Get a Life!

A 13 year old boy rang up quite a high charge to his father's monthly Verizon Wireless cell phone bill, an additional $22,000. Ted Estarija's son reportedly downloaded 1.4 million kilobytes of cell phone data last month, costing Estarija close to $22,000. The plan that Estarija was covered by did not allow for data usage, so each download was much more expensive then it should have been, had the plan covered data usage, and Estarija was charged more than $50 per megabyte of data, a menacingly high rate. Verizon Wireless eventually credited Estarija's account entirely, after the story made headlines at NBC. Now this begins to trouble me, as the younger generation, in particular teenagers, are becoming so endowed with technology. I have a friend whose little brother has an iPhone, and hes only a fifth grader. When I asked him about his phone, he replied that all the kids in his class have iPhones. What could a fifth grader possibly need an iPhone for? Oh well, I guess times are changing, and the youth is becoming more dependent on technology at an earlier age then ever. But downloading $22,000 of data over your cell phone in my opinion, (I hope you would agree) seems to cross the line. That boy needs to get outside, and go to a Borders to buy his music, not rack up his father's bill.

Get a Life

Tiger walking away from Golf?

Tiger Woods is undoubtedly one of the most successful athletles, if not the single most successful athlete of all time. So year after year he keeps golfing. Why? He loves the sport, the competitiveness, and he can't walk away from it. That's how it always seemed with Tiger, until now. An exclusive report from the British tabloid, The Sun hints that Tiger may have to walk away from golf. Tiger's wife, Elin, has reportedly given him a choice, in which he must decide between her or golf. "It's golf... or me." she said. Tiger may have to walk away from the sport to save his marriage, and for the sake of raising his two kids with his wife. Can you imagine Tiger walking away from Golf to save his marriage, or can you possibly imagine him choosing Golf?

Flying with Flu?

A Texas couple recently featured in the Airline Biz blog of the Dallas Morning were required to pay a rebooking fee of $150 per ticket, when their six year old daughter became sick with the swine flu just a few days before the family was to fly on American Airlines. The original price of the tickets were 189$, so the rebooking fee would nearly double the cost of the airfare. The father objected, even offered to provide a note from the pediatrician as proof of swine flu. American Airlines refused to accept the note, and made the following statement attempting to justify their policy "American Airlines says that if someone chooses not to travel because of an illness or another reason, the value of their ticket is governed by the applicable fare rules, which may include a change fee. In those cases, the value of the ticket can be used for future travel, minus the fee. It's one of the risks people take when purchasing lower-fare tickets," said Tim Smith, a spokesman for the airline. Recently an informal poll from tripadvisor.com discovered that 51% of respondents are willing to fly sick with the flu rather than pay a flight rebooking fee. Considering how fast germs spread, especially in such  small areas such as an airport or airplane, this is a remarkably high percentage. "The airplane is like a petri dish in the sky" said Rene Foss, a flight attendant for 25 years. Is it reasonable for airlines to temporarily waive cancelation fees for H1N1-infected passengers who have a doctor's note? At this point in time, people will choose to save money versus health, and this is not good for those air travelers that are flying healthy,as they risk becoming ill. What do you think airlines should do to control disease, and should H1N1-infected passengers be forced to pay rebooking fees? 

Agassi, a Legend?

Eight time grand slam champion, Andre Agassi, admitted his recreational use of crystal meth, during his 1997 season, in his new autobiography. It is worth noting, his drug use is not performance enhancing, rather, recreational. Agassi, widely acknowledged as an all-time tennis legend, successful multi-millionaire, had everything to lose in admitting his usage of the drug. Or did he have nothing to lose? Agassi won a gold medal at the Atlanta Olympics of 1996. However, in late 1997, his ranking dropped to No. 141, one of the most severe drops in ranking any tennis pro has ever done- equivalent to playing in the "minor leagues" of tennis. It becomes obvious now, why, in 1997 Agassi's tennis game became so much worse, a side-effect of his drug use. By 1998, Agassi jumped back up to a top 10 ranking, making the single greatest increase in ATP ranking history. A year later he won the French open, completing a career Grand Slam, and finished 1999 ranked No. 1. After his use in 1997, Agassi salvaged his career, and recovered into the legend he was destined to become. Why, 12 years later, does Agassi admit to using the drug? I'm not able to think of a reasonable explanation for Agassi's admission.  He was not under persecution, or investigation. Is this his form of self-purification? Did he want to feel better about himself? This could have never been announced, and Agassi would go down in history as a tennis legend. Yet, he made a decision to tell everyone. His family, friends, fans, you and me. So how does our view of Agassi change? I would still say that he's pretty good at tennis. 

Watch Your Step!

