Blog Post about WMS 150

In this era of technology where almost everyone, young children to the elderly, is adept at using electronic devices such as computers, laptops, TVs and cellphones, it comes to no surprise that a young adult such as myself is affluent in technology as well.
I think I am very capable to collaborate with others through digital media such as the Internet, as proven on this blog and other social media sites I participate in, and cellphones. I have a laptop, smart phone and other technological devices that I have learned to use since I was a child. I can easily send an email with a point and click, type up and attach Word documents, work with PowerPoint as well as Excel and make graphs, charts, and slides. I can create online and digital databases as proven through this blog as well as other blogs I have and I know how to use search engines such as Google, Yahoo and so on to retrieve information. I have taken computer science courses throughout my high school career and have learned the tricks, ins and outs of programs such as Excel and PowerPoint as well as Word Processor.
In other classes I have had multiple projects that require me to be proficient in technology and demonstrate my knowledge through spreadsheets and comparing one type of technology against another. I am able to use multimedia like uploading, viewing and downloading videos, audio files and pictures.
I understand legal, ethical and privacy issues in technology through this course as well as just being in the social media world and technology age. I know about online piracy and plagiarism as well as protecting one's information in the digital world.
For the next semester, I suggest a shorter and more direct syllabus, one textbook to use and incorporate in class discussions, more information on the legal, ethical and privacy issues in technology rather than making blog posts, and one final project rather than two. For next semester, the course should be more focused on Women and Community rather than Women and Technology. It should not be counted as a Computer Science course if the focus is more on Women. It should on the other hand, not be considered a Womens Studies course if women are rarely studied and rather making blog posts and watching videos online is the focus point of the class.

What is True Beauty?

They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but what happens when the eyes of the beholder are manipulated by the social media? Let's take a look at what beauty was perceived as back when Marilyn Monroe was the hottest pin-up. In the fifties, beauty was more about who you were as a person; meaning your character and about having a healthy and happy lifestyle. Marilyn Monroe was in fact between the size of 12-16 whereas models today are size 0 or even 00. Although Miss Monroe is still a fashion and sex icon in today's world, many young women and many adult women strive to achieve the "ideal body image" of a size 2 or 0.
This "ideal body image" is in fact quite unhealthy and nearly impossible to achieve, only 1-2% of people in the world have a figure of a model and most of us, although we perceive them as beautiful and elegant, can also see the hunger and eating disorder in their eyes.
So what is beauty? It SHOULD be your character, how you treat others and how others respect you and act toward you. it SHOULD be how determined and motivated you are no matter how difficult the circumstances or obstacles that may try to hinder your accomplishments and it SHOULD NOT be about how tiny your waist line is or if your thighs don't touch.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but the beholder must learn to wipe his glasses of all the dusty film.

Use of Contraceptives

Wiki- What is Al Jazeera?

Al Jazeera is an English version of the Arabic language news network. It was launched November 1, 1996 and is owned by the state of Qatar but is available worldwide. The name Al Jazeera means "The Island" and refers to the Arabian Peninsula. This network was initially launched to broadcast Arabic news and current affairs but has become world renowned and well respected since its exclusive coverage on the War in Afghanistan in which it was the only channel to do so. It has become internationally recognized and even Hillary Clinton said that it was "more informative and less opinion-driven than American journalism". Al Jazeera now not only broadcasts Arabic news but also has an English language channel called Al Jazeera International.

The official site is here:

http://www.aljazeera.com

How many more Civilians will it take to reach Democracy?

This is the death toll from 2008 from this blog: 

http://iammarcel.com/Political%20Commentary/

Quite interesting how many Iraqis have been killed versus how many Americans and coalition members

Bush Tries to Revive Support for Iraq War as Death Toll Exceeds 2,000 (2005)

The Return of Riverbend

So I found this blogger, olivebranch, who is fond of Riverbend's Baghdad Burning. She was inspired by Riverbend to start blogging herself! Anyway, here is a link to one of the posts I found interesting, she lists her favorite quotes from Riverbend and I find them quite witty and amusing.

Here's the link:

http://bloggerslinks.blogspot.com/2005/09/return-of-riverbend-baghdad-burning.html

Baghdad Burning p.1

So for the past two weeks I've been devouring this book Baghdad Burning by Riverbend. The author is a semi-anonymous Iraqi woman blogging her perspective during the Occupation of Iraq. I say Occupation because I've always thought about it like this, I never agreed with the "War on Terrorism" or finding "Weapons of Mass Destruction" or the "War on Iraq". It's an Occupation and the more I read about it from an Iraqi citizen's point of view rather than the propaganda and fluffy news we hear about in America, the more I become aggravated about the situation.
First, I am not American I am Canadian however I am a legal "alien" in the United States. I have grown up half of my life in various parts of Canada and the other half up until now, in various parts of the US. I have travelled and have lived in many places and feel that I am well cultured. I have much more to learn and much much more to experience and I am open to new ideas, cultures and expressions. I am very interested in politics, more than many Americans I believe, and have an even bigger interest in global issues.
The Occupation in Iraq has always seemed interesting to me especially since the Bush administration and the Obama administration are really the only ones I remember well enough in my brief history in America. (I don't remember much about Clinton but I agree with him and my father's a supporter)
It's terrifying and quite.... awakening?....to truly see how Iraqis must deal with daily bombings, raids, assassinations, a puppet government among countless other things that are beyond imaginable to us.
I could go on and on but I'll leave that for other posts to come. Right now, I'm craving some spaghetti.