Monday, October 6, 2008
Facebook Profiling
Honestly, I believe that facebook and other social networking programs are not making people more kind instead they are only making people appear more kind. Facebook is a superficial program in that all of its users know that their information will be broadcasted publically so everyone is aware of what to say and what not to say. If a friend of mine writes on my wall and asks how I am doing I am not going to ignore them. Instead i'm going to be nice and write them back because I dont want other people checking up on me and seeing that three days have gone by and I never wrote back to this person. Also in my opinion the best example of portraying kindness on Facebook is when someone reads on their homepage that it is so and so's birthday. They 9/10 times had no idea but because of this daily reminder they can pretend to be just as kind and wish someone they know well or barely even know a happy birthday just because they know everyone else is doing it.Basically what I'm trying to say is it depends how you look at it. Sure your going to be kind to a friend who goes out of their way to say hello to you. But your also thinking in your mind everytime you do something on Facebook that others will see so I might as well give a good image of myself even if it is untrue. Most people kind or not, just want people to have a positive idea of the kind of person they are and what better way then to dispaly a perfect version of yourself online?
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Thursday, November 6, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
First line of deffense, against the worst scum of the universe
Bowling is a simple sport, you get two chances to knock down ten pins. However, there is much more to it. You have to know exactly what you need heading into the final frames in order to beat you opponent. The maximum score in bowling is not 100 pins, it is 300. How one obtains this is by bowling 12 strikes in ten frames. How the scoring system works is if there is 1 pin left after your frame then you get a nine. But there are marks such as spares and strikes that score a little more complex. A spare, is the act of knocking down all ten pins in two attempts. The spare is scored as 10 pins plus your next ball. So if you get a spare and a nine it is 10+9=19 for just the one frame. A strike is 10 plus your next two balls. So if you get a strike and then a 5 and 4 you total 19 pins. The most efficient way to score is by adding strikes in a row. Such that three strikes in a row to start a game would give you a score of 30 just for the first frame. If is a simple concept when you bowl a lot, but for the recreational bowler it is not as easy to pick up.
America not being number one at something? That is a shock. I guess considering we didn't get wind of it to the masses until American Idol came out which I believe was a show idea stolen from Britain, makes it more believable. But now as this article is two years old I would like to see how the writer views Americans and texting. Moving into modern aticles like Thumbspeak, well it proclaims there are not trillions of texts sent annually in America so I guess they are now catching up to foreign countries. Not only are Americans caught up, it seems after reading this article that other countries are beginning to copy us ironically. English is much shorter than most other languages and is therefore making the simplicity of texting even easier for everyone now. Although it is stirring up controversy, texting does appear to be for the present and the future.
Touching upon instant messaging, I agree with the initial viewpoint of the emoticons article that IM is the most efficient form of communication. It can be formal or informal. It is fast and one can express emotions using emoticons. The argument that people are not always at their computers makes IM bad is innaccurate because people normally put up an away message or notify the person they are talking to that they will be right back. If not and it is that important, well then text messages, which are a form of IM's, can be enforced. But still IM's allow for the fastest and most useful because even when someone misinterprets what you are saying, literally seconds later you can say "no that is not what I meant, I really meant it to mean this."
America not being number one at something? That is a shock. I guess considering we didn't get wind of it to the masses until American Idol came out which I believe was a show idea stolen from Britain, makes it more believable. But now as this article is two years old I would like to see how the writer views Americans and texting. Moving into modern aticles like Thumbspeak, well it proclaims there are not trillions of texts sent annually in America so I guess they are now catching up to foreign countries. Not only are Americans caught up, it seems after reading this article that other countries are beginning to copy us ironically. English is much shorter than most other languages and is therefore making the simplicity of texting even easier for everyone now. Although it is stirring up controversy, texting does appear to be for the present and the future.
