A Data-centric world

Data, data, data. I know it's been a while since I posted last so that's my bad. I've also decided to take a different direction with my blog. I think it would be better to actually analyze what the internet is on a level that most of us don't think about. I've come to the realization recently that my major and other majors and professions like it are very data-centric. We deal with raw, hard, cold data and love every minute of it. 

Every single one of my classes deals with data and what to do with it. My database class is about organizing data in a way that makes it easily accessible for whatever the need my be. My programming class uses the language of data to create interfaces for users. My applied information assurance class teaches us how to exploit a network in order to secure and defend data. My IT forensics class teaches us how to recover lost and hidden data to uncover the truth. And, finally, my decision support system class teaches us how to mine data and then how to analyze the data in order to make sense of the it by using technological means.

I'm not really a creative person so this realization made me happy. I have no problem managing other peoples data. Programming is the most difficult because it requires some creativity from me and I'm terrible at that. In my decision support systems class last night, we had people from Walmart come and speak to our class. This was very interesting because they deal with so much data per day. It was cool to see how they take the sales data and weather and put that into place within all of their stores nationwide. Some may complain about Walmart but I don't know if they realize how much information they actually deal with. It's tons.

I've also been thinking a lot about what section of IT to go into because there are quite a bit. I'm really taking a liking to database even though it seems like it may come back to bite me. There's just something about organizing data that is really getting to me right now. I still have a strange fondness in my heart for desktop support. Even though I alway get frustrated when people have really easy-to-fix problems I still find myself having a sense of satisfaction when I'm able to fix or resolve their problem. 

I have had to ask people this before, but that is small fries compared to the feeling I get when I solve that issue. Of course, in database you can make some sick money and it's not nearly as hard. My major sets me up to be a translator between the computer nerds and the business jocks, but I just really want to work with computers somehow.

Anyway, I have to get back to this database homework (aka Reddit). I'll try to update this more often. I'm also learning how to use Python so maybe I'll talk about that soon!

What's in a Meme?

Let's talk about memes. This picture is more true than you think. Memes can be hilarious and genius but also very inappropriate and/or disgusting. Practice caution when viewing. Internet memes as difined by Wikipedia are, "At its most basic an Internet meme is simply an idea that is propagated through the Web. This idea may take the form of a hyperlink, video, website, hashtag, or even just a word or phrase. This meme may spread from person to person via social networks, blogs, direct email, news sources etc...." These are the essences of why the internet is awesome. Hilarious videos aren't the only thing that go viral. I would even describe a meme as something that doesn't gain mainstream attention but is still widely seen on the web.

I don't know why this is true, but it is. Some of the most recent memes that you might recognize are Rick Rolling or Lolcats. A lot of memes start on websites like 4chan or Reddit. Never go to 4chan. You will see some very terrible things. However, 4chan can have some very genius things come out of it.

This is Bad Advice Dog. It is traditionally displayed with text that suggest the viewer do something very inappropriate. It has since spread across the internet like wildfire and having several different spinoffs such as Philociraptor, Courage Wolf, Insane Wolf (NSFW), Foul Bachelor Frog (NSFW) and any other similar pictures. Anytime you see a picture with an animal in the middle and text around it with a multicolored pinwheel background of any color, this is where it originated from. You can even go to memegenerator.net and create your own memes using any picture, background or text.

This is one of my personal favorites. It comes from a portrait artist in the 18th century name Joseph Ducreux who actually wasn't boring and lame. His pictures were very animated (for that time anyway). Someone posted his picture on 4chan one day in which it had the text "Disregard women gain currency" on it. This was a 18th century rewording of the song "F*** B****es Get Money" by Notorious B.I.G. It exploded on the internet with everyone putting every conceivable rap song ever redone in 18th century style. This is very hilarious and "Disregard women, gain currency" is one of my life mottos.

This is the last one I'm going to talk about. I may do a second part because there a so many hilarious memes and I could spend all night writing about them. This is the original Rage Guy. It's usually in a 4 tile comic in which displays something that is less than favorable happening and the last tile is the face of the person saying a half expletive. I love these because I've been in other similar situations and I've totally felt exactly like that.

Like I said I may do more, but I can only do so many for right now. If you go to knowyourmeme, you can learn about a lot more memes and how they are awesome.

I'm sure the blog is still pretty rough, but I'm sure it will get better as I go. Just bear with me!

My first blog post!

As I stated in my Facebook, I don't normally like blogs because nobody really cares about the person who is writing. However, after going through the internet like I have been and seeing the most hilarious pictures and stories and videos ever I decided that I would write about my journey through the internet. I can't guarantee that it will be pretty, but I can give you some assurance that it will be funny.