In the Box:
I bought a projector (Hitachi CP-RS55), it's an SVGA 800x600 resolution LCD projector. It is pretty dang sweet. So now we watch movies on the wall (fills the entire wall pretty much) with the surround sound. It's pretty dang impressive. Phantom of the Opera was amazing last night. Such a great movie to watch with a projector and surround sound, it puts you right in the theater.

Out of the Box:
I started my new job a couple weeks ago (don't know if I mentioned it). And I even learned a little MatLab already. I've adjusted one of the simulations I was given to play with so that the UAV dynamically switches between searching for low points to searching for high points. In this way it wanders around the map to locations that lost subjects are likely to be (in some cases). It has been pretty interesting so far. The guys in the lab are all good, and it's been fun.

Other things not box related:
I have re-affirmed my position that girls are complicated and cause much difficulty. This has put me in a bit of a funk recently (remedied last night by watching Phantom of the Opera). This is why my mood is listed as varying by the hour, because it has been... grumble...

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Every media has content which groups of people consider to be morally objectionable. This content usually falls in the categories of gambling, pornography, violence, and drugs. Unfortunately, the categories containing legal content make up multi-billion dollar industries. The interesting fact, though, is that often times a new media lives or dies by whether or not this morally objectionable content makes use of it. It is somewhat of a demonic driving force behind media. Evidence of this is found in what's commonly referred to as the “format war” involving Sony's Betamax and JVC's VHS. While not commonly discussed, it is widely accepted that one of the strongest reasons that the VHS won was that it garnered the support of the adult film industry. (I recommend caution while searching for information related to this.) It has been speculated that the new “format war” between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray will be decided for the same reason, meaning Sony will lose again. While the subject matter is not the most popular, I don't think the Internet would have grown so quickly during the 1990's without the existence of the morally objectionable content that so many wish to avoid.

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This is my first entry as part of my CS404 (Ethics / Computers in Society). I will read various sources, and then write some sort of response.

Today's reading was entitled The Digital Age:
Postman - "Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change"
Gehl - "From Movable Type to Data Deluge"
Levy - "The World According to Google"
Oaks - "Focus and Priorities"

My Response:
I think the idea that the computer generation will not be interested in knowledge as much as information, and even more that they will have no interest in wisdom at all, was not as correct as Postman seems to think it is. I think what is more likely is to say that the common person will have less interest in both knowledge and wisdom, but has the common person ever really had much of an interest to begin with? I think that knowledge, and especially wisdom, will always be necessary to the world. That may seem like somewhat of a self-evident proposition, but the statement made was that neither would have any importance. A collection of information is all well and good, but without the ability to make use of that information, what purpose does it serve? Sure, you can look at it, data mine it, draw some interesting conclusions, but unless you can find some way to apply that into the world around you it “profiteth you nothing.” Someone needs the knowledge to find productive uses for that information. And, hopefully, someone will have the wisdom to know whether or not to use that information. I guess Postman has a prediction that knowledge and wisdom will fall by the wayside, while I have a hope that such things will persist to provide for the good of the same people denying it's necessity. The “common person” has always had need to be protected from himself. The electoral college was created to prevent the uneducated, mindless masses from electing uneducated, mindless leaders. While the success of said institution is highly debatable (my opinion falling on the side of failure), the original concept is undeniable. It seems to become increasingly clear that the common person uncannily lacks the ability to manage his or her own life. There has always been some influence that determines what the masses will do. For a long time this influence was religion, then monarchies, and tyrannies (or other forms of repressive government); eventually came the media. The world will always be in need of knowledgeable and wise individuals to help lead to, hopefully, better and more productive society.

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I am in an amazing mood right now, I hope it lasts. I'm also totally psyched about this semester.

So classes started this week. Here's the rundown:

CS 312 - Algorithm Analysis
CS 404 - Ethics, Computers in Society
ECEN 490 - Senior Project - UAV Podracing
Phil 110 - Introduction to Philosophy
Math 343 - Elementary Linear Algebra

CS 312: Going to be routine, and I'm forced to use Microsoft software (eww)
CS 404: Going to be quite interesting. Craig's in my class, good conversation.
ECEN 490: Going to be an amazing class, very challenging, alot of work, but amazing.
We get to design / build / implement / program an unmanned aerial vehicle for competition.
At the end of the semester they will be sending a team to the National Competition in D.C.
Phil 110: Very Interesting so far. Lots of good intellectually stimulating conversation and thought.
Math 343: This class is going to be the downer, but it's the last Math class I need to take...

So between ECEN 490, and my new job (researching UAV stuff) I will know sooo much about UAVs by the end of the semester it will be scary. But another, and defining, reason I'm in such a good mood, is that I will be taking Molly on a date this Friday. An awesome way to start the semester. I'm just pumping the music, and reveling in my good mood.... Ahhhh.... Being social makes life so much nicer....

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So vacation's just about over... Classes start on the 9th (Monday). Wow, that went really quickly... I'm flying back to UT on Wednesday...

Christmas was pretty good:
- Nice top coat to wear with my suit
- New Digital Camera (the awesome Nikon CoolPix 5600)
- Assorted clothing items
- An emergency supplies back-pack
- A fleece throw (blanket for those who don't know what a throw is)
- A nice Go set (Go is an intellectual game, in the realm of chess)

I don't know if there was much anything else of interest... oh the "spy pen".. it has a black light on it, and writes in black light visible ink... Did you know your Credit Card has letters printed on it in black light visible ink?

New Years was well.... lame... Things sort of fell apart this year, so I just stayed at home...

And soon I'll be back in Provo, hanging out, blasting the surround sound... working... whatever.

Oh yah, did quite well on grades this semester, pulled a 3.76... and raised my cumulative to 3.66.

Hope you're all having a wonderful vacation. And to the 0 of you who read this from Provo, I'll see you soon.

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