Live Wild and Free

I remember when, on my first day of school, my mom had to tear me out of the car in order to get me to go. I was only familiar with my family, and the thought of having to integrate myself into this new society known as school was unfair. Now that I am a high school senior, I am becoming just the same way. Everyone is always telling me to enjoy this last year, because it will be my best. Now I am sort of seeing the lesson that they have been trying to teach me. Being student is the best position to be in. My bills; taken care of. All the doors of opportunity are swinging wide open, and not a single sole to tell me what to do.

I never have to worry about paying any bills. Right now my parents pay for utilities, a mortgage, and for the food in the house. Right now, I pay little more than my cell phone bill. Even after I get to college, I will still have significantly less bills to worry about than a person my age living on their own and not going to college. The stress just seems to melt away once I realized this.

The only thing that you truly have to worry about is your grades. Since I enjoy learning about things that interest me, like I will be doing in college, this will not be challenging. I am gifted with learning and discovery opportunities every day that I am a student. I could never see myself performing the same remedial task over and over again, like in some factory job. So, my job as a student learning different and new things every day is ideal. I will never have trouble getting out of bed in the morning to go learn about new and interesting things. Unless, there is a test that day, or it is a designated sleep through class day. It is amazing how lenient you can be when you are young.

The biggest benefit that I can see from being a student is that you are young! They always would say that, "youth is wasted on the young." But, I intend to not waste a single bit of my youth. I hope to do everything and anything that will not get me in jail or addicted to drugs. This includes sky diving! Since I have only done this once, I have already planned my next jump; and hope to travel the world jumping in famous areas. I think that all of this enthusiasm for dangerous stunts and the feelings that they come with are what people say accompanies being young and dumb. They might say that I think that I am invincible, and they might be right. But, I cannot pass up these opportunities, because I could meet new people and create invaluable relationships that just might come in handy one day.

Now, let's not complain about being young and not having a laid out path for us. We should appreciate being a student that can decide not to worry, can travel, meet new people, learn new things, and find our place in life.

Sources:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/NAU-Memes/109268799196919
http://www.groupon.com/deals/skydive-pennsylvania-mercer-1

Dat Schooling

In high school, all that I thought about was when the next assignment is due and who I will take to the next dance. The mere thought of graduating was just a goal. It could never become a reality. The light at the end of the tunnel was always in view, but I never thought that I could actually reach it. Now that I am at the cusp of graduation  all I can think about are all of the people that I will likely never see again, and how their role in my life shaped me into the person that I am today. One person in particular contributed more that some of the others did.

In fact he had shaped how I perceive what being a nerd is all about. I do some what consider my self a nerd. I get almost all of the gaming, internet, and computing jokes that nerds share. Although, this is not what I think makes a nerd. He showed me that a nerd is often socially awkward and can make all the mistakes that a normal person would. You do not have to be a genius to be a nerd. You might even only excel at few subjects. Yet, you must have the wherewithal to separate your self from others and devote a great deal of time to your nerd kingdom. Seeing as most people in college are like this, having these experiences will really help me with social situations with my collective brethren.

Since, over our high school careers, we had collected our brethren into a group, we made our skills useful. We made a giant project that we all were passionately interested in. This new video game would leap to the top of the charts and be everything that we wished that the games we already played would be, so we thought. Now, with our Legal Liability Company pending and our trip to a well recognized gaming expo on coming up soon, we have actually done just that. His contributions in particular have surmounted what each single member has done. This impressive drive has helped me learn valuable leadership skills. I now organize most of our undertakings. For example, our trip to Salt Fest on the ninth of the next month. I have booked the hotel and now am planing the development booth. Being the co founder of such an ambitious undertaking has also lead me to find my calling in college

Through our great projects, he has shown me my interest and value in programming and design. Before this, I had thought that maybe I want to be some sort of doctor. The medical field had looked pretty tasty, with its good wages and growing employment opportunities  And who wouldn't want to be one of Dr. House's assistance looking for a cure to some impossible patient. Although programming was not on any T.V. show like House was, I thought that it was just as entertaining. I made circuits and programs work together, much like a human body's blood and thoughts. But the deal maker was that I didn't have to worry about killing anyone, having lawsuits, and deal with nasty smells or bodily functions. In programming, I found that I could play operation on my computers and still feel the same sense of accomplishment as a surgeon that just saved a person's life.

