Gabby Giffords

Gaby Giffords is more than just still alive. She has resumed walking, speaking, reading, writing, and she is back doing the job that she was almost assassinated for. The fact that she continues working with her dream job is amazing.

This is an inspiration for me to not give up pursuing my dream, no matter how daunting the situation may be.

HAPPY AMERICA DAY!

Hehe, i know it was yesterday BUT i couldn't post because that meant i would have to pay 20$ just for basic internet at the hotel i was at for the holiday weekend. The Fourth of July fireworks at lenox in Atlanta was rained on the entire time, but the show started despite the rain. Everyone was soaking wet after the show, but hey: the fireworks still worked! I planned to film the fireworks until i learned of the rain, but i wouldnt have been a happy camper if i ruined my camera in the rain...

Anyways, I DID manage to take photos some of the places I went to while I was there, including the strange bathroom at the four-star hotel I stayed in. youll see why its so awkward.

The hotel room has a balcony, and this Carnegie monument is one of the landmarks you can see from there

Polaris Restaurant: right above my room

INaccessible toilet

Waiting for the train (didnt want to use flash, thats why it was blurry)

Here comes MARTA!

MARTA, the abandoned World of Coke (Coca-Cola) and the State Capitol building which is made of real gold

Polaris at night

Turner Field, with an Atlanta skyline (whats on the screen is a joke)

Only in Georgia could you have the best of both worlds

I do have more pictures but because of the bandwidth it took about an hour just to upload these photos, so if you want to see more, you will have to write a comment or send a message. I really want to show the photobomb i have to everyone, but ill have to edit the photo so its easier to see.Oh, and these ictures have not been edited in any way yet...

Happy belated Fourth!

Lulzsec

BEFORE YOU READ: I am sorry to start a rant about this, but i havent found any article that vaguely relates to how I see the organization Lulzsec. Also note that if you have a logical argument against my viewpoint i will be willing to hear it.


This week one if the hackers from Lulzsec was arrested and is now being tried for hacking into various major corporations and agencies. People are screaming 'good riddance for the nuisance!'. And theyre partially right. Lulzsec IS a nuisance, but no one should be breathing a sigh of relief. Not because he was only one hacker in an entire group, but because Lulzsec could be in fact giving everybody a sign of warning with these high-profile attacks, yet the people who SHOULD be heeding to it are wishing to blot it out.

I will be blunt: Our security is crap. It only gives us a sense of safety against spammers and bots, but what about actual hackers? Once a hacker gets a hold of ANY data he finds relevant, everything linked to the internet is as open as a library full of books.

So what is the warning this should be giving us? Not that we need to eliminate the crime element in the world, because obviously we've been working on that since the B.C. eras and its still here. No, we need to improve on our security, learn from their feats so that FUTURE HACKERS do not follow suit.

In case you remember from your high school language arts classes, Lulzsec would probably be sorted underneath the satire category. Satire is 'the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing,denouncing an injustice or practice.' (taken from dictionary.com)
Lulzsec is ridiculing these large and important organizations in hopes that they change their internet security and policies, but it seems that the 'big guys' are failing to read between the lines.

Lulzsec is just as they claim to be, a benign hacker community. We should be seeing them as rogue security consultants who do their work 'for the lulz'.

found at nulldevice.de

Lulzsec are not the evil in the world. 
They are warning to prepare ourselves for those who are.

PS. When Lulzsec is gone, what is the chance that whoever takes their place will be as harmless?

SAVANNAH! (continued)

Its been quite a while since the last post, but ive been enjoying my week. I am also succeeding in throwing my sleeping schedule out the window, which is also fun but has some side effects. Ive promised to show my best pictures, but they just so happen to be on my now-missing camcorder! therefore, i shall show the best on the regular camera...

Into the sunset- or is it the camera? i cant tell, but it still looks cool...

a picture of me taking pictures- my hair looks pretty good for it to be humid!

The palmettos run rampant here.

I cant remember which square this is, but apparently they ordered that fountain out of a french catalog

the fence is meant to be a scaled-down replica of the buckingham palace gate

American Spanish moss- the most beautiful place a chigger may call home

Typical historic architecture

The balcony has no doors- only oversized windows. very popular style back then

The pirates' tavern. Notorious for getting drunks who overstayed their visit shanghai'ed

ooh a pirate! ...tour

the iron monger's house. anything that was black, white or wood he had made of iron on his house

This house... was designed by a teen architect?! First house in the US with plumbing. not bad...

TROLLEY CAR! I WANTED TO RIDE IT SO BADLY!

in a tour tram taking a picture of a tour tram- this was on a ramp down to historic River street

Antebellum and big city blended together

another pic of the storebought fountain

PAULA DEEN YALL! (note: ONLY go there if you absolutely know that she is in, otherwise the food is nasty...)

Why does it seem that every coastal port has a statue like this with the same old story?

the RAY's crab shack on the rich Tybee Island

Inside- its not really inside is it? *ahem* MAIN AREA of the crab shack. I do recall quite a few FAT cats taunting my dog here...

outside the crab shack, just outside their gator pit!

Savannah!

I didnt have anything posted thursday because

I was on VACATION!

Wow! even though 3 days might feel long when you have nothing to do over the summer, imagine a car trip where you arrive so late in the morning you have to sleep in the car until light so you can get a hotel-
it messes you up.

It was fun, i rate it one of my best 3-day vacations ive ever had. Savannah is old, its ornate, and its full of the best tour guides in the U.S.!

