Interesting Concepts

There are a lot of interesting concepts in the book. One of the interesting concepts I found in the book is loaded questions. The loaded questions are used a lot in our society. This kind of question are usually used to misguided the claim or as an accusation. The question may be asked in the way to confuse people by making it sound like a claim. For example, why are you always hungry? This make it sound like the person is always eating. He or she might not be hungry but rather, the person may just like to snack through out the day. The question can also be an accusation. For example, do you have to wait until people around you die of lung cancer before you stop smoking? This may seem like a reasonable statement but it is really not. The true is that lung cancer can be from other causes as well.

Favorite

I like a lot of things about this class. First of all, this class is an online class which make it very flexible on the time. I do not have to sit there and work on something during the day. I can choose when I want to take a test, which give me time to prepare myself. So, I think that the flexibility is one of my favorites part of this class. I also enjoy the comments on blog as well. I think that by making comments on other people blog allow me to see what another people think, and get different ideas. However, my least favorite thing in this class is that I never really get the chance to know my classmates. Since on the blog, everyone use an alias name, no one know who the other person is. One thing that this class can improve on is the last group project. I do enjoyed meeting my group members, but due to the fact that this is an online class. It was difficult to set up a meeting time for everyone to meet. I think that maybe in the future, people can do a conference call or webcam even. It was just difficult to agree on a time that everyone is free. However, I really enjoy taking this class, it was a fun experience for me.

New Experience From This Class

Taking this class have show me many new things and ways of thinking. First, the concept of critical thinking in this class is really interesting. Since I am an art major, I have never thought of critical thinking as something that I will use everyday in daily life. The class will also help me to write a better paper and speech in the  future because I am now aware of the reasonings that can be use. The second thing that I have learn from this class is also a communication skill. This is the skill that I have not expected to gain from this class. I have taken one online class before in a community college, I remember that there were no group project or writing on blogs. This class have teach how to actually communicate through an online community with people that I have never talked to or met before. Also how to write a good email. In this day and age, everyone have written an email before but for most of the time, those emails are not formal. This class teaches me how to write a good email and how to communicate through them, even set up the chat room on yahoo messenger as well. So I think that this class have teaches me a lot of things that I did not expect when I enrolled into the class.

Interesting concept in chapter 15

In chapter 15, cause and effect there are a lot of interesting concepts that happening in the chapter. Before I read this chapter, I always think that cause and effect is something that is really simple and basic. Something that happen, cause another think to happen, just like chain reaction. For example, the light is not working may cause by a power failure in the neighborhood. However, there are a lot more to it than that. The light not working, there are other possible causes, not just one. The idea of cause and effect say that one should consider all the possible causes and than eliminate them out one by one. The last one that is left, is the cause. I think that this concept is really interesting because before I only see cause and effect as something simple, chain of reaction. Now I realize that there are a lot more to this concept than just a chain reaction.

Mission Critical

All the information in the mission critical website is really useful. The informations have been broken into categories, according to their subject matter. Each section went into depth and give more explanation. The format of the web is bullet points, which make it easy to find information and manage around the website. I think that it a way, the website make it easier to find information than the textbook, because we have everything broken down already. I also really the examples and exercises that the web use. I think that since it is interactive, it is easy to understand the concept and the points. I also like how the web will include other names that certain topic might be called on other websites or books. This make it easier to find more information about it. I think that my overall experience of the website is great. The website is definitely a really useful website for more information and another source to do research on, other than the textbook.

Cause and Effect Website

The cause and effect website is useful and insightful. I really how it first introduce the concept of something and also explain what it is and how it wok. After that, the concept got break down into little section and give more details about each little part. Than an example is use. The example is common situation that everyone can imagine and understand. The situation than get break down to little parts and see how the situation fit into the specific topic. For example, in causal argument, the example is just a common accident between vehicles and motorcycle. Than the argument get break down to the "one significant similarity or difference." I think that the way the example got break down to certain part and explain, make it easy to understand and see how it work. After the example, there are exercise questions that people can answer. The questions allow people to come up with the answer and if the answer is wrong, than it will explain why it is wrong. So I think that the website is really helpful, it makes the concept really clear and easy to understand. 

