Flamingos in Siberia?

 Please follow this link and listen to or read this article. It is fascinating and hilarious. For a brief synopsis: there have been several documented encounters of Flamingos falling out of the sky near a river (always in November) in Siberia. The flamingos are frozen, near death, but in
this location by their own
volition. What is going on?
Go and find out for yourself. ( :

Fate of the Music Industry?

 Koleman Strumpf's argument is very intriguing. I think he hits a very important point in the article 'The Effect of File Sharing On Record Sales.' By relating the fall in sales of the music industry to the disco bust of the 80's, Strumpf does not make this an issue of illegal downloading, but the music industry falling its audience. Strumpf states that maybe the decline in record sales is because people are less interested in 'teen pop' just like people grew tired of Disco in the 80's. As we discussed in class, the files that are most frequently downloaded illegally are pop. Increasingly, people want to have pop singles for party/dance scenarios, but not for personal listening pleasure. Taste is moving more and more in the direction of alternative rock/pop and electronic. Yet, the music industry is not observing this trend. They continue to throw us Justin Biebers and Hannah Montanas. Maybe if they caught the trend and started to cater toward their audience's needs things would be different.

Dollar Coins?

According to the General Accountability Office, it is time for the United States to drop the dollar bill and move to the dollar coin. The shift is projected to save the US $5.5 billion in the space of 30 years. The first few years would be more expensive, but because the coin is more durable than the bill, the cost will stand the test of time and save significantly! Most Western currencies have already made this shift: the EU, British pound, Canada, etc. But the GOA is insistent that this transition is impossible unless we take away the Bill completely and force the transition to occur. This is the approach all successful Western currencies have taken.

'CHAINED'

Come get your 'CHAINED' button at Kaufmen (Thursday) 12-2 and the Cage (Friday) 12-2.

Breast Milk Ice Cream?

Yes, you read that title correctly. Breast Milk Ice Cream is officially a hit after its trial run at The Icecreamists shop in Covent Gardens, London. The flavor was called Baby Gaga and sold for around 14 pounds. The milk was purchased from around 14 mothers who had adds online. The milk underwent rigorous tests to ensure sanitary quality before being made into scrumptious ice cream. Would you try it?

Breach of Privacy!

Robert Collins was excited for his interview at the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. The job prospect was a good one for him, and he was thrilled to have this opportunity. Little did he know that his interview would turn into a potential lawsuit.
While interviewing, the Department demanded Collins' Facebook login information. This measure was to insure that Collins did not have anything to hide.
Collins immediately felt uncomfortable and left. He has teamed up with the ACLU to make the Maryland Department of Public Safety realize this an enormous breach of privacy. They have suspended the interview process for 45 days in order to review the constitutionality of the interview question, and will give a final decision at the end of this period. Here is a video Collins made with the ACLU where he explains his case:

Egyptian Girl Named Facebook

It is official: Social Networking has achieved a new level of dominance. A twenty-year-old Egyptian man chose to name his daughter 'Facebook' to celebrate the website's role in the revolution on January 25th. We can laugh and joke about the seeming ridiculousness of this choice...but it is undeniable that 'Facebook' is much more than a social networking website for Egyptians...it is a platform for achieving political freedom.

Media Black Hole

Are we encountering an age that has too much access to news media?  The rate at which ‘groundbreaking’ news is released to the public is dramatically increasing as people become more internet savvy, and there are fewer walls to hide secrets behind. Congressmen are resigning for events before anything has even reached the public because they know that internet sources will find out. Revolutions are enabled through the media. Essentially, the news of tomorrow is happening today.  As a result, will news-media soon collapse inwards upon itself? Astrophysicist J. Richard Gott III from Princeton University reassures as that this impossible. He states that “For the news to outrun the event is an impossibility in this universe, he says. That's because of the ‘Planck time’ — the smallest measurement of time possible, in quantum physics terms — that would occur between events.” The news will never be able to predate an event. Thus, the news will never replace actual events and the world will not implode on the basis of news becoming events. Take a deep breath and let out a comforted sigh.

Number 1 Toy!

Author Mark Mammot of National Public Radio is attempting to do something outlandish. Recently, Time magazine picked the '100 Best Toys' since the 1920's. Mammot was not satisfied with this list. He wanted to find out what would be Number 1! He has generated a list of 11 toys (with a 'something else' box to vote/put in another option). From this list, readers are encouraged to select their favorite toy and vote. So far Legos are in the lead with Barbie coming in a far second. I have to admit I voted for Legos, myself. What AWESOME toys!
Here is the complete list: 
Radio Flyer Wagon
Army Men
Slinky
Mr. Potato HeadBarbie
G.I. Joe
Hot WheelsEasy Bake Oven
Transformers
American Girl DollsLegos
Something Else


You should all go vote for yourself! Let your voice be heard!

Americans refuse to eat healthier

As of last March, all chain restaurants had to post nutrition facts on the walls, visible to all customers. The hope was that through increased visibility of nutrition facts, people would begin to make healthier eating choices at fast-food restaurants. Nutritionist across the nation praised this new law and were very hopeful for the future.

