IRB Post #3: How Apple Does It

Article: How Apple Does It
Article Source: http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1118384,00.html

According to the article, Apple was successfully able to revolutionize technology and capture the consumer market by its diversity -- by creating its own hardware (ie. Macbook laptops), its own operating systems (ie. Mac OS X), its software (ie. Safari web browser), and consumer-friendly devices that connected and facilitated the use of these devices (ie. iTunes store). As quoted from the article, "if you smooshed together Microsoft, Dell, and Sony...you'd get something like the Apple technological biosphere." Common sense would indicate that producing so many different branches would cause inefficiency and that companies might be better off specializing in specific pieces. However, in the instance of Apple, Steve Jobs argued that by taking all the steps under wing, he was able to push for specific innovations and make sure that he saw his vision the whole way through. He gave his explanation through a story, which he called "The Parable of the Concept Car:" the concept for a car design looks great in the beginning, but after it is sent to a different engineering team who declares it impossible, it gets worse. Then after it is sent to the manufacturers who also doubt its potential, the product gets worse.

At Apple, instead of having separate stages of sequential development, the teams work together throughout and fluidly collaborate in all steps towards production. Workers at Apple boast that their meetings are efficient and everyone is on the same page. Moreover, with Jobs in control at all stages, he was able to be nitpicky and argue for exactly what he wanted. The article was written in 2005, when the iPod nano first came out. As a tiny, shiny, and compact piece of metal that played music and with easy-to-use buttons, the iPod swept the markets like wildfire. Jobs fought for the iPod’s blueprints, designed its complements, and oversaw the entire process until it reached success.

The resounding theme of the article was that Apple's approach at integration was what made it successful. However, the author conceded that other companies like Microsoft, which focused on operating systems, were also able to reach the pinnacle of success by specialization. It was a combination of integration and control, in Apple’s case, that made it so user-friendly and popular.

IRB: Post #2 Harvard and Class

Article: Harvard and Class
Source: http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2011/07/11/harvard-and-class/

I chose this article expecting to read something interesting about Harvard's community and campus life. However, the piece lacked coherent thought or content. For pages, the author, Misha Glouberman, whined about how he had no Harvard-related connections in Montreal and how he supposedly "threw away" his opportunity as a Harvard graduate. It seriously irked me how the author could complain that he was a Harvard graduate in Canada and had no influential connections. He seems to expect that, by graduating from Harvard, he is entitled to success and recognition in Canada. Harvard gives people access to the most influential social networks – true – but having connections from college will help you get positions only if you are good at what you do. The author just doesn’t seem to fit in this circle. Moreover, Canada has its own top schools with their own influential alumni bases.

The author also went on to complain how Harvard locked up its students in "an ivory tower" by providing housing for its students and "preventing" them from meeting non-Harvard students. Obviously if he stayed in Harvard-only buildings, he would find only Harvard students… If this was “too weird” for him, the author could have just gone off-campus -- other schools are very close in proximity: MIT and Boston University, for instance. I doubt the Harvard community was as constrained as the author described. Just about every college in America tries to piece together a “community” with campus events and college-housing – it’s not just Harvard.

The fact that the author felt the compulsion to write a lengthy piece on how his Harvard experience was “pretty weird” and concluded that he was unsure of his own opinion on the topic only shows aimlessness of his writing. Infuriatingly, his tone was bordering on condescending. Arrogant and with nothing to back it up, the author is very likely to get on readers’ nerves. It is clear that he posted the article to show off how “smart” he was to be accepted to such an elite school and how he was supposedly able to see through the illusion of its perfection as an Ivy League school. How this obtuse, inarticulate drunkard could get accepted to Harvard still remains a wonder to me.

