Without the WWW

I use the internet on most days. The days I do not use it are usually ones when I am away from home for example camping. I use the web to 1) check my email 2) check Facebook 3) go to the USD website to see if there is anything new going on 4) I use it to do on-line shopping.
If access to the web was taken away it would have a major impact on my life. I don’t know how I would communicate with many people including people who are in my groups for classes. Email is the only resource we use to communicate. I wouldn’t be able to check the weather forecast to see how I should dress the kids for the day. I wouldn’t be able to do research on things I like to learn more about both in my home life and at for papers and projects at school.
Without the web I think I’d probably have more time on my hands because I wouldn’t get distracted by the endless avenues that I travel while on social networking sites or finding bargains on-line. However, other things would make my life much more difficult. I could not imagine going back to doing research for papers with the old method. It would take so much longer to find sources and the sources that I would find are probably not as good as the ones I can find on-line.
There was a news report on ABC's Nightline a week or so ago and it was showing how dependent society has become on technology and how that can be debilitating when something goes wrong with technology. It’s good to watch and to think about!

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/

Click on Stranded by Ash with No Plan B

It was on Thursday.

The evolving computers

Computers are everywhere. I do not think there is a day that goes by where one is not affected by the use of a computer. Even if the individual is not the one directly using the computer, they affect transactions at the gas pump, grocery store, bank, and even giving us a weather forecast. It is amazing how far computers have come in the short history of their existence. My mother who is in her 50’s remembers the first time she went to work on a computer. She had just started working for an Eye Clinic as a receptionist and technician. It was 1989. The computer was a big desktop. She does not recall the kind of computer it was although she is certain it was not an Apple. The company started with just one computer. She would insert patient information, mailings, work on spreadsheets, and do accounts receivable and payable on the computer. Appointments and patient files as well as other transactions were still all done by paper. Mom said she could definitely see the potential that these computers held.
Now, everything is done by computer. There are many different programs that each person must work on in order to make a business work. I worked for three years as an office manager for a newspaper company that included six different community newspapers. We did our main communication through our computers. I would be able to build ads and do copy editing on my computer and email it back to a town 40 miles away for them to use in their paper. There were a few times in the winter when I remember the power going out and we were literally at a stand still. No one knew what to do. There was nothing we could do. That would not have been the case in 1989. They could have gone about their day without their computer and got caught up on inputting information later once the power was restored. It’s amazing how far we’ve come and yet how dependent we are. Computers are great, when they work.

Space Race

Around the period of the launch of Sputnik America and Russia were interlocked in the cold war. The two nations were very competitive with each other. When Russia launched Sputnik, it had many implications for the two nations. It was a way for Russia to exert power of the United States. They were advancing faster than the U.S. It was much more than simply about space travel, it gave the impression that Russia was smarter, more powerful, and also superior to the U.S. This was not a place the U.S. wanted Russia to be in, especially given the cold war era. The U.S. then decided it was time to focus their goals and to develop a space program that could surpass the Russian program. The U.S. decided to allocate funds to the space programs and NASA was formed. This push was all it took to increase the funds and technology to get a person in to space just a few years later. In 1969, America became the first nation to put a man on the moon. This space race began with Russian’s launch of Sputnik.

Bugs Bunny too violent (?)

I watched an episode of WB’s Bugs Bunny featuring Porky Pig looking for a Do-Do bird. The first thing I noticed was the low quality of the film. It seemed as if the picture was jumping around on the screen a bit. It was just before bed time so I let the kids watch it with me to see their reaction to this old television show. I liked this show because it had less extra stuff going on. It seems like a lot of the cartoons today tend to be overstimulating the kids. I, however, did not like all of the violence that was on this. I’m somewhat picky about what the kids watch and try to limit their show choices to ones with very little if any violence. This show was based on violence. I was worried about my daughter as she watched this. She gets scared pretty easily and this much violence could make for a long night for me of her waking up scared and from nightmares. Lets hope this is not the case.
This is interesting to me because it seems like all we hear about now-a-days is how violent our children’s television programs are. Yes, this is true. However, I think people probably forgot what these shows were like and what we all grew up watching. For example, Tom and Jerry. I think the violence probably did say something about the culture of the day. It seems as if there were a lot of segregation and feelings of superiority for some. Equality was not shared at that time period just as it still is not today. Maybe the people of the 1950’s liked to see people treating others so physically. It could have been an outlet for them. I think of the three stooges and how popular they were when all they did was hurt one another. Why was that so funny to people? Why did violence against each other become so popular in their television watching? It has to say a lot about the culture but I’m afraid exactly what it says is probably beyond my comprehension and depth for this entry.

