slumming

This was a very interesting article to read. It was mainly about these two rich people who were sick of the everyday lifestyle that they were living and decided to pretend like they were poor and homeless. They did this because of a woman they saw was doing it and she was actually I believe a writer for a paper. She told them how great it was and how free you are. And nobody really notices you because you are homeless and they just do not care about you at all. So they tried this new fad I guess you could say and they really did enjoy it. Except one night while they were sleeping under a bridge they witnessed a young girl get out of a car and she was in really bad shape and a man in all leather came out of the car and took her back into the car. Later they found out it was some girl that was kidnapped who was eventually killed. And the man who killed her was looking for the homeless people that saw him grab the girl and he was killing all the homeless people that he found. So they ended up not doing this anymore. I guess this just gave them a new thrill in life and more enjoyment then they were having in their redundant lifestyle that they were already living in. they wanted to do something out of the ordinary and experience life in a whole new way. In a way they wanted to change their identity and become new people. And for the most part they found this very enjoyable.

Slumming

When I started reading this article, I found it very strange and a little hard to read. As I continued I began to understand what the point of the story was. What I got out of the story was that people lose sight of what is important in life and get caught up with material things and trying to out do one another. I especially liked the comparison when they compared both the rich and the poor by living out of a suitcase. Neither of them take the time out to just relax and enjoy life either because they can't or because they are too caught up in their hectic lives to do so. I feel like when you are caught up in this madness that it is important to made your self absent for a while like they did in the end so that you can get perspective about your life and how you want to live it. I liked the message that the story was trying to get across and I think it is an important one. Many people forget what is important in life and they need to be reminded of what really is important. Overall, I enjoyed the story but I thought that it could have been written better.

Slummin'

So, after reading this article, I realized the only way to be happy is to be a hobo. In order to feel alive, the homeless characters in the article, give up their old, billionaire lives. They give up their affluent titles and luxuries in order to slum the streets. They want to see what happens when they turn their whole worlds upside down. As mentioned in the article, nobody notices who they truly are, which is something of a thrill for them, because they are able to get away with pretty much anything and nobody turns a head. In a society where money is everything, who would notice dirty homeless people literally reaking havoc. The most interesting aspect of the article is the fact that all the characters had a scewed view of what is trendy in standards for society. For example, 'Poverty is the new nobility'. However, with these scewed views come truths about life. This statement is profound in the respect that it doesn't matter what you have, financially, as long as you are happy. In this case, the homeless in this article are the nobility of their domain. They are happy with the way they live their lives. Another profound statement is 'nothing to lose, is the new wealth'. To them, wealth brings nothing, but unwanted trouble. So, when it came to having nothing to lose, the risk of losing everything wasn't worth it, especially one's life. In the end, they lose everything, even when they didn't have anything, which is a bit ironic. They had everything, wanted nothing, and ended up losing everything.

Slumdog.....Billionaire?

So my first feelings after reading this piece were awkward and really uncomfortable. It just came off as really strange so I didn't blog immediately after reading. Instead, I thought it over and realized that maybe it wasn't so strange, maybe I was put off by it because it was just delivered unexpectantly. The basic summary is that a couple of Old Money billionaires, Packer and Evelyn, led very busy, very empty lives. They see friends of theirs dressed like hobos drinking a mixture of different alcohols and having sex on the street. They are told that this is the newest fad. So one day, they try it themselves and they love it. They feel more alive than they ever have. However, they know this will not last, that they will have to return to their high class superficial lives of silent auctions and banquets and what not. Before they can return to normalcy, they witness a naked girl being kidnapped and her ear being ripped off, begging them to help her. They didn't want to be degraded by revealing their strange circumstances so they don't say anything and a few days later the girl winds up dead. Shortly after that, Packer and Inky are also murdered for witnessing the event. So now Evelyn doesn't leave her house, never deals with the news, and sends checks to all of the causes she did before because she still wants to help. I thought this was stupid and that's why I felt weird about it. Obviously, you can see the character or identity in Packer and Evelyn. They want to help stupid causes (that kind of sounded fake to me) they aren't really involved in but when it came down to helping someone in real need what did they do? They waited it out to see what would happen to the girl and when she died they didn't mind (or seem to mind) that much. Then Packer was murdered for witnessing the kidnapping and Evelyn is sad but continues in her stupid ways waiting for the murderer to come for her. I like the style of writing and the point it got across I just really hated the storyline which conveyed the authors point.

