"Planet act.ivism.org"

Verbatim: Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Dark Side of Beauty

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:19:16 GMT

Tracy Kidder, Mountains Beyond Mountains, Chapter 3

Kidder uses two types of descriptions to give his reader a picture of Haiti. One view gives the “tropical paradise” version from Christopher Columbus’ journals–the manmade version of Haiti. The second type of description gives the truer account of what Haiti is like for the Haitians themselves.

Kidder loves to paint the tropical picture of Haiti. It is the first thing he notices about Zanmi Lasante. The things that make the clinic stand out for him are the tiled floors, the paintings and murals by Haitian artists, the tropical plants that scale the walls in every direction. It looks beautiful, and he feels like he has “encountered a miracle.” Even the feeling of the area around Farmer’s hut is described as the “cabin of a small boat at sea.”

Carol4929; image of the town of Milot, Haiti taken from the path up to the Citade

When he describes the rest of Haiti, the parts just outside the boundaries of the clinic, Haiti seems to look like more of a group of hundreds of thousands of people stranded on a singular raft floating in the middle of the pacific ocean with no land in sight. Though the Haitians Kidder meets are colorful and grateful, they are clearly very sick. They multiply in front of the clinic overnight, and patients may sometimes arrive in beds with “bearers at each corner,” evoking the image of a funeral procession. The reason the people are so ill also falls under Kidder’s description of Haiti. When he first arrives at the clinic, their caravan passes ox carts with no oxen pulling them, but people. He describes people wearing running shoes with split soles. Kidder inserts the fact into his story that many Haitians live on little more than a dollar a day. The evident poverty of the Haitians only intensifies the gravity of their medical needs. Their poor standards of living and their low level of education mark the dark side of Haiti’s beauty.

Peta-de-Aztlan, January 14, 2010

Verbatim: Mountains Beyond Mountains of Suffering, but Worth the Effort

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:24:22 GMT

“The way [Dr. Farmer] talked, it seemed like he actually enjoyed living among Haitian peasant farmers. At one point, speaking about medicine, he said, ‘I don’t know why everybody isn’t excited by it.’” I was struck by this moment because it makes me angry with Kidder. At first, Kidder tells the reader, “I didn’t think much about Farmer. In spite of his closing words, I didn’t think he understood or cared to sympathize with the captain’s problems.”

Personally, if I was familiar with the suffering of the Haitians and knew their struggles, I wouldn’t sympathize with the captain’s worries either. The captain is worried about getting reprimanded from his superiors. The Haitians are worried that the maniac they have for a chief will come and cut their heads off. In my opinion, the captain doesn’t have so much to complain about. Yes he could get in trouble, and yes his conditions and supplies are stretched, but what is the bigger issue?

It frustrates me that Kidder can’t imagine why anyone would purposely jeopardize his own safety for a “lost cause.” Whenever he writes about Haiti itself, he is pessimistic and defeating. People suffer everyday, and no matter the situation, they deserve the chance to survive. If you can help them at all, the situation is not a lost cause. If someone gladly risks his life to help people, there must be hope for those people.

Kidder should recognize and support Dr. Farmer’s efforts instead of doubting them. Everything Kidder describes about him seems to indicate that this man is passionate, and goes above and beyond what a normal person would do for another human being. The bigger issue here is that Dr. Farmer doesn’t enjoy the living conditions, but he enjoys improving the lives of others, and that is why he does it. It’s not about him and his comfort.

I agree with Dr. Farmer’s view of the Haitian people. There is a quote that says, “the person who has nothing, has everything to gain.” Dr. Farmer has a “luminescent smile” and a “gladly given welcome” because he is making big changes in the lives of the Haitians, and he wants other people to participate as well. If I were a part of a huge change like Dr. Farmer is, I would feel the same way.

Verbatim: Cooking with Coco

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 14:43:54 GMT

This entry is the first of the newest section of my blog: Me vs. the Dog: A Babysitter’s story

This summer I am babysitting a little 8 year old girl named Lucy*. I babysit Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays from 7am to 4:30pm. I took this job the summer before my senior year as well. Back then, the job was challenging because six year olds rarely cooperate when it’s your job to tell them to do their chores. This year, Lucy is much more cooperative, but the dog isn’t.

Lucy has a new Shelty puppy named Coco. He is supposed to be all her responsibility, and “she knows what the dog needs.” Funny thing though. When a parent lets you know that “their child knows what he or she needs to do, and you need to make him her do those things,” but doesn’t actually tell you what they are, those things have a next to nothing chance of getting done. It’s just like when a parent tells their child to brush his or her teeth. Even though the child knows his or her teeth will rot from all of the candy they horded, the child will still just wet his or her toothbrush. The parents knows this, and must check to see if his or her child ACTUALLY brushed his or her teeth. If the parent didn’t know that the child needed to brush his or her teeth, they wouldn’t know to counteract the child’s cheating.

I digress.

It happened with this dog. She is supposed to know what to do, and do it “on her own” because it is her dog. Newsflash: when she is too tired to do it, guess who couldn’t care less about her dog?

On Monday, I arrived at the house after a three hour drive back to Ohio. I picked Lucy up from swim practice, and we stepped into the house as unsuspecting fools. There was a terrible smell. We stepped around the corner into the kitchen where Coco stays gated in during the day. There were four fresh piles of dog doo-doo (if that’s even the right way to spell it, not that it matters considering I’m taking the immature way out) on the kitchen floor. my cousin was with us, and was supposed to be the one to help me with the dog because I am NOT A DOG PERSON really at any rate. This was not good. Lucy picked up the poop with a paper towel like I asked her, but when I asked her where a mop was to clean the floor, she replied, “We don’t need to clean the floor; we never do.”

My head just about exploded. Something had just excreted on their KITCHEN FLOOR. The kitchen is a place for food to be prepared and eaten. The kitchen needs to be the most sterile part of the house. And they never wash the floor if the dog has an accident?!?

My response, “New Rule: Anytime something poops on the floor, we mop the floor. End of story.”

It was very clear that they never clean the floor, not because the floor was dirty beyond all belief (because it was), but because the Swiffer we were going to use did not have the correctly shaped bottle for the cleaning fluid to work in the tool. We actually had to use an ancient janitor’s big yellow bucket on wheels with an old fashioned mop to clean the floor. wonderful.

I also had to struggle with Lucy because she continued to insist that we didn’t need to clean the floor. So much for kids knowing how to take care of their dogs, and taking full responsibility for their pets.

You can understand how this dog and I got off on the wrong paw.

Verbatim: Where in the world is Tanzania?

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 23:20:39 GMT

Tonight the kids went on a Safari to Tanzania!

I was really surprised to find so much interesting information on Tanzania! There were three activities planned. First, while kids came in, I wanted to play the flyswatter game. At the beginning of the year, way back in September, Michelle and I
made a map of Africa. The object of the game is to find the named country on the map before your opponent, then hit it with a flyswatter. The kids were going to use newspapers as flyswatters, but we didn’t actually play the game. The map was still useful though because I was able to show the kids where Tanzania was. It helps them understand when they can visualize the country.

The second thing I had planned, which the kids really enjoyed was a craft to make an African drum.

[Baobab Photograph by Tom Schwabel, My Shot

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65316636@N00/2884137513/" title="Baobabs at Night by pdxsafariguy, on Flickr" rel="nofollow">
]

We decorated cardboard jewelry boxes for the body of the drum, beads for more noise, and cling wrap on top to give the kids something to beat on. One boy put the letter T on their drums to stand for Tanzania, and then colored the bottom of the drum to look like Tanzania’s flag. It was really cute! The other boy drew a zebra, and stuck a letter Z on top of his drum because I told him about the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania.

[Elephant Photograph by Chris Johns]

The last thing I had planned would have been a lot of fun if we had had more kids! There were only the two brothers and their TSS. We went on a hunt for all of the animals in the Youth and Teen Center Serengeti! There were two parts to the game. The first was to find all of the paper animals hidden around the center. There were 42 animals in all. Each animal had a number on the back that corresponded to a question on my sheet. If they answered the questions correctly, they saved that animal from the poacher. If they answered the question incorrectly, the poachers captured the animal. The way to win the game was to save the most animals.

Unfortunately, we only got through 4 questions before the kids had to leave, but the important thing is that they have now heard of Tanzania. We may do Tanzania again instead of Ghana because there really weren’t enough kids, and the two brothers who did come did not hear much of the information.

My favorite parts about tonight were that I got to spend time with just the two boys. We played foosball for a while and they were just so cute! They reminded me of my cousins, just sweet. My second favorite thing was that their TSS told me “They wouldn’t miss [the Friends Around the World] program for the world.” It warmed my heart to hear that!

I think the kids really enjoy the program, and when they arrive, they are always excited to find out what the new country is! Some of the kids have used the information in school, and others just like to learn about things they might not hear about in class. I really enjoy working with them, and I hope that I get to continue in the fall!

[Giraffe Photograph by Balazs Buzas, My Shot]

The following are the questions I would have asked, and may still ask the kids. The ones with the asterisks are the questions I did ask the kids. The boys got all of their questions right! It amazes me how the kids reason the answers out. They do not know any of the information to start with, but because the questions are either multiple choice or True/False, they work on their elimination skills. They are really smart!

1. The Selous in Tanzania is:
a. a city
b. the world’s largest game reserve
c. a store
d. and animal

2. Mount Kilimanjaro is the __________ ____________ mountain on earth
a. least beautiful
b. highest freestanding
c. shortest
d. most purple

3. Lake Tanganyika is the world’s:
a. second-deepest freshwater body
b. least polluted freshwater body
c. longest freshwater body
d. all of the above

4. True or False: The Ngorongoro Crater is home to many animals, including: rhinos, lions, zebra, and wildebeest

5. True or False: Animal Populations in the crater include most of the species found in East Africa, with some exceptions

6. The Ngorongoro Crater was created by:
a. an alien spaceship that crash landed
b. an asteroid
c. a collapsed volcano
d. none of the above

7. The Maasi are a nomadic people. What does that mean?
a. They are never angry (No Mad)
b. They stay in one place and never leave
c. They follow the herds as the herds migrate, and the people never settle in one place
d. They are tourists

8. What is special about Married Maasai women?
a. They have a lot of power in the tribe
b. They take care of the children
c. Nothing
d. They shave their heads and wear elaborate necklaces to show their status

9. True or False: The Maasai are an indigenous African ethnic group

This picture was taken from http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Cookbook/Tanzania.html

10. The Maasai live in the northern part of Tanzania, and what other Africa country?
a. Kenya
b. France
c. Egypt
d. They only live in Tanzania

11. True or False: The Maasai are the most well-known of all the African ethnic groups because of their distinctive dress, customs, and their residence near the many game parks of East Africa

12. The Maasai speak which language or languages?
a. English
b. Swahili
c. Maa, their native tongue
d. All of the Above

13. The Maasai are strongly patriarchal. What does patriarchal mean?
a. That the tribes are ruled by the children
b. That the men make the decisions, are the primary hunters, and the women do all of the farming, and take care of the children
c. That the men take care of the children
d. That women make all of the decisions

14. Tanzania is home to how many different ethnic cultures/tribes?
a. 2
b. 1000
c. 120
d. Just the Maasai

15. True or False: Tanzania also includes the Zanzibar archipelago (or group of islands)

16. True or False: Tanzania is bordered by eight different countries

17. Name two countries that border Tanzania

18. True or False: Dodoma has displaced Dar es Salaam as Tanzania’s capital (True)

19. Dar es Salaam remains the capital in all but the title. It still has:
a. most government departments and large businesses
b. the circus
c. the main international airport
d. a and c

20. True or False: Each of the 120 tribes that inhabit Tanzania speaks its own language

21. What is the official language of Tanzania?
a. English and Swahili
b. English and Tanzanian
c. Spanish
d. German

22. True or False: Tanzania is one of the richest nations in the world

23. The economy of Tanzania is maintained with subsistence agriculture. What does subsistence agriculture mean?
a. You live off of what you grow by eating your crop and selling it for income
b. You only sell crops for a profit and you have a second job
c. That very few people farm
d. None of the above

24. Africa’s three largest water bodies lie in Tanzania. What are their names?
a. Lake Erie, Lake Superior, and Lake Huron
b. Lake Titicaca
c. Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika, and Lake Nyasa-Malawi
d. Lake Tanganyika, Swan Lake, and Lake Titicaca

25. Roughly 25% of Tanzania’s surface area has been claimed some form of official conservation status. What does it mean to claim a piece of land conservation?
a. It means that people on that land must recycle
b. It means that no one can capture or hunt animals or plants on that property, it must be left alone
c. That you can litter and destroy the land only in that area
d. All of the above

26. True or False: The country supports something like 20% of Africa’s large mammal population

27. The Serengeti in Tanzania is:
a. A city
b. A lake
c. A National Park
d. A storm

28. The Serengeti is most famous for its:
a. lions
b. wildebeest and zebra
c. trees and flowers
d. people

29. True or False: People are allowed to build houses in the Serengeti

30. When Tanzania was created in 1961, it included Zanzibar, but what was the mainland’s original name?
a. Tang
b. Tanganyika
c. Tallulah
d. Tubular

31. True or False: Tanzania has been considered the most peaceful country in all of Africa

32. On the Island of Zanzibar, 99% of the people practice this religion:
a. Roman Catholicism
b. Scientology
c. Islam
d. They do not have religion

33. Tanzania exports many foods and raw materials because it is a subsistence agriculture culture. Which of the following goods do Tanzanians export?
a. Gold and Cashews
b. Computers and Ipods
c. Socks and Shoes
d. Tobacco, and Fruits
e. A and D

34. Two goods that Tanzanians import are:
a. cement and clothes
b. toothbrushes and toothpaste
c. machinery and transportation equipment
d. All of the above

35. What are the colors on the Tanzanian flag?
a. Red White and Blue
b. Just plain black
c. Green, Gold, and Blue
d. Orange, Green and White

36. Baobab trees dot the Tanzanian plains. True or False: These trees can live to be 1000 years old, and up to 80 feet high

37. Ol Doinyo is a very special what in Tanzania?
a. A volcano
b. A Party
c. A person
d. A dance you have to do when you arrive in Tanzania

38. True or False: Zebras on the Tanzanian plain have acute vision and hearing. They act as an early warning system for other large animals grazing nearby

39. True or False: Tanzania brags about its roads, railways, and low-cost energy

40. Mount Kilimanjaro has what on top of it?
a. a flag
b. snow
c. clouds
d. a hat

41. True or False: Arusha National Park is the least visited for safaris: (FALSE! Arusha National Park is northern Tanzania’s safari capital.)

42. Tanzania borders which Ocean?
a. The Pacific Ocean
b. The Atlantic Ocean
c. The Indian Ocean
d. The Antarctic Ocean

All of the photographs on this post were taken from National Geographic’s website:

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/tanzania-photos/#african-elephant-tanzania_3648_600×450.jpg

They are shown in a scroll format. They are all AMAZING views!

Through the River and Over the Woods: Fedora Project Logs

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 11:56:29 GMT

I wasn’t sure how to log it myself, so I just copy-pasted the conversation I had with mizmo:

(5:16:59 PM) The topic for #fedora-design is: ..:: Fedora Design ::.. | A place to discuss Design and Design principles in Fedora | #fedora-art for the ianweller-tw2113 battle ground | Inkscape .47 officially released. Visit http://www.inkscape.org/ to download source or wait for package push.
(5:20:31 PM) ShanWade: hi design team! i’m a student at Allegheny College working on the design aspect of Fedora and after a couple misfires on our project mel chua directed me toward the list of tickets. i was planning to work on ticket #130, a logo for the Fedora project in africa, and i was wondering if anyone was already working on it/had any suggestions before i start?
(5:21:27 PM) mizmo: ShanWade: can you post the url to the ticket?
(5:22:21 PM) mchua_afk is now known as mchua
(5:23:33 PM) ShanWade: mizmo: https://fedorahosted.org/design-team/ticket/130
(5:24:10 PM) mizmo: ah cool it looks like no one has taken it ShanWade so it’s yours for the taking
(5:24:21 PM) mizmo: we have two standard logo templates for these kinds of projects
(5:24:38 PM) mizmo: one we usually use for web apps / websites. if the person’s intention is to set up web pages to support this effort it might be the template you’ll want to use
(5:24:42 PM) mizmo: you can see it at
(5:24:54 PM) mizmo: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/community/
(5:25:15 PM) mizmo: or http://koji.fedoraproject.org
(5:25:38 PM) mizmo: usually a very small fedora logo type + logo mark in the upper left, and then the text of the subproject underneath in a grey mg modata logo type
(5:25:46 PM) mizmo: the other is the one we use on the fedora design team ticket system
(5:26:00 PM) mizmo: which is just the fedora logomark + the subproject logotype in mg open modata in grey
(5:26:12 PM) mizmo: actually
(5:26:19 PM) mizmo: i think there are other fedora country-based project logos
(5:26:27 PM) mizmo: you might want to google around and look for them to see if there’s a pattern
(5:26:40 PM) mizmo: if there isn’t maybe come up with a standard and we could have a third template specific to country logos
(5:26:47 PM) mizmo: i vaguely remember doing a fedora bangaldesh logo
(5:26:55 PM) nicubunu: AFAIK there is no pattern
(5:27:00 PM) ShanWade: okay sounds good
(5:27:23 PM) ShanWade: so are the templates the URLs you posted above
(5:27:29 PM) ShanWade: or one of the links on the page?
(5:27:52 PM) mizmo: ShanWade: the logos in the upper left
(5:28:04 PM) mizmo: ShanWade: they aren’t templates so much as good examples of the pattern
(5:28:13 PM) ShanWade: ohh i see. makes sense
(5:28:43 PM) ShanWade: and do i have to sign up for the ticket somehow or can i just start working on it?
(5:29:19 PM) mizmo: ShanWade: you should claim it so that nobody else grabs it while you’re still working on it
(5:30:17 PM) ShanWade: how do i do that?
(5:30:48 PM) mizmo: ShanWade: do you have a fedora account?
(5:31:11 PM) ShanWade: no not yet
(5:31:58 PM) mizmo: ShanWade: okay you need to get one to be able to claim a ticket
(5:32:07 PM) mizmo: ShanWade: you can sign up for one at http://admin.fedoraproject.org/accounts
(5:32:25 PM) ShanWade: awesome i will do that right now
(5:33:17 PM) mizmo: ShanWade: once you get your account set up, on the fedora design team ticket page, in the upper right corner you’ll see a red ‘login’ link. log in using your fedora account info
(5:33:21 PM) mizmo: you should then be able to claim the ticket
(5:33:32 PM) ShanWade: wonderful. thank you so much!
(5:33:51 PM) mizmo: no prob
(5:33:56 PM) mizmo: to claim the ticket by the way
(5:33:58 PM) mizmo: when you login
(5:34:07 PM) mizmo: a bunch of fields will appear on the ticket that werent there before
(5:34:24 PM) mizmo: towards the bottom you’ll see radio buttons, pick the ‘reassign to’ one, and enter in your fedora account username there and hit submit
(5:36:23 PM) ShanWade: it worked! awesome. i have to run but i’ll get started on that tonight. thanks so much for all your help!!

And this is an email thread I had going once I posted the logo design:

Subject: Ticket #130 — finished?
————————

From: Shannon Wade
Date: Sun, May 2, 2010 at 6:24 PM
To:

Hello!

I’m a student at Allegheny College helping with the Fedora project, and I’m wondering what the next step is now that I’ve completed designs for Ticket #130- Fedora Project in Africa Logo.

I made them using GIMP and you can view them under “attachments” at https://fedorahosted.org/design-team/ticket/130.

So…does anyone have comments or suggestions? Or is the ticket done?

I’m sorry if I’m spamming the mailing list, I’m just not sure what the next step is here.

Thanks so much!

~Shannon Wade

———-
From: Colin Zwiebel
Date: Sun, May 2, 2010 at 11:47 PM
To: Shannon Wade

Hey,

Look good, thanks! I don’t know much about the ticket, but if you have a higher-res image it would be greatly appreciated. Any kind of source image (Gimp .xcf or Inkscape .svg ?). Otherwise a marketing moderator will probably direct you better.

Colin

P.S. I think this is a fine use of the mailing list, don’t worry about it.

_______________________________________________
design-team mailing list

———-
From: Shannon Wade
Date: Mon, May 3, 2010 at 2:01 AM
To: Colin Zwiebel

I converted the images to .xcf and put them on the ticket page. Thanks so much for your help! =)
~Shannon
———-
From: Nicu Buculei
Date: Mon, May 3, 2010 at 3:27 AM
To: Fedora Design Team

I like “fedoraafrica1″ but I am unsure about “fedoraafricasmall”, which
may be a violation of the logo usage guidelines.

I see you made them with GIMP and provided .xcf files as source… for
logo design Inkscape is a much better tool, since it will provide the
source in vector format, which can be resized freely without any quality
loss.
I believe the ticket can be considered done when the requester
(sspreitzer in this case) is happy with the result.
No problem with that, feel free to ask every time you find something
unclear.

–

———-
From: Colin Zwiebel
Date: Mon, May 3, 2010 at 3:32 AM
To: Shannon Wade

Oh, I assumed you made them in Gimp originally. I was just hoping to see some source files. You did that “AFRICA background text color difference” thing, that had to come from some tool. Even if its a non open-source tool like Illustrator, throw it up there. (In the case of Illustrator, Inkscape can often import those files, which is great for us open-source nuts).

Otherwise, awesome!

Colin

———-
From: Sascha Thomas Spreitzer
Date: Mon, May 3, 2010 at 9:04 AM
To: Fedora Design Team

Dear friends,

2010/5/3 Nicu Buculei :
I also like fedoraafrica1 and im satisfied with it.
Thank you Shannon!
–
Mit freundlichen Grüßen / with kind regards,
Sascha Thomas Spreitzer

http://spreitzer.name/
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Sspreitzer

Warum mache ich überhaupt dieses ganze OpenSource Zeugs?
Lesen Sie hier, warum;
http://de.windows7sins.org/

———-
From: Matthew Jadud
Date: Mon, May 3, 2010 at 4:08 PM
To: Fedora Design Team

Shannon,

If you’re willing to create a second version of fedoraafrica1 using
Inkscape instead of GIMP, that would result in an image that could be
made large (think miles tall!) without any loss of resolution. Darren
or I would be glad to help if you want to do that — it should be
quick, and would result in a “more valuable” image, as it would then
scale up to T-shirts as well as down to business cards without any
pixels or jaggies showing up.

Cheers,
Matt

Verbatim: BP Facebook Group

Mon, 31 May 2010 18:47:12 GMT

Just to let anyone know who decided that Facebook COULDN’T be used for activism, there is a “Boycott BP” Facebook group with 232,413 members from all over the world who are not buying BP gas until the spill is cleaned up. That’s a pretty huge impact!

Don’t believe me? I’m guessing the people in this group, opposed to many the causes of your Facebook groups that (let’s face it) you did not believe in, really do care about the oil spill. A boycott is pretty easy to do when there are 4 gas stations on the corners of many major intersections.

Think about it, if on average, one fills his or her gas tank twice a month, and this Facebook group goes on for at least one month, that is 464,826 full tanks of gas that BP makes zero money on.

If, on average, a tank of gas is approximately 15-18 gallons of gas
(per http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_gas_does_the_average_car_gas_tank_hold),

and the price of gas today at a BP in Pittsburgh is $2.65
(per http://www.pittsburghgasprices.com/),

that means that 464,826 full tanks with ~15 gallons per tank at $2.65 a gallon equals

$606,694,450 that BP will not make in one month.

I don’t know about you, but that is quite a chunk of money if you ask me. It’s especially large in this economy, with this type of environmental disaster, along with losing all of the oil and it’s value to the Caribbean Sea. Also, I guarantee that some people are mad enough to boycott BP and they do not even have Facebooks. Add their full tanks of gas to our initial total, and that’s one whopping sum of income that BP will not see in the month of MAY.

