well since we can write about whatever we want for our bonus blog I am going to write about the PlayStation 3 network being hacked. Well I don't own or play ps3 but from what i have heard the ps3 network has actually been hacked by a group named Anonymous. They said they hacked the network because ps3 and Sony were getting to strict and they will let the network run again when Sony lets people do what the want with their ps3's. I find this very interesting that a group like this can manage to take a multi billion dollar network down like this. It makes me wonder how safe any of your information is since everyone probably has some important info on the Internet somewhere. It makes me interested in how they hack networks like this. I really don't know anything about hacking but i kind of want to learn about it because it seems kind of cool to be able to do something like this, not that i would try and really do this tho. Well they are currently doing an investigation and i haven't found out much information else besides that. I don't think they have any solid leads on anyone but i don't really know. I found this video that this group spousal made about why they hacked the network:
Friday, May 6, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Last Blog
Well since this is my last blog and my first year of college is almost over. I’m going to write about what I thought about my first year of college. In high school I did really well, which allowed me to have many choices to chose from. My family has always been Aggie fans, so I decided to go to Texas A&M. Well I never really studied in high school an still managed to get A's pretty easily. So when I came to college I was not ready for the challenge. It took me a while to adjust, about a semester. My first semester grades were really bad, but I improved a lot in the second semester. I guess I just had to get used to studying and managing my time. One of the cool things about college is that you have so much freedom, which really hurt me first semester. I would often go out on week days and wouldn’t get much sleep, which reflected in my gpa. Overall college has been a great learning experience for me and this first year has been really fun. I have really enjoyed the college experience this far and have made many friends and memories that will last a lifetime. I knew the campus would be big, but I didn’t expect my classes to be as big as they are. Some have 250 to 300 people in them so that is allot different than a high school classroom with like 30 kids or so. In college I really had to learn to motivate myself because in high school you have so many people that are looking out for you, but in college its alot different. Well im really ready for this summer and for finals to be over with. Hopefully I do really well on these finals in these next two weeks so I can get my gpa up.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Addicted to Health
Addicted to Health is an essay by Robert H. Bork. It talks about how the government controls issues that deal with are health such as smoking and drinking. It is against the government trying to control are lives because it seems like they are always trying to control more and more and it will never stop until they control us completely. I kind of agree with this essay but not completely. It makes the argument that people should be able to smoke wherever they want. Yes I believe this as long as everyone around them is ok with the second hand smoke, because if they are not then you are taking away from their rights. Well for the most part I agree with this essay, as long as you are not hurting anyone else than I think all people should be able to do what they want and not be limited by the laws of the government. The essay also makes a really good argument that if the government wants to save lives then why do so many people die in car accidents each year. The government could easily lower the top speeds on cars to 60 miles an hour and it would save many lives, but they don’t. Well overall I thought this was a really good essay. It really makes you think how even in a democracy we still don’t have total freedom, but imp still happy with the freedoms we do have. I guess that people have to have some of their freedoms taken away for others to be free, but I think a line needs to be drawn and made sure its not past, because a democracy can easily turn in to a dictatorship.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Isaac's Storm
Well, I haven’t finished reading the book "Isaac's Storm" yet but so far I find the book to be very interesting. I really like how the author Erik Larson takes this true event and makes such a good story out of it. The detail to me is quite amazing and I never seen a book formatted quite like this one. When I first looked at this book I thought it was going to be like reading a history book, with just the boring facts about the hurricane in Galveston in the 1900's. When I started reading I noticed that this is not true. It really is a gripping account of the storm. It gives the reader a different perspective and shows the storm through the eyes of Isaac. I also found it amazing that over 6000 people could have easily been saved by Isaac or many other people. I never knew that Galveston was such a popular and striving place before the storm. It was referred to as the New York of Texas, and its amazing what one storm can do. The book shows the relationships between many different people, and it also shows you what the Weather Bureau was thinking. Cuba's weather Bureau warned the us about the storm but we didn’t want to listen. I really like this book because it shows you so many different ways of thinking, and explains why people were thinking this way, not by just telling the facts but by putting together a good compelling story. Anyone who is interested in history, or just likes reading a good book, I would recommend Isaac's Storm. It is a great account of history and it also a great story. It is likely to change what you think and know about the hurricane in Galveston in the 1900s.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
A New Strategy For The War On Drugs
James Q. Wilson wrote an essay about the war on drugs. He makes a solid argument why we shouldn't legalize any illegal drugs. I personally think if people want to do drugs then let them. If people know about the effects of drugs and how they can harm you, and they still want to do them, who are you to tell them they can't. You might think my ideas are a little crazy but if someone wants to do drugs I don't think its any ones business as long as they're not harming other individuals. Overall though it is probably a good thing that many drugs are illegal. It would be kind of depressing to walk outside and see crack heads everywhere and people dead from overdoses. I don't know if this would actually happen but its a possibility.
