Last Blog

Agghh I cant believe i forgot about this blog...Where to start, when I first printed out the huge sylibus for the class I was wondering what I got myself in too. I figured I would read a few book take the exams and just try to escape with a good grade. Ive never view reading as enjoyable to wanted to read but this seemed to change with this class...I didn't really get into the class until Feed that was the first book i found interested and could see the overall view of the class. The Thoreau Challenge was something that challenged my daily life. I would have never guess before this class I could go 7 days without anything. I am proud of myself and see myself tending not to use them as much.  The second skins movie was an eye opener in a creepier way. I love video games but these people were nuts!Hunger games and 1984 were okay books that had a cool theme to them. In some ways these books that were written in the 50 and so are coming somewhat true today. Hunger Games was my favorite book in this class and might be tied with Catcher in the Rye for my all time favorite. The concept of the book was intriguing and one that I would have never thought about if I didn't take this class.  This class allowed me to see if I expand what I like in books I might find something I love. After this class I see how these books relate with my world. the want to buy more than  I need, how Big Brother could be watching me, how censorship is all around us and how we are burning books today with our remakes or movies.  I am glad I took this class. This was my favorite gen ed class and probably one of my favorite class in all my years of school. I was glad we were allowed to express ourself and share how we see the world around us. I really feel that what we say in class is not only listen too by the students but by Dr Mortimore too. After this class I have a whole new respect for literature after this class.

Bye Bye Books!

Sad but true. For some reason people do not want to buy real books. We would rather buy something off line and stare at a computer screen. A kindle or Ipad will never be able to replace a book 100% percent. Reading books is different...each book has a different smell, some have large print while others cram on the words...the feeling of accomplishment when you flip to your last page....all of that will be lost. We would rather have a lighter less dense file on our computers to read. Kindles and Ipads make every book look and feel the same. I world without books would be weird to me. However I feel probably in my life time no one will own "real" books. Newspapers and magazines are now being sent to your ipads daily, so its only a matter of time until the population catches on. I feel that there will always be some sort of books, some sort of religious text. I picture a time where kids dont even know what a bible looks like or why important documents like the Declaration of Independence is written on paper.  I feel books are very important.I know sometimes I complain about having to read them but i feel once I do I look at it differently than a movie, I question things more. I feel that reading books allows you to escape into a different place and use your imagination.  I feel that with our way of life now kids are loosing that ability because they are not challenged.





Today we burn books, not just with a match but when we turn them into movies. When Hollywood gets a hold of a movie they change it all around. We lose the personalty of the story and it seems like the overall goal is to make money and not do the book justice. There are so many examples where the movies are different than the books...Remember the Titans, Holes, Harry Potters, and I am Legend were all different than the book...I have only seen two movies that went right along with the book the first being The Blindside and the other was Miracle. I feel that we do these books an injustice when we make them into movies. I am eager to see what Jim Carey does to this up coming movie Mr Popper's Penguins because that was one of my favorite books growing up

Hunger Games

This was by far my favorite book of this class. At first I didn't really want to start but once I picked up the book I couldn't put it down.  It was a book that moved at a pace that I liked. I ended up reading the entire book in the same day and I don't think I have ever done that. It also had a way to draw in the readers and keep them there. I am looking forward to reading the next two books whenever school work slows down. I saw they were on sale at borders and picked them up. The book goes well with the class in the aspect of how consumers can dictate how the system is set up and  run. I feel that  this book and 1984 and Feed go together very well in that aspect. Hunger games and 84 both had that extreme ruler that struck fear in the people. How you must obey the rules and if you don't the higher power will make sure you understand how the system works. Hunger games and Feed go  together in that the  people are directly involved with everything. People gave money to the Hunger Game people witch was of most appealing to them and the feed would show items of value to the people to purchased.
Hunger games reminded me a lot of the Stone Cold Steve Austin movie the Condemned. This movie had very dangerous people from all over the world fight to the death for freedom. People could log on and watch these event from where ever. Rather than medicine dropping from the sky weapons would fall down to make killing easier.