If you still don’t think Facebook can can be used to create change in the community, I suppose you have $606, 694, 450 of pocket change laying around under your couch that you don’t really care about as well. Money talks, so I’d stop if I were you.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Boycott-BP/119101198107726

Christina Mucci: Check out Sugar in a Whole New Way!

Sat, 08 May 2010 06:49:52 GMT

Hey FS102! In the past couple of weeks, Genevive and I have been working on a Sugar on a Stick webpage. Making a webpage was important to us because the existing wiki pages on SoaS just weren’t as accesible to the public as they could’ve been. Below are some links to conversations I’ve had, and a column I’ve written for the Sugar webpage that talks about Lynne May Chua’s use of Sugar with her first graders. Hopefully I’ll get the link to mine and Genevive’s actual webpage up here soon, but until then, tell me what you think about our project, and what your group has done too.

Thanks! Have a great summer, everyone.

file:///home/muccic/Desktop/lynnemay.html

file:///home/muccic/Desktop/fedora-design.2010-04-08-15.19.log.html

https://docs.google.com/a/allegheny.edu/Doc?id=dg23ftd_7g65×63fk&btr=EmailImport

http://act.ivism.org/blogs/muccic/2010/04/

random thoughts from an unconventional mind: some things I did for the Fedora Project.

Fri, 07 May 2010 20:44:43 GMT

Here is a e-mail that I sent to Mel asking her to help get the word out about the importance of using Youtube.

Hi my name is Kevin Thrope and I am working on the video sharing. I was wondering if you could respond to one of our e-mails so the that the people in the Fedora community could see that one of there own at least agrees with some of what we are saying. We as a group sent out a e-mail via the marking list listing our ideas of why youtube would be good to use. Nelison Marques has been one of our suportorrs but others have voiced there consern about it. It would be a big help if you could chim in on the converstion so that we have suppourt in numbers and hopfuly this will help others aree that youtube is a vible opition to use for video sharing. Thank you

What I was trying to gain by sending this e-mail to Mel was to have her get out there and hopefully start up a chat with people so that they could see that there are people that want some change.

Blog Title: Fedora Wrap-Up

Fri, 07 May 2010 19:40:16 GMT

Along with Ryan Schellhaas and Ian Moore, I worked with the design team for the Fedora project. We set out to design a few icons to be used in the official release of Fedora 13. The design ticket we chose to do is ticket #113, the security icon ticket. We thought that we would easily be able to crank out at least a few of the icons within the several weeks we had for the project. Unfortunately, we were wrong. In order to create the icons we needed to become comfortable with the use of Inkscape, an open-source image editing program. After hours upon hours of fooling around with the program we were still horrible with it. We went through many MANY attempts at creating a somewhat visually appealing icon and, in the end, we had nothing. We were unable to come up with a single design that was worthy of being put into Fedora 13.

That said, I did have a good time in my failure. This was a new and exciting project that I think should be repeated in the future. If anyone from the Fedora community reads this, I’d like to thank you for all your support in this project!

Chat logs from this assignment can be found here:

Look for

And in this email

Blog Title: Links and Comments for Fedora Project

Thu, 06 May 2010 19:33:37 GMT

As the semester comes to and end, I hope I can say I contributed a little to a new world I was introduced to this semester. Here are the links to some of our (Matt and me) correspondences and efforts this semester. https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Marketing/picture_archive

Here is one of the emails we sent to the marketing team….

Hello. Since Matt and I worked with the install process we thought that we could suggets ways to help in areas we found problems…

For those who are computer challenged…..
-The first few screens should talk about Fedora (what it is and who it would benefit), because the only time we really get an idea is at the end.
- Cheat Sheet or manual on the install process or even an overall one on the operating system. We realize it may be hard to include all these ideas throughout the install process so a cheat sheet could fill in here.
-Specify between the two types of available installs
-Specify the differences between i386 and x86_64 on http://fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora-all
-Throughout the install process recommend certain routes people should take with certain computers or for depending on how much they want to use fedora.
Hope these ideas may be able to help out a little,
Matt Bocchi and Sahar Arbab

Here were some of our responses…..

This one is from Tareq Al Jurf

-I was going to post this idea to the list today!!
I think because the install process won’t take that long, so i thought that it might be better if we explained the basics of using fedora. How are programs installed , what’s a repo, what’s a desktop environment … etc

I’ve even made a fast mockup to help understand the idea
http://taljurf.fedorapeople.org/Scratch/fedora%20installation.jpg

This one is from threethirty

This is a great idea but I think that if people are going through the
install process they are already kinda sold on the idea and there are
other places we can present it (maybe a .pdf on the desktop that is a
quick start guide) Could we use this idea to advertise areas where
people could contribute? We could take say Marketing, Ambassadors, Docs,
Design, and $somethingElseNontechnical and have section proclaiming that
you don’t have to be a programmer to contribute to Fedora.

I think the responses overall were pretty helpful!

Maybe our suggestions can help promote new projects.

-Sahar Arbab

Blog Title: Finishing up with Fedora

Thu, 06 May 2010 00:25:44 GMT

I guess the fedora project is coming to a close for me, although I did enjoy working on it while I had the time in class! We finished by adding as much as we could to the one-page release notes, and creating a new version of them for Fedora 13. My group did an awesome job because we were the perfect people for one-page release notes. Since they are like an advertisement for Fedora as a whole, we got the chance to make sure that it was easy to understand for new users of Fedora. We gave a clear overview of some of the different applications of Fedora, and I believe that we were very successful in doing so. Good luck to the rest of the people who are still contributing to the project!!

The Happy Camper: Most likely last post: Fedora Wrap-Up

Tue, 04 May 2010 19:23:15 GMT

This will most likely be my last post. The semester is coming to a close and I am off on an adventure this summer.

It seems that there should be a “final blog post” as part of my Fedora Project Reflection. There’s not really much to say. I completed (or almost completed) the BTRFS feature profile for the release of Fedora 13 and I think I learned a lot; about BTRFS and filesystems and about communication and open source. The feature profile is here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Btrfs_in_Fedora_13 I pretty much have wrapped everything up with the profile. I sent out an email to the Fedora Marketing list on April 27 with the follow up questions I later added to the profile, the link to the profile, and saying (basically) “This is it. Thanks.” After that, I haven’t really gotten anymore feedback. Mel mentions the profile on the Allegheny Activism page under the Team Assignments (https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Allegheny_Activism:_Team_Assignments).

I like that I was able to produce a somewhat finished project. I know some people had a hard time with their projects for one reason or another and I’m glad that I didn’t run into many problems (the less frustration I encounter, the better).

Overall I think the project went well for me. An important lesson is to approach things with an open mind, simply try to learn from those around me, and try to do my best work.

A Look Into Tyler's World: Fedora Project: After Hard Work

Mon, 03 May 2010 02:21:42 GMT

After working with Fedora and working on the One Page Release Notes, I feel that my group and I have made some great progress. We have spent time coming up with important features, from the Fedora 13 talking points (http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/F13_talking_points), that we felt were important to discuss. We also worked on editing our draft in order to make it easier to understand for people who may not be very technical. I think there are a few things that still need to be work on such as the Color Management description and adding screenshots (to make the page more attractive) but these should be very quick fixes. The wiki page that we have been working on is available at (https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/F13_one_page_release_notes). As our school year here is winding down, and we are not working on the project anymore, any additions or edits are greatly welcomed.

I had a lot of fun working with this project and learned a lot about using open source software. I feel that the work that the Fedora members are doing is, and will continue to be beneficial to everyone. Once again, I would like to thank everyone who gave their time to help us out with this project and made this successful!

Dan: Fedora work

Sun, 02 May 2010 17:42:06 GMT

So it seems like me and the other students who worked on the one page release notes have finished our work. We have a draft posted on the wiki page that is totally usable as the final draft. if the community agrees all that needs done is put it into a design program and publish it. here is the link to our final draft. it has notes from Mel of what she thinks could be improved.

https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/F13_one_page_release_notes

act.ivism.org mu: Hello Rewind

Sat, 01 May 2010 20:46:01 GMT

This one caught my eye, so I thought I’d post it to the main blog: Hello Rewind.

You send in a t-shirt and $50, and they send you back a laptop sleeve. From their website:

Hello Rewind is passionate about fighting sex trafficking. Through our social enterprise, we work with women formerly sex trafficked in New York City so they can learn new skills and support their new lives. By purchasing a Hello Rewind laptop sleeve, you help sustain our mission.

It sounds like an excellent cause, an excellent startup, and a great way to combine activism and technology.

Verbatim: The Grecian Youth and Teen Center Olympics!

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 19:17:26 GMT

The boys have been BEGGING me to do Greece again because they missed the other two weeks we focused on Greece. Because I am a softy (and because I don’t really know that much about Iraq), I gave in. Once again, we explored the Islands of Greece!

Last night was a great success! Because the Olympics began in Greece, I set up the night’s activities like they were events.

Though I never actually kept track, the idea was that for every event a child participated in, he or she would get a point. The child with the most points at the end, would win the Olympics. I should have made medals for them, but that’s just an after thought.

The first event was the taste-testing event. I’ve had some trouble the last few weeks getting the kids to try the food we make. Granted the dishes don’t usually LOOK appetizing, they refuse to eat them because there might be a certain ingredient they “do not like.” The older brother and the Greek-fanatic were the only two boys at the beginning for this event. The Greek-fanatic was excited that we were having hummus because it was Greek. He liked the hummus, so the older brother was more likely to try it. Reluctantly, he tried the hummus and didn’t think it was too bad. The other kids got to try the hummus and participate in the “first event” too. I was really happy and proud that they all tried the hummus!

The second event was Greek God charades. The game made the kids come out of their comfort zones a little, especially a boy named Adam who really doesn’t like to play all that much. The kids picked a God from the list I gave them with descriptions, and they had to act like that God. If I could guess the god they got a point. They really had fun with this one! We started charades with two kids, and ended with six because they could tell we were having fun!

I split the boys into two teams for the third event. We played a traditional Greek children’s game called Abarisa. The kids did not really play it correctly, but like the food, at least they tried it! The object of the game is to get your whole team across the midline and to the other team’s home without getting tagged. If your whole team gets to their home, your team yells ABARISA! If you get tagged, you are stuck in jail until one of your teammates gets you out and calls “xele.” The kids had a lot of fun running back and forth, and wanted to keep playing. We played three times, but it is also a pretty fast game.

The fourth event was a quiz game like we usually play. The kids played every man for himself on this one. I asked them questions about Greek Gods, about the geography of Greece (after I showed them the map for a minute), I asked about the capital, and I even asked them if they knew who Aristotle and Plato were. It was a good cool down from the Abarisa game, and because their adrenaline was running, they were excited about the quiz game too.

After the quiz game, two boys had to leave, but it was ok because there were still four kids for the obstacle course. I had written it down in case we had time, but wasn’t planning on actually making an obstacle course. Because the kids were still interested in the idea of the Olympics, they helped me make up an obstacle course in the Youth and Teen Center. The course was a combination of some toy stilts, walking with a ball between their knees, hopping over some sticks, and running around some chairs. The kids enjoyed the obstacle course because they got to plan it a little, and made decisions about how they were going to play. It was the older brother’s idea to make the course “tag-team.”

The kids also came up with the idea of playing Olympic foosball soccer, which we played until most of the kids were gone.

All in all, there were seven boys who participated in the Olympics. They really enjoyed the activities, and I was really impressed by their enthusiasm. I just make these lesson plans up as I go along during the week prior. It is very cool to see what the kids bring to the table. I love seeing them be creative, outgoing, and confident. They are constantly reasoning with me about multiple choice questions, and thinking of different ways to learn the material. I am so happy with the progress Friends Around the World has made!

Bon Voyage!

Next week will be the end of our journey around the globe!

The Truth: About Being Important.: The Truth: Photo of the Day

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 17:20:18 GMT

THE TRUTH: This picture is part of my intro to studio art project (with the collaboration of Holly Wilson and Alex Miller). It’s part of a crazy colorful stop motion video. I hope to post it once it’s finished.

Christina Mucci: Fedora is Alpha?

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 02:32:01 GMT

Genevive and I have been working on making a Sugar on a Stick webpage. There is currently no webpage to complement the Sugar on a Stick wiki page, and it’s important to have an actual webpage for the Sugar operating system because wiki pages tend to be geared more towards Fedora designers, not the actual Fedora users. We’ve learned a lot about Sugar on a Stick and webpage design through the IRC chatrooms and blogs, yet have still not created the actual webpage. The problem that Genevive and I keep running into is getting the actual Fedora operating program to be fully functional on our computers when we are not in class, making it hard to work on our project for a hefty amount of time. Genevive has tried to get several Fedora CD’s to work, but hasn’t had any luck opening Fedora on her computer. Currently, Fedora will open on my computer, but Firefox won’t work, even though Windows Explorer is working. The tech consultant could not help me fix Firefox because he was unfamiliar with Fedora’s interface. With one week to go, we have a lot to do, but at least we know what the obstacles are.

The Happy Camper: Back to the Camp Grounds…

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 03:09:54 GMT

So, if you haven’t noticed, I’ve been very bad at keeping up with this blog. As the semester went on I found I had less and less to say… until now.

It’s not very exciting what I have to say. I’ve just been doing the same old things: going to class, doing work, etc. Now I’m waiting in anticipation for the end of the semester and summer. I’m extremely excited for the REU. 10 weeks in Hawaii doing astronomy research is definitely something to be excited about.

The end of the year is fast approaching and in the next couple of weeks I’m planning on posting about my work with the Fedora Project for class, but for now, I just wanted to put up a post to get myself back into the habit of posting.

Happy Earth Day, too.

The Truth: About Being Important.: The Truth: Photo of the Day

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 21:53:36 GMT

Meet my cat. She’s extremely old, and likes to sit on my lap way too much.

Verbatim: Cooking Conversion Chart!!!

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 02:08:04 GMT

woo hoo! Now I will never be paralyzed with indecision about cups, quarts, mL, and tbs!! This link has a great chart! English to Metric and English to English as well (for those of us who never actually cook, and never actually learned the normal conversions)

http://botanical.com/botanical/cvcookix.html

Verbatim: Turkey!…No the country…yes the country of turkey…no we are not eating turkey!

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 02:04:12 GMT

Tonight we learned a little about the country of Turkey!

It was fun, however, if I had heard one more comment like, “we should just eat Turkey…Why would they name their country after Turkey?…i bet Turkey is Turkey’s national food” I think I might have called the whole thing off.

There were six participants: the brothers, and their main friend, a boy named Josh who comes every once and a while, Joey, a teenager who hangs out at the Y, and Joey’s friend. Joey and his friend helped a lot! They helped me keep the kids in order in the kitchen, and when the kids got bored with the cooking, and I had to start the games, the teenagers finished cooking the Helva for me! I really appreciated it.

There were three activities planned: Hakan Tuncer (a game of marbles) and Tuncay Goksel (Turkish marco polo with no water), and Flour Helva, a turkish dessert.

We started with the Helva because often times, we do not finish the dish in time for everyone to try it before they leave. It was pretty much a fail. Helva is supposed to be a cookie-type food. You are supposed to be able to scoop this pudding-like dish from the pot, and then the spoonfuls turn hard. Our helva almost hardened, but looked a lot like baby food. It tasted very floury and almost sweet. Needless to say, it was no one’s favorite dish. I was very proud of the kids though! All except one kid tried it for me. It was really cute because the younger brother liked the Helva in the beginning. (He’s also the one who always wants to help me wash the dishes.) He’s eating and eating, and then he says, “This just tastes better and better…and now it doesn’t.” Apparently the Helva switched tastes on him.

The night was very unorganized because the boys did not finish with me in the kitchen, yet still wanted my attention. They were ready to move on when I wasn’t. I’ll have to pay attention to more active recipes next year. It did not help that I picked another recipe using metric measurements. As much as I like metric, I don’t like English and the YMCA does. It’s already hard for me to learn cups, ounces, and fluid ounces. It is really difficult to make 6 tbs of butter turn into 125 mL! (We ended up melting it, and then the cups luckily had metric on them) I’m going to post a conversion chart!

At the end, the brothers’ TSS, Miss Nancy helped me out, too! She organized the boys to help clean the YMCA kitchen, and to wash the dishes. I washed, and the boys dried. Clean-up is a lot faster when you have help!

While Joey and his friend finished the Helva, I showed the boys how to play Hakan Tuncer, a game of marbles. The marbles were placed inside a drawn triangle, and each boy had a chance to shoot his marble into the triangle. The boys claimed whichever marbles rolled outside of the triangle. The player at the end with the most marbles wins!

The other game they played (which they enjoyed the most of all the Turkey activities) was Tuncay Goksel, a waterless marco polo. I tied a scarf around one boy’s eyes, and he started to say marco, and the boys responded with polo. The Turkish game has no words, but I thought that if marco polo was the way they could understand the game, it did not hurt to play it like Marco Polo. They really had a blast running around and yelling!

The reason I chose not to play a review game is based on a fact I found while searching for the Turkish games. Much of Turkey is still rural, so many traditions and the language are preserved through children’s games! The games are important to the Turks, so I thought it would be a good idea to focus on the games.

At the end of the night, Miss Nancy always makes the boys say, “Thank you Miss Anna.” It is the cutest thing ever, and it makes me feel good because I know that the kids enjoy my program! They learn while having fun, and that is what Friends Around the World is all about!

I still plan on doing a big review night on the last night I work, so I asked them what some of their favorite activities were. The one boy loves and is obsessed with Greek Gods, the younger brother liked Tanzania, the older brother liked Germany’s chocolate cake, and the every once and a while boy liked Germany, too. What I want to do is collect some of the best questions from each country and combine them into one big review game. We’ll play one of the review games from this semester. We’ll do one of the best crafts, and we’ll either make German chocolate cake, or crepes from first semester because they were the BEST! We’ll see what I come up with, especially for some type of travelogue for the kids. I may do one for the Y, or I’ll do individual ones. Not sure yet!

Until Next Week’s adventure into Iraq,

Bon Voyage!

A River of Noise: Help fund an alternative cancer treatment!

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 23:33:14 GMT

Chances are that you have known someone, maybe a family member, close friend, or neighbor, who has had cancer. The incidences of cancer in the United States have been steadily rising since the turn of the 20th century. According to the American Cancer Society, in 2009 an estimated 562,340 Americans died of cancer; that’s about 1,500 people a day. Treatment usually consists of chemotherapy and radiation, which kill off the cancerous cells but can also damage the surrounding healthy cells. Although these therapies have greatly reduced the mortality rate and the cancer survival rate, they have profound side effects. I have watched family members deteriorate, becoming increasingly lethargic and sullen with despair.

Knowing the potentially harmful side effects of conventional cancer treatments, John Kanzius decided to invest all of his time and effort into developing alternatives after he was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia in 2002. Living in Erie, Pennsylvania, Kanzius had spent his life in the broadcasting field, working as a engineer and eventually coming to own several broadcast properties. He used his knowledge of radio waves to create this innovative cancer treatment.

Preliminary tests show that exposure to radio waves destroy completely destroy cancerous cells with damage to surrounding cells.

Obviously, this is a huge breakthrough for cancer research and should be researched further. And that’s where you come in. Pepsi is offering up to $250,000 to any person, business, or non-profit organization with an idea that will have a positive impact on society. All you have to do it vote. That’s it. Just click on the button and cancer is as good as cured.

The Kanzius Cancer Research Foundation is number six and could easily win with a little more help. I strongly urge you all to take the five minutes it takes to fill out the registration and vote. Although Kanzius passed away last year, his research could save countless lives.

To vote, click here.

More information about The Kanzius Cancer Research Foundation can be found here.

Verbatim: hahaha

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 05:12:30 GMT

I found this on my friend’s Facebook. I love the internet.

Verbatim: Hola from Argentina!

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 05:00:41 GMT

Wednesday night we learned about Argentina, but in a little different fashion than normal. I came up with questions about Argentina, but I was tired of doing review games with the kids. I found a game called “Stop right there!” It’s a traditional game kids in Argentina play! The object of the game is to not get any spots. Three spots means you get a “prenda” or punishment predetermined by the players. once you do your punishment, your slate is clear, and you keep playing. One player starts with a ball, and chases after the others. When player one says, “Stop right there, player 2! [insert name]” Everyone stops moving, and player one must throw the ball at player two. If player one hits player two, player two gets a spot, and it is player two’s turn to throw the ball at someone. If player one misses, everyone starts to run around again.

My boys really loved the idea of throwing a football at each other so I had to change the game a little. Instead of purposely throwing the ball at them, the point was to throw the ball funny so player two couldn’t catch it. If player two caught it, it was his turn to throw the ball, but if he missed, he got a spot.

My favorite part of the game was what the boys chose as the prenda. The boys who got three spots had to spin around like a ballerina. The punishment is supposed to be silly or embarasing, and the spin was perfect! Because they could not get “out” for the punishment, the boys actually did spin around, and no one really cheated! It was amazing to see because they love to cheat!

The game goes as long as you want. This was also perfect because the other part to Argentina was making Alfajores, a traditional Argentinean almond cake. They are supposed to be the size of Vanilla wafers, and you are supposed to put jelly or Dulce de Leche in between them to make little sandwiches. The boys love baking with us, so not only was it cute to help the new boy crack eggs and mix the batter, but we showed them how to make the batter into little balls and pour it onto the cookie sheet. They really loved the batter! The boys actually fought over the spoon and bowl! This is new for me because anyone who knows me can tell you I am not a cook–at all. No matter how much my italian grandma and my aunts try to domesticate me, I will never be a cook like them! Nevertheless, the almond cakes were REALLY good! I’ll post the recipe. The only thing that went wrong was that there was not enough flour in the batter. The circles ended up melting into one another to make a cookie lake on the sheet in the oven. We just cut them up into squares and ate them that way. Even people who said they didn’t like almonds said they were delicious! It might have been the two and a half sticks of butter, but of course butter makes everything better. I had to yell at the boys to stop licking their fingers, and I made them wash their hands every four seconds, but all in all, Argentina was a huge success! I had a lot of fun, they had a lot of fun, and now the boys all know a new game to play with their friends that they know is from a different country!

The count from Wednesday was the two sets of brothers, and a new boy who was a year younger (3rd grade) but mixed really well!

The last Friends Around the World night is coming up soon, and I think we are going to do a review party. I will collect all of the materials from the year, and make travelogues for the regular boys. We are going to do all of their favorite games and recipes that night. I’m really excited for the party!

Until next week, Bon Voyage!

recipe for the Alfajores

http://www.popular-traditional-argentina-food.com/alfajores.html

Verbatim: Healthy Kids Day

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 04:35:10 GMT

Another reason that we redid Tanzania last week was because I was the head of the YMCA’s Healthy Kid’s Day. I have been planning since about mid-February.

In the United States, we are blessed with an abundance of opportunities. Meadville is a great example of this reality with its small businesses and close-knit community. In order to get ready for a fun, safe and healthy spring/summer, the YMCA presented Healthy Kid’s Day, where the community came to discover fun and exciting opportunities! Healthy Kid’s Day is a national YMCA program, and this year, the Meadville YMCA chose to participate for the first time.

Healthy Kid’s Day was like a health fair, but it was geared towards elementary school kids. There were thirteen booths, each with a healthy lesson to teach, or new way to get active. The 13 booths included: the Allegheny Cheerleaders, the Police Department, the Fire Department, Roseanne Rust Nutrition, Way to Win (a group that teaches about bike safety and exercise), YMCA Triathlon, YMCA Gymnastics, YMCA Tae Kwon Do, Healthy Homes–Healthy children (a group focused on informing parents about poisons in the home), a Dentist’s office, The Autism Outreach Center, a group collecting hygiene kits for the homeless, and The Meadville Market House (teaching about the cost and health benefits of organic and free trade foods).

