Kickstarter

Kickstarter is a website where people can fund different creative ideas ranging from video games and ideas about food. People can pledge a certain amount of money toward a project of their choice and it will eventually be funded completely and created. The cool part is that the pledger always something back after the project they funded is complete.

I have decided to fund $50 to Zombie Playground. Zombie playground is a post apocalyptic zombie game that takes place in a school. In the game you are a child who has to fend of the undead. I chose it because I like to play zombie games. My reward for funding will be getting a collectors edition of the game when it comes out plus a digital artbook. I have also decided to also fund $220 the already successful Remee which is a REM enhancing Lucid dreaming mask. It works by flashing lights during REM stages of sleep alerting the sleeper allowing him to control his or her dream. I will recieve a custom remee and a standard remee for my donation. The final project is the limb.al. I will donate $230 for this project. It is a micro usb port that turns your phone into a useful device in work or in the car. The limb.al is a cord that can connect to usb ports and it holds it up so you can multitask. It can even allow windows on your computer to come onto your phone just by dragging it. You can get live feeds form social networking, live blog feeds, stream movies live or even listen to music. With my donation I receive a pre-production limb.al because of my donation. As you can see, Kickstarter offers a variety of creative ideas that you can fund to make the world a better place

Twitter

The 2011 egyptian revolution was a major milestone in history and a large part of the Arab spring. It involved the overthrow the regime of Hosni Mubarak who was the president. People from all different socio-economic backrounds stood up in the many protests. At first the regime seemed almost impossible, but on February 11 2011, Hosni Mubarack officially resigned from power. The aftermath is the soon vote for the new president of Egypt.

Twitter had a large part in the event mainly by helping organize the event. The protesters posted times and dates for protests which was a big reason why most protests were so successful. Because of this new tool in revolutions, this was called "Revolution 2.0". This implies how this revolution is a new version of any other of its kind. The protesters also created hash tags so others can know that they are not alone. This gave them a voice and a greater sense of unity. This is why Twitter was very important in the egyptian revolution.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2011/01/the-twitter-revolution-debate-the-egyptian-test-case/21296/ 

Crowdsourcing

An example of crowdsourcing is Angies List. Angies List is a website where people share reviews of different services such as babysiters or lawnmowers. To read and write reviews you need to buy a membership from Angies List. Tis information exchange is what makes it crowdsouring.

Another example of crowdsourcing is iStockPhotos. iStockPhotos is a website where people upload pictures and other people are able to buy these pictures. The buyers get the photo for cheap and the uploaders receive a small profit. This photo exchange is what makes this crowdsourcing.

20% project update

My project is about the brain and other mental illnesses. So far i have only been looking around on the internet for things about the brain. I have not faced any obstacles so far. I plan on starting to take notes for my project next

Google 20% project

The google 20% project is something that has sparked great ideas all over the world. A good example of this is Gmail. It is believed that doing something that you like could spark better ideas than something you are forced to do in work. When we learn about something we like, it is more likely that we do better in that topic. I believe that this can also be applied to how students think. Some kids may have a passion to learn but choose not to because they can not learn about what they choose to. If the 20% project is integrated into the normal school day, there may be many more inventions and ideas to better humanity. For this reason, i believe that the google project is a good idea and should be used in school.

Personal photo essay

At 6:01 I wake up. Then I walk out my door to the bathroom to brush and go to to bathroom. Then I walk back to my room and turn on the lights. Then I change into my school clothes then walk down to the stairs to go to the kitchen. Then I eat my cocoa puffs and grab my backpack. Finally I put on my shoes and am ready for the day