And March 2012 The Hunger Games Movie will be released! So I will be interested to see how Hollywood changes the book.Hunger Games Movie 2012

reality TV

First off I'm not a reality TV fan or junky. I find if I wanted to see drama I can just go back home and listen to old high school friends. I decided to watch 2 different reality TV shows. The first was Jersey Shore because I wanted to see what the big deal was all about and the other was The Survivor. Where to start at with the Jersey Shore. The real parts about them was the dogs and the mess on the floors they bring and a some what look at a dysfunctional relationship looks like. I feel that there are some couples like what are in the show but I feel the producers force it on the watchers. They live in close quarters which allows for a lot to go onto.  I think reality TV focuses on drinking, having fun and sex.The show portrays that you can be lazy, get drunk every night, look fake and talk like you didn't pass the 3rd grade and still be rich and drive really expensive cars. They sometimes "work" or show up to a T shirt shop to make it look like they are doing something. I had a really hard time watching it without getting angered at the way the system works.  These people are making millions of dollars pr show and I go to school and probably wont have the full time job I want once I graduate next year. Survivor was more real than the Jersey Shore in that the basic human instant of surviving was there. Even though at any moment these people could get medical help, leave, or even get a pizza if they were hungry. Even this show seemed very staged to me in how key resources would just pop up. I feel that if I was in a situation like the shows put you in I would be a little intense but at times it felt too much.  Daniel Tosh from Tosh.0 once said on one of his shows "You wonder why other countries hate us? In America we have a game show called Survivor! It's a game show where we try to survive in places where people already live. The people there are like, 'hey can I have some of that bread'? And we're all 'NOOOOO! I'm starving! We don't have our cell phones out here, this is really tough!'." Its really true,we are  so caught up in ourselves to really see what we are watching. I feel some people just life to see a train wreck while others just like to see someone else's life sucks more than theirs.  So when everyone else is watching their reality TV I will stick to watching my sports.

Everyone had a BIG Brother!

I have heard many times big brother is watching or being taught that someone is always watching or listening. Everywhere we go we are on camera, ATM, banks, when we go shopping, parking lots, airports, subways. Every step we take we are probably under a careful watch. This article I read from the USA Today that talked how big brother is always there. The article starts with this creepy fact 

"They are in laptop webcams, video-game motion sensors, smartphone cameras, utility meters, passports and employee ID cards. Step out your front door and you could be captured in a high-resolution photograph taken from the air or street by Google orMicrosoft, as they update their respective mapping services. Drive down a city thoroughfare, cross a toll bridge, or park at certain shopping malls and your license plate will be recorded and time-stamped." 

We caring around things that allow us to be pinpointed. Some households even have onstar witch allows someone in an office across the US to turn on off your car, unlock it and even shut it off. Its creepy how at any given time we can be watched. We see in movies how they can find people in the middle of know where from outer space. We carry phones that have mini gps in them, our phones pin off towers so we can be pinpointed on a map. Our phone calls can be monitored at anytime, if we say a code word. The article also shares how posting pictures of your car on facebook can really disclose where you live. 

Last summer, industrial designer Adam Savage, co-host of the TV show MythBusters, used his iPhone to snap a photo of his Toyota Land Cruiser parked in front of his house, then posted it on Twitter. In doing so, Savage, in effect, publicly disclosed where he lives

Oh and Facebook taging a photo allows your picture to be shared and stored for anyone to see

Once you are tagged in a photo, that photo could be used to search for matches across the entire Internet, or in private databases, including those fed by surveillance cameras. "They almost certainly have the technical capability to do it," Russell says.

Just the feeling that someone could be watching is a little unsettling. Yes I'm sure this could be a little far fetched but it is very plausible.   


So just remember someone is always watching ;)

Choice #3

Choose and write about 4 advertisements that would be featured on your Feed. Link these advertisements in your blog. Write a paragraph about each one. 


Espn / SI
If I had a Feed I'm sure it would be throwing out all sorts of Espn and SI feeds. I love sports and Espn is already my computer homepage so its only fitting to be fixture in my feed. I would expect ads for their magazine and get options they have if your a plus member. I already get emails now but the feed would personalized these ads. Maybe for fantasy football leagues, discounted sports tickets, and magazines. Also knowing I love sport and that I like to purchase sports hats, jerseys, and other collectible things I would get redirected to relevant sites.


VWVortex / Mitsubishi


I love my car and when I'm home I'm usually around other people who modify their cars either  in a garage   or driving to the beach for a car show. I feel looking into my purchase history they would show me car part ads. Recently I decided to I wanted something new and different. Being at school my VW wasn't a reliable car to take me to and from school.  I've been doing my research on a new Mitsubishi Lancer. This is my practical dream car. I feel the feed would recognize the change in cars and find me ways to personalize my lancer knowing this allows me to socialize with my friends and enjoy myself.


Netflix


I love Netflix plain and simple. I love watching movies and TV shows to relax. That happiness you get when you find a movie or show you watched when you where younger but forgot about. Netflix already has a what we recommended for you option but with the feed it would understand me better and search for things I might have lost in my memory. I love comic book movies and there are so many so my feed could keep me updated on new releases and when newer movies are being made.


