Do Now: 12-5

Nothing really ignites my desire to better the world, and don't there has to be something to ignite it. I think that desire naturally comes with being a decent person. My life goal is merely to be happy, therefore I don't see how that would benefit society in anyway. It's somewhat of a selfish goal, but whatever.

Discussion Questions: Digg Reader

1) I chose certain sites for my Digg Reader because I really couldn't think of anything better.
2) It was not easy to find feeds and subscribe to them. Mostly because I dislike a large majority of things.
3) My personal sites are my favorite
4) For being updated on your favorite sites.
5) I don't know how likely it will be for me to be using RSS feeds in the future.

Tech Article 12-5

Attack on Sony Has Been Confirmed to be From North Korea

-North Korea has hacked Sony, stopping their computer networks from working

-The attack was carried out by a group of people called "Guardians of Peace."

-The group even claimed to have obtained personal information of numerous celebrities

-They also claimed to have information on the companies production schedule

-They also leaked movies that have not been released yet for people to illegally download them

-The FBI and Mandiant are looking into this situation


Original Article

Tax Class

   This class helps you know and understand how to pay your taxes once you graduate from high school. Not many schools have this course, yet I find it to be very important for students to know how to be successful for the future; not only academically, but also through mandatory knowledge in order to sustain the life of an average citizen.
   This class would meet two or three times a week depending on when graduation was. Students would demonstrate their work through being given multiple tax scenarios and would have to learn how to solve them and ultimately learn how to pay their taxes by themselves.

Tech Article 11-21

-Webcams in over 100 countries have been hacked by a Russian website and are being webcasted live over the internet

-There are 4,500 live streams coming from the USA

-2,000 in France

-1,500 in the Netherlands

-And thousands of more live streams in other countries

-The website insists that it did this to promote webcam security.

-You can ensure that your webcam is secure by checking your PC's webcam settings and changing your webcam's default password.

Full Article here

Wiki Research

1) A Wiki could help a class with group projects through their easy and convenient way of transferring and and gathering information in one form of documentation.

2) Wikis make it exceptionally easier to share and gather information.

3) Through using a Wiki in Web 2.0, it would be simple to do projects with a partner, due to ability to avoid countless emails and lack of communication.

4) We use a Wiki in Ms. Garvin's World History class to show that the class understands and can comprehend the information given in class.

Tech Article - November 14, 2014

Recall on Honda's After Death in Malaysia Is Caused By Defective Airbag

-Driver in Malaysia died on Thursday due to the airbag in their Honda exploding
-Takata Corporation made the faulty airbag
-It is the fifth death related to these faulty airbag
-In one incident, the airbag killed a pregnant woman and her unborn baby
-14.3 million cars are being recalled because of these airbags
-6.2 million of these cars are Hondas.

Full article here

What I Did This Weekend.

Over the weekend I drank water, sat in the sun, and made food.

I am a plant.

PHOTOSYNTHESIS. PHOTOSYNTHESIS.

Here is a video of what I did

Here is a link to help you understand my super exciting weekend

10-27 Do Now

What a presentation means to me is displaying information in a way or form that is easy to understand by everyone watching.

Multi-media can help entertain and keep an audience engaged in the presentation, as well as who is presenting. I like it when presenters are energetic and passionate about their presentation.

Virtual reality could let astronauts 'go to the beach'

-Device being used is the Oculus Rift

-It is being used to help astronauts from experiencing "cabin fever"
-While on long space missions, astronauts tend to become mentally ill
-They can go to the see family or friends with the the Oculus, of go to places like the beach


Original article here

Facebook's New "I'm Safe" Notification Launches

•     Facebook launched the new "I'm Safe" notification to alert you of your friends' and family's safety after an emergency.
•    The program is available on PC as well as mobile devices.
•    It shows who's around your area on your friend's list and shows you if they've checked into the alert.
•    The application does not have a "No" button, therefore people can not select that they're not okay and need emergency services. 
  
  Watch Video Here
  Full Article Here

Wikipedia Editorial Analysis

   

     An editorial is a piece that describes an opinion through an official or professional source. Over the years, I have been told countless times by teachers that Wikipedia is not a reliable website. Teacher's don't often let you use Wikipedia as a source, due to the fact that anyone, anywhere, can change the information shown on a page. My opinion on Wikipedia has yet to have changed; I see Wikipedia as a reliable source, despite what my teacher's say. A forum in which you can edit and change information is actually a good idea, reason being that people from all around the world can share their knowledge and we can learn from one another. Though Wikipedia might have it's flaws, as all websites do, I see it as a credible source of information that doesn't get enough credit.

To read the full editorial, click here.

Google Adds New Images to Street View Through Wearable Camera

Early this month, Google brought street view to Egypt, as well as other places in the middle East, which covered many historical places. Due to lack of tourism within these regions within the past couple years, this may be the only way some people may see these sights.

The images that Google has obtained from these beautiful landmarks cannot be taken by Google Street View cars. That being said, these images were captured with a Trekker; a large backpack, with a large camera on the top. Due to the Trekker, Google can now see tourist sites, go down pathways, and other places that you couldn't see from a car.

Google is now lending Trekkers to the public (click here to see how) in order to get more Street View images from all around the world.

To see the full article, click here

Web 2.0: Multimedia Blog Posting Sem 2_Pre

     My history teacher, Ms. Garvin, teaches both World History and AP United States government and politics. She is also a runner, a vegetarian, helps run student counsel, and overall is a nice person to be around; the energy and the enthusiasm she provides is very positive, and she makes me almost happy to come to school. I didn't really know what to expect from her class, but seeing as to how I had already taken the World History course with a teacher who only made us read from text books, I was hoping that she would at least have had us moving around and actually LEARNING, rather than skimming books, and not being able to comprehend the text. Let me be the first to tell you, Ms. Garvin is great when it comes to teaching without a textbook, which I think is something every teacher needs to learn how to do; if all you're doing to help children learn is sitting and watching them read, you're not really teaching, you're babysitting.

    In class, we just wrapped up the Renaissance, and learned about some really cool art work, and writing, architecture, and inventions. We also just covered a lesson about Martin Luther and his protest against the Catholic Church. Ms. Garvin's grading policies include:

  40%- Summative Assessments
  40%- Performance Based Assessments- 20% in-class assessments and 80% from projects
  10%- Homework
  10%- Formative Assessments (Including participation)

     According to Ms. Garvin, we will be taking a class trip to the 9/11 memorial in May. The use of technology in class isn't really existent, though, I would imagine that we're going to be using laptops or some kind of computer in the future of the course.

     In conclusion, Ms. Garvin is a really fun and enjoyable teacher who seems to actually care about  teaching her students and helping them succeed. She get involved in class, and thoroughly explains work before assigning it. Overall, she's made me start loving history again, and I hope I have more teachers like her in the future.
For more information about Ms. Garvin and the course that she offers, check out her teacher website here! Also check here for her class curriculum schedule!