online education

our "what is real" lecture was an interesting one. i have been amazed at how much dedication and countless hours one can put in on online games/activities. let me start off by saying that i have spent countless hours playing Xbox live but i have always strayed away from games like WOW or Second Life. i have seen first hand at how involved a person can get on games. my old roommates were both into online games (one like Counter Strike/Starcraft & the other one was into WOW). when they were playing those games it was like they were in an alternative world and were completely oblivious to the anything but the game. they acted in accordance to the unspoken world of the game. it was a sight to see. 

i remember watching TV one day and it was MTV's True Life series. i don't remember the premise of the program but they had a girl who was afraid to go into public but had no problem being social in Second Life. i had no idea at the time what Second Life was but it reminded me of "The Sims" but on a massive scale. after seeing the video in class and hearing the lecture the concept of alternative persona's online and having freedom of doing whatever one desires, it had me thinking. people are free to say whatever they want and in Second Life to do virtually anything (it appears). there seems that there should some limitations as to what one can do or say. i'm sure a lot of people get a rush off of being able to say whatever their hearts desire but it doesn't seem right. if you wouldn't say it in person then why saying behind an invisible wall. but i am shocked to see how many people are playing games like Second Life and throughly enjoy it.

"to each their own"

social media/networking serves justice

while browsing the internet I stumbled upon this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbSDQZxaYdw&feature=player_embedded&oref=http://www.youtube.com/v/pbSDQZxaYdw%3Ffs%3D1%26hl%3Den_US%26rel%3D0&has_verified=1). after watching the video and sitting back in utter disgust (to see such a power trip and use of violence ), I was curious to see if anything has followed up on the bouncers actions. low and behold after browsing the web, it turns out that Easton Byfield (the security/bouncer) has been charged with assault and battery, kidnapping, unarmed robbery and filing a false crime report. 


now how does relate to social media/networking you might be asking? it relates to ones ability to share/upload their experiences,stories, etc. the power of uploading videos to networking/media outlets  can be for the better or worse (the recent use of social media/networking in Egypt is a good example of it's power). it would be one thing to film the incident for personal keep (no idea why one would) but it's a whole another thing to upload it to youtube where millions of people can watch your videos. somewhere down the line viral videos and videos in general can wind up in higher powers (police, government, etc). it appears that many videos that demand justice seem to go unnoticed but in this case it turned out for the better. 


i think the saying of "big brother is always watching" played into the situation perfectly

penny auctions

while browsing msn news i stumbled upon this interesting article....http://redtape.msnbc.com/2011/02/heres-a-puzzler-how-can-a-website-sell-a-10-walmart-gift-card-for-26-cents-and-still-make-money-or-sell-an-apple-ipod-wort.html


this article talks about online penny auctions. i had seen commercials late at night on TV about beezid.com awhile ago whether they tried to entice the audience by advertising that you can get products for up to 90% or more off the regular price (from the get go it seemed like a scam). i didn't think anything of it until a week ago when my sister in-law told me she won a 55" HDTV for $88 from beezid. after talking to my brother later on that day i found out their process on their auctions and that my sis in-law figured out how to beat the system (she found the pattern of bidding). The way it works is you have to pay for each bid you place but it's not represented in how much everyone is really placing bids for (ranging from 60 cents to $1) but in pennies hence the phrase penny auctions. so the company sells a TV not for $88 but the total of all bids placed... genius idea to scam unknowing consumers. 


I thought this was an interesting article & felt like sharing....hope y'all enjoy

facebook a casino or not?

at first this seemed like a difficult question but the longer i thought about it, the easier the answer became. My answer is simply yes. Both these resources share many similarities which lead me to my conclusions.  The first similarity would have to be that both can take up large amounts of your time. You can get stuck at a table for hours while you can get hooked into spending hours mindlessly wondering friends pages to read their thoughts. The next similarity would have to be that you can spend/loose a lot of money. In the casinos you spend money on trying to win more money while on facebook you can spend money to win achievements/medals on farmville, cafe world, etc. Another one would be that there's always someone watching your every move. In facebooks case it's "big brother" while in the casinos its in the form of security guards.  While there are other aspects that separate the 2 which makes them so unique, I would have to say that the similarities win this argument.