Student Blogs

ESOL 171 Students,

Please post a comment below and insert the link to your own blog. You should try to keep a blog and post entries every day. It is a very good tool for improving one's writing.

Once I get the links to your blogs, I will add them to this blog. See you Thursday in our regular face-to-face class. I know it is going to snow tomorrow night.

Remember to prepare questions about the video clip you plan to show in class. Listen to this beautiful music from Ireland. Can you understand the lyrics?

Daniel Tammet's video clip

Here is the information about Daniel Tammet, a prodigious savant. Please click on the following URL in order to access his video:



Daniel Tammet:
http://www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/_SAVANT/_PROFILES/daniel_tammet/_media/video/brainman/video.html

Look what I got for St. Valentine's Day

My sweetheart gave me this for St. Valentine's:

It is a necklace with tiny hearts and pearls.

Next Friday

Caprica was preempted by a horrid horror movie. The next episode will be shown this coming Friday. I really enjoy this series because it deals with complex social and philosophical issues. For example, one of the issues indirectly addressed is the interface between technology and organic life. Are artificial intelligences (Cylons) entitled to human rights? What makes us human? Do we see any relationship between some of the issues raised in Caprica with what is actually going on in contemporary society?

Caprica's Third Episode

I will be watching Caprica tonight. I have always been fascinated by the biology/technology interface. Caprica represents a challenge to our dearly held beliefs that we are the center of the universe. As sophisticated artificial intelligences evolve, will humanity change or adapt?

And these changes are coming probably within the next 10 years. Some have already been implemented. Will we ever be able to create sentient machines? Will these artificial intelligences have human rights? What issues, ideologies, or religious beliefs from our own society are dealt with in Caprica?

Sunday, February 7, 2010

I finally found some free time to post to my Academic Speaking blog. I have a daily routine. Every morning I get up at 7:30 a.m. I do stretches for about 10 minutes and then lift some weights for about 25 minutes. If it is a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, I go to the YMCA in Montclair to an aerobics class. On Tuesday and Thursday I walk around the park for about 45 minutes. This is a great workout except when the weather is very cold (i.e., below freezing).

Today it was the perfect day for walking. At about 1:00 p.m. I went out for a long walk because the sun was shining. After my walk, I had lots of reading and writing to do. It is hard finding time to record one's own thoughts about life and work in general. I look forward to a productive week. Valentine's Day is next Sunday and the commercialization of love is part of this ritual.