Through the invention of such things as iPods, Video Games, Cell Phones, and other technology, our lives have become more convenient.

Another example of how technology influences our lives is the invention of the Internet. Now that we have the Internet, people can find any information with out leaving the comfort of our homes. I’m not gonna lie, but I have made more trips to the library as a child than the college student that I am now and I am having difficulty dealing with the fact that I have to get an actual book because I got so use to looking up all the information on the Internet from Junior high and High school.
Another way that the Internet has changed our lives is the Instant Messaging programs well known as AIM. Teenagers these days are so influenced that they are on it all the time talking to people. The phrase “talking to people� doesn’t even mean actually talking to people in person. It can be talking to people online, text messaging, or even e-mails. I believe that through the availability of new technology, some words have lost its true meaning. Today we do not need to talk to people in person as much as we use to and I think that it is hurting us in a way that some people are becoming less and less social in person. Again with the AIM as an example, we may talk to a certain person online, but not when it comes to in person.

When I think about technology and power, I think of electronic companies and other corporations. Whatever they come out with, we accept it as a new technology that is supposed to be a good thing. These companies have so much control over our lives that they make their products so that we keep on buying and encourage incorporating their products in our lives. Some examples of this is the Apple corporation and Sony. Apple came out with the iPods and almost everybody today has one. Sony always causes chaos with its release of new Play Stations. Recently, when the PS 3 was released a man was shot and killed while trying to buy one of them. There were others that got trampled in the crowd rushing to get their hands on the new technology. Many people camped out days, outside the store just for a Video Game.

As long as these companies keep on coming out with new products, I don’t think that we will ever get over the technopolies that we have encountered in our lives and those companies will continue to control the way we live.

These shoe companies use mathematic calculations and shapes to deliver the best support for the runner or the athlete. The mathematics determines which shapes best suits its purpose, whether running or walking. As you can see in Nike’s Shoxs, the walking shoes have smaller Shox on them and the running shoes have bigger Shox because running requires more cushioning to take in the strike force of every stride.

Today there are even shoes that can calculate. Such shoe will calculate the difference in strike force of each step and automatically adjust its cushioning to whatever environment you are in, like the Adidas_1 which has a micro processor that can do up to 5 million calculations per second.

When you look around, almost everything requires design and what ever requires design in many cases require some sort of math, whether it be clothing design dealing with transforming 2D into 3D forms, the aerodynamic shapes of cars and planes, or the design of buildings.
I always wonder how different our world would have been if our Mathematics were based on a different basis or if Archimedes’s notebooks, filled with mathematics that we are far far away from achieving, were never destroyed.

It was almost a month ago, I went to Tiffany & Co. at the Galleria Mall in Edina with my dad to buy my mom a birthday present. As we were picking out which necklace to get her, I noticed a familiar name next to a collection of unique jewelries. I stood there staring at the name, thinking so hard, who is this guy? I know him from somewhere... when I saw these pieces

I just thought it was cool to see architects work on things other than buildings because it brings out or creates a new kind of product. As many of you know, many famous architects, both in the past and present, are active in furniture design, clothing and other professions that are based on design.
This has made me realize the many possible careers that I can pursue with a degree in architecture.

As it is right around registration time, these things have made me think if I should take sculpture or painting of some sort. That way, maybe if I study and work hard enough, I will be able to become an architect like Le Corbusier who was also a painter and sculptor.

... I just found out Frank Gehry even does watches for Fossil....

Pictures Provided by and www.kirikou.com

Back when cave men still existed, they struggled to stay alive in the dark because they had absolutely no light at night. Through the invention of fire, they eliminated that opposition of sunlight duration and was able to work longer hours and their days became longer.

Today we are able to work as long as we want because we have light with a flip of the light switch. When it is dark outside, we can just turn the light on and continue on with our activities. This creation of light/fire has made many changes to the human lives just like many other oppositions that we encouter in our daily lives. the way we live, dress, eat are some ways oppositions in different areas can affect us. As we all know oppositions will always be existent in our lives and they will show us the differnt paths that we could take in our life time which will make life more interesting.

As I was doing my homework for English writing my pre-writing for the next big paper, I realized that the pen I was using was a Phenomena. The pen that I was using was from a family friend in Japan and she gave it to me as a graduation gift. It is a Staedtler Avant-Garde Light pen and has three different writing utensils all in one. this pen has Black and Red ball-point and 0.5mm mechanical pencil built inside.

Some of the essential attributes of the Staedtler Avant-Garde Light pen are: Aluminum, Black and Red Ball-Point pen, 0.5mm Mechanical pencil, an eraser, lead refills, weights, and the casing.

Frameworks of this pen include: German made, metal, the three different utencils, the body casing, and the weights.

Clockworks include: the change in style of the pens within the German utencil company Straedtler and how you change the pens by turning the pen you want to use upward and letting gravity do the work. i guess its kind of hard to explain in words how it works but once you use this pen, you will know what i'm talking about.

The Phenomena here is how the pen uses gravity to its advantage to shift between the three different kinds of pens. Whenever I use the pen, it always amuses me because its so mysterious how the German company came about to create this sleek simple and futuristically designed pen. It also amuses me how they put all of that into an average sized pen. This pen is also a good example of how simple things like a Pen has a lot to do with design.

For my Blog assignment #3, I chose the Gas Works Park in Seattle, WA. It has many meaning to me and to the the city of seattle. This park use to be a gas powered power plant and provided power for much of Seattle in the early 1900's. today it has been turned into a park for people of all ages. It is located right on Lake Union, across the lake from Downtown Seattle.

I chose this park because I use to go there with my family all the time back when I lived in seattle. Everytime we go on a vacation to seattle, we always spend a day at the park to play and just enjoy the scenery. This is my favorite park because it reminds me of all the good times me and my family had there when I was little. Just being there makes me feel relaxed and back at home. One of the cool thing is that it makes me feel like a kid once again. It is a great feeling that I can not experience anywhere else.
The best part of the park is the view of Downtown Seattle. you can see everything from the Space Needle to the skyline and all the interactions that go on on the lake; people on boats, planes flying and landing on water, or even fighter jets, Blue Angels, practicing their routines for the flight show.

overall, I would say that the Genius Loci of this park is how it is very relaxing and beautiful place. In a way it brings everything thats going around in the city all in one spot. Even though the Gas Works Park is no longer a power plant, I believe it still provides the city with great power in a spiritual sense.

When rebuilding the city, they could make houses on stilts to prevent damage from minor floods. For example, most houses in the country side of Hawaii along the shoreline are built on stilts so that incase the seawater washes overshore, the water will cause no damage to the actual building it self. If rebuilding was to occur in New Orleans, they could make cheap houses using that technique. The house that I saw in Hawaii didn't seen like they were very costly. They were like a box on top of columns that supported it up. Kind of like a mini version of Le Corbusier's Villa Savoie.
Another thing they could do is to build the highway above sea level so that even if a disaster like this occurs again, there would at least be a way to transport people in and out of the affected areas.

if we would have thought of simple things like building houses off the ground and roads above the sea level earlier when planning the development of the city, many lives could have been saved.