Linking Today (2009-07-24)

I've been writing, and boy did I need it. I love to write, but don't force myself to nearly often enough. I've been working on a piece for the past week, and it's currently hovering around 3,400 words. However, I need a break from that. So, today I'm going to supply you guys with a bunch of links (along with my comment).

How To Crack a WEP protected Network: Part 1 & Part 2 (via: Lifehacker)

This is pretty cool. For those people (like me) that understand a few things about computers—but wished you knew more—Lifehacker.com has released a couple of articles that guide you through ways to crack a WEP network. WEP is one of the common ways that people protect their networks. However, they're not necessarily very hard to crack. This article is not to guide you to illegal activities, but show you that you're not always safe, even when you think you are. Good read, and I highly suggest it for those of you with computer-geek friends.


Darknets and the Enterprise (via Hays on Security)

Again: computer security related. Before reading this, I did not know what a 'Darknet' was, but I'm glad I do. Think of it as a cross between Tor, FTP, proxies and BitTorrent. Pretty cool stuff. The reason I think people should check this out is easy: privacy is becoming more and more of a concern for those that spend a lot of time online. This new variation of a Darknet client allows non-tech-savvy people to use this tool for their own purposes. Interesting.


Police Protest in Denver (via Denver Post)

Cops in Denver beat minorities? I hope not, but these people seem to think so. I know racism is a rampant problem in our society, and I do not want to make light of something so disgusting. When I go down to Denver, I do see the graffiti that suggests strife between some of the local minorities and the authorities. I hope the Mayor and DA take care of this. Denver is becoming more and more of a destination (trying to grow out of the shadow of it's brother in the mid-west: Chicago), and they need to fix this. Related: DA clears officers in shooting.


Finally: Coffee does amazing things for my brain. <3

NOTE: If you are reading this on Facebook, you cannot see the links. I know it's a hassle, but if you want to check these things out (which you should), you need to head over to my blog.

Like what I have to say? You should follow me on twitter.

The Politics of Information and Media

FIRST: Let me publicly state that I have great respect for the people that do the "computer stuff" at SVVSD. I have met them a few times, and I think the job they do is valuable and they work hard at doing at maintaining the technological infrastructure that keeps our schools working. This post is not meant to attack them or the job they are doing. I merely want to express my thoughts and concerns that I have with the school and their way of handling the internet. I do not want to present this as a pig-headed bashing of the DTS, or St. Vrain Schools.

Technology is new, and changing every day. The way that students interact with schools, teachers and friends is changing as a result of this. The way we learn is changing because of the internet, email, websites, wikis and blogs. I believe we need to start a discussion on how the internet is leveraged, and how we can use it to make education, and our future, better. This post is an attempt at joining-in on this conversation.

I have finally freed myself from High School. It took quite a bit of effort, but it was worth it. However, while I was a student, I started following several Twitter accounts for the school district. One such account was @SVVSDHD, which is the account for the District Tech Services Help Desk. Now, this Twitter account is not completely impersonal to me, as one of the people that work there is the father of one of my good friends.

This morning, they sent out this Tweet:

New blog post: Microsoft Bing-a-no-no http://bit.ly/tqNbd

Now, I quickly followed the link, and read it. The opening paragraph summarized the decision.

Microsoft recently announced its most recent Internet search engine “Bing”. Bing has a really cool feature where you can preview video from the sites it finds just by hovering over thumbnails. Since the browser is not actually going to these sites, our Internet filter is unable to limit access to inappropriate content. This being the case, the district has blocked access to Bing until such time as the movie previews can be appropriately controlled.

So, I quickly (and admittedly brashly) sent out this tweet:

RT @SVVSDHD: New blog post: Microsoft Bing-a-no-no http://bit.ly/tqNbd - This is stupid. Blocking a search engine because of video previews?

I will admit, I had heart of Microsoft's Bing, but had never used it. Microsoft rarely interests me when it concerns their attempts to outdo Google. After reading the post, I went to Bing, and played around with the video search. I found that Bing did, in fact, offer previews of videos on their site. Some of the videos I found were not academic material. Many were also not school appropriate.

I do understand that what the DTS did was correct for their position. They have no choice but to block any service that violates the terms of what they can allow through the schools. Again, my response was brash, and was not meant to be an attack on @SVVSDHD or anybody working there. My frustrations stem not from this one decision, but my feelings on censorship, and my experiences while I was a student at SCHS.

