Monthly Archives: December 2011

Go Daddy Loses Thousands of Domains After Announcing SOPA Support

December 31, 2011   Joanelle Navarro   No comments

Photo Credit: www.place-to-play.com

Domain Registrar Go Daddy has lost more than 70,000 domains after it was announced the company supports the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).

SOPA is a bill currently trying to be passed by Congress that would expand the U.S. law enforcement and copyright holder’s ability to fight online copyrighted products and counterfeit goods.  Many are against the bill because it has harsh penalties for websites if any copyright infringement is found, and even for those who link to any site with copyright infringement on it.

Go Daddy lost 21,054 domains on one day alone, and website Wikipedia has also left Go Daddy.

Go Daddy has now changed their stance on SOPA.  They now oppose the bill and have said the are now more aware of its implications.  However, whether this statement is genuine or not is unknown.

Prior to this change in stance, not only was Go Daddy a supporter, but they had actually helped create part of the bill and even were exempt from it.  This would’ve allowed Go Daddy to have a get out of jail free card, while smaller sites would be targeted for pirating.

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2012 Job Market May Not Improve Much

December 31, 2011   Madalyn Stephens   No comments

As 2011 is ending and everyone is excited for a fresh start in 2012,some people are unsure of what the job outlook will be like in the new year. Although although we are constantly told that the job market will improve in 2012, it doesn’t appear to be entirely the case.

Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder, says that in the past year the company has done a poll and asked employers what their hiring plans were for the new year. Out of the 3,000 employers that were polled, 23 percent plan to hire full time, where as 16 percent plan to cut back their staff. These numbers strikingly resemble last year’s predictions regarding the job market. Fortunately, the percentage of employers who will be hiring in 2012 are slightly higher than those from last year.

Even though there is a little bit of hope for the unemployed, the development of jobs will continue to be uneven. This means that the industries that are always growing will have a larger hiring rate than those that are diminishing. Careers in IT and engineering will continue to evolve because they are in high demand.

Also, the numbers of diverse workers will increase. Employers will put more effort into hire African American, Hispanic, female, and bilingual workers. Twenty percent of employers indicated they are seeking more African American, Hispanic, and female employees. Fourty-four percent plan to hire more bilingual employees as well.

In President Obama’s Job Speech, he pledges to fight for more opportunities for the unemployed in 2012. “And as we head into the New Year, I’m hopeful that we have what it takes to face that change and come out even stronger; to grow our economy, create more jobs, and strengthen the middle class.”

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2011/12/obama-gop-pledge-to-fight-for-jobs-in-2012/1

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Climate spurs 65M years of evolution

December 30, 2011   Juliann Busciglio   No comments

The change of climate has impacted with the rise and fall of six distinct and successive waves of mammal diversity in North America for the last 65 million years. A study reported with Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that out of the six disctinct species,  four had lead to major changes in our temperature. In two cases, species migrated due to warming and cooling changes.

“Although we’ve always known in a general way that mammals respond to climatic change over time, there has been controversy as to whether this can be demonstrated in a quantitative fashion,”  says Christine Janis, a professor at Brown University where he teaches evolutionary biology

A study,  led by postdoctoral scholar Borja Figueirido, asked whether there were any patterns within the species diversity that might be significant. Studies in the past show  the potential connection between climate change and mammal species evolving.

They found six distinct groups of mammal species that share a common decline in their numbers. An example, the Paleocene fauna which was around 50 million years ago demostrated with temperature shifts, there were changes in the istopes found in the  fossilized remains of deep sea microorganisms

By the numbers, studies showed correlations between species diversity and temperature change,but  it also provided how the traits of typical species have evolved into species that are alive today. An example, 20 million years ago a dominant vegetation that transformed from woodland to a Savannah-like grassland.

Scientists understand that evolution amid climate changes and does not make specific predictions about the future. But it does show that the change in climate has had an impact for millions of years.

These climate changes are fighting with our current animal life all over the world. This shows us the significance that how foddil records affect the history of  species extinction and the diversity and puts an importance on the future climactic changes influencing life on earth.