The average car weighs just over 4,000 pounds. The weight without passengers of a school bus ranges from 22,000 to 28,000. When you add 84 passengers, say high school students, that adds up to 14,700 additional pounds, bringing the total up to about 42,700 pounds. Automobiles, are machines, and you must respect them. Nearly 50,000 people die yearly in the U.S. from car accidents. Carelessly jay-walking a city street could end you up in a hospital's emergency room, so watch your step. People underestimate the potential destruction a car or bus can cause. This video here shows a Russian man who was nearly flattened while crossing a street by a bus. Although he wasn't jaywalking, it seems that these laws aren't enforced by local police, and should be possibly revised considering how deadly automobiles can be. The penalty for jaywalking, in its most severe form is a mere ticket of less than $100. By making a more severe penalty, and punishing more people for violating jaywalking laws, we can hope to ensure more public safety for pedestrians on the streets.

Just a couple months ago, White Sox General Manager Kenny Williams was cited for jaywalking, as he crossed a street outside of a crosswalk near Safeco Field in Seattle. A control officer issued Williams a $56 ticket, nothing to Williams, and I'm sure he has commited the same violation since then. However, more severe punishment, and stricter enforcement would make people think twice about running across the middle of a street, and risking getting splattered by a 42,700 pound bus.

Man Eaten Alive by Crocodiles! (Almost)

An Australian man spent 12 hours up in a tree, elevating himself from the danger of being eaten alive by the crocodiles that populated the river below his tree. The story says that the man was on his boat and fell asleep while he navigated through the crocodile-infested Lynne River of northern Australia. He awoke and found his boat was filled with water, and jammed under a tree. How could someone do something so careless, as to doze off to sleep while they are on a small boat, alone, going through a river of crocodiles? You either have to lack a lot of intelligence, or have to be a very lazy person, you can't simply "fall asleep". Regardless, he hid up in a tree for half a day, and was eventually rescued after activating his emergency radio beacon.

My Favorite Blog!

So, what makes a good blog? A good blog, is one that provokes ones ideas, creatively, and freely. The author of said blog, must write all of his posts because he is attracted to the subject matter, not because his teacher prompts him to answer a question. The blog expresses the author's ideas towards the topic, and he does so in a creative fasion, and expresses his ideas freely, for the author writes what he strongly believes, not the opinions of others. Still a relatively new blogger, I want to reflect on my blogs thus far, and select one that I think, is most characteristic of what I believe is, a good blog based of my previous description. "Driving Text" voiced my belief that drivers are sending more text messages then ever while driving, and that doing so while driving is not safe. One generally thinks more mainstream, that driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs are dangerous, yet I thought about the affects of driving text, and found the studies with data that is able to back up my blog post, and support my argument. In doing so, I constructed my best blog thus far.

Boy in Box Makes Headlines

Hot air balloon floats high above the ground, a six year old Colorado boy is believed to be inside. The headlines seemed like a promising story. Yahoo, AOL, MSN, FoxNews, had one featured story, with such headlines, leaving Americans countrywide wondering about this six year old boy. Later on October, 15, 2009, the date of the boy's supposed takeoff in his hot air baloon, the balloon crashed and the boy was not found inside. You would think this must mean that the boy never was in the balloon in the first place, what a relief! Specuators from various news networks interpreted it differently, saying the boy may have fell out of the balloon during its flight. They were wrong. The six year old boy was found hiding in a cardboard box, in the attic of his garage, according to Macomb daily. Lately, some topics on news shows seem unimportant, as if there is no purpose for their headlines, and that there is nothing beneficial, to their publications online, and their coverage on television. This story seemed to be a perfect example of that, and left me wondering, why is this so important, who cares? Then when it was released the boy was hiding in his garage attic, in cardboard box, I wasn't surprised. What do you think about this story, and shories like this, that seem like they have no importance. They are only slightly entertaining, and leave a person wondering, why?
Yahoo's Coverage

Why Grade?

Initially, one may believe that grades are great! Great, in the sense that they give students direct feedback to their performance in their classes, let the students know how well they understand the material, and how they need to improve or maintain study habits (if they are doing excellently in a class). However, ever since high school I felt grades lost all of those legitimate purposes, and became material "letter" grades. You aren't a good student unless you have the "A" grades, and if you don't have the grades, your not as intelligent as the students that do. It seems like to students are more interested in acquiring that "A" grade than anything else, and that constant tests, and quizzes all assessed on a grade scale, now conflict with students abilities to focus on strictly learning class subjects matter, and not being distracted constantly by their grade. Students can relate to this example. Think of a time where you just get a test back, a scantron test. Students search their scantrons in hope of finding a "scantron error" or an eraser mistake, which triggered an incorrect answer, of course. What students don't realize is that they are victims of the grading system, that the one scantron error on a large test, doesn't make a difference in the grand scheme of their knowledge they take away from the class.

