Assignment #13 - Online Identity Theft...It Can Happen To You

For the last blog I thought that I would write about something that victimizes about 15 million Americans a year, identity theft. It is effecting us now more than ever because we are using the Internet for more and more things. I know for me personally I use the Internet for online banking, shopping, definitely school, and car insurance and for me that means my personal information is floating around out there, hopefully being protected, but not always 100% secure.

There are two types of identity theft. "Account takeover" occurs when a thief acquires your existing credit account information and purchases products and services using either the actual credit card of simply the account number and expiration date. "Application fraud" is what some experts call "true name fraud." The thief uses your SSN and other identifying information to open a new account in your name. Victims are not likely to learn of application fraud for some time, because the monthly account statements are mailed to an address used by the imposer.

Even though victims are usually not left to pay their imposers' bills, they are however left with a bad credit report and must spend months and even years regaining their financial health. In the mean time they have difficulty getting credit, obtaining loans, renting apartments, and even getting hired.

I guess that the bottom line it that it can happen to anyone and the impact of it can be felt for a long time after you think you have cleared up the matter. The best position to take is not get yourself in that situation, although sometimes it is out of your control. Little things like not giving out your social security number over the phone, memorizing your PIN numbers and not having them written down, shield you have when making a withdrawl at an ATM, look for people watching and if someone seems suspicions go somewhere else. Small steps can be taken to protect yourself that can have a huge impact on your credit score and number of headaches.

Assignment #12 - Television News or the Newspaper...Both Boring.

I don't know why but I have always been more likely to watch channel 2 news, I like knowing what the weather or how the traffic is so I watch it in the morning when I'm getting ready. Compared to the other local news channels, channel 2 just seems more up to date and fun, just looking at the broadcasts of 4 and 7 they just look old fashioned and aren't broadcasted in high def. As far as newspapers go, I don't really read them at all. I would rather be doing something else and pretty much have a new anchor read the paper to me, isn't that all the television news is doing? If I do crack a newspaper it's to check the movie times or on a rare occasion even do the crossword, but not to see what the stories are about.

So this post was a little boring for me because I had to compare to boring things together, but I managed to get through it and this it what I found. I decided to go with the most accessible paper for me (because it's free) the USA Today, and compare it's content with channel 2's news at 6.

In the paper there is only so much room and so much that can be said about a specific topic, but in a way it is also like that for the news. They have a 1 hour broadcast to get in the most important topics locally and around the world. Some of the top stories on the new were a local Security breach where a laptop containing 16,000 Buff State students, staff, and alumni's social security number and other personal information, and another top story was the Pope visiting New York City. It seems that the local news does just that, really focuses on what is important, need to know information locally. They only do a quick recap of the top 5 stories in the nation right now.

In the USA Today has a large on the polygamous sect that was raided in Texas and lots on the race for the presidency, and of course the rising fuel prices. There was little mention of sports or weather, because they can not really focus in on all of the cities in a short amount of time, so they usually cut away to the local new for 30 seconds to recap local weather.

So if what you are looking for is things like the latest sabres trade or what the weather is going to be like tomorrow, you probably would want to look towards localized newspapers or you local news channels. For what is going on around the world or the freak earthquake in the north east look in papers like USA Today or news stations like Nightly News and World News Tonight that looks at a broader spectrum of what is happening.

Assignment #11 - Our Nations Biggest Problems..The Hard Part Is Picking Just 3

Everyone has problems, but when you happen to be a nation, those problems always seem to be a littler bit bigger. Without problems there would be no need for changes and growth and innovation, I guess problems can be a good thing to learn from, but in the end a problem is still a problem. For me personally I think that the three biggest problems that America is facing today are rising gas prices, no national health care and a lack of literacy in the nations youth.

