Keen, in a much more thorough way than I do here, explains that social media could be viewed as a prison instead of a playground. Throughout the book, relates social media to Jeremy Bentham and his invention, the panopticon prison. The panopticon, you see, is famous for its architecture since guards could keep watch of its prisoners around the clock – an inspection house. Keen argues this is not unlike today’s social media. One example, he wrote, is those little buttons we see on so many of the top websites – you know, the Facebook, Google+ and Twitter buttons.”Irrespective of whether or not we actually click any buttons, the widgets notify Facebook, Google and Twitter all about the websites that we visit, thereby transforming social networks into omniscient inspection-houses of our online behavior,” Keen wrote.

This point is brought up again when Keen said how our devices betrayed us when the Apple iPhone recorded its users locations.

In pointing to “1984,” Keen invoked George Orwell. “It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen,” Orwell wrote. “The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself – anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide.”

Keen explained how Orwell further relates to social media. “In Nineteen Eighty-Four, it was a crime to express yourself,” he said. “Today, it is becoming unfashionable, perhaps even socially acceptable not to express oneself on the network.”

Keen delves into privacy issues. He discusses the inspection house throughout the book, summons Warren and Brandeis’ Harvard Law Review article in which they discuss “the right to be left alone,” and quotes University of Southern California social media research scientist Dr. Julie Albright, who said that privacy is taking a backseat to the idea that everything should be public. “A lot of people really don’t consider the fact that once it’s out there, it’s out there.”

Perhaps the most telling anecdote Keen shared in this book was his visit to Robert Scoble, who, as @scobleizer, boasts 250,000-plus Twitter followers. As Keen entered the community in which Scoble lived, he couldn’t help but think “about the not entirely unsurprising paradox of the world’s leading champion of openness living inside a gated community of an exclusive Pacific coast town – an enclave within an enclave – that cut him off from the rest of the world.” Not only did Scoble reside in such a private neighboord, but Keen discovered that one of Scoble’s neighbors had no idea who he was. “The irony of one of the world’s best known and most popular social media evangelists not being known by the man over the street only compounded the surreal experience of simultaneously staring at Scoble at his Twitter feed,” Keen recalled after talking to Scoble in front of monitor displaying the tweets of those Scoble followed. “Maybe Scoble really was @scobleizer,” he pondered.

I found this book hard to put down at times. It really puts the idea of social and big data into perspective with regard to what kind of information you and I are putting online, the trust and the relationship we’re forming with it, and why this is all happening. I appreciate that Keen observed that being transparent has existed for centuries and ties numerous examples to how social media is playing out today. This is a tremendous read that should force us to reevaluate the value of social media.

Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming takes the viewer through each step of the tai chi chuan form for Yang style. Each step is clearly labeled with English, Chinese, and the Chinese ideograms. At each new movement, he explains both the structure and the application and shows each from different angles.

Dr. Yang sprinkles in bits of tai chi history and philosophy throughout the nearly five-hour-long DVD. He explains why his style does what it does, and he explains that other styles have their own ways. Instead of discriminating against other styles, he acknowledges that they exist, doesn’t say whether one is better than another, and encourages the viewer to follow what his instructor teaches.

I’ve only purchased a handful of instructional DVDs. The ones I run across seem to always have poor production quality and lack easy navigation. YMAA, however, comes through in both respects.

My first introduction to Dr. Yang was through a link I clicked on Twitter from the YMAA feed. David Silver wrote a great article about Yang Tai Chi for Beginners. The link includes a video from the DVD and includes many snippets from Dr. Yang, including a great quote that I posted on the Metamora Martial Arts blog.

After taking my time to really concentrate on this video the past few weeks, I’m intrigued by Dr. Yang. Just 10 minutes in, and I felt like he and I could have a great conversation and that I could learn lots from him. I hope to be able to incorporate some of the teachings in this video to the tai chi class I’m currently involved with in order to help expand our collective thinking.

Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this DVD in exchange for posting this review.

As a recent college grad, I had many a semester like this – find all the classes I’d be interested in taking, map out a good schedule, and then narrow down what will actually work for me. It’s almost a shame that you’re whisked through in four years because I easily could have soaked up more knowledge. However, I say “almost” because of the senioritis that I developed over my ninth semester as an undergrad.

