Obama Declares State of Emergency through yet another Executive Order

Today, May 16, 2012, the United States Premier Barack Obama AKA Barry Soetoro AKA Barry the Rat signed Executive Order Blocking Property of Persons Threatening the Peace, Security, or Stability of Yemen, declaring a State of Emergency in the United States and activating his new dictatorial powers, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) (NEA), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code.

Obama says he is going to exercise these powers on the sovereign country of Yemen and “others”.  This is a seizure of all Yemenis owned properties in the United States and the properties of any American with business ties to any interest in Yemen.  This is an act of war…

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

“When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny…”

Democracy: an egalitarian form of government in which all the citizens of a nation together determine public policy, the laws and the actions of their state, requiring that all citizens (meeting certain qualifications) have an equal opportunity to express their opinion.

Tyranny:  1. arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power; despotic abuse of authority.   2. the government or rule of a tyrant or absolute ruler.   3. a state ruled by a tyrant or absolute ruler.   4. oppressive or unjustly severe government on the part of any ruler.   5. undue severity or harshness.

FINAL PROJECT – REFLECTION

Reflections over this last semester? Is this what this little report is supposed to be all about? I don’t know what to say really, it’s been a little different for me here towards the end of the semester in Digital Media, as well as in everything else. I think I’m finally getting into the groove of being able to accept things the way they are. At the beginning of the semester (and ever since I started into this course) I was still pretty upset about the way things work in these “Educational Institutions” today because compared to the older styles of education I’m accustomed to and familiar with, well, education today can’t hold a candle to the days when learning was a structured process, a process that was equally effective for pretty much everyone. Back when assignments were, for the most part, flawlessly orchestrated by instructors… when a student would actually have assignments graded and returned with real, actual feedback on if they’d understood one section adequately before getting too deep into whatever came next.

Things just aren’t the way they used to be and it’s unnerved me to no end. In my Digital media class… we spent the majority of our time taking photos and doing the same old design work we’ve already learned in previous classes. We were heading toward some new things, as was supposedly the plan, we were going to be learning to make our own pod cast, we reported on maybe six podcasts in preparation for this, then, I guess the whole idea just faded away. Our final project was to be making a video. We were to find someone who makes their living in the field of digital media, someone whose career is out there online, and make a video interview with them. Somehow that idea expired before we had even done anything at all working towards that end. You never know what may be going on from one week to the next… it’s entirely impossible to plan anything, let alone manage your time, when what you think you’re doing is in a constant state of flux. I just became angrier, and angrier, and angrier with each and every change of plans.

Towards the end of the semester though, I finally began to really start talking with some other students and started to get some insight into how others feel about all these types of situations. There was one student in particular who was incredibly inspirational to me. In watching how they dealt with everything, the scattered, confusing nature of these classes, and for them, also amongst an avalanche of other troubles which caused them to get further and further behind yet they STILL drove forward… upset… yes, but handling it all so well… it kind of changed the whole way I looked at things.

The rest of the semester went pretty well and in the end, well, our final project was in “flash” so I was happy with that. It also gave me the opportunity to play around with the “Audacity” software as well, so, I was glad to be learning at least SOME new things. Amazingly enough, a couple of my other classes seemed to line up with the new attitude I was beginning to develop as well, focusing on several issues relating to communication and such, a wider scope in which to view certain situations and methods others had employed in coping with somewhat similar situations. Overall, I’d have to say it’s been a semester of growth for me personally, and I hope I’ve finally come to a point where I don’t have to go to war with the world over every single thing… I’ve thought this before, but, maybe this time I’ll really rise above all that sort of thing (and all those sorts of people). Let us hope so.

OPERATION DEFENSE – PROTEST AGENDA

Plans for protest of the latest threat to the free internet. Demonstrate and Boycott supporters of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). Make your voice known to such ebtities as Bank of America, All Chase Branches, the McGraw Hill Publishing Company, CocaCola, Pepsi, Target, WalMart and more. SOPA style attacks on free speech and infringements on what rights we have left must be defeated.

Congress is preparing to soon vote on the Cybersecurity Information Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). This broad legislation would give the government, including military spy agencies, unprecedented powers to snoop through people’s personal information — medical records, private emails, financial information — all without a warrant, proper oversight or limits. Help stop it. Read the full text of CISPA HERE, Sign the ACLU petition opposing CISPA HERE.

