Belap's Blog

WONDER

belap — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 17:34:02 +0000

Sometimes I’m wondering if I’m the only person that feels the way I feel. Not just right now, but at all times.
Im surrounded by friends, family but I feel as if I was the only person on the universe. All by myself. Something here tells me I must not be happy, and to be truthful to myself, I’m not. There’s something missing, something I’ve been searching for — I just have a feeling I might be giving up. Maybe I’m in the wrong place, maybe I should explore and see what else is there?
- from today, I’m going to search within my soul for the things I need in order to be in a happy universe of my own.

WANT

belap — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 02:05:19 +0000

Its the goodness that I want, the purity of the soul and the beauty of truth.
Some may think it is hard to find, I believe people are good – not all… Of course. I remember to surround myself with the good ones, therefore how I am and how I feel reflects on my every day life!
When you surround yourself with negative thought and individuals, that’s what you get back — bad bad bad bad . We don’t want that, no. So let’s cross out the negativity and substitute it with happiness, yey happy thoghts, good people, happy people!

- why so positive? I simply CAN’T wait till December! My loved ones, you exactly know why

Xoxo

must remember

belap — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 23:29:48 +0000

There’s something that keeps on bighting me in the butt, and that something is some past event.
As my mama said ” don’t ever be too nice to a man, he will use it and abuse it! ” Hence, here we go again!
- I started to miss my baby, some reasons for that is the cold fall weather and the short days where I don’t see him. So sending a cute card and a little poem was too much. Now, too much will be the silence he’ll be hearing…

1Got to be strong, 2 got to be strong, 3 got to be strong!!!!

Have I mentioned I hate fall ohh so dearly !

looking at the past & figurying out the present

belap — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 20:07:51 +0000

ahhh this song is what brings me back the chills, before I came to the States this song gave me an insight on that is behind, ‘walking away’ was something what I was doing at the time. Literally walking away from the life i have built and leaving it behind to built a new one…

maybe i’ll dedicate this blog to the past, ill walk it through to my present day – hopefully i’ll remember those signifact moments that brought me to where i am right now

what a shame

belap — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 19:57:50 +0000

it has been quiet here for a little while hasn’t it ? well maybe if i trully start to mobilize myself ill start blogging here, heck, why not get it all out to the world?!

xoxo

The History That Lives Today !

belap — Tue, 19 May 2009 19:41:43 +0000

After reading the article that was published in ‘The New Yorker’ , “Future Reading” by Anthony Grafton I have finally understood where the people that invented Google, as well as other search engines come up with the ideas of indexing and categorizing the subjects of the peoples search ! They have based their trust in the old ways of organizing information. I think that the main idea that the author wanted to present to us with writing this article was to show where all of these genius ideas come from, and surprisingly they come from the old library indexing as well as ancient ways of categorizing information and books! The author mentions how in the past there were “ ‘canon tables’ that enabled readers to find parallel passages in the four gospels- a system that the scholar James O’Donell recently described as the worlds’ first set of hot links.” Which is just like www.Google.com ! These types of old tables are the models for what developers were taking examples of while creating the links to other sites on search engines! The article also mentions how in the past “from the eighteenth century, countries, universities, and academies maintained research libraries, whose staff pioneered information retrieval with a variety of indexing and cataloguing systems.” It was extremely important for them to have everything in order and they had to take precise care of all the books and articles in order to keep all of the information alive and organized as well to be able to pass it on to other generations. The best way of doing that would also be the organization of the sources they had. After determining this they have came up with a way of organizing everything so that the information would be easy to access, and we have taken examples from them where we index our information. The author also speaks about how Google is taking an example of the old fashioned footnotes that are very well dependent on finding and connecting information; “Google’s famous search algorithm eliminates the principle of scholarly citation – counting up and evaluating earlier links in order to steer users toward the sources that others have already found helpful.” This means that Google is doing us a huge favor where it navigates us to the better search results that have a history of being helpful. “In a sense, the system resembles nothing more than trillions of old-fashioned footnotes. “ I love the way he explains this, because it makes me understand how Google works, and makes me happy to know that the libraries great expertise of organizing information has not been forgotten in the electronic world and era!
Another fascinating thing I read about was something I had a chance to experience. The article explained to me how books are being distributed on the internet. Grafton has talked about the way major libraries such as the library that is located on 5th Avenue in New York City has scanned thousands if not millions of books in order to have them on the internet. Unfortunately he also talks about how “sometimes the scanner operators miss pages, or scan then out of order.” Due to this we are not able to get the full view of the book, or be dependent on the information that is not in order. I personally love reading physical books, and am being often made fun of for ‘living off books’ I completely forget to eat when I’m reading a fascinating saga, and it seriously consumes my life. I feel as if the author wanted to show to us that no matter how nice it is to have a book available online, there is nothing in the world that can take place of a used, smelly old book that has been to different places and that carries a different world inside of it.
The way this article relates to CUNY+ and Google Books is that it explains where both of these sources came from, what was the process of getting the information on the web, and also talks about how important it was for the people who came up with it first to be able to preserve the information and make it available to the public. Reading books and educating ourselves is extremely important, and we should be grateful that we have so many resources, public libraries, books published online as well as search engines that lead us to finding information, in a way which was developed so, so long ago!

