Author: jveal

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Remix of Guinness World Record Book

Original
Remix

This was an interesting assignment. I think the most difficult aspect was trying to choose a record to remix! I spent most of my time just trying to find a record that I wanted to use. At first, I was going to use a human-based record, but I decided not to because I came across this sheep! As soon as I saw this it reminded me of a big cotton ball. It also made me kind of sad too, because who knows how long it has been since this sheep had a haircut. I can imagine that the extra weight from the wool has been uncomfortable and not very good for its health. I really like that this assignment included the coding aspect. I loved being able to apply what I learned to create a new product.

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Digital Story Compilation

Featured in this video are some of my favorite DS106 assignments. I used iMovie to make this and then unloaded it to Youtube to post it here, which did not work! The video format was not supported, most likely because the file was too large, but I was able to unload it to Twitter and share it this way!

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The Forest Gump Project

For this assignment, I decided to include myself in an image of a BLM protest in L.A. Due to work and having family members that are immunocompromised I have not been able to attend any protests, although I would love to attend one.

I have never actually worked with the cut-out aspect in photoshop before, so I am glad this was included in this assignment. I am pretty impressed with the final product! If I did not know who I was, I am not sure I would be able to tell the difference in these two images!

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We’re the Real Life Brady Bunch

At first I was not sure what direction I wanted to go in for this assignment. I started making a collage with some of my close friends, but then I decided to make one with my family instead.

Lola is my mother’s family name, which is where I got “The Lola Bunch” from. All of the grandkids pictured above my younger brother, niece, and I do not actually have the family’s last name. My brother and I have our father’s which is Veal and my niece also has her father’s which is Lacoote.

Top Left: Pictured here is my uncle Joseph, my mother’s younger brother

Top Middle: This is my mother!

Top Right: Pictured here is both of my grandparents, which breaks the one box per person, but my grandfather does not like taking pictures, so I had to really DIG for any picture with him.

Botton Left: This is my aunt, which is my ‘nieces’ mother.

Bottom Middle: Pictured here is my younger brother, although he looks like a giant!

Bottom Right: This is my niece! She’s technically not my niece, but I call her that anyway.

I really liked this assignment. Instead of using a website, I decided to use the app PicCollage on my phone, which was easy to use. The app itself is not free though, which is why you see the ugly watermark. The one complaint I would make about this app is that it does not allow you to choose how many boxes you would like, instead, you have to choose a pre-made template.

‘Back in the day’, I made collages all the time for friends for Facebook. You would post a status “Like my status for a collage” or something along those lines and you would then attempt to make one for every individual who liked you post. I am not entirely sure when this trend started, but that was the thing. I was always that person who would do every single one and I remember spending so much time on them!

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Turn a GIF into a FIG

Animated GIF

As soon as I read the description for this assignment I knew exactly what video I wanted to use. Above is 16 year old Jaiden attempting to make funny content for Snapchat. After dinner, my friend and I were on our way back to the dorms (I went to a boarding high school) and we saw this pile of boxes. I do not really remember who came up with the idea for this original video, but we went through with it anyways.

The theme for this snap was “going through life like” and then you will see me trip on the boxes. This video was actually staged and I had no intention of actually tripping, but I did and luckily I caught myself before I fell! We definitely had a good laugh after this.

Creating the actual GIF was not difficult, but I also run into the issue of embedding this GIF into WordPress. I tried quite a few different ways but had no luck. I actually ended up copying the image on GIPHY and pasting it here on WordPress, which seemed to work.

After watching the GIF in reverse mode a few times, I still think the normal one is better so I will include that too.

Animated GIF

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What They Might Have Done in Social Media

For this assignment, I chose to represent George Washington Carver on the social media platforms – Fakebook and Twister.

George Washington Carver was an agricultural scientist who invented hundreds of different products using peanuts. Carver was born a slave just one year before slavery was outlawed. At a young age, Carver left home to attend college at Iowa State University where we earned a master’s in agricultural science

Black inventors have been overlooked in history and even in current times, which is why my focus was on Carver. An interesting fact that I did not know is, although Carver invented hundreds of products using peanuts like milk, Worcestershire sauce, punches, cooking oil, etc. BUT NOT PEANUT BUTTER. This was something I actually did not know!

Creating this assignment was pretty simple. I thought the Fakebook portion of this assignment would be more difficult, but everything was user-friendly and easy to follow. When I went to add Carver’s information in, his profile picture came up, so I did not have to add that. When I went in to add his ‘friends’ I chose other black inventors. All of the profiles I chose of men came up with their corresponding images, but not the women…which I thought was interesting. I did have a formatting issue with the cover photo at first because I used a normal image, but I was able to quickly resolve this.

