Check out my friend's new web site!
www.powerzonekitesports.com

Fall 2006

I'm so busy in my recycle business ;-) that I am taking this quarter off from school :-( I am treasure hunting for old wood to reclaim and sell to a re-milling company back East. This is more exciting and profitable than shipping pallets and scrap metal!

Response to Reading: Cargo Cult Science, by Richard Feynman

I liked this essay. I agree with Richard Feynman that integrity in the scientific community is important. I believe that the more information/ knowledge one has, the higher their responsibility. Wouldn't it be great if accountability followed this logic! This accountability should be required especially from the scientific community, the government, and the media. (Please see the link to Jon Stewart on Crossfire re: Media Accountability.) The story of the cargo cult of the South Seas is a great analogy. The Cargo Cult of people saw airplanes during the war land with lots of good material, and they want the same thing to happen now. So they've arrainged things to imitate the runway, the wooden hut for a man to sit in, with pieces of wood on his head like headphones with a bamboo antennas and they wait for the airplanes to land. The process that makes a hypothesis become a theory is to verify it with testing (experiments) that gets repeatable, expected results. The problem with the indoctrinated theory of the cargo cult society is that it is NOT a theory, but merely an unverified hypothesis.

Summer is Here!!

I'm done with Spring Quarter and into Summer. The internet class with instructor Paul Piper was great. I really learned a lot(and I got a good grade, too!). So far this Summer, I've had a really cool wetland botany class with instructors Vikki Jackson and John Rybczyk. WOW - 4 credits in one week! Next week, I start a chemistry class that is five credits in four and a half weeks. Summer is my FaVoriTe QuArter!

Response to Reading of "Censorship Packet"

This Censorship Packet compilation included news articles from different sources. Each article discussed censorship of internet access/information.

The articles about censorship in the communist countries China and Cuba explain that the governments control internet access in a variety of ways. In Cuba, access to the World Wide Web is limited, and even illegal; when and where access is available, it is cost prohibited. Cuba also bears the hardship of coldwar causing lack of adequate technologies and access. In China, complicated filters with ever changing parameters limit access to types of information and information from certain sources, self censorship is promoted. That seems kind of like the people being treated like children by their government!

Speaking of how-children-should-be-treated, the ridiculous censorship that prevents our children from learning about humpback whales. . .Well, that is ridiculous. Sounds like we need a filter that is more complicated and refined to apply parental guidance to our children's internet use without reducing its value as a resource to learning. Maybe like the filters used in China! Promoting self censorship, tolerance, understanding, and ideas that enlightening to our children (on the internet and otherwise), is the only way to keep things like hate crime from continuing to get worse.

TOP SECRET Don't go there! by Todd Shelds

This article expresses the concerns about openness and freedom of information vs. privacy and security. It talks about the trade-off of enjoying the benifit of being informed and aware through investgative journalism vs. avalibility of one's personal information.
Information long considered public being cloaked by privacy protection laws is definately a step backwards. I think the advances in technology should do what it is doing; making information more easily avalible. It also should connect more data and create more accountability, for government officials, for corporations, the media, and individiual citizens. The existing laws of misuse of information do need to be applied to avalible information, and enforced; whether the information is gathered by long hours at the library and courthouse or if it is accessed via the internet.

Response to reading of Sheldon Pacotti's "Are We Doomed Yet?"

This article described different ways of thinking and feeling about how technology is advancing. It's really great to be able to do the things that are made possible by the latest technology! The leaps and bounds, and the ever-expanding possibilities are exciting! Everyone having access to SO much information, and communication, too. The more we learn, the more we realize there is to learn.

On the other hand, what about the increased potential of harm by malicious misuse?Upon becoming more familiar to the realm of the internet, I realized that privacy and security were at risk. So, I need a firewall, virus protection, and a pop-up control. (. . .and don't forget to delete your cookies, you know what I mean!) This article was interesting and thought provoking. Reading this article changed the focus my concern.

Mr. Pacotti's made a compaison of security hacking to completing levels on a video game. Security and surveillance cameras are everywhere we go; helicopters and satelites are in the sky. Used as deterants of crime, or for homeland security (or tracking those driver's license chips). Technology advances, knowledge will proceed, and understanding will move forward.


Big Brother is Watching (corrupt intelligence agency), and Thought Crimes (classified/dangerous knowledge), are prevailing ideas of this article. Mr. Pacotti says that ". . our best chance of survival lies not in criminalizing certain kinds of expertise or knowledge but in disseminating that knowledge as widely as possible, . ".

