The Effects of Technology

The Effects of Technology


I did my video on the effects of technology. I focused on showing how technology causes people to miss important things in their lives. Hope you enjoy!

"We are family"

In short, my family is exactly like the family in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. We are loud, laugh a little too much, eat too much, and have a ginormous family. This year, my dad, my sisters and I went down to Rochester MN to celebrate thanksgiving with my dad's side of the family. If there was a song that described my family it would be "good time" by Owl city and Carly Rae Jepsen. One of my many cousins, Tia, is an amazing cook, and she cooks the turkey and most of the appetizers.We always have spanakopita, or spinach pie, and tiropita, cheese pie.  This year, my sisters and I helped make both of those dishes. They were very fun to make, but very messy and time consuming.They ended up being amazing! She also makes homeade pumpkin pie for dessert which is always a treat! The family that was down here was Mariya(my cousion), Johnny(my other cousin), Tia(yet another cousin), Thea Connie(Aunt Connie), Uncle Nick, my dad, Yiayia(grandma), Papou(grandpa), Uncle Jim, Louis(my cousin), and Diana(a family friend).

 Thea Connie makes the sweet potatoes, cranberries, and whatever else we decide to eat. Everyone helps cooking the food but Thea Connie and Tia always end up cooking the most. Before the thanksgiving meal(or feast I should say), we have appetizers  There are always nuts, chips, crackers, and cheeses out. My family makes a special chip dip that is cream cheese and chili sauce blended together. It is absolutely delicious. The adults begin to drink while the youngsters grab a pepsi from the garage, and by this time everyone is laughing their heads off and is already full. Finally my Thea Connie manages to gather everyone in the dining room for prayers. The table is beautifully set with napkins in shimmering gold napkin rings,dishes sparkling in the light, and the candles and flowers neatly placed in the middle. We all begin to recite the Lord's Prayer, and in the background the two dogs begin to bark. After that, we all sing Johnny Apple Seed. When the prayers are done, my Papou says a few words that really makes the family realize how thankful we are for each other and the blessings that God has given us. Everyone takes their seats and the food gets passed around.We all laugh our heads off and everyone talks about random things. It is a great time.In the beginning  everyone talks about how good the food looks and tastes and lots of "great jobs" are heard around the table.

After a while, everyone goes for seconds and everyone keeps chatting. This year, the napkin rings were a big hit. My two sisters, Dena and Maria, and my cousin Mariya, decided to experiment with them and put them on our eyes, noses, and ears. There were twelve napkin rings on the table. Everyone started laughing at us and of course, my Uncle Nick got the camera out. After the pictures, My sisters and I stopped with the rings but Mariya kept going! She eventually got all twelve rings on her face, which was very impressive. She looked hilarious!Mariya is known as "smiley joe" and "the energizer bunny". I cannot recall a time when she stopped laughing or smiling. She is a beautiful greek girl, that has dark, gorgeous features. Her eyes are glazed over with happiness and her hair is always made into a perfect updo. She lights up the room with her smile and makes everyones sorrows go away. With her dancing and singing, she is hard to miss. With every perfect note she hits and the beautiful dance she dances, everything about her is accented. She is extremely intelligent and dedicated. Mariya makes my life better. I wish I lived with her. She is honestly the best cousin in the world.So my entire family was loud and crazy during the meal. When we were preparing the food, I payed attention to how people acted under stress and how they kept themselves motivated to make more food. My family did not get mad and start yelling at each other when someone forgot to bake something or bring something over to the table. They were very clam and covered for people when they messed up. My Yiayia forgot to put the sweet potatoes in the oven and I thought everyone would groan and get really mad. I also thought that Yiayia would have a fit. She just laughed and said sorry ion a joking way, than put them in and kept making other food. Everyone else was clam as well. When there were times we were rushing to get things done, everyone helped each other and was working furiously to complete the task. Not one person yelled at another. If I was with my Mom for Thanksgiving, there would have been lots of yelling. After the meal, Everyone picked up their dish and brought them to the kitchen

. The cleanup crew this year was Uncle Nick, Mariya, Dena, Maria, and I. It was the most efficient cleanup I have ever done. We all took turns hand washing things so no one got upset that they were washing the entire time. All the other family members went into the media room and watched the football game while we cleaned up. My dad's side of the family is very theatrical and musical. We sing to everything and quote lots of different movies and songs. So, as you would expect, we sang and danced through the entire cleanup. It was one of the best times I have had in my life. This continued for a very long time until everything was put away. Everyone was very clam and helpful during this process. No one complained out loud and everyone seemed to enjoy cleanup. After this, all the deserts were brought out and we all chowed down. Again. Then the same thing happened during cleanup. Then we all got tired and decided to watch a movie. Mariya, my sisters and I went downstairs and watched How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, while everyone else upstairs watched Die Hard. Funny contrast of movies huh? We all laughed loudly and cuddled on the couch. About halfway through the movie, my cousin Johnny came in and joined in on the laughter. He is a fan of romantic comedy and chick flicks. After our movie we went upstairs and saw the last of Die Hard. It was such a different atmosphere then downstairs.