I had trouble embedding both the Fakebook and Twister, so I included a screenshot of the Twister page and the link below to the Fakebook.

Fakebook Link: https://www.classtools.net/FB/1767-3HViCY

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Daily Create #tdc3084

What would be your favorite food if all foods were in paste form? Well, the thought of all foods in paste form really grosses me out for some reason. I was talking to my friend about what some of her favorite foods were and then imagined them in paste form and I did not like the thought of it! I turned away from solid foods and started thinking about foods I like that are already in paste form (this may be cheating) I was stuck between hummus and peanut butter, but peanut butter is definitely the winner here! I am that person who can eat peanut butter right from the jar, which is disgusting to some, but it is what it is!

The GIF I used is of “peanut butter baby” and his sister. The parents of the children left them alone for a little bit and came back to the older sister “scrubbing” her brother with peanut butter as she told them.

If you are a peanut butter lover like me, you should try this out it if you have not already!

Buy me Here: Target

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Daily Create #tdc3083

This was definitely a weird prompt for a daily create…”yellow birdies and a man in a car driving in the wood”. I had no idea how to approach this nor how to interpret it, but after a little brainstorming I came up with this. At first, I was going to photoshop Big Bird into a picture of a car in the woods that I found, but I decided to look for a video instead. This GIF above is from a 1985 Sesame Street Film: “Follow that Bird”. I honestly didn’t think I would find anything, but I came across this and thought it would be a perfect fit for this assignment.

To create the GIF I used the clip I found on Youtube, pasted the link into GIFrun, and cut down the video to the scene I wanted!

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Daily Create #tdc3073

For today’s daily create we were asked to share something or someone we admire. Someone that I admire dearly is my grandmother (meme). She is not only the most selfless person I know, but she is also the most loving and respected person in my family.

My favorite memory that I share with her is from 8 or so years ago. It was a cloudy and windy day and we were just leaving the grocery store, which is the only one in town. My aunt and I (who is 5 years older than me) wanted to go down to the pier, so my grandmother agreed and we went. The town is actually an island with only one entrance to and from on land.

As we began driving onto the pier, which is large enough for a navy ship to dock, a huge wave came up and hit the car. My grandmother had a little Toyota Corolla at the time so the moment was pretty dramatic. Our tides are also pretty crazy, but this was a first for me!

Wave Crashing GIFs | Tenor

My grandmother is startled pretty easily so in the blink of the eye she had that car turned around so fast and we sped off back home. I do not think any of us had laughed so hard in our lives after that moment. Even today when the three of us are together and this story is brought up the laughs we share are pretty much the same.

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Home Video GIF

fdfdSahara Desert ’18

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This is probably one of my favorite videos to date! In 2018 I studied abroad in Morocco and this video was from my trip to the Sahara Desert (Merzouga), which is easily one of the best adventures of my life. This GIF is when our group of 54 students was dancing around the fire to traditional Moroccan music performed by members of the Merzouga village not too far from our campsite. The night was filled with dancing, so much laughter, and many unforgettable memories!

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our campsite off in the distance

dfdfdfd

You know when you see pictures of something and you wonder “how could that be real?”, well this was my experience visiting the Sahara. I never in a million years thought miles and miles of sand dunes could be so beautiful. Not to mention how beautiful the star-filled sky was.

fgfgfgf

post camel ride

Before arriving at the desert I told myself I would NOT ride a camel to our camp. I have never really been a fan of riding horses, so I knew riding a camel would be a similar experience. Turns out I ended up riding the camel because I couldn’t pass up a once in a lifetime experience due to my own fears! (I was still afraid though I cannot lie)

dknfkdnf

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Daily Create #tdc3072

If I were an animal I think I would want to be a whale. It always amazes me and also frightens me when I realize that something this big lives in our oceans. I have always considered the ocean to be a pretty powerful thing, but when you consider everything that lives in the ocean, including the unknown, I instantly become frightened.

I was actually reading an article the other day on the American astronaut Kathy Sullivan who was the first American woman to walk in space. Just this week she also became the first woman to dive to the deepest point in the ocean known as the Challenger Deep, which is 7 miles deep. I personally WOULD NOT and I repeat WOULD NOT do that. Imagine all the creatures that you are surrounded by that you don’t even know are there..no thank you.

Back to the whales though! I think I have always had a love for them because of my mother. When I was younger, my mom and brother would always go fishing (I didn’t like going because I never caught anything) and they would always see whales out in the bay. I remember how upset I was because I had never seen one before, although I was always on the lookout. It was not until 2018 when I went whale watching that I finally saw my first whale. We actually had one go right under our boat and I instantly thought it was going to breach and that would be it, but it didn’t thankfully 🙂

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Color Walk Timeline

I was actually really excited when I saw the prompt for this assignment. In the last four weeks that I have been home, I have had very little time to actually sit outside and enjoy nature. This assignment allowed me to do just that.

