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Americans Giving Up Social Life for the Web
Stony Stevenson writes “A survey into how the Web affects American adults has found that surfing the net has become an obsession for many, with the majority of U.S. adults feeling they cannot go for a week without going online and one in three giving up friends and sex for the Web. The survey asked 1,011 American adults how long they would feel OK without going on the Web and found that 15 percent said just a day or less, 21 percent said a couple of days and another 19 percent said a few days. It also found that 20 percent said they spend less time having sex because they are online.”

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Things have advanced so much in the past twenty years. It amazes me sometimes.
This morning, Diana () called after she dropped the kids off at school this morning, and asked me whether I knew that Taron was able to play with a computer while at school. I did know this, and I know that he enjoys doing so–I saw him shove a girl out of the chair so that he could continue his turn (needless to say, he got a stern lecture–as stern a lecture that a three-year old can understand anyway). They have an old iMac in one corner of the classroom, where the kids can play various interactive and educational games, while learning the basic concepts of using a computer–keyboarding, using a mouse, etc.
It’s just a little, I don’t know, weird, I guess, to see my three-year old son using a computer, when I hadn’t had my first encounter until the fourth grade. My encounters weren’t all that different from what he is accomplishing now. Well, perhaps a bit different. We did do the gaming thing, mainly Super Munchers, Oregon Trail, and Dr. Quandary. We also took advantage of using a word processor and spreadsheets. Obviously document handling is a bit advanced for him (like by maybe two years).
It’s just amazing.
I’ve been intending to put an old computer in Taron’s room, for him to play with, but haven’t yet. (His behavior has been keeping me from doing so–in fact his behavior has been causing him to lose privileges.) I fear that he really won’t like the thing, either, since he has gotten used to the comforts and features of a more modern computer. The computer I have saved back for him is an old PCjr.
Talk about being worlds apart. He’s been playing with one of the first iMacs, and I want to give him a PCjr… I’m sure he’ll hate it.
I had acquired the PCjr a couple of years ago. Someone asked me whether I wanted it, and I thought hey, that’d be a great first computer for Taron–it’s practically indestructible! So, I took it, played with it, (to make sure it still worked) tested the cartridges, and tracked down all of my old software, then put the mess into storage, to await for the day in which it would be placed in Taron’s room. Well, I think I should dig the sucker out soon (and track down a 5¼ drive for this computer so I can create a few more program disks). It won’t be long before Taron will need access to a modern PC, and I’ll need to show him a bit more on the use of a computer before he gets a hold of our notebooks or this desktop. Indestructible PCjr. with the funky chicklet keys to the rescue!
…in other technology and education news…
Students are using Palms in classrooms. And I’m not meaning in larger cities, I’m meaning here, in Cynthiana. I didn’t know this. From what information I have read, there are five elementary school classrooms that are using Palm Pilots. Wow! Third-graders are learning how to use a data assistant, tracking their assignments, and syncing information between their Palms and the PCs at school. I was just beginning to learn cursive handwriting, and these kids are mastering graffiti!
Another interesting thing that’s going on in Harrison County is that all of the teachers are blogging. Each teacher has an account through WordPress, where they give announcements on events, assignments, and what-not for parents and students to review. What a great tool! Not only are the teachers blogging, but the administration is blogging as well. I have subscribed to the feeds of three of these administrative blogs, so that I can be in the know of what’s going on within the Board of Education.
It’s just, I dunno, wow! Amazing!
And I can’t help but to sit and wonder what other advances will occur in the next few years, as Taron and Nivea leave the HeadStart programs, and enter into the regular school system. How will technology effect them? Will they soon be blogging as well? It’s not a far-fetched idea. I found a video on TeacherTube, where an instructor in New Zealand created a video explaining why students there are blogging:
I also wonder why I feel so shocked and amazed by this. I had foreseen this when I was a student, as did many teachers. We had all expected technology to enter the classroom, and that there would be a greater connection to the world in years to come. I guess that’s it. I wasn’t expecting those years to pass by so fast. I wasn’t expecting to see my son playing on a computer in daycare, before he had the chance to do so at home. I wasn’t expecting any of this to happen so soon. And it amazes me.
For the first time in my life, I feel old.

