The Future of Television.
Here is my youtube video...woo!
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Oh Werd!
Like all good addictions the medical profession spend their entire lives working to correct, I have no idea how any of this started. I picture myself as an eight year old child stumbling through an alley way amongst thieves, hookers and deviants. A bearded man stops me – this is the reason they invented mace, the ‘stranger = danger’ campaign and the tooth brush. His teeth like cigarette butts are lost amongst a sea of genital like hair, which disturbingly resides on his face.
‘Hey kid, ever tried word?’ he asks.
‘errrrmmmm, What’s word?’ I reply, as I slowly realise this guy is neither my mum nor my dad.
‘Microsoft Word – Makes you feel like you’re floating on the clouds!’
I woke up three days later – pupils like two 20 cent pieces. I was an eight year old Keith Richards.
The truth is there were no thieves, hookers or deviants. I didn’t float on the clouds and I wasn’t dealt word as if it were a drug from a bearded man, rather my third grade teacher – for those of you whom are curious, yes she too had a beard.
But from my perspective, a child raised within the 21st century – Microsoft Word has more in common with drugs then you would ever like to admit. Its endemic nature covers our society like a fire blanket – those who do not ‘use’ it are still aware of what Microsoft Word is. This is reinforced by the education system...ironically; we learn Computer Literacy and the danger of drugs.
Its files are constantly circulated and delivered from one person to another and are dealt through email and other such new communication technologies, rather than some car park in Beenleigh.
The addicts, those who cannot remember life without it, cannot survive without it...those with technological dependency – They check into rehab, they take the 12 step handwriting program yet relapse on the genius of ‘Spell Check’.
This parallel between both drugs and Microsoft word doesn’t stop there. Our very own government is attempting a program to allow each student at school the right to have his or her own computer. This means virtually every house in Australian society will have its own addictive version of Microsoft Word courtesy of the government.
Hmm...Now if I lived in America I would be asking ‘Does the government get these all ‘computers’ from Columbia?’
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.
Yesterday I was hanging out with a few friends just doing the 'usual', you know the regular sort of deal - Stealing cars, brutally killing innocent citizens and law enforcement agencies with elite automatic weapons, driving under the influence, becoming wealthy due to my involvement in the local underground drug and prostitution networks. Oh yeah, I also had an infinite amount of lives - I was like a cat interbred with god...what's that like 9 + ?
Who said video games were a waste of time?
I am a huge fan of the Grand Theft Auto series of games. Admittedly I'm lousy at the missions, so much so that my girlfriend has basically completed the entire game whilst I'm still somewhere near the start - Chivalry is dead right?
With operative, I operate this game all day
I hold a controller, connected to the soldier
With weapons on his shoulder he's only seconds older than me
We playful but serious, now keep that on mind
For online experience...
Yesterday I was hanging out with a few friends just doing the 'usual', you know the regular sort of deal - Stealing cars, brutally killing innocent citizens and law enforcement agencies with elite automatic weapons, driving under the influence, becoming wealthy due to my involvement in the local underground drug and prostitution networks. Oh yeah, I also had an infinite amount of lives - I was like a cat interbred with god...what's that like 9 + ?
Who said video games were a waste of time?
I am a huge fan of the Grand Theft Auto series of games. Admittedly I'm lousy at the missions, so much so that my girlfriend has basically completed the entire game whilst I'm still somewhere near the start - Chivalry is dead right?
With operative, I operate this game all day
I hold a controller, connected to the soldier
With weapons on his shoulder he's only seconds older than me
We playful but serious, now keep that on mind
For online experience...
I also logged onto secondlife and naturally found myself within a part sex shop part brothel. I ended up conducting a small interview with the owner of the brothel and was informed that her secondlife income enables her to pay her 'firstlife' rent.
She also informed me that she was married on second life and her 'firstlife' husband had no idea - I asked curiously what it was like living between the two realities and she laughed telling me that second life is the one that counts for her. It was then she tied some half human / half tiger to a weird bondage machine and began to earn her living.
What a 'second' life!
Friday, May 30, 2008
NCT Essay.
The Digital Age of Music Distrubution.