The law says many drugs are illegal so we can be protected. Yet, since drugs are illegal you have many gangs and illegal organizations. These people often hurt many innocent people. So, because these drugs are illegal many people are getting hurt.
When people talk about legalizing drugs, the main drug they talk about is marijuana. Mostly everyone agrees that drugs like cocaine, heroin, LSD, meth, extacy...ext. should be illegall, but many people think marijuana should be legalized. I'm not really sure where I stand on this opinion, but the more i think about it doesn't sound like a bad idea to legalize marijuana. It seems to me like alcohol is a lot worse drug than marijuana. When people drink alcohol they are alot less aware of whats going on then when someone smokes weed. Also when people drink they often make careless decisions and hurt other people. When people smoke, it seems like, they mostly relax and just chill. Also, alcohol and tobacco can both be argued to have worse long term effects than marijuana.
The law says many drugs are illegal so we can be protected. Yet, since drugs are illegal you have many gangs and illegal organizations. These people often hurt many innocent people. So, because these drugs are illegal many people are getting hurt.
When people talk about legalizing drugs, the main drug they talk about is marijuana. Mostly everyone agrees that drugs like cocaine, heroin, LSD, meth, extacy...ext. should be illegall, but many people think marijuana should be legalized. I'm not really sure where I stand on this opinion, but the more i think about it doesn't sound like a bad idea to legalize marijuana. It seems to me like alcohol is a lot worse drug than marijuana. When people drink alcohol they are alot less aware of whats going on then when someone smokes weed. Also when people drink they often make careless decisions and hurt other people. When people smoke, it seems like, they mostly relax and just chill. Also, alcohol and tobacco can both be argued to have worse long term effects than marijuana.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Let My Teenager Drink
T.R. Reid wrote an essay called let my teenager drink. It is about why the law should allow teenagers to drink in the U.S.
I personally agree with Mr. Reid a 100 percent. I have been drinking since I was fifteen and if the law would allow me to drink legally I could have done it a lot safer. Back then I mostly drank at house parties or just somewhere with my friends, and now I still pretty much do the same. If a teenager wants to drink their is no way the law is going to stop them and if you think it is hard for a teenager to get alcohol your and idiot. First of all this whole American concept that teenage drinking is really bad is wrong. As long as you limit and control yourself their is nothing wrong with drinking. I agree there are certain times and places to drink but i don't think your age really matters. As long as you don't drink and drive drinking seems perfectly fine to me. Like I said I have been drinking occasionally since i was 15. When i came to college i actually got my first m.i.p....4years later...then about 2 weeks later i got another one. I didn't realize that cops were such assholes over here. Anyways i took care of both of those and their both off my record. Well my point is that giving someone a ticket for drinking isn't going to make them stop. I think since then I started drinking even a little more.
If the government would lower the drinking age. Even to just 18 like it was a while back things would be a lot better. Well first of all you wouldn’t have college kids getting m.i.p.'s. So that would have saved me about a thousand dollars. Second I think you would have a lot less drunk drivers because since teenagers would be able to drink in public they wouldn’t be driving around when they are drunk. Also you wouldn’t have these teenage kids sneaking around everywhere drinking in bad places. They would be able to tell their parents where they are going and it would probably be a lot safer. Anyways I going to keep drinking no matter what the law says. Two more years and i wont have to worry about it anymore.
I personally agree with Mr. Reid a 100 percent. I have been drinking since I was fifteen and if the law would allow me to drink legally I could have done it a lot safer. Back then I mostly drank at house parties or just somewhere with my friends, and now I still pretty much do the same. If a teenager wants to drink their is no way the law is going to stop them and if you think it is hard for a teenager to get alcohol your and idiot. First of all this whole American concept that teenage drinking is really bad is wrong. As long as you limit and control yourself their is nothing wrong with drinking. I agree there are certain times and places to drink but i don't think your age really matters. As long as you don't drink and drive drinking seems perfectly fine to me. Like I said I have been drinking occasionally since i was 15. When i came to college i actually got my first m.i.p....4years later...then about 2 weeks later i got another one. I didn't realize that cops were such assholes over here. Anyways i took care of both of those and their both off my record. Well my point is that giving someone a ticket for drinking isn't going to make them stop. I think since then I started drinking even a little more.