Waste Land

The movie wasteland affected me in many ways. I was surprised and shocked throughout the film. Waste land is about the Jardim Gramacho and the pickers their that pick recyclable material and sell it. My opinion was originally that htese pickers were useless people who didn't get their education and work. I realized that it wasn't their fault as the movie moved on because of their stories and experiences. They were just unlucky and its not their fault. I ended up feeling very sad for them at the end of the movie.Vik Muñiz was the artist who learned to love and help the pickers. He helped them in many ways. Not only did his money benefit all of the pickers and their association, he gave them hope that there is a way to get out of the picking business. He also showed the rest of the world that they are real people and matter to our society. I think its better to have a honest job because it is more moral than an unhonest job. I would be unable to live with myself knowing tht i'm not doing the right thing. The movie made me think about how much garbage I use on a daily use. I think that i will really think about how much I throw out on a daily basis from now on because I watched this movie. I think that people who live in camden should be highlighted because not all of them are druggies like most people think. People in the inner cities needed to be exposed like the pickers. If people like them share their stories, we can have a better understanding of this world

Texture

Looking in

Colors

Beneath

Cold

Picture

The essay that had the biggest impact on me was the Port Saids Soccer deaths. I learned that in other countries, their sports teams mean a lot to them. Recently the super bowl was finished. Although we argue about why our team should of win, we never try to kill each other. These fans would give up there lives for their team. It affected me because it is amazing how much someone would do just for their team. It really made me think about what people in other countries believe in. They only do this because they have nothing else to believe in. I hope that people will learn from this experience and never let this happen again.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2012/02/egypt_protests_over_port_said.html

Recently, our class has watched a movie called "Life in a day." It was made by compiling a bunch of amateur film clips of peoples lives which were all taken on July 24, 2010. The master filmographers picked a small amount of the thousands of clips and edited them to show the world over the course in a day.

Their were many scenes that were memorable to me but the most memorable one is about a lady who called her husband over SKYPE to chat because he is serving in Iraq. This made me realize how the war is affecting not only veterans but their family. Even though pulling out the troops in Iraq may not be a good political decision, at least family members can have peace of mind. Another memorable scene is when a kid wakes up every morning and prays to his dead mother. It tells me that he still cares about his mom every day.

A scene that gave me a positive reaction was about the guy from korea traveling the world on his bike. His goal is to reunite south and north korea. It showed me how much someone can do to try to acheive their goals. I wish him good luck on his journey.

A scene that gave me a negative reaction was the kid who shines shoes every weekend. It makes me sad to think that kids in other countries have to work to support their family. He also is unable to have a fun childhood which made me depressed.

A pattern I saw was many poor people talking followed by richer people talking.

A juxtaposition that I saw was the comparison of people with a lot of water and a little bit of water. Another one I saw was the people who were happy with the sad people.

The film made me think about how many problems that are in this world that need to be fixed. These include starvation, theft, and lack of water. Even though organizations are doing things about it, it seems that their is still a lot of people that could use help. I would recommend this to a friend because it really showed me how much goes on in the world in one day.

MS. Dhoni Link to Time

Mahendra Singh Dhoni

MS Dhoni for short. I picked him because he's from india and I know about him. He was the captain for the indian cricket team during the time the indian cricket team won the world cup for the first time in 28 years. He has been acknowleged as the best indian cricket captain ever and has inspired every child all over the streets and slums of india. Most indian success stories have to do with richness and wealthy upbringings. But Dhoni was from a humble begining and grew up in a small family and town. The only thing he had is excellence. He is a true hero to india and showed the country how to win.

Chris Colfer Link to Time

Chris Colfer

Chris colfer is an idol to children that recieve bullying all over the USA. I picked Chris Colfer because i've seen him on TV. Even in the fetus, Chris Colfer aspired to be an actor. He never gave into the bullying and told himself that he could be an actor. Now Chris Colfer is on the show glee as the character "Kurt" and advocates that being bullied isn't the end of the world.

Mark Zuckerburg Link to Time

Mark Zuckerburg

Mark Zuckerburg was just a normal kid in high school. I choose him because I saw a movie based on his creation. But that all changed when he decided to invent a new social website called facebook. Facebook instanly become popular and soon launched over the whole world. Mark Zuckerburg was soon granted the honor of being 2010 person of the year by Time. Today the whole world has no idea how everyone can not survive without his glorious invention.