Homework #11

1. Some cultural artifacts that I found that represent our culture were basketball courts, volleyball courts, and a football field. They represent our culture because almost everyone has participated in a sport or has watched a sporting event in their lifetime. In our country sports are a very popular. A sport can do many things to a person. One plus of playing a sport is that it keeps your body in shape and healthy, but not every sport deals with fitness. There are great amounts of sports that do not involve physical activity. Another thing a sport springs to the table is that it makes someone interact with others. It helps people make friends and socialize. A sport can also pay for college tuition. If one is very talented in the sport they participate in they can get a scholarship that will help pay for their college. Being part of a team can help shape one’s identity. It brings discipline and the will to succeed. Even later on in someone’s life a sport can contribute to who they are. Coming from me, who has played sports can say it changed my life for the better. Sports taught me how to never give up and how to work with others. Those to attributes that I received from sports now come in handy now that I am in college. For example when I do not understand something I will not just give up I will attend tutoring or go and see my professor. The attribute of working with other comes to play in my chemistry lab. If I did not paly a sport I feel that I would be social awkward and not know how to interact with a group. So that’s how the cultural artifacts of a basketball court, volleyball court, and football field represent our culture.
2. Lou Holtz once said that life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it. This represents me in a great amount of ways. One way this represents me would be when I receive a poor grade. Receiving s poor grade is something no student wants. A poor grade on an exam just brings me down and makes the entire day or week miserable, but I make sure I change that. I push myself to study harder, go to office hours, and not to let one poor grade mentally bring me down. Pushing being and never myself satisfied with the grade I have even if it is an A makes me a better person and student. Another example of how this short piece of writing represents me is that when I got hurt at the end of my junior football season. I could have just thrown in the towel and not of tried to help my team. Instead I helped my teammates by telling them what they were doing wrong or to try this technique to make them better. It is funny because players do not like being told what they did wrong or how they could be better by coaches, but when a teammate suggest it they willing to try it. The short piece of writing just does not represent me by telling my teammates what they are doing wrong or what could help them, but I also worked extra hard in the weight room. Usually when someone gets hurt in football they are happy they do not have to lift, but for it was the only thing I could do to make myself better. I could have said I’m not aloud to lift, but that would have been hurting the team and me. Lou Holtz’s short piece of writing has represents me in everyway perfectly.

Homework #10

A social interaction that I witnessed that exemplifies American culture would be a great amount of students outside doing activities. When the weather is nice, almost everyone wants to drop what he or she are doing and come outside to take in the great weather. People will be throwing football, baseball, or just doing some type of sport or movement outside. When the weather is nice people seem to be more awake and excited for the day. It brings more people out of their dorms and lets them interact with other people they never meant. It is unique to our culture because when it is cold and snowy out no one wants to really do anything but stay inside and sleep. Now that it is nice out everyone wants to do the opposite.
I am involved in flag football intramurals. Football exemplifies culture the group because it is a well knows sport in America that many people love and I love. A lot of my friends were all athletes and played football. Any time it is nice out we make sure to throw the football around for a short period of time. It is unique to my group because we are always trying to get pick up games together but now there is intramurals that solved our problem.
Going to the library exhibits individuality for me. It shows individuality because a lot of my friends do not attend the library. They would rather sit outside or wait to the last minute to finish their work or to study. For some of my friends I would say grades is not the most important thing to them but for me and select few grades are everything. I go to the library every day even if I do not have anything to do. I will find something to do; I will make sure I study more than I need to just to make sure I will do well on the exams. Another thing that shows my individuality would be going to tutoring. A great amount of my friends crack jokes about me attending tutoring session but it is what allows me to do well in school. I would rather spend an hour of my time getting help then three just trying to figure it out on my own, or even not even attempting it. Maybe if some of my friends would go to tutoring they would understand how much it does help, and how it can help their grades be better.

Homework 9

1. In American there is three main topics that is rude to talk about. One topic is some ones age. If someone young in their teenage years they should not talk about an elderly’s age. Growing up they was always talk it was rude to ask or talk about someone elderly’s age. Another topic would someone’s weight. In America a great amount of the population is over weight. Not only that it is a sensitive topic. For those who are over weight some feel insecure and have low self-steam if someone would say something about their weight. A third topic would be disrespecting parents. Your parents should be respected at all times. Even if someone thinks their parents are being rude it is still disrespectful to be rude back to them.
2. In the article it talks about for those who follow the Buddhism beliefs that they should be a good moral person. I talk about how the wealthy people and famous people in America show off their fame and wealth. But those in Thailand kind of keep it to themselves and do not show it off as much. It just goes to show how different it is in Thailand than the United States.
3. One incident would be changing who I were to be friends with a group I wanted to be friends with. I learned that it is not worth changing who I am to be friends with people that do not even like to do the same things I do. It is okay to be who you want to be. What I learn was just to be you and people will accept you for that. 

homework 8

1. One thing that international students would find different visiting IUP than the TV/movies would be that not everyone is thin. On TV/movies almost all the actors or actresses are beautiful and have nice bodies. The real world is not like that. The TV/movies make the U.S. ‘s appearances look like that. Another example would be the clothing. On TV/movies the clothing is made worn to make the actors or actresses look sexy or appealing. At IUP everyone has his or her own thing. The body figures and clothing would be the two major differences international students would find different from the TV/movies.
2. They view time as something that can be saved, spent, used wisely, or wasted. Americans view time this way because their life is scheduled by time. Time controls almost everyone’s if. For example say an American has a job. They have a specific time they need to arrive at work and leave. If they don’t follow those hours then they could get fired or not paid. So time basically controls the way we live and survive.
3. It says Americans don’t like interruptions because they are all on a set time schedule. They feel that they are not getting things done. If there is an interruption with friends it can be a negative. For example say the group of friends are going to the pirate game. If there is an interruption that means the group of friends could be late and be wasting their money.
4. I thought the sentence where it talks about how some professors like being called by their first names and will go out to eat with their students. I thought it was interesting because all my life if you called a teacher by his or her first name it was rude and disrespectful. Also the whole going out to eat thing is wrong too. I feel that if a student and a teacher were out to eat people would frown upon it. They would think the student was getting special treatment and that its not fare. That’s why I thought that sentence was interesting. 

