Thursday, March 18, 2010

PLN 17

I read an article on MIT's "sixth sense" gadget, and this is an amazing new technology. To be able to carry a computer with you that you can use anywhere and do almost anything. Its amazing how far technology has come in the past 150 years. This must be one of the most thought about and useful things people have ever thought of. I wish I knew how it works and I so want one. I cant get over how amazing this is. I must know when I will be able to buy one of these things. This must be the best thing to ever come out of MIT since forever.

PLN 16

I read about these "Google goggles" and thought they are kind of interesting, but I'm confused on what they do? I saw that you can take a picture and it will translate it to text and do a Google search.But is that all it does? That seems useless. Does it do anything else? I think it would useful for some things, but its pretty much useless for most people. I think if it did other things, it might be useful. And maybe it does and I just haven't looked hard enough.

PLN 15

I read an article on USA today about how the senate is trying to pass a bill that says they passed the health care bill. Obama is trying to ram the bill through before he has to go to Australia on Sunday and he doesn't want anyone to be able to read it he's pushing it through so fast. Republicans think Obama's trying to hide something thats in the bill. I think they should take their time to vote on it and the debate should be on C-SPAN and they should stop trying to push it through with out reading it. This is to big a deal to try to get through this quickly. It should take thought. Thats what I think on the fact that they are trying to push the healthcare bill through.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

PLN 14

I read an article from USA today titled "Dogs' lives may offer answers" about how scientists are looking at dogs with cancer to see if there is any connection which could help with cancer in humans. They took 140 dogs to test different factors that might be connected to cancer. Only 15 of the dogs are still alive and they are all at least 11 years old, older then average for the 15 remaining Rottweilers.Eleven of the dogs are females and four of them are males.One of the reasons the dogs are still alive is because the owners work really hard to keep them fit.They take great care of their dogs and the scientists think this might be a reason that the dogs have lived so long with the cancer.The scientists are still trying to find a connection between the good care of the dogs and the cancer and the connection to people.

PLN 13

I read an article from USA today called "Genetically modified foods get U.S. traction, global debate" that talks about how some people think that people should stop making and selling genetically modified food. Genetically modified foods are cheaper to make for how much more food you get out of them. Growing modified corn gives you more corn for the same price but some people think it could have bad effects on people, but that has not been shown in several studies. So I think it is a good idea to genetically modify crops and food if it is cheap and doesn't have any bad effects on people.

PLN 12

I read the article "Google Apps for Education:Is It the Right Choice for Our Students?" on The Fischbowl and thought that using Google to do school work would be a good idea but has some parts that are kind of weird. On one hand, its a good idea to keep track of your work and have access to it at all time. On the other hand, if you don't save your work somewhere else, then all your work is gone when they delete your account at the end of the year. So as long as you save your work somewhere else, it might be a good idea.

PLN 11

I read an article called "What Does a 21st Century Education Mean To You?" That talks about how much schools have changed and how they will change in the future. It talks about how if you bring a teacher from 100 years ago and how you think they would react. I think they would be confused on the things they would have to teach but wouldn't be caught off guard that much. Most class rooms still have chalk boards (or maybe white boards) and nowadays have projectors that aren't used that often.The article asks you what you think education will be like in the future. I think class rooms will use projectors and smart boards more often in the future. Thats how I think education is now and will be in the future.