping and the nerves shooting through your body when he came so close to losing.
If we don’t watch TV then how do we get news and know what is happening in the world. If there was a bad car accident one afternoon you will not hear about it until maybe the next morning if you only read the paper for your news. These days people like to know what is happening seconds after it happens.
If you live in California and a wild fire breaks out and you don’t watch TV and by the time you read the newspaper and find out it is headed you way it may be too late.
The TV is useful these days; Bauerlein is right about some people. People do park themselves in front of TVs for too long. But he is wrong about getting information only from reading. He would be behind in life if he only gets his information from reading.

If you printed the internet...

While using stumbleupon, I found a page with several poster-type images describing what it would be like to print the entire internet. The website I found it on is a blog about printing technology, and immediately caught my eyes (after all, I am a graphic design major).
The statistics I found on this particular page were really interesting. For instance, one of them says that “if the ancient Babylonians starting printing [the internet] in 1800 bce, they would be done right about now.” It’s so crazy to think about all of pictures and text that are on the internet. I also find it interesting to think about how much information we come across every day, on the internet, or elsewhere, and how we process that information and use (or disregard) it.
Lastly, in regards to discovering information, the internet has revolutionized our world. “If you printed the internet, it would be a book weighing 1.2 billion pounds...” says the website. Finding out new things, and also sharing information with others is so simple and quick in our digital generation.

Great Picture of Frozen Niagra Falls

I came across this image and I thought it was pretty amazing. I didn't believe it at first, and I don't think Bauerlain could just come across something like this on his own. It would take a long time to find something like this in a book. As the caption says it was taken in 1911. I had never seen anything like this, how could I have, my grandparents weren't even born yet. Thats why I love the internet. It allows us to learn about all sorts of things, and I am surprised with something new almost every time I'm get on to use the internet.

Are toddlers incapable of learning from TV?

Do we really think that toddlers can learn from watching TV? According to this article whatever they gain from the television show is not considered learning. However, I feel it should be considered learning. Some toddlers may not relize what they are seeing or learning but some do. As in the comments, some toddlers know how to go about brushing their teeth or washing their hands just by watching cartoons that do these things also. No, there is not deep logical learning going on, but there is some general learning I believe. Bauerlein talks about how everyone watches too much tv and even the parents allow for the kids to watch TV to get them out of their way or give themselves some down time. This does not mean they are not learning. I still feel they are learning some information, even if it simple steps. In the article they do a study of locating an object. The toddlers may not be learning educational information such as applying what they say to use, but they may be learning how to do everyday activities. Of course the toddlers are not going to get from the television show what a teenager or an adult would draw from it, but they are learning still. You may not consider it learning, but I feel if they take from the television show and learn how to brush their teeth or wash their hand, for example, then they are sitll learning. Here is the article at :http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2009/01/are_toddlers_incapable_of_lear.php

What a Tangled.com web we weave.

So everyone has heard of YouTube and Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, but what about other social networkings sites. How about this one? GodTube. No its not a clever name I just came up with, its a real social network for christians. Of coarse its not GodTube anymore. No, instead they have changed their name to tangle.com. Its a very interesting site. A combination of videos, blogs, and facebook like qualities make this website. Although it has a religious theme, it becomes a blogger, YouTuber, and Facebookers dream site.

I found it very interesting that this is how they are reaching the religious and even non-religious. Like the churches have been using Twitter, religion is again using technology to reach others. Instead of boring people with pamphlets, books and lectures, they instead, turn to using popular websites, funny videos and networking. This is just another briliant way that religion is spreading. In using technology such as the internet, creating their own sites and incorporating social networking into the mix, they can attract our generation. The creators of the site are being relateable and adapting to the popular culture, which will hopefully make others comfortable to visit the site.

social networking good or bad for communication?

