This Year....C-R-A-Z-Y

Its hard to believe that this year is rapidly coming to a close. Quick recap of the semester:

-Became a father

-2 Career fairs

-Interviewed with 6 companies

-Accepted an offer for a full time job after graduation

-Family reunion over Thanksgiving

-Finished 2 major projects for school

Wow...I can't believe that I am still alive after all of that! So much has happened, but I do believe that I have gained a TON of knowledge that I will take with me and use in the future.

I loved learning about the Open Source communities through my final project, and the possibility of connecting with so many people through projects and forums.

I enjoyed sharing my computing knowledge with others, including Boolean logic, AI, hacking, and copyright.

I appreciated the ability to channel my learning myself, and research nuclear bombs, databases, altruism, and various digital literacy labs.

The class was set up flawlessly. From self directed learning, to the meshing of digital culture and historic content, it all worked together perfectly.

I really really really really really really really really enjoyed this class. I normally do not enjoy history classes at all. The first civilization course I took was absolute torture. However, once I learned about a course that emphasizes digital literacy, I took notice. I was intrigued, and I wanted to be a part of it! As an Information Technology major, I find so much more satisfaction in learning about modern technologies than about past problems.

All in all...I loved this class, and I would take it again in a heartbeat!

What have I done?

What have I done for my project:

• Set up google site
• Manage Google Site
• Import CaTB text to site
• Create Wiki
• Create Wordle
• Read article and take main points
• Create 'Best of Page'
• Create Webslides (for presentation)

Enough? Probably not...but its a start!

Final Presentation

Wow...again, time eludes me. Thanksgiving was pretty crazy and hectic, and I am finally getting back to normal...now I just have to catch up on my blog posts and finish this class strong!

Here is our presentation!

We are presenting on remixes, specifically the Cathedral and the Bazaar.

The Cathedral and the Bazaar has a very interesting concept and back story. Eric Raymond initially thought that software products needed to be built like a Cathedral. It should be extremely grand and secretive. Only the architects have access to HOW it was built and HOW to maintain it. However, the Open source movement is overcoming the software industry. Instead of a grand cathedral, development is more like a bazaar, thousands of people, yelling, trading, and sharing information. This bazaar may seem disorganized and unsuccessful, but it is completely opposite. Eric present 19 points on how the bazaar is better than the cathedral.

Eric initially wrote this article as a petition to a company called Netscape, pleading for them to release their cathedral, Mozilla, to the public and turn it into a bazaar. Netscape eventually did, and they have been EXTREMELY successful ever since. Mozilla has turned into one of the top web browsers with a development department as big as the world. Over 2 billion Add-ons have been downloaded for Firefox!

Our presentation will be able to positives of Open Source, as Eric explains. We will show examples of how we remixed his article, because of the Open Publication license which he has. Finally, we will show the POSSIBILITIES that exist due to Openness.

Taken from Daniel Zapalla

Go team!

Going Nuclear!

I'm going to try and hit 2 birds with one stone and talk about Nuclear Technologies...this will cover the past 2 classes! Woohoo!

So, first off, a little history.

I am going to begin with a lesser known scientist who was responsible for the Manhattan Project. Leo Szilard. Szilard was a Hungarian scientist who initially conceived the idea of a nuclear chain reaction. He was working in New York with Enrico Fermi when they successfully executed a chain reaction using uranium.

Einstein, left -- Szilard, right

During this same time, the Germans were also working on developing a chain reaction, which would lead to nuclear weapons. Szilard knew of the danger if the Germans developed this technology first, so he wrote a letter to FDR telling him of this problem and encouraged the development of a program to get there first. Since Szilard wasn't very famous, he approached fellow scientist, Albert Einstein and convinced him to sign the lettter.

"I really only acted as a mail box. They (Szilard, et al) brought me a finished letter and I simply signed it" -- Einstetin to his biographer Antonia Vallentin (source)

With Einstein's fame attached to the project, FDR approved the formation of the Manhattan Project.

la la la ---- scientific stuff happens ----

Now we are in the middle of the second World War. The European Axis have been fighting in Europe for more than 3 years. American enters the war, and launches D Day. The war finally ends in Europe 11 months after D Day with the surrender of Germany.

Unfortunately, Japan was still in the war. Ever since Pearl Harbor in 1941, the US had been fighting them in the Pacific Seas. Those battles had been waging for 4 years, and there was still no clear victor.

Now we get into a bunch of debated history --- Why did we drop the Atom Bomb?

I'll let you decide you're own opinion, but here is the general explanation of why we did:

1. Japan had countless ground troops. An invasion similar to D Day would cause exponential causalities.

In a nutshell, that is the major point. Japan had over 9 million infantry that would be waiting on the beaches if we invaded. If the war in Europe lasted almost 4 years and the war in the Pacific had already lasted 4 years, how long would it take to overcome Japan?

On July 26th, Truman basically told Japan to surrender or else("the inevitable and complete destruction of the Japanese armed forces and just as inevitably the utter devastation of the Japanese homeland"). They rejected the ultimatum 2 days later.

So, we decide to drop a bomb on them. Not just any bomb---a unique, one of a kind bomb. There was literally NONE like it in the world. Dubbed 'Little Boy', it contained only 65 kg (135 lbs) of uranium and 2200+ kg of other stuff. It was dropped, and the world took notice.

The amazing part of the following events was this: Japan DIDN'T SURRENDER!

Again Truman told them to surrender or "they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth."

Well, they ignored the request for unconditional surrender again...guess what happened....

