Internet and Financial Aid

The other day I over heard some of my fellow classmates debating the idea of reforming the governments financial aid protocol for students because students are receiving more financial help from the government they actually need. Its an interesting argument for both sides. Obviously, as a student, I feel that education is an invaluable investment which the government would be wise to continue funding. Even though I feel this way, I do recognize that there are students out there that use their financial aid to fund trips, gifts, and other discretionary expenditures that have no bearing on paying for school. I think, the internet has helped facillitate the argument that students are given too much government money. My thought is this, many students advertise this on social networking sites like facebook through pictures and status updates. Bizarly, facebook targets students with sometimes personal and appealing advertising. One wesbite, studentuniverse.com makes traveling for students affordable with higher discount rates on airfair. The internet gives students more opportunity to spend their financial aid, and it gives them more opportunity to broadcast it.

I think money is money, and if you get a loan its up to you to be responisble with it. Its none of my business to comment on how people spend money. I am writing this only because I think some students further the 'reformists' by the questionable decisions they make on the internet. Money for education is fantastic and I hope it continues.

Facebook and my paper

I'm starting get sick of facebook. Sure its nice to stay in touch with all of my friends, but the web of interconnectivity is starting to make me a little worried. Recently, I have heard of a few local cases of women being harassed by former boyfrineds via facebook. The question, and we have discussed this in class, is whether or not this type of behavior is a violation of a restraining order. It gets a little stickier when the harassment comes from a made up accounts, created for the sole purpose of stalking and harassing others. How can you prove that your ex-spouse is posting comments on your wall when he is doing it through one of his family members accounts? Is it just me, or is the internet getting too intrusive?

So with this in mind, I am thinking about internet harassment as my paper topic. I need to find other websites besides facebook, thedirty.com, and myspace to research. If any body has happened to read this, and knows of other intrusive websites, please feel free to comment! Thanks

Sports and the internet

I was commenting on the eye broccoli blog about how irritated I am with the constant flood of news on the websites of major media outlets. I wrote about my tendencies to filter out much of what is written due to much of the biased and rushed reporting that is a staple of the modern day media. I began to feel a little bit negative after that post. I can think of many positive aspects of real time news reporting on the internet. In fact, I just got done checking a fantasy basketball team, and I am truly amazed on how much that industry has been affected by the medias handle on internet. The constant flow of information coming from the sports world has allowed millions of people to educate themselves in sports. Following any team in the world and betting on any team or athlete in the world is just a click away. 

I know I know...sports is just.....sports. But for many, turning on a baseball game at the end of the day has always been a great way to relax. Now, folks can relax and make a little bit of money at the same time. Can't complain about that.

Cairo and Journalism

To add to my last post....I was driving home from class tonight and decided to turn on little AM radio. The topic for discussion was the situation in Cairo and how reporters were trapped in the country. The on air personality, we will call him Dan, asked his guest, Pat, who is a reporter for WCCO news in Minneapolis, what his thoughts were about the reporters being harassed in Egypt. Here is a brief summary of what I heard Pat say: Cairo is where every reporter wants to be right now; the reporters should feel safe in Cairo because of the presence of  cameras and mass media attention the protests are gathering; 141 journalist deaths were reported over seas in 2010; CNN had damaged equipment and could not shoot live footage and ; NBC was shooting its coverage from a hotel room.

The two things I am thinking are: (1) Will the whole world turn into a bunch of animals if our governments try to take our Internet away? (2) This is just reinforcement for my decision not to become a journalist! I know there are more politics involved in the whole Cairo fiasco than just the Internet, but it scares the living daylights out of me thinking that a country would turn itself upside down when the Internet goes out.

P.S. Hats off to all the journalists out there risking life and limb to bring us that big scoop!