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Tag: America

  • Congressman Reportedly Wants To Investigate Google Over ‘America’ Movie

    Earlier this month, Google received a letter from the lawyers of Dinesh D’Souza whose film “America” is not showing up in search results how the filmmakers’ would have liked.

    People were seeing all kinds of different results for their “America” queries, which is unsurprising given that this could be related to a million different things. Even for movie-specific searches like “America Movie,” people were sometimes getting info related to Captain America and The Avengers, and even D’Souza’s previous film “2016: Obama’s America.”

    Now, Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, who has been critical of Google in the past, is talking about investigating the matter. The Hollywood Reporter reports:

    Rohrabacher tells The Hollywood Reporter that he’s so disturbed by Google’s behavior he intends on discussing it Wednesday during the House Republican Conference, which is the party caucus for Republicans in the House of Representatives.

    “This doesn’t deserve to be ignored. We need to verify the statistics in some way, and I will be suggesting the appropriate committee or subcommittee have some kind of hearing on this,” Rohrbacher said. “We know there were significant incidences, and that would suggest there was intent behind Google’s nonperformance.”

    A search for “america movie” is currently returning results that look like this (at least for me):

    If you’re looking for 2009’s “America” starring Rosie O’Donnell, you’re on your own. And good luck if you’re searching for 2011’s “America (II)” or this year’s “America! or 1986’s “America” or 2010’s “América” or 1924’s “America” or the 2013 short “America” or 1914’s “America” or any of these other titles called “America”.

    Oh, and by the way, the name of D’Souza’s movie is actually “America: Imagine the World Without Her”.

    Image via Google

  • ‘America’ Director Sends Legal Letter To Google Over Search Results

    Google has reportedly received a letter from the lawyers of Dinesh D’Souza whose film America is not showing up in search results how they’d like.

    The Hollywood Reporter obtained the letter, which was sent to Google’s chief legal officer David Drummond, and reports:

    The letter claims that Google has been confusing America with 2016: Obama’s America, which was D’Souza’s first movie and has been out of theaters for two years, while Lionsgate released America on July 2 and it is currently playing in about 1,100 theaters nationwide.

    Google, according to the letter, has been “misdirecting many users who mistakenly believed the film was not playing in theaters. We understand this was brought to your attention for correction five days ago, yet the problem persists.”

    In a search for “america movie,” some users have been getting the typical carousel movie results showing “movies frequently mentioned on the web” including various Captain America and Avengers-related titles.

    We’re not even seeing that, but just the IMDb page for America as the top result.

    A search for “showtimes for america” brings up a Captain America: The Winter Soldier times page from Fandango. That appears to be the real problem, because when you do the same query for other movies, you typically get stuff like this:

    According to THR, the letter demands Google disclose whether “human or automated error was the source” of the issue, and if measures have been taken to fix the problem. So far, results aren’t showing the showtimes box, at least in my own testing.

    Google has also reportedly been confusing the film with D’Souza’s other film 2016: Obama’s America.

    Image via Google

  • Gettysburg Skull Won’t Be Sold After All, Will Be Buried Instead

    A skull found at Gettysburg back in 1949 is believed to have belonged to a soldier killed during the infamous battle. Most recently, a private seller was planning to auction the skull off. As you can imagine, some found the idea rather disrespectful and requested the skull be given to the Gettysburg cemetery for a proper burial. Those requests did not fall on deaf ears.

    The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the planned auction for the Gettysburg skull has been canceled. Instead, the skull has been donated to the Gettysburg Foundation where the remains will be given a proper burial at the cemetery. A reason was not given for the sudden cancellation that came a day before the planned auction, but it’s pretty safe to assume the controversy scared off the still private seller.

    “We are thankful to have the opportunity to honor what is very likely an American veteran and have his final resting place recognized,” Ed W. Clark, superintendent of Gettysburg National Military Park, said in a statement to the Post-Gazette “The outpouring of support, passion and concern from American citizens made the difference and a positive outcome was achieved.”

