Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Summertime is here which means our favorite fruits are in season. Time to taste the delights of the season.
My husband brought home a fresh pineapple yesterday and it was gone in one day. Everyone in my family loved it and it was so great to see my kids enjoying fresh fruit with comments like, “This is my favorite fruit mom. We should have this every day.” It’s hard for me to think about pineapple without my thoughts going straight to Hawaii and our summer trip before our kids were born. We would go and buy a fresh pineapple in the morning and have it for breakfast. Those were the days! Pineapple has more than great memories; it’s a healthy treat as well. Pineapple is rich in manganese, which is a trace mineral needed for the formation of connective tissue and bones as well as the metabolism of fat and carbohydrates. In addition, pineapple is a …
Former Rep. Duncan L. Hunter is part of Fight 4 America political action committee promotion.
A Super PAC promoted by former East County Rep. Duncan L. Hunter (father of the current congressman) calls the mission of Fight 4 America keeping “America's defenses strong, ready and able to defend our nation’s interests, and to ensure that the men and women in uniform who defend our country should be the best equipped, trained and supported in the world.” Super PACs can raise unlimited amounts of money to campaign for or against candidates or issues. Fight 4 America is counting on the local defense industry to ante up. But whose interests will it benefit?
Monday, May 21, 2012
Peter Thiel is paying young entrepreneurs $100,000 to drop out of their universities to seek success.
The same day that San Diego State University held the last of several commencement events, 60 Minutes featured a segment that unceremoniously threw water on the value of a college education. In Sunday's report, Morley Safer talked to Peter Thiel, the PayPal billionaire who is paying youngsters $100,000 to drop out of college and pursue their own business dreams. But without the seed money, what are the typical student's chances of success without higher education? What is the tipping point when years of debt keep college from penciling out?
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Taking a closer look at the world of video game addiction and how it is affect the health and happiness of those who get trapped in the “virtual world.”
Over a year ago, I wrote an article on video game addiction and some of the signs and symptoms. Since writing that article, I’ve keep my eyes and ears open regarding this topic, especially since it directly relates to the health and happiness of those who become addicted to gaming. I want to say up front that I am not implying that everyone who plays video games is going to become addicted. I know lots of people who are able to balance the occasional video game with the responsibilities and requirements of daily life. However, the numbers are growing regarding video game addiction, so I think it’s time to readdress the issue. When people think of addiction, usually they think of some kind of substance abuse like drugs or alcohol. However, …
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Much of the reaction to the magazine's oh-so-controversial cover last week, which showed a woman nursing a 3-year-old, proves that we, as image-consumers, are getting a whole lot better at not taking the bait.
Today, we are surrounded by images from the time we wake-up until we close our eyes at night and those who make these images, image-producers, provide the public with a majority of our information. Just look at the field of news, where television and photography have strangled the written word almost completely. Sometimes I think we’re turning the book of life into a picture book. This week, the image du jour is that oh-so controversial Time cover of a woman breastfeeding a 3-year-old standing on a chair next to her. I can only imagine how much the buzz surrounding this image is profiting Time-Warner, the owners of Time, even if most of the people buzzing about it will never actually read the story inside. A picture is now worth more than…
Friday, May 18, 2012
Social media continue to harvest our personal likes for sake of advertising and marketing.
Every time you turn around, you’re being followed. Google, Facebook and now Twitter. We learn from Huffington Post: “Twitter announced Thursday that it will use information it collects about users' browsing habits across all sites with Twitter “share” buttons to recommend accounts to follow. By tracking individuals during their visits to websites in what the social media site calls the Twitter ecosystem (which includes any page with an embedded Twitter widget), Twitter can monitor what stories or topics each user visits most, and use that data to suggest accounts that match their interests.” So has privacy gone out the window?
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Chairman/CEO of one of the nation’s biggest banks is under fire by investors, faces FBI probe.
When a bank is robbed, the FBI swoops in. When a major bank loses $2 billion, other agencies take the lead. But in the case of Jamie Dimon and JPMorgan Chase, the FBI is investigating there as well in the wake of its stunning loss, which has triggered investor lawsuits. Bank regulation remains a contentious issue, but what about criminal liability? Should CEO and Chairman of the Board Dimon be brought up on charges? Should he and other bank executives face jail terms?
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Gov. Jerry Brown again calls for support of November initiatives to ease California budget deficit.
Gov. Jerry Brown says K-12 schools and both state university systems will suffer even more cuts and force tuition increases if California voters don’t approve a quarter-cent bump in the state’s sales tax rate to 7.5 percent and boost the income tax rate for people making more than $250,000 a year. His critics say the projected $16 billion state budget deficit can be erased without voter-approved tax hikes in November. Whose arguments do you buy?
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Some on Wall Street think Facebook’s initial public offering of stock is latest dot-com hysteria.
No doubt Facebook has changed lives—more than 900 million, in fact. But with its initial public offering of stock on Friday, the social network founded by Mark Zuckerberg in his Harvard dorm room has raised stratospheric expectations. The 8-year-old company’s valuation would top $100 billion, according to Wall Street. Is this an omen of wild profits to come or the latest Sign of the Apocalypse? Remember the dot-com bust?
Monday, May 14, 2012
Time magazine cover photo of boy nearly 4 feeding on his mother has sparked debate and outcry.
Mothers, we hope you got the rest and recognition your deserved Sunday. Now back to work—deciding whether the latest media-sparked debate is worth your attention. We refer, of course, to extreme breast-feeding, the “attachment parenting” practice pictured on the cover of Time magazine. That’s the one where a boy nearly 4 is standing on a small chair, feeding on his mother’s left breast. Advocates like Dr. Bill Sears say moms should breast-feed as late as age 7. What’s your age of weaning? (And see what Valerie Brown has to say in her column Confessions of the Evil Mother Lady on Rancho Bernardo Patch.)
Ken Stone
1:42 pm on Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Fight 4 America has just revealed its website: http://www.fight4america.us/ more ›