CHILD BOOK MASHUP

GOLDILOCKS DOES 3 TO 5 FOR VIOLATION OF THE FEDERAL HOME INVASION ACT

CYBER INTELLIGENCE SHARING & PROTECTION ACT

CISPA Monitoring Bill: Just the Facts

Internet activists are sounding the alarms on the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, or CISPA, a bill that’s headed for a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives. CISPA would give private companies new ways to share information about cyber-threats with the U.S. government, and vice versa. Although its purpose is quite different from SOPA and PIPA–the anti-piracy bills that were protested out of Congressional consideration last January–CISPA has angered many of the same opponents due to its promise of broad new powers for the government….

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

CYBERSECURITY BILL FAQ’S HERE

READ FULL TEXT OF CISPA HERE

STEVE JOBS GOES TO HEAVEN

Source: http://tekgnostics.blogspot.com/2011_10_01_archive.html

YOUR OWN COUNTRY- FINAL DRAFT

This is my final draft for the “Your Own Country” Assignment.We were to design 1) A flag, 2) currency, 3) Postage, and 4) A Letterhead for our country; explain everything… all  that sort of good ole stuff. So… Uhhh… guess this is it.

My Country is the United Colson Dictatorship, headed by me, Bradley W Colson, of course. It might have sounded like a democracy (as if there’s really such a thing) from my 1-st draft, but nope…. I rule. As noted in my first draft, the theme of my country is “Freedom” and “Peace,” uhhh, kinda sorta, so the”V” for “Victory” (or rather for Vendetta) and the peace sign are kind of a central image or icon for what they stand for and the Latin “Res Ipsa Loquitur” meaning “the thing speaks for itself” (something like that) is my countries motto. Kind of symbolic that there is no deception or falsity to be tolerated in my country.

In the spirit off keeping things real the wave design symbolic of water is also central to my countries designs in everything. The idea is the 1-st cannon of my countries constitution outlines my “You Lie You Die” policy. Lying is something I want to completely weed out in my country so anyone found to be guilty of lying, the willful, wanton, and heedless disregard for the truth, who is bound over for trial shall face trial by water just like in the good ole midieval days.I’ll bless a huge vat of water and the liar will be poked down into it with a big, wooden pole and if the water rejects the person, i.e. if they float, well… their guilty… they’re to be put to death. HEY… seemed to work for Christianity to weed out  all the heretics. I think the policy will do wonders to weed out all the lying pieces of craps as well. So if you’re like… a lawyer, politician, police officer… you know, all those sorts of “so called” professional types… you might not want to move to my country unless you can learn to start speaking the truth. Of course we’ll have treatment centers for pathological liars such as Doctors, University Administrators and all that sort of thing. I mean…I’m all about reform, so, you know…

Lots of work to be done, lots of details to be hammered out, but for now… here’s my money and stuff…

   

 

COMMENTS FOR KIDS ASSIGNMENT

This was an assignment we were to do from the DS106 website called “Comments for Kids located HERE. the blogs I chose to comment on were:

Lamillya’s blog at http://le7tres.edublogs.org/2012/03/09/seuss-books-by-dr-suess/#comment-16

Ayden’s blog at http://blogs.csdvt.org/techkidayden/2011/12/01/my-book/#comment-39

Lilly’s blog at http://blogs.goaj.org/lillianbobcat/2012/04/01/mary-anning-fossil-finder/#comment-18

Hmmm… describe my experience, huh? Well…I don’t know, I just got through writing the comments, so, there’s not  much to describe. I was kind of amazed at some of the things these kids are doing at their age. I mean… I didn’t see anyone that actually listed their age in their “About” sections, Lilly had a picture on hers, but  other than that, I could only guess they were pretty young. Seems to me at the age I’d estimate most of these kids were, I was probably still working on “Go Pug Go” and all that sort of thing, but, these kids are out there blogging. AMAZING!

Anyway… maybe I’ll have more to say later, maybe one of them will drop me a message back or something. For now… well… I’ve got an over abundance of other assignments to do so… BYE.

“YOUR OWN COUNTRY” 1-st DRAFT

ASSIGNMENT: Establish a country of your very own. Appoint yourself the head of state. You can be a monarch, a military dictator, an elected official, the style of government is up to you.

       Now that you are the leader of a country it is time to design for yourself a realistic postage stamp, a currency, a stationery letterhead and a flag. Strive for realism here. You don’t have to create the physical object, but do strive to create a photo-realisic rendering of these objects. I want this believeable.

