Personal & Social Impacts of Technology

One of the largest impacts caused by technology in the past ten years is the advent of online harassment. StopBullying.gov is a government organization dedicated to the research and prevention of bullying. According to them, cyber-bullying is one of the largest developments to follow the development of social media online. Cyber-bullying is “bullying that takes place over digital devices”, and especially dangerous to young people because can be persistent, permanent and hard to notice. Sometimes, a bullying situation can escalate to the point the legal action needs to be taken. According to several studies, cyber-bullying effects approximately 15% of students.

While certainly a concern, this problem is incredibly difficult to prevent. While traumatic to students, it is difficult enforce anti-bullying procedures at school when the harassment occurs during a student’s private hours. I think that specific legislation will need to be created to control this phenomenon, such as school access to student social media accounts in the event of persistent cyber-bullying. Also, these offenses have proven to be very difficult to prosecute, as the majority of speech, although negative, is protected under the first amendment. Again, new laws will need to be created to clearly define what constitues a prosecuatable offense.

While it all seems murky, students should remember that any bullying that occurs on line is entirely optional. They have no obligation to allow negative people to interact with their online lives; it only takes two clicks to unfriend, unfollow, or block someone. In this, the wild west of digital communications, it’s important that people keep themselves safe, at least until the legislators catch up.

Source: https://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/what-is-it

My Advanced Graphics Project

I created this graphic to fulfill the requirements of an assignment in which I had to create an advertisement. I couldn’t think of anything serious so I decided to be funny instead. I riffed off of the commonly held idea that mandatory computer literacy classes are useless and painfully boring to anyone under the age of 30. I did this by putting the setting of the advertisement in hell/purgatory.

However, it so happens that directly after we completed this assignment, we jumped straight into learning HTML, a programming language that I had never used before. That makes this assignment rather embarrassing.

How to Write and Populate a Formula in Google Sheets

  1. Open a page in google sheets.

2. Create an initial value. For my example, I used “1”.

3. Next, in the box underneath, type an = sign. This tells the program that you intend to create a formula. Then, click on the box with your initial value. This creates what is known as a cell reference, your formula will always perform permutations on the box above it, so that it will self-populate when you are ready to extend your formula.

4. Now, select a change. These can be very complex, but for this basic demonstration I will be multiplying by 5.

5. Enter, and the solution to the formula will appear.

6. Now, if you want to extend and populate your formula down the sheet, click on the box where you wrote your formula. Then, click on the small blue square on the lower right corner of the box, and drag it down as far as you want, creating a grey outline.

7. Release, et voila! Your sheet should populate, giving you answers with a constant rate of change.

Comparing Mortgages (for fun)

Recently I completed a project for my computing course where I compared two mortgages with the same balance and APR but with different lengths. Thrilling; I have goosebumps just thinking about it.

For my balance, I used $199,999 and charged a 6.9% APR. Starting on April 5, 2063 (the year of the first warp-powered flight in Star Trek), one mortgage lasted only 15 years, whilst the later was 30 years.

You can look at it here.

Upon finishing, I came to several conclusions, one being that the proletariat must swarm across the land, for interest is the bourgeois’ greatest mischief. Secondly, their isn’t that large of a difference between the payments for a 15 v. 30 year loan. For only $469.29 more a month, you could pay for your loan twice as quickly.

On the other hand, $469.29 could be the difference between eating each month. Even though more aggressive payment program may save money in the long run, it may not be a feasible option for some people.

In the 15 year loan, the total interest paid would be $121,568.24. In the 30 year, $273,040.73. Yikes. Obviously the 15 year is the better option, but both are a frighteningly large amount of money. In the 30 year, it surpasses the value of the principle balance. Kind of makes you want to roll out the ol’ guillotine.

5 Facts About My Hometown

I was born in Pendleton, Oregon, and lived there until I was six years old. Here are are some interesting facts about this small, ancient town.

  1. Pendleton was incorporated before Oregon became a state! Oregon was founded in 1859, and Pendleton was incorporated in 1800.
  2. The famous Pendleton Woolen Mills originated there, a brand is now famous for its high-quality native-american inspired apparel.
  3. Pendleton is perhaps most famous for the Pendleton Round-up, a rodeo that has occurred annually since 1910.
  4. Pendleton has a population of 16,810.
  5. Historically, Pendleton has a history of racism, with violent behavior preventing Asian immigrants from setting up housing within the city throughout the 19th and early-to-mid 19th century. Uh oh, not great!

Sources

https://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/pendleton/#.XhqCE8hKhyw

https://www.pendleton-usa.com/company-history.html

https://sundown.tougaloo.edu/sundowntownsshow.php?id=855

My Top Three Favorite Books

“Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone” by J.K Rowling (1997)

I use the first book in the series but really, I love all of these books. They were some of the first books that I really enjoyed while I was in elementary school. Because I’ve loved them for so long, they had to make it onto the list.

“The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien (1937)

This book is a fantastic read for anyone who really wants the first step into the “fantasy” genre. It’s a classic, one that I first read while I was a freshman in high school. It is one of the most memorable stories that I’ve ever read.

“Maus” by Art Spiegalman (1980)

I loved this book. I first read an excerpt of it for an English class, and later found a copy of it at the library. It’s art style and it’s creative portrayal of the horrifying themes of the holocaust is breathtaking.

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