Project Speaking....

I'll type as fast as I can.. make as much sense as I can.. and get this blog in.. before the deadline...(it's due by 11:59p).. I've been home-sick.... all day.. uuugh! so forgive my overdose of Tylenol should it reveal itself...

to the point.

The group (I included)....(including myself).. myself and I... (and the group).. decided in no particualr order, no particular preference, no order to the random pick.. drum-roll, we are reading World Without Secrets by Richard Hunter. We brilliantly decided to divide the book into chapters.. coordinate our drafts/outline.. and at the end of it all, present our hardwork to the class. I haven't read it yet.. but my professor listed it on the syllabus as one of the recommended books to read for the group project. I'm taking his word for it.. that its a great read. I'll probably end up reading most if not all the books he recommended on there... eventually...but for now, I'll stick to the one book.. (World Without Secrets...)

Judging from the cover ... (bought it online for .53cents)....smiles:).. Judging from the cover, its the back of a man's head, staring at a bigger head on a computer screen...?!?!?.. its suspensful to some degree of light, simply by having only one side of his head has light and the other is in the dark.. if I had to judge it by the cover.. and only if I absolutely had to... I would say.... hmm.. since I don't have to.. I won't say anything about it..

from the back cover I read comments about "...it's a must read for anyone concerned about cyber security" states Dr. Bill Hancock the VP of Exodus.. Thomas Davenport states that Richard Hunter has seen the future and its really scary....

so.. even though I'm doing only three chapters for the presentation, its not too lengthy of a book, I'll be an overachiever and read the whole thing... I'm excited..

... I was going through the blog posts of some of the other bloggers in my class and bumped into one. pretty interesting blog... coincidentally she's reading the same book too....

A Virtual World...

Where would I live? ... honestly I don't know. I hadn't really thought about it, until my professor mentioned it in class, and told us to do a blog assignment on the topic. I'm clueless. I typed in virtual world into the google search engine, and the first link that pulled up was there.com,. On its into. page, it looked pretty basic, almost boring, perhaps it was the fact that it mentioned it was free, made it sound more cliche to the usual advertisements to join an online community, or just how boring the picture displayed looked..it just wasn't appealing to me.

I went back to the search engine, and an interesting article caught my attention. The summary of the article, is that a woman accussed her husband of having an affair with another woman in the virtual world. I was both humored and bewildered...Would I want to be a part of a free virtual world...? I don't have a solid justification as to why that's not appealing, the little I can explain about it, would be the fact that I just don't see the point to it.

Prior to my professor bringing it up in class, I'd heard of virtual world scenarios on Law and Order.. yes, the Television series.. well, on a tangent, they were trying to solve the murder of a female that was tied into some sort of virtual community. She had taken on the persona of a female rockstar, and was very popular in the virtual world.. she had concerts, parties, and the likes of real life celebrity acitivities.. including the fan club... well once she didn't show up for a virtual concert and her obssesed fan was very upset.. particularly on her promising they would go back to some hotel, (virtual) after the concert.Flirty-turdy, and before she knew it,

He killed in real life.. (on the series- Law & Order)

It baffles me, and I have to agree with my professor, that the relationships online are very much real. People develop an emotional attachment and act sometimes beyond the virtual walls..into reality.. I mean if I think about it,.. Virtual worlds are very much a reality. The people participating in them are real, using their real time to participate in what was created by real people...

>> I really don't think I would be a part of any virtual world. The complexity of real life is so much so, that I personally don't have room to doodle with the what-if simplicity of the virtual world.....

Feed>>Tacoma

A few days ago, we had a guest speaker in class- Kevin Freitas. Feed>>tacoma is a website that highlights the brighter side of Tacoma. Kevin started blogging in the late 90's as a way of updating his family that didn't live so close, on his daily life. More like having a conversation with his family via his blog/journal. The idea of Tacoma to many that didn't live in Tacoma was associated with negative media based stories. He decided to write on the good things he saw in Tacoma. Naturally, people were pleased to hear about his blog and fed more stories of their own into the feedtacoma section. The community bond on feedtacoma grew, people met outside the virtual world, conducted and participated in community based events...

As the first successful blogger in Tacoma, Kevin has managed to bring a great sense of community in feedtacoma. Perhaps, the greatest thing about it is that he does it all for >> FREE. Not a penny to take. It's ironic how many people would love to be paid to blog, yet when there is someone that people would love to pay..... he doesn't want a penny of it.... why? He is satisfied with what he has. His full-time job is something he enjoys to do and get paid to do. The blog is something he enjoys to do, and doesn't really need to get paid for......

I think the Tacoma feed is great for what it does/..

Despite the dangers.. why do we still shop online?

The two biggest 'worries' with online shopping that people have is identity theft or being scammed. Some have learnt the hard way while others haven't encountered any problems with online shopping. On my previous post I stated that online shopping in my particular case, was limited to books and discounted airline tickets. Why? well for the most part I really do believe there are several people out there waiting to get a hold of some sort of information that they could turn around and use for their financial benefit. Limiting myself doesn't elminate the fact that I could still fall a victim of internet crime..

Shopping online has several benefits, most people would agree that online shopping offers three distinct perks: convenience, discounted, and trendy.

The beauty of online shopping despite the risks it the fact that it allows 3d images on a pair of shoes, without having to wait for an attendent * priceless *. Or purchasing books without having to sort through isles in a book store the ultimate delight of shopping from the comfort of your couch. Save on gas, time, lipgloss, and the stress of traffic or finding parking at the bookstore. Priceless!

Online saves money. For the most part prices are relatively lower.. a dollar here and there goes a long way. I can't imagine walking up to an airline counter at the airport to buy a ticket... it would be so much more expensive than purchasing it online. I once logged onto my laptop at the airport to buy a connecting flight that would have cost $375 versus $129- sale fare.
yaikes.

Lastly, shopping online is simply the new trend. The market has grown in such a way that most business prefer consumers to shop online. Online banking is huge. Did you know you can have a personal banker -online? Its not for everyone. The older generation tends to be less accepting of online shopping for the most part.. they still write checks at the grocery store or to a friend, whereas the younger generation will use credit cards.

There are several safeguards that protect identity theft.. are they flawless? Not quite, nevertheless. they do offer some sort of protection.