Monday, September 28, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Good Times, Good Times
My blogging experience so far has been mostly what I expected it to be. The only surprise was that I didn’t think I would write as much as I did on my posts. Normally I’m not a very wordy person. However in this case I find it’s pretty easy to just keep going once you get started and the 250 limit isn’t a problem at all. Of course some were easier to write than others, it all depended on the reading that went with it. I found it was much easier to write about the stuff I didn’t like as opposed to the stuff that I did. It’s a lot easier to complain then to complement. Plus let’s face it, reading something that’s one fact after another isn’t as entertaining as when someone writes based off emotion.
Having our blogs due 24 hours before was kind of an inconvenience. Personally I think 18 hours before would be enough time.
Overall in this experience I think I’ve learned how bogging is easy in some ways and hard in others. It’s easy because it’s so informal and someone could easily just type away. The hard part for me is making the decision to finally click publish post; because once I click it, there’s no going back. Sometimes right after I click it I think of something that I wanted to add or delete. I know that technically you can go back and change it, but to me that seems a little wrong. I can’t explain it exactly, but I just feel that it’s wrong to put something out there and then go never mind.
I’ve really enjoyed reading my peer’s blogs. I like hearing about other people’s opinions even if they differ from my own. Most of the time, someone will bring up a point that I would never have thought of.
Having our blogs due 24 hours before was kind of an inconvenience. Personally I think 18 hours before would be enough time.
Overall in this experience I think I’ve learned how bogging is easy in some ways and hard in others. It’s easy because it’s so informal and someone could easily just type away. The hard part for me is making the decision to finally click publish post; because once I click it, there’s no going back. Sometimes right after I click it I think of something that I wanted to add or delete. I know that technically you can go back and change it, but to me that seems a little wrong. I can’t explain it exactly, but I just feel that it’s wrong to put something out there and then go never mind.
I’ve really enjoyed reading my peer’s blogs. I like hearing about other people’s opinions even if they differ from my own. Most of the time, someone will bring up a point that I would never have thought of.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Corporations Raping the Nation till it's an Ideological Ghetto, While George W. Bush Plays the Fiddle
As I was reading the Hedges’ article I found certain mocking thoughts come to me. It got so bad that I had to start writing them in the margin of the paper. So for this post I think I’ll just put quotes followed by my inner thoughts.
“This year alone… some 6000 journalists nationwide have lost their jobs.” Yes because in 2008 nobody lost their jobs and everyone was hiring.
“Net advertising amounts to $21 billion a year, that amount is actually relatively small.” If that’s small then the hundreds of millions that Obama spent on campaigning must be like change. Maybe if we gather it up we can go taco bell and order from pretty pictures.
“[newspapers] give a voice to those who, without the press, have no voice.” If that’s true then who’s writing all the blogs.
“They keep citizens engaged with their cultural, civic and political life.” I thought that politics were corrupt? Why would citizens want to be engaged in that?
“Nearly all reporting-I would guess at least 80 percent- is done by newspapers.” You ‘guess’ 80 percent. While I ‘guess’ that 80 percent of the population goes to McDonalds because of the health benefits, not to order from the pictures. See how much fun it is to ‘guess’!
“Those who rely on the internet gravitate to sites that reinforce their belief.” Um, that’s true, but it’s true for a lot of sources besides the internet, like all of them.
“Reporting, which is time consuming and expensive.” Wait a second; didn’t he say earlier that newspapers were losing money by using the internet?
“We are left awash in a sea in propaganda.” Ok, newspapers are infamous for propaganda, take a history class, they’ll tell you.
“Facts, for many bloggers, are interchangeable with opinions.” If anyone would know about confusing facts with opinions, it would be you. Is hypocrite in that big advance vocabulary of yours?
“Time Warner, Disney, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., General Electric and Viacom control nearly everything we read, watch, and ultimately think.” You forgot the fast food places with all those pictures!
“A democracy survives when its citizens have access to trustworthy and impartial sources of information, when it can discern lies from truth.” Is there such a thing of ‘impartial sources of information’?
“Ideological ghettos.” I just think this phrase is funny.
