Digital Fashion

Mmoma Ejiofor, a columnist for Sify.com, projects that by 2016 Coco Chanel will be replaced with mp3 players and remote controls in the world of haute couture.
Cisco Technologies is working on developing "smart clothing." This new fashion doesn't just consist of neon colors and lycra, but will literally be wearable technology. Rather than simply owning a pair of jeans, we will have jeans that have special coils to keep our legs warm, using the same concepts as those used for producing ski wear. MIT students have already been experimenting with hoodies that come equipped with an mp3 player.
Not only will the technology IN our clothing improve, but the technology that produces clothing is also being updated. Bodymetrics, a London based company, makes the "Perfect Fit" jean, using a scanner to survey the subject's body type, literally producing their "perfect" fit of jeans. But, apparently you CAN put a price on perfection - the jeans go for about $530 a pop as of now.

In "Evan's Two Moms" Anna Quindlen makes a claim that gay people deserve the same rights as others. Quindlen appeals to pathos by discussing love. She states that the two women fell in love, just as others do and that they were capable of love and genuine commintment.Quindlen states in unfair and immoral for the governement to reward the commitments of some and not others. Quindlen also appeals to pathos by discussing interacial marriages. She uses the Loving v. Virginia case to back up her claim.

I found this youtube video that I thought related in that it was making the same type of argument as Quindlen. The video portrays the idea that a child can have a normal life with two moms.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy3Fb51GfdE

Pathos in Commercial.

I think that the following commercial uses pathos to convince viewers that speeding is wrong. The commercial presents a scenario in which a driver who is speeding causes numerous deaths. The argument that speeding is wrong is presented in a very dramatic way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kabPKfoJf8k

A "Podcar" City?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/13/ithaca-aims-to-be-america_n_134352.html

So it's not an article about "Evan's Two Moms," but I came across this interesting piece yesterday and thought I'd share. It relates to the topic I wrote about for paper #1. It discusses Ithaca's desire to become a "podcar" city. The most basic definition of the podcar as given by the article is "a driverless, computer-guided car." The aim would be to eliminate the use of fossil fuels, and still offer the privacy American's are used to with transportation. They say the technology is pretty much perfected at this point, but the most difficult barriers are the social or cultural ones.

Though it's hard to imagine moving so radically, it will be very interesting to see if anything happens in Ithaca's case. It could signal the move for other cities. In Sweden, according to the article, several cities have already decided they will use podcars, because they have committed to eliminating their dependence on fossil fuels by 2020. Why aren't we as progressive? Shouldn't we be? Or are we just too attached to our cars?

I'd have a hard time parting with my car, but this made me think. It's an idea I've personally thought about since I was a little kid, and it's incredible to see that the technology exists. This would eliminate both pollutions and the majority of auto accidents. Imagine, getting in your car after a night of drinking, knowing you'll make it home without a problem--because the computer is taking you there. That would be an incredible world to live in, in a lot of ways, and it's something we should consider.

Evan's Moms

In this piece, Quindlen uses various rhetorical strategies as well as strong emotional appeals to make her claims and arguments. Throughout the piece there is a central focus on gay marriage as an attempt for same-sex couples to start a family, they just want to be able to love each other-nothing else. This gives you an image of two loving parents, their children, their dog Spot, etc. However, Quindlen goes on to talk about the benefits that come along with a family such as tax breaks, insurance benefits, etc. These are all things that one would not normally think of in relation to family, and I think it kind of weakens her argument. Quindlen also seems to jump back and forth which almost seems contradictory to some of her possible stronger arguments. She attempts to appeal to pathos by arguing that your family should be with you in your dying days, but then she goes on and interrelates AIDS as a more prevalent thing amongst same-sex couples. She continues to do the same thing, jumping back and forth from love to tax breaks which kind of makes her lose credibility. Then to conclude, her attempt to use the court case - Loving v Virginia as an appeal to logos and pathos is completely ineffective. We don't really relate race and same-sex marriages as the same thing. What the argument here is how we define marriage- man and woman, which what was going on in that case. I think Quindlen shouldve probably picked a better court case to cite, something that related to something extremely unjust amongst same-sex couples. That would have definitely been more effective. All in all, I think her central arguments should be supported more with more factual evidence and her first defining element of family - love and support.

introduction in "evan's two moms"

I think that the introduction paragraph in the article "Evan's two moms" by Anna Quindlen was written very well. It starts out with "Evan has two moms. This is no big thing." This type of introduction gets you in the mindset that having two moms isn't that big of a deal. Quindlen mentions that Evan's friends think he is even lucky to have two moms. This tries to put the reader in Evan's shoes. In the end of the paragraph it tells us that his mom is a psychologist and that his other mom is a pediatrician. This may have been used to let the reader know that Evan's moms are smart, well-education people who have the potential to raise a child.

