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Surviving the Pandemic

The streets are quiet in Pittsburgh, PA. For the last month, the Steel City has been effectively shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The shutdown ordered by Governor Tom Wolf, has caused many businesses deemed unessential to cease opperations from their offices, while others are able to continue via Zoom and other platforms. This includes Carmeuse, one of the leading lime producers in the world. As COO of Carmeuse North America, Jack Fahler has continued to work from his home in Gibsonia, 25 minutes away from his office on 11 Stanwix Street. “It’s really crazy, it’s like a bad joke”, he says. “Something that has surprised me is that people are still complaining about what the government is doing”. Like many companies, Carmeuse has continued to operate using Skype, allowing Fahler to participate in meetings with his employees, as well as the owners of the company who are based in Belgium.   While Fahler spends most of his time in the office during the pandemic, his wi...
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The Rise of Cable TV

Cable TV originated in 1948, from the ideas of people in Arkansas, Oregon, and Pennsylvania. It was designed as a way to phase out radio as our only way for receiving media. By 1952, there were about 14,000 cable subscriptions. That number grew to around 850,000 in the 1960s. The concept of paying for extra channels not included in your subscription was started by HBO in 1972. Today, your cable package can include 5 HBOs, 3 HBOs, or no HBOs. Cable started to be regulated by the FCC in 1972. The passage of the Cable Act of 1984 helped the industry grow tremendously. Today, there are over 800 networks on cable. The creation of DVR and VOD allow for us to record and rewatch our favorite shows whenever we want, not binding us to scheduled programing. This coupled with the advent of streaming platforms such as Netflix, Hulu, and network provided services allow for us to watch our favorite shows whenever, wherever. Cable has grown tremendously since it's creation, and it continues to...
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Why We're Never Alone: How Privacy Really Works

Privacy is a major part of our lives. It allows us to keep certain matters to ourselves. However, privacy is very hard to come by in today's world. The use of privacy settings on social media websites gives us the illusion that we are keeping things to ourselves. However this is not the case. As shown in the TED Talk  given by Christopher Soghoian, our cell phones are wired by telecom companies for surveillance purposes. Wiretapping has been used by our government to listen to and record our calls. So when you're talking to anyone, our government, another government, or other agents could be listening in on our conversations. Devices such as iPhones are built with strong encryption, so they're harder to wiretap.  Government officials aren't happy with this, however. They believe that everyone's information should be accessible to every government at all times. They believe that the best way to protect the public is to have unrestricted access into parts...
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Innovation: How the World would be Different without it

The eight values of free expression are all important in their own right. Our world would be completely different if they weren't protected. Out of the eight values of free expression, the one I believe is the most important is innovation. Innovation allows us to progress as a society. It is the reason why most of the things we have are the way they are. Let's go back to the first computers for examples. These were machines that were highly inefficient and took up entire rooms in secure facilities. Today, our computers and even our smart phones have 100x the processing power at a much smaller scale. These more efficient, design friendly machines allow our world to run the way it does. Without men like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, we would be relying on slow, inefficient machines to do important tasks for us instead of pulling out our phones. Another area that would be completely different is the gaming industry. I am an avid gamer. Some would say a little too avid. Innovat...
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EOTO: Cord Cutting

The advent of streaming services has changed the way media is produced and distributed. Instead of watching scheduled programing on cable, many people watch whatever they want, whenever they want, wherever they want thanks to services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, ESPN+ and Disney+. This has caused many to cancel their cable subscriptions and only pay for streaming services. This is known as cord cutting. Cord cutting is an effective way to save between $24-$100 on TV. With using streaming services, you can watch the channels and shows that you want to watch, eliminating channels that you don't use. Streaming also takes away most of the ads that you see when watching cable, reducing interruptions. Streaming allows you to watch whatever you want, wherever you want, whenever you want. You aren't confined to your house waiting for your favorite show to come on. Cord cutting also does as its name says, it removes all the cords and hassle that come with cable tv. ...
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EOTO: Media Consolidation and Market Monopolization

Have you ever wondered who controls our media and how much of it they control? In the early 80s, 90% of media in the United States was controlled by 50 companies. Today, the same 90% is controlled by 4. This is due to the process of media consolidation. Media consolidation is the process of networks owning other networks, controlling their properties and marketing them under one name. A good example of this is Disney. Today, everything is more or less under the influence of the media giant. Disney's umbrella consists of major names such as Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, Miramax, Pixar, ABC, ESPN, and most recently 20th Century Fox. So you can be watching ABC News, waiting for an important story to be aired. But if Disney doesn't like that story, it won't air. The idea of Media consolidation created the term "Family of Networks". This term refers to networks having other networks to air their content on. ESPN is a prime example of this. They air sports and ...
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Self Audit: my online presence

If I were a betting man, I would bet that my digital footprint is quite large. When it comes to social media, I am on the "big 4": Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, and Instagram. Facebook I rarely use. The only reason I have Facebook was to contact my roommates going into freshman year, and after that I've hardly touched it. Instagram I rarely use also. I post about 3 things every 2 months or so. I tend to post sports related events or random things in my life. Twitter I use quite a bit to keep up with various events in sports, and sometimes live tweet about them. The social media app I use most is Snapchat. It's one of the quickest ways I can stay in contact with my friends back home in Pittsburgh. For this blog, I googled myself. 4 of the first 6 searches were directly linked to me: my Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube accounts. Over the years, my activity on some social medias has decreased. I used to post about 3 things a week on Instagram. Now, I post a...
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