The color I chose for this assignment was purple. Purple and I go way back to my childhood. I have always loved the color but I not entirely sure why. The color purple is often associated with royalty, creativity, wisdom, and ambition. I would say that three of these characteristics have some form of relation to me.

  • I have always been a pretty creative person. I love finding new hobbies and crafts and bringing them to life!
  • I would consider myself to be a pretty ambitious person as well. If I have a goal in mind, nothing can stop me until I achieve it.
  • Lastly, I have always been referred to as an ‘old soul’, meaning I have wisdom beyond my years.
  • I do not have a relation to royalty, although it would be cool to be Mia Thermopolis for a day!

I took these photos in my backyard because I ran out of time before I had to go to work, but I am still happy with the results!

Color Walk Time Line – Flower Edition

10:45 AM: Lupines – if you read my story about the apple tree in my backyard you will know that it was not here when we first moved in, these flowers were also not there. If you look past the flowers you will see a pretty dense section of trees, down in that jungle, as we always have referred to it as are a variety of different colored lupine flowers. My brother and I picked them for my mom when we were kids and when they died she threw them down that cliff, now they come back every year.

10:48 AM: Mom’s Sunscreen – my flower edition color walk was rudely interrupted by my mothers sunscreen that has been outside since last summer

10:49 AM: Petunias – planted by my mother

10:50 AM: Lilac bush – the only survivor left after my brother mowed down my mother’s rose bushes

10:52 AM: Marsh pea – I knew these flowers were in my backyard I just never knew what they were until I did a reverse image search for this assignment

10:54 AM: Onion peel – is it a red onion or purple onion?

10:55 AM: Red clover – while I was going through my backyard I was specifically looking for this flower because I knew we had it in our backyard and this is the only one I found

10:57 AM: Mysterious flower – I was unable to figure out what this flower is and I also did not know we had them in our yard

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Daily Create #tdc3071

For today’s daily create I was given the task to represent a word in morse code. I chose the word strength. It is not until we are faced with difficult circumstances that we reveal are our true strength. The strength many have had this year alone is remarkable. I can say that my own strength has been tested many times throughout this year and although it can be difficult to regain, the right company can serve as an added support.

The font used to create this is called Dominos St, which I found online. While I was working on this I imagined lining up dominos and creating a ripple effect by knocking one over and watching the rest fall. Although these dominos do fall, the strength then lies within the next domino to hold the previous domino up. Looking at this from the perspective of humans, when you ‘fall’ you are not necessarily alone. You will always be surrounded by loved ones and friends who will help you regain your strength to rise again.

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Daily Create #tdc3069

Image Credit: My Mother 🙂

I was not entirely sure how to go about making today’s daily create, as it was definitely up for interpretation! I decided to use an image taken in my backyard of a hummingbird for this assignment. I cannot take credit for the picture as my mother took it, but I did add the ’emotional coloring’ twist to the image. If you look closely you can see that the hummingbird is actually sticking out its tongue!

To add the emotional color effect to this picture I used an app called StoryArt. The app has a bunch of cool features like templates, effects, borders, etc., that can be used for both images and videos. I tried using a few different apps that I have on my phone, but I did not like the way things were coming out. For the final product, I ended up using the filter LO3 to create the light streak and tonal change on the picture.

Background Story on the Apple Tree

The apple tree pictured was actually not in our backyard 16 years ago when we first moved into our house. The original tree is actually a few houses over in my neighbors yard. When my brother and I were younger we use to take the apples from our neighbor’s tree and make ‘pies’ with them. One time we picked a bunch of apples, made our pies, and once we were done we dumped them down the cliff in our backyard. A few years later this apple tree appeared! Now the tree is so big that smaller surrounding apple trees are growing as well. It’s so fascinating to have watched this tree grow as my brother and I have over the years!

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Say It Like The Peanut Butter

I really do not watch a lot of movies, but out of the few I have seen over the past couple of years “The Pursuit of Happyness” may be one of my favorites. This 2006 film is about a struggling single father named Chris Gardner (Will Smith), who strives to make a better life for both himself and his son Jaden Smith. Evicted from their apartment and with nowhere to go, Chris sets out to find a new job. He eventually lands a job at a prestigious brokerage firm and soon finds out that it pays no money.