Can Paralyzed Walk in the Future?

http://www.newsoffuture.com/can_paralyzed_walk_in_the_future_health.html

I thought this article from the "News of Future" website was pretty interesting. The article claims that many quadriplegics have access to the a Brain Computer Interface (BCI) to control their surroundings. The article claims that by 2035, over 200,000 will be able to use this technology. Presently, BrainGate Neural Interface System tests have been successful and have allowed for a quadriplegic to move a cursor on a computer screen with his mind alone. This kind of technology could improve the lives of many and even make other technologies obsolete. The end of this article also claims that, by 2035, we will be trying to clone humans to help a person with spinal cord damage walk again.
An interesting comment on this article from a user states that this transformation won't take until 2035. He says that there are already incredible advances in "exoskeletons, artificial senses, artificial muscles, bionics, brainscanning/reading, etc." that will encourage new technology to advance faster.

Pathos in "Evan's two moms"

Anna Quindlen uses pathos throughout the article "Evan's two moms" to show similarities between gay and straight families and also to show the hardships gay couples must face. She starts off by using Evan as an example to show that he is living a normal life, and then throughout the article Anna brings up more ideas of raising children and of love. These are appeals to pathos in which she attempts to make gay couples relatable to straight couples. The other tactic she used extensively was showing the hardships that homosexuals had to face simply because they are homosexual. Not only did she bring up problems that arise with social security and things like that, but she brought up the little things like not being allowed to apply for a family membership at the Y. These examples are brought up to help her case that gay marriage is okay. And it works by making you feel bad for their problems. 

All in all, she did a good job of putting forth pathos arguments that could get you to relate and also make you feel bad--which was, I think, her goal.

Future Way of Life

http://www.futurist.com/articles/future-trends/eleven-events-trends-and-developments-that-will-change-your-life/

This article discusses events, trends, and developments that could change our way of life in the future. One thing that I thought was most important was the recent issues with oil. Oil is no longer an inexpensive and easy source of energy to obtain. The author Glen Hiemstra believes "the task of the next quarter century is making the shift from easy oil to alternative energy." Another issue is obesity, which has increased greatly in America. There has been an increase in the number of meals that are from fast food restaurants and eaten in large portions. More young people today have a shorter life span than their parents do because of all the unhealthy eating habits that are being developed. Hiemstra also discusses the decrease in global birth rates. This topic is controversial but the global birth rates show that "the end of growth is as near as mid-century." Fewer people could be benificial for the environment but it is hard to predict whether a decrease in the population could be a good or bad thing overall. Other things that could change our future are nanotechnology, nano-solar cells, biotechnology, invisible computing, and constant communication,

South Park's Vision of the Future

http://www.southparkzone.com/episode.php?vid=1012
http://www.southparkzone.com/episodes/1013/Go-God-Go-XII.html

As you can tell, these links are to South Park episodes. Despite it's crude nature, South Park has become the only reasonably comparable animated series to The Simpsons. Both shows have been on television for as far back as I can remember. What I primarily remember about both shows is that my parents would never let me watch either of them because they deemed the shows "too graphic and obscene" for me. But what my parents missed and what most people miss is in the details. Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the creators of South Park, thoroughly express their opinions through their show. What I'm getting at is that, after watching these episodes linked above, you can see them both on two levels: superficially or analytically. On the superficial level, both episodes are completely ridiculous. They're both extremely graphic, vulgar, and really have no redeemable message. On the other hand, you can see it as Stone and Parker's vision of the future. In this manner, they invent a tumultuous future where war wages between different sects of Atheists. Though one of these groups is a super-intelligent species of otters, the show nonetheless skillfully predicts the future while entertaining. I won't say I find their predictions of the future to be likely, but instead I'll say they have redeemable qualities. For example, their future is completely religionless. Society has come to be governed by science and logic. I see these episodes as qualifiably probable visions of the future and if nothing else, they serve as another ridiculously entertaining way to pass the time until the future gets here.

Top 30 Failed Technology Predictions

http://listverse.com/history/top-30-failed-technology-predictions/

Keeping with the theme of my earlier blog posting, I found a list of thirty failed technology predictions. These failed predictions range from movies to automobiles. I found it extremely interesting that the number one failed prediction was about computers. I guess I wouldn’t be as surprised about this if I had been born before computers were considered ordinary. Another surprising item on this list was about phones. It was once considered impossible to talk to other people across the country, and now it’s as common as ever. This list just goes to show that practically nothing is impossible when it comes to developments in technology. What was once considered preposterous is now normal, which means that what is considered outrageous now, may possibly be the norm in the future.

