Teens & Distracted Driving

(http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/Teens-and-Distracted-Driving.aspx?r=1)

1. “[My dad] drives like he’s drunk. His phone is just like sitting right in front of his face, and he puts his knees on the bottom of the steering wheel and tries to text.”

It's one thing when we DWT (Driving While Texting), but when adults do it, many questions arise:
WTF? Why? What are you thinking? Is there children in the car? If so, do you realize you are putting their lives in your texts, I mean hands? You just have to wonder.

2. The frequency of teens reporting parent cell phone use behind the wheel in our focus groups was striking, and suggested that, in many cases, texting while driving is a family affair.

Again, a child's actions and behavior starts at home.

3. Texting was not the only cause for concern among the teens who participated in our focus groups. We also heard about the distractions of drivers trying to access Global Positioning System (GPS) information while cars were in motion. And some teens cited other applications available on smartphones that take the driver’s eyes off the road.

“My dad, he wasn’t really texting, but when he drives, he has a GPS on his Blackberry, so when he’s driving, he looks down at his phone” said one middle school boy, “…so it’s like the same [as] being distracted from the road. My mom always gets on him about how it’s unsafe and stuff.”

A GPS can be helpful, but it can also be a B%&$# at times. Hell, any electronic device can be a distraction for even the most simple-minded.

The State of Music Online: Ten Years After Napster

(http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/9-The-State-of-Music-Online-Ten-Years-After-Napster.aspx?r=1)

1. In the decade since Napster’s launch, digital music consumers have demonstrated their interest in five kinds of “free” selling points:

Cost (zero or approaching zero),
Portability (to any device),
Mobility (wireless access to music),
Choice (access to any song ever recorded)
Remixability (freedom to remix and mashup music)

All of this makes for a tall order, but if history is any guide, music consumers usually get what they want.

2. In 2009, there are plenty of fools among us, and the record labels are still hanging on to their broken strings. Granted, consumers aren’t spending as much on music as they used to. Record sales for the music industry continue to decline; the latest reports from Nielsen indicated that total album sales, including albums sold digitally, fell to 428.4 million units, down 8.5% 14% from 500.5 million in 2007.

3. Sharing music without permission is a violation of copyright, as the industry contends, but digital technology makes downloading music off the Internet inevitable. The industry missed an opportunity to turn informal file-sharing into a profit center when it failed to buy Napster, the first of the popular downloading services, when it had a chance in 2000.

The music industry is a dying dinosaur, but it's partly not due to technological advances. Artists aren't as developed and musically trained as they once were, and it shows in the public eye. You still have artists that can move physical units even when their projects leak (Jay-Z, Beyonce) and there are artists who don't have what it takes to succeed. The public is smart to not buy the album just for the single alone. this is where some of the album leaks help. If the product is good, then people will support it. Plain and simple, regardless of how many units are pushed. Flashiness is short-term, authenticity counts in the long run, whether you bought it or *cough* stole it *cough*.

Alan Khazei

An American social entrepreneur, also the founder and CEO of Be the Change, Inc., a Boston, Massachusetts based organization dedicated to building national coalitions of non-profits and citizens to enact legislation on issues such as poverty and education.

On September 24, 2009, Khazei announced his candidacy in the Massachusetts special election to fill the Class 1 seat in the U.S. Senate made vacant by the death of Senator Ted Kennedy.

On Monday (Nov. 9), Khazei visited the AIC Campus to lay out his plan on the NO. 1 issue.... (drumroll please)...... HEALTH CARE!!!

Here's what he addressed:
-98% of Mass. residents have Health Care.

-Laid out 5 points he plans to address should he win:

1. End Insurance Company Abuses
-Strong Public Options, Public/Private Competition
- Everyone under system (for wellness, protection)

2. Independent Health Care Quality
- Healthy Work Force Act, Reward tax-credit

3. Reduce Chronic Obesity, Smoking
- Personal Responsibility, Healthy Lifestyle
- Race to Good Health Fund

4. Improve Patient Safety
- Defensive Medicine, $200b./yr.

5. Special Interest Out, Citizens In
- Health Insurance Exchanges

You could tell the health care issue is very close to him, as his family worked in the hospital (Father-Doctor, Mother-Nurse). not just that, he also asked for people to share stories concerning issues surrounding health care. This guy certainly sounds like he has the chops to get the job done, but as with any politician, results matter the most. Getting the job done weighs more than saying it.

Teens/Technology

(http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2005/Teens-and-Technology.aspx)

1. About 60% of the 6th graders in our sample reported using the Internet. By 7th grade, this number jumps to 82% of teens who are online. From there, the percentage of internet users in the teen population for each grade climbs steadily before topping out at 94% for all 11th and 12th graders.