    Before the skull can be buried, the Gettysburg Foundation will conduct a few tests to determine if the skull belonged to a soldier. When the skull was originally found in 1949, a breastplate belonging to a Confederate soldier was also found near it. The location of the find – a former Confederate field hospital – also lends credence to its authenticity. Still, the Gettysburg Foundation wants to be 100 percent sure that it’s honoring a war veteran and not just the skull of a random human.

    If the skull is found to be genuine, the Gettysburg Foundation will turn it over to the Gettysburg National Military Park where it will be buried at the Soldiers’ National Cemetery will full honors. It’s a fitting end for what may be the last Civil War remains we’ll find for quite some time as the latest burial of remains took place in 1996.

    Image via wgaltv/YouTube

  • American Flags That Aren’t American? Oops.

    American Flags That Aren’t American? Oops.

    How many people pride themselves on being “flag-waving” Americans?

    Some citizens own flags which they raise and lower proudly in their front yards. Even if individuals don’t consider themselves all that patriotic, it’s still pretty common to buy a flag on July 4th, the nation’s birthday and a popular US holiday.

    What many well-meaning flag buyers don’t know is that there is a disturbing truth to the origin of a number of American flags—one that would make the most jingoist American fall over dead from shame and shock.

    Believe it or not, there’s a chance that American flag you were flying wasn’t actually American in origin.

    An estimated 7.5 million foreign-made American flags are sold each year. Over $3.8 million in foreign flag purchases were made in 2012 alone.

    The origin of many of those imported flags was actually China. My condolences to the families of the ultraconservative patriarchs that didn’t make it through that last sentence.

    Given how many items Americans use or wear that come to us directly from China, this probably isn’t much of a surprise to anyone. However, it seems a bizarre thing to import, if only from the perspective of national pride.

    Before you pick up your pitchforks and head to Washington, there is some comforting news: These imported flags represent on average mere 5% of all flags used in the United States.

    If you want to be absolutely sure that your American flag was made here, it’s best to check the item or company as to where the flag and all related materials are made and shipped from.

    Also know, before you get too down on yourself, that our very own Pentagon is a much bigger offender on the terms of American flags not being so American.

    Rules went into effect on Friday that said that any and all flags used and purchased by the Department of Defense have to originated in the United States. It seems startling to think that there had to be a rule made for this and that it’s only just now going into effect.

    It was a necessary change because prior to this new rule, some flags and many flag-making materials originated in other areas of the world. This adjustment keeps all tax dollars “in house”.

    Why would we outsource “Old Glory” in the first place? It comes down to money. Often flags made abroad are less expensive than the flags made in the United States.

    Image via Wikimedia commons

  • Majority of Americans Dissatisfied With U.S. Direction

    As the American political landscape continues to become more polarized, a large majority of Americans continue to be dissatisfied with the state of things in the U.S.

    A new Gallup poll released today shows that only 23% of U.S. adults say they are satisfied with “the way things are going” in their country. This result, which was found during an early January survey, is not an outlier for American satisfaction in the past decade. It nearly matches the 24% average that Gallup found for American satisfaction during the entire year 2013.

    Though this latest finding is average, it does represent a significant increase in satisfaction from just a few months ago. In October Gallup measured American satisfaction with the direction of the U.S. at only 16%. October was the month in which House Republicans forced the U.S. Government shutdown and the month in which the botched rollout of the Healthcare.gov website began.

    With a Democratic President in office, Democrats are significantly more satisfied with the state of affairs in the U.S. than Republicans and independents – a state that has persisted since President Obama took office in 2009. The latest poll results show that 40% of Democrats are satisfied with where things are headed, while only 12% of Republicans are. Only 19% of Independents are satisfied with things, which falls well within the around 10% to 30% that have said the same over the past six years.

  • Buy Your Occupy Wall Street Poster at Wal-Mart

    Since its conception by anti-consumerist Canadians Kalle Lasn and Micah White on September 17, 2011, Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protested against the widening income gap between the rich and the poor, as well as many other economic injustices in America.

    Wal-Mart is the perfect example of what the Occupy Movement is against: High CEO-to-worker pay ratio; Michael Duke, Wal-Mart’s CEO makes an estimated $5.6 million dollars a year in total cash compensation, while the company’s sales associates average $18,000 per year. Occupy participants have protested labor conditions at Wal-Mart before.

