Continuing with my previous posting Awareness Falling, do you think there are forces at play in the news you receive?
Your news awareness may be skewed because of the propaganda model. The propaganda model is a theory advanced by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky that alleges systemic biases in the mass media.
Herman and Chomsky argue that since mainstream media outlets are either large corporations or part of conglomerates (e.g. Westinghouse or General Electric), the information presented to the public will be biased with respect to these interests. Such conglomerates frequently extend beyond traditional media fields, and thus have extensive financial interests that may be endangered when certain information is widely publicized. According to this reasoning, news items that most endanger the corporate financial interests of those who own the media will face the greatest bias and censorship.
It then follows that if to maximize profit means sacrificing news objectivity, then the news sources that ultimately survive must be fundamentally biased, with regard to news in which they have a conflict of interest.
I am inclined to agree with Herman and Chomsky. With news being a business and operated as such, I support the propaganda model. You only need to tune in to see it in action. A perfect example of this is the lack of reporting on the war in Iraq. In July the reporting of the war averaged 15% of the news reporting time, but by February it was down to just 3%. Why is this? Could it be that neither Republican or Democratic parties want the war to be a major part of the election because neither party has a good solution for bringing our troops home? You know if someone had a good plan for withdraw they would be spinning it to the public. So instead the spin doctors of each party spin “other” news stories to the media.
We need to look outside the so-called U.S. free press to learn the whole story and then it do it with caution, knowing you will still encounter the forces of money and power manipulating the facts.
It is only with the recent power of the Internet and the ability of people to post fresh information, does it assist in keeping the media somewhat honest. And that is no where near enough. If you would like to learn more about this topic I suggest you explore the following:
Disconnect Anxiety refers to various feelings of disorientation and nervousness experienced when a person is deprived of Internet or wireless access for a period of time.
In the report the first reason for this anxiety was safety, the second was work and is ahead of social and missing the party. Okay I can understand the safety issue, it is nice to know you can call someone if you have an issue while you are out. For instance I am an avid cyclist, have diabetes and though I take extra food with me my sugar could get dangerously low. It is nice to know I can call someone to bring me food or give me a ride home and I do not need to lay on the side of the road to wait for an ambulance for help. However, I have never let myself get in that position and if I forget my cell phone I am not about to turn around and go back home to get it.
But anxiety because you may miss something at work? People rely too much on being connected and think of themselves as being more important than what they are. You and the world will survive without you being connected. Get a life and/or a better job!!!
Do you know what a national security letter is? National security letters outlined in the USA Patriot Act, are administrative subpoenas. These letters allow the FBI to force telephone companies, Internet service providers, banks, credit bureaus and other businesses to turn over highly personal records about their customers without a judge’s approval.
Today more FBI privacy violations have been confirmed. No big surprise here. The Associated Press is reporting:
Testifying at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Mueller raised the issue of the FBI’s controversial use of so-called national security letters in reference to an upcoming report on the topic by the Justice Department’s inspector general.
An audit by the inspector general last year found the FBI demanded personal records without official authorization or otherwise collected more data than allowed in dozens of cases between 2003 and 2005. Additionally, last year’s audit found that the FBI had underreported to Congress how many national security letters were requested by more than 4,600.
Many people will respond by saying they have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide, so what is the big deal. Due process, privacy and Constitutional rights are the big deal. It is a big part of what democracy is all about. And that piece of sh*t Bush does not care about your rights, democracy, or the Constitution.
Are you or someone you know interested in bicycling and/or bicycle racing? If you know someone who is one of those people who ride a bike and follows the races, you could be their hero by passing along this information. Here is are links to an article from Wired about and to Adobe Tour Tracker.
Currently the Amgen Tour of California is taking place, so now with some excellent technology you can follow the race live with Adobe Tour Tacker. Tour Tracker has live commentary, route map, course profile, live rider tracking, and you can choose between cameras. And you can do this all live in real time online.