       Make some initial drafts, sketches, ideas, etc. Scan these in if necessary. I want to see a work-flow. I want to see ideas you tried and abandoned. If you go with your first ideas, the finished product won’t be good enough. Write (or record) a summary of your process along with your rough draft sketches & post it to your blog. Submit the URL to this assignment.

       Start with brainstorming about which objects, scenes and thoughts are the most meaningful to you. What is it that when we look at it means you? Why are these so meaningful?

       These are the tokens, the markers, the ideas that should comprise the marks of your country. For ideas, be sure to look at currencies and other examples from around the world.

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Uhhh… best I could do with the time I’ve had. Yeah… not too thrilling thus far, huh? But I’ve got my idea go’n on and a basic direction for the thing to go in with a little symbolism thrown into the mix. It’s pretty much  explained in the image below if you can read my scribbling, but basically it’s like, “Victory and Peace – The Thing Speaks For Itself.” Get it? ? ? OK… maybe not too terribly clear there… I’m not too clear on the whole thing myself, but… uhhhh… I think I’m on to something here. So… there you have it. Don’t like it? KICK ROCKS!

THIS AMERICAN LIFE – RETRACTION?

Before even starting this report I’d note that I originally did not hear the “Daisy and the Apple Factory” podcast as following the link provided in class did not take me to that podcast but simply to the homepage where I mistakenly reported on the podcast that was featured there. So, having missed the original podcast I went to the archives to see about listening to the “Daisy and the Apple Factory” podcast only to find it is the only single episode there which could not be played or downloaded. There was a transcript there, but really, who goes to a podcast to read it? As someone entirely familiar with battling issues where the truth has been misrepresented or outright covered up, I felt this was somewhat suspicious. I mean, obviously with internet resources being what they are, I’m sure in time you’ll be able to come up with the original podcast, but, you know…

Anyway… I did listen to the TAL Retraction podcast (which incidentally, also could not be downloaded) and, well… I personally didn’t think that highly of the This American Life podcasts in the first place; sure I found some topics and portions of the stories amusing and all, and they do have their own distinctive style which is kinda cool, but they’re just another form of traditional journalism, so I didn’t find the fact one of their stories (the story they’ve more or less built their bank on) was a fabrication to be all that shocking. Long, long ago I read a statement that was a revelation in how I viewed journalism as well as a great deal of things… it read something like, “The principal behind journalism and the principal behind extortion is exactly the same… that if you hit an individual hard enough, they can be made to give up money.” That was the basic concept behind Mike Daisy’s story as well as This American Life’s podcast of “Daisy and the Apple Factory” and it’s really no different with this “TAL Retraction” podcast. Making money is really the only thing that counts with nearly everyone today with $$$ trumping the “truth” almost every single time.

Where credibility and reputation equal $$$ of course This American Life is going to spend a few minutes on how they didn’t check their sources followed by the better part of an hour on what hits their listeners the hardest… how a supposedly reputable person (Mike Daisy) associated with a famous story lied in that story and in turn, lied to them. As Rob Schmidt had pointed out… it seemed pretty strange the story depicted China factory workers making only $20/day to be kicking back at “Starbucks” to chat over a cup of coffee, and that was what got him to wondering about the whole thing. I mean, most people might not make that connection but you would probably expect an actual journalist concerned with the truth to make such a connection in their “Fact Checking,” wouldn’t you? Yet This American Life states they basically only checked statistical and geographical information in their “Fact Checking” process on this story. There was a huge impact made some time back regarding a photo of a Chinese toddler chained to a pole while his parent worked because it isn’t at all realistic to expect the average Chinese citizen to be able to afford childcare, yet, TAL didn’t find the reporting of these same Chinese citizens chatting it up at expensive coffee shops to be suspicious in the least.  It seems pretty obvious to me that nobody, and I mean NOBODY involved in this entire story (except Rob Schmidt), cared about how truthful they were in the performance of their duties where such a “Hard Hitting” story was involved.

