Why I’m Starting to Miss Android

Image Courtesy of Android Community

This week marks the release of one of the highest profile phones in recent memory – Motorola’s revival tool (much like the Palm’s Pre), the DROID.  It is one of the first phones to walk the retail runway outfitted in Android 2.0, the Open Handset Alliance’s latest mobile operating system.  And despite my love for my iPhone and my glaringly obvious Apple fanboy-ism, I am really really starting to miss my old Android phone.  Here are the reasons why:

Recession Breakthrough: Unemployment Surpasses 10%

 

 

While many were prepared to parade down the streets signfying the economic upturn, the U.S. Department of Labor has something else to say about the matter.  Displaying the nation’s unemployment levels charted over the course of 1 year, the unemployment has done nothing but continue to rise — now reaching 10.2%, the highest in 26 years (since 1983 – before I was born).  This is a 0.4% increase since September.

Economists speculate that the surge in unemployment is the result of greedy cautious businesses protecting their assests by continuing to cut down on costs (read: people) despite trrends of growth occuring over past months.  Apparently, they expect consumers to keep spending at their normal levels while less and less of them have the economic means to do so (makes little sense, eh?).  I’m sure that business owners will counter that they no longer maintain large profit cushions to take business risks, but I doubt they have really considered the selfless alternative.

The US remains a conglomerate of the jobless, as a reported 190,000 jobs were lost in October, while economists say that there are roughly 175,000 job openings (how many of which are unskilled labor – like jobs for teenagers?).   According to CNN.com, “the unemployment rate for teenagers in the labor force soared to 27.6%, up 1.8 percentage points and hitting a third straight record high.”  For those with degrees or manangerial experience, the unemployment rates are dropping – down to 4.7%.

How about we quit with the unnecessary spending?  Current issues which aren’t paramount come to mind, such as looking for water on the surface of other planets.  Or fighting two senseless wars (are we seriously considering more warfare right now, Obama?).  Or how about bailing out the auto industry, which pretty much deserved their demise due to the sh***y products they were releasing.

Rihanna Loves Her Batterer

Friday, the famed-entertainer-who-can’t-sing — Rihanna, appeared on 20/20 to discuss the details of her ex-boyfriend, Chris Brown’s assault on her.

In some sad but not uncommon protective measures, she claims that Chris’ soul left him when he was beating her, and that she couldn’t see the person she knew in him:  ”He had no soul in his eyes. Just blank. He was clearly blacked-out. There was no person when I looked at him.”
She says the fight started when an unamed woman sent him a text message unintended for Rihanna’s prying eyes.  She caught him in a lie, apparently, and wouldn’t let up – which prompted the violence.  She felt her only option was to escape by getting out of the car and walking – in a gown and masquerading a bloody face. 

The most interesting part of it all is her feelings towards him.   ”I don’t hate him at all,” she said. “I actually love and care about him. I want him to do well, have a great career, have a great life and grow up. And just take this as something you had to go through to grow up and learn.”  – REALLY Rihanna?  You have no bitter feelings towards him at all?  You think that he will just “learn his lesson” without counseling (no, ‘talking things through’ with his mom doesn’t count as much needed therapy), and become a better person?  This is what happens when love blinds.

Fuerte: Nelly Furtado’s Ambitious New Album Release

Many artists today attempting to attain international celebrity by releasing music in multiple territories and languages have quite simply failed.  Beyonce, one of the world’s biggest billboard -droppers today has attempted numerous times (Amor Gitano, Irremplazable, Oye) and yet many still don’t even know she tried.  And failed.

Nelly Furtado ambitiously trotted into Shakira’s territory with ler latest release, Mi Plan.  Her plan in actuality is quite simple: “It’s not so much about the lyrics or the language, it’s about the emotion, the whole package”, states Furtado.  Realizing that many of her fans can sing along to her songs in English without a hint of knowledge of the language, she decided to branch out and tackle the unifying feeling.

Upon listening to her new album, it’s amazing to me that Spanish is her third – yes third – language.  Spanish is a language she pursued in high school, and the language of preferred communication between her and her now Cuban-American husband.  The practice has paid off; her Spanish is beautiful for a non-native speaker, and it’s obvious why she had no qualms about releasing a full-length Spanish album, despite rating her own fluency between 50-60%. 

