First Post Back

Hello, it's Zeenat here.
I'm now a freshman, but I really miss the summer. Not because of the weather (I like the cold and hate the summer heat) but because I had to come back from my amazing vacation in Dubai. Everything was expensive, beautiful, and ornate. And it was the perfect vacation because I got to travel somewhere new. I absolutely love to travel and to go & airplanes. I've been to the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and (of course) North America. One thing a didn't like about Dubai was how some of the people stared at you. I really don't like when people stare at me in a negative way. There was a lot of variety when it came to food. They offered anything from cultural cuisines to Burger King and IHOP. And that was honestly the best IHOP I've ever had! That's another thing about me... I love food. I love shopping so the malls were a go to destination in Dubai. The stores ranges from abaya shops to Nike and even Aeropostale and Chanel! I like learning new things and this trip was definetly a learning experience.

But to conclude the post, here are some things that I liked and didn't like on the vacation.

Like:

Food
Travel
Airplanes
Airports
New things
Learning
Shopping
Hotel beds
Cool henna
New phone case

Disliked:

The staring
The heat
The humidity
The strange microwave in the hotel room
The plane with no tv
The Arabic commercials that I can't understand.
Some mean taxi drivers
The burger king fries
The super loud screaming kid in the Swiss airport
How everyone's airports are cooler than ours

Kickstarter

We were given 500 imaginary dollars in ROGATE to go on kickstarter.com and fund projects. These are mine.

1.http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1467637878/pinkcheeky?ref=category $50
2.http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/650996578/cheese-and-crack?ref=category $100
3.http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/382469225/une-bobine-for-people-who-love-iphone?ref=category $50
4.http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/71061659/day-maker?ref=category $100
5.http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/onibrown/onis-first-dance-residency-in-new-york?ref=category $100
6.http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bitbangerlabs/remee-the-rem-enhancing-lucid-dreaming-mask $100

Crowdsourcing: Google Maps

Crowdsourcing-
to utilize (labor, information, etc.) contributed by the general public to (a project), often via the Internet and without compensation: The team's use of Facebook to crowdsource accurate scientific data allowed the project to be completed on time. The newspaper crowdsourced its investigation into the scandal.

Google Maps started to crowdsorce their pictures to use along with their different views such as photos, traffic, weather, and webcam. It allows you to see actual photos that other people take with their cameras, phones, etc. This is crowdsourcing because it is collecting pictures and information to help real people make choices on places that they want to go.
Click Here To View The Link. This is the Google Blogspot page. They explain how the amateur photos of traffic can help you be more informed about the route you take and actually see how bad it is, rather than just hearing things on the radio. Click Here To View The Link. This link explained how it might have more accurate photos, and you get to see actual photos of businesses, streets, and traffic; as the other one did. In all, I think this is a great and simple crowdsourcing idea that will benefit many people in little ways in the end.

Personal Photo Essay: Lights of Disney

This was all about the lights of Disney World. Sunny Florida sky by day, lit up roller coasters by night.

Picture:
1. It was the tree at Animal Kingdom. It had animals carved into it. I liked the way the light hit it.
2. That is the giant golf ball in Epcot.
3. One of the many firework shows in Disney World.
4. Disney's Electrical Parade in Magic Kingdom.
5. More fireworks.
6. The pavement in Epcot lit up in different colors.
7. It looked like my brother was holding the golf ball.
8. That was the lake in the resort we stayed at.

Waste Land; The Documentry

In ROGATE, we watched a film called Waste Land, a documentary by famous artist Vik Muniz. It was about when he traveled to Brazil's Jardim Gramacho; the second largest recycle picking site in Brazil; to visit the people, learn about their lifestyle, and make art out of them. He ended up not only learning their stories, but the how emotionally content or upset each person was with their lifestyle. I agreed with the pickers motto: Thant it's better to have an 'honest' job at the landfill than having a 'dishonest job making easy money on the streets. Its probably hard not to get self-conscious about your job and lifestyle but its much better than making fast money and getting killed. Fast. The film didn't rally make me think about how much garbage I produce on a daily basis, but how I dispose of that garbage everyday. It shows how America can be highlighted because they recycle too, except we don't have pickers.

1 Week Photo Challenge- Day 5: TEXTURE

The requirements for today's (Friday's) picture is texture.

This is a picture of my hair because many people ask to feel my hair.

1 Week Photo Challenge- Day 4: LOOKING IN

The requirement for today (Thursday) was a picture that represents "Looking in."

I am looking out of my room door.

I'm looking into my window with the morning light shining onto my face:)