getting hyper

Sunday, March 30, 2003

Very well put, David. ;-)
posted by Norm Sunday, March 30, 2003

I started working on what I hope will be my final project today (the narrative) and boy can a hypertextual type of work become a mess fast. I'm trying to organize it all by writting small pieces on index cards and labeling one side so that I can understand what links to it. Somehow I still have not mastered writting directly in an electronic form without the assistance of traditional media: the pencil and paper.
posted by Marianna Sunday, March 30, 2003

Thursday, March 27, 2003

I haven't posted in a while and I feel bad... so I figured that y'all might want to see my thoughts.

today is 3.27.02 and i am feeling extremely sorry about not having posted for since spring break, but i have an excuse. that excuse is that my computers had a hangnail that refused to allow it to access the net and my comp at home is slow as molasses and wont do anything at all. in fact when i went to college i had to get a new computer rather than take the families b/c the one at home doesnt do antything. like for instance if i want to write my autodesk stuff to disk it takes twenty yeats and the n reports that the memory is full or some other similar message. usually ithere is some kind of number reference code like 'error in sector 234980428932-f. ' these are irrelevant and only mean thant the whole thing isnt working and tough cookies. so neways i havent been able to access the net and im in the erc now. jd was really nice and helped me carry my comp down from oit which was supposedly fdixed, except it doesnt work with my mouse. when i plug my mouse in it displays a simple IBM logo and nothing else which is essentiuaklkly useless for my purposes. thats b/c brooksie chewed it and frayed it and the comp eapparently needs to detect a mouse to boot up. stupidf microsoft. so neways its 19:223 amnd om on the library comp and have decided to write my thought s to the weblog auntil i get boered. of coursde that means that i have to type a s quick as possible so i dont klose my train of thought which is a losing battle. and the kid next to me has ta yelloewish t-shirt; it should be a white shirt but the lights in here make it yellow. imve been thinklingt about compression limits a lot today becuase its nice out. somehoew nice weather makes me want to take walks and think a bucnch. i do more chatting i think when its lousy out. but im a gimp momemntaritly =so that failed utterly. that reminds me of matt winter from my school. he halwayhs used to say that. in fact he signed my year book 'o well now ill def fail' meaning that he would miss me at rit. its kinda cruel how we lose track of ppl over the years. thank you im fort keeeping me in contact. i speak from experience. my mom talkes to like 2 of her high school friends. she had a whole slew of friends but only a few best friemnds kinda like me. but then she lost contact w/ them because she was lazy and didnt want to take the time to pick up the phone, call for no reason. caslling for no reason makes us feel uncomfortable but is one of the best networking techniques ever invented. for that matter id like to see someone, anyone who's successful socially - not lauded for some stroke of genius but loved socially - who doesnt make random fone calls. a waste of time my&*(%^ . so limiting information yes. the idea is that a perfect transmission has some lowest possible number of bits that will communicate a given message. we can find out how efficient a language is by how many extra characters is needed to convey a given arbitary batch of information. this gives rise to diff eq's and statistical analysis. i think i would like to do a major project on statistical analysis of language. my H% finding was interesting enough. to merit more work in the field. to be sure it will keep me occupied. i talked to ppl over break which was a plus. also went back to the high school, at kh kcm jh etc. this is not to say btw that one work cant convey a lot of information. it can; one bit is enough to triggger a long process. but if it is that process must be pre-implanted into the compiler. aka an integral sign is just a stupid shape. when discribing nouns compression is always extremely lossy. for instance the word ' book' doesnt tell anything except a rough image. further description is necessary. to describe the phenomenon perfectly requires knowledge of the exact position and momenta of all of the subatomic particles associated with the book, which according to heisenburg is impossible. related is that i think the jewish hot sdogs they offer in ro-bro are for the birds. good german franks like hoffmann's are necessary and proper. the hoffmann hot haus is the bomb. and also i hate hot dogs afgter the contest so they've got to be good. i remember see ing a german postage stamp oif heisenbug with a formula of his , uncertainlty on it. the thing was .85 dm and had a bunch of german sayings onm them so i was reminder fof german fgranks. qed. the time is now 19:42 and wordpad just wrapped over to the next line. it surprisedf me b/c i thought that i cousld simply type forever in the one line and