Now that I have a solid interest to guide me through college, a company that just might make me some money, leader ships skills that could run a business, and a nerd kingdom, I thank my good friend Clayton Walters for giving me a high school experience to be proud of.

Sources:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Propelled-Bird-Software/333293663356661
http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2012/10/22/3527176/ot-you-got-game

LOLCATS!!!

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The Darknet/Deepweb

The World Wide Web is an amazing place. You might use it daily for services like music, social networking, shopping, and things like that. Yet the World Wide Web has a darker side to it. A place that people that are confident being behind a screen can play in sick ways. This is not meant to scare or repulse you, but rather to educate you and maybe make you feel appreciative of some public and government restrictions.

So, what is the darknet or deep web?

The darknet is an international network that is parallel to the World Wide Web with a fine line of separation. The darknet prides itself on its complete anonymous use and hidden services. The network accomplishes this by having its network host with no indexes. This means that web search providers like google will not find the sites on the darknet. Because google looks for indexes to label and add a site to its inventory, the darknet can stay away from the unknowing public. This does not mean that normal people cannot access it. In fact, you can easily get there with minimal help. Weather you like the underground experience or not are up to you.

Some services that are offered on the dark web include the purchase of drugs (LSD, acid, cocaine, heroin, and marijuana), stolen goods, guns, pirated videos and music, prostitution, pornography, and people finding services. All of these are unsightly calling cards of the online black market that is almost as easy to use as ebay. They even ship these thing to you through popular shipping services like Fed Ex, NPS, and UPS. Yet, a service that stood out to me was the hit men services. Some of the details of this service were prices for an assassination of a person based on their ranking in society. These prices were ranked from a citizen for $15,000 to a political official for $3,500,000. This is the dark market for sick gains and sick people.

For a place with this level of illegal activity, it must have great security to still be running, right? Yes, this network has anonymous written all over it. It is not that government agencies like the FBI cannot find the network, it is that all of the interactions of the market are so untraceable that they cannot find out who bought or sold the services that go on there. Every site on this network is given a random URL to display and then that URL is changed routinely. Then to add to that, the market uses a completely anonymous form of currency called bitcoins. Bitcoins are one hundred percent underground made currency that can be traded for any currency world wide. They are also special in the fact that the transfers of this currency is untraceable. These places are growing daily.

Some of these extremely popular websites are www.torproject.org, The Hidden Wiki, and The Silk Road Anonymous Market Place. All of these sites have been recommended as black market trading sites by online forums like 4chan.com. I HIGHLY DISCOURAGE anyone from visiting any of the previously mentioned sites, because they are portals to the darknet. Yet, I think that it is good for everyone to be able to recognize these sites and steer clear of them.

Sources:

http://thegeeksnetwork.blogspot.com/2012/12/deep-web-internets-dark-side_2667.html

http://www.sabotagetimes.com/life/shopping-on-the-dark-web-pure-drugs-and-plastic-explosives/

https://www.torproject.org/

http://kpvz7ki2v5agwt35.onion.to/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/08/07/online-black-market-drug-haven-sees-growth-double

Online Gaming XD

Online gaming has revolutionized the way that gaming is played. People can now communicate with others while they are in their fantasy environment that the game provides. They can play online on consoles as well as on a personal computer. They come in all ages, from the ten year-old to the adult ages. Gaming online has brought gaming up to allow for the massive popularity of some games.

Games like Call of Duty have become known for their revolutionary online game play. Call of Duty itself has half of its entire content devoted the the 'multiplayer' experience. It is often a great feet for a gamer of Call of Duty to actually play the campaign through at all. This game has also undoubtedly pioneered the competitive online world. Although it is far from the only game to have a competitive multiplayer, Call of Duty is the most commonly revered to game in this aspect of console gaming. But when you move to personal computer gaming, the most notable of games might be World of War Craft, or W.O.W. for short.

W.O.W. had peaked at about eleven million subscribers and currently has about nine million as measured on 'joystiq.com.' This game is the banner for massively multiplayer online role playing games, or M.M.O.R.P.G. for short. This type of online game play is not like what you would play in Call of Duty. In an M.M.O.R.P.G., people can play as a character in a world that is thoroughly extensive. This type of game is famous for taking the social lives of the player away and devoting them to their made up character.

