Amazon black box

Have you guys heard of Amazon fire tv and the tv stick? Well basically it is a little black box that brings all of your media into your living room. Just like in Jenkin’s Black Box Fallacy:

In Henry Jenkin’s “Convergence Culture”, He says: “Much contemporary discourse about convergence starts and ends with what I call the Black Box Fallacy.  Sooner or later, the argument goes, all media content is going to flow through a single black box into our living rooms...Part of what makes the black box concept a fallacy is that it reduces media change to technological change and strips aside the cultural levels we are considering here.”

The Amazon Fire TV stick is very interesting, because it takes the black box, and makes it even smaller and more portable.  Here is an ad for the TV stick:

The TV stick is great because you can take it with you wherever, and it plugs into your tv, computer or tablet.  We can now access all of our media in one small USB-size black box that can fit in the palm of your hand. Heck, you could even put it on your keys like a key chain. That’s how small it is!

With the way technology is heading, our access to media, information, the internet, etc., is getting much larger.  And yet, our devices are getting much smaller.  There is computers out there that are thinner than my cell phone.  It might sound crazy, but it is true.  I think that technology is just going to keep getting smaller and thinner, until it is invisible, like it is in iron man.

 

This technology is so advanced, its crazy.  I think that our technology is going to keep getting smarter, faster, and thinner.  Yet, our access to media and information is going to keep getting bigger and everything is going to be reachable through the internet. 

do you get religious on a Sunday ???

      Looking at the paranormal powerpoint our teacher uploaded, it stated that 3 out of 4 Americans harbor at least one paranormal belief. In the reading, polls around the world indicate that 50% of people in these countries hold at least one paranormal belief. To be honest it sounds like a bunch of malarkey to me, but for some reason i cant seem to deny paranormal belief entirely. I'll be the first to say that it doesn't exist, that is until i hear a weird sound in the dark, then ghost n evil spirits are the first thing that pop into my head. I'm also not a religious person, but when i hear sounds at night and the first thing i think of are evil spirits, Praying to God is the second thing im doing lol. I come from a very religious and superstitious culture, Samoans have ghost problems up the wazoo!!! like 90% of Samoans in Samoa believe in paranormal activity. Personally i think if you believe in ghost then ghost will haunt you. I remember seeing the book "The Secret" in the same power point, and in the book it pretty much states that if you want something, all you have to do is believe in it hard enough and you'll get it. That also goes back to my culture, and also the polls, if all these people (like the 90% of my home country) believe in ghost n stuff, then of course i think theses spirits and apparitions will project themselves to you. 

paranormal activity

Paranormal activity, a look into supernatural and 4th dimensional beings. Something that has drawn humans interest for years and years. Its become a topic tied in with things like aliens. and conspiracies. paranormal beings will always be a topic of discussion. People always have a way to conjure up something imaginary in their heads which leads to the thought of things unknown. I ironically believe in such actions, I dont feel as if the human mind has the capacity to understand the realm of paranormal activity which is what always leads us to questioning. people have a thirst to find out and think about things unbeknownst to them, which is what makes the world of scary movies a major attraction. More specifically the movie paranormal activity provokes out thoughts into that realm due to the imminent realness depicted in the movie.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_UxLEqd074

Is there a correlation between video games and violence

Youve heard what the people say, "video games create and establish violence in the players head". As far as im concerned i havent once wanted to lash out at a human in my life due to what i just played on my xbox in my room. A related post about this subject in our class posted a video that poked fun at a video game player lashing out after an online encounter. In my personal opinion on the video posted in our class blog, the man seemed to be more lashing out at the fact that a human being on the other line of the headset. The guy has seemingly had problems with bullying which is understandable due to the fact that he is severely overweight and has definitely had issues with his peers. The media has always tried to tie in the two ideas of video games and violence and mush them into one. The fact of the matter is that level headed people that play video games shouldn't be lumped into the category as a violent sociopath due to the amount of time they spend on internet video games. Theres never scientifically been a reason showing that video games cause a person to be seemingly violent. All just speculations.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2Jq7vPxYGg

Board Games

Call me crazy but I love getting a big group together and playing mad gab or cards against humanity.