My diploma doesn’t say I’m certified to dole out college advice, though I’m going to do so anyway. I’ve been through it, and I want to offer some classes that I hope you’ll consider as you make your way through whatever institution you plan on attending. These classes are in no particular order.

1. Contemporary religion

Get an idea of what religions are out there. Depending on the type of community in which you grew up, you’re probably familiar with only one or two other religions. Even then, you probably only have a basic grasp of what they’re about and why people subscribe to them.

Take the time to learn about other religions because you’ll surely encounter them. You’ll begin to understand what others believe and why they do so.

My “a-ha!” moment during this class came when our professor was discussing the Mormon faith. He had just finished explaining to us that Mormons believe Jesus Christ appeared in North America. Someone raised their hand and ask him how Mormons could believe something like that, implying the idea that the son of God appeared west of the Atlantic was ludicrous.

“Well,” he said (and I’m not directly quoting word for word in this entire article), “it’s not anymore ridiculous than the Jews and Christians believing the story in the Hebrew Bible or Christian Old Testament that God appeared to Moses as a burning bush.”

Educate yourselves about what others believe. Don’t think your way is the only way. Taking a class on religion should expand your mind.

2. Web design

Ask yourself: “What am I doing today that the Web doesn’t have a part in?”

Facebook. Twitter. News. Grades. Pop culture.

All of these things are either creations of or easily accessible via the Internet.

In grade school, we studied how to dissect sentences in order to build them. A verb has this purpose, a noun has that purpose. Why don’t we study how to build the Web? It’s a communication device, too. In my last article, I agreed with Douglas Rushkoff when he said we need to understand programming. I still do, but more generally, I think everyone should take a class where they can get the basics of the Web. From there, they can more easily understand how to post to a WordPress blog (like this one), how to find files, and just be a smarter consumer in the 21st century.

These technologies are everywhere. We should all be learning ways to use them better.

3. Journalistic writing

Having interned and now landed a full-time job in a business, I can say that communication is vital, whether it’s talking it through with my manager or colleagues, or simply sending somebody an update via email.

The chances that you’ll be doing some writing for the public-facing parts of your company might be pretty good. And there’s an even better chance that the writing will be part of your company’s blog. In addition to knowing how the Web works, you need to know how to write for it.

I know all kinds of job advice tells you communication is key, but they don’t really tell you how to get there. My suggestion would be to take a journalistic writing class. This allows for keeping things simple, which is a big plus on the Web. A journalistic writing class forces you to find primary sources whenever possible. Talk to somebody. Ask that person questions. Get to the meat of what you want to talk about.

Already, I’ve written a few dozen blog posts for Float, worked with our PR team to craft our message just wright, and edited a handful of research we’ve put out. I’ve used the skills I learned in my journalism classes for each one.

4. Political science / American government

As a com major concentrating in journalism, the holy grail for me was to wind up covering politics in Washington, D.C. Others had ambitions in fashion or sports, but I salivated at the thought of covering an election.

To do that, a political science or American government class is the best. I took the intro class during my last semester, and now I wished I’d minored in political science.

It’s amazing to me some of the people I talk to who have no idea how government works. It’s complicated. Not even the current Republican presidential candidates have a decent grasp on how some things work (no, Mitt Romney, you can’t just repeal Obamacare).

I’m not saying you have to agree with a certain party or ideology, but it really helps in understanding what’s going on in this country. What happens in Washington affects everyone. Get to know what shapes those decisions.

5. Business / accounting

My college experience was a constant evolution of figuring out what I wanted to do with my life. Apparently, I didn’t think it would be a good idea to take any classes in business or accounting. I regret that decision.

I realize now that no matter where you go, you’re going to have to have some understanding of money and budgets. Whether you actually have to do anything with that knowledge is another concern, but I know that, for me, I would’ve been wise to push my hatred of numbers aside to learn how to do this.

Your turn

Which classes did you take that were helpful to you? What classes do you wish you would’ve taken that you didn’t?

