Ever wondered what this “blogosphere” thingy is?
Look at this cloud of hundreds of web sites. It’s roughly organized by slant and shows how interconnected the chatters are.
Kiyoshi Martinez, former editor in chief of the Daily Illini, got famous today for his founding of angryjournalist.com. The web site is home to over 2000 anonymous gripes from people in the journalism business. A wire piece written today was picked up on Drudge as a supplement to news that CBS will be making cuts to its newsroom staff.
If you’re interested in the inner-workings of a (not so?) modern newsroom, AJ is a good place to start. It’s kind of depressing reading so those with weak stomachs (read: journ majors) beware.
However, despite the growing pains modern journalism is going through, other occupations could use a site like this too. Angryteacher.com? Angrypolitician.com? Angrycop.com? Angryparent.com? Angrystudent.com?
A friend of mine traveled from Long Beach to Hollywood on Sunday to be a part of the worldwide Scientology protest put on by members of “Anonymous,” a loose organization of online activists (not hackers or terrorists as some would lead you to believe…alright, some of them are hackers, but not all).
Anyway, below is one of the dozens of videos that were made on Sunday. You can see my friend at 0:36, holding up the Xenu.net sign. The Guy Fawkes mask suits him.
This video is a companion to my column in the January 24, 2008 Daily Illini.
For more, please visit ScottSays.com.
Affixed atop Foellinger Auditorium is a tiny camera. Called the Quad Cam, this versatile use of technology peers out towards the Main Quad’s manicured lawns, filming you, your peers, and any other person who just so happens to stumble in front of its lens. The camera was recently introduced by the University so that UI alums who just couldn’t sever the ties between themselves and Davenport Hall could view the Main Quad from the comfort of their own home. Think of the Quad Cam in terms of the fish bowl effect and how the monotonous movements of a fish quell its viewer’s anxieties. However, after talking with some of my friends about this innovative use of technology, anxiety wasn’t quelled, but, instead, it was fostered.
Here, in order to maximize the effectiveness of my point, allow me to act out my friends’ reactions:
Me: (Walking alongside his friend after a long day of classes) Hey, have you heard about the Quad Cam?
My friend: (Too hung-over and sleep deprived to comprehend) The Quad what?
Me: The Quad Cam. It’s a camera that sits on top of Foellinger and films the Main Quad.
My friend: (Still too hung-over and sleep deprived to comprehend) The Quad what?
Me: (Becoming annoyed) It’s a camera they put on top of Foellinger so that homesick alums can view the Main Quad in real time.
My friend: (Finally coming to his senses) Why would they do that? You know that more than just alums will look at that thing. Think of all the perverts out there. (Eerily lowering the tone of his voice and peering up at the sky) Just think…(End scene)
And that’s where the pattern begins. The majority of the people I have spoken to about the Quad Cam have initially thought of how the tool could be used alternately by peeping-toms and perverts. The University, however, has reassured the student body that the camera cannot zoom in, and, thus, the faces of those on the Main Quad cannot be seen.
In order to see if what the University said was correct, I decided to perform a little investigation of my own. After logging onto the University’s main website, I typed “Quad Cam” in the homepage’s search box. With one hit of the “Enter” key, a list of links appeared before me. I then clicked the first link, which was titled, “Quad Cam, University of Illinois.” Almost immediately, I was staring at a live action image of the Main Quad. I must say, it was pretty interesting to see the Main Quad from the comfort of my dorm room. Like a little kid, I amused myself with the Quad Cam’s controls for hours, turning it left and right, up and down, and zooming it in and out…JUST KIDDING! I actually tinkered with the camera for ten minutes, and, like the University said, I was only able to move my grainy image of the Main Quad to the left and the right and up and down. No zoom option was available.
Why is it, then, that whenever I speak to someone about the Quad Cam, they think of perverted ways it could be used? It is natural that with the vastness and accessibility of the internet, people can become paranoid. It doesn’t help either that programs such as Datline’s To Catch a Predator are incessantly drilling it into our heads that perverts are out there. I understand that the internet requires monitoring and the making of smart decisions in order to be regulated; however, how many times do we have to hear Chris Hansen say, “What were you thinking?” in order to understand that the soliciting of minors on the internet is a bad thing. Once you’ve seen one pervert, you’ve seen them all.