“And the citizens in these degraded societies, he warned always end up ruled by a despot, a Nero or a George W. Bush.” I bet Cicero knew all about Bush, and besides, Bush is nothing like Nero, there is no way Bush has the talent to learn to fiddle.
I don’t have that much to say about the Thompson piece. It’s not as much fun writing about something that you agree with.
Remember when Chris Hedges was talking about how real journalists spend all this time researching, and gathering information to make newspapers descent sources of factual information? I think the Thompson piece fits this description, except that this piece was found on the evil internet.
“This year alone… some 6000 journalists nationwide have lost their jobs.” Yes because in 2008 nobody lost their jobs and everyone was hiring.
“Net advertising amounts to $21 billion a year, that amount is actually relatively small.” If that’s small then the hundreds of millions that Obama spent on campaigning must be like change. Maybe if we gather it up we can go taco bell and order from pretty pictures.
“[newspapers] give a voice to those who, without the press, have no voice.” If that’s true then who’s writing all the blogs.
“They keep citizens engaged with their cultural, civic and political life.” I thought that politics were corrupt? Why would citizens want to be engaged in that?
“Nearly all reporting-I would guess at least 80 percent- is done by newspapers.” You ‘guess’ 80 percent. While I ‘guess’ that 80 percent of the population goes to McDonalds because of the health benefits, not to order from the pictures. See how much fun it is to ‘guess’!
“Those who rely on the internet gravitate to sites that reinforce their belief.” Um, that’s true, but it’s true for a lot of sources besides the internet, like all of them.
“Reporting, which is time consuming and expensive.” Wait a second; didn’t he say earlier that newspapers were losing money by using the internet?
“We are left awash in a sea in propaganda.” Ok, newspapers are infamous for propaganda, take a history class, they’ll tell you.
“Facts, for many bloggers, are interchangeable with opinions.” If anyone would know about confusing facts with opinions, it would be you. Is hypocrite in that big advance vocabulary of yours?
“Time Warner, Disney, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., General Electric and Viacom control nearly everything we read, watch, and ultimately think.” You forgot the fast food places with all those pictures!
“A democracy survives when its citizens have access to trustworthy and impartial sources of information, when it can discern lies from truth.” Is there such a thing of ‘impartial sources of information’?
“Ideological ghettos.” I just think this phrase is funny.
“And the citizens in these degraded societies, he warned always end up ruled by a despot, a Nero or a George W. Bush.” I bet Cicero knew all about Bush, and besides, Bush is nothing like Nero, there is no way Bush has the talent to learn to fiddle.
I don’t have that much to say about the Thompson piece. It’s not as much fun writing about something that you agree with.
Remember when Chris Hedges was talking about how real journalists spend all this time researching, and gathering information to make newspapers descent sources of factual information? I think the Thompson piece fits this description, except that this piece was found on the evil internet.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Can You Read?
As I’m reading this article by Hedges, the first thing that comes to mind is that one third of America is not going to get his message. Of course his audience isn’t really for that one third; it’s the other two thirds, to scare them about what’s going on in America. My question is why isn’t he addressing the one third? He clearly stats the problem, and gives ample evidence to support it, but he doesn’t give anything on how to solve the problem.
Another thing I notice is that he complains about the vocabulary level of past presidential candidate, but his vocabulary isn’t that impressive. This could be because he doesn’t think his audience can handle a more advance vocabulary. And if this is the case, they why doesn’t he tell his audience to work on their own vocabulary? With the amount of time he spent researching this topic, you’d think he wanted to fix it.
I don’t think it does an good to give a problem without even the beginnings of a plan to fix it. With this problem I think the answer is in the schools. They spend too much time worrying about their test score stats; they need to focus on teaching the kids.
I think Hedges defines literacy as not only the ability to read and write, but to read and write at a semi-advanced level. It’s not good enough to be able to recognize the symbols on the page, but you have to be able to think about them critically, and use those same words in your every day speech.
The main difference between this article and the one by Carr is that this focuses on something that has already happened, and Carr is worried about the future. I think that makes this one more significant. Carr’s point may or may not (more towards the not) happen. Hedges’ issue is already here.