Latin America was paying attention too, and it’s a good thing.  Nelly’s own record label, NelStar Music, commanded the collaboration of such widely acclaimed stars as Mexican Alejandro Fernández, bachata legend Juan Luis Guerra, songwriter and friend Alex Cuba, the hauntingly emotional Concha Buika, and even has the not-linguistically shy Josh Groban singing in a Spanish duet “Silencio”.  The album release  follows a one-year sabbatical in which she enjoyed strengthening the bonds of motherhood with her daughter Nevis, 6. 

Her album has already reached the highest sales for a Latin Pop debut in 2009.  As for 2010?  Look for a new English release with the god of tracks, Timbaland.

Check out a preview of her entire album here (my favorite is Fuerte, ft. Concha Buika!)

Review: Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros

Last night Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros kicked off their tour with a performance at Belly Up in Solana Beach, CA.

Starting off the night was an opener that really warranted their own review, The Deadly Syndrome. What a band! They kicked off the show with a set from their signed 2007 album, The Ortolan. Where the guitarist William Etling lacks any type of performance values worthy of paying to see in a live show, vocalist Christopher Richard makes up the slack. He has an amazing range and a honed stylistic quality only owned by a true musician. I’m glad to see them signed and hitting CA through TX this tour. They have an excellent start.

The main attraction, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros were the flyer attraction, drawing a large percentage of the crowd out to the venue. Knowing their music and having seen them prior I am actually disappointed.

It started with set-up which was incredulously long, but acceptable considering their large size and vast equipment such as a piano. But once that was completed, they disappeared from the stage and didn’t return for a very long time. The crowd lost it’s excited murmur and grew disheartened due to the lack of professionalism of both Belly-Up (for not either making an announcement, pumping loud music, or having the Deadly Syndrome perform more songs), and the band for it appears as the delay was caused by a delayed band member. For a band trying to mobilize their music by a kicking off a tour, I would’ve expected a little more professionalism, save for an unpreventable emergency which would’ve warranted the aforementioned announcement.

Alex Ebert (lead vocalist) is a prime example of why musicians, no matter the genre-bending innovators they might be, could benefit from classical training with their instrument. On both occasions when I have seen him, he has complained of a recent voice loss and has been unable to sing in his upper register, which is disappointing to say the least. When I go to see a live venue I want to experience the talent, and I think he should take more steps to preserve an otherwise unusual but powerful voice.

Other than that, everything was spot on – the rest of the band was great – even Jade’s usual eccentric personality (is there something odd about her that strikes you the same way it does me?).

The highlight of the night for me was when Alex invited fans onto the stage to sit with him in a kumbaya-esque circle and sang a really good song of which I cannot remember the name. The girl who sang yellow roses was definitely a better sitter than singer.

Check them out on their tour – www.edwardsharpeandthemagneticzeros.com

Obama IS smart: aims to lift HIV/AIDS travel ban in 2010

Yesterday, my dad mentioned to me that Obama planned to lift a restriction on citizenship: that you must be HIV-/AIDS free.  Turns out, he had only part of a very important picture wrong.

The almighty USofA has had a 22-year ban on people with HIV/AIDS traveling here, often resulting the ambitious hiding their medical states and interrupting very important medical treatment.  What the heck is this world coming to when a human being, let’s say in Africa, is born with AIDS, and despite all the efforts in the world (like working their butt off to get into American academia) will never have a chance at entering out country?  The life expectancy of patients with HIV/AIDS is increasing all the time – you can’t say that they would never make it to see that day.

I had no idea this ban was in place otherwise I would’ve had quite a few things to say about it earlier.  This makes the US seem less of a melting-pot, and more like a country which selects the “fittest” from a pool of candidates to come and populate our country.

Dinner Fiasco!