Interesting idea about reasoning by analog

The most useful kind of reasoning that I like to use a lot is reasoning by analogy. Like many people in different situation who like to make references and compare things even when they do not realize it themselves. I do compare things often. I think that stereotyping is also one example. Stereotyping might not make a good or strong argument but it can be use as some kind of reason (to certain people). For example, people may think that all dogs like to bark and cause bad odor inside the house. As the result, people always assume that if someone have indoor dogs, the house will smell bad and dirty. This can be a reason by analogy, one dog as a guideline and than compare other dogs to the guideline dogs. However, there can be other situation that reasoning by analogy can be very strong and convincing. I think that each situation is different and it depend on each situation if the reason by analogy will work or not. 

Reasoning by analogy

I think that the most difficult kind of reasoning to understand is reasoning by analogy, sometime it can be a bit confusing. The reasoning by analogy is just reasoning by comparing the two similar statements together. For example, "X is like Y." To understand or use the reasoning by analogy, one has to find the similarity between two  objects. Than state the purpose of two of the analogy, why is it important?  The reasoning by analogy can sometime be very vague and ambiguous. So, one have to exam the statement and comparison carefully to make sure that the comparison is strong.
For example: Dogs are mammals, they need food to live. Cats are mammals. So, cat need food to live.
This statement works. However, the statement is still very vague. It does not states what kind of food that the cats or the dogs eat. So, when the statement is very vague and ambiguous, it can become a weak argument.

Different Types of Reasoning

There are many types of reasoning. They can be reasoning by analogy, sign reasoning, causal reasoning, reasoning by criteria, reasoning by example, inductive reasoning, and deductive reasoning. So here are examples each reasoning methods.

Reasoning by analogy: Pepsi is a dog and Pepsi drink water.
                                  Soda is a dog.
                                  Soda drink water.

Sign reasoning: Mary did not answer her home phone as her phone is ringing, therefore Mary is not home.

Causal reasoning: Students who get A's in the art history courses have good understanding of art and its  history.

Reasoning by criteria: How will I know which book I want to read and will it be interesting? I can read the synopsis and the review for the book.

Reasoning by example: You should study harder. I met a guy who never study and have to repeat the class for 3 times.

Inductive reasoning: Everytime my phone ring, it means that someone is calling me.
                              Next time when someone is calling me, my phone will ring.

Deductive reasoning: All humans need water.
                               James is a human.
                               James needs water.

interesting appeal to emotion

For the interesting concept, I decided to discuss more of the appeal to emotion because I feel that is really important to understand how they are use in an argument to convince and manipulate people. One way that can be use to manipulate people is by appeal to pity. This method is used so many times when one wants other to help do something either for his/herself or for other things. For example, the animals shelter might talked about abused animals. The conditions that abused animals have to lived in and show pictures of injurred animals. Than the advertisement might said that you can help many abused animals by donating money and/or volunteer at an animal shelter. This is an example of appeal to pity. The advertisement make people feel sorry for the abused animals, so people will want to help these animals to improve their living conditions. I think that appeal to pity is used a lot. In many advertisement, they might not make a good argument because they usually lack the strong premises to help convince people. However, it is a good tool to manipulate people to do things.

Appeal to Fear In Advertisement

  "Do your allergies leave you in a fog?" This is the question that was ask in a Claritin commercial for the non-drowsy medicine. The main point of the medicine is that the medicine help to protect people with their allergies and allow them to follow their daily tasks. The commercial itself mention that when people have allergies, they are sneezing, watery eyes, itching, stuffy nose, ect. People feel like they lives in a life where there are always fog surrounded them. If they take some allergy medicine, they might feel drowsy and cannot manage their normal daily tasks. So, the concept of Claritin is to appeal to the fear that people have for being allergic to things and taking medicine that make them feel drowsy and/or tired. Claritin gives another option to the consumer. First, the medicine will help take care of the allergies, people will feel like their selves without allergies. Second, Claritin is a non-drowsy medication. People can continue on their daily life without any interruption.
  I think that the argument is good. The ad is not only talk about what allergies can do to someone or the side effect of medicines that make consumers drowsy. But the ad also talked about how Claritin can help and make a different. So I think that this is a good argument all around.