Roughly 46 kids and 47 adults attended; there were 16 volunteers, and two organizations in Meadville donated baked goods for my volunteers which was awesome!

The college lent us tables and chairs for each group.

We advertised everywhere! I sent PSAs to the surrounding newspapers, radio stations, local Headstarts, and even the school district channel. The advertising and letters to organizations was a lot more writing than I anticipated, and I am really glad to have gotten that experience! I used to be afraid of talking to strangers on the phone. Now I am fearless because I had to make phone calls in a city that does not necessarily approve of college kids. I received both positive and negative responses, but now I know how to react professionally in any case.

Healthy Kids Day was a HUGE project, and it feels great to have accomplished something so huge at the beginning of my college career!

Verbatim: Tanzanian Treasure

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 04:22:55 GMT

Last week (April 7th) we redid Tanzania because the kids did not actually get any of the information the week before. We had one new girl play with us, and she really liked the game. At first, I think she was shy because all of the boys are her age, and very loud. She eventually got into playing, and it was cute because I could see that she was getting just as competitive. She would smile when she knew the answer and the boys were struggling with it. She also laughed at some of the multiple choice options. The kids really enjoyed the Tanzania game!

Blog Title: Fedora: one page release notes

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:53:10 GMT

My name is Ashley, I am a freshman at Allegheny College. I am working with a group of freshman here, and we are trying to help come up with a F13 version of one page release notes. Currently, we are comparing the F12 Talking Points with the F12 Release Notes, to see exactly what was contributed from the talking points to the actual release notes page. We also have the F13 talking points, so we are trying to figure out exactly what to put on the one page release notes for the new version. We’re trying to find more information on the “fedora spins” so if anyone has any ideas about what we should put on, let me know!

The Truth: About Being Important.: The Truth: Photo of the day.

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 03:10:03 GMT

The Truth: About Being Important.: The Truth: Photo of the Day

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 00:15:59 GMT

THE TRUTH: I honestly don’t know if this sign is true. I just saw this building on my way back to Meadville from the Cleveland art museum.

A Look Into Tyler's World: Fedora Project

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:11:05 GMT

My name is Tyler Torbet. I am a chemistry major, spanish minor, and am currently in FS 102: Technology & Activism. We are currently working with the Fedora project and our group is working on One Page Release Notes. We have been talking to several Fedora members and recieved a lot of help from them (Special thanks to rbergeron and Ke4qqq). We are looking for any features that people find important that we should include in our Release Notes. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Dan: Fedora progress

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:05:02 GMT

So my name is Dan, I’m an economics major, and I’m working on the one page release notes. So far we’ve been trying to figure out what features we need to highlight. We posed the question in the #Allegheny chat. Ke4qqq pointed us towards something called devel, but that got us productively lost. We tried to enter the marketing chat but didn’t know how to register. Thats where we are now.

Take a deep breath: Commercials We Don’t Believe In Part 1b: More Feedback

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 14:08:19 GMT

I’m following Matt’s lead and posting some of your responses to your classmates’ performances. A humorous approach seemed to win the day:

“Of these eight presentations, Ashley’s was my favorite because her script was original and her delivery was effective. Rather than simply advocating the elimination of unicorns, she developed a clever reason for one to kill the magical beings: the uni-snuggie. It keeps you warm and provides you with untold unicorn power. Anyone would slaughter the fantastical creatures for such a commodity. Her delivery resembled that of a spokesperson on an infomercial, very fast-paced and descriptive but easily heard and understood. The unicorn head she drew was also a nice touch and showed that she had actually put forth effort for the presentation.”

And you all appreciated presenters who were able to inhabit their personae:

“It was a close call, but my favorite commercial was Annie Morino’s. It was clear that she knew exactly what she was going to say and she said it clearly and loudly. Annie was very energetic and really got into what she was saying. This was a big asset to her commercial because her energy grabbed the audience and made us pay attention. Since Annie was having fun, it was easy for the audience to have fun as well. She used hand gestures effectively and made eye contact with the audience. Additionally, her clothes and background picture brought the whole presentation together. Annie’s presentation was fun, polished, professional, and very well done.”

and…

“My favorite short commercial was probably Charlie’s. He did an amazing job! I was intrigued as soon as he started writing on the chalkboard and even more surprised when he began his George Bush impression. His accent was spot on. I was also impressed by how well thought out the whole skit was—from the clothes and prop to his delivery and mannerisms.”

You all wrote thoughtful, constructive criticisms for each other and, even your praise is tempered with solid, honest feedback:

“Lizzie tripped up a few times, but in terms of content – and as a whole – her commercial was the best. The critical factor in making her pro-war commerical fantastic was her use of humor. She was satiricle and funny but remained convincing. Her costumes and props were effective and essential components of her presentation. Even though this was a commercial that Lizzie truly didn’t believe in, she had a solid and amusing argument. She didn’t give into total sarcasm and she wasn’t afraid of arguing for the cause she is against, another important aspect in making these commercials strong.

Thank you all for doing such a great job critiquing yourselves and each other.

act.ivism.org mu: Commercials We Don’t Believe In Part 1: Feedback

Sun, 11 Apr 2010 14:16:27 GMT

This term, you explored an activist agenda, discovered how useful (or useless) Facebook and other social media tools were for promoting that agenda online, and then came back and engaged in the Aristotelian process: critically examining your point-of-view from more than one perspective, and considering what other perspectives might be valid, critical, or otherwise worthy of thought on a particular issue.

In coming back, we recorded 30-second commercials that presented an alternative point-of-view. Darren and I started calling these Commercials We Don’t Believe In. This is not because the two of us did not believe you, but because we knew you were engaged in a process by which you were challenging your own beliefs, and you might not necessarily believe in what you are saying. These videos will be mixed down and posted here soon.

In the meantime, I wanted to share some of the positive feedback and critique you received. We have the benefit of reading the positive things that you had to say about each-other, but you may not have heard the same from your classmates. So, here are just a few that I’ve pulled out—Darren might (if he gets his Cardboarduino done!) post a few more later. Tim received some very nice feedback:

I feel that, out of these eight, Tim’s was the best. This is not only because of his presentation alone, but also because of his obvious improvement from his previous public speaking. He was quite loud enough to be heard by all in the audience, and accompanied his words with animated facial expressions, but not so much that the expressions became overwhelming. I found that his costume, which was a full suit, as well as the background, which consisted of the American Flag and the Statue of Liberty, created the intended atmosphere, which was one of seriousness and patriotism. He did have a few points to work on, but they were only by small degrees. His volume could have been a little louder, as well as an addition to a few gestures and a little bit more vocal inflection. However, these were only at all noticeable by multiple viewings.

Likewise, Alex got some props:

I believe that Alex’s anti-fair trade commercial was the best all around commercial. The performance was obviously well rehearsed as Alex spoke fluidly and knew exactly what she was going to say. The accent she chose to use added a great deal to the presentation; it gave an accurate perspective of what a southern mother’s opinion on fair trade would be while also adding an element of humor to the commercial. The actual information she chose to give in her commercial also did a very good job in selling her position against fair trade. She was able to set up her commercial be explaining the role she was playing and proceeded to give three solid reasons fair trade isn’t fair in under twenty-five seconds.

Someone spotted that I went ahead and used the first version of Christina’s video, largely because the fan noise I thought was in the background… wasn’t! So, I went with her first take, where the diploma was not crumpled. Perhaps should have used the second?

Christina’s second run at her commercial, which was not the version in the class video, was flawless. She spoke with authority and with a professional tone of voice. She was convincing in her role of advertising for a technical school and criticizing classes about history. What made it interesting to watch was that not only did she keep eye contact with the audience, but she also displayed a range of emotion, making the performance multi-dimensional. Her use of a prop (the diploma) was also quite effective in illustrating her point.

Charlie’s ironic Bush impersonation was very well done; Darren and I had to think about it later to catch the critical irony—that Bush was the counterpoint to Nephew Sam.

Charlie’s commercial mimicking President George W. Bush was my favorite because it was such a good impression, it was completely ironic, and I just really love political humor. This commercial was excellent because Charlie really committed to his character. He nailed President Bush’s mannerisms, and copied the President’s silly nature really well. Also, though the commercial was supposed to promote the opposite of what Charlie believed, the commercial’s ironic tone made it very clear how he truly felt about voting Republican. Charlie caught our attention because he gave eye contact. His hand gestures did not detract from his performance because they were part of the impression, but also because they were used effectively. He used them to emphasize what he was saying instead of making nervous movements.

I agree: Annie’s “ORLY!” commercial was clearly practiced, and to good effect.

Annie’s presentation was obviously well rehearsed. Her background was extremely appropriate. She had a good concept and completely owned it. She was not afraid to commit to the presentation and this helped with its overall effectiveness. She also had good eye contact, pace, volume, and body-language.

What makes the feedback fun is that we’re not all in the same class, and don’t know everyone’s name. Further, this comment came from someone who didn’t even put their own name on the review, so I have no idea who it is, either! (Just kidding.)

My over all favorite was the unicorn snuggy commercial. I like this commercial the best because the performer had a good clear voice the entire time and you were able to understand everything that she said. The performer had good eye contact and acted very natural in front of the camera. I liked the use of the snuggy prop and the fact that she added to it by putting on the unicorn picture. Overall the commercial was very funny and that made it enjoyable to watch, not like some of the commercials on TV.

Clearly, irony appeals.

I would say Grant’s accessibility commercial is my favorite. The dry humor could not be better. It had a sense of controversy as well which is always loved. The commercial itself was a little short but the humor made up for it. Grant could have spoke a little louder but was still understandable.

And, lastly, Wal-Mart:

The Best commercial I believe was the Wall Mart commercial. It was very well put together. The flow of the commercial was very smooth and effective. Her tone and projections were controlled perfectly, and there was never a point where you were not interested. Also, her visual prop was perfectly timed to the presentation and added emphasis to the points she was making.

Those are a few from my pile. Actually, a number of people from my section never did their own critiques—which is unfortunate. I would still like to see those critiques—and then I would have more positive things to post.

The Truth: About Being Important.: The Truth: Photo of the Day

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 22:05:23 GMT

THE TRUTH: I put my camera under the table and pushed the button. This is what I got.

Take a deep breath: Arts Advocacy Day

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 18:19:30 GMT

I have a request for Twitter users: Tweet the Arts on National Arts Advocacy Day!

Tuesday, April 13, is National Arts Advocacy Day, when more than 500 arts advocates will be talking to their government officials in Washington, D.C. about the power the arts and the need for arts education and arts funding. Whether or not you can make it to DC on April 13, please take the time to create a tweet featuring the hashtag #arts on your Twitter accounts and tell you friends to do the same. If we get enough tweets with #arts we’ll push “arts” into Twitter trending topics for the day.

A group of university students from Minnesota even created an automatic Twitter message program. You can find more information at http://www.tweetartsday.org.

Fork In The Road: For Fedora People

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 15:57:20 GMT

Hello to all the Fedora people, my name is Genevieve and I am currently working among my fellow class members at Allegheny College to create a spin page for Sugar on a Stick. I have very little expierence with creating webpages. As of now I feel like the design of the webpage will be the biggest challenge, I’m not quite sure of where to start with that. Is there any infromation at all and other helpful things such as links that would help me to get started on the spin page process?

Thank you all so much for your time =)

Genevieve

Verbatim: Design Spin is making my head spin

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 15:41:26 GMT

My name is Annie Morino, and I am an Allegheny College student majoring in Communication Arts and potentially double majoring in political science. I am on the design spin team, and I think our project is to talk about the design spin on Fedora’s indicated web page. My current plan is to finish installing the design spin on my virtual box hard drive. Then, I plan on experimenting with the different programs available. I will be taking notes, and then attempting to review the design spin.

My questions at this point are how to get the design spin to “install to hard drive.” After the “basic storage devices” step, a bug was found and it told me to report it. I don’t know how to report bugs. I clicked “debug” and then the screen went gray with no other options except to go back.

My main question is how to report a bug, and once I finally get past the bug and into the spin, which programs should I begin to review?

Christina Mucci: Interested in Fedora Design?

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 15:38:19 GMT

If anyone in FS102 is interested in working with something involving images or marketing, let’s talk about how we can use that to help Fedora. Like some of you, I’m a little unsure about how to approach this project, so I want to start with something tangible to get into the project. I’m going to send out some emails to the design team, so come talk to me and hopefully we’ll already have a good starting point!

starry eyed: Fedora and Allegheny

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 15:25:23 GMT

Hi all, I’m Jordyn. I’m an international studies major at Allegheny. As many of you know, we’ve recently started a project in hopes of helping the Fedora community in some way. I’m interested in helping to create a website for Sugar on a Stick, although I really don’t have experience with that kind of thing. I’ve done some research as to what SoaS is, but I’m not sure where to start exactly. If anyone can point me in a good direction, I would be more than grateful!

[Title of Blog]: For all the Fedora people…

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 19:10:15 GMT

Just to spout of a quick introduction, since most of you will probably be coming here after seeing the link on the marketing mailing list.

My name is Matt Bocchi, and I’m currently a first year student at Allegheny. I worked in computers for roughly 4 years, so I have a pretty decent handle on some of this stuff. Otherwise, I’m an art history / history double major, which you can take for what you will.
Right now, I’ve decided to throw myself into the press kit. I’ve had some experience doing press kits / releases for some charities I’m involved with, but I’ve never had to make a technological one, so I’m a bit shaky with what needs to be done.
I’m hoping to get in touch with someone (anyone?) who can give me a little bit of guidance on what needs done. I’d feel totally comfortable being delegated tasks, I just need to know from who I can get them, or where I can find them.
Please feel free to comment, or email me .

Thanks!

starry eyed: Dawgs!

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 18:27:28 GMT

Click here to view the embedded video.

I have officially become a dog person. Never thought I’d say that, but it’s true. I wanna hold them and squeeze them and kiss them and hug them (hope you caught the Elmyra reference)! I had a dog growing up–Winnie (a golden lab retriever mix)–but I tended to like my cats more as they were independent and didn’t pee on things. I also liked the fact that they treated people as they deserved to be treated; if you’re mean to a cat, it will bite you and walk away, whereas, if you’re mean to a dog, it will lick you in the face and still love you. That unconditional love was too clingy for me.

However, this has recently changed in the last few months. Crazy, but true. I don’t know how it happened. Dogs are annoying, messy, hyper, and loud, but so gosh darn cute. I’m getting one. Allegheny can’t stop me. I mean seriously, did you watch that video??

The Truth: About Being Important.: The Truth: Photo of the Day

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 00:26:51 GMT

This sheetz cup adds so much to the beauty of this natural flower.

THE TRUTH: Littering = not cool.

The Truth: About Being Important.: The Truth: Photo of the Day

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 02:24:17 GMT

This is a professional photograph.

THE TRUTH: I took this with my phone. My friend was cutting and eating a pear and I couldn’t help but take a picture.

Believe It or Don't: “Babying” Professional Athletes?

Sun, 04 Apr 2010 03:05:58 GMT

As we all know, people make mistakes. But when those mistakes come from highly admired and influencial athletes, punishments seem to be a bit weak.

As both ESPN and FOX news just released, after the Super Bowl, that Ex-Cleveland Brown Wide Reciever Donte Stallworth will be reinstated to the NFL. In March of 2009, Stallworth hit and killed 57 year old Mario Reyes. Stallworth pleaded guilty to a felony DUI manslaghter. Do you know how long the sentence was for? 30 DAYS! The thing is that Stallworth didn’t even serve all of them. He got out after only 27 days in prison. Not only was he sent to prison, but he was released from his team and had his salary waived (due to the felony charge). When Donte Stallworth was release from prison, he paid the Reyes family so they would not file a lawsuit. After all this though, he will be able to play next season.

This is similar to another death that happened, the only difference is that it was reversed. Nick Adenhart of the Los Angeles Angels was killed by a drunk driver this past season. He was 22 years old. The man who hit Adenhart, Andrew Thomas Gallo, was charged with three counts of murder. (because two others were killed in the crash) Unlike Stallworth, Gallo faces a sentence up to 55 years in prison. I believe that is a much more appropriate sentence than the one handed to Stallworth.

The Truth: About Being Important.: The Truth: Photo of the Day

Sat, 03 Apr 2010 01:13:28 GMT

Take a deep breath: here a post from Mel

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 14:46:09 GMT

http://blog.melchua.com/2010/04/01/planet-posts-for-allegheny-students/

In case it helps cope with the firehose. This is what caught my eye while reading this morning, and I tried to give some context for students who might be interested.

The Truth: About Being Important.: The Truth: Photo of the Day

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 22:29:33 GMT

This is my friend Cea. She’s in a band. I supplied you with some of her really cool songs. Yah!

THE TRUTH: I can’t figure out how to put her music on here, so I didn’t put it on. Sorry.

The Truth: About Being Important.: The Truth: Photo of the Day

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 20:27:29 GMT

Do you know what this is?

THE TRUTH: If you answered cow, I’m sorry but you are wrong. It’s the moon!

starry eyed: things that life has taught me

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 18:32:27 GMT

-to fear loud noises

-being nice to people is easy

-open windows. Rooms get stale with the windows shut.

-to be calm. There’s no point in worrying about things you can’t change.

-dumb things are worth celebrating, sometimes more so than big things

-to appreciate my brother, as he makes the best care packages

-to take more pictures

-that napping is an essential part of daily life. Everything is better after a nap

-to make time

-a daily popsicle, or three, is good

The Blog of Breanna: NeoOffice

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 14:33:56 GMT

In 2003, the open source website and software called OpenOffice created a software called NEoOffice. NeoOffice is also a free, open source software that was built only to work for Mac OS X computers. NeoOffice is a software that is aslo known as an office suite where it contains a word processor program, a spreadsheet program, a presentation program, and a graphics program. This software was specifically made for Mac OS X computers and users because it contains features and settings that are familiar with that of Mac computers.

Hannah's Blog: The Blind Side

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 12:35:23 GMT

Using Miro, I was able to download the full video of one of this year’s Oscar-nominated pictures The Blind Side. The video quality was outstanding, and compared to the size of the movie it downloaded very quickly.

Hannah's Blog: Soul of the Fireflies

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 02:52:32 GMT

Through working with Miro I was able to find a mash up between the two songs Hey Soul Sister by Train and Fireflies by Owl City. I was really excited to find this and I don’t think I would have found this had I not worked with Miro these past few weeks.

Blog Title: VLC Media Player: Audio/Video Configuration

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 20:02:02 GMT

I played around with a lot of the audio and video settings within the player. The first video setting I explored is VLC’s ability to loop a designated time of a video clip between point a and b. It’s a fairly simple feature that requires two clicks. The feature worked well and can have many good uses such as instructional videos. The next feature I explored is the video resizing feature; you can set the player up to display a video at virtually any desirable aspect ratio and you can also choose to crop a video to virtually any desirable aspect ratio. A final feature I explored is called track synchronization; this feature allows the user to fix problems involving synchronizing audio and video and synchronization of subtitles with video. All of these features worked flawlessly and are fairly user friendly.

Blog Title: Due March 18 attempting to download a movie

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 17:51:08 GMT

When I returned from break I attempted to download the full movie Bad Boys II. This was a failed attempt, however I go some pretty sweet clips from the movie. I am not sure if it is because the mega bytes for a full length movie would be way to much or if this software only allows video clips. The clip I did end up downloading from the movie was incredibly sick, it was a gun fight scene in the middle of the movie, and it was in HD because Miro is the largest HD video source.

Blog Title: March 18 attempting to download music videos

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 17:48:08 GMT

The same day I returned from break I attempted to download some sweet country music videos from miro. This attempt is viewed as a success with one minor flaw. The first video I attempted to download “A Little More Country Than That” was downloaded successfully, however the picture quality was definitely not HD. It was very fuzzy but I believe this was due to the low amount of mega bytes involved in the downloading. The other two videos I downloaded were both in HD and it was better to watch them on the computer than on TV because of the great quality.

The Truth: About Being Important.: The Truth: Photo of the Day

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 15:40:41 GMT

I remember when I was younger and anything seemed possible. Like the idea of bouncing on clouds was reality to me. Maybe it was from watching to much peter pan, but I miss being a delusional child without a care in the world bouncing on clouds.

The funny thing about riding on airplanes is that you feel like you’re floating in the sky.

THE TRUTH: I always get a seat by the wing. WHY?!

I honestly had no idea how young I was or the fact that I could stay awake for more than two hours, until I looked at the rest of the people in the plane.

Hannah's Blog: Open Source Software

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 03:04:57 GMT

Over the past few weeks I have been using the open-source software Miro. Miro is basically a video player but it allows us to download, save, watch and store video clips from the internet. The majority of the videos are able to be viewed in HD which is really nice.

The Truth: About Being Important.: The Truth: Photo of the Day

Sun, 28 Mar 2010 01:48:45 GMT

THE TRUTH: This is my friend Alyssa. She asked me to take pictures for her for her art class. It’s true.

The Truth: About Being Important.: The Truth: Photo of the Day

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 03:27:33 GMT

I took this with a high quality super awesome and expensive camera.

THE TRUTH: I took this with my iphone at sunset while some girl ran past throwing sand at people. It wasn’t very nice I might add. The truth is anyone has the capability to take this kind of picture. Go out and explore, it’s fun.

Verbatim: I just really like Stumble…

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 14:31:01 GMT

Click here to view the embedded video.

Therefore this video on Google. Try not to be evil everyone!

Verbatim: Good News for Doomsdayers

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 14:23:29 GMT

The Truth: About Being Important.: The Truth: Photo of the Day

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 01:49:23 GMT

THE TRUTH: This is down the hill from my house. There’s awesome waterfalls and all the rocks, well most of them, are mysteriously red. We call it Red Dog.

TOO MUCH.: Spring Break.

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 20:21:23 GMT

So, it is a Monday during spring break. I have not done much since I got home on Friday. I’ve been watching my little sister, and I’ll be doing that until probably tomorrow. It’s fun but a little frustrating because I can’t really go anywhere. Other than that.. I’ve been sleeping, watching too much tv, wandering around thrift stores, and working at famous footwear. So as you can see, it’s really been THRILLING to say the least. I’ve tried to work on some homework, but sitting around being idle is somehow more appealing.

I’ve been trying to find frames or ways to frame some of my art pieces for the student art show, and that has not been successful. I’m going to look again tomorrow. I can’t find any close enough in size that I could cut down the drawing or something, so o o oo the search continues. Also, this would be so much easier if I could just make my own mat. Hopefully I figure something out.

I’ve been listening to a lot of different music lately. Actually, that’s not true. I’ve been listening to a lot of music I used to listen to. It’s making me want summer even more. I hope this nice weather isn’t just teasing me. Snow is no longer welcome. No more snow. No snow. Bad snow.

Well… that’s about it. I found some old pictures I took for my photography class in tenth grade. They aren’t good really, but it was nice to look at them again.

This one is really funny to me. It’s in my old barbie play house which now belongs to my sister. The pony is/was also mine. I don’t even know why I took this picture.

And here’s a nice picture to make myself miss summer even more…. It’s on the Allegheny river. It was a GREAT day.

Dan: More project 64

Sun, 21 Mar 2010 01:19:20 GMT

The most confusing task while using the n64 emulator to do is probably saving. It took me a while figure it out. Even once I did it was hard to remember to do it right. You can’t save in game the way you would on a nintendo. I do that a lot by accident and then find all my work gone. You have to choose a save slot from the taskbar at the top and then hit save state. When you re open you have to remember which spot you saved it to and then hit restore, its actually pretty simple.

This is actually advantageous. You can save the game at any time, you don’t have to find a special save spot or get out of battle. Also, games like Star Fox which you couldn’t save in on a real Nintendo 64 system, you can now save at any time you want. Which means you can load to wherever you want. Instead of starting where the game wants you to, you can strategically save somewhere and always come back to that spot.

