Blog

Welcome to class blog for English 110 Honors

Cannot fetch Flickr photo (id: 7890632980). The photo either does not exist, or is private
Be sure to give your pieces original titles: it's no fun to read "Blog post 5" twenty times.
Reminder: All past blog prompts can be found on the class-by-class-schedule.

NOTE: This page only displays the first paragraph of the post. Click on the title to read the full entry and leave a comment.

Latest Post:

Transitioning Autism posted on 20 Dec 2012 00:39

Temple Grandin is a very famous animal rights activist and autism activist who herself was diagnosed with autism. According to Wikipedia, Autism is, “…a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior.” In her TED talk, Grandin states that she believes, “Autism is a very big continuum that goes from very severe — the child remains non-verbal — all the way up to brilliant scientists and engineers…It is a continuum of traits”. Grandin assures that Autism cannot be labeled as one specific thing. Every person with autism is different, and thinks differently. She celebrates the fact that autism can be seen in a child who cannot socialize, and autism can be seen in famous people such as Mozart and Tesla.
Throughout her talk, Grandin describes the way she thinks. She says it is as if she is thinking in specific, detailed pictures. She describes, “I think in pictures, I don't think in language. Now, the thing about the autistic mind is it attends to details.” She claims that you can see how an autistic person views things almost as how an animal views things. Animals react to the smallest details and sensory visions. For example, she mentions a horse that was afraid of black cowboy hats because an owner who always wore a black cowboy hat abused the horse. However, if the owner wore a white cowboy hat then the horse would no longer be afraid. It is small details like this that an autistic person may notice more carefully than someone who is “normal”
I believe that Grandin hit the nail right on the head in her TED talk. I can relate to her talk because my little brother Steven, who is 14, has autism. When she describes that autistic kids think only about the smaller details of life, I felt as if she was personally describing my brother. I notice that my brother can think of life almost as she does, in pictures. If you ask my brother about a castle, he may automatically relate it to Cinderella’s Castle in Disney World, which we visit every year, or he may relate it to Hogwarts Castle in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which is also a yearly visit.
When Grandin mentions that people may see others with autism as thinking “weird” or “different”, I feel that I can sometimes see my brother as different, even though he is just a normal person. A commenter on the TED talk, who goes by the username NK Vickers, put his perspective on the issue. He contests, “So no, there's nothing ‘wrong’ with me, despite whatever caused it. This is how my brain functions naturally.” This comment helped me put this idea of how people with autism think into further perspective. Just because someone may think differently, does not mean they do not fit into society or that they are “weird”. For all we know, some of the most brilliant minds could have thought this way and we may have never known it. Grandin sums it all up when she states, “Because who do you think made the first stone spears? The Asperger [a form of autism] guy. And if you were to get rid of all the autism genetics there would be no more Silicon Valley, and the energy crisis would not be solved.” Without people having autistic traits, we may have missed some of the best inventions and ideas in the world. (read more…)

Comments: 0, Rating: 0

Recent posts (+more)

Checking placement.
(by Nelsyda Perez 16 Dec 2012 18:27, posts: 2)
Seeing if this works right.
(by Nelsyda Perez 16 Dec 2012 18:27, posts: 2)
This is really interesting to me, because I listen to a lot of music - including music using...
(by Mehnaj 02 Dec 2012 08:11, posts: 1)
You really put your research into your topic! I really like the idea of using a book that focuses...
(by Mehnaj 02 Dec 2012 08:05, posts: 1)
My Dad has a client actually that sells and makes concrete so I actually know a little about this...
(by Eli Hoch 27 Nov 2012 04:23, posts: 1)
I was never much one for video games. Don’t get me wrong, I like to play them I just never got i...
(by Eli Hoch 27 Nov 2012 04:05, posts: 1)
When I first heard about 3D printing, I was amazed since I never knew that there were...
(by Kenichi Yamamoto 26 Nov 2012 15:48, posts: 1)
I'm really interested in how your paper will turn out. I've seen a few instructional videos on...
(by Kenichi Yamamoto 26 Nov 2012 15:35, posts: 2)

