Justice

Computer technology has advanced a lot in a very short amount of time, but one particular aspect of this technology has been around since before the first computer. Cryptography has been used for thousands of years, but fairly recently it's taken a pretty drastic turn. With the invention of the internet, almost everything moved online. This caused several problems in that mass amounts of information were just out in the open where billions of people have access. This, of course, is not entirely true, because methods are constantly being developed to protect the data that people share on the internet. But with this protection comes a slew of people who seek to extort this information.

The NSA helps to protect people and the information they share on the internet. It also helps to assure the country's safety by keeping military information secret and exposing other countries' secrets in turn. According to MIT Technology Review, this is a cause of some concern. Their article mentions how the code of ethics for computer scientists mentions trustworthiness and honesty as well as respecting the privacy of others. Very clearly, the NSA violates these, in addition to the 4th Amendment of the United States Constitution. Ed Snowden, a former contractor for the NSA, discusses this violation of American rights in this statement.

The NSA breaks this code constantly, and they think they can get away with it because they are part of the government. That isn't how justice works. Based on documents that all Americans, whether in the government or not, are expected to obey, this agency has broken the law. They can try to justify it however they want, but at some point, justice will be served.

Refurbished

Before the school year started, I decided that it would be a good idea to build my own computer. I came to this conclusion for multiple reasons: getting a better computer for a lower price, being able to customize nearly every aspect of it, learning how it's done since I'm a Computer Science major, etc. I ended up spending a pretty penny to make sure this computer would be beneficial to me throughout my last year of school, as well as last me for a few years.

What I didn't realize was that in my classes, it would prove necessary to have a portable device with better specs than the Asus Transformer T100. It isn't a bad device, per se, but it was insufficient for my needs in class. After a few class sessions, I started to realize this fact, and began to stress out. I had just spent a significant amount of money on a desktop, and now I had to buy a laptop as well.

So, I did what I'm sure every college kid does: I started looking for the deals. I started with Dell because my university has an ongoing student deal with them. Even with this discount though, the prices just seemed too high. Then, I began looking at sites, such as Woot, Newegg, and TigerDirect. These sites, as always, had some very good deals, but either the price was good and the hardware wasn't, or the hardware was good and the price was too high.

Throughout this time, I had been looking at Windows laptops, because I "knew" them to be the cheaper option. Finally, my brother-in-law suggested I check out refurbished Apple laptops. At first, I was skeptical, especially when looking at the prices. I was hoping to not spend much on this laptop, but it was looking like that wouldn't be possible. This was ultimately the fact that helped me make my decision. I determined that if I was going to spend the money anyway, I may as well spend it on a trusted device with an operating system I am less familiar with in order to improve my skills in my field, so I went with a MacBook Air.

While this was a particularly frustrating experience, I do believe that greater forces are always at work. I know that this experience, though not ideal, will ultimately help me to, at the very least, learn some new things. It's been an interesting process to learn OS X after years of dealing solely with Windows. There's still a lot to learn, but this refurbished laptop is refurbishing me.

Change

I'm not one for change; I'll admit it. When I was first told to start a blog, I was intimidated. I don't like to put my ideas out into the public eye, because I don't want anyone to disagree with me or potentially not like me. I'm just a people-pleaser. I always have been, and to some extent, I probably always will be.

Change is all around us, though. The times are changing; the climate is constantly changing; underwear is (hopefully) being changed daily. In fact, it could be argued that change is more consistent than consistency (oh yeah, I went there). Things are constantly changing, and change is, for the most part, good, so why is change such a hard thing?

Maybe change is hard due to a fear of failure. I know that's something that influences me. Maybe change is difficult because the idea of risking what you already have for something you have no idea about is just too tough to grasp. Maybe it's just a matter of overthinking things.

Though I may not fully understand why it is hard to grasp change, I know that it is important for growth. Though it would be easier to stay in one place and stick with what is known, change will happen. It may be tough, and I may be forced out of my comfort zone, but I will grow; that's one thing I can count on.