Journay Entry #6 - Are you a Right Clicka or an iBook Flippa?

After researching the various differences between Mac and PC, I believe the Mac is far better then the PC. First of all, the overall speed of the Mac and its PowerMac G3 Processor is much faster than the PC's Pentium II proeccessor. Even when it comes to activities requiring large amounts of processor memory, the Mac performs about 10 to 30% faster. In addition to speed, the Mac also has more built in features than the PC making it overall superior.

Some examples of why Mac is better then Pc is because the PC is more troublesome.For a PC, you need to download all sorts of programs and usually they come in trial and merely take up hard drive space. However for a Mac , it comes with all the programs it needs so you don't have to download as much as the PC. Also if you decide to upgrade the PC to Windows Vista its like surgery and there are so many procedures such as updating the graphics card and memory. There are just so many downsides to the PC and that's why Mac is simply better.

There is no doubt that the Mac system is better than the PC however, I personally would choose PC over Mac. Sure, PC can easily get viruses, spyware and popups but I don't really mind having these minor problems. The main reason why I like the PC over the Mac is because the PC can run many things the Mac can not. One of the main reasons I even use a computer is for homework and for games and the Mac can not satisfy these needs. I'm not sure if this has changed however the Mac could never run various games on the PC and could not run programs such as Microsoft Word. I love playing games and using Microsoft Word for homework and since the Mac can not do these simple tasks, I prefer the PC.

Journal Entry #5 - Bigthink.com: Conversations about the Big Questions

http://www.bigthink.com/truth-justice/1864

On the Bigthink website, I chose the topic of justice and listened to an "expert" talk about this important issue. After hearing about what Kenneth Roth had to say about justice, I was rather dissapointed. This so called "expert" did not really tell me what justice is, he merely compared it to the respect for individual rights. In fact throughout the whole video, Kenneth hardly even talked about justice. In the begining of the video, he mentionned justice but then he simply drifted away from the topic to talk about the different kinds of respect for individual rights.

In truth, I do not find this video helpful at all but instead rather pointless. I wanted to learn about the meaning of justice and how it can be applied but instead I learn about rights of individuals. I really think they should change the title of the topic to "Justice and the Respect for Rights" instead of having the title be "What is justice?" I personally do not have anything against Kenneth and what he is saying but I would be more appreciative of his video if he not drifted from the topic.

I believe the idea of Bigthink.com is unique since it is trying to bring intelligence and interesting conversations on the internet. Sadly, I don't think many people will really go on this site to learn and discuss situations with other people. There are just far more better things to do then log on the site and listen to some random people speak their minds. I think the concept of the website is good however over websites like youtube and google, information can be found more faster and more reliable.

Journal Entry #4 - When Graphic Artists Get Bored

After watching the video of "When Graphic Artists Get Bored", I was completely amazed and could only think of three letters to describe my excitement. These three letters are L O L which means laugh out loud. In fact, that was exactly what I was doing when I saw all those unique pictures of hybrids and combinations. It is amazing how these graphic artists are able to merge two distinctly different organisms or objects and create an image with almost no flaws.

Out of all the pictures in the video, my favourite one is the mouse that is cut in three pieces and has an inside of kiwi. I really find this picture interesting for the image is practically flawless. The fur of the mouse is completely similar to the fur on kiwi fruit which is absolutely amazing. I personally do not have the ability to compose such a piece of art work and this is why I am so fascinated. In addition, I would have never picture the very idea of fusing a mouse's body with the inside of kiwi. I really wish to meet the artist who composed this piece of work so I may compliment him/her and learn from his/her excellency.

I believe the kiwi mouse picture is created by first obtaining the picture of the mouse and the kiwi. After, I'm guessing the artist cut out the inside of the kiwi which is the green circular part and matched it's size with the inside of the mouse. The next step was probably pasting the kiwi bit into the mouse and with the use of the blur tool, the artist must have blurred circular edges. In doing so, the kiwi and the mouse fur will appear real since the cutting of the kiwi is less visible. Lastly, the artists must have taken the blood of the mouse and using the eyedropper tool, he/she changed the red to green.

Journal Entry #3 - Pirating,Me Maties!

For the people that don't actually know what pirating is, pirating is basically copying or downloading copyrighted files. With the use of the Internet, anyone is able to pirate anything they want from music, games or even movies. Of course, pirating is illegal yet so many people are willing to ignore that fact to get what they desire with this easier and cheaper method. Logically thinking, who would be against buying a pirated movie DVD for $2 when it has the same quality as the real version. You can even download new movies off the internet without having to go to the theatre and spend $10. Pirating is obviously the better solution for citizens yet for businesses, they become bankrupt.

