Do I really use it that much??

This week it dawned on me how dependent I am on my cell phone due to the variety of different services that it offers. Obviously, the feature I use the most is the primary function of the phone, calling friends, family, co-workers, services, businesses, etc. However, despite this being so obvious, it deserves not to be overlooked and is still worthy of some reflection. Without bein g abel to conveniently call others at my disposal, I would rarely, if ever, contact my parents by telephone during the school year. Since, if I didn't have a cell phone, I would more than likely have use a pay phone (do they still have those?) or something similar, when I did decide to use a phone I would probably reserve it as a tool to complete necessary tasks.

In addition to using my cell phone to simply reach different people/businesses, I also regularly use the directory service (i.e. 411) if I need a need a specific number and I am too lazy to easily look it up on the internet (BTW, does anyone know if the 411 cingular service is free??) Furthermore, I call Fandago for movie times or a similar showtime calling service. Just think for a moment, what a luxury it is to be able to call a store to see when they close or open, if they are hiring, or where they are located? It just saves so much time.

Perhaps one of the most useful features I use on my phone is the alarm clock option. I even took the alarm clock I brought with me to school back home since it required me to use an outlet. I can set up to 6 alarms, so I have one set daily for 8:00Am and then I can alter the rest if I need a reminder to do something (such as update my blog) or a time to wake up from my nap. Truly, the cell phone is an amazing convenience and I ashademly admit I don't know how people my age used to live without him.

Finally, I can't talk about my cell phone use without mentioning text messaging--i love it!! By cutting out all the hedging that takes place at the beginning of a conversation, I can easily just ask my question and it isn't considered rude. This is quite a luxury I must admit. Don't get me wrong, sometimes I enjoy small talk before getting done to business, but man is it nice not to worry about offending your friends. I also like to use it for encouragement with my family or friends who might be going through a tough time or just send them a message to brighten their day, such as "i love you (yes, even to my guy friends, in fact, usually only them) or a specific Bible verse I feel speaks to their situation.

Perhaps one of the most useful features I use on my phone is the alarm clock option. I even took the alarm clock I brought with me to school back home since it required me to use an outlet. I can set up to 6 alarms, so I have one set daily for 8:00Am and then I can alter the rest if I need a reminder to do something (such as update my blog) or a time to wake up from my nap. Truly, the cell phone is an amazing convenience and I ashademly admit I don't know how people my age used to live without him.

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This blog is an interseting read: Munzeeheh

Although she is commenting on another blog, the question posed by her remarks are definitely an interesting issue to consider: is it possible not to legislate morality??

Sometimes I think that this issue is only thought about at a service level without understanding the logical consequences of claiming that one group (usually conservatives) attempt to legislate morality while the other (liberals) doesn't. The question isn't should we legislate morality but how much, because it is a given the some morality will be (i.e., stealing, fraud, child abuse, see my remark on the blog). Let's keep this debate friendly please :)

For further reading on this idea, I would highly recommend this book: Legislating Morality

When a person says, "You can't legislate morality," he or she might mean simply that you can't make people good through legislation... At the more basic level, law and public policy is an attempt to legislate morality. The more relevant question is not whether we should legislate morality but what kind of morality we should legislate."

-Kirby Anderson, National Director of Probe Ministries

Happy Halloween!!!

-david

Birthdays Made Easy

Recently I got an email from a friend which contained a link to an online e-card site. Now, I'm not new to these sites, I have been to plenty of them and know that they have been around a long time. However, this site had a very neat and convenient feature that I have never seen before on other sites (or maybe I just don't know that it is available on every other e-card site, but bare with me). The link took me to her account page and requested me to enter my birthday under her "stored birthdays". This site enables the user to storoe specific birthdays for all of their families, friends, relatives, etc., create the e-card for them, and then the e-card is sent to each specific birthday. As mentioned before, I know that you can do this manually on many e-card sites, but I've never seen a store feature.

In my family, my mom keeps a calendar specifically for birthdays on the pantry door. Although she keeps it as a reminder and organizer not to forget these birthdays, it usually prevent forgetting them that much because it's just hangin there---you still have to remember to send the card. I feel that if I informed my mother of the previously mentioned e-card feature on the web, despite it being such a great convenience, she would still probably prefer not to use it. For some reason--although it seems peculiar but that doesn't keep it from being true--e-cards are viewed much less personal by many people, at least in my experience. Maybe this is due to the fact that they are so easy to do--the recipient feels that the sender was too lazy to go and buy a physical birthday card. Or they may view that it doesn't really mean much because they would have forgotten had not the site remembered them. However, an interesting characteristic I've found is that between my peers this doesn't seem the case; in fact at times I prefer e-cards over physical cards because they are more customizable for the sender--thus making them more personal in my eyes (or maybe i just like the warm, fuzzy feeling i experience. Not to mention they are way better than facebook birthdays) In any case, it is interesting that such a great invention is still resisted by a majority of the networked populace.

P.S. The site is www.birthdayalarm.com

Freedom of Speech on Internet

After reading the section in A Gift of Fire conerning free speech on the internet I came away with one conclusion: it is a very difficult and complex issue. I quickly learned that applying the First Amendment to the internet is much more complicated compared to other forms of media, such as print and broadcast. Take for example, the topic of protecting children from obscene or violent behavior. On page 199, the author discusses the issue of a child not being able to buy an "X-rated" magazine but can easily access "pornography without an adult observer". So, the question becomes, how do we transfer the same principles from "real" life to the web? Later in the book, the author writes about the attempts that have been made to complete this transition but explains the complicated problems and issues that have come about as a result.

How can a library filter violent and obscene material in order to protect children while at the same time not treating every adult as a child? How can we make the filters more accurate, so that they don't consider the Yale Biology Homepage as obscene? What about in academia, where online journals will be filtered out because they have the words "sex" or "pornography"?
And all this are just issues concerning child protection from violence and pornography!!!

As I read about all the different issues that came about concerning free speech on the internet, I have come to the conclusion that there will never be a total agreement within the different factions and groups of not just American society, but since the web is undoubetly a global community, within global society. I never knew about the problems that arise within this difficult and serious issue, and I will be very interested to see what legislation or lack thereof will arise in the upcoming years.

Get Paid for Privacy

Throughout the semester, we have discussed the privacy issues that accompany the far-reaching abilities of technology, specifically the internet. This issue was brought to light in my own life this past week when I signed up for a web service that allows you to earn money for completing certain assignments. Some examples would be signing up for a free trial, taking surveys, or being a mystery shopper. On paper, the fee to join the service is absolutely free, the catch is that obviously you have to give up personal information to companies in order to get paid. When you log into the website [i'm omitting the name b/c I don't know if I would get in trouble :)] there are offers that you get to choose from. There are a variety of companies to choose from and each assignments offers as a specific reward (money) that is provided for completing the offer. I recently signed up for a 10-day trial for a Online Personal Trainer service from Men's Health. I was offered ten dollars if I signed up for this trial, and as long as I cancel before my trial is up then I make a profit.

Although dangerous, and sometimes tedious, it is an easy way to make an extra buck. And if you can be on top of cancelling your trials, it's a pretty good deal. That is, of course, if you don't mind hundreds of companies knowing your address, phone number, credit card info (only in some cases), and email. I have a feeling that this job isn't a good idea--only time will tell.