My computer security practices? Ha! I’ve never thought about how serious the idea of “security” really was until reading these articles. The reason why I started my post off in a mocking type of way towards computer security is because I myself didn’t take it seriously. When setting up my accounts for email, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and several other nodes of social networking, I would create passwords that reflected similar ideas or symbolic elements, not even realizing the danger in that practice. Of course at the time I did it out of ignorance; I didn’t know how serious it was to make secure passwords that differ for every account, but even after I had received warnings, I never listened. But after reading these articles, I made it my TOP priority to change EVERY single one of my passwords for all active accounts because I am scared. That’s the truth! I am scared of some ridiculously-intelligent hacker being able to hack into every single one of my accounts just because of my weak computer security practices.

I agree with Dan Goodin in his article, “Why passwords have never been weaker–and crackers have never been stronger” when he says that “The ancient art of password cracking has advanced further in the past five years than it did in the previous several decades combined. At the same time, the dangerous practice of password reuse has surged. The result: security provided by the average password in 2012 has never been weaker.” It’s sad, but true. I bet almost every person has at least once in their life used the same password for a different account somehow, someway. It’s just how the mind “works” I guess you can say. Humans like to make things simple and so because we constantly have so many things going on in our minds, we want to have to remember the least amount of things as much as possible; therefore we create a single password that we can memorize and then we use it for every aspect of our lives so that we can never forget it. Sounds easy right? It is! But the easy way out isn’t always the safest, Nor smartest.

This is PROOF that this is not a smart idea to have a recurring password for every account: My mom needed to use my IPhone, before she got her own, and you know how there’s a passcode lock screen that you have to put every time you want to get into the phone? Right, so I told her my passcode to unlock the screen. Weeks later, I saw some pictures on my Facebook page that I know I didn’t put up, come to find out, my mom “hacked” into my Facebook account with the same passcode from my IPhone and uploaded pictures of her and my niece! THIS IS A WARNING! RECURRING PASSWORDS ARE DANGEROUS!

So I invite any of you who have issues with creating strong passwords to rethink your decisions. Don’t use the same password for every account you can physically own anymore! STOP RIGHT THERE! Just make the choice to practice safe security for not only your computer, but for other things like your SSN as well. Be smart! Be aware! And most of all Be Safe! Security is the way to go!

When I visited the site, TeachersPayTeachers.com, this immediately caught my attention: “An open marketplace for educators where teachers buy, sell and share original teaching resources.” Interesting right? Does this sound ethical or better yet, legal to you? Well after looking through the site, I’ve determined that it seems very unethical; maybe not illegal but it sure seems fishy. You may think that it’s simply just a website where teachers can come and either sell their ideas and lesson plans and teaching advice, and where other teachers can buy this information to help them as educator. However, the one thing that is tripping me up about this website is the credibility of teachers. How can you get your lesson plan or information to teach to several students off of “an open marketplace for educators where teachers buy, sell and share original teaching sources”? That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s accurate enough for you to take “teaching resources” off of. How do you know who’s posting these resources? How do you know if it’s factual information? I mean, of course there are some people who use these sites as back-ups; maybe something just to provide them with starting ideas for a lesson, but still, I don’t like the idea of TeachersPayTeachers.com. Now obviously, the teachers who sell things on this website have probably sought to it that there work was copyrighted, but they shouldn’t even have the opportunity to do this in the first place. This website seems to be a silly rip-off; just a way to deceive some teachers into thinking they need lesson plans and exams and worksheets from other teachers in order to be successful educators. This is false!!! I guess the questions that I have at the end of all of this is, Where’s the originality? Where’s the creativity? Where has the true value of a true educator gone to?

1) Domain Registration Info for: www.japan-guide.com

Domain Name: JAPAN-GUIDE.COM
Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.
Whois Server: whois.networksolutions.com
Referral URL: http://www.networksolutions.com/en_US/
Name Server: NS1.THEPLANET.COM
Name Server: NS2.THEPLANET.COM
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Updated Date: 26-mar-2010
Creation Date: 02-oct-1996
Expiration Date: 01-oct-2016

Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
Schauwecker, Stefan @networksolutionsprivateregistration.com
Stefan Schauwecker
ATTN JAPAN-GUIDE.COM
care of Network Solutions
PO Box 459
Drums, PA 18222
US
570-708-8780

2) This article does a pretty good job of giving an easy to understand overview of the history of the samurai influence in Japanese history. Not only did it reference general terminology and events in history, but it also gave sub-topics such as Asuka and Nara Periods, the RIse of the Samurai, Sengoku period, etc. It also gives significant and interesting information on the religious influences on the Samurai culture some of which include Buddhism, Zen, Confucianism, and Shinto. Then it goes into the basic beliefs and traditions that The Samurai believe and practice. The sources mainly come from several history textbooks, other encyclopedias, and books specifically about the way of the samurai. Maybe they could have had a wider range of sources like actual historical documents from the major samurai period during per-industrial era of Japan, or primary sources from actual Samurai warriors if possible, just more original information. But even so, Wikipedia has provided decent information for general research and basic information to help you further specific research.

3) Jane Browning has a great sense of humor, I actually enjoyed reading her process through her project and posts. I think she did a great job of ranging her sources. I liked the way she organized her research in that she creating specific starting points which would help her with her further research. Additionally, her direct, face-to-face research was very inspiring and seemed to give her more ideas and perspective for her project. This also allowed her to have ranging sources and information. Her sources were reliable and easy to work with and they had variety which is important in a research assignment.

After seriously weighing my options and really thinking hard about it, I have decided to make my research question as follows:

How have views on gun control changed over time and how have they affected people across the United States?

While researching this topic on ProQuest Historical Databases, I came across an article about a rash of accidental deaths due to guns being easily accessed by teens and young children. This happened in 1990 and it’s amazing how 23 years later this is still prevailing trend. Over the course of decades there have been so many concerns about gun control and even today, nothing is being done to get illegal firearms off the streets so that incidents like those in the article wouldn’t keep recurring. In the article, the author discussed a story about a 15-year-old boy who got access to his father’s gun and shot himself in the head while claiming to be “playing”. Another story was about a 15-year-old boy who had his father’s loaded gun trying to joke around with his friends and shot himself in the temple, dying instantly. In this instance he too was “Just kidding around”. I can go on and on about preventative accidental shootings of kids who have access to guns, but the point still remains that it is still happening today. So what do we do? A question that seems so easy to answer, yet no one has successfully come up with real solutions to it.

Flicker: Kids with Guns

Since this seems to be a growing and interesting topic and also a great way to get to know each other better, here is a list of My Favorite Things in Life:

• Vampire Diaries
• Avatar: The Last Airbender
• Twilight series
• Japanese culture
• Kung Fu movies
• Chris Brown, Trey Songz, Drake
• Cookies
• Vintage bracelets
• Music

TOP 10 PLACES I MUST GO BEFORE I DIE

1. Japan
2. Spain
3. St. Lucia (I want to go there AGAIN; by the way this is where my family is from)
4. Italy
5. Egypt
6. China
7. Thailand
8. France

Bored? Listen to this beautiful song by Jessie J. This song helped me get through a lot of things: http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4gkUDHR7VU

You don’t know what you are missing. Your life will only get better if you take the time out to watch this amazing show. Greatest TV show ever created. It comes on CW 11 every Thursday night at 8pm. Just Watch It!