I don’t plan to be a programmer. Ever. I don’t have the patience for it, and I’ve realized that there is a (pretty low) ceiling I have when it comes to understanding what’s happening in code. But, since graduating and landing a job (a future post), I wanted to give myself a new challenge. I have no idea on if I’ll follow through with 52 weeks of lessons, but after making my way through the first set, I’m interested enough to keep going.

Code Year is pretty simple. Every week, Codecademy will send out Web-based lessons for wannabe programmers to run through. The first week’s lessons revolved around, declaring a variable, making sure code is formatted and documented, and even got into for and while loops with if statements. I say “even” because I was surprised the lessons got into this so quick. These lessons covered in an hour what it took a semester to accomplish in the CS 100 class I took as a senior.

I don’t want to let the apparent ease with which I cruised through this set of lessons – albeit with a few bumps in the road – fool anybody. Programming is still a special skill – so special, in fact, that it’s only behind engineering in starting average salary for the class of 2011, according to CNN Money. Not anybody can master it, as Douglas Rushkoff insinuated in an article this week for CNN – Learn to code, get a job.

“We are socializing, working, consuming, and living in a world increasingly defined by programs. Learning to code is the best way to understand what all those programs do, or even to recognize that they are there in the first place,” Rushkoff writes.

I agree. Having programming classes and being around programmers taught me that people actually have to tell computers what to do. “Computers are useless,” Picasso is credited as saying. “They only give you answers.” And many programmers to deliver those answers on those devices. Watson didn’t just appear. It was created.

Later in his post, though, Rushkoff suggests that it only takes two to three weeks for to get their heads wrapped around programming, “much less the months of effort they’d need to become proficient.”

Let me state that I don’t think I’m stupid. I graduated with highest honors from a university and practically landed a job as soon as I took my last final exam. I was in my high school’s National Honor Society. In grade school, letters came to my parents and me, urging that I become part of my school’s gifted program. But I’ve been taken many classes over the past eight years in which I’ve used programming to some degree, and I’m still not proficient in the last bit.

I would suggest that Rushkoff’s article had been called what I’ve called this post – If you can learn to code, maybe you can get a job.

“It’s time Americans begin treating computer code the way we do the alphabet or arithmetic,” Rushkoff says.

Okay, so let’s start teaching it in schools nationwide to students as young as toddlers. The fact is, we still won’t necessarily be producing an army of programmers. How many people studied math up through college and don’t end up with a career in that industry? We all learn to write, but just look at Facebook and Twitter and see how many people can’t put together a coherent thought.

I’m glad Codecademy wants to democratize programming, as Rushkoff puts it. It makes coding that much more accessible to people like me, who don’t really want to focus on it for a career, but want to know more about it anyway. But it’s still not something that just anybody can pick up.

Jerry Wolfe, a systems administrator at Metamora Telephone Company, said the ISP receives two to five notices a day through email.

“From what I see of (piracy notices), it’s not like we get hundreds and hundreds and hundreds a day,” he said, adding that dealing with them is not his main job function.

Corporations, however, are pushing to further protect their intellectual property after the Stop Online Privacy Act (H.R. 3261) was introduced to the House of Representatives in October. Under SOPA, a judge’s order could force ISPs, ad networks and search engines to block access to what have been deemed “rogue websites.”

Though many content owners support the bill – namely those in the TV and movie business, such as the Screen Actors Guild, Comcast/NBC Universal and Viacom – SOPA has generated controversy from those who believe the bill would allow for censorship of the Internet.

“As written, H.R. 3261 gives sweeping power to Internet regulators,” wrote U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock’s (R-Ill.) communications director, Steve Dutton, in an email. “[Schock] is concerned that such broad authority will lead to censorship of even legitimate websites if there is even the smallest implication of copyright infringement.

“This regulation would move the Internet community from one based on its free market capabilities toward an Internet regulated by the government,” Dutton continued. (Read Dutton’s full email.)

He went on to say that SOPA could hinder the grown of an industry based on the Internet and the entire medium in general.

Peoria lawyer Jonathan Phillips doesn’t worry so much about SOPA’s potential censorship capabilities as he does about its potential to stifle small businesses.

“Is pirating a movie free speech? It clearly isn’t,” he said.

