Researching About the Future

Today's assignment: 

Work with a partner to do Research and write about what you learn on your blog, with links and pictures.  The topic is both “academic” and “popular culture” – so a variety of sites will be useful and appropriate for you: 

What predictions about the future were people making 100 years ago? 50 years ago?  (Find 3-4 articles or discussions to look over.)

• portable phones 
• television 
• digital photography 
• more efficient food production
• no more use of x, c, or q 
• people will be taller 
• flying cars
• underwater boats 
• fly to the moon (regularly) 

Determine if the list is a “wish list” – as in, these are the things one might hope for in the future, or more a warning.

• I feel that a majority of the lists were "wish lists". This is because a lot of the things mentioned were starting to become a thing however most people either couldn't afford it or it wasn't available to the public yet.

Which predictions seem to have come true? Which turned out to be bizarre, off-track, or still out of reach?

• almost all of the predictions came true
• bizarre/off-track/out of reach...
• everyone will walk a certain amount of miles a day
• we will have flying cars 
• certain letters in the alphabet will no longer be used 

Can you identify any trends or patterns in these predictions? What concerns or achievements do they seem focused on?  For example, do people in general seem to be anticipating a better world?

• people expecting a better world 
• hoping for higher efficiency 
• a lot to do with technology 
• most happened shortly there after 

It is your turn to predict a future world.  What do you see?

• cure for cancer
• better treatment for illness and disease
• better education system 
• more laziness 
• more technology
• less face to face interaction 

How much control over the future do we actually have? As individuals? As groups? The government? 

• very little 
• we can try and prevent war 
• we can try and offer jobs to people
• we can do research 
• but at the end of the day there are so many other factors its hard 

Resources:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-world-will-be-wonderful-in-the-year-2000-110060404/?no-ist

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16444966 

lhttp://www.openculture.com/2013/12/ladies-home-journal-publishes-28-predictions.html

http://mentalfloss.com/article/57835/12-predictions-year-2000-19th-century-german-chocolate-company

http://www.openculture.com/2013/08/isaac-asimovs-1964-predictions-about-2014.html

http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/france-in-the-year-2000-1899-1910/  

http://www.openculture.com/2013/09/robert-heinlein-imagines-the-year-2000.html

The Sinking of the Maine

After watching the documentary of Eddie Aikau, my class was challenged with creating an idea for a potential documentary on someone or something from our current unit. I chose to do some research on the sinking of the Maine. The setup for the film would be something similar to this:

Topic: Sinking of the Maine
Focus: the truths versus the myths
Angle: the film would focus on what actually took place during that time proving the Spaniards were innocent

To accomplish this, the documentary would incorporate interviews of scholars, images and reenactments, facts, and, of course, music to go with what the viewers are seeing.

the Maine as it sank

How do you analyze a political cartoon?

So, if I am being completely honest, I have no clue how you analyze a cartoon, let alone a political one. When given the challenge of deciphering one in class, I could only take a guess as to what the picture was saying and, to my surprise, I wasn't too far off. According to a website issued by the Library of Congress, there are several steps into finding the true meaning of a cartoon. This website and many others show that cartoonists use symbolism, irony, exaggeration, analogy, and labeling as ways to get their point across.  For me, I find that these steps work best: observe (take a look at the cartoon and get a idea of the bigger picture), words (see if the cartoon contains words or phrases and use them to get a better idea of what message is being portrayed), sarcasm and irony (is the cartoon being sincere or is it funny? does the cartoon have conflicting imagery?), and finally decide (each cartoon has a different meaning to each person looking at it... just because you see it differently than the person next to you doesn't mean you are wrong but it also doesn't mean you are right).

sinking of the Maine 

This cartoon demonstrates the sinking of the Maine. The man on the left is an American (maybe Uncle Sam but no guarantee) and the man on the right is a Spaniard. The title of the cartoon is Spanish Politeness and the irony in that is the man on the right is holding a dagger behind his back. The man on the left is looking at the man on the right in utter shock because it was believed that Spain sunk the ship and the man on the right is looking looking at the man on the left like he's innocent or trying to convince the man on the left he isn't in the wrong.

expansion of the nation  

In this cartoon, Uncle Sam can be seen plowing a piece of land in the Philippines. This can be confirmed by the title of the cartoon, Breaking New Ground. Under the title in the subheading it states: Uncle Sam having put his hand to the plow cannot turn back. In the bottom of the field it reads- The Philippine Field. The irony come by way of the horses pulling the plow. On the horses hind ends it reads justice and humanity. The irony comes into play because, while these were the original goals of the U.S. stepping in, the end result was a little more complicated than that.

open book policy 

This cartoon demonstrates the significance of the open book policy. On the bottom of the drawing, the title The Open Book can be seen. In the background you can see Philippines on the wall beside the gate and an American man (most likely Uncle Sam). Here him and another figure can be seen welcoming two men through the gates into a land other than what they call home. In the new land there is a temple or building not too different from the Asian culture. The irony in this cartoon is that the two men entering the gates are sort of grungy looking but are carrying to large sacks. This is ironic though because the Philippines had ultimately lost control over their own nation and America had taken over. 

Hawaiian: The Legend of Eddie Aikau

Over the past few class periods we watched a documentary called Hawaiian: The Legend of Eddie Aikau. The documentary was named this for Eddie's love of the Hawaiian culture and how he represented what it means to be a "true" Hawaiian. The angle of the film was to show how Eddie was always willing to do the right thing, no matter the consequences. It also shows his love of family and surfing while explaining the bigger picture. Eddie was a man dedicated to the ocean. He lived, breathed, and bled the salt water he grew up in and to make it better, his whole family took part in his love of surfing too. This particular documentary was made by no other than ESPN. This helped shape the film by having it focus more o the surfing, action, and athletic side. If the film had been made by another channel, such as the History channel, the film would have been more centered around family, culture, history, and a whole lot more explanations. I feel that ESPN did Eddie a great justice and that the film is something everyone should watch.

First Class After the Break

Today in class we discussed artifacts and their significance. We were shown a phrenology bust and told to figure out what it was. Phrenology was the study of the brain and its functions. The word comes from the Greek words phrēn (mind) and logos (knowledge). We discovered that the "artifact" shown to us was actually no more than a replica that was less than 15 years old. The bust was used to show the different areas of the brain and how each area affected a person.The practice of phrenology is no longer taught due to the lack of technology when the theories were formed and, with todays scientific advancements, it has been more reliably discovered the actual functions of the brain. With this being said, there were people still supporting and practicing the beliefs of phrenology up until 16 years ago. Today, this practice is most similar to psychology. We were also told to look up the word "provenance". We were told the word has something to do with the origin of an item but, to our surprise, were still told to go figure out the true meaning ourselves. According to google, the word simply means " the place of origin or earliest known history of something". 

Phrenology Bust by L. N. Fowler