Slumming

In the article about Slumming Inky says something but means something else, like “insanity” is the “new sanity” and like “looking bad” is the “new looking good.” Inky kind of says that the ways of doing things that are basically “dirty” are like okay. She’s living a poverty life and saying that it’s the best part of her life but knows it wont last forever. She really isn’t a poverty line person; she’s basically just living the lifestyle as someone living in poverty. She doesn’t want to go to back to being rich and famous because she is happy doing what she is doing. I think this article on slumming shows you how “things” don’t make you happy. Anyone who is rich and famous may not be happy people, but there are people who are less fortunate who are happy, but higher-class people may not think so and feel bad for the less fortunate. This shows a lot of characteristics of a person who is going to throw away a “perfect” life to be happy, and truly happy. She’s making a difference and that’s what she wants to prove is that things and royalty and high class is not what makes a person happy.

Vanished

The "Vanished" article was a very intriguing idea in my opinion. I think the main aspect of the article that stuck with me most is how strange and exciting it must be to leave your old life behind. In the article, Evan started out with a very well-constructed strategy to disguise his location and seemed very enthusiastic about the challenge, but near the end he seemed very burnt-out by the whole experience. It's amazing, I think, how vital people and things are to what makes us individuals. Not to say that people are completely dependent on all things familiar, though some definitely are, but they are certainly important in how we define ourselves. By the end of the article, Evan seemed lonely and almost lost without talking to the people closest to him. For some I drew a connection between that and how prisoners feel locked up and away from their families. Everything around a prisoner is seemingly unfamiliar, yet the only thing that seems to keep most of them going is remaining in contact with friends and family. If we were to be somehow kidnapped and taken to another place and out of contact with everyone we knew for an extended period of time, we might lose what we've come to know as "ourselves". The things we do, what we like, who's close to us, are all extremely essential to being us. I'm sure what I'm writing about wasn't what Evan had in mind when he set out on his game of hide-and-seek, but that's what I thought about when I really analyzed everything.

vanishing act

After reading this article, my eyes were really opened. I had some idea about how much information can be found on the Internet, but the things Ratliff’s readers discovered about him are crazy! Tracking down his cat sitter! That is just crazy to me and really made me think about what kind of information I have online that is available to the public. After reading this article I logged on my Facebook and viewed my page as an outsider would. All they can see is my basic information and see my profile picture. Nowhere does it say my status or where I currently am. For Ratliff technology was his downfall. It is truly amazing how dependent we are on technology these days and how hard it is to function with out it. When I say technology I don’t just mean your computer, I mean ATM, cell phone, GPS, Ipod…etc. Almost anything with Internet access can act as a GPS. Overall this was a very interesting article.

Vanished

I found this article very interesting and it some what related to the article All My Life For Sale in my opinion because it was a new perspective to personal identity. Ratliff pointed out the difficulty of running away in our modern world full of technology advancement. I imagine it was much more difficult for police detectives to track criminals on the run in the 60s and 70s, and now you can pretty much track anyone, criminal or not, on social networking sites. The thing I found the most interesting is the variety of people that took part in finding Evan Ratliff. The whole idea of starting over with a new life and unknown identity is quite frightening actually, but it really brings out a great point of the power of technology. Not only is technology is a big factor in his hiding scheme, it's the people that came together to work as a team to find him. The many blogs and groups created on the internet shows how something so unique can cause a big uproar. Many people were in it for the money, but a lot of people were actually in it for the challenenge of the hunt. Once the easy task of using the internet and technology in general for the answer was stripped, it made finding him more exciting and difficult.

