The Progressive Era

 

The reason for us having to scour the World Wide Web for these obscure websites is because the mainstream media we all know are being paid by the government to not talk about certain issues in our world. If you go onto CNN, for example, you're met with an article about Trump because CNN loves to bash Trump in the news, Ukraine being praised, and a bunch of other stuff that doesn't really matter all that much. But if you travel to Antiwar.com, you're met with a bunch of eye-opening sources that the media tries to push under the rug because it'll make the Biden Administration look bad. One article that really piqued my interest was "Senate Announces Stopgap Funding Bill That Includes $6.2 Billion for Ukraine"

. That's an incomprehensible amount of money being sent to a country that already has gotten billions in donations from us. We could be using that money to help out our cities, Hawaii, and our homeless problem. Nope, let's just keep funneling money to Ukraine because we don't need it whatsoever. 

Now, we don't hear about this at all in mainstream media whatsoever because, like I said, a lot of media outlets don't want to make Biden look bad. The Biden Administration pays many news outlets to not cover this stuff to make it look like they're doing a good job. That's why we have to resort to these smaller, more underground outlets to find out what's going on in the world because the mainstream media won't give us this stuff. They're more worried about celebrity gossip, Trump's indictment, and other useless information to distract you from what's really going on. It's like the Matrix almost, where everyone is in those pods in a "dream" and people are waking up to the real world where the truth lies.

I honestly hate this, I hate that we as people of the world don't have the truth given to us, it's usually tucked away from the public's eye to make people look good. I am genuinely frustrated about all of this. We shouldn't have to do a deep dive into the internet to find the truth, we should really be reporting on everything that goes on but we can't because of money. Money is the reason why we have to search for all of this stuff. Paying the media off to praise you and not defile your name is a great way for bad people to hide behind a facade. Bribing reporters is the reason for us having to look for the truth. I mean I don't blame the reporters for taking such a large sum of money to keep quiet about this. I'd probably do the same to make some extra cash. But since I don't, I'm gonna get on my soapbox and rant about how corrupt our government is controlling the media like that and how blinded by greed reporters can be for money. That's just how the world works I guess, money solves problems.

Technology I learned about from EOTO 1

 

The cassette tape was one of the more exciting technologies I learned about in the EOTO presentations. For me, cassette tapes have been a short-lived piece of media because they were very flimsy, didn't sound too good, and were replaced by CDs. But to my surprise, the cassette first hit the market in 1963 as a way to make listening to your favorite music on the go instead of having a record player bounce in your car skipping tracks with every bump you hit. I also thought that the cassette was an American invention but it turned out to be a Belgian invention. 

Cassettes were not only for listening to music but for recording stuff too. Blank tapes were also made and could record memos, custom answering machine voicemails, and recording riffs for your band so you don't forget what you made. But the cassette had its downsides being made of cheap plastic, causing them to break easily, any prolonged heat exposure caused the cassettes to melt or warp the recording on it, and after prolonged use of the cassette, they wore down and didn't sound nearly as good. Which, eventually, caused them to be replaced by CDs in the 90s as the best form of media to purchase

I own a few cassette tapes but I never really got interested in them. I really love vinyl and have a ton of records back home with a nice record player. But I knew a lot about vinyl already so learning more about a "phased out" piece of media. The reason I say phased out is because a few bands still use cassettes as a way of sharing their music. Metallica, for example, released an album back in April 2023 and one of the ways you could buy the album was by cassette. There are so many ways to listen to music now but I'm glad there is still a niche for cassettes. Cassettes served their purpose back in the 70s and 80s but the world moved on to more stable media like the CD then iPods, and then streaming services. And more recently, vinyl made a reintroduction to the music world but cassettes never caught on like vinyl. It's sad to see but that's the way life is sometimes.

EOTO: How the iPhone Revolutionized the Cell Phone Market Forever

 

The iPhone is Apple's smartphone line that people around the world use as a means of communication through texting, FaceTime, phone calls, and social media.

