I'm sorry that I can't write blog posts on a consistent schedule. I promise I'll try to make them more consistently. I plan to finish a blog about every week or two, most probably on a Friday. It's because I want to use my time better. I'd rather stimulate my brain to write a blog post than to let it fall into dystrophy while I'm on Facebook.
Anyways, I have a few updates.
1) At the end of the summer, I got a Surface Pro and I'm planning on making a personal review of it. So far, I like it and I'll go out of my way to include more than what every online review says about this tablet/laptop hybrid. I won't be doing benchmark testing or anything remotely like that because that's for computer pros who know what they're talking about. I'll be speaking about the Surface Pro for the laymen of the computer world.
2) I have a lot of ideas for blog posts. They're just all in draft mode in my post queue.
3) I love art but I get very distracted when I'm not studying... so I had an idea to draw everyday on a whiteboard. I know it's a real compromise but at least I can practice on my lines. I won't be uploading pictures of what I draw everyday but it's better than nothing. I think I'll make it a Tumblr exclusive thing because those drawings won't be polished enough for deviantArt material.
4) I've been reading some books and I have some responses that I'd like to upload. I feel that perhaps that if my responses were on sheets of paper that would sit in my room, then they would not get much of an audience reach or maybe even some good responses. So, I want to put them on the Internet. I'm pretty sure I won't ever be a literary critic (nor do I want to - critics always peruse for the cons of everything they read about and hardly ever have completely good reviews about anything, kind of like that food critic from the movie Ratatouille).
5) Since the word "Asian" is in my Internet name, I have plenty of blog posts about how being Asian is usually detrimental (in my own experiences) when I come across people, usually in school. If I'm outside school, I really don't have any problems about my Asian-American identity.
So... that's all for now. I hope that someday this blog will become more than a place for my thoughts.
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Friday, September 27, 2013
Honor Code
The Internet has become a form of high speed information exchange. Everyone who's in school knows how much more time it would take if everyone had to research with only books.
Despite these advances, I cannot say that the Internet is a good place overall. A form of communication is only as good as its use. I bet all of you have heard about Facebook addictions, online bullying, and other detrimental outcomes out of social media.
The topic of shaming people via the Internet is horrible in my opinion. I feel that people no longer have a respect for the respect of others because there are little consequences for it. Unless online shaming results in a suicide, there are no tangible consequences for this misconduct. Sure, abusive users get banned if enough people report that user but that won't prevent the user from making another account to continue the abuse. For example, no one may ever know if any bulling had occurred on sites like Twitter. Tweets can be too indirect to detect bullying. An entire name could be in a tweet and bullying could be easily lost in the constant tweet surge of Twitter.
Posting pictures of celebrities, which can legitimate or not, seem to be a surefire but lurid way of selling out sensational tabloids.
In protest of this selfish, cynical and horrid form of modern revenge, I pledge never to call someone out by name on the Internet. I may talk about the affliction a jerk caused me online, but I will only give names to people that have the authority to take concrete action against those who wronged me (such as a principal in school). If you, the reader, happen to know or figure out who I am ever talking about, then that is great for you. However, please respect the honor of other people and don't spread (true and untrue) stories that can harm anyone.
Maybe it's because I'm Asian... but I have a very strong sense of respecting the honor of others. For example, if I overheard a classmate admitted to getting high on the weekend, I won't spread the story around like a wildfire. If anything I will probably forget it, sooner or later.
All in all, I ask you to not call people out in petty revenge. I promise you that there are many better ways of dealing with people than to shame them online in any form.
Despite these advances, I cannot say that the Internet is a good place overall. A form of communication is only as good as its use. I bet all of you have heard about Facebook addictions, online bullying, and other detrimental outcomes out of social media.
The topic of shaming people via the Internet is horrible in my opinion. I feel that people no longer have a respect for the respect of others because there are little consequences for it. Unless online shaming results in a suicide, there are no tangible consequences for this misconduct. Sure, abusive users get banned if enough people report that user but that won't prevent the user from making another account to continue the abuse. For example, no one may ever know if any bulling had occurred on sites like Twitter. Tweets can be too indirect to detect bullying. An entire name could be in a tweet and bullying could be easily lost in the constant tweet surge of Twitter.
Posting pictures of celebrities, which can legitimate or not, seem to be a surefire but lurid way of selling out sensational tabloids.
In protest of this selfish, cynical and horrid form of modern revenge, I pledge never to call someone out by name on the Internet. I may talk about the affliction a jerk caused me online, but I will only give names to people that have the authority to take concrete action against those who wronged me (such as a principal in school). If you, the reader, happen to know or figure out who I am ever talking about, then that is great for you. However, please respect the honor of other people and don't spread (true and untrue) stories that can harm anyone.
Maybe it's because I'm Asian... but I have a very strong sense of respecting the honor of others. For example, if I overheard a classmate admitted to getting high on the weekend, I won't spread the story around like a wildfire. If anything I will probably forget it, sooner or later.
