I was just watching the news and thought that I would share this article that was on. It hits kind of close to home. Apparently yesterday a car was jacked on 41st and Lancaster, for me this is a street I know well I always take Lancaster to get into the city mainly because it quicker and I don't have to deal with highway traffic. Yesterday however, three students were held up at gunpoint while waiting at a red light at that very intersection.

What happened to the holidays being a time when people were nice to each other and we all tried to be somewhat kind? This post is going off of Shutterbug's earlier post. I just don't get it! I came across this article in the news about how a woman was robbed at gunpoint for an xbox. A mother goes out to get her son the gift that she knows he wants, stays in line, waits all that time and when she finally does get it someone follows her home and robs her at gunpoint. This incident it totally a commentary on greed and the need for stricter gun control.

I was reading this article on CNN.com which brought up a long standing question. Should the US mind it's own business? In general this question is always out on the table, but particularly during times of war does the answer become even more interesting. In a lot of ways aren't we the "world police" we have our hands in everything. I'm not sure if this is just because we are nosey or if it's because we feel everything that happens in the world has the potential to come back and bite us in the ass, so if we don't take care of it then we'll only have ourselves to kick in the ass later.

So as alot of you know I'm graduating(atleast I hope so) inorder to actually get my degree I have to do this little thing called THESIS. THESIS and I are very close friends right now and because of that I am asking people to give me feedback. As a first step to my thesis I'm interning with an organization called Design For Social Imapact (DFSI). Part of my internship entails me creating an evaluation for their current digital portfolio, this is where your help is much needed. Inorder to gain varied opinions on their current portfolio I have created a survey (only one page) that I am asking people to fill out.

"A Self Reflection-Evaluating our blog space"

While exploring the net I came across a really interested weblog. Conspiracy Theory: Technology - Great Advances or Big Brother? , 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 are very blatant examples of big brother and of lack of freedom in general. But if we decide to look at how "big brother" is present in our lives today (aside from the show) its a lot less blatant. Technology is a great resource that most of us use on a daily basis, but its also one more way for "them" to keep track of us.

So I was looking for grad school programs, which I tend to do alot lately. And I came across this web site that has a list of PA colleges and universities ranked by web popularity. The only thing I'm going to say is that we are def. on the list. Take a look for yourself.

*Disclaimer I'm not sure how valid this source is.

WEB Rankings

Experience the power of Philadelphia internet

So I was up yesterday until I guess what is the wee hours of the morning. While I was up I was watching TV (of course) and Conan O' Brien

When are we finally going to get tired blogging?

This break I caught up on movies along with a host of other things. Among the movies I watched two were extremely powerful to me Crash and Hotel Rwanda. Both in my opinion are must see movies. They leave you asking alot of questions about how we as humans treat each other. While each movie touches on racism and prejudice in its own way, injustice is a common thread. I began thinking about how prejudice and racism are openly address now more than ever before, but with that said discussion don't seem to be providing any kind of change. This issues more and more are being seen as the rantings of a minortiy group, not "real" to the rest of our society. Katrina was a prime example of classism and in many the racism that is a result of our social structure.

As a parent how will you discipline your children? I've been thinking about this question and have yet to figure out my answer. When I was a child living in the south spankings were a normal way of life. I definitely had my share and I don't feel as though I'm any worse for the ware. It was only when I moved to the east coast that I realized that there were other ways to discipline a child. Since then I've been pondering the question of whether or not spankings should be considered child abuse or not. When you think about it to physically hit a child in any other sense would be considered child abuse so why are spankings not considered to be part of the intolerable treatment of children.

