Neovox Idea

A friend of mine recently sent me an instant message saying “the bees are dying” to which I replied, “oh shit, then we’re screwed”. That is definitely one way to start up a conversation; he had obviously piqued my interest. I asked for details and he went on to tell me he was watching and episode of “Real Time with Bill Maher” that talked about various environmental problems, one of which was the rapidly declining bee population. Einstein was quotes as saying “if the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man." Maher mentioned that there scientific speculation that cell phones could be to blame as part of the reason why the bees are dying off. Apparently bees stay away from cell phones because the electromagnetic signals they emit interfere with the bees’ natural navigation abilities. I’ve looked around the Internet a little and I’ve found information which both supports and refutes this claim, unfortunately a lot of it has a political slant to it, but I would like to continue researching it for my Neovox article because I think it would be interesting to see if cell phone technology is really causing such a problem. Even if it isn’t, would people give up their cell phones if they knew it was killing the bees? This was the point Maher was trying to make and I would like to do something similar. I want to illustrate the ridiculous lengths to which we will go to avoid having to give up our precious technology. If you knew cell phones were killing off the bees would you give them up? That is a serious question that I think a lot of people would have a difficult time answering. Is technology mutating our priorities that much? Should we be concerned?

Play Money: or how I quit my day job wasted my life.

Here is the deal; I'm a little behind in the reading. I just started reading Play Money by Julian Dibbell and it has put me in a horribly cynical mood. Just for an overview-- the book is about virtual gaming communities and how this Dibbell guy made millions of dollars by selling "virtual loot", in other words, stuff that doesn't actually exist. He selling air, more or less.
Apparently this is a huge market for gamers who want to become high up in the wizarding circuit (so to speak) so they need to acquire all sorts of potions, spells, and skills in order to gain status and power. Sounds pretty much like real life right? Buy a car, buy a house, get a good job, and marry an attractive spouse. There you go. I would not be bothered by this sort of thing normally because I would probably overlook the big picture, but a few large questions were raised in my mind this morning that illustrate the real differences between the virtual and real world.

My #1 question is:

What are these people contributing to society? I know not all people in all professions are changing lives or finding a cure for cancer. But, I would say generally speaking most people make some sort of impact in the lives of others whether it is positive or negative. These gamers are sitting on the computer trying to better the lives of their avatar or "virtual selves"; they are spending their time and money to enhance this experience. WHY not just live a real life? There must be some kind of draw to it. I understand its fun, it is addicting, and you can even make a career out of it, But I just want to know: what are you doing to help fellow man? When you die will real people come to your funeral or will you have a plot in an online cemetery somewhere?

I am hoping that these feeling are just my initial reaction to the book. I hope that Dibbell will help me understand the significance of the fantasy world that an increasing number of people are being drawn to. SO far I’m very interested in what Dibbell has to say and I’m looking forward to finishing the book. Maybe by the end I’ll have a different outlook, but for now I will remain skeptical about “trading virtual loot”.

Incase you didn't know!

Incase you didn't know, many people in this class, as well as other professional writing students and professors will be reading their original prose, poetry, and short stories on Scholars Day, so I encourage you all to come check it out! We want a packed room!
Here is the Flyer Diana made for the event . . .
If you can't read the bottom it says:

Scholars Day. Wednesday April 18th. 3:00pm. Room 120, Old Main.

I would also like to announce the release of this year's Transition Magazine. It is a collection of prose, poetry, and short stories put together by the Cortland Writers Association. This year we put together the magazine at Raquette Lake and it was a great experience. Dr Reid was a huge help BTW! Here is a poster that I made for the magazine's release! Please pick up your own copy in the English Department, 112 Old Main!

Also, Anyone who is interested in submitting pieces for next year's issue of Transition please let me or another CWA member know, or go to http://web.cortland.edu/writers/ for more information!

Snow Day part II

This is snow day the sequel boy and girls. The funny thing about snow days is that everyone is so happy to have them because they don't have class, but then people like me end up using the day to do all kinds of work anyway! So far I've done 3 blog posts, 2 personal blog posts, and I still need to do about a 1,000 wiki entries, well more like 4. But anyway, it's a good day to just sit on the Internet and do work without any distractions. Although, the Internet was down for about an hour, at which time I panicked. But it's obviously ok now. So the point of this blog entry is pretty much to post the pictures I took of our snow day in APRIL. I used a digital camera, so see? It's technology related. :-)

This is the beautiful cemetary.

