Gulliver's Travels project

The book that I read for class was Gulliver's Travels. I had never read it before and I did not know anything about the book before starting it. The book was a bit slow and not as engaging as I had anticipated. I was having a hard time getting through it when I found out that it was meant to be a political commentary. That made all the difference in the world. After that the book became much more interesting to read. The new depth drove me on much more than my desire to read had. In the end the book was very good. There are so many parallels that can be drawn from the book and applied to today. People don't really change it seems only the date.

For my project I drew a picture of Gulliver on his second adventure.

the lessons of Gulliver's travels

I have been reading Gulliver's travels as of late. Today I was reading about the people of Laputa. These people had an academy in their capitol city where extensive research was done. Some of the projects were: trying to extract sun-beans out of cucumbers, trying to reduce human excrement to its original food, and softening marble for pillows and pin-cushions. It seems to me that the goals of these experiments could be achieved by much easier means or are not necessary at all. This lead to me thinking about my life whether or not I have wasted a lot of time on things that lead to nothing or don't add anything of value to my life. Maybe playing hours of guitar hero instead of learning to play the actual guitar would fit into this category. What do you do that leads to nothing productive?

freedom of now and then

As we have been in class discussing the new freedoms that have come about with the new ages of thinking, I have realized more and more that I am in the midst of the changing of an age. A couple of weeks ago our class discussed how the invention of the printing press opened up a world of knowledge to those who could read. There was suddenly many more possibilities for learning religion and news of the world. Also, today in class the topic of the American frontier came up. On the frontier people could be what ever they wanted. They no longer had to have the vocation of their fathers. This is similar to today.

Today we have a whole new world of knowledge opening up that is free and easy to access. There is virtually no limit to the information that can be found on the internet. One doesn't really even have to know how to read to access most of it, thanks to video streaming. As far as being able to have a career of your choice, the sky's the limit. If someone is willing to work and make opportunities for themselves the world is open to them.

I have been able to experience this to a small degree. I will be the first kid in my family to receive a bachelors degree. I have been able to travel to many countries since i left home, and I have been able to publish a book of photos. Publishing a book is something that is very easy these days because access to the tools necessary are free to all who have a computer. I am the first in my family to publish a book, but now that it has been made so easy there can be many more published. Have a look.

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1471450#

Animoto

Animoto is a new online tool that I have discovered. It is an easy way to put pictures and videos clips together in a professional looking video. The website is easy to navigate and is nicely connected to all major online photo site. The options given for free are nice, but only give you a taste. Most online tools have a free option to get you reeled in. With Animoto however, the free options are not quite enough to get me to even consider purchasing a years worth of usage. The free option allows you to make only 30 second videos. If I were interested it costs 249 dollars for a year. I can not see this tool being of that much use to me. I posted the 30 sec video I made on my blog. Unfortunately, this one gets a thumbs down for low value and high price.