Newslog #16

Firefighter Refused Call to Giffords Shooting

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/17/firefighter-refused-call-to-giffords-shooting/

In the Tucson, Arizona shooting last month, a firefighter refused to respond to a call because he believed that "political bantering" would get in the way of Senator Gabby Giffords' condition. The firefighter, Mark Ekstrum, and his team are especially trained to handle extensive medical emergencies. They didn't go to the crime scene until 90 minutes after the shooting occured. Ekstrum's boss said that his actions delayed the team and that they could have gotten more accomplished if they had just gotten there on time. In result, Ekstrum retired two days after the shooting, yet his bosses were still pondering on how to punish him. The boss, Williams, had stated that Ekstrum had started to say something about how he had a different political viewpoint than the rest of him team and was worried about what would happen at the crime scene. Ekstrum replied by saying that that statement was false and that he actually had voted for Giffords in the last election.

Whether or not Ekstrum had different political viewpoints than Giffords and his team is no excuse to not perform his duty. He should have put his differences aside to help save peoples' lives. Granted, he did feel guilty about his actions, because he "retired" two days after. But if I ever found out that a firefighter didn't help save me because they had different viewpoints than me, I would be furious.

Newslog #15

Diet soda tied to stroke risk, but reasons unclear
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110209/ap_on_he_me/us_med_stroke_diet_soda;_ylt=Aoew1iCMRsqXs5KoUS0OlDKs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTFpNjlnMWVjBHBvcwMzNwRzZWMDYWNjb3JkaW9uX21vc3RfcG9wdWxhcgRzbGsDZGlldHNvZGF0aWVk

A recent study has shown that those who drink diet soda everyday have been linked to stroke and heart attack compared to people who don't drink soda at all. However, there is no direct reason why this is happening. These symptoms might be because those who drink soda everyday might be those who don't exercise, are overweight, have high blood pressure, and smoke. Researchers looked into these reasons from 1993-2001 and even today, nothing has changed. Over that 8 year span, a Northern Manhattan study was put into effect that tracked the diets of 2,500 Hispanic and African-American people, whose ethnicities have been shown to have high rates of stroke. There were 116 daily diet soda drinkers and they were found to have a 48 percent higher risk of heart attack and stroke compared to the 901 people who didn't drink any soda at all. Of course, smoking, diabetes, and waistline sizes were also taken into account. Also, it was shown that even though most diet sodas don't have sugar in them, their corn sugar still makes people crave sweets instead of fruits, vegetables, and grains.


To be honest, I don't like drinking soda because I don't know most of the ingredients in it. I do have a can once in a while, but in order to be healthier, I drink water or juice instead. In addition, I was surprised to see that people crave sweets when drinking diet soda, especially because most of the time, there is no sugar in in.

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.

Newslog #11

Audacity of 'austerity,' 2010 Word of the Year
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101220/ap_on_re_us/us_word_of_the_year
'Austerity" is defined in the New Oxford American Dictionary as, "difficult economic conditions created by government measures to reduce a budget deficit, esp. by reducing public expenditure." This easily relates to 2010, in which many countries, like Greece and the United States, each went through a financial crisis. Unemployment increased worldwide and economies suffered. John Morse, president and publisher of a Springfield, Massachusetts dictionary, said that 'austerity' hit over 250,000 searches on its online website this year, making the word extremely popular. Another reason for this word's popularity is because Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster's editor-at-large, said that the top ten words this year were all related to a news story.


I am not surprised that 'austerity' was the top word of 2010. Although I had never heard of the word before coming across this article, its definition is very appropriate to describe the various economic crises that have occurred around the world this year.

Newslog #10

Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays? Americans Divided on That, Too
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/12/18/merry-christmas-or-happy-holidays-americans-divided-on-that-to/


Should stores greet their customers by saying "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays?" A poll this year shows how divided Americans are on which phrase is appropriate. Forty-nine percent of those polled said that stores should say "Merry Christmas," while forty-four percent of people said that "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings" is appropriate. A Dallas church has developed an online "Grinch List" of stores that don't greet their customers with "Merry Christmas." Also, a poll by the Public Religion Research Institute, along with the Religion News Service, made the realization that this debate also splits up Democrats and Republicans; sixty-four percent of Republicans think "Merry Christmas" should be said in stores whereas fifty-eight percent of Democrats believe "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings" should be said. Lastly, PRRI/RNS reported that more Americans would watch movies like "It's a Wonderful Life" than go to church on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

In my opinion, those who think that "Merry Christmas" should be said in stores are ignorant. These people are still convinced that America still runs by the church-and-state method. They think that Christmas is the only holiday celebrated during December by Americans, when in reality, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa are also celebrated. "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings" should be said to customers because that pertains to people of all religions or those who don't observe any religious holidays.