Don't Text and Drive!

texting while driving!
1. 75% of all American teens ages 12-17 own a cell phone, and 66% use their phones to send or receive text messages.

2. Older teens are more likely than younger teens to have cell phones and use text messaging; 82% of teens ages 16-17 have a cell phone and 76% of that cohort are cell texters.

3. One in three (34%) texting teens ages 16-17 say they have texted while driving. That translates into 26% of all American teens ages 16-17.

4. Half (52%) of cell-owning teens ages 16-17 say they have talked on a cell phone while driving. That translates into 43% of all American teens ages 16-17.

5. 48% of all teens ages 12-17 say they have been in a car when the driver was texting, and 40% say they have been in a car when the driver used a cell phone in a way that put themselves or others in danger.

Party Like its 1999!

File Sharing:

3 facts from Pew Internet and American Life Project.

1. If the music business was the canary, then the MP3 was its carbon monoxide, choking an industry that had built its empire on the clean, regulated air of analog music products. First, music went digital. Then the MP3 compression format shrunk those big music files into transportable size. After that, there was little hope of record companies making it out of the mine without some serious lung damage.

2.Napster arrived at a time when tightly controlled access to new music was still the norm. While online radio stations were starting to flourish, music lovers were becoming disillusioned with the homogenizing effects of terrestrial radio consolidation that was enabled by the 1996 Telecommunications Act.

3.n a recent Pew Internet Project survey, 15% of online adults admitted to downloading or sharing files using peer-to-peer or BitTorrent. Globally, estimates from file-sharing research firm Big Champagne place the P2P universe at more than 200 million computers with at least one peer-to-peer application installed, and operators of the popular Pirate Bay torrent tracker have identified more than 25 million "peers" who have used their site alone to exchange files.

All Info distributed by this website

ALAN KHAZEI

Alan Khazei is an American social entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of Be the Change, Inc., a Boston, Massachusetts based organization dedicated to building national coalitions of non-profits and citizens to enact legislation on issues such as poverty and education. Previously, Khazei served as CEO of City Year, an AmeriCorps national service program engaging 17- to 24-year-olds in a year of service in one of 19 U.S. cities and in Johannesburg, South Africa. Khazei co-founded City Year with Michael Brown, his friend and roommate at Harvard College and Harvard Law School.^[1] On September 24, 2009, he announced his candidacy in the Massachusetts special election to fill the Class 1 seat in the United States Senate made vacant by the death of Senator Ted Kennedy. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Khazei)

This Cool Dude Came to Have a Press Conference at American International. He wants better Health Care, and had a dude planted in the audience. He is a Politician! O'Doyle Rules!!!

Teens and Tech

Teens and Tech

Three Observations:

1.Eighty-three percent of all the teens surveyed by the Pew Research Center state that “most” of the people they know use the internet while only 6% say that very few or none of the people they know use the internet.

2. For teens who go online themselves, 88% say most of the people they know go online compared to only 51% of teens who are not online themselves. For teenagers with parents who go online, 86% answer “most” compared to 69% of teens whose parents are not users of the internet.

3.the same number of girls and boys answer that most of the people they know use the internet while 86% of teenagers aged 15-17 and 80% of teenagers aged 12-14 also answer the same way. White teenagers are somewhat more likely to answer “most” people than African-Americans or Hispanics, although significant majorities of all races say that most people they know are on the internet. Eighty-seven percent of white teenagers, 70% of Hispanic teenagers, and 69% of African-American teenagers respond that way. Eighteen percent of African-American teenagers responded to the question by saying that very few or none of the people they knew were using the web compared to 10% of Hispanic teens and only 4% of white teens.

All informations belongs to the Pew research center and can be found: http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2005/Teens-and-Technology.aspx

None of this information is mine nor does it reflect my views or opinions.

Generations

Generations Online

Three Observations:

1. over half of the adult internet population is between 18 and 44 years old

2. Fully 74% of internet users age 64 and older send and receive email, making email the most popular online activity for this age group

3. The biggest increase in internet use since 2005 can be seen in the 70-75 year-old age group. While just over one-fourth (26%) of 70-75 year olds were online in 2005, 45% of that age group is currently online

Fewer Americans See Solid Evidence of Global Warming

Apparently according to this websites statistics there has been a sharp decline in the American Peoples belief in the phenomenon of Global Warming. According to Pew research center's study in april of 2008 71% 1,500 people who were surveyed believed there is solid evidence for global warming. from Sept. 30th to Oct 4th 2009 the same survey was held but this time only 57% of the people believe there is evidence. Overall 35% of the country thinks that Global Warming is a threat compared to 44% in april of 2008.