Books on Google ! oh joy !

belap — Fri, 15 May 2009 05:18:30 +0000

1. Using Google Book Search (http://books.google.com):

a.
What is the title?
-Ann Rice – “Interview With The Vampire”
Are you able to read the entire book?
I am not able to see the entire book, but at least the 3/4ths of it is accessible for me to read.

b. Find the latest book by Oscar Wilde.
“ The Importance of Being Ernest”

Are you able to read the entire book?
- No, I was not able to view the entire book, some of the pages were omitted.
When was it published?
- It was published in 2004.

c. Find a book by Corey Doctorow.
How many books were found?
There was 116 books found by Corey Doctorow.
Does the book have any subjects?
- Down and out in the Magic Kingdom‎
For Jules, this is an attack on the artistic purity of Disney World itself.

-Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town‎
Alan is a middle-aged entrepreneur in contemporary Toronto, who has devoted himself to fixing up a house in a bohemian neighborhood.

-Overclocked: Stories of the Future Present‎
In Cory Doctorow’s collection of novellas, he wields his formidable experience in technology and computing to give us mind-bending sci-fi tales that explore…

-A place so foreign and eight more stories‎
Considered one of the most promising science fiction writers, Cory Doctorow’s name is already mentioned with such SF greats as J.G. Ballard, Michael…
Essential blogging‎
Essential Blogging covers: the important components of a blog and a blog post installing and configuring the tools a survey of desktop blogging clients advice…
Little Brother‎
The ultimate tale of teen rebellion ā one seventeen-year-old against the surveillance
state. Big Brother is watching you.

2. Using CUNY+ (available from the Library’s home page)

a. Find a book by Oscar Wilde.
What is the title?
- Complete fairy tales of Oscar Wide / with an afterword by Jack Zipes.
Are you able to read the entire book?
- I was not able to read the entire book, not even a piece of it was available. It was only available to rent out of the LaGuardia Library.

b. Find Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
What are the three subjects of the book?
- I am not exactly sure what is meant by the ‘subject of the book’ but these are three descriptions of what the book is about, and how long it is.
Description 209 p. ; 18 cm.
Notes Bantam classic.
Notes Bibliography :p.207-209.

Essay !

belap — Fri, 15 May 2009 05:16:23 +0000

PART ONE.