Since the creation of recorded music, consumers have been able and willing to share or trade music with one another. However, it was only with the invention of the cassette tape in 1962 that the music industry was subjected to piracy and copyright infringements. With the minimal cost of a compact disc recordable and the ever advancing capabilities of technology such as the IPod, consumers can now obtain a wide variety of music with no associated costs from either the internet or person to person file sharing networks.
Although discrete, the first person to person file sharing network was invented and put to use in the late 1960’s. However, the person to person file sharing networks we are familiar with were conceptualized in the 1980’s. These networks were not intended to be a mass online media library; they were purely designed as a communication tool. (Greco, 2000).
“While networks are old forms of social organization, they are now empowered by new information/communication technologies, so that they now become able to cope at the same time with flexible decentralization…”(HREF 5 Cited Castells, 2000).
It was not until 1999 that the music industry was introduced to its demise or rise, Napster. Napster originated from nineteen year old tertiary education student Shawn Fanning and his discontentment with poor download speeds and inconsistencies in the reliability of download links. It was then, the college student quit tertiary education to devote his life to conceive a server that would display user’s personal multimedia libraries and enable them to be distributed and traded worldwide in an audio format known as mp3. (Gere, 2002).
An Mp3 is the abbreviation for MPEG3, which in turn stands for “Motion Picture Experts Group, Audio Layer 3”. The Mp3 as an audio format proves to be popular within person to person file sharing networks as it is approximately a tenth of the standard compact disc audio files, thus making it easier to circulate and transfer on the internet. However, in contrary to other compressed audio files the mp3 manages to lose minimal audio quality. (Feldman, 1997)
Due to Napster’s innovative conceptual nature, its general format became recognized as a major influence on other person to person file sharing networks such as: various Torrent applications, Kazaa, Limewire and Winmx. Perhaps, the only problematic concern with Napster was it had sole liability over its servers. This meaning, despite whether Napster itself was copying music, it had the responsibility of what was happening on its server. Therefore, Napster was held accountable for the user’s actions. (HREF 8, 2001)
After its first year, Napster proved to become a dominant and successful person to person file sharing network securing 25 million users. The success of Napster recognized a potential shift within the music industry and its methods of distribution and marketing. Furthermore, the consumers were offered an alternative option and thus were uninhibited by the constant price inflation associated with compact discs. Consumers could now access music free of charge and without restriction of trend, supply or demand.
Furthermore, in conjunction with the affordability of basic home recording equipment, more underground, local, independent and overseas artists were able to market and distribute their music to audiences which were once unattainable. However, it is just not small acts whom are involved within the digital music downloading revolution as critically acclaimed bands such as Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails have released full length albums which were void of any contractual agreements with record labels and were only distributed online.
“You know, my whole vibe on Napster is, I understand how it will help life for unsigned bands. It is definitely a window to showcase a lot of bands [that] probably wouldn’t be getting to hear from a lot of these majors”. (HREF 9 Cited Shaggy, 2001).
However, not everyone has embraced and adapted to the new potential marketing and distribution techniques made available by the internet. This is due to the rapid decline in record sales since the creation of Napster and other person to person file sharing networks alike. In 2004, the Australia Record Industry Association (ARIA) recorded an annual decline of 6% in the sales of recorded music, which approximated to about 40 million dollars (HREF 2, 2004). In addition, many successful artists have expressed their aversion and frustration towards Napster and other various file sharing networks as it is damaging their annual income.
“When I worked 9 to 5, I expected to get a paycheck every week. It's the same with music; if I'm putting my heart and all my time into music, I expect to get rewarded for that. I work hard and anybody can just throw a computer up and download my music for free” (HREF 3 Cited Eminem, 2000).
Due to its breach of copyright laws and illegal status, person to person file sharing has certain legal ramifications. In 2003, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sued 1,500 people guilty of breaching the copyright laws “The industry group says that a handful of people have countersued, using a variety of claims…” (HREF 1 cited John Borland, 2004).
In some cases, users of person to person file sharing networks can be sued for $150,000 per song downloaded by the user. “Nobody likes playing the heavy and having to resort to litigation, but when your product is being regularly stolen, there comes a time when you have to take appropriate action” (HREF 1 Cited Cary Sherman, 2003).