I also decided to talk about twitter and social networking. Personally I don’t have a twitter I’m bad enough with my facebook and just won’t give in to now getting a twitter. I’m a communication major so it has always bugged me to wonder what all the social networking and text messaging is doing to our communication. On one hand it allows us to keep in touch with friends and loved ones far away. It also helps us find time with our busy schedules to just say, “Hey,” or remember someone’s birthday. I wonder are we beginning to rely too much on these rather impersonal forms of communicating. We feel as though we don’t need to call and wish someone and merry Christmas because we texted them and a few others our Christmas blessings. I have been so busy that I text someone on their birthday its like come on it’s one day can’t they still get a phone call? Our words have such meaning and power and a lot of time the way we say these words has a lot to do with that. When sending a quick message, e-mail, or text we often shorten sentences and get straight to the point. You can’t see the person or hear the tone in their voice. Communication is the key to understanding one another and many great things have happened because of it I just hope that we can use these social things to benefit our relationships not to make anything less meaningful. I found a video on YouTube about communication and it is rather long but if you go towards the end it talks about twitter and does clippings from all different media and shows where people are talking about twittering over and over again.
evolution of media

Mind Blowing Illusions

Illusions are a powerful type of drawing, it catches the eye, making a cross-eyed feeling. These 8 mind blowing illusions make your eyes go crazy. Since your eyes don't catch everything, it is only a visual illusion. Which makes your eyes see something totally different then what your brain is trying to comprehend, which is how these 8 illusions make your eyes go cross eyed.

Check out the illusions yourself

http://www.womansday.com/Articles/Family-Lifestyle/8-Mind-Boggling-Optical-Illusions.html

Twitter, In Church?

After reading most of the blogs in blogger, I've noticed an increasing number of posts about twitter and I thought I might as well give it a try since I havent written an article about it yet. It's become everyone's favorite networking site that can be use via phone or the internet. Most people use it to connect with friends, or maybe who are just interested in celebrites lives, but oddly enough, people have been using Twitter in church too. After reading the article in Time magizine a couple of months ago, I thought nothing of it. It wasn't til after I started taking this class that I realized the effect that technology, especially social networking sites have had on age-old traditions. To the church, Twitter has become a network where people can relay information quickly and can tweet about the service or just how they have been impacted by God that day. It keeps people in the church connected, as one community and sparks them to take interest in each others lives. In doing this, Twitter creates unity among the church. This is not just in one church, but now many churches across the country have taken up the idea of tweeting during church. This article just proves, Twitter is no longer your average networking site, it is now being used for much more.

New Technology

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/static.nsf/SS/News-Weather?

This week I decided to talk about an easy topic, the weather. When I really think about it, it is incredible how anyone can simply go on the internet to find out what the weather is going to be like from days to weeks later.

New websites in this digital world are making it easier for everyday activities. Something as simple as finding out the weather for the next day can let people plan ahead and prepare. This is one of the great tools that the internet can provide. We can find out so much information about what is going on in our town, country, or world. With just the click of a button, one can be informed of anything. This is why something as simple as the weather page can be so cool.

STL High School Sports Forum

http://www.stltoday.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=14

On the Saint Louis Post Dispatch's website, there is a special place dedicated to prep sports. There they cover high school games with stories, pictures, and video. On the site there is also a place for others, like fans and players to talk about the high school sports scene.

The forum can provide for some interesting talk about some young talent coming up in the St. Louis area. However, this is also a breeding ground for disputes and interscholastic fights. Regardless, it is still a great place to hype an upcoming football, or baseball game. Playing sports in high school, what people were saying in the forums were always a part of our daily talk. With this ability to spread word about young talent, it gives fans the choice to show their opinions and comment about a game that might not show up in a newspaper.

Alan Jackson, I Still Like Bologna

I was driving to school this morning, flipping through the stations and stopped when I heard Alan Jackson talking about cell phones and laptops. If any one likes country music, you should listen to this song. The song talks about how we are in a new digital age and it shows the good and the bad side. He says even he can't live without a cell phone or a laptop these days. He states how useful they are, but he also talks about the negative, being everything else we take for granted. The simple things in life are being ignored because of all this technology!

Also check out Welcome to the Future by Brad Paisely! (thebullrocks.com/bradpaisely)

Tyler J. Immethun

Should Camera Phone Be Banned?