First off the price of gas, and everything else in on a huge upswing that is not looking to stop anytime in the near future. According to msnbc.com just this past Friday oil prices rose to above $110 a barrel. Prices at the pump are expected to reach over $4 a gallon during this summers driving season. For me this is just mind blowing, why aren't we pushing harder for alternate fuel sources more, with global warming becoming a huge concern for may people why doesn't the government develop a fuel source that could be a renewable energy source and make us less dependent on other countries. This issue is splashed all over the news every night any yet nothing is done about it. With Exxon Mobile's quarterly revenue at nearly $100 billion in sales it is pretty clear to me that nothing is being done about it because some powerful people are making themselves a whole lot of money.

Another issue that America is facing today is the nations health care. With families going bankrupt over trying to pay off medical bill they can not afford after being turned down by every health care company out there is unacceptable. In the documentary SiCKO by Michael Moore he talks about how the nations health care industry is a system that is failing the people is is supposed to be protecting and that it is only about making money. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention actually reported that 54.5 million people were uninsured for at least part of the year. 18,000 Americans will die this year simply because they're uninsured. People are even sometimes forced to go across the border into Canada to get their much needed medical attention because they have free health care in Canada.

The problem with the literacy and youth is the most disturbing of all the problems that I mentioned. Across the country readership in down, with most people pointing at media, including video games, computers and cable television. This is even happening right in our own backyard, just recently Buffalo schools did very poorly on ELA test scores. The statistics show 65% of students in third through eighth grade are unable to read at grade level. These children are supposed to be the leaders of tomorrow? That's a scary thought. Something should be done and more time and resources should be given to these children, specifically those in lower level income families who can not afford to buy books and are in school districts where the teaching may not be up to par.

I have come to the decision that these topics are important both through personal experience and through the media. Just hearing about things on the news may but be enough to make it a concern to some people, but having it happen where you live makes a difference. Things are not perfect and there are problems that we have to deal with, we had the problem of polio, but that is no longer a factor in today's society because we took care of it and learned from it. Hopefully some day that problems that we are dealing with today will also be a thing of that past that we have resolved and no longer have to think about.

Assignment #10 - E-mail or E-pain in the ass?

Today, e mail is practically the center of our world. What would we do without the instant gratification of getting an e mail the moment its sent directly to our blackberry or inbox? I remember a time, a time that children today will never know of, a time when we actually sat down and wrote a letter. As it is commonly know now a days as snail mail. The slow old fashioned way of getting in touch with an old friend. Sitting down and putting pen to paper and writing an actual letter. These days are long gone for the most part, so I though for this experiment I'd ask someone who remembered these times as well. I asked my mom, dad, and my old pen pal, my cousin Jen.

My dad pretty much only goes on the computer to play snood, but on the rare occasion he dose go on line he doesn't have many e mails because he doesn't have an reason to give out his e mail address, other then an e mail here or there from field and stream about his subscription status, he doesn't get much mail, probably a couple a week. So for the most part e mail really doesn't affect my dad's life at all in either a positive or negative way.

For my mom she likes using her e mail to keep in touch with her friends that have moved away to California and to send funny pictures and jokes to her sisters. She likes using e mail to stay close to people that are far away but she also mentioned that it is the most impersonal way of going about it. At least on the phone you can hear the persons voice, not the case in an e mail. Another downfall my mom said what that she rarely goes on to check her mail so when she does she has hundreds to go through. There are so many that it gets overwhelming and frustrating, so she just starts deleting everything even though it may be important.

My cousin Jen lives in Connecticut so we use e mail every now and then to talk but she mostly uses her e mail for work. After just graduating from UCONN and now working for an insurance company she gets her own company e mail that her clients can reach her through. She says it is a very important tool to helping her stay on top of what her clients needs are and how to best serve them. She said she gets about 30 e mails a day although some are spam and junk mail, most of them are important in increasing her productivity.

All in all e mail is definitely a faster way to get in touch with someone but the trade of for that kind off speed is that you lose some of the closeness and the personal touch that a hand written letter or even a phone call has. However in this fast paced world we live in now a days, its not even a choice.

Assignement #9 - Video Games - Hobby or Addiction?

