THE Ohio State University: #1, baby!!!!

THE Ohio State University is the #1 football team in the nation for a reason. The legendary victory over Michigan yesterday proved why we are #1. This blog posting is a tribute to the Buckeyes and all that is wonderful in my beloved state of OHIO!

CARMEN OHIO (alma mater)
Oh come let's sing Ohio's praise
And songs to Alma Mater raise
While our hearts rebounding thrill
With joy which death alone can still
Summer's heat or winter's cold
The seasons pass the years will roll
Time and change will surely (truly) show
How firm thy friendship ... O-HI-O!


BUCKEYE BATTLE CRY
Drive! Drive on down the field,
Men of the scarlet and gray;
Don't let them thru that line,
We have to win this game today,
Come on, Ohio!
Smash through to victory.
We cheer you as you go:
Our honor defend
So we'll fight to the end for O-hi-o.

Information Literacy

There are many literacies that exist in the world today. Reading literacy, writing literacy, and problem-solving literacy are just some examples. A rather recent literacy that has be created is information literacy. One reason that it is so new is its strong tie to technology. The recent explosion of technology and its use in society has made it necessary to create a literacy to describe it. There are many components to this type of literacy. First, a person must be able to recognize what situations require critical information. Second, a person must know how to locate this information. This includes being able to use multiple sources, such as the Internet, online journals, or basic library books. Third, a person has to be able to evaluate the source, validity, and usefulness of the information that he/she finds. Not all information is truthful or appropriate. This aspect of information literacy is extremely important. There is no governing body that ensures the accuracy of information on the Internet. I myself just created a website, and had I wanted to, I could have blatantly lied. Nothing would have told the viewer of my site any differently. A fourth component to information literacy is being able to adapt technology to different situations where appropriate. Technology is very helpful and useful, and an informationally literate person would be able to use it most effectively and efficiently in various situations. While there are many other aspects of information literacy, these are the points that I think are the most important.

Upcoming Ridiculousness

November is one of my favorite months. There's so much to look forward to, including some awesome stuff in December.

1. Going home for my sister's college graduation party
2. Going to Ohio State for the Ohio State vs. Michigan game (#1 vs. #2, baby!)
3. Spamalot at the Fox
4. Night road-trip to go home for Thanksgiving break with 2 of my favorites
5. Turkeytrot 5 mile run Thanksgiving morning
6. Blasting and singing along with Christmas music in the car driving home from the Turkeytrot
7. Getting together with my bests from high school over break
8. Turning 21 on the 27th!! Mayhem.
9. Ice-skating with my floor and my beloved boys of 3C
10. College Cup finals here at SLU Dec. 1 & 3
11. Finishing classes
12. Christmas music in general
13. Going to SPAIN January 9!!!!!

YouTube & Professors

This article addresses the new and popular website YouTube. This website can be used to post videos so that others on the web may view them. Its popularity is growing by leaps and bounds, including videos of professors in class which their students knowingly or unknowingly record. Many professors and other third parties have issues with this. They use the argument that what the teacher says in class is his/her intellectual property, and to post this on the web is a violation of the professor's rights. I empathize with this view, and find it impossible not to relate this story with Turnitin.com. One of the main arguments that students had regarding Turnitin was that the papers that they wrote were their intellectual property. Much like my opinion of Turnitin, I see both sides of the argument. Professors have certain rights regarding what they say in class; however, I am unsure if students are acting illegally or unjustly by posting the lectures on YouTube. To reconcile this situation, I would prefer that students inform their professors that they are going to record their lectures. If the professor has a problem with this, then the professor and student can work it out on an individual basis. Taking the perspective of a future teacher, I know I would appreciate being asked/informed if I was going to be taped in class. I would hope my students would extend this courtesy to me and respect my decision of whether or not to allow it.

Podcast Review

For this assignment I reviewed a podcast from Our City Podcast: Fabulous Phoenix. The direct link to this podcast is http://img671.libsyn.com/img671/8ea7355ad9cc96d2bbe09567bd33b207/454f7e9c/4701/6980/Phoenix.mp3

What was the topic of the podcast? The topic of this podcast was an overview of the city of Phoenix. It was made by a 5th grade class from Phoenix that was exploring its city.

Was the topic or point obvious? Yes, the topic was very obvious. There was a host who explained what they were going to be doing at the very beginning of the podcast. I knew right away what to expect.

Do you think a written script was used? Yes, I am almost positive that a written script was used. Because the students are in 5th grade, it makes sense to allow them to use a script in order to have an impressive final podcast. Also, using a script ensured that all of the main and important points were covered for each topic.

Did the speakers sound fluent or did they stumble around? The speakers sounded fluent for the most part. They occasionally stumbled over a word or two, but for the most part they sounded very prepared. Some of their mistakes may have simply been due to nervousness.

