Holiday Gifts

To put a smile on the face of someone you love, follow this Smartphone buyer's guide. I personally have fallen madly in love with one of the phones they suggest--the HTC Incredible for Verizon.

Brighten that special someone's Christmas morning with these great new phones!

Emily Smart...Again

I understand that justice sits at the core of our nations values, but I think that we need to stop addressing the Emily Smart case. She was kidnapped years ago, and I can only imagine the pain it brings her every time she must relive the horrific event.

Today her kidnapper was found guilty in court. By prosecuting her kidnapper, I think that it can only bring her serious pain. During the trial, she spent 3 days testifying, letting the bad memories flood back. I understand that it was probably her decision to press charges, but I would imagine that there was much pressure from family and friends to do so.

In this case, I think justice needs to not be served and she needs to be given ample time to heal. Leave the 23 year old woman alone. Let her move on.

Kiss Holday Parties Goodbye

Do you have fond memories from your last corporate holiday party? Do you remember the time your shy co-worker had a little bit too much spiked cider? Well if you enjoyed those moments and would like to make more every holiday season, you better be willing to cough up the cash.

Blake Ellis writes that Wall Street corporations have stopped funding the Holiday fun. Employees are now required to chip in $30 if they want to have a party, or a good time.

I understand that we are in the middle of a depression, but I don't think that the way to save money is by cutting parties. Forcing employees to pay to have parties is demoralizing. Corporations are supposed to host and fund these parties as a thank you to your employees. What sentiment is it sending to say, "Please contribute $30 to the party"? Not a good one. Most employees will probably not attend the party, because they could have a better one at home for less than $30.

Corporations need to find the middle ground between saving money and showing their employees their appreciation. I suggest that parties still be held and firm funded, but only to a certain extent. The company could promise its employees a catered meal, but have BYOB. That way, they could save money, but at the same time encourage firm-wide bonding and appreciation.

Further Body Scan Discussion

I always love reading the different opinions behind the body scanners, and I have found yet another. Blogger Conor Fridersdorf highlights a portion of the conversation between two other bloggers and TSA boss John Pistole.

Friedersdorf follows the argument and speaks his own opinion; that a terrorist attack could potentially happen anywhere, yet we don't safe-guard those places like we do their airport.  For example, someone could bring an underwear bomb to a crowded market, but that doesn't mean that police officers frisk every person entering the market. Friedersdorf believes that we should take our chances, and use the least invasive security procedures as possible.

View the entire conversation here.

Wallet Controls Spending

After a trip to the mall do you feel guilty about your spending?

Can't be held responsible for your own spending habits?

Well then, they have created the wallet for you! These wallets keep you accountable for your spending by either vibrating, yelling, or shrinking, every time you make a big purchase.

Whether they will actually help, or just become an annoyance has not yet been determined. I am excited to read consumer reviews on the wallets in the near future. For now, check them out!

Twitter: Not Just for Humans

Now they have thought of it all. Mattel just came out with a new product called Puppy Tweets that creates tweets for man's best friend. The way it works is a small medallion is attached to the collar of your puppy. Motion and sound set off the medallion which sends messages to a USB stick which ultimately updates the dog's twitter account.

Blogger Tim Stevens reports on the product after testing it on his Labrador puppy.

His dog, Yoshi, was relatively active and was able to get some funny tweets out of the machine like, "Yoshi: Opening your eyes is overrated." The device is supposed to have 500 available tweets. But won't this all get boring after those 500 tweets, when the machine can't generate any new ones?

Ultimately, I think that this device is a pretty dumb idea. And Stevens confirmed my analysis when he said that the toy lasted about 2 days before Yoshi chewed it to shreds.

Dogs, leave the tweeting up to the humans.

Tarantula Smuggling: The Next Big Crime

I was browsing the CNN news articles today when I found this one. It reveals how a German male illegally sent over 600 tarantulas to America. He has been taken into custody and faces a possible sentence of 20 years in prison alone with a fine of $250,000.

My first thought was, "Is this seriously considered breaking news?" I proceeded to wonder what our world has come to. Nevertheless, I gave the article a chance and continued to read.

Apparently, you need to have a special permit to own the tarantulas that he was sending in the mail. And because that permit was not present, he is facing all of these legal issues.

