Traycooks's Weblog

Computer Troubles

traycooks — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 08:34:17 +0000

This is the screen that you usually see when you press on the

start

button (Bottom Left corner of your screen.

The first thing I would try to use to remove an unwanted program from my computer is the

Control Panels icon (Located in the right column as the sixth logo: Beneath My Computer & above Set Program Access and Defaults

) Click on that icon and you should see a screen similar to the one below.

From this screen you should press the

Add or Remove Programs icon

(Located in the left column as the third icon) and you will see a screen similar to the one below.

Depending on the year your computer was made this screen will give you a really good chance of locating what programs were added to your computer. You can do this by clicking on the

Date Icon (which is usually located at the top of this screen) If you have an idea of what day your friend was on your computer then you can use that information to locate what was added, and click on it so that a Remove icon

will show. (Example Below)

Click the

Remove icon

and hopefully it will remove the unwanted program.

If this doesn’t work. You may need to delete the entire account which usually works. Before you take the following steps to delete the account you may want to copy whatever important documents you have on your current account. Be careful and try not to copy foreign files, or unnecessary files.

DELETING AN ACCOUNT:

Once again click on the

start

button (Bottom Left corner of your screen.)

And once again you need to click on the

Control Panel icon (Located in the right column as the sixth logo: Beneath My Computer & above Set Program Access and Defaults

) Click on that icon and you should see a screen similar to the one below.

This time click on the

User Accounts icon

(Which is located in the Right column) You should see a screen similar to the screen below.

Before you delete the current bad profile/account you will need to set-up a new good administrator account. So click on the

Create a New Account icon (as shown on the screen above: second icon below Pick a Task…) and be sure to select the Computer Administrator option & Create account (

on the screen shown below.)

Once you’ve done that your computer should push you back to the User Accounts screen were you will need to press the

Change Accounts

icon (which is the first icon located beneath the Pick a Task label below)

This

Change Accounts

icon should take you to a screen were you should be able to see the different accounts that are located on you computer. Example below:

I’ve labeled our test account as “

Really Bad Account.

” So, click on which ever account that you have all of the unwanted programs on and you should see a screen similar to the one below.

The last icon option is

Delete Account

press that icon and you will see the screen below.

On this screen be sure to press the

Delete Files button. This will hopefully delete whatever unwanted program that your buddy uploaded onto your computer.