We dropped another bomb, Fat Man, and after that, Japan surrendered.

Little boy, meet Fat Man

Total, over 250,000 people were killed because of the bombings within the first 4 months after the bombings, with countless more coming the following years.

Will I be able to continue this? If not, here are my random thoughts:

FDR is the man. elected to 4 presidential terms, even with polio.

The reason I am fascinated with the atomic bombs (I write every term paper, free response, research paper on WWII or the atomic bombs) is because the first was dropped on my birthday---40 years earlier.

I also learned about Leo Szilard because I served in Hungary and I like looking for obscure hungarian inventors --- the Rubik's cube, ballpoint pen, and nuclear chain reactor---nice resume

Blog Review -- Bio Mole Reflections

As part of the midterm review, I am reviewing a fellow digital civilization-ite's blog.

Brian Early's Reflections of a Bio Mole

1. understand western civilization in terms of themes, ideas, events, people, and works.

Brian seems to really understand the western civilization aspect of the class. He really caught on with Economics and liken what the history taught him about Keynesian Economics and likened it to the present day troubles and problems. This is only one of the instances of his understanding, I feel he really gets the class in that regard.

2. understand basic computing concepts and digital culture and relate them to history

I really wanted to only positive things in my blog review, but I really couldn't find any instances of Brian understanding basic computing concepts. I think that this criteria is more on a non-blog basis, because I am sure that Brian has understood these things, he just hasn't blogged about it because it isn't his forte. I'm not saying thats a bad thing, I think its great! That's probably why he actually has people comment on his blog as opposed to mine....

3. take control of and manage my own learning in three areas: Create(independently seek out information), Consume(generate varied types of content), Connect (share both in person and online)

Brian has done an excellent job of this. He found additional quotations about Carl Jung, explained moderism using additional sources and trains of thought, likened a book he read to monopoly, connected with the digital world for crowd sourcing techniques, and discussed his final project on localizing our digital labs.

Way to go Brian!

Reflective Post

So here I am, more than a month from my previous reflective blog post. How have I fared?

Looking back, I got really bogged down with the birth of my daughter. I thought that after a couple weeks I would get back into the swing of things, but boy was I wrong!

Not only have I been behind because of a lack of sleep...but I have done job interviews (local and on-site), received job offers, worried about my family's future, worked on other class projects, read a required book about Altruism, began a final project for this class, planned multiple ward activities (as activities committee chair) and successfully fallen behind in all my classes.

Now, I'm not saying this to justify, only to inform. I thought life would get slower, but it has only picked up pace!

Even all that being said, once I made the commitment to write in my blog everyday, I have noticed a significant change. I feel like I am getting more out of my posts, research, and class. I know I know, its taken me long enough, right? I feel that this class is a learning experience even for me.

When we talked about the missionaries who blog from the MTC as their mission, I felt an understanding. Bro Burton talked about how the missionaries take some time to grow into their blogging abilities. It isn't something that most people can just do naturally...it takes work and it takes time. Maybe one of these reflective posts I can claim that I am perfect in this class, blogging, and researching on my own....maybe...

So, here's my criteria for grading myself:

1. understand western civilization in terms of themes, ideas, events, people, and works.

Well...I would say I do this pretty well. I tend to learn a lot from the readings and self directed learning due to my lack of knowledge in the area...and my general distaste for the subject.

2. understand basic computing concepts and digital culture and relate them to history

This is where I rock (at least I think so). I really grasp the computing concepts because its what I do for a living, and I really enjoy it. AND, I seem to notice trends in how they are presented such that I can make correlations to the past from the present.

3. take control of and manage my own learning in three areas: Create(independently seek out information), Consume(generate varied types of content), Connect (share both in person and online)

This is the tough one, at least for me. It is difficult sometimes to find quality information on the internet, because of its broad nature. You tell me to catch a teaspoon of information while turning the fire hose on full blast and pointing it directly at me. I feel that once I am able to find the information and process it, that I have to write a coherent post on everything I learned.

That was my mentality----but it has changed. That mentality got me 10 blog posts behind and uber stressed. What I realized was that I need to know everything! Nor do I have to write everything! I learned about micro blogging. Now most peoples micro blogging are twitter-length blog posts. For me, telling myself I need to micro blog keeps my thought process down and allows to write a good blog post that I don't stress about. Granted, the post is usually longer than a normal micro-blog, but the idea of restricting my mind has helped me to focus the fire hose and get some quality information out of it.

All in all...I feel that I am progressing. I know that was a long explanation to a short question, but I feel that I am getting better with every passing blog post. It is a work in progress and I am far from perfect, but I feel good....although maybe I'll be editing this after the interview and taking my positive words back...

Romanticism and Hacking

I loved what Professor Zappalla said in his blog post about Romanticism and Hacking.
"Hacking really is about beauty...Hackers at heart are idealists. They write code to create beauty. They pursue freedom because proprietary code creates an unaesthetic inefficiency. They believe that they should not have to waste time on trivialities, but devote their full attention to solving hard problems and making the world a better place. They value the authentic achievement over the cheap imitation."

I believe that hackers don't have to be code writers to create this beauty or achieve this freedom. A very important and popular form of hacking is called 'Social Engineering.' No matter how much precautions you put into place around some type of information, the weakest link is the person guarding it. You. This is when you get the information you need from a person, not through hacking the system.

Social Engineering at its best...from here

Kevin Mitnick is considered to be one of the greatest social engineers, and hackers, of the modern era. He used the art of deception, and the weakness of people, to gain access to numerous systems. At the time of his arrest, he was the most wanted computer criminal in the US.

