Apple's iPad

When I heard about the Apple iPad, I was skeptical at first, and not just because of the unfortunate associations people have drawn with the name and feminine hygiene. It seems like simply a larger iPhone without phone capabilities. I suppose the larger size would make it easier to use for some people, but for many, it just makes things inconvenient.

However, Molly Wood makes a few good points about the device. One is that the device simply might be "ahead of its time." That is, give Apple a few years to work out the kinks and develop a better version, and it may be more useful. This may turn out to be so, but predicting such an outcome is uncertain at best.



Her best point is a change in Apple's marketing scheme that needs to take place in order to ensure the success of the device. It should be marketed as an alternative method of getting media, like books and newspapers, not as simply another vehicle for the iPhone's apps.

For now, I remain doubtful that the iPad will surpass the iPhone as the "next big thing," but I still expect it will have some success, if only because of all the recent publicity it has attracted.

Bernanke Elected to Second Term

Chair of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke has been elected to a second term with a 70-30 vote in the Senate, the most contested nomination for chairman of the Fed.

Bernanke has faced political difficulty following the recession of the past year. Clearly, he saved our nation from a second Great Depression, an admirable feat. I am still grateful for our luck at having such an expert as head of the Federal Reserve when the recession hit.

However, a challenge still remains: how to guide our economy back to normalcy. Even disregarding all of our national debt before President Obama took office, billions of dollars were spent preventing a financial catastrophe. Bernanke is under pressure to begin cutting back that debt, while safely building back our economy.

In some ways, these are trickier tasks than those at the beginning of the recession. Bernanke knew how to halt a catastrophe, and others have managed to figure out the basics--spending is needed to jump-start an economy. However, it is less clear when the time is right to begin to cut back on that spending, and by how much.

Bernanke has shown his intelligence in monetary policy, so I hope he's up to the tasks ahead.

Obama's State of the Union Speech

Yesterday, President Obama gave his much-anticipated State of the Union speech.


One surprising moment was his confrontation of the Supreme Court, when he said that the recent Citizens United decision opened the floodgates for outside influence in politics. Such a confrontation between the President and Supreme Court is rare, especially when the decision is only a week old and the Supreme Court is sitting right in front of him. It took guts on the part of President Obama. However, I agree with his opinion. I, too, worry about the outside influence in politics, as I mentioned in an earlier post. Obama described the cynical attitude I took in his speech, and I was comforted by his efforts to rectify the recent tone of politics.

In fact, I was generally pleased with most of the points he made in his speech, such as stressing the importance of passing healthcare reform (and reducing partisan rivalry in the process), emphasis on job creation through clean energy, and reducing the financial burden of college students. The question is, can he pull it off? Will the speech be followed with corresponding action?

We'll have to see what his next year in office brings.

Floating Suitcases? Oh, Wait...

Community Service

My plan for community service this semester is to volunteer my time at the White Kitty Foundation. I could work with the animals at the shelter, or help with maintenance. I called the foundation after school today to see if this was an option, but had to leave a message and they have yet to call me back.

If this doesn't work, I have a couple of backup plans. The first is to volunteer with the Avian Rescue Corporation, which would involve similar type of work as at the White Kitty Foundation. The second is to work with Friends of Pleasant Hill Creeks in their efforts to restore the natural condition of Ellinwood Creek.

As you can see, issues regarding animals and the environment are very important to me, so I hope to incorporate these into my project. I think any of the topics that these organizations lend themselves to would be interesting to explore, so I'm excited to get started!

Privacy, or Security?

The failed airplane bombing on December 25 has raised a slew of questions about security measures around air travel. This article describes how President Obama has taken personal responsibility for the attack and ordered security measures to be tightened.

The question that comes to my mind is, where do we draw the line in terms of privacy vs. security? According to the article, the president "pledged not to “succumb to a siege mentality” sacrificing the country’s civil liberties for security." And yet, we have the potential use of full-body scanners at airports. Well, I'm glad someone knows where the line is.

Personally, I'm one of the group of people that says, look at how rare an occurrence like this one is. And I don't travel on airplanes often. I'd rather have less stress, more privacy, and less time standing in line at the airport and take my chances. The problem is, opinions are so varied on this issue. How do you dictate policy in a country with such a variance in opinion?



In the aftermath of the incident, officials and citizens alike are smacking their foreheads because of evidence that we should have seen the attack coming. In hindsight, it's easy to put together the pieces and say, "It's so obvious! How was this guy allowed onto the plane?" The reality, however, that it's much harder to see the pieces ahead of time.

Yes, the system failed, but these things will happen, no matter how tight security measures. It's a matter of human error. There will be some things that slip through the cracks. The question is, how much are we willing to sacrifice to diminish the size of those cracks?

Teen Girls Rob Ohio Bank

I found this article fairly interesting, because it talks about two unusual robbery suspects-- teen girls.

Tuesday afternoon, the robbers walked into a bank in the Cincinnati area and demanded money, without revealing any weapons. According to authorities, one girl was age 14 to 16, the other 12 to 14. And they have not yet been captured by police.



I find it really sad that two girls of this age could commit such a crime-- it's certainly a rare occurrence. They either have a warped sense of society, or they're in a really desperate situation. Either way, it isn't a pretty picture.

What's almost more amazing is the fact that they remain on the run, although I doubt the situation will remain that way for long.