Personally I don't get how people can sit in front of the television for hours on end and find that entertaining. Ill admit it, I have a Wii and play it a lot, but not all day everyday. I am a gamer but not even close to what some consider a true gamer. My brother can literally sit on Xbox live all night playing Halo 3 and talking smack to little kids, and actually enjoy it. I don't get it, what happened to a game that had a start and a finish. A goal that you could actually attain to get, for Super Mario Brothers it was to save the princess from King Kupa, for Donkey Kong it was again to save the princess from...well King Kong, now a days with cames like EverQuest there is no point to playing them, the game go on and on forever. You can play it forever and never accomplish anything, no first place trophy, not even one princess saved.

So is this considered a good hobby to have of a potentially life ruining addiction? People can argue both sides, for one, the parents know where their children are when they are playing video games. They are not out on the streets running wild and causing trouble. However with childhood obesity on the rise sitting indoors all day, with no physical activity of social interaction can be a death sentence making them much more likely to be over weight as an adult, not to mention a nerd.


Even if you don't consider yourself a "gamer" something as simple as playing a game on your cell phone to help pass the time in that boring lecture that never seems to end puts you in that category. In the assigned article on a video game designer, it is shocking for quickly people shun her for what she does and blame her for ruining the minds of our youth. When in fact the opposite is true, in an article from the USA Today from 2007 entitled Wii Speeds Up The Rehab Process, it goes on the describe how the Wii can help people with everything from a car accident to Parkinson's disease. It is good for hand eye coordination. Going through the motions of the sports without the impact is greatly beneficial.

So whether video games are harmful or helpful is dependent upon who you ask, as for me, the jury is still out.

Assignment #8 - Mojitos And The Internet...A Perfect Combination

For this blog assignment I thought it would be fun to do a little something different so when Art of The Drink webisodes caught my eye, I knew right away that I wanted to learn more.

The Art of The Drink was created by writer/director/host by Anthony Caporale. Art of the Drink is a Video Podcast that plays out in a simple format, first Anthony prepares the drink of the day and then he has his co-host make the drink following his instructions. The first episode was released on May 1, 2006, and the episodes usually run anywhere from 1:46 to 11:02 but on average the episodes are 6 minutes long, and running about 24 shows a season.

In the episodes they differ from regular television shows obviously in the length of time that they run, but also in the content they talk about, and most importantly, no commercials. There is no filler or any other information then what the point of the show is, to learn how to make a perfect mixed drink. This is a very interesting and informative show to watch. Its like taking bartending school without have to pay the 300 dollar charge, and with drink names like The Blue Motorcycle, Snake Bite, World Cup and Godfather, who wouldn't want to watch this show.

Another plus of the online shows is that you can watch it whenever you please, even though today DVR's and TiVo are getting more popular the ease of watching there shows when and pretty much where ever you want to, makes it very convenient.

Art of The Drink has received numerous awards and was even commended as best of 2006 in the New York Times. The episodes are a great tool to have and are just fun to watch with some episodes containing trivia contests about previous episodes and outtakes of the cast. Art of The Drink is fun, interesting and informative webisode to watch.

Assignemt #7 - Radio...The Soundtrack Of Our Life

As we go about in our daily lives we are affected by the music and don't even know it. I know for me when I burn CD's and then go back and listen to them a while later it can take me back to that summer or back to my junior year in high school when I made it. In the past 24 hours of actually thinking about what kind of an effect music has on our lives ive come to realize it plays quite a large part.

I pretty much have a routine that I go through every day, in the morning on the way to school I usually listen to talk radio like WGR 550 or Opie and Anthony, I never really understood how people can be blasting their radio at 8:00 in the morning. After school on the way home i'll catch Shredd and Ragan if I can on 103.3 the edge, they usually give you the top stories of the day, but in a funny way that makes if fun to hear about, and the Niagara Falls Police Blotter is hilarious. I usually listen to that if im alone, but with my friends we like to hear all the latest song and sing along. Whats the point of going to a club if there isn't any good, loud music playing? While I'm with my friends I have a different taste in music then I do when I'm alone.