Another thing I notice is that he complains about the vocabulary level of past presidential candidate, but his vocabulary isn’t that impressive. This could be because he doesn’t think his audience can handle a more advance vocabulary. And if this is the case, they why doesn’t he tell his audience to work on their own vocabulary? With the amount of time he spent researching this topic, you’d think he wanted to fix it.
I don’t think it does an good to give a problem without even the beginnings of a plan to fix it. With this problem I think the answer is in the schools. They spend too much time worrying about their test score stats; they need to focus on teaching the kids.
I think Hedges defines literacy as not only the ability to read and write, but to read and write at a semi-advanced level. It’s not good enough to be able to recognize the symbols on the page, but you have to be able to think about them critically, and use those same words in your every day speech.
The main difference between this article and the one by Carr is that this focuses on something that has already happened, and Carr is worried about the future. I think that makes this one more significant. Carr’s point may or may not (more towards the not) happen. Hedges’ issue is already here.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Me Ranting, About Something I Really Don't Like
Oh no! The internet is talking over the world! It’s destroying our brains cell by cell, oh wait, the article didn’t say that, I believe it said something along the lines of, “Nerve cells routinely break old connections and form new ones.” (Carr 3) I guess we have to assume that the new connections aren’t as good as the old ones, though no evidence is given to prove this or even say this.
He also says something about our reading skills going away, “Reading, explains Wolf, is not an instinctive skill for human beings. It’s not etched into our genes the way speech is. We have to teach our minds how to translate the symbolic characters we see into the language we understand… We can expect as well that the circuits woven by our use of the Net will be different from those woven by our reading of books and other printed works.”(Carr 3) I stand corrected; our reading skills aren’t going away. That’s weird; again nothing is destroyed, just different. It’s also strange that he doesn’t think that reading is instinctive, because a written language is one of the requirements to be called a civilized people. Is the internet destroying civilization too? I hate to break it to you, but Miley Cyrus is doing a pretty good job of that all by herself.
I believe one point he makes is about how reading on the internet is damaging our concentration skills. Is this what is making us stupid? I’m sure there are a few ADHD kids who would have a problem with this statement. It will only last for a few seconds before they move on to something else, but for those few seconds they’re going to be pretty upset.
So I’m reading and I come across, “So, yes, you should be skeptical of my skepticism.” (Carr 7) I though Google was supposed to be making you stupid, not psychic. I hate it when people can tell what I’m thinking.
Then he goes on to give all these examples from history about people being afraid of new technology. Is it just me or does this kind of contradict his whole point?
Maybe the joke is on me and the title is supposed to be ironic, but I didn’t get that feeling while I was reading it. Maybe Google has already gotten to me.
After I’m done reading this I’m sitting there wondering, who is this guy? So I Google him, which is something I think is a little on the funny side god bless irony, and come across his blog. I read something he wrote comparing Rockband to coloring by numbers which was pretty good. It had actual points and everything!
I then looked around his page and found a link to something he wrote with J. Alfred Prufrock in the title. This happens to be the subject in one of the best poems in the world. I of course clicked, and found a piece that I not only liked, but loved. Technically it compares the plight of Prufrock to facebook, but much of the same points can be applied to blogging so I think it would be perfect for this class. I’m going to try to get a link on her to it, but I’m not promising anything, I’m not sure how to do it. I'll at lest have the address on here so you can copy and paste it.
http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2006/05/the_love_song_o_1.php
He also says something about our reading skills going away, “Reading, explains Wolf, is not an instinctive skill for human beings. It’s not etched into our genes the way speech is. We have to teach our minds how to translate the symbolic characters we see into the language we understand… We can expect as well that the circuits woven by our use of the Net will be different from those woven by our reading of books and other printed works.”(Carr 3) I stand corrected; our reading skills aren’t going away. That’s weird; again nothing is destroyed, just different. It’s also strange that he doesn’t think that reading is instinctive, because a written language is one of the requirements to be called a civilized people. Is the internet destroying civilization too? I hate to break it to you, but Miley Cyrus is doing a pretty good job of that all by herself.
