11 thoughts on “BLOG-PROG # 3

  1. This week for Blog Proj #3, I decided to focus on an opinion piece written by Sofia Aguilar, entitled “Elmo asked how everybody is doing, why aren’t we asking each other?”, which analyzes the societal implications surrounding the recent “Twitter drama” involving Elmo, the main character of the children’s show Sesame Street. This all began on January 29th, 2024, when Elmo tweeted, “Elmo is just checking in! How is everybody doing?”. This tweet received thousands of responses, with many of them containing heartfelt and honest thoughts about people’s mental health. The author goes on to write that this outpouring of messages and resulting discussion about declining mental health is rooted in our societal tendency to bottle up our real emotions. She argues that, because of the capitalist society we are socialized under in the United States, we base our value only on our productivity, and this causes our mental health to be deprioritized. Aguilar suggests that we begin looking after each other more intuitively, more genuinely, and viewing our mental health as something to maintain, not just something to brush aside.

  2. The MIT community assesses strategies for reducing carbon footprint on campus – https://thetech.com/2024/02/08/decarb-mit

    This article discusses the initiative at MIT to eliminate carbon emissions from their campus by 2050. They are working towards achieving this by starting a new Decarbonization Working Group, which operates as a part of their Climate Nucleus, which was established using MIT’s Fast Forward Climate plan for the decade. The committee is made up of MIT faculty, staff, and students, who inform the administration on the efforts to decarbonize the campus’s energy system.
    It’s led by two co-chairs; Julie Newman, the Director of Sustainability for the institute, and Christoph Reinhart, who works as a professor in the Architecture Department. The goal of this group is to test and develop new energy efficient processes and solutions before their deployment across the world.
    The group is starting work in February 2024, where they will assess current technologies for implementation on campus, as well as visit locations where decarbonization technology is already in use to evaluate their efficiency and effectiveness. The group’s findings will be published in a report to MIT by the end of 2024.

    Flagship Pioneering CEO, Moderna co-founder, Noubar Afeyan PhD ’87 to deliver Class of 2024 Commencement address – https://thetech.com/2024/02/01/noubar-afeyan-2024-commencement-speaker

    This article discusses the presence of Noubar Afeyan at the 2024 OneMIT Commencement Ceremony, occurring May 30th. Dr. Afeyan is the co–founder of the company Moderna, responsible for development of one of the COVID-19 vaccines. He is currently the CEO of Flagship Pioneering, which is a venture capital company that has invested in over 100 new biotechnology startups. The article discusses his background, with him studying Chemical Engineering at McGill University and biochemical engineering at MIT (earning his Ph.D).
    It then goes on to describe an interview conducted by one of the Tech’s journalists with him. He details his thoughts on the Institute, stating that it is a unique school due to it’s position in shaping the future. He then details his path in the biotechnology industry, describing his path from founding his first company in 1987, to his rise in prominence in terms of working in investing in different biotech startups.
    He then details his opinions on attitudes for success, describing innovation and entrepreneurship as a “Darwinian” evolutionary process. He goes on to state that often people tend to try to learn too much from their failures, focusing on them too much, and to keep an open mind to new ideas and change. The article then describes the commencement ceremony, which will take place over three days from May 29th to 31st, with the undergraduate class of 2024 receiving diplomas on May 31st.

  3. Blog Proj Week 3
    “Fashionable and functional: UW researchers develop new smart earrings that track body temperature” By Cassie Diamond

    https://www.dailyuw.com/news/fashionable-and-functional-uw-researchers-develop-new-smart-earrings-that-track-body-temperature/article_55c68004-cbad-11ee-9ade-53c5bce1b924.html

    Developing from the University of Washington, researchers found a way to create an earring “thermometer”. The contraption can accurately identify the wearer’s internal body temperature changes. It can indicate the shift through bodily triggers, like eating or exercising. They found that an earring is better able to track body temperature due to its closer proximity to the head, unlike a watch. Shirley Xue, a fifth-year Ph.D. student in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering, is the co-lead author of the research and formulated the idea for this fashionable device when considering how common such jewelry is. She recognizes its potential benefit for humans in more ways than just as accessories. The researcher’s goal is to create a second prototype that can include more physiological trackers such as heart rate, exercise, and maybe blood pressure sensors. Some troubles faced by those involved were the size of a typical earring compared to a thermometer, the battery life of a tiny device, and Bluetooth accessibility to transmit information. Xue hopes these devices improve the lives of people through the convenience of such health detectors.

