Adam Smith vs. John Nash

When we were discussing Adam Smith and his theory of self interest in class, I thought of a discussion that i had taken part in a week or so before.

Adam Smith's theory of self interest was being defended when I thought of John Nash and his theory of equilibrium. In my mind I think John Nash has the upper hand. The theory of equilibrium or game theory by Nash states: if everyone acts in their own self interest while keeping others self interests in mind too the best outcome will be achieved. The only way to achieve the best for yourself and others is to keep them in mind when you are making your decision. A clip from the movie A beautiful mind illustrates it most simply.

A new world of blogging, surfing, and hunting

This digital civ class has been an education for me. I am not much of an internet surfer or blogger. I have gained a new appreciation for both. It has been hard to filter through all of the information on the internet about the subjects being talked about in class. The tools that I have discovered are great and are helping me with this I just need to get used to them. These tools like Google reader and Diigo help to filter internet content but there is still a lot to read through. It is a new way to gather information for me. I am picking up steam and starting to figure out how to gather and take in only what I want and need. Here I come!

Flickr to Create

For one of the digital literacy labs I chose to create a Flickr account; due to the fact that I love taking photos. I had heard about Flickr before but had never set up an account. I knew that it was for photos but geared a little more toward photographers or budding photographers.

Setting up a profile was easy and fairly standard. There are some nice organizing and printing options available. One of the other nice features about the site is the opportunity to join and create groups. There are thousands of groups, however, so finding a specific one could be a task. It is a nice place to connect to other photographers.

Have a look at the photos that I put up and feel free to comment on them.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/53549911@N07/

The level of a read

There was a reading that we had for class a while back that talked about how you sometimes don't have to really pay attention when you read and then there are some things that you have to digest every word. This came to mind for me because I just finished a book a few days ago and was thinking about how much thought I needed to put into it. The book I read is called The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I chose it because it had been given a Pulitzer. This book required much more brain power at the beginning because it is written in incomplete sentences with abnormal structure. Once I was used to this however the book was a much easier and much less involved read.

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This was a surprise to me because I assumed that a more intense read meant that the book was better. The book Beloved by Toni Morrison is one of those books that has to be the full focus of your attention when you are reading it. This book also won the Pulitzer. I however enjoyed The Road and even cried a little. So I guess a strenuous read is not what indicates a good read.

Hanging out in the clouds

For the assignment in class I got to learn about cloud computing. At first I thought that it would be much to advanced for my minuscule knowledge of computers. I started the search on Google because that's where all of the answers in the world come from, right? That lead me to a youtube video that explained what cloud computing was. I have never used youtube for educational purposes and didn't even know there was quality stuff on there. I learn new thing s everyday! I found out that I do know what cloud computing is as do most of you probably. I just didn't know it was called that.

Getting down to business these days almost requires cloud computing. It is when you use remote software or processing and storage. I am pretty sure we have all done this. Google docs is a common form of this. This allows for computers to do many more things with only a high speed internet connection. You no longer need tons of ram and memory and processing power when someone else provides that for you. Nice. Prof. Burton has also introduces us to Prezi which is another form of this some concept. So off we go to compute and such, whatever that means.

What do you think?

[A]s good almost kill a man as kill a good book. Who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, God's image; but he who destroys a good book, kills reason itself, kills the image of God, as it were in the eye. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Areopagitica

I read this as part of a reading for class on censorship. It was written near the time of the invention of the printing press. I agree with this quote except that I am not quite sure about the killing the image of God part. What do you think?

technology and old people

So, last class we talked about new tech and incorporating it in our lives. While we were discussing in class I was thinking that I am a little bit behind the curve on that. I feel like the older you are the harder it is in general to incorporate new tech in their/ our lives. I am 29 and grew up with a rotary phone and a regular Nintendo. I didn't have a cell phone until I was 23. I feel like this has had a big influence on my tendency not to incorporate a lot of tech in my life. In fact recently I made a goal to not use tech as much as I used to. I think that this class is going to make me put that goal on hold:)

Introductions

You might be asking yourself why I chose wave shredder. Although i can surf I currently live in Utah, so there are not many waves here. I am the kind of person that sees something and does it. I am a woman of action both physically and in life. I'd like to think that I take life by the horns and get what I can out of it. Since I started college I have been to 7 countries, jumped off the highest bridge in Africa, enjoyed the Dalai Lama's birthday celebration and made someone their first peanut butter and jelly sandwich ever.
On the other hand, I do study public health and wish to empower many with opportunities to access resources that will aid them in attaining healthier lives. Health for others and myself is a passion of mine. I played collegiate level rugby for 4 1/2 years and continue to run distance races now. Not only is physical health important to me but learning too. I love to read and listen to books. There are always at least three books I am working on at any given time. Life is rich!