From my amazing visit, there was alot of history i never knew about. of course everyone knew it was the first georgian settlement and king cotton and civil war general sherman yadda yadda, but not only the city had a history, but many of the buildings had a history of their own.
Savannah sports the first public school in the US, the birthplace of the founder of girl scouts, the only gothic-style jewish synagogue in the world, the first art gallery in the US, and those are only a couple buildings in an entire city of landmarks.
Im forgetting the spanish moss that line the trees and boulevards, the georgian and wrought-iron mansions, and the hundreds of unique brick houses that line the avenues!

Who cares if it is the most haunted city in the world, it is the most authentic and rich as well! Its inspiring, not just the city itself, but also the surrounding islands, especially Tybee Island, which is EXACTLY what i would expect a beach town to look like, and i didnt need a charter plane to find it! From there i watched the sunrise from their pier, found jellyfish floating by the docks, and seen storks, herons, and seagulls galore! There was so much to see that you really do need to go back.

I took so many pictures that im still sorting through them! Tomorrow i will pick the ones with the best stories and share them with everyone

Well i think its true...

Well i found this picture on one of my friend's tumblr, and i found it hilarious, and surprisingly accurate...

But its missing something,

 its missing two more pics- America as seen by Americans, and Europe as seen by Europeans. Fortunately for us, I live in America, and have gone to great lengths to create the following pic. If anyone grew up in a European country, please feel free to make your own!

Photography- Helen, GA

 In my last post i ragged on about how great Helen, GA is and that it looks picturesque. To justify these claims, here are some photos from Helen, GA. I'm sorry that ive only took picture of the putt-putt course, but i can tell you that this is only the beginning of the town. you can see part of the town in the first and last picture here. I couldnt photograph the rest of the town because i was driving, and even if i did it simply wouldnt do it justice. i mean, you cant see the world's largest homebuilt model railroad from the car, can you? (There really is a model railroad run by german immigrants right on the main street!) anyways, even though i took picture of what was outside of town, you can still feast your eyes!

SCHOOL IS OUT!

Its about time!

This week has been so tiring, even though they let school out early the last three days. All those extra hours they gave us?

I slept.

Im terribly sorry!

Anyway, now I am officially going to become a senior! Just one more year, and then 2012---

Very funny.

Oh yeah, I have a theory on how the rapture and revelation will work, but i guess ill have to keep that to myself (It would be more believable than the doomsday people i promise)

Alrighty, now that school is out, Im sure some of my friends dont mind that i actually have fun with them now that there will be absolutely nothing to do! God I wish I had a car!

You would THINK we are people watching...

Its almost over

NO i am NOT talking about the end of the world! I find people who prophesize the exact day of the apocalypse outright nutbags. If you want to contest that, ill be happy to hear your case (insert emoticon here).

What i meant was the end of school! You know what that means? Either no more pre-occupation, or extra laziness, which i will welcome both (although i prefer the first option).

The time for my first PROFESSIONAL photoshoot is coming soon, and i absolutely cant wait for that. I thank MANA STARRE for choosing me to be her little photographer! We've been best friends for the longest time, and i am very thankful that i have such a trusting and honest friend!

Kerna project stalled a bit ,im sorry, but im going to have to wait for my neurons to de-fry themselves before i start again. BEFORE that happened, ive made some interesting drawings (perception is a little off unfortunately) as well as polished and concluded the second chapter. I cant wait to show everyone!

As for outside art/info, ive been quite a hermit because of testing, but if you havent seem EVE Online, you should at least read their stories- they're so amazing! Just remember that if you want to try the actual game, let me know so that i can give you a 3-week trial instead of the 2 weeks they would give you (7 days is a HUGE difference!)

thank you everyone once again!

You will love this

The music artist, whoever he is, did an amazing job here! I absolutely love his work, and it is utterly hilarious as a topper! I've already downloaded his song on my mp3,

but i still have no idea who the artist is...
Maybe after you watch "me" dance, you could help me in finding the artist name, because i want to listen to everything else this guy made! Don't worry, you'll like it too, you know it...



The Ugly Dance



The link is above, just in case you didn't notice ;-D

Dragging it on- Japan

I am terribly sorry, but even though some people i know want the ranting about how to help Japan to stop, I do not mean to repeat what -they- say.


First off, Japan technically does not need the kind of help we might expect them to need- food, hygiene, and survival kits. They are not a developing country, and they can afford to give themselves aid, as Japan has the third largest economy in the world. They've already supplied themselves to rebuild, there's not much we can do to help.


What kind of aid would they need? Sure, many countries are now refusing to import now-irradiated Japanese goods, but be serious- economics is long term: think at least a 5-year time span. They're not going to go under, as nuclear disaster has occurred before; they KNOW how to recover. Simply give them sympathy, and respect as they do their best resume their daily lives, just like the rest of us.


For thousands of years, the Japanese time and again had earthquakes and tsunamis hit their homeland. For thousands of years, the Japanese rebuilt their homeland every time it ever became devastated. They reinforced their homes and workplaces with the best money can buy, and they encounter these natural disasters so often that they simply resume their work afterwards. The Japanese were prepared for this, and the world is thankful.


We, as citizens of the world, can learn alot more from the Japanese reactions during their time of peril. When the lights in the stores went out and goods flew off the shelves, shoppers rushed to return the products on the shelves once the worst passed. There was no reports of looting. Japanese news channels only reported anything that gave hope, and organized crime such as the Yakuza turned out to be the largest contributors to the recovery effort, delivering medical supplies and handing out uncontaminated food in spite of all of the risks the drivers and volunteers took on their lives to help their community. Imagine what a miracle it would be if there was order in a place of utter chaos. That is Japan.


Japan: the hub of Asian culture. It will never be gone forever.


~steviekun