FISCUS-WILL

Toni Eakes and Her A Wish for Animals 100% Non Profit No Kill Rescue

2018-03-15T22:00:00.003-07:00

Toni Eakes and her A Wish for Animals (awishforanimals.org) pet rescue make a huge difference in the future of shelter animals across Southern California, more specifically, Orange County. The amount of effort, heart, and determination Toni Eakes puts in to her organization truly is an inspiration that deserves recognition. Since 2001, A Wish for Animals has been actively doing everything within their power to ensure the safety preservation of animals at risk of losing their lives to the unfortunate reality of living in a shelter. The actual number of animals that are euthanized my shock you. As of last year, nationwide, roughly 5 million companion animals are taken into a shelter. Of that 5 million, 3.5 million are euthanized. 60% of all dogs , and 70% of all cats. (Statistic Brain, 2017)

Hearing those numbers are a bit shocking if you've never actually heard them before. Anyone who has a heart would instantly feel it hurt. That is exactly why Toni Eakes is such a wonderful person. Her A Wish for Animals 100% non profit, no kill pet rescue has been actively striving to decrease those numbers through their rescuing efforts. I've personally had the opportunity to speak with her directly on the phone for about 45 minutes and her devotion to helping these animals was absolutely genuine. I feel I'm a very good judge of character, and there was no question she was legit. I mean, 45 minutes is a long time to talk on the phone in this crazy digital age right?

Our phone conversation had went on for so long because Toni Eakes is not only passionate, but remarkably knowledgeable in her field. A Wish for Animals is definitely a success in my eyes, and for anyone who may be in a position to contribute to a non profit organization, I would urge you to visit A Wish for Animals , if not to donate, but to educate and/or appreciate. She has done a great job making a difference in the world. So much so that I had to take time out of my day to write this post!

If you'd like to help reduce those crazy statistics, you can do so without spending money, simply like and share this post to any and all of your social media accounts!

Panera Bread

2015-10-05T14:31:00.001-07:00

Introduction

Panera Bread is unknown to some people, but for those who have experienced eating at this restaurant, it’s a favorite. Panera Bread uses specific tactics to earn the trust of the public and definitely did not get to where they are today overnight. The food chain’s website www.panerabread.com plays a big role in putting their name out there as well. All of these factors are why Panera Bread is an excellent company to model when attempting a startup company.

Body

A key reason why Panera Bread is so successful is the tactics they use are all planned. The company had a vision back in the 1990’s and has been working toward that vision every day. Being aware of that vision while constantly staying on track is what helps them from expanding too fast or in the wrong area of focus.

Another determining tactic is the structure of team members. They employ the best, most dedicated employees from the local level, all the way to the top level executives. The company even has an architect, or designer, who is responsible for store placement (location, people, and atmosphere). Paying extra detail to where they open each store plays a huge role in obtaining and maintaining trust with their customers.

In my opinion, they did an outstanding job with the layout of their website. When visiting it, I instantly saw and imagined tasting the delicious food they offer. Everything was easily available to find thanks to their dropdown navigation bar. I really couldn’t find a reason I didn’t like the site, but if I had to nitpick and find something, I wasn’t too sure of the picture of the dough being prepared without gloves on. Other than that, the website has everything you’d want from easy navigation to fast loading times. According to Calvin Sellers, 2013, 94% of people cite design as a reason they do not trust certain websites. Needless to say, if you’ve never heard of a company and visit their website and encounter a poor design you’ll probably never give them a legitimate chance.

Conclusion

Panera Bread has grown a significant amount since the idea was first planned out on paper. Their success is not that of luck, but rather the trust of their customers, as well as an extreme amount of time and effort in finding exactly the right pieces to make the puzzle. I’m no expert, but Panera Bread seems to be one food chain you will see plenty more of. I know personally I will make it a point to find a location and give them a try. Why? Their website.