After he served his time, he has become a security consultant and lecturer around the world. Here is a quick video explaing Social engineering. After a short introduction, Kevin himself describes a time he hacked into a Hollywood telephone company central office with a friend.

Computing Intelligence

I wrote a blog post a while back about using Artificial Intelligence for playing chess....

In the past 20 years, as the Information Technology realm has developed, technology has grown by leaps and bounds. In 1981, the first IBM personal computer was launched. It had a whopping 4.77 m Hz processor and anywhere from 16-256 KB of RAM. Now, a little over 20 years later, one can buy a computer for a thousandth of the cost of the first IBM computer that is a thousand times more powerful. The more you learn about machines and computer, the more you wonder how far will the power, capabilities, and intelligence of a computer be pushed. In Abu Dhabi, there lies a computer...rather a network of 64 computers, each with 3.06 G Hz processor and with over 512 GB of RAM called Hydra. These computers all work together for one purpose: Checkmate.



Every since the computer's inception, there have been people trying to code strong chess programs to see how “smart” a computer can be. However, these programs coupled with the speed and available memory of the given computers proved to be no match for the human brain. In as early as the 1960's humans would play computers and would win by a landslide. International Chess master David Levy made a wager of 1250 pounds that no computer could beat him in 10 years. He won that bet, as every computer to come his way was met with defeat over the chessboard. However, technology did catch up with Levy, as he lost his first game to a computer in 1989. Since then, the computers have reigned supreme.

Ross reports a number of world-champion Grandmasters who have lost the battle to computers. Most of them, in fact. Britain's Mickey Adams(ranked 7th in the world), Uzebekistan's Rustam Kasimdzhanov, both fell to computer in the same week. What has caused this change in power? Ross states that “First, the best humans now playing are simply not as good as the former. . . Second, the machines are getting smarter. Their programmers are learning how to counter anti-computer strategies.”(link) These programmers are doing what was unthinkable in the 1960's: programming the computer to think like a human.

The human-computer interface and the idea of AI is a newer part of the Information Technology field, but it is a part nonetheless. The human-computer interface has been relevant for a number of years. However, being able to program a computer that deep and specific is one thing, but going through with it and doing it is something else. A matter of ethics comes into play when this in introduced. Is the human brain just a computer? Can it be simulated? Should it be simulated? These are just a few questions that may arise when facing this decision. This is not an intent to persuade one way or the other, but rather to inform of the sides of this controversy. People may say that technology hasn't gone that far yet. However, Mickey Adams said that, “Hydra plays very well indeed. Very often it plays human-style chess, which is strange.” Also, Bulgaria's Veselin Topalov(ranked 3rd in the world), had this to say after losing to new model of Fritz(a popular program like Hydra), “What have you done to Fritz?”

Hydra (Part 1) - Funny home videos are a click away

For those of you interested....

Cathedral and the Baazar REMIX

My project that I volunteered to lead (mainly because no one else was going to) is working with the Cathedral and the Baazar.

We plan on taking the un-user friendly, bland, flat, and static work that Eric Raymond wrote in the late 90's and integrate it with several modern technologies. Videos, definitions, links, data paging, etc are all in the scope of our project.

Hopefully we can turn this free software classic into a readable and more popular article.

See our google site for more info (as we update)

Econ 110....snore....

I learned last year that I really don't have the capability for economics. Give me a computer program to write with 20,000+ lines of code ANY day over an economics test.

Anyway, I plowed through the readings for today, and I barely understood/got something out of them. I mean, I really can't do economics...in case I haven't mentioned.

The only thing that I can understand is when it's presented clearly and in a way I can understand. Such was the case for John Nash's Nash equilibrium. I researched a little bit on Game Theory, and it brought me to this, and since I kinda understand it, I guess I can write about it for a bit.

And by write about it, I mean give a video:

This example kind of resonates with John Maynard Keynes's work. The best outcome isn't always doing what is best for us as individuals (or governments) but when we think of the group (or country) as a whole.

I stumbled upon a blog that explains the problems in the Hollywood representation of the Nash equilibrium and presents another example.

Presh Talwalkar, said

"The movie is directed so well that it sounds persuasive. But it’s sadly incomplete. It misses the essence of non-cooperative game theory.

A Nash equilibrium is a state where no one person can improve, given what others are doing. This means you are picking the best possible action in response to others—the formal term is you are picking a best response. (For more, see my article on why Nash equilibrium exist).

As an example, let’s analyze whether everyone going for a brunette is a Nash equilibrium. You are given that your three of your friends go for brunettes. What is your best response?

You can either go for the brunette or the blonde. With your friends already going for brunettes, you have no competition to go for the blonde. The answer is clear that you would talk to the blonde. That’s your best response. Incidentally, this is a Nash equilibrium. You are happy, and your friends cannot do better. If your friends try to talk to the blonde, they end up with nothing and give up talking to a brunette. So you see, when Nash told his friends to go for the brunettes in the movie, it really does sound like he was leaving the blonde for himself.

The lesson: advice that sounds good for you might really be better for someone else. Be skeptical of the strategic implications.

Now, in practical matters it will be hard to achieve the equilibrium that only one person goes for a blonde. There is going to be competition and someone in the group will surely sabotage the mission. So there are two ways you might go about it using strategies outside the game. One is to ignore the current group and wait for another group of blondes (the classic “wait and see” strategy). The second is to let a random group member go for the blonde as the others distract the brunettes (also practiced as “wingman theory”).