Doesn't surprise me one bit. teenagers are more savvy today than before, and more technologically efficient than the teens of yesteryear.

2. American teens have begun to embrace text messaging. While they still lag behind many of their European and Asian counterparts, one-third (33%) of all American teens report sending text messages using a cell phone, and 64% of teens who own a cell phone say that they have sent a text message.

LOL. OMG. so tru!!!! ; . )
SMH. : . / this nuthn nu. NEXT!!!


3. Device ownership does not differ significantly for boys and girls. However, as might be expected, older teenagers have more devices than younger teenagers. 88% of teenagers aged 15-17 have at least one of the media devices (sidekicks, blackberries, etc.) while 79% of teenagers aged 12-14 do.

53% of teenagers aged 15-17 report having two or more types of devices compared to 36% of teenagers aged 12-14.

Yet, the biggest difference in device ownership for teens by age is for cell phones. About 1/3 of teens aged 12-14 have a cell phone compared to 57% of teens aged 15-17.


This makes no sense. So a pre-teen can have an iPhone, but not a Verizon? (Unless u been in contract hell w/ such-n-such company) WTF? Need an Explanation on this one (outside of said excuse).

Generations Online in '09

(http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/Generations-Online-in-2009.aspx)


1. Generation Y, or young adults generally 18-32 years old who grew up in the Information Age, have been dubbed the ‘Net Generation.’ But, while these “digital natives” may be savvier with their gadgets and more keen on new uses of technology, their elders in Generation X, the Baby Boomers and older generations tend to dominate internet use in other areas.

2.Over half of the adult internet population is between 18 and 44 years old. But larger percentages of older generations are online now than in the past, and they are doing more activities online, according to surveys taken from 2006-2008.

3. Contrary to the image of Generation Y as the "Net Generation," internet users in their 20s do not dominate every aspect of online life. Generation X is the most likely group to bank, shop, and look for health information online.


Gen. Y (Us) may be very active on the internet, but we're not the only ones to have made an impact on the internet. It just seems that way. Gen. X too. Everyone is having their slice of the pie.

Fewer Americans See Solid Evidence of Global Warming

(http://people-press.org/)

Global warming became a prominent topic of discussion for us around 2007. now, two years later, you would be hard pressed to find people who would look at the Earth's temperature as significant as a few years earlier. So what seems to be the problem?

It's not a political thing, since democrats' strong belief has come down in recent months. Could it be that we're too caught up in other issues (*cough* HEALTH CARE *cough*) to pay attention to our environment?

Well, part of the declining interest comes from the fact that we have short-term memories. Global Warming became prominent for us TWO YEARS AGO!! That's a long time for us. Our leaders are taking too long and they're claiming it's too expensive. IT'S TOO EXPENSIVE TO LIVE A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE & TO TAKE CARE OF OUR PLANET!!! WOW!!!

There are just some things you have to be taken aback by. This is one of them.

Internet & Civic Engagement

http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/15--The-Internet-and-Civic-Engagement.aspx?r=1

5 Observations:

1. Just as in offline civic life, the well-to-do and well-educated are more likely than those less well off to participate in online political activities such as emailing a government official, signing an online petition or making a political contribution.

2. At the same time, because younger Americans are more likely than their elders to be Internet users, the participation gap between relatively unengaged young and much more engaged middle-aged adults that ordinarily typifies offline political activity is less pronounced when it comes to political participation online.

3. There are hints that forms of civic engagement anchored in blogs and social networking sites could alter long-standing patterns that are based on socioeconomic status.

4. In a August 2008 survey, we found that 33% of Internet users had a profile on a social networking site and that 31% of these social network members had engaged in activities with a civic or political focus—for example, joining a political group, or signing up as a “friend” of a candidate—on a social networking site.

5.Those who use blogs and social networking sites as an outlet for civic engagement are far more active in traditional realms of political and nonpolitical participation than are other Internet users. In addition, they are even more active than those who do not use the Internet at all.


Polls & Surveys should be taken with a grain of salt since we have a tendency to better our image, i mean ourselves. Pretty much, it is what it is.

Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize

(http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/10/09/nobel.peace.prize/index.html)

(http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_nobel_peace)

Only the 4th president to win (Teddy Roosevelt in 1906 & Woodrow Wilson in 1919, Jimmy Carter got his in 2002). 3rd while in office, & 1st in his 1st year.

Kinda surprising. And so soon? He has helped improved America's image so quickly, even though we don't look at ourselves in such high regard.

This will certainly upset the right side (I can imagine FOX News' reaction right...about...NOW!)

$10 Bucks says MSNBC (particularly Chris Matthews) is doing backflips.

Hopefully, this is the start of something special for us (I mean US!), 'cause we need it!

-"We ready for damn change/So y'all let the man shine"

Young Jeezy, "My President"