Letters from Lilongwe

The purpose of hosting this blog is to give my mind the ability to release all that clogs it during the day.  After a day of studying and being active my mind needs a restful time to reflect.  This blog as my required English 1102 blog before is a great place to throw ideas and thoughts.  Hello Word All is Good in NC

THIS IS NOT A FILLER POST. IT IS RELATED AND INTERESTS ME. Today while reading something on the internet I came across an article outlining the attacks of a group of hackers who call themselves Anonymous. I have heard of this group before because they attacked the Church of Scientology causing there website to go down due to Distributed Denial of Service attacks. These DDOS attacks have been used by the group to protest other groups and even governments. The latest activity of the group is over the arrest of J.Assange the founder of Wikileaks. After the arrest the Wikileaks page was attacked by a similar DDOS attacked that was performed presumably by the US government over the recent release of sensitive Cables. Therefore Anonymous struck back at several companies had pulled financial support of Wikileaks. Called "Operation Payback" this group of global hackers have been using Facebook, Twitter and other social network sites to spread the message of which site to at

As I worked for only a little under one hour hunger and lack of liquid was causing my stomach to yell. Therefore I decided the vending machine was only a couple of paces away and would not miss a Minute Maid Lemonade. When I got up from this 30+ inch screen I nearly forgot where I was in the Library and how to get to the other side of the commons. This was a very weird experience but now its time to get back into the web-page creating mode. Over and out from LEC

A pilot program for the newly announced Chrome laptop is open to the public. Therefore I have placed my name into the program just to see what happens. They ask certain questions in the application process and here are my responses. All if good in Glenn, now onto some food!!

I started working on my webpage around the time the assignment was announced and would say I have invested around 15-20 hours in its development. Wix.com is a simple easy to use drag-and-drop service to create polished flash based webpages. It has been actually very fun creating the page because its a learning experience. The information that fills each page was cultivated from our discussions and readings during the year. While writing I just tried to tie the symbolism that my illustrative essay presented and the content that we have focused on during the semester. Please read over the not quite finished page and give some feedback. http://www.wix.com/paulshackelford/themask Thanks All if good on the 2nd floor of the Library.

Tonight I am in the airport getting ready to fly back to Atlanta. While working on school work on my computer I took a short break. Looking around at everyone around me in there own personal work. Couples chatting over a magazines. A teenage girl... Well they just delayed my flight another 30min. That girl keeps talking excessively fast and using "like" way to many times each sentence in her phone conversation. Thank the lord her call just got dropped, deng she just called them back. Poor lady at the register just found out she was going to no make her connecting flight in ATL. People are fat, not with a "PH", I look around and only see two or three people that don't have large pockets of fat all over there bodies. What have we come to as a society where we cant even maintain our physical health. Myself included we have gained weight at a rapid rate because of our overindulgent society. We just want a little bit more of everything. More money, more

Faith vs Reason as the mode to come to your conclusion or understanding. This was very common theme of the presentations. Some presenters fell heavily towards the division of faith and reason because faith has little proof and reason is ingrained in proof. While some presenters held my opinion that faith is based in reason and when applying a faith based approach you find reason in the argument. I believe that the Bible is proof Jesus and the fact that he died and raised again after three days. Without this reason based conclusion there is no bases to my faith. Therefore I approach the questions of faith with a logical comprehension. This explains why certain verses of the Bible that are either hard to understand or contradict each other are difficult to explain. When these topics are confronted I take a faith approach with the understanding that some ideas in faith are beyond logical comprehension. Thus I must follow the word of the lord and know that somethings are only reve