my words would stretch on and on and on to infinisty withought the program ever stopping the procgression of the letterage. i guess i was wrong. another romantic myth exposes.d. its like oatmeal. i thought falling oatmeal would teach me a lot but it didnt excpet for that the littlee grains like the brown sugar falls to the oustside of the pile and faster. also a bnit about waves when i shook the place. stupid old results. i think that i f i had to cook something for myself i would fail utterly. leave me in a kitchen with eggs and flour and sugar and ill eat the eggs, then try on the flour-sugar mix if i get hungery enough, som uch for cookies. my incompreytance is astounding. chex ceraeal. some times i want to eat frosting straisght from the jar. somethimes i dont. on another note i just heard about a kid who would spend like 4 dollars on school food every day: a soda, a personal calzone let's say, a pizza, a cookie, a bunch of sugar. suagr was an important part of this kid's diet. it's interesting to listen to people takl;e about kids like that. two girls just walked in and sat down at the computer next to me. theyre obviouslt unrelated but theyire hair is dyed the same colour and theyre wearing basically the same clothes, def tehe same assemblage. and i found myself wondering weather they werre more than just friends. i guess thats on my mind because of the poster thats posted right outside my door in my dorm proclaiming nat'l gay and lesbian week. or maybe month i didnt read it carefully. i dont consider myself a homophove, too leftist for that, but . but. and i wish theyd move it form right next to my door so that it looks like im pormoting something. i feel confident in my sexuallity but i dont know what other ppl might think. first impressions mean a lot. and one of the girls just took off her shirt. theres a black one underneath so i no theyre no t that way. what a waste of valuable discussion time. i mean seriously. my elbow itches even thou i scratched it and . isnt it funny that when u think about scartching an itch others appear? is that because they realize that u have a propensity for scratching a the moment and theyve been supressing the urge to scream tickle me the whole time? or is it b/c the nerves area ll connected and ur body radiates itches, witchout any real clue of where the itch is. hydra biology is like that. ive always wondered why studying hydras is one of the important things that we do in general bio but never had the opportunity to figure out why. the only thing that i can think of is that its so incredibly different than ppl that the bio ppl think that if someone who takes the regents decides to design an animal a hyhdra will be particularlyhelpful. moves to a diff beat compris? regents pfff. so neways i called up this corey guy who fixed my computer and was going to give him a tongue lashing but i didnt have to b/c he told me how to fix my comp really fast over the phone. guess i had two problems? ah well who knows. a car just drove by. its dark out now, completely, but i could see the headlights through whatever it is that they put over the windows in the erc. actually i wonder why it is that they covered the windows too and also what it is. maybe a little about the company who installed them too, thao thats not terribly inmportamnt. ah yes a sustainable future in our hands. whatever happened to clarkson sustainability? i think we need a class that implements the research that the previous two classes worked on. otherwise, what was the point of their research. r&d without d makes a lot of wasted work. that r might as well stand for rhetoric for all the good its doing. sorry socrates but rhetoric is useless. so is this litttle textual string that im typing. wow that reminds me of ash. useless. Useless. YOU-seless. YOU!! for graduation my friends and i wore hats that spelled out YOU!! which was what we enjoyed screaming at unsuspecting freshmen. good times were had by all back in the day. high school was probably quite unpleasant but all i can remember about it was all of the good times we had. optimism rules. an optimistic person can turn a molehill into a mountain and then climb the mountain and enjoy the view from the top. and sing a lot. yes i remember high school as a whirlwind of a time and will probably remember college as the same.
posted by dave Thursday, March 27, 2003

David, if I might, I'll point out that the spoils system has been in existence since the illustrious President Andrew Jackson, if my history serves me. "...Andrew Jackson, a Democratic-Republican from Tennessee. His party had great support in the South and the West. Jackson changed the party's name to Democrats." - http://www.thesurrealist.co.uk/slogan.cgi

But what, exactly, is wrong with giving the contract to a company that has not yet gone the way of Enron, choosing to at least get something that our leadership trusts immediately rather than wading through a long bid war - speaking of which, aren't we all for peace anyway? ;-) :-D
posted by Norm Thursday, March 27, 2003

“Tragedy tells us that our weblogs are the playthings of the Gods, subject to the whims of fate and fortune.”

