Website

Making a website is not quite as easy as you would expect. Its not as simple as laying images together and then hyperlinking them (unless your good and sneaky and utilize adobe photoshop). The business involves layers, and layers are rebellious devils. When I first began working on my website I meet a lot of frustration and actually considered giving up on what my mind took for impossible. Eventually I did complete it, though the final product is nothing special, and to help future students avoid the same migraine that I had, here are a few tips:

-Plan out your site's layout (and each page's layout)
-write out your text before hand
-know the pixel size of all images you want to include
-Make extensive use of photoshop
-Don't put it off to the last minute, it's far too time consuming.
-Make it your own, after all this could be the only website you ever make

Pictures that White Lie

The existence of global warming isn't a revelation to modern society, but neither is stout refusal to accept it. I think the matter mustn't be categorized as a political problem, so much as a problem for all life on Earth. I chose a sheep to represent all of the human and animal kingdoms, because it is a docile creature and often indefensible.
The picture was downloaded from stock exchange but I cropped and manipulated it so much that I can only faintly recognize the final version in the original. I cropped the picture, increased the contrast, darkened the exposure, skewed the saturation, and added text. All this greatly increased the drama of the picture by making the colors striking and adding a dystopian tone. The sheep's faces are totally blotted out in shadow while the ground they stand on appears about ready to catch fire. In other words, it's too late for them to escape and they realize it.
I don't believe the manipulation was harmful unless you like to pretend global warming isn't real. The pastoral picture I manipulated is not fully recognizable in my final version, and no one is being deceived into thinking that mine is an authentic image of rural life. Neither are the dramatic elements harmful. They are too highly stylized to be accepted as fact and must be interpreted with regard to their message.
All in all I'm just trying to say, in a most cliched manner, that we could all be sheep for the slaughter if global warming continues growing.

Powerpointing at good work

The powerpoints presented in class on Tuesday were far more visually entertaining than most I've seen. My favorites had to be Alaska's and Will P.'s.

Alaska design was fairly simple and easy to follow. Her topic was digital photography and she took advantage, showing us some funky pictures that highlighted it's special functions. She spoke on elements of design and used an old man with a bicycle as an example. It's about time somebody did. Anyway her funky, and informative, presentation was as funky as she is. I must say: Good show Alasko!

Will P.'s presentation stood out for it's humor. It was about sex mostly, with some monkey creatures (Bonobos) thrown in for good measure. I liked his verbal adages the most because he spoke very naturally and looked unrehearsed. I respect that kind of bravado, especially for his topic cause who doesn't have an opinion? Like any experienced performer he left the audience in limbo before the climax of his show. He skillfully gave us a snippet of his sexy bonobo montage and then let the audience sweat in anticipation for a minute before successfully playing the slide in full. His presentation was plus plus. Well done William.

Powerpoint (minus the headache)

PowerPoint isn't my forte because technology is like Arabic to me. Because that doesn't make sense I'll explain: before starting college I was largely ignorant of both and I'm taking courses in each. PPT has becoming more difficult to circumvent as I ascended through grade and high school and into college. For me its a lot to digest, but I've discovered I'm not alone. Investigations undertaken in the name of CS 1300 have revealed that there are nations of people utilizing PPT at a level so base as my own. With so many in need there are useful articles that promise to return some measure of dignity to my PPTs, these are their stories:
Tips:
1) Make yourself the star of the show. Slides should be a sidekick.
2) Text on PowerPoint's should only contain the skeleton of what you have to say. Flesh out the details through savvy speaking.
3) Avoid complexity. Distracting animations and transitions turn the audiences' attention away from what is pertinent (hopefully this is the information you are trying to convey).
4) Be innovative. Give the audience themes and graphics that are sophisticated and not worn to death.
5) Consider the flow of your presentation. Look at all slides in the slide sorter and consider the logical progression of your information. Keep in mind that the less topics there are per slide the easier your presentation will be to follow.

Now that the clean business of considering ways to improve our PPTs is out of the way, I'll lament on all the dismal habits we shall have to give up: writing entire paragraphs onto one slide (let the audience figure it out for themselves!), inserting cutesy clip art (in a perfect world bunnies would always be considered appropriate), reading off the slide (why should I have to memorize stuff, I know too much silly information already), and presenting without enthusiasm (this is my default mode when it comes to school projects). Lousy presentations are awful to watch but they are wonderful to prepare for- because you don't! I'll miss rehearsing for lectures by watching Sportscenter and Spongebob but without sacrifice can we truly appreciate the good times?