The iPhone first started development back in 2004 under the super top secret codename "Project Purple" with 1000 of Apple's employees working on the project. They wanted to tackle the mobile phone market with the most advanced piece of technology ever. Apple wanted to solve the problem of condensing your technology so you don't have to carry so much, but instead fit it in your pocket. Then, after 3 years of development, Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple at the time, unveiled the iPhone to the world at MacWorld 2007 and completely revolutionized the cell phone market as we know it today as a phone with the ability to listen to music, call people, take photos, check the time, take notes and browse the internet from just one device. Using multi-touch technology, the iPhone has a touch screen that requires no stylus or input lag. Every input was responsive with no delay.

The first iPhone had a starting price of $599.99 and sold 300,000 units in the first weekend alone. People were still hesitant to make the switch to the iPhone and thought it would just be a fad that faded off so some just stuck with their Blackberries and Nokias. My dad still uses a Blackberry to this day because he likes the feel of the keyboard buttons. The iPhone at the time was years ahead of every other company and had every cell phone company scramble to catch up with the times of the iPhone. Some companies just weren't able to catch up and faded from existence. The only notable companies still in the smartphone game are Samsung, Android, and Google.

Every year with each new iPhone release, Apple has always found a way to one-up their last model with new features to stay ahead of the competition with technology such as Touch-ID being introduced on the iPhone 5, Face-ID, and a button-free screen introduced on the iPhone X, and most recently, the island notch on the iPhone 14 Pro.

Despite the impact of the iPhone on cell phones, the iPhone is not the leading phone used by people around the world. Many people around the world are using Androids because they can be cheaply made and cost less to buy which is a main selling point for many people who live in less fortunate countries.

The iPhone completely changed the cellphone and smartphone industry. People were now able to call, text, email, listen to music, and browse the web from the palm of their hand without the need for a computer by their side at all times to do such things. This has revolutionized the mobile phone industry and set the standard for all companies to follow. You would be crazy to think that the iPhone didn't have an impact on our world because it forever changed the way we communicate with people.

The Eight Values of Free Expression

 The Eight Values of Free Expression we've gone over in class, I felt that individual self-fulfillment is a perfect match for who I am. Creating your own identity is very important for everyone. People are all a melting pot for all sorts of media they are exposed to and add to themselves to make them who they are. Nobody is alike one single bit, both physically and mentally. We all are different and like different things. We all listen to different types of music, eat different foods, and the list goes on and on. We all can choose what we want to do in our lives to define who we are as people. Trying to be like someone else is the wrong way to go, you'll just be left behind. But taking a characteristic you like from a person you admire helps build your character to be unique. When you're younger, your parents helped shape the person you are, but once you become an adult, you live on your own whether it is in college or an apartment. You're left to your own devices to figure out what you'll become and what you information you absorb to form your character. Your character is constantly changing and evolving to be the best version of yourself. Finding your purpose in life is important and it may not come for years on end but once you find your calling, you'll be the happiest you can be.

In one of my favorite games of all time that is still relevant even after 22 years is "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty". In the game towards the end, the main protagonist, Solid Snake, tells our character, Raiden this powerful quote. "Fight for what you believe in, and find it in yourself. If you do, pass it on to the future." For a game made in 2001, it's a very powerful statement that still holds up today and begs the question, "what should we believe in?". To that, I say, that's for you to decide. You are your own individual mind that is so unbelievably unique and awesome. Being a sheep following the herd is not the way to live your life. We live in such a wonderful country that allows you to do whatever you want to do! Why waste your time following something that you don't like when you can be out there making your mark on the world by yourself with your own way of thinking we are lucky to be able to freely think and fulfill our lives by any means. It all starts out with finding your call.

Life is full of different ways of thinking and billions of different personalities. Forming your own way of thinking is important and sets you apart from everyone else. If we all thought the same, there would be no revolutionary ideas or anything that gets people thinking. I feel that finding your identity is the highest priority of a human being and being a copy of someone else is lame and will not get you anywhere in life.

