Day without electronics

During my day of no electronics I choose a day that I had work for 6+ hours. I work at the San Diego Ice Arena; I woke up around 10 o’clock and headed to work at 10:30. I left my phone and ipod at home. At work we are required to use walkie talkies however I did not grab one and just had someone tell me when they called me over the headset.

I communicated through other people and had to run around asking different questions instead of just asking them over my walkie talkie.

After I finished work I drove home and cooked dinner for my family, after dinner I read my book and did soudoku. I usually end my day by doing this, so it was no different to me.

The most difficult gadget to give up was my walkie talkie. I use it all the time at work to communicate with my fellow coworkers and my manager. Without it I felt like I was missing something. The DJ announces what game or dance we are going to do over the walkie talkie and without it, I had no idea what was going on. I just had to follow my coworkers and ask them what was going on.

The easiest electronic to give up was my computer; I don’t usually have time to use it on a day that I work because it is so old that it takes forever to turn on and boot up.

Energy discussion

During our discussion we began with talking about the issues of different forms of energy that we capture to “run” or power the world. We touched on solar, wind and hydro energy being converted into power.

During our discussion on solar energy we addressed that solar power is the most efficient way to power our houses, lights, and new technology that is being produced such as solar powered compact trash cans. It also powers call boxes and is used to heat pools. We also discussed that solar panels can be expensive and not everyone can afford them or pay to keep maintenance on them. This is why we discussed the other option of energy.

While talking about wind power, my previous road trip came into discussion. My family and I drove past rows and rows of wind farms, it seemed like they would never end. My mom pointed out that it takes up a lot of space to collect wind, but it can be virtually anywhere. It also creates jobs since you have to build all of the windmills which are economically positive towards the country but like I stated earlier it takes up a lot of land use.

Our discussion on hydro power revolved around how it is not beneficial to the world. It costs more to build and keep running then it does in receiving power. It is not environmentally friendly because it uses tons of water and that does not help the world with water shortages.

All in all my discussion with my parents went pretty well, we had no major argument and touched on some pretty cool topics.

Intro Paragraph

If you walk into any given high school during lunchtime, there are always a few girls who just sit in the corner and nibble on something, watching everyone eat. These girls are forever increasing in population due to society becoming more rigorous in their image of girls. Living in this society, with the variety of food that we have readily available, effects the amount of eating disorders in teenagers and causes them to be under pressure to be skinny.

Blue Gold - World Water Wars Commentary

After watching this movie , the first thought I had was, Can I repave my street or even just my driveway? Towards the end there was a small part about a new type of paving that allows water to leak back out to the ground and lets the ground be renourashed.

Apart that really affected me was the "Ryan Wells" he was just a normal teenager like me and raised enough money to build tons of wells! he has raised more then $2,000,000! he was also able to go to Africa to help build more of the wells.

I never knew that our world was running out of water so fast, I never realiesed that our government was taking so much water from the slums, or poorer towns. They are just being big bullies to the smaller towns and communities that have small lakes or ponds where they get their water.

Artical 1

Eley, Tom. "One in Seven Americans on Food Stamps." World Socialist Web Site. Wsws.org, 8 Feb. 2011. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/feb2011/food-f08.shtml.

This article is about food stamp statistics and how the new name is affecting the amount of people signing up for it. It has many interviews, I could use for my quotes from professionals.

QQC Food With a Face

Quote: "That eye contact, always slightly uncanny, had provided a vivid daily reminder that animals were at once crucially like and unlike us; in their eyes we glimpsed something unmistakably familiar (pain, fear, tenderness) and something irretrievably alien."

Question: Why does eye contact mean so much to the human race, what passes through out eyes when we look at something being held by its will?

Essay Topic: Why are people in San Diego more likley to apply/use Food stamps when they are commenly renamed the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)?

The Cover Commentary

The movie "The Cove" is about the issue in Japan about capturing dolphins for the selling to amuesment parks and grocery for wrongly labeled whale meat. There are 23,000 dolpins killed every year for thier meat. This document is about a group of srong minded people led by Ric O'Barry, who are determinded to show the world what is going on in this small cove. This movie is trying to force the world into realiseing that 23,000 dolpins are being slaughterd, and we need to do something about it. There is a small ammount of time for the audience to draw their own conclustions, but then they jump into the hard truth and it is extreamly sad and horrifying. This film was made, however, to open peoples eyes to the horror and play on their emotions to make people try to do something about it. The killing of dolphins is illegal, so it would be hard to back up with evidence the reason why they are killing these dolphins. If they had found out the real reason these fisherman are killing then there might be a balance between both sides, however none of them were willing to be in an on-camera interview. The fisherman go to extensive terms to try to keep thier BIG secret. They do not want to world to know what they are doing and arrest people on bogus charges, even though what they are doing is ILLIGAL.

Questions for Corn Dude.

How much did you produce everyday?
Where did you ship/truck it to?
What were some of your favorite parts about your job?
What did you dislike?
Do you have any good stories to share?

Articals

http://newsjunkiepost.com/2011/01/24/tunisia-wikileaks-and-food-crisis-vectors-for-a-global-revolution/ - Our world is in a crisis and is at a key turning point. Our world is in desperate need of a revolution. This artical lets us know the current costs of food in Tunisia. What is affecting the costs?

http://www.greenprophet.com/2011/01/food-riots-algeria-tunisia/ - Rising food prices behind riots in Algeria and Tunisia. This artical is about violence spirals out of control in Tunisia and the death toll continues to rise. Their argument is that the recent riots that have rocked North Africa are not just about unemployment and politicals corruption but also the rising cost of basic food.

Sunflower Seeds

Tiger Eye Sunflower - http://www.seedsofchange.com/garden_center/product_details.aspx?item_no=PS16205

Top 3 choices

Nail Polish - One of my choices is nail polish, because I'm a little bit obsessed with it. Every week I find a day to take off my old nail polish and put a new coat on. I am also interested in how nail polish is made, how do they all the color and texture. There is probably a lot of chemical mixing that goes into making that tiny bottle of polish.

Dog Food - Every night I feed my dog. It is something that we go though fast, because my dog is a Lab and she goes though a lot of dog food. My mom is a vet and I have been in the back room before to see the Mass amount of dog food stored in there. I think it might be interesting to figure out how it is made, I know some is made out of animals themselves, but I can look into the natural kind.

Coffee - Another choice I have is coffee. My mom drinks it every morning and sometimes I join her. I prefer the bottled Starbucks kind or from Starbucks. but I love coffee, I think I take after her in that aspect. We have already learned a little but about how coffee is made, from the youtube video. but i just needed another topic on my list.

Journal Reflection

The ice cream that I had yesterday for my Australian friend's birthday, started out from milk, that came from cows. It was harvested from grain cattle raised for their milk. Then was mass produced, mixed with sugar, ice and salt. It was churned until it turned into ice cream and then refrigerated and stored in huge coolers. It was then shipped or trucked into super markets and and stores, where my mom bought some for our party.