Isn’t this an incredible reflection? Yet, is it accurate? I came across this quote by linking from the course reference page, to another page, to another, until I was mildly “lost” as Hope so accurately named the situation in her project, and happened to find this incredibly interesting take on weblogs. I’d like to think that each of us has the background and, therefore ability now to formulate comprehensive, even if they are elusive, opinions as to the accuracy of this statement. To me the statement has been proven, or at least appears to maintain a moderate to highly prominent level of esteem when considering both personal weblog writing and that of our collaborative, class efforts.

In my personal weblogging experience this idea of fate, dictating the ultimate form of weblogging is intriguing. I don’t necessarily agree with the notion of this fate being in the form of a tragedy, because it seems as though the very essence and chaotic beauty of weblogging, is a result of the randomness of thought progression, and somewhat weaker bond (connections) between entries. Weblogging allows one to seamlessly chaotically order thoughts, ideas, notions, metaphors, computer links, and other areas of interest into a mesh or web of knowledge. I find myself writing on anything from frustration, to scholarly and insightful reflections. While even those writers who attempt to orderly or systematically arrange weblogs might feel that fate and chance do not shape their works, in essence the nature in which a weblog is read most certainly dictates some form of entropy, if not respects it as the ultimate glue of such literature.

Our experimentation of a getting hyper is a totally different experience, or perhaps greatly amplified example of how randomness, chance, and whim are driving forces or motives behind a liturgical work. Consider for example the variety of topics explored: politics, class readings, anger at showerheads being stolen, emoticons, weird/interesting links (aren’t they one in the same) personal experiences, cell phones, heated debate…………. It seems as if this all can not even conceivably fit. Yet, the very nature and essence of weblogging expects such a progression of thoughts, if it can be called a progression, especially considering the nature of getting hyper is collaborative. Thus the order (chaos), consistency (complete, utter and confusing randomness), and beauty (murky, mucky, and multi-tonal) consistency of our class weblog, demands reverence to the fateful and miraculous forces forging its grace.

Any other thoughts on this?

By the way, I ordinarily don’t use run on sentences, but in expressing my thoughts of this entry, and any weblog entry for that matter, possibly because the importance of disorder in weblogging, I find that run on sentences consistency match and facilitate the flow of thought from my brain onto the page, as they are expressed in an electronic textual version.

posted by Marianna Thursday, March 27, 2003

Wednesday, March 26, 2003

Sure it published that insignificant piece of hypertextual junk.
posted by Marianna Wednesday, March 26, 2003

Okay, so I just spent about 15-20 minuets typing lengthy and insightful entry and the computer erased it!
This is frustrating!
posted by Marianna Wednesday, March 26, 2003

Tuesday, March 25, 2003

It's encouraging to claim that books will not become obsolete. Personally, I think huminity would become even lazier than it presently is if computerized literature became the essence of reading. Could literacy completely be abolished some day if electronic type text revolutionized so far that visulizations, sounds and media we can't even presently concieve replaces words? If this occured would literacy become null, or would the ultimate meaning of being literate merely change?
posted by Marianna Tuesday, March 25, 2003

For all you avid disciples of the (hyper)text debate, here is the link to my project site: http://www.clarkson.edu/~matish/Hypertext.htm
posted by Hope Tuesday, March 25, 2003

Monday, March 24, 2003

Christa... I'm glad you are agreement with me that it seems like CNN knows about new war developments even before military personel that are involved in the war... Maybe you have gone too far when soldiers are watching CNN for news updates about the war that they are part of. And another thing... Not to belittle any of the forces that are over there--I have complete respect for the situation that they are in--but the media is building mountians out of molehills. On the first night when the US hit the "target of opportunity" they talked about it for well over and hour while I was watching it.. hashing and rehashing it... they even commented on a dog walking by the camera that was stationed in Baghdad... What's the deal? I know they have up to the minute coverage, but sometimes maybe they should get away from it.
posted by Josh Monday, March 24, 2003