All in all, I ask you to not call people out in petty revenge. I promise you that there are many better ways of dealing with people than to shame them online in any form.
The iPhone 5S craze is... stupid.
So around the time after the iPhone 5S came out, this video popped up on the YouTube homepage. (I've written quite a lot about homepage YouTube Videos, huh?)
There were huge lines in front of every Apple store, as seen in the video. At one point in the video, the YouTube channel creator asks an interviewee something like, "Why wait in line for the next iPhone?" The interviewee responds, "I guess you have to be insane to do so."
There was also this woman sleeping in a (closed) plastic bag. She had been in it for so long that steam was forming on the inside of the bag. I just can't believe how people can do such stupid for one single product. I mean, if you strip away the iPhone 5S's name and reputation away, all you have is a fancy piece of glass and metal (plastic if it's the iPhone 5C - I haven't overlooked that).
...And you might have seen this line coming, but it has to be said:
I can't believe how materialistic people, especially in America, have become now.
Saturday, September 14, 2013
I'm not impressed with fraternities at all
In July, I saw this video pop up onto the popular videos feed on the main YouTube page.
I was really interested at why a video like this was even considered to be "trendy" enough to appear on the YouTube homepage as a trending video. All I saw in that video was just a bunch of (white) people partying with discarded cups all around them while the floor was wet from something... (Either it had rained prior to the video's recording or the partiers had spilled a lot of alcohol.)
The video got me thinking... For some reason, I've always been afraid of college. If you knew me personally, this fear might seem unfounded for I would be called a "diligent student" by my teachers and peers. The fears stem from not the academic rigors of university education but social interactions. It mostly involves fitting in.
For me, there are three stereotypes that are always fixed unto college students in the media, whether it is a sensualized Hollywood movie to adults talking about how "the whole world's going down the drain these days." Those three things are namely:
1) Partying. Particularly partying extremely hard. Extra points for frat/soro exclusive parties.
2) Being hipsters. This mostly stems from the extreme arrogance and self-imagined nonconformity as a by-product from studying subjects and topics that at least 50% of the world's population would never even dream of thinking about.
3) Forever in debt. I guarantee that 90% of all college textbooks, if bought brand new in plastic wrap, cost over $500. Let alone all the crazy fees for college tuition and housing. (You can only imagine all the electronic devices and other things you could get if it were not for college.)
The stereotype that is relevant to this post is about partying, particularly fraternities and sororities.
I am not afraid to say that I have never truly felt like I've ever fit in with almost any group of people at my age. They almost always seem to be too concerned with who said what and it's even worse today with people almost always checking their smartphones for notifications from Facebook, Instagram, and every single mobile app that exists in the app markets. (I hope I do not sound too much like an old geezer ranting.)
Fraternities and sororities only make me feel worse about myself. I am already extremely nonconformant (in a creative way and fortunately not in a vapid way as of the hipsters) and I would never do anything stupid and foolish in order to gain the ultimately trivial acceptance of a group of trivial human beings.
Well, I got a bunch of facetious definitions of what a fraternity is from Urban Dictionary.
(Here: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fraternity&defid=1545131)
(... And here: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fraternity&defid=6241540)
I also got some advice about how fraternities essentially don't matter to every person. (Here it is: http://www.youniversitytv.com/news-general/5573-should-i-join-a-college-fraternity)
I also found an ABC story about countering hazing in fraternities. It seems kind of contradictory to me because it seems that fraternities and hazing go hand in hand. I know that fraternities may not be all like National Lampoon's Animal House but at the same time college partying is not a myth. (The story's here: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/fraternity-group-lobbies-hazing-reform/story?id=19766121)
Also, I found out that all the twitter handles that were displayed at the end of the video do exist. (And they all seem to have a likeness of the people who would actually put up a video like that.)
_____
Perhaps I shouldn't care so much about a pretentious group of people who don't really matter to me or my life goals...
The video got me thinking... For some reason, I've always been afraid of college. If you knew me personally, this fear might seem unfounded for I would be called a "diligent student" by my teachers and peers. The fears stem from not the academic rigors of university education but social interactions. It mostly involves fitting in.
For me, there are three stereotypes that are always fixed unto college students in the media, whether it is a sensualized Hollywood movie to adults talking about how "the whole world's going down the drain these days." Those three things are namely:
1) Partying. Particularly partying extremely hard. Extra points for frat/soro exclusive parties.
2) Being hipsters. This mostly stems from the extreme arrogance and self-imagined nonconformity as a by-product from studying subjects and topics that at least 50% of the world's population would never even dream of thinking about.
3) Forever in debt. I guarantee that 90% of all college textbooks, if bought brand new in plastic wrap, cost over $500. Let alone all the crazy fees for college tuition and housing. (You can only imagine all the electronic devices and other things you could get if it were not for college.)
The stereotype that is relevant to this post is about partying, particularly fraternities and sororities.