Buying Used Products

Many personal financial articles tell you to buy used products. Here’s a small sampling:

The Stuff I Never Buy Used

Why First-Rate Folks Love Second-Hand Stuff

This advice sounds good for you, but could it be even better for the writer? Let’s do a thought experiment to find out.

Imagine you and all the readers listen to those people. Suppose enough people really stopped buying new products and created a large demand for used products.

This would in turn make used products priced higher as people recognize unrealized value. Used products would no longer be great bargains, and consequently, new products would relatively become less expensive as their resale value increases—that is, buying new would be the bargain choice.

The first people to recognize this would likely be personal finance experts, who have diverted your attention so they can buy new products without competition (i.e. go for the blonde). After the trend is clear, the advisers would turn around and write articles advising you to buy new products, starting the cycle once again.

The overall point is that friendly financial advice is part of a competitive game. It might be good for you, but better for the adviser. Talk is cheap. Unless I learn some real information or strategy, why should I listen to it?

This is why I am skeptical and consider much personal finance advice to be insulting. So much of it is the equivalent of a friend telling me to go for the brunette."

Boolean Logic

In Computing and Intelligence, we learned about George Boole, who's algebra moved us towards the concept of on/off computing.

Think of a dimmable light. It can have multiple states. Off, slightly on, mostly on, and fully on.

This type of representation is called an analog signal. We all recognize the word analog....analog radio.

With digital signals, a light can only be on or off. This is the signal that computers can understand an interpret.

Taken from Bepop to the Boolean Boogie, by Clive Maxfield, pg 2

This is the basis behind boolean logic. The idea that a signal will be on or off. 1 or 0.

Here is a quick tutorial into boolean logic:

AND --- this will only return a 1 if BOTH or ALL values are a 1

0 AND 0 = 0

0 AND 1 = 0

1 AND 1 = 1

OR --- this will return a 1 if ANY of the values are a 1

0 OR 0 = 0

0 OR 1 = 1

1 OR 1 = 1

NOT -- the opposite of the value given

NOT 0 = 1

NOT 1 = 0

These are the basic logic operators, but you can combine them to form other operators.

NAND -- AND the values together, then NOT the result

0 NAND 0 = 1

NOR -- what do you think this does?

Spreeder

For my next DDL, I have chosen an online application called Spreeder.

The concept behind it is simply. When you read to yourself, you can only read about 200 wpm, which is about what you can read out loud. This is because of the inner voice that reads the text in your mind while reading silently.

This is an incredibly inefficient way of reading, because our mind can process information much more faster than we can read aloud.

Here's a quick review by a fan of Spreeder:

Spreeder simply takes the text you paste into the online application, digitizes it, and replays it in a video at a much faster rate (normally around 300 wpm for beginners, and even 1000+ wpm for faster spreeders).

This application can cause you to understand data much faster than simply reading. If you don't believe me, time your self reading this post, then copy the text into the spreeder application and see how much better it can be.

UX and Psychology

Professor Zapalla did a blog post on exactly what I was going to talk about about!

I took an HCI course from BYU just last semester, and it was eye opening to me how integrated psychology and computers really are. As an IT major, we strive to make our products as user-friendly as possible. The entire class was the least technical of all my major classes. It was mainly about studying the user, how the brain works, and how to make a product easy to use, no matter what the background may be.

Don Norman's book was a required book, and I am happy to say that it is the first book mentioned in class that I have ALREADY read! In fact, I shared a link of Diigo that summarizes all the chapters pretty quickly and efficiently. Go check it out!

While I'm on Don, he gave a great talk in 2003 where he talks about the 3 aspects of design that really make us happy. He takes design to a deeper level than normal, and actually categorizes our emotions and reactions.

There is an 'interactive transcript' with the video here. You just click on a sentence and it takes you to that point in the talk. really cool.

Anyways, HCI (Human Computer Interaction) is all about drawing from the psychology of the human brain and implementing it in a computer product.

Why does almost EVERY program have a menu bar at the top? Why not the side? Why not icons? Why not icons on the bottom? It has a menu bar (with the basic options File, View, Options...etc.) because that is what our brain is used to. It makes the ability of us to learn a new program really easy, because we already know how the menu is like.

Copy...right

So we talked a couple week ago about Copyright laws, and pros, cons, etc.

I wanted to share this video that I've seen in multiple classes here at BYU. Since I'm an IT major, we talk alot about ethics and copyright because it seems to get easier and easier to violate those laws.

This video was produced by Professor Eric Faden of Bucknell University. The funniest part of the video is the use of disney characters. Walt Disney is the biggest supporter of extending copyright laws, because they do not want their iconic character, Mickey Mouse, to fall into the public domain. In fact, the extension law is sometimes know as the 'Mickey Mouse Protection Act'

Databases! Essential for everything!

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I am an IT major. I write webpages and web applications, even my blog is called 'Notes from a Nerd'. So, it isn't much of a surprise when I am given an assignment like 'Enlightment Knowledge Media' and I choose to write about databases...with a little look back in history.

A Database is simply 'a comprehensive collection of related data organized for convenient access"

I would venture to say that the earliest modern database was the encyclopedia. Diderot was an encyclopedic who spearheaded the first modern encyclopedia similar to what we have today (or had 10 years ago).

Growing up, whenever we had to research something for class, we would turn to our trusty encyclopedia set. published in 1993, there were almost an entire volume for every letter of the alphabet! This set, even each book individually, was a database! A series of records, a collection, organized conveniently, and related to other records!

These encyclopedias as we all know, became utterly useless and extinct with the introduction of HTML (hyper text markup language) it allowed us to link text to something, or somewhere, else---creating a digital encyclopedia.