  4. This story is the third installment of the blog proj from LSUs top and trending stories from the Reville. I read their segment of “A Week in Batton Rouge” small paragraphs about current events that may intrest some of the people of Baton Rouge and LSU. All of these things were notible and easy reading. They provide a small description with the event, the location, and the direcions on what you need to do. For example Mondy Feburary 19th “225 Theatre Collective Monday Night Live Improv The Station The 225: Theatre Collective will be hosting an improv night with local actors at The Station from 7–10 p.m. Actors will be performing skits that are completely improvised and promised to make you laugh. Tickets are $10 and you can reserve your seat here. ” ( LSU the Reville )

  5. https://thesuffolkjournal.com/42873/news/kelly-lamb-discuss-arming-supd-in-sga/

    The first article I chose to read was “Kelly, Lamb discuss arming SUPD in SGA” by Maren Halpin. The article describes an meeting observed by the Student Government Association between Marisa Kelly, President of Suffolk University and Robert Lamb, Chair of the Board of Trustees discussing the idea of arming the college police force. The decision will be mainly decided by a board of students taking place in a forum on March 26th. The idea was brought forward when conversations of active shooter protocols were happening, and many believe that the Suffolk police would not be able to be able to respond effectively to this kind of emergency without being armed. While Boston police would also respond, in the past, they have had a slow response time due to city traffic and high activity rate. An address has been submitted to the Senate regarding this issue, and the response will dictate the school’s plan moving forward. Halpin explains this issue quite thoroughly, including thoughtful quotes, exact dates, and an effective lede.

    https://thesuffolkjournal.com/42869/opinion/opinion-the-academy-needs-to-recognize-black-artists/

    The second article I chose to read is titled “OPINION: The Academy needs to recognize Black artists” by Avery Martin. Martin explains that she believes that the Grammys have failed to recognize black artists when choosing recipients for awards. She further explains that in the Academy’s history, they have failed to recognize black artists in the rap category, which is a music genre created and led by black artists. Martin goes on to explain the timeline of this injustice, starting from the first recognition of hip-hop in 1989, where the Academy did not televise this category. Martin concludes by explaining a few examples of black artists being nominated and losing to white artists, each of which she made a compelling argument for, and I agreed with. Overall, this article is both well written and relevant.

  6. Blog Proj #3
    “UM Library champions textbook affordability” by Denton Jenkins published February 16th 2024. About how textbooks are so expensive and how professors are looking for alternative resources. Like the library buying e books of the text books and letting students use them, so it is free to the students. In the end it seems to really be up to the faculty deciding to assign books that don’t cost a lot or that are needed for the class. I think this is interesting because I had a professor last semester that used all free resources on his books that were accessible for everyone and free, through the library or just on its own.
    https://thedmonline.com/um-library-champions-textbook-affordability/

  7. The article I chose to write about for this week is called “UNH graduate students move closer to unionizing: Low pay, high housing costs key issues”. I wasn’t sure whether or not I needed to capitalize that if the title itself isn’t capitalized. The title… is very self explanatory with regards to what the article is actually about. Apparently, across the country, graduate students in various colleges are beginning to unionize, fighting for better pay and lower housing costs, as the title so blatantly spells out for us, but also for other benefits they feel (rightfully so) that they should be getting, like insurance, better benefits, better means of transportation, and worker protection. Most graduate students are only payed about $22 thousand a year, which… isn’t a lot. This student union is happening during a “budget reset” on the UNH campus, where they’re doing a $14 million cut to many of their expenses, but apparently morale towards the cause is still going high.

  8. They Shoot, They Score!…And I Sit & Snack
    https://concordiensis.com/5398/opinions/they-shoot-they-scoreand-i-sit-snack/

    In early February 2024, Union held its Mayor’s Cup hockey game playing against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). This game has been an annual tradition for 11 years and resulted in a ‘huge win’ for the Union men’s team. The article reports an end score of five to three which makes this the third year Union has won. The team jumped ahead early on in the first period and later gained three goals within 20 minutes all scored by different players. Due to the publicity of this game, a reported 6,000 viewers came which left the arena a bit crowed. Luckily, guests were able to stay happy with the concession snacks like chicken tenders and stellar-fired dough bites. The atmosphere produced by the hockey game is exhilarating and enjoyable for many. It’s such a big part of student life and always results in a good time!

    Union Men’s Soccer Ends 32-Year Ithaca Drought!
    https://concordiensis.com/5142/sports/union-mens-soccer-ends-32-year-ithaca-drought/

    Staying consistent with the sports, during the fall season, the Union men’s soccer team competed against Ithaca’s team for a blackout-themed game. For the first half of the game, each team fought their best and eventually, one of Union’s seniors scored the first goal with an assessment from a sophomore player. Then during the second half, an Ithaca player made their team’s first goal. Eventually, with 30 minutes left in the game, Union was able to pull away and in the end won the match two to one. This win is important because it’s the team’s first win over Ithaca’s team in 32 years! The men’s team is projected to have a successful season.

  9. For Week 3 of the blog Proj I read an article titled “Winter Time Greens” which was published on february 16th 2024. This article was a very short piece in terms of actual words written, and mostly served as a puff piece for the UVM Greenhouse, and was mostly a photo gallery of different plants being grown in the Greenhouse, all of the photos were absolutely stunning, but something that really stood out to be about this article was its opening line which was. “A jungle stands in an unlikely home: the very center of UVM.” I don;t really know why this line stood out so much, I think it has to do with the description of the greenhouse as a jungle and then choosing to describe it as standing. Something about that all just really captured my attention in a really fun way. This article was really interesting because there were only three paragraphs of writing and the rest of the article was just the photos of the greenhouse, and I think it was really interesting to see this different side of journalism.

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