We all know how it goes, we go out somewhere carrying our cell phone and we see something exciting or funny and we snap a picture of it with out cell phone camera. No big deal right? Well the issue that keeps coming up with camera phones is the racy pictures that keep popping up from them. I know over the course of my high school athletic career almost every locker room I went into, either home or away, every one of them had a sign on the door that sad turn off all camera phones now. This is just because people are taking advantage there cell phones easy picture taking capabilities. If camera phones continue to produce issues with racy pictures I think they need to go, because they are doing way to much bad against very little good.
Camera Phones Robbing College Football Stars

Twitter in our Lives

We all know how much social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook have had an impact in how we connect to one another. I think this is great, but I'd have to say that Twitter is quite different. I would say it's like Facebook, but with a bunch of things take out of it. So all you have are just updates on what you are doing. It seems to be getting pretty huge very quickly just like Facebook. Though it seems like a lot of the people that register on Twitter make a few updates and then never go back to the site. I find it kind of stupid that people will post meaningless things about what they are doing. I do find it cool that some companies are using Twitter to make updates on merchandise and upcoming releases on albums, games, etc. Twitter can be a cool website at times, and I hope that the creators keep working on it.

Here is a video that I found very funny that is related to Twitter.

I’m also writing about the banning of cell phone text messaging. I am guilty of texting and driving myself and I do think it’s dangerous. There have been many times I’ve driven rather badly because of something happening with text messaging or just being on my cell phone in general. Whether it’s face book, e-mail, texting, or just talking our phones are enormous distractions while driving. What I don’t understand about this law is why it’s coming before a law like your phone must be hands free while driving. Now I don’t like these laws but I know they are to insure our safety so I understand why they are there. I don’t see how texting while driving is more dangerous than talking on your phone in general. To use your cell phone most likely you type a number in or at least mess with a few keys to make a call. It is the same as texting a brief message. I see many people do idiotic things while driving just because they are talking on the phone holding it to their ear. I think a more general cell phone law should have been passed first rather than a specific law against only text messaging. So we can’t text message someone but we can face book, update our personal calendar, check our e-mail, or make a phone call? I’m not saying that I want a stricter cell phone law I’m just saying wow for real, a law banning text messages is so important? I found a silly video on You tube about why you shouldn’t talk on the phone and drive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2Bu4U1ZWzA&feature=PlayList&p=285506833344360F&index=0

New texting ban takes effect

I relize this does not directly apply to the chapter we just read, but i find this law interesting. Bauerline does say how so many kids have cell phones and rely on them for more than is needed. Cell phones are todays way of talking, either by call or just a short message. This is carrying over to doing this while driving, which is unsafe and has caused several accidents and injuries. There is a new law stating that anyone under the age of 21 can NOT send, recieve, or read a text message while driving. What i dont get is what makes 21 year olds more responsible or equipt to text and drive. They have the same percent of getting in an accident than someone who is 20 or 18 texting and driving. I relize it is dangerous but why do they put a limit to 21 and not just in general? Baeulein states that we are too depenedent on technology (by multitasking or on all the ipod,tvs,or cell phones we own), and apparently this is somewhat true if it is affecting the roads to the extent of making a law to prevent this. Check the site out for more information on the law at http://www.missouriaccidentlawyerblog.com/2009/08/new_texting_ban_takes_effect.html.

Where/who do 3yr olds learn from?

As I was on the yahoo page I noticed this video/article clip about a little girls reaction while at a baseball game. The father who is in the stands sees this foul ball coming and makes a great leaning catch over the railing, everyone cheers like normal. His younger daughter sitting next to him is reaching towards him with the face of "let me see daddy". So of course he gives his daughter the ball, right away she throws it over the railing without even thinking. The crowds gasp was the only thing that startled her making her think that she did something wrong.

I thought about Bauerlein and what his reaction would be to this clip. I believe he would say that this three year old is addicted to watching TV, and has learned bad habits from watching ignorant people at baseball games throw the balls back.

Now think about it how often in a baseball season do people throw the baseballs back after catching them, hardly ever. And seriously how often do three year olds watch baseball games on TV? By reading the article the dad mentions that he plays catch with his little daughter at home, and that the reaction after receiving the ball is to throw it back. So really she was doing what she was taught.