Runaway

I really enjoyed reading this article. I, on a couple of occasions, have thought about just trying to disappear completely. Driving on the way home I might think "what if I just kept driving" what if I just kept going and didn't look back. There’s no real reason behind it, mostly it's just to see if I can. And I start getting into specifics, how far will I go, where I should ditch my car, ways to stretch my money. Overall it's a fun little day dream to have, but to see someone to read about someone who actually set out to do it was cool to me. I also liked the fact that he didn't just try to disappear; he tried to become a fugitive by challenge people to find him. I wish I would have been a wear of the article when it was happening so I could have been able to participate.

The Real "Houdini" or Not?

The introduction of this reading is very interesting and seems like Evan is under surveillance by some government officials. Really the introduction can be taken anyway because he makes it seem like he has to escape something that is wrong. He really gets the reader feeling suspenseful for the first part of the article really wanting to figure out why he is fleeing or rather just escaping something.

He has a very interesting way of getting people to read his articles because he turns it into a game, which would require the reader to stay up to date in order to find him and win the money. The fact that so much time was spent to ensure that the game would proceed is extensive to the point where the reader would have to stay tuned. I feel that if I had read this back when this game was going on and had free time, I might actually try finding him myself. Another thing that came out of this game is that the writer even got his own readers involved. They had used social networks, blogging, and chatting amongst themselves in hopes to find Evan.

The fact that Evan got caught I feel gives perfect evidence that it is in fact to hard to escape a digital world unless you COMPLETELY remove all forms of technology from your life. The only way I could see him not being caught is if he was in a cottage and lived like the Sniper from the book "Shooter". Evans story is very interesting.... Maybe Houdini never really could break out of the straight jacket?

Vanish

This has to be the best reading we have had so far. I just like the premise of dissappearing and haveing people try and hunt you down. I would love to have been in his shoes, or at least know about this contest while it was going on. He is reather clever in all of his actions and I wonder if most people would be as clever as he was if they were trying to hide. Id like to think that in this day and age you can still dissappear if you want to without people being able to find you, but its obviously harder than I had previously thought. Making yourself disappear is a strange thing to try and do to say the least, but to then orchestrate people to hunt you is genius.
One of my favorite parts of this story is all of the twitter users working together to hunt him down. Sharing information in the digaital age is easier than ever and these people did just that. Hunting somone down only using digital paper trails is such a weird concept to me because its so abstract. People dont realize how easy it is for them to be followed and traced simply through everyday actions. Personally I would like to hear a story about one of the people tracking him and all of the methods and means they used to do so.

I like thinking the world is big enough to hide in but the old idiom holds true, its a small world after all.

Attempt to Vanish

The topic of people faking their deaths, creating a new identity, and starting over is very interesting. Not just the fact that people can do it and can succeed or try and get caught, but also the reason that they wanted to disappear in the first place. Evan Ratliff's idea to "vanish" was very intrigueing but also seemed ridiculous and crazy. He just decided to leave everything that he had; his family, friends, work and basically his whole life to just go on the run basically and start a new identity to trick people. Then have them go on the hunt to track him down and find him by saying the code word "Fluke" and shoot a picture of him. It was really interesting how he had so many followers and how they created a twitter and other online groups to talk with other trackers of Ratliff to try and track his whereabouts and give eachother clues and tips that they have gained. Ratliff did a very good job covering his tracks and being very careful about his physical appearance, not sticking out when he was in public, covering up his IP addresses and being careful about his privacy online, and all of his money transactions, etc.

I am not sure which shocked me more; the fact that he had so many people basically stalking him through leads and clues they discovered about him, what the motive people had for tracking him whether it was the $5,000 or whatever reason they had, or just the fact that people can gain so much knowledge about someone through technology. The large number of people that were on the hunt acquired so much information about Ratliff that he did not tell them and a great majority of them had no idea who Evan Ratliff was before he "vanished". It is almost scary to know that it is almost impossible to vanish and never be tracked because of technology today. It can also create somewhat of a paranoia for some that complete strangers can access a variety of information or find out where someone is with out ever meeting or speaking to them.