Soccer in America

traycooks — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 18:20:25 +0000

Trayvon E. CooksSoccer in America “You’re no fan of soccer!” grumbled my (American) Football teammate Heather after I refused another of her weekly invitation to accompany her and our other football teammates to drink large amounts of beer and watch a Portland Timbers soccer game the following Thursday. I stood there and watched Heather as she stormed away with her fists clenched tightly at her sides. I was honestly confused by her unusually aggressive response. I had given her the same answer for the past six weeks. I looked over at a raven haired bartender as she approached handing me my drink. I said, “It’s because American soccer just isn’t the same as the international football games that I prefer to watch.” I enjoy watching International football. I believe it is one of the most beautiful athletic games played. If the game she was demanding that I go with them to drink beer and watch had been a game between Hamburg of Germany and A C Milan of Brazil, or Real Madrid of Spain and Manchester United of England I would have been in the stands with them screaming my drunken lungs out without hesitation. But a minor league soccer team game? And not just a minor league team game but a minor league “American” soccer team game? I could think of many more entertaining things to do, such as reading a really bad book, or watching the grass grow next to my balcony. The reason for my lack of interest in American soccer is because I enjoy international football. I will admit that my interest in American soccer did bloom for a while a few years ago around November 2003 when D.C. United, a Major League Soccer team, signed a 14 year old kid named Freddy Adu. So week after week I sat on my couch and watched as Freddy Adu sat on the bench wearing his nice clean jersey, and matching clean shoes. By mid season I was back to sitting on my couch and watching international football games on Telemundo. So If I’m a fan of soccer and I’m losing interest in American soccer what is the future of soccer in the United States? Is there anything that Major League Soccer can do to reach and keep true soccer fans entertained? In ten years will American Major League Soccer dwarf current American fan favorites such as American Football, Basketball, & Baseball? Or will American major league soccer continue to be looked at as only interesting when a major player is signed?The History of Soccer One reason that may explain America’s lack of interest in soccer is its non-American history. But, one area of great interest and controversy in soccer is where did the game of soccer, or international football originally come from? By this I mean, most people have probably wondered who thought of the idea of twenty-two people running back & forth, while trying to move a ball into the opposing team’s net by mainly using their feet. Well, an article titled “Far East Tsu Chu,” from Expert football’s website it’s suggested that the Chinese may have created a game similar to soccer called “Tsu Chu” (Tsu: meaning kick & Chu meaning ball) over two-thousand years ago around 2500 BC. But there were many differences between the games we Americans now call soccer & Tsu Chu. “The contemporary history of football,” from the Ambika Sports website explains that one of the main differences between today’s soccer and Tsu Chu is, Tsu Chu was sometimes played with very few rules for protecting the players. But Tsu Chu wasn’t just the Chinese version of population control. It was actually originally played to celebrate the emperor’s birthday, but was later converted into a military training exercise. In fact an article named “The Chinese and Tsu Chu,” from the Football Network’s website suggests that the military version of Tsu Chu was a gladiator-style game where, “As part of the military training, a player would be attacked by 3-4 other players whilst still trying to keep the ball in the air and score through the hole in the net!!!” The amazing thing about the hole in the net that this quote is referring to was that it was often “*measuring only 30-40cm in width,” and the ball which was leather and filled with animal fur had to be kicked “*into a small net fixed onto long bamboo canes.” according to an article named “The History of Football,” from the Federation International Football Association (FIFA) website. So I believe that the Chinese military version of soccer-similar games may have been the most difficult version of football played. Although the story of Tsu Chu was incredibly fascinating it doesn’t help us answer the question of who created the game of soccer, or international football that is played today. Well, an article from the History Channel’s website called “Soccer,” points out that the game we Americans call soccer was originally called Association Football, and it began in the great public & private schools of England. The article “History,” from the Library Think Quest website states that the name Association Football was later bastardized and named Football (Internationally) or Soccer (Nationally) in fact this article goes on to say, “The name soccer is derived from the word assoc, from the word association.” Another interesting historical fact about soccer is the standard rules that are used today are the same rules that were originally written in 1863 by the London Football Association following the formation of the London Football Association, and with the exception of the 20th century rule change of “Offsides,” which an article from Funk & Wagnalls® New Encyclopedia by John Dizikes, a professor of American studies at the University of California says, (The only major rule change in the 20th century was the offside rule, by which a player is declared offside (that is, potentially in an unfairly advantageous position) if he or she is nearer the opponent’s goal line than the ball at the moment the ball is played, unless one of the following exceptions applies: The player is in his or her own half of the field; two opponents are nearer to their own goal line than the player is; the ball was last touched or played by an opponent; or the player received the ball directly from a kick or a throw-in. An offside position is penalized by awarding an indirect free throw to the opposing team). I think the fact that there hasn’t been a large number of changes made to the game of soccer in over one hundred and forty-five years may be one of the reasons soccer is so popular in the rest of the world. In fact the article “Soccer,” from the Science Daily website suggests that football, “…is widely considered to be the most popular sport in the world.” with the exception of the U.S. and Canada, and the fact that it all began as a