Article 1 Response: "Is Google Making Us Stupid?"

While reading this passage, I found myself stopping to take few notes of quotes or facts that stuck out to me. I also found myself stopping or wandering to where I had to go back and reread certain sections of it. There were some facts that I found irrelevant in this passage, and with the length of it, I lost interest in it because I understood the point towards the beginning. As I finished the reading, I found quotes and other things that were important to the passage and I took note of those.
I believe the main part of the article is talking about how technology is taking over. Everyone in the present day is now accustomed to technology and the new way of things being used. We all lose interest very easily, and want things to come to us with just the click of a button. With the internet now, we are able to look up anything we can imagine and get the answer. In the passage it was stated that "we are not only what we read, we are how we read." People now read text messages, statuses and tweets which I believe is just a new way that many are now just getting used to. It used to be that you would get the newspaper printed out everyday, and you would read it to get your information and news for the day. There's a whole new way to approach that and I think that this society is so drawn into all of the new technology and what's to come.
There was also a quote stated, "The ultimate search engine is something as smart as people-or even smarter." I think that statement means you put something in, to simply get something out. That goes with google and the internet, where you can type anything in and get an answer back quickly. I believe the internet is not making people less smarter, I think we are able to learn more because of the internet, and the easy access we have to anything that comes to our minds. "The human brain is just an outdated computer that needs a faster processor and a bigger hard drive," was a quote that I really liked. I completely agree with it, as the brain is full of processes and things we can never understand.
I think that technology is just getting started, and there will be so many new things to come that everyone won't be able to keep up. People will only get smarter from the information we want to understand and find out, and there is so much that everyone will get more curious about as well. Technology is here to stay, and it will only grow bigger as time goes on.

This passage proves that "the brain is like a hard drive." It holds so much information and this picture shows what proves to be the brain. A computer might run out of space or crash, but the brain can hold a countless amount of information that we will never be able to comprehend. This picture relates to the article as a whole.

Reading Response #4

I began reading the first book of the Hunger Games series and it immediately started out. The main character, Katniss begins talking about her family and her life previous to the day she woke, which was also "Reaping day." She lives in District 12 with her sister, Primrose and her mother, where her father had passed years ago from an explosion. The day that every child in the district dreads, was what Katniss began getting ready for and explaining. The reaping begins with an introduction to what exactly the hunger games is, and it is so easy to picture what's going on at that moment in time. They arrive at the center of town and anxiously await the anouncement of who will be competing.
At the time, Katniss knew that her sister, Prim had such a slim chance of being chosen because she only had her name entered once, whereas she had hers in there at least twenty times. Katniss had no option but to save her sister, where she decided to volunteer as tribute for her district. That was the first time that anyone had volunteered, but Katniss only wanted to protect her young sister from a death filled situation. The boy who is picked next was Peeta. Katniss had a flashback to an encounter with him, and was thankful for what he did. After it though, she realized that he was now her enemy. 

At the end of the reaping, Katniss was to say her goodbyes and hope for the best. She was given the pin which had a mockingjay on it, which she was to wear throughout the games. As time runs out, her and Peeta are taken on a train to become prepared for what was to come. Where I ended for now was when they arrived at the capitol, and are going to be taken in to be "trained" for the Hunger Games which they would now be competiting in.

"And may the odds be ever in your favor." A quote that everyone is familiar with, one that describes the whole event of the Hunger Games. It is saying that you should simply do whatever it takes to win. You have to learn to take risks, and pass your own personal boundaries in order to try and survive the obstacles you face. 

I chose a four-leaf clover to describe this part of the book. Everyone knows of them to be lucky and the mockingjay pin that Katniss received was supposed to be worn for good luck as well.