TED Talks and Problem Solving Activites

      Last Friday when I had, ahem, ACL-istis, the class watched 4 TED talks. I ended up watching them over the course of this week and I thought the most interesting one was the one about hiring hackers. The speaker suggested that companies and the government should put convicted hackers to work.

     Why should the brilliant minds that were able to break through electronic barriers as if they were walls of Legos be wasted in prison? Couldn't we attempt to reform them and use their genius to protect our data online? The government could hire them to secure confidential documents and protect government computers from creative hackers such as themselves. Companies could hire them to help ensure that their customer's data is kept as safe and confidential as possible. They would have to be incredibly cautious that the convicts might build a loophole into the system that only they could crawl through but it is definitely a creative and innovative idea. 

     I think this concept could revolutionize the protection of electronic data. However, while watching this video, I couldn't help thinking that reforming convicted hackers, removing them from jail, and giving them high-profile jobs is essentially rewarding criminal behavior. Sure, they are brilliant and it would be a shame for them to spend their lives in jail but should we also bail particularly creative burglars out of jail to help us engineer home security systems? People who engage in criminal activity need to be punished regardless of their intellect. If the concept of hiring hackers is going to work, there will need to some system in place to ensure that justice is served as well.

     In class this week, we also completed a series of problem solving activities. I enjoyed these activities once we got to the more complicated one about Donald Trump's buildings because they required thought and we could more clearly see the problem solving system we were studying. My group and I got caught up in the easy problems and thought we had solved the final problem in a few seconds. After re-reading the problem, though, we realized that we had oversimplified the problem and we promptly became obsessed with solving it. We were relieved when our teacher revealed the solution because we knew that, if he didn't, we would have wondered about it all weekend. 

    TGIF!

Katie

ACL!!!!

My dad and I started attending ACL my freshman year and we have gone for the past 4 years now. My sister joined us our third year and came again this year. We all have similar music tastes so we usually stick together for most of the weekend so I have come to associate ACL with family time, which is pretty unusual for a teenager.

Each year when the schedule is released, I buy a few albums by a couple artists I think I'll like and by the time the festival rolls around, I am usually obsessed with at least one of them. This year, the band that I looked forward to the most was Head and the Heart. My sister and I camped out at their stage on Sunday morning and were at the front of the crowd. Normally, we don't like to the fight the masses that much but we both loved Head and the Heart and we knew it would be worth it. The show was incredible, especially because we knew all the words and sang along at the top of our lungs.

More than any specific band though, I just love the environment at ACL. There is music playing everywhere and, even if you don't know any of the bands, you'll find something you like. The food is good and there is a wide variety of options. The park is gorgeous and the grass has actually held up well the past two years, solving the dust and mud problems that came up the first two years we went. There's also a sort of community feel that I love. No matter how hot or muddy or rainy it gets, we're all going to stay and listen to music together because we love it that much.

Oops! Forgot to post last week.

Last weekend I was out of town on a college visit and I forgot to post because I was having such a great time!

I went to look at Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina and I absolutely loved it. The campus is beyond gorgeous and everyone I met on campus was incredibly friendly. Everyone from the students to the teachers to the president is known by the their first name on campus, a policy stemming from the Quaker value of equality. The school was founded by Quakers in the late 1800s or so but, while the current administration emphasizes Quaker principles, only 9% of the students are Quaker. Coming from a Christian background, I appreciated the religious presence on campus and, on the flip side, coming from a church where it is often assumed that everyone agrees, I appreciated the open-minded attitude on campus.

Another aspect of the campus that I absolutely loved was the 250 acres of wooded area on campus. There is a 2.5 mile trail in the woods and I went running there after spending a day on campus. It was outstandingly beautiful, reminding me of the woods that my family and I would hike through when visiting my grandparents old house in New Jersey. I have missed that house and the surrounding area ever since they moved to Texas so the woods provided a heavy dose of nostalgia for me.

The town of Greensboro is about one-fourth the size of Austin. Its airport has just one baggage claim section and you could drive through town in a little over half an hour. It felt like the perfect size: just rural enough to make me feel confident and comfortable and just big enough to provide a diverse and exciting setting to attend college.

I made a Pro/Con list for Guilford and entirely filled the Pro column before I could come up with a single Con. As you might be able to guess, I would really love to go there.

First Post!

Hello! We're into the rhythm of school enough to start writing blog posts so here we go:

I'm excited about our three day weekend, during which I plan on watching lots of football, getting caught up on homework and working on my college applications. As I write this, I'm watching the Auburn vs. Utah State game which is surprisingly close. It's so great to have football back after a long, sport-less summer. My mom, sister, and I got tickets to go the UT. Rice game this Saturday night and I'm really looking forward to it. Hopefully the Longhorns will be able to pull it together enough to win.

Now, let's talk about the class I'm writing this for. I'm actually enjoying Computer Programming much more than I thought I would. I like that we are covering the basics instead of assuming that everyone in the class understands computer lingo. I'm looking forward to understanding more about how to make a computer do what I want it to, as opposed to my usual approach of just having my dad work with technology for me.

I'll sign off now and watch the end of this football game. Hook 'em Horns!