Two Birds

I ranted on my 5th quiz, i figured id post it…. 1 stone ya know?….

On 8/13/07, ********* <***********@gmail.com> wrote:

Best. Answer. Ever.
4/4

On 8/10/07, ************* <xaeonic@gmail.com> wrote:

Describe & give definitions 3 different terms that forte uses in the article:

Co-production
Creation of a Field
Broker Overload

Basically the article was one long ‘I am so great and I got to vacation in Trinidad’ speech. Look how amazing I am, my website is #1 according to this rankings system, and I with other researchers basically saved this poor island from not having good websites for themselves. woo woo, hooray for me, I am amazing. The first article however, where the guy goes and lives with people and researches their internet use was really good, well written, wasn’t dry, and actually had a point. So woo woo, hooray for him.

In the first few pages he refers to a webmaster as a broker, and when there is to much for him or her to do, all these people telling him/her to do this and that and include this or that and all the other webmaster duties, forte refers to that as broker overload.

All the websites that forte created out of the massive kindness of his heart and his philanthropic nature unmatched by anything or anyone else in the world (did I mention he loves himself?) while he was vacationing in one of the nicest places in the world, were co-produced with the people or groups he was working with. Setting up native inhabitants information pages, and his main big CAC (pronounced Cack, I wonder if that has anything to do with himself…) page that is #1 (did I mention that it is #1, because it IS #1 and ohh yeah, in the conclusion Ill make sure i tell people its #1 one more time for good measure) is contributed to by all the other researchers that have painstakingly wrote papers on this beautiful part of the world, most of them of course having to vacati—i mean — work there, and acts as a hub for everyone to come together and form almost a database or library of these related articles. It also branches, or hyper links, off into pages that ya know, are only ranked like #5, so he wont talk about those too much other then that they are kinda awesome because even what he just ‘kinda’ does has a certain level of awesome surrounding it.

When someone as absolutely amazing as forte comes along and wants to do something, he cant just go ahead and do something that someone else has already done, so he needs to create a field all for himself so he can be the lead writer about all the amazing things that he does and he can go down in a very very small portion of history while he relaxes on the beaches of Trinidad. The Japanese also create fields for their rice by Terra forming because there are so many mountains and hills. So maybe he isnt all that great because millions of Japanese have been doing that for thousands of years.

His CAC website is #1. And i don’t like him.

He had some good points about different layerings of hyperlinks, and study on how hyperlinks can be embedded or attached more ‘technologically’ to pictures, sometimes full URLs are placed in websites but arn’t hyperlinked… And one of the essays (maybe this one) tracked down through the use of 6 search engines every hyper link pertaining to a certain site and then studied those sites in context.

China knows when you are sleeping, China knows when you’re awake …

So I was telling myself/lying to myself that I was looking for more research on my essay regarding your privacy on social networking sites (facebook/myspace/yaddayadda) when I came across this interesting little blog post regarding China’s new and very unmatched big brother program they are apparently implementing.  I remember on twitter we once had a conversation on how strict the 1 child policy currently is, this might have some insight to that as well:

 “The Chinese government, long-renowned for its tolerance, unobtrusive law-making, and general good vibes, has announced plans to begin outfitting its citizens with a new kind of ID card; one with an embedded chip that will include the holder’s name, address, work history, educational background, religion, ethnicity, police record, medical insurance status and landlord’s phone number. The cards will also carry reproductive history information, to further aid authorities in enforcing China’s “one child” policy. Ostensibly, the cards will keep track of the large influx of peasants moving to cities, though Michael Lin, VP of China Public Security Technology, went on (in Orwellian fashion) to say; “If they do not get the permanent card, they cannot live here, they cannot get government benefits, and that is a way for the government to control the population in the future.” Additionally, authorities are aggressively installing new security cameras around cities like Shenzhen, which utilize sophisticated recognition software co-developed by US companies like IBM, HP, and Dell. When reached for comment at the Ministry of Truth, the Chinese version of Big Brother was unavailable, as he was busy rationing out Soylent Green, Soma, and Ludovico technique treatments. “

Original Here.

E-Billing, Save a forest

“iPhone bill unboxed by Justine.tv

For those new iPhone owners who have been wearing that touchscreen keyboard out by sending as many texts as your thumbs can muster, you’ve probably been greeted by an unexpectedly large box from your neighborhood carrier. For Justine, that meant receiving “over 300 pages” of detailed billing from AT&T that spelled out every single SMS (and call, we presume) sent and received. If we actually needed another reason to choose eBilling over the obvious alternative, this would definitely be it.”

Watch the video and read the full article here. Guys, she’s cute so just click the link anyway.

Web 2.0, Evolution at its finest?