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Google activates 3.7 million Android devices over Christmas, but Apple still wins

December 30, 2011   Juliann Busciglio   No comments

 Andy Rubin who works for Google stataed   that Android activations reached 3.7 million sold this Christmas, but a breakdown of numbers shows that Apple’s Christmas activations may almost double Google’s.

 Between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, 3.7 million Android phones were activated. The IPhone 4s activations this Christmas may be even higher, at least in the United States.  According to data released by Flurry, which tracks activations through the 140,000 apps that 6.8 million new IPhone 4s and Android devices were activated on Christmas Day.

 Even if Google had 80 percent of its Dec. 24-25 activations on Christmas Day, that means that it only activated about 3 million devices, which would then leave 3.8 million for the IPhone 4s. It’s likely, however, that Apple’s is in the lead. Again though, there is not enough data to tell as of now.

Activations exceeded Android by a little bit. It is hard to tell if the IPHOne 4s sales were higher then the droid.  In other regions of the world, like Sweden and South Korea (home country of the Sam-sung), Android posted a lead.

The IPhone and the droid have been the top selling phones. It has out beat the blackberry and other smart phones, but it is hard out of these two top phones which one is preferred.

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Possible Return of Gray Wolf to California

December 30, 2011   Meagan Cahuasqui   No comments

For nearly a century, gray wolves have not been seen in the state of California, but recently OR7, a lone gray wolf, has wandered into the state, alarming ranch owners across the state.  They do not see the return of this predator as a good sign like most environmentalists do.

OR7, and two and a half year old male gray wolf, came from a pack in Wallowa County in Oregon, where researchers began tracking him with a GPS collar.  Right now he is the only one of his kind in California, and thus environmentalists are not worried about his hunting patterns, as he will probably feed on carcasses since he is alone.

Ranchers of the state are not so sure of how well their animals will fare against the gray wolves if this one loner brings in a pack.  One rancher, Jack Hanson, claims that if there were no regulations he and his family would shoot the wolf to ensure he does not reproduce and bring back gray wolves to the state.

Unfortunately for Mr. Hanson and others who feel the way he does, there are regulations.  Gray wolves are deemed an endangered species in the state of California under the Endangered Species Act.  The reason this came to be is because back in 1924 hunters killed the last wolf in the state, an act that came around during a time when people were convinced that wolves were vicious man-eaters that had to be stopped.

Biologists do not know if the wolf will remain in California or wander back to its original home in Oregon, or even if it will continue on to Nevada.  OR7’s travels are typical behavior in male wolves his age who are seeking a new pack or even a mate.  State regulators say they do not have a management plan for the protection of the wolves nor do they intend to actively reintroduce the animals to the state, but they do remain protected under federal law.

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Suspected Serial Killer in Detroit Takes Lives Christmas Weekend

December 30, 2011   Meagan Cahuasqui   No comments

Over the Christmas weekend in Detroit, Michigan four women between the ages of 23 and 29 were found dead in car trunks along the east side area.  Two of the victims were burned beyond recognition but all were found to be African American.

Three of the women “have been linked to a website called Packages that advertises adult escort services,” a fact that makes police urge citizens to be careful of what personal information they put out on the Internet for anyone to find.

Two of the victims were cousins, 23-year-old Renisha Landers and 24-year-old Demesha Hunt.  Tragically, with the death of Ms. Hunt, her ten-month-old daughter, Armani, is left behind but will be cared for by Hunt’s mother, Denis Reid.

The other two victims have been estimated to be around the ages of 28 and 29, but police are still awaiting medical examination to know the exact cause of death.  With three of the four victims being connected to the online community mentioned before, police warn others who use websites such as craigslist.com or backpage.com to exercise extreme caution.

It is not yet certain if the perpetrator of these crimes is one single serial killer, but the manner in which the victims have been found point to this as a possibility.  The Detroit police department wants the public to be aware of what is going on in their city, and keep them in the know for their own safety.

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Three Girls and Their Grandparents Die in Christmas Fire

December 29, 2011   Joanelle Navarro   No comments

Photo Credit: www.foxcrawl.com

Three girls and their grandparents died in a house fire on Christmas morning in Connecticut.

