Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Celebrating MLK at the Cathedral
The Cathedral looks like a Castle or a Fortress made of stone. It is tall and strong Cathedrals, churches and other houses of worship have protected people from physical threats throughout the ages. Believers will say that they are protected from moral and spiritual threats.
The stained glass window is shaped like a circle. There is no beginning and no end. Just like God. But in the middle of the circle especially when there is light, there is beauty and it is complicated. Just like life.
Abraham Lincoln has come to symbolize an ideology of righteousness, unity, equality, justice. This statue of him and the quote in the background shows strength and intelligence. Seeing this statue at the Cathedral as the Martin Luther King Day mass was going on brought together the two men in my mind under the same ideology.
A little boy listening to a preyers and paying a close attention to the orator
Another person paying close attention to ritual orator
The gathering in the Cathedral is like other gatherings of people for thousands of years. These people gather to pray, sing and celebrate Martin Luther King Jr’s life and message. They gather in the church as part of a ritual. They sing as a way of showing their emotion. Rituals of gathering and expressing emotion give comfort. We can find each other in rituals like these people have found each other in the Cathedral. A community is formed from people sharing rituals together.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
From mostly whose funding has the development of computers as we know them come?
From reading this article I can see that the funding to develop computers has often come from the US Government and that the technology was supposed to be helping with defense. The article says that the first computer was actually built in order to help the US with fighting World War II. After that, even though scientists may have wanted to pursue developing electronics for communication or even creative reasons, the foundation that two scientists, Bush and Weiner, began was funded by the US Government and was meant to be pursuing national defense research. It wasn’t until the 1970s with scientist Kay that computer research moved away from military institutions. Since government funding has supported science and technology, scientists have been able to develop machines that go far beyond just contributing to national security. Now, these machines contribute also to national creativity and globalization. Since the US is now at war in at least two countries plus the War on Terror, the government is focused a lot on defense. Who knows what kind of technological innovation will result from this focus and how scientists and society will eventually use it?