Think of the potential trickle down effect of this technology to the consumer level is amazing. Thank you for visiting Expressing Opinions.
One of the perks I have always enjoyed in going to school and teaching is free or heavily discounted software. In tech news today CNET is reporting about Microsoft’s DreamSpark program and giving away software to college students.
The software being offered for free includes:
Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition
Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition
Expression Studio (including Web, Blend, Design and Media)
SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition
Windows Server, Standard Edition
Students will also have access to Microsoft’s Xbox development tools, the XNA Game Studio 2.0, as well as a 12-month free membership to the XNA Creators Club.
While nearly all software manufactures discount software, Microsoft heavily discounts their products. In fact I have found they actually make their products more affordable than any other software producer. Is Microsoft just being kind to financially strapped students? Or it is more about hooking them now and hoping they stay to make purchasing decisions later in their careers?
Most people do not like to leave their comfort zone or make changes which may include a learning curve. It is easier to stay with what you are familiar with. Bill Gates and his team in Redmond know this, thus by offering their product to students now they automatically have a paying customer base later. It is a good marketing model where students win now and Microsoft and Bill Gates continue to earn billions later on.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not a big Microsoft fan by any means. But I think other software manufactures could take a lesson from Bill Gates and offer bigger discounts and software giveaways to students. I see students financially struggling to pay for tuition and purchasing books for classes, only to come up short on getting the software they need to truly learn and succeed. This leaves students needing to spend more time in computer labs which translates into travel time, more demanding schedules, needing to make the decisions to do assignments or go to work, and less time to achieve academic excellence. If you have the software at home to work on assignments it gives the student an ability to manage their time and affords them an overall better learning and life experience.
I applaud Microsoft in their efforts. Now if Adobe, Apple and a few others would follow along with real discounts and giveaways.
The other night I couldn’t sleep. Woke up around 12:30am, tossed and turned until 1:30, when I finally decided to get out of bed and make use of my time. What did I do? I played Guitar Hero3 until I needed to get ready and leave for work at 5:30am. Hey I know how to put my time to good use. My thinking is the next time I go visit my son I should be able to be competitive when we play GH3.
Then today while I am drinking my morning coffee, watching the news, and channel surfing (I love having a bazillion useless channels.) I came across a pod on CurrentTv about the Guitar Zeros. I did some research and now I have the software to turn my plastic guitar into serious plastic guitar fun on the computer and will take the guitar competition to a new and more fun level. Maybe I should start thinking about upgrading my guitar.
Check it out.Thank you for visiting Expressing Opinions.
I am an old school Internet person. When I started on the net none of my friends knew of email, there was no World Wide Web, let alone Yahoo, Google, or blogs. We did have Gopher, Veronica, and Archie. No point and click. Everything was done with keystrokes (command line). The net was a virtual community with a unique cast of characters who governed themselves and shared everything. It was fun, creative, and for the most part everything was free. Including software and help from just about everyone. Everyone participated in a gift economy. Wikipedia describes part of the gift economy as:
Typically, a gift economy occurs in a culture or subculture that emphasizes social or intangible rewards for generosity: karma, honor, loyalty or other forms of gratitude. In some cases, simultaneous or recurring giving serves to circulate and redistribute valuables within a community.
The Internet was first designed to be used when we were being attacked by the Soviets. It was designed to withstand a nuclear attack during a time of war; enabling commanders to still have communications with their forces. The main protocol this communications was built on is TCP/IP, which was developed by Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn. The amazing part of this history is they gave away the technology.
Today it is a different story. The Internet is seems to be motivated by money and greed, and a good portion of the gift economy which was, is now gone. As part of a current project I read in the neighborhood of 50 to 100 blogs and respond to several on a regular basis. Not always the same sources, but still enough to get the big picture and state of the virtual community. The overwhelming majority are monetized with all sorts of advertisement. If I respond to a posting on a monetized blog I start getting offers to be entered in a free drawing if I continue to visit and comment.