    An influential symbol of capitalism in America, Wal-Mart pulls no punches where it sees profits; Wal-Mart marketplace, a vendor page of the corporation’s site that allows third-party vendors to sell their items, has a special product on sale.

    A vendor called The Poster Corps is selling a large panoramic poster print for $52.25 on the Wal-Mart marketplace. The poster shows a shanty town set up by the many protesting peoples of the Occupy Wall Street movement at Zuccotti Park, Lower Manhattan, Manhattan, New York City. There’s also another poster of an Occupy member holding up the American flag.

    Though the print is published by art wholesaler Liebermans, the photograph was taken by Tom Sheckels of Moorestown, New Jersey. Sheckles told The Village Voice on Tuesday that he had “no idea” that his picture was being sold on the Wal-Mart website, and that he “didn’t have any control” of where it would end up being.

    Sheckles, a retired environmental engineer, licensed his Occupy Wall Street photo to a company called Panoramic Images.

    “They feed pictures off to many different agencies, stock agencies like Getty and All Posters,” Sheckels says. “Apparently, this is just one of the pictures that, in the mix of pictures, ended up at Wal-Mart.

    The sole comment on the item’s page mentions that the panorama poster is “Rated excellent for the incredible irony.”

    The Huffington Post received a statement from Wal-Mart spokesperson Ravi Jariwala, who said, “We are a retailer and we provide a broad assortment of products and we have a diverse customer base.”

    The posters are currently out of stock.

    Pictures via Wal-Mart, Reddit, Wiki Commons

  • Healthiest States: Hawaii Tops The 2013 List

    Hawaii is seen by many as a beautiful, tropical paradise, full of gorgeous fauna, lovely beaches, and breathtaking views. The chain of islands seems to stand as a beacon of happiness, a dot of sunshine on the American map. Now, it can add one more thing to its list of awesome things about itself; Hawaii was recently proclaimed to be the healthiest state in America in 2013. The announcement comes from America’s Health Rankings, which releases information about the healthiest and least healthy areas in the United States on an annual basis. This year, Hawaii topped the list of the former.

    What, exactly, qualified Hawaii for this honor? For starters, the amount of smokers and violent crime dropped significantly over the past year. The state also has high rates of child immunizations, low obesity rates, and has had a decrease in instances of preventable hospitalizations. 48.2% of high school educated adults aged 25 or older from the state reported that their health was either “very good” or “excellent.”

    America’s Health Rankings has been taking on the task of ranking the nation’s health state-by-state for twenty years, now, according to their website. They also claim that they take into account “numerous health measures to compile a comprehensive perspective on our nation’s health issues.” Hawaii has a history of making the top 10 list; the lowest it has dropped has been #6. Other states that graced the top 10 this year included Vermont, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Minnesota.

    It’s well worth a look to check and see where your state falls on the healthiness scale. America’s Health Ranking’s also includes specific analysis and data for individual states, explaining why they have received their designated rankings. Tell us, WebProNews readers; where does your state stand? Does your lifestyle mimic your state’s, or are you set apart in some way?

    [Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.]

  • Amazon: These Are The Most Well-Read American Cities

    Amazon put out its annual list of the top twenty most well-read cities in America today.

    While number one is the same as it was last year, there are some differences. Cambridge, for example, fell from number 2 to number 4. Berkley fell from number 3 to number 7. Boulder, which was last year’s number 5, is not even on the list this year.

    Here’s the list:

    1. Alexandria, Va.
    2. Knoxville, Tenn.
    3. Miami, Fla.
    4. Cambridge, Mass.
    5. Orlando, Fla.
    6. Ann Arbor, Mich.
    7. Berkeley, Calif.
    8. Cincinnati, Ohio
    9. Columbia, S.C.
    10. Pittsburgh, Penn.
    11. St. Louis, Mo.
    12. Salt Lake City, Utah
    13. Seattle, Wash.
    14. Vancouver, Wash.
    15. Gainesville, Fla.
    16. Atlanta, Ga.
    17. Dayton, Ohio
    18. Richmond, Va.
    19. Clearwater, Fla.
    20. Tallahassee, Fla.

