Ethanol

http://www.keloland.com/NewsDetail6162.cfm?Id=0,75747

Declaring bankrupcy, how does that help this up and coming company? Sure, times are hard right now, but things will bounce back and there will still be a demand for ethonal, even if the economy demands a decrease in their prices now to be comparable with gas, they were making bigger than they probably should have been when gas prices soared closer to $4 a gallon! If they clear out now, someone else will come in and take it up when the economy comes back a bit, it's a profitable market, and I really believe they can just ride this out, cut back a bit and continue what they started.

Another blogspot

http://home-is-where-the-heart-is.blogspot.com/

So, my lit teacher asked us this morning where home is to each of us, and as I thought about it I decided that the old line, "Home is where the heart is" is sappy and cliched, completely overused. So I preceded to make fun of the line in my paragraph, and of course the first person to read their idea of home outloud used the line, then of course, the professor called me next, naturally I couldn't read mine outloud, it would have hurt the other girl's feelings, so I refused. However, the question got me thinking, how do other people define home? And how far do people go to make their home important? Well I found it very quickly, and how perfect that it happened to be the second link when searching the phrase on google! My question to this site is, does this woman really think that people care about how she decorates? Because, I'm sorry, but she doesn't have that great of taste! I understand black accents for a nice pop and a good way to bring something out, but everything around the black is bland so it isn't popping anything! Why does she think other people really care about that either? There is, however, a site completely dedicated to how people decorate, tips for decorating, and it even lets you put pictures up for people to rate. It happens to be HGTV.com, why create a blog when you can just post your bland rooms there for rating? I just don't understand where some people get off...

Truth

http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/28/lg-life-isnt-that-good-right-now/

Taking the "Good Life" away from the campaigne for LG probably isn't going to make that big of a difference. I understand things are tight right now and nobody has money, but honestly, if they are so tight things are really terrible, people will make the decision to shut down cell service if they can bare to not have the little thing attached to their hand every minute of the day. If they choose to keep the cell and cut back on other things... like food, just kidding... so be it, but the good life slogan should stay, it seems pathetic to change it just because it might hurt a couple people's feelings.

Dance Dance Revolution... or Evolution!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg

This is so great! I'm not sure who came up with his moves, but I'm just impressed with a guy of that age making a fool of himself and having that much flexibility! It was a pretty good spread of music and crazy dance moves! I don't have much to say for it, because I think it speaks for itself!

Day in the Life Video

So, my friend Brittany had a formal party. I took my camera to remember all the merriment better and decided it was a great way to show how awesome my friends are! I had to do a little editing and cutting out of things here and there, they were inappropriate. You probably still shouldn't show this to anyone under the age of 18, but it turned out all right, it was a really fun night! Everyone got dressed up and decked out to make my movie a hit! Brittany was a great help in creating an interview during my pong game and the fabulous video ends with her brilliant face! This is one video you won't want to miss! Also, special thanks to Jamie for SCREAMING at me in most clips so I couldn't use them!

Haven't been here for a while

http://www.ksfy.com/blogs/allen/32139299.html?blog=y

So, I haven't written on Allen's blog for a while, nothing much of personal interest, but this caught my attention. Not because he's had water damage or because of the hearing loss, (although that did bring to mind the sound lecture from 2 weeks ago and the midterm last week)it was the sound. I can't sleep anymore without a fan running because there are so many other sounds in an apartment building from other people or just settling of things in their places. I'm paranoid the way it is right now due to all the vandalisms in town, and I'm a very light sleeper! I love to run a fan and if you add a humidifier into the mix, even better! But I've never really had a problem with hearing someone... until you add the AC into the mix, those old things are noisy! Their sound helps me sleep sounder too though, so I'm not complaining!

I hope this is a joke!