It has been years since I last frequented online communities. I used to be a regular participant in many, and in one gaming forum in particular I (in order to reach higher status) had quite the hefty post count (over 15k). These were of course in the late junior high and early high school days, and there was of course, a lot of flaming/arguing/posturing surrounding almost everything in that ‘world’ I was participating in. Over the last few years however as the forums I frequented have died and my interests have moved to other things I started to believe that a lot of that world was just because I was in my mid teenage years where, come to think of it, almost everything in my life was some sort of posturing. Forums that I belong to today are more of the online portfolio communities where I can not only host my portfolio online for free (a big deal for a New Media major), but I am in direct contact with hundreds of industry leaders, the guys that are making the games that I am playing right now basically. The combination of that much more professional setting and my removal from that world led me to believe that in this new age of ‘web 2.0’ this and ‘global community’ that, maybe we were becoming far more civilized.

 

I was wrong.

 

My last post rants about the un. owen gal and basically what a horrible disgusting person she must be (based completely off… ohh… id say 500 words that i know about her…. solid i know)but that whole community, of what is marketed as ‘more scholarly’ ‘mature’ ‘ educated’ ‘moral’ people reminded me oh so completely of when i was 15 on various gaming forums. A few hours ago my roomate and I fired up an old PC game online just for the hell of it, and what do ya know, the meeting area before entering a game with other online players was full of nothing but “STFU” “youre gay’ ‘awefwaegaw!fag!!!’ and so on.

 

Two totally different settings with two totally different user bases both acting remarkably the same and remarkably similar to how the internet was 8 years ago. Evolution.

Where is she now?

So after class today I sat there thinking, wow… that “UN. owen” whatever her name is, is some special kind of fucked up.  Imagine how stressful her life is, and what she puts herself through by trying to do that all the time.  Judging by the general responses from the people at metafilter, not all of them were too too bright, and if they caught on so easily to her fraud then I am sure a lot of other communities that she frequents must.  I’m going to go out on a limb and say she probably gets caught more often than not even, or if she does make money its not a whole lot until people figure it out.  All that time and effort to post for months to gain peoples trust enough to ask for money could be put into something else say… working at McDicks and I am 100% positive she would make more money.   Also, since I am sure she has been caught before and after this individual incident, she is probably somewhere out there right now as you read this in process of trying to defraud other caring people.  

I didn’t end up finishing the thread before time was up, but I do remember that some people near the start promised to paypal some money over to her as soon as they found their account info.  Does anyone know if they actually did?  

Also, since they consented to give the money, and since she didn’t technically ask for it in the first place, would that person be able to take any action against her for taking his money?  I doubt it.

Traveling from place to place, online and offline, leaving an absolute disaster in your wake, both online and offline… shes out there somewhere right now in a forum, and in som1’s house, trying to figure out how to pump them for as much money as possible. 

It’d be nice to say that this is just a disgusting example of the internet and internet users at their worst, but I doubt that this action was taken soley because she is online.  In other words, she would probably be weaseling her deal through some means even if the internet wasn’t around.  So can we say that the internet brings out the worst in people when examples like this, ‘the worst in the internet’, are easier to find in real life?  Does the internet and its anonymity really change most people, bad into worse, good into better?

 

In case someone is reading this who is not from soci3740, here is the link to what I am talking about.  It’s a good read. 

Dead in my car.

I was going to write a post on this whole cell phone dependency thing last night but ended up wanting to do basically — anything else — so I went and saw Bourne… and it was good. Earlier that night I called a few friends to see who wanted to come and some of those calls went to message so, the natural thing to do is to bring the cell phone in case of call back. After a good search through the house to figure out where i left my cell phone (as it is hardly ever attached to me) I took it to my car and put it in the center console…. Then i had to rush an home (highriver)… And i am now realizing that my cell phone is probably dead in that center console right now.

I use my cell phone more like a lan line, it stays somewhere in my house, usually my computer desk or by the couch i usually sit on, and more often than not if i hear it ringing ill run to get it. I never bring it to class unless i know i will need it that day, and i only take it on long road trips in case of emergency, not because i need to stay in contact with people. That being said, i’ve never been that huge of a fan of phones, or talking on the phone for more than 2 minutes. Growing up it was always either in person, a 5 second call, or more often than not through my high school and early university years MSN or IRC. I do text a lot, i think because it’s a lot close to what i am accustomed to and people seem to get more to the point when they have limited characters.

So as far as reliance on my cell phone, i would say it is very small just because my reliance on that medium has never been very high. I don’t have a lan line so i do need it because i don’t see how a person could get by these days without some sort of phone (employer contact, emergencys…) and i do probably use it often enough to warrant the plan i am on — but the fact that its dead in my car and i probably wont go get it before class in a few hours must say something.

The Red Light District

Well Ladys and Gents — after a few weeks of seeming to get around the 3 red light issue (since the first time I saw that evil sign I’ve been making sure that I’ve turned off the power supply fully after every use to cool it down) that 360’s are very famous for these days, it seems as if it has caught up to me.

The red lights are there to stay.