So there was no excessive viewing of baseball games on TV. This little information about the little girl playing catch with her father is the little type of information that Bauerlein leaves out of every little statistics that he talks about.

Facebook

So apparently Facebook hit the 300M mark for people around the world that use this huge networking system. That number is a big number and the CEO of Facebook says they are just getting started. I can only imagine on how big it could get in the future.

check out this link,

http://www.pcworld.com/article/172049/facebook_tops_300m_users_says_its_just_getting_started.html

Are Books Truely Necessary?

While browsing Business Week for another class, I came across an article that just happens to be written by Don Tapscott - the author of Growing Up Digital. In this article Tapscott discusses an interview he had with a young man by the name of Joe O'Shea. Joe is currently 22 years old and is studying at Oxford. Tapscott says that he and O'Shea talked and shared similar views about the "Net Generation." O'Shea's most shocking statement was that he "doesn't read books." He says that he no longer has time to read books cover to cover with all of his school and social work. Instead, he uses Google Books to find information that is relevant to him. All he has to do is type in a subject line and Google Books does the rest for him. These search results include what books he should look at - down to the page and paragraph. So instead of having to read an entire book to find a small piece of relevant information, Joe spends ten minutes on the internet to find what he is looking for. I believe this is relevant to our class because it presents the other side of Bauerlein's argument. Although kids aren't truly reading as much these days, they are still obtaining the same information online. And besides still finding all the information they need, they can do it much faster than anyone could ten years ago. This shows that while Bauerlein does make a valid point about kids and reading, he leaves a BIG part of the story out.

This article can be viewed here

Get Schooled

If any of you were at a T.V on Tuesday, you might have noticed a huge airing of "Get Schooled" on over twenty networks. This is Obama's latest push to get kids to do well in school. What I find incredibly intellegent, is the way that Obama chooses to get out this information. He doesn't write a book, or give a huge speech over the subject. Instead, he brilliantly focuses on things that kids of this generation know and love. Not only does he use a huge television airing, he also uses the access of advertisements on Facebook, Twitter, and even has created a site over the subject. Now that is the way to reach kids and push them for a better education. What I found even more brilliant, was the use of popular celebrities to push his point. People like Kelly Clarkson, Lebron James and even Obama were featured in this show. They use people like Ashley Tidsdale and Lil Wayne to simply advertise this educational drive. The networks they used to broadcast "Get Schooled" also related well to young adults, preteens and kids. Using popular stations like MTV, Comedy Central, and other local channels that are almost religiously watched by kids. This was a great idea. Whether people got the message or not, Obama used things that our generation can relate to. No books, no tests and no lectures. Now that is the way to reach kids.

A Bookless Library

If found this article titled, "Welcome to the Library. Say Goodbye to the Books." and found it very interesting because it is sort of on the cutting edge of where technology may be heading. It is a about school is Massachusetts that replaced their nearly 20,000 books with a completely digital library. The new digital library includes flat screen tvs to project data from the internet, new laptops and even a coffee shop where the reference desk was previously located. I think it's a pretty drastic change to make over the summer but it really shows where technology may be leading in terms of libraries and schools. I think there are definite pluses and negatives in this. I like the idea of adding more technology to a library because I almost always do my research on the internet through online databases and news journals but it is also nice to have books and hard copies to use and look at. Many of my teachers in my high school classes required both internet sources and actual book sources when doing papers so it could make things dificult if teachers still required that. I think it would be interesting if they did some sort of poll at the end of the year to see what both students and teachers think of the change.

Interesting...

This is sort of related...The article I found on MSN is about texting and driving, but I think the most interesting thing is the attitude the writer takes toward children. Last time I checked, it wasn't just adolescents that had cell phones and texted...

And the list of texting codes? I have never seen those. Ever. Maybe I'm old.

Check it!

the downside to social networking

Here's a great article a friend of mine sent me about the downsides to social networking...in other words, all the annoying things people do that keep some of us from going to Facebook or Twitter. For instance..."I LOOOOVE going out for a good salad" is a really, really stupid thing to tell a bunch of people. For more reasons than I care to think about...