The first thing I have to say is that police need to better prioritize their time. One of my friends got mugged several weeks ago outside of my apartment. Police need to spend their time preventing and stopping crimes like that before they move on to prosecuting a guy who is sending tarantulas in the mail. Is this really a good use of their time and my tax dollars? I don't think so, but you be the judge.

Beefing Up Education in the U.S.

Blogger Vishakha N. Desai argues that the United States needs to keep up with the learning curve of Asian students. The most telling evidence behind this argument is that American students are doing significantly worse than Asian students on math, science, and reading tests.

Asia has invested ample amounts of money in education for many years now. And it is no shock that this investment is paying off big-time.

If the US wants to continue to be one of the strong forces in the world, they definitely need to beef up education. As Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said recently, "A nation's wealth int he 21st century will depend on the capacity of its people to learn." I couldn't agree more. Now that it is too late for the US to go back and invest money in education, we must instead react to this problem. Emulation of the Asian schooling system is the first step.

In order to increase the education of American children, the US must invest in several key catorgies:
1. Create rigorous standards
2. Strengthen Curriculum
3. Hire higher quality teachers and principles
4. Put a greater emphasis on math and science

If US policy makers can find a way to invest in those 4 key strategies, our kids will be on their way to competing with Asian students. 

Smart ATM Theft

Do you ever feel vulnerable when you are getting cash out of an ATM? I always fear that I will withdraw the $100 out of my account, and then seconds later get mugged or held at gunpoint (mind you, I live in South Central Los Angeles). A recent article I read suggests that I should not worry much about this happening.

Instead, crooks are getting smarter. They no longer need to use brute force to get your money from the ATM. They are not widely using devices called skimmers which can read the credit card information at point-of-sale machines. Your credit card information is then sent to the thief through Bluetooth or text message. The worst part is that you have no idea that you have been robbed until you get a bank statement saying your account has been cleared out. At that point, it is too late to try to prevent the damages. 

No matter how advanced our world gets, criminals will always find a way around it. Technology is an amazing thing, but it is always sad when it is manipulated to do wrong. 

Secret to Attraction: Tilt your Head

We have all at some point had a secret crush. If you have been lucky enough to get a date with your crush, you probably toiled for several hours over what to wear. A recent study suggests that you don't need to spend all that time figuring out your outfit.

Instead, you should merely tilt your head. Women were found to have been more attractive if they tilted their heads forward while on a date. Women who tilted their heads backward were found to be less feminine.

So next time you are out on a hot date (or at the bar trying to get someone to buy you a drink) pull him in by tilting your head downwards a little.

iPad Wins my Most Useless Device Award

I'm just going to come out and say it, I hate the iPad! Steve Jobs, pay close attention if you are reading this.

The iPad wins my Most Useless Device award because it does not do anything that our computres or phones cannot already do. In fact, it has even fewer features than the iPhone.Let us first view the photo above, because it does a great job of explaining my stance. The iPad doesn't have a camera (my Android phone does), it doesn't have multitasking capabilities (my Dell computer does), and it doesn't have any standard ports (both my Android and Dell do). The machine can boast a very large touch screen, but that is a thing of the past because my phone can do that too.

Blogger Josh Belzman agrees with my position, saying that he was highly disappointed when he arrived home with iPad in hand. In addition to the pitfalls mentioned above, he found a few more problems with the device. He said that it was too heavy, had expensive accessories, and does nothing that his phone and laptop didn't already do. He also brings up an important point that only an iPad owner would know. In order to use the device to its full capability you need to pay an extra $30 a month for unlimited data usage. That is on top of the already ridiculous price of $500.

Now, I do agree that the iPad can be very useful for some people. My roommate is an artist and loves to sketch on her tablet which connects to her MacBook. She says that sketching on an iPad would be much easier because she could see on the screen what lines she is drawing. This is a feature which a tablet does not provide--the images are just shown on the screen of the computer. I just haven't actually seen any artists use it to do tablet drawings. Because I haven't seen it be properly put to use, I still find it to be useless. Steve Jobs, I'll just stick with my Android and Dell for now. Give me a ring when you really create something useful.

Obsolescence of Marriage? No!

Blogger Stephanie Coontz recently wrote a post about how she thinks marriage is becoming obsolete. After receiving information from a public opinion poll on CNN, she found that 40% of Americans no longer believe in the sanctity of marriage. Also, 25% of unmarried people are not actively seeking a spouse.

