Pornography Censorship

At this point in our life we have all experienced sexual imagery of some sort. Some of us have seen some of the powerpoints of people's research projects in class. There was one about a women's role in the media, and another about sexual advertisements in magazines. We have all seen how our culture's sex drive has increased dramatically with the rise of the internet, and advertisements. Coming from a conservative background, i have always appreciated the morals and standards our nation has lived under. There was a time when it was inappropriate for a man and woman to kiss in public, but now sexual references can be found everywhere.


A few weeks ago i was asked to write a research paper on any topic. Not knowing a whole lot about the censorship of pornography i decided to pursue that. After a long week of research, and non-stop typing, the result was a 6 page, 1500 word essay. Here is an excerpt from what i wrote.

"As with all arguments, the pornography debate has two sides, both with very valid points. Generally conservative, people with traditional Americana values argue that our nation's morals are at stake, and they use sexual assault statistics to back up there cause. Their opposition believes that censoring pornography would be unconstitutional, because it is breeching their freedom of speech.
As of now we find ourselves at a stalemate between moral compromise and legal reform. Both sides have presented concrete assertions that are fair and just. One side fights for decency, while the other battles for freedom. In a grudge match between speech and values, it is up to the people to decide how indispensable porn really is. Can our society survive with out sexually explicit content, or will our nation crumble from a slight restriction of speech? Perhaps a comfortable median can be found through filters and firewalls, or even identification systems? The struggle for pornography censorship is long but over and only time will tell if our nation's prudent past will make a come back as a future trend."

In case you guys are further interested, i got a good deal of my information from family safe media and stanford.edu. Both sites reveal non-biased information, with some startling facts. I encourage any of you who are intrested in checking them out.

Internet "Pirating"

We've all seen that rediculous commercial before movies... Would you steal an old ladies purse?? Would you rob a liquor store?? Would you hi-jack a car and go on a homocidal rampage?? Than why would would you illigally download music off the internet? Since 1999, internet file sharing sites such as Napster, and Kazaa have been providing ways for people to search, and download their favorite music and movies instantly. In 2000, A&M records and several other companies sued Napster for copy right infringements, and won. Almost every file sharing website since has been enforcing membership fees, to help provide musicians and record labels with their share of the money. Itunes is one of the most popular music downloading sites on the internet, with nearly 2 million songs downloaded daily. There are however, still websites that offer free downloads that have not been sued yet, such as Limewire. Free services such as Limewire make up almost 80% of the downloaded music daily. There are also many controversial arguements of whether file sharing is morally acceptable or not. Technically online pirating is stealing, but in a far less harmless way. The songs that are being downloaded, are coming from someone who bought the CD, and all though it may take away from some sales, it is almost like a form of advertising. Some researchers say that file sharing has helped smaller groups to get noticed, which in turn give them a larger platform, bringing them more money.Many people also do not know that dvd sales have actually risen 10%, and dispite a terrible blockbuster year, the box office was only down 1 %. Whether or not it takes away from the profit artists and record labels should be making, you have to question whether or not they really need it. Weird Al's "Dont Download this Song" takes a humerous, yet serious look at online pirating.

Ebay

Dating all the way back to 1995 an early version of ebay surfaced called auctionweb.com. Created by Pierre Omidyar, auctionweb.com's first sale was a broken laser pointer for $14.83. When Omidyar contacted the buyer about his purchase, the man simply responded, "i collect broken laser pointers." Omidyar knew he was catching on to something, so he he secured his buisness by handing the company over to ebays highly qualified first president Jefferey Skoll. Both Skoll and Omidyar became instant millionaires when ebay went public in 1997. Since then Ebay has exploded to top 5 most viewed websites, and has become one of the largest online marketplaces in the world. Ebay is considered the search engine of shopping, because almost anything can be found and purchased on this website. It is apparently true that one man's junk, is another man's treasure. Some of Ebay's most outrageous sales include..

