LIT TERMS REMIX 1-5

I recently started playing Magic the Gathering, so when I saw this remix assignment, I thought, "Hey, what if I turn the lit terms into Magic cards?" For anyone who doesn't play Magic the Gathering, this post probably won't make any sense at all, but oh well :P

FILTER BUBBLES

a) What new information did you learn from the video?

This video IMMEDIATELY reminded me of XKCD's Umwelt (by Mr. Munroe's definition, "Umwelt is the idea that because their senses pick up on different things, different animals in the same ecosystem actually live in very different worlds. Everything about you shapes the world you inhabit--from your ideology to your glasses prescription to your web browser.") The page I linked to actually displays one of about 40 comic strips; the one shown to you is determined by your computer model, your OS, your browser, your window size, your location, even how you navigated to the site. I thought it was a pretty cool novelty... until I watched the "Filter Bubbles" video and realized, "OHMYGAHD. IT'S UMWELT. Except it's real and it's EVIL."

b) How does this information make you think differently about what you see online?

This makes me feel like I can't trust the Internet anymore, especially since I use Chrome... that means Google can see EVERYTHING I DO, not just my Google searches... oh god >.<

c) What questions does this video raise about the Internet in general?

I was aware that services like Adsense were collecting information about me based on the sites I visit, given the obvious evidence of whenever I visit a shopping website (for example, my favorite clothing brand Express) I get ads for that brand (and sometimes related brands) for a few weeks. However, I was convinced that Adsense was doing a pretty crappy job of it. For example: I go to Express.com, therefore I am an 18-24 year old female who likes Express in particular and fashion in general, therefore I get ads for Express clothing and a few other clothing brands. I visit a lot of anime websites, therefore I am an 18-24 year old heterosexual male who likes Asia, therefore I get ads for Asian women from ChinaLoveDate.com. Everything is really direct and isolated from everything else. It seems to me like it wouldn't be that hard for Adsense to put 2 and 2 together, and conclude from my browsing activity at BOTH websites that I am an 18-24 year old female who likes Asia, and therefore give me ads for Asian men, not women. Even better, I like fashion and Asia, so why not show me ads for Asian clothing companies? C'mon Adsense, I'm not clicking on the Asian women! Haven't you figured it out yet? Aren't you trying to make money off of me?

However, I realize that Adsense is only what I can see; this video raises the question of how my online experience is altered in ways I CAN'T see. The problem is that I don't know what I don't know, and that bothers me. Especially since I've used Google countless times for some EXTREMELY IMPORTANT searches, given that none of my doctors have been able to cure me (obviously, I'm still hiccupping) and I've basically resorted to doing my own research and trying to figure it out myself in my spare time. If there's something that I've missed because it's been "filtered out," I would be really really really mad, let's put it that way.

d) How can you improve the effectiveness of your searches?

I can... install the DuckDuckGo extension for Chrome! Hey look! I just did :D

VOCABULARY #7

Here's Vocabulary #7, because I know that if I don't do this assignment I won't remember the words ^^;

WHAT A CHARACTER

This summer I finally got around to watching Death Note, which has been on my To-Watch list since freshman year. To compress the premise into the smallest space possible, Death Note is about a high school senior named Light Yagami who finds a mysterious book called the Death Note. According to the instructions, any person whose name is written in the Death Note will die. Light uses it to kill criminals, envisioning himself as the god of the crime-free utopia he'll create.

At the beginning of the show, I immediately identified with Light: like me (or, more accurately, me during freshman year before I was sick/alternate-universe me who was never sick in the first place), he is a high school senior at the top of his class with occasional narcissistic tendencies. Light's almost immediate (i.e. within 20 minutes of airtime) sanity slippage made it so I couldn't identify with him as much anymore, but I was intrigued by his character. To be honest, I'm even more intrigued in hindsight when I reflect on how my opinion of Light changed over the course of the show. The rest of this post contains spoilers, so here's my cue for a jump break.

VOCABULARY #6

Heyyyyyy guys, I know you totally want to read my Fionna and Cake fanfiction with 41 vocabulary words in it!!

VOCABULARY #5

We have 21 words this week whaaaaat Dr. Preston why would you do that????

(uneccessarily overreacting FTW)

[also tautology FTW]

{see I'm using vocab words even before the jump break 'cause I'm just cool like that}

!@#$I'm really out of symbols to use as parentheses%^&*

VOCABULARY #4

Yup. Vocab Number Four. And I finally got around to writing a story for this one! It's about Flame Princess, and she's evil!

Beowulf Essay

Yeah... I finally wrote this thing.... you should read it..... It's about Mario (nerd and proud) ^_^

VOCABULARY #3

This is it! Tonight, the epic story that began week one and continued week two reaches its stunning conclusion! You don't want to miss this one folks!

VOCABULARY #2

Well, if you liked my Adventure Time vocabulary story last week, you're in luck, because I made a sequel!

VOCABULARY #1

All right, first vocabulary list of the year. To make things more interesting, instead of writing all the vocabulary words in disjointed sentences, I wrote a story about Adventure Time :D