Homework 7

Homework 7

1. The world is not how it use to be. In the past if a friends asked for help you would do it out of common curtsy. Now and days if some does anything for someone else they expect money. A money based economy caused almost everyone’s life around money. It made people change their ways of life because they could not survive the way they did years before.
2. I feel making a barter trade makes you care more about what good or services your exchanging and appreciate it better. When is comes to trades with money you don’t care how you get it or if you rip someone off, as long as you get that money.
3. Kids in Perth and Prague and New Delhi are all tuning in to [Jersey Shore] on TV, and pulling on their [Nike sneakers], while singing along to [Lady Gaga’s] latest in English. CNN (which has grown 70-fold in 13 years) now reaches more than 140 countries. This is important because it shows that our country has an affect on others. Not only that but I feel like it is an embarrassment that people around the world see the U.S. like Jersey Shore advertises it. I am not seeing any television shows on Japan about juiceheads and gorillas. In my eyes I just think the U.S. puts a bad rep on itself.
4. One positive on the world being a multi-cultural world is that we can expand our knowledge with others.  A second would be under standing others heritage and life style. By knowing that maybe we could make ours lives better. For a negative affect on multi-cultural world would be some of the television shows the U.S. has broadcasted. It makes our country seem pathetic. Another negative affect would for those who come to the U.S. from other countries and speak different languages it is just hard to understand them. For one example doctors. I have gone to the hospital and my doctor could barely speak English. I feel like since our country is multi-cultural those who live in the U.S. or anywhere else should speak the language clearly and understand it. 

Homework 4

1. Consuming material creates isolation because that is all that people focus/see. A great amount of people watch television, where there is always advisements on about newly updated material. So, people feel like if they don’t shop and by the newest material out there then they will be behind everyone else. Also, I think people who have money don’t know what to do with it all the time so start just buying things then a new version comes out and they want that one. If people have money, they are going to spend it. So, that’s how buying material can cause isolation.
2. No, it would not of solved the problem because by raising their salary you are giving them more money to spend. If there salary was decreases during the inflation then yes it would of changed my answer to number one. The reason for that is because inflation is raising the general level of prices on goods and services. So, if you decrease ones income they don’t have the money to spend on those other goods.
3. There are many societal factors that encourage competitive consumption. One being that always keeping up with your neighbors. If your next-door neighbor gets a nice car you feel like you need to get one also. So, one is keeping up with the people in your neighborhood. Another would be having your children go to a great school. So, this made the family live in higher housing cost areas. Lastly ,the home you live in is one. Everyone wanted the trophy house. So, if one person you know had it then you wanted it also. Those are three societal factors that encouraged competitive consumption.
4. Competitive consumption shapes my family and I’s identity by making us appreciates things better. We are not the wealthiest family so what we do have we care for it a lot. My family tries to get the nicest things out there but sometimes cant afford it. We try to compete but sometimes we just can not. I was always told you have to earn everything you want. Nothing in life is going to be given to you. On the other hand some of my friends are wealthy and sometimes I feel jealous of them. Then I realize I would not give anything up that I have because it made me who I am. Also, having some of those friends make me want to work hard in school so I can have the things they have and compete. 

Homework 3

1. I believe in our lifetime there will be a catastrophic incident that deals with technology. The world is becoming more depended and advanced on technology every year. In my lifetime there will be a point where people will have robots in there homes. The thing that scares me is they say you can program these robots to know right from wrong. So, if you can program them to do that then you can program them to do wrong. What happens if the wrong person gets a hold of the software or even some one makes the makers upset? This could easily cause a castrostrophic incident. Or even what they talk about in the article. What happens if an incident that seems like a terrorist attack occurs but really it was just a misunderstanding. All of these things are possible. The public reaction of course would blame someone else. Even though they wanted all this technology. There are very few people in this world who do not blame others for their mistakes. Everyone has to point a finger.
2. After reading this article I strongly believe that an artificial intelligence will be created that actually thinks and reasons without human help. It will affect our identity because now robots can do what was thought that only humans could. So, for an example doing surgery. Only a human could do that now a robot can do it better and cheaper. I see that’s how they will change human identities.
3. There are a great amount of positives and negatives about developing artificial intelligence. Some of the positives would have to be military. They could send in robots before sending in troops to see where the enemy’s position is, where the best cover is, or even if it is safe. Also, for those little things. Like maybe cleaning your house or mowing the grass. There are a ton of small things that everyone nudges their shoulders about because they don’t want to do it. Having and artificial intelligence could easy do those for you. There are also negatives though. One negative would be taking away jobs. Basically, if artificial intelligence is developed then what do humans do? They would end up taking almost all the jobs because they can do it faster and more efficient. I feel like by creating this artificial intelligence we are making a new world where they human race with do nothing.  
4. I had a machine fail on before causing a bad outcome. The machine happened to be a dirt bike. When I was younger that was all I did. If I was not playing sports I was joy riding on my CR-85. The one day my buddy Derek and I took a ride down at the slates. At the slates there were hills to climb and jumps to hit. We first started riding around to get our bikes warmed up. When we thought we were goo we started hitting this little double. On my second try my dirt bike died. So, not having enough momentum to clear the double I ended up crashing and breaking my wrist. I was in a cast for about six weeks all because a machine stopped working.