World Future Society Top Ten

While I was looking for interesting information for a good post, I came across this really interesting website. The website is basically a forum for The World's Future Society, a place for people who basically want to collaborate on the future. They have a magazine, annual national conventions, "forecasts," articles, and tips for anything from preserving your home to preserving your life for another 100 years. Pretty interesting overall, and I really hope everyone takes a look at this. I left a link to one of my favorite forecasts: http://www.wfs.org/forecasts.htm

Political Cartoons

These are four political cartoons that I found while surfing the internet. The first one depicts how many Americans often have trouble separating real news and reporting with the comedy of shows such as SNL, The Daily Show, and The Colbert Report. The second cartoon focuses on the McCain campaign's reliance of connecting to the common man or "Joe the Plumber". John McCain and Sarah Palin both actively try to depict themselves as average americans in order to relate to the middle class on a more personal level, and hopefully win their vote. The last two cartoons demonstrate how the same idea can be illustrated in different ways. Both cartoons illustrate how many believed that Sarah Palin's debate performance surpassed the low expectations of many americans. Political cartoons are a form of visual rhetoric because they attempt to persuade the reader into agreeing with the artist's point of view.

Next World

I found out that the Discovery Channel has a webpage devoted to futuristic themes. Many articles are written about futuristic weapons, pictures are posted similar to ones we have seen in Yesterday's Tomorrow, other new technology is discussed as well as expert predictions and interactive puzzles... I especially Like Harley Earl's Concept Cars. He designed cars that were supposed to be visionary cars for the time periods they were built/designed in. I know some of you guys were writing about weapons/war and I thought it might be interesting for you all to check it out.

The concept cars he designed were innovative. He came up with ideas such as replacing rearview mirrors with cameras that would show images of the road on screens located on the dashboard. This was in 1958. This particular car is the 1958 Firebird that was made to work with high tech highways that followed automated driving systems, that have yet to be invented today. His ideas were way ahead of his time.

Future of Politics

I found this cartoon interesting because it compares a past method of communication with a current method. The Morse Code is what McCain considers "texting." Although I don't know if I agree with the cartoon, it relates to future in politics because it is making fun of McCain for not being up to date with technology. I think its interesting that technology is a factor in comparing presidential candidates now, and that McCain could be made fun of something so simple as not knowing how to "text" or being really old fashioned. It just shows that times are changing and the future of political campaigns could rely on evolving technology.

The Skateboard

The cars we drive have long reflected changes in our society with their style and function. Cars of the 50's and 60's were large, gleaming spaceship, echoing the sterile aura of the times. The commuting suburbanite and the weekend adventurer popularized the SUV. Today, with the ever present of issue of the environment, as well as perpetually rising gas prices, on America's mind, hybrid and alternative fuel technology is all the rage. Also today, the ability to personalize and customize is a prevalent theme in cars. People put bells and whistles and pretty much everything but the kitchen sink into, on top of and below their rides. This is all made superficial with the creation of The Skateboard, the world's most advanced chassis. All of the Skateboard's technology is stored inside the slim 6 inch frame including the engine-less, hydrogen propulsion system. The Skateboard is completely clean, it's only by product is pure water. The true beauty of the Skateboard lies in its flexibility. Designers can make whatever car they can dream up and apply it to the Skateboard system. Consumers will be able to purchase the different frames and with little difficulty totally transform their automobile. The Skateboard will allow one to pimp their ride like never before.

"Evan's Two Moms" - Quindlen's mastery of rhetoric

In the piece, "Evan's Two Moms", Anna Quindlen truly hones in on the emotional testimonies of gay and lesbian couples, almost allowing her pathos to outweigh the rest of her argument. Before the article even begins, the reader is exposed to Quindlen's impressive writing background. With such credentials as being "the third woman to become a New York Times Op-Ed columnist" and the 1992 Pulitzer Prize winner, Quindlen establishes her ethos early. 

Opening with the story of Evan, a six-year old boy with two moms, Quindlen is able to hit the readers with pathos pretty early on. Describing the family as a typical American family, "a kid, a psychologist, a pediatrician", Quindlen is allowing the audience to see the family in a more relatable light. Quindlen inserts testimony after testimony in the article, hoping to depict the surprisingly numerous similarities the straight and gay families posses. Sexual orientation aside, they all want the same things - "to spend their lives together". Through ethos, but mainly pathos, Anna Quindlen effectively argues the need for more gay rights. 

so what's it going to be?