The CLT

The CLT (Center for Learning and Technology) is housed in a lower level of the library. It's got a ton of glossy Macs and sleek video gadgets...almost like a tech. batcave. The staffers manage both electronic classrooms and TV systems across campus. They also instruct teachers in technological matters. So much power. Let's hope they use it responsibly.
Wonder where multimedia materials on campus are produced? Video equipment is managed? To go to loan out a video camera? That's right! The CLT (Cave of Learning and Technology).
Students are free to get a hold on these resources in addition to faculty. Video equipment, study rooms, and staff help are available. But be on your toes because you may need to reserve some ahead of time (more information at http://www.trinity.edu/departments/clt/about_clt/about.htm ).
An opportunity for me to utilize the CLT has already arisen. My Arabic teacher desires DVDs of her pupils speaking her native tongue in a couple social situations, trouble is I forgot my video camera and DVD formatting equipment at home. Before discovering the CLT I thought myself in a fix, but all I need for the assignment (except mastery of Arabic) is there. Assuming everything goes smoothly with that I'll probably return to burn some movies illegally. I'm kidding obviously...no one does that.

Excel with Excel

Before working with Microsoft Excel in Cs 1300 I didn't know much about the program except that it must perform some important function to merit it's icon a place next to Microsoft word's on my Macbook. It's actually a useful little program. Although not as essential as Word for everyday use, Excel's spreadsheets are excellent for financial and business ventures. The mathematical functions it performs especially caught my eye for this reason. Money matters can be messy and Excel does a great job of sorting and calculating data. I can foresee myself using Excel in the same real life situations that we did mock-ups of in class. It would do an admirable job of warning me just how much I'd have to shell out on interest for big purchases or on loans for a mortgage. Utilizing it for determining cost and earnings in business exercises, as with the KRTU fundraiser (which I participated in!), is equally useful. If I were to establish a primo lemonade stand in my neighborhood I'd better know just how much cash I'm bleeding on lemons, water, and sugar so I can determine what my prices ought to be in order that I make a decent return (luckily the most valuable ingredient in such enterprises -love- is free). Organizing figures in general is easier if your committed to Excel.

A visit by Chris Nolan!

No not the director of the batman movies! A Trinity Internet guru seeking to pass over his skills of web searching and site evaluation to the lucky (and rather sleepy) attendants of CS 1300 @ 8:30.
Because pretty much all college students use Google as their search engine of choice, the majority of his presentation centered around how to use Google more effectively. But first a tiny briefing on Google. Google ranks its search results by the occurrence of the words searched, where those words appear, and (their signature feature) popularity links. Google profit is derived from advertising certain websites, but these sites appear off to the side of the returned search and are not supposed to affect the ordering of results. However, the finer details of how Google ranks search results is kept secret so marketers, kept one step behind Google, can't manipulate the search engine.
What I found most fascinating about Nolan's presentation were all the extra tidbits Google provides to help narrow down a search to help you find precisely what you want. I'm talking about advanced functions. Only want a certain type of website (say .gov or .edu) or only Spanish ones? You actually have the ability to make these specifications. Not that I had any idea. Formerly, I tended to glaze over the actual Google page, spewing in my information and choosing the first websites that satisfied my not-too-high standards. The problem with this method was most glaring whem I searched for scholarly articles for school projects. Real scholarly sites tend to be less viewed than say Time.com, and are buried deep within search results. However, Google has a secret option called "Google Scholar", known only to those who analyze the homepage. Now the Trinity Library won't be my only source for academic articles!
Mr. Nolan touched on other topics as well, like how to evaluate a web page (check out the "about this site" tab), but the information on Google was the most useful for myself.

Faux Photos

A stunning, romantic cover of National Geographic. A fake. The Egyptian pyramids in the image have been moved closer together, better fitting the boundaries and increasing dramatic effect.
What's a little troubling is that just looking at the photo, you or I would probably have no idea that something was amiss. When I see such images in magazines or on TV I usually trust them to be true without a second thought. Who wants to go through life questioning every little detail? And having never been to Egypt, for all I know the pyramids might actually be that close together. Sadly, instead of viewing a landmark achievement of ancient man what we are presented with is a mirage.
But honestly is it such a big deal in this case? The photograph has been tampered with alright, but only minimally. The pyramids have been inched a bit closer and a little flutter in our hearts, heralding that common dream of romantic adventure, is meant to arise. Not a big deal- we are duped, but only to the result of reconnecting with our hopeful daydreams. What is troubling is that the supposed reality that everyday people are presented with could be a distortion of the truth. A lie that is almost universally accepted. Because National Geographic has, with this picture, essentially endorsed lying I say "booo on them". We need to be careful, wars have started because of such shifty acts- ask Bismark.