Were there problems in the editing (music too loud or distracting? Dead air?): The editing was satisfactory in my opinion. The students all came through loud and clear without being so loud that it became unclear what they were saying. Also, there were transitional sounds when they switched topics. These sounds served to break up the monotony of the podcast. They were used very effectively. Also, there was no background music while the students were speaking, which allowed the listener to focus on the content rather than background noises. Finally, there was no dead air time.

Did the podcast hold your attention? This podcast held my attention for about 60-70% of the time. The fact that each new topic was presented by a different speaker helped to hold my attention. The transitional noises aided in this, too. However, because there were no visuals I found it hard to pay attention the entire time. Also, because it was obvious they were reading from a script, sometimes their intonation made me a little drowsy. It could become very sing-songy at times. Overall, I would be happy if this was the final project of my 5th grade class.


WHAT ELEMENTS ARE NECESSARY FOR A GOOD PODCAST?
*no dead air
*appropriate use of music, background noises, etc.
*organization
*balance between script and spontaneous speech
*good expression in the speaker's (s') voice(s)

WHY I LOVE WORKING THE DESK (sometimes)

I work the desk in Gries (a frosh dorm) for what seems like 57.3 hours a week. These are the reasons why I love it (sometimes):

1. Curt, the maintenance man.
2. Giving every Jimmy John's worker a hard time because they didn't bring me, the deskworker, a free sandwich.
3. Giving the Jimmy John's worker a hard time just for jollies.
4. Visiting with random freshman.
5. Knowing about 80% of my 900 neighbors.
6. Socializing, which allows me to procrastinate doing my homework.
7. Visiting with my favorite RAs, who I suck into sitting down there and keeping me company.
8. Hearing hilarious freshman stories as they wait for the elevator (our very own death trap).
9. Coloring pictures from coloring books that I found and printed online.
10. Key audits (wait, how'd this one get in here?)
11. Wishing Megan Kinney "happy challah days" via telephone, instant message, or yelling.
12. Giving residents kinky eyes with my accomplices Bethany and Maria.
13. Being the creepy/friendly deskworker who calls everyone by name (because their name pops up when they swipe their ID card).
14. Making CD mixes with Bethany and Maria (such as "Joe B.'s WMD")
15. Using Microsoft Office Word to create geometrically friendly pumpkins for door decs.
16. Hearing Steve Fowler's hysterical quotes and eating yum-yums from his office.

Website Review

For this review I went to the website http://www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com.

OVERALL VISUAL APPEAL: This website has very good overall visual appeal. The colors work very well together. I enjoy how the background of the website is black and the text white. Most websites choose to do this the opposite way with white background and black text; however, I think that the black background makes the text "pop" and stand out to the reader. Also, it can be fairly boring looking at websites with white backgrounds all of the time. The graphics on this website are also very satisfactory. The pictures that are here all display and present an appealing pictoral element of the website. Furthermore, the fonts used are easy to read and are not so numerous that it takes away from the more important elements of the site.

NAVIGATION: The navigation of this page is remarkably easy. The links are all clear and work perfectly. This website is clearly labeled. I would know exactly where to go if I wanted to discuss a "kitler" with fellow viewers, if I wanted to add my own "kitler," or if I wanted to view the "best kitlers." I enj0y perusing through this website because it is so user-friendly (and comical).

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS:
Spelling and Grammar: There were a few noticeable grammatical/spelling errors. However, this website is not meant to be a scientific one. Therefore, I can overlook these errors with a clean conscience. Just as an aside, much sarcasm is used on this website, and I appreciate that.
Authority and Currency: This site was constructed by Koos Plegt and Paul Neve. Their expertise with this topic is questionable, as the topic itself is a huge joke. However, they seem to be very knowledgable at creating an entertaining and humorous website. You can contact them via email, as they provide a brief yet comical "Contact Us" tab that includes an email address. I am unsure as to when the creators last updated this website, but viewers add new postings daily. These postings include discussions, pictures of new "Kitlers," etc. I do not know how necessary it is for the creators to update the site frequently. This appears to me to be a website powered and sustained by its viewers.

TOP REASONS WHY IT'S BETTER TO BE AN AUNT THAN A MOM

1. Aunts can give their nephews back to their parents.
2. Aunts get to teach their nephews bad habits and not worry about having to discipline them for doing it.
3. Aunts get to spoil their nephews without guilt.
4. Aunts can give advice that parents should not give to their children.
5. Aunts can listen to their nephews mistakes without getting them in trouble.
6. Aunts obviously have more cool points than parents, so they are more socially accepted for chaperoning parties and such.

