Category Archives: Opinion

Adreian Payne Basketball’s Gentleman

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Adreian Payne is the gentleman sports was missing in a scandal ridden industry.

Very few of the “this restored my faith in humanity” videos ever truly achieves such a bold statement however, Michigan State Power Forward Adreian Payne did just that. Payne, a 6’9″ senior on the Spartans men’s basketball team is an unlikely companion for “Princess” Lacey Holsworth, an eight-year-old battling neuroblastoma. By an act of kismet, the two met when Payne was visiting the hospital she was undergoing treatment at. The friendship was instant and as you can see in the video below life changing:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBmEQlToMFA]

As you can plainly see in the video this relationship is not a publicity stunt but one of mutual respect and love. Princess Lacey accompanied Payne on to the court during his senior night, he attended her fundraising party, and Payne even gave her the honor of helping him cut down the net after Michigan State won the Big Ten.

 

“She’s a special firend,” Payne told the Big Ten Network, “and she’s like a sister to me.” 

The coverage on this extraordinary friendship has even caught the attention of heavy weights like ESPN sports analyst, Jay Bilas.

https://twitter.com/JayBilas/statuses/447053368348114944

https://twitter.com/JayBilas/statuses/447053368348114944

The sports industry is frequently riddled with scandals ranging from drugs, DUI’s, animal abuse, and even murder. It is a breath of fresh air to see a gentlemen, like Payne, hopefully coming down the pipes to an exceptional pro career. This is the type of man and role model that hopefully companies will endorse and stand behind in the future.

 

The Ethics of Death on YouTube

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A diver’s death captured on camera has more than 8 million views on YouTube Blue Hole

Earlier this week, Slate published an article entitled, “Diver’s Cemetery: The Blue Hole of Dahab.”  The article details the story of Yuri Lipski, a Russian diver who lost his life in Egypt’s infamously dangerous “Blue Hole” sinkhole in April 2000.  When Lipski’s body was retrieved, it was discovered that a helmet camera he was wearing during the dive captured his last minutes.  And thanks to YouTube, this footage has been viewed over 8 million times around the world.

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Marriage: Commitment Comes With Passwords?

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Do couples share too much of a connection?

Do couples share too much of a connection?

It’s a fact, couples share. They share food, laughter, experiences and smiles. But does sharing a password to your email and social media accounts sound ethical?  Well, many already do and this trend is continuing to grow. Today, many couples use digital communication and technology in order to enhance their relationships. In other words, digital technology has become a dominant force in the communication between partners. Continue reading →

Time for Twitter to Reinvent Itself

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As Twitter falls behind in the social media realm, other companies and products are rising to the top. Will Twitter be able to adapt and reinvent itself to be a top competitor?

Social media and technology are constantly changing and developing to do more and reach wider audiences. Twitter has seen dramatic declines in the last three years. Though its growth spread to an impressive 140% increase in 2011, that growth has diminished to a mere 40% overall. Can Twitter rise from its ashes and rebuild itself? Continue reading →

Is Shopping Online the Safest Way?

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Online ShoppingSitting in class each day, I easily see over twenty people, mostly girls, scrolling through different online shopping websites. I always wonder if they are actually buying things, or just browsing to pass the time. This unremitting search seems to have become an addiction, and whether people are buying items or not, this habit serves as a major advertising mechanism, as well as a means for companies to compile information about these personal shopping habits for later use.

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New Disney App Opens the Vault

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Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures created a new app suitable for iOS, that enables a subscriber to purchase films that are stored in the infamous, Disney Vault. This new app connects with iTunes so the user can download previously purchased Disney, Marvel and Pixar films, or buy a new one.
 

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Have Touchscreens Replaced Toys?

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TouchscreenSay goodbye to Toys-R-Us, with technology advancing at the speed of light, the young generation is resorting to touchscreen devices to play with “toys”. As more devices offer free toy apps, toddlers are replacing toys with touchscreens. Children are no longer begging their parents to buy them the newest beanie baby or cabbage patch doll, it’s all about the iPad. Traditional toys are moving their way out of the clutter in the playroom. Continue reading →

Warren Buffett is a Boss

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Warren Buffett is a boss;

there’s no arguing against it.

Warren Buffett Headshot

Warren Buffett Headshot

With a net worth of nearly $58.5 billion, Buffet is widely considered one of the most successful investors of the 20th century. And being the giving philanthropist that he is–Buffett dished out five key tips to potential investors across the globe in Fortune Magazine today. (http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2014/02/24/warren-buffett-berkshire-letter/)

In Buffett’s always highly-anticipated annual letter to Berkshire-Hathaway holders, he compared two of his past property investments: a 400-acre farm in Nebraska (which he paid $280k for in 1986) and a retail property near New York University that he acquired in 1993. Both of theses investments were made after prices collapsed.(http://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffetts-investing-fundamentals-2014-2)

While discussing each of these investments, Buffett listed the following fundamentals of successful investing:

1. “You don’t need to be an expert in order to achieve satisfactory investment returns.” So investors should keep things simple.