In conclusion, despite being a limitless promotional tool for local or unsigned artists attempting to succeed within the industry, it does not seem rational or reasonable to harm the income of earlier professional musicians. Therefore, due to the increasing utilization of the internet within society it seems further experimentation is required by artists and record labels alike to implement a new business infrastructure that allows both professional musicians, unsigned musicians and record companies to embrace the marketing and distribution possibilities of the internet. With the price of bandwidth rapidly decreasing, it seems unless alternative forms of legal and paid person to person file sharing is created, the further decline of record sales and the recording industry appears inevitable.
“As soon as broadband is big enough, the record business is over. They will have to change or die... It's going to be about five minutes to the end. All bets are off.” (Hales, cited Elvis Costello 2005).
HREF 6: “Illegal music research report”
http://www.aria.com.au/pages/documents/AriaIllegalMusicResearchReport_Summary.pdf
HREF 7: “Mp3”
http://www.auditmypc.com/acronym/MP3.asp
HREF 8: “Not Napster”
http://anet.sourceforge.net/docs/other/notnapster.html
Since the creation of recorded music, consumers have been able and willing to share or trade music with one another. However, it was only with the invention of the cassette tape in 1962 that the music industry was subjected to piracy and copyright infringements. With the minimal cost of a compact disc recordable and the ever advancing capabilities of technology such as the IPod, consumers can now obtain a wide variety of music with no associated costs from either the internet or person to person file sharing networks.
Although discrete, the first person to person file sharing network was invented and put to use in the late 1960’s. However, the person to person file sharing networks we are familiar with were conceptualized in the 1980’s. These networks were not intended to be a mass online media library; they were purely designed as a communication tool. (Greco, 2000).
“While networks are old forms of social organization, they are now empowered by new information/communication technologies, so that they now become able to cope at the same time with flexible decentralization…”(HREF 5 Cited Castells, 2000).
It was not until 1999 that the music industry was introduced to its demise or rise, Napster. Napster originated from nineteen year old tertiary education student Shawn Fanning and his discontentment with poor download speeds and inconsistencies in the reliability of download links. It was then, the college student quit tertiary education to devote his life to conceive a server that would display user’s personal multimedia libraries and enable them to be distributed and traded worldwide in an audio format known as mp3. (Gere, 2002).
An Mp3 is the abbreviation for MPEG3, which in turn stands for “Motion Picture Experts Group, Audio Layer 3”. The Mp3 as an audio format proves to be popular within person to person file sharing networks as it is approximately a tenth of the standard compact disc audio files, thus making it easier to circulate and transfer on the internet. However, in contrary to other compressed audio files the mp3 manages to lose minimal audio quality. (Feldman, 1997)
Due to Napster’s innovative conceptual nature, its general format became recognized as a major influence on other person to person file sharing networks such as: various Torrent applications, Kazaa, Limewire and Winmx. Perhaps, the only problematic concern with Napster was it had sole liability over its servers. This meaning, despite whether Napster itself was copying music, it had the responsibility of what was happening on its server. Therefore, Napster was held accountable for the user’s actions. (HREF 8, 2001)
After its first year, Napster proved to become a dominant and successful person to person file sharing network securing 25 million users. The success of Napster recognized a potential shift within the music industry and its methods of distribution and marketing. Furthermore, the consumers were offered an alternative option and thus were uninhibited by the constant price inflation associated with compact discs. Consumers could now access music free of charge and without restriction of trend, supply or demand.
Furthermore, in conjunction with the affordability of basic home recording equipment, more underground, local, independent and overseas artists were able to market and distribute their music to audiences which were once unattainable. However, it is just not small acts whom are involved within the digital music downloading revolution as critically acclaimed bands such as Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails have released full length albums which were void of any contractual agreements with record labels and were only distributed online.
“You know, my whole vibe on Napster is, I understand how it will help life for unsigned bands. It is definitely a window to showcase a lot of bands [that] probably wouldn’t be getting to hear from a lot of these majors”. (HREF 9 Cited Shaggy, 2001).