To illustrate how SOPA could affect businesses, Phillips referred to eBay. The online auction site acts as a facilitator of breaking the law because knockoffs of branded items are sold on it.

“SOPA would allow the attorney general to take over,” Phillips said, meaning the site could be shut down. “EBay has nothing to do with it.”

Critics of SOPA jumped on the House Judiciary Committee for supposedly stacking the panel in their favor during their Nov. 16 hearing. Representatives from Pfizer, MasterCard, the Register of Copyrights, the AFL-CIO and the Motion Picture Association of America testified in favor of the bill, while Google was the sole company represented to protest the bill.

Phillips said it didn’t matter.

“You can bring in five people, but none of them have the swagger of Google,” he said. “It’s like a bunch of ants versus a single person.”

Phillips said he understands the need to protect intellectual property because of the economic incentives it creates. A patent is protected for 20 years so money is spent to invent something.

Trademarks establish a brand name so consumers are protected when they buy that brand’s products. Copyright helps people create with the idea that others can’t steal that original work.

However, he feels as though SOPA is draconian.

For one, Phillips said the bill – whose Senate counterpart is the PROTECT IP Act (S.968), or “Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property” – would allow the United States to shut down websites in a foreign country such as Belgium, which he said the U.S. has no business doing.

“How would we feel if France shut down all the McDonald’s in America?” he asked. “It’s too far-reaching.”

The lawyer said SOPA would also allow the Justice Department to shut down domain names – say, YouTube, which has plenty of infringing content on it – without due process of law.

Phillips said if the bill passes, the courts could still determine how to enforce it.

Wolfe said cable companies may send an infringing user a letter to warn them to stop, but MTCO prefers to call their customers.

“We want to talk to you,” he said, adding that many people probably just throw away the letters.
Wolfe said MTCO gives infringing users three strikes before shutting down their Internet.

“This can get away from you like a fire if you don’t care of it,” he said.

MTCO only reveals its customers’ identities to content owners when a federal court issues a subpoena.
“If a federal subpoena hits my desk for privacy,” he said, clutching dozens in his hand, “you can guarantee some lawsuits are coming.”

Once the content owners can identify those who are illegally distributing their content, MTCO backs off.

“Is it my responsibility to take care of Time Warner and their stuff? No,” Wolfe said. “That’s their responsibility, and they can deal with it.”

Wolfe said he doesn’t think piracy will ever be resolved.

“There’s always somebody smarter than us,” he said.

BitTorrent, he said, is a P2P site geared more for the everyday users. Newsgroups, on the other hand, allow users to download content piece by piece in binary form and use software to assemble it.

Wolfe said he isn’t familiar with the proposed SOPA bill or its PROTECT IP cousin, but he likened stopping Internet piracy to growing marijuana in the backyard.

“You can try to stop it all you want, but it’s still happening,” he said.

Read more

• Stop American Censorship
• At Web censorship hearing, Congress guns for “pro-pirate” Google
• Censoring the Internet: It’s not just for China anymore!
• Dangerous bill would threaten legitimate websites
• Free speech takes a beating
• Good idea, poor follow-through: Congress’ mistakes with SOPA
• House Judiciary Committee examines Stop Online Piracy Act
• SOPA: What you need to know [infographic]
• The death of the Internet has been greatly exaggerated
• Say no to SOPA
• Viacom’s ridiculous SOPA pitch video
• What’s on the blacklist?

Bradley Hilltopics: New kids on the block

I’m excited that as my internship with Hilltopics comes to an end, I’ve finally gotten a write-up printed in the physical magazine itself, instead of my usual Web extra. It hadn’t been something I was really concerned about since my role was more with the social media aspect of the magazine, though I’m really glad I was able to land an article in a print edition. I wrote about Tom Vilsack for class in a longer article, and I was happy when my editor asked me to write something up for the magazine. I just wish, during the editing process, I’d paid a little more attention and not used Vilsack’s full name twice.

Bradley Hilltopics: Agriculture secretary stresses farm bill’s impact

Also, I wrote here about Dr. Bob McChesney’s lecture at Bradley in October. Thankfully, I was able to write something a little different for the magazine.