Transitioning Autism

by Peter ZupoPeter Zupo 20 Dec 2012 00:39

Temple Grandin is a very famous animal rights activist and autism activist who herself was diagnosed with autism. According to Wikipedia, Autism is, “…a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior.” In her TED talk, Grandin states that she believes, “Autism is a very big continuum that goes from very severe — the child remains non-verbal — all the way up to brilliant scientists and engineers…It is a continuum of traits”. Grandin assures that Autism cannot be labeled as one specific thing. Every person with autism is different, and thinks differently. She celebrates the fact that autism can be seen in a child who cannot socialize, and autism can be seen in famous people such as Mozart and Tesla.
Throughout her talk, Grandin describes the way she thinks. She says it is as if she is thinking in specific, detailed pictures. She describes, “I think in pictures, I don't think in language. Now, the thing about the autistic mind is it attends to details.” She claims that you can see how an autistic person views things almost as how an animal views things. Animals react to the smallest details and sensory visions. For example, she mentions a horse that was afraid of black cowboy hats because an owner who always wore a black cowboy hat abused the horse. However, if the owner wore a white cowboy hat then the horse would no longer be afraid. It is small details like this that an autistic person may notice more carefully than someone who is “normal”
I believe that Grandin hit the nail right on the head in her TED talk. I can relate to her talk because my little brother Steven, who is 14, has autism. When she describes that autistic kids think only about the smaller details of life, I felt as if she was personally describing my brother. I notice that my brother can think of life almost as she does, in pictures. If you ask my brother about a castle, he may automatically relate it to Cinderella’s Castle in Disney World, which we visit every year, or he may relate it to Hogwarts Castle in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which is also a yearly visit.
When Grandin mentions that people may see others with autism as thinking “weird” or “different”, I feel that I can sometimes see my brother as different, even though he is just a normal person. A commenter on the TED talk, who goes by the username NK Vickers, put his perspective on the issue. He contests, “So no, there's nothing ‘wrong’ with me, despite whatever caused it. This is how my brain functions naturally.” This comment helped me put this idea of how people with autism think into further perspective. Just because someone may think differently, does not mean they do not fit into society or that they are “weird”. For all we know, some of the most brilliant minds could have thought this way and we may have never known it. Grandin sums it all up when she states, “Because who do you think made the first stone spears? The Asperger [a form of autism] guy. And if you were to get rid of all the autism genetics there would be no more Silicon Valley, and the energy crisis would not be solved.” Without people having autistic traits, we may have missed some of the best inventions and ideas in the world.

Future Comparison

by Peter ZupoPeter Zupo 20 Dec 2012 00:34

Michio Kaku has written many books that describe what he predicts will happen in the future. Unlike many other futurists, Kaku solely bases his predications on science. Some people use a mix of different fields to try and predict the future. Some use historians, economists, or other different kinds of people in order to predict the trends for which this world will follow. Kaku shows that he not very fond of these people’s opinions and that he can only trust science to predict the future. Kaku consistently shows that you can only believe science when it comes to predicting the future.
When Michio Kaku starts off his book Visions, one of the first things he mentions is a New Yorker magazine issue that is completely devoted to what people think the future will be like. He adamantly shows his discontent with this issue because the writers of the issue did not interview a single scientist for their predictions. They only interviewed historians, journalists, editors, economists, and many others, but still not scientists. This fully shows that Kaku only thinks highly of scientific views and not the views of other futurists from different fields of study.
Kaku goes on to state that people need to believe science when it comes to predicting the future. When Kaku goes into detail about what a day in the life is like in 2100, he fails to mention things that do not involve technology or science. He constantly talks about different technologically and scientific advances that we will encounter in the future, but he rarely talks about how we overcome other problems that we encounter today. Some of these other problems include social problems, political, economic, and militaristic problems. This further shows that Kaku is barely concerned with some of the topics that we must be worried about in the future, but instead only concerns himself with technological and scientific matters.
Whenever people are concerned with the future, they usually like to think of what advances will be made with technology to help our daily lives. They want to know how much faster our computers will be, or how we will be able to communicate with our best friends instead of over the telephone. However, sometimes the other problems in life can go ignored. Michio Kaku generally follows the first idea and shows reasons why only science should be trusted when predicting the future. However, in doing so, he completely ignores other problems that can be involved.
One of the most important future problems that Kaku ignores is where will the money come for all the research for this technology? As of right now, most scientific research plans are being cut rather than extended because there is not enough money to continue the research. Kaku never takes into consideration on how money is involved in these scientific developments, only the fact that they could happen based on what science is able to accomplish today. When considering these scientific advances, one must take into account the monetary possibilities.
Another thing that Kaku failed to recognize was the political and social atmosphere in his futuristic scenario. While he does mention that there are no more wars, he still leaves the question of how we came to approach this state of peace. He claims that we should only believe science when it comes to future predictions, but if there is peace then one must also take into consideration the social and political problems that would be resolved in this time period. Another social example that involves technology deals with how people will be able to afford all of the technological and scientific advancements that Kaku brings forth.
Although Kaku does bring forward these predictions with some scientific bias, his predications do have truth behind them. Assuming that other problems have been solved, we are currently on pace to have the technology that he mentions throughout his futuristic predictions. In his book Vision, he mentions how we went through a Computer Revolution. If the trend continues, we should be able to have much of the technology that Kaku mentions in his day in the life of 2100 by the time that the scene takes place.
Kaku certainly looks towards the betterment of human life in the future. He sees our future with a positive outlook, unlike many other futurists. Kaku constantly mentions how there is going to be peace in our future, and there will no longer be a language barrier preventing people from communicating with each other. In showing this, Kaku can make one believe that his futuristic view is believable because it makes the reader think positive about the future. In presenting a positive future filled with technology, Kaku shows that human life will be easier on a daily basis, which is what everyone wants.
Kaku’s vision for the future can be seen as almost utopian, but is something that the human race can accomplish. Humans can work towards many great things in the future just as we have done in the past. Kaku is able to use “revolutions” that have occurred in the past to show what we can accomplish in the future. The only problem with this is that he solely bases his predictions on what science can accomplish, rather than also taking into account the obstacles that science will have to hurdle from other field of life. This can alter the future that Kaku has presented us with.