Saturday, March 22, 2003

I guess vacation is coming slowly (quickly??) to an end... And I promised myself I would post to the class weblog before it was over, so here goes. After Andy had presented on hyperlinks and how they interconnect webpages in a very web-like manner (well that would make sense), bringing up points about the different types of links that exist I got to thinking about that idea of any page being able to connect anywhere. More specifically I thought (more) about a "correct" link and an "incorrect" link. I think the web is very neat because you can link to anywhere else on the web, but at the same time, you need to ask yourself, do I want to? I mean I could go through my post afterwards, take key words and phrases, paste them into Google, and make it link to the first hit that comes up... But how pertinent is that? Or is it? Since the web links thoughts & ideas, wouldn't it just make sense to see where other words or phrases popped up on the net and link those ideas to/from my own? Or would linking a lot just distract too much from what I am trying to convey with hypertext? Or would it offer more flexibility to the hypertext reader to branch off from my thoughts into their own ideas? I really have no answers for this, but those are some questions that I have been considering. As a side question... what does everyone think makes a good website? (other than having a specific purpose...) Like... design features I guess. When you first go to a website, what do you want to see? What makes you immediately hit the back button? What makes you stick around and read what there is to say? Hmmm...

posted by Josh Saturday, March 22, 2003

Thursday, March 13, 2003

Well, hello again everyone~
My silence is finally broken; you may all cheer or curse according to your preference - weblog anonymity! Here's my "overwhelmingly insightful" idea for today.

On Hope's page, there is a quote by John Brunner that says, "There are two kinds of fool. One says, 'This is old, and therefore good.' And one says, 'This is new, and therefore better,'" that I like, though certainly there is a myriad of other kinds of fools. I must always remind mysel - *sigh* I'm out of inspiration already.

I feel like I'm sinking. Sinking more and more into a world where it is promised that all knowledge will be laid out for all to find and yet is held just beyond availability; a world where attention span is shortened by every single electron that pulses through every single wire that brings organized messages to an output device; a world where I cannot learn or concentrate or even read for more than thirty seconds without being distracted by someone just as bored as I am, or a new link, or some overly cheap, quaint, and sensational self-help article or advertisement.
The people we have to choose from to run our country are no kind of leaders worth considering. Their debates prove to be no more than a slugging match between two oversized, gymclass morons. Our televisions and computers (they are the same thing), however, glorified them, and we accepted it like sheep as important political debate! I'm sinking.
We live in an age where some people actually blur the distinctions that make life real, and people can clone themselves, create cyborgs - sure a Godsend for the paralyzed - and actually prefer it that way because life means no more to them than going to a dead end job every day, making money and getting laid. They take it just as easily. I'm sinking and drowning and it feels so meaningless. The Stranger, anyone?
This post has taken me longer than half an hour. How long would it take you? I'm sinking and it feels so urgent to break out, to learn and to do, but this post will go down with the rest, and some people might respond to it, and I'll read what comes next and next and next. I'll go play a computer game now because I don't really want to do my homework. What was I writing about, again? I have to break the cycyle, have to - and yet I am posting to this weblog.
posted by Norm Thursday, March 13, 2003

For those of you who didn't think I could do it before getting distracted: Introducing the Inverse Laplace Transform on Matlab, with the definition and other methods of solving it. So ha!
posted by dave Thursday, March 13, 2003

Wednesday, March 12, 2003

O.K. Here's is my project site:
http://www.clarkson.edu/~markerdf/emoticon/emoticon.htm

Keep in mind that there is a lot more explanation that is not written up (that I might eventually present) than is on the site right now. So no bashing it (yet, at least).
posted by Dan Wednesday, March 12, 2003

Tuesday, March 11, 2003

Just a note to anyone who may be avoiding the latest reading assignment in Lanham: I actually enjoyed Chapter 9. Seeing that this has never happened for me before with Lanham, I would highly recommend that you guys take the time to actually read the chapter. It's actually kind of amusing.
posted by Anonymous Tuesday, March 11, 2003

Justin-- awesome project! I totally agree to your interpretation of Presidential rhetoric. In a way your presentation resembles a computerized version of a political cartoon, which brings up some very interesting points. I thought your presentation was particularily affective in the manner in which certain pharases were given the exact same definition as others, indicating a uniformity in the manner of presidental rhetoric.

