In Summation

For my last post, I really just wanted to talk about how much I enjoyed this class as a whole. This class helped me make new friends that I hadn't really talked to yet outside of the room, and now I'm friends with most of them. There were new and fresh things to talk about every week, and the amount of information I've learned I really appreciate. I really liked having this class as what I call a 'sanity' class, a class I look forward to because the rest are pretty darn stressful. So thank you, Dr. Wilkes, Dr. Parks, and Sydney, for creating an awesome class that was a wonderful first introduction to college.

The Last Class

The last week, we did a lot of really cool things with codewriting and creating our own websites and animations. Although occasionally frustrating, the results actually did turn out quite cool. I've never written code before in my life, and  I really liked learning how. Also, I enjoyed seeing my classmates' websites and the funny and creative things we all did -I'm looking at you and the penguins, Noah, and Roommates' ridiculous Boone holiday card she made on Scratch.- It was a great way to end the class.

More Updates on Egypt

The elections are finally happening! I've been trying to keep an eye on Egypt ever since I researched their revolution, and I'm legitimately very happy things seem to be going well for them.

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-12-02/africa/world_africa_egypt-elections_1_election-results-election-board-moderate-islamists?_s=PM:AFRICA

Something I Forgot That's Totally Awesome

I forgot that in that class, I showed everyone this awesome video of Westboro Baptist Church showing down with Anonymous, with Anonymous clearly coming out the better...man? collective? I've always been entertained by this video, and I'm attaching it to this post, if you'd like entertainment today.

Viva la Revolucion

My topic for the internet was about the role it played in the recent government upheavals in Egypt and Tunisia, which was completely fascinating. It was so cool to see the internet, which a lot of people condemn for all its flaws, be able to help a country overcome totalitarian regimes. The internet effectively helped them gather groups for protests, spread information about the cause, etc. We spent a long time on all these different topics, which I really enjoyed. Everyone got to talk and share their opinion -and I'll admit it, I have an opinion on everything. When I get bored, I talk. It's a flaw. - This was definitively one of my favorite sections of the entire semester. It was so cool hearing about all these different things on varying subjects all related to the internet. Everything from medicine to dating to overthrowing crazed governments.

Also, I learned that one of my great aunts is on the dating site 'Christian Mingle' and is legitimately meeting cool men her age. I'm not sure how I feel about this, but it's extremely entertaining.

Bees!

Technically, we talked about cloud computing. But I think more of us were interested in the little insects the lecture centered around. Granted, bees terrify me, and I certainly would not have been able to do what Dr. Wilkes did with the branch, but they're certainly very interesting and that video was beyond awesome. The concept and application of cloud computing is also very interesting though, especially in how many places its being applied, down to a website that helps beekeepers connect with one another and share information about their hives. I'd heard of 'the cloud' before this class, but I hadn't really understood, and this lecture really defined it for me helpfully.

That Thing on the Internet Everyone Hates

Meaning captcha. That is, I hated it until I discovered the thing has actually made itself useful. And as an rabid history fan, I love that it's actually translating old documents to be able to be kept, read, and learned from. These days, I hold significantly less animosity toward the little images with the random words. However, I do hold animosity toward the dude for getting me addicted for about a week to Verbosity, his way of categorizing things on the internet. There are other games on the website as well, but I'm not going to link to any of them since I'll just end up at my desk playing them the rest of the day.

Marketing and You

The guest speaker that week was really interesting. He pointed out a lot of the things I had subconsciously noticed without thinking about it, that of course bigger companies with bigger ad budgets are the first things to appear in a Google search, and that this is very quickly becoming a viable Internet business option. Internet advertisements are probably becoming much more useful and relevant to society than any kind of print media. (Which is a little sad, but who's asking me?) And ever since he pointed out QR codes, I SEE THEM EVERYWHERE. But I don't have a smart phone so....

I thought this website was really awesome. It deals with treating your brain like a computer, and we didn't cover it in class or anything but I found it relevant and really freakin' cool.