The thing about the world we live in is of course the one thing we can't live without, technology. Growing up when I did, we slowly started getting things like the walkman and nintendos. It was all about uno, skip-bo, monopoly and apples to apples on Sundays. We actually would interact with people. These days 3 year olds have their own iPad and 10 year olds have cell phones.

Its no wonder kids are developing social problems. HELLOOOOOOO maybe if kids would actually have a conversation with a human instead of a device we wouldn't be having this issue.

Board games were fun because there was laughing, and learning, and just all around having a good time. I feel bad for the kids today because they are missing out on those fun childhood memories I got to experience growing up, because parents now a days would rather hand their kids an iPad to occupy them then actually sit down as a family and play a game. Its really sad.

Connoted meanings

Connotative words:

Childlike, Youthful, Childish, Young: Childish and childlike implies that someone is immature, but youthful infers that someone is lively and energetic.

Cheap, Frugal, Miserly, Economical: Cheap, frugal, and miserly infers that someone is not generous and is very stingy with their money.
Young, Immature, Juvenile, Youthful:Immature and juvenile suggest that someone is childish.
Confident, Secure, Proud, Egotistical: Proud and egotistical mean that someone thinks very highly of themselves.
Talkative, Conversational, Chatty, Nosy: Talkative and chatty can mean that someone talks too much; and nosy that someone asks too many questions.

Signs:

Cup at the end of the table: I need a refill

Hand wave in the car: Thank you

Rubber band on the door: Private/do not enter

Lemon on a glass of Coke: Informing that its Diet

We aren't always taught what things mean, we tend to just pick things up as we go. Our perception of things can be different which makes things hard. The peace sign could mean one thing here but something totally different in another country.

Our generation really does interpret everything differently and usually in a negative manner. the definition of words is just one example, if someone has too many tattoos they're trashy. If a girls shorts are too short shes a slut, if a guy genuinely likes to cook and is clean, hes gay. You do realize what happens when you ass-u-me right? 

If the Paranormal Becomes Normal

When it comes to the paranormal, I find the field of noetic science particularly interesting. This is the scientific study of the mind/spirit/soul. The Institute of Noetic Sciences describes its studies as research of the power of consciousness, investigating “phenomena” that do not necessarily fit traditional scientific models while still following scientific rigor. It asks questions about whether the mind (or spirit) can exist outside the physical body and tries to explain intuition. Modern noetics even venture into the investigation of the idea that the mind can influence physical matter (think along the lines of spiritual healing).
So basically, people are working to bridge the gap between science and spirituality and are trying to find scientific explanations for things we consider paranormal. There are the famous quotes like "magic is just science we don't understand yet" and I think that's a very valid point. So, what happens if we do end up scientifically proving things that we now consider paranormal? What if the paranormal becomes normal?
Dan Brown, an author of bestsellers such as The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons, features noetic science in one of his more recent installations, The Lost Symbol. He has stated in interviews that his greatest fear about noetics is that if we find a way to harness the power of our minds, we will use it for evil. He points out that usually when a scientific discovery is made, a weapon designed with this discovery soon follows.
This made me think of the U.S. government's installation of a military operation code named “The Stargate Project" in the 1970s. The purpose of this project was to make the research of clairvoyance and out-of-body experiences more scientific, with little inaccuracy. It was an attempt at using clairvoyance to spy on the enemy and was known as “remote viewing.” A book called The Men Who Stare At Goats was actually inspired by this operation and a film adaptation was made. Here's a trailer for it:

This obviously mocks the situation, which does seem a quite ridiculous. However, the government seemed to take it seriously and apparently still does, as it allegedly still has this (albeit smaller) program. Interesting.