• On video: This is a hard subject to work with. With the advent of YouTube and other video providing services, it is not possible to find at least a few videos online that concern practically any subject. A vast majority of these videos are inane and useless. When you factor in the high standards presented (and desired) by the public schools it makes a lot of sense to stop this constant stream of crap from infiltrating the education process. It is hard to argue against this. While there are many resources online (and even on YouTube) that provide educational, thoughtful and beneficial video, a vast majority of it is crap.
• On distraction and disruption: From what I can tell, the main reason to block all this nonsense online is to allow the teachers to do their work in peace. They can allow their students to use computers in the classroom, or take them to a computer lab, without worrying about what they will be doing. This frees them to focus on teaching, providing help and resources, and guiding their students to a level of proficiency that will help them be life-long learners (a hippie term, but still a noble goal).
• I am not an expert on education theory, or information technology. I blindly signed the release forms given to me at the beginning of every year. I wanted to be able to use the computers at school. I think the whole process is broken. The men and women that work to help us use the internet while still following the rules are not the problem. These people are our allies. I do believe there is a better way to do it, and that is what I want to say, and what I want to talk about.
• Particulars: Microsoft's Bing is a search-engine portal. It is the equivalent of Google, Ask.com, or Yahoo!. The main selling points behind these sites are the relevancy of their results, the way they present them, and ease of use. The last two fall into the "nifty factor" category. Bing, in wanting to out-do Google's already impressive video search, has created a neat feature which allows people to preview videos without leaving their site. This is a feature of efficiency, and should draw users who do a lot of browsing.
• The decision: The reason DTS blocked this portal (which hosts no content, merely presenting it) is because of this feature. If the videos are blocked, and the sources are blocked, then it is necessary to block any way of viewing them. I was able to quickly find, as any student would, videos of rappers, violent fights, and drug usage on the web without ever leaving the webpage hosted by Bing.
• The problem with blocking it: The problem with blocking Bing.com is because of the limits of the technology we use. We cannot simply block the video search, or the video previews. We must stop students from accessing the entire site to keep the crap out. This includes stopping them from accessing useful information. However, not all portals and search engines are created equally. Students are asked to take large amounts of information and process it into a viable form. Then they must take that useful information and turn it into essays, reports, videos, etc. The problem stems from the first step. Search engines are sold on results and presentation. Google's results can differ from Bing's. The presentation is obviously different in many ways. By blocking this alternate portal, we are disallowing students from finding and processing information in a way that might be beneficial to them. The results of a Bing query might be formatted in a way that would allow some students to look past the crap, and see what is really important. It could allow the to find better, more useful and more informative information which would not only benefit their learning, but their school-work as well. We have stopped this possibility. That is the problem I have.

DTS has been obligated to do their work properly and well. They follow the rules, and try to work with them. They want to help students. They are all extremely attractive. My concern does not lie with them. My concern lies with the acts and rules forced upon them from politicians, and do-gooders that might or might not understand technology and how it is changing education. I hope that things will get better, and that we can use information and technology effectively, but I am concerned with the direction we are heading.


Sources:

• http://blogs.stvrain.k12.co.us/helpdesk/2009/06/04/microsoft-bing-a-no-no/
• http://twitter.com/SVVSDHD/status/2034564391
• http://twitter.com/karlstrope/status/2034605711

Two Types of Writing I Enjoy, and Other Notes

My Reading Habits

I went to the library today looking for some books for an English Assignment. As I looked around, I noticed ow many types of books there were, and how few I actually cared about. This is nothing dramatic. This is true about most people. We lead very narrow reading habits and usually tend not to stray too far from those. Because of my sudden realization about my reading tastes, I felt as though I needed to make a decision. Do I try to broaden my scope of literature, and become a more well-rounded reader? Do I accept my nature and go on thinking that what I'm reading is more worthwhile than the other possibilities? If I ignore the question the second option will invariably be the result. It probably will be anyway.

However, this is not what I wanted to write about. I'd like to comment on two types of reading that I love: crime-fiction and commentary-journalism.

Crime-Fiction

I have (finally) finished Lush Life by Richard Price. The reasoning behind picking up this book was slightly silly, but it was because Price wrote for The Wire. I love The Wire, and I think that the way it captures the world it is trying to show (the untouchables of Baltimore) incredably well. I wanted to see other things that came from the brilliant minds that created one of my favorite TV shows.

