V for Vendetta Character List

I know there are a couple V for Vendetta fans out there who may be interested in this post.

This is completely speculative and informal research, but it's something I am interested in. When Alan Moore first created the character, he said that it was going to be a character in the story that was V. Much like Batman has a hidden identity, but instead of Gotham not knowing the identity it's the reader. Moore has made comments and hinted at it but never come out and said who it was (at least as far as I have seen, he very well may have and I just missed it).

There are others that I've found that are interested, but a lot of people say that knowing the identity doesn't matter and might even detract from the story. I don't think knowing the identity would detract from the story, I am merely interested.

Here's the brief research I've done into who the possible suspects are. (I did it without rereading the graphic novel, but I'm planning on going back and revising the list when I have more time)

K9 Web Protection & Balance

For our fireside my focus is "balance." There are many directions to take this, but I think I'm going to talk a little bit about how to control digital media in the home. I plan on talking about time spent using digital media, but I also want to discuss programs that we can use to help us balance.

One thing I decided to look into was filters that can be used and I came across K9 Web Protection. It has a great list of features. Here's the list from the website:

• Web site blocking by category, including pornography, illegal drugs, personals/dating, violence/hate/racism
• Easy pre-set levels to choose from depending on the age of your children
• SafeSearch enabled on all search engines to show cleaner search results
• Time restrictions, including NightGuard(tm), to disallow internet access during designated times
• Custom “always allow” and “always block” lists for your personal preferences
• Ability to override a block with the parent password
• Tamper resistant for more savvy kids
• Reports showing activity to categories of web sites
• Real-time categorization of new web sites
• Compatible with Windows or Mac machines

As far as the features go, it seems to work pretty well. The biggest perk (to me at least) is that it's free and it does a good job.

I did find the settings to be a bit clunky. For example, I've tried resetting the password multiple times and I haven't been able to create one that I want. Instead, I have used the temporary password that they emailed me. 

For their levels of protection they do have pre-set levels to choose from, but I wanted something in-between their settings and didn't see an easy way to customize it.

Also, the reports showing activity on the computer is also a little hard to understand.

In spite of these criticisms I do think this is a good product if you are in the market for one, it just may take time to learn how to use it.

Digital Media in the News

My family and I watched BYUtv's rebroadcast of the BYU Georgia Tech game last night. During the game I talked about Hurricane Sandy with my mom, and she wanted to watch the news to learn more about it. There was a segment on KSL called "Growing up in a digitally connected world." It surprised me, but it was fun to see that the news was discussing the topic my group is working on. It also made me wonder if my group is timely, or a little behind the curve (because of early adapters).

The report covered two families that are very digitally savvy. It was interesting to see, but I didn't feel like the two families they showed were truly indicative of a normal family that deals with these issues. I know while I was growing up it was much different. We didn't have a computer or the internet for many, many years. And when we did have internet the time we were allowed to be on was quite limited.

I did like that they were casting a positive light on digital media. I also realized that the best way to make a decision on how digital media will be used in a home is to take a holistic approach, looking at expert advice,  personal experiences, religious suggestions, pros & cons, etc...

Here's a link to the article:

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=22759000&nid=148&title=growing-up-social-in-a-digitally-connected-world

I have long loved the talks of President Eyring. He preaches patience and a way to be humbly confident. I have also viewed him as having very sound judgement as well as being incredibly competent and patient.

In my group we are portraying the positive effects of digital media in our day. One quote by President Eyring that has been running through my head when I think about this topic is as follows:

"The warning not to judge what is of God as evil nor what is from the devil to be good is a helpful caution to those of us who would help the young learn to choose the right. They will see some choices as good, or at least neutral, that we may see at first as evil. Before we begin to force a choice with what authority we may have, it will be wise to apply the test in Moroni ourselves. More than once I have been restrained and more than once I have been energized to action by those practical rules. What I at first thought was evil came clear to me as being neutral. And what I had thought was neutral was revealed to me as inviting to do evil. And by the teenager knowing that I would apply the test myself in humility, I could make it more likely that they would try the test for themselves." 

                   "A Life Founded In Truth" August 15, 2000 BYU Speeches

                    http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=305

I think that we often view digital media in a negative way. There are obvious reasons for that because there is so much filth out there. While we may not be able to do much about the filth being produced, we can filter it and use digital media for positive things. 

Digital Sweet Home Survey

Here is a quick view of our survey. One note, the last question about topics being discussed will only be shown if people mark "yes" or "maybe" on the previous question.

Default Question Block

What is your gender?

  Male

  Fem ale

What is your age?

  Under 12   13-17

  18-29   30-44   45-59   60+

Do you have

  Children

  Grandchildren

Of the following list, what types of digital media do you use?

  Em ail

  Ins tant m es s aging

  Social m edia (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc...)   Blogs

  Webcam

  Gam ing (Such as com puter, internet, video cons oles , etc...)   Video webs ites s uch as YouTube or Hulu

  Brows ing the internet

  Other

  None

How often do you use digital media? (For examples of some types of digital media see the previous question)

  Never

  Rarely

  Som etim es

  Often

  All of the Tim e

Why do you use digital media?

  To connect with fam ily

  To connect with friends / acquantances

  Entertainm ent   Work / s chool   Other

I don't us e digital m edia

What concerns do you have regarding digital media?

Please share some of your experiences with digital media.

Would you be interesting in attending a meeting discussing digital media and the positive effects it has?

  Yes

  Maybe

  No

What topics would you be interested in hearing discussed?