Reflection on Second Semester

I have become more and more confident in my reading ability and my ability to comprehend what I am reading. I have also learned how to analyze what I am reading faster. I would still like to be able to improve my comprehension so i am able to do the harder reading questions confidently. I would also like to keep improving my ability to analyze movies.

Progress

1.How would you define “progress”?

Progress is moving forward toward a goal or through time. 

2.What period in time is referred to as the Progressive Era? Why? 

The progressive era was from the 1890s to the 1920s. It was called the Progressive era because of all social and political reform during this time period. 

3.What types of issues and actions, and achievements are associated with the Progressive Era? (Minimum:  5-6)  (You can also use your text for research)

-race 

-immigration

-work safety

-poverty 

-population control

-rise in crime

-drug abuse and alcoholism 

4.Progressives had lots of goals. Analyze the list you've made and determine:  What do progressive reforms seem to have in common?

All progressive reforms seem to try to make to world a safer, and fair place. They all try to solve a problem or argument. 

5.Evaluate the major goals of Progressives and sort them into these 4 categories: (Or make your own categories or ranking system), such as best to worst.

1. Essential goals worth striving for/ Necessary changes
2. Good Goals – not strictly necessary but could really improve life
3. Strange Goal
4. Not a good idea

2. immigration
1. work safety
1. poverty 
3. population control
1. rise in crime
2. drug abuse and alcoholism 

1. race
Sources:

http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/powerpoint/Social_Issues.ppt.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/progressive

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Era

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/era.cfm?eraid=11

Thinking about the future

1. What predictions about the future were people making 100 years ago? 50 years ago? (Find 3-4 articles or discussions to look over.)

-Solar powered house

-Space exploration 

-americans would be taller 

-tanks

-ready to cook meals 

-telephones that can call around the world 

-police would have x-rays 

- Flying Machines 

-Movable Houses 

-Airships 

-undersea ships 

-good weather machine 

-roofed city 

-ship railway

-theatre 

-moving sidewalk 

2. Determine if the list is a “wish list” – as in, these are the things one might hope for in the future, or more a warning. 

I think many of the predictions are things people would want to happen, but i also think that there are some predictions that focused more on what will happen than what they want to happen. 

3. Which predictions seem to have come true? Which turned out to be bizarre, off-track, or still out of reach?

Ones that came true are. 

-Solar powered house

-Space exploration 

-americans would be taller 

-tanks

-ready to cook meals 

-telephones that can call around the world 

- Flying Machines 

-Movable Houses 

-Airships 

-undersea ships 

Some of the bizarre ones are the good weather machine, the roofed city, and the ship railway.

4. Can you identify any trends or patterns in these predictions? What concerns or achievements do they seem focused on?  For example, do people in general seem to be anticipating a better world? 

Many of the advancements in the future focus on ways to make life better and solving problems. They focus on problems like having to do a lot of work, walk far, and not having good weather and have inventions that would solve them. People in general do seem to be anticipating a better world.

5. It is your turn to predict a future world.  What do you see?  

-wifi all-around the world 

-holograms 

-wireless and contactless charging

-no more lab tops, only tablets

-activity monitoring clothing 

-HUD contacts 

-hover board, one that actually flies 

-much faster downloading speed

- storage relying on cloud storage a whole lot more 

-lightsabers 

-no more paper

-no more paper books 

-hand held laser guns and rail guns 

-ways to stop hurricanes 

-marijuana will be legal

-gravity controlling technology 

-robot doctors for checkups 

6. How much control over the future do we actually have? As individuals? As groups?/Government?

I think we have a lot of control over the future, the future is controlled by anything or anyone if they decide to change it or try to. 

sources:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-world-will-be-wonderful-in-the-year-2000-110060404/?no-ist

 (Links to an external site.)http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16444966

 (Links to an external site.)http://www.openculture.com/2013/12/ladies-home-journal-publishes-28-predictions.html

 (Links to an external site.)http://mentalfloss.com/article/57835/12-predictions-year-2000-19th-century-german-chocolate-company

 (Links to an external site.)http://www.openculture.com/2013/08/isaac-asimovs-1964-predictions-about-2014.html

 (Links to an external site.)http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/france-in-the-year-2000-1899-1910/

 (Links to an external site.)http://www.openculture.com/2013/09/robert-heinlein-imagines-the-year-2000.html

 (Links to an external site.)

How do you analyze a political cartoon

       After looking at the Library of Congresses Cartoon Analysis Guide . I learned that i should first identify what type of persuasive technique the author is using. Then i should ask these questions. What issue is this cartoon about? What opinion is it trying to convey?

Philippine war cartoon 

This cartoon shows  the Greedy US merchants and traders going into Philippines because the US is holding the door open for them.

