Daily Archives: February 26, 2012

Diversity is Hard to Find at the Academy Awards

February 26, 2012   Rebecca Welk   3 Comments

Photo Credit: www.oscars.org

Recently, the University of Southern California conducted a study on diversity in the Academy Awards for the Best Picture nominees from 1977-2010. The study’s results show that most of Hollywood’s actors and directors are still white males.

The study also says that women only make up 36% of the actors in Hollywood, and 11.6% of the actors are African American. 7% are of Asian descent, while fewer than 1.9% are Hispanic.

A study from the Los Angeles Times backs up these results. Their study reported that fewer than 2% of academy members are considered African American or Hispanic.

Although, the academy is starting to make changes when it comes to nominations. Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer were both nominated for tonight’s awards for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. Other famous African American actresses such as Jennifer Hudson and Whoopi Goldberg have won Best Supporting Actress in past award shows.

Photo Credit: www.bet.com

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Drummer of Billy Talent Recovering From Surgery

February 26, 2012   Samantha Kauffman   No comments

Photo Credit: http://thepunksite.com

Six years ago Aaron Solowoniuk, drummer of the Canadian punk band Billy Talent, wrote a letter to his fans explaining that he was diagnosed with Muscular Sclerosis. Now a new letter emerges telling fans of his open-heart surgery.

Solowoniuk posted a letter to his fans on the band’s website explaining the open-heart surgery he had undergone on February 2nd to repair his aortic valve in his heart.

Solowoniuk’s surgery went well and is now taking the next few months to recover.

The band had to cancel its upcoming Belgium show in April.

 

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New Jersey Man Repeatedly Runs Over Girlfriend

February 26, 2012   Samantha Kauffman   No comments

Photo Credit: http://iamkoream.com/wp-content

Charles Ann, 26, is charged with first-degree murder of his girlfriend of one-year, Aena Hong, 25, Tuesday night in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

It was reported that after Hong told Ann that she wanted to break up Monday at about 4:55 p.m., Ann plowed down Hong with his Hyundai Sonata and continued to reverse and drive forward over the victim again and again, according to witnesses.

“It is believed that Ann drove over Ms. Hong, going forward and backward approximately three times,” according to the Bergen County Prosecutors Office.

After the brutal attack, Ann fled from the scene and ran to a friend’s house in Flushing, Queens where he was found Tuesday at about 4 a.m.

Ann’s bail was set at $3 million and was waiting for an extradition hearing in Queens Tuesday afternoon.

Hong was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

This story contains information from NY Daily News.

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Panasonic to Lose $10.2 Billion

February 26, 2012   Joanelle Navarro   No comments

Photo Credit: www.glasgowcomputers.com

Panasonic is expecting a record loss of $10.2 billion.

The Japanese company’s predicted loss for the year to March has exceeded expectations.  The loss is mostly due to restructuring charges and writedowns for its Sanyo Electric unit.

At a press briefing held in Tokyo on Feb. 3, Panasonic President Fumio Ohtsubo apologized for the unexpected loss.  He didn’t say however that he would be stepping down to allow someone else to revamp the company.

Panasonic joins rivals Sony and Sharp in giant losses for the TV business.  Between the three, they are expected to lose roughly $17 billion this year.

One of the reasons all three companies have suffered such grand losses is due to the emerging power of tablets and smartphones.  More and more consumers are now choosing to watch television on their devices rather then on an actual TV set.

To make up for some of the losses, Panasonic will be eliminating 17,000 jobs by the end of March.

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Windows is Losing Out to OS X

February 26, 2012   Rebecca Welk   3 Comments

Despite Microsoft’s recent gains this past year, Windows has seen no growth, and has even declined by 5%. Apple and its software, OS X, had a gain of 5% in the last quarter and 22% in the past year. Microsoft’s overall revenue was only half of Apple’s.

According to a survey by Chikita, Windows operating system’s web browsing market share has fallen from 78.3% to 71.4% between August 2011 and February 2012.

Windows 8, which premiered in June 2011, may be Microsoft’s only hope. With a new logo and user interface, Windows 8 can also connect to Microsoft’s other products such as the Xbox 360.

Photo Credit: www.socialbarrel.com

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U.S. Postal Service Plans to Cut 35,000 Jobs

February 26, 2012   Rebecca Welk   2 Comments

This past week, the United States Postal Service made the announcement that they plan to cut nearly 35,000 jobs, including 30,000 full-time jobs, and close 223 processing centers around the country.

Patrick Donahoe, the Postmaster General, said that over $20 billion needs to be cut from the budget by the year 2015. By making these recently announced cuts, the Postal Service is still only cutting $2.6 billion, which is not enough. If these cuts are not approved, the USPS could be losing $182.5 billion per year within the next three years.

Over the course of the past five years, the USPS has cut 140,000 workers, but still has nearly 650,000 jobs as of the end of 2011.

Photo Credit: www.newslincolncounty.com

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