utah essay

It was a warm morning, about eight-thirty and eighty degrees. The wind blew softly as we started the long descent down the lose grey sandstone. There was excitement in the air, and we could all feel it. At this point we didn’t know what was ahead, or how things would turn out; but we also didn’t have a care in the world. We continued downward, now we could see where the trail flattened out before disappearing back down into a cave like area. That’s where we were headed.
We scrambled down some slick rock; through bushes, and into a little clearing where there was a log to sit on. It was beautiful and green, unlike the desert up above. The high waterfall filled the air with moisture that we could all feel blowing across our hot checks in the light breeze. The water was to cold to go in, and deep too. I could see the silhouettes of fishes, big ones, swimming in the depths. This place was nice but it smelled of old rotting plants so we kept going on our way. We splashed down the two-inch-deep stream, it was cool and relaxing. Birds were calling in the distance. Everything seemed perfect.
After about three hours of this we all got a little bored. Even though the rocks that rose on either side of the stream, forming long continuous caves were very amazing and interesting, the deep, six-foot holes in the sandstone creek, which could not be easily distinguished, became a little annoying. At about one, we were all tired form walking in the water for four and a half hours, we decided that we were never going to reach our destination; Lower Calf Creek Falls. But we also didn’t want to walk all the way back up the creek, up the long assent of lose stones and back to our car. At this point in the stream, on one side was a tall rock cliff, and on the other a less steep assent up to the road which we could see in the distance.
My dad climbed up first, he said it was steep. I could see this because the first ten feet or so looked vertical. Next my brother went up with little difficulty, but now it was my turn. I tried to hang onto the loose, red sandstone, but it only flaked off in my hands. It was hard, and I don’t know how we all did it, but we all managed to get up and onto a more flat area where we ate our lunch. I was nervous, the dry bread and mildly hot turkey in my sandwich didn’t help much with the knot in my stomach. When I looked up at where we were going to go, all I could see was what looked like miles and miles of whitish sandstone. However my brother said that he could see a path that we could take.
As we walked quickly over dry logs, pieces of lose sandstone, and huge pieces of iron, my mom kept warning us about all the dangers that could kill us out here in the desert. And how we should always look under logs before we step over them just in case there is a snake. Luckily, it was much to hot for any animals to want to sit in the mid afternoon heat today. I walked on, driven on by by the thought of the cool air-conditioning in the car when we got back. I was only wearing my shorts and swimsuit top, and I would have to stop for water about every five minutes. I could feel my skin burning, but it was too hot to wear a shirt. My lips were sun burnt, and starting to peel, my legs hurt from so much walking. I was tired.
The next part of the journey was the most nerve-wracking part. For we were about 500 yards from the road, we could hear the cars. But there was only one way to get there, and that was across a ledge that was about five inches. It wasn’t really a ledge, but on one side the rock went up, and on the other side it went down, so far down that if I fell I would be rolling for about half a mile. I inched my way across, I slipped a few times, but I finally made it. I was so tired and wear from the sun I was relieved when we found a little cave in the rock that was just big enough to sit under. It smelled of rabbit poop, so we left quickly.
When we finally made it to the top, my water bottle was empty, and it turned out that we were two miles away from the small dirt rode that our car was parked on. My part of the journey was over, but my brother volunteered to run the two miles, in about ninety-six degree weather, without water back to the car so the rest of my family didn’t have to walk. I must say I was impressed, because in no more than fourteen minutes we could see my dad’s silverish GMC truck winding along the narrow road. I don’t know how he did it, but I must say my brother was the hero of that day.
Now looking back, it doesn’t seem that bad. But when we were there it was one of the most intense times in my life. I must say, I will never forget sitting in that stream, with the cool water running over my legs, the sound of distant rapids, the birds calling, the warm breeze, the fresh smell of rock, and wind, and water. All these emotions mixed together, I’m glad I experienced that, and i'm glad I’m here today to tell the story.

Social Networking Dangers

Imagine an innocent 12-year-old girl talking to a 20 or 30-years older person who they've never met, planning a meeting in a secluded place. Does that disgust you? It happens all the time.

With the explosion of Instant Messaging in 1996 (ICQ) and the beginning of social networking sites such as MySpace (in 2003) and Facebook (in 2004) many doors to internet predators have been opened.

According to The Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 1 in 5 children are sexually solicited online. One example was when a 14-year-old began recieving IM messages from a complete stranger seeking sex, asking her if she was ok with him being 38. As of September 1st, 2008, Perverted Justice has dedicated itself to tracking and convicting creeps like that, and have helped to convict 291 perpetrators since the beginning of their cause in June 2004. They've worked with Dateline NBC to create a series called "To Catch a Predator" which highlights the work that they do to get the criminals in jail.

