All of us has a first life but for others they get a second life too

Have you ever played a game where it never seems to end, there is always something new to do, a place you have never visit or just new people too meet? Then let me introduce you to Second Life, it is a virtual game on the World Wide Web that has become very popular to millions of people around the world. But what is so addicting about this game? How does it create an addiction for those who play the game so they will keep on playing? When I had first entered the game I was overwhelm with the likeness of the real world in the virtual domain. This virtual world place has everything that a person could want (besides food). This certainly lives up to the name Second Life. Because of the computer generated existence we live and look the way we do in real life, here we can perfect our avatar to the smallest detail : from our skin tone to the eye brows. In a world where there are limitless Boundaries and no laws everything is possible even the impossible. Later in my analysis, I will be discussing about the type of medium that allows us to play Second Life and the audience that surrounds it.
The Internet is the medium that provides us with this amazing game called Second life. By communicating with other people through a computer monitor we are able to hide our own imperfections that we do not want to project. It acts like a barrier, we see what others want us to see and we allow others to see us the way we want to be seen. Thus, this gives us the ability to create avatars to be the perfect cyber version of ourselves and changing or modifying our Identity. But what is Identity? This word alone is complex without a true meaning. In a sense Identity is how we project ourselves to other people that we meet. Second life allows a person who does not like their first life in a sense to start over. They can sign on and create a new image of how they want to be seen in the Virtual world. Their identity can change anytime with the features that Second life makes available to the user they can become anyone and look like anything. I think this is why Second life is so appealing to its users. Whenever in life they feel removed or outcast by those around them they get on Second life to seek refuge. They come on to a place where they are able to change who they are to fit in, unlike the real world. I can not simply go around making myself look taller when I am around people who are 6 feet tall or make my skin tone lighter or darker. In the real world we are who we are, but Second Life the limits are endless. I can become a lion, a cat; I can even change genders through a click of the button. Again there are no boundaries to what we can really do. We can travel around by flying, driving, and even teleporting. We can carry guns and be half nude and no one really deem it as different or unacceptable. This is a world where people fantasies come to life. It is promoted on there website; the have two perfect avatars looking happy with a big get started button.It is even in the slogan, "Your World. Your Imagination". Every thing on the website has its purpose, the colors the layout, they style, and it is all used to attract us. The best part about Second life that they make sure we recognize is that it is free; there is no downside in new comers trying it out. We do not pay anything and we get a chance to start over and begin a new experience.
Last week after watching a MTV clip entitle “I Live Another Life On The Web.” It talks about three different girls who were so fed up with real life that they retreated to virtual world to get away from there imperfections. One of the girls on there that stood out to me was Amy. She is a young musician whose dream is to make it big; however, she suffers from stage-fright. How can someone who wants to succeed in life as a performer when she freezes on stage? In order to deal with this dilemma she goes on to Second Life and creates a new identity. Here in the Second life she has virtual concerts and play for the residents that reside in Second Life. It seems that by hiding behind the computer screen she is able to live out her fantasy to play music. People that we have talk to in Second Life have openly admitted that they prefer their second lives over their first one. They seem to be more satisfied in the relationships and companionship the virtual world provides.
But if they hold such high regards to their virtual lives does in any way take replace the real world? Do people on here confuse their real identity with their virtual one? In an article by CBS they reported a strange kidnapping. Apparently a women name Kimberly Jernigan was arrested for charges of attempted kidnapping of her ex-cyber boyfriend on Second Life, burglary and aggravated menacing. She and her former boyfriend meet on Second Life. When their relationship went sour she resorted into trying to kidnap him with a teaser. This is a situation where the woman was lost between the real and virtual world. Originally I was dumbfounded by her actions to kidnap. It made no sense to me how a virtual relationship could be considered a real relationship. Since being Virtual is only as close to real as it can be but not being truly existing. However, as I read on and looking at her picture I started to understand why she was attracted to Second Life and why she held on to her virtual life just as if it was real. In today society people judge others on outer appearances. Honestly Kimberly was not much of a looker in the real world. But I am sure her avatar was different. She probably got attention from the residences of second life then she did in the real world.
In Second Life the audience that they are aiming for are the users and people who browse the internet. Second life is constantly changing to the demands of the people. People are building new homes, resorts, clubs, adding new features. They want to attract more people while keeping the ones they already have. Now it is not simply a game like halo or Super Mario. The people in this game consider this real. In another interview with a girl she straight up told me that her only real friends are the ones in Second Life. She seem to be offended when I mention how this was just virtual, nothing was really real. But to her and many others this virtual life is their life. They are on this constantly to a point that the only day light they see is the virtual sun in the game.
I can understand why they would be in this virtual world so much. Again, it is just the ability to live out ones desires, fix ones flaw, and the need for perfection. Everyone wants to belong is a place where people accept them. In Second Life different is the norm, people walk around looking like animals or beast and no one care. It is a place to unleash ones imagination without criticism. One point the audience of the Second life was just the users alone, it like reading a book the reader was the audience. However as times flies now the readers are writing there own books to their imagination. This is why significantly Second Life is so appealing. To be able create a happy ending for yourself who would not want that? It is games like these where it is amazing to see the lines of the real world fuse with the virtual.