If the government would lower the drinking age. Even to just 18 like it was a while back things would be a lot better. Well first of all you wouldn’t have college kids getting m.i.p.'s. So that would have saved me about a thousand dollars. Second I think you would have a lot less drunk drivers because since teenagers would be able to drink in public they wouldn’t be driving around when they are drunk. Also you wouldn’t have these teenage kids sneaking around everywhere drinking in bad places. They would be able to tell their parents where they are going and it would probably be a lot safer. Anyways I going to keep drinking no matter what the law says. Two more years and i wont have to worry about it anymore.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Future Communication
Dr. Gardner, a professor at Harvard wrote an essay about Literacy coming to an end. He talks about how reading scores are declining and people read less and less each year.
Well i don't think people are reading less, they are just reading different things. Humans are always evolving, its hard to see this since our average live span is only about 70 years or so. If you look back just one hundred years you will notice that people talked a lot different and also wrote different. Go back a couple of thousand of years and people communicated with pictures on walls.
Writing seems to always be evolving, and so does the medium in which write on. I have a theory that its not just the medium that is evolving literacy, but also how we transport our thought to one another. We went from walls, to horseback, to cars, to plans, to the Internet ext. We are always finding faster ways to transfer information. Also, we are finding faster ways to express our information. Things such as recent digital talk like lol and jk are some examples of this.
Well whats next, that's a question that no one can answer and only time will tell. If i were to make a prediction i think within a hundred years we will be able to communicate without using writing or words at all, i think we we will be able to communicate with our minds. You may think this is far fetch, but i actually think we will far pass that. If you put your self in someones shoes from the 1800's or even the early 1900's and you tried to imagine the future, you would have not have foreseen this world we live in today, with hi-tech digital communications. Your mind wouldn't even be able to fathom this, it would have not been possible for you to even imagine it. In the future i think we we will communicate in a way that is not even possible for any of our unevolved minds to even imagine.
p.s. off the subject. I also believe that humans evolve exponentially and things are going to start evolving even faster. One think that concerns me is that machines are beginning to be equipped with artificially intelligence and are starting to be able to think on their own. This is not good if we want to stay the dominate specie on earth. Machines are already building other machines and at the rate computers have been evolving, they could be a serious threat to mankind in the near future. (that's if global warming, or 2012 doesn't wipe us out first.)
Well i don't think people are reading less, they are just reading different things. Humans are always evolving, its hard to see this since our average live span is only about 70 years or so. If you look back just one hundred years you will notice that people talked a lot different and also wrote different. Go back a couple of thousand of years and people communicated with pictures on walls.
Writing seems to always be evolving, and so does the medium in which write on. I have a theory that its not just the medium that is evolving literacy, but also how we transport our thought to one another. We went from walls, to horseback, to cars, to plans, to the Internet ext. We are always finding faster ways to transfer information. Also, we are finding faster ways to express our information. Things such as recent digital talk like lol and jk are some examples of this.
Well whats next, that's a question that no one can answer and only time will tell. If i were to make a prediction i think within a hundred years we will be able to communicate without using writing or words at all, i think we we will be able to communicate with our minds. You may think this is far fetch, but i actually think we will far pass that. If you put your self in someones shoes from the 1800's or even the early 1900's and you tried to imagine the future, you would have not have foreseen this world we live in today, with hi-tech digital communications. Your mind wouldn't even be able to fathom this, it would have not been possible for you to even imagine it. In the future i think we we will communicate in a way that is not even possible for any of our unevolved minds to even imagine.
p.s. off the subject. I also believe that humans evolve exponentially and things are going to start evolving even faster. One think that concerns me is that machines are beginning to be equipped with artificially intelligence and are starting to be able to think on their own. This is not good if we want to stay the dominate specie on earth. Machines are already building other machines and at the rate computers have been evolving, they could be a serious threat to mankind in the near future. (that's if global warming, or 2012 doesn't wipe us out first.)
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