The scene that I choose to make my GIF on is when Chris is explaining to his son that he needs to “trust him because he’s getting a better job” where his son then replies “I trust you”. This particular scene is one of my favorites because although the child is very young he understands small aspects of what trust means. Although it is acted out, I think it is so powerful! I also tend to be a pretty emotional person so this definitely pulled at my heartstrings.

Creating this was actually pretty simple. I used GifRun which allows me to pull a clip from Youtube. I then cut the video down to the scene I wanted, selected to create GIF, and the final result was exactly what I wanted. This website also allowed me to avoid an unnecessary watermark on the GIF

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Demotivate Yourself

Image Credit: France 24

The image that I used for this assignment is a caricature created by an Australian cartoonist named Mark Knight, who has a reputation for creating controversial cartoons. Back in 2018, this image was used in an Australian newspaper after the US Open Final featuring Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka. Knight and the newspaper received backlash, from many:  

The Washington Post ran a searing post about Knight’s cartoon, calling it “racist” and reminiscent of the era of racial segregation in the United States.

“Knight draws facial features reflecting the dehumanizing Jim Crow caricatures so common in the 19th and 20th centuries,” commentator Michael Cavna wrote.

Another US media platform pointed out that “Osaka was portrayed as petite and feminine with jet blonde straight hair — in real life, she has dark curly hair with blonde streaks and is taller than Williams”

I was unsure what direction I wanted to take with this assignment in the beginning, but I figured why not use this as a way to depict the current reality of many POC across the nation. I can admit, I was hesitant to share this at first because I understand topics such as racism make people uncomfortable both those who are directly and indirectly affected by it. No matter what your stance is, racism is very much alive within our country as it has been for centuries. The uncomfortable conversations of racism are something we all need to be having, especially considering current events. 

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Daily Create #tdc3063

Today’s daily create features a favorite poem and we were asked to share why in particular it is our favorite. I have so many ‘favorite’ poems and pieces compiled on my phone, throughout social media platforms, and in the books of my favorite writers, that I could not choose just one. Instead, I decided to share a piece that I wrote two years ago. Although I have not written anything in quite a while, I believe this still emanates a great message that I am sure many could use right now. We have all been faced with troubling times in the last few months and for much of this year actually, with the rise of a pandemic, new challenges, financial concerns, and many have been faced with the unimaginable. I hope this serves as a bit of hope for those who may be living in the darkness our world is currently engulfed in. I know I too, need a little light. 

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Daily Create #dc3062

Today’s daily create the ‘ghostly collage’ was inspired by the latest uproar within communities across the nation. Sparked by the senseless killing of George Floyd, thousands have turned to protesting across the nation demanding that justice be served. After watching the 8 minute and 46-second video, I felt and continue to feel heartbroken and anger. Not only for those in close relation to Geroge but members of the black community that continue to fall victim to the system. Countless lives continue to be lost at the hands of law enforcement. We are no longer able to relax in our homes, go jogging, sell CDs, play loud music, lawfully carry a weapon, seek help from law enforcement, and the list continues. We can no longer breathe…we can no longer live. Although it may not be as impactful as protesting, donating to foundations, and signing petitions, I hope this may still bring awareness to the reality many members in the black community endure. We will continue to fight as long as the system continues to oppress us.

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Selfie with Your Pet

After spending some time going through my camera roll, I realized that I have more pictures of my cat than with her, so please bear with me as this is the only photo I could find!

Her name is Pebbles and I am still not entirely sure what inspired me to name her that, BUT it is what it is I suppose. I got her when I was five years old so she has been kicking with me for 16 years now, which is 80 cat years apparently…CRAZY! Here is a little inside scoop, the day we were choosing a cat the decision was between her or her sister. I originally picked her sister, but my mother decided we were going to take the other one (Pebbles) instead. I recall how upset my I was because that was not the cat I had picked. That lasted maybe 20 minutes and then I was excited again because I had my own cat! My grandparents ended up taking her sister who is also still alive and she turned out to be off the walls crazy, so I guess my mother just knew (as she always does). 

Although she sleeps all day, runs around all night, and can get on my nerves at times, I am glad to be her person.

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Daily Create #tdc3060

Today’s daily create was ‘you and your favorite book’. Currently, my favorite book is I Am Malala. I finally got my hands on a copy last fall and I ended up finishing the book in a day or two. Captivating from the start, the book shares Malala’s story a fifteen-year-old girl who fought for girls’ education and was shot by the Taliban. Her father who was heavily involved in the education system had always encouraged her to write and attend school, although education for girls at the time was forbidden. The memoir continues by sharing her road to recovery and the hardship her family endured in the process.

The process for making this was relatively simple. I found an app on my phone called round photo for the image of myself. I then used PowerPoint to lay the image of myself over the book cover and saved the final product.

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