I believe one point he makes is about how reading on the internet is damaging our concentration skills. Is this what is making us stupid? I’m sure there are a few ADHD kids who would have a problem with this statement. It will only last for a few seconds before they move on to something else, but for those few seconds they’re going to be pretty upset.
So I’m reading and I come across, “So, yes, you should be skeptical of my skepticism.” (Carr 7) I though Google was supposed to be making you stupid, not psychic. I hate it when people can tell what I’m thinking.
Then he goes on to give all these examples from history about people being afraid of new technology. Is it just me or does this kind of contradict his whole point?
Maybe the joke is on me and the title is supposed to be ironic, but I didn’t get that feeling while I was reading it. Maybe Google has already gotten to me.
After I’m done reading this I’m sitting there wondering, who is this guy? So I Google him, which is something I think is a little on the funny side god bless irony, and come across his blog. I read something he wrote comparing Rockband to coloring by numbers which was pretty good. It had actual points and everything!
I then looked around his page and found a link to something he wrote with J. Alfred Prufrock in the title. This happens to be the subject in one of the best poems in the world. I of course clicked, and found a piece that I not only liked, but loved. Technically it compares the plight of Prufrock to facebook, but much of the same points can be applied to blogging so I think it would be perfect for this class. I’m going to try to get a link on her to it, but I’m not promising anything, I’m not sure how to do it. I'll at lest have the address on here so you can copy and paste it.
http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2006/05/the_love_song_o_1.php
Sunday, September 13, 2009
I've lost count on what number we're on and I don't feel like looking it up
As I’m reading the reading on rewriting, I’m drawing a blank. Mostly because, I have to be honest here, it’s really, really boring. But then I think about how my fellow classmates are going t responded and I know what to write about. I apply the three moves from chapter 1 to my fellow blogger’s posts. Problem solved. This task was made slightly easier by the fact that many classmates had yet to post their blogs. A fact that is a little concerning because I waited to an hour before the due hour to get the most posts in my comparison. The fact that a lot of people haven’t posted anything scares me a little bit.
Moving on, move one: Define the Project. Not to had to do because we all got the same prompt and we all (with the exception of me) stuck to it pretty well (I’m stretching it a little bit). Reflect on Rewriting, compare to Sullivan. Simple
Move two: Note keywords. I’ve picked out some quotes that I liked from the posts I read, and I’ve added my thought on them. I stayed away from tings I didn’t like because I didn’t want t hurt anyone’s feelings:
“ I think Joseph Harris’s Rewriting is an appropriate text for a course focused on ‘civic literacy.’” I liked how this person thought about how the book works with the class.
“ reading is the scanning through of someone’s work and noting, copying, or rewording those portions of the text that you find useful in some particular way.” I found it interesting that this person focused a bit on reading instead of commpletl focusing on writing, which is what I would have done.
“Harris makes writing out to be a social activity rather than a personal one.” I agree that it is important to think of writing as a social activity.
“Harris defines writing as a process or a journey, not a fixed position or stance.” I’ve never thought of writing as a journey before, but it is. If I think about major pieces that I’ve written I have a storyline of memories to go with them.
Move Three: Asses the Use and limits: honestly this part kind of confused me a little bit. What I think can apply to this is when everyone is talking about Rewriting compared to “Why I Blog”. No two posts look alike. Everyone takes a different stand on how the two are similar or different, even though we all read the same two texts.
I would go into it a little bit more but I am running out of time.
Moving on, move one: Define the Project. Not to had to do because we all got the same prompt and we all (with the exception of me) stuck to it pretty well (I’m stretching it a little bit). Reflect on Rewriting, compare to Sullivan. Simple
Move two: Note keywords. I’ve picked out some quotes that I liked from the posts I read, and I’ve added my thought on them. I stayed away from tings I didn’t like because I didn’t want t hurt anyone’s feelings:
“ I think Joseph Harris’s Rewriting is an appropriate text for a course focused on ‘civic literacy.’” I liked how this person thought about how the book works with the class.