10-year-old Lily Badger and her 7-year-old twin sisters Grace and Sarah Badger died of smoke inhalation, as did their mother’s parents, Lomer and Pauline Johnson.  Lomer Johnson had also suffered a blunt head and neck trauma.

It is believed that embers in a bag of discarded fireplace ashes started the fire.

Madonna Badger, the girl’s mother and the home’s owner, escaped from the fire.  Her friend Michael Borcina, a contractor working on the house, also survived.

Lomer Johnson had tried to go back into the house to save the girls.  Firefighters went into the house twice to try to rescue the family, but were forced out by the fire’s intensity.  Madonna Badger managed to escape by climbing out a window.

Madonna Badger and her husband Matthew Badger are currently getting divorced.  He was not at the house when it caught on fire.

Both families are currently devastated by the tragedy, but are finding comfort in each other and from public sympathy.

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Time Rationalized by Hanke-Henry Permanent Calendar

December 29, 2011   Jocelyn Apodaca   No comments

Photo Credit: headoverheelsindebt.blogspot.com

John Hopkins University astronomer and former NASA astrophysicist, Richard Conn Henry created the Hanke-Henry Permanent Calendar. A calendar that transforms dates, making eight months have 30 days, and every third month to have 31 days, with an extra week added every so often. Each day would fall under the same day of the week as the previous year.

If adopted in the upcoming year, Christmas and New Years would end up on a Sunday each and every year.

“Every institution in the world has to change their calendar. Sports schedules. Every company. The dates of holidays have to be reset. And it’s totally unnecessary,” he said.

Hanke-Henry calendar tackles timekeeping next. He suggests using Universal Time, also known as Greenwich Mean Time. There would be no time zones or daylight savings time, something Henry is not fond of.

Using this new calendar would not rule out the Gregorian calendar though. The Gregorian calendar is necessary for agriculture.

 

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Hitchcock’s Mystery Bird Death Solved

December 28, 2011   Jocelyn Apodaca   No comments

The mystery behind Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 famous horror film, The Birds, is finally solved.

In the summer of 1961, on the northern coast of California, thousands of birds were killing themselves, smashing into houses and dying.

Marine biologists conducting post-mortems of the seagulls killed along the Monterey Bay shore said the birds were poisoned by domoic acid. The acid likely came from anchovies and squid, which is a natural part of the bird’s diet. Unusual quantities of this nerve-damaging toxin found in the stomach contents of the seabirds collected from the period are said to cause confusion, seizures and death in severe cases.

Leading researcher Sibel Bargu said the acid was found in the majority of the plankton eaten by anchovies and squid.

Hitchcock witnessed the dying bird epidemic and took elements from Daphne du Maurier’s The Birds to complete his film.

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James Franco Gets NYU Professor Fired Over Bad Grade

December 28, 2011   Meagan Cahuasqui   No comments

Golden Globe-award winning actor James Franco attended New York University as a graduate student getting his master’s in fine arts.  It seems though that he expected special treatment for being a well-known actor, writer, and director.  After missing 12 of 14 of his “Directing the Actor II” classes, his professor Jose Angel Santana gave him a D.

The grade of “D” caused the professor to lose his job, and now he’s suing the school to get it back.  Santana maintains that he only treated Franco as he would any student and that the school’s standards of integrity got warped by his attendance.  He further attacks the school’s ethics by accusing another professor, Jay Anania, of giving Franco a passing grade in exchange for the chance to work on his movie William Vincent.

Franco took other classes in pursuit of his master’s degree and treated the classes the same way he treated Santana’s class, but somehow he still managed to pass those courses.  A conflict of interest arises from the involvement of John Tintori, the graduate film department chair, in one of Franco’s films.

The former NYU professor suffered open ridicule from the public and even his own colleagues.  Franco made spoke out to the media, claiming the professor only gave him the failing grade because he did not like having a celebrity in his class.  He feels it was unfair to receive such a grade after claiming to have done the work and done well.

So far evidence is pointing toward some shady business going on in NYU.  All of Franco’s other professors have at some point or another been involved with projects he has worked on and those same professors gave him passing grades.  Considering the numerous degrees the actor has attained from other schools, it can’t help but make one wonder how deserved those achievements were.

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