Are you using any of these?

There is a good post on Mashable about Gen-Y (that's you) and what they want and expect from their Internet these days. Your generation has been raised on technology and you don't know what it means to not be connected.

Some of the sites are oriented for college students and people a little older than you, but it never hurts to get an early start. When you think of your career, what do you see yourself doing? I don't mean big things, what are the little things. The day to day things that will really comprise your chosen career. One good way to find out is to talk to others already doing that job. See what they have to say about it.

You do have to be careful about social overload, but when you find a good resource or community you should make the most of it.

It had to happen sooner or later

Well, I have run into the dread Batelco filter.

It looks like this


What evil content was your teacher trying to look at you wonder. I was trying to get into a site that had some Jimi Hendrix wallpapers.

Thankfully, those who are wiser and more virtuous at Batelco have saved me from this decadent content.

Thanks to their noble and selfless efforts, my soul is uncorrupted and my Muslim virtue is secure.

What is your education worth to you?

I just read this very interesting article by Karen De Coster about education and the kind of people it produces. It is especially relevant for those of you who have selected a college major without really knowing why you selected it or who are now making your final decisions about which college to attend.

What are you learning at school? Most of you are going through a process that will result in your earning a diploma of one type or another at the end of grade 12. You will be told that you have 'graduated' and are now ready for the next level, whatever that is. Probably more school and more diplomas. But what have you learned? Can you tell me?

What skills are you acquiring right now that will still be of use to you in twenty years, even ten? Probably not much. This is the big secret of education. Teachers teaching things they are not that interested in to students who don't really learn it. In fact teachers don't really teach anything, students teach all of it to themselves. In most educational settings teaches are taskmasters making sure that the correct or approved topics are memorized and given back in an acceptable format, usually an exam. Today they use the term 'facilitator' of knowledge, where teachers create the right type of environment for learning to take place.

If you want an eye-opening analysis of what types of students are being produced today you can read another article by Charles Murray. By the time you finish high school you will, supposedly, be primed to enter the career training ground, otherwise known as college. When this is done you will be set to move on to your career, like parts on the assembly line. But what type of person will you be? What will your interests be? Will you continue to try to learn for its own value, or will that have been crushed out of you by nearly two decades of education. Remember, education does not equal learning.

If you are reading this then it is too late for your high school years. You only have one shot left, that is college. Are you looking at colleges because they will improve you as a person, or because they appear on an 'acceptable' rankings list? Visit Colleges That Change Lives for an example of the former. For the latter, you can visit just about everywhere else.

When colleges visit us, do you ask them about majors and entrance requirements or do you ask them about students life and satisfaction. Are you more concerned with your potential degree or your intellectual development? Do you want the paper or the knowledge?

Think about it.

Another useful website

I found a good post on Makeuseof.com. This is a list of online learning tools that students can use. There are some links for different subjects including your science classes.

Check it out.

I found something you're gonna like

I was working on one of my assignments for my UCLA class. (Say hi to anyone else who might be reading this.) We were supposed to find new search engines that we can use for researching colleges and helping students. Well, I found one I love called Searchme. Go ahead and take a look at it. Go ahead I'll wait.

...

Well...

When you type in your key search phrase you get the icons for different categories, it allows you to refine your search without having to enter it in the search box. That is helpful. But you know what I really liked, the pictures.

Being able to see previews of the pages or images or news stories I am looking for was great. I don't know why I didn't look for something like this before. Google is good, but plain text leaves something out. It is like I want more, but I don't know what. Until now. What I wanted was the previews Searchme provided.

There is a toolbar for Firefox that you can install. This is my default search tool until I find something that looks even better. You should also take a look at the stack function, which lets you group pages together based on how you need them and will use them. Very helpful.

Look at the stacks feature. I think the tutorial is very good. Being able to drag your favorite results into stacks and avoid bookmarks is very nice.

Post your comments and tell me what you think or if you have found something else like it.

What did I say?

After watching the video Web Warriors about worms, botnets and hackers we have a real life example appear to reinforce what we saw in the video. The Telegraph has an article about a new worm which is infecting Windows computers (of course) and is doing big damage throughout Asia.