You might see a forty year old basement dweller when you think about a person that would be devoted online gamer. And some of them are. With such a stereotype as a symbol of online gaming, is it good for you to play them, or will you inevitably become four hundred pounds living at home with no social life?

I think that it is true that some people take the online experience too far and neglect things in their lives to maintain it. These kinds of people are the extreme and are not by far the intentions of the game. But, I think that it is primarily people that do not have a thriving social life. People might even go to the extreme and try to substitute online social interaction with a social life offline. It is sad, but some people do resort to this.

Another extreme example of online gaming dangers would be revealing personal information. On online profiles, you have the option of filling in personal information as well as in conversations. People can find all kinds of things about you online and that dose not exclude online games. Now that people could substitute their social life with online gaming and there being personal information available, people might start to meet in real life. This could be another form of social networking. People could find other people that they have things in common with and talk to them.

Online gaming is supposed to be a fun and even great family experience, but do you think it is good for us?

Sources:
http://kotaku.com/5900342/fake-gamer-of-the-week-why-cant-techno-soldier-control-his-rage
http://isatv.com/entertainment/dad-virtual/attachment/onlinegaming/

MEME Your Face Off

Internet memes are far different form that Greek meaning that you may know. To further clarify what I DO NOT mean by meme. I do not mean:
Meme
a cultural item that is transmitted by repetition in a manner analogous to the biological transmission of genes.
(dictionary.com)

The meme that I AM referring to is:
an internet information generator, especially of random or contentless information
(urbandictionary.com)

The new 'meme' is an internet generated phenomenon that has spread massively. They mostly begin randomly. For example the 'scum bag steve' meme started when a picture of a guy in a doorway was massively photoshopped and placed everywhere. His defining features as a meme are his backwards hat, his fur coat, and doorway that he stands in. But, over all, his hat is the most significant and identifiable aspect of him. His hat is placed on all kinds of things, like on a person cutting another person off in traffic or on the Pope. Overall, the meme is used to show that that person or thing is being a 'scum bag.' These memes are primarily insulting and are not to be taken seriously. Also, I would be compelled to inform you that you need to watch out for places on the internet that have these. They can be very vulgar, racist, and down right pornographic. Though those kinds are far from common and are almost always taken down from the server that they are on.

These memes always come out of nowhere because they are just so easy to make. If you found some amazing picture and just had to make it into the next biggest meme, you can find all kinds of meme generators online. The best one that I can find is at memebase.com, because it allows for you to add different backgrounds and give it that great top and bottom margin text line. As a result of all of this free meme making, the internet is flooded with good memes, great memes, and memes that should have never been made. But, they are all at least interesting enough to take a look at.

Memes do not just have to be pictures that have great captions, there are some universally memes out there that are essentials to odd internet communication. Some of the most popular are titled as follows: me gusta, lloolll, troll face, forever alone, challenge accepted, kill your self, genius, and like a boss! These are all mood based and fit in many great places. Some ultra nerds also incorporate these into their daily lives, like some people that I know in real life that will go unnamed. For example a person could be recently rejected from asking a girl or guy out and cry, "forever alllooonnnneeeee!!!!!" Or on the flip side, they could say yes and reply with, "like a boss!" Just don't expect to have that date for too long after that if they don't like the ultra nerd lingo.

Here are some of my favorite memes!

Sources:

all images are found on 'memebase.com'

On Line Shopping

        

During the Christmas time season, one of the most common ways of shopping for your loved ones is online. Shopping online has grown exponentially and has many effects on today’s society. Entire industries have sprung up form this new demand. You can now have a better selection of products. Not to mention that it appeals to so many people because it is so easy. Online shopping has changed our global market greatly.

Now your local corner store doesn’t have a monopoly on the community. People can shop at places like ‘Amazon’ and ‘EBay.’ These companies can now thrive. With a thriving company comes economic growth. Jobs for these companies will grow to accommodate the new orders. It will also increase the economic outlook overall for the nation or nations that it is in. It will end up contributing all factors of growth like employment, purchases, and wages. This is a well-rounded, good thing for whatever economy that has this.

