iWoz: Chapters 5-7

This section of the autobiography highlights three main, consecutive events in Steve Wozniak's life: building his first computer, meeting Steve Jobs, and his adventures with the "Blue Box". These pivotal moments of his life all happened while he was in college and his later business partner, Steve Jobs, was in high school (coincidentally the same high school as the one Wozniak went to). The author states that his first computer, the Cream Soda Computer, was the greatest milestone to date; his meeting Steve Jobs started a great friendship, and soon a successful professional career; and his "Blue Box", a machine which allows the user to override the telephone lines and make free long-distance calls, was the creation he is still most proud of today.

Steve Wozniak's continues his purpose of inspiring the reader to accomplish great feats in his or her life by telling anecdotal adventures regarding his love of computers. The reason this strategy is effective is because it shows the reader that he or she has to be interested in his or her field to be able to excel in the subject. Another way the author accomplishes his purpose is by focusing on his relationship and adventures with Steve Jobs. For example, he tells the reader his story of the unsuccessful poster flipping off the senior class at Wozniak's and Jobs's high school. Wozniak implies clearly that this was a bonding event between the two individuals because they learned much about each other that helped strengthen their friendship for many years to come.

iWoz: Chapters 2-4

This chapter of iWoz highlights Steve Wozniak's adventures throughout a good portion of his educational career, from the science projects in elementary school all the way up until his programming pranks in college. The autobiographer traces all his engineering projects, keeping up with his reoccurring theme of self-determination to become the most excelled and successful among his fellow students. Wozniak first describes his advanced intelligence while learning about transistors and other electronics in first grade, than winning awards for building outstanding devices, than finally developing these devices to play fun and sometimes costly pranks on others.

The author's purpose during these chapters is to inspire students to challenge themselves by guiding them through his journey to the top in order to help create a more intelligent and advanced world. The first way the author inspires the reader is by writing in subtle references to how poor his family was. For example, when considering where to go for college, Wozniak deeply wanted to go to the University of Boulder in Colorado. However, his dad did not want him to go there because of the high tuition rate. Therefore, they made a compromise in which he would go to Boulder for one year and then transfer to a community college. Later, the author explains how he strived to make the best of his time in Boulder. This shows the reader how one can always overcome their issues by believing in him or herself and making the best of what he or she has. Another way Wozniak inspires the reader is by making it clear when he made a mistake and how he should have learned from it. The two times this is expressed is through his TV jammer in his college dorm and his programs in the computer programming class that accidentally cost the department its budget many times over. 

NPR: When Rand Paul Ended Filibuster, He Left Drones On National Stage

http://www.npr.org/2013/03/10/173864536/when-rand-paul-ended-filibuster-he-left-drones-on-national-stage

This article discusses a topic that Senator Rand Paul touched upon during his 13-hour filibuster last week: the use of drones on U.S. citizens. The Senator claims that this hypothetical power to use drones on U.S. citizens is against the President's oath of office. Although the Senator also went into ethics of drones in general during his filibuster, this article explores it further, explaining that Democratic Senator Richard Durbin from Illinois will hold a hearing discussing legal authority on drone attacks overseas. However, this article mainly reacts to analysis from Paul's filibuster regarding domestic drone attacks, both positive and negative. For example, it highlights a conversation following the speech between Republican Senator Ted Cruz from Texas and Attorney General Eric Holder. Cruz illustrates a situation: "Suppose someone was sitting in a cafe, drinking a cup of coffee. Should the government be able to use a drone against that man?" To which Holder responds that the government cannot even arrest the man, let alone attack him.

This article and audio clip comes from National Public Radio, a large, credible news organization. It uses several rhetorical devices on its audience of adult readers in order to convey its purpose that our government needs to clear up its policy on overseas drone attacks. The most effective strategy is the article's use of cliffhanger at the end, leading the audience to become interested in this April hearing about drone ethics. Also, a subtopic the article mentions in the ineffectiveness of hypothetical situations such as the one Ted Cruz uses above.

Politizane: Wealth Inequality in America

http://www.complex.com/tech/2013/03/video-shows-shocking-imbalance-of-us-wealth-distribution

This video was an instant wake-up call to me on the issue of unequal wealth distribution in the country. It can be summarized in two sections: the first graph and the second graph. The first graph is simply a type of pie graph, only in a line instead of a circle. The second graph is a line plot, which turns out to be even more perplexing than the first.

The context of the video is the ongoing issue of unreasonably uneven wealth distribution in the United States, which the speaker addresses very clearly. His audience is directed more toward the liberal side, since he illustrates socialism as not such a bad idea. The speaker's purpose is to open Americans' eyes to the problem of uneven wealth in America using visual evidence and comparisons to our perception of the problem and to perhaps encourage Americans to spread the message. The number of ways the speaker is getting his point across is so many that it surprises me to no end. However, the most prominent and effective strategy in the video is undoubtedly his use of visuals mentioned earlier. For example, his second section of the video includes a line plot in which every percentile is represented as a person on the graph. Then there are stacks of money for each person respectively. Since I am a strong visual learner, I literally sat in my seat open-mouthed when the speaker said that the top one percent are at a representation ten times the size of the graph. That sort of mind-blowing proportion personally hit me hard. In addition to the real visuals, he compares them to the average American's distorted view on the situation. It is unbelievable how 5,000 Americans were no naive, and it makes his audience think of how each one of them would have answered the poll. The speaker is absolutely successful in conveying his message and consequently opening our eyes to the realistic issue of wealth inequality in the country through his use of visuals and comparisons to Americans' twisted perception of the problem.