Music can have positive and negative effects on people mood, im sure everyone has come across someone that has the ipod to loud when there sitting next to you on the computers in Capen. It is annoying to everyone around then when we are all trying to study or write a paper. Then again a specific song can make you think of a loved one or make a part in a movie even more touching, I mean come on, what would Titanic be without My Heart Will Go On? Music can even get you pumped up for an athletic event, for my varsity soccer team in high school we had a warm up tape that we listened to before each game that motivate us and got us mentally ready for the up commig event.

Music also influence how we judge someone, wether we hear someone listening to country, 80's or rap, we can instantly get a look into that persons tastes and maybe even their way of thinking. Knowing that someone likes the same kind of music as you might influence your social influence with that person and make you want to talk to or become friends with them because you have similar tastes in music.

Music can have different effects on different people, a song that makes you happy might make another person mad or sad. Music definitely has an impact on me and my life, as I think it does or most people, it just might not be the same genre of music. It effectes up so much that we have to take it everwhere we go with portable mp3 players and even download it to our cell phones as a ringtone. Wether we know it or not, music is all around us influencing us every day in different ways.

Assignment # 6 - Vantage Point

A movie that I found interesting and like something I wouldn't mind going to see would be Vantage Point, starring Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker and Sigourney Weaver and directed by Pete Travis. Vantage Point is about secret service agents are assigned to protect the president but when there is an assassination attempt on his life people come forward with video tapes and evidence showing who the shooter is and where he is hiding out, but each person has a different story and point of view, you can read the full review and see the trailer and pictures here. This movie is rated PG-13 because of sequences of intense violence and action, some disturbing images and brief strong language. The review of the movie I found was on Fandango.com and it offered a lot more than you think it would. From the web site I found when and where the movie was playing near me, it had the movie trailer and actual clips from the movie, other movie details, fan reviews and even a critics page that gave a review of the movie from the Los Angeles Times, USA Today and the Variety, what ever that is.

Some additional information that the web site had to offer that I don't think I would have gotten from just seeing the movie would be the reviews from critics and other people who have already seen the movie. I think this is the kind of movie that you have to see more that once to really comprehend all of the aspects of what is really going on, since it might be a little confusing after seeing it for the first time, and since you are seeing it from many different peoples' points of view you can get lost easily. Its like when someone points out something that you may have missed the first time and seeing it again makes the movie all that much better, and on the site there are reader reviews that help point out these things to you. I also learned from the website that the movie opened on February 22, 2008 and runs for 1 hour and 30 minutes, and that it is currently number one in the box office pulling in a whopping 22.8 million dollars thus far.

Overall I think this website served as a tool to get out the details of the movie and its cast and to make it easy for people to find reviews and even buy tickets for whatever movie they choose. I don't think it promoted the movie as much as it did inform the audience, this movie isn't pushed hard in advertisements more than any other movie is on the site. Allowing people to give feedback on the movie and write a review to me doesn't really scream "cult following" but it does give people who are interested in seeing the movie and who want an honest opinion on weather they should waste their money or not to see it. I don't think it is possible for there to be a sequel to this story since it sounds like it wraps up pretty nicely in the end, but you never know with Hollywood, they'll throw anything out there for the all mighty dollar...hey, there was a Back to the Future 3.

Assignment #5 - Ugly Beautiful

I think that we have just about all see The Evolution of Beauty on youtube, if not you can check it out here, but it's pretty crazy to think that it takes that much work and that many people and especially that much digital enhancement to create what we think of as beauty. So why are they doing this? To sell more magazines? To create the illusion that these women actually look like that?

I think that the publication's practicing of altering photos is morally wrong and it should not be allowed. Thousands of women have subscription to these magazines and it isn't only hurting their self esteem, what about the young girls whose hands these magazines may fall into, their daughters or little sisters. Seeing these falsified images of these women and how they look can lead these young women to depression and in some severe cases an eating disorder.

Here reputable news anchor Katie Couric from Photoshop.com, is shown in a touched up photo that she didn't even know was going to be altered. The photo on the left is the original image taken and you can see on the right they have lightened her skin tone, and slimmed down her face and waist.