IRB: Post #1 Divided We Eat

Article: Divided We Eat
Source: http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2010/11/22/what-food-says-about-class-in-america.html

I once read an article on how "Obesity is the Illness of the Rich." However, "Divided We Eat" by Lisa Miller cites the opposite trend: that obesity is not the illness of the rich but the plight of the poor. Miller argues that while corpulence used to be a sign of being well-fed and wealthy in the past, obesity has become a sign of poverty in today’s fast-food society. Obesity is more prevalent in poorer areas as lower-income families are forced to buy inferior goods -- sugary, fatty foods that are filling for a low cost. Fast food restaurants have seen sales increases with economic slowdown; although it might be unhealthy, McDonald's Dollar Menu is substantial for a cheap price. Upper classes tend to eat healthier, trendier foods because they are able to afford it – shipping exotic cheeses from around the world, eating organic apples, sprinkling kale in their cereals. The author of the article even went on to call food a fashion. According to Miller, the French do not have this problem as they see food as something to be shared and as a means of bringing people together -- unlike Americans who see food in terms of calories and nutritional value. The idea of banning the sale of soda to food stamp recipients was also mentioned in the article, with arguments in favor of and against the proposal in New York. Ultimately, Miller argues that food has increasingly grown as an indicator of social status in the United States.

The author goes on to elaborate how her neighborhood is "foodie", being able to afford to follow special diets of organic Whole Foods and local grocer markets, while just a few blocks away in Brooklyn, other families are struggling to make ends meet and feed their families anything at all. I personally find it ridiculous how these people can ship cheeses from around the world as a mark of social status and then act concerned about the food-insecurity of inner cities. While sipping her imported breakfast and chatting with her equally food-obsessed friend – the author states that "[she] cautiously [raised] a subject that had concerned [her] of late: less than five miles away, some children don’t have enough to eat; others exist almost exclusively on junk food." Miller was supposedly concerned about her fellow city neighbors going hungry. However, she herself was eating luxuries -- an Alessi capuccino with organic milk and imported parrano cheese from the Netherlands! Moreover, her wasteful friend bought a bushel of organic apples even though her mother-in-law already offered her regular apples, an instance which just shows the disparity of the rich and the poor.

Post #7: Recommendation

Eternal Knight

For a first novel, Eternal Knight was very well written and organized. Everything from the map of Landomere and Salador – the lands that the main character, Hadde, traveled through during the course of the story – on the first page to the reflections in the epilogue was detailed and planned carefully. The characters were mostly believable and the underlying message was pretty powerful: that the notions of good and evil are subjective and that villains often see themselves as heroes in their own eyes.

Whenever I thought that I knew where the story was headed, the author really surprised me with plot twists or major changes. I also liked how Mr. Heppe brought back details from earlier chapters and incorporated them later in the book -- something that well-established writers like JK Rowling really master in their works as well.

The one thing that I did not like was the occasional anachronistic dialogue – like using modern phrases or terms that did not seem to suit the fantasy setting.

Overall, I would definitely recommend Eternal Knight to people who like reading fantasy.  However, it is definitely not a prerequisite. I never really read any books in the deep fantasy genre prior to reading Eternal Knight, but still enjoyed reading it. It was a little confusing in the beginning since the story starts right off into the action with new terminology and unfamiliar character names. However, it becomes easier to read as the author builds up the background of characters as the plot unfolds. It had none of the usual fantasy creatures like elves or dwarves, but it had a fantasy setting and magical aspects woven into the story line. Overall, I would give Eternal Knight a 4/5 stars.

Post #7: Accuracy of Predictions

Prompt: #7 Write about your predictions from Prompt #6. Were they correct? Why or why not?

Eternal Knight: (Chapters 19-Epilogue)