schoolyard game played by a bunch of kids in English school yards is really amazing when it is measured against its popularity around the world. Review of Literature As for American soccer, a considerable amount of research has been done to measure the success of soccer in the United States since the U.S.’s earliest documented games in 1620 which the “American Soccer History Timeline,” from the National Soccer Hall of Fame website points out, “American folklore asserts that Pilgrim Fathers, upon settling at Plymouth Rock found American Indians along the Massachusetts coast playing a form of soccer. The Indians called it “Pasuckquakkohwog,” which means “they gather to play football.” to soccer’s more recent games such as the friendly or exhibition game played between the United States national team and the Mexican national team February 2nd, 2008 that ended in a 2-2 tie according to Mike Woitalla’s article “U.S. Shares the Spoils With Mexico,” from the Sports Illustrated website. Today there are thirteen Major League Soccer teams with three more teams scheduled to be created in St. Louis, Philadelphia, and possibly Atlanta within the next few years which suggests that soccer in the United States is a growing business. But some critics argue that American soccer still has not captured the hearts of the average American sports fan. One example of this is provided by Sean Frederick Brown a alumni from the University of Chicago who wrote, “Despite the relative lack of newspaper coverage attendance at the match was impressive, with the overall attendance figure at 58,121 fans. This figure far exceeded the average attendance for the Chicago Fire, which had averaged 17,601 fans per game for the 2004 season prior to the Champions World TM series match.” This quote was comparing the average attendance of Chicago Fire games with the attendance of one game between Manchester United and Bayern Munich on Soldier Field (Home of the Chicago Bears) played on July 25th, 2004. Brown says that the purpose of the Champions World series was to increase interest in soccer but later goes on to add, “In Chicago, this has not been the case. Since the Champions^TM World Series match, the Chicago Fire has averaged 17,086 fans per home match, a slight decline in attendance from their pre match levels.” This means that Americans came out in mass to watch an exhibition game between two teams from across the Atlantic, but actually seemed to lose interest when the teams were filled with homegrown American players. But not everyone sees the low attendance averages as a sign that the game of soccer and Major League Soccer teams are being ignored by American sports enthusiasts. Sandra Collins a visiting scholar at the University of California writes that, “By many measures, soccer in the United States is doing well. On the tenth anniversary since the establishment of Major league Soccer in 1996, there are numerous statistics that support the claim that American soccer at the recreational, professional and international levels is in fact successful.” Collin’s article backs her claims that soccer is increasingly becoming one of America’s national past time by providing statistics that compare the number of youth soccer teams to the number of youth baseball teams such as, “* the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA) of America claims that as of 2002, 1.3 million more kids played soccer than Little League Baseball. [2] American Youth are choosing soccer over the national pastime. Furthermore, the SGMA reveals that in 2001 over 19 million Americans were playing soccer, a 23.8 percent increase from 1987. [3] Of the 19 million Americans playing soccer, 8,775,000 are from ages 6-11; 6,197,000 from 12-17; 1,640,000 from 18-24; 911,000 from 25-34; and 1,519,000 35+.” these are really staggering numbers that have probably only increased from then to now, which leads me to believe that at some point in the near future there may be a Freddy Adu in every upcoming draft, and therefore a great reason to watch Major League Soccer. But what Sandra Collins optimistic numbers don’t show is whether or not these nineteen million American soccer players that range from six years old to thirty-five years plus will in anyway positively influence Major League Soccer. And what Sean Frederick Brown is missing is that those seventeen-thousand people were coming to the game before the Champions World Series, and seventeen-thousand people were coming after it, which leads me to believe that those seventeen-thousand people are the baseline of the Chicago Fire’s fan base. Allison Andrews a match reporter for The United States Football League wrote an article named “Three-nil. An evening for Clive,” about a Portland Timbers match in the same year as the Champions World Series in which she gives a glimpse in to how important soccer may be to fans. In Andrews’s article she says, “On August 29, 2003, the Portland Timbers broke their A-League single-game attendance record with an announced crowd of 13,351, the largest crowd the A-League has seen this season. All this for a game that meant nothing? No. This game, this night, meant everything.” this record crowd that Andrews is writing about had nothing to do with the Portland Timbers going to the Playoffs, because they weren’t. Andrews’s article pointed out they had been out of the playoff race for more than a few weeks before this night’s game. Andrews’s article explains that this large record setting crowd was in response to the passing of Clive Charles due to prostate cancer. Andrews’s article said that Clive Charles had played left defensive position for the Timbers in 1978, and had been so dominate that he had become a fan favorite, and Clive had also been mentioned as the toughest player Pele had ever played against. But I think the large crowd that showed up to watch Clive’s number retired gives a brief example of how important soccer teams, and soccer players have actually become to those Americans who do pay attention to soccer, such as the 17,000 fans who consistently attend Chicago Fire games. I believe there are three reasons why soccer hasn’t taken over as one of the big shot sports in America. The first reason is the history of the sport isn’t ours it’s the English’s, or the version that most closely resembles today’s version of soccer is English. I think many American’s realize and resent the game of soccer because of its Non-American background. During a recent survey I asked, “Why do you think Americans have a different view of soccer than the rest of the world?” Seven out of eleven people said the reason American soccer is failing to generate the same amount of interest as other American sports is mainly because soccer didn’t start here. These survey responses basically