Security analysts at F-Secure believe more than 8.9 million computers have
been infected by the virus, a worm, which is known variously as Conficker,
Kido or Downadup, and targets the Windows operating system. Microsoft said
that the worm searches for a Windows file called “services.exe”, and then
embeds itself as part of that code. From there, it is able to burrow deep
into the operating system, even changing the System Registry, which stores
settings and options for Windows, to trick the machine into running the
infected program.


More than 9 million computers? Does Microsoft have anybody working on this? F-Secure is the company we saw in the video and they are one of the leaders in anti-virus software worldwide.

Two things stood out in this article for me. The first is how the writers of the virus are constantly changing their web locations to avoid detection. This shows active planning on their part. The second is that there are new variants being released. This shows continuous development on the their part.

I don't think that the goal of such a virus would be to take down the Internet, because if the Internet is unusable or too dangerous for the average user than this would reduce the number of targets for the hackers. In other words, if people start doing less online there are fewer opportunities to rip them off. People might get robbed when they leave their homes. But if everyone got robbed everytime they left home nobody would go out and the criminals would be out of business.

For a worm of this size the purpose is probably extortion, data theft or political attacks. We have not seen the worst of what online worms can do or what botnets could do if they were utilized for maximum damage. Just as drug cartels compete and kill for territories, which is really a way of securing a customer base, we could see the emergence of online hacker cartels staking out territory and waging war against companies and governments who get in their way.

The Internet is becoming as dangerous as real life. Just as those who can afford it live in gated communities and compounds for security, we could see safe zones on the Net for protected commerce. Your options may be restricted, but you'll be (reasonably) safe when you choose to go online.

A written assignment for 11IB

For chapter 5 you should complete Discussion Question #2. The assignment is worth 10 marks. This will be due next Sunday.

You can substitute any country of your choice for the US, or stick with the US for your main focus. The second part of the question can be any other group of countries. Your answer for this question should be at the level of evaluate or analyze. Check the course guide for descriptions of these terms if you don't remember.

This assignment is important for a number of reasons. Firstly, it gives you the opportunity to do some independent research on a country of your choice. You have the opportunity to learn things you don't already know. Adding things to the hard drive is always good. Secondly, it gives you the chance to explore an ITGS issue in detail. Freedom of speech is a topic that appears throughout this course, and there is a very good chance it will appear on your exam. Being able to examine this issue in a variety of contexts makes you a stronger student, and a better person.

When you are writing your answer you must include supporting research for the points you make. If you cannot support your arguments then you need to reconsider why you are making them. The main country you focus on will obviously include the most information and support. The other countries you choose for the second part of the question can be used to compare or contrast with your first country. This is a type of evaluation that you will need to be doing on the IB exams in the essay questions.

If you have any questions you can email or post a comment here.

Ubuntu and Wimax, together at last

Well, I mentioned in class that I signed up with Menatelecom and got their home broadband package. I have been without Internet at home for a couple of years. This might sound strange for an IT teacher to not have Internet. Some of you may have had the idea I spend all my time on the Net worshiping at the altar of technology. But this is not so. I'm really a pretty laid back guy at home, my favorite past time is reading. How boring is that?

With the courses I am working on it is really essential to have connectivity. Trying to get the work done at school is a hassle and never seems to work out. Going out to cafes to use the Net while I work is ok, but expensive. I'll spend less on the monthly fees than I will on juices and sandwiches. Plus, if I am working on assignments than I don't really get the full benefit of the cafe anyway, because it is after all a place to relax.


I mean, you can use a laptop and smoke a sheesha at the same time. This is an essential skill for any man living in Bahrain. But can you do all that and write a proposal for a counseling program? Probably not if you want it to be any good. So I went and signed up, the deals were a lot better than the dread Batelco and so far so good with the connection.

The speed is good and there are no disconnects. I connect to the wimax receiver by ethernet so I don't have radiation poisoning my family and I don't have to worry about neighbors trying to 'borrow' any of my bandwidth. When it comes to bandwidth and thresholds, sharing is NOT caring.

If any of you are unhappy with your connection, consider switch and go as an option.

The first post in a long time.

Well, the break is over and its back to work, and that includes thinking about your future.

How many of you use Skype? Something similar? What about your IM client, are you making full use of it? Do you have a webcam?

All of these things might become very important next year according to the Washington Post. This article talks about online interviews for college which many of you will need to do. As an international student this will be even more important since many schools may not be doing live interviews in our region.

IT is the future. I guess you better study your ITGS.