Appeal to Emotion

There are many kinds of appeal to the emotion. For example, there are appeal to pity, appealing to fear, appeal to spite, and appeal to vanity. The one appeal that stood out to me the most is appealing to fear. I think that this method of appeal get used so often by advertisers, marketers, and politicians. The appealing to fear is used to manipulate people by using fear as the main factor. For example, a commercial for a specific medication for women, might said that majority of women at certain age have this illness. The medication will help prevent this illness. That is an argument. The argument is that women should use that medication to prevent themselves from the illness. This commercial used the fear of people getting sick, and convince that women should take the medication to prevent the illness.
  I think that the appealing to fear is so interesting and intriguing at the same  time. Many of us might not realize that many things we buy or use are due to the use of appealing to fear by the advertisers or politicians. We install the security system into our home due to the fear that people might break in. So, I think appealing to fear is very important because it always surrounded us in our everyday life.

Things that need further discussion

There are many things that I think can be other discuss. However, I think on most topic things can be clarify by reading up on different posts on the blogs and see how other people explain them. The concept that I want to discuss more is the conceal claim. Even though in the book, there is one chapter that is dedicated to the conceal claim. There are no discussion on this concept on other people and I think that it is important for people to understand it. People cannot understand a claim without knowing what the claim is. From my experience, conceal claim can be hard to identify. Sometime, people might get mislead by the wrong claim and misunderstand the claim entirely. In some situation it might be hard to identify where the argument is or what exactly is the argument is about. In the conceal claims, people tend to convince us by the choice of words they use instead of by stating the argument. There are many ways or literacy devices that help to conceal the argument. I think that the book, chapter 9 did a great job at explaining those literacy devices that are use in the conceal claim. However, I have found this one website where I find that the short definitions and explanations for the terms might be helpful.

http://bellevuecollege.edu/lmc/ilac/Curric/kint/phil7.htm

The Usefulness of the assignments

Now that we are almost finish with assignment number 2, I realize that I have learn many things from these two assignments. The two assignments give me the opportunity to practice what I have learned in real life situation. First, everyone know about things that were asked in the assignment, but by putting in to practice we can see how it work. Even though the book give many examples, but looking at the real world situation is definitely different. For example, in the assignment number two, there is a part that we were asked to find the concealment claims that are used by our social organization. Even though, I know what concealment claim is but finding it is not as easy as one may think. I realize that there are more than one aspect to look at it. So, I think by doing the two assignments, it gives everyone the opportunity to really look at how these things are used in real life. We may not realized that these kinds of things are surrounded us everyday, just depend on how they are used.

Chapter 8

General claims
All: the word "all" means that everything is included without any exception. For example, I like all kind of cake. This claim may seem valid but it is not. Maybe there is some kind of cake that I have not yet tried. So I cannot say that I like every cake.
Some: This bring us to the word "some." I can say that I like some cakes. The claim may sound valid. However, it is too vague. What do I mean by "some?" Does some mean 2, 5, or 8? Some just mean that there is at least one, but not all of them. So, the reading of the word "some" is depend on the argument.

Contradictories: "no" and "only"
No: The word "no" is use in the same sense as "all." It means that, there is not even one, every single one of it is a no. For example, no one cry when he or she is happy. This may sound valid, but it is not true. There are people who cry when they are happy. Hint the phase "tears of joy."
Only: The claim that use "only" usually means "all" when it got reverse. "Only S are P" means "all P are S." For example, only bakers open bakery shops. Joy is a baker. So, Joy open a bakery shop. This is not true, just because Joy is a baker does not means that she own a bakery shop. She might be a baker at a hotel or a restaurant.

interesting facts

After looking through chapter 6 and 7 for something that is interesting that I have not yet mention this week. Than I came across the reasoning from hypotheses in chapter 6. The main key that help to reason with hypotheses is start with hypothesis A. After giving the hypothesis A, follow by making a good argument for B. This idea is kind of similar to conditional claim: If A, then B.

Example argument: Lin: I think I'll walk to John's house today.

Casey: If you do make sure to take an umbrella.

Lin: Why do I need an umbrella? It's not raining outside.

Casey: The weather forecast said that it's going to rain later in the day and the clouds are seem to hang really low in the sky. It'll rain soon and you will need an umbrella on the way back.

In the example, Casey does not tell that Lin need an umbrella. Rather, Casey assume that Lin will stay at John's house until later in the day. By that time it'll rain and Lin will need an umbrella to walk back home.  