Radio programs

I listened to the “Unsolved Mysteries - The Writing on The Wall.” I was also able to listen to some commercials including Alka Seltzer, Lucky Beer, and Ovaltine. It was very enlightening listening to these programs. I felt like I was literally being taken back in time. The voice and static were so stereotypical of radio programming.
The unsolved mystery consisted of a lot of music at the beginning and towards the end. The music helped set the tone for the story. It was kind of a creepy tune. I felt that the music lasted a little too long though. At the beginning when the music was playing I was starting to wonder if maybe there wasn’t going to be talking and that I was supposed to imply the story from the music alone. Fortunately, that was not the case. The story was hard to follow because many of the voices sounded so similar it was hard to keep the characters straight. I wondered if this was a common problem for that era. Did they have to try to get very different voices to play parts? It’s also possible that the people of that day had a better ear for the different voices since that’s all they had to go off of. These days we have other visual cues to go off of when we are watching a television show. We get both the voice and the sight of the character. We most likely rely more on the looks of the actor to distinguish them from another. An example would be that we recognize an actress like Demi Moore by her photo or a video of her on TV. If we were to hear her talk on the radio, we would have to be told who was talking since we would not be able to set her apart from any other woman by voice alone. I wonder if the people of that day knew the different actors by voice alone, even the most “normal” sounding voices.
The commercials held a lot of the same qualities the television commercials of today have. The radio commercials seem to be more focused on having a catchy jingle which is kind of great. It is why I chose the Alka Seltzer commercial to listen to. The “Plop Plop Fizz Fizz” is pretty iconic.

Old Movies vs. New Movies on Steriods

I sat down this weekend to watch “The Wizard of Oz” with my kids. This movie was made in 1939 although it has been digitally enhanced probably several times over the years, the main setting is still the same. Also, I think that this movie was probably very high-tech for movies in that time period. Watching the tornado scene and the witches disappearing in thin air was probably something very mesmerizing for people in that day. There were a few parts that have always and still do give me the chills and I cannot explain why. One of them is the scene when Dorothy and Toto are on their way to Oz and are telling the Munchkins bye. She is skipping off. I can see that the road stops and goes into a wall or curtain that has the road and background scenery painted on it. They have used this wall/curtain as a way to expand their set and make it appear as if the road is going out before Dorothy. This would have taken great artistry to do and as impressive as it is, you can see how limited their resources were. Another part is when the wicked witch is flying out of her tower. For this scene, they have made a small witch and castle tower and put the small doll witch on a string and just swung it around the tower. It is very obvious to me. However, I’m not sure if my kids had picked up on it. I wish I could explain why seeing these things give me such a strange feeling. Maybe because I feel as if I’m in on the secret with the actors of that era. I’m not really sure.
Since I was watching this movie with my kids I thought I would put myself in their shoes. I think the “Wizard of Oz” is a great movie and has always been one of their favorites, especially my daughters. I do not think that the lack of special effects has altered their opinion of the movie at all. This seems odd since the movies they are used to now are so advanced. We have even been to the movie theatre to watch 3-D movies. That is so much more advanced than the witch flying around her tower.
Last year I bought my daughter a VHS movie of Shirley Temple. I thought she would like it because my daughter does ballet and loves to sing. She probably lasted five minutes. I think she is so used to action and more stimulation that the old movies like Shirley Temple just cannot compete. This is not just in the area of movies. It just seems like everything is so overdone these days from food to video games. Kids can get bored so much easier because they are so used to high intensity stimulation. I wonder what the Beaver would say about today’s children’s television programs?

Technologies that have affected my life

For this blog post, our task was to think of a technology that affected the life of a person we know. The technology that I think of is my grandmother's electronic chair. My grandma is in her 80's and has been immobile for over five years now. She, luckily, still has her mind and does not want to be stuck in one spot all day. The electric chair allows her to go places. She has recently moved into a nursing home. Before that, the chair is what kept her able to live independently for so long. She was able to get to her washing machine, sink, bathroom, etc. on her own without having to move her legs or do any strenuous physical activity. She has very limited use of her legs but that does not stop her from getting around because she has this chair. Prior to this, I imagine that folks used mechanical wheel chairs. This would have worked for my grandma, but not to the extent that her electronic chair helps her. Plus, the chair is comfortable enough for her that she can sit in it for extended periods of time. I am happy for my grandma to have access to this technology. I am grateful for those who have developed such a product. I am sure that some could come up with many downfalls to such a new technology and I could agree with a few of them. However, for my grandma in her age and bodily condition, nothing could be more helpful.