said since soccer isn’t really one of our home-grown sports. It isn’t really entertainment. In Sean Browns article, “Can European Football Spur Interest in American Soccer? A Look at the Champions World^TM Series and Major League Soccer.” he showed a similar lack of interest by American viewers when he compared soccer to other American born sports by saying, “It is simply not a sport that most people follow as sports fans as they do baseball, basketball, and football.” Brown goes on to further try to prove his point by saying, “This can be illustrated in terms of television ratings. The 2003 MLS Cup match was only able to muster a rating of 0.6, [11] while the 2003 World Series [12] garnered a 13.9, the 2003 NBA Finals series earned a 6.5, and the Super Bowl [13] earned a 41.3 rating.” these numbers are all on a scale of one to fifty and they do show a large ratings drop from the Super Bowl’s 41.3 rating and soccer’s MLS Cup Finals 0.6. I believe that Brown’s statistics do support the idea that American’s are more likely to tune in to watch American sports, than they are to tune in and watch international sports. So I believe the idea that since soccer is an English born sport. Major League Soccer will struggle to grab the same amount of attention as other sports such as basketball. The second reason that soccer hasn’t become a top two or three American sport is because of our culture, which was suggested by my survey, “Why do you think Americans have a different view of soccer than the rest of the world?” the second leading answer received four out of eleven and it had to do with the fact that we have football, basketball, and baseball. There are television shows such as “NFL Live,” that are specifically designed to give us up to the minute updates on our favorite football players. There’s “NBA Matchup,” which provides us with everything we need to know to predict which team is going to trade which player and when. Even baseball has shows such as, “Mariners Nightly,” which explains how weather conditions will effect batting averages. These are our sports, and they are pieces of our American culture. Ask yourself how many times you’ve seen or heard about little kids rushing to the card shop to get the latest National Football rookie card, or men and women standing outside jersey stores anxiously awaiting the latest Kobe Bryant jersey, and we all know that advertisers throw unbelievable amounts of money at professional athletes because those athletes from those sports represent our American culture. I remember hearing about an international soccer superstar named Pele. From what I remember Pele’s family was so broke Pele couldn’t afford decent shoes to play soccer, but he didn’t care he would just play bare foot. I was told that Pele’s family was so poor they couldn’t afford to buy him a decent soccer ball, but Pele didn’t care he just kicked around rocks and coconuts. I believe the reason that Pele didn’t care about what was trying to prevent him from playing international football, and what kept him improvising, and eventually playing. Was because Pele was born and raised in Brazil, and soccer was an important part of his Brazilian culture. The FIFA website has a world football ranking and it points out that today’s Brazilian national soccer teams are always ranked among the top five best teams in the world, and I believe this is because soccer is just part of their Brazilian culture. But because soccer hasn’t become an inseparable part of the American culture Major League Soccer will continue to be overlooked. The last and most important reason that I believe Major League Soccer is not catching the larger American audience is because of poor advertising. I remember the last Major League Soccer commercial I saw. It actually made me despise Major League Soccer. It went something like this, the commercial showed a football player making a tackle and then asks “You like tackles?” then it shows a soccer player doing a slide tackle of another player as an example of tackling in soccer, next it shows a basketball player passing a basketball to another player and then asks “You like passing?” followed by a soccer player passing the ball to another soccer player as an example of passing in soccer, at the end of this dreadful commercial the announcer says, “You’re already a fan you just don’t know it yet.” An article by Arnold Brown called “The Consumer is the Medium” states, “The individual consumer, alone or collectively, no longer needs or accepts being told by any aspirants to higher authority what to do, what to think, what to buy.” But that is exactly what this horrible commercial does. It points its finger at the American audience and suggest that we’re so dumb we have no idea what we like or dislike. An example of advertising that was affective is an advertisement I saw for one of the European teams. It started out with David Beckham and four of his teammates riding into an old western style cowboy town on horses. They hop off, tie their horses up, and go into a bar. David Beckham goes up to the bar and orders a drink, but right as he is about to grab his drink. Someone reaches in and snatches David’s drink off the bar and takes a huge gulp. The camera pans in close to David’s face and he says, “Outside.” Both men step outside and stand about twenty feet from each other. The camera shows David shrug out of his cowboy outfit wearing his soccer uniform, then the camera shows the drink grabber shrug out of his own to cowboy outfit to reveal that he is wearing a goalie outfit, the camera pans a little bit wider, and you see what looks like the shape of a goal post made out of glass behind the goalie. The next thing you see is what looks like a sheriff walking out between the two opponents holding an all black soccer ball that is so dusty that the sheriff is able to blow a cloud of dust off of it before he sets it on the ground. When the sheriff finally sets it down on the ground, the camera pans back to show David standing opposite of the goalie with the horses that he and his teammates rode in on standing with their backs to the two opponents. Next you see a David make a loud sharp whistling, which is immediately followed by David’s horse kicking the ball past the goalie before he even has time to react. Now out of those two commercials that are basically advertising the same thing which one has more appeal? The one where you’re basically being told you’re an idiot who doesn’t know what you like, or the one with cowboys, showdowns, horses, and humor? I believe that once Major League Soccer takes a thoughtful approach to advertising they will increase their fan base. But for now I don’t believe that Major League Soccer is actually putting the same amount of time or effort into trying