(This is coming from an Aunt's perspective. I am sure that the parent's perspective may be a little different.)

D-town buddies!!!

Who created that font?

Most likely Matthew Carter did. Matthew Carter is a man with a passion for something rather unusual: designing typefaces. For instance, have you ever read Time, the Washington Post, Sports Illustrated, or National Geographic? Or perhaps you read one of various newspapers in the morning, such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, or the Boston Globe. If you have ever read any of these, then you have come into contact with Carter's work. Yes, he created the typeface that is used in each of these magazines or newspapers. If this is not enough, he also created the typeface that is used in the A.T. & T phone book and the typeface that was used by Microsoft for many years. Such domination in his field speaks well for his innate talent; however, it was not always like that.
Carter was born in London in 1937, where he became a prominent creator of typefaces. However, it was not until he moved to New York in 1960 where he was challenged. Surrounded by so many impressive and diverse typefaces already in use in advertisements and other written works, he "was made abruptly and forcefully to realize that [he] knew nothing." He was then faced with a career and life-changing decision: "to slink home or to resolve to stay." Not one to back down from a challenge, he resolved to stay and became very successful in this country, too. His determination proves his strength of character, and this is an admirable quality.
One of the things that struck me while reading this article was how much work goes into creating a typeface. The height and weight of each individual letter is crucial to its legibility and therefore its effectiveness. A slight mistake at the beginning is multiplied once other letters are created. So much planning and foresight must go into creating these typefaces. Had I not read this article, I would not have appreciated this fact. Now that I know, I will never look at written or typed texts the same.

My surprise for family weekend 2006!!!

Turnitin

The concept behind Turnitin is agreeable to most people, I would think. Plagiarism is becoming far too easy to do in today's world of advanced technology. Most would also agree that it is wrong to take credit for another's work. Because of this, I agree that measures must be put into place that discourage plagiarism. While having its flaws, I support the use of Turnitin. The fact that all student papers would be run through this system eliminates any bias. There are not just certain students who are chosen; all can and should be put through the scrutinizing process that is Turnitin. Just knowing that their papers will be put through this process will hopefully deter students from plagiarizing. In response to the comparison of some students who said running everyone's paper through Turnitin would be like drug-testing all students, I do not see the problem. If a student has nothing to hide, and testing all students may prevent one or two from actually doing drugs or plagiarizing (depending on the comparison being used), I would say that the system worked.
Having said all of this, I also agree that there is some merit behind the students' argument that their work is their intellectual property. There must be some way to reconcile the good that Turnitin accomplishes with the means it uses to get there. Finally, it bothers me that Turnitin is a for-profit organization. I am skeptical of for-profit educational services. I would like to perform more research on Turnitin before I form my final opinion of it.

Haircuts.

I think that I have found my second calling in life: a haircutter. However, the only cut that I will give is a buzz. I came to this realization last night when I borrowed a pair of clippers so that I could give one of the other RAs a buzz. I had never cut anyone's hair before, so I was a little nervous. My worries were put to ease when I was told that it's impossible to mess up a buzz. So, we sat at the end of his hall. Well, naturally, a small crowd gathered to watch. It was really easy and a lot of fun. Then some guys from the audience started to question whether they wanted a buzz, too. I was having a blast, so I began to flatter them, saying how good they would look with a buzz. They were sucked in, and I got to give buzzes to two other guys! While we were doing this, another guy decided that he wanted to shave his chest. (I let him do that himself.) It was pretty much one of my funniest nights in Gries. And now I get to check out my handiwork everytime that I rub their newly buzzed heads! :o)
(I'm also thinking about doing a building program where we give buzzes for $5 and donate the money to charity. I guess we'll see if that works out!!)

"E-Mail is for Old People"

I completely disagree with the claim that the title of this article seems to be making. E-mail is the number one mode that I rely on to receive important information. This includes information from my professors, from my bosses, from the university itself, and even from my family. While I occasionally use text messages and more frequently instant messenger, this would never replace email for me. People lose their phone, and many people do not constantly stay signed onto instant messenger. This would prevent a message from successfully being received in a timely manner. However, e-mail messages go through whether or not a person is physically at his/her functioning computer.
Because of its reliability, students should get themselves in the habit of checking their emails multiple times a day. Personally, it is the first thing that I do in the morning, the last thing I do at night, and various times in between. I have missed important messages when I have failed to do this. Even students that do not have their own personal computer should check their e-mail frequently. I did not have a computer freshman year, so I went to the library, to the Bean, to a friend's computer. There are means to do this, and students must get in the habit of putting these resources to good use. Furthermore, even if this is not the number one way that students prefer to communicate, they must realize that it is the number one way that most professors communicate with their students. For the sake of their grades, they must adjust accordingly.