Bradley Hilltopics: Saving journalism

Finally, I wanted to point to another cool article in our magazine I had nothing to do with. My friend Eric Johnsen and mentor Jim Ferolo created an iPad app that helps Bradley student admissions representatives on their campus tours in what is believe to be the first app of its kind on a college campus.

Bradley Hilltopics: iPad technology enhances Admissions tours

While my attempt to contact the Aaron Schock fell short, I was able to reach out to his communications director, Steve Dutton.

I have reproduced Mr. Dutton’s email to me, unedited (except for links), in which he provided Schock’s stance on SOPA.

While Congressman Schock does not deny that copyright infringement is an issue that needs to be addressed, he also believes that heavy-handed regulation of the internet is not the way to handle it. As written, H.R. 3261 gives sweeping power to internet regulators, and he is concerned that such broad authority will lead to censorship of even legitimate websites if there is even the smallest implication of copyright infringement.

This regulation would move the internet community from one based on its free market capabilities toward an internet regulated by the government. This is problematic because the technology behind the internet has grown so fast in recent years that government regulation cannot keep pace, causing a situation where the government would, in essence, be hindering the growth of an entire industry and communications medium.

Congressman Schock supported legislation in the House of Representatives in the Spring of 2011 that expresses Congress’s disapproval over the FCC’s regulatory actions with regard to the internet and broadband policy. H.J. Res. 37 gained bi-partisan support to pass the House of Representatives.

He has also joined as a co-sponsor of legislation that would further address the regulatory power of the FCC with regard to the internet. The Internet Freedom Act (H.R. 96) will prohibit the FCC from exerting regulatory power over the internet independently of Congress. This legislation will ensure that Congress, the members of which answer to the citizens and businesses affected by regulation, make decisions on issues of internet regulation, rather than the FCC implementing regulation on its own. H.R. 96 has been sent to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and it is his hope it will come to the floor and be passed by the full House of Representatives.

Additional Background Information: H.R. 3261, and its companion bill in the Senate, S. 968, seek to prevent online piracy of copyrighted material by granting the federal government greatly expanded regulatory power over the internet. Under this legislation, the U.S. Attorney General would be empowered to shut down websites and domain names that are found to be facilitating copyright infringement. This authority extends to requiring search engines, payment network providers and internet advertisers to censor the websites with which they interact.

That’s why I was excited when the art director at Bradley Hilltopics asked me to think of video ideas for the upcoming issue. After taking a look at the list of stories on tap for Winter 2012, I decided our best bet would be the groundbreaking at the new Pi Beta Phi house.

I’ve never actually had all creative control over a video before. Usually I relied on a team to help out with some particular aspect since most video work I’ve done has been for class. Usually I worked on pre-production while somebody shot the video and somebody else edited it. Remember, I helped produce six commercials last spring.

I felt confident in myself based on what I’ve seen from my classmates. So, on probably the windiest day of the year, I took my little tripod and MiniDV cam over to Fredonia and Institute to film the groundbreaking.

Here’s what I came out with.

There are things I like and I don’t like.

Overall, I like this video because it was something new for me to do. My editors thought I could pull it off and I didn’t want to disappoint. The magazine hasn’t ventured into video yet, so I was in a place where I could set the bar. The other video I put their brand on them was actually a recycled video I did for a digital journalism class.

I think the video is “good enough,” but I hate settling for “good enough.” Unfortunately, I had to in this case.

The overall video quality isn’t at the level I was hoping for, both because of the camera and because of the lack of external microphone. Given how windy it was, though, it could have come out a lot worse.

I also don’t have a copy of Final Cut Pro, so I had to learn iMovie ’11. Some of the lower thirds are off by a few pixels because of how they lined up. That’s as best as I could get them.

As it relates to composition, I knew something was off when I set up the shot with Stephanie. I just didn’t know what. It finally hit me when I imported the footage: She should be on the right side of the frame with the sign on the left.

I’m glad to say that I think the Hilltopics experiment worked since I delivered something my colleagues said they enjoyed. The video complements the story that will appear in print and on the Web. Thankfully it doesn’t overlap too much, a fear I had as I knew an editor (and alumnae) was covering the event, as well.