to advertise effectively, and that may be one of the biggest reasons that the 2003 Major League Soccer Cup was only able to muster a 0.6 rating out of 50.Theoretical Lens I think that some of the ideas presented in the Conflict Theory and some of the concepts found in international football are as interchangeable as car tires. But to understand what the Conflict Theory is I think it may be important to understand some of the history of the founder of the Conflict Theory. The Wikipedia website says that Karl Heinrich Marx was born May 5, 1818 and died March 14, 1883. During Karl Marx’s life he was home schooled until he was thirteen; at age seventeen he enrolled at the University of Bonn to study law, he married Jenny von Westphalen at age 25 and they had seven children, he moved his family to London at age 31, and before Karl Heinrich Marx died he created the concept of the Conflict Theory. Which Wikipedia explains “. . . emphasizes the role of coercion and power, a person’s or group’s ability to exercise influence and control over others, in producing social order.” You may be asking yourself what any of this has to do with the game of soccer? I believe the best connection between the conflict theory and soccer is provided by Wikipedia’s definition of Karl Marx’s basic conflicts of the Conflict Theory. The Wikipedia website says, “One of the basic conflicts in conflict theory is that of class. There are low & high ranks in class, and that gives a certain group more power over another group which causes conflicts.” This concept mirrors soccer because one of the basic conflicts in soccer is Offense versus Defense. On each soccer team there are (Hopefully) players of higher and lower skill levels at each and every position. The conflict this provides is how teams attack each other’s weak or strong players to score points while preventing their opponents from scoring points as well. How well each group goes about doing this determines how much power and control each team can project over their opponent. Another Marx’s conflict theory that relates to soccer is expressed when he points out how different groups from different areas of the world can cause conflict by just being from that part of the world by saying, “Another basic conflict in conflict theory is that of race & ethnicity. Much like in the class system, groups in this system are ranked by their prestige & power. This means that if a certain race or ethnicity has more education, prestige, & power then it is considered the better race or ethnicity which creates conflict.” I believe this mirrors a basic conflict in soccer which is team nationality (think World Cup). Much like in the class system, groups in this system are ranked by their prestige and power. Some teams from certain countries such as Brazil and Argentina have a considerably deep tradition and prestige in competitive soccer, and because of this prestige they have a tremendous amount of power. This means that if Brazil and Argentina have more tradition, prestige, and power then it is considered the better team which creates conflict, as other teams that lack the same amount of education, tradition, prestige, and power work harder to beat teams like Argentina and Brazil. Karl Marx’s Conflict Theory also spoke of domination according to social classes being a part of basic conflict by saying that, “Most social classes don’t form their ideologies the same. Different groups will struggle in conflict over what they think is right, what the norms are, & their ideologies. Higher classes have more abstract ideologies, while subordinated classes that are much less to their advantage but still reflect the want in their own lives. The ideas of the ruling class are the ruling class, where the ruling material force is the ruling intellectual force.” Domination according to team identities, which can be thought of as social classes, is also an important part of soccer. Most soccer teams don’t form their team ideologies the same way. So better teams with better players have a more creative style of play, while teams that aren’t very good and may not have really good players still reflect the desire to win. But like Marx’s Conflict Theory the idea of the team with the better players being the better team who rule the flow of the game to dominate their lesser opponents and eventually win and walk away with the trophy is essentially the same as higher social classes ruling the lives of lower social classes. So although the conflict theory is a theory about the social changes an individual will make if they are being oppressed by a larger or more powerful group. When the conflict theory is broken down to its basic elements it gives an in-depth look at how its basic principles can be found in the ways that games of soccer are played; and how little guys like Guam’s national soccer team will always fight against the bigger guys like Brazil or Argentina’s national soccer teams, but more often than not the bigger guys like Brazil and Argentina will dominate the play of the game and rule the World Cup.Conclusion While some soccer critics such as Jim Rome, a sports radio and talk show host, who I remember using the game of soccer and its fans as punch lines for his jokes such as, “Message to all rioters: put down your brick, put away the spray paint, and leave the cop cars alone; you’re acting like soccer fans! It’s embarrassing.” when he was commenting on fans who riot after their teams win sporting events. I still think that international football is a beautiful sport, and the next time the Champions World Series is played in the Northwest I intend to invite my friends (especially Heather), buy some tickets, drink beer, and scream my drunken lungs out with them. But Major League Soccer still has a few things it needs to change, such as the way it is advertised, before I can call myself a Major League Soccer fan without cringing. But I will say that the future of Major League Soccer does actually look bright. Mainly due to the fact that I’ve hear that the Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber is reportedly expanding Major League Soccer to places such as St. Luis and Atlanta, and professional boxer Oscar De La Hoya is reported by the Houston Chronicle to be becoming the new part owner of the two-time defending Major League Soccer champions (The Dynamos). If all of this is true than Major League Soccer may someday acquire more than just a 0.6 viewer rating for their MLS Cup Final, and if soccer does manage to gain a larger fan base because of its expanding borders, and its celebrity owners. I promise that my American football teammates and I will be some of the thousands of fans in the stands screaming our drunken lungs out, and storming the field when our team wins.