On a better note though:

 

“… it looks like Microsoft has finally launched a more organized method of detailing and tracking the process of sending your faulty US-based Xbox 360 back in for repair. Reportedly, the new web portal allows American console owners to register their machine, attach a Windows Live ID, schedule a repair, and track the status of said mending. Additionally, users who register will supposedly receive a five dollar credit towards out-of-warranty repair service should they need it, but considering that the warranty was just extended to three full years, you should be covered for a good while yet. “

 Figured it might be interesting to anyone else who owns a 360 — because if you have bought yours any time in the last 2 years and it hasn’t happened to you yet, its probably going to.  Sorry.

Link To Microsoft’s New Warranty and Repair Service.

Do you think anyone can tell how high I am right now?

Sick of flying coach?  Look how its being done in other places of the world.

Yes… This is coach.  *sigh* someday…
Full Article Here. 

Where have all the ‘nice movie hackers’ gone?

There seemed to be a lot of interesting thoughts and discussion branching off the, for some, recent knowledge that “hackers basically created everything that people love about computers these days.” From, color monitors, audio, to the fact that most everyone owns at least 1 computer (would this be the same if Jobs and Waz (… and i guess in some little way “mr. gates”…) didn’t come along and make it so we could all have one in our houses?) It is very true that most ‘hackers’ these days have a very bad wrap, but since the days of creation that we talked about in class today, what ‘productive’ (as far as society is concerned) inventions and advancements have they made more recently?

The Sneaker — Not the shoe, although most of you are probably familiar with this type of hacker in some way shape or form. Basically a sneaker is a day job that, a lot of, if not most, White Hat (good guy) hackers get paid a helluva lot of money for. If any of you saw the new Die Hard movie this year then yes, the main bad guy (i know… very forgettable, but think hard) used to be employed by the US government to hack into their own security systems to make sure that the general publics info was safe. In this case, it wasn’t — and there you have your base level story line (don’t worry, no spoilers there if you are waiting for DVD). Do you pay bills over the internet, do you make sure you only give out your credit card # when you are on a ‘secure’ website, if so, you can almost certainly thank a hacker for giving you that opportunity. Who do you think created the encryption, and who do you think maintains it so that these places (banks/websites/whatever) are usually one or more steps ahead of other, more deviant, black hat hackers or even just a common curious kid?

I brought up people hacking the iPhone in class today when we were talking about how Apple was created by hackers mainly as a semi ironic point about how everything goes around in circles, but it raises another point that most people (or at least i think) don’t know. Texting, Internet on your phone, downloadable music on your phone, TV channels on your phone…. Yes, I am sure hackers somewhere had something to do with the initial development but I am more concerned with WHY you now have it on your phone and why you should be more than a little pissed at your provider. One simple fact, it has been around for YEARS in the nerd world and it has been available in almost all of your phones from a few years ago too, the only reason you didn’t have it then was it was disabled. Yes, its not always to the same point, those ‘tv channels’ that you can now get weren’t always there because the media wasn’t properly constructed yet, but the option always was there, it used to always be FREE, and all it took was some hacker to break the OS in your phone. It is my understanding (correct me if I am wrong), but most phones in order to make use of almost any feature other than being able to turn on and off again, needs to be activated by your cellular carrier… again, just another block in the programming of the phone put there by carriers in order to make money. Hack the OS, and all those features are there, you just need to be able to jump onto (piggyback) a carrier, often times easily done by piggybacking someone else’s phone signal especially now days with most phones going to the internet.

Open Source is also often directly contributed by or created by hackers, since at core that is what ‘hackers’ believe in. That all code, intellectual property should be free to whomever. Maybe you don’t know of open source but I bet you use it and I bet it works a helluva lot better then a lot of the stuff you pay for. Firefox, Linux, BitTorrent…. all open source. You can go in, you can create, you can see how they did it, and you make improvements on it, hell, they want you to. Why do hackers hate Bill Gates/Microsoft so much? The easiest way to explain it, is he stands for everything that they are against. He buys what is sometimes free programs, or more often, very cheap programs, often originally open source. Slaps a Microsoft logo onto it and sells it for hundreds of dollars.

Who here still uses Norton or McAfee as their internet security? I bet almost all of you are using some sort of free anti-virus program, and i can guarantee almost all of them work 10000x better then what you would get if you bought Norton these days.

ECHELON, basically it was NASA’s “supposed to be” secret way of spying on everyone. Guess who found out about it and blew the whistle?

And there are thousands of other examples out there of hackers that are still pushing the limits of technology, breaking what the big companies don’t want them to break, partially just for the hell of it, and partially in order to give you in actuality a ‘fixed’ version of what you thought you should have been buying in the first place.

If it works, a hacker probably had something to do with it.

It’s So Hot…. Milk was a bad choice.

Hah… Be careful out there if you are negative-pants in this hot summer weather.

Man Dies from Computer Electrocution — Wasn’t Wearing Pants.