I've been thinking about the visual apsects of our blog. I know that we've mention in class some formating annoyance such as the "Your vote was recorded" box that insists on showing itself at the top of our screen. What about the rest of our space? And how important is the visual element to our blogging? I think that for the most our site is clear and concise. I wonder if there are things that we could do to either make it more appealing or should we leave what works alone. If I were asked I would consider our blog to be simple and clean, but is less more? Intro to the Blogosphere approches this subject in one of their postings: Common Visual Design Elements of Weblogs

If anyone knows the steps for creating a trackback. Could you please post them.
Thanks

When I first came to Bryn Mawr, I was excited I couldn’t wait to be in a new city and since Philadelphia is so close I assumed it would be similar to where I live in Boston. After a few months I learned how wrong I was and when I actually started exploring the city I found that I didn’t really like Philadelphia. In my eyes it was dirty and unsophisticated, which is so very different from what I consider Boston to be. I found myself constantly comparing the twos cities with Philly always coming out on the bottom. I knew that as soon as I graduated I would leave this city and never look back. Well now it’s almost four years later and I am learning that I have highly underestimated this city. Until now I don’t think that I ever really saw the beauty that exists in Philly. Philly really is an up and coming city. According to National Geographic Traveler Philly is one of the “Next Great Places that will shape our travels now and in the future.”

This was sent to me today by a friend. I think that is could be real but let me know what you think. If anything it may just cause some of you to laugh.

This is our news

Ok, you can call me self-centered if you want but my bday is coming up (friday to be exact) and in the spirit of this occasion, I would like to know when your bdays are?

P.S. I know sooo totally off topic sorry. :(

I've added three new entries to the news aggregator. Two of which are from philly.com one about nightlife and the other about dining. I think that these are fun and a good way to get to know that city more. For me the city has grown on me and I regret not getting out and explore different aspects of philly sooner. I hope that you look at the feeds and get out to do different things in the city.

If you'd like to see the video of Kanye West go to this link. You can also read comments about others' opinions on the video.

Kanye Live on NBC

Also feel free to use this entry as a way to respond to the video.

P.S Just in case the link doesn't work here is the URL:
http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2678975?

The two chapters that I am writing about are 22 & 25. The point of these chapters is to express what makes a blog good and some tips to keep in mind when blogging. I’m always to trying to figure out what makes a blog interesting and readable, so for me these were really interesting to read. Some things to me were givens, like the fact that content is what makes a blog. But while we all understand that blogging is about content, do you ever stop to consider what ruts a writer can fall into. The easiest subject for most people to talk about is themselves, but in the world of blogging that one simple thing can become a down fall. Chapter 22 expresses the idea of mediocre blogging and how people fall into it. Take caution when talking about the follow:

Do you ever stop and think about all the things in you're life that you've been witness to? As a child I never would have imagined that I would witness so much history occur in only the first half of my life. It amazes me when I think about it, I'm mainly talking about things like Sept 11th, the war on iraq, bombing of major cities day after day, the largest natural disaster to ever hit the US, the death of a pope, the death of a supreme court justice and the resignation of another. These only to name a few. It amazes me! It also makes me wonder how much more I have left to witness in my life.

Ok, this is my two cents on the issue. It's one thing to be on the internet and go searching for porn. Thats not what this situation is, as a member of this class I have no choice, but to be associated with what ever content is posted. Don't get me wrong I'm all for people saying what they want to say, but I feel that there is a time and place for everything. If Glamourous feels that it is so important then she can go and start a personal blog. I feel that in this space just as you say that we maybe infringing on her rights, she’s infringing on mine. I have no choice but to accept what she's put up thus far. Which means that for anyone that knows that I’m taking this class they’re probably thinking in they’re heads WTF! If I were to put up pornographic photos would that be acceptable (mind you I would be sexy and cool captions with them (sarcasm incase it misses you)). Or better yet what if I just described them for you, I mean at least I’d be writing something.

The communities that I belong to vary, when I think about it I’m apart of multiple communities because I was born into them, rather than because I sought them out. I’m a military brat and so that makes me part of the armed forces community I know what is like to grow up and have to move around constantly and I have and instant bond with other military brats because of that. Although now that my father has retired I am learning that there exists a community within a community. I recognize that while I am part of the military community I am a part of the retired military and that is distinctly different from the enlisted community.