Goodbye

So, this is my last blog post for this class. I have enjoyed the class much more than I thought I would. Also, I feel like I have learned a few things. Learning to write is really about practice and I have had nearly daily practice for the last few weeks. I really liked the online format of the class. While it may have limited face to face discussion, which can be an important part of English class, I have been able to spend more time on my writing and focus more. I also enjoyed practicing with the different options open to us on the internet. First, I had never used a blog format before, and now I feel very able to write in a blog like setting. Second, my past experience with google docs had not been positive, and now I see the advantage of using a shared doc for group projects. And speaking of group projects, this was my first group project where I never met any members of my group face to face. That experience was also valuable because the way technology is heading right now, completely virtual interaction is a very real possibility in the future, though there will always be the people who prefer to talk face to face. Third, I enjoyed that not all the assignments were straight-up writing, there were both pictures and videos involved in the projects. Finally, I did enjoy the lack of novels, it's not that I don't enjoy reading, it's that I hate reading when it's forced. Overall, this English class was one of my favorite that I have ever had. It was also my first internet course, and after this experience, I would definitely take one again.

My Writing Process Video

Final Draft of Paper

Link can also be seen on the side bar to the right
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6xzzQdLinkPUUZxaE5TYXgxVDA

Blitzkrieg Kritik

For the critique today I have posted my paper to the right under "Links to Papers." The first link should work for editing
Or try this link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jZkAn2h8I9TgODGpdCAdleAZsEYbNlroB9zZIg4o-MU/edit
This google docs thing is not working well for me.
Also, the pictures were messing up in google docs so I have deleted them in the version above but they should still be in the second version to the right.

Reality?

Reality is a noun, but not a person, place, or thing. I can say I am very glad I do not have to play 20 questions to figure out this word. Reality is an idea. It is a perspective that is completely unique to each person, individual. What is reality to me, may not be reality to you. Sometimes, when a word is difficult to understand, it is helpful to think of its opposite in an attempt to understand better. The closest opposite of reality is fantasy. Fantasy is unreal, made-up, or imaginary. The opposite of all those words is real, and you should not define a word with itself. For inspiration, I often Google image search to get some ideas about what to write about. When I search ‘reality’ in google image I get a bunch of comics and funny road signs, as well as strangely enough, fish sandwiches. This indicates that people do not enjoy reality, thus the number of jokes about reality. When I search ‘fantasy’, I get many images that look really cool and many things that are commonly accepted as not real. So back to reality (pun intended), reality is something that is, not something that you think. When you think of something, that is a mental creation. As soon as you create “it,” then “it” exists, and “it” is reality. So the line between fantasy and reality is very thin, think to create. A broader sense of my reality can be defined as my life. What I am living is what I consider my reality, though my reality is clearly composed of fantasies. I tell myself untrue things all the time, and added together, those things make up a fantasy I have created for myself, but that is the life I am living. The composition of my fantasies makes up my reality. Then, I ask myself, can my fantasies be my reality, or does that make my reality a fantasy?

  Reality                                                           Fantasy

Small Organization

Organization comes in all sizes. From the swirling galaxies all the way down to individual cells, and actually even smaller. During mitosis (cellular division) organization can be seen clearly in metaphase; the phase where the chromosomes line up in the middle of the cell, a sort of symmetry. 

The organization seen above in the video is symmetry. The chromosomes (pink) line up in the middle of the cell in a repetitive pattern seen throughout nearly all eukaryotic cells. This organization is integral to all eukaryotic life on the planet. 

Statue: Power of Thought

From: http://www.hudsonalpha.org/hudsonalpha-journal-2010-volume-2-issue-5

The bronze statue above, by Victor Issa titled “Power of Thought,” illustrates the evolution of thinking and ideas in several ways. It is located in front of the HudsonAlpha Institute in Huntsville, Alabama, which is a center housing small businesses and research facilities in biotech and pharmaceutical to promote innovation. In several places on the statue the viewer can see how the artist depicted technology through art. In the right hand of the statue, it appears he is holding DNA. Though if you look closer (and in person), you can see that the strand is an evolution that ends in DNA. The beginning of the strand is a wheel, and the wheel morphs into an old-fashion train, and that train into a more modern bullet train, and then that train appears to be driving up the tracks that lead to the strand of DNA that the figure is holding. Thus, the artist is indicating that the wheel is the invention that started the proverbial ‘wheel’ rolling to the discovery of DNA. In the other hand of the statue, he is releasing a modern plane. Behind the released plane, not quite visible in this picture, is a plane by the Wright Brothers, once again depicting the evolution of technology. Around the base of the statue appear different ‘landmarks’ through the ages, including some architecture I cannot quite distinguish, a person that is probably an important person in history, and a footprint, which I am guessing is to depict man walking in new places and directions, or possibly on the moon. I really enjoyed this sculpture because it really integrates and shows the transition from old technology to new technology and how far humans have developed technology.

From: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010639629/