Save the Whales! and then some Boring Stuff

I have looked at the questions for our essay many a time and just been baffled. There seems to be a lot of fancy words in some of the questions which I suppose are there to make it more confusing for me!!!! Haha, I plan on breaking down the questions and deciphering them properly. I seriously don't think I have the intelligence to create my own question when I can barely understand the ones given to us.

This is the week 8 tute task and I got onto signing an e-petition straight away. I automatically picked something I was passionate about, not something just for the sake of it.

This is the statement that will accompany the petition:

"We the undersigned wish to show our support for an end to whaling. We believe that the slaughter of whales for so-called 'scientific reasons" is wrong. We wish to add our voices to the global campaign to protect these precious mammals from extinction."

I signed this petition: http://www.whalesrevenge.com/poll.php?show_all=1 because it infuriates me when I see innocent whales being slaughtered by people who claim to be killing them for research. It has already been proven that you DO NOT NEED TO KILL in order to conduct research! GRRRRRRRR.

Good ol Barack Obama hey - when I last checked on facebook.com he was "feeling fired up and ready to go on health insurance reform—let's get this done."

President Barack Obama

I like Obama. I do.

I found out that my local, state and federal representatives are ...

Ron Clarke

Local Representative

Anna Bligh

State Representative

And ... K-Rudd (Kevin)

Federal Representative

I looked at the hansard to DEATH, the only time I found Ron Clarke mentioned was when people were bringing up topics that involved him. I think I found that he spoke in May, but I'm honestly not sure if that's right. I couldn't find it. How often do local members go to parliament? Kevin Rudd and Anna Bligh were there plenty of times.

The theory and practice of politics ... ah, to me, a lot of it is just a heap of FANCY WORDS.

What do I think about the Australian Government's plans to censor the internet (the so-called "Clean Feed")? And what place does censorship have in a democracy?

I don't like it - yeah I get it's good to stop seedy buggers doing their sick kiddy porn thing and the like, but censoring the internet will limit us. I like how I am FREE to look up whatever I like, to browse, to read, to watch different videos ... to do, whatever I want really. I don't abuse the internet - I don't use it to look up sick things or to learn how to make bombs or whatever some crazy people do these days. But lots of people do and I understand why censorship is considered.

However, it infuriates me how the people of China for instance, have their news, internet and newspapers censored. They are living in a bubble, controlled by their government. It annoys me that they don't acknowledge such events as Tiananmen Square - they don't allow the people to read about it or commemorate it, to publicly think about those who were killed.

Censorship on the internet keeps people from knowing the truth they deserve to know. It wouldn't allow people to find out things about the world that they might find interesting or life-changing. Censorship will limit how much we know yes and in some ways its a good thing - but I'm pretty selfish and like things the way they are for me.

I don't believe censorship has a place in democracy. I understand the need for protecting younger children or to help stop people from being violated - and I'm sure that if something awful like that happened to my siblings I'd go crazy. I'd probably join the fight in encouraging censorship. But as it stands, I like my freedom ... I like that the government doesn't have that control and that they give us the CHOICE.

I just watched Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela verbally abuse a Fox News reporter because he was asked his opinions on the Iranian Presidents comments about people dying all over the world. It was most impressive and a bit scary - I like that we don't have censorship as such, because things like that wouldn't be aired if we did. Well, possibly.

Look, honestly. I'm not a fan of politics - I think the few good people that are there are swallowed up in a pool of people obsessed with greed and money and getting their own way. Nothing ever seems to GET DONE like the United Nations ... they all just seem to be sitting around - WHERE IS THE ACTION.

And what the hell has Ron Clarke done these days? I mean, I haven't even heard of anything he's done ... I am looking forward to the day when someone comes in - no bullshit - and gets things done. Like Rudy Guiliani. He's brilliant - what with the 3 strikes and your out bit. Anyway yeah ... not a fan, but I like living in a democracy ...

Free Speech?

In the lecture in week eight, we talked about cyberspace and censorship, politics and the internet ... it was very interesting - the censorship part was what grabbed me the most. I always knew that we didn't have free speech here in Australia. I think a lot of people believe we do - we have something similar, but we can be arrested for practicing free speech ... I guess if it incites violence or mayhem? Even if it just pisses someone powerful off, I'm pretty sure we can be arrested and thrown in jail for voicing our opinions.

I believe we're very lucky to be living in Australia all the same. We may not have the "free speech" bit like the United States does, however we still manage to voice opinions, can congregate in large groups to protest ... we are not as sheltered or as naive as countries such as China.

Maybe it's even safe to say that not having the right to free speech, works better for us. I think with America having the right to say whatever they want often leads to more violence, racial hatred and anti-semitism. As many upsides as the United States have, they are an extremely racist country (even though many people who live there try to say they're not).

Australia is by no means close to being perfect or non-racist, however I'm happy with the ways things are in that regard at the moment. If i were to see a "God Hates Fags" protest in my local town for instance, I would want those people arrested immediately.

But that's just me.

Week 7- Ireport

So i managed to figured out the passwords and usernames eventually for the iReport thing and uploaded my video to both the website and to my blog. It's a prettyyyy pathetic attempt at a video, but to be honest, I don't know anything about camera work, editing, making movies etc. and to be honest, didn't think we'd have to do anything like this in this subject ... but hey, I did something that actually made me laugh when I watched it, so whatever ...