In another sense though, your presentation was biased, or well-- more exactly just another utilization of rhetoric to express your opinion as to the superficial context of Political speech. It would be really interesting for someones else to build upon your project by interpreting your interpretations.
posted by Marianna Tuesday, March 11, 2003

Monday, March 10, 2003

Just to go back to Saturday's conversation for a bit...
"A person is smart, but people are wild, panicky, dangerous creatures, and you know it."
-MIB

Basically what I'm trying to say with that there random movie quote is this. It is very hard (bordering on impossible) to change a single person's opinion; but it is very easy to sway the opinion of a group of people. Rhetoric is a tool which can be used to sway the masses, not so much to sway individuals. That sounds like a conflicting statement, but it's true. The most dangerous thing on the earth is stupid people in large groups.

:edit: Kyle was, is, and will always be, wrong.
posted by Dan Monday, March 10, 2003

Friday, March 07, 2003

Couldn't help but notice the negative side of rhetoric put forward in K&K's presentation on Thursday; I realize only that one side was being tackled, but...is everyone who stands behind a podium to be immediately discounted as manipulative and deceptive? Are they actively attempting to pull the wool over our eyes and sway us into accepting flawed beliefs, or are they simply trying their best to be convincing? Are we too inherently suspicious to decide?
posted by Hope Friday, March 07, 2003

Nice presentation yesturday. I think it would be interesting to look more deeply into the the rhetoric utilized by Hitler, even some specific examples. Did you guys come across any interesting resources for speech or visual examples of Hitler's rhetoric that are web based?

posted by Marianna Friday, March 07, 2003

Wednesday, March 05, 2003

Just as a thought I had when Norm was giving his presentation... Or, a thought of which Norm reminded me....
Norm described a gradient of sorts in formality of writing. With a hypertext weblog "journal" of sorts being the most unstructured/free form and a "traditional" essay as the most structured. I think the one of the most unique things about a weblog is that people have no "template" for how a weblog should be... There is no right and wrong with a weblog. With an essay, you need to have particular parts--an introduction, body and conclusion (usually). However, with a weblog, you can pop in start and entry anywhere, end it anywhere, and say it in any way you want. A weblog is an excellent way (in my opinion) to open up a tap of your consciousness and your thoughts and just let them drain out for others to see. Not everything, but selected parts that you think are significant. That feature, in combination with the hyperlink allow for ideas to build on one another...maybe you dont need to write the whole paper. You can just link to someone else's idea that you are building off of.
When I sit down and write on my weblog more often than not I am writing for myself. Expressing myself, letting off some steam in some cases, addressing what is interesting to me in others. My long term goal is to look back on my weblog after I have been working on it for a few months and ask myself: does this reflect who I am? Do I see myself in my own weblog? If I can answer honestly yes, then I have been successful. The flexibility of a weblog I think has the ability to better capture all of the unique traits that make up a person...much better than the voice in any essay could...*wanders off into more thought...*

posted by Josh Wednesday, March 05, 2003

Thank you, Marianna. I appreciate it and your presentation makes a lot more sense to me now.
posted by Anonymous Wednesday, March 05, 2003

Tuesday, March 04, 2003

Okay, first of all: http://www.clarkson.edu/~petkodl/Exploring%20Rhetoric.htm is the URL to our project website if anyone cares. Second, I find that I am very particular with who uses certain nicknames of mine. My friend Sean at home calls me D, and when he calls me D I like it, but if anyone else calls me D, it kind of makes me shudder. I have other nicknames, such as Danielle-Michelle (which we won't get into), and although I don't like them at all, I've come to accept them from the people who originally came up with them. If anyone else calls me that, they get glared at. But yeah.. good night.
posted by Anonymous Tuesday, March 04, 2003

Think about this linkAstroids: CNN (taken from Daily Jolt)

Scary and fuel for a heated debate, I might say.
posted by Marianna Tuesday, March 04, 2003

