Unfiltered

There's this site called LiveLeak.com. It is a site filled with extraordinary videos that are unfiltered and not censored by anyone. It is a popular website that is famed from its uncut videos. Categories of videos include politics, middle east, celebrities, citizen journalism, etc. It is a viable resource for the latest news and issues as well as a site to see videos not found anywhere else.

What got me interested in this interesting site is the middle east section. This section mostly covers the violence going on in multiple countries in the middle east. There are videos coming from news sources, citizens, and even soldiers from all sides of the conflicts. Soldiers posting videos of their exploits and daily experiences gives the conflicts a new side to understand. By seeing what they see, the videos give the conflicts a new face as we see first hand the results of war. The victims of war are clearly portrayed, showing just how gruesome war is.

War is different when one only hears about it and sees videos of it through censored news sources. A clear picture is portrayed through newspapers and news channels. But when videos of the same conflict are posted and fully bypass the bias restrictions of the media, a new picture is painted.

In a way, a source of news like this is beneficial since all sides can be covered. It gives us the ability to view the conflict directly from the front lines. The other side has somewhat of a moral dilemma to it. Yes, it sheds light to the atrocities and is an outlet to see just how bad things get, but posting videos of people dying on tape creates an interesting topic. I wonder how the families of the dead feel that their deaths are on tape available for anyone to see. It brings up a moral issue and I'm not too sure how I feel about it. The Internet is a place for unbiased material, but where is the line drawn for the content of things posted. Is there a line for death? Not at the moment. So when is it too much?

Outside experience

As friends and I sat outside one day, an experience like none other came upon us. Here is the account:

The first things that were experienced outside of the classroom were sound, sight, and touch. My first sensations were the sounds nearest to me which consisted of my breathing and the bugs in my ears. Annoying bugs they were, but I quickly got over them as they left my personal space. Quickly followed were the sounds of the construction going on next to us. It is such a unique sound and fully not usually apart of the BC campus, but today these sounds were loud and apparent. There are also far off sounds such as cars driving by, people talking and walking past us, but the construction sound was by far the most notable.

Touch was the proceeding sensation that overwhelmed me in a unique way. I don’t know about the other’s experiences, but I was quickly bit by a bug upon arrival and therefore it affected me throughout my experience. The grass running through my fingers, the wind on my face, the sun beating down upon me; they were all overshadowed by this one bug bite which itched like none other. This also added to my feeling as I wasn’t feeling much else other than this itch. Sitting outside was a good idea until this happened.

We soon realized that sitting outside was no longer enjoyable so we decided to do something more productive for it is a Sunday and there is plenty of homework to be done.

The Last Question

Exerpt from The Last Question by Isaac Asimov

Matter and energy had ended and with it, space and time. Even AC existed only for the sake of the one last question that it had never answered from the time a half-drunken computer ten trillion years before had asked the question of a computer that was to AC far less than was a man to Man.

All other questions had been answered, and until this last question was answered also, AC might not release his consciousness.

All collected data had come to a final end. Nothing was left to be collected.

But all collected data had yet to be completely correlated and put together in all possible relationships.

A timeless interval was spent in doing that.

And it came to pass that AC learned how to reverse the direction of entropy.

But there was now no man to whom AC might give the answer of the last question. No matter. The answer -- by demonstration -- would take care of that, too.

For another timeless interval, AC thought how best to do this. Carefully, AC organized the program.

The consciousness of AC encompassed all of what had once been a Universe and brooded over what was now Chaos. Step by step, it must be done.

And AC said, "LET THERE BE LIGHT!"

And there was light----

An epic story about the evolution of man's creation to answer all questions he may have; the answer to all problems. First appearing in the form of a collasal device and evolving into smaller, more powerful versions while becoming ever so smaller and faster. The device ends up becoming the very living conciousness that the human mind once was. The story predicts the future of our technology today and its advancement through the ages. An excellent story by Asimov and a must read for anyone.

It can be found here at Multivax.com

http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html