References

Sellers, C. (2013, September 2). Why Good Website Design is So Important: The Stats and Figures to Prove It [Infographic]. Retrieved May 30, 2015, from http://www.instantshift.com/2013/09/02/importance-of-effective-website-design-infographic/

Strategic Management

2015-10-05T14:28:00.003-07:00

What Welch means by saying “Manage your destiny, or someone else will” is that it is your responsibility as a person in society to make it your mission to pursue your career/life the way you want it to be. Of course in terms of strategic management it involves much more than just day dreaming. Don’t get me wrong, having a vision or dream is very important in that a vision could give you the fuel you need to push through the hard times. Additional to your vision is the strategic planning process which includes strategic goals. “SMART goals provide enough detail that everyone understands what's to be accomplished, what success looks like, and how success will be measured. “ Basically, the “or someone else will” part of what Welch says means if you don’t take the wheel and steer, everything you do in life will be almost predetermined by someone else, whether it be the government or a boss you may end up having.

If my friend were to be stuck in the given situation the biggest piece of advice I’d give him would be to do something, anything, and definitely don’t remain stagnant. If there are too many choices then explore the ones that get you excited or feeling hopeful. I am currently enrolled in the BS program in the computer field so my example is obviously going to be computer related. I myself was uncertain as to what route I wanted to take, but by just getting the ball rolling and taking classes, I’ve already gotten a head start as to where I want to end up. I’ve even networked with some key people to get me there as well. So my main advice is don’t ever just do nothing!

Katz, A. (2011). Smart goals focus on results. Benefits Selling, Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/924004901?accountid=41759

Internet Security

2015-10-05T14:26:00.000-07:00

1. Define online harassment

· Fully 73% of adult internet users have seen someone be harassed in some way online and 40% have personally experienced it, according to a survey by Pew Research Center. (Duggan, 2014)

Minor online harassment – involves less severe offenses of online harassment which includes name calling and embarrassment.

Severe offenses of online harassment – Target of physical threats, harassment over a long period of time, stalking, and sexual harassment.

2. Discuss federal laws regarding cyber stalking/threats.

On the federal level:

18 USC 875 Section C – says violator of cyber threats shall be fined or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.

47 USC 223 – fills in the gaps of the above law, however it doesn’t include social media, forums, and email.

3. Discuss steps to prevent/handle cyber stalking.

· Never post address or phone number publicly. Always use caution when inputting any personal information.

· Don’t post current location when posting.

· Always use strong, unique passwords.

· When making a handle online don’t include name or birthday

· Reset all passwords when going through a breakup.

· The biggest preventive step taken should be to trust your instincts.

· Contact law enforcement if you are a victim.

· Do not communicate with stalker

· Keep all evidence

· Develop a safety plan specific to your situation.

4. Find a case of cyber stalking and write a brief description of the case.

“Stonewall man jailed for allegedly cyber stalking ex-girlfriend”

Description:

42-year-old Scott Bailey was arrested in Desoto Parish and booked into Caddo Correctional Center. In the case Bailey was advised by the Sheriff’s Department to cease communication with his ex-girlfriend, but he ignored them. He was calling/texting and sending Facebook messages on average 15-20 times a day at all hours and contained harassing, vulgar, and sexual messages. His bond was set to $100,000.

(ktbs, 2015)

5. Find a civil case related to computer crimes and write a description of the case.

United States v Noval

Description:

The ruling that breaking a TOS was totally okay and not a crime (Chan, 2012)

The 9^th circuit also stated it being illegal when a minor uses google/or when a user gives someone his/her Facebook password.

The ruling stated violation of corporate policy not equivalent to federal computer crime.

6. Find at least one incident of cyber terrorism and write a description of the incident.

October 2012:

Russian firm Kaspersky discovered a worldwide cyber-attack dubbed “Red October” that had been operating since 2007.

Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Word and Excel programs were used primarily targeting countries in Eastern Europe, Former USSR and Central Asia, although Western Europe and North America reported victims as well. The information collected from government embassies, research firms, military institutions, energy providers, and nuclear and other critical infrastructures. (NATO, 2015)

References

Chan, C. (2012, April 12). It's Not a Crime to Break a Terms of Service Agreement (So It's Okay to Never Read Them). Retrieved August 8, 2015, from http://gizmodo.com/5901339/its-not-a-crime-to-break-a-terms-of-service-agreement-so-keep-on-not-reading-them

Duggan, M. (2014, October 22). Online Harassment. Retrieved August 7, 2015, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/10/22/online-harassment/

Stonewall man jailed for allegedly cyber stalking ex-girlfriend. (2015, July 23). Retrieved August 7, 2015, from http://www.ktbs.com/story/29617180/stonewall-man-jailed-for-allegedly-cyber-stalking-ex-girlfriend

The history of cyber attacks - a timeline. (n.d.). Retrieved August 8, 2015, from http://www.nato.int/docu/review/2013/Cyber/timeline/EN/index.htm

Demanding Social Media Passwords

2015-10-05T14:19:00.000-07:00

Introduction

“According to recent reports, certain employers are demanding the information (personal social media login credentials such as Facebook) from job applicants as part of the interview process” (Bluementhal & Schumer, 2012). You first thought may be is this real? The answer is yes you’d better believe it! This is a real issue and is really happening. Is it right? Are there any conditions/situations in which it is okay to provide such login credentials? Under no circumstances whatsoever is it okay for anyone to demand your social media password, because in doing so, you lose all personal privacy, your online presence is compromised, and most importantly, everything you’ve ever done in relation to social media could be used against you.

Why are they doing this?

Unfortunately, despite the demanding of Facebook login credentials being completely wrong, it’s still being done. It’s important to point out that it’s against Facebook’s official Terms of Service policy in which you’ve agreed to adhere to when creating your Facebook account in the first place. Under the “Registration and Account Security” section number eight states the following: “You will not share your password/ or in the case of developers, your secret key), let anyone else access your account, or do anything else that might jeopardize the security of your account.” (Facebook, 2015) Besides the fact that Facebook itself says it’s wrong, the question still remains, why then do these companies and schools feel they have the right to do such a thing?

One reason behind the absurd request came from a law enforcement spokesman by the name of Carrine Gellar who stated it being just one step in a very complex process, and that it’s necessary when entrusting an individual with the law (Dame, 2014). Sure, that sounds great, but exactly how necessary is it? The amount of information that is publicly available on social media websites is more than enough to determine whether or not a candidate is trustworthy enough to entrust enforcing the law. Without requiring full access to someone’s social media account you can not only view a decent amount of data, but you can view their friend’s information as well. Yes, some may be utilizing their privacy controls the right way which would limit your information, but there’s a good chance a few friends may not be. Twenty-five percent of Facebook users don’t bother with privacy settings (Cooper, 2013). That being said, I’m sure it’s reasonable to conclude you can decide whether or not a person is trustworthy just fine without their password.

The argument made by universities that try to require your personal information is that it’s for student-athletes. This reason is almost good enough to accept, however it still falls short in my eyes. I don’t feel student-athletes should be singled out first off. It is true that these universities have a lot invested in these kids, not only for the need of a winning team, but also their reputation is on the line. Interestingly enough, in college football alone, “the median net revenue for college football in 2010 was $3.15 million per school.” (Chua, 2011) How much of that goes to the student athlete responsible for making all that money? None, in fact serious consequences are enforced if money is even talked about. To me, that looks clear as day to be why schools want to intrude on your personal life.

Why this is not okay

There are many reasons the demanding of passwords to social media accounts is wrong, but the most obvious would be your loss of complete personal privacy. The amount of personal conversations, memories, and ideas would no longer be personal. One may argue that if such data is to be confidential, why would it appear in such a place to begin with? The reality of the situation is that we, as a society, are moving towards a world which is transforming into a digital one. It’s not unreasonable to believe one day the use of physical currency will be obsolete. We’ve watched music and video become that way. Which brings me to the point of saying such sensitive information is put online because of the ability to keep it private, and by giving a company access to such data, why not include permission to come and go to your house and cars as well?