    For comparison, here’s last year’s.

    New additions include: Vancouver, Dayton, Clearwater,and Tallahassee.

    “The results of our annual Most Well-Read Cities list is proof that people across the country are reading, and also that we’re still seeing the popularity of Fifty Shades of Grey,” said Sara Nelson, Editorial Director of Books and Kindle. “It’s fun for us to see facts like the citizens of Cambridge are buying the most books in the business category or that one of our favorite novels of 2012, Gone Girl, is the best-selling book in the Most Well-Read City, Alexandria.”

    Ranking was determined by compiling sales data of books, magazines and newspapers in print and Kindle format since June 1, 2012, on a per capita basis, in cities with over 100,000 residents.

    Did your city make the list?

  • Celebrate July 4 With A New Assassin’s Creed III Trailer

    Wednesday is July 4, the day Americans set aside to celebrate their independence by shooting fireworks made in China and eating hamburgers prepared in Canada. To commemorate the occasion, Ubisoft has released a new trailer for Assassin’s Creed III. It’s fitting to an extent since the protagonist kills plenty of Redcoats in the name of freedom from the Templars.

    For those hoping for more details from the latest trailer, you’re out of luck unfortunately. It’s another montage showing a battle during the War for Independence with both sides taking heavy casualties. The game still has the “America F*ck Yeah!” motif that has many European gamers concerned that the game won’t play it straight with Connor only killing Redcoats. Ubisoft has promised that Connor isn’t picking sides, but all the trailers so far, including this one, seems to firmly place him in the American camp.

    That being said, the YouTube comments are always a great source of humor with Europeans arguing back and forth about the game. It’s especially funny seeing non-Brits finding offense when the game doesn’t even involve their country. There are some people who can see through the hoo-rah and see that it is just a game:

    Damn it fellow Europeans! I’m Belgian and I’m very happy this game is set in America! It’s just a game… The American history is extraordinary good for a new AC game. Yes, you’ll have to kill Britains, so what? IT’S JUST A FIRETRUCKING GAME. Would you hate on the Crysis-game series, on the newcoming Watch Dogs or on the movie ‘The Avengers’ just because it is set in New York? Come on, grow up.

    In other news, Ubisoft took the holiday as an excuse to announce the Limited Edition for Assassin’s Creed III. It was already a given that there would be some kind of Collector’s Edition, but the details had been scarce until now. It seems that those who are willing to drop $119.99 will get an Assassin’s Creed-inspired colonial American flag, a 9-inch Connor statue and a belt buckle.

    The publisher will also release a special PC-only Digital Deluxe Edition for $64.99 that includes a notebook telling “George Washington’s true story,” three single-player missions, two in-game outfits and the soundtrack. For the price, that’s not bad at all.

    Assassin’s Creed III is still scheduled to launch on October 30 for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. There have been rumors that the PC launch will be delayed by a month… again. While Ubisoft has never been upfront about their PC delays, the general consensus is that they want to capture the players that just can’t wait. Most PC gamers also own a console so they might buy the console version at a premium first instead of waiting for the price-reduced PC version a month later.

    Either way, Assassin’s Creed III looks great, no matter what console you own it on. We’ll be counting the minutes until we can get our revolution on. It’s sure to be a fun ride.

  • America: Where Innovation Goes to Die

    America: Where Innovation Goes to Die

    Plain and simple, the patent system in the United States is a nightmare. You can hardly so much as sneeze anymore without some idiot troll accusing you of infringing upon his patent for violently expiring air through all facial cavities at once. For a country where so many of the subscribers to capitalism cling to the refrain of, “free market this, free marke that,” that prevalent mantra is not reflected in America’s patent system.