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCJHP2hc8ehMkMW4lxlVFI1wUwE67FJopJl0Z8MtJRiU2bzXY7S41gP3jMbJWb8U58NSAmNtTDva3Z4k3jA3CGs1Wdv-zNxLjNcNj-Pq9d3wka1lHXxr66BHKMFTK-jNcE6P7z1I3zdrE/s1600-h/Copy+of+jsbi+Image+1.jpg

Really?! REALLY?! I don't even know where to begin with this. I think it speaks for itself. Good thing it's fake. But, really, who comes up with ideas like this. I'm glad Martha Stewart thinks it would be great for prison food! Oh the things people waste their time on to fool other people into believing! Good joke guys!

Really?! Are you kidding me!?

http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/24/ibone-chew-toy-gives-sneak-peek-at-dog-centric-app-store/

Dogs do not need crap like this, people do not need to spend money on crap like this! Is it supposed to be cute? Is it supposed to be smart? NO! Is it marketed to stupid people that like crap like this and decide that their dogs are worth anything and everything they can offer them? YES! Don't get me wrong, I love my dogs, but they sleep outside, they eat regular dog food that is good for them, but it doesn't look like a 4 course meal from a can! Why do you put a sweater or pants on something that already has a coat to keep it warm? Is it worth that money? Aren't we in the worst depression in years or something right now? I mean, if we're supposedly going to tighten our money spending and possibly be losing our jobs, is that $12 worth it so your pooch is tech savvy? Probably not. Will people buy it anyway? Yep! What are we coming to? Whatever it is, it is not good, so please don't let me know anytime soon. I'm sure I'll find out on my own sooner than later and it will be a sad, sad day!

It's Fosters!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABLmOmUac4U&feature=related

Here's the story on this one, I don't have a kid, but I have a brother that is 10 years younger than me. This happens to be his favorite show, this happens to be a cartoon I've watched a lot while I was watching him. I LOVE THIS SHOW!!! It's so cute, and well put together, it's entertainment for children, but it has enough of an edge that adults can find humor in it too. Know what the best thing is? It's clean! Yep, none of the swearing and dirty jokes you get when you watch 'adult tv' or if you go to a movie over the rating of PG. Just clean, family fun. It's like Disney movies, the way they play in humor for adults so the movie doesn't completely suck... except for that new Beverly Hills Chihuahua movie, I heard that really, really sucked, for everyone over the age of 6. What I'm getting at is how did we become a nation where the F-word is acceptable almost everywhere, it's like the word the! Sex has to be in it to sell it, and drugs are popularized? I'll stick to Fosters... gotta love Blu!

Yahoo... not appropriate for this...

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/earnings/2008-10-21-yahoo_N.htm

When the economy falls, money is short, people are pulling their stocks and not willing to spend money, top companies have only one option to try to encourage stock holders to continue to hold those stocks; lay offs. The people at the top of this multi-million dollar company don't care about employees far below them they don't even know the names of, they only care about their money, income, and state of living. So why do lay offs happen? If money has to be stretched they get rid of people so they don't have to stretch as far. So, that being said, I have a question; what do you think will happen if we raise taxes dramatically on these companies to help 'distribute the wealth'? I can assure you that it won't just distribute the wealth, it will also increase unemployment... and it will be much higher than just 1,500 people.

