Saturday!

Today was an interesting day. I had to attend a conference for my scholarship from 8AM to 3, so that took up most of my day. Overall I did not work on my paper today, go figure :P

Tomomrrow I am going to get that paper done! I feel pretty good about it overall, just need to get the writing cetner to look over it and I think it'll be good.

Busy night

Tonight I plan on looking over my paper and seeing what all I can catch on the third pass. Should be interesting and I hope that I can get some awesome conclusion going. What I have right now seems to be lacking a little.

Also on a side note I always am pushing the word limit on these assignments, I think I am at like 1,010 words or something similar. I always have one more sentence to say and nowhere to put it!

Rough Draft v2!

Alright so I worked some more on my rough draft today and I think it is going in the right direction. I finally have a conclusion (gasp), but I don't really like it at the moment. For now I left it as is and will see how it sounds later. It is amazing what coming back to writing can do, you not only catch a bunch of stuff but you can really tell if something is good or not!

I'm hoping that this paper is going to turn out good, I am planning on meeting with either Mrs. Dawson or Mrs. Pavletic about it at some point tomorrow or Friday. Should be good for the weekend then!

Well it was a Tuesday

Took a physics test today that went interestingly. I also got my Computer Science test back which I thought I did better on. I need to focus more on school work.

In contrast to that I am planning on working on my paper tomorrow. I think I've got a good start on this paper and some good advice to go with. I need to meet with the writing center at some point and maybe Mrs. Pavletic to ensure that everything to going in the right direction, but I think that everything will work out.

Overall I just need to get focused on schoolwork. I've been so distracted lately...

Rough Draft

So we had peer review today and I was able to meet with Mrs. Dawson about my paper. The peer review was really helpful and I think it worked a lot better than the previous anonymous write ups. I was able to talk directly and ask counter questions to their advice. I felt like I have a better idea about where exactly my paper is lacking and what I should do to improve it. This combined with my meeting with Mrs. Dawson I feel a lot better about my paper. I think I can pull something good off.

But for now I need to study physics for the test tomorrow. Onwards to victory! (hopefully at least)

Cannot focus...

Gah I cannot focus on this paper right now. I've got a great outline going and everything that I want to mention all together in one sheet, but I cannot get the motivation to actually start writing. I should not be bad because I've got a good idea of what I want to say, but I just need to write it all down.

I'm going to get lunch and have a library marathon. I've got to finish this paper in time so that I can study for my physics test on Tuesday.

Saturday

What a nice day outside! We went to get lunch and it was wonderful.

Regardless I talked to Mrs. Palvetic yesterday and I've got a better grip of what I need to be doing for this paper and feel better about it. I'm going to get started tomorrow and enjoy today to its fullest!

Good luck everyone and have a great day!

So I've scheduled to talk to Mrs. Pavletic tomorrow afternoon about my topic and hopefully we can narrow it down and really figure out exactly what I want to write about. This paper has been a little bit more difficult than the previous ones, but with a little bit of effort I think I can pull it through.

Finally

Well I got both of my interviews done! Now I just need to organize the notes from my second interview and print it out!

But there is a problem here... I need to narrow down my topic a bunch.

There are so many angles to this issue that I need to focus on one and really run with it. Gah! I need to go to office hours...

Questions and Interviews

Alright so to start of my spring break was fantastic. I was able to relax, see some of my best friends, and go to an anime convention!

Which all means that I did almost no homework over spring break! HORRAY! >.>

Anyway I'm about to start working on my questions for my interviews. I have two different experts lined up, so I need to pick the one that I am going to interview and interview that person tomorrow. I plan on interviewing my mother for the layperson opinion, so I can call her up anytime.

The questions are going to be interesting to figure out. My issue is the exploitation of cheap labor to build electronic parts and all the ethical issues surrounding it. I need to get information regarding the expert's purchases regarding these parts or have they ever thought about switching to locally owned and operated plants. I need to ask them if they know how big of a difference the labor costs are and what repercussions could arise if this cheap labor was regulated.

There are many different things that I need to ask them and I need to spend some time thinking about how I want my paper to go so that I can narrow down the questions.

Calculus!

Alright so I did not have much time to work on my paper today, there's always tomorrow!

I need to stop by Mrs. Pavletic's office hours to solidify my topic before I start to get my questions and interviews in progress. From my experience last time I want to make sure my topic is perfect before I get the train wreck a rollin'.

On another note Calc II quiz tomorrow, that should be a lot of fun... Sequences and series are not my friends at all...

Topic, for sure this time?

Alright so I was originally going back in forth between two different ideas about this paper. After thinking about the topic and hearing some of the questions today in class, I think I'm going to go for the abuse of sweatshops. It's an easy topic to relate to and understand.