Narrowing Down My Topic Revision

traycooks — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 01:39:45 +0000

When it comes to sports, Americans love baseball, football, & basketball. But, when it comes to all the other sports that people have come up with such as, rugby, tennis, polo, & soccer. The average American will show only a mild interest. I’ll admit, none of the other sports move me that much either. But, there is something different about soccer. Internationally soccer isn’t a sport that is just enjoyed, it is worshiped. By some it is even described as being the most beautiful sport to be played. When a soccer fan(not from America) speaks about their favorite soccer game. They speak about the game as if they themselves where actually on the field watching(even if they where in another continent). For the international soccer fan there is nothing greater than jumping from their seat, pumping their fist in the air, & screaming “GOAL!” when their team scores, and their is nothing worse for the international soccer fan then when the game ends & their opponents win. The question I have is why don’t we care? In America we have our own Major Soccer League but, it’s rare to see a kid standing in a jersey store rubbing his hands together in anticipation of purchasing a Landon Donovan jersey the way kids seem to when they see a Dwayne Wade jersey in their size.

So, this is what I would like to do my research paper on. I would just like to try & find out what the difference is between U.S. soccer & world soccer.

Narrowing Down My Topic

traycooks — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 01:36:12 +0000

Breaking Down My Subject

traycooks — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 06:01:42 +0000

When I was reading through all of the ideas presented by our class, one idea by Jimbo21 struck me as absolutely fantastic “Cavemen!” I thought that cavemen would be an interesting topic because of the scientific proof of the existence of cavemen, & I thought that might be interesting to run that information agianst religious beliefs about the origin of man Adam & Eve, Thunderbird,…etc. So, first I went into the EBSCO website & typed in “Caveman.” But, the first few posts that came up were only concerned with the television show “Caveman,” which although somewhat entertaining wasn’t quite what I was looking for. So, next I went into the Multinomah County Library site & typed in “Caveman,” in the search cataloge, & was provided with a list of all of the books in the library’s cataloge that had anything to do with “Cavemen.” So, I clicked on a couple of the different items, & got to find out different information on the books. Such as, who wrote them, when they were written, & where they were published. All of this was interesting information, but I think I’m going to just use Google from now on.