The Beginning of the Book Reports

Again with my favorite kinds of classes - discussion. Four different groups presented the books they read and wrote book reports on, and asked questions and got the class talking. My book in particular was...interesting. Or extremist. Extremist is a much better word, actually. I didn't really like it all that much, mostly because I have never liked books or articles designed to scare and shock its readers and not worth much else. I think it's cheap and rather pointless. The book had 'The Coming Dark Age' in the title. Really? I thought dark ages were times of slow development. I definitively wouldn't call our time period a time of slow development. Sure, the good ol' days were probably awesome, but how are we supposed to go back to that anyway? Go back in time and waggle our finger disapprovingly at various scientists? 'Nuh-uh. Bad. Bad scientist. No computers.' It was a little silly, in all honesty.

I didn't feel the other three groups had books that were quite as opinionated as ours, but I rather don't agree that we are the dumbest generation, as many of the books were arguing. I think if earlier generations had access to the same technology that we do, they would be using it the exact same way that we are. It doesn't make much sense to freak out and run around like chickens with our heads cut off. I'm sure that when books as entertainment value entered the world after the printing press, everyone was like OMGBOOKSAREGONNAKILLOURKIDSMINDSTHISISAWFULSTOPIT. Except for no, it didn't. Reading recreationally is now considered a good thing. Why must everything have a practical function? Anyway, I was a little aggravated and almost insulted at how easily these authors were essentially calling people my age stupid.

Ciphers!

This week was really interesting, if a little different. We had a guest speaker who taught us the basics of ciphers, and allowed us to go nuts with partners coding and decoding messages. We only had the one class that week, but it was a nice way to slide into fall break. It was just a lot of fun where we all learned something new that was more like a game than a usual activity.

4chan and Facebook

This week in the ever changing Dissecting the Internet classroom, we studied the two sides of the social internet - total anonymity and transparency. I had never visited 4chan myself, but I'd seen other websites poke fun at it and some call it essentially the scourge of the internet. And while I do understand what 4chan is trying to do, sometimes the complete anonymity is rather bad, considering it's known for things like posting child pornography.

As for Facebook, we were assigned sides in a debate, Good vs Bad. I had good, and I do actually think that for the most part, Facebook is a good thing. It's a matter of convenience and being responsible for your own actions. I don't understand why people post everything about themselves online, and then blame Facebook for the bad things that result from it. I've even seen some people with their addresses on it! Just because there's a little blank box doesn't mean it needs to be filled in.

The Wide World of Stalking

Being told your assignment is to stalk one of your classmates is an odd mixture of amusement and curiosity. What would someone find if someone searched 'Meredith Gragg'? Granted, there's nothing bad to really be found about me, it's more the personal details someone could find if they were determined enough. As predicted, the stalking came up with some pretty crazy things. I had Amanda, and I found out her past work history, her parents' names, her brother's name, home phone number, where her parents worked, and all kinds of crazy things like that. The weirdest thing that she found out about me that I wouldn't have thought of is my theatre resume posted on this awards site, as well as my time spent in France, down to the exact dates, and the fact that my aunt got married like two months ago. A lot of this information was found out without the use of Facebook, just the sheer amount of crap that Google has to offer a determined stalker. I thought it was a pretty crazy thing to see first hand, just how much of yourself is on the internet.