Powerpoint; The good, the bad, the ugly.

wave.google.com

For our class assignment, we were told to communicate with our team members using a new program called Google Wave. This program uses live web chatting and a chat room feature to communicate with others. This program also allows you to add contacts to see your "wave" or email to other people. Google Wave is a very new program, so the people at Google are still working out the glitches. For the project though, Google Wave was a very useful way for communicating with team members and getting things done. I liked the way that you can reply to others and see what they are typing right away. I also liked that the person you are talking to can give you feedback on what your writing straight away.
My team was told to do an earth day program at a large office corporation with a budget of $1200. After brainstorming ideas that we could each do at the office, each member was assigned a task to do. Tasks included hosting a "green" company fair, planting trees outside of the office, donating money to plant in the rainforest, passing out recycling bins/making employees aware of recyclables, and having a fundraiser. The money from the fundraiser would go towards the planting of trees in the rainforest. All of our ideas came together to create a great Earth Day at our office and a creative project to present to the class.

Check out the following link to see a screen shot of the new Google Wave program!
http://isiria.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/google-wave.jpg

Doublespeak

In our world, double speak is used everyday without us even realizing it. Our day to day language expresses things we feel in metaphorical ways, called euphemism. A euphemism is an inoffensive or positive word or phrase used to avoid a harsh or unpleasant reality. For example, the expression "heart break" describes being deeply hurt by someone or something. We hurt so bad, that we describe it as literally as our heart breaking. This expression does not mean our heart is really breaking or broken, it just means we are deeply hurt or saddened. Another expression we use is "passing away." We use this expression when we want to say that somebody has died. Saying passing away is a nicer and more pleasant way of saying somebody has died without saying the actual harsh truth.