I personally am against pirating since I believe it is wrong to rob people of their business to satisfy one's own needs. Sadly, even though I know piracy is wrong, I conduct this crime all the time. Whenever I'm too lazy to go to the theatre or if I think the movie I want to watch is not worth my money, I usually just download it off the internet. I know what I'm doing is wrong however strangly, I never feel guilty. Perhaps I don't feel guilty because even though im purchasing pirated objects, I'm not really stealing. My consience tells me that I am still paying for the item however it is just at a much lower price.

As reservations go, I really don't hold back when it comes to downloading files off the Internet. Of course I won't go crazy and download any files and programs I can find, I merely download the things I really want and need. I love using Bit Torrent and LimeWire for my downloading needs. These two programs make it so much easier to download songs, anime and games since there is whole selection of them and I can just click away. One last thing I wish to state is: Piracy is wrong yet people all over the world don't even want to stop it. Pacific Mall is filled with pirated items however there are security guards and police officers there to protect those items.

Journal Entry 2: Walking the Talk

After taking the ecological footprint quiz, I was rather surprised to see that my footprint was as high as 6.8. However when I think about it, the results actually make sense. I barely go anywhere without having my father drive me and the times I actually do go out alone, I have bus tickets so I don't really have to worry about walking. Also at home I have many possessions that many people in the world would dream to possess. I have three computers and a labtop at home, three T.V.s and all the playstation systems from 1 to 3. In truth, I feel rather guilty for my footprint size since many individuals in the world dream to have the freedom and leisure as I do.

I feel that there is a lot I can do to change the impact of my living style. First of all, I can change my habit of going out to eat afterschool at restaurants and fast food places. I believe that I can easily change this bad habit of mine since I am merely wasting money on food that I do not really need to eat. In addition I can also lessen the amount of electricity I use at home. Sometimes I have lights turned on for no reason or my computers are all on when I'm outside doing something else. Therefore I believe that I can easily reduce my footsize by abandonning my faulty habits and work for a better living style. Perhaps maybe "IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 3.8 PLANETS.", however with my future plans, I know this will all change.

I believe that the interactive website can bring change to our future since it is because of this website that I am willing to change my living style. Also, the fact that after you take the test you kind of get yelled at by the site makes you want to change. In all caps the site tells the user how many planets the world would need if everyone lived like you. This simple message is strong and really shocks the reader since they would have never predicted that their life style would be so harmful. Thus the site is essential in changing the world if not by a little.

Journal Entry 1: "Halo 3" Be Thy Name!

It has been a couple of months now since the ever so popular Microsoft game, "Halo 3" has been released. However, in September when the game was released, it "ranged up a record-smashing $170 million in retail sales within its first 24 hours in U.S. stores" (Los Angeles Times) which is definetly impressive. Even now, the game deems to be very popular and enjoyable to young teens and adults. Truthfully, I have never gotten myself a copy of this game which is really strange since I consider myself a pretty intense gamer. The real reason why I haven't is because I don't own an Xbox 360 and I would rather play Counter Strike over Halo 3 for an FPS game on the computer.

Watching movies with friends and family is really popular in today's society however video games are just more superior. I strongly believe that most people around my age would rather play a game over watching a movie. Of course, there are hundreds of amazing movies out there that I would consider watching but I find games to be, just more entertaining. When I play video games, I feel an intense rush going through my body and it's just amazing. Playing video games gives me the same thrill as playing sports such as basketball and badminton since there is a lot of competition and strategy involved. To be honest, the only thrill I get from movies are the fight scenes or the really intense love scenes. Even sometimes when movies have an amazing story line, I'll merely applaud it and probably be hyped up for the next couple of hours but that is it.

People today are obssessed with video games especially online ones. I can say this because I personally am obssessed with games. I can play online games for hours and not get tired which is why I enjoy them and would prefer them over movies. However there are millions of other teenagers as well as adults out there in the world who are worse than me and would even skip school or their jobs to play online games (MMORPG). There is a MMORPG game out there called World of Warcraft and people make the game their life. I even heard that about a year ago that someone died from exhaustion from playing the game for the whole day. I doubt that any citizen today would go out and watch movies for a whole day and die from exhaustion. Thus the reason why video games have outgrown movies in popularity is since "People are just gamers."