Dan: Using porject 64

Sun, 21 Mar 2010 01:14:40 GMT

So here are my intial experiences

This was the first time I had used emulators so getting started was a little tricky. Once you download your ROMs you have to save them all to the same little folder. I keep mine on my desktop. Then you have to open the emulator go to file and click open, then navigate to the ROM folder and pick the one you want to play.

Once you play its a lot like a normal Nintendo system, just glitchy. Some ROMs are better than others. I couldn’t play Mario Tennis at all the ROMs were so glitchy, but I have been playing Legend of Zelda and it has only minor flaws. Playing the games is what you would expect. Its just harder to use a keypad than a joystick, and the keys are hard to poke correctly, so you need to play slower paced games, (or buy a special controller, but then its not free anymore). But if you get a well written game its a pretty good deal.

Dan: Open Source Software

Sun, 21 Mar 2010 01:06:34 GMT

So my first two posts are a little late, I got caught up in the thought that this was due after break and didn’t realize we had to blog, but I’ve been using this software a couple weeks.

What I’m using is a downloadable emulator called Project 64. It is essentially a Nintendo 64 in my laptop. You can download the emulator and you download the games which are called ROMs.

It was first created in 2005, and many upgraded versions have come out since. It was written by some very skilled gamers apparently, so everyone could play for free.

Blog Title: VLC Continued

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 19:14:37 GMT

Over the past week or so, I have been fiddling with VLC Media. I have tried several different formats of movie files to play on the player. They have been from actual DVDs to unfinished downloads. I have even found that it plays blu-ray files with their claimed “hi-definition”. Thus far, in that aspect, the player has exceeded my expectations.

However, I have tried several of the features that the player boasts, such as movie conversion. I have tried to convert movies to .mp4 files to play on my iPod. The movie claims to have been successfully converted, but it is unable to be played by quicktime, iTunes, of my iPod. I do not know if this is an error by VLC, an Apple product, or something I did incorrectly along the way.

I have also tried the video streaming over a LAN feature. I tried to wireless stream a movie from my laptop to a different computer in my house. I tried several different times in several different formats, each being unsuccessful. Once again, I may have made an error somewhere, I don’t know. It seemed to me that it was working, because the movie would always successfully play on the native computer, but the other computer never seemed able to find the file.

I tried one other feature as well. It is called video wall-paper by DirectX. Basically what is does is that it sets the video being currently played as you desktop wall-paper. Once you pause, stop, or close the video, the wall-paper pauses, stops, or converts to your original respectively. I have tried to find a way to keep the movie playing while the player is closed, but had no such luck. It is a neat feature none-the-less though.

starry eyed: Chaos Theory

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:07:05 GMT

It has been said that something as small as the flutter of a butterfly’s wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world.

The Truth: About Being Important.: The Truth: Photo of the Day

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:30:49 GMT

Wow. You get two pictures today! It must be a special day. I’m dreaming of the sun and the sand, can’t wait to get there.

THE TRUTH: I forgot to put one on yesterday. So here’s two.

Thoughts from The Railyard: The ‘Bird is the Word, but…

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:36:44 GMT

So far, my experience with Thunderbird has been…well…strenuous.

The good news with regards to Thunderbird is that some of it works quite well. I have it plugged into several RSS feeds, and it can check my Allegheny mail account.

The bad news is that that’s all it can do. I can’t have it plugged into my Yahoo! Mail account because Yahoo only offers a POP server to members that pay money. The freeware work-around I tried failed miserably. As for the Allegheny account, I’m unable to send messages out of it due to my inability to determine which STMP server I should use for exporting mail. Documentation and Google searches have been of little help.

If any of you have used a mail client, perhaps you could provide insight.

Blog Title: VLC File Conversion

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:27:15 GMT

One of the more useful features that I have found in VLC is its ability to convert file types. I have a lot of videos on my computer that are saved under the .avi file type; iPods only accept video files that are of the file type .mp4 and h.264. In order to fix this problem I attempted to convert an episode of The Wire into the .mp4 file type.

Unfortunately, my efforts failed as no matter how many times I tried, I just couldn’t get it to convert any of my files. I will keep looking into this feature and I will post again if I get it to work.

Verbatim: Top o’ the Mornin’ to Ya, and a Happy St. Patty’s Day as well!

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:52:23 GMT

Tonight NINE kids participated in our special edition St. Patrick’s Day, Ireland Friends Around the World. It is a new record! Three kids who have never participated before joined us, and the two girls who were new kept asking their dad if they could stay just a little bit longer! The kids really enjoyed tonight, and I did too!

Tonight I had three things planned: A St. Patrick’s Day Crossword Puzzle, a Mr. Potatohead Leprechaun Craft, and a Great Potato Famine Game.

The kids took the puzzles with them, but I doubt that they will finish them. Maybe I should offer a prize for kids who return completed puzzles, and activity sheets the next week. I would know for sure they were thinking about the country’s facts after the program was over for the night!

My mom was the one who came up with the craft. As part of my time to teach them material, and as a connection to the Potato Famine in Ireland, the kids were given cut-out paper in the shape potatoes. There were all kinds of add-ons to make their Mr. Potatohead look Irish. They really enjoyed the craft, and did not want to stop for a while! Their leprechauns turned out really cute too! Only one kid did the craft and not the game.

One of the kids actually helped me create the game! He wanted to move around, so I asked him what he had in mind. He wanted us to hide the “potatoes” around the Youth and Teen Center for them to find. I thought it was a great idea, and we did it! That inspired the other kids to want to help create the games too, and I told them the country for next week so they could figure it out for me! If they can help design the games, I know they will want to participate even more! I’m excited to find out what they come up with!

After the kids found the potatoes, the trivia game started. The object of the game was to keep your potatoes. If the kids answered correctly, they got to keep the potatoes. If not, I took them, and they were more “starving” and immigrated to America. They wanted to keep playing even when they lost their potatoes, so that part of the game was ignored. The kids got kind of rowdy and started wrestling over the pieces of paper. The potatoes were just potato shaped pieces of brown paper. The kids probably didn’t learn as much tonight because a few times they got out of control. I repeated a few questions and they still wouldn’t know the answers. I’m not sure what that indicates, but I know they usually learn something, so I’m not worried.

It was fun to have so many kids there! I need to work on incorporating the different age groups. The younger kids fall behind really fast in the games, so I always need to “rescue” them as the game show host. I’ll think about this the next time I make up a game.

One of my favorite parts from last week was the fact that one kid asked to take my information about Peru for his schoolo project. He couldn’t decide if he wanted to do the Ancient Incas or the Ancient Egyptians. Thomas chose Peru, and my information helped him a lot! I am really happy that the information the kids learn can actually be used in their real schooling!

Below is some of the information the kids learned!

From Time for Kids Online:

Which two sports share plays with Gaelic football?
Right! Soccer and rugby

2. What is Ireland’s national symbol?
Right! The Celtic harp

3. Ireland’s flag symbolizes a peace treaty between the nation’s Roman Catholics and the Protestants. What are the colors of the flag?
Right! White, green and orange

4. What percent of Ireland’s total population lives within 60 miles of Dublin?
Right! 40%

5. How much of the population speaks Gaelic, the Celtic language?
Right! 1/3

6. What is a ceilidh?
Right! A traditional Irish musical gathering

7. Who is the patron saint of Ireland?
Right! Saint Patrick

8. Roofs made of many layers of natural vegetation such as straw or heather are called:
Right! Thatched roofs

Official name: Ireland, Nickname: The Emerald Isle

Size: 26,598 square miles (68,890 square kilometers); slightly larger than West Virginia

Population: 4,109,086 as of July 2007

Capital: Dublin

Official Language: Irish, or Gaelic, and English

Currency: Euro

Climate: Cool and damp most of the year

Products: Beef, potatoes, turnips, steel, crystal, software, chemicals, clothing

Blarney
Five miles from the city of Cork, sits Blarney castle, which was built in 1210. Many come to kiss the Blarney Stone, a block located high in the walls of the castle. According to Irish legend, kissing the Blarney Stone gives the kisser the ability to be persuasive and the skill of flattery. To kiss the stone, a person has to lean backwards, head down, holding onto an iron railing. More than 200,000 visitors flock to the site each year to find out for themselves if the spell really works.

We have break next week, so no Friends Around the World, but that means the week after will be a week’s time better!

Meet you in Tanzania! Bon Voyage!

Verbatim: Snipping my Speech, one layer at a time!

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:02:46 GMT

My second venture into the GIMP world actually helped me with my commercial! I used two snipped images [screen shots] from the Hulu video I posted late last week. My intent was to create a backdrop for my commercial that would allow the class to know I was mimicking Saturday Night Live, and not only Weekend Update, but the segment “Really?!?! with Seth and Amy.”

To make this image, I opened each screen shot as a layer. The pictures are shown on top of each other in the small viewing screen. To see both, use the Move Tool (looks like a coordinate plane) to move each picture to the sides of the viewing screen. I suggest editing the picture you want in the back first, then opening the second picture as a layer on top.

The second layer, like the first layer can be re-sized and shifted using the scale tool and the move tool, respectively.

After brightening the colors on the image of Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers using , I opened a different picture of just the “REALLY” image. To change their names to my own, I selected the color picker tool (looks like an eye dropper) to pick a color within the image that I wanted to cover the letters with. To use the color picker, click on the icon, and then click on a color in the actual picture. This lets the program know which hue you want to use. Next, pick the paintbrush. The paintbrush is already set to use the color selected by the color picker. You can use the paintbrush to “paint” over the letters in the picture. After the text was covered, I used the Smudge Tool (hand with pointed finger) to smooth the lines left by the paintbrush, and blend the colors together.

To add my own name, I selected the text tool. Changing the color of the text requires you to click on the color in the toolbox. Another window pops up, and from there, you can change the color. Changing the font is done the same way, except you will click the button next to the font name in the toolbox. To type, click the image, and the text box will appear with a window to enter your text. The text box can be resized and moved using the scale tool and the move tool respectively.

I really liked using this editing software! I was able to save the image, and then open it in Google Docs. GIMP has been really handy so far! I’ll use it all the time. I want to refer it to other people, but it was very difficult to download and install.

A Look Into Tyler's World: OpenOffice.org Review #2

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 03:30:37 GMT

After continuing to use OpenOffice.org, I have used the Math program and tried to use the Database program. I was unable to use the Database program because I don’t understand what it is used for or how to use it. Does anyone understand either Database or Microsoft Access (Database is similar to this) and could explain it to me?

The Math program is not very useful to me because right now I don’t have a need to type up mathematical equations, but if I needed to it would work great. It allows you to easily type up any equation whether it involves limits, trigonometric functions, or many other operations.

Over the last couple days I have also continued to use Writer, Calc, and Impress. These programs are still working great for me. Yesterday, I typed up my Spanish paper using writer and it was just as easy as using Microsoft Word. I also made my graph for Chemistry today using Calc and my visual for my FS presentation in Impress. All of these programs are very easy to use and allow me to do everything that I am used to being able to do using the Microsoft programs. Over Spring Break, I plan on continuing to use these programs in order to learn more about them and understand them better.

This isn't Nam, there are rules.: AbiWord (2)

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 02:10:04 GMT

Last post was mostly about the positives of AbiWord, an open software word-processor. So I will talk about a few flaws in the program in this post.

First of all, I noticed the word correction aspect of the program isn’t the greatest. A lot of the time in its attempts to show you the word you may have spelled incorrectly, it shows you words that are not really even close (sometimes missing the correct one completely). Also, the sentence grammar isn’t nearly as good as Microsoft Word. When I transferred the file from AbiWord to Microsoft Word, Microsoft Word showed a lot more corrections.

Additionally, the “print preview” aspect of the program is really poor. My computer becomes very buggy at the time I choose to preview my document. There is no print-preview section in the software itself. AbiWord actually sends the print-preview to a different photo viewer on my computer and views it there (when it doesn’t freeze my computer that is).

I guess these are some of the things you pay for when buying Microsoft Word. I am not trying to be a critic of the software. I enjoy using AbiWord because it is free and easy to use. I am just trying to show some negatives of the open software.

Blog Title: iChat

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:35:40 GMT

If you go on iChat and chat with someone, it says on your buddy list that you are unavailable to chat with someone else (because you are already chatting)… so I am trying to figure out if you can chat with more than one person at a time. I know my roommate does group chats with her friends (2 or 3 of them) on oovoo, and I am still trying to figure out if you can do that on iChat but I have not had any luck!! I am still looking for ways to do it, though.

The Truth: About Being Important.: The Truth: Photo of the Day

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:53:46 GMT

THE TRUTH: There’s blue skies go outside!

Take a deep breath: privacy and the internets

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:25:06 GMT

here’s an interesting article from the nyt:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/technology/17privacy.html?src=me&ref=homepage

an active professor: twitter and tea

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 11:10:07 GMT

One of our third-year students is giving a talk about two of his passions today: Tea and Twitter.

Pat Canella ’11 will present a talk titled “Twitter and Tea” at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 17 in Alden 101. The talk will focus on Canella’s own experience with the tea community, on Twitter and other “Web 2.0″ tools. Refreshments will be served. The talk is sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery at Allegheny. All are welcome to attend.

What started as an exploration of an idea in our Junior Seminar became a talk that he’ll be delivering to a much wider audience. And rightfully so—Pat has been exploring tea through a number of media (Twitter, blogs, etc.), so this should be good. If you’re in Tech and Activism, and you’re interested in seeing what a classmate of yours has done with new media, be sure to stop by.

Blog Title: iChat

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 04:40:50 GMT

I used the different backgrounds while I was ichatting with a friend recently. He was trying to be funny, while using the roller-coaster background. It says that you must step fully out of the screen, and then pop back in for it to be effective. I realized that the creators were being serious when they said to step completely out of the screen because it does not work if you don’t. It looks all blurry and distorted if you do not step all the way out of the screen. I guess you learn something new every day!

Blog: pROGRESS

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 01:46:20 GMT

So I have been messing around with my new program GIMP now for a couple days. I’m figuring out more and more features as the days go on. Recently, I was a little puzzled with the task of transforming a photo into a sketch like replica. I headed over to the program’s website and check out the tutorials and found a very helpful guide.

In the process, I came across a very nice effect of my own. First, I transformed the picture with a Sobel effect. This effect picks out all the different edges in the photo. Second, I inverted the effect to chance the photo to give it a white background the edges/lines are replaced with black lines. Finally, I added the “old photo” effect which gives the photo an aged look that I feel really makes the image pop and gives a very interesting visual appeal.

This is the final effect when all said and done.

The Truth: About Being Important.: The Truth: Photo of the Day

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:07:11 GMT

Yah! I finally going to start doing the photo of the day. From now on I’m going to put a photo in each day. It won’t necessarily be taken each day but you will be supplied with a picture none the less.

THE TRUTH: I’m the world’s biggest procrastinator. Right now I’m only doing this because I’m putting off doing a paper. Enjoy your photo of the day!!

I took this photo the other day of my friend Leonela. She is usually my model for most of my pictures. She’s one of the only willing ones to get in front of the camera.

Verbatim: Into the Chop Shop

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 02:57:08 GMT

I have been working with the GIMP software little by little since this weekend. I think I can really use it. If not for normal photos (totally possible), I’ll use GIMP to make really unique Facebook profile pictures. They just come out cool.

The more I play with the editing tools, the easier they become, and the more I learn how to actually use them. When you start, you pick out different cool-looking icons, but they don’t seem to do anything. They don’t do anything because you need to be using the right setting, or tool, or function, and THEN the tool itself can be put to good use. It is easier to feel your way around with GIMP than to use help. When you click on help, the program opens your browser, and goes to help online. I haven’t tried to use it yet, but it just seems like extra steps. If I really needed to figure out how to use one of the functions, I would try help, but just playing around, help wasn’t going to make anything easier.

Some of the tools I learned how to use today were: curves, border, coffee stain, shear, shift, move object, move layer, and merging layers.

Curves can make the colors in the picture either very bright or very dull. It brings out the primary colors or subdues them.

Border lays a thin line around the picture, but the borders become another layer. You must merge the layers for the border to appear on the picture.

The coffee stain has to be one of my favorite tools. It lays a coffee stain on the picture, giving the picture an earthy effect. It looks like the artist of the picture set a virtual cup of coffee on the picture. The effect is a little cheesy, but I think it adds a cool texture to the picture. Coffee stains are hard to move, size, and place in the beginning, but that is probably because many of us are familiar with Microsoft Word’s picture tools. One cannot move the coffee stain by clicking its box’s corner, and dragging the picture. You must use the shear, move layer, perspective, and scale tools. Move layer is crucial because until you tell GIMP to move just the layer, you will continually move the picture itself. It gets really frustrating, really fast. Once you “decide” to move only the layer, changing the coffee stain is very simple. Shear warps the coffee stain, and changes its orientation. Perspective changes the shape of the coffee stain. Scale changes the size. “Move layer” can be used to place the coffee stain where ever you like. I chose to move mine so it would surround the bottom corner, and go off of the page.

I have not figured out what the stamp does yet, nor the “pepper” or “spark” brushes.

Below are my finished and original pictures. This was one of my senior pictures that I had high hopes for, but the editing the studio did wasn’t what I wanted.

A Look Into Tyler's World: OpenOffice.org Review #1

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 02:20:56 GMT

So far, I have used Writer, Impress, Calc, and Draw. For the most part, these programs are pretty easy to use because they look just older versions of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Publisher.

I am very happy with Writer, Impress, and Calc. All of the keyboard shortcuts are the same as in the Microsoft programs. Also, in Calc the formulas and graphs work the same way as in Microsoft Excel. I have ran into a few problems using Draw though. I am more used to using Photoshop not Publisher, which Draw is nothing like. I still have not been able to find the print preview option which makes it difficult because the margins are different.

These similarities are making the transition from the Microsoft programs to the OpenOffice.org programs much easier. So far, I like these programs a lot, look forward to using the ones that I haven’t yet, and continuing to use Writer, Impress, and Calc.

Verbatim: Venting…

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 01:45:40 GMT

The program that I installed was a photo editing software called GIMP. Originally, I tried to download a few different programs, but when I did, they disappeared. I couldn’t find them, let alone test them out to review them. My Dad spent two hours trying to download this software for me. The software was in something called a zip file, and I needed to download another software to be unzipped. Not only did the software download where ever it liked, but FINDING that spot was what took the most time, and only a programmer would know the methods programs use to file themselves. I was also unsure about what else this software would download onto my hard drive. I did not want to just pick anything off of Wikipedia.

If someone was really going to pay attention to my review of this software, this issue would be the first thing I would mention!

My Blarg: Dinosaurs!

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 01:18:04 GMT

It’s late at night and I’m feeling inspired to write about comics.

I have a serious webcomic problem. I read them obsessively. When my regular comics crash (which happens frequently), I become irritable and disoriented. I keep up with at least ten regularly and I’m always hunting for more. Sometimes, I sit down at my computer to get some homework done, black out, and come to consciousness hours later, my nose inches from my laptop screen, 200 pages into a new webcomic.

My latest addiction is Dinosaur Comics, created by Ryan North (a Canadian.) I think it’s more than pretty okay. The strip stars a green T Rex, with a supporting cast of a pacifist Utahraptor, a Dromiceiomimus, a log cabin, and a very stomp-able young woman. The relationships between this small cast of characters are surprisingly complex and volatile. Usually, I am irritated by webcomics with low-grade artwork (which is unfortunately a lot of them.) In the case of Dinosaur Comics, however, the terrible artwork actually enhances the quality of the hilarity. Ryan North basically uses one template for every single strip, merely changing the dialogue. This opens the door for a lot of discussions about existentialism and free will.

I highly recommend Dinosaur Comics to anyone with an interest in the pseudo philosophical musings of dinosaurs.

Meditated Mind: Dink Smallwood

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:45:20 GMT

Once there was a pigfarmer named Dink. He farmed things. Then his house burned down and he was alone. A voice told him to go to his aunt and live there, but on the way he ran into a nefarious group, who he decided to destroy. This open-source RPG game is his story. This game was originally created by Robinson Technologies for purchase, but became freeware in 1999. It is a humorous game, described as “a spoonful of Zelda,…a dash of Monkey Island and a pinch of Diablo.” (by Payal Dhar). I hope this game lives up to how awesome it sounds like it might be!

A second glance: Songbird

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:00:35 GMT

Songbird is a open source application that replaces itunes. The fact of the matter is that not everyone can afford an iphone or ipod, most people get other types of music players that are usually better and even contain more storage than an expensive ipod. However one of the main reasons that people like the ipod is because it comes with itunes “a easy to use application” which the other types of music players usually do not have. I have had many other types of digital storage devices like an ipod and usually they come with software that usually isn’t that easy to work or is just a very basic program to transfer music and nothing else. Well now there is a very exciting alternative to itunes. Songbird is a open source software created to be an “anti-itunes.” This program was made for people who do not have an ipod and don’t really want to be limited by the program that comes with the player. Songbird is an amazing program, like many open source programs songbird can be completely customizable and has many other advantages to it. Songbird unlike itunes can also be used to sync music to your media player or cell phone(if able to hold and play music) even if it is not an ipod. Also this software was designed so that it can take many different types of files without having to convert them or make them only accessible to itunes.

Check it out at getsongbird.com

The Happy Camper: Open Source Update

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:48:22 GMT

Instead of Pidgin, I found an open source program called World Wind JAVA SDK (http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/java/) This program is similar to Google Earth, yet is open source.

More info yet to come.

Verbatim: GIMP

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:45:25 GMT

GIMP is a graphic editing software. It reminds me of an adult version of Kid Pix. To use the software, one must open a saved picture, and then one can use the tools to do whatever he or she likes with it. The program can do simple tasks such as removing red eye and blemishes, or the program can do more extensive changes like erasing the backgrounds of the picture, and replacing it with a pattern or another picture. I have not tried it yet, but the program can layer pictures. The program can also change the file format of pictures and images.

According to Wikipedia, the GIMP project started in 1996. The original name was the General Image Manipulation program. It was created by Spencer Kimball and Peter Mattis at the University of California, Berkley (Zundark). GIMP was originally a semester long project. “The product vision for GIMP is to become a high-end graphics application for the editing and creation of original images, icons, graphical elements of web pages and art for user interface elements. One point in GIMP’s product vision would see GIMP used for the development of cutting-edge image-processing algorithms” (Zundark).

Zundark, comp. “GIMP.” Wikipedia. N.p., 14 Mar. 2010. Web. 14 Mar. 2010.
.

Blog Title: Open Source deadline one

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 21:41:55 GMT

The open source document that I will be experimenting with is miro for windows. However currently it will not download. Miro is a free HD video player developed by a non-profit organization and volunteers around the world. It was created to view all sorts of videos in HD because it allows a person to download any video type. I am unsure of when it was created however.

Blogging For The Greater Good: Open Source Software:OpenOffice.org

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:39:37 GMT

OpenOffice.org is a piece of open source software. It is like Microsoft office in regards to its word processing abilities and other services such as the presentation and spreadsheet capabilities. It is free to the public and can be downloaded on to most any operating systems. As of 2009 this software supports about 110 languages. The main purpose for releasing it was to decrease the dominance of the Microsoft corporation on the software market.

This software can do almost everything that Microsoft Office can. Obviously it be used as a word processor, but it can do so much more. Instead of using Microsoft’s PowerPoint an OpenOffice user can create his or her presentation using the presentation maker provided in the software. Also, instead of using Microsoft Excel, a user can input data into a spreadsheet system virtually the same as the one provided by Microsoft. Basically this software can do anything Microsoft office can but, it is free.

The OpenOffice project actually started in November of 1999 and has continued to grow through the giving of major corporations such as Google. OpenOffice is derived from the software known as StarOffice. In 1999 Sun Microsystem purchased the code for StarOffice with the intention make it an open source. On July 19, 2000 OpenOffice went live and was available for download.

Blog Title: Yo Frankie!