The link between greek rhetorical philosophy and modern presidents, dealt primarily with the responsiblity of the president to use rhetoic in a moral manner, and the power rhetoric itself was described as providing. Isocrates, claimed that a greater power could be obtained by a political leader, if rhetoric was used in an ethical manner, proving the leader was the eptiome of citizenship. Likewise, other philosphers like Plato warned that rhetoric was nothing but harmful to the public, and a manipulative art. Both of these ideas directly played into the presidents' attempts to both appear ethical (Bush and Reagan) while disguising other motives, and to become like all other citizens (FDR).
posted by Marianna Tuesday, March 04, 2003

Justin: I figured out how to do your mouseover with a box. Use: a title = "text you want in a box/screen tip" surrounded by pointy brackets & close it with /a also in brackets. I can't put the brackets here because the text will be interpreted as html. There is a way to display html as html but I forget what it is & I'm too tired tonight to haul my butt downstairs & look it up.
posted by Joseph Duemer Tuesday, March 04, 2003

I think Christopher is onto something here. There's a relationship to the discussion of names, nicknames & titles, but the biz about identity is important, I think.

As for my various facets, I'd say that we are all composed of many facets. As a blogger I speak only for myself & I tend to speak personally because the medioum seems so conversational. In the classroom, though, while you can always trust that I believe what I say, I often consider my audience. I realize that I have students with various political, religious & social views & while it is my role as a teacher to get students to think critically about their beliefs, I don't want to impose my own positions on students. It's not that I try to hide my beliefs, but I tend to keep them in the background. What's important to me is that whatever beliefs a student has, they have been arrived at thoughtfully & honestly & not merely adopted from others.
posted by Joseph Duemer Tuesday, March 04, 2003

Here is one of my favorite bloggers talking about politics & blogs. Interesting.
posted by Joseph Duemer Tuesday, March 04, 2003

I just want to write a brief entry on today's project. I felt the project was done rather well and I enjoyed the presentation. I found it interesting, especially the focuses on the deception by the two presidents. My only question is, I missed the link drawn between the Greek philosophers and today's presidents. I must have missed that, and I was just curious to learn the overall relationship between the past and present. If someone could answer my question, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.
posted by Anonymous Tuesday, March 04, 2003

For those of you who couldn't get enough during today's presentation, here's the link to our site for exploration. Exploring rhetoric Also, It feels GGGGGGGGRRRRREEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! to have our project done.
posted by Marianna Tuesday, March 04, 2003

Well if nicknames tell a lot about your personality (or AIM names) then what does brncrmp (Braincramp) say about me.... oh wait... :-) I think this is a neat concept. In some ways it can be how you label yourself, but in other cases, it can be how other people label you. I won't be too "manly" to admit that I have had the nickname "Joshie" since highschool... Brings out my feminine side I guess? It was given to me by my US history teacher... but that is a story for another time...
posted by Josh Tuesday, March 04, 2003

Sunday, March 02, 2003

Here is an interesting idea. More on this. (Note that the "Arete" on this page, which means "excellence" in Greek, has nothing to do with CU's Project Arete. Here is this person's weblog. Read it. (She appears to be a grad student with an interest in the web & rhetoric. I'm particularly struck by her notion that weblogs might represent some sort of merger between oral & written discourse.)
posted by Joseph Duemer Sunday, March 02, 2003

Saturday, March 01, 2003

good question........hmmm, I'll have to think about it

posted by Marianna Saturday, March 01, 2003

How about M. Worczak CUHPFRBMSCSS?

I just want to know how to pronounce it.
posted by Joseph Duemer Saturday, March 01, 2003

Here's some more information on the misuse of rhetoric, i.e., propaganda.
posted by Joseph Duemer Saturday, March 01, 2003

Interesting idea Prof. now what should my title be. How about M. Worczak CUHPFRBMSCSS.

Anyone want to guess what that means? I made it up of course: Clarkson University Honors Program Freshman Runner Biomolecular Science Constantly Stressing Student.

I don't know, what should a title signify? Who you are, how you should be treated? Or what you occupation is? Does this satisfy them all?

posted by Marianna Saturday, March 01, 2003