*spoiler alert*
There were a lot of plot twists in the last few chapters of the book that really surprised me and altered the entire storyline. I guessed at possible plot developments earlier -- like Earl Waltas' revenge and Prince Morin's ambition -- but the way the author wrote it made the story unpredictable right up the last page. I correctly predicted that Earl Waltas' frequent reappearances at Salador would develop into a larger conflict as he tried to take revenge on Hadde for ruining him. However, I didn't expect him to attack Hadde's maiden in waiting, Maret, in the way he did. Hadde killed Waltas, forcing her to leave Sal-Oras and ultimately swaying her to join Morin and Astor in search of the "Orb of Creation." I think the most shocking turn of events was introducing the character of Akinos as an old man. From the very first page of the novel, the word "akinos" had represented the greatest insult or term for evil. However, as Mr. Heppe convinces the reader by the end of the nearly 300-page book, in many cases, good and evil depend on which side you're looking from. Everyone expected Akinos to be a horrible, brutal monster like how most villains are portrayed. However, it is both tragic and infuriating that Akinos truly believed himself to be the savior of the world. He had good intentions at heart, but they were thwarted by the corruption and greed of other characters -- namely Prince Morin. I knew his character was overly ambitious and power-driven, but it surprised me how Morin turned out to be even worse than I expected. The rumors of him being a traitor and having challenged his brother for the throne years ago rings true by the end of the novel. The fact that Morin tricked Hadde into slaying Akinos and getting his own brother, Boradin, killed to clear his path to the throne and to the Orb, for his own gain, is sickening. What is really the saddest part of the novel is that Akinos did nothing purposely wrong or evil; he acted out of good intentions and was willing to sacrifice his life to save everyone -- something Morin the moron utilized and exploited. Like Mr. Heppe commented in his acknowledgements, the deeper message of Eternal Knight really seemed to be "bad guys see good guys when they look in the mirror."

Post #5: Predictions

Prompt #6: Make some predictions about what you think will happen in future chapters. What support can you find?
Eternal Knight (Chapters 9-18)
*spoiler alert* Hadde goes to Sal-Oras, the capitol of Salador, where she finally meets the king, Boradin, and the over six-hundred-year-old Spiridus ambassador from her land, Orlos. Since Boradin is a famous elementar who is able to control forces of nature like fire and wind, Hadde asks him for help to end The Wasting. However, he tells her that he cannot even help his own kingdom from its destruction and famine. "'Elemental magic has no bearing on the Wasting. I cannot call fire and burn it away. I cannot call the wind to blow it away. The Wasting is simply, death'" (Heppe 96). He is convinced, however, that the Orb Hadde found in the middle of the Great Forest was a sign from the land of Landomere and that Hadde will be able to help him. He tells her that a "Orb of Creation" must be recovered in order to end The Wasting. He says that the clues of the Orb's whereabouts "are in the Ancient Texts. In their prophecies" (Heppe 98). Later, as Hadde becomes adjusted to palace life at Sal-Oras, the ancient Orlos reveals that he discovered part of the prophecy, that the "offspring of the archer will slay the sun" (Heppe 154). He didn't tell Boradin yet, since the quote could be translated and interpreted as the offspring of the archer will kill the king of Salador. Hadde earned a reputation for being an excellent archer, so this would easily point towards her. I think that if Boradin finds out the second half of the prophecy, he might try to detain Hadde. The offspring of the archer could mean Hadde, since her father was an archer before her, or, it could mean Hadde's children if she has any in the future. Hadde also developed a relationship with Prince Morin, the king's half-brother, who is also an elementar. There are rumors of him being a traitor and having challenged his brother for the throne years ago. Judging by his actions and the comments from Queen Ilana, I think that Morin will turn out to be an untrustworthy character. Also, Earl Waltas keeps on reappearing in the chapters, which will probably develop into a larger conflict as he tries to take revenge on Hadde for ruining his status and position.

Post #4: Illustrating The Chapter Through A Picture

Prompt 15: Illustrate through a picture or a symbol, an idea scene, or some part of a chapter or the book. Explain your choice.

Grapes of Wrath: (Chapters 6-7)

In Chapter 6, Joad reaches his family's homestead but finds that it (along with all the neighboring farms) has been deserted. The only neighbor left is Muley Graves, who tells them that his family moved out to stay with their uncle, in hopes of earning enough money to buy a car and move to California. Chapter 7 on the other hand was told from the point of view of a crooked salesman telling his employees how to make the most profit by swindling people into buying broken down cars. Throughout the chapter, the salesman announces: "Good cars. Good Used Cars!" to the customers but laughs with his employees afterward (Steinbeck 83). Knowing that many families have been forced off their homesteads and are desperately trying to go out west to California, the car dealers hike up the prices and lie about the quality of the used cars. The salesmen fill engines with sawdust and replace good car parts with broken ones. This reminded me of Mr. Wormwood (who was also a shady used-car salesman) from the book Matilda by Roald Dahl, so I chose a picture of Mr. Wormwood rubbing his hands together from the Matilda movie to illustrate this chapter.