Sometimes editors are doing these kind of things without the model knowing it, but in most cases the person being photographed is well aware of the improvements made to this bodies and happy about the non surgical adjustment. The editor should only be able to do something like that if they have the consent of the person being photographed, it is never acceptable to change how someone looks without them knowing about it or asking for permission.

I think this particular photo was altered because when people see a skinny person they expect them to have a perfect face and body and not to have wrinkles, pimples of cellulite. This picture shows that just being thin doesn't make you beautiful or free from any flaws.

This is not an acceptable use of alteration because that picture on the left is who that girl really is, not the airbrushed cartoon on the right, allowing young girls to think that that is what she really looks is sad and damaging to their self esteem. Seeing people for who they really are can help improve the outlook our shallow society has on what beauty really is.

Assignment #4 - The Great Debate...Online vs. Print

A version of newspaper that I, and probably everyone else at UB, am familiar with would be The Spectrum. In today's paper, Wednesday, February 6, 2008, in both forms of media they discuss on the front page UB researchers find potentially dangerous side effect of popular drug. They both also have a side bar that gives you a preview to other stories and their page numbers to jump right to if they strike you as interesting. Both the paper in print and the online paper are easy to navigate, well laid out, interesting and easy to read.

Something that I found funny that was left out of the paper online was that another front page article that talks about celebrating Fat Tuesday, and handing out beads and fried dough to students. Also available online were a few extra articles that I was unable to locate in the actual paper, as well as a few extra restaurant reviews including Gramma Mora's on Hertal and The Melting Pot in the Galleria Mall.

The online material showed you some of the more important articles on the main screen while the paper ran that same article, entitled Event forces black students to sit in segregated section, on page 3. This might be because when someone is online they are usually in a rush to find something specific and if they weren't to see something like that at first they might just skim right over it, where as if someone is reading the actual paper they are usually relaxing with a cup of coffee and planning on going through the whole paper, not just looking for specific articles.

As far as the advertising went, in the online paper there wasn't any. Not one advertisement about anything, it was a nice change from visiting other online papers like the USA today where the entire perimeter is jam packed with people trying to sell you something. For the print version, the advertising was limited to campus events including Springfest, UB football games, the Distinguished Speakers Series and programs like study abroad. Over all I think that The Spectrum is a well run paper, with informative and interesting topics to read about in that boring class that you can never seem to stay awake in.

Assignment #3 - Parental Discretion Is Advised

Today most of the Cd's that you would see on the top ten list would most likely have this warning label on it. It is what children want and what they think is cool, to have the latest rappers CD where he is talking about guns, gangs and hoe's. I think the the labels are a good idea to have. Parents today can barely keep up on all their children get into, from the music they listen to, to their myspace account. I think the labels are a good indicator weather they should be listening to it or not. We have warning labels on everything from Cd's and video games to even out coffee cups telling us the contents is hot, so why not have one on books? Some of the books out there for teen age girls gets a little raunchy and if her mom were to pick it up and just judging by its cover would be happy her daughter was reading a book instead of on the Internet, but she would have no idea what her daughter is actually reading. Schools shouldn't ban books from coming into the library just use the rating system to help dictate whose hands the book falls into. Obviously the rating system isn't perfect, kids sneak into rated R movies, I even remember when I was in high school I went to Media Play to try and buy the new DMX CD, but the cashier wouldn't let me because I wasn't 18 at the time, so I just walked out and had my brother walk back in and get it for me. Nothing is going to be fool proof but its a start.

I think that is definitely appropriate for music, movies, video games and even books to have warning labels. Ratings for all media can help parents have a better understanding of what their children are looking at with just one glance, we all instantly know the difference between PG-13 and R. The ratings are especially important for video games, music is just words, but in video games you can actually act it out. In games like Grand Theft San Andreas, players can recruit new characters into a street gang and take over by leading drive-by shootings against rivals, without some sort of rating how else would parents have any idea what goes on in the game when all their kid tells them is that its just a driving game.