The great thing about Crime is that is shows us the dark sides of humanity. This is pretty obvious, but still worth mentioning. Whether it is true-crime reporting, shows like Law & Order, or fictionalized novels, it has something to say about the parts of us we try to forget. Price is a master at creating worlds through spartan imagery, and dialog that is understated yet immerses you completely. He describes completely believable characters that exist in a world that feels as grimy as anything you could touch. But the best thing about crime-fiction is its ability to give you complex and weighty themes in a journalistic and approachable manner. It gives us truisms in a digestible and almost uncaring way, much different from the long-winded books of Diaz and Ford. It's great.

Commentary-Journalism

I love The Economist. One of my great pleasures in life is sitting down in a comfortable chair with a cup of tea and the latest copy. It is some of the most dense, well-written and thoughtful reading anywhere. This is something that I won't go into detail for, but it's worth noting. The reason I bring this up is their peculiar publication strategy. Everything is written in a journalistic manner, but there is definite opinion deeply rooted in every article. Everything is also published anonymously. From the website:

The main reason for anonymity, however, is a belief that what is written is more important than who writes it. As Geoffrey Crowther, editor from 1938 to 1956, put it, anonymity keeps the editor "not the master but the servant of something far greater than himself. You can call that ancestor-worship if you wish, but it gives to the paper an astonishing momentum of thought and principle."

I love to know things, and I love to debate, discuss and speak about them. To me, literature and journalism are part of the same thing: the conversation of humanity. Putting my mind against those that see things differently helps me to be passionate, curious, reasonable, and authoritative on ideas. I often read articles in publications such as The Economist or New Yorker that I wholly agree with. Many times, I disagree. But I always come away from these with something new to think about. I love newspapers because of their information, but I love publications like these because of their ability to progress thought to a new level. Not 'what' but 'why'.

Other Notes

• I wonder if there is a way to put en-dashes in Blogger.
• I tried to use the word 'immersive' and it told me it wasn't a word. I looked it up in my Oxford, and turns out it is technical jargon, and not a word in common usage. I feel dumb now.
  
• I wonder if drama people read scripts with the same ease the layman reads novels. I'm preparing for my first real drama experience, and trying to get a feel for some of my lines. I'm not sure how to go about that.
• Your body really does tell you what it needs. I've been craving high-fat, high-protein food. I had some KFC and felt immensely better.
  

Priorities, Circumstances, and Knowledge

If men make war in slavish obedience to rules, they will fail.
-Ulysses S. Grant

The Man Without a Home

I went to the library to return some books. I met a bum. I let him sit in my car and roll a cigarette. It was really cold and windy. He didn't want money, and I had no food to give him. I figured giving him a few minutes out of the cold was the least I could do. We talked for about a half-hour, and he kept repeating one phrase to me over and over again, especially as we were leaving. He said to me: "Take care of yourself, be nice to yourself." That got me thinking. The things we find important, and the ones that we really stress to express to others around us are deeply affected by our current circumstances. Here is a man that has almost nothing; he's cold and hungry and just needs someone to treat him with a little respect. The one thing that he really wanted me to do was to be nice to myself.

Perhaps it was because he found that if you weren't nice to yourself you couldn't expect it from anyone else. Perhaps that was his way of expressing gratitude. I don't really know. But I do know this: his statement meant something to me, but it meant something very, very important to him. His world was completely different from my own, and that has obviously affected his values and priorities. I wonder how mine would be different. Thoughts?

Other Thoughts

• Health Journal

I've started a new journal/notebook. It's in one of my blank Technical Journals, which is very sturdy and made for archiving. I've yet to decide what to call it, so right now it's labeled something along the idea of 'Workout Journal.' Whatever. I just figured if I want to be healthier, which I do, I should actually put some effort into it. This creates the problem of me losing focus, or forgetting to be healthy. So, I figure if I write down things such as food intake (calories, micro/macronutrients) and my activity (weight/strength/cardio, sleep cycles, etc) I'll be able to reflect on what I'm doing well, and what would be good for improvement. I'm hoping that once I get this down into a habit I'll feel much better physically and be able to do some things that have always attracted me. Mainly, I want to do cool stuff and not look stupid doing it.