Now that, once again, the local stores do not limit your purchases, you can reach better products. Just the sheer quantity of places that you can shop form online these days has given people more options than they could ever need. They can also get their goods in better qualities and quantities. You can search for hand made high quality products that would not be offered in your local Wal-Mart. You can also order in bulk of these quality goods. No one can deny that they would like a nice quality jacket, but they would also be almost as accepting of several of those nice types of closes. In our greedy consumer society, this is what we all want and strive for.

To add to what today’s society wants with their shopping experience is ease of use. People only become interested in new things if it looks easy. Sad, but it is true. Today’s new operating systems and user interfaces have become more colorful and with fewer options that control all things. Just like that, the online shopping methods have become easier and easier to use. These systems cater to the lazy in all of us. This has become very enticing to all shoppers. While you think about your holiday shopping plans, the number one thought, now days, seems to be to go online and find the best kind of gift. If she likes it in red, but they only seem to have it in green, go online. It has started to seem that there is not anything that you cannot find online.

Now that we can get exactly what we want and how we want it, our ability to innovate has advanced.

Sources:

http://www.sync-blog.com/sync/2011/11/10-tips-to-safer-online-holiday-shopping.html

Internet Music

I pull up Spotify almost every time that I do anything on a computer. It has become some what of an addiction. Without it I don't seem to get into the working mood. It's like the ultimate addiction dependancy. And with a kind of demand that an addiction provides, we fill our music cravings through the most appealing method. Internet music is one of the great options that we have.

Music isn't always free like it is on Spotify. In fact, music on the internet started out by being payed for. The most popular form of paid for music in the last couple years is through 'itunes.' On "apple.com" they claim that they have around 28 million songs and growing for purchase. This great library is a great option for the avid music listener with deep enough pockets to fund it. Since most of us do not have the money or just do not want to pay for our music, companies have been sprouting up to take the price tags off and earn money through advertisements.

Companies like "Spotify" and "Pandora" have dominated a new part of the music market. They offer free to listen music to all users. You can pay for them to receive better service, like Spotify's premium membership package, or you can just enjoy the radio station like music that constantly plays. Although, some companies have tried to pioneer this part of the market too recklessly. A prime example of this would be "napster." These companies dance everyday around the risks of copy right issues. This makes sure that a song producer will receive just earnings for his or her music production. But, it has become more of a pain in the neck. I do know that a good way of side stepping this problem is to not allow for downloads of any music. But this is just all one big mess.

Having music on the internet can also be good for the music producer. We all know that in order for people to like your music, they must first be able to find it and sample it. So, the internet is a prime marketing place for this. One of the central hubs for people with musical talent that try to make it bis is on YouTube. Regrettably, the first person that comes to mid that has done it this way is Justin Bieber. He first started out in the YouTube community as this little girl... no boy that had musical talent. Even though he took a great amount of criticism for not sounding or looking like a normal male singer, he still succeeded this way. In the end what really mattered with Bieber was that his name was getting out there regardless of the comments attached to it. Soon the comments would change when an audience that liked his music was found.

Like Bieber, Psy form Korea was found through YouTube. Psy is the author of the extraordinarily successful song and dance "Gangnam Style." With the flow of the internet, Psy was able to jump his fame out of the confines of South Korea and all around the world. His bilingual song Gangnam Style appealed to the world with its new dance and out of ordinary lyrics. Even though most of us still don't know what he is saying when he says, "na je nun ta sa ro un in gan jo gin yo ja" we all still enjoy his number one YouTube video. His success might not have been as great and sudden without the internet sweeping him to world wide fame!

Sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/21/gangnam-style-1-billion-hits_n_2346358.html
http://www.jacapps.com/blog/spotify-vs-pandora
http://www.apple.com/itunes/

Why Facebook?

How can I find out what the score was for Friday's game? Where are the parties for the weekend going to be at? Is she or he single? All of these questions are fairly common for a teenager to be asking. So, where is it that they go to find out all of this? Almost always it is Facebook. Facebook has adopted great power in the lives of young people recently. But, why do we love and trust this new website to practically control our lives? Is being this connected good for us? Most of us know what Facebook is and or have one for our selves. If not, then your are missing out badly! 