Underwear Goes Inside the Pants

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJeNok-lTEw&feature=related

This song brings up some very interesting problems in today's society, even though the song came out four years ago. They talk about drugs, prescription and illegal, and how they are marketed to us and how we seem to feel about them. Why are we focusing so many medical resources on things like Viagra, Envitra, In Vitro, all these things that aren't natural, they aren't how the world was meant to work. Couldn't we take the money spent to develop those drugs, ideas and television ads and transfer it to any kind of cancer research?! Next they talk about obesity, how we think we're in an epidemic, it's not an epidemic, it's the fact that we have a fast food establishment on every street corner of America, and we only eat that tasteless crap because it's there. We don't walk to the counter because there are drive throughs, hell, we don't walk period! Lately people have been asking me how I keep the weight off, or how I look so good, or if I'm losing weight. No, I'm not losing weight, I'm not even working out like I used to. I walk, a lot, I live 3 blocks from campus, and while most people drive to campus or ride some little scooter, I walk that, every day, except weekends, but on the weekends I still walk quite a bit, a little slower, usually in the gardens (which will make it interesting for how I'll continue that since we're supposed to get snow tomorrow, and I hate snow) but I still walk. It's that 45 minutes to an hour of light cardio that doctors always talk about, although I usually run a little late and have to power walk my 15 minute walk to class. But that's what people need, I eat healthy and I get light cardio at least 5 days a week. It's important! I'm not even going to get into the 'Masterminds' over in the Middle East, we have enough problems here at home. Homelessness, unemployment, rising prices... ring a bell? We are going through a serious economic flux right now, no doubt it's creating a little tightening for buisness and consumers alike. However, as everyone is pointing fingers at President Bush and our government, they are also pulling their stocks so they don't lose more money, and cutting back on most buying, but a lot of those things can add to the problems we've begun to see, instead of riding out the dip until after elections, when it's predicted to pick back up a bit. So, for now, we're all in a fairly similar boat, what is the point of telling someone else they have problems when they ask for money, you have problems too. They can't save up their money, it's all they have at the moment, and you don't know what they're spending it on, what are you spending it on? No one's business, now is not a time to judge everyone else's position and telling them to get a job isn't helping, the promised tax cuts for the poor and increase for the big businesses isn't going to help America, we'll see unemployment shoot up and wages will be stretched. Those businesses won't pay those taxes out of pocket, they'll take their business overseas and fire people to make sure they can pay taxes without it hurting their business. So watch it, you might be the next 'bum' that needs to go find a job.

Exam 1

Interview with the head coach for SDSU. Put together most of the techniques we learned in class that past 5 weeks or so and produced a short interview.

Yeah! Working from home!

http://www.wired.com/culture/culturereviews/magazine/16-10/st_essay

This article brings up some great points as to why people should have the option of working from home if the position can allow it. If you work for a call center, it won't work, if you work for an ad agency, you can have a green light! I like that they did their research and found how much money and space most companies waste to have cubes for their employees and how much comuters would save if they didn't drive to work everyday. Gas is getting higher, and it isn't showing any signs of stopping, so why not give it a break, cut back on gas, if we cut back enough it may hurt those huge gas companies and they may have to cut some prices as well. Also, the way the economy is turning, we sure could use money breaks anywhere we can find them, and increasing productivity won't hurt anyone, unless you've already overproduced something, but you're in trouble anyway, and probably have to lay people off. What I'm saying is, this is more about power from people who oversee employees than it is about business anymore, so get off your power horse and do your company a favor!

How cool is this?!

http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/16/help-engadget-energize-education-in-the-2008-donorschoose-blogge/

Raising funds through your technology aware website is sexy! Turning it into a competition is also sexy... everybody wins! Competition usually brings in a few extra bucks, everyone knows that! and for them to advertise this kind of need on their website is a great way to find people to help! I'm very impressed... sadly people aren't donating due to hard times... which I happen to have a lot of opinions about, but we'll see if I can't fit a blog in about that later, closer to election time. I think technology is a great way to reach a lot of children that don't have the option or seem to have problems with learning, technology can really help them. Family friends had a little boy who recently turned 11 who is disabled. He was born with a brain tumore that pressed on his optical nerve and he can't see clearly. He can see colors and outlines of things, but he's lived this way his whole life. He moves a little slower and identifies people by voice and the color of shirt they are wearing that day. He does a lot with touch as well, he doesn't always touch appropiately, but he doesn't know any better either. He uses a special computer that blows all of his homework up into very large text and pictures so he can keep up in his classes almost as well as his peers. It also uses a lot of feeling elements through his keyboard and sounds to help him learn quicker. It truly is amazing what technology can do for people, and trying to spread it this way with some friendly competition rates high on my list!

How do pedestrians feel about bikes on campus?

This is a video I put together about bikes on campus. I took video with a hand held camera, I had an interview with a pedestrian that walks on campus daily, and I found that it wasn't just me that had a problem with bikes on campus. Turns out, quite a few others don't appreciate bikes running them off the sidewalks.

