The End

Well this is my last post, and also the last thing I have to do this semester. It is only Friday the 18th, so I lucked out a bit. I had a tough week, with 4 exams and a research paper. But I finished, and hopefully the grades will be pretty good. I learned a lot this semester in BUAD 477, I am pretty computer illiterate when it comes to making web sites, blogging, and that sort of thing, but it really was easy. And when I got into making these blogs and the wikipedia edits I had some fun. It is cool to know that something I write could potentially be seen by everyone on the web. Thanks for the good semester Professor Brown, good luck to you in your retirement from teaching.

3rd Wikipedia Edit: Kenmont Swim and Tennis Club

For my last wikipedia edit of the semester, I added lots of information about the swim team at Kenmont. This was always my favorite part of the summer, competing in these meets. I thought it would be helpful for anyone viewing to have a little more information, and hopefully get them interested in swimming! It is a great exercise, more people should try it out.

3rd Wikipedia Edit: Glen Haven Elementary School

In this, my 3rd and final edit of Glen Haven Elementary School, I added two fairly lengthy sections. The first was about the Parents-Teachers Assocation, (PTA) because I feel this is an important group which keeps the community of parents involved and up to date with what is happening the school. The second addition was about the special events that are held each year at Glen Haven, from Back to School Night, Math Night, The science fair, and many more. These are fun ways for students to extend their learning experience.

3rd Wikipedia Edit: Sligo Middle School

For my third and final edit of the Sligo Middle School Wikipedia page I added a few more sections. First I wrote a more appropriate opening headline text for the page, which included the school motto. Then I added many of the programs in place for students that involve them and help them to become more well rounded. I also made a section for the school website and described some of the important information they can find on it. I of course provided the link so that it would be easy to find. I think that this wikipedia page is now a very comprehensive page about the most important features of the school.

Slashdot: Treadmill Workstation

There are too many weightloss programs out there to even begin to be able to count. It is one of the biggest fads that Americans take part in today. A very interesting solution I read about on slashdot. It descbries a treadmill that is attached to a desk so that you can check emails, voicemails, and these sorts of things while working out. I think that is kind of a ridiculous idea, as it would be very difficult to multitask these two things. However, there was a more plausible idea that sounded pretty cool where you ran on a treadmill to move your character through an rpg games, and used the buttons on the front of the console to fire weapons. That is a very cool integration of working out and having fun.

3rd Wikipedia Edit: Aqua Hoya Swim Club

In this edit, I added information about the philosophy of the swim club. This will give readers a better idea of what goals they are trying to accomplish. Also, I made a seperate category for the training facility, to highlight that it has just been renovated. You can view this final edit at this website.

In addition, I had said that the swim club were members of Potomac Valley Swimming. However, when I clicked on the link, no one had made a wikipedia entry about PVS. So I decided to take the initiative and write a little bit about PVS. I felt that this was an important addition to the page so that readers would better understand competitive swimming in the area. To view this wikipedia page that I started, click here.

2nd Wikipedia Edit: Kenmont

In this edit of the Kenmont Swim and Tennis Club wikipedia page, I added all of the special events which will be taking place over the course of the summer. Also, I added a section saying who holds distinctive positions on the board. I also referenced the kenmont swim and tennis club webpage to help verify this information. You can check the progress of this wikipedia page .

Slashdot: Walmart

I had not read many of the blogs on slashdot for quite some time. I have come to realize that slashdot is my favorite of the required blogs. This is mostly because the blogs are concise and to the point, and that it is updated most frequently. An article that caught my eye this time was about the super retailer Wal-Mart . It said that Wal-Mart is making a huge push for HD DVD players(Blue-Ray). Up until now I had been skeptical if these players would catch on, especially since DVD's are still considered a somewhat new innovation. However, once Wal-Mart makes a decision like this, it pretty much puts it in stone that all other retailers are going to have to adapt and buy these players as well. It really is amazing how much power and control over the market Wal-Mart has. That said, I still refuse to shop there on principle.

HTML

In class today (5/9/07) we discussed the basics of HTML. In a class my sophmore year we had to create a basic web page so I had learned some of the same basic commands. It was nice to have a refresher though, since I had forgotten how to do most of them. I have heard from a few different sources that it is very advantageous for a person to have their own website, especially when entering the job search. Some companies look to see on your resume if you have a website listed, so that they know you are technologically adept and realize current trends.

