Senior Reflection Blog #3: Prom

I’m going to be very honest. I was never allowed to go to any kind of school dance, party, homecoming, prom, etc., and I really never cared. I still don’t care. It’s almost the end of the year now and a lot of other schools have already had their Prom (working at Target at least keeps you on top of news and gossip). My fellow Target employees were very excited to share their prom nights and I listened “intently” to what they had to say (not really). They even felt they had to share their stories with customers…like they really had that dying urge to hear about it…Really, who cares?

I think Prom and all those other little “like-oh-my-god-let’s-dress-up” parties are pretty lame and overrated. There’s way to much hype over all that business and it costs so much money on top of that. I mean, I’m sure people go for the “high school experience”, but I doubt you’re ever going to think about it again unless you happen to maybe run into your date 20 years later or it’s your child’s prom and he/she is complaining about how badly they want something (like that $1,000 dress she may only wear once in her lifetime but hey it is a once in a lifetime chance to go to Prom!). The cost of makeup, hair, tuxedo, limo, and all that other stuff is beyond reasonable. People are just trying to make money off of you, whether it’s the school or the salon. I don’t know if it’s my super penny-pinching Indian/Asian senses, but I think the whole idea of Prom or whatever is just ridiculous. Oh well!

After that looong current event blog, I hope I kept this short and sweet...Well at least short. :)

Enjoy the picture! Yes, it was photo-shopped.

Current Event #3: Photo-Sharing

Facebook and photo-sharing are two huge things for young adults and teens these days, and to find out that embarrassing or inappropriate pictures are still stuck on social networking websites (like Facebook.com or MySpace.com) could have devastating effects. Now this fear has become reality for sure after researchers concluded so in a Cambridge University study late last week. Of 16 websites that were tested, 7 sites failed the test to see if the pictures were gone completely about a month after the user had chosen to delete them. Obviously, these sites denied any such accusation, but the researchers discovered that Facebook, for instance, had two servers for its website because it’s so large. So when the pictures are being stored in one server, the other server is still being used for the main page. When the command is sent for a picture to be deleted, it takes a very long time to find that picture and delete it. The BBC followed up with advice stating that online users should not post any pictures that might come in their way of their future goals and hopes (such as careers).

One thing is for sure: this isn’t the first time I heard pictures being stuck on the internet even after people have removed them. I’m sure that people have been slapped on the wrist and lectured several times before, too, about putting up scandalous pictures. Whatever the case is, these pictures could really end up hurting people when they want to go out and get a job, for say. However, if you really think about, why would people really be stupid enough to put up “indecent” pictures of themselves or others on the internet? That goes for texting as well. The sad truth is though that people really are that stupid and would do anything to get attention (in most cases). As for the article, I was confused about the part if the pictures lasted longer than 30 days or never were deleted at all. Maybe Cambridge researchers should test for a longer period of time.

Here’s the article if anyone wants to read it:

Study: Photos stay online after you delete them

The buzz online this morning is about a Cambridge University project that found photos posted to some social networks, blog and photo-sharing sites stick around after they’re deleted by users.

Researchers tested several photo-sharing sites to see if photos still existed on the Internet 30 days after they were supposedly deleted by users. Seven of the 16 sites, including Facebook, failed the test. From a researcher’s blog post:

Facebook alone hosts over 40 billion photos, over 200 per user, and receives over 25 million new photos each day. Hosting such a huge number of photos is an interesting engineering challenge. The dominant paradigm which has emerged is to host the main website from one server which handles user log-in and navigation, and host the images on separate special-purpose photo servers, usually on an external content-delivery network.

Sound confusing? Basically that means Facebook and other sites store photos in one place and their main Web page in another place. That makes it difficult to know where your photos actually live. And it apparently means there can be some major lag time between when you delete a photo and when it actually goes away.

The BBC says the problem comes from “shaky” business models for social networks:

What the Cambridge experiment has shown is that networks like Facebook and MySpace have decided that they just can’t afford to give users as much privacy as they might like. And that means that entrusting your photos to the cloud can mean relinquishing control of the way you appear online.

A Facebook spokesman reportedly denies the study’s findings: “When a user deletes a photograph from Facebook it is removed from our servers immediately.”

The BBC repeats a familiar mantra: don’t put anything up that you wouldn’t want the world to see:

you’re bonkers to put anything online that you don’t want a future employer, partner or aged relative to see – because, if the experiment is to be believed, that embarrassing shot of you in fancy dress at a stag night will remain online even after you’ve deleted it.

Check out the list of which sites passed and failed the test, and also follow the conversation on Twitter. It’s happening under a search for “Are you sure those.”

Source: CNN.com

So there you have it.

Senior Reflection Blog #2: Seniorities

I think I was one of the lucky ones: I caught a very mild case of seniorities sometime back before winter break. It was hard, but I have miraculously still kept my focus of my grades (though I admit there was a slight slip in grades but that usually happens every fourth quarter). I see all these seniors now, especially with about 29 actual days left of school, slacking off and skipping school. It’s going to really suck for them when they get into to college and realize that they’re going to have to start working hard again. Teachers are cramming all these tests, projects, and last minute work into the last three weeks or so of work left; and even though it’s probably for our own good, it’s such a drag. I mean, not that the government project is an issue, but even the regular classes are getting these huge tests and assignments still. And that includes Mr. Bedford’s business classes! We barely do work in there, and we’re still learning business accounting and bookkeeping.

Maybe we had too many expectations for the end of the year and graduation. But tracing the entire life of a single star that lasts for billions of years for a 200 point grade or writing and presenting satires to a class is a bit of a stretch, no? We just took a test in calculus of stuff we learned a month ago and during classes I had to miss for college class registration. I got about 84% on that. I’m not very happy.