• Half eaten grilled cheese sandwhich with imprint of Virgin Mary
• A brussel Sprout that was cooked and frozen on Christmas
• A cheeto shaped like Abe Lincoln
• Brittany Spears hair from when she shaved it
• Human Body parts such as kidneys
• Ian Usher sold his entire life (house and all of his belongings, his job, introduction to all of his friends etc.) he was disappointed when his "life" sold for $384,000
• Heres a video of 10 more odd auctions

Today there are 212 million buyers and sellers, and sales have surpassed $11 billion by the end of 2006. Ebay has rewritten the ways of online transactions, giving the power to the common folk. In essence, ebay has become the worlds garage sale, and no matter what someone posts, there will always be someone to buy.

Some other random facts

• A piece of jewlery sells every 6 minutes
• Apparel sells every 12 minutes
• MP3 player sells ever 37 minutes
• Most expensive sale ever was $4.9 million
• Approximately 7.1 million new listings are added daily

Youtube

Ahh Youtube, one of the most innovative websites to ever hit the internet, has changed the face of video based media forever. This website, created in February of 2005, has given the common people the power of mass media, by allowing them to upload videos from their home computer. Inventors Chad Hurley, and Steve Chen got the idea after struggling to share videos from a dinner party with their co-workers. From a fledgling 4-5 videos, the internet super site now boasts 6.1 million videos, and has grown from 58,000 views per month last year to 20 million today. Youtube has grown to be the internet's top 5 most viewed website, and theres no wonder why. Videos can range from guitar tutorials, vlogs (video blogs), and amazing things caught on tape, as well as clips of older TV shows, and everything in between. Big time networks such as ABC, NBC, and CBS are also taking advantage of youtube's massive audience by posting their own videos, and even bonus content that cant be seen on TV. Even President Barack Obama has his own page where he broadcasts videos of important topics, and issues. Technology based buisnesses have recently suffered a decline in productivity due to their employees spending to much time on watching videos. Youtube has also been studied very closely by sociologists, psychologists, and even mathmaticians over many phenomenons. The most commonly studied subject is "herding", where experts make theories on the reasons for why some videos become heavily viewed, and others not at all. Riley Crane, a mathmatician at the University of California has found that only 10% of all videos on youtube are viewed 100 or more times a day. Of this 10% he seperates the videos into 3 catagories, "junk", viral, and quality. The junk category indicates successful videos that have no significance, or interesting aspects at all, a good example would be the lonelygirl series. Viral videos is defined by anything that is passed on either through other websites or email. The quality group is alot like viral videos, but instead of a gradual increase of views, there is a sudden spike of interest.

More of this theory can be explained at YouTube Usage Decoded.
Heres a list of YouTube's most viewed videos ever

Search Engines

Ah search engines, it seems as if now a days all the knowledge of the world is at your finger tips. Thanks to websites such as google, yahoo, and ask you can instantly find the answers to all of life's questions. Whether it be Babe Ruth's batting average in middle school, or the definition of quantum physics, you will find it all. Google, the largest search engine, and top 5 most viewed websites on the internet attracts nearly 10 million hits a day! Its amazing to think how far finding information has come over the years. My mom often reminds me of the days where her only resource was a text book, now we search the internet regardless of if we have a book or not. It is not to hard to believe that one day books will be obsolete, because of how convenient the web has made finding information. Yahoo, the second largest search engine boasts a 20+ billion page search area, Googles however is so large, the actual figure is unknown. I dont know where i would be today with out the use of the internet. My hatred for books could have kept me from going to college, but now that i have the internet at my side, i feel that anything is possible.

Online Gaming

In the early to mid 1990's, computer gaming was just beginning to blossom with the addition of games such as warcraft, doom, and Diablo 1 & 2. The idea of linking multiple computers, to play against each other in the same game was just starting to take off. Online multiplayer games were not popular until 2001, when Medal of Honor, and Battlefeild 1942 came out. Thousands of players from across the globe were coming together to compete in virtual warzones of up to 16 people. These early games often provided terrible connectivity, which made the games slow, and even "lag". Over the years, technology has drastically improved the standards, and speed of gaming, and has brought in an even larger crowd. Today, online gaming is dominated by the "MMORPG" genre. Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games, such as World of Warcraft, and Everquest, support gamers in the millions. These games are usuallybased in a fantasy setting, where players take control of one character, and progress them through a leveling system by killing monsters and completing quests. This phenomenon has showed the first signs of a "virtual addiction" the world has ever seen. World of Warcraft has known to cause depression, divorce, and even death! Thats right a 28 year old man in Beijing, China died after playing WOW for 3 days straight. This is not the only instance either. A woman, also from China, was said to have died after 7 days of non-stop gaming. The link below shows a funeral her friends had for her on the game, that was bombarded by a group of her enemies. This video just goes to show how serious online gaming has become, and what can happen when you dont limit yourself from things as harmless as videogames.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TSGUf1xbF8