However, the dangers don't stop with IM predators. Profile pages on social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook are a gold mine for internet predators. This problem has gotten so big that a law was passed called the Deleting Online Predators Act of 2006. Although both MySpace and Facebook "require" users to be 14 or older, many people don't heed that suggestion - a few years back, many of my 11-year-old friends created MySpaces due to the increasing popularity sites - they entered information saying that they were 101 years old. Although that may not seem like a big deal at first, many people don't realize that social websites are public places when they use the site. "When they think MySpace, they think other teenagers. They don't think there are adults pretending to be teenagers on there." Students have been denied their degree and turned down when applying for jobs because of content on their MySpace pages.
People have been raped, and others killed after agreeing to meet with a stranger online.

There are also some less as serious but potentially damaging holes in the privacy of some social networking sites as well. According to CNET, a way to access "private" comments from user to user was found - in other words, messages meant only for one person to see could be shown to the entire world.

The best thing to do to keep yourself safe is to simply keep in mind who's potentially watching. Think before you put your cell number, full name, or address up on your profile. Don't post pictures that can show where you reside, or racy pics/pics of illegal/harmful activities. Remember that anybody, anywhere can see these. Don't "friend" people you've never met, and don't give any private details online. If there's something you're dying to tell your comrade, tell them by telephone - or the old fashioned way: by word of mouth.

Warning you about.... Internet Security Vulnerabilities

Phishing, Trojan Horses, Computer viruses. Do these words sound familiar to you? A regular computer user would most likely say yes, but do you know what these words mean?

There are thousands of internet criminals out there just waiting for the opportunity to compromise the security of your computer and the safety of your information. Don’t let this happen to you!

Emails and advertisements are often sent by thieves, offering lucrative rewards. As I’m writing this, my friend is looking at me telling me about an ad talking about a free disney vacation! The culprit will ask for your personal information (such as home address, name, phone number, credit card number, or even social security number) in order to see if you “qualify for the offer,” but don’t be fooled- this information can be used to steal your identity and can ruin your credit, and put you hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. Less as serious (but compromising to the user’s reputation) consequences can also happen after entering your information on “fake” websites with the same layout as the real website. This problem has become so big that MySpace at one point put up an announcement on their main page, warning people about the dangers of this, and on the Flickr Blog, there was a post that warns of "fake Flickr pages" here.

(on the Left: A typical phishing email. My friend's father actually fell for something just like this a couple years back: Luckily, he caught it before it was too late
On the Right: Myspace Login Page (click to see larger)

Another danger of the internet is the infamous virus/worm spreader.
Attachments to emails (using the facade of an innocent word document, mp3 file, etc.) can often release malicious viruses that can attack the computer and render your technology useless. Just this month, an email claiming to be from MSNBC links to a page which asks you to download a trojan horse virus, and in 2006, a similar email claiming to be from the BBC was sent.
Spyware can also be installed, tracking your every move and storing all information, including passwords and credit card numbers that you send on perfectly legitimate websites.

According to an investigation in Time Magazine, it's possible to get your identity stolen in a matter of minutes, in many different ways.
Your information may be sold from either a phishing site or by someone sifted through your garbage and found a preapproved credit card application.

The information you send to legitimate websites could be tracked by a "cookie," which is a tool used to retrieve information sent during each of your visits.

Or it could be hacked, like what happened back in 2000, when egghead.com's customer databased was hacked, leaving 3.7 million people's information compromised, or in 1999, when online music seller CD Universe lost more than 300,000 people's credit card info to a Russian thief. This month, a British man named Gary McKinnon is actually being tried for hacking into USA's NASA database!

Total strangers are watching you in everyday life - Even at friendly sites like coffee shops with wi-fi, strangers could be looking over your shoulder looking at your info as you type.


So what can you do to prevent this from happening?

Some tips:

* Never trust emails from sources that seem fishy. If you get one that you’re not sure about, look at the domain name the email comes from (ex. @facebook.com, @ paypal.com)
* Don’t download files from places you don’t trust. For word documents, utilize the preview tool at the bottom (or top, if you’re using gmail) to make sure it’s not a virus. Also, don’t download things with .exe as the extension.
* Always look at the website name at the top of your browser, and make sure your information is being sent to the official website. For example, don’t enter your myspace login at any website name that doesn’t start with http://www.myspace.com
*Remember that your social networking profiles aren't private spaces: be careful of what you put on them, because anybody can see the info.
*Shred any mail that might have important details before throwing it way.
*When using and leaving your computer out in public, make sure that you can trust the people you're surrounded by.

(some tips paraphrased from AntiPhishing.org. To read the full article, click here)

With a few extra precautions like these, the chances of getting your identity and property damaged are far lower.