First Podcast

Podcast!

My website...

...can be found here!

Image Manipulation

I brightened the sky that I used and layered three images on top of one another using the eraser tool. The topic of my image is parrots by the water, in an environment they typically aren't found.

Playing with Podcasts

Jungle sounds!

We used jungle sounds found online from FindSounds.com and changed the pitch on those sounds. Our voices are first as a description before the jungle sounds play.

MoveOn Grows Up

The online grassroots liberal political organization MoveOn.org started in 1998 and has grown ever larger during this election cycle. This article was about the power the organization has and how the site can affect change as well as help other blogs. It shows the power individual blogs have and what they can grow to become. MoveOn has over 4.2 million members and turned 10 years old this year. In the 2006 midterm elections they raised and spent $11 million more that th NRA. I think it's amazing the amount of power this organization has and the number of people they can reach. The blogging phenomenon in general is spectacular to me--I love that people can be so easily connected and the fact that people are now using it as a method of political intervention is another step forward. You can even see ads for MoveOn on Facebook, I think it's great that they are so effective with their methods of reaching people and raising money through the internet and emails. Something that Eli Pariser, head of MoveOn said really stuck with me, "back in 2001, people felt alone, like there was nothing you could do to get involved. Not anymore. People are finding each other. People are communicating. People are pumped up."


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/08/AR2008100803677.html

Dementia Patients Find Comfort In Robot

When I first read this headline, I wasn't sure what type of robot could comfort dementia patients. Would it be a robot similar to Rosie from the Jetsons and provide comfort by completing household chores or would it be some sort of robot that helped them remember people and things they otherwise could not have? I was wrong with both my guesses, the robot they are using at a retirement community in McLean, Virginia, is a furry seal that resembles a stuffed animal. The "robot" makes cooing noises when petted and can even talk to patients. I think this is a great idea since dementia patients often suffer from psychiatric disturbances and if this works as a way to calm them down or shift their moods, then I think it's great. It doesn't matter that they may think it is a real creature because even patients who know it's man-made don't seem to care. I'm glad this facility in McLean has five of the "robots" to help the dementia patients who live there.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/01/AR2008100101054.html?nav=hcmoduletmv