Intellectual Property & Piracy

So I thought instead of thinking about intellectual property as a whole, I thought I'd explore a subtopic in it that I came across in one of the articles: piracy (and no, not just because it sounds like pirates). According to Merriam-Webster, piracy means "the unauthorized use of another's production, invention, or conception especially in infringement of a copyright." It also means "an act of robbery on the high seas," but that definition doesn't really apply to this subject.
I thought about some main targets of piracy, and i came up with a few... some of which I myself have been guilty of (dun dun DUN!!). Obviously when people think of intellectual property and piracy they think of downloading music, which has single-handedly brought record companies to its knees. Another major victim of piracy-- also a part of the entertainment industry-- is the movie industry. You can now go to a number of sites that allow you to view bootlegged movies for free.
The problem of piracy is a touchy subject. The recording industry has begun suing selected people caught in the act of music piracy, but this has in no way deterred others. The more the industry seems to go after people, the more mad the public gets and then downloads even more files. The situation they have put themselves in has actually caused a problem with an impossible solution (the impossibility lying in the fact that there doesn't seem to be one at all).

Video of the... next couple of days?: I didn't appreciate this show until it was gone. My little brother used to make me watch it. I was more interested in Doug and Rugrats (the ORIGINAL Rugrats, before Tommy got a new brother and Chucky's dad got remarried). This cartoon is one of a kind.

Hot Trends

So I went online today to check the "trends" on Google's website, and I easily wasted a half hour of my life trying to figure out what the heck half of the things are. It makes me wonder... "where the hell have I been?" I feel like I've been living under a rock lately. How is it that so many people are searching for these things... yet I have no idea what they are? Here were a few of them:

XLPaws- apparently the Myspace nickname of some elementary school teacher who took too many pictures wearing too little clothes. Hasn't anyone learned their lesson yet? Oh, and in case you were wondering... she got fired. #28 on The List. (see also #2: Melinda England)

babywit- the current #1 search on Google today. This website is an online store (babywit.com... in case you couldn't figure that one out for yourself) where people who hate "the man" can buy mold-breaking, unique, semi-witty baby shirts, bibs, and the like. The average bib will set you back about $14. Doesn't that just scream anti-establishment?

columbus day- either Googled by a ton of foreigners who have no idea who Columbus is, or by a group of lazy elementary school teachers (see XLPaws) who needed something to take up class time today. (see also #27 Christopher Columbus)

rose red- scary ass Stephen King novel-turned-TV movie. I saw it in the 11th grade. I didn't sleep for a week. Why it's being searched now... not even Google knows. #11 on The List.

Alexa Havins- fans of All My Children everywhere will mourn the loss of Babe. Oh wait, she's being replaced by actress Amanda Baker in the same episode. Just kidding. Maybe no one will notice that Babe is looking a little different these days. #26 on The List.

postal holidays- no one wants a stale fruitcake... so don't mail it around a postal holiday. #9 on The List (see also #8, usps holiday, #10 columbus day, #32 columbus day federal holiday... though it's a little too wordy for my liking).

Other interesting "hot trends" on Google today: rottenneighbor.com, chicago marathon death, shalom auslander, tufts 10k, tru calling, drphil.com, pasta pomodoro, that hagen girl

Visit the Google hot trends page. It updates constantly.

And as promised... the video for the day. (I think I'm getting a little carried away with this blog.) You may or may not have seen this one. I think I was a little too old to be watching it-- but I did anyway.

Privacy on Facebook

Facebook, from my experience with networking sites, has the most extensive privacy features of all. Users have the ability to be as public as they want (even go so far as to have their profiles available on major search engines).
I prefer to be more on the private side, for multiple reasons. It is a well known fact that potential employers search for their prospective employees on social networking sites, and a profile showing that person in a negative light can mean the difference between a job and unemployment. On my account, I have it so that only my friends are able to view my information. On top of that, only other students are even allowed to search for me (so faculty, staff, alum, high school students, and others do not even know I exist on Facebook-- except you, since you're reading this and I'm telling you I'm on Facebook).
I disliked Myspace for a number of different reasons, all having to do with privacy. Myspace is just too full of spam. Even though I was on their highest of privacy settings (which consist of either private or visible... not very sophisticated), I would get messages from strange people, friend requests from even stranger people, and sketchy "phishing" messages that would cause you to involuntarily post things on others' walls (though luckily I never fell for those). It seemed to me that Myspace was more involved in advertising and getting more revenue than protecting the privacy of its users. Not okay.

And-- as promised in the previous entry-- here is the video I found today. I used to watch this show every day with my little brother while my grandmother watched us. She never understood why we liked this show, and she said the characters were "just the ugliest things I have ever seen." She just has no idea what genius is.

CSS

So I've been doing this web design thing for a while (don't get too excited, my knowledge of HTML doesn't extend too far), and I'm a little stuck in my old ways. See, I've been used to sticking the style sheet on the same page as everything else. Keep things nice and simple, I say. Also... I never thought to use a style sheet to alter something as basic as something in bold. Whenever I wanted to do that on my page, I would just use the < font > tag with the alterations followed by the < b > tag. To put all bold under the same style seems a bit limiting to me. But anyway, go ahead and check out my webpage on the class website and let me know what you think! I'm sure you'll be able to tell... I'm a little obsessed with butterflies.

In other news... I spend a little too much time on Youtube. I thought I'd share something that hopefully everyone in this class remembers. I used to watch this all the time when I was little, so enjoy the trip down memory lane. I've decided to put a different Youtube video on here every entry :)

Wikipedia... and Zero 7

Like almost all Zero 7 websites, the Wikipedia fails to be a definitive source on the band. Every site I have visited has left something to be desired. And while the Wikipedia article has been the most informative article I have yet to come across, it lacks a lot of biographical information that I have seen on other websites. It is also missing one of their songs that was featured in an episode of MTV's "True Life" series (which was "Destiny," also on the Blue Crush soundtrack). I also want to add more links to other Zero 7 sites and articles.

Zero 7 Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_7

Official Zero 7 website:
http://zero7.marotori.net/

Lacoste website (the song "Destiny" is playing in the background):
http://www.lacoste.com/usa/main.html

The Computer- Tool or Machine?

I think that the role of computers is overexaggerated in our society. While computers are required in most realms of business or education, they by no means run our lives. I personally have been able to go days without being near a computer. To say that they are machines that run our lives is an exaggeration for most.

The computer-- even in our society-- is nothing more than a tool. It is a tool to learn on, a tool to work with, and a tool to make life more convenient. Its convenience can reach from typing up a document faster than one can write, to saving someone a trip to the library by having access to an online database of journals, or to buy something online rather than venture to the actual store. It is a tool that enriches our lives. It does not run it.

While computers have played a large part in popular culture and other areas of entertainment, it is not the sole vehicle to which entertainment reaches us. Movies, videogames, and other electronic forms of recreation have been made widely available before the computer was a common househole electronic.

Lastly, while computers have become a staple for most households, it does not run the household. There is a possibility that one day the computer will run the lives of individuals in our society, but that day has not yet come. Until we are no longer able to function in our daily lives without accessing a computer (which is much easier than most think), it no more than a mere tool which we use to enrich our lives, not control it.