2. “Focus on the future productivity of the asset you are considering.” No one knows whether an investment will actually be profitable in the long haul.

3. “If you instead focus on the prospective price change of a contemplated purpose, you are speculating.” Investing for the productivity of an asset and investing crossing your fingers that he asset’s price will change are two different ballgames.

4. “Games are won by played who focus on the playing field–not by those whose eyes are glued to the scoreboard.” Focus on the big picture… What will serve you well in the long run?

5. “…listening to the macro or market predictions of others are a wasted of time.” So put you TV on mute and stop scanning through Bloomberg.com.

Buffett urges investors to take these tips to heart when looking to choose the right company to toss their money to.

But with all Buffett’s success aside… John Reese at Forbes argues that we bourgeois, commoner investors actually have leg up over Buffett when making a common investment. (http://www.forbes.com/sites/investor/2014/02/19/if-only-buffett-could-buy-these-five-small-caps/)

Reese writes: “As an individual investor, you have at least one advantage over Buffett, and it’s a very big one. The advantage: Buffett is constrained by the size of his Berkshire Hathaway empire. Because the company has a market cap of nearly $300 billion and an investment portfolio of more than $90 billion, the universe of stocks from which Buffett can choose is dramatically smaller than the universe from which you and I can choose.”

Because Buffett has to be able to take a large chunk of capital from any investment he makes (due to his gargantuan portfolio), investing in small cap companies wouldn’t make a difference in Buffett’s profile.

We, however, can invest in these smaller-cap companies and reap the benefits, making our playing field a whole lot bigger and more diversified than Warren’s…an exciting and empowering notion.

 

Endorsements in the Online Community

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Popular vloggers have a connection with their followers and have more influence and attract certain audiences. Like vloggers, businesses cater to their own specific audience and, by employing prominent members of the online community to endorse their product, the company can create a following online and produce viral campaigns. Continue reading →

Candy Crush Worth $500 Million

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Smartphones are ubiquitous. Everywhere we go, people are looking at their cell phones texting, surfing the web, playing an app, or just carrying  it in their hand to avoid the feeling of separation anxiety. Due to this obsession with our handhelds, more and more applications are introduced each year, and becoming so popular that they can join the New York Stock Exchange for hundreds of millions of dollars. One app, to be specific, that might be striking a $500 million deal is Candy Crush.  Continue reading →

Social Media: Harmful or Harmless?

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Most students these days believe that social media is harmless, but in reality, social media does more harm then good. When a student posts pictures or status on their Facebook or Twitter, they only think that their friends can view it. However, once they are uploaded they are available to the public. Also, the delete button gives them a sense of security, but anything that is uploaded on the internet can be traced even if it is deleted.

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Dead Poet(ry) Society

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Verses features various rhyming and writing tools.

Verses features various rhyming and writing tools.

Is poetry a form of art that can adapt to modern society?

Technology’s development in modern society has been one of the greatest catalysts for change and progress. Almost everything is becoming digital. But can everything become digitalized? Does anything lose value as it becomes infused into our ever digital world?  Continue reading →

Bringing Photos Back into Frames

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In the past few years, with the development of Facebook, Instagram, Tumbler, and all the other digital photo sharing applications, printing out hard copy photographs has become less and less popular. Whether it is the inconvenience, since most of our pictures are taken from our phones these days, the cost, or just pure laziness, it is unfortunate that our photos are all stuck on a computer screen and the walls of our homes are standing bare. Continue reading →

As Blogs Continue to Thrive, Twitter Makes its Descent

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Has the blue bird lost its wings?

Today, the world of communications is expanding at a rapid pace. With more and more social media trends out there, Twitter is slowly moving out of the limelight. As its stock price just plummeted by 18%, people are worried because users aren’t signing up like they used to. Followers on Twitter are no longer interested in what you had for dinner or what airport you are delayed in. Created to be used for news and media updates, Twitter has become a target for patronization. Continue reading →

Keeping in Touch but Losing Touch?

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How social media helps us stay connected but also drifts us apart

Staying close to those away from you has never been easier. Distance seems to become less of an issue in long distance relationships (boyfriends/girlfriends, friends, family members, etc) nowadays because of all the social media possibilities you have today; you have Facebook, and Instagram, and Twitter, and LinkedIn, and all these tools that help you keep in touch with those that are far away from you.

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Technology, to Iphones, to Tinder

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Tinder

 

Fifty years ago, if you told someone about the iPhone they might actually be able to fathom the concept of a portable device in which one can communicate with loved ones, friends and colleagues. As mind blowing and as such an accomplishment as apple achieved when they created the iPhone, it cannot even touch the social impact that technology has created through social media. In this instance, I would like to speak about the smartphone app called Tinder.

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