    There’s no place where this pestilent phenomenon is more evident than in the technology industry. Don’t believe it? Just go to WPN’s page with patent-related stories (there’s so many we actually have two) and count how many times “lawsuit” is mentioned in the headlines; I’ll all but guarantee that 95% of the stories are about legal issues. It’s jaw-dropping for observers but, worse, it’s stifling and prohibitive to inventors. Similar to you no longer being able to sneeze without forking over royalty fees to the patent owner, trying to come up with new software innovations is tantamount to putting a colorful bullseye on your chest and then handing out throwing knives to patent trolls, blindfolds not included.

    It shouldn’t be this way, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation isn’t going to wait around any longer for change. The group has taken it upon themselves to initiate that very change and is calling on internet users, technology companies, inventors, lawyers, and academics to assist the EFF in pushing for a meaningful reform to America’s malignant patent system.

    “The software patent system is broken,” said EFF Staff Attorney Julie Samuels. “Patents are supposed to help promote new inventions and ideas, but software patents are chronically misused to limit competition, quash new tools and products, and shake down companies big and small.”

    To get the ball rolling, the EFF has launched Defendinnovation.org, a site dedicated to promoting the proposed changes the organization believes need to happen in order to reform the patent system. Through seven different reforms that target everything from never-ending lifespan on patents to the limitations on what patent trolls can rightfully claim, the goal is to create a patent system that stimulates creation instead of squashing it.

    “The U.S. Patent Office is overwhelmed and underfunded, and issues questionable patents every day – patents that hurt innovators and consumers alike,” said EFF Activism Director Rainey Reitman. “It’s time for the technology community to work together to create a blueprint for reforming the broken software patent system.”

    Ultimately, the EFF plans to take the result of this open source collaboration on patent reform to the nation’s capital and show lawmakers exactly why this system is double-plus ungood and anticompetitive. If you feel like you’ve got a dog in this fight, considering giving the EFF a hand.

  • Federal Government Outlines Plans To Go Mobile

    Federal Government Outlines Plans To Go Mobile

    Finally the federal government is not the last one to grab onto the newest trends in technology. Yesterday the White House unveiled its new plan to integrate cutting-edge technology into the way they reach citizens and overcome governing obstacles. The efforts are based on words from President Obama himself, who proclaimed, “I want us to ask ourselves every day, how are we using technology to make a real difference in people’s lives?“.

    Essentially, the new digital strategy attempts to accomplish three things:

    * Enable the American people and an increasingly mobile workforce to access high-qualitydigital government information and services anywhere, anytime, on any device.
    Operationalizing an information-centric model, we can architect our systems or interoperabilityand openness, modernize our content publication model, and deliver better, device-agnostic digital services at a lower cost.

    * Ensure that as the government adjusts to this new digital world, we seize the opportunity to procure and manage devices, applications, and data in smart, secure and afordable ways.
    Learning from the previous transition or moving information and services online, we now have an opportunity to break free from the inefficient, costly, and fragmented practices of the past, build a sound governance structure for digital services, and do mobile “right” from the beginning.

    * Unlock the power of government data to spur innovation across our Nation and improve the quality of services for the American people.
    We must enable the public, entrepreneurs, and our own government programs to better leverage the rich wealth of federal data to pour into applications and services by ensuring that data is open and machine-readable by default.

    These are the overarching principles driving the transformation:

    * An “Information-Centric” approach moves us from managing “documents” to managing discrete pieces of open data and content which can be tagged, shared, secured, mashed up and presented in the way that is most useful for the consumer of that information.

    * A “Shared Platform” approach helps us work together, both within and across agencies, fo reduce costs, streamline development, apply consistent standards, and ensure consistency in how we create and deliver information.

    * A “Customer-Centric” approach—Influences how we create, manage, and present data through websites, mobile applications, raw data sets, and other modes of delivery, and allows customers to shape, share and consume information, whenever and however they want it.

    * A platform of “Security and Privacy” ensures this innovation happens in a way that ensuresthe safe and secure delivery and use of digital services to protect information and privacy.

    Take a look at the introduction to the initiative:

    Mission drives agencies, and the need to deliver better services to customers at a lower cost—whether anagency is supporting the warfighter overseas, a teacher seeking classroom resources or a family figuring out how to pay for college—is pushing every level of government to look for new solutions.

