Marketing Strategies seen through the lens of Canon

 

Hey-a. I'm just going to briefly go over the plausible marketing strategies that they probably used when constructing their advertisement for the Canon EOS 50D.

Their claim: Their latest camera is a "breakthrough" in technology, therefore better than all else.
Audience: Beginners looking to take their photography to the next level.
Ethos: Uses fancy technical terms like "APS-C sized 15.1 megapixel CMOS sensor" and "DIGIC 4 Image Processor" (which I can't understand, but most photographers and engineers seems to rave about those terms, so why not? ) Also uses terms like "innovation" and "breakthrough".
Pathos: Through the camera lens we witness a stunning moment of a young woman hiking up a mountain. It's uplifting and bright, and it makes you want to be there photographing such a moment. Uses words "breathtaking" and "inspiring".
Logos: The cameras features better "detail and color reproduction", "ISO capabilities", and "megapixel(s)...for huge images."
Big Names: Tyler Stableford

On bullying and harassment.

 

(the second video has a french line at the end that translates to "A day at work doesn't look like this. What about a day at school?" Unfortunately, I do fear that some workplaces are truly like that for a few... )

Bullying has such a drastic effect on youth on their mental health development that stay with the poor child forever. The scars won't ever wash away no matter how harshly you scrub. Perhaps the memories will fade one day but the imprints are forever. The bullied and bullies might sadly develop illnesses such as depression or anxiety in their later life, especially with bouts of low self-esteem. Emotional, physical, verbal, sexual, domestic; all forms of abuse correlates to psychological health issues.

There are hardly any positive outcomes for bullying for either the perpetrator or the victim. We might be inspired by one's struggles and see hope in the future, but wouldn't it be so much better if bullying were just avoided altogether? I feel that if we can explain to our children more just what counts as bullying. Everyone knows to "not bully", but how many bullies are there right now that don't even know that they're doing anything wrong?

I just.. I imagine a child, a teen, or an adult living in constant fear of seeing their abuser. They might feel anticipation and dread at their next encounter, wishing in private that they'll leave their life soon. Or perhaps they feel that they're obligated to help whomever is harassing them. What if even one if blind to the actions of the bullies?

Cases of bullying are not always black and white. It differs in its complexity but the gist is still the same: There is pain.

Aspirations for a new year. (as well as this semester's goals. )

You know, I didn't even know that resolutions was a "thing" until a few years back? I think I'm just a bit too secluded.

For the first time, I've decided to make a new year resolution. In no particular order, I hope to:

1) Become a more conscious shopper. Buy local, look for more "fair trade" labels, and do at least a little bit of research on the brand or where the food comes from. I've found a nice enough place called Ava's Downtown Market in Mountain View that supplies dairy from Straus Family Creamery and meat from Marin Sun Farms. Their practices are a lot better than the standard "farms" you might see in the supermarket and therefore much higher quality. I'm happy for that and hopefully I can convince my parents to buy from there.
(hey, vote with your money, right? ha haa.. ha. ha... )
2) Courtesy of Miss Kritzeck, I've also decided to try to not eat anything with flavoring in it. She had the idea of not trying anything containing artificial flavors for her resolution and I was inspired enough to try to do the same.
I've found it hard to spot whether something does have flavoring in it or not, but I'm doing what I can. If I know it contains natural or artificial flavoring, I'll try to avoid it. Best of luck to my teacher as well!
3) Walk around a bit more and try to eliminate any snacking in between meals. I think going out for a few walks of fresh air would do anyone good.


Semester goals and new year wishes should coincide with each other. So adding on to the resolutions, I hope to:
4) Get motivated and finally read those hundreds of books you've been meaning to. I also wish I could learn how to study better. My habits for studying are certainly something I frown at frequently--in fact, it can't even be called 'studying'! It's kind of awful. Be productive!
5) Learn, learn, learn. I really hope I can learn a lot in the remaining semester. That's my biggest recurring goal for academics. I also hope I don't forget what I learned the last semester, oops. This here matter more to me than grades or test scores will ever be. This precept is dangerously and almost naively idealistic, but regardless; what is the point of school without the enhancement of the mind?

(And I suppose that's all. Hopefully. )

I understand that many of you also have resolutions for 2014. I hope when the next ball drops and it's January 1st, 2015 at 12am, you would have succeeded in some way or the other.

Animal Farm-- Squealer's speech in Ch. 5

[Spoilers ahead for Animal Farm. Be careful. ]

In chapter five, Napoleon unleashed his dogs to chase after Snowball, driving him out of Animal Farm. Trusty Squealer came by to put the animal's doubts at rest by stating,
"I trust that every animal here appreciates the sacrifice that Comrade Napoleon has made in taking this extra labour upon himself. Do not imagine, comrades, that leadership is a pleasure! On the contrary, it is a deep and heavy responsibility. No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?"

Now, there's something fishy about his reasoning here. In Animalism, all opinions should be regarded equal to other opinions. After all, isn't that what all animals being equal means? However, this directly contradicts Squealer's following sentences by essentially saying that other animal's opinions will be disregarded in case they make the "wrong decisions". According to the logic here, Napoleon is the one leading the farm and is therefore most qualified for making decisions.
I myself am not too impressed with the reasoning here but I must admit that the effect of manipulation Squealer covers over the animals is well done.