“ reading is the scanning through of someone’s work and noting, copying, or rewording those portions of the text that you find useful in some particular way.” I found it interesting that this person focused a bit on reading instead of commpletl focusing on writing, which is what I would have done.
“Harris makes writing out to be a social activity rather than a personal one.” I agree that it is important to think of writing as a social activity.
“Harris defines writing as a process or a journey, not a fixed position or stance.” I’ve never thought of writing as a journey before, but it is. If I think about major pieces that I’ve written I have a storyline of memories to go with them.
Move Three: Asses the Use and limits: honestly this part kind of confused me a little bit. What I think can apply to this is when everyone is talking about Rewriting compared to “Why I Blog”. No two posts look alike. Everyone takes a different stand on how the two are similar or different, even though we all read the same two texts.
I would go into it a little bit more but I am running out of time.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Blog 4
As I was going from blog to blog a suspicion of mine was confirmed. Everyone likes to facebook. I personally have a thing against social networking and here’s why. I fail to see the need to be in constant contact with my friends. I mean, I like them, and I like being around them, but I don’t need to catch up with them every hour on the hour. And then there’s the fact that most of peoples ‘friends’ on social networking site, are more acquaintances that they really have no interest in. I had a myspace a couple of years ago and I thought I would be different. I would only accept friend requests from people that I was actually friends with. However this changed when I actually got those friend requests, because I couldn’t hurt their feelings by not accepting. That’s when I realized that there was a special code of conduct with social networking and I didn’t want to follow it. I didn’t want to have 300 friends that I had never really met. I didn’t want to comment about everyone’s pictures all the time. And those LOL, IDK things, yeah hate those. Therefore I do not have a facebook and I do not plan on getting one.
There is one aspect of social networking that I simply don’t get. I don’t have anything against it, I just don’t get it. Maybe someone can explain it to me. Why do people take tons of pictures of only themselves and put them up. When I take a picture it is because I’m seeing something or experiencing something that I may never see r experience again and I want to remember it. I know what I look like. I don’t think I’m going to forget that when I look in a mirror every day. So why take pictures of yourself?
There is one aspect of social networking that I simply don’t get. I don’t have anything against it, I just don’t get it. Maybe someone can explain it to me. Why do people take tons of pictures of only themselves and put them up. When I take a picture it is because I’m seeing something or experiencing something that I may never see r experience again and I want to remember it. I know what I look like. I don’t think I’m going to forget that when I look in a mirror every day. So why take pictures of yourself?
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Blog 3
My internet log for Friday September 4th
I didn’t even go on the internet till around 7:30 on Friday. Normally I go on sooner, but I was really tired so I took a nap for most of the afternoon. The first thing I did was cheek my e-mail. This is normally the first thing that I do when I go on the internet. I used to never cheek my e-mail so that’s why it’s the first thing I do now. That way I can’t forget to do it latter. This habit was brought on by my mother who kept telling me how irresponsible I was being by checking my e-mail only about once a month. Granted my mother thinks pretty much everything I do is irresponsible, but she may have had a point in this case.
After checking my e-mail I went to mortystv.com. This is a website that gives information about one of my favorite shows, Big Brother. Yes, I watch Big Brother. It is by far my favorite reality T.V. show. Every summer a bunch of people are locked in a house with tons of cameras, and each week they evict someone until only one is left. CBS has this thing where if you pay a certain amount of money (I don’t know how much) you can watch the live feeds on your computer all summer long. I don’t do this but Morty does and he, with the help of a few friends, types up what’s going on in the house. I check this site at least once a day during the summer.
After Morty’s I went to youtube and watched a movie. I would have to say that most of what I do on my laptop is watching things on youtube. I love youtube. I don’t watch movies in the theater that often, mostly because I think it’s a rip off. If you wait a couple of months you can spend the same amount of money and own the movie on DVD. Wait a couple more months and you can watch it for free on youtube. On Friday I happened to watch Slumdog Millionaire because I had never seen it before. By the way, it’s a really good movie. One of my favorite things to do on youtube is read the comments that people put under the videos. Some people say the stupidest things and it is so funny, and if you’re really lucky you come across two people having a knock down drag out fight full of “you need to shut p you (fill in curse words of choice here)”, and various things of that nature.