This is between Bishop and Shea.

This is a lovely shot of Higgens.

Enjoy the snow everyone !

Second Life

I opened a Second Life account about a month ago and I've only used it 3 times. I made an avatar and did the tutorials on Orientation Island and now I have one little problem . . . I can't get off the island. I've tried flying and teleporting but neither of those work. I've also tried asking other people (there are a lot of French speakers that I've encountered) how to get off the island and no one seems to know. I'm sure I could google it and I probably will if no one in the class knows how to get off. Any ideas?

The idea of Second Life is pretty crazy and amazing at the same time. I watched the video about education in Second Life and it seems so weird and so similar to the concept of the "metaverse" that we talked about in Snow Crash. Having a virtual college campus to roam around in is a great way to meet people from all over the world and share your ideas and insights. From my experience with SL I think it takes a lot of time to get used to the way the virtual world works. Simple things like walking and communicating take a lot of practice. It sort of like being born all over again and having to learn how to work your new body in a completely different environment. Knowing that there are so many people involved in SL, everyone from college students to real life professors, lawyers, and politicians makes me wonder if this craze is going to really catch on. I think it is a very cool alternative to real life, but I think I prefer meeting my classmates face to face. In SL you can be whoever you want. Here is a picture of my avatar. I wish her eyes weren't so creepy!

scary hmm?

A Whole New Mind #2

As I read A Whole New Mind I find tons of underline-able parts. Here are some of the portions I really liked.

On page 17 :
What distinguishes us from other animals is our ability to reason analytically. We are humans, hear us calculate. That's what makes us unique. Anything else isn't simply different; it's LESS. And paying too much attention to those artsy-fartsy, touchy-feely, elements will eventually dumb us down and screw us up.

I can’t even count the number of times I've felt people trying to dumb me down because I am a writer and an artist. Of course, people who know me well, are aware that I am Intelligent and can hold my own academically, but those who don't, make assumptions and pass false judgment as if I wasn't smart enough to be a Lawyer or Doctor so I chose writing and art instead. It will be good for the world to shift and develop a new appreciation for the right brained wonders of the world.

On page 25:
Logic without emotion is a chilly, Spock-like existence. Emotion without logic is a weepy, hysterical world. In the end yin always needs yang. This is especially true when it comes to our brains. The two sides work in concert—two sections of an orchestra that sounds awful if one side packs up its instruments and goes home.

Pink makes a good point here. The brain doesn’t work as independent sides; there is a delicate balance between left and right brain that happens. One side cannot work without the other even if one side is more dominant. This idea is especially true regarding Pink’s discussion of “A Whole New Mind”. The brain must develop acute left and right brain abilities to work together as one functioning being.

On Page 55:
In the United States, the number of graphic designers has increased tenfold in a decade; graphic designers outnumber chemical engineers by four to one. Since 1970, the United States has 30 percent more people earning a living as writers and 50 percent more earning a living by composing or performing music.

This section on MBAs and MFAs is particularly interesting to me because I’ve always been worried that the skills I am learning in college will never be applied in the real world. I had no idea that creative career fields were growing at such a rapid rate. It makes me feel like what I am learning will actually be in high demand by the time I’m ready to enter the work force. At least I will have the advantage of knowing what it means to have “A Whole New Mind”.

A Whole New Mind 1

I am reading A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink and I'm finding it very interesting. Generally when I say a book is interesting I mean that I'm sure someone out there probably likes it, but not me. For this book though, I actually find it enjoyable and I want to read the entire thing. I might even keep it when I am done as opposed to selling it back to the school store. The reason I like this book so much is because it gives me hope.
Pink talks about how people who have creative minds or are right brain thinkers will become a hot commodity in the next decade. This is because there is an overwhelming amount of Left brain directed thinkers: those who are math and science savvy. This type of work is leaving the US and moving to countries like China where cheap laborers are a dime a dozen and you can pay them pennies for what we in America spend thousands of dollars to go to college for and supposedly become more "marketable".
Those who have the "in demand" R-directed way of thinking must be not only creative and have a design designated approach to things, but they also need to have a precision and crucial eye of a left brainer. That is why Pink call this the "whole new mind"