21 Facts

In honor of my 21st Birthday tomorrow, I'm sharing 21 facts about me.

1.  Delaney is not my first name.
2.  I lived in 3 different houses within the same city.
3.  I have had two dogs and two goldfish throughout my life.
4.  I love the beach and the mountains, but the beach wins.
5.  I enjoy working with children, I think their innocence and wonder is amazing.
6.  I am a Georgia Bulldog, and have been since birth.
7.  I am also an Atlanta Braves fan; don't stop the chop.
8.  My family currently lives on 74 acres of land.
9.  We have two tractors, a four wheeler, motorcycle and a dump truck.
10.  My favorite book is To Kill a Mockingbird.
11.  I hope to one day teach journalism to elementary school students.
12.  I love most country music.
13.  I have broken my arm.
14.  I have played 6 sports throughout my life.
15.  My dad is my hero.
16.  I used to work at a dog kennel, and it was one of the best jobs ever.
17.  I have friends who I've known for over half of my life or longer.
18.  I'm deathly afraid of flying, stinging objects because I was stung on the lip when I was 3.
19.  I developed lactose intolerance as an adult.
20.  My favorite movie is either Remember the Titans or The Blindside.
21.  I am a confirmed Episcopalian.

My first birthday

Digital Royalty

In case you live under a rock. there was a royal wedding today.  Prince William married Kate Middleton in a very formal, but elegant ceremony this morning.  Good news is, if you missed the wedding, chances are you can watch it again on television, online, etc.  Plus, there is all sorts of digital media coverage that you can peruse.  So, never fear, thanks to technology we will all be able to relive this royal wedding as many times as we want, and let everyone in the world know we're doing so at the same time.

Twister Twister

In honor of all of those who have lost their lives over the past couple of days from the massive storm systems in the Southern US, today's story is coverage from the damage.  I hope that you and everyone you know or love is safe.  Keep all of these people and the areas affected in your prayers.

Print Isn't Dead

Rumors have been circulating that the typewriter is dead.  You know, the thing that people used to type on before the computer?  But, old schoolers and fans of old school typing should have no fear.  The typewriter is not dead, and is in fact still being produced and sold in stores across the country.  The rumor it seems originated from a mistranslation of an Indian article, whcih said that the company in India would no longer be producing typewriters, not that the last company in the world would stop production.  So, it seems that print will be able to hang on a little bit longer.

The Art of Saving

There are many sites out there today that offer subscribers deals on goods and services from certain companies.  Sites such as Groupon, LivingSocial and more have made a profit on selling discounts, which are extremely popular especially in this rough economy.  Now there is a new competitor looking to join the bandwagon, Facebook.  Facebook is set to debut a new feature called Deals, in which users can share the deals they have found with one another.  This feature will be debuting in 5 cities, and then expanding if it works successfully.

I think this is a great idea.  So many people use the discount sites and Facebook, and now they will be integrated into one platform.  Twitter has already started this type of situation, since many of the deal sites tweet their deals daily.  And, while it may seem that Facebook's application may compete with these other sites, I think this will actually help these sites grow because people can post the deals they have found on them on Facebook.  In addition, they can simply post deals they have found in stores or elsewhere.  I applaud Facebook for trying to do something new with what they have, especially since they already have a large and growing fan base.  This will be just one more reason people will come to love Facebook and social media in general.

What's your take?  How successful do you think Facebook's Deal application will be?

Inventing God

Who Invented God?  A little girl wrote a letter to God, asking this very question.  Her father decided that the letter should be answered, and sent it to multiple churches before finally getting an answer from the Archbishop of Canterbury.  The Archbishop actually answered, and his answer is quite interesting and thought provoking.

I'm impressed that the Archbishop answered this little girl's letter, and also disheartened at the same time that so many other churches left this letter unanswered.

What would your answer be?

Easter Egg

In preparation for Easter, look at these pretty/interesting eggs from around the world.  Enjoy!

Marriage Class

It's true, more women are going to and graduating from college than men these days.  This brings about a new predicament however.  Most women want to marry up in status or at least marry someone who is their   equal, but if more women then man are getting a higher level education, that means there are less men out there who are higher in status.  So women must decide carefully about who they want to marry.  Some argue this is not that big of a deal, but on the flip side some say there will be a lack of supply going into the future.

This is an interesting conundrum.  I personally am one of those women who would prefer to marry up or into the same level education wise; but, when it comes to love, I think heart over mind will probably win out.

