Friday, November 27, 2009

Tiger's Car Accident

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/11/27/tiger.woods/index.html

I was watching the news last night when I saw that Tiger Woods was involved in a car accident. I had to find out what has happened to the most famous golfer of all time. I located an article on cnn.com and read to find out more about his car accident. Tiger was leaving his house in Orange County when he hit a fire hydrant then off to hit a tree. The car accident was a one car collision that happened around 2:30 in the morning and Tiger suffered only from minor facial lacerations and was sent to the nearest hospital. He was shortly released and the officers that arrived on the seen ruled out that there was no alcohol in his system. Tiger said, "I think it's nothing more than an accident." I’m sure that most of us have been in some sort of minor accident, but when its Tiger Woods its automatically poublisised. Tiger Woods has become a household name. If you were born in a barn you might not know who hw is. Tiger has won many PGA toor victories over the years. He was also named the most dominant player in a sport this year. Of course that sport is Golf, if ya didn’t know all ready.

My first thought when hearing about this accident was that I hope he is ok. The news said that he was in an accident in the early morning hours, so I kind of thought that maybe he was out partying a bit to much and got into an accident while heading for the nearest Taco Bell. I was glad to hear that drinking was ruled out.

I reacted this way because so many affluent people are in car crashes that involve alcohol. I was very glad to find out that he wasn’t going to be accused of that. A guy that is so popular and that dominant at his sport, something like this could have even ruined his reputation as a stand up guy. I’m really glad that he is fine after his accident and hope that the pauperize leave him and his family alone.

Tiger’s fine and his golf game probably won’t suffer much from this accident. All of you Phil Mickelson fans can just wait for some other act of God to take care of Tiger Woods. (Just Kidding.)

Friday, November 20, 2009

Is Vegas Getting Green Attention?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33973218/ns/travel-seasonal/

I know that some of you have probably been to Las Vegas, also know as Sin City. Would you of ever thought with all of the huge buildings and millions of amazing lights that they were getting any green energy attention at all? Well, they are. They are getting a bit of scrutiny along with it though. A place called, City Center, one of MGM Mirage’s soon to be opened resorts is the head of a lot of this scrutiny. This place is huge, at 67 acres of resort grounds. This place has been given a high honor by the U.S. Green Building Council. This honor came at a price and some major attention. MGM designed this building to operate with much less power consumption than someone who knew a ton about energy efficiency in large scale buildings and structures would think. The main reason for all the negative attention is because many “green” leaders wonder how they can give them any applause because Las Vegas is in the middle of the darn dessert. Which leads them believe that this positive attention is purely publicity stunt and plum ridiculous. Some of the local Las Vegas business owners say that it helps sustainability. Even though they are building these massive resorts in the middle of the dessert, they still opted to try and make wise expensive decisions for less energy consumption.

My first reaction to this was that many of these places are going too be developed in Vegas anyways. There is obviously a ton of money to make over there so they will continue to build and build. As long as they are making as wise of a choice as they can and not wasting to awful much of our natural resources, keep on doing what your doing.

I can’t wait to visit this place and see it for myself. Las Vegas has become a landmark for the United States and is visited every single day by tourist all over the world. Vegas generates large amounts of cash each year and lots of it is dispersed all through our economy via taxes. With that being said, I think that since they are building there anyways it is a great idea to spend a little bit more money to save money in the future. I really think that this is a “no brainer,” and they will continue to do this in the future

I hope to hear and soon see the amazing strip at Las Vegas is still growing as soon as possible. I think that acting like Vegas is some sort of “green” accomplishing city is kind of stupid, but I do hope to see it continue to grow. If it grows and expands with larger buildings I also hope to see them use technology to conserve as much energy as the town can.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Cool-Down or Not?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/15/health/nutrition/15best.html?ref=nutrition

I’m sure at some point all of you reading this have been on a tread mill or some type of exercise equipment before. I’m also pretty sure that everyone has more than likely finished a programmed workout and when they were finished the machine said or just went into the cool-down mode. I was reading on the New York Times today in the Fitness and Nutrition area and came across an article about the cool-down after exercising and it lets you no if it is actually something that matters. This question really bothered a couple who rode bikes together. They ride a lot and when it comes to the last mile the husband and wife race to their home. One time while they were performing their race, their neighbor saw them jump off their bike and race to the door and sit down. He approached them and asked them how they did that. They didn’t know at first what he was talking about and when he let them know they did not perform a cool-down it really got their minds wondering if they were hurting themselves from not cooling down after their workout/bike ride. The cool-down is apparently in text books across America, in fitness magazines, and in all sorts of other similar materials. After a little research this couple found out that most of these materials are wrong. Cooling down after a work out is actually almost worthless. It is more or less just a myth that sounds appropriate and not really necessary. After much research they found that many doctors have concluded the cool-down to not be much help at all, just a bit more time on the machine or hill with a slower pace.