Another reason this is not okay is it jeopardizes your online existence. By giving anyone at all access to your social media accounts, you are no longer one hundred percent certain your reputation online is controlled by you. What’s to say there’s not a disgruntled IT employee at one of these companies that takes all these passwords and quits the company? Let’s step away from the things you’re at risk of and think about your friend’s personal security. Personal privacy settings are such that certain friends are allowed certain information. By giving your password to an employer you’re not only giving your information out but also your friend’s as well, and I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t appreciate you doing that.

The most important reason to me why this isn’t okay is the amount of data being given could, potentially come back at a later date and really hurt you. The number of possibilities is endless. Let’s just say you do give your password. You’d probably only consider doing so if you’d plan on making that job a career. You the invest ten to twenty years with the company, and then are treated unfairly, subsequently leaving the company. Suppose the company is legitimately in the wrong and owes you in damages. The company has ten to twenty years of recorded data on you (more times than not people click the login with Facebook button when browsing third-party sites which gives them even more data) and uses such data to make up some crazy case to cheat you of not only your ten to twenty years employed, but your future as well.

Conclusion

In conclusion, although it’s really happening (the demanding of social media account login credentials), that doesn’t make it right. You, as an individual, need to exercise your right to say no to this because the more pushy corporations/universities get, the more they will begin to take away. It is important to remember, that under no circumstances whatsoever is it okay to require your login credentials because in doing so you’d lose all personal privacy, you’d be putting your online existence in jeopardy, and everything you’ve ever done in relation to these sites can be used against you.

References

BLUMENTHAL, SCHUMER: EMPLOYER DEMANDS FOR FACEBOOK AND EMAIL PASSWORDS AS PRECONDITION FOR JOB INTERVIEWS MAY BE A VIOLATION OF FEDERAL LAW; SENATORS ASK FEDS TO INVESTIGATE. (2012). (). Lanham: Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/940878602?accountid=41759

Chua, R. (2011, November 8). How Much Revenue Do College Sports Produce? Retrieved July 27, 2015, from http://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/1111/how-much-revenue-do-college-sports-produce.aspx

Cooper, B. (2013, November 18). 10 Surprising Social Media Statistics That Will Make You Rethink Your Social Strategy. Retrieved July 27, 2015, from http://www.fastcompany.com/3021749/work-smart/10-surprising-social-media-statistics-that-will-make-you-rethink-your-social-stra

Dame, J. (2014, January 10). Will employers still ask for Facebook passwords in 2014? Retrieved July 27, 2015, from http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/01/10/facebook-passwords-employers/4327739/

Facebook Terms of Service. (2015). Retrieved July 27, 2015, from https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms

Loop Statements

2015-10-05T14:09:00.000-07:00

The ability to repeat tasks, such as statements, in computer programming really helps allow the programmer to represent just about any real life situation, thus making loop statements very important. Loop statements are written using either FOR or WHILE, and are extremely helpful. The number of possibilities is almost endless. However, even though they are great programming tools, if you’re new to writing code like me, you may experience a bit of a struggle getting used to properly using them.

A WHILE loop is sort of like an IF statement. “An IF statement looks at the test one time and then maybe executes the body once. The while loop extends this idea, executing the body again and again, checking the test each time.” (Parlante, 2012, fourth paragraph, second sentence). Parlante goes on to include a WHILE loop consists of three things: a test, work, and an increment. WHILE loops differ than FOR loops in that the number of repetitions is not known exactly at first. It’s even possible for a WHILE loop to repeat an infinite number of times. A real life example of a WHILE loop might be:

While there are still more grocery items on my list

Find item

Cross off my list

Endwhile

“A FOR loop is a variant of the WHILE loop, specialized to deal with a particular looping problem.” (Parlante, 2012, sixth section, first sentence)What that means is FOR loops are used when you know exactly how many steps you take to accomplish your loop. An example of a FOR loop would be seen in the code written to represent shuffling and dealing cards. You would have a set number of cards to shuffle, therefor you’d have a finite number of repetitions. For example:

For cards 1 to 52

Shuffle cards

Endfor

Reference

Parlante, N. (2012). CodingBat Java For While Loops. Retrieved May 12, 2015, from http://codingbat.com/doc/java-for-while-loops.html

Procedural and OOP (Object Oriented Programming)

2015-10-05T14:06:00.000-07:00

Procedural programming deals with strictly solving problems step by step in a specific way, or procedure. “An example of good procedural style is a square root function.” (Stroustrup, 1988, pg. 11 9^th paragraph)

Double-sqrt(double arg)

// the code for calculating sq root

Void some_function()

Double root2-sqrt(2)

To summarize Stroustrup’s definition, you find the best possible algorithms based on which procedures you want.

Object Oriented Programming (OOP) seems to be amazing when writing code. In my opinion it seems to be on its own level above the rest. With OOP you could literally create any real life scenario in your program. The way it works is by first defining a class (which is like a blueprint of what an object will be like). From the class you can then create objects from those classes and actually fine tune them so they are unique and accurately represent what you are visioning. An example of OOP could be a card game. You first start by creating a card class you could then create each individual card (there are multiple ways of accomplishing this, one might be creating two subclasses of value and suite). OOP also allows you to almost effortlessly shuffle and deal those cards as well.

I’m pretty sure it’s obvious that I prefer OOP over procedural programming based on the above text. I am still very new to programming so I may think differently as I experience each language work on various tasks, but for now OOP just seems like a no-brainer. Although I prefer OOP, I do think there are situations in which procedural programming gets the job done, however can’t you accomplish anything using OOP that you can with procedural?

References

Stroustrup, B. (1988). What is object-oriented programming? IEEE Software, 5(3), 10-20. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/52.2020

Computer programming

2015-10-05T14:03:00.002-07:00

Just starting out learning computer programming, it is already clear to me that becoming a successful computer programmer involves thinking in a completely different way than I’m used to. The thing that interests me the most about programming is the fact that when two people are given the same programming problem, more times than not the end solution may be valid and usable for both people, however the actual code used to achieve the final end results will not exactly match line for line. This tells me right away that computer programming is art in a way. A programmer’s code represents his/her mind, and I could only assume this makes one’s code not just unique, but also very personal.

I would imagine programmers learn through personal experience and extensive research when to use which tools for specific scenarios. Determining which the best tool for the task is could be learned through experience and/or research as well, however, knowing exactly what you’re trying to accomplish with your code is a great indicator as to what tool or technique should be used. For example, (Reingold, 1996) “Better sorting methods for algorithms can be designed using the idea of divide-and-conquer, in which a problem is decomposed into sub-problems that resemble the original problem on a reduced scale”. Reingold uses the merge sort technique which allows sorting by splitting n values into 2 piles of n/2 value, sorting each pile separately, and then merging the two piles into a single sorted pile. The above sort technique allows for solutions to more complex problems by way of easier calculations, which would in turn, not only be faster and less resource intensive, but more accurate as well.

References

Reingold, E. M. (1996). Basic techniques for design and analysis of algorithms. ACM Computing Surveys, 28(1), 19. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/195184191?accountid=41759

Importance of Working With Data Files in Programming

2015-10-05T13:54:00.000-07:00

Working with data files in programming is an essential task for any program. The ability to manipulate and/or access different data files seems to me, like the main reason a program is even being written to begin with. Just off the top of my head, an example of real-world data file access and manipulation would be someone looking for a job online. He/she creates their resume on their computer, and now is ready to submit it online to potential employers. Let’s just say the perfect position is found on a potential employer’s website. On this website is a sidebar section dedicated for interested candidates to fill out their contact information, attach their resume, and then submit it for consideration. In order for this to be possible the website must have some sort of program or code to access the data files the user is trying to attach and submit. Not only does it require access, but it needs to be able to be manipulated, or saved for the company to be able to access and evaluate.

The example I used in this post is a very minimal one of which is very doable without the requirement of extensive memory or CPU resources. Something to consider when writing your programs is “Inefficiently programmed I/O operations, being very CPU- and memory-intensive, can drastically compromise both application and system performance.” (Eremenko, 2002) One thing you should do is consider whether or not your chosen algorithm is the best method to handle I/O operations and utilizes memory and the CPU efficiently.

