Pantene Commercial

Observe- Deaf girl wants to play violin, father is her mentor, other students pick on her and make fun of her, she competes in the end, ponytail vs hair long and down,

Infer- Even though she's deaf she's amazing at violin, control, free

Need to Know- She's deaf, can't hear

Analyze- feeling of courage, student vs. teacher

"Just Add Water" & "Animacules*

Both of these works go with the attitude to look at the little things and stop focusing on the big, annoying general things in life such as technology.

What is the same about Twn & Just Add Water??

Both TWN & Just Add Water follow the status quo-normalcy curve. On the line, down, and then up! Well, in TWN- Everything was fine, then Viola disguised herself into Cesario, chaos happened and then everything was restored to a new normal. All sense of normalcy is lost, just like JAW. Everyone ends up better than what they began with though, however.

Animacules and Other Little Subjects

Mark Smith's "Animacules and Other Little Subjects" gave me the feeling that in life, it is more beneficial to look at something small, rather than the general picture. The "little subject" could be the larger image. The big, expensive things may not be the most pleasing but the small little ones, sometimes not even there for the eye to see. Smith's interest in microscopic animacules is phenomenal. He is interested in something that is so tiny, but does so much. They serve an important role, and they are just so small! I couldn't help but to think of the movie Men in Black, where the cat wore the whole galaxy on his neck, full of organisms and life. The author's love for the microscope allowed him to grow older and find his love for animacules. It is crazy to think about that the smallest organism has the same structures as we, humans do. He says, "I have trouble explaining my satisfaction with the animalcules" (260), but he doesn't need to. He is allowed to love the little things without explaining himself.

Recently, on my tumblr (which is my private blog that I use to express my feelings and emotions), I made a list of the little things that I love. This was all done before I read this article, of course. The little things I love include non material subjects, such as fresh air, salt-water, the feeling of a hug, hearing someone you love say "I love you"... etc. This list made me happy to read after, because it is not the big things like a car, or a new pocketbook that should make one feel this way inside, but the little things that make us who we are, just like Smith found a love for animacules. In relation to "Just Add Water" and "Food Miles", I realized that it is not worth it for us to fill our lives with technology and expensive big things when life is full of special, small things. Observe, enjoy and love what is given to you. Go to the pond, realize that it is full of life.. and there's so much more then what we see with our eyes.

George Carlin

George Carlin's routine reinforces this notion that humanity is self-extincting like Phelan discusses in saying that we can't "save the planet because we don't even know how to take care of ourselves yet!", which is true! How can we save the planet if we're incapable of saving ourselves first? His routine was hilarious but made sense in the big scheme of things. We're self-extincting as a human race because we're making mistakes that long term will hurt us down the road. Even though they are not apparent now, global warming and climate changes will catch up to us some day. Carlin makes this funny in his routine, from 15 years ago (?), before we even realized it is catching up to us. We need to make sure our greed isn't destroying our race.

What emblem/image/symbol best exemplifies the film "Just Add Water"?

In relation to the movie though, because ramen is unrelated, a symbol that best exemplifies the film is Ray's actual life. His life is going pretty downhill, until he builds up the courage to ask Norah on a date. This is the "just adding water" because after one small step, his life goes in the right direction and progressively gets better. Like the meringue recipe, only one piece of ingredients can make or break the final product, which is the same about Ray's life. If he wouldn't have started seeing Norah, maybe his life wouldn't have ended up so happy after-all.

For OTHER symbols/emblems, that exemplify the film "Just Add Water" is sand, ramen noodles, Stevo the turtle, Rite Value, Lightning, loveseat/couch.

Chevrolet Station- hope, adds color, new dynamism, RWB, American Dream

Rite Value- as the town, no variety, one employee, beaten down, no diverse attitude, same things everyday

Tinbox- refers back to it whenever he gets discouraged, inside = hope, pictures of Nora, tell him to keep on going, restored hope

Stevo Turtle- at end, no longer caged.. symbol for town that they are free. now have 40 companion turtles (habitat set up) = town

"How We Evolve"- Benjamin Phelan

This article reminded me of Darwinism, as soon as it opened up. Phelan writes about how mutations in genetics are possible, including the lactose intolerant gene that causes adults to not be able to have milk. Today, this gene is seen throughout many people. According to "How We Evolve", the gene appeared about 8,000 years ago but did not become common in the population until about 3,000 years ago. Another topic that Phelan discusses is HapMap, "a massive survey of the genetic differences between selected populations from around the world". This tool can show where natural selection has occurred, which is beneficial to study human evolution. According to the article, by looking at the genetic information of different populations, it is possible to weed out patterns of genetic inheritance, how diseases fit with genes and possibly how some mutations started. This shows how our world is heavily evolving and how we create our own evolution.

At the end of the article, a "self-inflicted extinction" is mentioned, meaning that we change our own world and evolve ourselves based on our actions, such as global warming, destroying our climate, and new technology. These factors could lead to human extinction because the climate could ultimately destroy us. It is getting late, and according to Phelen (which I agree with), we should try to fix these before it gets TOO late. We're not ready for human extinction yet!

INFER:

How do we stop global warming and climate change and know when depletion of resources is enough?

The Way I Feel About Blogging

I like blogging because it is a way to express emotions, see peers work and get feedback on our responses to what we read.

Reverse Outline "John Broome's Article- "The Ethics of Climate Change"-- Ariel A. , Hannah T. , Kendra, Parth D.

For each paragraph, write a three to five word index or summary for the paragraph:

1. Cause and Effect of Climate Change

2. Unhealthy Emissions

3. Ethical Questions of Future Generations

4. Multiple deaths relating to environmental problems

5. Climate change will cause harm- health & impoverished people

6. Cars & Greenhouse Gases

7. Ethics of Costs and Benefits- What we have to change right now

8. Climate change as economics

9. Nicholas Stern- "Stern Review"- ideas of benefits & value

10. Justification of Change Now or Later?

11. the Richer the Future - Goods have diminishing marginal value