The goal was to have dinner on the table by the time my parents got home from San Diego.  Well for various reasons, I hadn’t started yet, but of course I get a phone call, and my mom is like, “how’s dinner coming along…we’re starving!”  ZOMGIhadntstarted!! So I told her truthfully that I hadn’t started and a surge of guilt washed over me.  She responded by saying, “oh we’ll figure something out” – not mad at all.  Anyway, I took that to mean we’d make a community effort when she got back.  Feeling sooo guilty, I decided I could manage the meal I had been planning in 20 minutes.  I dashed into the kitchen and started throwing stuff together at iron chef speed.  Literally stuff was flying everywhere and I was sprinting through the kitchen from cupboard to fridge to sink.  But I knew what I was doing: earlier my mom had told me we had chicken breast in the fridge and I already had my recipe in mind.

Here’s how it all went:

Gullibility & Your Safety: Benadryl

Diphenhydramine, a first-generation antihistamine manufactured by a division of Johnson & Johnson, has become one of the most common household drugs under the name Benadryl.  Benadryl is used to curb allergic reactions by stopping a massive exodus of histamines.  Many people also know or have experienced diphenhydramine’s effects as a sedative: it’s used in many OTC sleep-aids as well.  But what don’t you know about Benadryl?

Last night I had a bout of severe itching similar to hives.  I was already at the peak of exhaustion, and handling the itching horribly, so I decided that a Benadryl would be nice to help knock me out and stop the itching.  I took 50mg.  Pretty soon after, my head started to feel incredulously heavy; I knew I was tired.  I tried to stand up, and while my body was vertical, my head literally snapped to the side, resting on my shoulder and I toppled over.  I was so tired!! Trying again, I made my way to my bedroom and climbed into bed.  But something was wrong.  My breathing was rapid, and I was suffering from what felt like a severe case of RLS (restless leg syndrome).  I couldn’t lie still, and I was crawling out of my skin and starting to actually panic.  It was one of the more unpleasant moments of my entire lifetime.

Turns out I was actually suffering from what’s medically coined as a paradoxical reaction to the Benadryl.  That just means I was having an opposite reaction to the normally expected effect.  It can happen to a host of drugs, for example pain meds actually causing more pain.  With Benadryl, it is most common in young children, and sometimes the elderly, but rare for adults.  It ended up with me jogging around the house, dancing in place, sitting and shaking my legs violently until I fell asleep on the couch.  Highly unpleasant.

The Genetic Risks of Incest: Does it Really Pose a Threat?

Most Americans these days wouldn’t hesitate to label marriage and reproduction with a first cousin as “incest”.  However, the labels for the word are not so black and white, even within our nation, where the only clearly defined boundaries for marrying a first cousin masquerade as state borders.  Whatever you chose to label consanguineous marriage as, one of the greatest counter arguments against it is that it results in genetic anomalies and therefore should be avoided at all costs.  But is the risk that great?

To be specific, most genetic disorders are not affected in the least by consanguineous marriages.  Chromosomal abnormalities, sex-linked conditions, and autosomal dominant conditions are exempt.  The killer?  Recessive genetic disorders — and quite the killer they may be.  Examples of recessive genetic conditions include sickle cell anemia, tay sachs, cystic fibrosis -just to name a few.

So what are the chances of these deadly diseases occurring? According to the Human Genetics Commission, “The absolute risk to first cousins having a child with a recessive genetic condition is about three in every 100 births, unless they have a family history of an autosomal recessive disorder, in which case the risk may be higher”.  3%.  Add that in to the general population’s risk of having a child with any congenital or genetic disorder, and you’ve reached 6%.  So consanguineous conception doubles the risk, but most pregnancies are normal.  Does that number strike you as smaller than you expected?  Comparatively, the risk of having a child with down syndrome is 0.1% if the mother is under 30 and jumps to 8.3% if the mother is age 49.  Many women chose to have children earlier than later for this very reason.

There are many countries in the world that actively seek consanguineous marriages due to economic, social, and societal benefits.  Jordan is one such country.  Popular belief is that the “best” males are retained in the family.  The result? According to an outdated 1980 survey of nearly 2,000 households, 51.25% of marriages in Jordan were consanguineous, with roughly 33% of those being to first cousins (the majority).  I would be curious to compare their rates of recessive genetic conditions to ours.

The Most Eloquent Silence

When words become superfluous.