spanky & co.

I've been doing my fair share of web surfing this morning. One of the kick bootay websites I liked was Vikki Lynn's. I enjoyed the color scheme (since I'm a purple-a-holic) and her chosen topics (like the L/X one). I would definetly want to go check out some more stuff about L/X 'cause she just made it seem so fun and interesting. I also loved all the pictures! Gives me somethin' to look at :).

Kate Davies was another cool site. It was nice to see pictures and learn things from New York, it looks amazing. I actually thrived on the New York page and wanted to see more! The music page was also cool since her taste is so different than mine! One thing I noticed was the not so entertaining task link bar (I need a better word for it, but ya know what I mean!). There could have been some pictures, or a button or something! Maybe I jus have ADD and need to see something pretty....

The site I thought was the BESTEST IN THE ENTIRE WORLD (or ya know, just pretty cool) was Emily Laing. I really liked her initial "Click Here to Enter" page...and then the survey thing that asked the most random questions about her (perfect pizza?). I loved her pictures page and the ones of her and her boyfriend were ADORBALE (barf). And on her favorites page, I liked how she made colages (sp?) of all of her favorite things...that food one looked mighty good...mmmmmm.....

i'd be a purple one.

so.........................

i took the quiz (the easy one of course, i thought it would build good self esteem, ya know?). i ended up with 15 out of 20. not too bad i suppose. my spider was missing a couple legs though :(.

and why it's important to know html? well...other than getting the official title of a "nerd", as my room mate has so lovingly coined me, it really helps when making a web page. Microsoft Frontpage can only do so much-and when a problem occurs, you can be a detective and sort out the problem yourself. It's sort of like knowing the math before you put it in the calculator thing. Anywho-there ya go.

you said short!

Now, that's one way to get me up in the morning: tell me that FBI agents will be in our classroom.

I must say that after the lecture Steve gave us on cyber crime and other such topics, I have been much more aware of how I use the internet. For example, he mentioned that some people can put worms and viruses into stuff that we download (like off of KaZaa or LimeWire) so that it spreads to our computer and eventually takes it over (like a "zombie"). How weird, huh? He also made it clear that it not only messes up our computer, but could also infect the entire network we're on...meaning the entire Trinity network! uh oh-was the new Kelly Clarkson song really worth it?

What was also pretty cool was when Steve was talking about financial crimes. Okay- well not "cool" persay, but interesting and good to know. I pay bills online myself, so I payed particuliar attention to this. Basically, people can be looking at us type in our passwords and account numbers if we are not on a protected site. Eek! This is extremely dangerous and just plain scary to know. We definitely need to make sure we are on a company site we trust and know for sure isn't bogus.

So some ways we could not get "spoofed" (as steve said) is to use strong passwords, and to make sure to keep our virus protection and firewalls up to date. This is probably the best thing to do because, like Steve said, there are new viruses beind made every day...so the more up to date our software is, the better chance we have of protecting ourselves.

man, those guys were funny. who knew southpark could be educational?

have a good week guys :).

if i were a comment, i would be on:
ana martin
nick del valle
madi goff

peace out.

I hate to do the whole "which was my favorite" thing. All the presentations were great...and I'm not just saying that because I have class with you guys :).

If I MUST say- I'd have to go with Elaine, my homegirl Jessica, and Laura.

Ms. Elaina~ I thought her presentation was persuasive...especially with the pictures of the little kids! Come on! It does not get any better than that! Who could possibly resist the persuavivness of adorable children needing help? The technology used was great and clear- which is nice, because the last thing I need at 8:30 in the morning is to be confused. I thought it was simple enough to understand and made me think for about a nano-second about the physical therapy field...but I couldn't, it's all about the music baby ;).

Madam Jessica~ You're presentation was just a reinforcement of why I want to get into teaching! I loved the animated gif you used...very cute. It was very organized and well put together! I must say though, I see your point on the whole social studies field...you definetly can do a lot with that.

..and...

Princess Laura~ Okay, well fine, I saved the best for last because you were my favorite! The topic was INCREDIBLY interesting and made me want to check out that website right away! Sad thing is, I'm very serious. I don't know about being persuasive, but it was interesting beyond a doubt! You're pic of the animals and the race was perfect as well as the setup of the slides. Not too much or too little. Didn't really make me think of changing my major, but maybe adding a minor :).


So that's all for now...no one could persuade me to change my major- music ed. all the way.

i'm dreaming of a man who's name starts with johnny and ends with depp.