However, not everyone has embraced and adapted to the new potential marketing and distribution techniques made available by the internet. This is due to the rapid decline in record sales since the creation of Napster and other person to person file sharing networks alike. In 2004, the Australia Record Industry Association (ARIA) recorded an annual decline of 6% in the sales of recorded music, which approximated to about 40 million dollars (HREF 2, 2004). In addition, many successful artists have expressed their aversion and frustration towards Napster and other various file sharing networks as it is damaging their annual income.
“When I worked 9 to 5, I expected to get a paycheck every week. It's the same with music; if I'm putting my heart and all my time into music, I expect to get rewarded for that. I work hard and anybody can just throw a computer up and download my music for free” (HREF 3 Cited Eminem, 2000).
Due to its breach of copyright laws and illegal status, person to person file sharing has certain legal ramifications. In 2003, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sued 1,500 people guilty of breaching the copyright laws “The industry group says that a handful of people have countersued, using a variety of claims…” (HREF 1 cited John Borland, 2004).
In some cases, users of person to person file sharing networks can be sued for $150,000 per song downloaded by the user. “Nobody likes playing the heavy and having to resort to litigation, but when your product is being regularly stolen, there comes a time when you have to take appropriate action” (HREF 1 Cited Cary Sherman, 2003).
In conclusion, despite being a limitless promotional tool for local or unsigned artists attempting to succeed within the industry, it does not seem rational or reasonable to harm the income of earlier professional musicians. Therefore, due to the increasing utilization of the internet within society it seems further experimentation is required by artists and record labels alike to implement a new business infrastructure that allows both professional musicians, unsigned musicians and record companies to embrace the marketing and distribution possibilities of the internet. With the price of bandwidth rapidly decreasing, it seems unless alternative forms of legal and paid person to person file sharing is created, the further decline of record sales and the recording industry appears inevitable.
“As soon as broadband is big enough, the record business is over. They will have to change or die... It's going to be about five minutes to the end. All bets are off.” (Hales, cited Elvis Costello 2005).
Bibliography
Books
Feldman, T. (1997). An Introduction to Digital Media. London : Routledge.
Books
Feldman, T. (1997). An Introduction to Digital Media. London : Routledge.
Gere, C. (2002). Digital Culture. London : Reaktion Books.
Greco, A. (2000). The Media and Entertainment Industries: Reading in Mass Communications. Sydney : Allyn and Bacon.
Lathrop, T. & Pettigrew, J. (1999) This business of Music Marketing and Promotion. New York : Billboard Books.
Taylor, J.& Laing. D.(2000). Music, Culture and Society. New York : Oxford University Press.
Digital resources
Authored Websites
Gowan, Michael. (2003) Apple's ITunes Music Store Is a Winner.
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,110991,00.asp
Hales, Paul. (2005) Record industry about to die, says Elvis Costello.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=22030
Mc Manus, Sean. (2008) Short History of File Sharing.
http://www.sean.co.uk/a/musicjournalism/var/historyoffilesharing.shtm
Un-authored Websites
HREF 1: “12 yr old sued for music downloading”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,96797,00.html
HREF 2: “Aria Year Statistics”
http://www.aria.com.au/pages/documents/2002ARIAYearlyStatistics.pdf
HREF 3: “Eminem – File Sharing”
http://www.musicunited.org/3_artists.html
HREF 4: “File Sharing”
http://www.cippic.ca/en/faqs-resources/file-sharing/#faq
HREF 5: “Google Books”
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=GqqPDLXNlbUC&pg=PA189&lpg=PA189&dq=%22While+networks+are+old+forms+of+social+organisation,+they+are+now+empowered%22&source=web&ots=SZowPMK7N3&sig=166q4T7bZ9ZDSYFVUtgRL3hIxno&hl=en
Digital resources
Authored Websites
Gowan, Michael. (2003) Apple's ITunes Music Store Is a Winner.
