February 2021

“Each robot is electric, has a trunk that can fit about 20 pounds of cargo, and has a suite of cameras around the outside that can be used to identify obstacles and help guide the robot to its destination.”

This article connected to something that I have already understood.  Attending my freshmen year at the University of Mississippi I was not only introduced to the campus by wonderful southern hospitality but also these weird-looking white boxes flying around campus with an orange plag up top.  At first, I didn’t pay any mind to it until I heard people talking about the Starship delivery robots. I was actually surprised at what these robots could do.  Skeptical tested them out a couple of different times.  My first attempt it was taking very long for my food to arrives so I decided to take a walk to find my missing robot and came across it stuck behind a pole.  As sophisticated these robots are they still seem to have a few design flaws that can be worked out.  All in all I have used the delivery system more than once and think that it works great. I could connect the reading to the personal experiences I had with them.

“The company, which is valued at $38 billion…Adding to the concern is that last month, Juul took a $12.8 billion investment from Altria, the tobacco giant behind Marlboro and other popular brands, in exchange for 35 percent of the company.”

Following up after reading this article really made me question a couple of different aspects of this hot topic.  The first thing that came to mind was how Juuls ultimately started the teen vaping epidemic in which Juul has seen legal repercussions.  Furthermore, I did not know just how much money this company is worth.  With 37.8 billion users the company is valued at $38 billion which is mind-boggling.

1. The writing process for this essay was similar to my past essays in a couple of different key ways.  The first being my research. Looking through all of my sources and finding the two that I would like to write about.  After picking the reading going through and picking key parts of the article to write about and put that down on a notepad for later reference.  After getting all information I feel like I need its time to start on the rough draft.
2. The way that this essay was a little different was the way that I organized my ideas for my writing on the paper.  I have never before used a synthesis matrix to organize my ideas before.  And honestly, I think it helped everything be more clear. I didn’t have to constantly jump back and forth between my readings because most of it was in front of me.  This helped show me how to compare my two sources and also show the key points both readings offered.
3. I was not in this class last semester and my blog posts were a bit different than these.  Also, I cannot find any of the posts that were on my blog from my last professor.

“Mobile phones are transforming how people in the developing world access and use information, and adoption rates are soaring. There are already more than 650 million phone users in Africa, and close to 3 billion across Asia.”

After reading Our future selves, I came across this quote and there was a couple of things that made me think about something I haven’t before, and also there was new information to me.  First, off the quote about the adoption rate soaring makes me think why? Why would the rates be soaring now? Is it because everyone is so in tune with their virtual life that they can’t seem to take care of a newborn child? Are they immature? I just don’t know why this was included that in here. Then the fact that there are 3 billion phone users in Asia when the entire population is about 4.1 billion.  When I think of that it really means that almost every single person in Asia has a cellphone in use or maybe two.  The ones not accounted for on the list must either be the elderly or newborns. This statistic really opened my eyes to how in tune our world is with technology these days.

I thought of a connection between how today we talked about the American dream, what it was and what it’s like now, In the reading about the boomerang kids, the parents don’t want their kids to leave and also today in the where Americans find meaning the study showed a large percentage pointing towards family time and being together just as the boomerang kids don’t want to leave their parents.

“In fact, for the first time in American history, the majority of parents do not think that their kids will be better off than they were. This is true of rich and poor, men and women. Now, some of you might hear this and feel sad.”

“This quote from the Ted Talk did make me question something.  Why would parents think of their children this way.  If/when I have kids I want to raise them the best I can to go out and become better off than me. I would have thought that all parents would try to raise their kids to be as successful or better than they were and not thinking that their kids will not be better off than they were and to me that’s terrible. I feel exactly what the quote says”

“Across both surveys, the most popular answer is clear and consistent: Americans are most likely to mention family when asked what makes life meaningful in the open-ended question, and they are most likely to report that they find “a great deal” of meaning in spending time with family in the closed-ended question.”

This quote in the reading gives us the outcome of the two surveys done and I can honestly not be surprised to see that the most popular answer was being with family.  When I think about what makes me happy I first think about what I like to do and most of the activities I do is always with my brother, so with the activity, I also enjoy every moment with my little brother and he is always there for me as I will be for him.  Not only does hanging out with family make me happy I find the most meaning in life sharing memories with the ones that I love the most. One thing that I may ask the authors would be why they didn’t do more than two groups of surveys.

“…It isn’t because those who are slightly dissimilar get along better. Rather, it’s the nature of small campuses. “A smaller, more intimate place leads to closer relationships as a general rule,” he said.”

Reading this article made me think about my/our school and now relationships are here.  Ole Miss is not a huge school by any means 21 thousand students in attendance is a good number but some will say it’s small. In a town like Oxford (a small southern town) people are generally already nicer to each other.  When walking around campus people love to wave, smile, carry on a conversation with you, and of course party in the grove all together and get along fairly well. Especially in times like these when the school and town in on lockdown everyone has a little sympathy for each other and don’t think twice about helping out.  Even if you don’t befriend someone they will still hold the door for you.  Now with friend groups, I can say they are closer than ever and certainly have a good relationship.  Also outside of friend groups and greek life, the Ole Miss Rebs are all one family. Hotty Toddy

“..And 60 percent of all young adults receive financial support from them. That’s a significant increase from a generation ago, when only one in 10 young adults moved back home and few received financial support.”

While reading this article I came across this section where a piece of factual information caught my eye.  In the current situation that I find myself in going out of state for college, I will ultimately find myself fresh out of college moving back into my parent’s house working to pay off my student debt.  What I did not know though was that 60% of young adults still receive financial support from their parents.  This makes me really want to try my best in school so that by my senior year I will have a job set up for me to take off after school and start my career while paying off my loans and hopefully not having to have no choice but to be dependant on my family. This also makes me think if people don’t see a problem with moving back in after college. Also thinking about how last generations students 9 out of 10 went onto start their lives on their own in their own living space while that 10% will go back home and move in with their parents.  Especially in today’s day, I see that being a problem with covid as well.