Okay, so I just found out about this incident, thanks to reading my slashdot and countdown feeds… curiosity got the best of me so i hit Google and YouTube. Some of the vids from YouTube are embedded below, the last being the most complete. All videos show different perspectives of the incident.
An interesting spectacle, to say the least.
So, Andrew Meyer, for some reason, decides to get nutty and belligerent at an event, asks a whole bunch of ridiculous questions, attempts to incite a riot, resists detainment, and gets tazed. And the only thing he had to identify himself when the police were able to remove him, and begin filing reports was a business card. Now, please, tell me this wasn’t a stunt… I need a good chuckle.
What’s interesting is to see all of the blog reactions out there in reference to this incident. There are posts supporting Meyer, posts bashing Meyer, and posts picking fun at Meyer, the police, and Sen. Kerry. I even found an entry where a guy announced the sale of shirts, mugs, and all the other wonderful CafePress junk, carrying Meyer’s plea of “don’t taze me bro!”
Many are crying police brutality. One quoted the right for a person to resist arrest. One drew comparison to Kent State. Kerry’s even responded.
I did, however find two writings that I believe are worth reading–one being from the vantage point of a fellow student at the event, and the other being another one of us random people reading the stories and watching the videos on YouTube.
First, an eyewitness states:

While the final question was being read, some douchebag ran down the aisle, grabbed the mic from the other side of the room, interrupted the kid who was talking, and started yelling at Kerry, demanding that his questions be heard. He started ranting about how Kerry talks in circles or something, and everyone was getting annoyed. The cops are all over him in no time and try to escort him out, but he starts yelling and resisting. Kerry insists that they let him stay and even agrees to answer his question.

After the interrupted guy’s question was answered, Kerry keeps his promise and lets the angry guy talk. This is the point where people started taking their cameras and phones out. All the videos floating around youtube start around here. You can see in the videos that his questioning gets kind of inappropriate, so somebody cut his mic. Instead of shutting up, he starts yelling and making an even bigger scene. He struggled all the way up the aisle, and started violently trying to free himself. They threatened to taze him and he wouldnt stop fighting, so he got tazed. They only had to arrest him because he was causing a disruption and wouldn’t leave peacefully. He wasn’t being silenced for asking tough questions, trust me.

The latter person, Jamilah Kolocotronis, wrote in reference to the negative comments being theorized about Meyer:

He is a human being who had something to say. If some people think he was annoying, well, so what? Can you imagine arresting people just for being annoying? There wouldn’t be anybody left.

The point is that someone’s freedom of speech was violated. Freedom of speech is an essential right–an inalienable right–which cannot be or should not be taken away. In the United States of America, people are not to be arrested and electronically shocked simply for stating unpopular opinions. Without the freedom of speech, the USA will become just another police state.

Interesting stuff. So, what do you think?
Personally, I’ll back the police. I think the twerp went too far, and he should have been grateful for receiving attention, and quietly slipped away, rather than throwing a tantrum.
What do you think?

Through the miracles of radio technology, I now know that Becky Barnes has arrived at the HCHS front office.
What fun the high school must be facing today with all the media attention.
I don’t remember there being such media frenzy with the deaths that occurred throughout my high school years. We lost a lot of people during that four year time frame. I think there were something like four or five car wrecks, a suicide (maybe two) and a guy who died due to liver failure.
I wonder where Rick is buried…

…and this is supposed to be surprising?

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Workers Cause More Problems Than Viruses
Technical Writing Geek writes “A new report finds that, for the first time, virus infections have slipped to the second spot on the list of computer security troublemakers. In first place— a company’s own workers. ‘The Computer Security Institute has just released the 2007 edition (PDF) of its long-running “Computer Crime and Security Survey,” and it offers some dreary news for overworked computer security admins: average losses from attacks have surged this year. More surprising is the finding that the single biggest security threat faced by corporate networks doesn’t come from virus writers any more; instead, it comes from company insiders.'”