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:06:45 GMT

For my open source I chose a game called Yo Frankie! The game is based off of a movie called Big Buck Bunny. The movie is a computer animated film that came out in April of 2008. The film is based on a day in the character Big Buck Bunny’s life. He meets three bullies: Frank, Gamer, and Rinky. The bullies harass other animals in the forest by throwing things at them like nuts, rocks and fruits. After the aggressors kill two of Big Buck Bunny’s friends that were butterflies, Bunny forgets about being passive and turns angry. He then plans out a complex series of events to get revenge for the death of his friends. Frank, one of the bullies, is the main character in the game. Players of the game take the role of Frank, who is a flying squirrel. His role in the game is to bully others and explore new worlds.

The project started in February of 2008 and was finished at the end of July 2008. However, due to technical difficulties, it was released on November of 2008 and the game was available to be downloaded that December. The game was first suggested by the creator of the movie Big Buck Bunny, Ton Roosendaal. It was selected by way of community vote. The game was licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0. It was also designed to promote the open source animation and modeling tool Blender. The team that created the game was an international team, meaning that everyone working on the project was from a different area of the world. The two team leaders were Chris Plush and Campbell Barton. Even though the communication was difficult because of the distance between the whole crew, I think they did a good job on creating the game.

Thoughts from The Railyard: Thunderbird is GO!

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:47:38 GMT

No, not that one…

Yes, that one.

I’ve been looking into the capabilities of RSS Feed readers, and this one certainly caught my attention.

Thunderbird is an open-source messaging system and news client. It can automatically access multiple email accounts, RSS feeds, etc. It has the ability to filter out spam, and it works on multiple operating systems. It is developed by the Mozilla Foundation, the same folks behind Firefox.

The project (first called “Minotaur”) started back in 2003, with the first release occurring in July. While it was initially was unpopular, the success of Firefox created requests for a new mail and news client. The current version of this software is 3.0.1, and the program is available in 52 different languages!

The purpose behind the program is to streamline the process of acquiring news online. I use both Yahoo! and Gmail, so I have multiple accounts to manage. With this program, you do not need to switch between email services. The program is similar to a newspaper: it collects news and assembles it in an easy-to-read format.

I look forward to further experimentation with this interesting software. It is clear that it has a lot of functionality, so I will need to figure out just how to make the most of it.

A Look Into Tyler's World: OpenOffice.org

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:54:51 GMT

OpenOffice.org is a open source software application that is available for most computer operating systems. It is distributed as free, downloadable software and was written using its own GUI toolkit. The default file format is ODF (OpenDocument Format), but it also supports Microsoft Office formats and many others.

OpenOffice.org is a collection of applications that are very similar to those of Microsoft Office. The applications available are:

Writer: a word processor similar to Microsoft Word
Calc: a spreadsheet similar to Microsoft Excel
Impress: a presentation program similar to Microsoft PowerPoint
Base: a database management program similar to Microsoft Access
Draw: a graphics editor similar to Microsoft Visio and more commonly know Microsoft Publisher
Math: creates and edits mathematical formulas, similar to Microsoft Equation Editor

OpenOffice.org was originally developed by the German company StarDivision, but it was then named StarOffice. The code for this software was bought by Sun Microsystems in 1999. The first version to be available for free was StarOffice Version 5.2. Sun Microsystems’ goal for this software was to build an open source development community. This is where it got the name OpenOffice.org. The website for this software went live in October 2000. There have been multiple versions of this software, each allowing better cooperation with Microsoft Office and other operating systems.

OpenOffice.org 1.0: First version
OpenOffice.org 2.0: Allowed for better cooperation with Microsoft Office, was faster, and used less memory
OpenOffice.org 3.0: Can Import files (unfortunately not export), use ODF 1.2 Format, Mac OS X operating system
OpenOffice.org 3.2: Ability to repair ODF formats and Writer and Calc are faster

The version that I will be using is OpenOffice.org 3.2. I have not been able to use it yet due to the large size of the file and the time to download, but I am excited about the opportunity to use these new programs. More blogs to come as I test it out!

Blog Title: iChat

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:16:14 GMT

I am thinking about doing my project on iChat, which is a program that I found on my mac computer. I have used it plenty of times and it is awesome! My friends and I have spent a ton of time laughing while on ichat because it has so many wonderful, hilarious features. It is used for visually talking to your friends through the computer, like skype and oovoo. I have not used skype or oovoo before, but ichat has features where you can change the background, to make it look like you are in a fish tank, roller coaster, and many other things. It is awesome and very humorous.

After searching online, I found that the creator of iChat was Steve Jobs, since he is the creator of Apple, and it is an apple application. He wrote it because unlike skype and oovoo, it is very compatible with Mac computers. I believe that the Mac computer is the most user-friendly, and I am so glad that I have one. I am excited to work on this project and learn more about iChat.

Blog Title: VLC Media Player

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:49:59 GMT

About a week ago, I was trying to watch movies on my computer, but kept receiving an error message that the “format is not supported” and something about “codecs”. Now me, being the computer wiz that I am, had no idea what “codec” meant, so I had to go down the hall and grab my friend Conner. He told me to try to download a media player called VLC. When the download was finally finished, I opened it and tried to play the movie. Voila, it worked. Now that this project has come around, I realize that this VLC Media Player may be the perfect candidate for the job.

VLC, short for Videolan Client, began as an academic project in 1996 by students at Ecole Centrale Paris to stream videos across the LAN on campus. The program was later re-written by the students to improve functionality. It is now being written and developed by 20 people across the world. Updated versions have come out on a regular basis since then, with the latest in January of 2010. The diversity of the codec packages allows the player to play unfinished, incomplete, and/or damaged files. The player can also access .iso images, even if the user’s computer does not support the format, as well as many other formats.

Over the next few weeks I plan to see the different types of files I am able to run on my Mac using VLC. I also have read about an add-on that allows me record video and capture images/screen-shots, as well as a browser plug-in for Safari/Firefox hopefully. I plan to test these features, and then compare them to the software native to Apple.

starry eyed: One Week, One Mission

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:46:04 GMT

Although I’m here at school, I still like to keep in touch with my dance studio back at home. For this year’s recital, I was asked to choreograph a piece for the owner. I’ve assisted her for years so I have a pretty good feel for her likes and dislikes and the way she moves with the music. We picked Drake’s “Let’s Call it Off” and I went to town. While home over Christmas Break my brain was free from worry, my body was well-rested and my mind was inspired; I got a lot accomplished on the number in a short amount of time. But after coming back, my progress slowed down–it basically stopped. For me, school doesn’t foster my creativity (which is sad). I’m chronically tired, ridiculously busy, and when I do find time/inspiration, the gym studio is 9 times out of 10 taken already.

I guess what I’m trying to say is: I’m slacking…badly. If, when I go home for Spring Break, I show up at the studio empty-handed, I’ll have my behind served to me on a platter. This leaves me a little over one week to actually make progress on this piece. Otherwise, the owner will be thoroughly upset and I’ll feel like a turd. Please wish me luck because this week I’m going to hustle. AND if you see me somewhere on campus being unproductive, feel free to yell at me–as this could be exactly the kind of motivational push I need.

Below is a link of a dance to the same song I’m using. These two choreographers are DOPE and a lot of their other work is awesome as well.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Happy Camper: Open Source Exploration: Pidgin

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:58:15 GMT

“Pidgin is an easy to use and free chat client used by millions. Connect to AIM, MSN, Yahoo, and more chat networks all at once.”

Pidgin is a chat client that works much like AIM. It allows you to use multiple chat services at once. Skype is not included.

“Pidgin is under constant development. Releases are usually frequent and driven by user contributions, such as bug reports and patches.”

Pidgin was originally named GAIM and was written by Mark Spencer in or before 1999.

I have used Pidgin before and will continue to explore its features. I, however, might change to something I have not used before for this exploration.

Believe It or Don't: The Legacy of Sid the Kid

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:03:02 GMT

The Winter Olympics have come and gone. This year we were blessed with a great Gold Metal Hockey game, USA vs. Canada. It was a very hard game for me to pick a team to root for. I am a hardcore Sidney Crosby / Penguins fan, and wanted him to win to improve on his legacy, but I also wanted team USA to win for the country. Although my choice might be looked down upon but I think it was the right one. I picked Crosby and Team Canada. The reason I think I did this is because I feel he has done so much for the entire sport. As we know there was the lockout in the 2004-2005 season and hockey kind of fell out of the main sports except for a lot of die hard fans. The season that they solved the lockout, was the season Crosby was drafted. He was drafted by the Penguins, who were a pretty poor team, on the first pick of the Draft. The Pens, were instantly improved, and when Crosby and his new group; consisting of veterans Sergei Gonchar, Brooks Orpik, and Bill Guerin, and young guys like Jordan Staal, Tyler Kennedy, Max Talbot, and Evengi Malkin; got the chance, they won a Stanley Cup. So Crosby pretty much turned around the Penguins organization and even the NHL with skates. For that I believe I should have dedicated my support to him (being my favorite player) and his team. Sorry team USA, but I hate Chris Drury so that played part, too.

[Title of Blog]: Reason #346….

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:59:25 GMT

Why I hate technology

This is an insulin pump (Not mine. Mine is pink. Mais bien sur).
Basically, this thing keeps me alive. It’s continually plugged into me, pumping insulin, hence the name. Without it, the amount of glucose in my blood increase, the pH of my blood rises, and I die.

So anti-climactic.

Anywho, it decided to stop working.
While I was sleeping.
Anyone else see a problem yet?

I didn’t realize anything was wrong, and by the time I woke up I was dangerously ill, and not thinking all too clearly.

But, yeah. I’m just annoyed that something so vital can malfunction. Nothing else to say. Just a rant.

A River of Noise: Changing social perceptions…

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:28:43 GMT

Photo provided by http://www.flickr.com/photos/taod/3160269/

I want to change the way in which people perceive others through neuroscience, because that is not overly-ambitious at all. Okay, maybe it is, but I am very passionate about it.

Numbers confuse me. Words are boring. But people and biological systems, now that’s interesting. Studying human behavior, to me, is the most fascinating field because there are so many explanations. The entire color spectrum is covered; nothing is in black and white. In high school, I began reading articles online, watching Discovery Health specials on the brain, and anything else I could to expand my understanding of the biological foundations of behavior. Soon I realized that most emotions and personality have some type of biological explanation: an overactive amgydala can cause fear, depression, and anger while the decreased levels of serotonin (a chemical neurotransmitter) can also cause depression. Environmental factors can then be said to determine whether these biological conditions are expressed as behavior. In essence,

Raised in a family that often expressed anger, a person who has an angry biological disposition will inevitably express it in situation that provokes their frustration. Then why does society spurn criminals and other social outcasts when their behavior is just the product of brain configurations and their upbringing?

Photo provided by www.flickr.com/photos

We, as a society, believe in a fair and just world in which good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people; everyone gets what they deserve. In our eyes, those who commit a crime, especially a particularly violent one such as murder or rape, need to be punished. I want to show people that often times the configuration of a criminal’s brain differs from that of a typical person. Combine this with say childhood abuse and you have the makings for a criminal.

I am not criticizing the need to punish wrongdoers. Some people are a danger to society and need to be treated accordingly. I am simply suggesting that we should understand why they do harmful things before we decide what is the best treatment. Yes, most of the time these criminals do have malicious intent, but what makes them want to steal or harm others? Prisons and the death penalty were designed to keep society safe from others and serve as a determent for future crimes. But if a person has all the necessary characteristics to commit a crime, it does not matter how many people are in jail or sentenced to lethal injection. That will not prevent them from doing it. Instead, we should focus more on understanding the circumstances that influence a person’s felonious actions.

Criminals are not the only people who have a negative image in society. Many in the homosexual and transgender community have experienced hate crimes because of their sexual orientation or appearance. But I believe there are biological influences for sexual orientation as well. Neuroscientist Simon LeVay released a study in 1991 that described differences between heterosexual male brains and homosexual male brains, specifically the area called the INAH3 in the hypothalamus (which is thought to be responsible for sexual orientation):

“It was claimed that the male INAH3 is, on average, more than twice as large as the female INAH3. Moreover, LeVay’s data suggested that the INAH3 of homosexual men was similar in volume to that of women and less than half the size of heterosexual men’s INAH3. This finding, LeVay claimed, ’suggests that sexual orientation has a biological substrate.’”

Not every male with a reduced INAH3 is homosexual just like not every homosexual does not have a reduced INAH3. It is a trend that supports the notion of a biological basis of homosexuality and is worth exploring.

Having bored you long enough with my ranting, I will cut to the point. I think people treat criminals, members of the gay community, or any other rejected social group negatively because they are seen as social outcasts. By showing people that the “socially unacceptable” behavior has biological links, I hope the way in which society views them will change.

I have provided some articles about the topics I discussed, in case anyone is interested:

Born to be a Criminal

Sexual Differentiation of Behavior

Believe It or Don't: Hotel Keycards or Gateway to Identity Theft?

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:15:00 GMT

Today in class I brought up the danger of hotel keycards and not many people knew what problems they can cause, so I decided to elaborate more on the subject. One thing the general public doesn’t really know is that on those useless keycards, it holds information that consists of home address, credit card number, first middle and last names, phone numbers, and more. If that is not disturbing enough, those cards hold the information until they reissue the card to the next guest. So the question is, what do they do with the cards until they reissue it? That’s easy; they throw it in a drawer with a bunch of other cards. When these cards are scanned by an employee, the info can all pop up on the screen for their viewing enjoyment. Scary huh? Don’t worry though; there are precautions you can take to prevent any problems from occurring. Some of these are:

to run a magnet over your card’s magnetic strip (do this right before checking out because it won’t work in your door if you do it before then)
cut the card up
just take the card with you when you check out

All of these are simple and effective ways to protect your personal information.

This isn't Nam, there are rules.: Is the NFL fixed?

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:50:29 GMT

Through recent observations (by recent I mean the last few years) I’ve come to a quite shocking idea. Starting after the 9-11 attacks, it seems as though the NFL could be fixed. I am not necessarily saying the players are fixed and the game is just a show. I am saying that the NFL is a money-making business and they would do what is best for themselves to make the most money. Also, most of the outcomes of the games can be controlled by one call or one agrumentive replay done by the officials. Which in many sports have proved not to be the most trustworthy of people (Tim Donaghy).

Three out of the four years after the attacks on the Twin Towers, the “Patriots” won the Superbowl. In 2006, the Steelers won the Superbowl. The story of 2006 was Jerome Bettis’ return to Detroit, his hometown, where the Superbowl was held. This was one of the most controversial refereed games in recent history. I must inform you that I am from Pittsburgh. It was the only time in Superbowl history that a team had lost in turnovers, yards gained, yards allowed, and time of possession but still won the game. After the Superbowl, the draft was held. The first draft after Hurricane Katrina. The Texans somehow pass on the best player in the draft and possibly the most explosive college football player in Reggie Bush to draft Mario Williams who was a defensive end..? The New Orleans Saints were then basically given Reggie Bush after New Orleans had been hit by Hurricane Katrina. The Saints won the Superbowl this year and the headline was all about how great it was for the city, and Reggie Bush was a deciding factor in the playoffs. The 2009 Superbowl was again won by the Pittsburgh Steelers shortly after Barrack Obama was elected president. Art Rooney, the owner of the Steelers, was a high supporter of Mr. Obama. He also created the “Rooney Rule.” The Rooney Rule states that NFL teams looking for new head coaches must interview a minority coach before they can officially select a coach. I am not saying that this is a bad thing to do but it has become high controversy in the NFL recently as well. These minority coaches are arguing that it is downgrading to them to interview for a job just because the teams are forced to talk to at least one minority coach. But that is beside the point… I am arguing that Art Rooney could have been rewarded a Superbowl for his efforts.

I’ve talked a lot about the Steelers, probably because I am from Pittsburgh and see more of them than any other team, but I am going to finish on another Steelers example. During the 2008 season, the Steelers played the Chargers and the game ended in a boom. At the end of the game, Troy Polamalu intercepted a pass that was returned for a touchdown as time expired. The play was reviewed after the game was over and the score was reported just to be changed from 17-10 to 11-10. It did not affect who won the game but it did affect the score. The Chargers who I believe were only 4 point underdogs on the road against an elite Steelers team somehow covered the spread after the referees changed the score. Soon after the game, conspiracy hit the fan. It was reported that the Las Vegas bookies were rewarded with 32 million dollars from the score change. I’ll say that again… 32 million dollars.

Again, I am not saying the NFL is definitely fixed; these are just some observations I’ve made over the years that seem questionable. As Professor Jadud would say, “Just some food for thought.”

Blog: GIMP

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:25:25 GMT

GIMP (General Image Manipulation Program) is an open source photo editing program. It was first released as a beta in 1995 by Peter Mattis and Spencer Kimball, who at the time where students at Berkeley. The current version of the software, 2.7.0 , was released in August of 2009.

GIMP is a very similar to the popular program Photoshop by Adobe. The difference is that it is a freely distributed software, unlike Photoshop which you have to purchase from Adobe at a heavy price. Just like its overly priced competitor it does many tasks such as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.

After experimenting with this program, I have realized that this is a very strong competitor to Adobe’s Photoshop. Many of the tasks you can preform in Photoshop can also be achieved in GIMP. I have yet to come across a task I was able to complete in Photoshop that I was unable to complete in GIMP. Many of the operations work the same as Photoshop and also the lay out is almost a mirror image. Another aspect of GIMP that I really appreciated was the simplicity involved with the program as long with the easy to fallow tutorials on the programs website. I recommend this program to anyone trying to save some cash and still achieve professional quality work. Head over to http://www.gimp.org/ for your free download.

Blog Title: VLC Media Player

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:43:00 GMT

VLC Media Player is an open source media player that I have been using for a few months now. It is basically a free and open source media player used as an alternate to the more common Windows Media Player and Quicktime. It supports almost every multimedia format without the need for additional codecs. VLC can also be used to convert media files, transcode, and as a streaming server. I personally download a lot of videos that are often in formats that are not supported by players such as Windows Media Player and VLC has yet to fail me.

Originally developed in 1996 as an academic project by students at the French Ecole Centrale, Paris, it is now developed by people across 20 different countries. The original purpose of the program was to create a client and server that could be used to stream videos across their campus.

VLC Media Player is an incredibly useful and easy-to-use media player that I suggest to everyone.

This isn't Nam, there are rules.: AbiWord

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:09:18 GMT

AbiWord is a word processor, much like Microsoft Word and Open Office. The GUI, as you can see from the screenshot below, is much like an older version of Microsoft Word. I’ve used both Microsoft Word and AbiWord for some time and wrote papers using each piece of software. The difference is Microsoft Word can be very expensive.

In the past, I’ve used cracked versions of Microsoft Word but looking for such versions can be harmful to your computer. When I previously restored my computer, I attempted to find a Microsoft Word alternative. AbiWord is just that; a clean, easy-to-use, free piece of software.

After writing, the user is able to save the file as different formatted documents including AbiWord, Microsoft Word, and Open Office. This makes it possible to save the file to a flash drive and move it to another computer that has Microsoft Word or Open Office without compatibility issues.

AbiWord was developed by the SourceGear Corporation as a part of the AbiSuite. However, the AbiSuite software was abandoned as SourceGear switched its resources to internet appliances. AbiWord was then adopted by some open source software programmers and is now a part of GNOME Office. The program was written in C++ and is available in nearly every operating system.

starry eyed: 7:00

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:43:17 GMT

Blogging For The Greater Good: College

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:54:44 GMT

I’d like to talk a little about the rising cost of college these days. First, let me give a background of myself. I live in a suburban community outside of Binghamton, New York. I would classify my families economic status as middle class. When I was going through the college selection process, one of the most important deciding factors was the cost of the school after financial aid and scholarships. Should money be a deciding factor in a decision such as this? Should money deter someone from choosing a school that may be the best fit for their personal learning experience? These decisions based upon money or financing are an inescapable fact of life for the moment. I guess the only way to justify such exorbitant student loans and debt would be to view it as an investment, an investment in your future.

Dan: What do you Wanna do Before You Die?

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 05:34:43 GMT

So I’m watching the buried life on mtv, a show about guys who came up with 100 things to do before they die, and now they’re doing it. The show is so thought-provoking, everyone should watch at least one episode.

SO, the big question is what do YOU want to do before you die? please comment, I want to hear your dreams…

Here are some of mine I’ve come up with

1. Go to a European/Brazilian soccer match

2. Perform a self-written song in front of 1,000+ people

3. party with All Time Low

4. Wear an olympic gold medal

5. participate in a major disaster relief effort

Through the River and Over the Woods: Peace will guide the planet, and love will steer the stars!

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:53:36 GMT

So says the opening song of Hair, my absolute favorite show of all time!!! Set in the 1960s during the Vietnam war draft, the show is still incredibly upbeat and hopeful. The songs are infectious, as is the atmosphere in the theater. There is quite a bit of activism in the show as well. I think this video of the title song speaks for itself! Peace and love, man! =D

Click here to view the embedded video.

Through the River and Over the Woods: Presentation: Allegheny Students Against Wal-Mart

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:52:39 GMT

Today, Matt and I presented on our activist Facebook group entitled “Allegheny Students Against Wal-Mart.” We hoped to raise awareness of Wal-Mart’s sub par business practices and encourage members of the Allegheny community to patronize Meadville’s local businesses.

Your comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Through the River and Over the Woods: The Art of Bullshitting

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:51:41 GMT

(Hello, bloggity blog of mine. It’s been too long.)

A lovely Tuesday rant:

Spring is notoriously the time for applications galore, a ritual I thought would stop when I got to college. Hahaha….no. If anything, there are more applications than ever. ASB, summer jobs/internships, honor societies, Peer Leader applications….the list goes on and on. That’s fine. I can deal with the extra work. But what really grinds my gears is how similar and annoying the questions are on all the applications.

Which of your personal qualities make you an asset to the group?
What activities, student organizations, and service work have you done at Allegheny?
Why do you want this position and what will you bring to the table?

There’s no escaping the bullshitting. In order to be accepted to these programs, it’s essential to play the game. You have to say exactly what they want to hear, but be “unique” and “memorable” while doing it. Everyone applying is qualified for the position, and EVERYONE is going to talk about their laudable work ethic and how friendly they are, so you need to find a different way to say the same thing. Brag about yourself. A lot. But be different, ’cause they want to see what elevates you above the rest.

The main reason I have trouble with these applications is because I’m modest; I don’t like to brag about myself. I think that’s why my answers are seldom unique enough. Personally, more than anything I need to be less timid about putting myself out there and saying, “THIS is why you should pick me.”

I would much rather forget application questions and just have interviews. It’s easy to say you’re outgoing and friendly on paper, but it’s much harder to fake it in person. I like that personal connection you have with the interviewer. I always feel much more myself when I’m talking to someone face to face.

BUT, until 12 more hours are magically added to each day, that’s just not going to happen. Until then, I just need to accept bullshitting as an inevitable fact of life and move on.

Because that’s what you wanted to hear, right?

*DISCLAIMER* I just realized how similar the title of this post is to Allegheny College’s current gallery show. I’m not making fun of the exhibition at all, it’s simply an apt title for my thoughts of today.

Through the River and Over the Woods

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:50:35 GMT

Pretty much sums it all up.

Through the River and Over the Woods: This is how Calc makes me feel:

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:49:50 GMT

Good thing Yoda is so wise.

Thanks, Yoda. ^_^

Through the River and Over the Woods: The People United Will Never Be Divided!

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:47:55 GMT

(Or, causes and activism prompt.)

Q: What is going on in the world today that you are passionate about?

A: THE ENVIRONMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!

I took this picture in Colorado last summer.

Why, you ask?

Long story short: Because I want places like ^this to be around forever, and I want humankind to live with the environment instead of on top of it.