It is this constant beating of a dead horse that has bred paranoia throughout America and has turned innocent inventions, such as the Quad Cam, into tools for the perverted. When you are told by Dateline week after week that predators are out there, waiting to solicit your friends and family, it is natural to have you senses heightened. This heightened sense of awareness is not a bad thing. An educated public is a must in order to maintain a democratic society; however, even education, when used in excess, can be a dangerous thing.
Step right up ladies and gentlemen…
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit is a 1993 movie starring Whoopi Goldberg, directed by Bill Duke, and released by Touchstone Pictures. It is a sequel to the successful 1992 movie Sister Act. Most of the original cast reprise their roles in the sequel, including Maggie Smith, Kathy Najimy, Wendy Makkena, and Mary Wickes. Like the original, Sister Act 2 contains several musical performances, which are integrated into the main plot. Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit is widely considered the greatest movie ever made.
Obviously, the entry is missing “after Roland Emmerich’s 1998 tour de force Godzilla“
You know how you all threaten to flee to Canada every time something minor goes wrong in this country, such as the re-election of a President who can’t pronounce “nuclear”?
Turns out Canadians are just as dishonest as Americans, as we learn in this news clip about computer repair scammers:
I especially enjoyed the owner of the company that wanted to charge $2,000. He seems terrified, not angry. Unless he is angry that the guy didn’t try to charge $3,000.
NOTE TO CUBS FANS: I just wanted to point out that your team is so bad, they got swept by a team (the Diamondbacks) so bad, they got swept by a team (the Rockies) so bad, they got swept in the World Series. Playoffs-wise, you really can’t do much worse.
Still, “100 years” will look really good on t-shirts, won’t it? When your grandkids are old, they can wear the “200 years” shirts.
The monkeys have attacked and killed an Indian official in their organized battle for civil rights. Slate Magazine helpfully provides a guide to surviving such an attack, though it neglects the most obvious way to get them to stop clawing and biting at you: give them the vote.
For those unaware, an engineering higher up sent an email Saturday to all electrical engineers that had an Excel spreadsheet of 5300 engineer’s names, GPA’s, racial identity, campus address, and campus phone number.
?? Yeah, exactly.
My big question: is everyone happy with their favorite columnist’s GPA? Unlike most people, I keep my racial identity to myself on all documents and apparently I lacked even a campus address whenever Linnmeyer (currently leading the pack for most boneheaded act of the academic year) compiled her list. I’m getting off easy compared to people who are not enthusiastic about their GPA’s and would rather not share their addresses that readily.
Yes, most of the info in the spreadsheet (address and phone number) is readily available to the campus by other means, but that undermines the fundamental facts. Ms. Linnmeyer needs to go. This is an egregious violation without precedent (to my 5 years of campus experience) and a rather public disclosure of rather personal information. At least her list lacked vital information like Social Security numbers. That would be really bad.
Still, I demand to know what that list was doing on that woman’s computer. For what purpose did she have those 5300 names compiled? Are we on a campus watch list for potential vigilantes? Is it the 5300 most beautiful people in engineering? Was this list put together by Banner or a special hand-assembled project (hint: it better be the former else the CoE has some explaining to do)?
I’m sure there’s a perfectly good reason for this list to exist. Yet somehow, I cannot understand how someone could accidentally send it to a large number of students. When I screw up email attachments (a frequent occurrence), it’s usually by not attaching anything, not attaching 5300 people’s personal info. Unless there’s some very justifiable explanation (random computer virus comes to mind), this is an unacceptable use of our personal information. How can we hope to have a respectable global campus when we can’t even send out emails properly?
That is an actual headline on an AFP story appearing on Yahoo news today.
If reading that doesn’t bother you even just a little bit, then I’m afraid we can’t be friends.
Apparently, a 13-year old girl won (I’m not making this up) the US Text Messaging Championship. I really don’t know where to begin with this one. Am I more upset that such an event actually exists or the fact that the grand prize was 25,000 dollars?
The girl says she texts 8000 times a month. 8000. Again I’m faced with a dilemma: Am I more amazed that her thumbs haven’t fallen off or am I more amazed that she can spell her own name.?
There are so many things wrong with this story, I just can’t stand to go into it any further. But needless to say, my faith in humanity: falling.
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