Those poor animals...

What makes a leader?

Let's see here, what makes a good leader? Is it intelligence? In my opinion, no. While intelligence is needed  to critically think and analyze how to deal with situations, Basing leadership on simply how clever they are might yield disappointing results. First off, it depends on what kind of intelligence they have. I myself make no claim to understand intelligence in the slightest, but there has been theorized to be multiple forms of intelligence by others in the past. 

A good leader should be empathetic to others and an excellent listener and thinker. Good social and verbal skills would be a plus.

In my group, I'm almost ashamed to say that since we didn't know what being a leader entailed, we simply selected Vinh, who eagerly volunteered to be the leader.

Question of the Day + Class' report of December 3, 2013

Class report of December 3, 2013!

I was chosen to be one of the three 'student leaders of the day' and two of the tasks that needed to be rationed out was to write the daily report of today's session on your blog and to volunteer the 'Question of the Day' that correlates to our lesson.
[If you want to skip this great wall of text and jump to the answering the question of the day, then go for it. Sorry for writing so much but the board did say "detailed"... ]


The class day started out with Saurabh holding the door open so everyone to enter. That was really kind of him. After we were all seated down, Miss Kritzeck, our teacher, had a discussion with our class about the act of opening doors open for others. Do you think we should do so? Is it right? If someone doesn't acknowledge your gesture do you feel unappreciated and/or angry? After a few responses from students, it turned out that most did not notice that the door was held open for them.
[Which, in my humble opinion, I think is fine. People are occupied and might not notice everything with so much going on. I do "acts of kindness" (--as Miss K. puts it--) for other people. Not for me. ]

Then she directs the question as to why she's making the student leader holds the door open for everyone. Is it to build a sense of community? The conversations deviate into students making attempts at naming everyone in the classroom. Privithi just nearly made it; she was so close! Yet lack of luck made it so that she messed up at around the last people left.

Miss Kritzeck talked about third period being very displeased with this new rule and all the students were "up in arms" protesting passionately about why they shouldn't have to do this. Raeek too opposed this decision and constructed arguments as to why third period may be upset toward this new development. Most were sound however at his last point he said something that none of us could comprehend very well. Sounds of  "huh?" were erupting across the room. Miss Kritzeck followed up by saying that Raeek's "point" was not even a point. She then apologized to the people sitting at his table (that would be Valerie, Shreya, and Saurabh) for having to deal with him. [T-that was a bit cruel...]

Miss K further asked our opinions as to what opening doors for our class might have to do with Animal Farm. There were plenty of well thought out and unique interpretations of it. I was impressed by one saying that opening doors for others might be a symbol of power. Once they're in a classroom whose door was opened up by you, they're under your control and they know it. It was sort of like "Hey! You're under my influence now. Just letting y'all know."

Afterwards we stamped our last night's homework and wrote the definitions of the vocabulary words given from the study guides chapter 1-4. Our homework today is to make sure you fully understand chapter 1-4 of Animal Farm and to finish the study guides if you're still not done. Bring your ID cards tomorrow so we can finally check out the books. Also, remember to add Miss Kritzeck's blog on to your Reading List to keep in touch with her.



Now here goes the Question of the Day. When someone does something generous to a stranger without any prompting, do you think that the stranger is obligated to at least acknowledge the gesture? Why or why not?
Be honest, here! I'm curious as to what you think.

Thanksgiving Thanks

Thanksgiving. What a happy time for so many families across America. You feast together with your loved ones and heartily dig into a numerous number of luxuries; pies, mashed potatoes, pasta, yams, salad, bread, corn, apple, cranberry, and of course-- turkey. But Thanksgiving was a day about celebrating differences in culture too. Depending on what family you're from, you might be eating food from your own family's ethnicity or just trying out all kind of new dishes.

And if you feel that your Thanksgiving dinner isn't that great of a meal, (All my life, mine was too. I ate cup noodles last year. Alone. ) know that the first Thanksgiving had mostly just deer, corn, shellfish, roasted meat and cranberries.

Abraham Lincoln asked us to give thanks to our blessings on the fourth Thursday of November. I'm thankful of the wonders of the universe. I'm crammed into a consciousness that I can't comprehend one bit. I don't think it makes much sense at all and I doubt it'll ever make sense. In addition to that, I can not express my gratitude enough for stories. Books, television shows, audio recordings, experiences-- anything that can house a story is something I'm thankful for.
One more thing. I'm thankful for what have been and what is. Any life or any tale is something remarkable. I'm thankful for the perseverance of any living or non-living thing that ever was once here. And hey! I'm thankful for you actually reading this right now. That's pretty impressive in itself.
And I kind of am a bit happy that there is something other than nothing, even though still no one is sure why.


[But of course, I have to acknowledge that Thanksgiving is a completely sole American holiday. A small apology to anyone who's from Britain or Canada. ]


Well, Happy Thanksgiving! I sure hope you're not like me and is out there having a great time on this November 28th, but even if you're not.. No. I can't offer anything positive about spending it alone and doing it nothing. At least we'll be in it together?

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE. 


Now go have fun! Sleep well and don't die admist your dreams. You wouldn't want to let the bugs bite and devour you whole whilst you sleep.


With love,
Hannah Wu