The Excel Experience

At first when I learned we would be using Excel I was a little worried because I have had some bad experiences with it. In high school I only Excel for graphs and I never really got the hang of it. I didn't know how to merge, enlarge, or even move cells around. After doing some excercises with Excel I now realize why it's so popular and used frequently in the business world. Excel truly does make simple tasks like calcualting statistics or grade averages much easier. There is so much that Excel offers and I wish I had some previous training with it because it would have made previous assignments much easier. My favorite function in Excel would most definitely be the sum and average function. I'm so used to just spending a long time plugging everything into my calculator when doing math, but now I know Excel can actually do all the math for me. There are many real life situations which Excel could help me with like taxes and managing a budget. When I take statistics or any other math class I will definitely apply my knowledge of Excel to help me with my homework. The one thing I still dislike about Excel is that I've found when you make a mistake it's usually impossible to find it or fix it but overall I'm sure I will use Excel in school and outside of school to make some tedious and irritating tasks much easier.

COPYRIGHT LAWS

         Copyright laws were something I really never took seriously. I’ll admit I’ve used Limewire many of times in the past. But after the lecture by Jason Hardin, Manager of Access Services, I’m without a doubt going to religiously follow the rules and regulations set by the RIAA, MPAA, and ESA. I have always heard stories of people being taken to court for downloading too many songs or movies off of Limewire and similar sites but I never thought that I was at serious risk of being caught until Jason Hardin explained that the RIAA, Recording Industry Association of America, was constantly monitoring illegal downloads, especially in college campuses! The RIAA can identify exactly what you downloaded, your IP address, and even the exact time (to the millisecond) of when you downloaded it. A Trinity Student was actually caught by the RIAA illegally downloading no more than a dozen classic country songs and settled out of court for 14,000 dollars! I don’t care how much I like a song I’m not willing to pay over 3 dollars for it, let alone over 1,000!
           
             I fully understand that the RIAA, MPAA, and ESA are just protecting the intellectual property of others but I believe instead of spending so much time and money going after the individuals doing the illegal downloading they should go after the sites that offer such file sharing. Many Americans don’t understand the difference between illegal file sharing and websites like YouTube and I believe it’s the entertainment industry’s duty to inform and educate the public of what is and isn’t allowed. Before talking with Jason Hardin I was completely oblivious of what constituted as copyright infringement but now I know what I can and can’t do with someone else’s intellectual property. It’s essential that copyright laws be enforced but if the entertainment industry educates the American people I believe copyright infringement will decrease significantly.

COPYRIGHT LAWS is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

My Trinity Netowrk Diagram

At first when I heard my class was taking a small field trip to the main data center in Halsell I wasn't that excited but I must admit the trip was very informative and actually a lot of fun. Walking into the main data center was pretty enlightening, I never would've guessed there was an entire room in Trinity filled with servers, wires, and stacks of computers. The data center actually has to have constant air conditiong of 60 degrees due to the fact that without it all the servers would overheat and it would also cause an unbearable work enviroment. Even with the constant air conditiong all the machines were hot to the touch and some can even reach over 100 degrees! The one thing the field trip helped me with the most was understanding how Trinity's internet system works. This is my diagram of Trinity's internet system which has been compared to a wagon wheel. Enjoy!

Trinity Mystery Spot

This location is a place many Freshmen pass on their way to class. I altered it slightly to make it seem more obscure. I uploaded the photo on to Piknik and applied the Film Grain and CinemaScope application to make the picture appear like a scene out of an old movie. The Film Grain app makes the picture seem pixelated and the CiemaScope app puts a border around the picture making it look like a widescreen movie. I also added text and many cats because this is a very popular hangout spot for the cats around campus. The cats are neon colors because they always grab my attention and are very lively. The text I added is a clue to where the picture was taken. Where do you think this is? Good luck guessing!

Tech Tips from Mr. Hatch himself

Going into class I thought I knew a lot about protecting my computer and keeping my identity safe but after  Computer Survival Skills with Joe Hatch I now realize that I know nothing. I thought because I own a Mac that I was immune to viruses but I now know that all computers, no matter what the brand, are at risk of potentially catastrophic viruses. Before Mr. Hatch spoke with my class I was still using the network TUGuest which I know know is just for visitors. Students at Trinity have their very one network, TUSecure, which is protected by the Mr. hatch and the rest of his department. The one virus that intrigued me the most was definitely the Trojan because it's cleverly disguised as an email or a link and is nearly impossible to get rid off. After Mr. Hatch's talk I'm much more alert and careful when it comes to roaming the internet and I now wipe my safari after every use just to ensure that I'm not in danger of a harmful virus.