After that I checked Morty’s again and that was all I did on Friday.
My internet log for Saturday September 5th
I went on about 2 and again the first thing I did was checked my e-mail and then went to Morty’s.
After that I did some research for an article for my Hon 101 class. This was a very frustrating, irritating experience. For one my internet was running slower than normal, and that’s always fun. It was also really hard to find an article because it had to apply the scientific method to something in humanities, and it also had to be about food and one more thing, it had to be at least 8 pages. Not many articles fit this description and even less are interesting. After I was done I figured I needed a break from my computer and that’s all I did on Saturday.
I didn’t even go on the internet till around 7:30 on Friday. Normally I go on sooner, but I was really tired so I took a nap for most of the afternoon. The first thing I did was cheek my e-mail. This is normally the first thing that I do when I go on the internet. I used to never cheek my e-mail so that’s why it’s the first thing I do now. That way I can’t forget to do it latter. This habit was brought on by my mother who kept telling me how irresponsible I was being by checking my e-mail only about once a month. Granted my mother thinks pretty much everything I do is irresponsible, but she may have had a point in this case.
After checking my e-mail I went to mortystv.com. This is a website that gives information about one of my favorite shows, Big Brother. Yes, I watch Big Brother. It is by far my favorite reality T.V. show. Every summer a bunch of people are locked in a house with tons of cameras, and each week they evict someone until only one is left. CBS has this thing where if you pay a certain amount of money (I don’t know how much) you can watch the live feeds on your computer all summer long. I don’t do this but Morty does and he, with the help of a few friends, types up what’s going on in the house. I check this site at least once a day during the summer.
After Morty’s I went to youtube and watched a movie. I would have to say that most of what I do on my laptop is watching things on youtube. I love youtube. I don’t watch movies in the theater that often, mostly because I think it’s a rip off. If you wait a couple of months you can spend the same amount of money and own the movie on DVD. Wait a couple more months and you can watch it for free on youtube. On Friday I happened to watch Slumdog Millionaire because I had never seen it before. By the way, it’s a really good movie. One of my favorite things to do on youtube is read the comments that people put under the videos. Some people say the stupidest things and it is so funny, and if you’re really lucky you come across two people having a knock down drag out fight full of “you need to shut p you (fill in curse words of choice here)”, and various things of that nature.
After that I checked Morty’s again and that was all I did on Friday.
My internet log for Saturday September 5th
I went on about 2 and again the first thing I did was checked my e-mail and then went to Morty’s.
After that I did some research for an article for my Hon 101 class. This was a very frustrating, irritating experience. For one my internet was running slower than normal, and that’s always fun. It was also really hard to find an article because it had to apply the scientific method to something in humanities, and it also had to be about food and one more thing, it had to be at least 8 pages. Not many articles fit this description and even less are interesting. After I was done I figured I needed a break from my computer and that’s all I did on Saturday.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Blog 2
While reading this article an aspect of blogging that I had never thought about ran through my mind. How much confidence is needed to blog? Andrew Sullivan talks about the scrutiny in which readers comment about thing written on blogs. It has to affect your confidence in a negative way when you hear horrible stuff said about your opinions. Then again it is easier to write thought down on ‘paper’ then say it out loud where the negative feedback takes a more personal feel because you can actually see the person who is criticizing you. Even if you write a book you still personally know your publisher and editor and their comments do more to your confidence level.
If you think about it, it can become a very dynamic push and pull concept. When you blog criticism isn’t as personal, but there is more of it, and it happens sooner. Therefore is it easier to take criticism by blogging, or in real life? Or does each just take a different kind of confidence?
What I found interesting about this article is when he talked about seeing what he wrote during 9/11, and when Pope John Paul II died. He’s right about going back and seeing exactly what he thought and how he felt at those times. I think we should stop thinking of blogging as online diaries and more like a memoir in-process. I think he is wrong when he says that if new posts constantly have to be put on in order for the blog to be significant. I think all posts can be seen as a piece of history that can be visited again months and years latter.
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