Philippine Purchase

This political cartoon is about how America bought the Philippines from Spain and how the US is trying to control them from so far away and it is not working and how Spain is walking off with 20 million dollars. 

American as a Empire

This political cartoon is about how America has acquired many new territories and is trying to control them, but is not doing so successfully. It also shows how many of the new territories are like babies, therefore needing help from the US.

Eddie Aikau

1.Eddie Aikau tries to preserve the culture of Hawaii and surfing.
2. This films angle showed how the Americans and other non Hawaiians came to Hawaii and took over it and disregarded Hawaiian culture, and it shows how Eddie help unite everyone with surfing.
3. Since this film was made by ESPN it focused more on surfing as a sport and not as much on the historical parts of Eddies story. The film makers most likely assumed the people watching this documentary were interested in surfing and wanted to see surfing.
4. If this film had been made by the history channel then it would have most likely focused more on history and no have talked about how Eddie was such a great big wave surfer, and all of the competitions.

Phrenology bust research

Today I observed people researching a Phrenology bust. They first made their observations, then they started researching on their computer. They started of using search terms such as " Phrenology and Phrenology Bust." Then they went on to start researching the years they were made. One person in my group rescued all of the writing on the Bust, while the other person researched how to tell if it was a real Phrenology bust. We learned that these are no longer in use and that the one we were observing was not real, but a replica. Provenance- the place of origin or the earliest know history of something.

Urban Life

           Without the new inventions such as electric companies, bridges, skyscrapers, and new forms of transportation, Urban life would not have been the same in the late 19th century and the early 20th century.

Edison Electric first generator

            After the invention of the light bulb and other utilities that needed electricity, the need and want for public electricity was very high. Edison Electric Illuminating company was the first electricity company in America. On September 4,1882 they started up their 27 ton generator that powered 1,100 lights. The price that they were charging was even competitive enough to compete with gas prices. Soon more and more electrical companies emerged, and by the end of 1900 there were 30 companies distributing and generating electricity.

The first Skyscraper

Cast iron and steel skyscraper frame

            The electrical companies also helped solve a big problem with skyscrapers. No one wanted to walk up 5 or more flights of stairs so buildings had to be shorter, but with electricity now being accessible to buildings it now allowed them to have elevators. The first skyscraper was finished on January 1, 1885, it was designed and built by William Le Baron Jenny from Massachusetts. Many architects before him had trouble getting building to be very tall, and now where near skyscraper tall. Building were nearly impossible to make taller then 5 stories. The construction of them was also very dangerous and expensive. Then in the 1870s there was a new method of constructing tall buildings, using cast iron and steel beams. This made buildings much taller and allowed for even more people to live in a smaller space.

Current picture of the Brooklyn Bridge

           More people living in a smaller space caused the need for new bridges and road. The reason bridges could not before the 1870s be that long was just like how buildings could not be that tall, the builders did not have strong enough materials to build them with. The use of steel beams, cast iron, and a new form of bridge, the suspension bridge, allowed for bridges like the Brooklyn bridge to be built. The Brooklyn Bridge was finished in 1833 and is still in use. Over 600 workers worked on it, and it helped connect Manhattan and Brooklyn. The need for larges bridges was not the only transportation problem. Many cities needed roads to accommodate the heavy traffic flow. Streets were too narrow and not paved. Cities soon developed new was to pave roads, but that still did not solve the traffic problem.

The first elevated railroad

            Cities started to realize that everyone needing their own personal form of transportation in a urban environment was not going to work, it was just way too crowded. Many cites turned to public transportation in an effort to solve their transportation issues. The only problem was they did not have enough space to put a big train running through a city, so they had to find new forms of transportation. In 1870 New York
opened the first elevated railway in an attempted to solve the transportation problem. In Richmond Virginia the first electric trolley was constructed in 1888. By the end of 1895 more than 850 towns had electric trollies. For some cities such as Boston electric trolleys  were not enough to solve their transportation issue. The trolley lines were moved underground in Boston to not take up space above group, therefore inventing subways. The first subway in Boston was finished in 1897. Soon New York got a subway too. It was the largest subway in American. It was 9.1 miles long and had 28 stations.
            All of these inventions allowed for cites to become even more urbanized. Solving the problems in these cities often created new ones, but it did not keep the inventors from trying to solve all of the problems that came with an Urban life.

Sources:

1.Conedison is the first electrical company supplying electricity to homes in New York. This is their website.

2.This website page on history.com tells some of the history of the Brooklyn Bridge.

4. This an Guardian article about the history of cities and it talks about the first skyscrapers.

5.This is an website for the Transit Museum and it talks about the kinds of transportation in history and when they were invited, where and how.

6. This is a history.com article about the first subway to open in the USA.

7. This is an article by the New York Subway Organization about the first above ground subway in the USA.

8. This is the book we are learning from in class. I researched about skyscrapers, transportation, and electricity in it.