Below is a video I’ve created on XtraNormal about the millenium development goals. I’ve mentioned what XtraNormal is in a previous post, so if you are unsure of what I’m talking about, go back and read. I hope you enjoy this video 
Today in class, we watched a video on how computers get infected and about viruses and botnets. A botnet is a group of computers that use the same application that is controlled by the owner or the software creator. Once the robot software has been successfully installed in a computer, this computer becomes a zombie or a drone, unable to resist the commands of the bot commander. Usually, the owners of the computers do not even know that their computers and their computers’ resources are being remotely controlled and exploited by an individual or a group of people. What a botnet does is it can send out hundreds of thousands of spam mail using the computers that they control. If the spam can hook at least one or two of the people that it is sent to, then they have succeeded because then they will get their information or the money that they want.
Another thing that you can control botnets to do is to shut down an entire website. What people that control the botnets do is order all the botnets to go to a certain website. When/if a website has too many people at one certain time, it ends up shutting down and beocming unavailable and people cannot acces that site.
There are ways, however, to try and prevent these outcomes. You can set up firewalls to protect your computer from viruses and botnets. You must always be careful with computers. Humans aren’t the only ones that get sick. Computers can get sick too. The only problems with computer viruses nowadays is that an infected computer will have no symptoms.
Picture Credit:
“If you can type, you can make movies”
That is the motto of Xtranormal. Xtranormal is a site where basically, if you can type, you can make movies. There are a variety of different animations. When you type in the text, your characters begin speaking. Xtranormal was fairly easy to use. You simply type in the text, and they speak. After that, you can add in different camera angles, facial expressions, and animations. However, what I found frustrating with Xtranormal is that when the characters are speaking, it sounds very awkward. You have to be sure to add in the correct punctuation in your sentence. Otherwise, they sound even weirder.
Overall, I found Xtranormal to be a really cool site, and I’ll continue using it in the future to make simple animation movies. Below is my very first video made on Xtranormal. Check it out ! (:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_z7qe2XItA&feature=youtube_gdata[/youtube]
For More Information:
http://www.xtranormal.com
“Magazines, TV shows and films are chock-full of toned women and muscular men without an obvious trace of body fat. Although such bodies can be the product of intense diets, workout regimens, genetics, cosmetic surgery or even photo retouching, adolescents are trying to get those same physiques through dietary supplements, hormones and steroids.” (“Lawrence Journal-World & News”) http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/aug/16/study_teens_see/?living
Nowadays, so many young teens are obsessed with their physical appearances. Most teens are not satisfied with their looks and/or body and wish that they looked differently. Sometimes this obsession with how their bodies look can lead to severe mental problems such as eating disorders. For example, Anorexia and Bulimia. Most of the cause for the obsession with how we look is from the media. The media is constantly showing us pictures of “perfect” people. These images are everywhere. They’re on television, in magazines, on the internet, etc. They are giving people the wrong impression that you need to be beautiful to be happy.
Magazines, however, state that they assume that the readers of their magazines know t
hat a lot of their photos have been edited and retouched. However, that is not true at all. When young teens look at the glossy pages of a magazine, they believe that’s what you have to look like to be liked by everyone. We get the wrong impression that being thin means being beautiful and being happy. Young girls and boys do not realize the fact that all the pictures of “big stars” and the “top celebrities” that appear in magazines and on the internet have probably all been edited or retouched in one way or another, and that no one in the world is completely perfect.
Therefore, I think that magazines should either show more pictures of real people that aren’t edited and look as they actually should. It is terrible that people have this false perception of how beauty equals happiness. The media is causing a lot of problems nowadays showing the viewers all these false images. It is especially corrupting the young teens, and it is very bad, and it should be stopped.
