Sunday, September 25, 2011

The Beginnings of a Movement

http://article.wn.com/view/2011/09/25/Women_in_Saudi_Arabia_to_vote_and_run_in_elections/


The first thing I noticed was the contrast between the shiny purse and the burqas of the women. I think this draws attention to how Saudi Arabia still has a foot each in modern conveniences and also religious tradition- something that, by the United States' and Europe's example, does not last very long.
The next thing that I noticed was how the woman in the middle is raising the black fabric of her burqa away from her face. This symbolizes how the women of Saudi Arabia are slowly removing the restrictions on their rights. However, the fact that the women's eyes are averted suggests that women are still slightly timid in receiving their rights-they lack the determination that would have been showed had the picture shown them staring right at the camera.
Finally, I noticed the sharp contrast between the black material of the women's burqas to the men's white outfits in the background. This demonstrates the contrast between men's and women's roles and rights in Saudi Arabia-men hold the power while women are still struggling for basic rights, such as the vote. Additionally, the white trim on one of the women's burqas may demonstrate the beginning of women's movements towards those basic rights.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Am Opinion on a Longer Schoolday

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-edit-schools-20110918,0,3949554.story

 An editorialist of the Chicago Tribune commends 5 elementary schools in Chicago at having voted for making the school day 90 minutes longer and for wanting to make the change immediately. This, the writer says, will help the kids get a better education. The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) should not be trying to reverse the votes, the reporter notes, as the teachers and principles of the schools have already agreed to the deal, which includes a 2% raise and $75,000-150,000 for the school.

"A teaching moment." chicagotribune.com. The Chicago Tribune, 18 Sept. 2011. Web. 18 Sept. 2011

Sunday, September 11, 2011

An Omniscient Supercomputer Is In the Forecast

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14841018
Kalev Leetaru, from the University of Illinois, has performed a study with a supercomputer that takes in sources from Open Source Center and BBC Monitoring, and then scans the articles for mood/tone and location. The data was then put into SGI Altix supercomputer (Nautilus) which made graphs depicting shifts in the mood of a country, or a city, which gave some foresight into what would happen at the time. The study has only applied to past events, but Leetaru hopes to set up a real-time system to help predict major events before they happen.

"Supercomputer predicts revolution." bbc.co.uk. BBC News,  9 Sept. 2011. Web. 11 Sept. 2011.