Second Life.... strange place.

So I signed up for an account with second life. What a weird experience. I suppose I should not be surprised that people use their "second life" as a way to act and dress without inhibitions or repercussions.
Everyone I meet is some freaky vampire wannabe or a gothic "cookie cutter" dweeb and they only want to talk about sex or how they are so hot. (yes I used the word "dweeb" but it's okay because I am 30 years old and I am comfortable with being in my own skin)
I have been logging a few hours a week for 3 weeks now and I always feel like because I am new there, no one sees me. I have not been able to get anyone to help me or even talk to me. I could not figure anything out until just recently. I met a member who told me how to get new clothing, and how to customize my avatar. He even gave me 500 virtual dollars to get started. (no I did not have to do anything for it, this dude was actually pretty normal)
So finally second life is opening up to me. I still find it a little odd and boring, but connecting with just the one person has been enough to make me want to stick around a little longer and try to talk to more people.
here are some screen shots:

EFF Search about DMCA

So this is the main article I looked at.

http://www.eff.org/wp/unintended-consequences-under-dmca

It seems to be that the DMCA, like most acts that deal with copyright, has been perverted and used against people or organizations that it shouldn't. I think that the only thing we can do is hope the proper changes are made to it but more importantly, the proper regulations and rules need to be carefully created and implemented to protect to the right people.
The problem is, the internet is so damn big and so easily accesed and used that this task is nearly impossible.
Its just like any of our natural resources or public services, it needs to be properly regulated with special attention paid to the needs of the consumer.

Awesome Mashup: X3 and Office Space!

This is just too funny. I have to make one of my own.

Wolfram Alpha vs Google

I think Wolfram alpha is definitely headed in the right direction. I like the idea of asking a question and getting an answer instead of just playing the "seek and catalogue" game. I got good answers from both engines but mostly from Wolfram:

All english words containing the letters "eue"
feued queue queued queueing queuer queuers queues
I got the answer faster with Google.

how much potassium in 4.7 oz of bananna
477mg
I got the answer right away with Alpha

how old was Barack Obama on May 5th 1979?
17 years, 9 months and 1 day.
this one went to Alpha

date and time of next total solar eclipse in Eugene, OR
11:25 PDT, Monday, August 21, 2017.
I got the answer with both but faster with Alpha when I changed the
question to "next total solar eclipse in Eugene?"

minimum and maximum price of google stock since it went public?
I had a hard time getting a straight answer from either.

link an image of the barcode for UPC 01234567890
I found this image a little faster with Alpha but changing my question to
"barcode 0123456789" With google I had to do an image search and do a
few extra clicks.


how many vertices does an icosahedron have?
it has 12
I got the answer with both but right away with Alpha, google took
a few extra clicks into other sites

Distance from Eugene to Tokyo
4886 miles
Once again I go the answer right away from Alpha, several extra clicks into
other sites with google.

Average Oregon income per capita
$40,040 I think. This is the very first answer I got from Alpha
from a 2007 estimate. I could not pin down an exact number with google but I
found a PDF that said $35,956

what is the morse code for my first name.
I got the answer right away with Alpha and not at all with google. I got
tired of clicking.



I found that tweaking the question a little bit got a perfect answer from Wolfram for nearly every question.

Search Engine Discrepancies

So I searched these topics:
uss yorktown nt
google china censorship
Tiananmen Square
Taiwan independence
On these search engines:
bing.com
google.com
google.cn
baidu.com

I noticed that the order in which the URLs came up varied. The URLs in google.cn and baidu.com seemed biased right away. They didnt have anything about the Tiananmen Square massacre at all. Just how beautiful it is there. Same thing with "Taiwan independence" Very biased and controlled as far as what information is presented on Baidu.com and google.cn. I find this to be very unjust, immoral and downright creepy. What the hell is the matter with the Chinese government? Are they afraid of their citizens making informed decisions?

I am so happy that I live in America. We have our embarrassments (W) and our ups and downs,(racism, bigotry, etc) but I feel like we have a lot more freedoms than most other countries.

Something for everyone.

There really is something for everyone in this "blogosphere" or whatever its called. I just thought it was nice to see that new or newer technology (i.e. blogging) isn't centered on "out with old in with the new". This blog follows really old and rare comic books.

http://comic_book_heaven.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

I have an art show at the WOW hall this month.

Come check out my stuff at the WOW hall this month!

I have some ink paintings, watercolor, charcoal and of course, some of my comic art!

Comic books almost didn't make it, thanks to this jerk.

I am so glad things are different now. Actually, I think comic books and graphic novels are getting more respect than ever.

What the blog?!

I honestly thought blogging was like facebook or myspace: just something to do for fun or if you are bored. I basically intended to ignore this piece of social networking forever. I was not missing anything,,, or was I?

Well, now I can see just how useful and easy this is. I am social person who likes to share and listen to other peoples opinions so why wouldn't I use something like this?

I am an artist and I am completing a graphic design degree at lane community college. I am currently trying to get my website up and running so I can establish myself as a freelancer and blogging is definitely another tool that will ad me in networking and finding work!

Yeah blogging!