    Today’s amazing mix of cloud computing, ever-smarter mobile devices, and collaboration tools is changing the consumer landscape and bleeding into government as both an opportunity and a challenge. New expectations require the Federal Government to be ready to deliver and receive digital information and services anytime, anywhere and on any device. It must do so safely, securely, and with fewer resources. To build for the future, the Federal Government needs a Digital Strategy that embraces the opportunity to innovate more with less, and enables entrepreneurs to better leverage government data to improve the quality of services to the American people.

    Early mobile adopters in government—like the early web adopters—are beginning to experiment in pursuit of innovation. Some have created products that leverage the unique capabilities of mobile devices. Others have launched programs and strategies and brought personal devices into the workplace. Absent coordination, however, the work is being done in isolated, programmatic silos within agencies.

    Building for the future requires us to think beyond programmatic lines. To keep up with the pace of change in technology, we need to securely architect our systems for interoperability and openness from conception. We need to have common standards and more rapidly share the lessons learned by early adopters. We need to produce better content and data, and present it through multiple channels in a program and device-agnostic way. We need to adopt a coordinated approach to ensure privacy and security in a digital age.

    Roadmap for a Digital Government

  • Obama American Flag Angers More People

    The Obama American flag is apparently on tour with people bound and determined to anger as many people as possible by desecrating the American flag. This time it is in the South Jersey area near Philadelphia.

    Wes Kennedy, of the Acacia housing development in Lumberton put up the flag because he is an ardent supporter of the incumbent President and didn’t think that there would be a problem or that there was a problem until reporters started calling and asking him questions about it.

    “If someone had come to me in the beginning, I would have said, ‘Let’s sit down and talk to see what we might reasonably come up with as a solution.’” said Kennedy. Once he was notified that there was a problem he fixed it by flying a regular flag right next to it. “In Acacia, there are some angry, maybe even evil-minded people about Obama.”

    The exact same thing was said last month when the same design of flag was flown in front of the Florida Democratic office. Then some veterans became angry that they were flying the flag and demanded they take it down. Lets all hope that things end in a peaceable way.

    (image)
    Credit: CBS 3

    (image)@ThePowersThatBe
    Doug Powers    They Can Get an Obama-Bot to Take Down His Defaced American Flag, But They Can Never Take Away the Spirit of an Idiot!
    http://t.co/2dIOrpCj(image) 1 hour ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@tony_manna
    Tony Manna    I don’t care who’s president’s face it is, it has no place on the American flag. Stop it with the Obama flags traitors! #LeaveTheFlagAlone(image) 3 days ago via Twitter for iPhone ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@mzagorski
    Mark Zagorski    Take this rat’s mug out of the flag. It is a disgrace! American Flag With Obama’s Face Shows Up In South Jersey http://t.co/U2dWAyqD #tcot(image) 6 days ago via Tweet Button ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

  • America Is Impatient Thanks To The Internet

    The Internet sure is great, isn’t it? It allows us to conveniently search for information, shop and be entertained all from the comfort of our homes. That convenience comes with a price – we’re all turning into impatient jerks.

    Online Graduate Programs has created a fascinating infographic that displays just how impatient we here in America are when it comes to the Internet and the treasures it can give us. Google found this out when they slowed down search results. The search giant usually fields over 3 billion searches a day. Slowing down the search results by four-tenths of a second led to 8 million less searches.

    Another example shows that one in four people will abandon a Web site if it takes more than four seconds to load. Apparently that one person never had to live through dial-up. It gets even worse though when it comes to mobile browsing. Half of all mobile users will leave a site if it doesn’t load with 10 seconds. To make matters worse, three of out five will never return to that site.

    This is especially disastrous for businesses as 40 percent of e-shoppers will abandon a Web site like Amazon.com if it doesn’t load in three seconds. It’s said that Amazon could lose up to $1.6 billion a year due to a one second delay on their site.

    Unfortunately, our impatience for the Web carries over to the real world as well. Almost half of all Americans would rather pirate a movie instead of going out to watch it in theaters. The impatience applies to our love lives as well with millions of Americans participating in speed dating.