 People started to leave after the movie, and my family ate some of the leftovers. To say the least, we were all about to explode. The next day we spent at the mall. It was a great time. We all got great deals and really cute things. We moved very quickly and danced and sang through all the stores. I told you we were theatrical! The next day we went shopping again. We bought a million things from Forever 21 and JCP. It was crazy! We all sang and danced(again), and enjoyed each others company. My family was very loud and hilarious this Thanksgiving. I wonder where I get it from. I had a great time. I am so thankful for my family and I wish I could be with them every second of everyday.

Visual Argument Cartoons

   This cartoon argues that Obama needs to work on how he presents himself in the presidential debate. Viewers argued that Obama struggled with his body language and the flow of his words more than what he actually said. When you first look at this cartoon your eyes are immediately drawn to Romney and Obama's head. The white surrounds them and makes them stand out more than the audience who is faded in the background. Romney has a paper on his podium and Obama does not. This suggests that Romney was more prepared then Obama. The visual argument of this is that Obama needs to work on his presentation of his information.




This cartoon is about a husband and a wife. It argues that Wives are always right and husbands are always wrong. You can tell this is the argument because of their shirts. Everything is focused in the center so your eye is not drawn to any one specific image. The wrong and right are is caps on the shirts which shows that the creator of this cartoon wanted to stress this point because it was the base of his argument. The wife looks very happy because she is always right and the husband looks unhappy because he is always wrong. These facial expressions are expected because when people are correct they are happy, and when people are wrong they are unhappy. The creator of this cartoon intended for these expressions. The visual argument of this cartoon is that wives are always correct while husbands are always incorrect.  

Thanksgiving! Yeah!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX5AJVpVnBQThank God, a break. I am excited to go and see my family! I am going down to Rochester with my grandparents, my dad, and my two sisters to spend thanksgiving with my dad's side of the family. We do not have any traditions we do besides getting together. We just make a lot of amazing food then chow down! It is always a good time. Thanksgiving is a great holiday that means a lot to many people. It is a time to take a step back and realize how much you have and to be thankful for it. Black friday is the day after Thanksgiving  I feel that it is very ironic that people spend one day sharing what they are thankful for, then the next day they trample each other in the hallway of Target just to get a movie that's on sale. Word of advice, be careful if you go shopping that day! Anyway, I am very excited to be with my family over Thanksgiving break. Have a great break everyone! Eat lots of food!

Yep, I guess we are all dumb

Mark Bauerlines argument is that teenagers nowadays are so wrapped in technology and are not focused on school, casing them to become dumb. Their world is on the computer that supplies all the knowledge they need. He argues that people use excessive ammounts of technology by providing many statistical facts on how much time kids spend studying on an average night, how low the scores on standardized testing has gotten, and how many kids use tumblr, facebook, and twitter. He starts of his argument by saying that kids use way to much technology then begins to provide facts on studying time, etc. The last chapter of the book argues the many ways of how our culture has changed because of technology. The structure of his argument is statement, reason, cultural tie.

I agree that people use to much technology and that this affects the knowledge of people today. "The latest social and leisure dispositions of the young are killing the culture." I agree with this because I can tell that people are not as connected to other people and are not involved in anything that is not online. People do not branch out anymore to try and do new things. They do it all online."The knowledge principle forms part of the democratic faith, and it survives only as long as a fair portion of the American people embraces it, not just intellectuals and experts." I agree with this statement very much. I can tell that in society today, people are not as smart as they were because they spend too much time on social networking sites. They have the neccesary tools to become educated but they use them to their advantage. If people do not try to gain more knowledge, how can knowledge be maintained/kept?

"For those who are disposed to intellectual sport, they embark automatically disadvantages by their social habitat." I disagree with this because some people may benefit from being social. What if htey talk about knowledable things? What if they are seeking knowledge when interacting? This would be a good thing. "Democracy doesnt prosper that way. If tradition survives only in the classroom, limping along in the watered down lessons, if knowledge doesnt animate the young when they are with each other and by themselves, it wont inform their thought and behavior when they are old. I disagree with this because kids can still learn things outside of the classroom. If they choose not to learn as kids they can still learn, maybe not as fast as if they learned as a kid, but they could still learn. No one learns everthing as a child. Everday is an opportunity to learn something new.

I think Bauerline's argument was very effective. It was very hard to find things I did not agree with. The argument made me feel dumb but I knew it was true. All the statistics he provided were correct. He made himself very credible and was very persuading. Overall, his argument was very effective.



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