thomasng [dot] net a nerds life. changing things one byte at a time.

Cheating in baccore classes… why!??

Why would you need to cheat in a baccore class? They are easy classes, though sometimes a little dumb. The girl sitting next to me in my GEO106 recitation was cheating on her America’s map quiz (it covered North America, South America and the Caribbean). That is SO LAME especially since the quiz was simple. She had her map with all of the answers stuffed in a spiral notebook. The notebook was stuffed into her purse that was on the desk … but positioned just so that she can lift the front cover to take a quick peek.

I became a snitch. That was fun hehehe =P I told the TA, then sat back down. He came around, but she put it away before he saw and pretended to be a princess. Too bad our TA didn’t actually catch her doing it. C’mon! This is an entry level course! I should have just called her out on it in class. Very blatantly*. YES. That would have rocked.

*Ahem… according to dictionary.com: “Blatant is sometimes used to mean simply “obvious,” as in the blatant danger of such an approach, but this use has not been established and is widely considered an error.” But I say I’m going to use it in that context.

Tasks for the weekend…

Ah… Here’s my weekly to-do list… but all for this weekend:

The important stuff (ranked by priority):

1. MTH255 – read over all of the material

(MT Monday 2/6)

2. CS391 – Quiz over chapter 5, available 2/3, 2pm. Due by 2/6, 11pm No quiz this week!
3. CS391 – Read over all material (Chapters 1-4) – (MT Friday 2/10)
4. GEO106 – Work on presentation. (Due Tuesday 2/7)

If I have some extra time (also ranked by priority)

1. GEO106 – Chap 4, pp 142-158 – S.A. Population and Culture
2. GEO106 – Chap 4, pp 158-164 – S.A. Politics
3. GEO106 – Chap 4, pp 165-176 – Brazil. Economy
4. GEO106 – Chap 1-2, pp. 1-75 – overview

Others (no priority, just would be nice):

Welcome to 2am… doing this too many times

It’s 2am! I’ve seen this hour for the last 5 days. I think I need to get to bed sooner

It’s been a productive weekend.. but for things that I don’t need to turn in for at least a week and not for stuff that I need to do this week.

I was able to finish:

1. CS391 – Essay #3 – “Sony’s DRM Meets iPod: Circumventing Copy-Protection Schemes in the Name of Fair Use?” (due 2/3)
2. GEO106 – remembered and quizzed myself for 105 Countries/Cities/landmarks (due 2/9)
3. HDFS201 – Homework #3 (due 2/10) – two weeks away
4. HDFS201 – Homework #4 (due 2/17) – three weeks away
5. HDFS201 – Homework #5 (due 3/3) – five weeks away … lol
6. HDFS201 – Take notes on chapter 1, 2, and 5
7. HDFS201 – “Study” for midterm #1 (Midterm on 2/2)
8. MTH255 – read over the material for section 18.3 – Path independence and vector fields

What I still need to do:

1. CS391 – Study/review for midterm (due 2/10)
2. GEO106 – Find and write a current event. (due 2/7)
3. GEO106 – Read for GEO and take notes for midterm (due 2/14)
4. GEO106 – Chap 1-2, pp. 1-75 – overview
5. GEO106 – Chap 3, pp 76-96 – N.A. Environment and population
6. GEO106 – Chap 3, pp 96-122 – N.A. Culture, Politics and Economy
7. GEO106 – Chap 4, pp 126-142 – S.A. Environment
8. GEO106 – Chap 4, pp 142-158 – S.A. Population and Culture
9. GEO106 – Chap 4, pp 158-164 – S.A. Politics
10. GEO106 – Chap 4, pp 165-176 – Brazil. Economy
11. GEO106 – Chap 5, pp 180-191 – Caribbean. Environment
12. GEO106 – Chap 5, pp 191-204 – Caribbean. Population and Culture
13. GEO106 – Chap 5, pp 204-219 – Jamica. Politics and Economy
14. HDFS201 – Study/read for midterm (due 2/2)
15. MTH255 – Complete homework for section 18.3 (2/1)
16. MTH255 – Read over all math material for midterm. Generate note card with what I don’t remember… type it up?(2/6)
17. MTH255 – Study for midterm (2/6)

It appears that I don’t like doing my GEO106 work. Oh well. It’s bed time.

CS391 essay #2 – Self-Censorship in Blogging

I would like to share with you an essay that I just completed for CS391: Social and Ethical Issues in Computer Science. I wrote it for our second assignment, it pertains to free speech and blogging. I thought you might find it interesting to read. Please leave any comments that pop in to your head!

Self-Censorship in Blogging: Ethical Considerations of Self-Published Content
Thomas Ng

The potential for an individual to express thoughts and beliefs have virtually become unlimited with the emergence of the Internet. The weblog, or “blog” for short, has grown in popularity and allows for individuals to express their interests, daily rants and feelings through a combination of text, images and even video. The number of blogs has grown dramatically in the past few years and I have become a part of this online community [1].

I currently develop for and operate my own website which is built around a blog that encapsulates my semi-daily experiences. I believe that this blog is an electronic extension of me. The First Amendment guarantees me the right to free speech in both verbal and written forms, because of this I have the power to share anything that I want to share with the public eye at a moments notice.

I can express my opinions in writing, but I have the sole responsibility of self-censoring what I post. If I use my blog in a negative fashion, I can be held accountable for any damages that may be a direct result. According to the U.S. Supreme Court, free speech is not an absolute right. Instead, it is a “private right that must be balanced against the public good.” Punishment, in terms of fines and potential jail time can be imposed for those who abuse this freedom with “libel, reckless or calculated lies, slander, misrepresentation, … profanity, … or ‘fighting’ words” (Quinn, 131).

I have, in the past, been tempted to write slander, profanity and ‘fighting’ words about Person X who had infuriated me, but I decided against doing so in fear of the possible consequences. Let’s examine the situation from an ethical standpoint to see if I was correct in my assessment.

According to the social contract theory, which states that it would be correct for me to “act according to a moral rule if rational people would collectively accept it as binding because of its benefits to the community” (Quinn, 84). If Person X had read my blog entry about him or her, it would have been clearly damaging to the individual. Slander about others is not usually accepted because it does not help to benefit the entire community. The same conclusion can be reached for profanity and other ‘fighting’ remarks. Therefore, I am not morally justified to blog with slandering, profane, or ‘fighting’ remarks about Person X.

Similarly, we can apply Kant’s second formulation, which states that one should not “use” another as a means to an end. My action of writing slander about Person X as a “put down” is a means to use them to an end because they have become a single target to vent my anger and frustration. In doing so, I have violated the second formulation of Kantianism. Therefore, it is not morally justified write such content in my blog.

Blogs and the Internet give individuals the power to reach every corner of the world. With the continuing popularity of blogs, bloggers must be self-conscious and self-censoring of what they post because free speech is not an absolute right. Slander, profanity, and ‘fighting’ words are among the items that are not protected by free speech. Here, I have applied the social contract theory and Kant’s second formulation. Both ethical theories conclude that writing such remarks, even in its electronic form, are immoral.

[1] http://www.orblogs.com/ is an example of an online community.