Internet Celebrities

Ever since the internet was handed over to the common folk, there have been many instances of self-promotion through out the web. People have used earlier sites such as sixdegrees.com, to showcase their talents, skills, and personalities. When youtube.com came on to the scene there was an explosion of videos from people aching for attention. These videos would consist of any thing from amazing feats, to "vlogs" (video blog). Most of these videos have gone unnoticed, and unnappreciated, and rightly so. Some videos however, spread like wild fire, and even reached the national spot light. The people involved would inturn become an overnight celebrity for their amazing abilities, or just down right strange behaviors. Any regular internet user can probably tell you who the "numa numa guy" is, or explain to you the "evolution of dance". These videos may not share the same qualities, but both share the attention of one of the largest stages in the world. Here is a list of some popular internet celebrities that have intrigued the online public for the past decade...

• Numa Numa Guy
• Flea Market, Montgomery!
• Peanut Butter Jelly Time .... (Really annoying)
• Angry German Kid ... (dont bother watching the whole thing)
• Star Wars Kid
• Kid gets shot with paintballs

All Around Us

As i lounge in the Westin Hotel near down town Minneapolis, i cannot help but notice how convenient and widespread the internet has become. I relied on my labtops wireless connectivity to write this blog, but when i heard there was no wi-fi available i did not stress, because i have realized just how easily accessable the internet has become. The web is litteraly available anywhere you can possibly imagine. As we were driving through fargo the weather started to worsen, so my roomate Shane google'd highway conditions on I-94. With in seconds we were informed that we were going through a small snow storm and we would be out with in no time. While we were visiting an Apple shop at the mall of america, i was amazed at how i could watch my friends youtube videos in alaska, from just a demo I-phone. It really is amazing how convenient the internet makes our lives. From checking our bank account balances, to ordering pizza, it seems as if everything is moving to the cyberworld. And why not? It boasts the largest audience in America, and grows everyday. The internet is the most amazing source of media, because it teaches, informs, entertains, and connects us together. No other medium can top what the internet has done, or will do. I am excited to see what the web has instore for us in the future, and cannot fathom the amount of possibilities in holds.

Social Networking

As early as 1994, websites such as theglobe.com and tripod.com have been trying to bring people together to share thoughts, ideas, and personal information. With a very limited crowd of internet users, it was not until 2003 when social networking sites took off. Myspace.com exploded on to the scene, with its user friendly interface, and convenient access to friends and family. People across the globe turned to Myspace for so many reasons. Myspace helps people to keep in touch with relatives, meet new people, and be better acquainted with co-workers and schoolmates. In 3 short years, Myspace recieved its 100 millionth user in September of 2006, and has 200,000 new users every day. Facebook is the only other site to rival Myspace's success, and in 2006 they took the lead when it allowed the non-college student community to join in.

Unfortunately, social networking is not all lollipops and gumdrops. People have took full advantage of these sites using them with shameful intents. Fake accounts are created to "fish" people on to other web sites, kind of like a forced advertisment. Degrading comments and message boards are made viewable to the public, by resentful users. And an increase in online predator "attacks" have surfaced due to easy accessablity to other accounts. There have been several changes made to eliminate the negative factors of social networking, but people will always find a way to create havoc.

All in all, social networking can be a great tool when used for its designed purpose. Although it is one of the most convenient ways to interact with others, we must not rely to heavily on this source alone, or we may lose our skills to effectively communicate with others. 4 minutes left!Peace

Switching Gears - The Internet

After 2 posts and 3 weeks i now finally understand (i hope) the criteria for which i am suppose to blog about. Since i realized Alaska is not a medium, i have been racking my brains for new topics to write on. So i will NEVER run out of things to blog about, i have decided to choose the Internet for my medium. As a little warm-up for the upcoming weeks, i will begin with a brief history, an overview, and some other random facts i find about the "information superhighway".