Credit to the Authors

Copyright isn't something students generally consider. Maybe I've pondered it cropping up down the road, sometime when my work expands beyond essays, but at the moment why should I care? Answer: Lawsuits.
The default copyright laws in the USA are extremely restrictive. Little activites using P2P file sharing (think limewire) carry heavy penalties. The individual is often pitted in legal battles against fat conglomerates, and who can doubt the result of that lawsuit.
The default copyright law in the constitution (title 17) is a necessary evil (though it needn't necessarily be evil). It provides author's (me, you, anyone) with automatic rights of ownership to thier own work once it is in a fixed tangible medium. Author's have incentive to create because they are legally assured that it will remain under their ownership. While stimulating creative and intellectual work is the bright side of copyright, the dark side is the overly restrictive terms imposed on the copyrighted material. Copyright will last the author's lifetime plus another 70 years. That right, even Mickey Mouse isn't public domain yet. These lingering copyrights become downright explotive when it comes to the ability to copyright typical English words out of the dicitonary. I think it is right for author's to own their work, but not for me or you to get fined $300,000 for using the term "entrepreneur". Thats why I favor less restrictive kinds of copyright.
One can opt for less constraining options that ensure you title to your own work and allow to others use it according to the terms you imply. The possibilites are numerous, but, for example, you could attach to you work an attribution non-commercial copyright, meaning that others can reproduce your work but for non-commercial purposes only (so they cannot profit off it). These alterantive copyrights are more equitable because they encourage a sharing community where author's and consumers mingle together rather than stand seperated by a web of legalities and decades old pitfalls. Author's will still profit off their work. The work itself will just be more accessible to the public, offering the author in return greater expose. A mutually beneficially situation where I stand at much less risk of accidently breaking the law and serving jail time.

Trinity LAN network Diagram

Man vs. Cyber

Computers are deep- I mean this metaphorically as my laptop is razor thin. There is a lot of business going on behind that screen and plenty of traps to fall into.
Recently Joe Hatch, a "Geek Squad" guy at school came into my CS 1300 class to speak on computer safety and survival. Much of what he had to say concerned cleaning our computers of unwanted junk so they don't lag. This interested me quite a bit because around a week after buying my $2000 dollar Macbook Pro it's performance seemed to degrade. This trend continued for a while, finally ending a year and a half later with Joe's glorious enterance.
Computers, it turns out, run slowly because they accumulate excess files and become cluttered by them. With so much information flying around it is tough for the system to find the proper one. Unlike humans, when computers are placed in such a difficult position they don't sweat, they run really slowly.
Joe went onto mention methods of wiping our computers clean and defragmenting their disorganized files. Programs such as C Cleaner exist for PCs to expunge unneeded files and Voila! No longer are you dragging your cursor through the mud. For my Mac on the other hand he recommended reseting the Safari browser. Naturally I did as Joe said and am now happily writing this blog with minimal lag and little frustration.
Cheers Joe!

Post High School

Wow. So San Antonio is hot! It isn't like this at all in Northern Virginia, where I'm from. There you get four distinct seasons: a muggy summer, pleasant fall, bitter winter, and vibrant spring. However if San Antonio escapes frosty January mornings of biting wind than I don't mind baking a bit in this sun. Wait- I'll be home for winter break. This is most unfortunate.

So before I left home a little over a week ago I worked at my swimming pool as a diving coach. An interesting fact eh? Getting a tiny legion of kids to focus on airborne acrobatics is as tough as anything I've done. Stepping further back two months I graduated from high school and immediately departed our country's borders with my mom and sister, flying to Ireland, where my sister and I figured we could finally experience a vacation that didn't involve hiking. I think we did about as much walking around tourist destinations as we had climbing out of the Grand Canyon several months earlier.

Back to the present, I'm glad to get classes underway. My CS 1300 class looks really relaxed, which is great because I'm horrible with computers and need to take it slow. So far all my courses seem that way except for HUMA 1600, where yesterday I experienced my first full blown lecture. Trying to sort out the important information from the irrelevant and taking decent notes all the while is not easy- I'm considering chugging red bulls before the next lecture. Its good to have a challenge though and I'm looking forward to the weeks ahead.

abishop@trinity.edu

Info Intro

Hey, I'm Aaron, I'm from Springfield, VA