Long story long: This is without question the issue I’m most passionate about. I’ve been an environmentally kind of person since I was young and my parents emphasized how we should recycle whatever we could, but my environmentalist tendencies really kicked into overdrive in high school when I decided that environmental science was the major for me. Since then, I’ve been striving to influence and inform others on environmental issues and be as “green” as I possibly can.

As far as activism goes, I’ve been becoming more and more vocal on these issues as the years go on. By nature I’m not a very confrontational person, but I find it very hard to stay silent when people are saying ridiculous things about environmental issues. I’ve argued my point many times, most recently with a friend of a friend on Facebook who didn’t believe in global warming (DON’T get me started on that…). I think it’s crucial to get people thinking about the environment, because until individuals start caring not much is going to change.

And as far as activism goes more stereotypically, I’ve begun to get involved in youth movements as well. In November, a friend and I attended Powershift Ohio, which was a weekend gathering of environmentally conscious college students and young people. We went to Oberlin College and attended various lectures and workshops to get us thinking about the issues and how we could raise awareness of them. This was an awesome experience because I got to meet so many people who cared about the same things I did and share ideas and thoughts with them.

Powershift weekend culminated in a march from Oberlin High School to the E.S. building on Oberlin’s campus where we heard Senator Dennis Kucinich speak. The group of 120+ of us had a bunch of colorful flags and banners, and we chanted things the whole way, such as “Dirty Coal! Dirty Lie!” and my personal favorite, “Ooooh! It’s hot in here! There’s too much carbon in the atmosphere!”

Wind turbine hat man!

This was an awesome experience for me. It really is amazing what a group of like-minded people can do when they get together and rally for the same cause. The energy was incredible, and it really made me want to go to similar events in the future. However, a lot of the people at Powershift had views that tended toward the extreme end of the environmental spectrum, and while that would be the ideal situation, I think taking logical steps to get to that point is the more pragmatic solution right now since it will take time to get the public to realize what is really best for the environment. But regardless, I had a completely awesome time at Powershift and I would definitely go to it or another event like it in the future.

At the rally

I’ll wrap up this ridiculous long post with this guy, who influences my quest to be green by taking the concept to a new level:

No Impact Man

The Truth: About Being Important.: The Truth: A short video

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:09:09 GMT

FS Video

I made this video to share to with the world.

The Truth: I made this video for my fs last semester, and my friends told me to post it on here.

The Happy Camper: We All Live in a Fish Bowl

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 17:28:37 GMT

act.ivism.org mu: transformative technologies?

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:55:46 GMT

Darren and I really haven’t ever discussed what the “main” blog on this site is for, but I thought this was a relevant thought to share with evevryone.

Take a look at this short blog post on Make: Blog about an Ignite conference they wanted to stream live.

Here’s what is a amazing to me. They took a “phone” (note the scare quotes—what is a phone, really?), plugged it to give it power, and used an application to stream live video of a conference to the world. Using a phone they streamed live video to viewers anywhere in the world in real-time.

This is incredible, incredible technology. That said, the infrastructure (the technology that supports it) is not always available. Consider the recent elections in Iran:

With the absence of text messaging and mobile services — both were cut off across the country on and around election day and were still blocked on Sunday — Twitter proved to be the most reliable communication technique between people inside Iran and millions of others on the outside thirsty for any update.

Your cell phone connection is provided at the whim of a large corporation, and that large corporation will respond to requests from the government to hand over your personal information (call history, etc.) as well as terminate service if necessary. So while cell phones may seem like something that “just works” (as evidenced by this example of streaming video of a conference), you need to remember that these technologies “just work” as long as the corporations and/or governments behind them allow them to work.

This article at the BBC has a really nice overview of how technology played a role in the Iranian elections. I highly recommend it as reading, especially in light of your recent experiments with Facebook (and, in some cases, Twitter) for getting people engaged in a cause. What would Nephew Sam have to say about the elections in Iran? How far would he go in the name of democracy and freedom?

My Blarg: Save the Unicorns!

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 05:02:56 GMT

Hannah Kowen and I chose to create our facebook activism group about a silly cause. This cause was, specifically, to save the unicorns. We wanted to see if this cause could earn as much attention through facebook, which is generally used only for recreation, as some of the more serious causes. We first created a false persona, Herbert Oatney, to serve as an administrator for our group and as a tool to post comments with. We then created a facebook group, entitled “Save the Unicorns.” The group was a modest success. It currently has about 70 members and has garnered a few comments and interesting links. We decided that facebook was an okay platform for activism, but that too few people think very deeply about the groups they join on facebook for it to be an excellent activist tool. The facebook group at least worked out better than Herbert’s twitter page, which I won’t even discuss here.

A River of Noise: May we live long…and die out?

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:56:38 GMT

Environmentalism and a general concern for the well-being of the planet are common activist topics these days. It seems as if everyone, from major corporation s CEOs to soccer moms down the street, is trying to become more “green” or “eco-friendly.” I heartily support those trying to reduce their carbon footprints and promote sustainable management of our natural resources. However, when does the cost of such changes become too much?

Members of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement, or VHEMT (pronounced “vehement”), have no problem sacrificing the survival of the human race in order to restore natural order to the environment. They explain their mission and motivation as:

“Phasing out the human race by voluntarily ceasing to breed will allow Earth’s biosphere to return to good health. Crowded conditions and resource shortages will improve as we become less dense,”

and their slogan is

“May we live long and die off.”

They maintain that VHEMT is not an organization but a concept that can be applied to our lives: stop reproducing. Human beings, they argue, are innately “greedy, amoral parasites,” who have ravaged the planet. Only by eliminating our race can we ensure Earth’s survival.

At first, I chuckled and thought, “This cannot be real.” Oh, but it is. VHEMT is an actual movement with thousands of followers. I investigated VHEMT’s website further in hopes of clarifying their official position. I found a descriptive list:

“The Movement is voluntary. We are promoting reproductive freedom, not ‘population control’
The Movement is life-affirming and will benefit all life. We are not advocating suicide or an increase in human deaths.
The Movement is pro-child. Every existing child deserves a good life.
The Movement is pro-parent. Existing children are in need of good parents.
The Movement is opposed to bad stuff.”

Photo provided by http://www.vhemt.org/

*Phew* VHEMT is not advocating the extermination of the human race (through violence, suicide, etc.); they just want to limit the population. That seems like a legitimate cause. After all, we always hear how the human population is exceeding the resources available to sustain lives. Millions of people are starving or do not have adequate water supplies. Less people would reduce the demand we make on the planet. Their logic makes sense. And VHEMT supporters are entitled to make personal decisions about their sexual reproduction. If someone decides not to have kids, nothing’s stopping him or her.

I also understand why they have received so much support. VHEMT’s position is based off the principle of acting for the “greater good.” Many people believe the planet as a whole is more important than the survival of one particular species. I feel the same to some extent. I often question what gives us the right to destroy the natural ecosystems established millions of years ago in order make room for yet another shopping mall?

My opposition to VHEMT, therefore, has nothing to do with their beliefs or methods but the effect they will most likely have on the environmentalist movement. VHEMT advocates an extreme position that can be easily misconstrued in a negative light. A person who doesn’t acknowledge climate change or thinks humans don’t have a significant effect on the planet could interpret VHEMT’s opinions as promoting population control. I am afraid those opposing environmental action will lump VHEMT supporters and other environmentalists together. The image of all environmentalists might be something like “those crazy liberals who want to kill people to save the earth.” Neither VHEMTists nor non-VHEMTists feel this way.

A good public image is hard to maintain but easy to tarnish. One extreme sub-group or movement is all that is needed to destroy legitimacy of an entire cause.

VHEMT’s official website

an active professor: a friend is blogging about giving

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:49:14 GMT

I got this message from a friend who has started a blog at actuallygiving.org.

Hi Friends,

I wanted to pass the word on that I’ve started a blog. Yep, me, a blogger. It’s about my charitable giving which, despite being a fundraiser, has been pretty much abysmal. So I thought the public pressure of writing about it on the Internet would help bump up my motivation to give. It has started with me giving $10 a day for 40 days (Lent), and we’re on Day 12 or 13 now, so most of the kinks have been worked out.

I hope you will take a look at it. It’s www.actuallygiving.com

If you like it, please check back – posting 6 days a week.

If you really like it, please pass along to anyone who might like it too.

If you really, really like it, keep it to yourself. I already feel a bit self-conscious as it is.

Forgive my blatant self-promotion (especially if you’ve also been subject to it on Facebook) but I am actually finding this all rather fun and exciting, and so I wanted to share.

If you’re keen, add her blog to your RSS reader. Or, give Brigid a shout out to keep her spirits up as she posts to her blog. Us activism peeps have to stick together.

Meditated Mind: A Tale of a Snowman

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:44:50 GMT

One day, which so happened to be yesterday, I was sitting in the Campus Center looking outside. I had planned previously with my girlfriend Ashley to find a spot and create a snowfort. Therefore, as soon as she arrived, we went outside to search for a passable (at least) spot. As fate would have it, I reached down during our walk to the snow and grabbed a handful. Now as all of you know, at least by now, snow usually has to be packed at least a little to be turned into a snowball. This snow didn’t. It was perfect.

I stopped, looking down at this preformed snowball in my hand. I then rolled it in the snow. As it rolled, it picked up all the snow at all touching it. Delighted, I told my significant other, who then turned around on the stairs up to the vuc and all but ran back down to me.

In a very short amount of time we set our things down on the walk between the Campus Center and that small field right there. We each tramped out into the snow, finding a place to create our pieces. All too soon, I realized how well this snow worked, as I had created a giant snowball that was as tall as my waist. I looked at this thing in amazement, as it took only a few short minutes. I called Ashley over and we debated what to do. Finally, we decided to keep going, have her piece become the middle, then create the head.

One part of the plan that we did not consider was how heavy that snow was. By the time we achieved the correct midsection size, the ball was too heavy. We together could not lift it. Therefore, we went on our search, one to find another who might help us. In GFC we found one Sam Kessler, who, as you know if you have met the man, is tall and wide-shouldered. And he agreed to help. So we went back outside.

With the help of Sam, we only barely stuck the two snowballs together. It took much straining, with attempts to roll it onto each other and the snowboulder, however we succeeded. And it was as tall as my shoulder.

Finally, we created the head. This was finally the easy part, as we had figured out the rate at which the snow stuck well enough, so we created it, and it was good. And Bob the Snowman was built. Featureless, but built.

We added snowfeatures to Bob, as well as a tattoo of his name on the back, and took pictures. We showed him off to our friends, who “wow”ed and “oooh”ed at our creation. Oh, and Bob was about 6′2″.

Now, Bob is no more. On my way back from play practice last night, he showed the signs of being kicked over, broken. In the shape he was there, neither Ashley nor I have the power to rebuild him to his former glory. So my trusty Snowman, may you live forever in the impressed memories of those individuals lucky enough to have seen you alive.

TOO MUCH.: Bored.

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 03:51:48 GMT

I have a really big art history test to study for. I’ve studied a lot so I’m taking a tiny little break. I’m not working on any art right now, but I want to post a few more things I did last semester. I’m pretty psyched for the upcoming student art show. It’s going to be really sweet to see everyone’s work. We’re doing a sculpture next in studio, and i honestly have no idea what to do or how do do it. So.. hopefully I figure that out by Thursday.

Here is a slide out of focus drawing we did. We started with the slide completely out of focus and slowly brought it in focus after a few classes working on it. We worked on the drawing from every angle to get a different perspective and really focus on the shapes.

After we did this, we did the same type of drawing but much quicker, around 30 minutes for each drawing. This is my favorite one…

This is Walt Whitman. He is furry and so is his chair. I love the real photograph of this.

Believe It or Don't: The Life of A Commuter

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 22:03:12 GMT

Today, a subject was brought to me that could jumpstart some blogging buzz. That subject is what life is like commuting to Allegheny College. I never thought it would be that interesting untill I looked at the challenges I face everyday. Even though commuting is a very good decision, financially, it can really effect the other aspects of college. For example, I have some trouble meeting new people at the college. I am a football player so I do have a great group of friends but it seems that is not very diverse. I work at the front desk of the Wise Center and I also worked Gator Basketball games, adding some variety between those two. The social life is not the only problem though. Another problem I face everyday is the accessablity of faculty and other students for studing. I live about 15 to 20 minutes outside of Meadville (10min if running late) so it is appoximately 30-40 minutes round trip everyday. As I said before I play football for Allegheny, and I have to lift Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Fridays. So there are days that I make the trip 2 or 3 times! That can add up to 2 hours of driving a day! I plan to live on campus by, at the latest, next spring semester.

If you want to hear more about the commuting process. I will be doing a post on my experiences at least once a week. I would love feedback on what you think.

starry eyed: Dreams

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:46:59 GMT

This is me, just about every day

I’m a self-professed lover of naps. I won’t lie. Ideally, I would like to nap each and every day. I find that I become unproductive around 2:00 pm anyway, so I might as well take that time to sleep, right? Well lately, my sleeping schedule has gone completely out of whack. I’m staying up later than I want to, I’m getting up earlier than I should, and–here’s the worst part–I’m having trouble napping. I think the root of the problem is that I dream entirely too much. My dreams never have one main topic. Instead, they span everything from homework to becoming a sea creature.

I decided to do a little research into dream analysis because some of mine are absolutely mind boggling. Most of what I found, however, was padookie (padookie being the technical term for internet fluff and various other types of crap). Do you know how many websites out there think they can read your mind? As for the history of dream interpretation, there is evidence to suggest that this practice dates back to ancient Egypt and perhaps earlier. Sigmund Freud, of course, put his own spin on dreams in 1900 saying that most of what occurs in the dream stems from the events of the previous day, or what didn’t happen. That is to say that what happens in dreams may be a manifestation of unfulfilled wishes. He also believed that the true meaning is always hidden in someway, whether it be deeply disgiused or only thinly veiled. Jung believed this approach was too simplistic and instead, subscribed to a two sided approach. He claimed there is an subjective and an objective (subjective =everything is as it appears, objective =everything represents part of the person dreaming) and that dreams incorporate all of your unconcious mind.

After all this though, I’ve decided I’m not listening to anyone about dreams anymore. Isn’t it possible that my unconcious mind is just more creative than my concious one? I’ll sleep on it.

The Happy Camper: Ampersand the Dinosaur!

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:11:28 GMT

Ampersand the Dinosaur

Meet Ampersand the Dinosaur, my positive reinforcement for today.

Blog Title: Legalize Weed

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:05:30 GMT

The reason that I would like weed to be legalized is not because I’m a firm believer in the use of it. The main reason that it should be legalized is because people will do crazy things to get money to buy it. These crazy things include; taking all of their money out of their bank accounts, stealing from a store, and in severe cases stealing from their own personal friends Also they will go to crazy places just to get away with smoking it. For example in the middle of the woods, the middle of a street or even just driving around in a car. I feel if it were legalized a huge tax could be imposed on it which would deter the number of people from buying it.

act.ivism.org mu: National Wildlife Federation CEO to visit

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:46:59 GMT

Just seen on Inside Allegheny:

Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, will speak on “Last Chance: Preserving Life on Earth,” at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 8 in Quigley Hall auditorium. Schweiger—whose book Last Chance: Preserving Life on Earth was published in 2009—will discuss the impact of climate change on wildlife and humans in a variety of contexts: from Lake Erie to the icebergs of Greenland, and from Congress to America’s classrooms and farmlands. The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) is America’s largest conservation organization, with 48 affiliates and more than 4 million supporters. Part of Allegheny’s Year of Social Change, Schweiger’s presentation is sponsored by the Department of Environmental Science and the Center for Political Participation. A book signing will follow the lecture.

As you know, EatRealFoodNotTooMuchMostlyPlants gave a talk last week that many people thought was excellent (I was playing with our little one in GFC). The CEO of the NWF should appeal to many of you, and we highly recommend you go.

Christina Mucci: Nick Ozorak: The Interview

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 05:17:42 GMT

An assigned group project usually doesn’t make your day. I lucked out though. In my Art and Activism FS102, I teamed up with Nick Ozorak to make a Facebook page with an activist agenda. Our professor’s aim was to expose us to the possibilities of mass communication, by advocating something we are interested in. I was expecting to make a page that advocated travelling or the outdoors, things that I’m interested in, but don’t really know a lot about, so I was excited when Nick told me about one of his ideas for a Facebook page, At the Railyard.

CM: So Nick, what is At the Railyard?

NO: At the Railyard (ATR) is a website I created for fans of Microsoft Train Simulator (MSTS). My goal was to create a community for virtual railroading enthusiasts in what is already a small pool of gamers. The website has videos I’ve put together where I review different add- ons that you can buy for the game.

CM: What was going through your head when you created your website? Were you nervous? What inspired you?

NO: Well, I’ve been interested in railroading since I was a kid, and the idea of doing something with my passion came to me a while ago. I was a fan of Top Gear, which is a British car review show. The show uses cinematic elements such as music, along with exciting visuals that really captivate the audience, rather than bore them. Miami Vice was another show that I’ve emulated a bit; it was the first cop show on TV that combined pop music with police shots. So the formats of these shows really gave me the idea of doing something similar, like product reviews, of one of the train simulators that I used. I had actually making music videos with clips of MSTS for fun, but that got boring quickly, so I went to reviews.

CM: many people haven’t heard of the product you’re reviewing. What’s it like to play Microsoft Train Simulator?

NO: The game basically lets you take on the job of being a railroad engineer. You can choose what kind of train you’d like to work with; steam, diesel, or electric, and then you have to complete some sort of project as the operator of your train. One of my favorite add-ons for MSTS is called Donner Pass. This is an add- on that takes place in 1952 when the train froze to the track. It’s the gamers job to free the train and its passengers; and it’s Microsoft’s job to tell the story of the storm of 1952 as accurately and as excitingly as possible. And that’s where I come in, is reviewing Microsoft’s reenactment of the actual event.

CM: Speaking of which, were you always so good at narrating these reviews?

NO: (laughs) Not really. I still jumble my words a lot, forget what I’m going to say, all the expected things, but I did get better at learning when to talk faster or slower, and I think the most important thing is word choice, it can make all the difference in getting my point across. When you watch the videos, you’ll hear some bloopers at the end.

CM: What would you say is your motive for maintaining the site and making all these video reviews?

NO: My goal has never been self promotion; it’s always been about fostering a community of virtual railroading enthusiasts where there otherwise would be none. I want people to have a positive place, which is ATR’s forum, where they can discuss what they like about particular aspects of the game. I’ve also really enjoyed the history side to MSTS, so I want to raise awareness about the history behind railroading.

CM: What does the future of At the Railyard look like? Do you think this was a short term project, or something that can grow?

NO: I definitely see this growing. I’ve already created 23 episodes that review Microsoft Train Simulator, so I’m looking to innovate and go onto Trainz, which is another train simulator game. One of my challenges is finding the money to maintain my site, so I set up a link on the website that allows my fans to make a donation to support the site if they so choose. I received a generous donation last month and half of it went to support Action- Aid USA, which supports victims of the Haiti earthquake. My point is that if I continue doing what my fans love, and ATR continues to have an effect on the larger community, then I think At the Railyard will be able to grow for quite some time.

Christina Mucci: At the Railyard Joins Facebook!

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 05:02:27 GMT

At the Railyard is a website that’s chock full of video reviews of Microsoft Train Simulator. The website needed a way to branch out to enthusiasts, and that’s where Facebook came in. Christina Mucci and Nick Ozorak created a Facebook fan page for Attherailyard.com in order to give the website more of a “network”. This network is essential for the site’s fan base to grow, and since the website was created by a fan of virtual railroading, for fans of virtual railroading, cultivating a wider fan base is a top priority for the site administrator. Although our Facebook page didn’t garner as many fans as we’d have liked, many people who did not belong to Attherailyard.com already had chosen to join the Facebook group. At the Railyard news is now in the palms of these fans hands; who knows, maybe someday they’ll enjoy Microsoft Train Simulator just as much as a longtime railroading enthusiast! An interview of the creator of Attherailyard.com was posted to the website’s Facebook page in order to give the public a well rounded understanding of what Attherailyard.com is about. All in all, I can say that Facebook helped Attherailyard.com become more active in the public eye.

Blog Title: Youth Summer Camps

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 03:31:39 GMT

So basically the reason why we choose to do our project on youth summer camps was to try and get the word about youth summer camps out to people we know and hopefully to other people that they know. we felt that youth summer camps are a good thing for young children to be involved in when they are growing up. It helps build character and also helps them be more socially active and make friends easier in later years. I feel that our facebook group got out to people that we knew but not any further than that. I don’t recall seeing anybody off of either of our friends list that joined the group which means that nobody beyond friends joined our group. overall though i feel that our presentation was a success because we were still able to get our word out there a little bit and i think some people did see what we were trying to get across.

Thoughts from The Railyard: At The Railyard – A Tool for Activism

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 03:22:00 GMT

I presented with Christina Mucci on my YouTube series “At The Railyard”. For the past year and a half, I’ve created this product-review-music-video show to both entertain and inform the virtual railroading community. Recently, to help support the website, I set up a donation system, whereby 50% of donations goes to support the website, while the other 50% supports railroading-related charity organizations and historical societies. Again, the website is here:

http://www.attherailyard.com/

There were many things that we couldn’t show due to our presentation not working, such as no sound for the video. You can find the full-length episode (with sound) here:

If you have any questions about the show, please feel free to ask!

The Truth: About Being Important.: Bring Back the Old Ice Cream

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 03:11:07 GMT

Sarah and I, Anna, made the facebook page Bring back the old Ice Cream please.

I think Sarah and I had a lot of challenges with this project. We weren’t sure how to get fans besides our friends to join our page, and we were limited to Allegheny students as fans. Also once we had fans we couldn’t get them to be active on our page even though we had discussions started and posts. I wasn’t quite sure how to measure success. I didn’t think the amount of fans was exactly the best way to measure success. Popularity is different than success. I think this page has potential to be successful. I think that this page could be taken into action. I’m not sure if I necessarily want this to actually happen, but I think it’s a possibility.

Fork In The Road: Kelly Green Environmentalist Presentation

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 23:02:20 GMT

Hannah Matesic and I did our presentation on a persona, Kelly Green, who we created to help give small environmental tips to everyone we could reach. These tips were just little things you could do everyday to reduce your carbon footprint. As well as creating an avatar we created a fan page which gathered over 100 fans. We also made a twitter account but had less success with that.

Meditated Mind: Documentary

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 21:27:14 GMT

So, on a whim I went back to check out mine and my partner’s fb page we did for class. What I found was a suggestion, a single suggestion without any responses: Someone wants to do a documentary about handicap accessibility. This is exactly what I was hoping would happen, especially that the person wants to show it to the administration, including Pres. Mullen. So peeps, I implore you, if you felt empathy at all for this awesome pursuit, then contact Marianna Kreidler. She’s the one who is trying to do this .

A Look Into Tyler's World: “Facebook as a Tool for Activism” Presentation

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 19:00:50 GMT

After creating a Facebook group for “Current Event Classes in Schools” and watching how many members joined and commented on the site, we determined that Facebook is a good way for getting out a message, but that it works better for some causes than others. An example of this was the group for “Legalize the Grey Album”. It was able to get over 400 members and from what I saw, there was a fair amount of activity on their page.

Overall, our presentation went well. It was different giving a presentation to a computer screen as well as the class, but I felt that Sahar, Breanna, and I were still able to give a good presentation. The only real difficulty for me was trying to stay in the frame on the computer without standing directly in front of the screen.

I believe that this project did a good job in showing us how we can use an everyday object, Facebook, as a way to spread a personal or activist message to a wide range of people.

Blog Title: Support Fair Trade Product!

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 18:40:43 GMT

Alex Miller and I did a presentation on Thursday about Supporting fair trade products. Please leave comments to let us know how we did or if you wanted to ask any questions or anything about the presentation. Thank!

random thoughts from an unconventional mind: One of my favorite websites

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 01:24:59 GMT

Here is a link to a very interesting art web site.

www.blublu.org

TOO MUCH.: Pop Art.