Researches decided to do a study in New York city to follow the effects of the visible nutrition facts. The study focused on low-income and minority areas of New York. With the documented results of eating-habits before the nutrition facts were posted, the same researchers conducted an identical study after the nutrition fact visibility law was enacted. The results were disheartening. Only 9% of the people interviewed admitted to the nutrition facts altering their eating habits.

This was only a preliminary study.  Hopefully future studies will bring back different results. Otherwise, new methods to advocate healthier eating habits will have to be addressed.

Pepsi Criticized

Pepsi recently released a new 'skinny' can for Diet Pepsi with the promotion: "celebration of beautiful, confident women." The sales pitch relates 'beauty' and 'confidence' with 'skinny,' and this is arguably unacceptable. PepsiCo is being advised to change their sales pitch, but they can keep the actual can design. Pepsi has officially announced the skinny can is only temporary.

Youth & New Media: Where are the Parents?

There is no question in my mind: the youth in our culture today are obsessed with technology. Maybe addicted is a better word. Either way, it is a serious attachment that permeates the world of young people. We have discussed this often in class, and it is important to realize that young people are very interested in finding ways to be independent from their parent’s and have their own ‘space.’ As we talked about in the classroom, young people need their bedroom to a space just for them. This way they can maneuver through the difficult world of adolescents with a home-base of their own. So it is natural to see young people jumping on this technology that allows them a space to be in constant communication with friends and be apart from their parents.

But my concern is that parents have allowed this to become far too prevalent in the lives of young adults. When kids are younger, parents are not going to let children control where they are going/who they are visiting. And parents are not going to take the family dinner up to the kid’s room and eat outside the door so the child can remain in his/her separate space. But, without parental restrictions, these two situations have become a reality with technology. Students can now ‘visit’ their friends (or whoever) whenever they want. And, while at the dinner table, they could be texting or checking Facebook while on the phone.

And what do parents do? They accept this addiction to technology as normal. They let their child become more and more immersed in the preoccupation with texting, iPods, internet, etc. The kids are quiet, right? And they are at home, right? But in the world of media, they could be saying or doing anything. And they could ‘be’ with anyone, anywhere, at any time.

I think this is not an issue of government control. This is an issue of parents being lazy, unaware and out of control. Parents need to find the time to talk to their children. Discuss the hard topics: sex, drugs, alcohol, etc. And they need to limit usage of technology while children are young and impressionable. With age comes greater understanding, and the access to technology should work the same way. But, once again, I don’t believe these limitations on media should be a government issue, but a parent issue.

American families. Wake up. Do your kids have problems? Don’t look at the world ‘out there’ with judging eyes. Look inward.

AOL and Huffington Post Merge

On Monday, AOL announced that it will be purchasing Huffington Post for $315 million. This raised many immediate questions. The first question is whether or not Huffington Post is worth that much money. $315 is three times the net-worth the company was ascribed over a year ago. So why would AOL pay so much? The answer is that AOL has struggled to be a ‘content’ website for some time, so what better way to bolster your content than to purchase a company that is PRIMARILY an online content website. And a highly effective content website for that matter.

The co-founder of Huffington Post, Arianna Huffington, gets a lot out of this merger. She will become the editor and chief of all AOL content and will be able to introduce Huffington Post to a whole new world of potential readers. This is a win-win situation for her and her company.  

Since Arianna’s company has worked primarily as a liberal news machine and AOL strives to be non-partisan, the biggest questions to come involve the compromise between these ideologies. Will AOL move more liberal? Or will Huffington Post have to adapt. This will be an interesting question to follow into the future.

Obama's Approval Gap

Today, Gallup released a poll about President Barack Obama’s approval ratings. The results are shocking. President Obama has the most polarizing second-year approval rating since President Eisenhower.

Gallup conducted a review that researched the partisan approval gap between Democrats and Republicans. The result was a sixty-eight percent approval gap. This is the greatest gap since 1953. The closest President to Obama was President Regan. Regan’s approval gap was fifty-six percent. 

The good news is that many of the Presidents who had smaller percentage gaps are not viewed as highly successful Presidents, whereas many argue Ronald Reagan was, at the least, highly affective. Maybe such high levels of disapproval means that President Obama is doing his job correctly and providing what he promised: change. And we all know, many are resistant to change.

WikiLeaks nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

Today, February 2, a Norwegian lawmaker announced his nomination of WikiLeaks for the Nobel Peace Prize. He states that the Leaks promote peace by holding governments accountable for their actions through the constant threat of being ‘found-out.’ 

The name of the Norwegian lawmaker is twenty-six-year-old Snorre Valen. He is a member of the Socialist Left Party in Norway. This would explain his radical approval of something that hurts big governments. He states that  “I think it is important to raise a debate about freedom of expression and that truth is always the first casualty in war.” This is definitely a controversial, yet poignant, claim.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee is thorough about keeping its candidates a complete secret for up to fifty years, but those who nominate candidates are free to use their own discretion as to whether they will reveal their selection or not. 

Many other Nobel experts don’t believe WikiLeaks has a strong chance in the selection process. But, other sources reveal that Bradley Manning, the Army private accused of providing the material that enabled the WikiLeaks, has also been nominated. It will be interesting to see what the Nobel Committee will do.

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