Under Armour


I wear UA all the time. Playing on travel sports team we were always given under armour gears for when we played but also for everyday life style. I'm a believer in UA and I love how the product works. I will continue to buy UA so I feel the feed would recognize this and cut out the other brands I don't really like. New releases and closeout sales would also be sent to me. Like in Feed when they would get stuff for the abercrombie and fitch like store.


I feel the feed takes all the email and stuff we get now and takes out the spam and junk products. The feed reconizes  what makes you happy or satisfied and would capitalize on this. We tend to get frusterated when we get junk mail or realize we miss a sale because we didnt see out mail. The feed is just there always giving you more and more options.

Back to normal

Free, Free at last....So today I was allowed to use technology again and I made up for not having it. It was nice having quite time but I love listening to music a lot more. I found I work better when I had my music on while doing homework, I got done a lot quicker. I got a kick out of some of the text I got. When I turned my phone on I had to wait a good 10 min to allow all the miss text to load. Between my friends and sports scores I had a ton of texts. Most of my messages where my friends asking if I was mad at them or asking if I died. This week it was nice just getting away from the fast paced world but it the little things that keep me motivated. I enjoy myself when I get to watch TV or play ps3 with my friends. The last week it was more work because I had a hard time keeping busy while at school. I fell I'll use technology less because I know I don't need it. I will however be glad to be able to surf the web, play games and what not in between classes on my Ipod. I  also never realize how much I take my cell for granite, being able to communicate when to meet or hang out is a lot harder when you don't have a phone. For my friends around campus I could walk to but when I was going away this weekend I was lost! I don't really see how we could be productive if cell phones when down for a long period of time. I also missed what was going on in the world. The entire Egypt thing I was in the dark on and even on a local note I didn't know what was going on!  Overall I love technology, I dont feel I would continue this challenge or try it again unless I really had too.  To everyone who is finished congrats and enjoy..to the ones with more time to go good luck 30pts is a lot...and for those who didnt even try..shame on you ;p!

The All American Child!

Almost 5 day

So this challenge seems to get easier and easier for me. I figured I could do a few days without technology here in Ship but I knew if I wanted to go all week I had to get away. I was lucky that a friend of mine wanted to get away too and go to the cabin. The cabin has no electricity just oil lamps so that made it easy. Getting away and just hike, fish, and take pic how beautiful the woods are in the winter. We were also blessed with warmer weather. However we usually use a gps to get us there and home so not having it with us was a challenge. We both figured we would wing it and just try. This was the first time I wished to have my gps because we took an extra hour trying to find it. Driving without music was also tough, when you don't have the music you realize how boring car rides can be. It was a nice get away for school. Overall the past week I used my mind alot. I sat down and really read 2 books which I don't think I've ever done in a week. I'm ahead in all my classes and I'm really well rested. Since I don't have a TV to watch I fall a sleep alot earlier. I'm ready to get back and watch tv and catch up with my friends but I will always love nature. I dont feel I've abused technology but it does make life easier

Feb 8 the start of very long days

So I decided that I would accept the 7day no technology challenge. I didn't feel like it would be too difficult. I figured no phone, no TV, no ipod no real problem. Oh boy was I wrong. It didn't really hit me until the second day. The first day I caught up on homework, I read Feed, studied for 2 exams and started to do more school work. The second day I realized I took out most of my homework, my brain was tired and didn't want to really do any more work. I tried to go work out but after 20 min I couldn't take it anymore. I am so use to music to keep me pumped and focused I was use to that background noise. Going to bed was also rough, I sleep with my ipod on every night so I never really had a full silent night. Another thing about not having my ipod was my life is in there, all of my appointment time, when homework is due and also games to pass time before classes. I forgot to do a homework assignment because I was so use to getting a notification. My cell wasn't much of a problem, I've gone weeks at a time not having it when I left it at home. I don't use an alarm clock so I still woke up on time. I feel that I went to bed early because I was just so bored. This weekend shouldn't be too bad because I'm going to the cabin with a few friends but I have no clue how I'm going to get ahold of them so they can pick me up. I defiantly didn't think everything through before I took this challenge. I'm a very clean person so I just see all my dirty wash just growing. I feel that if I was camping I would be fine but being at school in Ship is rough. I feel the environment is the most challenging thing.

