Tuesday, January 15, 2008
The Veldt is a fictional story placed in the future. Two siblings murder their parents because their parents threatened to shut down their cherished smart house. How unpleasant can tying your shoes or taking your own bath be?
The technology of the smart homes now might not be as advanced as the smart house in the article, but scientists aren't far away. Today's smart homes include a variety of the latest cutting-edge features. The smart homes systems (alarm systems, lights, television, fire alarms) all work amidst each other. So if your burglar alarm went off it would turn on the lights to scare away the burglars. Another feature includes a web-enabled house, wherever you are in the world you can lock your doors, adjust the lighting or temperature, or your house can send you messages. There are a few different types of messages, some tell you whether your door has been opened, some tell you if your children have gone to school, and some even tell you if your cabinet has been opened.
Wondering about technology is not one of the things most people think about because we use it so often. This story brought to my attention how much we really do. Technology broke this family apart, but it was too late when the parents noticed it. I hope people will come to realize how much we rely on technology.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
The Gift is a family who is going to see Mars for Christmas. The parents plan to give their child his gift, a lighted tree, on Christmas, but the security took away the gift the child was supposed to get for Christmas because it was too heavy. They wanted this trip to be special for their child because this was his first trip in a space ship. In the end the child ends up looking out of the minuscule port hole to see the astonishing view of the universe.
In The Gift they took trips to space as if it was the norm. Today, if you came back to school and told someone you going in a space ship they would mark you as a liar. That statement might be changed within a few years. This year they are testing to see if untrained people may qualify to face the zero gravity and the astounding sight of the final frontier. Next year they are planning to open this one-in-a-lifetime event to the public. It costs $200,000 per seat, which there's only six passenger seats and two pilot seats. There's already 200 people on the waiting list to go.
Sounds to me like there's way too many rich people out there.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
All Summer in a Day is futuristic story about life in Venus, where it rains all day and night continuously for seven years. The kids on Venus have never seen the glitter of the sun's rays, or they can't remember it. Margot has seen the sun before and remembers the warm glow on her skin and misses it dearly. That day in class the scientists predicted that the sun was going to come out. Margot was so determined that the sun was going to come, but all the kids made fun of her and locked her in the closet. The sun did come out that day and Margot missed it. After the kids had experienced the joy and the warmth the sun brought; they remembered Margot and were filled with great remorse.
It might not be too long before this story becomes some what of reality. Venus, the planet that Margot is on, is too hot for humans to live on it because it is too close to the sun. Scientists think that we will end up on another planet because the burning of fossil fuels produces carbon dioxide, which traps heat inside our atmosphere. This will raise the global temperature, making it too hot to live. The if we move to another planet some characteristics that we will need to survive on the planet will be water, an atmosphere, and a familiar climate.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
The Little Mice is about a little, old man and women renting an apartment from a couple. The elderly couple never said anything or made a sound. The only time the noisy couple saw the plump little man was when he paid his rent or went to work. One day the apartments burnt down and the landlord went into the elderly couples house to rescue them and finds bottles all over the place. The next day the couple left without saying one word.
The little, elderly couple in this story had an addiction with alcohol. In an alcohol addiction you have a constant, nagging need for an intoxicating liquid, such as, wine, beer, or other hard liquors. A person who has an addiction doesn't know when to stop drinking. Alcohol kills brain cell, impairs your reasoning skills,and disturbs the central nervous system.
