Ah, Our Tragically Unaware Generation...

Recently, my mom was sitting in at a class at Boston University on current trends in the business world. During this class, the professor posed a question asking how many people knew about the massive water contamination catastrophe in West Virginia. Out of the 45 students in the class, not 20, not 10, not 5, but 2 students raised their hands. It seems that our generation has become less and less aware about things that are going around in the world around us, and more focused on what is happening in our small section of the globe. This event happened to be one I had heard about on NPR, but do I read the newspaper daily? No. Should I? Probably, if I want to be able to be a global citizen and have any sort of effect bigger than my family or school. Now if the professor had asked who was arrested for DUI and drag racing last weekend, I guarantee that hand upon hand would shoot up. This is the fundamental problem with the world nowadays, we focus on what is fun, and lighthearted, and don't care about other problems that don't effect us, or even some that do.

Reflection on Unit One and Collaborative Work

Just like this year has proved, English class has been different. From a paperless classroom to an informal exam, it has been unlike any other English class I've ever taken. Using a seven day "unit" system is just as abnormal, but abnormal doesn't mean bad. Having the unit system is a new idea, and one that needs to be refined before use. It has its strengths, but like any system, it has its flaws too.

The unit system creates a environment of organization, as each student and the teacher know what the general idea of the day should be. This could allow for the teacher to think more narrowly about what is being taught on any given day. More importantly for me though, is that each students knows what to expect each day. A unit system combined with Schoology, where every day can be posted allows students to look ahead, and see if they need to plan there time differently. It allows us to learn to manage our time better, and if we don't, then we are missing an opportunity.

However, the system was not without its faults. The unit system does fail to provide creativity. While having an organized schedule, the system only will work if it is followed, and cannot be abandoned at random times. So each day can only have a select amount of ideas to choose from. The only way to solve this is to create broad topics for each day.

The unit system accomplishes many goals and provides organization, with little downside other than a little bit of restriction, but not much. Refining this system could allow for interesting possibilities, and I look forward to seeing the progression of the system over time. I think the system is good, and with some refining could be great.

FTL: Faster Than Light. Game Review

I recently started to play a game that I bought awhile ago, but never really put much time into. FTL: Faster Than Light. FTL is a rouge-like game, where you micromanage a starship through eight randomly generated sectors. The game is not very complicated on the surface, but gets much harder as you progress.

In FTL, you travel through 8 randomly generated sectors, fighting ships, collecting scrap, upgrading your ship, finding crew members, and much more. Each sector consists of "beacons", which are randomly generated. To travel from beacon to beacon, you Faster Than Light Jump. (Hence the name).

A map of one sector:

 

When I first sat down and played FTL, I thought that the game was going to be very easy. How could a game where I can breeze through the first sector in under 5 minutes be difficult? I was so hopelessly wrong. FTL requires you to be able to strategize your final boss battle from the second you start the game. If you reach sector 7 and don't have the right things upgraded, you could lose to the first ship you find. FTL isn't a game you can beat the first time you play through. It requires you learn what to prioritize, and what to ignore. I highly suggest everyone go buy it on Steam for $9.99, and I will have a gameplay going up soon!

Rating: 9/10

The only reason this would not get a 10/10 is because the game can be kind of boring when first starting a run, as you have little options until later on. I sometimes don't want to play because I know I'll have to go through the first 3 sectors, which are easy and boring. This can be solved by playing on normal instead of easy, but normal is incredibly hard.

Is Global Warming a Myth Because of One Cold Weekend?

Last weekend was extremely cold. No one can deny that. For some reason, one way or another, North America has had a cold couple of days, and everyone reacted a different way. Some people just accepted the cold as a weather pattern, and as nothing more. Others , mostly those who are skeptical of global warming's existence took it as an opportunity to prove their claim. They said that, "How could it be possible to have global warming when we get this cold weather?" and "Forget global warming, we have global cooling." While this may make sense to them, looking deeper shows that their claim is completely inaccurate. Yes, while we have had cold weather this winter, global warming is a real thing, and isn't disproved by two sub-zero days. It seems as if now days, every event that doesn't seem to match up with a particular idea is wrong, and nothing can prove it anymore. This happens in all areas, not just the environment, or politics, but everywhere. I think that we all need to start to respect each others opinions more, and be able to look beyond one example where the idea may appear wrong, or show the opposite of what is actually happening. So as you go on, try to looks at any idea through a different lens, not just the one that you see now. Don't disregard anyones opinion for one exception, because you could end up looking really stupid.