4 Days!

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      Well, today was my last Monday in regular classes at SRHS ever. Its crazy. Feels like this year went by way too fast. Were almost halfway done 2013 already! It also feels like just last week I was blogging about how there was only 93 days left. Now, with there only being 4 days left of classes, not too many people actually do things in class, including myself. It feels like everything we’ve worked for over the last 12 years is just around the corner, which it is, and we just want to take in the last few days of being a high school student before leaving behind these hallways and classrooms for good. I know that most teachers are like “last week of school? I’ll teach until the last second of the last class on Friday” which seems completely logical, but c’mon. I think teachers should change their teaching plans to take the last week of school in consideration, at least for graduates. Half of us can’t even pay attention this last week and the closer we get to being finished, the more of us stop caring and some even stop coming. The assignment you assign the last week of school is just going to be another thing to stress about along with signing yearbooks, getting everything for prom, last minute scholarships, and quality time with your best friends that you won’t get to see much the rest of your life. Is that assignment going to matter 20 years from now? Nope. I’d rather my last week of high school as a time I spent enjoying with my buds rather than always working on school work until the last minute. Some teachers do realize this and have the last week to just review previous work, hint why its called review week, and I respect that. While others, not so much. Anywho, lets see how these next for days go!

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1) http://georgelitchfield.com/only-4-days-left-to-change-your-medicare-coverage-for-2013.html

Facebook Privacy 101

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      Facebook is usually a very public and open place. Whatever goes on there is usually seen by hundred of people. Having a filter of what you post on Facebook and other social media is important. Sometimes, something will get posted that ends up having a negative impression on you. This can result in lost friends, getting turned down when applying for jobs, and even getting fired. It’s actually easier than you think to prevent this. The simplest way to avoid this is to not put yourself in a situation where someone could get an embarrassing picture or have a reason to say something in appropriate. This goes from being overly intoxicated doing a keg stand at a party, to doing something illegal and someone taking a picture to remember it by. Those pictures can come back to bite you later. Even if you fail to go by this rule and pictures are taken by someone and posted to Facebook, you’re still not out of luck. The best thing to do would do remove your tag on Facebook, remove it from your timeline, ask the person if they would take it down, and even report the picture to Facebook if you really want it done. If you do that quick enough, not many people will probably get to see it.

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1) http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/02/02/facebooks-going-public-and-so-are-you/facebook-privacy-matters/

Coca Cola Covers Update

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Quick Update:

So I posted a blog about how Jed and I entered a Coca Cola Covers contest and the results are in. And the top 10 is….drum roll please…………………..not us! Oh well, there’s always next year. The top 10 was announced on New.Music.Live. (MuchMusic’s live tv show) and I was a little shocked about the contenders. It wasn’t because we didn’t make top 10, it was because of who did. I’ve scouted out most of the people who entered the contest looking at competition and only 1 of the top 10 was someone who I thought might have a chance. The other 9 didn’t catch my eye at all. Some of them were actually horrible. Not going to lie about it. I couldn’t even believe that some of them made it. I’ve seen sooooo many covers in the contest that were amazing, way better than any of mine and Jed’s covers, and they didn’t make it. To show you what I mean, I’ve posted the links to a example of a group who I thought should of made it and a group that did make it. You tell me what you think.

Here’s a group that I thought should’ve made to 10 and didn’t make it

http://www.muchmusic.com/contests/cokecovers/profile/jerrica-frankie/202/fallout

and here’s a group that made it

http://www.muchmusic.com/contests/cokecovers/profile/erccabexsto/595/the-a-team

1) http://www.weare1188.com/images/img2013_CokeCovers.jpg

Are we judged based on who we are on-line?

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 I think it is fair for people to be judged based on whom they are on-line to some degree. For the most part, I don’t think people should be judged from on-line behavior. Someone could be thought to be a jerk or really funny based off their on-line material, but when they are in person they are completely different. Maybe that person who was thought to be really funny has no people skills so it never shows. Also, most people won’t get others inside jokes. If a guy was to tweet “I <3 @mybestfriendwhoisalsoaguy” just because they are really good friends and someone was trying to find background information on that person and knew nothing else about them, reading that tweet could lead them to believe that they are homosexual and could possibly misjudge them if they are homophobic.

            I do think that people should be judged by whom they are on-line to some degree. Who you are on-line and off is still a life characteristic. Someone can’t expect to have a good reputation in they are a complete douche bag. Plus, if someone always updates their status and tweets about wanting to party and going to party and then see pictures of them hammered, it would probably be safe to assume that they are a party animal, possible candidate for alcoholism.

            All in all, people shouldn’t get completely judged off of who they are online, but who you portray to be on-line is usually at least a hint of who you are in person. 

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1) http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-05-07/work/32408632_1_social-networking-sites-online-profiles-linkedin

How we interact

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Social media has redefined how people communicate today. With the Internet being accessible mostly anywhere around the world, anyone could contact anyone continents away in seconds with the click of a button. Its crazy to think of how far communication has come even in the past 60 years. In some ways, I think that communication is bad from how easy it is. Instead of going out and getting the nerve to talk to someone in person first, some people will just talk to them on Facebook. Instead of asking a girl out in person, some people do it online or via text message. Some people say things to others online that they would never say in person. Some couples talk all the time online or via text message, but hardly talk and are all awkward when their in person. For these reasons, I much prefer meeting someone in person and getting to know them then before I talk to them over the internet or text message. Already knowing much of what there is to know about someone and already of had many general conversations over the internet or text message and then meeting them for the first time just seems artificial and weird to me.

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1) http://www.business2community.com/social-media/has-social-media-changed-how-we-interact-with-the-government-0310497

Coca Cola Covers Contest

     

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          The Coke Covers Contest is back for its 3rd year in a row and this year they added a new element to it: duets! This also just happened to be the first year that I was aware of this contest before the deadline and just so happens that there is only two people in my band so it worked out great! Just in case people aren't aware of this, its a contest where MuchMusic chooses 6 popular songs for people to cover. You can only choose from these 6 predetermined songs, nothing else. You can submit up to all 6 songs or only one if you wish.  Jed and I chose to do 3; 1 up-beat, serious song, 1 serious, slow song, and 1 up-beat, fun song. We are getting judged on our musically ability, creativity, and connection with the public. The top 3 in the contest get flown to Toronto in June for VIP tickets to the MuchMusic Video Awards (MMVAs), record a commercial for the contest, and play a live set. A winner is then selected and they receive a singles deal with Sony BMG, a music video for that single, guaranteed air time for that song, many concert opportunities, and so much more. It would be so perfect of a contest to win for us as we'd be graduating right around the same time the winner is announced and we'd just go from there. The Top 10 should've been picked last week but I think they will be picked on Monday. Wish us luck!

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1)Coke-Covers.jpg

Consumer Role

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            We actually have rather large yet easy roles in being television consumers. We have to make sure we don’t take everything we see on television as fact. Information that we are being fed through that magic box could just be opinion or inaccurate. We must realize this and make sure we do further investigating on a subject before we take it into our mind as being a factual thing. Usually, and I am also guilty of this, a person will see something on television and automatically program it into their mind as 100% true. Not everything ever created on video is true. I’m surprised that television doesn’t have a similar reputation as the Internet. Most people know that anyone could make up a website about something fake or post misleading information on any topic so it is usually not taken as fact. Well any television company can decide to punk the viewers with a fake event too. Look at the Bronswick Affair. That video really taught me to re-analyze all types a media before accepting it as truth because anything can be fake. Another example would be the war of the worlds. Everyone accepted that as truth in the moment because everyone just assumed that whatever was said through the radio was the 100% truth. We just need to make sure we don’t accept everything that comes through the television as fact. This is an awfully big task, but can be done by just sitting in a chair staring at a screen and existing. Simple enough. 

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1) 6a00d83451ee9f69e2014e8661ca67970d-800wi