I know these blog owners are watching the traffic to their site and get more money from advertisers if they can increase the amount of visitors. These web sites try to entice you with invitations to be their friends, have your web site link to theirs, giveaways of gifts, contests, and the list of enticements goes on and on. But what are they offering in exchange for your time? Is there any kind of content you find useful?
Like I said before, I am an old school Internet person. No advertisement, no gimmicks or give aways. Just something out there for you to read and maybe find useful or humorous at times. Do you want to make your online world and the world around you a better place? Find a way to participate in the gift economy, a true free giveaway. What goes around, comes around.
How many of you have heard about Portable Apps? I have been using these for a couple of years and this is not a paid for or sponsored posting. However, this is something I thought I would share with you and an excellent way to carry all your favorite computer programs along with all of your bookmarks, settings, email and more with you.
If you already use the Firefox web browser, then you will want to use Thunderbird a feature rich email client. You should check out the Portable Apps web site. There is much more than just a web browser and email client there. You can also run a messaging program, password manager, video and music players, OpenOffice, and much more.
All these programs will run from a USB drive and will run on any Windows machine. It will do all of this without leaving any personal data behind. Great for use at work or school. BTW if your employer or school blocks the use of web based IM, Pidgin messaging program gets past the blocks and security at my employer.
There is no spyware and it is totally free. Reminds of me of what the Internet use to be like. If you want to learn more about where the internet came from go to Nerds 2.0.1.
Recently I wanted to make an online purchase at BestBuy.com and have the item pickup at a store. The item I was wanting to purchase was a digital camera. It is for my son and his wife who are expecting their first child and I wanted to have it available for pickup near where they live so they could start documenting their incredible adventure immediately. They live 2,500 miles away from me, so I thought order it online and have them pick it up. Easy! Right? Wrong!!!
To order online and make an in store pickup you need a drivers license and the credit card you made the purchase with. I am glad I read the fine print. So I decide to go to a local Best Buy store to explain my situation and make the purchase there and have my son pick the camera up at the store near him. Sounds fairly basic and easy. They have me there with my credit card and identification, so there isn’t any fraud taking place. And don’t get me wrong, I do not have a problem with a little extra security in today’s world of online fraud and identity theft.
I go to the customer service desk, explain what I want to do and the girl there tells me she needs to talk to her manager. He is sitting there on a computer and gives her the look of “why are you bothering me” when she asks him. She returns telling me I can order the camera there and have it delivered to their house but I will need to pay shipping or I can purchase a gift card and have my son at the store in his hometown and they can read the number over the phone so he can purchase the camera there. Wait a minute! All I want to do is make the purchase and have my son pick it up! I do not want to plan a military operation with coordinate troop movements and special communication. Needless to say I walked out with a screw you attitude.
This is not the first time I have had an issue with Best Buy. Before Christmas I bought a digital picture frame on a Thursday and it went on sale on Sunday. When I returned to the store on Monday to ask for price matching the customer service rep made me go through the Best Buy circular and show her the price before I could get a refund. She acted like I was lying and trying to rip the company off. She would not look the item up on the computer or do anything to help.
I make few purchases at Best Buy because of crappy customer service and the attitude they have when you are there. These instances only reinforce my attitude of only buying when it is on sale and way cheaper than anyone else. And lets not forget about the Insignia picture frame virus, which I have not heard about or read on any Best Buy produced media. No signs in the store warning you, nothing on the web site, and nothing I have read in paper. Best Buy sucks!
To order online and make an in store pickup you need a drivers license and the credit card you made the purchase with. I am glad I read the fine print. So I decide to go to a local Best Buy store to explain my situation and make the purchase there and have my son pick the camera up at the store near him. Sounds fairly basic and easy. They have me there with my credit card and identification, so there isn’t any fraud taking place. And don’t get me wrong, I do not have a problem with a little extra security in today’s world of online fraud and identity theft.
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