However, simply linking wasn't good enough. We need to be able to store data, and view it at will. This is where databases came into play. One example of a database, one of the first successful, was the SABRE system.

In a nutshell, SABRE was a system that was used by American Airlines, and eventually Delta, Pan Am, British Airways, and many more. This system was an online booking system, which allowed agents and customers purchase their tickets real time, handling over 83000 daily phone calls. What was most extraordinary about this system was that is was implemented in 1964. Before the Personal Computer, before Steve Jobs was even born, this project was in the works.

SABRE was definitely ahead of its time...
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Evernote---Remember EVERYTHING

I being my conquest for blog and class assignment domination with my next DDL : Evernote

Just yesterday at work, my boss announced he had gone completely paperless. Not paperless in the fact that he never uses papers, but rather that he never carries papers anymore. He is now using Evernote. I was a bit curious and spent some time looking into evernote...

With evernote, you upload your information to the site, and you can access is all later. My boss takes a picture of every post it note, paper, or whiteboard he uses. Evernote parses this data, making it searchable, and helps you organize all your notes and information into one area for easy access.

Their website is well designed, and has better tutorial products than the marketing one shown above. Check it out!

They have 2 types : Free and Premium

The Free version allows 40 MB per month of note allowance, and only allows you to upload images, audio, ink, and PDF with a max size of each note to 25MB. The Premium version costs $5 a month or $45 a year and allows a 500MB limit with a 50MB per note max. It also accepts any file type for upload.

If you love post it notes, and feel like you're getting overwhelmed (like me!) just give it a try, and see if evernote will work for you

Catching up with Micro blogging!

So, I found out in class Tuesday that I am part of the lower third of the class that is wayyyyyy behind.

It really wasn't surprising to me. The past weeks have been filled with late nights, taking care of an infant, job interviews, practically full time work hours, and a full class load. I knew I was behind, but I did have every intention of catching up!

I have been researching and jotting down ideas for blogs, but for the longest time, I thought that I needed a full, in depth, this is everything I know blog post. I have a revelation last week that that is NOT necessary.

I learned about Micro-blogging, which is basically expressing information but in a much shorter form. Bro Burton even praised a student in class for micro blogging. I though 'Hey! I have a bunch of those, but I didn't post them because they weren't done!'

Even though I am an IT major, and consider myself pretty technologically savvy, I still have a LOT to learn about internet and blogging etiquette.

I now have a goal to post once a day for the next week.

I know that this will be a very difficult goal! VERY! But I need to jump start my blogging experience. It's about time that I join everyone else in the class and update more than one a week....or one a month

George Price, Altruism, and Reincarnation

I'll start with the last word in my post---Reincarnation.

I am alive...back from the dead in fact. It has been a while since my last post---too long, I admit. This weekend I will be compiling all my blog drafts, random thoughts, and class notes in order to play catch up with my life and with this blog.

So, that out of the way, lets talk about Altruism.

Before we selected the book for our report, I had no idea what Altruism was. Chalk it up to being uncultured or not an honor student or just a bad English student, I had no idea what it was. After some research (okay, maybe 5 minutes on dictionary.com) I found that altruism meant "the principle or practice of unselfish concern for or devotion to the welfare of others"(link)

I furthered learned in my research and reading of The Price of Alturism by Oren Harmon, that George Price devised a mathematical formula describing evolution and natural selection.

We, as a group, wrote a review for the book and posted it on Amazon.com. My cohorts also decided on their own Digital Literacy techniques for showcasing this work of art.

I decided to jump on the bandwagon and finally experiment with Woordle. I must say that I was a little put off when everyone and their mom decided to use woordle at the same time at the beginning of the year. But, once I was able to experiment with it myself, I thought it was a pretty cool concept, despite my previous inclinations.

Here's what I came up with:

Reflective Post

This class has been an experience that I have never had before. I have never been completely in charge of my own learning, never had a blog, and never was required to write in my blog or other people's blog. I had and still have very high expectations for this course, and I have loved it so far!

Giving us the ability to consume, create and connect on our own is a revolutionary idea! In my previous blog post I shared a video that basically explains Digital Civilization. In the end, they show that with all the technology updates that we have, we have to rethink the way we learn. we have to rethink education, connection, and even ourselves.

I think that this first part of the semester has been a great learning experience for me. I learned about Pascal, I discovered a Christian Blog that spoke of Happiness and Pascal, I even facilitated a discussion on languages through my post.

All that being said, I don't think I have gotten the most out of this class. Having a daughter halfway through this midterm period really threw a wrench in my ability to stay caught up with my blog posts. I have found it MUCH harder to fulfill the create requirements for the class, when it comes to writing posts and responding to others.

However, recently I have found an increased ability to consume in my self directing learning. I mentioned a few of the examples above, included Randy Alcorn's blog and Michael Wesch's videos. I started using Diigo (about a week after it was introduced), which has been an amazing tool for this requirement. I definitely see a difference in my self-directed learning when I am able to consume more information from different sources on the internet.

Finally, connecting has been a breeze with the introduction of the Digital Literacy Lab groups. Well, connecting within the class. I was able to meet others in the class and put names and faces to blogs. Having an RSS feed for my fellow bloggers has helped me to connect to others in the class. Meeting with students outside of class for sharing of the Digital Literacy Labs is just as helpful.