I've been putting off writing this because I knew I wanted to save it for when I felt withdrawal. It is very tempting not to open up a new tab and just surf the web, but I made it this far so I cant give up

Mother Nature

My favorite quote was "I went to the woods because I wished to life deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."  Henry David Thoreau
 Growing up I was always outside. My father made sure that I was involved with nature. We would go hiking, fishing, camping, we even did boy scouts together. When I was younger I loved being out side because I wasn't so consumed by technology. When I got to my teen years I wasn't worried about being outside, I was use to playing sports and that was good enough for me. I could care less to go camping or fishing because it felt like a choir, I would rather send my time inside playing video games or swimming in our personal pool. I think things really changed for me my senor year of high school. The yearly camping trips ended a few years in advance but I felt bored with my life. I decided that I needed to reconnect with something I once had. That summer I had the time of my life. A friend and I roughed it out for 3 weeks, no  electricity, no running water. We stayed in an old family cabin of his family that needed some work while we were there. We took a bin of food, pots and pans and clothes for everything else we just winged it. The first couple of days we did more sight seeing than anything else not really worrying about survival. towards the end of the first week we saw our food dropping quick and if it rained we were screwed. I quickly realized that I lost my way with nature, even though for so many years I was out in nature I realized that technology handicapped me. After awhile natural human instincts kicked in but I realized what I allowed happen was wrong. From the point I tried to become one with nature again and I wouldn't allow myself to slip away like I did. That summer I felt rejuvenated it felt good being able to survive on your own and get away from the fast paced world. Today some of my most treasured visual memories was how beautiful things were, how red the sky got at night fall, how beautiful a full night sky was. I'm glad my father took me camping and things because there are so many other children that never get to see nature. I could not imagine living in a world like feed where you live in your own little world. Earth is a huge wonder and there is so much to be seen. You never know what lies under every unturned rock.

The Dumbest Generation or The Hope of Tomorrow?

Mr Mark Bauerlein calls my generation the dumbest in his book. Even though that is his opinion and his goal is to stir up a debate but i don't agree with everything Mr. Bauerlein says. Bauerlein starts out strong with two examples that left me baffled. "Two thirds of high-school seniors in 2006 couldn't explain an old photo of a sign over a theater door reading COLORED ENTRANCE." This was disturbing and I have no excuse for this. There are few if any events in American history than the Cival Rights Movement and not to remember this is just being lazy. Another painful truth is in 2001, 52 percent identified Germany, Japan or Italy, not the Soviet Union, as America's World War II ally." WW2 along with the Civil Rights have not occurred that long ago. Many peoples grandfathers were in WW2 so there is even a connection there. Where I start to disagree with Bauerlein is when he says we dont know clasical music and different art. To me just because something was deemed classical by someone of the past doesnt mean that it is important today. Saying we are the laziest also isn't a fair description. The generation before us failed us. That generation was the ones who created the technology and was in charge of our education. We were raised in a education system that was set up to fail. State mandated test were the down fall of my generation. We were tough the basic in a way that wasn't interesting to us. Books were forced onto us and told we had to do this for a test. Nothing was to be fun. We found our escapes in video games and TV. I feel that basic education students are lazy some what. While I was in high school I was apart of a graduation project with one of my teachers. Our basic goal was to set up 2 different science honor class. One class we deemed the fun class, more hands on experiments while the others was the normal basic hw, test/exams and worksheets. We found that students did well when they had fun and didn't feel like we needed to cram everything for an exam. We tested the same people with the same final exam again and the students in the fun class retained more information. When I presented my finding with 3 school staff I was asked why I felt this happened. I felt we just dump and cram, we are so worried about passing and don't really learn. When I look back at my past schooling the only things that i remember the most is when I was challenged outside the box. I feel my generation is smarter than what we are given credit for. We mastered what we were asked to do. We weren't asked to learn we were asked to perform at the highest level. We are able to get any answers we might not be able to recall faster than any other generation. We mastered the technology that we are presented with and we  use our computers like like past generation used a dictionary.

My generation has also been told you have to master one aspect and be better than anyone else to make sure you get a job. The competitive world we live in makes us pick one topic and master it and not be okay in every factor. So I do not feel that my generation is the laziest or the dumbest i feel we are a product of the system we grew up in. If anyone is dumb or lazy its the past generation that established it. 

David( The "Dumb" generation) vs Goliath(the problems from the past generations) 2011edition

As a last note this "Dumb" Generation was left having to deal with many major problems left over. We have to fix the economy, rebuild American, and fix social security. With some of these problems known I wonder why      would establishing a dumb generation be okay. My generation will solve some of these problems and I'm sure we will create a few more problems, but I feel Mr. Bauerlein doesn't want us to be content with our lives and to create and strive for more/better!

What happened to America?