I have long felt this is an important field of study because the medium that we consume information defines the way we think. As we can find information at our finger tips from a hyperlink or google search we jump from topic to topic only skimming the surface. This problem is prevalent in my generation because we grew up as computers became the main mode of research. We never truly knew the day when we could only use print sources. Since my first real research in middle school the search engine has dominated my information quest. It was amazing how Carr was saying that even himself as a lit major has fallen into the trend of only skimming anything over four paragraphs. I felt my mind wondering ever couple paragraphs from the text. As I was about halfway through the text and it switched to a form without ads to break the text up my attention was almost completely lost. A main distraction is other parts of the internet that can run at the same time as a web browser. Back before

For the foreseeable future I am going to try to abstain from anything unrelated to school and family on the computer. This means no more wasting time just surfing the web. Time is very precious while in college because of all of the opportunities that are provided. This environment is amazing for growth and wasting time surfing on Facebook or basically anything unrelated to my studies is hindering growth. I am very excited about this decision because I will be able to be more efficient with my studies and have more time in general. My challenge to you is to evaluate the time you spend daily on the computer no just social networks. Then put a value to your time in a monetary sense and find if the time you are spending on the computer is worth the lost income. To God be the glory Paul Shackelford

This is actually a very interesting article relating the "death" of the paper medium and the advantages that digital media, ipad, bring to the table. This is stuff that i am very interested in because with this transition the entire writing, editing, publishing process can be changed to fit the limitless digital media forms Reference whatever conversation that erupts. fingers crossed, on Facebook over this article. http://www.facebook.com/Paul.Shackelford/posts/101998719872666 All if good while in God

As I am watching "The Corporation" on Hulu, I am interrupted periodically by advertisements that are trying to draw my thought and attention into their product. These images correlate completely with the stance that is provided in this documentary about the physiological effects of advertisement. It is very a strange paradox to be watching a movie about the power of corporations via the medium of Hulu which is owned by television companies that are supported through advertisement from corporations. Just a few thought while watching the movie. Time to return to the film.

As humans when we are alive, but when we are kept alive by machines we become cyborg. This raises the question about personal choice to stay alive via machines or pass into the afterlife. Therefore I decided to also read into this topic via a blog at this location. Read and post your thoughts about what was raised during discussion. http://www.steveverdon.com/would-you-rather-be-kept-alive-by-a-machine-or-go-when-you-believe-its-time.html Thanks for your participation. All if good at TX

Todays class was a great experience. As students we were able to look at others work and learn from there thought process. There were some amazing projects that were very thought provoking. Especially the very basic but beautifully portrayed hands of metal and earth. The project was amazing in my mind because of the elegance in simplicity. Over and out from TX

Rivets are a very interesting way to bind metal to metal. While working on this Visual Essay I found pop rivets around the house of Theta Xi. I started to work on the faceplate of my cyborg and one of my initial ideas fell through and I was left with my faceplate missing a chunk out of its head. Then the rivets came in very handy to reposition the forehead on the faceplate. Now my faceplate of a cyborg has a very mechanically replaced forehead. I am still in the process of finding a back story to apply to that aspect of the face. Most all of the aspects that involved in the face can be traced back to our connection with the posthuman. This project has been enjoyable up to this point. It is much funner to rivet than to study for my chem test. All is good in Glenn

After watching the movie tonight and started diving into the background of facebook and its evolution to this day. It is amazing to see the tranformation from an actual 'facebook' or online yearbook to the place that the website has come to be. In its infancy at Harvard Thefacebook was tailored to the college student trying to figure out someones relationship status, class schedule or club involvement. As the website grew from campus to campus, Mark and other members of the organization had ideas to build upon the framework of social networking to keep students coming back. Facebook went from being the 'cool' thing to do, to an actual part of your life. People, including myself can get lost in Facebook for a good 20-30 minutes just looking at photos. This part of Facebook was not an initial aspect of the page, but over time the visionaries have found new ways to keep students glued to the site. Facebook's goal is to keep you on there sight as long as possible