Disabled cell phones?

http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/14/aegis-mobilitys-driveassist-cripples-your-phone-when-you-drive/

They make a good point in the article; how do they know that you're driving and not on a bus or cab? But then again, would it really matter if your calls and messages were held an extra 20 to 30 minutes while you get from point A to point B? Unless someone was in the hospital and you need to get there very quickly or something along those lines, it really wouldn't change your life that much. I think they have the right idea and good intentions, but as the comments suggest, people can find plenty of ways to be distracted while driving and get into accidents. But one less thing to distract us can't be a bad thing right?

It's FRED!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_oCyzja0sg

Another annoying video that people love to watch! Usually something like this would annoy me to know end because of the voice this teenager uses, and he acts like he's 6 or 7... It is absolutely crazy and completely random. This is the best one of all of the videos he has posted online. I laughed for 25 minutes after watching this for the first time. I still laugh when I watch it. It's right up there with Charlie the Unicorn... Youtube is amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5im0Ssyyus

ARE YOU SERIOUS?!

http://techdirt.com/articles/20081006/1543572469.shtml

Are businesses really trying to do this? Because if they truly want to do that, they are going to have a lot of really pissed off people around! The Internet is a great way to communicate with each other, and learn new things, and provide feedback... If they want it to fit into a tv based kind of platform we will be back to a one way form of communication, in another spectrum, and do we really need another one way communication network? I am pretty sure tv has got that covered, and music for that matter... don't try to take away something that people rely on so much for daily function and communication with multiple people and companies, it wasn't designed for that, perhaps these politicians need a brush up course on what it was created for so they don't pull stupid moves like pushing it toward the standards set for television, because it won't go over well with the public!

New Light bulb? I think not!

http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/11/ge-builds-an-oled-printer-hopes-to-challenge-light-bulbs-in-201/

Who thinks of this crap? Look, no one who has any conscious mind of how to decorate will put these up in place of blinds, curtains, wallpaper, borders, or anything else. They will look cheap put anywhere if they keep the look they have right now. Even if it is effecient and could work out better than regular bulbs, it sounds to me that they are fairly expensive and that no one can effectively buy them and come out on top. What's wrong with the expensive energy efficient bulbs we use for 7 years at a time now? Do they really last 7 years? that's another subject. All I'm saying, innovation is a good thing, it keeps things rolling, it make life interesting. When it starts becoming a faux pas, I start having a problem with it. If I see this thing anywhere on HGTV in the next decade, I will personally visit those people and ask them what is wrong with them! All you have to do is watch HGTV a couple of times to figure out what is okay and what is no way! All I'm saying is that these things could be cool, but they are seriously ugly!

World of Warcraft

http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/10/steelseries-wow-mmo-gaming-mouse-makes-wasting-your-life-that-mu/

World of Warcraft, if you don't know what it is, you're lucky. It's a game that sucks people who don't have lives into its depths and never lets them return to their friends. It is the ultimate kind of evil. It distracts teens from their homework, keeps them from going to class, and now, they are making it just that much easier to be good at a life sucking game. Who needs a mouse that helps you play a game? Why would you spend close to $100 for something that makes you socially inept? Because it is the devil's tool to create zombies. I'm just kidding. I really do hate that game though. Its taken countless friends away from me and I can't spend time with them, or if I try, they only play the game. They ask me to join, create a character and all, but I've seen what it does to them, why would I join that? This is what it creates, drama, computer centered teenagers, and fat lazy middle aged men that can't get away from the computer. There was an excellent example in the new South Park.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlAhxoRRxfI

So, after seeing this, you know not to let your friends or children join this game, it's almost like a cult!

