Coronavirus Safe Space

We asked the question, why are we here, at the start of the year. It's crucial to know "why" we are doing things in order to accept them and abide by them. Above are all the reasons why we are taking precautions.  Please read it and discuss the following. I want you to feel free to speak about your experience with what's happening today. Answer the following:

• How are you feeling? 
• How has your daily routine been disrupted? 
• How has your family been impacted? 
• How are you taking care of yourself? 

 Share with us a little about what this experience has been like for you.

Digital distraction lifehacks

You spent the month of February keeping track of your digital digestion and hopefully it's give you some insight into your habits around your personal device. Recent studies have shown that we're all spending a lot of time passively wasting our lives away on our devices. So for this post I want you to share a "hack" that you do, or want to try, to cut back on your screen time and reclaim more focus in your life. Here's some tips to get you started or give you some ideas:

• Listen to music without words while studying or reading. Check out Noisili. It's an app that operates like a noise box that improves your ability to work. Choose audio from rushing water, trees rustling, or a running fan to create that atmosphere of stress-free productivity.
• Getting sucked into a technology black hole is as simple as tapping open your phone. When you need to focus, and I mean really focus, it's all but impossible to pull yourself away from the distraction that is social media. Cold Turkey is an app designed to help you get on your grind. 

What's yours? 

What happens n3xt? A Digital Rights and Responsibilites mystery.

This is part 1 of a science fiction/technology/know your rights series of blog posts. The following is a true story. For this post I want you to use your creativity and write a paragraph about what you think happens to Sarah next. It can be anything you want based upon the information you now have about Sarah.

Sarah hovered over the mailbox, envelope in hand. She knew as soon as she mailed off her DNA sample, there’d be no turning back. She ran through the information she looked up on 23andMe’s website one more time: the privacy policy, the research parameters, the option to learn about potential health risks, the warning that the findings could have a dramatic impact on her life.
She paused, instinctively retracting her arm from the mailbox opening. Would she live to regret this choice? What could she learn about her family, herself that she may not want to know? How safe did she really feel giving her genetic information away to be studied, shared with others, or even experimented with?
Thinking back to her sign-up experience, Sarah suddenly worried about the massive amount of personally identifiable information she already handed over to the company. With a background in IT, she knew what a juicy target hers and other customers’ data would be for a potential hacker. Realistically, how safe was her data from a potential breach? She tried to recall the specifics of the EULA (end-user license agreement), but the wall of legalese text melted before her memory.
Pivoting on her heel, Sarah began to turn away from the mailbox when she remembered just why she wanted to sign up for genetic testing in the first place. She was compelled to learn about her own health history after finding out she had a rare genetic disorder, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, and wanted to present her DNA for the purpose of further research. In addition, she was on a mission to find her mother’s father. She had a vague idea of who he was, but no clue how to track him down, and believed DNA testing could lead her in the right direction.
Sarah closed her eyes and pictured her mother’s face when she told her she found her dad. With renewed conviction, she dropped the envelope in the mailbox. It was done.

What happens n3xt? 

https://blog.malwarebytes.com/101/2018/11/dna-testing-kit-companies-really-data/

The Power of Blogs II

For our final post of Q2, we are going to experiment with commenting. The real power of a blog is in the input of the community. Adding your own personal experience brings new meaning to the subject. In this post you will be commenting on one review of someone else from a different class. So follow this link: https://ftb2-2019-20.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-power-of-blogs.html and reply to someone else's post with your own perspective. Read their review and add your own thoughts to continue the thread started by your classmate.You can agree or disagree, rule #1 is be respectful, courteous and kind. Click Reply and add a paragraph of your own perspective to their post.

DO NOT COMMENT TO THIS POST. Follow the link and comment there. 

New Year, New You?

Welcome back. Happy New Year. People typically like to take the opportunity to reevaluate some bad habits and try to correct them around this time of year. For our first post of the New Year lets share a few resolutions you are committing to making or discuss how it may have went for you in the past. Are you able to stay committed to a resolution you make with yourself? Or what would you like to change about yourself and how can you?

The Power of Blogs

The great thing about blogs is that they can be about anything and it is a fresh perspective from outside the mainstream. Do you love to travel? Start a travel blog and it becomes your unique view on the topic. For this post I want you to pretend this is your blog. Write a post about a recent experience you had with something you have a strong opinion about. It can be negative or positive. Your post should be 6-10 sentences at a minimum. Compare and contrast what you are writing about with other things similar to your topic. For example: If you are writing about a record from a particular artist, compare it to similar artists or the artists earlier work. Same for restaurants, etc. See examples for ideas. The key is to be passionate.

Ideas: 

1. Movie review - Compare two movies you recently saw and what you like or disliked about them.
2. Book review - see movie review...
3. Travel experience
4. Restaurant review
5. Fashion review
6. Technology 

Examples: 

Travel blog: http://roam-magazine.co

Food blog: http://culinarybackstreets.com

More travel blogs: http://petitepassport.com,

Fashion: http://whatiwore.tumblr.com

Tech: https://techcrunch.com

Gratitude

Thanksgiving time is here. It's a time to reflect on our accomplishments and give thanks to some of friends and family that have helped us along the way. You've been through a lot of changes in the last three months. So for this post please reflect on one accomplishment you are proud that you accomplished and one friend or family member that has helped you in some way that your thankful for.