This combination of machine and man has always intrigued me. As we started at birth being monitored by machines to keep track of our health we became low level cyborgs. We were dependent upon technology for out needs. As westerners we depend heavily on technology and as our dependence grows stronger so does our use. Over time we will lose our humanity and converge with machine. The two will be hard to distinguish. This is our transformation from low level cyborg to high level. David Hess said, ”The future, so it is said, promises an deepening relationship with the machine.” This though is soon becoming a reality as we have a relationship with our phones, computers, and other interactive technologies we do become tied physically and mentally to the object. I wrote about this problem in my adventure report and essay because of my relationship with my Iphone. My Iphone was a part of my being because it could replace some of my evolutionary traits. Without my phone I became less

What truly resonated with me while reading this essay is the fact that as our weapons merge man and machine we become detached morally from the death that we bestow. We view the bomb that was dropped from a plane high in the sky though a computer screen, and we can only see the explosion. Losing track of the sounds of the carnage taking plan far below. The screams of women and children being burnt alive in the flaming house. We don't smell the burning flesh or smoldering ruins. As we view this death through a monitor we do not actually feel the emotions that come with experiencing that shock first hand. The members of the Enola Gay felt the impact that there payload created through the heat, sound, and sight of the explosion. The men, to there deaths, were haunted by the murder they had been ordered to deal. In our modernistic world we can deploy "Smart Bombs" from a bunker in Arizona, through a drone over Afghanistan, aimed at some small village to destroy "T

While reading "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury, it made me think about our dependence on technology. The children in this story had replaced there parents with the machines. The technology that surrounds these kids becomes there parents. They have shoe tiers, food makers, bathing machines, and all of these pieces of technology to make there lives easier. The parents both worked hard to gain this technology and ease in there lives but it allowed there children to lose dependence. This allowed the children to think that they could live without there parents. When the parents decided to shut down the machines Peter and Wendy felt as though there parents(those who take care of them), were being killed. The true parents must be protected, and the machines must not be turned off. At such a young age the children on the home didn't know the source of the machines. The father worked extremely hard to be able to afford such a nice house. This is a common problem in all childre

Coming into college I knew my time was going to be consumed by my main focus, learning. The problem is that the school work load takes away from my overall time to learn. To learn through relationships, opportunities, clubs, fraternities, and church. While my life is still searching for a balance that fosters growth in all fields I find myself diving only into schoolwork, mainly because of tangible outcomes. If you do your homework and practice the processes of learning the material, you can learn the material for school and receive good grades. Grades are a tangible outcome of school that can drive towards motivation. For other parts of college that build a well rounded person its harder to find tangible products. In relationships there is no grade presented for being a good friends or being a supporting shoulder when trouble comes. Therefore in the rat race of college we prioritize our relationships below our schoolwork. This is a sustaining balance because as humans relation

While at church last night a part of the message was given in-regards to our consumption in technology. This relationship makes spending time in our relationship with God more difficult because we never truly detach from our technology. It was amazing to hear some of the same arguments that have been posed in our class about our relationship with technology used towards religion. It works in the same terms as being disconnected from society while using social networking. When as a Christian every waking moment of our days is consumed with the world through our iPhone's, gadgets, and gizmo's we leave no time for our relationships. Relationships with people, God, friends and family, are hindered by the lack of community and connection. He reference his wife and how while out at restaurant she would tell him to put away his cellphone and pay attention to her. Both within religious and outside technology poses the same threats to relationships and community. As people, incl

What does the though about logging out of applications mean? While on Facebook, sitting in my room I accidentally hit the "logout" button on my iphone. It made me think are we physically logged into out applications and services? Are we jacked into networks connecting people from hundreds of miles away? When we log into a social media site we are "connecting" with out friends and family in a strange setting where we are not physically close to them but through our words and thoughts we perceive that connection. This beings about interesting questions that may arise in the future when a vaster network of machines and humans is developed. This infrastructure may be used to utilize GPS to streamline roads and eradicate traffic. In our near future cars will have the ability to drive themselves. A interconnected network automobiles will be able to "communitate" and "choose" the fastest most efficient path. As humans we will just sit back and a

When my iPhone died twice in one day leaving my security and social life in limbo I decided this is the perfect Adventure Report topic. I did not choose the topic the topic chose me. My phone during the day had become overheated, causing the battery to drain, leaving it dead within the hour. Without my precious device I had lost my memory, sense of direction, connection to the outside world, and communication with friends and family. All of the things lost are evolutionary traits of humans that now technology is substituting to make our lives easier and simpler. During the morning of Friday, September, 2010 I used my phone while searching for information, people, and dates of events. At the Theta Xi house I was asked questions about current and former brothers and the only connection I had to the wealth of information on the internet was my Smartphone. It is just so simple to be able to take a computer out of your pocket turn it on in an instant and access the internet with a to

Unedited - Stream of consciousness writing we did during class on Tuesday. We watched people and our surrounding and wrote about our thoughts and what we observed. As people walk past you can read there emotions and judge them on the outer appearance they give off. A woman looking broken and tired walking back to her dorm after a long days class can really allow you to view a small portion of her outer self being expressed through posture. Why do people wear designed cloths? What gain do you get from the nice polo or top that costs fifty dollars as opposed to the cheap Walmart t-shirt? People are often judged upon there outward appearance but most of the time the outward appearance is just a hoax. Trying to use make-up or nice cloths to cover up a hurt of damaged inside that cannot be repaired through emotional healing and must be covered up by materials. Why do human fall into groups? Why do we categorize ourselves and shape our lives by hanging out with people who look, act, a

Quick story behind my profile picture. I played football all four years of my high school career and was also in the marching Band all four years. I played middle linbacker, OL, DL, and FB for football and played timpani, basedrum, and snare for the marching band. Then my senior year in the fall my acting teacher told me to try out for the spring musical. My response, I don't have any acting experience past one church play without a speaking role. She told me that I would be fine so I eventually did agree to try out for the position as "Big Jule" in Guys and Dolls . She told me all I needed to do was act intimidating and use my size on the stage. I was awarded the part mostly off size and lack of male participation in our schools acting program and Guys and Dolls is a heavily male production. The entire experience was amazing and I wish that I had been more involved in the acting program earlier on and actually applied myself in the program. I doubt I would have e

Recently I have been attending Grace Midtown Church and I am very excited by the energy the congregation possesses. I come from a more tradition church background that was tailored toward college students but it doesn't compare to this contemporary service. My old church was around 500+ people per service, contemporary praise music, and a good mix or ages and ethnicities. Being in a college town (Chapel Hill) it attracted a good amount of college students from both UNC and Duke. Now after going to only two services at midtown I will compare the two churches. Midtown is filled with youth and joy for the lord. A large portion of the congregation (only about 100+ at a time) are young newly born again Christians. The passion that they give to the lord is amazing and is causing my eyes to be opened even more to the lord. I am very excited about this new opportunity to grow in the lord in a new city with new people. I do miss my old church and all of the relationships being left

http://www.highschoolot.com/content/video/7648536/ do videos count?

So tonight I went out with another AM from Theta Xi to a Buford football game.  They are the reigning state champs for the last three years and are still a great team this year.  While watching the linebackers just smash guys I was thinking about "Back in my day".  Just one year ago I was that guy out on the field smashing heads and enjoying the heck out of life.  Now time has moved on and I miss the memories of Northwood Football.  I miss the long days of sweat and sometimes throw-up that we as players endured for the common goal of winning football games.  I miss the brothers I grew to rely on while working as a team to play a very complex and deep game called football.  Some think that big, strong, fast people with little intelligence are the best at football.  Its truly the smart players who succeed on the field because reaction time and quick thinking wins games.  I miss the crowed after a big touchdown.  I also miss the tears after losing my final high school football

Hey, my name is Paul Shackelford.  New to Blogger