Communicating

by Peter ZupoPeter Zupo 20 Dec 2012 00:01

“Diagnostic Prompt: Budding Engineer”
Carl Selinger had said in his chapter "Writing" from Stuff You Don’t Learn in Engineering School: Skills for Success in the Real World, “The bottom line here: engineers must be able to write effectively. Period” (16). I for one completely agree with him and so should you. Although I agree with you that English can sometimes seem monotonous and boring, it is very important for life. You learn how to fine-tune many of the important communication skills that you will use throughout your life, especially as an engineer. Think about this: what if you had to give an entire speech about a design that you have come up with? Who is going to write this speech? If you write it, will it be well written considering you didn’t take any English classes? These are just many reasons why taking English classes is important to an engineer.
In English class, you not only learn how to write properly, but you also learn how to communicate properly. The parts of communication include reading, writing, listening, and speaking. All of these can be applied to engineering very simply. If a customer presents a problem that needs to be solved by an engineer, how are you going to be able to read it without a background in English? Suppose you had to give that speech I mentioned earlier. While you may be able to write it on your own, will it be good enough to get your point across? If not, are you going to have to spend your hard earned money to get someone to write the speech and presentation for you? And then after you get the presentation written down, are you going to be able to deliver this speech well enough to convince people to mass-produce your design? And finally, you definitely have to listen to others. Are you going to be able to take criticisms about your design and work them into a positive light, or are you going to just shun then away and act as if your product is perfect the way it is? Without these communication skills, a career in engineering will probably lead to failure.
English class is more than just reading a book and writing a report about it. These English classes are the basis for communicating in the real world. They teach you how to write properly, which you are going to use for lab reports, convincing others about your product, and many other different writing pieces in your career. They also teach you how to properly communicate with others in speaking. Doing group work in English helps you learn the proper way to communicate with others, because in real life, you never truly work alone. As an engineer, you may be working on a very small part of a very large project; therefore, you will need to work with the other engineers to make your project wholly complete. Many times, you use the different things you have learned in English to just do your job on a daily basis.
English class can sometimes seem like it is a waste of your time. However, that statement could not be more wrong, especially as an engineer. If you are able to use the communication skills that you have learned in English class throughout your career, you will probably lead a career that is very successful. I am sure you have heard of the late Steve Jobs. Everyone remembers him as an engineer because he was always able to give his own presentations and communicate with other people about his designs. So I will end with this, do you want to be the engineer who is remembered because they could communicate their designs with the world? Or do you want to be the one who receives no recognition because they have trouble communicating? I would suggest you choose the first one, and to do that, you need to stay in your English classes.

