EOTO: Phonograph/Vinyl

Today I will be talking about the invention of the phonograph/vinyl record. The vinyl record has been a big major part of media in American History dating all the way back to 1857 to the present time we live in and has seen major changes over the course of the history.

The first phonograph was invented in 1857 by a man named Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville. He patented this idea the same year. This is the oldest known recording to date. Almost 20 years later, Thomas Edison invented his version of the phonograph. This was invented as a result of the development of his two other inventions the telephone and the telegraph. To help make the Phonograph the player would have a needle that would have a sharp point and would move against paraffin paper. The paper would later be changed to the same material from a metal cylinder. This machine would contain two diaphragm needles with one for recording and one for the playback of sounds. This was the first real attempt at a major produced phonograph player.

Jump forward to 1948 and we are introduced to the first commercial vinyl records we know today. The vinyl record style that we know today is made of microgroove plastic and something called polyvinyl chloride, and this material form was developed in the early 1900s. The record that was introduced was the standardized 33 speed record that we buy today. Before this there was a 78 speed record however it could only hold a couple of songs and not a full album. On the 33 speed record it could hold a full albums worth of material.

33 Speed Record by Journey

Right around when the 33 speed vinyl record was introduced, 45's were released and created which had about 4 to 5 minutes on each side of the record. This was mainly introduced because this is when singles would be released from albums with just two songs on it. These vinyl records were mainly popular among teens and young adults. 

45 Speed Record by Bruce Springsteen 

Soon records would be face competition from two different sources in which people would get their music. In 1979, the Sony Walkman cassette player was introduced as a way of playin music on the go. Some people describe it as "the first iPod". This allowed you to not have to carry around big records which were not portable and their players were big at the time. CD's also were something that took out vinyl records since these were portable players of music. When computers came to prominence this allowed people to make mixtapes of different songs. This took out vinyl for a long time but it wasn't over for vinyl records. 

In 2008 vinyl sales rose for the first time since 1984 by 89% which was amazing since it had been nearly 25 years since sales were this good. A vinyl record resurgence was occurring and a new generation of music fans and enthusiasts were buying vinyl records by the artists of the time. Vinyl records changed music forever since this was one of the first ways of bringing music into your home and it changed communication media forever by allowing people to engage with music. 

Privacy Post

 We are in an age where privacy is becoming a major issue and something that is existing less and less in the media and in our daily lives. This has been taken away by the government and other media sources. The question is why does the government need to know everything about us and what we are doing. They don't need to in the end since America has been called the land of the free but, if it is the land of the free they wouldn't need to watch over us and our actions. 

One thing I found interesting from one of the TED Talk's  that I had not really ever thought of or had seen was the license plate readers that exist all over the roads which I didn't know about. I thought this was interesting and I thought it was really interesting that this is something the government would want to know. Something else that makes me uncomfortable when it comes to privacy settings is that Facebook targets ads towards you based on what you like based on what you have searched in your browser. They have been selling your information to marketing firms and are trying to target you to buy their products. This is a huge invasion of privacy and violates the right to privacy when using electronic media. 

One thing I found interesting from the TED Talk about how you can avoid surveillance with your cell phone is that Apple claims they cannot see texts that you send and don't record any phone calls. I will say that this is extremely surprising to me since I thought that they used this all the time. This is how privacy should be. 

American lawmakers need to know that it is not ok to have us be watched constantly. There needs to be legislation put in to place to protect us from violations of our privacy. We can make it known to our Representatives, Senators and Governors about this issue that we are concerned and hopefully push for protection. In order to retain some bit of privacy you have to be very careful of where you conduct your searches on the internet and what you look up since you don't know what is known and unknown. Hopefully privacy will get better with AI constantly becoming bigger in the U.S. and around the world and legislation will be put in place so Americans can be 

Eight Values of Free Expansion

 When I was reading about the Eight Values of Expression I found that "Participation in Self-Government" and "Protecting Dissent" are the most important values to me. These are both key principles of this county and the type of government we have and key concepts that involve us as citizens and make sure that we perform our civic duties. The United States of America is different from many other nations in that we encourage people to speak up for what they believe in and we are even encouraged to criticize the government when we don't agree on views with our elected officials and we are allowed with the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. With the First Amendment this gives us the rights to participate in self government and protect dissent in this country. 

Protecting Dissent 

Protecting Dissent is a key element of a successful democracy. As a person who just voted in his first primary election this year I found that there were some issues that I agreed and disagreed on with the candidates in the election. This value has never been more important than now because of the day and age we live in and because of the key 2024 elections ocurring later this year. One reason protecting dissent  government including ours is perfect and some dissenting voices can help highlight the issues of where government policy and action might have failed. In fact, it is our duty to criticize the government so that we can speak our voices. By protecting dissent we are protecting the rights to speak up for what we believe in as citizens. 