I am not afraid to say that I have never truly felt like I've ever fit in with almost any group of people at my age. They almost always seem to be too concerned with who said what and it's even worse today with people almost always checking their smartphones for notifications from Facebook, Instagram, and every single mobile app that exists in the app markets. (I hope I do not sound too much like an old geezer ranting.)
Fraternities and sororities only make me feel worse about myself. I am already extremely nonconformant (in a creative way and fortunately not in a vapid way as of the hipsters) and I would never do anything stupid and foolish in order to gain the ultimately trivial acceptance of a group of trivial human beings.
Well, I got a bunch of facetious definitions of what a fraternity is from Urban Dictionary.
(Here: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fraternity&defid=1545131)
(... And here: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fraternity&defid=6241540)
I also got some advice about how fraternities essentially don't matter to every person. (Here it is: http://www.youniversitytv.com/news-general/5573-should-i-join-a-college-fraternity)
I also found an ABC story about countering hazing in fraternities. It seems kind of contradictory to me because it seems that fraternities and hazing go hand in hand. I know that fraternities may not be all like National Lampoon's Animal House but at the same time college partying is not a myth. (The story's here: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/fraternity-group-lobbies-hazing-reform/story?id=19766121)
Also, I found out that all the twitter handles that were displayed at the end of the video do exist. (And they all seem to have a likeness of the people who would actually put up a video like that.)
_____
Perhaps I shouldn't care so much about a pretentious group of people who don't really matter to me or my life goals...
Monday, September 9, 2013
Why a cheaper version of the next iPhone is a bad idea
This idea I have may seem ludicrous because I haven't ever owned a smartphone but I think many other people are wondering:
Why did Apple decide to make a low-cost iPhone 5C?
I don't mean that it's not a completely bad idea. The iPhone unlocked is definitely one of Apple's most overpriced technology product. Making a cheaper one seems like a great idea to people who desperately covet one yet cannot afford to spurge on one immediately.
However, I think it may actually damage Apple's legendary status as a technology company.
You see, the iPhone has always been a high-end smartphone. However with the option of a low-cost iPhone, the smartphone will cease to have any product image of a luxury. Sure, the "regular" metal-body iPhone 5S will still be available. Unfortunately, the "low-cost" iPhone will ultimately hurt the iPhone product line because the production family, as a whole, will lose its image as a extravagant product (perhaps to a point where the iPhone may be garish).
Some might have seen this satire parody about the next iPhone on YouTube...
... And when I heard "an iPhone for the peasants," the image of the iPhone becoming more affordable was suddenly revolting.
I don't have anything against those who want a low-cost iPhone but in the long run it will surely hurt Apple's whole company image.
Apple has made these ridiculously expensive, even overpriced pieces of technology. The iPod Touch, the Mac Pro, the MacBook Pro - all of these products are mostly out of reach for an average American's budget, yet are so coveted as technology products to the whole world. (One of these days I'll write a blog post about how ludicrously overpriced Apple products are - but that's in the future.)
Just making an Apple product that's more affordable? That's a bunch of bullcrap. Overpricing coveted Apple technology has ironically - and paradoxically, as well - made the company the most valuable American company.
Bottom line: Apple making an affordable version of the next iPhone is whacked out with its history of selling overpriced technology and will ultimately ruin its success as the most valuable American company.
Why did Apple decide to make a low-cost iPhone 5C?
I don't mean that it's not a completely bad idea. The iPhone unlocked is definitely one of Apple's most overpriced technology product. Making a cheaper one seems like a great idea to people who desperately covet one yet cannot afford to spurge on one immediately.
However, I think it may actually damage Apple's legendary status as a technology company.
You see, the iPhone has always been a high-end smartphone. However with the option of a low-cost iPhone, the smartphone will cease to have any product image of a luxury. Sure, the "regular" metal-body iPhone 5S will still be available. Unfortunately, the "low-cost" iPhone will ultimately hurt the iPhone product line because the production family, as a whole, will lose its image as a extravagant product (perhaps to a point where the iPhone may be garish).
Some might have seen this satire parody about the next iPhone on YouTube...
... And when I heard "an iPhone for the peasants," the image of the iPhone becoming more affordable was suddenly revolting.
I don't have anything against those who want a low-cost iPhone but in the long run it will surely hurt Apple's whole company image.
Apple has made these ridiculously expensive, even overpriced pieces of technology. The iPod Touch, the Mac Pro, the MacBook Pro - all of these products are mostly out of reach for an average American's budget, yet are so coveted as technology products to the whole world. (One of these days I'll write a blog post about how ludicrously overpriced Apple products are - but that's in the future.)
Just making an Apple product that's more affordable? That's a bunch of bullcrap. Overpricing coveted Apple technology has ironically - and paradoxically, as well - made the company the most valuable American company.
Bottom line: Apple making an affordable version of the next iPhone is whacked out with its history of selling overpriced technology and will ultimately ruin its success as the most valuable American company.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)