Eternal Knight: (Chapters 6-8)

After traveling for days, Hadde and Belor finally reach a Saladoran manor. However, the village there is also greatly weakened by The Wasting. The lord of the manor abandoned the village a year ago and the yeomen there act strangely. They try to break into Hadde and Belor's cottage in the middle of the night and attack them, forcing Hadde and Belor to fight back. Belor is shot and mortally wounded, leaving Hadde alone. Hadde hides at an abandoned Saladoran fort and later saves a group of Saladoran nobles -- Earl Waltas, Sir Nidon, and Squire Melas -- from a band of Kiremi warriors. Earl Waltas looks down upon Hadde as a foreigner and continually insults her even though she saved their lives. Waltas laughs when Sir Nidon names Hadde an ambassador after she shows him the Orb and requests to see the Saladoran king. After Hadde hunts a turkey on a Saladoran noble’s (Earl Crane’s) territory, Waltas argues with Nidon that Hadde should be punished for breaking Saladoran law as a poacher. Squire Melas was afraid of approaching Waltas, commenting to Hadde, “‘He’s an earl. I’m only a squire’” (Heppe 75). Because Earl Waltas is of higher rank and social status (Earl > Knight > Squire) by Saladoran law, he cannot be charged by someone of a lower rank. I chose a picture of a squire helping a knight and running errands to illustrate this part of the book because of the strict hierarchical system and emphasis on rank.

Post #3: Connections

Prompt 10: Write about connections that you made while reading the chapter/book. How does something remind you of your experiences or people you know or have known?

Grapes of Wrath: (Chapters 4-5)
Tom Joad sort of reminds me of Chris McCandless from Into the Wild. Both of these main characters are introduced as hitchhikers and get a ride to the middle of nowhere from truck drivers. In each book, the truck driver offers the character a lift and attempts to learn more about them by asking prying questions. Joad and McCandless deflect most of their questions and reveal very little about themselves until the end of their trip. In chapter 4, Joad tells Jim Casy, his old preacher, that he killed a man in a drunken brawl. This reminded me of the main character from the movie, Conair, who was sentenced to prison for several years after accidentally killing someone while he was drunk. However, the difference is that the character in Conair was fighting in self-defense of his wife instead of intending to attack. Joad comments that some of his cellmates on parole felt insecure after spending so many years in prison and became adjusted to prison life, where the conveniences of lighting and regular meals were provided. "He says it makes him feel lonesome out there in the open havin' to think wha to do next. So he stole a car an' come back" (Steinbeck 36). Some of the convicts in Conair expressed similar sentiments. In Chapter 5, Steinbeck describes the general pattern of landowners and banks evicting tenant families off of their farmland because profits aren't high enough. The whole tenant system reminded me of Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor. In both stories, the tenant family is being threatened of eviction. A single tractor replacing the work of families described in chapter 5 also reminded me of a discussion in New Ideas From Dead Economics by Todd G. Buchholz about the repercussions of technological advances (such as a photocopier replacing 1000 scribes) --the cost of efficiency is putting many people out of work.

Eternal Knight: (Chapters 3-5)
 In Chapter 3, a beautiful stag leads Hadde to a magical golden chain in the middle of the Great Forest. Unlike the other animals who were weak from The Wasting, the stag seemed to have a magical essence. "It wasn't just any stag, but a magnificent beast. Tall, well muscled with a lustrous coat. She couldn't believe it was real...The stag knew her--" (Heppe 15). This description really reminded me of the silver doe Patronus Harry follows in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. (In the Harry Potter world, a patronus is a magical form of an animal that a wizard can conjure.) Like Hadde, Harry followed a magical creature to a clearing the forest where a locket was placed -- in Harry's case, Slytherin's locket, a Horcrux; in Hadde's case, a "wavy-rayed Orb" (Heppe 19). Hadde discovers that it is the sun-symbol (depicted on the cover) of Helna and that the chain is made out of gold, which is incredibly rare and valuable. Since Saladorians were believed to place a very high value on precious metals, Hadde decides to go to Sal-Oras in hopes of selling the chain there for supplies. There is a lot of debate over whether the orb should be sold at all since the sun-symbol is considered to be a relic. However, Hadde makes the argument that it is necessary to save her people from starvation. This reminds me Fantine from Les Miserables, who was desperately willing to sell everything she had in order to help her daughter.