I’ve been working out for years and have always tried to finish my cool-down program after my jogs. I’m glad to know that they really aren’t that important. I always thought I was cheating myself for not completing them at times and now I know I wasn’t. (What a relief.) I now think that they were a waste of time because when I work out I loose the “zone” I was in because of the cool-down. I sometimes will even catch myself preparing for the cool-down when putting my running/jogging times in.

I reacted this way because I am overjoyed from this article I found. I hate the cool-down when working out and now I will probably never do one again. I’m so glad I came across this article; it saves me five minutes of boredom every workout.

Hello tread mill.

Are Cops Free to Taser Anyone They Please?

http://www.truecrimereport.com/2009/11/cop_dustin_bradshaw_tasers_10-.php

I was looking around on cnn.com today and found a headline about a cop who had tasered a ten year old little girl. I didn’t think it gave as much information as I would have liked so I decided to check it out at the true crime report web cite and it was very interesting to say the least. Apparently a single mother was having some problems getting her daughter to take a shower before she went to bed. The little girl must have been throwing the biggest fit ever because her mom called the police over it. In the article it states that this mother is probably not the greatest of all parents to walk this earth and didn’t get any props for her mothering capabilities. When the officer arrived at the house for the call, he entered and saw the temper tantrum first hand. After a bit of the tantrum in front of him the mother of this child told the officer to taser her little girl. The officer carried the girl from her room into the living room while she was kicking and screaming the whole time and one of those kicks landed right in the officer’s crotch. He then pulled his taser out and tasered her in the back. He then took the little girl to his cop car and off to a youth shelter. Another crazy fact from this article is the fact that the officer can not be punished for tasering the little girl because there is no law that states how old the perpetrator must be for an officer to use their taser. The officer did get suspended for seven days with pay, but they claim that it was because he failed to have the video camera installed in the taser itself.

I can’t believe this guy even has a job after an act like this one. I mean who in there right mind couldn’t handle a ten year old little girl with a throwing a tantrum. I know that she got a shot in the dark kick to the man’s crotch, but still what guy hasn’t been hit there before in his life time. He should have still been able to handle this little girls fit. I think that the mom and the officer need to be the ones getting tasered, because they are both ridiculous.

I reacted this way because parents are supposed to be able to handle situations like this one with no problem. The officer should have just left and let the mother deal with the situation at hand. If it was a bit more out of control than he thought normal he still should not have tasered a ten year old girl. I believe that there should be a few more restrictions for the officer to able to use a taser on anyone and that the officers are held a bit more responsible for their actions in cases such as this one.

This sounds like a case for Nanny 911, but would be an episode I would more than likely watch on Cops.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

PC’s are Out to Get Ya

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11881780?q=Framed+for+child+porn&p=1&sm=user&st=1


While looking around on MSNBC.com I came across a heading about some people being framed for looking at child porn. It turns out that this is a case heard all too much throughout our judicial system with people being accused of looking at illegal child porn sites on the internet. They even have a slang term for it, the SODDI defense: some other dude did it. Even though in most cases this type defense is probably bogus there are a couple of people who are innocent. The police went through and tested their computers and found that what they had did, was that many of them were trying to find a way to either get free programs or they were searching for some type of free gaming site and contacted a virus on their computer. This virus is like many out there but instead of sending them to advertisement sites, what it does is it takes your computer to illegal child pornographic sites whenever your computer is stagnant for a long period of time. This virus virtually ruined some of these people’s lives. A guy named Michael Fiola from Massachusetts almost had his life completely destroyed from one of these viruses. Luckily his wife stood by his side through the whole thing. He was fired from his job, depleted his families bank account, and virtually had his reputation destroyed by a computer virus. He had to go through the court system left and right to prove his innocence. At first he said he felt like everyone was against him because most people accused of this crime are more than likely charged for being guilty. He had to have his computer checked numerous times to prove he was telling the truth and not illegally surfing child porn sites. Also these computer checks throughout his case were costing outrageous amounts of money. His attorney said that there were bills showing over 10,000 dollars in fees for these computer scans. During this time of his case he was being scrutinized all the time, he even said that his tires were slashed, had negative letters written to him, and even had death threats. After proving he was not guilty he is now seeking punitive damages.

