2040

It is 2040 and my alarm goes off to my favorite beat. I had such a long night that it was not easy getting up at noon. I hop in the shower that now serve the purpose of what car washes used to back in 2010. Not only do I not have to move a muscle but feel like new when I get out. I go to my room and enter into a computer that I would like to wear shorts and a casual top to school today and my closet moves all irrelevant clothes out of the way so now I only have to look through shorts and casual tops in front of me. While I get ready I'm going to ask Hilda, my robot, to make me breakfast. Hey, it's the future and what does that mean? It means that life only gets lazier and lazier..I mean easier. So now I have time to watch my favorite t.v shows in 4D while I get ready and have my breakfast brought to me. After I am done eating, I set Hilda on "cleaning" setting and go outside to hop into my new flying car. Traffic can be tough sometimes, people just don't know how to use their turning signals and give me such air rage! When I finally arrive at school, I see everyone on their pocket computers, some on their floating scooters trying to fly to class on time. I'm thinking of getting one, perhaps I can avoid being late every day. I enter the classroom filled with students and their high tech computers that automatically type everything the professor is saying. Todays lesson is on global warming and how bad it has gotten over the years because we haven't done much to prevent it. We also got sidetracked and started talking about people who had gone to live on Mars and who were thinking of doing it themselves. After class I don't have time to get food so it's a good thing I brought with me my supplement pills, those do the trick. Not only do they give me the vitamins I need, but they also supply the necessary amount of calories and carbohydrates for the day. After Space History 101 I head home, exhausted. From my phone I change Hilda's settings so that dinner can be prepared by the time I arrive home. I eat, play some 4D video games where I have to run through a trail, jumping over certain objects and avoid being beat by the game also happens to be my cardio. I take a hot bath and jump into bed, set my room into "ocean" setting where I am surrounded by images and sounds of the ocean from my walls and slowly drift off to sleep ready for a new day.

Blog 5- Sex and the City 2

There is no one who is more obsessed or who has more knowledge about Sex and the City than me so believe me when I say that when I saw the sequel's movie trailer I knew that it was going to be great. For those of you who used to sit in the living room with your teenage daughters or girlfriends waiting with angst to see what would happen next between Carrie and Big during the HBO series time on t.v you know what I'm talking about. This movie trailer makes me smile so big you would think I just found out I won the lottery. The flashy lights, the bling, and the new plot show that the people who made this movie wanted it to be bigger than big. You can see Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha all together again in their new lives but this time, they are taking a trip together and the adventure begins. Spoiler alert, one of Carrie's exes will make an appearance, can you guess who it will be?

Blog Four- Movie Review

I have chosen to write a review about my personal favorite movie, Moulin Rouge. It was directed by Baz Luhrmann who also happened to direct William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. He did an amazing job in directing Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor in Moulin Rouge because in my opinion it is one of the best movies I have ever seen. I find it refreshing to see that the stars of this musical used their actual voices and was pleasantly surprised to witness their talents. This movie is incredibly unique, witty and entertaining. Even though the movie was incredibly hyperactive and dramatic it simply made the movie that much more unforgettable. As soon as I saw the movie on t.v i knew I had to buy it, and to this day I try to share it with as many people as possible. Moulin Rouge is a fantasia filled with heart and songs that will make you want to sing along as it draws you in more and more.