In "Evan's Two Moms," Anna Quindlen argues gay marriage should be legalized. Same sex marriage is an issue that has come up time and time again in recent years. Especially when celebrities get involved e.g. the marriage of Ellen DeGeneres to Portia de Rossi in California, one of three states that acknowledges same sex marriage, several months ago. But once all the excitement of new wedding photos dies down the topic hits the backburner to issues of the war in Iraq and the failing economy. In times like these it's hard to see what the big deal is with the issue of approving same sex marriage when you compare it to others.
Quindlen makes you think twice about this kindof mind-set when she sheds light on the prejudices couples of the same sex face. She writes about couples moving from lawyer to lawyer trying to obtain legal protections that heterosexual couples are granted automatically. Same sex couples cannot have joint tax returns or receive health insurance benefits from Social Security. Quindlen writes about some of the obstacles same sex couples have faced like a lawyer in Georgia whose job offer was retracted after the attorney general discovered she and her partner were planning a marriage ceremony and a couple in Wisconsin who were turned down at the Y for a family membership because they were both female.
Quindlen then compares the struggles of gay marriage to those of interracial marriage. She writes at the time of Loving vs. Virginia sixteen states had laws against interracial marriage. Richard and Mildred Loving's one year sentence was suspended under the term that the couple would leave the state. The Supreme Court declared the barring of interracial marriage unconstitutional in 1967. Quindlen argues that in the future we will see the barring of gay marriage just as absurd as the barring of interraical marriage would be now.
Quindlen has a very persuasive argument on gay marriage. She is a credible resource as a graduate of Barnard College and Pulitzer Prize winner for Commentary. She holds more honorary doctrates than I'd care to name. With writers like Quindlen bringing the issue of gay marriage front and center in their articles it makes a reader on the fence about the topic wonder why there isn't a simple solution. Give them the same rights as heterosexual couples or don't give them the same rights. Give them marriage rights or don't give them marriage rights. It definitely leaves you pondering more about it than you had before you read the article.

"Blocking Care for Women"

In an opinion editorial from the New York Times called "Blocking Care for Women," Hilary Rodham Clinton and Cecile Richards claim that the new rule proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services seeks to challenge women's rights and threaten women's health. The proposed rule allows health care providers to discern for themselves whether or not to aid in any treatment they object to. Clinton and Richards emphasize the dangers of denying women access to medical services such as abortions, sterilization and contraception. The writers claim that women's access to "controversial" treatments such as these is limited solely based on the moral convictions or religious beliefs of individual physicians or health care entities. Clinton and Richards also claim that, because of this proposed rule, women may be neglected sufficient advice about their options especially in regards to contraception.

 I find this opinion editorial very persuasive. It appeals to my moral obligations not only as a reader, but also as a woman, and because of this i too support their fight against the "undermining of women's rights and women's health by placing ideology ahead of science." The op-ed concludes with the writers addressing the reader in effort to inspire them to voice their opinions about the proposed rule during the 30-day comment period. I found this exceptionally persuasive because Clinton and Richards actually seek the help of all readers who are willing to take a stand for everything that women face to lose through the passing of the proposed rule.

100 Teraflops? Petaflops?

Can you imagine having the ability to perform 100 million million calculations per second in your head? Yeah, neither can I, but for supercomputers such possibilities are endless. Supercomputers design fuel-efficient cars, map DNA, explore outer-space and even make potato chips. Purple, a supercomputer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, can even simulate nuclear explosions in a few billionths of a second. I can't fathom doing anything in less than a second, better yet a billionth?!

Last September the Department of Energy and IBM contracted together to build the next generation supercomputer, Roadrunner, "one capable of sustaining a speed of 1,000 trillion calculations per second, or one petaflop." This supercomputer will have the ability to more accurately forecast the future climate of the Earth and also assist in constructing NASA's new space ship Orion, set to launch in 2018.

From the 1997 victory by Deep Blue, IBM's chess playing computer with the ability to calculate 200 million moves a second, against Gary Kasparov to the construction of Roadrunner, we can only imagine what will become of supercomputers and their power in the next 10 years.

Here is the CNN story: http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/12/05/supercomputers/index.html

The Future of Education

The entrance of the internet into the classroom has changed the way we educate our children. For example, the SPURS program could not have existed twenty years ago. The time it would have taken to mail the rough drafts back and forth would have made it unfeasible. It is amazing that college students can connect with students from an under-privledged high school in this way.

This made me think of other futuristic ways of tackling problems in education. Teach for America is a program that recruits college grads to teach in under-privledged schools for two years. It is especially useful in dealing with the lack of quality science, math, and foreign language teachers. This novel idea has improved the education of many students. Check out the website if this is something you want to learn more about. I think it is a really cool idea.

http://www.teachforamerica.org/