The only problem that I run into is interviewing a layperson about the issue. I feel that the information from my experts should be focused more on the how and why while my moral sides should mainly come from the laypersons. There is a problem with this because I feel that most people I interview are immediately going to side with the "it's wrong" point of view. I want this paper to cover both sides of the issue and I want some insight on the other side rather than everyone thinking it is the wrong thing to do.

Topic

Today has been a pretty chill day, nothing much has happened. I enjoyed having a prety relaxed weekend, but now it is time to get some work done!

I have had a couple of ideas for this paper that I've been throwing around. The first one is the idea that the creation of electrical equipment abuses the labor of other countries. The products that we all enjoy using were more than likely put together for pennies on the dollar in some Chinese sweatshop. While it might be cheaper and easier to do, is it the right thing to do?

Another idea that I like is the idea that with the expansion of technology comes unexpected consequences. Today we can use our phones to record conversations, spy on people, or stalk them online. We can write code that steals information from someone's computer or denies them access or certian web pages. There are devices out there that can track someone's location to a couple of feet. Is it right for us to abuse the technologies that we are given or are creating for malicious purposes?

A couple of interesting ideas to play with, I hope to talk to my professor about it sometime this week before I spend too much time on one topic.

Manifesto

Since I forgot to post this a while back, here is my manifesto:

The Problem with Piracy

            A new movie comes out in theaters. Rather than getting out of your comfy chair you decide to watch it online. Within seconds you are enjoying a great movie without having to spend a dime. With technology like the Internet, miracles like this are possible, but is it the right thing to do? This act of downloading or enjoying content without paying for it can be referred to as pirating. Pirating on the Internet hurts all of those involved. Without paying, you are not only taking money from the makers of the content, but you are preventing yourself from enjoying content that could have been made with your support. Through the act of pirating no one is benefited and everyone is hurt.

            I watched a lot of television when I was younger and I always sought a copy of my favorite shows on DVD. One of my favorite series is called Code Lyoko. In the later seasons, ratings were low and they would air new episodes in a single time slot without any reruns or advertisements for future episodes. I could tell that the series was going to end soon without renewal and knew that I would want to watch it again in the future. I went online to see if I could buy DVDs for my personal collection, but I was heartbroken as I was unable to find anything. I delved deep into Google searching page after page for something that I could buy that would allow me to enjoy my favorite TV show. Throughout my researching I was able to find a source for these episodes, but it was not the one that I was looking for. There was an entire website where I could download, episode by episode, the entire show absolutely free. I was excited when I first found this page, but I quickly began to think through what I found.  I would be illegally downloading these videos and would be stealing from the creators of the series that I loved.

When browsing this website I began to seek advice on my beliefs about piracy. I subscribed to the philosophy of paying for all of the music and movies that I enjoyed and this site directly challenged what I believed in. With this deep topic in tow, I turned to my parents and asked for their advice. We talked for a while about the issue and I was able to get a better understanding about the matter. They gave me their opinions and offered reasonable solutions such as emailing the distributor or asking friends if they had a tape of a couple episodes. I took both of their ideas into consideration, but I knew that none of my friends watched the show nor did I ever think that an email from a kid would ever be read, let alone responded to. I asked my friends for their opinions and they simply told me to download it. I went back and forth with them and argued the moral implications of the issue. I told them that they were stealing from the people that they loved. They were preventing their favorite artist or movie producer from creating more products for them to enjoy. I defended my belief strongly, but in the end they argued that since there was no other way to acquire the episodes, that I had the right to download them. They had a very narrow mindset and I was unable to convince them of my belief, but in the end I could not accept their viewpoint. I knew that I wanted to show my support for the series and I could not simply download the episodes for free.

Whenever I think about this event I am always proud of myself for sticking with my belief. I was truly tempted by the ability to watch my favorite show again and I spent some time deciding whether or not to break my ideas about piracy. The conversations with both my parents and my friends helped me to see both sides of the coin as well as possible solutions to my dilemma. The discussions that I had with them helped me to solidify my belief and convinced me to stick to it. I was able to defend my ideas with my friends and explained to them that not everyone saw the way that they did.  Although I prevented the enjoyment of my favorite show and questioned myself about my choices, I still was able to uphold my belief. I learned that even though I could be tempted by these illegal downloads, I now know that I can shy away from the temptation and I am able to stick to what I believe in. This is a truly powerful characteristic and I am proud of myself for displaying it.

            Piracy is a problem across the world today. Almost anything can be downloaded without purchase and it causes major uproar. Society is only hurt by piracy. By illegally downloading anything money is taken from all aspects of the product and in the end society has a lesser chance of further enjoyment of future products due to lack of revenue. In my experience I found out that piracy can be tempting, but we as a people need to learn to purchase the products we love. By buying products we can show companies that we truly enjoy what we are purchasing and they can make more. With the element of piracy involved we must resist the urge to download something and instead prove our love with the one thing that companies love most: money.