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,110991,00.asp
Hales, Paul. (2005) Record industry about to die, says Elvis Costello.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=22030
Mc Manus, Sean. (2008) Short History of File Sharing.
http://www.sean.co.uk/a/musicjournalism/var/historyoffilesharing.shtm
Un-authored Websites
HREF 1: “12 yr old sued for music downloading”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,96797,00.html
HREF 2: “Aria Year Statistics”
http://www.aria.com.au/pages/documents/2002ARIAYearlyStatistics.pdf
HREF 3: “Eminem – File Sharing”
http://www.musicunited.org/3_artists.html
HREF 4: “File Sharing”
http://www.cippic.ca/en/faqs-resources/file-sharing/#faq
HREF 5: “Google Books”
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=GqqPDLXNlbUC&pg=PA189&lpg=PA189&dq=%22While+networks+are+old+forms+of+social+organisation,+they+are+now+empowered%22&source=web&ots=SZowPMK7N3&sig=166q4T7bZ9ZDSYFVUtgRL3hIxno&hl=en
HREF 6: “Illegal music research report”
http://www.aria.com.au/pages/documents/AriaIllegalMusicResearchReport_Summary.pdf
HREF 7: “Mp3”
http://www.auditmypc.com/acronym/MP3.asp
HREF 8: “Not Napster”
http://anet.sourceforge.net/docs/other/notnapster.html
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
New Communication Technologies - 17-04-08
Scott of the Antarctic....I mean Wikipedia.
I like to think of myself as an explorer. Infact, my parents named me after one - However, I am not to be confused with those great explorers, you know the masculine and fearless souls who throw themselves into the depths of the unknown armed with bravery and valour. The ones who are prepared to lose their lives amongst the midst of discovery.
I am more like the random guy who sleeps on the couch at one of your friend's houses. The guy who is walking through Kings Cross yet clearly not aroused by the flaunted temptations of the underworld. The guy that attempts to stretch the boundaries of conversation and makes you feel as if there is nothing that cannot be discussed. These are my methods of exploration and chances are if you know me I report my small discoveries back to you - and because of this you probably know me as the guy who will tell you something so outrageous you will assume its bullshit but more often than not its true.
It's in this nature that I explored Wikipedia. I wanted to get my cyber hands dirty and leave a trail of fingerprints. Out of curiosity I became a wiki-vandal and so you don't get as curious as I did here is some of my 'work' and the time in which it took the wikipedia bots to paint over my vandalism.
This was 'true' for - 30 seconds.
I like to think of myself as an explorer. Infact, my parents named me after one - However, I am not to be confused with those great explorers, you know the masculine and fearless souls who throw themselves into the depths of the unknown armed with bravery and valour. The ones who are prepared to lose their lives amongst the midst of discovery.
I am more like the random guy who sleeps on the couch at one of your friend's houses. The guy who is walking through Kings Cross yet clearly not aroused by the flaunted temptations of the underworld. The guy that attempts to stretch the boundaries of conversation and makes you feel as if there is nothing that cannot be discussed. These are my methods of exploration and chances are if you know me I report my small discoveries back to you - and because of this you probably know me as the guy who will tell you something so outrageous you will assume its bullshit but more often than not its true.
It's in this nature that I explored Wikipedia. I wanted to get my cyber hands dirty and leave a trail of fingerprints. Out of curiosity I became a wiki-vandal and so you don't get as curious as I did here is some of my 'work' and the time in which it took the wikipedia bots to paint over my vandalism.
This was 'true' for - 1 Minute
This was 'true' for - 15 minutes
This was 'true' for - 30 seconds.
As you can see Wikipedia is far from a reliable academic resource, infact it is more like the back of the door in a public toilet - sure there is some weird and interesting stuff on there but you are not going to quote that in your assignment right?
Thursday, April 10, 2008
New Communication Technologies - 10-4-08
The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Production
It seems that often the perception of 'art' is closely linked with the notion of beauty - the inherent aesthetic quality. The most 'beautiful' colours coupled with the most 'beautiful' landscape setting, delivered by the most 'beautiful' and aesthetically flawless brush technique - this is what constitutes 'art' to many.
However to me this is the 'Mc Donalds' of art, the kind of bun-burger-cheese formula served with a smile sort of deal. This art is a lot more like fast food then you may think - It requires little to no thinking on your behalf and it feeds your hunger only for the moment. Its rare you think about how amazing 'Mc Donalds' was days later and it leaves you with no great deal of nutritional value.
In a similar fashion the forementioned art achieves just this - it places us within a strange space, we are entertained but in no way thinking about what we are consuming. Its what christians call ‘purgotory’ seperated from hell yet not in heaven either – this art is the background music at the party you last attended. Do you specifically remember it?