When I was doing my research about Google and its privacy my first choice of a search engine was of course its subject. The reason for my choice was the various possibilities that would come up in as my search results! Google.com is great when it comes to its search strategy, which depends on the most hit ‘points’ on the subject that is being researched, therefore the links that pop up are always best linked to the topic I am researching. The article that I have found using the Google Search actually did send me to another web site which was: www.NYTimes.com , the online database of New York Times newspaper.
The format of what I have found was an article that was on the website of the New York Times. It has talked about how Google is keeping track of where you are when you are doing internet research, by knowing this information Google is sending individual ads to the web sites you are visiting. For an example, if I have bought flowers online, for the next couple of days the advertisements I will see will be showing me where, how cheap and how easy it is to but flowers! Google has about six hundred of these categories, and each of us is placed within these depending on our Google search.
About ten years ago Google has developed a program witch is called the ‘DoubleClick’, which is an ad-serving company owned by Google. It also tells me about how cookies work, that they are keeping track of which ads should pop out on your screen and which ones are not supposed to. This is actually very useful to me because I never knew what the term ‘cookies’ meant!
One of the major things the article focuses on is the comparison of Google and other search engines; it shows the plus and the minuses of both search engines.
Google is the only one program that has the preferences that can manage what type of advertisement they want or don’t want to receive, which falls into the category associated with cookies. When the author speaks about the other search engines he mentions how you are choosing the different categories you qualify for when it comes to receiving advertisement when you are signing up for an account with the desired web portal, such as: www.Yahoo.com The article was basically very informative, without the intention of convincing the public into using or not using the Google search engine.
The article “A Guide to Google’s New Privacy Controls” was written by Saul Hansel and was published in the New York Times and it was published on March 12, 2009. The key terms that I have chosen while looking for my article were Google and Privacy” I was purposely aiming for an answer that would have a New York Times link underneath in order to have the article from the New York Times website.
The information that the article talks about does not try to convince me into anything, but it is showing the multiple pluses of the Google portal and the minuses of other website that are not considered as good as Google. I would consider the article it bias due to the good things that Google offers to its users, and also the service is free! It is not directly trying to make me chose Google but it is not showing other sites in such a good spotlight.
The second article I have chosen for my research was found with the heap of EBSCOhost, The reason for why I have chosen this search engine is that I am able to narrow my search by checking the boxes of which categories I want to search in as well as what type of text I want to see. When I was doing the search I have typed in ‘ Google Privacy’ and have marked the box where it says ‘articles’ just to make sure my search was narrowed. After I did this I found an article that was published in ‘Economist’ I wasn’t really sure what ‘Economist’ was so I have looked for its official web site to make sure it is a form of newspaper or magazine. I could have went to the original web page to read the article, but the Academic Search Premiere has provided me with a format of a full article on Google and its’ privacy.
The article I have found was on a very similar topic. It has talked about the privacy of Google and how the author has received a free trial of using the Google Mail, also known as Gmail. The author likes the web based email because it provides him with a huge amount of free storage without throwing in unnecessary and unwanted graphics. Gmail is also storing all of the written and received e-mails and is not getting rid of any old ones, your information can be stored for years and years and it is extremely easy to find with using your search box that browses through your mailbox! The author, Stephen H. Wildstrom seems like he does like the service that has been offered to him, until he talks about that all of the e-mails he receives and sends are stored, and even after DELETING them they are really not deleted, ever. Why would we have an option of deleting the inbox or even the spam box, without being conscious of the e-mails actually not being deleted? I feel kind of lied to by my Gmail when i think of that. This simply means that all of the e-mails are sorted in the Google databases forever. The article mentions that we have no control over these databases. The authors also mentions how law enforcement agencies are able to browse in the information you were receive in or are sending.
In the article ” Google’s Gmail Is Great — But Not For Privacy “, Stephen H. Wildstrom speaks of the “Electric Communications Privacy Act” which is full of flaws and is supposed to protect the Google users, but as we all know the search engine that stores all of the information we send, receive as well as research can show someone all of our life ! Therefore, I get a feeling that the author is trying to tell the readers that yes, Google is awesome because of all of the free, unlimited storage, and also the great advantage of the filtered messages in which the advertisements are extremely limited and are not bombarding us with nonsense, BUT the privacy which it actually lacks of!
The article was published in the year of 2004 on May 3. I still find it accurate because this is exactly what Google is still doing and this is the way it works. By writing this article the author is trying to convince his audience to not trust any the Google.com based web-mail, because all of the messages we are writing, conversations we are having on the chat-box and the drafts we save are being constantly filtered. The explanation is of course, for spam and different viruses but also it is our private information that is being filtered.

PART 2

The way that Google is impacting our privacy by becoming one of the ‘big advertising companies that keep track of where Internet users surf online soads can be shown to people based on what they might be interested in buying’ (A Guide to Google’s Privacy Controls) The article also talks about how if I have bought flowers online, an ad would be popping out with flower service advertisements. Also another way that Google is tracking its users in order to know what type of advertisements they should show on the web siite is by Goggle computers will read the page you are on and try to figure out what it is about so it can associate you with one another or more categories on the list.” For an example, i am extremely interested in the Twilight movie and the whole Twilight saga, when i go to YouTube trailers or soundtracks, I do find more advertisements about the movie or the characters!
lso another way that Google is impacting our privacy is by becoming one of the ‘big advertising companies that keep track of where Internet users surf online ads can be shown to people based on what they might be interested in buying’ (A Guide to Google’s Privacy Controls) The article also talks about how if I have bought flowers online, an ad would be popping out with flower service advertisements. In the Article by Widstrom I am able to see what he means by ‘Gmail promises you will be able to keep your mail in one big bin and use Google’s familiar search tools to find messages months or years after you receive them.’ And how it actually disturbs our privacy, by not really deleing the information we have marked to delete. The author also mentions how ‘virtually all e-mail content is scanned, usually multiple times by antispam and antivirus systems.”
hen in the first article I read about the two web comparisons I can see that the author so fond of Google but the other companies such as Yaho.com are not so much about our lives as Google is.
The information that Google.com collects is important to me! I very often buy a lot of stuff online, where Google stores my credit card numbers, or fill out files with my personal information and with my social security number. I also very often talk with my family members, who live in a different country, and the stuff we discuss is personal, I can not imagine anyone going threw my conversations, now I just rather make phone calls instead of using Google Chat – Box.