Apple Computers

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/10/apple-to-host-s.html

Since I started this class I realized that I would need an Apple, I wasn't required to buy one at the time I joined the program, but I found out quickly that it would make my homework easier, and that I would more than likely need one later for my career. So I started looking. But the way the economy is right now is seriously effecting my budget and I don't have any extra money to throw $2000 at a new computer and software, and unfortunately, neither do my parents. So I'm in a bind. I'm hoping that once the elections are finished that we will see a bounce back and that $11,000 I lost over the last few weeks in the stock market will come back a bit. But I don't feel I could wait until November or later for that to happen. Not for this class at least. My dad says we may be able to defer payments for six or twelve months if the guy he buys computers from can work with him, then I wouldn't have a problem, or if my dad gets a funeral, or if he gets a settlement from a funeral home he own 25% of that is closing in Sioux Falls. There are so many factors to my getting a computer it stresses me out. Now, if Apple comes out with a computer that is under $1000, my problems wouldn't be solved, but that's much more manageable. Although, they aren't sure that's what it is, or what kind of computer it will be. If it's just a computer for surfing the Internet, that's no help to me. I think I'll hold out for the economy to come back a bit so that I can get a professional grade computer for around $1700, and buy the software at the bookstore. At least one good thing came of this... I know exactly how much I've lost in stocks, and really how poor I truly am. That isn't good, that's depressing.

I hope this doesn't take as long for you to load

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Jd9dfn0Fgc

This video has always amazed me! It's not that it's spectacularly made, or that it has really cool effects, it's more about how the video of the girl pertains to the world around her like she completely controls it and shows all the bad things that can happen around her, but she has not power over, no matter how slow or fast she moves, she can't stop the books from falling from the lady's arms, or the car from hitting the man not paying attention as he crosses the street, and while she had her bit of fun being the fast forward, rewind and repeat button, her actions can't affect anyone but herself, and she may hate that she couldn't help some, she can't hate herself, the lyrics are incredible, and the story told in the video is moving. But then again, they are a great band, and most of their sound is moving, upbeat, and could even be thought of in a religous sense. They are diverse, and unfortunately there is no music video for mood rings, my favorite song they sing, but just so you know, any band that can fit the word infastructure into a song and make it sound good; has serious talent!

here's a way to listen to "Mood Rings" by Relient K, from the Two Lefts Don't Make a Right, But Three Do album

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuPuc8zbQ5s

Blogging about a blog

http://www.ksfy.com/blogs/allen/30515379.html?blog=y

He went to Italy... the country I love above all others. The country I want to return to in the worst way. The country with wines to die for! And all he can say about it is it was "life changing"?! That's almost blasphemy in my book! I was very upset. Hopefully tomorrow he talks a little bit about the debates that happened tonight, and I can't wait to read up on what happened and what was said since I had to miss it for work. But "life changing", that's all he can say about the most beautiful country in the world? A place with more history than you could ever hope to see and learn in a week? A place where the people don't actually mind America that much (nothing like France! yikes! They hated us when we were there and we were high schoolers!). Italy... Rome... Pompeii... Pisa... Florence... Venice... and all the little towns you never hear of but absolutely have to drive through. Who ever thought they'd see a sleeping king in the hills, or vineyards for miles? The country is perfect, and yes, life changing.

Public Service Announcement

Creating a service announcement has proved to be hardest yet, but stacking video and importing music was fun and easy and I feel much better now that I know how to do that.

Homestar Runner

http://www.homestarrunner.com/tgs14.html

Why are videos like this so funny to our generation? I roll my eyes at every new video I watch on this site, but I still go back to watch the newest one when it comes out. I also rewatch many of them. In general I think it has to do with bordom, but is that a good excuse? Why do we need to be entertained by some form of media all the time? Why doesn't conversation or just plain reading create enough enjoyment for us that we search the web until we find crap like this? Who knows, but one thing is for certain, I'm glad professors can't just up and change a test whenever they want because it's written in their syllabus!

Sarah Palin

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1831461

I feel it's a cute way to try to make fun of a person who supposedly has no experience, but I was wondering, if people are so worried that the potential vice president of the country may be inexperienced, but can learn as she is in office helping the president, has anyone taken the time to realize that Obama has even less experience? He hasn't even finished one term in the senate and wants to become the president. Doesn't that seem to be a bigger problem than if the VP doesn't have the experience? I thought experience was something required to become president, but I also thought that they should be literate and learned as well. I guess we just can't have everything. But this was a cute narrative of the possibilities once McCain is in the White House... people are predicting the future awful early aren't they?