Stephanie argues that marriage was considered essential in the past because of social and financial demands. In the 1950s, marriage was considered an investment for the future. Investing in a wealthy husband was even more important because woman did not yet have their place in the workforce. Additionally, marriage was just another part of growing up. If a girl was older than 22 and remained unmarried, she was the village freak.

Sixty years later, the social norms have changed drastically. Now, women go to college, hold their own in the workforce and are not encouraged to marry until age 26. With these new social norms, women also have a new found independence. Women place the focus of marriage on love, rather than money. And as a result, find it harder than ever to meet that perfect partner. There are plenty of guys out there that we can tolerate to live with for a few years, but it is much harder to find that guy that you can spend hours with that feel like mere minutes. 

While the statistics do look ominous, I think that all of these changes have been beneficial for the sanctity of marriage. In the past, women would marry so that they would have financial stability. Now women can marry men that they have fun with. I think that if you can marry someone that you can have fun with, or that is your best friend, marriage will last longer and there will be a lower divorce rate. Also, by waiting a few more years, women can really have the opportunity to figure out who they are and what they like before they jump into marriage. Hence, I do not agree that marriage will ever be obsolete, I just think that people will be more secure in the marriage decisions they make.

Barbie Pornography

I was watching the news in between classes and saw that there is a new Barbie--video recording Barbie. FIrstly, I just want to say that kids these days have it so much better than I did! I felt on top of the world lucky when my new Barbie had bending knees, and flat feet. Now, Barbie can record 30-second videos. What will they come up with next? A Barbie that can do your homework?

Anyways, the FBI has issued a warning for the doll because they think that it will be used to shoot child pornography. This is true, but I do not think it is something worth worrying about. If the creepy man next door decides that he wants to shoot child porn, he will find a way, and that is the sad truth. Cameras can be secretly planted anywhere (implanted in teddy bears, hidden in walls, behind flowers, etc.), and the fact that Barbie now has one is not going to make it any easier to shoot porn. I think the FBI needs to relax, and let all the little girls out there enjoy taking videos of their pets and friends.

TSA Abuse

Follow this link to see an extreme injustice committed in the airport recently. A woman brought breast-milk through security (which is completely allowed under TSA guidelines) and was heavily harassed by TSA officers. They first asked her to step aside into a glass cage in the middle of the security check point. They then proceeded to leave her alone in the cage for an twenty minutes before interacting with the woman again. In total, she spent an entire hour in the cage, and missed her flight. At one point the woman broke down in frustrated tears, and still received no compassion or assistance from the officers.

TSA officers explained that they were merely trying to make an example out of the woman. But I ask, what kind of point were they trying to prove? Were they trying to prove that the rules on their website are inaccurate? Were they trying to prove that TSA officers are highly insensitive? Regardless of what exactly they were trying to prove, they should have exercised some common decency by thoroughly explaining the situation.

Additionally, did the officers really think that putting someone in a glass cage for an hour would actually teach anyone a lesson? Whenever I go through security it feels like a whirl-wind, and I definitely do not have the time to sniff the roses and notice who is standing next to me. I doubt that their actions actually managed to achieve their goal of deterring others from trying to bring liquids through security.

TSA needs to reevaluate their procedures and actions. They need to remember that their customers are of key importance. If this harassment continues, then people will cease to fly. If people do not fly, then that puts a lot of TSA officers out of jobs. Hence, they need to take better care of their customers so that they can secure their jobs. Above all else though, I think the rule "treat others as you would like to be treated" is important to remember.

Dead Celebrities

First, I just want to say that I really hope I look that good when I die.

Today is World AIDS day and celebrities are doing their part to raise money for AIDS. But they are not doing the usual celebrity thing by merely throwing money at charities. They are doing something different--vowing to sign off their social media sites until one million dollars have been raised for the Keep a Child Alive charity. I personally know that I will miss the celeb tweets, but am also happy that celebrities are using their power to fund AIDS awareness, instead of using it to get out of jail time.

Participating celebrities include P Diddy, Serena Williams, Janelle Monae, Kimberly Cole, David LaChapelle, Daphne Guinness, Bronson Pelletier, Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Hudson, Ryan Seacrest, Elijah Wood, Serena Williams and Swizz Beatz.

Hope that the celebs keep up the great work! You are doing something great for the world and anyone who has suffered from AIDS. But the work doesn't stop there, I urge everyone who has a few extra bucks in their checking accounts to donate to the Keep a Child Alive charity.