First off I found this video very disturbing on many levels. The film was an inside view to the life of a video game and cyber world addict. Whenever someone logs 12-18 hrs at a time and also willing to spend vacation time just to play a game is wrong. The weirdest thing to me was the personal relationships these people create while playing these games. The film shared a stat that 1 in 3 female gamers will develop a relationship with a fellow gamer. For every female there is 10 single males. To me its strange to start a relationship off when the only thing you know about each other is the made up character. Wanting to fly that person out to you and let them stay with you is wrong.  They make movies and TV shows off of what happens when you meet people offline. Also anyone can lie and be whoever they want when a computer screen is what you really see. Yeah you can say its no different than meeting on an E-harmony or other dating site but these sites show the real person face, interest and push the personal aspect while these games just promote your fantasy cartoon.  When you spend most of your first date hundred of miles away bonding over slaying a dragon I feel could be done and more satisfying going to a movie face to face.  The book and the film hit upon a lot of the same  topics. When the father spoke at the end of a film and said hes a broke father of two but when he logs onto that game it doesn't matter hes not broke and no one  knows that.I feel a quote from the book sums up the future of this, "Eventually..there lies a world where most human beings are simply incapable of experiencing what life ought to evoke" pg46. People who spend all their time in these dream fantasy worlds lose their connection to the outside world. They all seem to not have many friends outside their game worlds, and most of their personal relationship fail because of these games make them use to showing or sharing their emotions through their fingers and not their mouths. Don't get me wrong i play my video games just like many other but I would never let it consume my life.

Another way the books and film linked together is through consuming. For the first 24 hrs of sales,WOW made $96 million and the for the top movie grossed only $60million. Annual WOW makes $1.2 billion. In the last two years video game sales  have gone out the roof. Call of Duty MW2 made a record $310 million in 24hr and $550 million in 5 days.  A year later Call of Duty Black-ops came out, almost the same game, made $360 million in the first 24hr of US and UK sales. Its just creepy how these companies can get us to buy the same product every year. A lot has to do with wanting the new crazies but these developers have discovered a way to keep our mind habituated for hours. From a psych view i wonder what future research shows us with people who suffer from living in a cyber world and will there be some of the same stresses that soldiers feel when they leave one hostile situation and head back to the real normal lives?

One of the lasting thoughts about the film other than the creepy cyber/ live wedding was when the addict talked how a gamer doesn't have to more or interact with anyone to get their fix and that at least a crack head has to socialize  to get their drugs.
Tosh.0 wow kid

All About Me

My name is Kyle Krebs; I was born and raised in York, Pa. I graduated in 08 from West York High School. My high school was small for most of the other schools in my area. There was only 106 students in my class at graduation. My school was more known for their sports team. I'm a Psychology major and a Criminal Justice minor. I hope one day to work in law enforcement for the FBI.  The reason I came to Ship was because its only an hour away, so its far enough for my parents to have to call to visit and close enough to get home if i needed.  I'm a huge sports fan. I played on 3 different varsity teams, baseball, soccer, and ice hockey. I love hockey and I'm a huge Washington Capital and Hershey Bears fan. I've played hockey since I was 8.  I'm not a huge PA fan when it comes to sports. I love being outside. I find nature amazing. I love to hike and camp. A newer hobby of mine is photography and taking picture whenever I go somewhere new.

I never really liked to read until this summer. I sat down this summer and really read a book from front to cover. In high school we were forced to read the same old books that just got old and I was never interested. To me literature is someone thoughts or feelings about something this could be someone’s true story about an event or someone’s wish about a topic. My 12 grade year we were given the chance to read any book you wanted. The book I picked was The Catcher in the Rye. It’s probably my favorite book. The plot of the novel got me hooked. The latest book I read was The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It’s a father and son novel about survival and doing anything to protect your child. There was a movie made after the book that doesn’t do justice! 

I listen to music all the time. I listen to almost everything. My mood plays a huge factor to what i listen too. My favorite artists are Cartel, Yellowcard, Lil Wayne, Billy Joel, and Journey.  I love comic book movies; I also watch a lot of survival and sports movies. For TV shows i watch a lot of history and discover channel. If i could be in one show it would be American Pickers though. ESPN is on my TV religiously, if I'm sitting on my computer the TV is on and sports are in the background. I think it would be fun to travel around and explore for hidden gems. I like real life stuff, nothing that’s too far fetched. I play my share of video games when at school. I have a PS3 and play Call of Duty and different EA Sports games. I’m not too big into paintings and sculptures but more into architecture. I would love to travel to Europe and others to see some of the world wonders. If I could go anywhere it would be Italy. A close second would be Egypt. Both of these places have world marvels that have been around for hundreds of years and are built without modern tools. I hope one day I can see the world because there is so much out there to offer