Unfortunately, as mentioned above, it has been difficult for me to connect with people outside of the class. Only recently has this become easier and more natural. I know that in the coming months these areas that I am currently lacking will be ironed out. I am beginning to connect and consume outside of the class; I am just disappointed that it has taken me this long. But, as I said, as much as I love my daughter, she really has made it difficult to stay afloat in my classes. Don't worry, this isn't the only one that I am lacking in...

Above all, this class has been great! I absolutely believe that I have learned more from this class than I would have learned from a normal humanities class. Hopefully this post satisfies the reflectiveness...can't wait to meet with you both today!

The purpose of Digital Civilization

So I just found this video that I LOVE! I think it explains the purpose of this class better than the initial video we watched the first couple days of class:

It's done by the same professor that I just posted a video of his on Diggo. It is similar in concept, it shows how youtube has shaped our society and how revolutionizing youtube and web 2.0 in general is. Check it out at Diggo!!

Open Source vs...the world?

While I was gone, there was much discussion pertaining to open source software.

Eric spoke in his post about open source encryption algorithms, Jake wrote about free software, even Professor Zapalla talked about open source science.

I'm going to try and make this post as unbiased as possible....but I make no guarantees.

So, I think that the majority of people care about open-source because its free. Microsoft charges hundreds for their Office Suite, people complain and turn to Open-Source for solutions.

People claim that open source is better because there is much more people looking at the code and making changes. But isn't that a disadvantage as well? So if there is an issue with the software, you have to wait for someone else to find the solution in their spare time!

Now don't get me wrong, I think that open source has its place. Most of the web pages on the internet are being served on Linux machines. For such a wide-use product that is necessary, open source may be the best bet. The configurability of linux servers makes their use for webpages ideal. But for a product, like Office, that provides business and personal solutions, why wouldn't you charge?

Maybe I don't fully understand economics. But if we keep going towards free products, especially free computing products, won't this affect our economy severely? If Microsoft goes out of business, if the second wealthiest person in the world goes out of business, won't everyone feel it?

At Pascal, well, I'm number 1

Blaise Pascal. Inventor of the computing machine. To whom all computer scienctists owe their jobs, knowledge, and lives to. Okay, maybe not that much.

"Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed. The entire universe need not arm itself to crush him. A vapor, a drop of water suffices to kill him. But, if the universe were to crush him, man would still be more noble than that which killed him, because he knows that he dies and the advantage which the universe has over him, the universe knows nothing of this.
All our dignity then, consists in thought. By it we must elevate ourselves, and not by space and time which we cannot fill. Let us endavour then, to think well; this is the principle of morality"

It seems like he was more than just a mathematician, but a philosopher too. After a near-death experience and an encounter with God, he abandoned math and science and became a Christian Philosopher.

Not to mention quite a hairdo

I found a nice blog post from a Randy Alcorn speaking of finding happiness and Pascal's philosophies. Check it out! I'll end with another Pascal quote:

All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves. (Pascal’s Pensées, thought #425, edited by Trotter, 113).

Teaser for post on encyclopedias

Here's a good video to hold my readers over until I finish my post on encyclopedias...

Meetups and Alerts

I finally got to meet with my group for the Digital Literacy Labs---even with my hectic schedule due to a new daughter--have I mentioned how cute she is?

Anyway, I met with Megan and she showed me all about Meetup, a site where you say what your interests are, then 'meetup' with other people who share your interests. Similar to Facebook groups, but far superior.

With Meetup, you can specify where you want to meet and about what topic. So, if I'm heading back to MD for a couple weeks, but I want to find people to watch the BYU football games with, I have a medium to find those people! Pretty cool huh? The only downside is it costs 12 buck a month to host a meetup. I think this explains why there aren't that many people on the site hosting meetups, but a TON of people who are trying to join some.

I had the chance to look into alerts. Alerts are a pertty sweet way to stay on top of what the internet holds. I chose Google Alerts, although there are alerts for various library databases and news sites.

A google alert will check the internet (using a google search) every so often, and will send you an alert, by email or RSS feed, when something new is posted. Since the content on the Internet is ever-changing, this feature is essential when doing research for a class, or when you're just trying to stay on top of news for a particular topic.

Here's what you need to do to use Google Alerts:

1. Go to alerts.google.com
2. Enter your search text you want to use.
3. You can narrow your search down more to what type of content you want. Options include: News, Blogs, Updates, Video, and Discussion.
4. Choose how often you want the alerts. Once a day, once a week, or as it happens.
5. How many results to post in an email (if you choose email).
6. Your email address. If you are signed into Google, you can also post the results to your RSS feed. This is what I did, so I can read them with all my other updates I get from around the web.

Its that Easy!!

You just have to be careful as to what you search for, and what type you search for. My search of BYU football with Everything as the content has pulled almost 1000 results in just 10 days! The more specific you search, the more meaningful content you receive.

Where have I been?

Many of you probably haven’t noticed, but I have been absent from my blog for about a week!

I hope that the professors can forgive me, but I have had my hands somewhat full with…

MY NEW DAUGHTER!!!

Ruby Lea Twining was born on September 14, 2010 at 11:17pm.

Needless to say, I have been trying to catch up on sleep, but I fear this challenge (sleep deprivation, not my daughter) will continue for years to come.

Today I am hoping to play catch-up with my posts, so please don’t get mad if I fill your RSS feeds with Notes from a Nerd.

Just remember Ruby, and you can’t be mad because seriously, isn’t she so adorable?