Obviously the teachers would disagree though with all the work, but cut us some slack! Government is probably the only class I have now that’s laid back. I should probably stop whining because none of the teachers that I’m complaining about are even going to read this…oh well. I’m still alive.

I think I’m done with this rant as well. Sorry.

Current Event #2: Obama and Unemployment

The unemployment rate has risen to about 8.9%, but, the actual rate of people getting laid-off has dropped from around 600,000 people to less than 550,000 people in the month of April. Even though the economy is showing some positive growth, President Obama said that the road to recovery will take a while. However, he has suggested a plan for the unemployed to be able to get back into college (to finish their degrees or for training) and still be able to keep their unemployment benefits, which they tend to have to forfeit once they go back to college. Also, financial aid packages would be increased (like those offered by the government) and offered more widely to low-income students. Increasing the benefit amounts to people shouldn’t be a problem for states because they received several billions of dollars for that purpose win the stimulus bill was passed earlier this year.

The author clearly explained the basics of Obama’s plan for the unemployed without getting into too much detail or confusion. So overall the article wasn’t too bad. It’s nice to hear that people unemployed are getting more help from the government. I was sort of skeptical at first while I was reading the article about the funding and increasing in benefits or financial aid packages, but then the article mentioned the recovery plan Obama initiated in February this year. What really bothered me was that low-income students would be getting more help, too. Honestly, that’s great with people that can prove their low income and struggle, but what about the struggling middle class that isn’t rich enough or poor enough to get anything? They’re not poor enough to receive about 4/5th of most forms of financial aid and they certainly can’t afford to pay for higher education on their own. The article did mention making it easier for the unemployed that couldn’t receive aid because of previous income amount, but I would like see what happens before I believe that everyone will be getting help, equally.

In my personal opinion though, I feel that President Obama is trying to tackle too many things at once. He went from the economy earlier this year to speaking about abortion this week at Notre Dame. Everyone really had high expectations of him, unfortunately, and because he’s not living up to what they had expected, I’ve already begun to hear how incompetent Obama is. He has just completed his first 100 days in office and people already are getting impatient. It takes time to fix things, especially the state the economy is in. He wan a landslide victory in the popular vote back in November 2008, so people should keep mum and let him do his work.

Senior Reflection Blog #1: Scholarships

When it comes to scholarships, I noticed everyone tells you, as a senior in high school, to “Apply! Apply! Apply!” So you do. You fill out 6-9 pages (or more) worth of personal information and possibly another 2 pages for essays on some of the dumbest topics like “what this scholarship means to me” or “the value of education.” It doesn’t seem so bad the first couple of times; but then when you’ve reached about like 50 or 60 scholarships, every question seems so discouraging—especially when you’ve been rejected for about 59 of those scholarships.

There are advertisements everywhere for scholarships: in school, fast food restaurants, grocery stores, etc. There are even advertisements from people on the decision board of these scholarships complaining about how much trouble they’re having with giving away money. But the thing is they don’t want to give away the money. They want to give the money and “all the help they can” to the low income students, no offense, who usually don’t even met the educational standards of an average high school student. Or they want to give the money away to no-life geniuses that are the presidents/leaders of 10 out of the 20 clubs they’re in and have over a 4.0 (and usually are part of a pretty well-to-do family). When you’re neither, like I am, you get nothing. Even when you wasted every Thursday afternoon since school started staying after for clubs like Math Honor Society when you could have been home sitting in front of the TV like a normal teenager, you immediately lose all chances you may have had when they see your “financial state.” You could have the perfect application, but when they ask for your parents’ income, you should stop right there. I even wrote separate essays explaining my “financial circumstances” (for instance, living in one of the richest and most expensive counties America has to offer), but who knew people could be so indifferent.

So this rant could probably go on for quite some time, but it’s really frustrating. For students that need the money don’t get it; and people that could use the money don’t really care about it or don’t really need it. So what’s left for the struggling middle class? That annoying 8 to 5 retail job where you stand for more than 8 hours a day, putting up with people that have no life and no brains? Really!?

Sorry.

Ok. I’m done :)

Thank you for shopping at Target! Have a nice day!!

Current Event #1: Swine Flu

The article I chose this week, “WHO reports 2,500 cases of swine flu,” obviously covers the latest news on the swine flu. The World Health Organization has declared about 2,500 confirmed cases throughout the world with about 44 deaths. Twenty-five countries have either confirmed cases or reported deaths, including the United States. In the United States alone, there have been two reported deaths and around 1,600 cases in 43 states. Forty-two of the deaths have occurred in Mexico, where the virus originated from. The illness is still at phase 5 (widespread human infection)—phase 6 is the actual global pandemic phase. President Obama spoke about the virus, stating that the virus may not be as severe as we may fear it to be, but precautions still should be taken. Britain has announced that they have gotten the complete H1N1 genetic code, which is the first step in finding a vaccine for the virus.

Frankly speaking, I think the swine flu has really been bloated into a huge deal (mostly likely because of all the media hype). I understand the reason why most people may fear the illness, considering it’s a phase 5 out of 6 in Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response (EPR) meter and there is not proven vaccine for it yet. Tamiflu, medication for the treatment of influenza, is being used as a possible cure for the swine flu virus However, I heard that the normal flu virus alone claims about 36,000 lives alone each year on CNN. Also, there really isn’t that much of a threat to most ordinary people because those people that have the illness have been hospitalized (and you could most definitely point out some one with a fever over 100 degrees and severe body and stomach pains if they were to be walking around at all). So all in all, I think the swine flu is much milder than the media is making it seem, and fear may be the more of the culprit than the virus itself.