Bball Trick shots

So i was surfing the web, like everyone else has done for this blog, and i came across a great video that shows a group of kids doing some trick shots and their summer camp. I find it pretty spectacular that these kids can make these shots even though I'm not sure if it is all real and what not. Bauerlein says we watch 3 hours of TV a day, I say these kids don't even watch TV, they practice these trick shots for 3 hours a day. So check this video

http://www.break.com/index/bball-trick-shots-summer-camp-edition.html

How The US Views The World

Well after I finished answering the questions to the quiz I started surfing the web to post a cool website. After about 30 minutes I stumbled upon this cool site that coresponded with the maps that Ted showed us in class. There is only one picture but i found it pretty interesting so if you want to check it out here is the link.

http://www.demonbaby.com/pics/americanworld.gif

John File Week 2 1:39am

World of Warcraft

http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/3-4-2006-90332.asp

This is a link containing information about the game The World of Warcraft (WOW). It is mostly about why the game is addicting to most users that have it. On average, a typical WOW player will spend 24 hours playing the game in a given week. This is an example of new generation gaming that will keep the user on the computer for hours.

Internet in the Air?

When I was just surfing the web trying to find something worth while to blog about I found a pretty interesting article to do a blog on. I don't know about all of you but when i'm on an airplane I always wish that I could be checking my facebook, email, and other things, but I didn't really think it was possible. Now that has all changed, airlines have introduced Wi-Fi internet services to most of there flights. But here's the catch, they are trying to decide if they should charge for it? I know I would be happy to pay a little bit of money to be able to surf the web and break up the boringness of a flight. I'm sure if Bauerlein were able to add this section to his book he would complain about it to. How instead of doing the traditional reading of a book or magazine on a flight, people in our generation would be surfing the web. Even though we would be reading I'm sure he would disagree.

Link

Disney Acquires Marvel

Well, I was cruising around on the internet and saw an article that I found interesting. It seems that Disney has recently bought Marvel for $4 billion. So, some of your may be wondering what is going to happen now that Disney owns Marvel. Are we going to see Mickey Mouse dressed up as Wolverine? I don't think we will see anything like that, at least I would hope so. This does mean that Marvel will be getting bigger budget movies.

Though Disney has bought Marvel, this does not mean that they have the rights for everything right now. Marvel has been in contracts with many different companies. For instance Fox has the rights to Fantastic Four and Paramount owns the rights to Iron Man still. So we aren't going to see an Iron Man movie coming from Disney anytime soon. We will have to wait and see what will happen between Marvel and Disney. I am a little interested in what will happen in the future for Marvel. Here is a link to and article from Disney.

Reading online, is it really reading?

There is a lot of assumption that kids now days just plays on the internet, watch reality television or T.V in general, and waste all of their time doing pointless things on technology and digital devices. Most people think that just because we are not reading a book or a novel that we are not expanding our knowledge and challenging our minds. There is much debate around the question, “Does the things we read and type on social networking sites, text messages, e-mails, blogs, etc count as reading and writing?” Some say that even though we aren’t sitting down and picking up a book or writing short stories that we are still learning many new things and exercising our brain. I totally agree with them. A lot of the things that people our age do on computers our parents couldn’t do. It’s not that we aren’t smart enough to read novels and write short stories it’s that we are a demanding generation with a short attention span and we have much more appealing ways to read and write now days. I found an article in, “The New York Times” that debates this issue. The article gives the statistics that the average time kids spend on the internet rose to an hour and forty-one minuets in 2004 compared to just forty-six minuets in 1999. I wonder what the statistic is like now I couldn’t find it, does anyone know? One thing that I think is interesting is no one criticizes adults on their reading habits. They can read manuals, contracts, case briefs, news articles, data research and many other things depending on their professions throughout their day and I bet to many critics that is considered reading but us reading and writing what pertains to our professions even if it is just being a student doesn’t count right? It makes no sense.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/books/27reading.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1