Protecting Dissent is big since this protects our rights to speak out and the government cannot force us to believe anything and cannot tell us what to say or think. Protecting Dissent also gives some legal protections if you are put on trial for certain things. This protects what a person says and helps people who may be facing some legal consequences. This allows you to not be arrested until proven guilty. 

This is a value that we are lucky to have. We are able to speak our minds and fight for what we believe in. We have the rights to express our beliefs on different platforms and in various ways through activism as well because in different countries there are people not allowed to speak up and dissent is not protected in countries such as Russia, and China. 

Participate in Self-Government 

Another important freedom given to us by the first amendment is the right to Participate in Self-Government. This is another right we are very lucky to have in this country since there are still lots of other countries that are not democracies and let people participate in the government process. Voting is major part of participating in self government. Voting is your civic duty to the country and everybody needs to get involved and make themselves heard. 

The way that it works for the most part is that people hear from different campaigns and they will make an informed decision based on what the candidate believes in. I believe that this is one of the most important duties of being an American citizen. This is another major way of being involved in self-government when it comes to voting in who you believe in as a candidate. It is crucial to make sure that your voice is heard and this is the way that the people of the United States can be happy with who is elected. This is a very important view of expression that we are lucky to have in this great land we call home. 

Supreme Court

As we all know the United States of America Supreme Court is the highest court in the United States and the most powerful judicial body in the world. After reading the Supreme Court article  I learned some things about the supreme court I wasn't previously aware of. 

One of the most interesting things that I did not know previously know is that the justices had to travel two times a year to some of the district courts around the U.S.. I found this to be very that they did this at one point because cases normally go through the smaller courts and I was very surprised that they would make America's highest justices do this for a long time. This was abolished in 1891 and has not been ever started up again since. 

The article changed the way I see the court in how hard they work. The Supreme Court works incredibly hard especially the Chief Justice (John Roberts) who oversees so much when it comes to heading the weekly Supreme Court meetings and also sits on the board of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. One of the biggest points about the Supreme Court works hard to uphold the law and protect America from the judicial side of things. They all work together to make America the best and safest place it can be by preserving democracy and the rights we have.

After learning all of these facts and information I have learned more about America's highest court system and some of the history behind it. I truly learned more about America’s court system and the moving pieces behind it.

My Top Five Sources of News and Information

The world is full of information and since it is becoming even more increasingly available to access it is important to stay updated on current topics and world news. There are many great sources of information out there today and plenty of places to get news and it is important that we look at reliable news sources for our information. 

#1: CNN

CNN is one of my go to places for news and information and it is where I get most of my news on a regular basis. They have a website that is well designed and easy to navigate as well as an app that is also easy to navigate. CNN offers many different articles on many different topics such as Business, Sports, Health and Wellness, Politics, Entertainment, Politics and so many more. I often refer to this as my go to source as I have the app on my phone and I get notifications from them about different topics each day. CNN also has a station Sirius XM which makes it easy to listen to if you have a subscription XM so I sometimes will listen to this as I drive. In more recent years Articles are constantly being released and normally most of them are fast reads but it is a great resource to get your news. 

#2: CNBC

This is another amazing news source that I like to refer to a lot for my business news especially when it comes to finding out stocks did in the market. I own some stocks and CNBC also allows me to keep a watchlist of the stocks which is helpful for me to track the stocks that I own and see how they did in the market that day. CNBC also has lots of quick read articles and they get lots of businesspeople to be interviewed which provides for the best results and most trustworthy stories. They also have an app which easy to navigate and setup. I find it to be very organized as well. CNBC also has coverage for most of the work day schedule so there is easy access if you just turn on your tv or your streaming device and you will find CNBC. 

#3: Apple News

If you have an iPhone or any Apple device there is big chance that you have this app on your device as this is an app that comes pre-downloaded on your device and you will get automatic notifications about a wide range of different news and general articles. The Apple News app gives many different articles about wellness, health tips, business news, entertainment news and so much more. I like to get notifications from them about different topics especially current political events which it provides many sources on. I would say that I get a fair share of my news from this app just based on notifications alone and I read some articles on here once in a while. 

#4: Fox News

This is another major news source for me of where I get my news. Fox News is one of my favorite news sources to watch and obtain my news rather than read it. I like hearing a conservative source of news to compare and contrast to some of the other sources that are out there. This allows me to hear two different sides of discussions on certain issues and analyze what they mean. I think Fox News does have some good television hosts and they also have lots of other programs on here like some of the other sources I have mentioned above. This is another example of an amazing news source. 

#5: New York Post

The New York Post is an amazing source choice as it has both a digital and paper component to it. I like to use the digital component as it is easy to access and doesn't cost anything. I think they have lots of great podcasts and journalists who create some amazing content. The articles on the New York Post cover a wide range of topics just like a lot of the other sources. I think that the New York Post has some great podcasts and stories especially when it comes to sports in my opinion. Jake Brown is an amazing journalist for the New York Post and he has some amazing content on sports topics especially baseball and lots of content on the New York Mets, Boston Red Sox and a lot of Northeastern teams. I like the New York Post and their mission.