• Progress on Riot Events

For those of you who don't know, Charlie McCowan and I are starting a business. Think of a company that will do LAN parties (if you don't know, google it) in cities around the area, possibly moving around the country. These parties will be big (starting around 200 people/event). We just met with AllCity, a local company, to discuss our website design and management. We've made some managerial decisions, and things are coming along nicely. Possibly shooting for early June for our first event.

• My Personal Archive

I've started a new project. Every time I write something I will archive it into a document. At the end of the year, I will convert that document into a PDF, and send it to Lulu Publishing (lulu.com). It will contain essays, blog posts, journal entries, bits of stories I want to keep, and possibly even bigger things. Anywho, I'll keep this book on my shelf so that I can go back to it in the future and be glad that I got older. This will only be for digital things, but since so much of my life is on the computer I think that will be a large proportion of my musings. Often, I'll write something on paper only to copy it over into Journler (a favorite Mac application). If this year goes well enough, I might continue it throughout my life. That way, when they realize that I'm really the next Bukowski, Cobain or Rorty, they'll be able to write a biography about me.

Wow, I just realized how narcissistic this is. Honestly, it's for me, and not some sort of ego stroke. I promise. Oh well...

• Facebook Memes

I am now beginning to write most of my notes on my blog (karlstrope.blogspot.com) rather than Facebook. This makes it easier for family and friends that don't use Facebook (mostly family) to keep up with my thoughts. I've linked the two together, but this will make the things I write more accessible to anyone, rather than my Friends list on FB. The reason I do this is that I think there are a lot of people I would love to read my stuff if they were interested, but don't want them seeing the stuff I do on Facebook. I am constantly tweaking my privacy settings and lists to make FB more of a walled garden for my online life. I don't want people to know that much about me unless I let them.

This goes back to my main point. Most of the things I write here will be suitable for public digestion. Not everyone will care, and in fact, few other than close friends and family will read this. However, if some stranger did stumble across this blog, I wouldn't be worried about it. Some things, though, I don't want getting out anywhere. I don't want to worry about future employers, romantic relationships, or anyone else. Anything that would not be best said in a crowded room, those things will be written and kept exclusively on FB. This includes stupid, inane crap (90% of Facebook memes) and my odd sense of humor.

• Facebook's Honesty Box

This application has a lot of potential. If everyone installed this, and occasionally updated it with thoughtful, non-generic questions we would all know a lot more about ourselves, probably be easier to deal with, and a lot more humble. Just because it is anonymous doesn't mean people need to, or will be, brutal or mean. In fact, if you're not and you're just honest it could do a lot of good for all of us. Seriously. Consider adding it. If you do, send an invitation to all of your friends to do so too. Then, ask a half-way decent question, and wait for the responses.

Questions you could ask:
(I've asked some of these myself)

1. How do I best express myself? How could I improve my interaction with people?
   
2. What is one thing that really bothers you in the way I dress?
3. Are there any certain speech patterns or annoying ticks that I have that you can't ignore?
4. Is there a time when it is really easy/really hard to deal with me?

Anyway, you see the point. We will get answers not worth reading, we will get pure hatred coming from our enemies. But unless you've made friends with an unusual amount of assholes, you will get a few responses that will make you think. That's a good thing.

Spring Break, and Boredom

This is something I wrote on a notecard a few months back:

NEW GOAL

Whenever I'm bored or not doing anything, write something down.

Something brilliant, something beautiful.

I'm not sure when I wrote it, but upon reflection I am glad I did. It's a common saying that you need to write things down to remember them, and I believe that is certainly true for me personally. Even though I had lost that card (it was shoved in a book I was finished with) the goal had stuck with me. I now carry my notecards, a pocket-sized moleskin, and an assortment of notepads with me at all times. Going through them I find many stray thoughts that I'm very glad I didn't lose. Some of them I was proud of. Some made me laugh, and others were just provoking enough to remind me to work on ideas long lost. I need to write everything down, or I could lose it just as easily as these thoughts that were lucky enough to land on paper.

Now, it is my turn to challenge you. Everyone who reads this has something to say. But when you don't express your thoughts, you lose them. I don't care if you're a writer, painter, dancer, musician; you need to express yourself on a regular basis or you will lose your creative edge. If you never use your creativity, you will have no reason to be interesting. Instead you will fall into conformity, boredom, and mediocrity. Please don't do that to yourself.

This Spring Break, express yourself. It doesn't have to be much, but express yourself. Even just a few short words like this note is better than nothing.