For more information:
http://kidshealth.org/teen/food_fitness/problems/body_image.html.
http://parentingteens.about.com/od/bodyimage/f/media_bodyimage.htm.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/04/28/48hours/main551362.shtml.
http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/retouch/glamour-model-retouch.jpg.
http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2006/10/18/media_advertising_reality_and_the.htm.
http://www.baysideonline.com/8082/medias-teachings-of-beauty-to-our-teenagers/.
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/aug/16/study_teens_see/?living
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-07/cfta-tdb071603.php.
Picture Credit:
http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/retouch/glamour-model-retouch.jpg
http://pixelperfekt.com/gallery/albums/userpics/normal_retouch2.jpg
Notes:
· Mergers are when things in the background interfere with your main subject in the picture
· For example, a tree in the background might happen to be right behind of where a person is standing and it looks like the tree is coming out of that person’s head
· Mergers are sometimes difficult to spot when you are actually taking the photo, but afterwards when you look at the photo, you can see the mergers very obviously
· You can also cause mergers when you cut people’s head off or their feet in a picture. This is called a border merger. This is caused by poor alignment of the photographer’s eye in the camera viewfinder
· Near mergers are not as bad, but they can end up stealing attention away from the center of interest.
· Near mergers are other lines or objects that are simply too close to the object of interest. For example, if you take a picture of a girl holding a red ball, and there is a red boat in the background and the two things happen to collide, it takes away focus and the photo doesn’t turn out very well
To avoid mergers, you should try and focus not only on the object that you are taking a picture of, but the photograph as a whole, including the background
The photo on the left is an example of a merger. The bed post looks as though it is coming right out of his head, and it ends up making him look quite silly. I might have not seen that when I was taking the picture, but it is very obvious now that I look at it afterwards.
The photo on the right is an example of how I could take that same photo and try to avoid the merger. I’ve taken the photo so that the object of interest is actually next to the bed post, not right in front of it. This makes the whole photo look better as a whole.
Notes
· Framing is placing the subject of interest with objects in the foreground
· This can give picture a more sense of depth
· Some example of “frames” might be trees in the foreground or other buildings in the foreground, etc.
This photo is an example of framing because it has a sort of “frame” around the main subject. It has objects in the foreground that gives the picture more of a sense of depth.
Notes:
· The camera viewpoint and subject must be placed carefully to create a well balanced photograph
· Good balance is the arrangement of shapes, colors, or areas of light and dark that complement one another so that the photo looks balanced
· Symmetrical balance is another way to achieve good balance in a picture
· Symmetrical balance is when you have the same thing on both left and right sides
· Non symmetrical is another tactic
· This is when, for example, both sides of the photo have a statue head in it, but one side has a lopsided and smaller head while the other side has a straight, big head
This photo has symmetrical balance. Both sides are more or less the same, and the background is also the same on both sides. There is a person on each side of the photo.
Notes:
· Lines play a very important role in composition
· Diagonal lines are dynamic
· You can use diagonal line as a simple way to lead into the picture
· You can also use repetitive lines to draw attention to the main subject
This picture is a good example of lines because it has repetitive diagonal lines. It also provides a simple way that leads into and out of the picture. The diagonal lines are dynamic.
Notes:
· Rules of thirds is used as a guide in the off-center placement of your subjects
· Imagine that your camera screen has lines going horizontally and diagonally. Your objective with rules of thirds is to try and take the picture at the intersections of the lines
· In rules of thirds, you have to give space for the subject to move so that it doesn’t look like it is about to fall right out of the picture
This picture is an example of rule of thirds. If there were horizontal and vertical lines in the picture, my subject would be right on the intersection of those lines.
Personal Goal-
Improve my Korean writing and speak more Korean at home because right now I’m not very good at it. Be nicer to my little brother to get a new cellphone because my old one is so slow. Study for SATS so I get into Standford summer program and get to see my best friend, Helen.
Professional Goal-
Do homework the day I get it. Don’t procrastinate because then I will get behind and I will have less time to do my work and then get bad grades. Get good grades in school so that in the summer I’ll get to go to Shanghai and see my friends.
