Twitter and Facebook make some changes

Twitter and Facebook are making some changes these days that may affect you! Twitter has made the decision to delete certain posts if a country requests it. Now you don’t have to be worried because their goal still remains to protect free speech online as much as possible, and as long as you do not post any comments such as the pro-Nazi tweets that France and Germany have asked twitter to delete, your words are safe. Some people say that the compliance to delete tweets is blatant censorship, but Twitter does not have much of a choice in the matter if they want to stay operating in those countries. And by the sounds of the deleted tweets, I don’t think that they are something that most people would like to read, so the tweets would not be missed.

Facebook on the other hand is making a change that will soon affect everyone who is on Facebook. The company is making the new layout, called ‘Timeline’, mandatory for everyone to have in the next coming weeks. This means that you want to get rid of anything incriminating that you may have in your past. The new ‘timeline’ feature makes it easier for people looking at your profile to access your past photos, posts, and comments.

When Facebook changes your profile, you will be notified of the change and then have seven days to delete content that you don’t want. This time period is crucial because after it ends, you may not be able to delete some of your old posts. In order to make sure that your timeline is the way you want it, you have to go through each post and photo individually and either leave it, or change it by deleting it, editing it, or monitoring who can see it. I know this sounds time-consuming, but it will be worth it in the end.

Click the link to learn more about timeline! http://www.facebook.com/about/timeline

State of the Union Address

 

On Tuesday, January 24th, Barack Obama gave the 2012 State of the Union Address. The State of the Union Address is an annual address given by the President of the United States to the United State’s Congress. The address acts as an update on the condition of the nation and outlines the president’s legislative plan for the year. Every year there is a ”designated survivor.” This person does not attend the address in order to continue running the goverment in case of a catastrophic event.

This year Obama focused on education reform, rebuilding the US’s infrastructure, and creating new energy sources within the US. He specifically mentioned the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, accomplishments against the Taliban and Al-Queda (especially the death of Osama Bin Laden), and stated that the United States will “…stand for the rights and dignity of all human beings – men and women; Christians, Muslims, and Jews.”

To watch the entire address, click here.

Chinese New Year

Monday, January 23rd marked the Chinese New Year and the year of the dragon, more specifically, the water dragon in the Chinese calendar. According to chinese astrology, people born in the year of the dragon are said to be strong, self-assured, eccentric, intellectual and passionate. And this is not only the year for people born under the dragon, but also for people born with water as their lucky element. Astrology says that this year nothing can stop luck from coming water’s way. However, if your element is fire, you should be more cautious because fire is the opposite of water so luck will not be on your side this year. And if you want to learn more about this year’s fortune, click here.

Traditionally, the Chinese New Year celebrations last for 15 days after the new year, the first day being on a new moon and the last ending on the full moon. Each day has a special significance that varies according to local traditions leading up to a lantern festival on the last day. All festivities include dancing, ceremonies for deities and ancestors, gift exchanges, family, and feasting. The loud and colorful celebrations come from mythology based on a bloodthirsty monster named Nian that would emerge on the last night of each new year to eat people and destroy the villages. A wise elder suggested that the people scare away the monster with loud noises and lights to scare the fire away. To this day, the new year is still celebrated with loud noises and lights and fireworks.

 

84th Oscar Nominations

The nominees for the 84th Academy Awards were announced this morning. As expected, The Artist, The Help, and The Descendents were all nominated for Best Picture as well as receiving nods for several other categories (Best Director, Best Actor, etc.). Martin Scorsese’s Hugo leads the pack with 11 nominations.

Meryl Streep is nominated for Best Actress for her role in The Iron Lady and is the favorite to win. This would be her 3rd Oscar.

Personally, I’m excited to see that Bridesmaids received nominations for Best Supporting Actress (Melissa McCarthy) and Best Original Screenplay (Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo).

Click Here for a complete list.

Patriots to Super Bowl!

Boston and Pats fans all over are hyped up about Super Bowl XLVI. The Patriots and Giants meet again after their first Super Bowl match-up in 2008. Back then, the Pats had a 19-0 record and they were the favorite to win. But the Giants shocked the world by turning the game around with David Tyree’s amazing catch and stopped the unstoppable Patriots from their perfect record.

Now we have a game of revenge for Super Bowl XLVI. The Pats get another chance to beat the Giants and the Giants get another chance to beat the Patriots again. With this years match-up intensifying the deep New Engalnd-New York rivalries, the northeast is already all hyped up for the game in two weeks.

And don’t forget about the commercials! If football is not your thing to watch, then you can watch FOX during that time to take see all the new commercials that will air during the time of the Super Bowl. You can also see Madonna perform in her first Super Bowl appearance when halftime comes around!

Get ready to see a great game of revenge this year in Super Bowl XLVI. Watch it on Sunday, February 5th on FOX at 6:30 pm.