Ups and Downs of Google

After going through the blogs of my fellow classmates a few had stood out to me; Nikki’s, Cris’s, and Dean’s blogs. It got me pondering about the benefits and set backs of Google in particular. In the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid” by Carr, he proposed the question is Google causing us dim down our intelligence? He describes different people who have been experiencing the lost in ability to focus on a certain task when they are on surfing the World Wide Web. Even in the blogs post by Nikki and Cris they describe how language and writing is dumb down significantly to accommodate those to lazy to use it properly. It is true people in today’s society now use text messaging, instant messaging, and emails. They use short hand text like LMAO( laughing my ass off), OMG( Oh my God) , TTYL( talk to you later), etc… I absolutely agree with their blogs that we are all just getting lazier. I admit I use short hand when I am texting. I can not say for others but for me almost each month I send out and receive at least 4000 text messages, its just one of the main ways I communicate with my friends, because I can reach everyone on my list simultaneously while I can only talk to one person at a time through the cell phone. Short hand slang makes it very fast and simple. However this problem with the grammar is something that needs to be fixed. I notice that I for one write the way I talk with others, I am starting to notice less and less the errors in my spelling and the slang is slowly taken over my vocabulary.
Nevertheless, there are benefits to using Google in today world. Like in dean have mention in his blog, and I very much agree, Google have become more then just a place to search for one topic. Google has become a place where we can use it to learn about different multiple things. If we are confused about a definition or a medical conditioning that has occurred with a love one we can look it up. For example in class crystal had mention that there was as study done where people in a certain profession and those not in the profession where paired up to see if there was a different in those who spent years studying it and those who was just given a pamphlet. She said the out come of the study made no difference between the professional and the ordinary people they were equal. In another example, on December of last year my friend Rose had to go through a little tonsillectomy, the removing of ones tonsil. It a little surgery, nothing major, the chances of things going wrong is not that high. However, I still felt the need to read it so I could understand the procedure, the techniques they could use to remove it, the recovery, and the risk. By being able to read about it on Google it help me feel better, I was able to use the information to help her have a better recovery, this does not mean I am an expert on tonsillectomy now, it just means I have a little knowledge of it. Crystal had quoted; “A master of none”. This is what Google and the internet does we are able to expand our knowledge so we know a little of everything but not all , unless we feel strongly about a certain subject we can dig deeper it all depends on us. The information is there all we need to do is reach for it.
This is what I believe as the Ups and downs of Google. It lowers our thinking in a way where we get lazy in properly using language and writing, so people start using slang and short hand, they lack focus on task that could seem too long, they are in need of action of some sort. But Google benefits us in a sense the information is there, about everything and anything we can imagine. We can use this information to increase our own knowledge. We do not need to just stop at on the surface information, we have the ability to dig deeper and deeper. This all depends on us, so next time anyone us are looking at a certain topic keep going so we can scratch off the surface and understand the text at a deeper level.

History of technology and the choices

When we think of technology the things that come to mind are ; super computers, microchips, robots, cars, Global Positioning System (G.P.S), PDA, the list goes on and on. However, original if you type in the term on Wikipedia, it states that the term technology was used as a concept as that deals with knowledge of tools and craft. In today’s era, that meaning is still true; we now have terms for specific things "construction technology", "medical technology", and "state-of-the-art technology.
Of course, the human race has advance so much in all of its technological fields. We have medical machines that are used to preserved life even though the body is in a vegetarian state. We have computers that can do math, calculations, and logarithms in seconds that will take us usually from minutes to hours. We have machines (i.e Robots, androids) that have the ability to move around and communicate to an extent. Scientist have created artificial limbs for those who have theirs amputated for different reasons.
Also it’s simply amazing to see how much it has advance, in the 1960’s they only starting making computers and no one even had their own since it was too big and expensive and now every home in America has at least one, portable or not.
And like we have discuss in class not every culture has ability to advance this high yet, and others choose to advance in some areas while ignoring the rest. Personally in my home country of Cambodia the technology there is still a long way from America. Not every home there has electricity all the time, the toilet aren’t flushable so u need to pour in your own water. However, like the native Americans , when we think of them we still have the images of people who lives in huts and are still hunters and gathers, this is not true, but it is what we are expose to and that is all we know. But now though as we think about Native Americans a new image is created, gambling, slot machines, poker, blackjack, paigow, etc… The Native American tribes have created casinos I different areas as a means on income. In California one casino I know of is Jackson Rancheria casino. Unlike other casinos like Reno, boomtown and those on the Vegas strip, this one allows adults at 18 and over to enter. I am not even going to lie; on my 18 birthday the first legal thing that I did was go to Jackson and tried my luck.
For now it seems like technology will only keep on advance who knows maybe one day we won't need school, all the information can just be sent directly into our minds.

familiarity with blogging

I wouldn't call this my first blog, over the years I've written down my thoughts online to share with the friends that I've had over the years on MySpace. These blogs are not made public to those strangers in the cyber world, but they are accessible to my friends and family. The reason I've written those blogs were just to share my thoughts with the everyone I know. I would post up questions on my mind, the things that made me confused or just random thoughts to see who reads them. However, like I have mention I am not used to posting them for everyone to see, from those I've never meet to those I don't know. But I think being able to write a blog has a lot more freedom then writing a paper with requirements. Usually I would write papers where I am focus on writing to a certain word count and I am not really focusing on the essay at hand. I think that writing these blogs will be a good new experience for me; this is my first time in a class where all my writing will be look at online. To discuss my relationship with writing, I can say it’s a very bad relationship. I would make common mistakes, mistakes that can be very obvious. Of course, this class will be very interesting to see how this blog will improve my writing.