Personally, the art does not lie within the medium for me but rather the feeling associated. I am likely to enjoy music that makes me feel uncomfortable, inspired or in any shape of form ‘different’ to how I felt before pressing play. I like to associate with various perspectives within my gaze and think about the multitude of identities created around the music. In my opinion it takes alot more skill to make somebody feel something than it does to create something that is palatable which is only to be forgotten seconds later.
Isn't it the job of artists to open the mind of society?
Digital or Analogue, New or Old, Sampled or Performed – regardless if it was The Beatles or some kid in his bedroom on the other side of the world who calls himself ‘DJ Val Valiant Four’ I want a sonic rollercoaster equipped with the faulty parts the carnies have neglected to fix – The ferris wheel void of all ‘safety’ equipment. I’m over the ‘oh oh oh touch my body’ music heard on the radio. Sex is no longer dangerous unless you're unprotected...
Give me something my ears aren't conditioned to...
Give me music that sounds human...
Give me real - dont give me fake.
It seems that often the perception of 'art' is closely linked with the notion of beauty - the inherent aesthetic quality. The most 'beautiful' colours coupled with the most 'beautiful' landscape setting, delivered by the most 'beautiful' and aesthetically flawless brush technique - this is what constitutes 'art' to many.
However to me this is the 'Mc Donalds' of art, the kind of bun-burger-cheese formula served with a smile sort of deal. This art is a lot more like fast food then you may think - It requires little to no thinking on your behalf and it feeds your hunger only for the moment. Its rare you think about how amazing 'Mc Donalds' was days later and it leaves you with no great deal of nutritional value.
In a similar fashion the forementioned art achieves just this - it places us within a strange space, we are entertained but in no way thinking about what we are consuming. Its what christians call ‘purgotory’ seperated from hell yet not in heaven either – this art is the background music at the party you last attended. Do you specifically remember it?
Personally, the art does not lie within the medium for me but rather the feeling associated. I am likely to enjoy music that makes me feel uncomfortable, inspired or in any shape of form ‘different’ to how I felt before pressing play. I like to associate with various perspectives within my gaze and think about the multitude of identities created around the music. In my opinion it takes alot more skill to make somebody feel something than it does to create something that is palatable which is only to be forgotten seconds later.
Isn't it the job of artists to open the mind of society?
Digital or Analogue, New or Old, Sampled or Performed – regardless if it was The Beatles or some kid in his bedroom on the other side of the world who calls himself ‘DJ Val Valiant Four’ I want a sonic rollercoaster equipped with the faulty parts the carnies have neglected to fix – The ferris wheel void of all ‘safety’ equipment. I’m over the ‘oh oh oh touch my body’ music heard on the radio. Sex is no longer dangerous unless you're unprotected...
Give me something my ears aren't conditioned to...
Give me music that sounds human...
Give me real - dont give me fake.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
New Communication Technologies - 2-4-08
Utopian Societies - Could human kind ever become so boring?
Seriously? I understand why 'Hollywood' love it. But isn't it their jobs to fill our minds with concepts, notions and stories that are to be perceived to be more interesting than what is outside our front doors. Surely some find comfort and or hope in the glitz and glamour message of 'All is well that ends well' but unfortunately our lives cannot all be sunshine and flowers without torrential rain and an overgrown garden bed ridden with weeds (Not the medicinal kinds).
Existance is a binary battle - Creation & Destruction, Yin & Yang, God & Devil, Life & Death, Black & White, Saint & Sinner, Love & Hate, Male & Female...these binary oppositions run deeper than the Pacific Ocean and to be honest drowning has never felt so good.
How are we able to define creation without destruction? Good without Evil?
Without the percieved 'negative' how would we know when we had encountered the 'positive'?
I personally feel a Utopian society would be like a spoilt teen queen - After never hearing the word 'No' she is no longer ready to hear it, yet she is no longer that satisfied by hearing 'Yes' either.
And what is this fanatical obssesion about 'living forever'. Death is just a deadline (pardon the pun) we are all working towards - If I knew I was immortal I would binge drink, never sleep and spend all my time sitting around in my boxer shorts reading conspiracy theories and fantasizing about Krystal from Big Brother - ahh hang on a second....