The History of the U.S Supreme Court

 From this history.com article about the Supreme Court, some things I didn't know were that John Marshall played an influential role in the Supreme Court with the Marbury v. Madison case.  I did not know that it set up the judicial branch to be able to review laws passed by Congress.

The biggest takeaway that I got from this article is how important the Supreme Court is to our government. For the longest time, I've always seen them as just a very powerful jury for cases. But I had no idea that they pretty much prevent the two other branches from becoming insanely powerful and potentially limit the freedoms of a citizen without this branch in place.

The most surprising thing I learned from this article is that there have only been 115 Supreme Court justices over the 247 years of our country. It's weird to think because there are 9 justices and they serve until they die or retire. I always thought there was a term limit for the justices but I was wrong.

The article changed how I think about the Supreme Court now because I now understand their significance and without them in our government body, it would be absolute chaos and our country would probably have crumbled years ago without them. Prior to reading this article, I've been under the assumption that the justices were corrupt and abused the legal system for their own ends much to harm the poor and vulnerable. But this article has shown me a new light of them and not to think of them as greedy people

My Top 5 Information Sources

 Reading the news is a low priority for many people nowadays. The news is usually condensed into a very short. yet descriptive Instagram posts because our generation has a shorter attention span and it's an easy way for accounts to amass likes. For me, I still have some news sources that I use for my interests because I won't be able to find them in big companies like the New York Times and the Washington Post.

The first source that I use quite frequently is 'Loudwire'. Loudwire is a website that is used for all of the latest rock news. Being a lover of rock and metal, I find this source very appealing because I always want to be updated with the latest rock news whether it's a famous musician's birthday, interviews, or just silly moments like "A Dog went to a Metallica Show". I recommend this site for people who like listening to 80s rock and metal and want to be updated regularly about the most recent news in the rock world.

The second source I use is "Dexerto". Dexerto is a news website dedicated to gaming. I like video games and the competitive scene that it has within it. I mainly use this site to be updated about my favorite games like "Counter-Strike", "Elden Ring", and "Metal Gear". Some of the articles on the website are crazy such as "1.9 Million People tune in to watch a Charity Football Match" the reason why people watched was because the players in the match were gaming st
reamers that are very popular in the gaming world and people want to watch them play a game of soccer to raise money for charity. At the end of match, they raised 2.4 million Euros. I would recommend this website for people who are interested in video games and "ESports".

The next source of information I use is "Guitar World". Guitar World I use for learning the latest on the guitar side of music. I play guitar myself and have been for the past 10 years now. I use this site to drool over some of the most beautiful guitars that I can never own because they cost upwards of $400,000. This website differs from "Loudwire" in the sense that it gives me articles and reviews on guitars, amplifiers, and pedals while also giving me some rock news as well. I highly recommend this website for people who want to learn more about guitars and who appreciate a wide variety of them or people who are interested in buying a guitar but don't know the fit for them.

The fourth source I use for information is "X" formerly "Twitter". I don't really use Twitter all that much, for me it's just a bunch of people ranting about some random stuff that I just don't really care for it. But the good thing I like about Twitter is the "What's happening" section. This part of Twitter gives me some of the latest news whether it's sports, movies, video games, and more. It's a very quick way of viewing what's going on in the world at the moment and is constantly fact-checked by the "Community Notes" which are Twitter users who are able to give the proper information if a tweet is lying about something with evidence to back up the notes. I recommend this to people who want the quick and simple version of a trending story without having to read through a 5-minute article.

The final source that I use for information is "Car And Driver". I primarily use Car and Driver for the latest car news when it comes to reviewing high-end luxury supercars and any manufacturing news for some popular car models coming to an end or an upgraded model that comes out with fancy new features and better performance. Also if you're interested in buying a car, you can read reviews about that very car you are interested in buying with ratings, pro and con lists, prices and features of interest for daily drivers. Overall, I would recommend this website to people who love cars and are always wanting the latest news about them and people who are interested in buying a car but don't know which one to get.