Touching upon instant messaging, I agree with the initial viewpoint of the emoticons article that IM is the most efficient form of communication. It can be formal or informal. It is fast and one can express emotions using emoticons. The argument that people are not always at their computers makes IM bad is innaccurate because people normally put up an away message or notify the person they are talking to that they will be right back. If not and it is that important, well then text messages, which are a form of IM's, can be enforced. But still IM's allow for the fastest and most useful because even when someone misinterprets what you are saying, literally seconds later you can say "no that is not what I meant, I really meant it to mean this."
Sunday, November 2, 2008
The female advantage
The question posed throughout this essay revolves around this so called "advantage." And yes, me as a male do see this as a sure advantage. Getting to go in wherever you desire, consume products of mystery and enjoyment, and basically do what it is college students want to participate in all just because your good looking and a female. What this essay only touches on lightly is that gender is only half the battle. If you are not physically attractive AND female, forget about it.
Where this essay lacks on depth is in the other side, or the disadvantage. The fact that what the female advantage entails is in reality illegal, takes away from having your cake and eating it too. What I mean by this is that if a girl gets drugged or taken advantage of inside one of these buildings there is little they can do about it because they are knowingly participating in illegal activities. So sure it is an advantage, but the advantage being had is more by the men than the women because the men are taking "advantage" of these defenseless pretty women, or should I say girls?
Where this essay lacks on depth is in the other side, or the disadvantage. The fact that what the female advantage entails is in reality illegal, takes away from having your cake and eating it too. What I mean by this is that if a girl gets drugged or taken advantage of inside one of these buildings there is little they can do about it because they are knowingly participating in illegal activities. So sure it is an advantage, but the advantage being had is more by the men than the women because the men are taking "advantage" of these defenseless pretty women, or should I say girls?
Monday, October 20, 2008
Meeting on occasion
On my second day of being at school, before class had even started, I tried to switch from the hybrid class to a three times a week course. However, I was unsuccessful because there was no room in any classes not conflicting with my current schedule. I was originally bummed out because of this because I wanted to have more hand on learning and to meet and see more people on a regular basis. Now, after 4 weeks of classes I am thrilled that I was unable to switch out. Not only have I met some interesting people in my hour and a half a week, but I have also begun to open up my creative writing side. I love the freedom to do work at our own pace and witih our own sort of style. There have been few guidelines on our blog posts and even with project one I was able to narrerate in first person an event of MY choosing. Not anyone else's, but something I could actually draw up some credible arguments about.
So far in the hybrid english class the cirriculum has allowed me to expand my imagination and improve my creative writing skills as well as my basic writing skills. I couldn't have asked for more because this style of writing has been very helpful to me and the class environment is very relaxed and we are given many liberties to discuss our points of view and our styles of literacies.
So far in the hybrid english class the cirriculum has allowed me to expand my imagination and improve my creative writing skills as well as my basic writing skills. I couldn't have asked for more because this style of writing has been very helpful to me and the class environment is very relaxed and we are given many liberties to discuss our points of view and our styles of literacies.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Facebook Profiling
Honestly, I believe that facebook and other social networking programs are not making people more kind instead they are only making people appear more kind. Facebook is a superficial program in that all of its users know that their information will be broadcasted publically so everyone is aware of what to say and what not to say. If a friend of mine writes on my wall and asks how I am doing I am not going to ignore them. Instead i'm going to be nice and write them back because I dont want other people checking up on me and seeing that three days have gone by and I never wrote back to this person. Also in my opinion the best example of portraying kindness on Facebook is when someone reads on their homepage that it is so and so's birthday. They 9/10 times had no idea but because of this daily reminder they can pretend to be just as kind and wish someone they know well or barely even know a happy birthday just because they know everyone else is doing it.
Basically what I'm trying to say is it depends how you look at it. Sure your going to be kind to a friend who goes out of their way to say hello to you. But your also thinking in your mind everytime you do something on Facebook that others will see so I might as well give a good image of myself even if it is untrue. Most people kind or not, just want people to have a positive idea of the kind of person they are and what better way then to dispaly a perfect version of yourself online?