It seems that for as long as we all think and act as 'individuals' a Utopian society seems more unrealistic than the movies it is potrayed in. The Utopian dream is the note the singer cannot hold and the joke we told and told until it got old.
Tutorial Exercise.
1. Who was the creator of the infamous "lovebug" computer virus?
Onel de Guzman of the phillipines in the year 2000.
2. Who invented the paper clip?
Samuel Fay in the year 1867
3. How did the Ebola virus get its name?
The virus gets its name from the Ebola river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
4. What country had the largest recorded earthquake?
9.5 earthquake in Chile in 1960
5. In computer memory/storage terms, how many kilobytes in a terabyte?
1073741824 kilobytes equates to 1 terabyte
6. Who is the creator of email?
Ray Tomlinson
7. What is the storm worm, and how many computers are infected by it?
One and a half million computers were infected by the storm worm virus.
8. If you wanted to contact the prime minister of australia directly, what is the most efficient way?
Post:The Hon Kevin Rudd MPPO Box 6022House of RepresentativesParliament HouseCanberra ACT 2600
Phone:Ph (02) 6277 4022
Fax (02) 6277 8495
Email:Kevin.Rudd.MP@aph.gov.a
9. Which Brisbane-based punk band is Stephen Stockwell (Head of the School of Arts) a member of? The Black assasins.
10. What does the term "Web 2.0" mean in your own words?
Web 2.0 is an encompassing term for the second wave of the World Wide Web.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
New Communication Technologies - 13-3-08
Am I nothing more than a vagrant on the super information highway?
What makes my opinions valid and worthy of consideration? Decades ago it would seem that anything that was given the attention to warrant being published and distributed to the masses was important. But its 2008 now and here I am on a blog with the potential to say whatever I like, the strange part being that I feel like lying to start an odd social experiment - Do people really believe everything they read on the internet?
The best part about this though is we can all be journalists. You, your lover, your adversary and the scattered guy that hassles you out for money everytime you're at the train station, can exhibit their wildest perceptions of any situation imaginable - lives can become 'press' all with the beauty of the 'publish post' button.
I'll admit I am infactuated with this...Although as I heard on Spiderman
'With great power comes great responsibility'
The power struggle continues...Do I use this for Good or Evil?
'Spam', telemarketing for the internet.
I've had the same email address for nearly seven years. Due to this my email has been passed around more than a strange smelling cigarette at a Snoop Dogg concert, which means I recieve spam that is so consistent its impossible to continually delete. Infact, today my inbox tells me I have 4096 unread emails and although unsure of the exact percentage, I estimate atleast 95% of that to be spam.
I understand the notion of 'spam' is based on probability. I think of it like fishing, the obvious bait is a sex associated product that is cast out into the sea of the world wide web and the fisherman wait for a bite. Who bites though? alot of the fish are aware of the scam that comes with this bait but some bite anyway, either that or they are oblivious to the scam - newcomers to the internet. Once they have taken the bait, the fisherman reel John Smith 53 years old and curious about penis enlargement into the boat and systematically de-scale him or con him into forfeiting a large sum of money.
In my inbox right now I have an email from 'Naughty Girl' asking if I 'Need a friend? ;) ' ...atleast I'm aware there are always plenty of fish in the sea.
Hyperreality & Second Life
The concept is interesting, imagine having a 'Second Life'. Better still, imagine partaking in an alternate reality, one in which you can abandon the limitations of human kind. Yeah, I mean being able to fly, morph into the physical form of some animal-human hybrid and engage in fornication through a video game like perspective, in which the perception of space and time appear distored due to the instantaneous abilities of the internet. Thank god sexually transmitted diseases dont exist in Second Life, although you may want to ask your cyber lover to wear protection, you know a firewall or something.
I see the success of Second Life being that it intergrates physical reality with virtual reality and human intelligence with artifical intelligence in a fashion that appears seamless. Similar to a mannequin that looks more real than a human, Second Life is the authentic fake...this is hyperreality.
So is it a game? Is it a reality? Is this the future for mankind? I can imagine human civilisation centuries from now, we just abandon all previous notions of taking to the stars and log on to say "WTF?"
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