Newslog #14

Rethinking the Yearbook


If you think about high school yearbooks, you'd probably assume that the "popular" people would make an appearance seven times, whereas the "less popular" people would only be shown once or twice. To avoid this, Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School in New Jersey is making sure everyone is in their upcoming yearbook the same amount of times. The yearbook committee will try to get every student in the yearbook at least twice; the editor will make a tally of how many times a person has already appeared in the book to make sure they don't go over the limit. But some schools wonder if doing this reflects how much a specific student contributed to the school. In their defense, someone who was class president and captain of the soccer team might only be in two pictures and someone who was not social with other students nor was involved in any extra-curricular activities also might be in two pictures. According to San Diego State University professor Jean Twenge, Scotch Plain-Fanwood's approach has "...no real resemblance to real life."

I believe with Twenge, in which there cannot be the same number of pictures for a student highly involved in school activities and for a student who wasn't involved in any at all. However, I think the editors of the yearbook need to have a fair balance; there can't be seven pictures of one group of people and one picture of another; maybe five and three.

Newslog #13

Court fines hotel owners for refusing gay couple a room
http://www.gadling.com/2011/01/18/court-fines-hotel-owners-for-refusing-gay-couple-a-room/
In 2008, the Chymorvab Hotel in England refused a gay couple, Martyn Hall and Steven Priddy, to spend the night in their building. Owners of the hotel, Peter and Hazelmary Bullfor, claimed that they did this because they are Christian and will not give a room to an unmarried couple. But just recently, an English court sued the hotel and ruled that the Bullfor's discriminated against the couple and that the two men are civil partners with the same rights as married couples. Hall and Preddy received £1800 from the court.

I do not think it was right of the Bullfor's to deny Hall and Preddy a room. The two men were willing to pay and were not causing any harm to the hotel, which in my opinion, are the most important things to look for in customers, not their sexual orientation nor marital status.

Newslog #12

Who Knew?
http://whoknew.news.yahoo.com/?nc&vid=23751722

Many people nowadays find the urge post the most personal information about themselves on the Internet. It was reported last year that a computer can figure out about 8.5% of social security numbers of those born since 1989 thanks to social networking websites. The first three numbers of a person's SSN is from the area code where the SSN was issued, which usually means where the person lives. If a person posts their home town on their social networking page, it is easier for thieves to figure out the person's SSN. The next two numbers refer to where and when the person applied. The last four numbers are supposed to be random, but sometimes it has to do with the person (i.e. part of their birthday). Starting this year, the government is taking even stricter action and are going to make all the numbers issued completely random.

Before watching this video, I never knew how SSNs were made. I assumed that they were 9 random numbers that had nothing to do with any of my information. Currently, I do not have my hometown listed on my Facebook, even though I know all of my friends personally. People should take these precautions to make sure their identity is not stolen.