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 00:49:47 GMT

I finally finished my pop art painting of Lady Gaga. Here it is.

I think it turned out okay. I’m not so sure how effective the background was and if I like the left side of her hair (her right side). It was fun to paint Lady Gaga, and I’ve never done anything in this style before. I’m glad we did this project.

TOO MUCH.: “Support Fair Trade Products!” presentation

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 00:39:07 GMT

Ian Moore and I did “Support Fair Trade Products!” for our presentation. Please leave your comments on the successes/weaknesses of our presentation.

Thank you!

Blog Title: War is so last century

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:08:01 GMT

For our Facebook activism project, Lizzie and I decided to make a group for people who believe that war is not the answer to any problems. If you believe in this cause, join the group and feel free to discuss your beliefs in the group or comment on this post!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=480306195690&ref=ts

random thoughts from an unconventional mind: My Presentation

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:48:56 GMT

I thought Eric and I did a good job on or Presentation. I think that we had enough information and did not go to long with our thoughts during the presentation.

Meditated Mind: Laundry Day

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 05:16:31 GMT

This event that happened had to do with my laundry, and a refreshed hope for the human race. You see, I accidentally left laundry in the laundry room of my dorm for a while. I fully expect to find those selfsame cloths to be hidden somewhere on that floor when I went to retrieve those itinerant wearables. However, to my surprise not only were they all in one pile, they were folded. To the unknown awesome folding stranger, I thank you.

starry eyed: The Allegheny College Activist Feed

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:36:13 GMT

Today in class, Annie and I presented on the Allegheny College Activist Feed and we’re interested in hearing your feedback on the project. Also, if you haven’t joined, get on that! We’ll be doing our best to keep it updated.

Hannah's Blog: 1000 Awesome Things

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:59:23 GMT

I was having a lot of trouble deciding what to blog about. I’m not really passionate about everything and I would definately not refer to myself as an activist. This makes this really difficult considering I have no idea what to write about.

So although my activist skills are lacking, I may as well blog about something that interests me. It just so happens to be another blog.

A few months ago my sister showed me the website 1000awesomethings.com. The blog is written by Neil Pasricha and every day or so he lists a topic of a little thing that makes you happy, such as watching cream go into coffee, unforgettable friends, or eating cookies like cookie monster.

If I’m ever having a bad day, I am always comforted by the ability to jump onto a website that can easily remind me that it’s the little things in life that can mean the most.

This blog is highly accreditted has had over 10 million hits and has won a number of website awards. The success is so great that it has even prompted Neil Pasricha to write “The Book of Awesome” which is set to be released sometime in April.

This site has helped me through a number of rainy days and I hope it will do the same for you!

Blog Title: Nephew Sam wants YOU to think for yourself.

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:33:04 GMT

I want YOU to think for yourself.

Blog Title: Nephew Sam

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:28:11 GMT

Democratic, Republican, Conservative, Liberal- we're all Americans, and it's time we start acting like it.

Schloss: Facebook project

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 02:12:25 GMT

Kevin and I made a project trying to form an outlet for people to complain about the school through a facebook persona

thrilled to be here?: Being a Vegetarian on Facebook

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:15:40 GMT

Ashley Adrienne's tat

Yesterday Ashley and I presented our Facebook project. For the project we created and avatar on Facebook named Ashley Adrienne, a hard core vegetarian.

Another Voice: Activism via Facebook

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:43:52 GMT

Group Page

Mark and I made a presentation on the different types of pages on Facebook. We analyzed which type of page would be the most effective in spreading our message of keeping art and music in schools.

This isn't Nam, there are rules.: Presentation

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:39:43 GMT

Our group, Frank, John and Dan, presented to legalize the grey album.

act.ivism.org mu: getting rid of blog spam

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 12:28:53 GMT

SPAM is everywhere.

You may have been receiving emails from your blog about comments. When you looked at the comments, you may have discovered they were SPAM. Hopefully, you deleted those comments, and approved comments from your peers.

I have added a new plugin. If you go to your Dashboard, down to Plugins, you’ll find “Askimet” in the list of available plugins. Enable it.

When you enable it, it will have a space for an “API Key”. Next to that space is a link that says “Get API Key”. Click on that link and follow the steps to get the key.

Then, come back to your Askimet plugin page and enter that key. Once you’ve done this, your weblog will magically be SPAM-free. It works like a charm, and makes your life a lot easier. If you need help doing this, feel free to stop by Matt’s office and ask for some guidance. You should be able to do this, though… in the end, it’s just a copy-paste job of a wacky looking string of letters and numbers.

Through the River and Over the Woods: I’m shaping the future!

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 03:08:14 GMT

Like this. YAY!

Through the River and Over the Woods: I want to protest like this:

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 03:07:49 GMT

However, although these signs are funny, the protesters they were making fun of were so far out of line they were on a different plane.

Take a deep breath: a fun video

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:29:29 GMT

[Title of Blog]: FS Presentation

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:40:08 GMT

First off, here’s a link to our presentation should you need a refresher.

To be brief, today we spoke about the effectiveness of Facebook as an activist tool, focusing specifically on our agenda of improving handicap accessibility at Allegheny College. I know some of you had questions that we were not able to get to, so please feel free to ask them in the comments section and Grant and I will do our best to answer promptly!

Thoughts from The Railyard: Final Preparation for Launch

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 05:05:50 GMT

I’m sure many people are putting the final touches on their presentations right about now. If you are one of these people, I wish you the best of luck. As an audience member, I’m curious to see what you have done, and I want to learn about your profile of social activism. If you’re getting nervous right before you speak, remember that your peers (including me) want to see you succeed!

For those reading this, I suppose I can provide a sneak peek as to what I will be discussing. For the past year and a half, I have created a YouTube series called “At The Railyard”. It’s essentially a product review show combined with music-video-trains! If you’re curious, you can visit the website here:

http://www.attherailyard.com/

I’d recommend, if you haven’t already seen an episode, viewing this one here (only 9 minutes):

I’ve teamed up with Christina Mucci to create a Facebook page for the show and re-tool the website a bit. If you have any questions about the show, feel free to ask after our presentation or here in the comment section below.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll be seeing you…at the railyard!

Blog Title

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:58:03 GMT

I hope everyone is going to the basketball game tomorrow!! Home playoff game!! I know I can’t wait! I’m pretty sure its at 7:30pm and we’re playing OWU.

thrilled to be here?: Weapons of Mass Creation!

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:33:38 GMT

If there are two things that Cleveland and its citizens are really good at, they are art and festivals. And they are especially good at art festivals, the best of which is Parade the Circle, which I have never missed and is worth checking out if you are in the area.

The newest festival, which I’m way too excited for, is the Weapons of Mass Creation Fest. Its creation was inspired by the incredibly successful SXSW festival, which I’ve never been to but i’m dying to go. The wmcfest will feature artists, bands, and films from across the country. There will be viewings, discussions, and concerts.

My friend Deborah, who is a journalism student at Boston University told me about this great new festival yesterday. She heard about the festival because one of the bands she will be interviewing on The Show About Nothing, her radio show on WTBU, will be playing at the wmcfest.

The two of us are planning on volunteering at the event. I’m hoping this festival is a success. As great as the art festival scene is in Cleveland, there are not really any that are totally geared to the population that is my age. Weapons of Mass Creation will hopefully fill that gap. See you there!

Take a deep breath: Chicago, second attempt

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:47:50 GMT

I tried to post text and image in the last post, but I was only able to post one image (the bean) and no text. Ah, technology, I must get better at it.

I was in Chicago last weekend for the annual conference of the College Art Association. I’d never been to Chicago before and I was excited to check it out. I boarded train #49, the Lake Shore Limited. This is the same train I take to New York, except it’s #48 when traveling east.

I fell asleep as soon as the train departed Erie at 2:00 AM, and I awoke just an hour before we arrived in Chicago’s Union Station at 9:45AM Thursday. I emerged from the station and walked down Adams street toward the Art Institute. Downtown Chicago smells like chocolate au pain in the morning. Someone told me there’s a chocolate factory there but I couldn’t find it. I stopped at a deli along the way for breakfast.

The Art Institute is the requisite encyclopedic edifice typically bequeathed to American cities at the turn of the last century by gilded age entrepreneurs (a.k.a. robber barons). Note the hexapodal marble staircase. I don’t know if “hexapodal” is a word. I enjoyed wandering about inside the museum, moving from collection to collection.

CHARLES WILBERT WHITE, Portrait of a Woman, 1950

VINCENT VANGOGH, The Bedroom, 1888

IVAN ALBRIGHT, Into the World There Came a Soul Called Ida, 1929-30

The Art Institute has a wonderful collection of modern art, but modernism ended long ago. I was itching to see creative work from right now. The current show at the Museum of Contemporary Art is “Production Site: The Artist’s Studio Inside-Out.” The project is a collaborative venture between artist/critic Michelle Grabner and MCA curator, Dominic Molon. Both were working on separate projects that would explore the artist’s studio as the site of contemporary artistic production. As they began working together, as stated in the Winter/Spring 2010 MCA Magazine, Grabner and Molon “discovered that a core group of eight acclaimed Chicago arts organizations were independently creating programs, exhibitions, and publications about the site of contemporary artistic production.”

On Feb. 9 and 10, Nikhil Chopra performed his avatar, Yog Raj Chitrakar, at the MCA. Together, they created Memory Drawing XI.

Ryan Gander is my newest art crush. He calls this piece, “Eleven sketches for ‘A sheet of paper on which I was about to draw, as it slipped from my table and fell to the floor’ 2008.” (By the way, I’m laying on my belly, shooting pretty much from floor level. You can see another gallery visitor refracted through the glass sphere.

This magical piece by Aspen Mays is called, “Every Leaf on a tree.” I love the way it’s installed. I want to be Aspen’s new BFF.

Rustling leaves, moving gently in the breeze.

GABRIELE BRASILICO’s, Contact (1984) is part of a different exhibition in the MCA that explores contemporary work from Italy (within the past 25 or so years). I love this playful image, part of a series that explores about ten banal textures embossed into a gorgeous, voluptuous rump.

It was sunny and warmer than Meadville. I spent as much time as possible walking around outside.

O.K. The tourist in me couldn’t help it!

ANISH KAPOOR, Cloud Gate, 2004-06

I think locals call it, “the bean,” because of it’s shape. It’s surface is highly polished stainless steel; hundreds of expertly, seemlessly welded plates. The mirrored surface changes depending on your location. It’s simultaneously convex and concave, warping and stretching one’s perception of space and, in my case, time. Kapoor says she based the design on a drop of mercury.

starry eyed: José Luis González

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 16:04:13 GMT

I have been reading the works of José Luis González, a Puerto Rican writer, for my Spanish class this semester. While I was doing my homework for that class, it occured to me that González’s writing is an excellent example of activism. Dissatisfied with the state of Puerto Rico in the 40’s/50’s, González exposed the island’s shortcomings through his short stories. Although they are indeed in Spanish, I think they would benefit members of the tech & activism/art & activism group. If you have any knowledge of the language, give them a shot. I’ve included links to two of my favorites.

El escritor is a story within a story. The tale mainly revolves around a writer in Puerto Rico the 1940’s who lives a privileged life and as consequence of this, is far removed from the revolutions taking place around him. Outside his very window a strike leader was assasinated, but in the writer’s state of oblivion, he misses this completely.

En el fondo del caño hay un negrito is a little more complicated. It focuses on a poor black family of three living in a small elevated shack above a body of water (as that is all they can afford) in Puerto Rico. I really don’t want to say anymore about the story, though, as it’s pretty short and I’ll give it all away if I keep talking.

an active professor: actively empowering learners

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 13:27:37 GMT

On Friday, after CMPSC 220: Programming Languages, I asked one of the students in my class if they felt my lecture went too slowly. Did I take too much time on too little material? What did they think?

They were hesitant at first, and I reminded them that the classroom is a professional space, not a personal space. If they comment on or critique what I do in the classroom, that’s valuable feedback; if they say I’m a poo-poo head, well, that’s personal. Point made, point taken, they offered their thoughts.

Their comment was that they didn’t think that I went too slowly at all, but instead thought that I clearly wasn’t trying to cover everything in class. Instead, I was stressing critical concepts, and fully expected everyone to be engaging with the material actively outside of class. Anyone who wasn’t reading and working outside of class would be missing out. I was surprised, in some ways, because this is exactly what I aspire to: I want to create educational opportunities for my students where they are empowered to learn and explore more than I could ever tell them.

Perhaps it is lame, but my active passion follows with my current career choice. I work hard to create excellent learning spaces for my students. I myself had many excellent teachers at various points in my life. Those teachers are not the ones who filled my head with facts—they instead instilled a passion for inquiry and the confidence to explore and to reach beyond the confines of where I am at the moment. I engage in this work year-after-year, and reflect critically and often with my students and colleagues, and constantly look for ways to improve.

If you look at this pair of FS102s, you’ll see that Darren and I are trying to provide you with opportunities to explore. We felt blogs were an important tool, and some of you are taking us up on that challenge by testing, exploring, and diving in. As we proceed through the semester, we’ll see other tools and technologies that will play a critical role in the coming years in teaching, learning, business, research, government… you name it, really… and hopefully you will have engaged and explored those technologies with a critical eye and an willing attitude of learning.

The single largest technological exploration comes later this semester when you build your Cardboarduino. Inspired by the Paperduino, this paper-based computer will (we hope) help you see that you are all capable of mastering apparently complex technologies in fundamental ways. Much like Darren is challenging all of us to see and read images, I’m pushing you to engage and to explore with technology. Just like writing and speaking, art and technology are critical literacies that we are hoping you are beginning to appreciate and understand as well.

My activist passion is excellent education, and I do my best to engage in it daily. Sometimes I think I succeed, and sometimes I think I fall short. I speak out when I think I see bad education happening, and I am supportive of that which I believe is excellent. I discovered this passion over a decade-and-a-half ago, and I’ve pursued it ever since.

Take a deep breath: ICE

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 07:48:33 GMT

There is a reason why the mountains of northern New York look the way they do: ice. Say the word and a cool breeze dries your bottom lip. Say the word again and imagine the sound of sleet falling against windows. It was humbling living there, exposed to the elements of wind, water and cold.

Though I lived in a sturdy log house, complete with electricity, hot water and an oil furnace, there was little protection from the cold. We were remote with a population of 150. It is a landscape of extremes where summer lasts only 6 weeks. Whoever designated this region as temperate never spent winter here. The challenge was to live in the midst of so much beauty and never take it for granted; to live in the midst of such extreme cold and never resent it.

The ghosts of ancient ice manifest themselves in a thousand faces: cool mountain lakes, alpine meadows dotted with huge boulders, quaking bogs, spruces and firs and balsams. During the last ice age, as the massive continental ice sheet grew to the north, small alpine glaciers were forming in the Adirondack Mountains. These glaciers carved the upper slopes of the mountains for thousands of years. Gradually, they became buried by the advance of the ice sheet. Eventually, the ice sheet receded northward from its terminus in Long Island. At maximum, the ice was one or two miles thick, and buried all the high peaks. As the huge glacier thawed, iceberg-sized chunks of ice broke off and were buried beneath accumulating sand and gravel washed from the ice. When these ice blocks melted, they left depressions in the landscape. Lakes and ponds were formed as ice debris dammed river valleys; as dams broke, sand and gravel were redistributed downstream. This process left the Adirondacks dotted with thousands of lakes.

That, of course was eons ago. Alpine glaciers have long since retreated from all of the high peaks. There is no continental ice sheet. But there were times, in late winter and early spring, beautiful as the place is, when it seemed the ice would not abate. I sometimes curled alone in bed, candles burning, listening to the howling arctic wind, watching glass windows bow and bend. My fear was that the wind and freezing rain would shatter the panes and invade my safety and warmth. Outside, tree branches and power lines encased in shimmering cocoons, unable to bear the weight, snapped and fell. The night became darker and colder.

But terrible as it can be, I find ice beautiful. In the North Country, ice is the architect of beauty. This is what I seek as an artist: beauty and the forces which produce it. No just beautiful things, but beautiful ideas. Art is created through the collision of ideas, forces that shape, sculpt, and define thought. There is a physicality to beauty…to any creative process. Did glaciers scrape the ancient granite bedrock or caress it? Which stones were removed and which remained? Why is the soil sandy in Blue Mountain Lake and hardpan in Old Forge? The result of this oppositional relationship is a “U” shaped valley, kames and eskers, a cirque, erratics, kettle holes. And it takes a long, long time. Ice patiently returns to stir things up, keep things fresh, thin things out, remind us that life is not static, comfortable or predictable. But even in its bracing harshness, I think ice–and by extension, the life and landscape it defines–is beautiful.

Take a deep breath: CAA 2010, Chicago!

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 04:16:02 GMT

Late afternoon light

The Happy Camper: Lets discuss this glorified walking…

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 03:06:39 GMT

I’m really trying hard not to let this blog become a place to just rant. Mull, maybe, but not rant. This might be the exception…but you can be the judge of that.

Lets just say that dance here at Allegheny is not like dance outside of Allegheny. (And that’s putting it lightly.) Today in Modern II/III, we had a substitute (of sorts. I’m going to not use names, though it wouldn’t be so hard to figure it out.) I found it very hard to get through the class. She had a running commentary about what we should be feeling and the “color of the movement.” I have nothing against the philosophical approach to dance…except for when it gets in the way of actually dancing. This class, to me, is just glorified walking-on a good day. And today was not a good day. Today, it was more “lets discuss the prospect of possibly doing some almost glorified walking.”

I am constantly disappointed with dance here. It makes me sad. I miss what dance used to be. I miss the people I danced with at home. I miss the feeling it used to give me. Dance is the one thing I consider (or perhaps its time to concede that its considered) to be my passion (except for perhaps cynicism and sarcasm) and there is always the thought in the back of my mind that if I just had better technique, I wouldn’t be here, but I’d be on stage somewhere dancing my heart out.

The Happy Camper: Education(?)

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:14:13 GMT

I find myself thinking about the shortcomings within education in the United States a lot lately (which is not all that surprising since I am right in the middle of experiencing it, and will likely be here for a while). It’s not a new topic to my brain. I’ve been thinking about it for a long time. (I even wrote a paper on it at the end of my junior year of high school.) My frustration with the system has simply become more pronounced and, for lack of a better word, more frustrating. I hate jumping through hoops. And that’s all education seems to mean these days: keep jumping through hoops for the rest of your life.

Looks like fun...

To me, that seems like a pretty lame existence. (Though one I undoubtedly will lead.)

Being in college feels like learning is not the first priority. Fulfilling requirements, getting good grades, building a future is really what it’s all about. I think that having a future is important-I want to be successful-but I love to learn and I was hoping that I would find a community of people that feel the same way. But classroom learning isn’t always about learning. It’s about reading, memorizing, regurgitating, getting the grade, having a good GPA, acing tests, being better than the person next to you…the list goes on. If you’re lucky maybe you’ll learn something. Maybe something will actually be interesting. (I just want to remind that I’m making generalizations here. It’s not always true and of course there are exceptions.)

It seems, however, that there is hardly an alternative. Change is inevitable, but it is also slow. The educational system doesn’t want to change. Though I think it should. How exactly is up for debate, but it should change.

Blog Title: The Independent Movement

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 06:59:43 GMT

It starts here. Show your support for a free thinking America by sending a friend request to Nephew Sam, himself.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=profile&id=1511100240#!/profile.php?id=100000820296488&ref=ts

Christina Mucci: Exercise

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:34:59 GMT

Before mononucleosis, I never realized how much exercise helps me to feel in control of my life. Since mononucleosis, or, for the past seven weeks, I have felt dull and bored. The days seem monotonous without some type of physicality to them, something to make me feel alive. I think that living without some physical aspect to your life, you remain trapped in your own head to a certain extent, prone to forget that your reality is primarily work, school, and relationships. Modern life demands so much from our minds, so many people think that it would be impossible to demand even more of life from our bodies. From my experience, that’s dead wrong. A stressful life is not exacerbated by physicality, it is only remedied by movement. My advice: If you have an indoor pool accesible to you in these winter months, try going there two or three times this week! Swim and be happy.

Blog Title: Graffiti

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 05:26:42 GMT

I’ve had graffiti on my mind today. Probably because I came across a book about Banksy that I forgot I had. Anyway I thought I would share one of my favorite graffiti videos. The work is done by the unbelievably talented Edgar Mueller.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The music is a bit annoying but watching the piece develop is awesome!

A River of Noise: Making recycling fun!

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:59:33 GMT

I like recycling. I like art. By their powers combined, it is recyclart!

I really appreciate art that takes the mundane, everyday objects we ignore and turns it into something beautiful.
This website inspired me.
Here are some of my favorite pieces:

Shoes made from old computer parts.

Flowers created from used plastic bottles.

A coat rack made from a baby…doll.

A Look Into Tyler's World: Congrats!

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:20:12 GMT

Congrats to the Allegheny College Swimming & Diving Team. This past week, the team competed in the NCAC Conference Championships. The men finished 4th out of 9 teams and the women finished 5th out of 8. Both teams swam extremely well and ended their seasons on a high note. For complete results, click here.

starry eyed: Spreading the Love

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:27:30 GMT

I thought I would share a couple rad love songs to keep the warm fuzzies going from Valentine’s Day! The first, truly a classic, is undeniably romantic. Is there anything more heartwarming than falsetto and spandex?? I think not. But I’ve also added another in case you disagree. Enjoy, kids!

Click here to view the embedded video.

And the second (Landon Pigg’s High Times) can be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPRWxrr5kVs&feature=channel

The Happy Camper: China

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 04:48:38 GMT

So I came home for the weekend because my brother is in town. He is teaching English in Wuhan, China for a year and he is visiting during his semester break. I’m excited to see him because ever since he graduated high school in 2004 he’s not really been around and its rare that we’re both in the same place at the same time (let alone in the same time zone).

I get home and I find that the conversation during the night keeps returning to China and the internet. Its hard to remember exact details of a lengthy conversation, but overall the idea of China and censorship seems to stem from a fear of ideology other than that of the Chinese government taking a stronghold within the Chinese population. My brother maintains, however, that the Chinese people find what they are looking for when they enter on a search of the internet.

I do not claim to be an expert in culture, let alone Chinese culture. Mostly during the conversation I find that I don’t really have anything to add, but I still find it interesting. Censorship is about preventing people’s opinions from being freely shared. Fear of people finding agreement on the internet because they will then feel that they can stand up to the people in power is evident. It only hints at the power the internet could have.

Fork In The Road: What exactly is passion and how can I get it?

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 19:45:13 GMT

Well I’ve been trying for the past four days to think of something to blog about. The main thing has been trying to decide what exactly I am passionate about. Living here at Allegheny College I feel as if I’ve lost track of what is happening in the world around us. I don’t remember the last time I was able to watch the news or read a newspaper. I know that the New York Times is free and I can easily walk to the campus center to pick one up, but just because I have possession of one doesn’t mean I have the hour, maybe two hours, to sit and read it. Being so out of touch with global news I feel as if issues facing our society and world are going by unnoticed by me. Yes I know about a few things such as the issues in the Middle East and Haiti, but other than that I’m clueless. Even if I go to http://www.msnbc.msn.com it takes forever just to find an article that doesn’t deal with the Olympics or a dog being rescued from the Baltic Sea. While that is interesting and good pieces of news, it doesn’t quite give me the feeling of being in the know. One of my goals this semester was to keep up with current events, and the other was to read more for fun…. neither of those things has been accomplished. Granted the semester just started about a month ago, but I get the feeling if I don’t start soon it will never happen. Hopefully this will be a start to finally finding something I am passionate about.

Dog found floating on ice in the Polish Baltic Sea, Gdynia, Poland. (AP Photo/Maciej Czoska)

[Title of Blog]: sometimes it’s not as easy as clicking your heels…

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 03:10:32 GMT

Up that “road” about 2 miles is my house.
There’s a reason everyone here needs four-wheel drive.