Fictional Characters Protest

Uploaded onto iReport.com

I talked about different types of applications and software in an earlier post - I can confidently say that I'm in no way a computer buff. I DO NOT own an iPhone, and although I think they're amazing, I really don't know how they work nor do I have the desire to buy one. If I was given one - well, hell yeah. But seriously, I listen to my sister and my friends talk about how they downloaded new "apps" or whatever and I just don't get it ... maybe that makes me stupid but yeah haha, not he biggest fan.

Vampire Rave

Ok, so this is just some random bit I tried. The computers at uni wouldn't let me access a couple of the sites, so when I got home I managed to gain access to the site: http://www.vampirerave.com/ - only to be very disappointed. It was one of those absolutely irrelevant sites for "real vampires" and goths. Pfft, please.

I just looked at the site and shook my head the whole time. The site aims to catalogue everything to do with vampires and aims to bring together people who live that sort of lifestyle .. I was just like, "um ... okay then." It's often people like that who take the fun out of the hype of Twilight and the True Blood series. I mean whatever, if you wanna voice your opinions and stuff (just like I am right now) go ahead, but it wasn't really my cup of tea.

Vampires and the like are real in books and movies and fantasy stories, but people who try and convince other people that they themselves are vampires or those people who are so obsessed with vampires that it's all they talk about - ugh. It's WEIRD. To me anyway, don't mean to offend anyone, but I'm not a fan.

Software and Applications

OH MY GOD IM SO BEHIND. I seriously don't know how the hell it happens. I know what I have to do and yet a week passes and I realise I haven't completed the tasks necessary yet. GAH.

In week seven in the lecture, we covered different types of software and applications that you can find and use on your computer. Some that were brought up were:

Freeware Genius

Miniova

Source Force

Download.com

I browsed a few of them and found that they weren't all that exciting. The Miniova (or is it Mininova)? I found was very similar to the site of Demonid.com. VERY handy for downloading e-books, music, movies ... any sort of program or software you desire for your computer. I love Demonoid, however i sometimes difficult to use because it's confusing. Then again i struggled with Facebook for absolutely AGES so most internet sites are a challenge.

I downloaded uTorrent which is a downloading program - it's quite impressive and you can get any type of software for your computer (very similar to Demonoid.com) I also had a browse at http://www.freewaregenius.com/ , however as I use a mac at uni and at home, I couldn't download any of the software because it was all for Windows.

I will also upload my pathetic iReport thing today. Seriously it's baddddd, but I'll put it up all the same.

Maps and Stuff

Okay, I know I'm behind. Excuses, excuses but I've been crazy busy and just kept avoiding this one because I don't think I'm any good with it. I was pleasantly surprised with my mark though.

This is a rather feeble map - not gonna lie i get avoiding this cos i struggled with it so much. I'm sure it's quite simple, but for some reason I just couldn't grasp the concept. Here it, it shows my old house .. so if anyone's extremely bored or into stalking ...

View Hannah's in a larger map

I also checked out some of those websites, and naturally, the vampirerave.com grabbed my attention. BUT the computer wouldn't let me do it, so I was most unimpressed. A lot of the others were boring, because I don't have an iPhone, I don't have any interest in Twitter and any mention of Facebook at uni just distracts me. I don't have any desire to purchase items other than concert tickets online ... none of them were appealing from the first page so I got out of them.

3 Very Entertaining Short Films!

It's week 6 .. I think? Cant wait for it to be over to be honest. Uni is so time-consuming, and I like my free time. I laugh at how I actually complain ... I'm here twice a week - if that.

This blog is the one with the THREE short films that were made for the internet. When I first read that, I wasn't impressed because so often I'm disappointed by short films. But my god, the first one I watched was so good. I guessed what was happening pretty much straight away, but it was gripping after the first minute. I thought it was real.

"Black Button"

I thought it was brilliant. At first the acting is a bit shabby, but then I found myself sucked in. The whole time I was thinking "don't you dare push that button!" and when he did, I actually gasped. Then started laughing at myself. I couldn't believe he pushed the button. It got really scary at the end, because I started thinking about what if that sort of thing is real? That you are tested after you die about whether or not you go to heaven or hell ... what if you go to heaven and then your family members fail and go to hell? I got a bit sidetracked I think.

I chose this film, really, because I loved it. Because I thought it was really interesting. The effects at the end when he starts bleeding were brilliant, the close-up shots made it more intense. It was kind of creepy, but I really enjoyed it.

"Spin"

The second film I found was actually really clever and funny. There's no speaking, but it's done really well and I chose this one because I loved the idea in it and the fact that the main guy can say a thousand words with one look. It was really cool and I loved the film work in it. Like the rewinding, and when the guy smashes into the windscreen. I enjoyed it.

"The Black Hole"

This one was brilliant. Predictable. You knew he was going to get greedy, but it was so funny. I liked it. Very impressive too, when he stuck his hand in the hole and it disappeared. And him climbing into the safe. Brilliant work.

The videos ... watch them and you can see why I picked them. From doing this, it seems like short films all have a certain theme and style. They tell a story, they usually teach a lesson too and I really enjoyed them. I never really cared about them beforehand.