    To shame us even more, it was found that the majority of Americans would not wait longer than 15 minutes in line, while one in five people admitted to being rude to someone serving them “too slowly.”

    Look America, the Internet is great, but give it a break. It’s not a magical realm where everything always works. It takes the constant vigilance of overworked and underpaid IT workers to make sure the Internet runs smoothly for you. When it doesn’t, just be patient and wait it out. Don’t be a jerk either, just be thankful we have the Internet around to show us the joy of keyboard cat. Without such artistic endeavors, we would still be living in the dark age of bad sitcoms and poorly scripted reality TV shows – oh wait.

    Instant America
    Created by: OnlineGraduatePrograms.com

  • America: Then And Now 1940-2010 [Infographic]

    A lot has changed in America since 1940 when the United States Census was first taken. We had just began to recover from the great depression, we were about to enter World War II, and Franklin D. Roosevelt was the president.

    Today, the United States Census Bureau share with us an informative infographic on what the United States looked like in 1940 vs what it looked like in 2010. Obviously, the comparison is not shocking. Many of us have lived through some of the most revolutionary changes and if we haven’t, we know folks who have.

    Either way, it’s a great infographic, and an interesting comparison to make. Take a look:

    (image)

  • Yahoo’s Best Cities For Dating And Love

    Dating is a game of chess and love isn’t much different; make all the right moves and “king me”, you’re in love, but then the game continues and for us men, that’s a game we probably won’t win right?

    So, you say you’re single and on the prowl for a new beau or suitor, but you just keep striking out date after date. Well, Yahoo has your answer for the best cities in America to find that special someone or that, God forbid, one-night-stand.

    Austin, Texas is known for its eclectic music scene with everything from country to folk, metal to jazz, Austin is the city for all you music aficionados. If you’re looking for singles in Austin, you’re in luck because they make up over half of the Austin community.

    Boston, Massachusetts is town for all you young college love-seekers. It’s a town brimming with young college aged people eager to date and fall in love. There are plenty of places to take a person, from pubs to music venues, it’s a melting pot of potential activities.

    Chicago, Illinois is Another huge music city, but also, you have a large city full of life and comedy. Chicago is one of the top places to find comedy clubs, theaters and other entertainment venues. If you want a lady or a fellow with whom you can laugh, this is the place you want to visit.

    Miami, Florida; The hottest beaches, clubs and people you can find. If you’re a party person or a beach bum, this is your destination. Club-goers and beach hoppers alike can get along in this tropic environment full of singles that are ready to mingle.

    New Orleans, Louisiana, the classy french modeled town. New Orleans is a great looking town aesthetically by day, but come night fall it’s alive with action from jazz clubs to dance halls, party hot-spots to romantic views. So if you’re looking for a classy by day, crazy by night partner, look no further.

    New York City, New York; the city that never sleeps; they say that for a reason. This place is non-stop hopping 24-7. Awesome fashion boutiques and sushi bars in the day time, happening night clubs in the dark, this is truly the city that never sleeps. So, if you’re searching for that fashion trendy, party-hardy partner, take a bite out of this big apple.

    Phoenix/Scottsdale, Arizona. This is the place for all you adventure buffs out there. This place is prime to go hiking and desert trekking for days, but don’t stay gone in the wilds for too long because the twin cities offer great nightlife and spectacular restaurants. Find yourself an adventure loving soulmate here.

    San Diego, California. From surfing to swimming, muscle beaches to sun tanning, this is another great town for all the pretty people out there. Great, sandy beaches and delicious eats all day and all night. For all you six-pack ab sporting men and blonde-haired voluptuous women out there looking for love, you may want to try this hot-spot.

    San Francisco, California is a great place for the folks with an appetite for culture. Brimming with great museums, theaters and beautiful scenery, this is a spectacular place for those adults looking for someone grown and cultured.

    Seattle, Washington is an awesome spot for all the coffee freaks out there. Seattle is another good place for culture and just all-around good feeling. From excellant wineries to choice fish markets, Seattle offers great adult tastes to those searching for something real.