It seems that this project of just vanishing and trying to be untraceable did affect Ratliff. It did create a bit of paranoia in him. Even while he was just out for a usual jog, he felt that people were always watching him, like the helicopter that was hovering near by him on the beach sort of freaked him out. He felt like everyone was "out to get him" which in reality they were. It also seems like he was still affected after he was caught that he was still a little paranoid even though he had returned to his actual life and he was not being followed and no one seemed to care about his whereabouts. Overall I found Evan Ratliff's story extemely interesting not just because it was a contest to find him after he vanished but they way people reacted to it, how and the extent people that people went to track him, and why they were trying to track him down.

Disappearing Act

I was extremely intrigued by this story. You have a man, Evan, who decides to up and quit his life for no other reason than to see if he can. It wasn't because he was unhappy with his life or on the run from the law, it is simply because it would be interesting to see how long he could survive in our world being someone or someones entirely different from himself. At some point, I think everyone would like to know what it would feel like to disappear just for a little while, to do what you want without friends or family or school or work getting in the way. It's an adventure everyone has dreamed of trying but few people actually ever would.
I liked how we got to see through Evan's eyes and his in depth how-to about the overall experience. Not like I want to drop off the map but sometimes it's cool to know how a trick is done rather than being in awe of the feat. I liked learning about his disguises and the tactics he used to hide from his pursuers and their responses to it. It makes me feel more apart of the topic we are discussing and more apart of Evan's journey.
The story overall demonstrates that it is possible to disappear from your life and start another. How long that lasts is another question entirely. If you're addicted to Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, or technology in general it might be extremely difficult to give up your life to start another. But if you were going to give up your life, you probably don't want the people from your past (or your Facebook) in that life so you wouldn't get tracked creeping on your past life. I think it is very possible for a person to stay connected and "in the know" and start a completely new life if they have enough will power they just need to be patient and careful. Evan said that he got lazy and careless towards the end and that is how he was found. The hunters said at the beginning that Evan was always several steps ahead of them in this game, he had prepared and they joined in late. If someone wants to leave their life behind badly enough, then they will. And not every person who disappears is going to have the following that Evan did. If he just decided to leave, no one found out, and there wasn't a prize or drive to find him, he might never have been found. It was because this was a game all along that made it that much more difficult, not because it is impossible.
I really liked to see the other side of the story as well, the side of the hunters. These people didn't really have much incentive, a little money and the thrill of the hunt. Apparently, the thrill of the hunt won. These people went to ridiculous realms of crazy and inventive deducting skills just to play the game. I see some irony in this because it seemed like some of the people playing played so they felt like they were apart of something, like a family or a team which is what Evan was trying to escape for that time of isolation. This was probably my favorite reading of the semester.

Vanished

Overall, the idea of someone just disappearing is completely unorthodox in this day and age. Don't get me wrong, I think what Ratcliff did should be commended in the regard that he lasted as long as he did. However, with technology being as advanced as it is today, it was only a matter of time before he was caught, which turned out to be true. I can easily relate to the author's feelings of wanting to disappear, but in order to fully disappear I feel you need to cease communication completely with the outside world. When it came to the experiment as a whole, I felt that in the end, by losing himself in this other alias, he was able to find himself. He tried to create a new identity, but in the end it only strengthened his true self.

Vanish

After I finished reading Evan Ratliff’s account of his vanishing from society, I was intrigued. At first did not think there was any way in hell that he could vanish without anyone figuring out where he was or what he was doing. After changing his appearance and literally being able to go anywhere in the U.S., I couldn’t possibly think of a way people could find him. But as I kept reading, I was amazed by not only the technology people were using to find Evan, but the massive amount of people trying to find him. I got the same feeling I did when I was reading the article earlier in the year about Freyer selling all of his things, in that I was surprised at the way people could work together and get along. There were a bunch of different talents working together, from the high school hacker to the Microsoft employee who ended up finding out the twitter account that Evan was using during the end of the hunt.