All research conducted by Pew Research Center

the Story is seen here: http://people-press.org/report/556/global-warming

More Pew internet stuff

This Article was centered around Politics and Political Internet use.

for More Information just go to this website: http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/15--The-Internet-and-Civic-Engagement.aspx

5 facts about this article

1.Whether they take place on the internet or off, traditional political activities remain the domain of those with high levels of income and education

2.There are hints that forms of civic engagement anchored in blogs and social networking sites could alter long-standing patterns that are based on socio-economic status

3.Those who use blogs and social networking sites as an outlet for civic engagement are far more active in traditional realms of political and nonpolitical participation than are other internet users. In addition, they are even more active than those who do not use the internet at all

4.The internet is now part of the fabric of everyday civic life. Half of those who are involved in a political or community group communicate with other group members using digital tools such as email or group websites

5.Those who make political donations are more likely to use the internet to make their contributions than are those who make charitable donations; however, large political donations are much less likely to be made online than are large charitable donations

President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize today. Unfortunately it had nothing to do with Zombies.

the real story is here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8298580.stm

but if you would like to learn More about Zombies then go here:
http://www.nazds.com/?cat=7
and
http://www.interbent.com/warning-zombies-ahead-road-signs-collection/

Posting three news Sites/Blogs from politics1.com:

http://www.theonion.com/content/index

The Onion is by Far my Favorite News Papers even though it is fake.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/

Another more upbeat site, this website lets you look at more interesting police arrests and mugshots(see the above image of actor Rip Torn).

http://www.truthorfiction.com/

This is a great way for people to find out about hoaxes and stuff like that.

Degrees of Access (May 2008 data)

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Degrees of Access (May 2008 data)

View more presentations from Pew Internet & American Life Project, Pew Research Center.

Five Observations:

1. There is a Large gap between people with more income than that of less. the people with more are on the internet more.

2. Ethnicity has a big role it would seem, it looks like English Speaking Hispanics use the Internet more than anyone else, followed by White people.

3. the majority of people online are from the ages of 18-29, and there are more college graduates online, than people who did not finish or never attended college.

4. when it comes to cell Phone use, it would seem that the older generation uses their cell phones more than anyone else, ages 30-49, and right below them by not that much are people ages 18-29.

5.out of all three graphs the people who use the internet, cell phones, and high speed connections are people who have an income of over $75k a year. and older people ages 65 and older are at the bottom of each list.

Pew Internet story on how men and women use the internet.

6 Observations:

1. Men Still use the internet more than women. although women under 30 use the internet more than their male counterparts. just older women use the internet less than older men

2. more men then women use the internet for shopping. i know from personal experience that, with the exception of clothing, i would rather shop online because i don't have to really get up.

3. according to the website men use the internet for recreational use more than women, for things such as; fantasy sports, and downloading media.

4. in most aspects of the internet men have a higher percentage of use. also, men are more technologically literate. yet it does say that women are catching up.

5. it says that women are more likely to use email than men, and they use email for more recreational uses like keeping in touch with friends and family.

6. men use the internet to gather information more than women, as well as use search engines more than women.

all information from:

http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2005/How-Women-and-Men-Use-the-Internet.aspx

Bonding and Bridging

a Bonding website would site where people who share a common interest would go.

3 Bonding:

1. http://kotaku.com/ - This website is a news site for all things video games.

2. http://www.facebook.com/ - one of the more popular of the Social networking websites facebook is a great place to keep up with friends.

3. www.Blogspot.com - since you are reading this i'm am going to have to guess that you know about blogspot. A great place for people to publish their own storys.

Bridging websites would be those sites that bring people with out a common interest together.

3 Bridging:

1. http://vimeo.com/ - if God had a one night stand with Youtube, Vimeo would be the 9 month by product. this website has beautiful user posted high quality videos for people to share and comment on.

2.http://www.newegg.com/ - for all things electronic go to Newegg for the best deals. Newegg is a shopping website specializing in computers and home/office electronics.

3. http://www.match.com/ - the website for the person who is to lazy to go out and find someone. match.com is a dating site that pairs people to meet each other. you are most likely not going to end up with the model on the front page.

FCC won't let me Be

I can't believe i am saying this, but the new FCC internet neutrality law is actually a good idea. Julius Genachowski, the new chairman of the FCC has proposed that two new principles added to the Broadband Policy Principles the FCC set forth in 2005. the idea is that internet service providers would no longer have the authority to slow down or block personal web content on personal computers. taking power away from the service providers is a beautiful idea and would surely make browsing the internet easier.

the Four Previous principles are:

"There are four existing broadband principles that would be formalized:

-- Consumers are entitled to access the lawful Internet content of their choice.