    So, you say you don’t like these places at all and you want to travel elsewhere. The Daily Beast did a similar report comparing different cites using statistics from the various locations. Their article has a few of the same cities, but they include a larger list of towns to “find love”. While Yahoo only lists their top ten, TDB lists 25 cities with interesting data and statistics to confirm their findings. Take for example, number 13 on their list, Richmond Virginia, data analysis says that 69% of the population is single men, while 71% consists of single women. The average salary of single folks in particular is a little over 30,000 dollars per year. You can take out a date pretty cheap with average ticket prices being just under 10 bucks and they give the city a “well-being” score of nearly 67%. You can see all the data and info in the link.

  • Friends Barred From U.S. Over Twitter Joke

    Friends Barred From U.S. Over Twitter Joke

    Leigh Van Bryan and Emily Bunting got into some trouble recently. Van Bryan had a couple of especially interesting tweets that made Government officials raise their eyebrow. Van Bryan tweeted:

    “3 weeks today, we’re totally in LA p****** people off on Hollywood Blvd and diggin’ Marilyn Monroe up!”

    He also tweeted, asking a follower a question:

    “free this week for a quick gossip/prep before I go destroy America? x”

    Upon arrival to the states, the two were detained for extensive questioning. Van Bryan was held in a cell with immigrant drug peddlers, while Bunting was detained in a separate cell. Van Bryan explained to authorities that the term “destroy” was British vernacular for “party”. The two were later released and sent home on a plane.

    Both Bunting and Van Bryan feel U.S. officials took their seemingly innocent tweets too far. They say they were simply on holiday to America and just wanted to have some fun.

    With this recent news, do you feel government has taken security too far or do you feel that you can never be too careful? Let us know in the comments.

  • Fifty Percent Of The US Population Have A Social Media Profile(s)

    A new study released today shows that consumer use of social networking web sites is not a youth phenomenon. Apparently now at least half of those living in the United States have social media profiles. While nearly eight in ten teens (78 percent) and 18 to 24s (77 percent) have personal profile pages, almost two-thirds of 25 to 34s (65 percent) and half of 35 to 44s (51 percent) also now have personal profile pages. This new national survey from Arbitron Inc. (NYSE:ARB) and Edison Research is called “The Infinite Dial 2010: Digital Platforms and the Future of Radio“.

    The Infinite Dial 2010: Digital Platforms and the Future of Radio from Tom Webster on Vimeo.

    The percentage of Americans age 12 and older who have a profile on one or more social networking Web sites has reached almost half (48 percent) of the population in 2010 – double the level from two years ago (24 percent in 2008).

    Nearly one in four Americans has listened to audio from an iPod or other MP3 player connected to a car stereo: Although consumers often have to deal with myriad adapters and other barriers to in-car listening, 54 percent of iPod/MP3 player owners have listened to their device in their car; this equates to 24 percent of all persons age 12 and older having listened to an iPod(TM), iPhone(TM) or other MP3 player while connected to a car stereo.

    Three in ten 12 to 24s are “very interested” in online radio in the car and on mobile devices: Among those age 12 to 24, 30 percent are “very interested” in listening to online radio in-car, while 28 percent are “very interested” in listening to online radio on mobile devices.

    Consumers say radio station Web sites are improved but TV and print sites are leading the local battle: Nearly half of people age 12 and older give credit to radio for improvements in their Web sites.

    Forty-eight percent say that radio station Web sites have gotten more interesting compared to 17 percent believing them to be worse or less interesting. However, monthly visitation to radio station Web sites (16 percent) among persons 12+ lags visitation to local TV and local newspaper Web sites.

    A total of 1,753 persons were interviewed to investigate Americans’ use of digital platforms and new media. From January 25 to February 22, 2010, telephone interviews were conducted with respondents age 12 and older chosen at random from a national sample of Arbitron’s Fall 2009 survey diarykeepers and through random digit dialing (RDD) sampling in certain geographic areas where Arbitron diarykeepers were not available for the survey. Diarykeepers represent 51% of the completed interviews and RDD sampled respondents represent 49% of the completed interviews. The study includes a total of 371 cell phone interviews.

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