Martin Luther and Open Source pt2

I think that Martin Luther's story is very similar to modern times with the battle over open-source code. Open Source means that the code for a program, the nuts and bolts about how it runs, is available for everyone who wants it. Linux is an open source Operating system that is extremely popular among many computer scientists due to its complete configuration ability. Since the entire code is available, people can manipulate the code to do exactly what they want it to do, and not have to worry about pre-configured systems.
On the other hand of open source is closed source. You can probably guess what this means; the code is hidden from the public eye. It's copyrighted and protected from viewing and manipulating. Microsoft Windows and Office, Adobe CS4 Suite, and many other programs are examples of closed source.

There are even software packages that are a combination of closed and open. Mac OS (Apple's Operating System) is this type. It has many open-source base components with some design concepts and code proprietary

We talked today in class about open government, and I thought of this correlation between open, closed, and a combination. In my mind, a combination is the way to go! (I can't believe I'm giving props to Apple...) Having some portions of the government hidden and secret is essential to the security, privacy, and well being of its citizens. But, as citizens, we should be entitled to know some of the inner workings of the government, and not just be consider ignorant.

Martin Luther and Open Source pt1

Before the early 1500's there were mainly two religions for all Europeans to align with. The Catholic Church, and the (Greek) Orthodox. These two churches relied on a mainly authoritative sovereignty. What the leaders of church declared, interpreted, or read was what the congregations believed and understood.

Suddenly, things began to change. With the invention of the printing press, suddenly books, scriptures, and all manner of literature became available to the average churchgoer. People became more literate and more open-minded. They began to read about the classical traditions of the past, and began to think freely for themselves.

The Man of the 1500's

Martin Luther was one of those people who took charge of his beliefs. He read scriptures, interpreted them for himself, and realized that something needed to change with the current religious situation in Europe. He wrote his 95 Theses, his beefs with the Catholic Church. He was persecuted and prosecuted by the Church for speaking out against their beliefs. He stood firm, defying them even while on trial.

"I neither can nor will recant anything, for it is neither safe nor right to act against one's conscience...Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. So help me, God. Amen."

Here's a trailer for a really good movie about Luther's story. The trailer doesn't do it much justice, but here it is anyway!

Movable Type of the 20th Century

The year is 1450.
Johannes Gutenberg revolutionized the world with his invention of the printing press. With this invention, literature, scriptures, and knowledge in general was made readily available to anyone and everyone.

From the Introduction of our reading:
"Printing not only preserved the great works of the past but opened minds to new ideas." (link)

In 1999, A&E Network ranked Gutenberg at the top of their "People of the Millenium." It is impossible to describe the impact this man and his invention.

The Man and the Beard!

How does this invention compare to the modern times? Funny you should ask....

Aww...No beard?

The year is 1969 (approx).
Larry Roberts revolutionized the world with his invention of the Internet. With this invention, literature, scriptures, and knowledge in general was made readily available to anyone and everyone. (See a trend?)

Larry didn't really invent the internet as we know it.
"During the Cold War, many more mainframes were brought online to accomplish more complex and sophisticated tasks. It became necessary to find a way to enable these mainframes to communicate with each other by means of a less cumbersome process than mailing magnetic tapes between computer centers. In response to this need, the Department of Defense's Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA) began examing the feasibility of a redundant, networked communications system to support the military's exchange of information. Larry Roberts developed the project from its inception." (link)

So Larry created the Internet idea of having computers networked together. This ARPANET became more and more popular during the 70's and 80's. In the mid-80's Tim Berners-Lee invented what we consider the World Wide Web. Tim was the inventor of HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language). Basically, the ability to associate a word, link, or picture with another website, essentially linking everything together in a big web.

So there you have it! A short short history of the internet (no, it wasn't invented by Al Gore!) The printing press made information much more available several hundred years ago, and the Internet makes EVERYTHING available now.

Programming Languages

Its amazing when you consider the evolution of a language. Take English for example:

You can't talk about Hamlet without having a skull picture!

Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1:

"To be, or not to be? That is the question—

Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And, by opposing, end them? To die, to sleep—

No more—"

Translates to:

"The question is: is it better to be alive or dead?
Is it nobler to put up with all the nasty things
that luck throws your way, or to fight against all those troubles
by simply putting an end to them once and for all?
Dying, sleeping—that’s all dying is—" (link)

Translates to:

"2b or no 2b...." (just kidding, I would never try to translate this!)

People always complain about modern talk jargon on the internet (LOLs etc), but seriously, how is this different from the evolution of shakespeare to modern english? People probably said the same things we did, "My! I dost not believe Mary! How can she simply drop the -st on dost?!?! Do? Is that even a word?"

Anyway, the topic of my post is programming languages. Here's a bit of nerd for you:

http://oreilly.com/news/graphics/prog_lang_poster.pdf

That link has a poster of The History of programming languages. It all began with a single language in 1954 called Fortran. Every programming language (at least in this graph) is derived from Fortran. What is interesting to note is the MASSIVE evolution of languages. All of the active languages in modern day didn't even exist 20 years ago! Putting it in different terms, all of today's programming languages will be obsolete in 25 years.

Hopefully this gives you a little more insight into how hard it must be to be a computer programmer today. We are constantly changing, updating, and trying to stay afloat in the every changing programming world. All the languages I program in for my job didn't exist when I was born!

AI and chess....an unlikely combination

Brother Zapalla wrote and discussed Artifical Intelligence in class and in his blog post earlier last week. I wrote a short paper on this topic a year or so ago, and thought I would share it with everyone...

