Too Smart!

A part of my sunday ritual other then me going to work is that I get the Sunday newspaper. I've been a diligent reader of the comics every since I can remember. One of the comics that always tickled me was the "Zits" comic. This comic is about a teenage boy and his life as a teenager. His parents is in just about every comic strip and/or one of his ditzy friends. In this one strip, The parents are in the car driving and he is in the back on his cellular phone directing them to the resturant, parking space, and even told them what they were going to order. The father's response was that "smart phones are getting a little too smart, if you ask me". I am an owner of a smart phone (android) and I know exactly how it feels and I can relate to everything. The link to the comic is below.
http://www.nj.com/comics-kingdom/?feature_id=Zits&feature_date=2010-02-21
I thought it was treat to get a comic with such a good association to something that is being talked about in class but I found another comic with an even better understanding to New Media and the idea of association. The "Lockhorns" comic strip is about a old married couple that is always getting on each other nerves but, they are so funny in going about it. In this strip there are different occasions where one is talking crap about the other and in the last box, the couple is in a Pharmacy. The Pharmacist is holding a bag of medication and saying "People who bought this prescription also bought these other popular medications". When I read this comic, I thought about when I would make a purchase from target or walmart online, there would be other items associated with the item of choice to get a person to buy more. I thought about how everything has sometype of association attached and how based on that causes us to be irrational and cause us to make more impulse purchases.
Here is the " Lockhorns" comic
http://www.nj.com/comics-kingdom/?feature_id=Lockhorns&feature_date=2010-02-21

Comprehension

I was watching television the other day there was a "baby" that was reading words off of a card. The child could not have been older than 12 months old. I understand that if a child hears and sees something at the same time repeatly, then most likely they would remember and try to say those words. Just like when a child learns that if he or she cries that a parent is going to come running to soothe any need. Also, the woman or man providing the nuturing hugs and kisses will soon or later be recognized as "mommy" or "daddy" by someone saying it. After going to the "Your baby can read" website, I found out that the earlier times in a child's life is the best time to start with comprehension skills because the brain is producing the most synapses in the brain. That is the nerve that provides connections of words to actions and things. What I don't understand, how do one describe words such as "understanding" and "wise" to a mind that does not understand the concept? It is incredible how children get a head start with their learning. I think the child would have the same outcome without the kit of "Your baby can read" , if the child's parents just dedicate themselves to reading to the child, talking directly to the child, and surrounding him or her with all the positive and beneficial things that will help in the learning process. Funny how far technology has come. Years ago, no one would have ever thought about teaching their children how to read this way without the child knowing how to talk yet. Usually the reading process follows after the talking has already begun. Even though this product has become such a success, I think it has the same qualities that playing mozart for a child while in the womb and as an infant has. It all has to do with one's social economic status because this "your baby can read" product is not free. It one does not have the luxury and time to devote the essential for a child to learn how to read by the ages of two then that causes the less unfortnate child to lack out on and fall behind. In which reminds me of Robert Merton's Social Strain theory. How society pushes one to be successful but opportunity is not given and deviance is the outcome when failure happens.

Predictor

What if everyone decided that they can predict their own future without going to a psychic? Well, we do it all the time and some ways are more valid then others. In high school, there is a section in the year that is called the "Most likely" catergory. This catergory involves one's career path based on his or her personal characteristics. Most likely to succeed... Most likely to be a doctor, lawyer, teacher, and etc. I found it funny because if that person does not live up to those expectations then, he or she has failed. The "most likely" is not so efficent. However, when you use those personal qualities along with other indications like, one being top of his or her class, being accepted to several colleges, and one's family economic status can make a prediction somewhat rational. We calculate our life expectancy based on eating habits and family traits. We as humans, try to calculate everything to rationalize the reason why we do the thing that we do.

I found a link that I thought was nice and fun to try

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://teach.fcps.net/TALK/activities/sniffy_fluffy/MakingPredictions/bookworm.gif&imgrefurl=http://teach.fcps.net/TALK/activities/sniffy_fluffy/MakingPredictions/activity1makingpredictions.htm&usg=__yLaydlKFbWA449WqUXeTB8Gw8tE=&h=331&w=490&sz=8&hl=en&start=12&sig2=AfeHDLrPCwGquGN7r3mBSA&itbs=1&tbnid=cyuShdu1jGe3fM:&tbnh=88&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpredictions%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den&ei=jLZ5S4DwIMfj8Qbqx9WBDQ

Learning

Whenever I see a person that is older than the average age of a college student in a class, I begin to wonder what made this individual want to come back and continue his or her education and why did he or she wait so long? That used to be the way thought about things when I was a freshmen. I was not used to having such an age diverse classes. Now, after having so many classes with so many people of various ages, I have came to the conclusion that age does not matter because one is never too old to learn. When I was younger, I used to think that as I learned more things, I would forget the old and that would allow me to obtain more knowledge. I used think of myself as a computer, when a computer gets too full of information, it has to be emptied. Well, so far I have not forgotten too many thing, it is just they seem to be very vague in my memory. This is why the show " Are you smarter than a 5th grader" is such a hit. I've only watched it a couple of times but it not that the adults don't know the answer but, it is not fresh in their memory.
I want to test your skills. Are you smarter than a 5th grader?http://www.ex-designz.net/test_page.asp?tid=59

LIFELINE

When I think about the advancement in technology and how people have become more dependent on their phones and computers more than one another interest me. It is not because I am not one of those persons but, I am one of those individuals that wake up due to the alarm on my phone, use google to answer a question, plan my day using the calendar, and use my phone as my major form of communication. I text, aim, call, and email everyone! When I think about it... My cell phone is my lifeline and without it I think I just might "sink", metaphorically speaking. I know how terrible it sounds but that is the case in various situations. Check out this article I found in the Washington Posthttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/22/AR2009032201835.html .. Tell me that it couldn't get any worst!