Avoiding an Orwellian future seems more important than protecting privacy. Although, I do think there is more to worry about than just a few `monkey wrench' throwers. Mr. Pacotti is too optimistic in that reguard.

I've Been Reading War Blogs

I read the article, Blogs of War, co-written by my college instructor, Paul Piper. I agree that blogs (or web logs) are an unprecedented and exciting avenue of expression, communication, and connection to other people and events. Also, as with any thing else, context is important to consider when evaluating the information presented.

Most of the blogs I read seemed to be personable, honest portrayals of the events related. Some seemed to be a soap-box for the political or religious views of the author. Others just seemed like a place to vent.

I looked over the blogs listed in the article and wandered through links before selecting a couple to really read. I decided to read the blogs back-to-front, or first post first, so that I could follow the blog post- to- post as if I'd been reading and following it since it began.

The blog desertdiet@blogspot.com, titled: a Labrat's Journey, is a young U.S. Navy woman's story\journal of her deployment to Iraq. I discovered by reading the archives, that she created this blog to use as a form of communication with her family and friends while deployed to Iraq. Other forms of media would not be useful for this purpose. She is home with her baby and husband now. It's a happy ending( she no longer posts).

The first one I really read was different.

I was lost somewhere wandering through links and started reading a blog that caught my eye. I realized how much I identified with the blogger, their emotions and reactions to their experiences. I kept reading. I started clicking ahead through the archive, and skipping some posts, as I began to feel distressed by the fear the writer describes while others are being hurt and killed around them. Suddenly, I realized that there were no more posts! The posts abruptly end in Nov. 2004. Now, I can't stop wondering if the blogger was killed.

I usually limit the amount of intense human suffering I expose my self to. I get over-whelmed and my general productivity decreases - it kind of like depresses me. I probably won't read anymore blogs of war.

******************************************************
http://dailywarnews.blogspot.com/

This Blog is About The war and Politics in Iraq

This blog has archives back to June 2003. Postings are frequint. I've been reading this one off and on. It posts new links with, brief descriptions, to current news and articles from a variety of sources. Also, there are maps, and links to other interesting blogs, and other useful or relavent things; like news groups. I like this blog. It is an insight focusing and perspective forming package of internet media on Iraq war. Informative, with resources and lots to explore.

Media Literacy, second edition, W. James Potter: Response to Assigned Reading, p. 85 - 107

The reading was about the processes of jounalism, including the formulas for producing "news" stories. The population depends on journalists to funtion as reporters of the unbiased facts. We are at their mercy to have access to infomation about the happenings in our communities, governments, and in the world. The constraints, pressures, and influences about the the choice of content, fed in by the spin meisters to "hook" the audience obviously are not a environment conducive to unbiased reporting. The shift of the media from a funtion of informing the public to cashing- in on entertaining it is driven by what the public wants, and what we put up with. The studies in W. James Potter's book show that the stuff they give is the stuff we take. That's why the advertisers pay to be on - because we keep watching! "Money makes the world go around!", as I understand it. Does it seem that WE, the people, are ultimately responsible?

People know this stuff and are overwhelmed, it's like if you don't laugh, you'll cry. That's how and why The Daily Show with Jon Stewart makes us laugh.

America (the book): A Citezen's Guide to Democracy Inaction (assigned reading: chapter 7)

The book, formatted to emulate a high school text book, made me laugh out loud. The subject of chapter seven is not funny, but is in fact sad and alarming. I agree strongly with to views expressed. The audience's belief in the trustworthiness of the media compounds the tragedy of the loss of it's accuracy and accountability. The tabloid-like propaganda that is presented as `news' is the reason I have become disenchanted ( and dis-interested). It is a real chore to have to evaluate every aspect of each subject presented. I end up feelin' like I have to take it all in with a large grain of salt because I question the value and accuracy of the presentations

John Stewart's irreverent and comic presentation of these sad, alarming, and even overwhelming state of affairs makes them less painful to think about. . . and thinking about these things is what EVERYONE needs to do.

I'm glad I purchased the book, and I intend to read the whole thing.

I bought a copy from Barnes & Noble ( On sale, 20% discount!)

Hey! All copies of "America the Book: A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction", by John Stewart are checked out from all the county libraries!