I don’t mean to make this out like This American Life are just the absolute “Bad Guys” in this whole situation because, in reality, the way this whole thing went is simply “The Way Of The World.” Money concerns come before all other concerns in virtually all areas of life, even more so in business. Conditions in China are so horrible it’s not hard for any journalist somewhat familiar with how things work in China to exploit those conditions for their own personal gain. I mean… personally, I’d done a substantial amount of research on “Globalization” relating to a paper I’d wrote in a previous class from which I was under the impression in most of these Chinese “sweatshops” it’s common place to find 12 to 14 year olds working 16 hour days for 12 cents an hour, which is even worse than it was made out to be in this pod cast. It was in the news long before this how criticism of China’s government by its citizenry or violation of China’s “1 Child” laws and the like can easily land a Chinese citizen in a work camp where they’ll find themselves tissue typed so their organs can be sold on the black market. Reportedly, in some cases, if some really wealthy person is willing to pay enough they can actually have organs extracted from living work camp inmates… I mean, they were living up until the organs were extracted, that is. (There’s an image relating to this story above)  With such conditions, yeah, I can see where it wouldn’t be too terribly difficult to believe pretty much anything you hear relating to horrible conditions in China, but does that really relieve journalists from checking their facts? Apparently it does… because, as I said… such is the way of the world.

When Obama reported he was fulfilling his promise to “Bring Our Troops Home” from Iraq the world of popular journalism just ate it up with all the talk of troops returning to the US, but they failed to look into the big picture, to check the facts, which were that as these troops were “being brought home,” transport after transport after transport of US troops were simultaneously landing just across the Iraqi border in Jordan. So in the context that was reported, did Obama really “Bring Our US Troops Home?”

Out here in regular life and in virtually any profession it’s pretty much the same story as all the above. Any professional individuals having achieved any status of any sort make serious mistakes, mistakes that make them look bad or cause some form of harm to someone (which might affect their $$$), they’re just going to lie about it and nobody, especially their fellow “professionals,” will ever check into the actual facts. If somehow the facts do make their way out into the light of day… oh… well, it was a mistake, sure they did wrong, but, there was some other outside factor that caused it. Anything to relieve those of status from responsibility for any serious mistake they make… and that’s pretty much how it’s always been…

Look in your bible… “The good that I want to do, this I do not do; but the evil that I do not want to do, this I go on doing. So if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin, that lives within me.” (Romans 7: 15-20) Something like that. Like I said… It’s simply the way of the world, always has been.

Report on the “TAL Retraction” podcast? Well That’s about it. Act 1, Act 2, Act 3… excuses, justifications, rationalizations. I mean, what else could there be? But, as for me personally, I’d have found it far more respectable if they’d just made a press release and posted a short statement on their site simply stating that, “Yes, we screwed up, we were lied to and failed to check our facts… I’m really sorry we’ve screwed up like this and we will be making some changes in the way we do things to hopefully ensure this never happens again.” Instead… the first headline I saw relating to this read, “We Were Duped,” or something of that nature, and there’s a 1 hour podcast basically “pointing the finger.”

There may have been a little more to it… admittedly… by the time I got to Act 3 I was pretty much through listening so I don’t remember much from that. Something about how the workers themselves were reported to have wanted all the excessive overtime instead of being forced into it. Well… yeah… low income people here in the US tend to try to get all the overtime they can get as well, so they can buy all the privileges our government is willing to sell to them; therefore,  it may not be able to be said that they didn’t willingly ask for the overtime. However, in reality it’s just economic slavery, so how much “choice” is really involved there? There was something about some Apple factory having had 2 explosions due to a poor working environment only 7 months apart. Another little part relating reports that “threatening” conditions were supposedly rare in these Chinese sweatshops. Yada, Yada, Yada… whatever… like I said, I was done listening to all the propaganda at this point.

After the way this whole deal was handled… I’ll not likely go out of my way to listen to any This American Life pod casts, that’s for sure.

Comments were posted to the following Blogs of this assignment:

Jeff’s Blog at: http://jeffduckgrant.wordpress.com/2012/03/24/jeffs-tal-retraction-assignment/#comment-36

Ashley’s Blog at: http://digitalmediacmst216.wordpress.com/2012/04/02/retraction/#comment-20

Kelly’s Blog at: http://kmcarpenter.wordpress.com/2012/04/02/response-to-retraction/#comment-56

LIGHT SWITCH ASSIGNMENT

OK… well… I thought we were supposed to do 4 of these things, my 4-th one sucked. Take your pick of these 3… well… whatever. Throw a dragon tail on the ‘ole switch for the dragon there or… well… it’s pretty self explanatory. DONE!