I used to read Goosebumps when I was younger, I don't remember exactly how young but I do remember getting nightmares from them. On Amazon.com the books are listed as unrated and I think to have a rating there could help. For me personally after reading Stay Out Of The Basement, there was no way you were getting me to go down there, it took me years to go down there, even today it still creeps me out at night. The Goosebumps books are classified as Horror, so that right there is an indicator that it might not be to child friendly.

Assignment #2 - Freedom of Speech...For Now

3) So far the internet has allowed anyone that had something to day, the ability to say it and for anyone to hear what they had to say. Even we are able to say whatever we want in our blogs and let our voices be heard. The Internet has been an open market for opinions to be heard on anything from the latest pictures of Britney in an ambulance to the hottest book on the bestseller's list. The internet is a great tool to help people start home businesses or look for their treasured childhood lunch box on eBay. But will it always be this way?

Some day can the companies that run the internet monolopies actually censor what we can see and post? It may be a possibility. In China their government already filtering their internet and watches it carefully. According to CBS News, Internet sites on democracy, Tibet and Taiwan were among Web destinations most frequently blocked by the Chinese government. Other sites that were also blocked included those on health, education, news, entertainment, religion and pornography.

If this is already happening in China whats to stop it from happening to us? It may be happening today but in its early stages. "After September 11, the government has the access to increased email monitoring, retention of Web logs and communications data. A wide variety of methods are used to restrict and/or regulate Internet access. These include: applying laws and licenses, content filtering, tapping and surveillance, pricing and taxation policies, telecommunication markets manipulation, hardware and software manipulation and self censorship" (Source). This sounds scary to think about but it may be an issue that is so far off in the future that it will have no impact on us.

Even though we might have that whole freedom of speech thing behind us, there is probably a good possibility that someday in the not to distant future the government and the huge cable company tycoons will probably be limiting what we say and see on the internet. It is sad to think but its bound to happen, I'm sure the government will say its for our own safety or scare us into thinking it is what is best for us, and what can we do about it? Nothing, hang our heads and just accept it. Well while its all still uncensored I'm talking full advantage of it while we have it, and I would urge you to do the same.

Assignment #1 - Media...Making us dumber since 1704

I think that the media can help improve peoples' media literacy, if used in the right way. Reading an article from the New York Times of the USA Today are some of the ways that the media improves peoples' literacy, but for the most part that is not how the majority of people are using the media. The media is just bombarding us with as much information as possible without giving us any time to process what we've just heard, how can that help even the smartest person?

For me personally I use the media for entertainment purposes, thinks like surfing the web at TMZ and Perez Hilton are the things I generally do online. Even when I get a free paper at school all I do with it is the word jumble, and for the most part I think that is also what other people are using the media for. People get easily distracted or bored so we are in need of a constantly changing environment, if we don't like the particular song on the radio, we change the station, if we don't like the re-run of Full House, we turn the channel, we need to be entertained at all times by physically doing as little as possible.

Even now a days people are beginning to not trust the news because they say that they are biased one way or another and might not give you the other side of the story or leave out some unfavorable information. It is impossible to know weather or not you are getting the whole story or just what that news broadcaster wants you to hear, their acting as a filter and that should not be allowed. The public should be given all the information and the correct facts and then leave it up to them to come to their own decision on the subject. When the media smacks us in the face with all of this ever changing information, it can confuse us and we may just believe what is being said even though we may not know for sure.

For the most part the media is not helping peoples' literacy because the media is just that, media. All the news is, is people reading the paper to you and you can see them, they give you fancy pictures to look at and keep you entertained, you really don't have to think about anything, its all told to you. For the fast paced world we live in today picking up a paper and spending all morning reading it over a cup of joe takes to long, we want to news and we want it fast, some news channels start airing as early as 5 am. The media is only out there to scare us into believing what they are telling us, they spend more time on things like Britney Spears or Paris Hilton, when there are far more worth while things to spend their air time talking about. The media is not helpful for the most part, if you want the real news minus the celebrities get an AP.