References

Eremenko, S. (2002, June 13). Handling large data files efficiently with Java. Retrieved September 24, 2015, from http://www.techrepublic.com/article/handling-large-data-files-efficiently-with-java/

Programming Software Development Process

2015-10-05T13:23:00.001-07:00

According to Tanmay Chakrabarty, “A software development process is a structure imposed on the development of a software product.” (Chakrabarty, 1^st paragraph) The following are the steps of the software development process in order: Gathering requirements, planning, modeling or organizing, tools or techniques, implementation, testing, deployment, and updating. After seeing how many steps there are involved in creating a successful program my first thought is, is it necessary to complete every step of the process? I’m eager to create a program and be able to say I made it. I’m pretty sure the answer is of course every step is necessary.

After researching where the most time spent as a program developer occurs, I found the following answer: “Understanding code is by far the activity at which professional developers spend most of their time.” (Hallam, 2015) Specifically Hallam describes his time spent in the following areas:

New Code: 2%

Modifying Existing Code: 20%

Understanding Code: 78%

In another article, Phil Johnson states, the following which makes me tend to believe programmers in fact do spend the most time understanding code:

“While some bugs can be quickly found and squashed, others can be maddeningly elusive and can lead to many lost hours of good development time, not to mention a bit of a coder’s sanity.” (Johnson, 2015, 1^st paragraph)

Going back to Chakrabarty’s steps, understanding code and debugging must fit in the testing phase. If I had to guess, the majority of time spent by coders most likely varies from developer to developer, and project to project. For example, a solo developer who writes programs for small online enhancement reasons (such as a hacker, creating a password cracker or a chat room scroller) is more than likely not putting the amount of detail and preparation into their projects as say Peter Hallam of Microsoft (who works on the coding for the C# compiler). I do however agree that all of Chakrabarty’s steps are equally important in the outcome of the program, and do understand that in the real world choices will have to be made as to which of these steps you choose to dedicate your time to.

References

Chakrabarty, T. (n.d.). Explain the steps of software development. - Computer Programming. Retrieved October 5, 2015, from http://tanmayonrun.blogspot.com/2013/01/explain-steps-of-software-development.html

Hallam, P. (2006, January 4). Peter Hallam's WebLog. Retrieved October 5, 2015, from http://blogs.msdn.com/b/peterhal/archive/2006/01/04/509302.aspx

Johnson, P. (2015, September 17). The terrible 10: Programmers' biggest frustrations. Retrieved October 5, 2015, from http://www.itworld.com/article/2984536/development/the-terrible-10-programmers-biggest-frustrations.html#slide4

Career Development: Information Technology

2013-11-27T11:26:00.001-08:00

Career Development: Information Technology

In the Information Technology field of work, a common question that has not been addressed widely enough to those interested in working as a Computer Professional is the method of career development. It is very common amongst aspiring Computer Professional students to ponder exactly which is necessary to follow in ultimately obtaining a desired career in the Information Technology field. Career planning, strategy, and professional enhancement are contributing elements which make self-planning and self-management the ideal method of career development.

Career Planning

Career planning is necessary to achieve success regardless of the field of work. The Information Technology field is no different. One must have a clear vision of the finish line to even come remotely close. “Having a career plan signifies that a person has a clear picture of his or her future.” (Chang, 2002) This is achieved by defining specific detailed oriented goals. Such goals can only be set by the individual and not their employer.

Career Strategies

Career strategies can be defined as specific activities and/or goals focused primarily career specific. By participating in these activities, an individual would be possibly jeopardizing his/her own potential area of interest or desired goals. It is important to note that the Information Technology industry is rapidly expanding at a rate so fast the U.S Government cannot predict accurate job statistics five years from now. This means the number of competitive certifications grow just as fast. Thus, working towards accomplishing career goals rather than individual goals could cost you in the long run in the event that competition for advancement in a company becomes overwhelmingly difficult to obtain due to competition. Pursuing individual strategies ensures one has a well-rounded skillset and feels confident with the acquired knowledge.

