Moment of Zen 30.06.09

To be honest, today I havent't really found a moment of zen concerning our topic in class.
But what really kept me thinking recently is the video where iranian student Neda gets killed. Have you seen it? When I watched it for the first time, I thought that it is really disrespectful to show a girl's last minutes on earth and I wished I hadn't seen it myself.
But on the other hand this video might have helped to draw even more attention to the situation in Iran and get more people into it in order to stand up and support the people there-even if it's "only" in a protest vigil...And Neda has now become a "symbol" in the protest against the government:

What's your opinion?

A Media Mover

Ok, I did the test and it said that I am a media mover:

If you are a Media Mover, you have a wide range of online and mobile habits, and you are bound to find or create an information nugget, such as a digital photo, and pass it on. These social exchanges are central to your use of information and communication technology. Cyberspace, as a path to personal productivity or an outlet for creativity, is less important to you.

Mmh, I'm not sure how meaningful this test is. There were surely not enough questions to be able to find out what kind of Tech User I am. Of course, I use the internet quite often to get the information I need and I also use social webpages to stay in touch with friends and family-but aren't we all more or less the same?
As well as that, I don't think that my habits have significantly changed since taking our course. The only thing is that I try to look more specifically for the things I need or look for and not just vistit the first webpage that comes up when seraching something via google.

While doing this test I was thinking about my dependence from the internet and my mobile phone. It would be very hard for me to give up either and that is something that I don't actually like. Isn't it horrible to be that dependent from technical stuff? I wonder what would happen if I gave up using the internet for a few days or a week....Well, it's basically impossible, isn't it? University alone forces me to go online reguarly to do the taks I am supposed to do...

Moment of Zen 23.06.09

We are completely dependent from our alarm clocks. Have you ever thought about this? It rings, and we have to get up. But what if we don't get up...? We could miss our job interview or other important appointments. It has happened to me several times before and it's just so annoying cause you can't do anything about it. While still half-sleeping you press the wrong button and, yeah, good night again!
But there is something that might help you:






It appears absolutely horrible to me but I think these alarm clocks fulfill their tasks =)

Iowa Caucuses

I had never heard of these caucuses before and I am still not entirely sure why they are doing that. Why don't they just go a certain place and hand in their ballot? I guess the most important argument is that people come out, are motivated to discuss politically and try to convince others of their opinions.
Watch this video in order to get an impression of the caucuses:




But on the other hand, doesn't public voting easily lead to peer pressure and the fact that neighbours or friends basically fight against each other? They try to convince each other and I can imagine some friendships being broken by unprofessionally led conversations?
As well as that, people who haven't got that much free time might not want to spend their time discussing politics. Many people will not go to the caucuses and that then is not really democratic, is it?
But to stay fair, if you really want to vote you will be able to sacrifice some time!

Well, I guess the Americans know why they have installed such thing like the caucuses and will have their reasons for that. You always have pros and cons and the pros probably couunt more in this case. I myself find it a very interesting way of voting and would actually love to be part of a caucus if we had one in Germany!

Moment of Zen 16.06.09

I have recently been wondering why no other party has a serious chance to get nearly as many votes as the Democrates or the Republicans. Isn't that a shame and don't get many ideas or new points of view get lost through this "the-winner-takes-it-all-principle", namely that just the candidates who got most of the votes move on to the next step whereas all the votes for other canditates are just deleted? On the other hand you just argue that other parties won't have a chance anyway since the Republicans and the Democrates have by now completely established themselves...
Found this:

My political influence-does it exist at all?

I too attended last week's guest lecture by Mitchel Cohen and was surprised by it's structure. Mr Cohen didn't actually teach us something but rather encouraged us think about our personal political influence. He mentioned all these little actions where a few people went out and drew attention to their interests by doing crazy things. To be honest, I used to think that these actions wouldn't change anything. But I do get the point of trying to get attention by doing many things that don't seem to have a huge impact on anything-if you do that regularly or with many people politicians have to react to it.
So Mr Cohen got me think about all this again and made clear, how important it is to go out and express your feelings and opinions.
"Resitance is not only positive, but it's necessary" I like this sentence because it shows the importance of going out and expressing yourself. In order to try to be more politically active and fight for my interest I will go on strike next wednesday:

http://www.asta.uni-dortmund.de/2009/05/28/bildungsstreik-in-dortmund/

My weak point though is that I still don't think that I should attend every election that comes up. I didn't vote last sunday because I wasn't in Dortmund and, sorry, was too lazy to vote via postal vote. If I knew that my single voice can really be important and change something I would go and vote. But at the moment, I just don't see the utter necessity...

Oh dear, I do have the impression of having written in a very unstructured way-sorry for that, but there were so many thoughts in my mind that I tried to tie together.

But back to the lecture again: I was shocked by this situation in New York in 1999 where pesticides were set free in order to fight against mosquitos. That was just ridiculous: 7 people got sick through these mosquitos whereas 1000 got sick due to pesticides-this is unbelievable!

To sum this all up a little: I liked the guest lecture as it gave me many thought-provoking impulses. I also thought it was very good to have the audience participating in the lecture by asking questions or express their thoughts.

"Please don't raise your hands-just shout" -> That's what we are ought to do!!!

Moment of Zen 09.06.09

Last Tuesday we read the Introduction of Joe Trippi's The Revolution Will Not Be Televised and that made me thinking about money-yeah =) No, seriously, I was wondering whether people who run campaigns for politicians or develop other advertising strategies do actually think about what ideas their bosses stand for. Or do they just choose their jobs by figuring out where they can make the most money of it. I mean, isn't our world all about money? But then it is rather strange for someone running campaigns for a politician whose ideas he doesn't support himself. Well, I guess we rarely get to know it anyway and won't even realize it because these people work so professionally and can make a difference between their jobs and their private matter...

Moment of Zen 02.06.09

When we were talking about social networks today I started to think about a possible addiction to these internet-networks. I mean I do use e.g. studivz a lot and it really helps me to stay in touch with 'real' friends I don't see that often or quickly communicate with my uni-friends...But what if I deleted my account? What do you think? How would you feel? I think I would easily get the impression of missing something important. But I've got a friend who hasn't registered at any internet-network and studies well and has friends...Well, it got me thinking and I shall consider communicating more via 'old-fashioned' ways like talking, phoning or writing letters ;-)