2nd Wikipedia Edit: Glen Haven Elementary School

In this edit I added some important general information, created headings for the office staff, student activites, and highlighted the diversity of the school. This should make a more complete representation of the school. You can view the edit here

Sligo Middle School 2nd edit

Today I added two new sections to the sligo middle school wikipedia entry. I added the administrative staff and the after school programs. This should give readers a better idea about what the school offers. You can view the changes here.

Aqua Hoya Swim Club 2nd edit

Today I edited my the page I created entitled Aqua Hoya Swim Club. I added a brief defition of all seven of the swim groups that they offer and what each one focuses on. I also added four referring links where I found my information. You can see my work here.

Inside Adwords Mothers Day Article

While browsing Adwords these morning, I noticed an article regarding Mother's Day. It says the average amount an American spends on this holiday is $140. That seems to me like an extremely high amount. If we spend this much just on Mother's Day, I'd be interested to know how much the average American spends on even more of a consumer holiday, such as Christmas. The article also made me feel a little bad, since I will only be spending a small fraction of that amount this year. But hey, I am a poor college students, how much can my mom expect? The rest of the article was explaining to advertisers how to capture part of this last minute market.

Forbes: Mixed Media

Yesterday in class (5/7/07) professor Brown handed out an article written by Forbes called "mixed media" which addressed the issue of the changing media landscape. No longer are people forced to read news from a certain paper, they now have the ability to find information on whatever niche they are intersted in. Although I am not a big consumer of news myself, my dad is a great example of someone who has completely changed the way he recieves news. He cancelled his subscription to The Washington Post and now reads from a number of websites, including many personal blogs. News Media organizations really have a challenge on their hands to keep up with the changing times, but the ones who are successful also have some good money to be made I would imagine.

Wikipedia Edit: Kenmont

Kenmont Swim and Tennis Club is where I have spent my summers from the time I was ten until I was 18. I have many fond memories of the pool, and still go and visit often when I am home during the summer time. I thought this would be a great topic to make a wikipedia website about. you can see my entry here.

Wikipedia Edit: Glen Haven Elementary School

Glen Haven Elementary School is where I attended elementary school and is located very close to my house. I was dissapointed to see that it did not have a wikipedia entry, so I took the liberty of creating one. You can see what I wrote here

Stiuqxela

I just thought I'd mention stiuqxela again during my random musings. The EUFA league champion semifinals were on this week, and they were very entertaining to watch. I had not been into soccer until the world cup this past year, but it is really growing on me. I still don't like it as much as the NFL or NBA though. Speaking of the NBA, the first round of the playoffs are taking place this week also. I hope that the Golden State Warriors pull it out over the Dallas Mavericks. Dirk is an overated player so I hope he loses. I personally am a fan of the Wizards, but once Arenas and Butler went down, I knew their season was over.

Wikipedia Edit: Sligo Middle School

Sligo Middle School (SMS) is where I attended middle school quite a while ago. It has a very scant wikipedia entry, so I am aiming to improve it bit by bit. In this edit I noted the school hours, the school mascot, and some of the schools core values. You can check out my edit here.

Longevity Gene

While browsing slashdot this afternoon, I came cross an article that described a gene found in worms that increases life longevity up to 50%. They say there is a very similiar genes in humans, which may somebday be able to be activiated by doctors. I take this news with mixed feelings. One the one hand, it would be great to be able to live a longer, healthier, more prosperous life. But on the other hand, the length of human lives is increasing dramatically already, so much so that the economy is having trouble supporting the elderly, who no longer can contribute to the well being of a nation.

Katie's Amazon Post

I agree with Katie that this is an interesting issue, regarding Amazon.com offering different prices to different customers. This sort of price discrimination may help the website, but I was lead to believe that this is not only unethical, but in some cases illegal. Since the original complain was made, I have heard that Amazon is no longer participating in this price discrimination, and I hope that is true. You can read Katies post by going here.

Digg

I thought the discussion about Digg.com today in class was very interesting. Their website is really quite revolutionary and will hopefully continue to develop as they hope it will. However, the part I found the most interesting was about the possible copyright infringement issue that they are involved in. I thought that this was very similiar to the Viacom vs. Google lawsuit. With both these large sites running into potential legal problems, it is obvious that new laws must be written or old laws clarified to establish what these sites can and cannot do. Right now the governing bodies are lagging in solving these issues and I think they should start to take an active stance in doing so.

Wikipedia Edit

Today I created a Wikipedia page for my high school swim club, Aqua Hoya Swim Club. Prior to my creation there was no such page for this club, so hopefully this will help them to get some recognition and expand their base. You can check out my edit here.