"Less Privacy is Good for Us (And You)" by Amitai Etzioni

How does Etzioni's article help readers to see the complexity of privacy issues?
Etzioni begins his article by stating that privacy is not so much as mentioned in the Constitution and that most Americans today see it as a God given right. We are horrified when we see privacy being slowly stripped away from average Americans in the media, be it by their employers or neighbors. It wasn't until I read this article that I realized toll booth operators could track your every move, and let me tell you I am slightly horrified by this new awareness. The government must be behind all of this, they must use it as a means to invade people's privacy. Well, that's my cynical subconscious speaking anyways, I'm sure it's just another precaution to maintain public safety. The author makes light of many other ways the government allows invasion of privacy for the good of humanity such as bosses reading your e-mails, neighbors listening in on your cell phone conversations and HIV testing of infants. The HIV testing of infants is a very delicate issue because to save the child from getting HIV and eventually possibly spreading this disease to others, we must test the mother for HIV and therefore invade her privacy. I'm not exactly sure where I stand with this issue, but I may be leaning more towards making such a test mandatory since it is concerning public health. Like Etzioni mentioned, a suggestion to ask the mother to take the test is not enough because many of those women who are drug addicts are particularly prone to be carrying the virus do not even show up for prenatal care. Not to mention the occasional woman who may be offended when asked to be tested for such a virus and actually ends up having it, well at least we saved a life.
This new biometrics machine that uses natural features such as voice, eye pattern etc to recognize a person will definitely be useful for our future. We simply have to know our limits as to when it would be appropriate to use it. I feel that it would be appropriate to use such a machine as a means of background checking for jobs like teaching children, or working for the government and that every information attained would need to be classified.
Etzioni's article brings up many issues and how delicate the invasion of privacy can be. I agree with the author when he states that privacy is one very important right but it is not above public safety and health.

Evolving Opportunities

I am in awe of how fast the town of Immokalee developed. It's truly amazing what happens when people come together for a main cause. In this case it was to farm, and like one of the men in the video described, it truly was like a bee hive. Immokalee has developed from a unique agricultural society to an industrial and diverse society where not only are there farmers, but railroads, casinos, and even a technology park. The future of Immokalee surely seems bright and I hope it continues to expand and grow culturally.

Outposts of Opportunity

I find it extremely important and interesting to learn about your environment and the people that are a part of it. As I watched "Outposts of Opportunity" it was very clear to me that the town of Immokalee has undergone so many changes. They started out as a town that housed mostly Seminole Indians to a town made up of pioneers and cattlemen where the sound of a train's whistle is anything but unfamiliar. The town of Immokalee is very different from where I am from. Orlando may very well be the complete opposite of Immokalee in the sense that it's all about technology, attractions, and nightlife. I have never seen any open land in Orlando much less farms. I believe Immokalee is representative of the farmer's American dream. They can have their land and raise cattle, horses etc and not have to sit in an office to feel successful. The future of Immokalee will unfortunately be driven by power hungry politicians such as Governor Brown who wanted to drain out the Everglades. I hope that Immokalee will retain it's vivid culture and not be forced to change.

A Quilt of a Country: Out of Many, One? By: Anna Quindlen

The author starts out by explaining how our country is one of a kind. "A mongrel nation" (Quindlen pg. 15) where there are people from every background or religion that you can think of, all living together, sharing the same streets and avenues. We tolerate each other, yet we sometimes avoid walking on certain streets because we are avoiding certain people of a background or religion. The author explains how much of the stories told of our nation are based on the notion of bigotry rather than tolerance. Children in schools are taught all about slavery, racism, women's denied rights to vote and the murder of gays all throughout history, yet we all unify when we have one common enemy.

The author explains with the end of the Cold War, there was a slight concern in the back of everyone's head that without a main focus of a common enemy, we would now focus on our ethnicity's enemies, our religious enemies etc.

The study in 1994 by the National Opinion Research Center found that a majority of those surveyed believed that America was a unique country where it consists entirely of refugees from other countries and how it was truly special how we could coexist peacefully.

Response:

I find it truly amazing how this nation consists purely of refugees and how we coexist. It's amazing to be living in a place where I can experience and learn about other cultures and religions from a direct source and probably from many people I have gotten to know. It is sad to see how much prejudice still lurks in America and even though we "tolerate" each other, there are still prideful people who complain and make life difficult for those who are new or different. What is even more upsetting is that the only way for us to unite is to find one common enemy. This can lead to opportunities for the power hungry individual who uses fear as a way to manipulate people. People in nature are fearful of "the Other", someone who differs from societies approval. Therefore when the Other introduces himself into our society we immediately exclude him. Fear of "the Other" can be helpful in creating a united nation where everyone follows the same ideals and beliefs and excludes the rest of the world, but it does not work in America and not to mention the idea itself being fundamentally and morally wrong. It happens in in our country and that in itself is the ultimate conundrum, how can we live in a nation where we exclude and treat each other based on our beliefs and yet abide by the laws that everyone is created equal.