Professional Enhancement

“Professional enhancement emphasizes skills developments.” (Chang, 2002) By self-planning and self-managing one’s career, an individual will surely experience professional enhancement in result of his/her accomplishments carrying out self-planned career goals. This results in a wide, personalized, variety of skills and qualifications.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Information Technology field is very unique in that a self-planned and managed method of career development approach is ideal when considering career planning, strategy, and professional enhancement.

References

Chang, B. L. (2002). Career goals and career management strategy among information technology professionals. Career Development International, 7(1), 6-13. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/219286911?accountid=41759

Field Trip To Sony Online Entertainment 8//7/2012

2012-08-11T14:39:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, August 7^th, 2012 we took a field trip to Sony Online Entertainment. I’m really glad we were given the opportunity to experience touring their company. During our tour of SOE we witnessed firsthand what it would be like to work behind the scenes of the online gaming community. Actually seeing firsthand how the company operates and is structured was very enlightening. Overall I enjoyed this field trip, and above all that even left SOE with some exclusive goodies.

Working for SOE almost felt like it would have been more fun that actual work. They have onsite beta testers for every game they’ve produced. Each employee had their own desk with multiple displays. Their graphics department was very kick back. In one area, employees would literally spend their day playing their newest games, re-enacting battles or cool gameplay scenarios to create potential You-Tube videos and commercials. One building was dedicated to server maintenance, which is arguably the most important department. For obvious reasons that department is monitored and maintained 24 hours a day.

Sony Online Entertainment had a very upbeat and comforting environment through-out every building we toured. There was no question that they invested a lot of time and effort as well as an exciting original like personality into their work. They had developing game rooms which were used to invite people from all different kinds of demographics to play and test out their games. The rooms had about eight cameras strategically placed around the room so they could record the physical reactions to help fine tune their games accordingly.

Overall, I had a very good time and enjoyed our field trip to SOE. It opened my eyes to a whole new possibility. I also feel this field trip motivated me as well as gotten excited and pumped up for my career. I hope that every school year they do this. I strongly feel that I got a lot out of it. Before leaving SOE they even hooked us up with some exclusive goodies. The most memorable one being a beta code allowing us to download and become one of the special few to play the game before everyone else for free.

Assignment: Million Dollar Project PPT

2012-04-07T22:53:00.001-07:00

In my computer fundamentals class the Million Dollar Project was to spend $1million dollars on yourself and only yourself, without investing the money. We were to separate what we bought into at least 4 categories with a minimum of 12 purchased items. I'm not going to lie I worked it so I pretty much did the bare minimum in terms of really getting into the project, but my excel and PPT were not done half-assed so I'm okay with it, and that's all that matters... the video above is my million dollar power point presentation saved as a wmv file.

Anzaldua Brainstorm Using Microsoft OneNote

2012-04-07T00:17:00.000-07:00

I had never used Microsoft OneNote before. The above picture is my brainstorm for an English 99 essay I had to write. I was able to draw this up without ever using the program before in literally an hour or two. (Took that long to actually come up with the content of the brainstorm, not drawing the outline.) I'm sure if OneNote is capable of a lot better, but for the first time trying it out I was impressed.

OPS101 ASSIGNMENT: Write an essay to describe the evolution of operating systems from the early 1940s until today

2012-03-15T14:47:00.000-07:00

Evolution of Operating Systems

Operating Systems have come a long way since the 1940s. The first generation of computers was literally the size of a classroom, requiring little need for an operating system. In 1955, the second-generation computers were introduced. Computers at this time were still very expensive, averaging $200,000. The third-generation computers didn't come along until the mid-1960s. These were designed with faster CPUs. In 1976 the first supercomputer was produced. By the 1980s, computers started using multiple processors, which now required a new type of operating system. In 1990 the Internet became extremely popular, and the 2000s brought the ability of virtualization, the ability to run multiple operating systems on top of a single operating system.

