My Flicker Rant

Flicker...
I found this picture on flicker through a series of searches. First I searched for wet dog shaking, because I knew that would be a great action shot. Boy was I right, and a lot of people thought the same. I changed my search to wet great dane shaking but didn't get any relevant results. Then I searched for great dane shaking and found this image of Caesar who looks just like my two black lab-great dane mixes, right down to the white marking on his chest. You will probably hear and see more of my pets later in the semester since I love them so much.

Pictures can show more then they mean to, take for example the (stupid) situation below:


That picture shows the woman's valid debit number ... erm, great job reporters, as if suffering through Hurricane Katrina wasn't bad enough.

The full story can be found on Snopes, a web site dedicated to debunking or proving urban legends, myths, and those 'stories' you hear around the water cooler. Granted, this is an example of extreme stupidity, but imagine taking a picture in your house and posting it on the web, think of all the things that are in the background that could reveal things about you to potential identity thieves or stalkers? I don't want to sound paranoid, I'm just wary of putting excessive pictures of myself or things on the web.

Personally, I do not like sharing pictures with anyone but people I know, and once you put something online it makes it available to malicious individuals. In other words, I would still e-mail pictures to someone rather then share them on a site like flicker.

I wasn't particularly impressed with the mashups or the spell with flicker application either. I don't think this technology is really my 'thing' but for a photography buff, or for anyone who's job it is to manage photos, this site can be invaluable and provide them with new tools.

Some of the tools available on flicker are interesting. I liked the Trading Cards, especially for teaching/studying, making the cards and playing with them would really help me memorize things more easily. If/when I have a class requiring a considerable amount of memorization I will remember this feature. I don't have to use images of myself for this stock photos or clipart would work just fine, which of course, is one of my favorite parts.

First Rant

Hello blog world and blog people, I'm new at this so give me some time.

I am suppose to be posting about web2.0 and what I think about it. So, what do I think...
I think that there are a lot of great tools out there now that let individuals have information pushed to them instead of them having to go out and get it all the time, because lets face it, the internet is sprawling considering it doesn't really have a definable space and full of information.
Things like RSS feeds and e-mail let people have the information they are interested in delivered to them like a hot and tasty pizza (or Chinese food if you prefer.)
In general I like what's happening with web2.0, but it comes at a price, usually for me its time. I find that the more internet fads or phenomenons I get involved in, the less time I have for other things.

Of the 7 1/2 Lifelong Learning habits I know that confidence is the hardest for me. I am not one of those people who can 'ooz confidence' (that is, people who feel that they know what they are doing and can bs their way out of tight situations when they don't, and go look up how to do it for next time.)

As far as which habit I am best at, I can't be sure. I know I like teaching technology to others, and using it to my advantage. I'm stuck between those two.

The part about viewing problems as challenges is probably my favorite! It is not as though I go out looking for trouble, but I love the feeling of when I solve a problem, fix something, or figure something out. Its nice to have something successful to look back to help give you confidence in what you are trying to do now, however, don't dwell on the past or, you know, you'll miss out on what's coming.

Below is a short video that topped YouTube's Most Watched, and it did it on Superbowl weekend when usually the commercials are top, this video topped all of them, which is impressive.