I just hope that whoever replaces me at the magazine as I graduate in a few weeks blows this video out of the water.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack (Flickr: Center for American Progress)

“This is more than a farm bill,” Tom Vilsack said about the proposed legislation in his keynote address at the Future of Midwest Agriculture and Environmental Sustainability symposium on Nov. 3. “It’s a jobs bill, it’s an environmental bill (and) it’s a conservation bill.”

Vilsack said one way to encourage discussion between farmers and the 98 percent of Americans who don’t farm is by renaming the farm bill.

“‘Farm bill’ sends a message that it’s just about farming,” he said to the crowd in Bradley University’s new Hayden-Clark Alumni Center. “We ought to be speaking more specifically to the 98 percent of Americans that do not farm and explain to them why it’s important to have this conversation and have this policy looked at and renewed every five years.”

Food is a crucial component to the bill, with nutrition-related funding making up nearly two-thirds of the bill.

“We have the capacity to produce everything in the United States to feed ourselves. There are virtually no other countries in the world today that can do that,” Vilsack said.

In developing countries, he said consumers spend roughly 50 percent of their income on food costs. For developed countries, that number is 15 percent to 20 percent.

“Food costs 7 percent of our paycheck,” Vilsack said.

He added that Americans use the remaining 15 percent or so to buy a nicer car, take a vacation or provide students with a college education.

For these reasons and more, Vilsack underscored the significance of the bill as it relates to the economy. Farming drives one out of 12 jobs, he said.

The former two-term Iowa governor also supported President Obama’s recently signed free trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia because they could mean a potential 20,000 jobs for those who ship, package, travel with and protect goods.

The secretary then turned his attention to those who live in the suburbs or an urban area, explaining to them why they should care about a farm bill.

“Renewable jobs,” he said.

Vilsack said the United States currently imports 60 percent of its oil, though he would like to see that number reduced to 52 percent.

“When we have a domestically produced supply of energy, we don’t have to ship it from overseas,” he said. “We don’t have to put (our loved ones) at risk to produce an economy based on fossil fuel.”

Finally, the secretary said the farm bill is about conservation and the environment.

“What we do impacts our ability to enjoy clean water,” Vilsack said. “Eighty-five percent of what we consume in water is impacted by what we do in farming.”

An example of conservation, according to Vilsack, is a power company in Oregon that used stream water to produce electricity before it was put back. The water, however, would’ve been too warm for the stream’s ecosystem to survive, and taxpayers would not have wanted to foot the $10 million bill to cool it down. Instead, land owners paid for shade trees to protect the water from the sun’s rays in order to cool it down to its natural temperature.

Vilsack’s address kicked off the symposium sponsored by Bradley’s Institute for Principled Leadership in Public Service. He was the third member of President Obama’s Cabinet to speak on campus in the last two years, following Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

“What we try to do is pick a topic that Congress is about ready to pass legislation on, and the farm bill is going to be on the front burners in 2012,” said Brad McMillan, director of the IPL.

“(Vilsack) was obviously very, very passionate about the farm bill and what he thinks the priorities should be, even with tough budgetary times,” McMillan said.

Despite recent economic difficulty, Vilsack spoke to the 98 percent when he stressed that sustainability should be considered a vital part of national security.

“When you start thinking about this farm bill,” Vilsack said, “you realize that every single American has a stake in this legislation.”

Photo credit: Center for American Progress (Flickr)

Nope, not the one that is purported to have started the Revolutionary War.

I’m talking about the one that propelled Tex Grebner to appear in a Web redemption on Tuesday’s edition of Tosh.0.

“It hurt like a fuckin’ bitch,” Tex said about the bullet that ripped through his thigh before flying out above his knee. “It feels like getting hit in the leg with a sledgehammer and then a burning, ripping pain. And then the charlie horse from hell. And that’s all in a total of approximately 30 seconds until you are completely OD’d on adrenaline.”

But it was that shot that prompted Comedy Central to fly Tex – and several of his firearms – out to California recently to meet Daniel Tosh and take part in his own Web redemption, where he’ll soon join the girl in her prom dress who stumbled down the stairs and smacked her head on the floor, the backyard wrestler who flopped on the moonsault, that other girl who completely whiffed it imitating Risky Business, and Tron Guy. (Note: As of this writing, the video has 499,962 views on YouTube).