Chapter 7

Counter argument:
In chapter 7, there is the explanation about raising an objection to a claim. By raising a question in any claim, the person who raised  the question claim means that the claim is invalid and/or weak. The question than will become another argument to prove or show that the claim is fault. However, sometime the argument get "knock off" because it might not be relevant to the subject or the claim. Many people might not realize it, but this kind of situation is always happen. When one says something that other people might not be agree to or think that it may be fault, the other person will try to prove otherwise.
Refuting argument:
One can refute the argument directly or indirectly. To refute an argument directly one have to prove that at least one of the premises are dubious. The way to refute the argument indirectly is to reduce the credibility of the claim. One have to prove that at least one of the claims are dubious.  

Chapter 6

Compound Claims and "Or" claims:
The compound claims are usually composed with more than one claim, however it views as just one claim. In this kind of claim, the two claims are usually combine with the word "or."
For example, The dogs are sick or they are just hungry. This claim does not mean that the dogs are sick nor they are hungry. It just stated that the dogs are either sick or hungry, not either one nor both. As the result, there is just one claim in that statement not two. In compound claim, the "or" part call the alternative.

Reasoning with "or" claims:
To determine if the argument is valid or not, one have to look at the role the compound claims play.
For example, The dogs are sick or they are just hungry. But the owner just fed the dogs their dinner. Therefore, the dogs must be sick. This can be called as excluding possibilities: A or B. If not A. So, B.

Online Ad

Advertisement, as many may not realize that ads are just a form of argument that with the conclusion that the products are good. The advertisers try to convince the consumer that their products are good or better than other brands by convincing the consumers. For example, in the ad by Garnier, the advertiser is trying to convince the consumers by showing how good the products are.  Many people have trouble with their hair in different climate. Sometime when it is very hot and humid, people might have a harder time styling their hair. In the ad, it show that the products can stand the difficult weather: humidity, hot, and wind. From personal experience, I have used the Garnier's shampoo and conditioner before  but never the styling products. However, I have found that their products are pretty good. As the result, I might be willing to try the styling products. I think that this ads will convince some consumers who have tried their other products or heard good things about the brand to try their products. Since the ad aim toward the younger people, especially guys.

Criteria for accepting or rejecting claims

Personal experience:
The most trustworthy information comes from what we have experience in the past. Things that we learn by experiencing it is always better than things that are told to us. So, we accept claims that we know it true from our experience and reject claims that we know is false from our experiences as well. However, there are some exceptions. Our memories are not written in stones, so we might forget something and have the reasons to doubt our own memories. Another possibilities happen when we might have some memories that prove the claims to be false or there are good theories to prove that the claims are false.

Other resources:
There are other resources other than our memories. Some of the other resources can be acceptable.
1. If the claims are by someone who has good knowledge authority) on this kind of claims.
2. If the claim comes from an expert from this field and have no motive to mislead anyone
3. Articles or researches that are published in a respectable journal or refences
4. From media  that is reliable who has no motive to give the wrong information and named the original source.

Argument that need to be repair

Argument: Babies cannot talk. So Alex Jr. cannot talk.

Analysis: This can be a strong argument. However, it does missing the premises to make it a strong and valid argument. If it add that "Alex Jr. is a baby," than this argument will be a valid argument. Without that statement, people may argue or ask what if Alex Jr. is mute or he has some kind of surgery and cannot talk for a period of time. With no premises, this argument seem to be begging the questions from other people because there are many other solutions. This argument can also be  mistaking the claim as well. Since there is no premise, many people may think that the missing premise, "Alex Jr. is a baby" is the conclusion. Other people might miss the real conclusion, "Alex Jr. cannot talk." This will lead to the miss understanding of the claim for the argument, which is consist to be a content fallacies.

Structural Fallacies

Fallacy is just a bad argument that is agree on to be unrepairable. There are some argument that is bad because of how they are structured, these are called structural fallacies. The form alone can give a lot of information about a person's argument regardless of what is the subject matter. There are 7 fallacy type:

Affirmative the consequence: If A, then B. B. Therefore A
Example: If all mammals have hair to cover their whole bodies, then birds are mammals. Birds have feathers to     cover their whole bodies. Therefore, birds are mammals.  

Denying the antecedent: If A, then B. not A. Therefore, not B.
Example: If all mammals have have hair to cover their whole bodies, then sharks are not mammals. Sharks do not have fur to cover their bodies. Therefore, sharks are not mammals.