Blinking Quantum Dots

by Neil RoyNeil Roy 08 Dec 2012 01:51

Colloidal semiconductor quantum dot nanocrystals are viable candidates for efficient light sources. Quantum dots behave similarly to atoms in terms of light emission: electrons are excited to higher energy levels, and when they return to a ground state, the energy-drop corresponds to the emission of a photon of equivalent energy, and thus a specific wavelength of light (E = hc/λ). Specifically, when an electron is excited and leaves the valence band of a quantum dot, it leaves behind an analogous positively charged place-holder or slot called a hole. The recombination of the electron and hole gives rise to the photon emission. Semiconductor quantum dots, generally comprised of Cadmium and Selenium with Zinc/Sulfur shells, are more controllable light sources because their emission spectrum is dependent on size. Typically, the smaller the size, the greater difference in energy between the highest valence band and the lowest conduction band requiring higher excitation energy (Reed et. al. 1988).

Blog Post 2 Revision

by cpeasecpease 08 Dec 2012 01:17

Evelyn Grennie is one of the greatest musicians in the world. She has won the “Scotswoman of the decade” for the 90s, but what makes her all the more remarkable is that she is a deaf percussionist. In her TED talk, given in 2003, she explains how it was growing up as a deaf musician. Her story was an interesting one, and she goes on to discuss music in a way that is totally different from the way that most hearing people understand it. Her articulate speaking and insightful points were helpful to understand music from a different and quieter perspective.
Ms. Glennie explained that she hears sound in a different way, with her whole body. She stood in front of the crowd, with her bare feet on the hardwood floor. She explained to the audience that she could feel the vibrations from the floor and distinguish pitch, rhythm, and intensity using only her feet. This is what has allowed her to be such an incredible musician. So much of music is listening, particularly when one is playing in an orchestra or even a small ensemble setting. Because Ms. Glennie needs to listen very carefully with her whole body, she is a lot better off than many people who fancy themselves musicians. When Ms. Glennie explained what it was like for her to learn music, she described her learning process as very natural, she simply got a drum and saw all the different noises that she could make with the instrument. She was somewhat less restricted by technique or liking a particular style of playing the drum, and was able to simply produce sound using an instrument.
As I listened to this part of the speech, I remembered what it was like for me to learn the drums. I, like her, was left in a room with a snare drum for an extended period of time, and I began to play. I played mostly on the top of the drum, and did not really try anything to wacky. It was exactly what I wanted. But for Ms. Glennie, when she was first introduced to her instrument she was unaffected by any preconceptions about how it should be played, especially how it should sound to other people. I think that this distinction is an important one to make, and is one that demonstrates the most important of the speaker’s character: her willingness to look at a concept in a fresh way and learn something as a consequence of this viewpoint. After her speech was delivered, the crowd stood and applauded for a long time, both for her musical interludes and her talk. One commenter said that her story is “inspiring, in a mental, physical, and almost philosophical way” because of the wide range of her discussion. Evelyn Glennie is an inspiring person, and there are a lot of things that people can take away from her performances, but perhaps none is more important than the idea that conflicts can be resolved through an open mind and willingness to work.

Freebie: Blog Post 5 Revision

by BrianWangBrianWang 05 Dec 2012 02:54

Revised Piece

Annotated Bibliography - Lucid Dreams

by MehnajMehnaj 01 Dec 2012 00:15

Brindefalk. (2004, March 15). Kvasar dreammask. Retrieved from
http://brindefalk.solarbotics.net/kvasar/kvasar.html

Peter Zupo Baseball Annotated Bibliography

by Peter ZupoPeter Zupo 26 Nov 2012 03:24

Adair, R. K. (2007) The physics of baseball: Third edition, revised, updated, and expanded. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

Annotate bibliography: Resonance

by Mohamed AboseriaMohamed Aboseria 26 Nov 2012 03:19

Mohamed Aboseria

Annotated Einstein

by cpeasecpease 26 Nov 2012 03:14

1) Kaku, M. (2004). Einstein’s Cosmos. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Co.
Chapter 4 of Einstein’s Cosmos is a very good explanation of the theory of general relativity, and how Einstein was able to come up with it in the first place. The tone is very conversational, and Kaku is doing a lot of storytelling as well as just straight scientific writing. The tone is pretty refreshing when compared to some similar pieces I have read. Kaku tells the story of a chunk of Einstein’s life, and how he came about his discoveries. Kaku also tells about the reactions that Einstein got from his colleagues when he first postulated the theory.