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Like people aren’t doing it anyway?

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Trent Reznor Says “Steal My Music”
THX-1138 writes “A few months ago, Trent Reznor (frontman of the band Nine Inch Nails), was in Australia doing an interview when he commented on the outrageous prices of CDs there. Apparently now his label, Universal Media Group is angry at him for having said that. During a concert last night, he told fans, ‘…Has anyone seen the price come down? Okay, well, you know what that means — STEAL IT. Steal away. Steal and steal and steal some more and give it to all your friends and keep on stealin’. Because one way or another these mother****ers will get it through their head that they’re ripping people off and that’s not right.'”

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awesome… free news!

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New York Times Ends Its Paid Subscription Service
Mike writes “The New York Times has announced that it will end its paid Internet service in favor of making most of its Web site available for free. The hope is that this move will attract more readers and higher advertising revenue. ‘The longer-term problem for publishers like the Times is that they must find ways to present content online rather than just transferring stories and pictures from the newspaper. Most U.S. news Web sites offer their contents for free, supporting themselves by selling advertising. One exception is The Wall Street Journal which runs a subscription-based Web site. TimesSelect generated about $10 million in revenue a year. Schiller declined to project how much higher the online growth rate would be without charging visitors.'”

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Last night’s Countdown… I haven’t read any of the stories yet.. haven’t had the time to… I hope to read about Greenspan and Dubai… The other stories don’t interest me…

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Countdown Monday: Greenspan’s Bush Pan

Thanks to all wishing Keith well in his recovery. Keith is out of the hospital, and home recovering after his emergency appendectomy on Friday. Alison is in for him tonight…

Fed Up: After spending nearly two decades as chairman of the Federal Reserve… Alan Greenspan is kind of like EF Hutton in those old television commercials: When he talks, people listen. So when — in our fifth story on the Countdown — Mr. Greenspan seemed to state in excerpts of his new memoir, that the invasion of Iraq was largely about oil… people were definitely listening, and the fiscal guru created a firestorm, to say the least.
You Say Dubai, I say Hello: President Bush announces his new pick for Attorney General. He goes with practicality over partisanship. Did the White House blink or open its eyes to the reality of the senate confirmation process. And will the former attorney general scandal taint the new confirmation?

ODDBALL: Drag racing crash…traffic cam crash, and a moose gets milked.  It’s appointment tv.
The OJ Debacle: OJ‘s not so excellent adventure. Day number one behind bars. hey–you knew someone would start a countdown clock. After all, we could be in for another long run with orenthal james simpson. Our third story tonight.. allegations of stolen goods… men with guns barging into a cheezy vegas hotel room… and a secret audio recording of the whole mess that just materialized. It is a chain of events you couldn’t make up …and you don’t have to because they happened in the nevada desert.
Emmy Round-up:  It was a “green” kind of awards show…the red carpet was made out of recycled material…coincidentally, some of the winners seemed a bit recycled, too. However, the biggest loser of the night appears to be the Fox network, with Sunday’s broadcast drawing nearly twenty percent fewer viewers than last year.  Note to Ryan Seacrest, don’t wear costumes next time. At least not professionally. Britney? A no-show-good thing because she probably wouldn’t have made it to air…The Fox censors were working overtime. They DID try to silence Norma Rae and that guy everybody loves. Our number two story tonight…the Emmys. Our correspondent is Natalie Morales.

As the Spears Turns:  Britney Spears custody battle has turned really ugly in our number one story on the Countdown.  And she has reportedly been banned from a chi-chi restaurant because she spread food on her face. But the good news for Britney — compared to that, her performance at the “Video Music Awards” is looking better and better… Well, no, not really.

 

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I had a comment left on an entry, and it was in Russian… I have no idea as to what it says… I’ve asked someone to translate it for me, because Google’s translation doesn’t make much sense…
The comment was:
Я хочу выпить за то, что Адам не пожалел своего ребра.
and Google translated it as: