Wikipedia - Piracy (Media)

An excerpt from the Wikipedia article on Piracy

"Copyright infringement (or copyright violation) is the unauthorized use of material which is covered by copyright law, in a manner that violates one of the original copyright owner's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works that build upon it. The slang term bootleg (derived from the use of the shank of a boot for the purposes of smuggling) is often used to describe illicitly copied material."

-Wikipedia

Modern Day Pirates

Last weeks "Torch" gave me an idea of what i think I'd like to writ my report about. Media Piracy.

The following is nothing important, just another outlet that I may use for my proposal. Feel free to answer.

Have you ever pirated music?


If so, how often?


Have you ever felt guilty about pirating the music?


Have you ever watched a bootleg movie?


If you said yes, did you watch it online or on dvd?


Have you ever pirated software (Operating System, games, programs like Adobe Photoshop)?

A Late Night Thought

So here I am, 12 am. Im about to head to bed for school tomorrow, and am dreading it. All I can think to myself is, spring break at st. johns came and went to quick. I am not in anyway saying any of the work I got is overload, but just thinking about the long days ahead make me want to push fast forward and get to the part of my life where I'm making some money, or as a matter of fact, the part of my life where i can actually spend the money I make, meaning retirement. But I got to stay realistic, life isn't a VCR, you got to do everything to have everything and thats what I will always say to myself.

As I am thinking for a proposal for the English class, I'm reflecting on what I enjoy and what I would love to share with anyone who cares. I got my mind on several different things such as sports and even historical events dating way back to the crusades. I really want to do something that can be backed by all different kinds of information. Interviews, statistics, and books are definitely going to be at arm's reach through out.

Just thought I'd clear out my head in hopes of being fresh for another week of school, and to also share some of my thought on the upcoming, or should I say current project we have for our English course.

UFO sigthing in America

Something interesting I read during my lunch break...

Maybe Americans are more in tune with the cosmos. Perhaps aliens want to chat about "American Idol" with real Americans. Whatever the reason, this is a hard question to crack because (attention, conspiracy theorists!) there isn't an official site for reporting UFOs.

The National UFO Reporting Center lists thousands of "close encounters" submitted by users. According to its database, the United States has far and away the most reported UFO sightings. In fact, California alone has reported more than China, England, India, and Brazil combined.

But this doesn't necessarily mean Americans see UFOs more than other people. It just means more Americans report seeing UFOs to this particular site. The Center for UFO Studies explains, "No one is sure why the number of UFO reports varies from country to country, but cultural, religious, and political factors are probably involved." In other words, seeing a UFO in the United States might be kind of cool. In other countries, that may not be the case.

The truth is, UFOs have been (allegedly) seen just about everywhere -- from the hills of Switzerland to the coast of Australia. Should you ever spot one, the Center for UFO Studies advises you get witnesses, take pictures, and write down the details. Oh, and don't forget to report it.

Reflection on Research Paper 1

Looking back now at my report on commuting I see many flaws that could’ve been fixed to an extent where it was more coherent and/or more engaging. Commuting isn’t the hottest topic nor is it something that relates to everyone, but I felt that the people who can relate to the topic will feel more attracted since there is not a whole lot of other outlets that really discuss the “art” of commuting. The flaws I now notice were introduced to me from both the criticism assignment in class as well and Professor Marsh’s comments on my final report. I notice I did not include a straight forward topic sentence, but in some eyes that may be a positive but I can see where it would make the paper confusing. I also learned that one answer is not sufficient if you want to hit a topic from all different angles. If I found an answer from an interviewee that agreed with my personal opinion, I tended to think that that was the popular belief and did not make a strong enough effort to pin point the other thoughts on that issue. For example, in my paper I discussed how money was the biggest burden on a commuter, but one of the people I interviewed disagreed and that sort of threw me off track. Thankfully I caught it, and changed the so-called “fact” to a personal opinion.

Writing is an important part in the learning system but some times we are forced to write about something that has either no relevance or no interest to us. This paper allowed us to explore our interest and things that we felt like documenting, and to no surprise, it was much more enjoyable than your typical ten page history paper. However, even if it was “fun”, you got to do the gritty work and get some research. Searching sites like wikipedia, or going out and going to this building that seems ancient now; I think its called a library. Reading through books is a great way to get information directly instead of an article either reviewing or summarizing it because different people have different thoughts. My topic about commuting wasn’t really something that can be researched through books other than for statistics, so my form of research was asking commuters themselves. I hoped I had organized my data clearer and had quoted them through out my paper, because that would have given it more life.

Reading, writing and research are the things we preach in class and they certainly are worthy of looking in to. They give us structure and a cohesive final product. The topic of commuting was very personal but that a topic that really stresses the reading aspect, so in the future I’ll try to take on a topic which encompasses all three points in what we learn. After all, we will be reading, writing, and doing research for the rest of our lives, might as well fine tune it now.

Self Discipline

(Just a thought while studying)

Right now as i am writing this blog, I am sitting at my local library, trying to study for my Theology exam...tomorrow. It's just me, my laptop and my books, and I'm saying to myself, "I should of left the laptop at home!" I am constantly taking "breaks" and visiting my usual sites like nfl.com myspace and facebook. These distractions can get pretty annoying, but soon enough I am able to get into my studies and get something accomplished. I do consider myself as being pretty disciplined, but I do have my flaws like I mentioned before.

A Catholic School...from a different perspective

As I was growing up, I've always heard of St. Johns University and have known it was a private Catholic school, so therefore I thought only catholic kids were allowed to attend. Obviously, I grew up and learned more and more and knew anyone can go there.

I am Muslim and enjoy the fact that in America we can essentially do most things as freely as possible. Even after being accepted and declaring that I'd be attending St. Johns, I didn't know what to expect from the Catholic perspective. I thought there would be requirements that relate to Catholicism, and in that thought I was right because we need to take classes in theology. I also thought it would be sort of like a missionary school in which there would be people that would sway people to change faith, even with only subtle motives.

Now looking back at my first year, I was definitely wrong on my second point. This school is just as religiously free as any other, except for the fact that there is a church smack dab in the middle of the campus. I am able to learn about Catholic views from a distance, meaning I can view it as a historical experience rather than spiritual. All in all, I do enjoy the fact that a Catholic founded school is very religiously friendly to people of other faiths.

Janissaries

In History class, we have been learning about the Ottoman Empire, and I found the Jannisaries to be quite an interesting topic. Here is my definition on the term.

Janissaries- The definition to the term Janissaries is the troops the Ottomans attained through the process of devshirme. Devshirme is when Christian boys in the Ottoman Empire were converted to Islam and trained to become Ottoman fighters. The Balkans was an area where much of these boys were recruited from. These Janissaries were trained and the elite crop could become top officials for the whole empire and this was seen as a way up social mobility to the families of the young boys being given to the Military. These janissaries were known as the “Slaves of the Gate”. Janissary in turkish meant new soldier.

“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.”

- Jawaharlal Nehru

Dream Tower

(Transferred from DB)

When watching the documentary on Rochdale, I thought to myself, WOW what
a school. A school with rules that are agreed upon by the students?
Where do I sign up? The thing that seemed the most impressive to me was
that the initial student seemed to be very responsible and did not need
any pushing from adults. They knew education was a necessity, and did it
their way. I don't understand how they were able to maintain a whole
educational facility with fundings and a coherent schedule for the
student to abide by. Soon enough, I realized all that freedom was not
the best thing for college students. Some of the kids started to take
advantage and what that did was ruin it for the kids who really wanted
to learn. I do agree with them on how the educational system is very
rigid and not friendly to the diversity in personalities, however that
rigidness gives us some order and gives us something to think about. I
think of it more as guidelines rather than rules.

A Few vs. Many

Just got back from watching the new movie 300 at the Imax theater in Manhattan, and all I have to say is WOW. First of all, the graphical design of the whole movie was amazing, it felt like a movie painting. The colors were vivid and the art exaggerated to match it's source, a graphic novel by the great Frank Miller. As I was reading up on the movie earlier, I found out that it only took a couple months to complete all the live acting, and a whole year for the CGI effects. That should obviously tell you, this film is going to be gorgeous.

The story was not historically accurate and it wasn't meant to be. It was simply Frank Millers view on how he thought of it...which included monsters and overgrown rhinos. I dont think I would put this movie on the level of my favorite epic, Gladiator, but it was a great action packed flick that many would enjoy.

The story was rich, the acting was golden and all in all I think the hype that surrounded this film before it released was well deserved, and it totally covered it. Early reports are saying it garnered 27 million dollars on Friday, which is amazing especially since analysts expected 30 million for the whole weekend.

Life of a Commuter (Final)

As I was growing up and going to school I was lucky that I never had to travel too far to get to my destination. I actually would be able to get up only twenty minutes before class and still make it on time. That sense of comfort was obliterated once I graduated high school. I wanted to go to a “good” university and not Nassau Community College which was everyone’s fallback plan in my high school. As I searched for schools to apply to I soon came to the realization that I will have to travel quite a bit to get to my destination, and to dorm, well that wasn’t an option financially. As the summer passed on, I narrowed my search down to St. John's University and Queens College, both on an equal plane in education and cost since St. John’s offered me a scholarship, so to me it ultimately came down to the time of transportation and the winner of that battle was obvious, as I am currently a St. John’s student.

The commute to school for me takes about forty minutes which includes 2 buses, but I usually give myself an hour in case of traffic on my route. Coming to St. John’s from my home in Elmont is pretty relaxing, but the cost of that commute leaves much to be desired. $76 for a monthly metro card is a whole week’s check for me, but I guess if I had a car, gas money would’ve been quite a bit more expensive. The idea of commuting certainly affects many other people as well, so I thought I’d venture out and seek their opinions and thoughts.

I had two of my friends who also commute to school answer some fairly simple questions about their daily traveling to school. Justin Tehrani lives in Floral Park on Long Island and commutes to St. John’s with his car. He says it takes him about twenty minutes to get to school on a normal day, give or take five minutes for the level of traffic. Justin states that the gas needed to travel on a consistent basis is leaving a significant burden on his wallet. Second contestant on my little survey was Syed Lahori from the same town as me, Elmont. His commute is rather similar to mine in which he takes two buses, the N25 and the Q46, however he also commutes by car on occasion. When asked the question “Does commuting seem to be too expensive for you?” Syed’s reply was simply “not really.” These findings bring me to this determination; the cost of commute is dependant on several different elements, such as income from a job, allowance from a parent, or money needed for other necessities, so the feeling of money being a load on your shoulders changes from person to person.

As I started to analyze the data I got from my commuting friends, I noticed it had a good variety. My data includes one who drives, one who uses both public transportation and a car, and me using solely mass transit. However, I felt I need more substance as to why commuting is important or significant in the grand scheme of things. That “substance” can be anything, but my first guess would be the difference with commuters and dormers is the time they have to do their school work. To do this, I can ask some students who dorm about how and when they find time to sit down and hit the books, as opposed to my experience.

Tahmid Rahman, a cousin of mine who dorms over at NYIT in Old Westbury was next in line on my interview run. The discussion took place online, so I can get some basic information about his work ethic and the distractions he comes across on a daily basis. Tahmid tells me that one major positive about the dorm life is that you are usually grouped with people who study the same major as you, so you always have someone to ask when you’re stuck on a question or anything like that. I asked Tahmid if he gets distracted with the fact that his friends are always around him, and his reply was “I can see that happening, but when you got scholarships riding, you tend to become more responsible with your time.”

Now back to the commuting aspect. There are many positives in commuting, but the flaws are there as well. One problem that I certainly feel with commuting to school is that it makes the whole experience feel like a job rather than something that can be enjoyable. I often times don’t feel like sticking around campus for a couple extra hours if there is an event going on later in the day or if there is a group of friends studying. If I were to dorm, I’d always be in the middle of the action and I can probably pick up some connections that can really help me down the road. Another problem people may face is keeping in touch with their friends, especially those from Long Island, because we spent our high school years with people in our direct neighborhood. I have started friendships with people all over the country while at St. Johns but it’s difficult to keep up when I am commuting from home, while they dorm here on campus or when they go home on vacation. I can talk on and on about the differences between the dorm life and commuting but in the end, the cost is what keeps me as a commuter rather than a St. John’s resident.

What else can I use to justify my thoughts? That is what I am asking myself. I can do numerous things such as surf the web and find cold hard statistics comparing commuters and dormers on a whole sort of different aspects on their student lives, but I feel going straight to the source would make this paper more personal, and more inviting to readers. Asking the peers who play a role in your daily lives will get you much more indirect information than any book or web page can give, so I will continue to rely on the interview technique and expand on my thought about commuting.