   

 

TDC 16-18

1) Make a photo that emphasizes the color yellow.

2) Make a creative photo of some sort of boundary.

3) Celebrate religious architecture with a photo of your favorite… church, etc…

4) Take a picture from the inside of something looking out.

                      

                      

Probably more to come before assignment is actually due… TTFN…

DO YOU KNOW THE TERM “FLIP FLOP”

RADIOLAB1 PODCAST ASSIGNMENT “PARASITES”

“PARASITES” PODCAST REPORT

The podcast sort of began with an interesting audio montage of different people stating, “Your listening to RadioLab from WNYC…” which I thought was kinda cool. It then went into “a cinematic history of parasites” noting the movie Alien where the parasitic alien had popped out of that dudes chest. Audio from Alien was inserted into the background while the commentators gave the play by play of that scene. That was one way to get the audience into that “Parasitic” sort of mood, I guess… then…

They started talking to Carl Lemmer, a science writer, who argues that parasites are not necessarily “degenerates” as is said to be a common belief. Carl made the connection that parasites basically live off other things which is really no different than we humans do. When I thought about that I thought mainly of how government and socioeconomic classes are basically set up so each higher class more or less leaches off those below them. I mean, the insanely rich (Rockefeller’s and such) basically survive by controlling and leeching off everyone, which is done through our government officials (Obama, Romney, etc…), sort of a class just below them. Then below them is a class that feeds government and such by way of various taxes, fees, and other revenues paid (Corporate America/the Business Class); this class also feeds off the class below them in that they own and/or operate the businesses that sell goods and services to those below them (the Lower Classes)… and so on and so forth. The whole scheme is far to complex to really detail here, but yeah, humans basically live (or feed) off other humans as well as everything else they can possibly use to get by with the very lowest classes grasping at anything they can possibly get ahold of to survive; so yeah… humans are definitely parasitic.

The story then went into some information on the parasitic Wasp, Nematode, Blood Fluke; none of which really seemed to have any redeeming qualities… well… other than the monogamous nature of the Blood Fluke. This seems to be something not too many humans can accomplish. This and the above were both factors I found kind of funny or amusing since my sense of humor is basically rooted in irony and sarcasm.

As for what surprised me or made me think, I was intensely amused at the whole “Rockefeller-Southerner-Toilet” thing relating to the hook worm. Fascinating. Amazing the connections which had to be contemplated to arrive at the relationships between the laziness of southerners of that era and their tendency to go barefoot, their common practices in defecating, those to anemia, and anemia to hookworms, resulting in the creation of outhouses which basically eradicated hook worms in the US. Just goes to show you what CAN be figured out when there’s a ton of money to be made. I can only venture a guess as to who pioneered and marketed the first modern commodes, anyway, pitty that in today’s world there’s generally no money to be made in the solving of problems, but only in the perpetuating of them, for the most part anyway.

Then it was even more surprising to learn how, in contrast to the problem of hookworms, they can also be a benefit to certain circumstances. I certainly never knew hookworms could basically cure allergies and asthma, possibly up to 80 diseases that result from the body’s immune system eliminating organisms which can actually assist in keeping us well. Amazing really. Seems I’ve heard some vague reference to that before but not enough to really catch my interest.

Actually… the entire last portion of the cast relating to hookworms was all pretty fascinating to me. “CAN PARASITES CONTROL BEHAVIOR?” Yeah… that part was pretty interesting too. “Toxoplasma gondii,” a parasite that, in rats, convinces them that they love the smell of cats (against their natural instincts) so they’ll end up lured close to, and thus eaten by the cats, thus return the offspring of the parasite to the cat, it’s ideal environment. Pretty cool. Again, this could relate to the human socioeconomic structure. Like how all the insanely rich and government (the “top dogs” of human parasites) mislead the people to believe terrorism is this huge problem, large enough to convince the populous to give up a substantial number of their civil liberties, when in fact, when you put things into perspective, statistically, more Americans die every year from peanut allergies than from terrorist acts. In the case of the toxoplasma gondii though, what’s even more fascinating, though I didn’t hear it in the podcast, is that this parasite is actually a species of protozoa, a single celled organism. WOW! A single celled organism effecting mind control in species consisting of trillions and trillions of cells, possibly even humans, now that’s fascinating.

