Internet Neutrality

Well it sounds to me like "The Man" is wanting to make the consumer pay money for Internets, and that just sounds terrible. To be frank, however, I don't really think I understand the issue completely. The author of the article claims that the net neutrality battle is vague and opaque, but his article was almost as bad. To his credit, I'm not predisposed to either side of the argument. However, I don't think he did a very good job of explaining exactly what the issue is. My position on this issue will have to wait until I know more about it.

Digital Voyage Suggestions

1) Addressing the Tube Of Plenty phenomenon...the fact that there was homework for an elective class did not bother so much as the homework being rather dull. Tube Of Plenty was not a very fun read. A different approach to homework might be to have students read articles or watch videos online and then respond to them on the blog, similarly to what we are doing with this assignment.

2) Blogger has been one of the most effective tools in the class and a defining characteristic of it. I think continuing the use of it would be very wise.

3) Google docs is only useful outside of class (although this might have more to do with the members of the class than the program itself)

4) It seems that the goal of the class is to get students to create media of their own, but I do think that perhaps students should be more exposed to media created to other people. We had a good protion of that in our class, but there could be more. 

5) The field trip to KEYT news was a really good idea. Repeating that field trip or going on others like it would give students a better idea of the professial world of media and whether media is something that should be persued. 

6)More class disscussions about current issues. Disscussions about the world today often lead to ideas, and with more people there will probably be more ideas.

Cold War Treatment Rewrite

Instead of the previous approach of diverging from history at the point of the Bay of Pigs or The Cuban Missile Crisis, our group will take a coloser look at the Soviet-Afghan War. Turns out that this war was, to Soviet Russia, what Vietnam was to the U.S.A. They lost a lot of men and resources. One of the more interesting points of the war is that a Muslim guerrilla force, which stood against the communist government in Afghanistan, included Osama bin Laden, who went on to terroize America. The film our group will create will focus on the possiblity of the elminiation of certain terrorist attacks against America as a result of the lack of the Soviet-Afghan War. Bin Laden will be a point of focus, but there will be other focuses as well.

That's So Arbitrary

The world is a dangerous place. Water is like gold and is controlled by crime bosses. An entire infrastructure of power and corruption is precariously perched on the assumption that water will never run out.(display wasteful uses of water)

Then all known sources of water run out and all hell breaks loose.

Societies and civilization dissolve overnight leaving the world in utter chaos. Everyman is for himself and the weak are abandoned.
A lone adventurer sets out to save the world by discovering a new source of water. After many trials and tribulations he finds a new source. World leaders broadcast message to the public instructing them on how to conserve water and accenting the importance of conservation.

Cold War Queries

1) Can I find any information on Russian attitudes towards America during the Cold War era, perhaps translated directly from Russian?
2) Is there an index of the technology and nuclear equipment available to Russia and America during the Cold War?
3) Are there any personal writings from Russian and American leaders during this time?
4)Are there records of American and Russian troop positions and movements on a global scale during the Cuban Missile Crisis and The Bay Of Pigs?
5) Are there any news broadcasts about the Cold War/Bay Of Pigs/Cuban Missile Crisis available?

An Inaccurate Report

Today at approximately 1:00 there was an accident at the Chapala and Carrillo intersection which involved a Ford Explorer and an MTD Bus. Our reporters were on the scene at 1:20 to question the driver of the Ford Explorer, Reggie Smith. Mr. Smith said he was rushing to get on the 101 freeway from Carrillo so he could drop off his 8 year-old twins, Alice and Leo, at their Goleta residence. When questioned about the circumstances of the accident, Mr. Smith said that he wasn’t able to see the traffic lights because the school bus was blocking his view. He thought the light was green when he drove forward, but he also readily admitted that it may have been red. After the trauma of the accident, his memory of the traffic lights was foggy. Mr. Smith also said that he did not see the bus driver after the collision.
Mr. Smith has a clean driving record, save for one DUI that was issued six years ago. At the time of the DUI, Mr. Smith had just crashed into a fence down the street from his house.
Mr. Smith reported that neither he nor his children were hurt and the he didn’t think anyone else involved in the accident had been injured. The number of people involved and their possible injuries remains uncomfirmed.