Arguing backwards with all: All S are P. a is P. Therefore, a is S.
Example: All vegetable are green. Green apples are green. Therefore, green apples are vegetable.

Reasoning in a chain with some: Some S are P. Some P are Q. Therefore, some S are Q.
Example: Some mammals are very small. Some small animals are cold blood animals. Therefore, some mammals are  cold blood animals.

Arguing backward with no: All S are P. No Q is S. Therefore, no Q is P.
Example: All things with seed are consider to be fruit. Seedless grapes have so seeds. Therefore, seedless grapes are not fruits.

arguing backward with almost all: Almost all S are P. a is P. Therefore, a is S.
Example: Almost all aquatic animals are not mammals. Whales are aquatic animals. Therefore, whales are not mammals.

Reasoning in a chain with almost all: Almost all S are P. Almost all P are Q. Therefore, almost all S are Q.
Example: Almost all fruits are edible raw food. Almost all edible raw food are full with dangerous bacterias. Therefore, almost all fruits are full with dangerous bacterias.    

Violating the Principle of Rational Discussion

Violating the principle of rational discussion is when someone who does not understand what is rational discussion or purposely trying to mislead the discussion. Here are some examples of how this occurs.

Begging the question:  The argument that begging for question when the premises are questionable and implausible.
Strawman: The technique is to knock down someone's argument if the person misrepresent the argument, putting words in to other people's mouth.
Shifting the burden of proof: By trying to disproof other people claim instead of proving his or her own discussion.
Relevance: When the premises are so weak that they do not help to support the conclusion or the claim at all.
Slanters: Usage of misleading language to conceal the dubious claims.
Ridicule: Making a joke out of someone's claim to discredit the claim.

For example, in politics when a politician lose an argument. The losing politician will tried to discredit the opponent by making fun of the opponent's idea or tried to put some kind of words into the opponent's mouth. 

Exercise on the Structure of Argument

Number 3:
Las Vegas has too many people. 1 There's not enough water in the desert to support more than a million people. 2 And  the infrastructure of the city can't handle more than a million: The streets are overcrowded, and traffic is always congested; the schools are overcrowded, and new ones can't be built fast enough. 4 We should stop migration to the city by tough zoning laws in  the city and county. 5


Argument: Yes.
Conclusion: There should be strong zoning law from the city and county to stop people from moving into the city.
            Additional premises needed? If the resources and the infrastructure of the city cannot support more than      
            a million people, then there should not be more than a million people in the city. a
            If there are more than a million people in the city. There are too many people. b
Identify any subargument: Sentence 1, 2, 3, and 4 are independent and support the sentence number 1.
Good argument? The argument seem pretty strong if all the premises are true.

This is exercise is useful. It help me break down an argument and analyze if its a good argument. Also look for what is the strong point of the argument and what are the weaknesses and see what the argument need to be a stronger argument. 

Different Types of Leadership.

There are 4 types of leadership:
Authoritarian: this kind of leadership is more controlling, the leader have most of the power. Usually in this kind of leadership, the leader make decision without others' opinions. After the decision was made by the leader, that decision is than told to the other members to follow it.

Consultative: usually the decisions that were made in this kind of group are based on everyone's opinion. The leader will ask the group members for their opinions and ideas. However, the decision is still make by the leader alone, but all the opinions and ideas from the members are taking into consideration. The leader will likely to make this kind of decision when the leader is lack of information to make the good decision by his/herself. Ever thought in this kind of leadership style, the leader will ask the members for their opinions. The members usually find it very frustrated. Since only little part of their ideas will come through to the final decision.

Participative: in this kind of leadership, the leader will work along with the other members to achieve their goal. The leader will help to guide the group but have no influence above other members on the final decision. This kind of leadership usually take longer to achieve the final conclusion, but it prove to be more effective and efficient.

Laissez-Faire: this style of leadership usually involve the very minimum leadership influence, if not at all. The leader will usually have very little to say to the other member and most likely to stay away from the group. The other group members will just follow their tasks. If there are any problem, it will be very difficult to resolve it or contract the leader.   