Commented on Brian B’s post at: http://www.digital-media-blog.com/courses/spring-2012/cmst-216-digital-media-1/radiolab-notes-parasites.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+digital-media-blog%2FaYsd+%28Digital+Media+Blog%29

Commented on Jeff’s post at: http://jeffduckgrant.wordpress.com/2012/03/11/jeffs-radiolab1-assessment/#comment-26

Commented on Brian S’s post at: http://www.ikaleidoscopedesign.com/?p=619#comment-425

TDC 13-15

The Daily Creates:

1) Record a video of your hand drawing your other hand.

2) Take a picture of your faqvorite smell.

3) It’s February 29-th, take a photo of a leap, or a leaping photo.

4) Photo edited switching the color of 2 items.

Uhhh… yeah… more to come…

                   

GEE… ANYONE ELSE HAD THIS PROBLEM?

I seem to have been continuously docked points for nothing more than stating my opinion when that is specifically what I’m asked for in the assignment. I mean… look at some of these assignments.

On the “Visual Metaphor” assignment we were basically asked to present a photograph of what it means to be a student. I submitted a photo which, though maybe overdramatized, represented my feelings seeing as how I was still dealing with a grievance at that time over having my previous semester’s grade from our instructor altered  causing a 13% reduction in my final grade. I was docked 20% on the assignment for nothing more than following the assignment instructions.

In the “Blog – Black History” assignment one of the specifications was to, “Tell me about the subjects you are considering and why they are interesting to you.” Since I had been docked points before for not answering some portion of an assignment I simply answered the question stating, “As for why they are interesting to me? They’re NOT, I really don’t care about black history, but I thought those who do might find any of these three good content for a poster representing Black History.” For simply answering this question I was docked 10% on the assignment.

Here’s a really good one… on the assignment “TAL 4” one of the requirements was to go to 3 other students blog posts and comment on their posts. One of the student’s blogs I went to must have been frustrated with the ridiculousness of the assignment, or maybe just trying to keep up with the ceaseless onslaught of these assignments, and has noted they were not going to do the assignment. I personally thought this was excellent for a student to be making a stand like that place in principals over consequences and that’s exactly what I commented. Again… for that… for doing exactly what the assignment specified… I was docked 20% on the assignment. Frankly… the student did turn around and actually do the assignment, so maybe my comment was a good thing to have brought to mind there would be consequences for not doing an assignment.

When I went to Bill about this complaining that such practices were discriminatory he just stated he could do anything he wanted in his class and went on to note that technically he could have me thrown out of his class for having missed 3 classes (regardless of the fact these absences were either court dates or medical appointments).

LIGHT SWITCH ASSIGNMENT

Instruction

The purpose of a light switch is simple, but we fail to notice the canvas behind it: the plate. There’s so much that can be done with the metaphor of a light switch, and there’s even space to do it. That’s your task today.

Get two other participants for the exercise. Collaborate to develop a theme for the light switches in your environment. Come up with something that has meaning to our campus, then collaborate to develop ways you can execute (not electrocute!) those ideas and create masks for the light-switch plates.

Design a minimum of four masks for light switch plates that we can print and display around campus. We will print these on photo paper and plan to stealthily install them on the light switches around campus. For now, submit four design drafts as a PDF file and upload them to this assignment.

               

SOUND EFFECTS – INTRO

Instructions

This semester, we will create a sound-effects library as a class. You should begin listening for interesting sounds now, and secure a method of sound recording. Maybe it is a laptop or a digital sound recorder. Even my daughter’s Nintendo DSi has sound recording capabilities. You can even steal the audio track from a video recorder’s video file. To get some early practice, please complete the following assignment.

Record 10 sounds from your personal living environment that have a unique quality. It can be indoors or outdoors, but these sounds should be something that you personally hear on a regular basis. Save the sound recordings in MP3 format and upload them to http://soundcloud.com/.

On your blog, make a post with links to the sounds, along with a description of the process used and an explanation of your sound choices.

Finally, submit the URL of your blog post to this assignment. (You will need to make a small txt file in notepad or other text editor, as this assignment type has no place for you to type unless you attach a file.)

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Hmm… well, going to have to get some help with this as well I guess because I have no idea how to use any of this crap given the recent ridiculousness of… well… stuff. So… uhhh… I’ve got my sounds recorded and all, but, well… check back later…

BLACK HISTORY – POSTER DRAFT TWO

2-nd DRAFTS

On the Samuel Adair poster I changed the font style so it would be more legible and enlarged the picture of the Adair family to make better use of the space… kind of fill it out a little better. I see I need to eliminate a bit of the photo’s top there where it sticks out beyond the banner there which I didn’t originally notice.  I changed the background to a Black and white textured style I felt went better with the black and white photo and applied a black to white gradient starting with the darker black at the bottom as I felt the composition was a bit heavier towards the top.