In the past 20 years, as the Information Technology realm has developed, technology has grown by leaps and bounds. In 1981, the first IBM personal computer was launched. It had a whopping 4.77 m Hz processor and anywhere from 16-256 KB of RAM. Now, a little over 20 years later, one can buy a computer for a thousandth of the cost of the first IBM computer that is a thousand times more powerful. The more you learn about machines and computer, the more you wonder how far will the power, capabilities, and intelligence of a computer be pushed. In Abu Dhabi, there lies a computer...rather a network of 64 computers, each with 3.06 G Hz processor and with over 512 GB of RAM called Hydra. These computers all work together for one purpose: Checkmate.



Every since the computer's inception, there have been people trying to code strong chess programs to see how “smart” a computer can be. However, these programs coupled with the speed and available memory of the given computers proved to be no match for the human brain. In as early as the 1960's humans would play computers and would win by a landslide. International Chess master David Levy made a wager of 1250 pounds that no computer could beat him in 10 years. He won that bet, as every computer to come his way was met with defeat over the chessboard. However, technology did catch up with Levy, as he lost his first game to a computer in 1989. Since then, the computers have reigned supreme.

Ross reports a number of world-champion Grandmasters who have lost the battle to computers. Most of them, in fact. Britain's Mickey Adams(ranked 7th in the world), Uzebekistan's Rustam Kasimdzhanov, both fell to computer in the same week. What has caused this change in power? Ross states that “First, the best humans now playing are simply not as good as the former. . . Second, the machines are getting smarter. Their programmers are learning how to counter anti-computer strategies.”(link) These programmers are doing what was unthinkable in the 1960's: programming the computer to think like a human.

The human-computer interface and the idea of AI is a newer part of the Information Technology field, but it is a part nonetheless. The human-computer interface has been relevant for a number of years. However, being able to program a computer that deep and specific is one thing, but going through with it and doing it is something else. A matter of ethics comes into play when this in introduced. Is the human brain just a computer? Can it be simulated? Should it be simulated? These are just a few questions that may arise when facing this decision. This is not an intent to persuade one way or the other, but rather to inform of the sides of this controversy. People may say that technology hasn't gone that far yet. However, Mickey Adams said that, “Hydra plays very well indeed. Very often it plays human-style chess, which is strange.” Also, Bulgaria's Veselin Topalov(ranked 3rd in the world), had this to say after losing to new model of Fritz(a popular program like Hydra), “What have you done to Fritz?”

Hydra (Part 1) - Funny home videos are a click away

For those of you interested....

Utopia?

So, I learned at class that these posts should be posted before class. Oops. Well, I'll get ahead of the game from now on...

Utopia has been the talk of philosophers since Thomas More coined the phrase in 1516. Although More did not intend to create a 'perfect' society, the word has been used to describe such in modern times.

Many people write about the possibility of Utopia. Kevin, in our class, discusses possibility of Utpoia in his blog post. I would rather want to pose the question: Should Utopia be possible?

The Giver by Lois Lowry has been one of favorite childhood books. It begins by introducing the reader to a utopian society with no feelings, no color, and seemingly perfect harmony. This tends to be the underlying theme of all utopian fiction. It might seem perfect, but it is far from ideal.

Since I LOVE movies so much, I turn to cinema for how society has portrayed cinema. There are several utopian movies that I have seen, but each has a catch. Gattaca, Logan's Run, Wall-e, The Stepford Wives, Blade Runner, Minority Report, Equilibrium all have elements of utopia, but all have the flaws of utopia as well.

In this technological world, we have the ability to create utopias for ourselves. Second Life, The Sims, and World of Warcraft all provide a (possibly) utopian virtual world for us to escape to. These levels of Virtual Reality can only take us away from the real world around us. (See Lawnmower Man for a perfect example of getting too caught up in the unreal).



Kevin pointed out in his post that "If there are no challenges and problems, how could we progress?" I would go further to say that 'if there is no evil, how would we know good?"

A utopian society may be successful for the Millennium, but until then, I will take my flawed world. In all actuality, a flawed world is a perfect world.

All About Me!

Growing up, we always had a computer in our home. My dad was constantly trying to stay on top of the latest technology trends to help manage his electrical business. We had one of the 486 computers from the early 90's and almost everything since. I grew up learning to use a Word processor called WordStar. All it was a blue screen with white text and 3 basic menu selections....ahh those were the days of MS-DOS based games and basic windows.

The best game EVER!!

(for about 6 months before A Link to the Past was released)

Even though I grew up with computers all around me, I wasn't the most proficient in programming or changing hardware or computer hacking skills. I felt that I still had a life outside of computers, and I think that's why I didn't end up a CS major. (Sorry Professor!). If it helps, I do have a CS minor...

I started BYU in the fall of 2003. I had NO idea what I wanted to do with my life at ALL! But, after a few years of taking classes, having fun, and getting married, I finally settled on IT as a major. I think of IT as the jack of trades with computers. We do some programming, some hardware, some project management, some database administration, basically, a little of everything. Plus we have people skills (Sorry again Professor!).

So here I am, about to graduate BYU in 'just a shade under a decade'(brownie points if you know this movie) and I'm just taking my second civilization course. I really am glad I waited this long, because this class is going to be awesome! How many times can I take a humanities class from a CS professor? (Does this make up for my jokes, Brother Zapalla?)


Fast Facts:
Born: Salisbury, MD
Raised: Salisbury, MD
Graduated HS: Salisbury, MD
Met my wife: Salisbury, MD (See a trend?)
Mission: Budapest, Hungary 04-06
Married: November 30, 2007
Expecting: a Girl on September 21st (or whenever she wants to come!)
Graduating: April 2011
Major: Information Technology
Minor: Computer Science