Another thing I thought of while reading this was how cool it would have been to be able to do this. I know that Ratliff said he was constantly feeling paranoid, but I feel that there has to be some kind of rush that goes along with it. This can work on the other side of the coin too. I wish I had the resources to be able to track down Evan like the people who were chasing him did.

Disappear

It is easy to criticize Evan for slipping up, but a big part of his challenge wasn’t just to remain undetected, it was to also create a new identity. For this reason I see it acceptable that he created new accounts under his new alibi, but the biggest mistake he made was checking up on his manhunt. Evan did everything right from the start, such as ditching his phone, online accounts, and credit cards.

I know that everything we do online is traceable and time stamped, but I did not realize how easy it would be for his pursuers to find a list of his archived posts on Facebook when his profile was set on private. It is a bit of a shock, and I underestimated the ease in hiding information from others. Usually people go about data mining by creating applications that pulls user information, but a simple google search did the trick. Wow.

I’m not sure what to conclude from this. Clearly the digital age is condensing the world and making it more transparent. There is not really an escape for it either—who knows how long it will be until paper money is obsolete, and even when our exact location is impossible to run from. All of these fears are in reality byproducts of what the digital age is meant to be, but it doesn’t change the fact that we are digging our own graves as far as privacy is concerned. Even if we aren’t physically being watched (people are in some parts of the world), our digital selves are; and it’s by our own hands.

The Vanishing Act

This was a very interesting reading to me, however I did enjoy reading it very much. Even though he did have some rules or guidelines that he was not allowed to just live in a cabin or something, he still only managed to hide for a couple of months. After reading it showed me that he did put a lot of time and thought into how he was going to try to stay off the map and use prepaid things and gift cards. The thing that amazes me the most is that I have seen man hunts on cop shows and stuff like that where people have been able to hide many years without anyone finding them. And yet this guy was only able to survive a couple of months without being found. The steps and the precautions that you have to take in order to not being caught are literally crazy. Just the slightest mistake or slip up will be the end of you. You have to be so careful in the things that you do. Because if you are not then you have pretty much given yourself up. That’s why the genius behind the fugitives that I have seen who have been on the run for up to ten years, I just cant believe that they have been able to do it for so long. This guy seemed like he had a really good plan and strategy to go about this, and he seemed like a very intelligent guy, and yet he was only able to be on the run for such a short time.

evan ratliff-vanish

I enjoyed this story about Evan Ratliff's "vanishing act." I think you have to admire a guy who was willing to give up the comfort of his previous life (which I am assuming he was fond of) to try and start a new life, simply for the sake of testing out modern technology and its link to the individual. We all cherish our privacy and some of us freak out a bit when we hear about "government tapping" and what not. But realistically, millions of us are associated and connected to social networking sites, online banking accounts, email, etc. No matter how private we think something may be, someone somewhere has the ability to obtain our information.
I was kind of frustrated with some of the comments people left about Evan's story. Some critized him for staying so connected to the Internet and his social networking sites but I think these readers missed the point. Others also commented on how he should have just holed up in a cabin in the woods somewhere; again, missing the point. I believe Evan wanted to test one's ability to "disappear" and start a new life while still being able to enjoy and take part in our fast paced digital world. I also think he wanted to keep doing all the things he was accostumed to and enjoyed doing while seeing if he could simultaneously vanish.
I mean, how many people really want to disappear and have no real connection with reality for the rest of thier life? That just wouldn't make a whole lot of sense in my opinion. I admire Evan for his valiant attempt. I know that I would not have been able to last half as long as he did; I would have made numerous mistakes along the way and I would have always been looking over my shoulder. I think that is the scariest part about disappearing, you will always feel unsure that you have completely covered your tracks. I cannot even imagine how terrified criminals must feel on a daily basis! I also want to mention one thing: if one wants to be found, I think they will be in only a matter of time.

