Assignment 2: Flickr

I have totally conquered this Assignment. Conan the Barbarian would be proud...I think I'm going to re-christen myself She-ra, or something else equally kick-rump so long as that isn't like already copyrighted or anything.

Here's the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/30372805@N05/ Check it out if you'd like a good laugh revolving around a 16 year old girl in a filler high school class called Planning the Wedding.

PS-To understand WTF is going on, I recommend reading the description in one of the sets before heading into each picture individually.

Week 3 Comments

Jareth the Goblin King does not approve of having no power over me...or my Week 3 Comments.

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Week 3 Muddiest Point

This week's Muddiest Point is brought to you by Muddy Waters. Chill, cats, chill.

I am struck this week by the eternal dilemma of good writing and technical expertise. It is such a great rairty to discover a writer who can both write compellingly and clearly while also writing with authority and great depth of subject. I felt this especially strongly in the Linux readings. I want to increase my technical knowledge through this class this semester, but I don't see that happening when I have to struggle to read the articles like I'm a preschooler trying to take on the Iliad!

So, just to reiterate, I need someone to explain well the what exactly a kernel is. Cuz these are the only two kernels I knowes:

Week 3 Readings

Linux
They lost me when they started talking about kernels, a repeating code, and a simple and elegant code—can anyone better explain these? They are in the 5th-7th paragraphs of 1.1.1.
What’s POSIX? How did they move code from Windows and other devices (what kind of other devices, are we talking like Tetris and shizzle?) to Linux? Was that even legal? WTF, this explanation is not well written.
1.2.2 speaks of how Linux is becoming more user friendly by offering graphic interfaces identical to the ones offered by Mac and Windows. This sounds to me like the bordering-on-pirating spin offs and spoofs of movies that you hear about occurring in black markets in Asia—or that you see more funnily riffed in movies like Jack Black’s magnum opus Be Kind Rewind .
The last few lines of 1.4 assert that because there are more hands in on Linux that it will become a perfect OS. I say that too many cooks spoil the broth.

What Is Mac OS X?
“In many cases I have made no attempt to provide background details of the concepts referred to in the discussion.” It’s lines like these that preserve and widen the digital divide between those who are able to program and use OSes at acrobatic levels and those of us stuck at “I push the blinking button and it goes on.” It’s lines like those that make me want to rededicate myself to being a better bridge as a professional librarian when teaching both information literacy and written communication skills.
Why would you want to hack your OS? What is the motivation behind doing so? Are there non-malicious hackers? If there are, what have they done for me lately? WWBAD (What Would Boten Anna Do)?

Mac OS X
This article deserves a revision of both of my reactions to the former readings. Unlike my concern with the Linux article, here, having so many users (cooks) authoring one article (broth) has definitely improved the clarity of the Mac OS X writing. It’s much friendly to non-computer-expert types like me, who are indeed kept brain-alive by such tidbits as the X in Mac OS X being pronounced as 10, and the naming of each version after a wildcat. BTW, I'm totally nominating Fluffy here for the next Mac OS X. Look at him! He's a ferocious wee beastie!

Windows Roadmap
So nice of Windows to provide a downgrade option—buy the full price new version, still get the cruddy old stuff. Sheesh. I guess this works for somebody, but it just doesn’t align right in my Podunk little head. When presented the old for the price of the new, all I can think is "where's the beef?"
I can hardly believe that the comments section is as long as the full text email reproduction. That was a long-behind email!
I’m glad we won’t be re-experiencing compatibility issues when Windows 7 comes out (BTDubs, Windows, buddy, pal, son, you’re in need of a cool-naming shot, please talk to ur BFFs at Mac, thx). The compatibility issues between Office 2007 and the older stuff is a pain even a year out.

Week 2 Comments

This week's comments are brought to you by the Goonies, who are (sing along!) good enough for me yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah.


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Week 2 Muddiest Point

Wait--are the weekly chats required? I had thought you just used them if you needed help, but looking at the slides for this week it looks as though they're required. I am all confusion! What about the discussion boards? We didn't much mention them last week, but now they look like a requirement for this week. Arg!

Week 2 Readings

Computer Hardware
reminds me of first learning about computers in late elementary school, back when we had truly floopy floppy disks; we learned terms like CPU and RAM and how input and output worked; fun times!
could this page be used appropriately as an introduction for elementary students today to the world of computers?
is a wiki the most appropriate place to keep information on computer hardware, given its frequently changing nature--or are wikis too unstable?
has anyone else seen the MSN gallery of pimped out computer hardware, like the fishbowl and the bedazzled stuff? sweetness


Moore's Law
it's mind boggling that we have that much information, let alone that much space for information on such a tiny physical object; my confusion reminds me a scene in How Green Was My Valley (good movie, better book) where the salt-of-the-earth mother expresses her confusion with the algebra quiz the father and priest are giving the tweenage boy having to do with water flowing into and out of a bathtub with two spouts and many holes "Silly men, filling bathtubs with holes. Fix the holes that's what!" Hope that's not too obscure a reference, but that pretty well sums up my feeling when I try to wrap my head around so much being fit onto so little.


Computer History Museum
And I thought I was nerdy for liking the Smithsonian so much, lol! I really shouldn't be surprised that such a museum exists, and it does seem interesting for at good hour's visit or so. More likely it will be highly engaging in another generation when kids will have to try to imagine a world before computers--just like we love imagining a world before humans when we explore dinosaur museums.
I am very fond of how well organized and aesthetically pleasing the website is--it is everything you'd like to see from a collaboration of museum people, library people, and computer people.