Google and Privacy !

belap — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:16:38 +0000

When I started my research I first decided to use the most popular search engine, www.Google.com . The reason for that was that it is one of the search engines that is easiest to use and I also always find what I am looking for! In my first search I have typed in the words “Google & privacy”. When I have types these two key words I started looking at all of the results, and tried to distinguish which ones would be articles. Of course the easiest one to notice was the New York Times web site, which always lists their articles on their web sited data base. This is where I have found the original article.
The main subject of the article I have chosen was about Google and its privacy control. It has talked about how Google is keeping track of where you are when you are doing internet research, by knowing this information Google is sending individual ads to the web sites you are visiting. For an example, if I have bought flowers online, for the next couple of days the advertisements I will see will be showing me where, how cheap and how easy it is to but flowers! Google has about six hundred of these categories, and each of us is placed within these depending on our Google search.
About ten years ago Google has developed a program witch is called the ‘DoubleClick’, which is an ad-serving company owned by Google. It also tells me about how cookies work, that they are keeping track of which ads should pop out on your screen and which ones are not supposed to.
One of the major things the article focuses on is the comparison of Google and other search engines; it shows the plus and the minuses of the search engines.
Google is the only one program that has the preferences that can manage what type of advertisement they want or don’t want to receive, which falls into the category associated with cookies. When the author speaks about the other search engines he mentions how you are choosing the different categories you qualify for when it comes to receiving advertisement when you are signing up for an account with the desired web portal, such as : www.Yahoo.com
The article was created by Saul Hansell and was published in the New York Times, on March 12, 2009, which means the information is pretty new since it was published this year, and it is accurate, because there was nothing changed about the accuracy of it. The article was basically very informative, without the intention of convincing the public into using or not using the Google search engine.
The second article I have found with the help of the Academic Search Premiere also known as EBSCHOST. The reason for why I have chosen this search engine is that I know it is academic and I am also able to narrow my search by checking the boxes of which categories I want to search in as well as what type of text I want to see. When I was doing the search I have typed in ‘ Google Privacy’ and have marked the box where it says ‘articles’ just to make sure my search was narrowed. After I did this I found an article that was published in ‘ BusinessWeek’ I wasn’t really sure what business week was so I have looked for its official web site to make sure it is a form of newspaper or magazine. I could have went to the original web page to read the article, but EBSCHOST has provided me with a format of a full article on Google and its’ privacy.
The article I have found was on a similar topic. It has talked about the privacy of Google and how the author has received a free trial of using the Google Mail, also known as Gmail. The author likes the web based email because it provides him with a huge amount of free storage without throwing in unnecessary graphics. Gmail is also storing all of the e-mails and not getting rid of any old ones, your information can be stored for years and years and it is extremely easy to find with using your search box that browses through your mailbox! The author, Brin Sergey seems like he does like the service that has been offered to him, until he talks about that all of the e-mails he receives and sends are stored, and even after DELETING them they are really not deleted, ever. All of the e-mails are sorted in the Google databases. We have no control over these databases; therefore they will be there forever. He mentions how law enforcement agencies are able to browse in the information you were receive in or sending.
In the article he speaks of the “electric Communications Privacy Act” which is full of flaws and is supposed to protect the Google user, but as we all know the search engine that stores all of the information we send, receive as well as research can show someone all of our life ! Therefore, I get a feeling he is trying to tell the readers that yes, Google is awesome because of all of the storage, the filtered messages in which the advertisements are extremely limited, BUT the privacy which it actually lacks of!
The article was published in the year of 2004 on May 5th. It is still accurate because this is exactly what Google is still doing and this is the way it works. The author is trying to convince his audience to not trust any e-mails, because they are being constantly filtered, yes for spam and different viruses but also private information.

Google Spyyy?

belap — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 02:53:28 +0000

The article I have read in the New York Times, “Reduce History of Personal Searches” has spoken about Google and its privacy. The article has intrigues me because it has explained how the search box saves the search, and whenever we are trying to do the similar search, the previous search pops out!
The European Union has actually bothered to speak of this topic, because it has not established any privacy laws concerning the privacy search at the workplace. I highly disagree that the search history should be saved from 18 to 24 months, what if I quit my job? I don’t want my boss to see what kind of searches I was doing while at work!
I must say, I will use the Google engine on my phone instead of my desktop at work; nobody needs to know I ‘google’ shoe sales!