Blog Title: Learning about blogging

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:47:49 GMT

What I had for breakfast…

So I went to McKin’s and i had a chocolate chip muffin and some coffee and started my calc homework and then the firealarm rang …

TOO MUCH.: Screaming.

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 04:42:17 GMT

The girl in the room beside me is complaining, screaming, and rambling on very very loudly. Should I go over and tell her it’s okay? Things aren’t THAT bad at all. Everything she is saying does not matter. I just do not know. Screaming is not my thing.

Unless it’s fun screaming.

ROOMS FOR NEXT YEAR. It is very hard to decide on who to room with/where to room. It is getting kind of weird with all of my friends and we all have different ideas of what we want to do. I just hope everything works out; I’m sure it will.

I haven’t had much homework lately so I’ve been taking gratuitous amounts of naps and watching powerthirst. If you don’t know what powerthirst is, maybe you should look it up, just saying. Today really felt like Friday.

RA RA RO MA MA GA GA OH LA LA.

I think I’m doing a painting of Lady Gaga for my next assignment because it’s pop art. I’m super psyched.

k.bye.

act.ivism.org mu: peace activists

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:36:56 GMT

This just came through from the College; I don’t know if we’ll require attendance at this talk, but we wanted to highlight the efforts of other activists who are coming to campus to talk about their own work. From News and Events:

Palestinian and Israeli youth peace activists from the OneVoice Movement will present two free public events at Allegheny College in February to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Daniella Shlomo and William Salama will speak in the Tillotson Room of the Tippie Alumni Center on Thursday, Feb. 18 at 7:30 p.m. They also will conduct a workshop on conflict resolution on Friday, Feb. 19 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. in Room 301/302 of the Henderson Campus Center. Shlomo and Salama will present a model of compromise and joint action for groups on campuses and in communities.

The OneVoice Movement is an international grassroots movement that seeks to end occupation and violence and work toward a viable, independent Palestinian state at peace with Israel. The organization has more than 650,000 signatories as well as 1,800 highly trained youth leaders. These leaders work within their communities to share a message of moderation, non-violence and peaceful conflict resolution.

If you have an RSS reader (like RSSOwl, perhaps), you can actually subscribe to quite a few information sources at the college. This page has links to many of the College’s RSS feeds. Its an easy way to keep up on activities and opportunities here at Allegheny.

Blog Title: Summer Camps for kids

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:44:34 GMT

I believe that every child in America should go to a summer camp for at least a week of each of their summers. Summer camps are great for kids and I am very passionate in working as a camp counselor and helping and working with kids. Summer Camps are great because they give a child a chance to leave home for at least a week to develop in life. Summer Camps strive to help kids build character and learn important values in life while having as much fun as possible. I believe that they teach kids to become independent from their families, to make their own decisions, and how to make friends and live with many different people. I also believe that if counselors make sure their campers will have a good time, they will grow into happier people as life moves on.

Every child deserves a chance to get away from their family for a week to have fun. The Summer Camp I’m afiliated with allows children from poor families to come to camp for free. I work at YMCA Camp Fitch, which is roughly a half hour away from Meadville. I was a camper there for a few years. My counselors inspired me to become one of them and show kids a great time away from home. My first counselor inspired me to learn to play guitar. I would not have become the person I am today if it wasn’t for the help of my camp and my counselors. I eventually worked my way up to become a camp counselor. I have learned alot working with kids from many different family backgrounds. it gave me a different perspective on child development and working with people.

I hardly think of my position as a camp counselor as a job. I get paid, but I don’t consider the stuff I do as work. I like to think that I’m still a camper and working with kids and hanging out with my friends is just what I do as my activities. I basically get paid to have fun and make sure my campers have just as much fun as I do. I have made so many friends working at a summer camp. I do not regret spending five weeks of my summer outdoors with no TV or computer. working at Camp Fitch was one of the greatest decisions I have ever made. Camp Fitch Forever!

random thoughts from an unconventional mind: What I find Complying

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:28:53 GMT

What I Find complying in this mixed up world is animals. Ever since I was a little boy I have wanted to work with animals. I wish to save land for them and be able to study different animals. I am a person that believes in destroying factors that have animals that they use to study with. That kind of activism leads to nothing and solves very little in the big picture. The kind of activism I believe in for helping animals is showing people the destruction of the land we take away from them. Than taking those pictures and showing not the people in power who don’t care but the people that have power in the governments that have the power. If they don’t listen then show the pictures to the people that give them money. My ideas my not get the job done but if fight fire with fire all you get back is a loud a shit that gets nothing done.

My Blarg: First blarg!

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 05:46:51 GMT

Peace, brother.

So I guess that peace is a pretty broad cause to be passionate about. After all, don’t most people strive to live at relative peace with themselves, their environment, and the people around them? Specifically, I feel that general peace can only be achieved by practicing complete tolerance for others’ religions, values, and life choices. Every life is valuable and deserves basic respect. I feel that war for any reason is wrong. Basically, I wish that we all could just get along.

I am also very passionate about freedom of expression, especially through artistic means. Art provides the perfect platform to express just about anything. This can help to increase understanding of unfamiliar beliefs. Understanding generally leads to easier tolerance, which ties back to that peace thing I was talking about before. I am particularly interested in cartoons. I am pretty much interested in anything that involves humor. I would love to use this space to study comics and how they can use satire and other methods to present different activist causes.

In conclusion, thank you for reading my weblog! Please join me again next time!

[Title of Blog]: I hate starting new things.

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 04:21:46 GMT

Prompt:
“Causes and activism. There’s a big world out there. What is going on in the world today that you are passionate about? Explore this a bit, and link to the kinds of resources and/or current activism taking place in the world that you find compelling.”

Whew. That’s quite a mouthful, and not exactly an easy topic to tackle in one post. Hell, people write books on this kind of thing.

I suppose the easiest place to get started is to talk about things that I care about. Healthcare Reform. Gay Marriage. Um, yeah, I would probably say that my “passions” stop there, and anything else is merely on the periphery.

First off, I’d like to point out that passion originally comes from the Latin, meaning to suffer. I think that is a very important aspect of what we consider to be subjects which arise passion; for how can you truly and deeply care about something unless you suffer for, or against, it?

Obviously, we are all affected by healthcare, whether it be in how much we pay, what kind of healthcare we get, or if we even have it. So many people go uninsured because it’s cheap and they’re young and fit. But all it takes is one incident to through all of that out of wack. As an example, I had a 5 day hospital stay when I was a senior. Luckily my healthcare covered it. If it hadn’t then I would have owed Children’s Hospital roughly $100,000.

$100,000. That’s the cost of a house. Four years at (some) colleges. Or a very expensive car.

Needless to say, I’m very thankful that they were able to keep me alive, and I like to think that I was worth it, but I still can’t help but feel that even if costs weren’t so excessive people should still not have to taken on these unnecessary burdens that can alter the course of their life.

I’m certain I’ll have more to say on this, especially with the ongoing debate in our capital, but on to my next topic: Gay Marriage.

To often my conversations with others have turned into this type of shouting match. Maybe that’s because I’m from a red part of the state. Maybe it’s because I went to a small, Catholic high school. Maybe it’s because when people fear something they tend to respond with hate, and often times seek to annihilate, not assimilate.

Let’s go to the data, shall we?

There you have it. A lovely graph for everyone who seems to correlate the downfall of the world as we know it with gay marriage.
But seriously, if you would like to discuss this I am very open to comments, but just remember, all that I am asking is that MY relationships be given the same legal status as YOURS. I don’t want to get married in your church, synagogue, or mosque. I just want the same legal protections afforded to heterosexual married couples.

To say the least, my motives are obvious (I believe). I have a vested interest in both of these causes and my mother always said it best…

P.S. I don’t want this blog to be too heavy, so here, have a picture of a nice frolicking deer.

thrilled to be here?: Miscellaneous Knowledge: May or May Not Be Helpful Later in Life

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 04:18:18 GMT

this is a semicolon, in case you were curious

Fortunately, I finally learned how to use a semicolon at age 18. It was a great day. But now I have this fantastic comic just in case I ever find my self in a grammar pickle. The semicolon’s pretty gross, pretty scary, and pretty easy to avoid. But, I’ve found that once you’ve learned how to use it… well, you use it. It eases writing and allows for the elimination of lots of awkward, disjointed sentences.

Best of luck with all of your grammar forays. I hope this helps.

Also, you should check out the rest of this site it’s all over a blast.

TOO MUCH.: Pixie Stick.

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 04:09:29 GMT

So I have been talking about this drawing I’ve been working on a little bit and i finally finished it and here is a lovely cell phone picture of it because I lost my real camera (YIKES).It’s done in the abstract expressionist style and I used pastels and acrylic paint. I think it’s an exciting drawing, and I’ve never really done something this abstract before so it was really nice to make.

TOO MUCH.: Thoughts… on activism.

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 03:45:24 GMT

Well, there are a lot of things that I feel strongly about in the world today. I believe these things can be easily expressed through art in many different ways. One way that I expressed my feelings through art was at the art against AIDS show.

For the show, we made different pieces of work in the campus center and showed the final versions in front of the book store for a week. Everyone was able to see us creating the works and visualize the final product. I think this was a good space for activism, and many students were able to see them.

I used Keith Haring because he was an activist artist in the 80’s who died of AIDS in 1990. Keith Haring used pop art as a way to get his point across. He obviously felt compelled to make people aware of safe sex practices and the chance of contracting AIDS. I chose to do a portrait of Keith Haring to show that AIDS isn’t only a problem in Africa. It effects people close to home, and it even effects people in the public eye. Keith used his illness to make people aware through his art, and this is very admirable. In the background, I did my version of one of Keith’s angels. I see the angel as Keith now that he is no longer on Earth. I used red on the angel and on the ribbon on Keith’s shirt because it’s the color for AIDS awareness.

This is my piece..

Here’s an example of his work…

A River of Noise: Blow-up dolls and respect…

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 03:41:34 GMT

The last photo from Darren’s presentation on Tuesday (you know, the one with him and the blow-up doll) really amused me. Although I think Darren is a very relaxed and easy-going professor, he is still an authority figure. And I really enjoy it when those in positions of power are open and honest about themselves, especially when it deals with sex. It’s like spitting in the eye of societal norms.

Photo provided by www.flickr.com/photos/psd/

The idea that people cannot respect their bosses, teachers, and so on if they know about personal information (i.e. their interests, fears, or past mistakes) aggravates me. In fact, I find that such disclosures humanize those in power and cause me to respect them more.

However, I realize that authority figures should have some sort of limitation as to what they divulge. Someone who appears emotionally unstable or unable to cope with his or her responsibilities will rarely earn anyone’s respect. They should try to appear relatable but not incompetent. I think Darren’s photograph allowed us to get a glimpse into his personality without tainting his image.

The Happy Camper: A question of passion

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 03:41:12 GMT

This post is supposed to start finding what you (meaning me, as a member of the class with the assignment) find to be an issue worth acting upon. (Makes sense since the class is about activism.) I look at the question and find it a bit daunting. I’ve never seen myself as an activist. Really, I’d much rather just keep to myself. I know there are major issues in the world that deserve to be fixed, yet I don’t find that I have enough motivation to really make a difference at this point.

Hopefully this semester I’ll learn to appreciate activism more. Right now I do a lot of wondering ‘why bother?’. I feel that I have a very limited reach. I think that I’ve never really felt a passion for a certain issue. I’ve felt passion for dance, though that too seems to be dwindling in the multitude of possibilities for the future. The main question is can I be happy and how can I achieve happiness? What can I do? I cannot answer these questions…yet.

Meditated Mind: First Act

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 03:36:44 GMT

A type of activism that I believe in is called Meditation. This is the act of training the mind to achieve the goal set. The method is different for each person, but one effect is the same for all: the person gains a control over and understanding of themself. This is activism as each person learns all about themselves and betters themselves, making the world a better place.

I will be talking about different things pertaining to meditation: exercises that anyone can do, ideas that I run into that I found interesting, and new applications for meditation practices. Oh, and I will also probably write about other things too that might be interesting from time to time. However, I will be writing mostly about meditation. Also, I will include media possibly having to do with something, or just plain cool that I want to share.

In closing, if you find anything interesting or don’t agree with anything I say, please comment. As long as it is polite, I won’t take any offence, and would very much like to know if there are flaws or holes in anything that I said.

A River of Noise: Studying snowflakes…

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 03:07:41 GMT

After a long and busy weekend, I have finally made time to write an actual post.

I feel like schoolwork gets in the way of my fun time.

I have the unhealthy tendency to get too caught up in my work. I am afraid that I maybe missing out on the whole college experience because I focus too much studying instead of a balance between it and socializing.

When I am stuck behind my mountains of textbooks or locked away in the library for hours on end, I forget there is a whole world out there.

Photo provided by Becky Ficcardi

thrilled to be here?: Breathing in Public

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 03:05:25 GMT

Last week, our classes worked on breathing and a little bit on public speaking. We did these exercises in a very public place, the middle of the campus center, where I felt quite exposed. In fact, I was slightly terrified. Public speaking isn’t new for me, I’ve been working on improving my skills since about age 13 still, I wouldn’t consider myself a pro. What I have learned over the years, and what was reinforced during this exercise, is that pre-gaming on plenty of oxygen is necessary to any successful speaking experience. This is because breathing is an essential part of both relaxing and having volume control. Even regular speech requires sufficient breath. Have you ever tried to talk while running while keeping a solid breathing pattern? Yeah, it’s pretty hard. The most difficult part of this exercise was being in the middle of the campus center. I felt very exposed. We weren’t within the confines of a classroom, my usual safe zone. I noticed though that the longer we stood out there and the more that I focused only on the members of our group, the easier it became to relax and focus on my breathing and what I wanted to say. It’s hard because for me, feeling safe is often necessary for being comfortable expressing myself. The thing is, I might not always be in situations where I know my audience or my environment well in every public speaking experience I will have in my life. This, speaking in “unsafe” or uncomfortable zones, is the next step in terms of improving my public speaking skills. This exercise was the catalyst for this realization.

Blog Title: Abortion

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 02:54:00 GMT

Abortion, a highly controversial topic, has been in the news for countless years. There are many great cases for pro-life (not for abortion) and the pro-choice (for abortion) sides of the argument. As we move into the second decade of the millennium, the age old debate continues.

According to United States law, in a ruling originally stated in the 1973 Roe vs. Wade, the United States Supreme Court deemed current state laws, which banned abortion, violated an implied right to privacy in the United States Constitution. But, the question is really, when it comes down to it, does a woman have the power to end the life of another being? Should a woman be bestowed with a choice of life or death to another person.

I believe the woman should be able to make a choice whether to have the baby or not. Especially in the case that the mother’s health may be in danger if she were to go through with the process of birth. Also, if a woman is raped, she should not have to bear a child she had no intention of having. But now the main question: What if a woman had completely willing sex, got pregnant, and is not at any risk of danger due to the bear, should she have the choice to terminate its life? My answer is yes. A fetus may be considered as having life, but none-the-less I believe the choice should be hers to make. If she thinks she is not ready to handle a child, then yes she should not be engaging in intercourse, but, the resulting child will most likely only suffer due to the mother’s immaturity or her unsubstantial income.

Blog Title: Controversiality at its Finest

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 01:06:28 GMT

Ah, the wonderful world of marijuana; quite the controversial topic. As I write this, I can’t help but wonder if this risky topic choice is going to end up hurting my grade. Some people love it, some people hate it, but the government has decided that the use of it is simply unacceptable. The drug has been under more media coverage than ever before as more and more states decriminalize it and make it legal for medical use.

There has never, EVER, been a death recorded directly related to the use of marijuana; that’s compared to 435,000 deaths related to tobacco and 85,000 deaths related to alcohol in the United States last year alone. Those numbers alone should be enough to call for changes in marijuana prohibition laws.

On to monetary issue… According to a new FBI report, a marijuana related arrest is made every 38 seconds. We are wasting an immense amount of money on soft drug users. Rather than burning all our money putting marijuana smokers in jail, we could be taxing the drug and begin tapping into the billion dollar industry that has remained in the black market for so long. It has been estimated that the legalization of marijuana would result in $1.3 billion in revenue in California alone; just think about how big of an economic effect legalization would have on a nationwide scale.

In my opinion the war on drugs is an incredibly expensive failure. Feel free to write about your own opinions, I think this could be a very interesting topic to discuss further.

Blog: Cold Winters Do Not Disprove Global Warming

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:52:53 GMT

There is no hiding the fact the this winter is a cold harsh one. All over the world places are getting hit harder than in the past. Beijing had its coldest morning in almost 40 years and its biggest snowfall since 1951. Britain is suffering through its longest cold snap since 1981. And freezing weather is gripping the Deep South, including Florida’s orange groves and beaches. [AP]

Now everywhere I go, I hear people talking about how this global warming is false idea. People look out side and see the weather is just as cold as before or even colder. Well people, that weather isn’t climate.

In the atmosphere, large rivers of air travel roughly west to east around the globe between the Arctic and the tropics. This air flow acts like a fence to keep Arctic air confined. But recently, this air flow has become bent into a pronounced zigzag pattern, meandering north and south. If you live in a place where it brings air up from the south, you get warm weather. In fact, record highs were reported this week in Washington state and Alaska. But in the eastern United States, like some other unlucky parts of the globe, Arctic air is swooping down from the north. And that’s how you get a temperature of 3 degrees in Beijing, a reading of minus-42 in mainland Norway, and 18 inches of snow in parts of Britain.

The Truth: About Being Important.: The Truth: Photo of the Day

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:21:43 GMT

Today I decided to take a nature walk. I started singing, and this robin appeared out of no where and sang along. It was like a disney movie.

The Truth: I took this picture from my bedroom window. I always see birds outside in the tree, and I freak out and take pictures all the time. It truly did feel natural until two minutes later a mail truck drove past.

Blog Title: Education then Action

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:35:34 GMT

My friend and I recently had a discussion with a few other people on how we can help Haiti, not just now but in the future too. We bounced ideas back and forth. We came to the conclusion that to help Haiti, we first needed to educate ourselves on the county. Although Haiti is a very poor country, we believe it is important to realize that it is a beautiful country with beautiful people and not paint it as this pathetic “third world” nation. So I did a little research. Haiti means mountainous country. Because of a long history, Haiti has a rich culture. Haitian culture is a mix a mainly French and African elements. Two/thirds of the country practices Haitian Voodoo. Voodoo is a fascinating practice just like any other, but it has been often shown in a negative light. Because of misconceptions I researched voodoo. Adherents of voodoo are not part of their own separate religion, for many consider themselves Roman Catholics. The belief system revolves around family spirits called Loua. Loua are the protectors of their children. In return for this protection people “feed” the Loua through rituals that offer food, drink, and other gifts to the spirits. This is only the beginning of my research. I do not want to go too far into all this because I want to share more about what we talked about. We all talked about how in times like these and in general people in America sometimes either forget they have do not have authority or they do not fully understand what is right to do. A week or so ago, ten Americans attempted to take 33 Haitian children across the border to the Dominican republic WITHOUT PERMISSION. Whatever their intentions are, these people forgot that they are in another country. This is not a country where Americans can go and feel they have the right to make decisions about Haitian people’s lives. We also talked about how it is unfortunate that in America we sometimes only hear or learn about another nation when it is hit with a catastrophe or war. This is why our group decided it is important to educate people on Haiti, so even a few years down the road we still care about the nation. We also discussed giving. Is money all we can give? We decided no. People can give lots of things. They can create care packages, offer their services, or even spread the word. We are focusing on a combination of services and donations. We want to us the abilities of Allegheny students to create things that can be sold. The money we make from this can go to causes that will help Haiti. For example we have had correspondence with the knitting club. We thought they could make hats/scarves to sell. We aren’t sure how well this will all go, but we are definitely attempting it.

The Blog of Breanna: It’s Cold in Meadville

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:27:59 GMT

I wouldn’t say i get worked up about things that go on in the world that I am passionate about. However there are things in this world that I find fascinating beyond words. Something that does make me very happy is the outdoors and nature. I have visited many places across the country and have been lucky to view the some of the most beautiful scenes.
I am a big fan of all the seasons. Living in western PA, it’s obviously easy to experience all four of them. I love to ski. BUT I also love to be on the lake in the summertime. So i can’t really pick a favorite season, but I would have to say the winner is both winter and summer.
This past summer, my family and I took a trip to Oregon. Thinking this place would be really boring, I really didn’t look forward to it at all. I was really shocked when we visited Mt. Hood, though. Mt. Hood is one of the largest mountains in Oregon. It is also the prettiest mental picture I have in my mind. Good thing I had my camera that day… You can see Mt. Hood too.

View from the lake

To me, I would rather be back in Oregon in the summertime and look at that scene than be a the beach. If I’m not at in Oregon next summer, though, I really wouldn’t mind being at a lake. Every summer my family spends a weekend at Raystown Lake in PA. It’s usually a great weekend, despite the constant rain we get in Pennsylvania. We take the boat out and go water skiing and tubing, while enjoying the outdoors.

Since I’m one of a few people who doesn’t mind the winter, snow, and Meadville weather, I spend my time skiing. I usually ski at a resort near my house called Seven Springs. Two years a ago I had the opportunity of skiing in Killington, VT, and this past year I was able to go out west to ski in Utah.
Vermont was pretty, but Utah was outstanding. The mountains were so snow covered and seemed to be endless.

Spring isn’t a bad season. It’s usually when everything comes back to life. I’m a softball player and spring is when we are in season, so I like that. But other than softball, I really don’t like the spring much. Its too in between my favorite seasons. I think of it as a tease. It usually is too warm for snow, yet too cold for flip flops. The environment still seems to be very “dead” from long the winter. That’s what I think about spring.

So what about fall? Well that’s where Meadville comes in. Personally, I think fall is gorgeous in Meadville. With the trees all different colors, they look so good up against different buildings such as Bentley and Brooks.

See. This place looks really nice in the fall. I know its hard to believe since it is snowing right now and we have around a foot of snow. I guess that’s what happens when its cold in Meadville.

starry eyed: Do you be⋅lieve?

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:56:56 GMT

In aliens? In magic? In love at first sight?

Yes, yes these are all very nice things to believe in, but they are neither here nor there. A quick definition search of the word “believe” turned up the following result, “ to have confidence in the truth, the existence, or the reliability of something, although without absolute proof that one is right in doing so.”

So what are my beliefs? Well here’s the thing…I believe in a lot. I believe in karma. I believe in progress. I believe in the power of the individual. But I also believe in bettering our society. Many people are huge advocates of one specific thing–be it animal rights or protection of the environment. Heck, I’ve personally spent a lot of time supporting the fight against breast cancer. However, I don’t think we should limit ourselves to one concentration. Why can’t we “believe” in many causes? There are so many issues that are important to me! So, you can imagine my delight when I stumbled across GreaterGood.org. This is an organization that contributes 100% of its earnings to a whole host of causes. Please check out the Charitable Partners page. If you’re mind is not blown by the number of organizations GreaterGood.org assists then you obviously need to look at the Results page as well. The latter breaks down the total amounts donated to each of GreaterGood’s partners. The numbers are ginormous. THIS is something to believe in.

A Look Into Tyler's World: What are you passionate about? Swimming

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 23:49:41 GMT

I have been swimming since I was 12, first for my Middle School, then my High School, and now here at Allegheny College. It has been a lot of fun, but also very interesting. Even in the short time that I have been swimming there has been a lot of changes in the sport because of suit improvements. Recently, there was a lot of controversy about the Speedo LZR and the BlueSeventy. After investigation, it was determined that due to the extra compression and flotation that these suits gave the swimmer an unfair advantage in the water. The result was that the suits were banned at all levels of competition: high school, college, national, and international. More information is available on the FINA website or on the USA Swimming website if you are interested.