“People ask me, ‘So what is Daniel Tosh like?’ ‘Is he pretty cool or is he a dick?’ ‘Is he a dick or is he pretty cool?’

“Daniel Tosh is a pretty cool dick,” Tex said. “He’s cordial, he’s very intelligent, but he played dumb long enough to make me look dumb.”

Tex isn’t allowed to spill details until the episode airs, but he opened up about the process of what it’s like to be on the show.

Tex said Tosh interviewed him for about 2 hours before relocating to the Los Angeles Gun Club, where cameras rolled for another 6 hours.

“There was a lot of shit they were asking me in the interview,” he said. “Certain questions that I absolutely fucking refused to answer.”

Those questions prodded details about his family, his background and about his arsenal of weapons.

“I knew that whether or not they presented me in a positive light was up to them,” he said. “But I was just gonna be myself.”

The host of Tex Grebner Outdoors initially wasn’t so sure about being a part of the web redemption.

“At the time I was reluctant because, well, it was Comedy Central and I just blew a fucking 45-caliber hole through my leg,” he said. “I worried about my credibility, future careers (and) what kind of press it would bring me.”

He ultimately decided, with the counsel of his mentor and instructor, that he is a representative of the school at which he trained.

“I tried to represent the school in a positive light,” he said.

Tex was paid to do the show, but “I don’t like necessarily talking about how much I made.”

Even though Comedy Central paid Tex’s way round-trip to Culver City, he would have preferred driving himself, if nothing more than to at least get a few meals during his trip. The show’s crew wanted him to look like he does in his videos, so he wore his old-school fatigue jacket and cowboy hat to and from the shoot. Tex said he’d be sitting at an airport bar when he’d hear whispers before his video started playing. Annoyed, Tex would journey to a different spot.

Overall, though, he said people were very gracious and complimentary.

“Even back in August, it was apparent that I was very recognizable as ‘that guy,’” Tex said. “It amazes me that people think I’m cooler than I am.”

He said he’s literally the epitome of “kind of a big deal” because he doesn’t think he’s famous. People tell him, “Holy shit, man, you’re gonna be on TV.” But Tex said he would rather remain modest and “let others grow my legend as opposed to talking my own shit.

“Outside of real life, people really think I’m fuckin’ something,” he said. “In life, I’m just another fuckin’ guy trying to win a rat race.”

Tex looks at his newfound fame like this: “Life ain’t like the pornos and huntin’ ain’t like the shows.”

The 2006 Metamora Township High School graduate said it’s interesting having local fans now, as opposed to his YouTube subscribers who are far and away.

“Where was all this fucking popularity in high school when I gave a shit about it,” he asked. “Women are swooning over the fact that I’m gonna be on Tosh.0 (that eight years ago) wouldn’t give me the time of day between classes.”

Tex’s exploits, to be sure, have garnered some national attention in addition to Tosh.0.

“What’s funny is I made the Huffington Post, but not the (Peoria) Journal Star,” he said.

Tex will be appearing on the Nov. 17 episode of the Top 20 Most Shocking on TruTV, and he’ll also be on upcoming editions of S.W.A.T Magazine TV on the Outdoor Channel and VH1′s Top 40 Funniest Fails. He’s also in talks with the Discovery Channel for giving an interview and licensing his clip.

Tex admitted he has two regrets about the mishap.

“Firstly, just after the shot, I did not burn the entire magazine into the target,” he said. “However, I think I acted for the best. That way, if there was any question of foul play, the gun was in the actual condition” it was when he pulled the trigger.

“My next regret is that I did not grab the camera as I went past and film myself wrapping the wound or check the wound,” Tex said. “I didn’t want to be accused of hamming it up for the camera.”

Tex said he had all his guns and ammo stored in his vehicle and had stopped the bleeding before the EMTs arrived.

Despite shooting himself in the leg, the thought has never crossed Tex’s mind to put guns down. In fact, two weeks after the incident, he went to Tennessee to take a combat handguns class.

“I’m literally sticking to my guns,” he said.

(Images retrieved from Tex’s Facebook profile.)