A Strong vs. Valid Argument

A valid argument is the an argument that when the premises are true the conclusion is true. However, it does not mean that a valid argument is a good argument or a strong argument. For example the argument can be; all cell phones are black, so your cell phone is black color. This is a valid argument because given that all the cellphones are made to be black color, than your cellphone have to be in black color too. It might not be a good argument because we all know that not all cellphones are black, but it is a valid argument.

A strong argument is different from valid argument. Strong argument is an argument that when the premises are true but the conclusion may be fault, but it is extremely unlikely to happen. For an example; all living organism that everyone I know has ever heard of or read about need oxygen to live. Therefore, all the living organism on this planet need oxygen to live. All the research that have done prove that this is true. However, there still is a possibility that there might be some kind of mutated organism that might not need oxygen, but the chances are extremely rare and unlikely to happen.       

Test for an Argument

Example argument: Babies cannot talk. As the result, they cried when they feel uncomfortable. So when a baby cried, he is uncomfortable.

Analysis: The premises of this argument is plausible. Babies cannot talk, so the only way they can communicate and get adults' attention is by yelling or crying. So, it is possible that the baby feel uncomfortable and need to be taken care of by the adults. Are the premises more plausible than the conclusion? Can we think of other reasons why the baby will cry? The baby can cry because of the favorite toy got taken away or when the parents leave the baby with the care taker. Since the babies cannot talk at all, adults cannot just assume that the babies cry because they feel uncomfortable. The premise does not say that the babies only cry when they feel uncomfortable. Therefore, the babies can cry when they feel sad, upset, hungry, or even frustration. So the argument is week, which make a bad argument.

Descriptive And Prescriptive Claims

  The different between descriptive and prescriptive claims are that descriptive claim is about how thing is and the prescriptive claim is about how thing should be. For most of the time prescriptive claims will appear to be moral or judgement claims. The claim will most likely to contain the word "good," "better," "bad," "worse," or some other words that are value judgement. However, sometime a prescriptive claim can sound similar to the descriptive claim. For example, a friend might say that sitting down for a long period of  time is bad for you. This is actually a prescriptive claim since the sentence carries the assumption that we should not sit for a long time. Some might agree with the speaker but no one know that what standard the speaker has in mind. The phase "long period of time" can varies by a lot from 2 hours till 10 hours or even more. Until the listeners know what is the speaker's standard of "long period of time" is, we cannot assume what the speaker is trying to say.

Vague Sentence

The vague sentence is the kind of sentence that have open ended. This kind of sentence has so many ways that it can be understand. Most of the time the listeners can not settle on just one meaning without some kind of explanation. If we think about our daily life, it usually fill with vague sentences. Even on TV or radio program. Especially in commercials, there are a lot of vague sentences. For example, it might say that this car insurance can help you save money for at least 15 percents or more. However, the commercial did not tell you how it can help you save the 15 percents if you switch from the insurance you currently have. At the same time it can mean that you can save the 15 percents if you switch from one insurance company in particular, not every company. So as we can see that vague sentence can be interpreted into many ways. One cannot decide on one meaning without a clear explanation from the speaker.    

Subjective And Objective Claims

The subjective claims can be view as a point of view or opinion that someone has for a topic. The claim can be based on sensation, feeling, opinion, or even beliefs. For example, when the proposition 8 was on the ballet two or three years ago. My friend and I had an argument of whether or not it is the right things to do. In my point of view, I think that by giving the right to the homosexual couples is the right thing to do and it is the best solution. Although the Constitution have stated that everyone has equal rights, it still cannot be proven that by giving the homosexual couples the right of marriage is the "best solution." However, making an objective claim is different from the subjective claim. Objective claims are usually involve with true or fault and can be proven by more support or the counter argument. For example, many people claim that there are nine planets in the solar system. This objective claim can be proven as a fault claim due  to the new definition of the word planet; Pluto is no longer consider as a planet.

Hello everyone

HI!!
I hope that everyone have a great first week of classes. I'm an art major, going into my third year at San  Jose State. This is the second time that I'm taking a class in the communication studies, the first class was public speaking. I never have never taken an online class at San Jose State before, so this is my first time in an online class at San Jose.

To give everyone a little information about me... as I have mention before that I'm an art major. I do love to draw and paint, I also enjoy swimming, reading, hanging out with family and friends, and many other things. I'm originally from Orange Country in Souther California, I have moved up here about 3 years ago when I started college. So, this is just a little information about me. :)