Here's a link to our website for our final presentation.
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Stardate 1398: Webpage

Here's a little note to list the link to my ever exciting web page. Check it out sometime but for now there's really nothing on it.

The Site

Stardate 2123: The Internet vs. Bush/Hawthorne

The Internet is an interesting creation and an even more interesting topic of conversation. There are many different viewpoints about the Internet. Some believe it to be one of the best and greatest creations of all time while others view it as an invention robbing us of our time, creativity and sanity. While I can see both sides of the argument and while I agree that both sides have their positive and negative aspects, I tend to think along with those who say that, for all its benefits, the Internet is taking far more from us, than it will ever give us. For backing to my various points of view I will be referring to two pieces of literary history; the first is a piece called “As We May Think” by Vannevar Bush and the other is called “Fire Worship” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. While neither of these authors wrote about the Internet, nor even knew of it, there are many parallels in their writings.
When I think about the Internet, my mind goes to a few things. Things like the unimaginable amount of information to be found, the ease of keeping up with people whom you might otherwise not be able to keep in touch with, and the ability to perform normal everyday tasks from the comfort of home. Now I know what you are thinking, didn’t he say he was opposing the Internet? Well, not exactly. See, the Internet is very useful. In fact, right this moment, while I type, I am currently using the Internet to look up any references I may make to the articles. So I am not opposed to the Internet, but rather I can see the downsides of the Internet, which many times people overlook. Now the other thing you might be thinking is, how does an article by Nathaniel Hawthorne parallel with the Internet? Well, that’s a good question. In this article, Hawthorne is ranting and raving about this terrible, terrible invention that is taking over his house and has ruined family life as he knew it. What is this wretched invention he is complaining about? It’s the wood stove. Wait, the wood stove ruined families? Yes, you see before the wood stove, families had to gather around the fireplace to keep warm. This meant that you had to put up with your annoying little brother, or the crazy uncle that nobody liked to talk to and therefore led to families being a lot closer to each other. Then the woodstove came about and produced more heat, less smoke and a number of other positive things but lacked one thing, an open fire to sit in front of. That is why Hawthorne attributed it to the demise of the family. Many people in our era would attribute the same to the Internet. It used to be that families would spend time together. Now they just instant message each other from the same house telling why they are too busy to come downstairs and talk. Now people don’t even watch T.V. together, which by the way is one of the many things that began this pulling apart of the family, but rather watch viral videos on Youtube and other things that waste time that a family could spend together.
Now Bush would argue that the Internet is an amazing tool that everyone should not only take advantage of but also appreciate. Bush was a scientist in the time around World War 1 and was a part of the group who invented the Atomic bomb. He had a great vision to see something where everyone could compile information and share it with everyone else. His vision, the Memex, was a desk-like creation that information could be uploaded into and anyone could access. This sounds to me a lot like the Internet. Everyday, people put their thoughts, dreams, desires and knowledge on the Internet. I’m doing it right now! And while Bush didn’t know what the Internet was/is I believe that what he wanted was a low-tech version of the Internet. And even though you may look at that as a good thing, the fact that you can get information so easily on the Internet, means that you don’t have to go to a friend or parent, ask a question and spend time together figuring out the answer. That personal interaction is what we are loosing and with every upgrade we make, we get farther and farther away from the days when families would spend quality time together, not just a passing hello on their way out the door or on the way to the computer.

Stardate 1724: First Contact With Computers

So thinking back on my first real contact with computers is pretty fun. It's funny to think about some of the things that were so cool then and see how simple they were. I can remember on of the things that took up a lot my time in relation to computers was the ever addicting game of Solitaire. I'd get bored of hanging out with my brother or what is probably more likely he'd get bored of my bothering him and send me away and where would I go but to the computer. Now at this point in my life, maybe 5th or 6th grade, maybe 7th, we weren't privileged enough to have the fanciness of the internet and even when we did get the internet it was a ridiculously slow dial-up, so what was there to do on the computer. Games! I quickly got tired of the monotony of Minesweeper so that left really only one decent game, Solitaire. I'd play Solitaire for hours on end. I loved it! Why, I'm really not sure because I wasn't all that great at it, but I loved it just the same. Apart from Solitaire and a super slow internet connection, one of my other early computer memories is Oregon Trail. Oh the days of fording the river, breaking a wheel and having all my oxen die! My first contact with this glorious game came in 6th grade. This was the first year I can remember having a computer in the classroom at school that wasn't specifically reserved for the teacher. This computer had the game Oregon Trail loaded onto it. Therefore, this was the only time that students wanted to stay in from recess. We would beg the teacher to let us stay in one or two at a time and play Oregon Trail while the rest of our class was out playing kickball or something of the sort. An added bonus was then we would be the only 2 people that didn't smell completely disgusting! The third thing that I remember as a early contact with computers is never having the minimal requirements to run the computer games I wanted to play. We had a rather plain Windows based computer, probably a Dell or HP, I can't remember exactly, and there were several games that I bought and either couldn't run at all or couldn't run well on our computer. I remember buying the Triple Play 2001 baseball game and trying to load it onto our computer. It took what seemed like 4 days to load all the aspects of this game so by the time it finished loading I was dying to play. I click start to begin playing and it loads up the first game and I quickly came to the realization that the video card in our computer was vastly inferior to what it would need to play this game smoothly. Everytime the camera angle would change it would freeze for a couple seconds then be all jerky, which when you're playing against a computer who has no mercy and keeps running even though you can't see where the ball is, it got really frustrating. So between slow internet, skipping recess to live life in the old west and classic video games that might or might not work, I had an interesting first few experiences with computers.

Stardate 3126: Introduction

So...you've stumbled upon my blog have you? Oh, you're in for a treat! I guess I'll start off with some semblance of an introduction of myself. My name is Jud and I attend Appalachian State University. I am what I refer to as a Senior and a half. By this I mean that I am was a Senior last year and am one again...only until December though. Ok...that's who I am...but who am I? I am a guy who loves sports, music and movies. Pretty much every moment of the day I'm involved with some kind of sport or music or I'm watching TV or a movie. I play guitar and bass and there's hardly a moment where music is not either surrounding me, being played by me or just running through my head. I played baseball, basketball and soccer through High School and love to play any and every kind of sport. If you happen to make your way into my apt. you should probably be shocked if you find me anywhere other than sitting in front of my computer or TV. I know that sounds lame but that's who I am. I hate not doing something. I have to stay busy by doing things...even little things like writing this blog. Well...that's just a tid bit of who I am. Hope you enjoy what ever ramblings make their way onto this marvelous invention that we call "the internet" by ways of this very blog!

P.S. Check out this amazing video: click me!!!