On the Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka poster I enlarged and repositioned the photographs to fill out the available space as well and rewrote the text making the summary much shorter, just enough to state the basics, and emphasized the quote from the actual decision by enlarging the font and decreasing the width of that paragraph to make it stand out.

I didn’t really do much to the Langston Hughes poster as I pretty much liked it as it was. I brought the text of his poem up so it’s all in the white rather than having that last section down in the grays of the lower photo, I thought it balanced out a little better that way. I enlarged the figures of the young and old Langston and repositioned the background photo just a bit too. I was thinking this might balance it out a little better giving the lower portion a little more weight. I’m really not sure if this is so much better but I’ve got some other ideas I’d like to play around with so hopefully I’ll have something a little different, hopefully better, in the end. I don’t know… I really didn’t see too much wrong with it the way it was, so…

   

1-st DRAFTS

   

MAINSTREAM MEDIA COVERS WHAT?

Mainstream Media… What gets covered up? Is what you hear the truth? Is what you’ve heard on TV correct? Do you know about Mitt Romney’s financial ties? Why is there so little coverage of the NDAA? What civil rights do you have left? Do you really have the answers? Something to think about…

Just a little truth on the NDAA From the article: “This Is It: Chance To End NDAA.”

See also“1 Billion AGAINST Indefinite Detention W/O Trial Law“ on Facebook.

Sign Petition against Indefinite Detention HERE.

Oh… almost forgot… anyone wanting to know the truth about what Mitt Romney (Gingrich’s good buddy) is all about should watch “When Mitt Romney Came To Town” below…

TDC 10-12

1) Take a photo that represents your current job, or a job that you once had (2/19-12)

2) Take a Photo that features your favorite Color. (2/24/12)

3) Make a short Video of something cooking (2/23/12)

FIRE POLE?

ASSIGNMENT:  Is That a Fire Pole? (exercise from Caffeine for the Creative Mind)

Your challenge today is to create the one fantastic feature you’d build into your next home if money was no object and anything could be done. And don’t stop there. List all the remarkable advancements your dream home would have. Just be sure to stalk the wet bar.

Seeing as how I wasn’t in class today and just discovered this assigned tonight and due within the hour… best I could do on short notice…

OK… did a little adjusting. This is my “Love Broker” pad. Might as well make a little $$$ whilst entertaining. Got the pole dancer in the living room just to get any dudes that might stop by into the proper state of mind, then they can mosey on into the full bar where all my main girls are doing their thing on stage. And if you want a little something special… well… I’ve got rooms just off the patio…  hourly rates for your convenience.

IF I’M NOT IN CLASS COME MONDAY…

Yes… it’s true, if I’m not in class on Monday then I have been crucified by the State of Kansas. Sacrificed in Reno County so scandalous officials of the state may justify sucking another 4.8 million dollars out of the pockets of tax payers in the name of protecting the public from people such as myself attaining a college educations. For anyone interested, you can read the whole story HERE. If nothing else, let it serve as an example of how the world really operates and the dangers of going against the flow. One of the key points I’ve learned through all this is that without an education backing you, all your words mean absolutely nothing before the those toting degrees around… You will always be wrong, and they will always be right in the eyes of authority, so… Good luck to you all.

(UPDATE): OK… well, I’m still here and as luck (or something) has it… I’ll be continuing in class. After the day’s events it seems there may be at least some twisted semblance of what could be loosely (and in a very generalized manner) termed “justice” or possibly “fairness” left in the world. I figure this “whatever you want to call it,” this outcome, has cost me $17,000+ when you figure lawyer’s fees and the fact I had to sell my property back home for half it’s appraised value, but, I guess the important thing is I will be able to continue on with college, and with my life… so actually, I’M PRETTY DAMN HAPPY! I suppose I can’t complain… BUT PROBABLY STILL WILL (-:

TAL 4

TAL 4- WHAT I DID 4 LOVE

I thought TAL4 was … well… it was “something.” Not that there was anything wrong with the pod-cast itself, but that Christi chic they talked to in the opening… OK, well… sadly enough I can somewhat relate to the craziness of what she was doing. That’s what happens when one is actually more in love with the “IDEA” of being in love than anything that exists in the world of reality. But yeah… she went pretty far “out there.” And those songs… oh my god… the woman CANNOT sing. The song she sang sure drove home her point so it served its function, to attempt to relate her feelings; it sure sounded like a sickly ally cat suffering through the last leg of its 9-th life though. Incidentally… if anyone knows where I can find one of these women with such a decrepit self-image and just barely a trickle of self-esteem, uh, you know… I’m look’n, so, please refer her to my blog (-:

The story in Act 1 on the couple who’d been together forever but never thought to get married was just pathetic. I mean… “Before we get married I think we should sleep with other people.” Oh yeah… that’ll make any marriage flourish… right? I don’t know… I’ve heard tale of couples who try just such a thing and claim it strengthened their bond and all that sort of weirdo, wife-swapping type of thing, there was even a movie about just that not long ago… “Hall Pass” or something like that. I’ve also read somewhere that statistically, over 80% of US citizens have gentile warts (other stats say 2 out of 3); so, I guess it depends on what you really want to “get” out of life… or love… or whatever.

I liked the musical selections in Act 1, the were great in setting the mood for the conversation… like when he was talking about how easy it is to have sex in New York city there’s this kind of samba style dance music playing… upbeat, busy, high pitched. Then when he’s talking about how he’d date some woman like a lover for about 3 dates and just drop her like a rock they’re playing an old bluesy, burlesque, horned style like you might expect to find in the clubs of the old “Red Light” districts back around century ago. Overall, I don’t see his story relating to anything anyone DID FOR LOVE in the long run. I mean… the both wanted to do some whore’n around, so, they did, and now that they destroyed their (supposedly) perfectly solid relationship this guy wants to pretend there was some greater meaning in that fact.

Act 2… Justin and Naomi…. Boy meets girl. Boy likes girl. Boy buys girl a 20 sack just to try to please her. Girl turns out to be a NARC. Hey… it happens… So… Boy gets busted. Let’s expand on that one a bit… Boy’s court appointed lawyer refuses to put the time and effort, into it that it would require to attempt an “entrapment” (or any other) defense that, in putting up a good fight, might result in negotiating him a better plea bargain. -SO- boy gives up and cops a guilty plea in ANY “so called “bargain” the prosecutor will offer because his attorney, who incidentally, is paid by the very same people who are prosecuting him, says it’s the easy way to just get it all over with… and… boy’s life dreams are pretty much destroyed.

Boy gets depressed… starts drinking heavily, gets pretty stupid when he drinks and one of his drinking buddies hooks him up with a shot of Heroine when he’s all drunk one night. Next thing you know he’s doing his works with in filthy rigs and spoons which he stashes away under this restaurant’s garbage dumpster. Shortly thereafter he has to check into the free clinic for chronic, explosive diarrhea and suddenly dies 4 days later due to complications with dysentery. Ahhh… what he did for love.

Act 3, Ducks… who cares… I thought the music was interesting though… kind of an old Calvary march style tune in that one part… off beat carnival style melodies. I guess it’s it’s basically like watching cartoons… in this one, I mean.

And best of all, Act 4 about a woman who likes younger, “sexy & sexy” “jerks” with levels of maturity “like a rich 5yr old” who exhibit behaviors like excessively attempting to “use words they can’t pronounce” to try to project abilities they don’t actually have. A guy who “looked at women everywhere they went,” yeah, these are generally the guys who are only looking to make sure they don’t lack for a Mommy, any Mommy, who will provide for their needs and make them feel like somebody since in actuality these types of guys are invariably incapable of providing for themselves. BUT these are the pricks who most women, for some bizarre reason, hold to be of the greatest value in searching out a mate. Oh… I could go on and on about this one, but, as for this story, the woman got exactly what she sought out… so… I’m really thinking the problem is with her, NOT the little dipstick she was stupid enough to pick.

I commented to the following student’s Blogs::

1) Jeff’s Blog at: http://jeffduckgrant.wordpress.com/2012/02/19/jeffs-tal-4-assignment/

2) Ashley’s Blog at: http://digitalmediacmst216.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/this-american-life-what-i-did-for-love/#comment-5

3) Kelly’s Blog: http://kmcarpenter.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/response-to-what-i-did-for-love/#comment-9