Facebook is the new place that most young people trust to control the majority of their online life. So why is it that we trust so much of our personal information to this brand new website? Most of us don't think of it this way. It might be because everyone is doing it. The classic reason to do things that you would not normally do applies even here. This is part of the reason that the social media giant has grow so rapidly. There is often an absent minded trust when it comes to up and coming things. We all just want to be in on the newest and greatest things. Although, our trust towards Facebook isn't only because of a new trend. Facebook does provide some great profile security options. This allows for you to only let a group as selective as your friends see your information. After all of these precautions that we go through to protect what we do on the site, is using Facebook a good choice?

Facebook is really only as good as you make it. If you use the site to stay in contact with friends, family, or anyone that is important to you, then I would say that the social service is worth wile for you. Although, there are some instances that Facebook can and has caused some harm. Its problems can be as small as reducing productivity in a work place to as bad as some creep stalking you. One colossal example of a recent event that shows how Facebook can be used for destruction is when the Egyptian government was over thrown! While the Egyptian rebels started to bring people to protest by shouting on the streets, young people in the same nation began to provoke the same message through Facebook. The rebellion then grew to over power Cairo, the capital city of Egypt. Once the Egyptian government knew about the use of Facebook in this way, Facebook.com was blocked nationally in order to help to control the uprising. Yet the word had already been spread and a soon to be successful overtaking was well underway.

This new form of social connectivity has made a new name for this generation. I personally love Facebook and all that it can offer in meeting new people to have fun with, or to meet the right people to get things accomplished with.  The use of Facebook is mostly opinion based, so it only matters if you like the impact of Facebook.

References:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/9557703/Mother-learnt-of-daughters-death-through-Facebook.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/11/egypt-facebook-revolution-wael-ghonim_n_822078.html

Hacking Information

One of the fastest growing internet trends is the hacking community and their victims. There are about 7 billion people in this world, and about 1.4 million of them are some sort of hacker! It is time for you to gain at least some know-how of what a hack is and what you can or cannot do.

OK, this is NOT HARD. I will not suggest anything that will make you say, "wwhhhaaattttttt." Give it a try.

A "hacker" according to dictionary.com is-

 Computer Slang.

a.

a computer enthusiast.

b.

a microcomputer user who attempts to gain unauthorized access to proprietary computer systems.

Essentially, it is someone who wants access to your personal stuff. The kinds of ways that this person can "attack" you are through your local network (home wifi), an online network, and a physical hardware. These are the basic ways that anyone can contact you.

First, let’s start ultra-simple. Your physical hardware refers to your computer its self. The attacker could sit at your computer and start to type in a password guess, or have already deduced what it could be. You can protect yourself from this by using a long password, special symbols, capital letters, lower case letters, and numbers. Though it might be hard to remember, commit to having a great password.

Some examples of great passwords are:

My~4w3S0me*P4ss

F1uffY+M3=:-)

Now that you are all hooked up with an amazing password that not even your twin sister would guess, you are ten times safer. Unfortunately  a professional hacker could still get in psychically by plugging in a flash drive and wreaking havoc. There are no simple solutions to this problem so we will just move on.

The next point of access for a potential hacker is in your local network. Your local network is based in your internet or wifi modem. You can access the modem control panel by typing "http://192.168.1.1" in to your URL while you are connected to it. The real weakness is primarily with wifi modems. If you can see your home network from your driveway, then so can a creeper next door. The password on your home wifi mush be strong. You can refer to the password help in the previous section to improve your wifi password. Even though you could have a great password, your wifi could still be vulnerable. The type of password encryption that your wifi is set to mattes just as much as a strong password. There will be settings in the control panel that will say something like "wpa, wpa, and wpa2." Some of these are weaker than others. The "wpe" is the weakest with "wpa" and "wpa2" being subsequently stronger. Use the "wpa2" encryption if possible. Yet again, even if you have the best encryption and password, it can be cracked eventually by a professional hacker.

Lastly, you can be exploited through the world wide network known as the internet. Hackers can attack virtually anywhere from the point that you open your internet application. Your best hopes are to get internet security or an anti-virus. These are what keep the majority of normal people safe. Some brands like McAfee

and Norton are mediocre. I recommend Kaspersky Anti-Virus. This is one of the more expensive ones for good reason, because it can stop way more attacks than the others. Other than a basic security system, there are little more easy steps that you can perform to protect yourself.

HAVE YOU BEEN HACKED BEFORE?

Supporting web sites:

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread832415/pg1

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hacker?s=t

http://usa.kaspersky.com/?domain=kaspersky.com