JackFromWisconsin

Art class -- what is the value of it anyway? Isn't that just something you take for fun? Well, you could do that. There is a lot more to art classes, in university, than meets the eye. They can help build critical thinking skills, offer a new perspective on the world, and provide a new form of expression.  I am going to mostly be talking about my experiences, which I understand are fairly unique. For my freshman through junior years of college, I went to a smaller branch campus that had approximately 200 students. Our art classes were taught by a local artist, not by a standard "art professor." I really appreciated this aspect as it made everything feel very grounded. This was his career, and something he was able to sustain himself doing. The two art classes I took were oil painting and drawing I, and each of them gave me a different slice of the art world.  So, art and critical thinking, what's the connection? Well, this is going to sound basic, but in order to buil...

Why is everyone ordering Door Dash now? I'm not, and I don't think you should be either. Proponents of the service (any food delivery service, not just Door Dash themselves) argue that it is more convenient and therefore worth the cost. While each person decides what individual costs are "worth it" to them, I do not think a $20 Big Mac meal is ever worth it. First, a little history. This segment -- "third-party food delivery" -- gets its start in the early-to-mid 2010s with major players including Uber Eats and Door Dash. That name explains their entire service: this is a third party (not yourself nor the restaurant) delivering your food. Before, all food delivery was "first party", that is the restaurant would hire drivers and manage it themselves. This old way of doing things had a couple of advantages. For one, delivery drivers were treated no different than cashiers or servers with respect to employment, wages, and benefits. Another advantage i...

Earlier this year the world watched in awe as four human beings traveled beyond low Earth orbit for the first time since 1972 to conduct a fly-by of the Moon. On the surface, this is a story about perseverance, integrity, and the grit of mankind. Yes, Artemis II was all of that -- and more. But, this is also a story about politics, the purpose of organizations, and the waste of American tax dollars. All of those are important to understanding the fly-by and the plans for an actual moon base, as told by NASA.  How did we get to the moon the first time? It is really fascinating - the mission was selected as it was deemed too difficult for the Soviet Union to complete successfully, while still being possible enough for the United States to get it done. And looking back, that belief proved to be correct, the United States remains to this day the only nation to send living humans to the Moon and back. The Apollo Command and Service module was effectively a tin-can with just enough life ...

"Copyright." What first comes to your mind when I say that word? Maybe some vague ideas about intellectual property, or maybe some understanding that you cannot distribute a modern movie online. Copyright is an form of property that is assigned to a creator when they create a work. This is distinct from regular forms of property, like real estate, which are tangible (its a physical location) and limited (there is only so much of it). Copyright, in its modern form, exists to stifle creativity and enrich mega-corporations. What is intellectual property? Lets ask the United Nations. They tell us: "everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author" ( Article 27, Universal Declaration of Human Rights ). They make the argument that you should own your creative works, no different than you own your physical works that you create. On the surface level, this ...

I am an editor for Wikipedia. Maybe many of you are also editors or maybe many of you haven't edited Wikipedia at all. What does editing for Wikipedia mean? Lots of things, from fixing someone else's grammar, to adding new references, to fact checking, to writing entire new articles. I've done each of those and more in my 6+ years volunteering for the site off-and-on. What good is Wikipedia, really, and why is it all the more important today than ever before?  You could read about the history of the site on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia . I use Wikipedia as a general reference - it is good for giving a broad overview of a topic, as well as giving you links/references to go deeper. The site is widely reliable, there is even a Wikipedia article about that very topic  (Can I trust that article?). Overall, its great, but not without its flaws.  Far far less people make edits to the site, and less still make edits that actually persist. On the surface leve...

Yesterday was my first day of class for my senior year of college. I had four classes, and each one of them mentioned AI within the first fifteen minutes. Today, artificial intelligence tools are not as widely accepted as other technologies, like the iPhone or laptop computer, were back in their day. It is both treated in suspect and highly politicized.  On November 30, 2022, the "shot heard around the world" was when OpenAI released the first version of ChatGPT to the public. I cannot believe it has been nearly four years. Its offering was simple - to answer any question you asked of it. You could ask "What is the meaning of life?", and Chat would respond, probably referencing Douglas Adams'  The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  Or, you could ask it to do your homework for you. And the AI bot would do it. OpenAI created the ultimate cheating machine. Now anyone could have essays written for them, math problems solved for them, research conducted for them,...