Why I'm Alive

Why I'm Alive

Line Drive

In early September, a 4 year old boy and his family went to see a Cleveland Indians minor league baseball game. They had great seats for the game, they were in the front row, only 10 seats away from the scrapper's dugout. A foul ball line drive directly hit the boy's head, who was sitting in his father's lap and talking to his mother. The ball came into contact with his head at such a fast speed that it caused a skull fracture, leaving the boy in critical condition. Reportedly, there were no nets to prevent these foul balls to hit fans sitting above the dugouts, there was only a cage net behind the home plate. Luke Holko is able to move his arms and legs, as well as blink his eyes, to show acknowledgement when he is spoken to. At this point in his recovery, he can't talk. Doctors at Akron Children's Hospital say he suffered a brain stem injury, that is healing. However, it could take months or years to find out how well he recovers. The family admits to having seen signs warning to "be aware of foul balls". There are also warnings written on the back of every ticket sold, essentially stating that if you come to a ballgame, you are doing so at your own risk.  It can't be argued that it is the ballplayers fault for hitting a line drive into the boy's head, he couldn't have possibly done so intentionally. Is it fair to say that the stadium's was poorly designed, and did not take into account foul balls, and their potentially lethal consequences? Are the stadium's warnings on the back of tickets enough, to argue that the fans were warned of foul balls, and their risks, but still attended the game at their own risk?

Safe or sorry?

There is an average 6 million car accidents annually in the United States. 40,000 of these accidents are fatal crashes. Reckless driving caused by speeding drivers, who may be drunk drivers, or preoccupied is the leading cause of an accident on the road. Its a policeman's job, his obligation serving the country to keep the road safe from these reckless drivers as best possible. Modern technology has made it possible for Police officers to use radar guns or laser unites to find drivers violating speed limit laws. Recently, there is a new Iphone app that allows drivers to live stream the positions of state troopers waiting with a radar gun or laser unit, so that other drivers can be aware of the speed trap and not violate traffic laws in those areas.  "When, you're ready to hit the road. And once you're tooling down the highway, if you spot a state trooper or city cop lying in wait with a radar gun or laser unit, you just need to punch in "pound one" on your cell phone -- or dial a toll-free number. Other users are then alerted on their cell phones or PDA when they approach the same speed trap.'One great thing about that is that it's hands-free,' says Tenereillo. 'You don't have to be looking at the phone or even be holding it to be notified of the speed trap -- which, of course, is safer, because you don’t have to take your eyes off the road to be notified of the trap.'"
Ironically, The CEO Founder of Trapster, Tenereillo says the device is safe as it doesn't require the driver to take their eyes off the road to be notified of the speed traps. What is more dangerous, Mr. Tenereillo, a driver violating speed limit laws, bypassing police that are keeping our highways and roads safe from reckless drivers, or taking your eyes off the road briefly. I would rather have the police patrolling the neighborhoods and highways, arresting drivers violating speed laws, and recklessly driving, then selfishly using a program like Trapster.

Driving Text?

There are about 354 billion text messages sent every year across America. Teenagers send the most text messages when compared to all other age groups. I know a lot of people, myself included, that send text messages while they drive. Most states began enforcing "hands-free" laws which prohibit the use of communication via cellular devices while driving, drivers are sending text messages to maintain the ability to communicate with their peers. However, nobody seems to pause to realize how dangerous it is to drive while sending text messages. In 2007, an estimated 12,998 people died in alcohol-impaired traffic collision, which involved a driver with an illegal Alchol level (.08 or greater). There were 41,059 total traffic fatalities in 2007, so these deaths constituted approximately 32% of the total traffic fatalities in 2007.

ABC News released this photo of a man sending text messages
while driving. Either hold the steering wheel, or don't drive!

The Transport Research Laboratory (U.K.) found that when people were sending text messages, while driving had their reaction speed reduced by 35%, which increases the chances of a crash. The research Lab tested drivers that were under the influence of alcohol and marijuana, and found that those that were drinking and driving suffered a 12% loss of reaction speed, and those that were driving under the influence of marijuana had their reaction speed reduced by 21%. Despite all the advertisements on highways, and on televisions saying "you drink, you drive, you lose.", nobody thinks about the effects of sending text messages while driving. Next time you are driving and your friend texts you asking where you are, think twice about sending a text in response. Wait until you reach your destination or at least at a stoplight, "driving text" decreases your reaction speeds by over 35%, almost 3 times as slow as those impaired by alcohol. It may seem silly, but, sending text messages while driving is proven to reduce the reaction speeds of drivers. Is it time for the creation of laws that would outlaw the use of cell phones to send text messages while driving?

My first post

American Studies is awesome.