Post #2: Likes & Dislikes

Tell what you like or dislike about the current chapter or the book and why. Be specific.

Grapes of Wrath: (Chapters 1-3)
The chapters seem to be written in a two-part pattern, alternating between general descriptions of the countryside and a narrative following a character called Tom Joad. The first chapter is very descriptive, giving the reader a general overview of the farmlands and cornfields as they wither from drought and dust storms and how men, women, and children look on over their crops. The first chapter was fine as it gave a sort of backdrop to the story and a sense of the time period. I liked how it gave details about the weather and the geography to really give the reader an impression of what it might be like to witness the Dust Bowl. However, I didn't really like the segway into the second and third chapters. The second chapter deals with the quick-thinking Joad hitchhiking with a lonely truck driver. It isn't introduced until the end of the chapter that Joad is heading to his father's farm because he was just released from "McAlester" prison for homicide. It is interesting how the author places this information as it adds a plot twist. However, much of the dialogue is written in a dialect with "somepin" instead of something which can sometimes seem overdone. I also don't like the random details added in chapter three about a truck driver running over a turtle. I know it is supposed to be symbolic, but I fail to see how this represents anything significant about the era other than the fact that there is some lunatic truck driver attempting to run over poor animals. I expected the book to be centered on a specific family as they try to leave Oklahoma for better farmlands. This is not what I expected, but I am waiting to see how the characters and storyline develop.

Eternal Knight: (Chapters 1-2)
I like how the book starts off right into the action instead of slowly building up like how a lot of other stories do. It makes the story more interesting as readers see Hadde sneak through the forest with her companions, Belor and Calen, on the lookout for foreigner travelers and defend her village from the enemy, the Kiremi. However, the first few pages were kind of confusing since the author coined a lot of new vocabulary or phrases like "Dromost take them" or "Isn't the Wasting enough?" or “Don’t be an akinos” (Heppe 1-2). The meaning of some of these phrases can be guessed at or inferred from the blurb on the back cover but a little more background information about the setting and the characters so far introduced might have made it clearer. For some reason, I think of fantasy-type novels using very proper English, so some of the words used in the dialogue seem anachronistic or too modern to me. However, for the most part, I like how the story is set so far. The writing level is really impressive for a self-published first novel. Also, I like how Mr. Heppe uses words from archery like "knocking the arrow" and martial art terms like rolling in towards a hit to lessen the blow. It makes it seem more real and life-like, even if the storyline is embedded into fantasy.

Post #1: Book Introduction

I chose The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck because it is considered to be one of the greatest classics in American literature. I’ve heard the title mentioned several times in my history textbooks as representative of a major time period during American history. I also chose it because several people from other classes told me that they enjoyed reading the book. Steinbeck is very famous and has won a Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize for his work in literature. From the summary on the back cover, I think the story is about an Oklahoma family migrating to California during the time of the Great Depression to escape the Dust Bowl. Even though the novel is centered on one family in particular – the Joads – the story is supposed to be universal in its depiction of immigrant struggles and morality. The Joad family is representative of the thousands of men and women ultimately transforming 1930s America.

I also chose Eternal Knight by Matt Heppe for an additional reading book because I heard very positive reviews about the story. I am unfamiliar with the fantasy genre but I wanted to try reading Mr. Heppe's book. The story is about a huntress named Hadde who is trying to save her family and her village from starving during a great famine known as The Wasting. There seems to be a lot of magical/fantastic aspects woven into the story like non-human creatures in an alternate world with fictional village names. The reviews commented that the story was fast-paced and full of plot twists. So far, the first few pages start right into the action and introduce Hadde's skill as an archer and strong protagonist.