Basically what I'm trying to say is it depends how you look at it. Sure your going to be kind to a friend who goes out of their way to say hello to you. But your also thinking in your mind everytime you do something on Facebook that others will see so I might as well give a good image of myself even if it is untrue. Most people kind or not, just want people to have a positive idea of the kind of person they are and what better way then to dispaly a perfect version of yourself online?
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Probing Bb Vista
Is Drexel culture making us smarter? I guess in order to answer that it depends on your definition of smarter. My definition of smarter would basically be knowing something you didn't used to know that can be applied to real life situations. I would have to say I have definetely gotten smarter since I've been here. Not because of going to class five days a week, but the independent experiences you are forced to encounter everyday.
Since I've been away at school I have had to use and strengthen my problem solving skills to the extreme. An example of that would be using Drexel's online network system. It was a maze for over a week and now I sit down in my computer chair and navigate through the site with ease. I guess frustration set in first when we had to "register our computer." It took me forever to get logged on to the internet. But once I was on I realized that it wasn't so bad after all and the next time I would have to do something similar to that I would have no problems. How this relates to Johnson's theory this making us smarter is that we aren't used to being so independent. I never had to set up my own internet before. Because I had to do this on my own and pretty much everything done at drexel is alone I now am smarter. I would never have imagined my transfer into this university would go so quickly but becuase of my surroundings and all these introductions to modern technology I am becoming very self reliant and by result, smarter.
I am no more efficiant with the internet and installations, even better at following directions. All qualities that can be applied to everyday life.
I would definetly agree that Johnson does have a point when he talks about access to new things allows our new generations to learn and produce at a much faster pace and all my exposure to new things here so far is evidence of that.
Since I've been away at school I have had to use and strengthen my problem solving skills to the extreme. An example of that would be using Drexel's online network system. It was a maze for over a week and now I sit down in my computer chair and navigate through the site with ease. I guess frustration set in first when we had to "register our computer." It took me forever to get logged on to the internet. But once I was on I realized that it wasn't so bad after all and the next time I would have to do something similar to that I would have no problems. How this relates to Johnson's theory this making us smarter is that we aren't used to being so independent. I never had to set up my own internet before. Because I had to do this on my own and pretty much everything done at drexel is alone I now am smarter. I would never have imagined my transfer into this university would go so quickly but becuase of my surroundings and all these introductions to modern technology I am becoming very self reliant and by result, smarter.
I am no more efficiant with the internet and installations, even better at following directions. All qualities that can be applied to everyday life.
I would definetly agree that Johnson does have a point when he talks about access to new things allows our new generations to learn and produce at a much faster pace and all my exposure to new things here so far is evidence of that.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
weekday phills game
At about 4 PM I was sitting in my dorm just about to leave for math when I received a phone call from my friend Mark. We exchanged pleasantries and he then extended an invitation to me to accompany him and his roommate John to the Phillies game that evening. Figuring I had a late class the next morning it was not a problem for me at all. We hopped on the subway for the first time and road it all the way to the stadium where we purchased our $13.00 tickets and headed up. We got to our seats ready to enjoy an important game for the home team with high playoff implications riding on it.The game was lost with a final score of 3-2 but considering I barely knew John and Mark I would describe the evening as a successful night. However, what we all took back more than anything else from the nights contest was the weather conditions. Wearing only shorts and a t-shirt, the three of us were freezing the entire game making it difficult to focus on the play on the field.When we reached the subway we were relieved to be in warmth finally and discussed between ourselves how cool it is to be at a city college and the convenience of just calling one another up an hour before a game and just deciding then and there "yeah sure I'll go to the game with you." This applies to concerts and restaurants anything the city and the college have to offer is right at our fingertips; A feeling not accustomed to our normal lifestyles.
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