My Pinterest Research

I have found that Pinterest is a different yet interesting way of researching topics for speeches.  Many people post personal photos and stories about a variety of topics on the social media site.  For example, my topic for the Problem/Policy speech was on the dangers of post concussion symptoms, and from Pinterest I found many stories of teenage athletes who suffered from the symptoms.  This was helpful, because I not only knew the symptoms that I had from my concussions, but because many people have different symptoms, their stories are very helpful when researching.  Also, the different stories help, because different symptoms occur when hitting different parts of the head.  For example, I hit the front of my head, or the frontal lobe, and the back of my head, or the occipital lobe.  Because I hit my frontal lobe, which holds the emotions and personality, both of these characteristics changed in me.  I became very emotional all the time, and very angry towards other people.  Because I hit my occipital lobe, which is associated with visual processing, my vision became bad, and I had to wear glasses to see far away.  All of these facts were found through my research on Pinterest, and I believe that it was a large factor in my speeches!

Speech Reflection

I think that the part of speeches that I struggle with the most is portraying the right message.  I feel that sometimes I talk about a certain topic, and then end up on a topic that doesn't really relate as much as I thought it did.  Also, I struggle with moving around the room during my speech.  It has been said that movement throughout the speech keeps your audience engaged.  I always plan on moving around, and then during my speech I freeze up and end up staying in the same spot swaying and awkwardly looking at the audience.  I plan on working on these problems during CAS100A here at Penn State, and hopefully I overcome these issues!

Researchers: New planets might support life

Recently, astronomers have discovered a star system with up to seven planets in which three of them could possibly host life.  These planets are 22 light years away. Scientists call this zone, the “habitable zone”, which is the area near a star in which a planet could possibly be able to support liquid water.  Known planets that are located near this habitable zone are Venus and Mars.  Speaking on the topic, Guillem Anglada-Escude from the University of Gottingen, Germany, said “The discovery is the largest number of “habitable zone” planets ever found within a single zone.  Anglada-Escude led the team of astronomers that made the discovery.  It has been said by Sara Seager, a professor of planetary science at Massachusetts Instituteof Technology that “As soon as our telescopes and data analysis tools have become sophisticated enough to find them, habitable planets are popping up everywhere.”

CNN.com Elizabeth Landau

            I think that this topic is very interesting, because it holds a new possibility for the future.  Maybe someday humans will be able to live on planets, like the fantasies young children have been imagining for years.  This new discovery puts the human race a step closer to a huge moment.  The thought that we already have astronauts in space still is exhilarating for me.  It’s amazing how we can develop our world, because our technology is developing along with it.  I am amazed to think what the next big discovery will be in the technology world!

http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/26/tech/innovation/new-habitable-planets/index.html?iref=allsearch