After completing the recent assignment for computer class. I realized that I needed to send my desktop to the doctor and see how he was fairing in the world. Everything was fine off the checklist until I got to the "organization around the pc" subject line. YIKES! I am a clutter freak and have everything from random papers (probably a fire hazard), empty water bottles (weird, 'cause the trash can is RIGHT there), and stuff animals (don't ask). This is obviously not good for my computer and will soon be resolved. Promise :). Lastly, there was also an item that said we should take "breaks" every half hour which hardly ever happens especially when I have a paper to write. At least now I have an excuse to take a break :). Other than those things...my computer is A OKAY!

What did I learn about searching the internet?

Well, since you asked-
I learned that you can tell a lot about the domain location (ex. .com, .gov, or .edu). This can help tell how valuable the source is.
Oh yeah, something extremely interesting was how google.com performs their searches and ranks their results. The results are in order of the phrase that matches the material and also, how many links the website is based off of. So the more a website links to the search website, the higher it will be on the google rate system. A little confusing I know, but it's all relative.
I believe the best thing to do when searching the internet is to look at many different locations to verify facts that one has. Looking to see who wrote the article and how long ago the information was posted is also important to the authenticity.

So I learned all of that about searching the internet.

Good stuff it was.

Attempt No. 4.

This morning, my Essential Computer Skills class was fortunate enough to learn the basics and in's and out's of copyrights and the law pertaining to them. Our informant was the lovely Ms. Diane Graves. Her lecture was overall informative and interesting.

Overall, I learned about the basics of copyrights. They pertain to music, documents, and even ideas. I also learned that each school is assigned an "copyright officer". This person is in charge of informing the school of the copyright laws and issues.

What surprised me about the copyright laws were that Trinity is watched by the RIAA (the people who crack down on illegal downloading and so much more). Also, that Trinity is obligated to submit names to the RIAA 4 times in two years! That, apparently, is a lot more than most universities have to do. Why are we watched much more than any other campus? Something to definitely think about...

Before today, I believed copyrights to be something unimportant and over traditional. However this original theory may have been, Ms. Graves convinced me that copyrights were important when she related the issue to the work of artist. As a musician, I would hate to think of someone stealing one of my compositions or musical ideas and then profiting off of it. Copyrights are important however because they protect every artist' individual ideas and encourage fairness and open ideas in all aspects of creativity. It is generally much easier to create knowing that the work produced will be protected under current copyright laws.

Does this mean that using someone's work (even momentarily) is wrong? I'm sure we've all done it. Put pictures in our powerpoint or made copies of a book. This technically is illegal. There is this concept of Fair Use that protects us law abiding citizens from copyright jail and punishment. Fair Use is this nifty concept that Ms. Graves informed my class of. Basically, if something is used for spontaneous educational purposes (and can be proven as such), then it is okay and there is no worry of being hauled off to pay some enormous fine.

Now, I know all this copyright talk can be more than a little confusing with all of the rules, regulations, and guidelines. Luckily, Ms. Graves gave our class some great websites to look for information at. These websites (like FACE) helped answer questions and made it much easier to find what we were looking for. I, for example, and interested in the music copyrights. On the websites, all you have to do is click or search and it appears before you. This is much easier than sifting through endless piles of laws and rules. The information is also presented in common language and is easy to understand.

One of the copyright myths I discovered to be extremely untrue is the one that stated that individuals would not be fined or held accountable for the downloads but rather, the creator of the software used would. Do not believe this! If YOU download, then YOU are the one who gets fined (which happens to be between $13,000-$17,000, is it REALLY worth it?).

I just took the "Copyright Quiz" and I must say, some of those questions were quite difficult. Like the one about if you own the original picture, do you also own the copyright? I did pass though and even got a little certificate!

FYI: I've done this blog about oh...FOUR times. My browser would randomly close, or get redirected. Just wanted you to know the effot put into it.

Hope you enjoyed.

Oh goodness- It is unnatural to wake up this early.

It's all gravy baby.

First class of the day is Essential Computer Skills, otherwise thought to be a complete drag, but wasn't really that bad. Did I just rhyme?
The teacher is refreshing for such an early time. If she was monotone and walked with a limp I'd probably just throw in the towel and drop the course. But this is definetly a keeper.

So I'm a sophomore and a Music Education Major. Ever notice how when you first meet someone at this school, those are the first questions asked? Boo...I have my jazz audition today...maybe I'll get lucky and break my arm between now and 5:00...it's possible.

I can't wait to work again! I love being on bar when I'm at Starbucks. Oh yeah, did I mention I'm a barista..haha..well I am...so come visit me! I'm at the Quarry...and no, I won't hook you up...unless you're tall dark and handsome...

So time to go and fly back to Prassel.

I have no middle name!

Analeasa Lopez