I wrote the following on Monday, and since the Swine Flu or H1N1 virus changes so fast, much of this could already be old news. Just a minute ago, I heard someone on NPR talking about the virus like it has already been put behind us! Even if you are reading this a year after it's posted, this would still be interesting to read.
■■■■■
I think that the Swine Flu has the potential to be a serious issue, but it is not there yet. The worst thing that people can do is panic and run to the Emergency Room for a cough. Also, I think that Wisconsin should worry even LESS than other states (such as ones in the south like New Mexico and Arizona – both adjacent to Mexico.) There really isn’t a big risk up here. The best precaution to take, according to a ton of people, is just to wash your hands, cover your sneezes and coughs…etc. etc. Just normal hygiene habits (at least hopefully normal).
The idea that schools are closing down just because Swine Flu could be around is ridiculous. Do they think that if school kids have time off, they will all stay home? No, kids will still be around their friends, just not in school.
Also, why do people freak out over 20 people when other things like AIDS or cancer has taken MANY more lives than 20. Those are big issues, they just don't have all the media attention right now, so they don't seem as serious.
People need to realize that to get the American Economy back on it's feet, we are all going to have to spend something. "We," being the American People as a whole and American people as individuals. This cartoon shows that. Are you one of those bystanders scoffing at the firemen who are doing what they can to help?
I looked on Newsweek’s website and found an article about the recent delay of all-digital television. I don’t see what the big deal is, but they say that viewers haven’t had enough time to get their converter boxes and therefore the stations would lose viewers. I say that if they haven’t got a converter box by now, (I mean seriously – they’ve been playing the “get ready for February 17th” commercials for months!) the only way that those people are going to switch is when they have to. Also, it’s not like the companies are going to lose all their viewers if the people out there without converter boxes miss a few days worth of shows.
Another thing that doesn’t make any sense to me is why Congress feels the need to get involved. Shouldn’t they have more important things to worry about? Why does this need to be a political decision?!
Well it's been a month since the last time I wrote, and I figured I'd better post something before I lose my enormous fan base (wink, wink). Here are some hilarious newspaper clippings I found (I have no idea it they were actually published anywhere).
Washer. Owned by clean bachelor who seldom washed -- $100.
Snow blower for sale. Only used on snowy days.
Free puppies. Part German Shepherd, part dog.
Free puppies: part Cocker Spaniel, part sneaky neighbor's dog
Full-sized mattress. 20-year warranty. Like new. Slight urine smell.
Found: dirty white dog. Looks like a rat. Been out for a while. Better be reward.
Nice parachute. Never opened. Used once. Slightly stained.
Free Yorkshire Terrier. Eight years old. Unpleasant little dog.
Tired of working for only $9.75 per hour? We offer profit sharing and flexible hours. Starting pay: $7 - $9 per hour.
Before I start this ______ post (insert positive adjective of your choice), I want to teach you something – or at least remind you of something. In this post, I’m going to be talking about tons of cool websites, and so naturally I’ll have lots of links to these websites. Now I’m not sure how blogger handles links, but the best way to make sure you can visit these websites but stay on this blog at the same time is to open the links in separate tabs. The best way to do this is to right click on the links, which will bring up many options. Then - it should be the second from the top or so - click the option (with the left-mouse button) that says Open link in new tab. That’s it! This will allow you to visit the linked site in a new tab, but still keep this ______ post up in the other tab!!
Here goes! It’s going to be a long one!!
Recently I learned about a new term - Web 2.0
It is a name for the way the internet is changing from most sites being like this, to more sites like this. In this post I'll try to explain more what Web 2.0 is, why it's so cool, and I'll share some of my favorite Web 2.0 sites!
Just checking now, did you get the links to work like I said earlier? I hope so!
What is it?
Web 2.0 is the new function of internet websites that not only allows you to look and read, but allows you to do something.
The first link from above is a list of all the states and their abbreviations. No moving advertisements, no search engines attached, just text on the page.
The second link is to a program called Wordle - which is Web 2.0. If you click on the link saying to create your own, you can create a word cloud. What it does will make more sense if you just try it. The reason it's Web 2.0 is that the website is doing something for you. It's not just giving you information, you are giving it text and it makes something cool out of it. One option is to enter an entire blog, so I entered this one. Here's the word cloud for the blog you're reading right now.
More Examples!
Some of the most basic Web 2.0 things I have to point out are email, search engines, and the ability to link websites together. Although email is pretty cool, I want to talk about things that are even cooler (and possibly a little less useful!)
A great program I like and use is pixlr. Pixlr is an online image editor. If you are familiar with MS Paint, and possibly Adobe Illustrator, it's a mix of those. It's nicer than Paint, but of course not nearly as well made as Adobe. Although it takes some getting used to, it is nice because it is accessible anywhere you can access the internet. It’s not a download that takes time, so you can use it on public computers like ones at a library. Delicious is a great site that allows you (once you’ve registered) to create your own set of bookmarks. Then, if you tell other people your username, they can see all your bookmarks! Also, you can access and add to your bookmarks from any computer.
Pandora and other internet radios are really great. My favorite for music with words is Pandora but for orchestral stuff (movie soundtracks are a personal favorite) I use AOL Radio. To use Pandora, you tell it a song or artist you like, and it plays a continuous stream of music as long as you keep the window open. By using that song or artist, it also comes up with music that it thinks you will like. It’s often right :)
iGoogle and many of Google’s other products are great examples of Web 2.0. I use my iGoogle page all the time, and mostly not because it’s cool, but because it’s useful. I can put all kinds of RSS feeds, from my friend’s YouTube’s to daily updated weather services from all around the world. Some examples of “gadgets” I have are:
- up-to-date weather information for cities all around the world
- RSS feeds (if you don’t know what these are I can explain, but just not in this post)
- my personal calendar (totally online, and I make all the events on there – see further down!)
- a world clock (I can instantly see what time it is in Beijing, Frankfurt, and anywhere else)
- check what the latest free iTunes downloads are
- play hangman :)
- have a virtual fish tank :)
These are just some of the thousands of gadgets you can get for an iGoogle page.
Some other Google products are Youtube, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and of course, Google Blogger. I have a full list on my delicious page. One of my bookmarks on there will be called Google Products.
I have to talk a little bit about YouTube. Probably the most popular website for uploading videos, there is everything from professional music videos, to high school band concerts, to home-made tuba instructional videos - (yes, I was thinking of specific ones as I wrote that!)
Free Rice is kind of a cool website, and it’s an online charity thing too. It’s hard to describe, but basically, if you answer a question right, you donate 10 grains of rice to the hungry.
Evernote is an online notebook. I do use it a lot, and it's free if you don't want to pay (who really does anyway?!). The nice thing though is you can save images to Evernote, as well as "clip" entire web pages.
Mindomo is an online, free, graphic organizer. Again, it's not as easy to use as a program like Inspiration (not free), but it is online, so it's accessible from any computer.
I can’t leave out all the social networking sites out there if I’m talking about what internet can do for you. With all the profiles, file sharing (including pictures) and “apps,” I’m having trouble thinking of a more interactive site.
My teacher Mr. Richards is also tech-savvy. Here is a link to his favorite Web 2.0 links (Delicious again!)
Last (and maybe least too) is YouHoogle. Totally worthless, but still kind of cool; I'll let you figure out what it does.
In fact, this blog is considered Web 2.0 - for me that is, since I’m posting things on it…You are just reading it – until you post a comment!! So leave comments!! Make this blog a Web 2.0 experience for you too!!
p.s. sorry for the font size changes and everything - blogger must be mad at me today :)