I know that this is negative, but what do you expect when you’re searching the internet to try and get free programs. More than likely the people running these sites are breaking the law anyways, do you really expect them to have your best interests at heart? I don’t understand why anyone would put themselves through the trouble to even look for these sites. I do believe that the guy in then article is innocent. It does really stinks what he went through and is even still going through because I guarantee trying to rebuild your reputation is very tough, but what do you expect. I do wonder if he had an updated virus protection, even if he did I think that those virus protection programs will work a lot better if you stay away from web cites that offer free stuff or any type of pornographic material.

After reading this article it made me think that no matter what you do on your computer there is someone out there who gets a kick out of trying to lure you in so that can get the stupid virus they created. On top of that, a virus like this one makes zero sense to me, I would think that anyone who can create such a unique virus would rather put effort into designing one which could make them money. Instead they make one as a prank, that’s just plain dumb to me.

Hello Norton?

Friday, November 13, 2009

Really Overdue Books

http://www.abc15.com/content/news/phoenixmetro/central/story/1-000-fine-paid-books-returned-to-library-after/kcJlNEWSDkStdi5Zi-n4bw.cspx

Overdue books are something that most all of us have had to deal with in our life time. In this case the notice was probably not getting sent to the offender of the overdue books. While I was reading on a news stations site abc15.com I came across a very interesting article about books that had been overdue nearly 50 years and then returned anonymously. This alone is crazy enough, but the sender/returnee of these books went over and beyond. He/she sent $1000 for the overdue fees. This person wrote a not to the school in which these books belonged and said that he/she had figures the books overdue costs at two cents a day and that figure would be roughly $745 because that was the going rate that they remembered that was in place at that time. He/she said if tat rate had changed then they hoped that the extra money would cover that rate. The librarian who initially got the package by priority mail said that she was just plain amazed by this act. She said that she couldn’t believe that someone would ever do such a nice thing. At the end of the note they wrote it said, “Sorry these were so late.” The librarian of this school said that these books will be on display for a couple of weeks and then be put back into circulation because they are in such great shape.

My first thought to this story was that this person is crazy. Then I began to think about it a bit and realized nice gestures like this are getting less frequent everyday. The person didn’t even want any recognition for the act that they did.

I thought that it was funny that the guy/girl gave some extra cash to make up for the difference if there was one in the fees for the overdue notices. I also wonder what books they were because they were never mentioned in this article. I wonder if this person was as surprised to find them as the librarian was who found them in the mail.

I hope we all learn a lesson from this person and return our books before they are late. I do wonder if in the future this person comes out and tells who they are.

Buying A TV

http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/13/news/economy/retail_holidayshopping_pricewars_television/index.htm

I was reading on cnn.com today and found and interesting article for anyone in the market for a flat screen TV this holiday season. Apparently if you are looking for a smaller flat screen like a 32” through 37,” this is the year for you. These flat screens are going too marked down enormously this holiday season. The bigger flat screen TV’s will be marked down even more than last year, but these smaller ones are going to be even greater bargains this year. This article states that the reason for the big price drop on TV’s is because merchants are very nervous that they won’t make enough money this holiday season. We all remember Circuit City who was the second largest electronics dealership and they closed down last year, which has made all merchants a bit scarred. They are giving these great deals in an attempt to lure shoppers in to spend money in their stores. These deals are going to be so great that they are already posting the prices for electronics especially TV’s so people will be ready for this years Black Friday. Target has already posted an ad for a 32” Westinghouse HD LCD TV for $246. This is the lowest advertised price ever for an LCD TV of that size. This price is for Black Friday customers only of course, but it is still an amazing deal if you can make it. If for some reason you’re not able to get your hands on one of these LCD models at Target stores you can look for other great deals all around. Experts say that if you can find a 32” flat screen for under $400 than you have found a great deal. One of the main reasons for the price break on the smaller TV’s is because they appeal to people who already have a larger flat screen in their living room and are looking for a smaller better priced TV for either their bedroom or any other place suitable for a television.

I’m glad to see that these prices are dropping significantly. I’m going to fit into the category that they have forecasted and will be looking for a smaller flat screen TV for my bedroom this holiday season. I hope to find a great deal, but I’m not waiting in line for hours on end for the deals on Black Friday.

I think that it about time for these price drops. It seems that the consumers have been subject to high prices on all electronics for years. I hope that these businesses realize that they can sell more of their product by lowering the price and hopefully not the quality.

Good luck to all you Black Friday shoppers looking for the great deals this year. I’ll be in my cozy bed while you all search for the best deals ever.