Concrete Bibliography

by Stefanie ReichmanStefanie Reichman 26 Nov 2012 03:12

Building with Concrete
This is paper is about the effects of harsh weather conditions on concrete. What effects this causes on the concrete. And lastly, anything than can be done to prevent or deal with this knowledge of how concrete behaves under difficult conditions.

Mazen: Annotated Bibliography

by (user deleted) 26 Nov 2012 03:02

Source 1:

Blog Post 6: Reflective Annotated Bibliography

by Kenichi YamamotoKenichi Yamamoto 26 Nov 2012 02:56

APA Citation: Wainner, S., & Richmond, R. (2003). The book of overclocking: tweak your pc to unleash its power. San Francisco: No Starch Press.

Quantum Dots Annotated Bibliography

by Neil RoyNeil Roy 26 Nov 2012 02:54

Halliday, Resnick, Walker. (2008). Fundamentals of Physics (8th ed., Vol. 2). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Annotated Bibliography: Music Tech

by KlarissaKlarissa 26 Nov 2012 02:51

Callie Taintor. (May 27, 2004). Chronology: Technology and the Music Industry. In Frontline. Retrieved November 25, 2012, from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/music/inside/cron.html

Brian's Annotated Bibliography

by BrianWangBrianWang 26 Nov 2012 02:44

Works Cited:

Annotated Bibliography... Help Yourself!

by Nelsyda PerezNelsyda Perez 26 Nov 2012 02:36

Metz, R. (2012, August 2). Augmented reality is finally getting real. MIT Technology Review. Retrieved from http://www.technologyreview.com/news/428654/augmented-reality-is-finally-getting-real/

Annotated Bibliography

by Eli HochEli Hoch 26 Nov 2012 01:52

Source 1
A. Hammer, J. (2010, July-August). Charging Ahead With a New Electric Car. Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/specialsections/40th-anniversary/Charging-Ahead-With-a-New-Electric-Car.html?c=y&page=4
B. This article discusses the beginnings of the company Better Place. It starts off with how the founder, Shai Agassi, came to think of the idea and how he brought the plan to life. It discusses briefly Agassi’s life before the company and what he is doing now to insure that his company is successful. It explains all about how better place works with the battery switching operation and how they plan on putting their plan into action. It also gives a harsh criticism on how the company could fail very easily and what issues might arise in the next few years of the company.
C. “He expects to make his money selling miles, much as a cellphone-service provider sells minutes…He says eventually he might give cars away, just as cellular-service providers offer free phones to customers with long-term contracts.”
“The particular battery he has adopted in partnership with Renault may not be accepted by other car manufacturers. That would sharply limit the number of vehicles he could service, or it would force him to stockpile different batteries for different car models, substantially raising his costs. Moreover, lithium-ion battery technology is improving so quickly that Agassi’s switching stations, which cost nearly $1 million apiece, may quickly become as obsolete as eight-track tapes. “If we have a breakthrough, with 300 to 600 miles per charge, the whole thing could be derailed,” says analyst Koslowski.”
Agassi says he dreams of the day when the big three U.S. automakers sign on to his plan and Better Place infrastructure blankets the country. “With about $3 billion to $5 billion, we can put switching stations across the five major U.S. corridors—West Coast, Northeast, Southeast, Midwest and South,” he says, his voice jumping an octave with enthusiasm. “We can’t fail,” he insists.
D. This Article will be very useful. Since it is from when the company started to take off it helps me see what problems they thought might arise back then and see if they were right. It also allows me to read a lot about the company itself. There is information in here that is very specific into the company’s ideas and manufacturing. This will allow me to write about both the manufacturing side and the business side. The company has its shortcomings and this article is not shyhin stating them. Comparing this article to where the company is now should be very interesting.

Annotated Bibliography (start)

by SteveEricksonSteveErickson 26 Nov 2012 01:47

Stephen Erickson

Annotated Bibliography - UV radiation and Bacteria

by Kevin VuKevin Vu 26 Nov 2012 01:23

1. Boynton, J. (2012). How UV water treatment improves water and air quality. Recreation Management. http://www.recmanagement.com/feature_print.php?fid=201204we01

page 1 of 7123...67next »
Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License