Boston Viral Video

A video of a little girl from Andover goes viral this week! The girl, Chloe, was shopping with her father at the Copley Place Mall when they stopped near an escalator and she started saying goodbye to all of the shoppers on their way down the escalator. The family is shocked that the video has gone viral because it was posted on YouTube two years ago, and only now has it become an internet sensation. The family has even been contacted by a Japanese morning show and emailed by representatives of the “Today” Show and “The Ellen DeGeneres” Show for their daughter’s video.

Chloe is adorable and funny in her video and it’s no wonder why this video is going viral. Watch Chloe and her cute video from YouTube below!

You never know, your videos could become an internet sensation too! As we can see from Chloe, it doesn’t matter how old it is, a video can go viral any day. So keep posting those videos!

SOPA/PIPA Protest Success

The SOPA/PIPA internet protests yesterday were wildly successful! Support for the two bills has collapsed. Many senators and representatives who originally supported the bill have changed their minds. Although they have withdrawn their support, many still feel that IP theft is an issue that needs a solution. Darrell Issa, a republican from California, has created his own bill called the OPEN Act.

Many are calling the OPEN Act the moderate alternative to the other two bills, but what is interesting about this act is that its full text is available online and there is a section where users can add suggestions or give feedback directly. Not the most innovative thing in the world, but this process is pretty far from the norm and encourages more active participation in government.

With SOPA and PIPA gone, it will be interesting to see what happens next.

Congress to Censor the Web?

Today Google has their trademark image censored on their website for their campaign, Tell Congress: Please Don’t Censor the Web! On January 24th, congress will begin voting on the bills Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) that will allow them to censor the internet and in return, slow economic growth. If these bills are passed, the government could order the blocking of sites that search engines would be forced to delete from their search results.

Many American businesses are concerned that SOPA and PIPA would “hurt economic growth and chill innovation” because the censoring of the web would prevent entrepreneurs from starting new websites for new businesses. Above all, people are concerned that the passing of these bills wouldn’t even stop piracy because the pirate sites will just change their web addresses and continue with their business as usual. The opposition to these bills is growing fast through support of the people and multiple American businesses that are based through the Internet such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, AOL, Yahoo!, and WordPress (the website we use to write our blogs!). The list of companies goes on, and you can help them by signing the petition to “End Piracy, Not Liberty”.

Learn more about SOPA and PIPA on Google and sign the petition with the link below:

Tell Congress: Please Don’t Censor the Web

Today in History!

On January 17th, 1950, eleven men stole over $2 million from the Brinks Armoured Car Depot in Boston, MA. The crime was masterminded by Anthony “Fats” Pino, a career criminal who recruited 10 other men to help him. They staked out the bank for 18 months and stole the banks alarm system plans without anybody noticing. Dressed in costumes that looked very similar to the Brink’s employee uniform, the 11 men entered the bank and tied up several employees. They filled 14 canvas bags with as much cash, coins, and money orders as they could for a total weight of about half a ton. The entire heist took about thirty minutes.

They left almost no clues as to where or who they were. The group made a pact to stay out of trouble and to not touch the money for six years in order to stay out of trouble (There was a law in Massachusetts that said that the statutes of limitations expired after six years for any theft…in other words, the thieves couldn’t be tried for the crime). However, one of the members was sent to prison and eventually made a deal with the FBI to testify against his other heist mates.

Only a small part of the money was ever recovered. It’s rumoured to be hidden somewhere in Minnesota. At the time, the Brinks heist was called “The Crime of the Century.” The robbery was so famous that there was a movie made about it: The Brinks Job.

 

Click Here for more events in history.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Although his birthday was yesterday, today we celebrate the birthday of one of America’s most famous protestors. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is one of America’s most famous protestors. He took is inspiration from the teachings of Gandhi and lead many nonviolent protests that ended with positive results for Dr. King and his followers. Dr. King was arrested multiple times for his protests but that did not stop him from achieving his goals for nonviolent social change.

His inspiring speeches and writings from “a Letter from a Birmingham Jail” to “I Have a Dream” not only made him a symbolic leader of American Blacks but also gave him the attention of the world. In 1963 he was named Man of the Year by Time Magazine and was also the youngest person to receive a Nobel Prize at the age of 35. We honor Dr. King every year for the changes that he made to the social ideals of America. He is the only non-president to have a holiday in honor of him for all that he did for America.

To learn more about Dr. King, the movements that he led, and what his legacy is doing today, visit The King Center website: http://www.thekingcenter.org/

Celebrate MLK day in Boston! Boston’s Children’s Choir is holding a tribute concert in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. For tickets and times of the concerts click here. The Museum of Fine Arts is also celebrating MLK Day with an open house from 10 am to 4:45 pm. See the exhibits for free and honor Dr. King with Boston!