"Stuxnet, a New Sort of Campaign" (T&C Report)

"Warning over 'Stuxnet' Computer Worm"
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/09/24/stuxnet.worm.ft/index.html

Computer viruses are nothing new to us; since computers have become personal they have existed. Most are annoyances while others can prove to be costly if not prevented. The computer virus has begun a new, much more frightening stage recently as one called "Stuxnet" has wormed its way into an unknown number of Iranian facilities. This virus does not seem to be designed to target the general public however, in fact experts have speculated that it is specifically created to attack industrial computers in things like factories. This suggests that there are potentially more sinister motivations behind the attack than simply taking money. Some are hypothesizing that a government is behind it. This possibility is a very frightening prospect because Iran is one of the fastest growing nuclear countries in the world. The possibilities of this new technology are endless; ranging from businesses attempting to sabotage competitors all the way to countries waging a new form of war. One thing is certain however, this new virus has truly revolutionized the "cyber war" and computers that seemed immune to infection are now racing to catch back up.

"The Technology of the Brewery"

The subject I would like to pursue for my final topic is a strange and somewhat controversial one. I would like to research the ways technology has changed and developed the alcohol industry or, more specifically, beer. Before you get too far into your immediate thoughts of incredulity, let me explain. My fascination with the art (yes I said art) of brewing beer does not spawn from some juvenile fascination with being rebellious or have anything to do with any party habits that I do or do not have. My interest instead comes from a desire to own a pub when I am older, a love for Great Britain (who produce some of the most widely known beers in the world i.e. Guinness, Newcastle, etc.), and a "Modern Marvels" episode on the History Channel about the history and manufacture of alcohol. Things that I intend to research and address in this paper include methods of brewing and how they have changed, advertisement, and a brief history. To research these topics I would first visit several well known beer company's websites that use varying degrees of technology to create the drink. I would want to find one that is mass-produced in an ultra-modern facility, one that has upgraded to meet demand but still stays tied to tradition, and one that prides itself on using completely traditional methods. Due to the nature of the topic, I would probably be fairly limited trying to find research sources in the library so I would probably simply search online for information regarding beer's history.

"Justin Bieber... a Cultural Icon?"

I have decided to write my paper on the rise of child star Justin Bieber in the music industry. I decided on this topic last night after watching his VMA performance. I plan for my paper to have a brief history of Justin, his rise to stardom, and I want to explore some possible reasons that he has exploded to the forefront of popular music today. I want to write this paper from a mostly objective standpoint but have some added in humor that voices my personal opinion thrown in (perhaps that will keep the hardcore Bieber fans away).

"The Evolution of Fragrance"

As an employee at a retail store, I encounter various new fragrances for men and women reasonably often. Today I examined one of our new colognes and read the description of the scent. In its description  it stated that it had  "notes of fine brandy" (yes, the alcohol) and "sensual spices." As I read this I realized that, although it is so often overlooked, technology has changed the industry of fragrance in quite an amazing way.

Consider for a moment, the history of colognes and perfumes. When man first decided to attempt to enhance his own natural scent with something more pleasing to the nostrils, he would use natural scents to mask his own. Things like roses, lavenders, and vanilla smelled naturally good so we found ways to transfer that scent to our bodies. This continued for centuries, Romans and other ancient cultures used oils scented with things like cinnamon and ginger, but that was as complex as our quest for a pleasant odor ever got until the last few decades.

Now look at the modern cosmetics industry and the fragrances on the market. They have actual laboratories in order to discover what combinations of scents have the most pleasing aromas. There is an entire science built around what smells good to humans. Technology has made this possible by presenting completely new things to smell and ways to produce it. Through technology, our idea of a good smell has been altered. Now when someone smells a lavender perfume, it may remind them of a beloved grandmother, but rarely of a hot date or a night on the town. No our sense of smell needs something more complex and interesting; maybe next time try some notes of fine brandy and sensual spices?

"To Unfriend or not to Unfriend: That is the Facebook Question"

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/social.media/09/01/netiquette.unfriending/index.html


The article I chose for this week is titled "To Unfriend or not to Unfriend: That is the Facebook Question" and was written by Andrea Bartz and Brenna Ehrlich on cnn.com. It discusses different scenarios in which it is appropriate to "defriend" a person on the popular social network site "facebook." I find that this sheds light on how much friends made over the web mean to people in today's culture. Less than a decade ago people would not have thought twice about deleting someone off of their friends list; the fact of the matter was that they would either keep in contact in person and not online or just simply had gone their separate ways and never talked anymore anyway. Today things have changed drastically however and defriending someone on facebook is treated almost as a face-to-face break-up. I find this to be a disturbing indication of my generation in particular's increasing reliance on technology to communicate with others. When people resort to things like facebook to carry out entire relationships rather than simply to have a quick conversation or to easily keep in contact with someone far away, then we are truly on our way to a total depersonalization of human contact.

The " Never's" in Grammar...

• Because never begin a sentence with an "and" or "because."
• Never tearn in a non-proofread paper.
• Never end a sentence with a preposition... within.
• never forget to capitalize the first word of a sentence.
• Never make a run-on sentence because run-on sentence can really convolute your paper and make it harder for the reader to follow since they need punctuation and stuff to do things and stuff.
• Never forget to cite a source (The Bible).
• ,Never, over,-,use, commas,.

and...

• Never eat or drink immediately before writing. Wait at least thirty minutes to give your body time to digest.