First-generation computers were literally run by programmers. The way the system was debugged was by literally stopping the machine, adjusting the register, and then restarting the system. Programs could only be edited by its creator due to the fact that the programming language was so unique. Needless to say, at this time the CPU was utilized poorly. By the second-generation, computers could now job schedule which slightly improved efficiency. There was still an imbalance between the CPU and I/O devices, causing extensive time lag. It was common for the CPU to be idle 94% of the time. Eventually I/O devices became faster, and blocking was used, allowing several logical records to group within one physical group. The third-generation brought multiprogramming, which allowed multiple programs to be loaded at once to share the attention of the CPU. Eventually using multiprogramming, operating systems were able to take multiple slices of programs, and feed them into the CPU when needed, greatly increasing efficiency. By the late 1970s virtual memory was now possible, making it so that programs didn't have to reside in the memory to run.

The operating system pretty much had to step up its role in the computer system as soon as virtual memory became possible. Because of the increase of efficiency, to get the most out of the computer, operating systems now, not only had to control the subsystem manager and devices, but had to do it both user-friendly and efficiently. By the 90s, the Internet boom brought networking. Operating systems now had the ability to use remote desktop capabilities, or control other computers without physically being at the computer. Today, in 2012, we have the ability to use virtualization, which allows us to run multiple operating systems, such as Linux, on top of our main operating system, allowing a number of possibilities. Just the thought of that alone, is enough evidence to show how drastically operating systems have been improved in just 50 to 60 years.

Assignment: Technology Related Business Article Reflection

2012-03-15T13:54:00.000-07:00

LinkedIn is a hacker's dream tool

According to (Cowely, 2012), LinkedIn is literally a hacker's dream tool. LinkedIn is pretty much a social networking website for business professionals. (Cowely, 2012) tells how much help LinkedIn actually gives a hacker in terms of infiltrating even the wealthiest companies today. They do so by creating fake profiles to connect with employees of targeted companies. They learn certain details of the companies, such as the names of all employees, then send fake legitimately looking e-mails containing attachments the employees then open. Hackers also collect connections and then re-sell them to others for payments via pay pal.

In my opinion that's genius. That would totally work. I, myself, personally never created a LinkedIn profile, and never really knew what the point of it was. I just knew it was pretty much equivalent to Facebook, only more professional based. I think it's very interesting that, despite all the caution signs newscasters put on the emphasis of sharing on Facebook, a flaw this big is even possibly existing; let alone in the professional world. I mean, aren't these companies supposed to be on the top of their game? It is understandable that fake employee profiles created on LinkedIn could possibly be accepted into the LinkedIn company networks due to the size of these companies, but I don't see how they could be so far out of the communication loop to actually break the number one rule of online safety, opening an unexpected, unrecognized attachment file via E-MAIL! I mean seriously though, that's like getting an e-mail asking for your full name, address, SSN, and CC info.

(Cowely, 2012) does say hackers have the ability to easily mask e-mail addresses, and because they are able to connect via LinkedIn, they know which e-mail addresses to pretend to be, but if the e-mail address is convincing enough to the victim, you would think that the e-mail address would have to be one from the same department of the victim, which would mean there would have to be verbal communication at some point. If a strange attachment is never verbally mentioned, you would think it would at least be confirmed first. I guess what I'm getting at is companies are also at fault for this vulnerability in which LinkedIn creates. Although after reading (Cowely, 2012) LinkedIn seems completely flawed, the website in my opinion only put forth a potentially effective networking resource for professionals everywhere. These companies are the ones failing to take precautions to protect their businesses. Thus making LinkedIn a must have resource in a hacker's toolkit.

Cowely, S. (2012, March 12). Linkedin is a hacker. CNN Money. Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/2012/03/12/technology/linkedin-hackers/index.htm

Old memories from Google search....

2012-03-15T11:11:00.005-07:00

Google yourself... you'll find a lot more than you may think... right off the bat I found an old newspaper article from my football days...

Huntington Beach downs Eagles, 28-12