-- Consumers are entitled to run applications and use services of their choice, subject to the needs of law enforcement.

-- Consumers are entitled to connect their choice of legal devices that do not harm the network.

-- Consumers are entitled to competition among network providers, application and service providers, and content providers."

in my opinion this is a great idea, but then again it is the FCC and in the future it might all go down the drain. so we shall see what will happen with this.

all info provided by: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/172312/fcc_chairman_calls_for_formal_net_neutrality_ruleands.html

class stuff

Five Observations about the world internet stats website (all Information comes from the Website http://www.internetworldstats.com. none of this information belongs to me.):

1. In Africa the the country with the least amount of people online is Saint Helena(UK) with only 1000 people online, and the country with the most amount of people online would be Egypt with 12,568,900.

2. the biggest Internet Usage in the Middle East comes from Iran. which only has 23,000,000 people online, seemingly less than a lot of other big nations in the world. of course Iran has more people online than all of the countries in the Oceania region...

3. Out of all the zones listed the Oceania region has the least amount of people online! (with only 20,838,019 people online. this is less than the amount of people online in Iran) This area includes Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific Islands.

4. the most dominant internet using South American country is Brazil with 67,510,400 people online and this being only 34% of Brazils Population.

5. Asia has a butt load of people and only 18.5% of them are online. there are still more people in Asia online than both Europe and North america combined. the country with the most internet users is china which has 338,000,000 online, about 62,000,000 people less than all of europe.

First

the purpose of this Blog is for my Internet Comm. class, i think i'm getting graded on this, not quite sure though. my Name is Spencer and as of right now i am a junior at American International College, which happens to be located in the great city of Springfield, Massachusetts.
Last Semester i was fortunate enough to spend 3 and 1/2 of the greatest months of my life in County Kerry, Ireland. although i might be critical on a lot of the finer points here at AIC i really don't think i can ever complain again after they let me of all people go to Ireland, and "study abroad" (ie: Drink alcohol legally). i had an amazing time, met a lot of great people, and brought back alot stories. i would seriously encourage any one thinking about studying abroad to actually go through with it.
When I returned from Europe i had huge culture shock. the only way i could explain how culture shocked i was, would be to put it like this:
I am from Brooklyn, i have lived there since i was born and im pretty sure i will be stuck there till i die (these college years don't really count). there is something to say about the New York City Skyline, and for someone who has lived there all their life, you know it as home and the feeling that I get when I come home is something that is special. the feeling i get every time i am crossing the brooklyn bridge coming home from out of state there is a feeling in my stomach. just looking out across the water at the skyline puts this big grin on my face and in one instant i forget how much i hate that dumb city. I could compare this feeling to a six year old getting the one present he wanted above all others on christmas morning and in my head that six year old jumps up and down everytime i cross that old bridge. on may fifth of 2009 at around nine pm while crossing that bridge for the first time in my life there was no six year old jumping, it was more like a six year old whose dog had died and didn't want to deal with anything.

I would say for about a month and a half i was on and off depressed about Ireland. that didn't stop me from going to work though. exactly a week after i returned from Ireland i got a job as a production assistant on lifetime promo. and a week after that i went right into working on a low budget independent film as a production assistant. this job took me all the way into the beginning of july and completely ate my life. i was waking up every morning at 5:30 am and not returning home until around 11:30 pm - 12:oo am. as time consuming as it was, i had a lot of fun working on the film and meeting a ton of really awesome people. all good things do have to come to an end sometime, although not with out a wrap party. i got to the bar at around 8:30 pm and left at 4:00 am thoroughly intoxicated. i didn't get back to my apartment until 10 am. the point i left the bar till i got home was all a blur.

At this point my summer got kind of dull, i worked days at a day camp as a counselor for four and five year olds. i missed school and couldn't wait till i got back. working with little kids sure was swell but there is only so many weeks of getting beat up and playing monster everyday that i can take and luckily it ended fairly quickly. now out of work i thought it would be a great time to relax, but after a day to myself i realized that i would probably need a bit more money so i started baby-sitting everyday. the kid i baby sat for was pretty cool, and it wasn't that bad working all day, but i was getting bored and just wanted to be lazy for my last week and a half of summer before school started. i got extremely lucky and got a call to be an additional electric on the show gossip girl for one day. $500. this paid for half of the car that i bought two days later. needless to say i didn't need baby sit anymore and the summer was dwindling down and in all truth i didn't have much of one. luckily i got invited up to the beach by a friend the weekend before school started. so i got a little fun in before i got back. 

now that i am back i don't know what i was thinking all those times i was wanting to get back here. i kind of wish that i had done a little more with my summer, but in the end i can't complain my summer was productive and i had a relatively good time.