Vanish - Evan Ratliff

This weeks reading was the most interesting yet. It tells the story of Evan Ratliff's attempt to abandon his life and disappear without being found. Due to social networking, blogging, and information on the internet Evan was unsuccessful. This shows a lot about how much of your personal life is actually put out for people to see on the internet. The strangers even found out who is cat sitter was. Its quite shocking because Evan used a lot of technology that I would not have been able to figure out. He disguised his IP address, used gift cards, and created a new identity. As soon as he slipped up and became lazy, Evan was quickly found. It makes me think twice before accepting facebook friends who im not sure who they are and posting different information on my personal life. If someone who intentionally wanted to vanish couldn't for more than a few months, it makes me think how could you get away without all the prior planning? If something happened and I needed to get away I wouldn't know how to do all of this off the fly and it shows how little privacy you really have.

Vanish

I thought that this was a vary interesting project. The idea of leaving every thing and everyone you know and starting over fresh is something that many people have thought about but not many people actually do. After seeing how he was always paranoid and afraid that someone was going to find him. I don't think that I would be able to handle that kind of stress expecely for as long as he did.

I'm a Writer

I think some people have the "writing gene", but they don't always have the "writing bug" that drives them to write. So I say you're a writer only if you say so yourself.

I would call myself a writer because I'm interested in writing in my spare time.When I'm freely writing, it's not tedious work at all to me. Infact, it's therapeutic and fulfulling. Writing can go in any direction I want it to go and it can be for many different reasons. I journal, I write songs, and if I could, I would write scripts for TV shows. I sometimes think with the intention that my ideas will be read or heard by an audience.

Vanish

I find this reading so interesting, like who honestly vanishes and asks people to try and find him. It's like a game; hide-and-seek, but more adventurous and more clues. I think Evan found it fun for himself to vanish like that and make it a huge adventurous and national thing for anyone to try and locate him. I like how he did things out of the ordinary to disguise himself, like the pre-paid phones and like the special program to give a false IP address on his computer. He definitely put a lot of thought into this process to make it more appealing to others. The way that he let his hair grow out and then cut it as if he was an older balding man was very creative in my min, I would have never thought to do something like that. I also find it to be crazy that he had $3000 come out of his pocket; but I guess to him he thought that someone who found him would need some kind of reward. I never thought that he would have been caught, but I guess it puts on something fun for people to do including himself. I wouldn’t ever be able to do it, but it is very appealing for other people to read about.

Evan Ratliff: Vanish

I thought this was a pretty interesting story. Sometimes I cant help but to wonder if I could do this myself, which i doubt because my mother would have the U.S Marshals looking for me and my face would be on every television new station in a matter of hour. I think that he was asking some really good questions on why he wanted to do this. He wondered how hard it is to vanish in the digital age. I don't think that is a hard question to answer. Now and days people can track where your are right from your phone. Sometimes I think that its a bit ridiculous, but it could be used as a great tool to find missing people and things like that.

I wondered why he changed his whole appearance. I know his intent was to eventually get caught but how would somebody who never saw him really know its him if they only have a picture of him or seen a picture of him once. I thought that he should have just kept his appearance and just go into hiding. that would have made the search even more exciting. I was shocked by how many people were on to the chase just a couple of hours of wired.com posting it. I thought that people would look at it as some kind of joke and just not really pay attention to it. Maybe it was the money that convinced them that he really went missing, because that would have convinced me but in all a really interesting and fascinating story it really shows us how good our digital world really is.

02/21 In Class

I don't call myself a writer.  I guess that's because I don't write very much and I don't feel like I put a lot of effort into what I do write.  I usually don't feel motivated to write because I don't have much to say.  I'm not even exactly sure what I think makes someone a "writer."  There are a lot of ways you could define it.

Do I call myself a writer?

A writer is defined as someone who produces literary content. I’m not sure if I would call myself a writer or not. It’s a very broad term that could be applied to many things. On one side you could call yourself a writer for having a blog or just even writing a paper for your class. On the other hand some people could call themselves when they’re occupation involves writing such as a reporter or an author.

In my opinion however, I think that is fair to call yourself a writer even if you’re job doesn’t revolve around it. I’d consider myself a writer because I have contributed to blogs and have written short stories and such before.