In the early 1960's, during the cold war, ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Association) headed by Dr. J.C.R. Licklider assembled to improve the militaries use of computer technology. ARPA's goal was to find a quicker, more convenient way to transfer government and military files through the use of computers. The ARPAnet was created to test this idea, by sharing information between the University of Utah, UCLA, and the Stanford Research Institute. Long story short, the friendly internet that we use today began in November of 1992 when independent commercial networks started to grow, and allow users to travel between commercial sites, and away from the government's NSFNet.

The internet today is the greatest source of communication in the world. You can literally find anything your looking for on the web. There are sites for literally everything, from facts about the blue whale birthing process, to how skateboards are made. There are online super-communities such as myspace and facebook that link people across the globe, and web based buisnesses like ebay, and amazon, that sell whatever you can imagine. Now that i feel like im selling the internet, here are a few random facts.

• There are 18 billion search results for the letter a on google.com
• In Africa 3 out of 100 people use the internet
• In America 70 out of 100 people use the internet
• About 18 countries dont have internet connection
• About 20% of internet users are from the U.S.

Number of Years each took to reach 50 million users

• Radio - 38 years
• T.V. - 13 years
• Cable - 10 years
• Internet - 5 years

Blog 2 - January

The month of January has brought some pretty intresting news to Wasilla and the rest of the state. (kinda)

Two days after the end of Christmas break, on December 8 WHS was evacuated due to a bomb threat. Staff called 911 after finding the lone word "BOMB" on a blank sheet of paper in the library. Students who drove were released from school, while others who rode the bus were escorted across the street to the middle school. The perpertrator has still not been found because of the difficulty to trace such an act. The Wasilla Police Department say it was most likely harmless, but had to follow through with the procedure anyways. More Info

On December 13, Wasilla Bible Church, made famous by Sarah Palin, reached the national spot light over its 1 million dollars in fire damage. Within minutes of the fire departments arrival, authorities declared the act intentional. After a month of investigations, police last week discovered that the arsonist used gasoline. The WPD state that this was a huge find, and will tremendously help narrow their search. More info

Some other random news....
3 year old gets bit by dog
Super Icey Roads
Colony High School Band goes to D.C. (Colony is Wasilla's rival, we hate them)
New Jail going up

Oh and Jesse, 2008 was a record year for bear attacks with 8. I thought itd be alot more. Heres the site where i got it.

Blog 1 - Intro

Hey guys, my names Beebo Russell, and this is my first time bloggin, so bare with me. For the next 16 weeks ive chosen to blog about the news surrounding my hometown of Wasilla, Alaska. Wasilla is a pretty good sized town, but if there is nothing going on, i will blog about anything intresting in the rest of the state (if any). Most of my info will come from Wasilla's newspaper "The Frontiersman", "The Anchorage Daily News" or my mom, haha.

Now a little background info.. Wasilla was an old mining town named after the local indian chief Wassila. It became a part of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough (roughly the size of West Virginia) in 1974. Located in South Central Alaska, it is about 45 miles north of Anchorage, and 320 miles south of Fairbanks. Wasilla and it's surrounding area has a population of about 60,000 people, the 5th largest city in Alaska. Wasilla is most famous for the Iditarod, which i will cover in a few months, and Governor Sarah Palin (who should be vice president right now, but i wont get into that).

Some Random Facts

• Alaska has highest suicide rate per capita in the nation (i think)
• Highest Point in North America - Mt. McKinley 20,320 feet
• World Record Cabbage - 98 pounds (Greatest soil in the world baby)
• Total Population - 686,000 people and eskimos
• Total Area - 663,000 sq. miles (WAY bigger than texas)
• Voted best State in America 47 times

My next blog will have actual news, just thought id give you a little introduction. If any of you guys have questions about Alaska dont hesitate to ask via comment or whatever.