9/30/2011- Privacy and the Internet

The online search assignment this week was really interesting but sort of alarming at the same time. It was surprising how easy it is to discover where someone went to school, where they live, who their family members are. It really only takes a few pieces of information (such as a high school or hometown) and a name to discover a lot of information.

It concerns me that so much information about me is available to anyone on the internet, but at the same time I am willing to have that information out there because I wouldn't want to give up the convenience of the internet. Like they said in Blown to Bits, it's really too late to go back and take that kind of information off of the internet. However, it is important to consider how that information should be used as more and more details of our lives become available online.

The speaker Tuesday (Ray the weather guy!) really had some great points about nutrition. He uses a tool called FatSecret online, which is like a tracker for all of the food he eats and the exercise he does. I think it could be helpful to try, once I have time since you have to track every single thing to have accurate results. I might also try to get a pair of minimalist running shoes. I probably won't get the vibrams because they look like they would feel weird, but I would definitely consider buying some that don't have individual toes.

Weeks of 9/05 and 9/12

It was really interesting watching Digital Nation last week. It seemed to focus on more extreme examples of the effects of the internet, but I liked what seemed to be the conclusion that, like any other major historical technological progress, there are both positive and negative aspects of change.

According to rescue time I'm less efficient than 79% of people, so I think I'll work on improving that this week!

I wasn't too excited about going to convocation this morning, but it ended up being pretty worth it to see Christopher McDougall up there wearing his sandals with a gown. His story about the man surviving a 100ft fall from a tree was fascinating.  but I probably won't be climbing any sequoia trees anytime soon.