What are your thoughts?  Who will win, heart or mind?

Weight & Memories

It turns out losing weight may not just change your body image and improve your physical health.  A new study has concluded that weight loss may also improve brain power.  The study was conducted on 150 overweight people, whose memories and attention were tested again after gastric bypass surgery, and were found to have improved significantly.  Other studies and theories have pointed to this possibility before, but now there is solid evidence.  However, there is also room for more studies to figure out exactly why these two things are correlated.  But, for now, there is one more motivation to get fit!

Green Living

Is your city green?  No, not literally green, but earth friendly.  An article in USAToday outlines all of the different ways your city could be environment friendly including transportation, recycling, density and more.  Being "green" isn't simply just the recycling we think about, it extends much furrther and is affected by everyone's actions. 

Go through the article's list and see just how green your city truly is, and find about more about what you can do to help out.

Potty Party

Porta-potty.  That hyphenated word alone evokes fear in the minds and hearts of event goers across the country.  These portable restrooms are often dark, dirty and just plain disgusting.  But, one woman from Atlanta is striving to change this image.  She has created a new breed of porta-potties that are designed to be more user friendly and sensually appealing.  She saw a need in the market for a class of toilet in between  the indoor toilet and the outdoor portable toilet, and decided that this gap could be filled with her product.

Hopefully, these upgraded porta-potties will take off because I know I personally avoid porta-potties at all costs.  Plus, the product described in the article doesn't sound completely horrible, although no matter what you do, it will still be a portable toilet when it comes down to it.

What's you take?  Would you be more likely to use one of these "deluxe" porta-potties?

Science & Religion

Science and religion are like oil and water to most people, they just don't mix.  In fact, science competes with and attempts to override religion in most cases, and vice versa.  But, this week celebrations of Galileo took place, and even the Catholic Church was involved.  In a sort of truce between the two competing forces, both joined together to celebrate Galileo's achievements.

I'm glad that such an event could occur because I don't think it always needs to be science against religion. I think there is often a middle ground, which should be explored and accepted more often.

What do you think?

Slumber Art

Couch surfing apparently can be a form of art and self expression.  An artist from New York is currently in the middle of an experiment where she is crashing at different houses for 13 weeks, and providing her housework services in return.

I've heard of crazy art projects and experiments before, but nothing like this.  Usually artists couch surf because they have the lack of funds, not just as a plain form of self expression.  But, I also think this is a unique and interesting opportunity, and I applaud this artist's effort to think outside the box.

Freaky Friday

Mental Floss's Weird Week in Review was highly amusing today, and I thought I'd share with all of my readers.

What's your favorite story?

Mine might just be the dog wedding or the McDonalds woman.

Holy Confusion

Just about any Christian can tell you that Good Friday is the day Jesus was crucified on the cross, and he rose from his tomb three days later on Easter Sunday.  But, there have been debates over the phrasing "three days".  If Jesus died in the afternoon of Good Friday, and was risen by Sunday morning, how exactly does that equate to three days?  The answer comes from historians and theologians who have been wrestling with this question.  They say that "three days" is the length of time because of the way that people conceived of time back then, along with other plausible theories.

I had never really thought about this wording until I saw this article this morning, but once it was brought to my attention, I definitely had an "aha!" kind of moment.  I know this is the type of thing that non-Christians or atheists would use to attempt to poke holes in our faith, and I'm glad that some answers have been found to clarify the confusion.  Plus, I learned something new today, and that is always a good thing.

The ABCs of Education

I found three stories today, each dealing primarily with a different level of education.

Elementary Nutrition:  School lunches are notoriously "interesting".  Some schools lunches seem more nutritious and appealing than others, but some school districts are pushing to make buying lunch at school the only option.  These districts argue that lunches brought from home contain too much "junk" food.  The problem is that lunches from home are often more nutritious and more appealing for the kids.  Forcing kids to eat school provided lunches is not necessarily a good fix because some students just may not eat or the lunches themselves may not actually be that healthy.  Plus, if you require that students buy their lunch, I believe that the lunches need to be free since students will have no other option, and families may not have the money to foot the bill.

High School Days:  Evidence has shown that teenagers need to sleep more, and need to sleep later in the day.  But, most high schools don't respect these needs forcing these grumpy teens to get out of bed at early hours, which is actually bad for them.  Some schools are even debating start their school days even earlier, but at what cost to students learning and well-being?

Cost of College:  Business Week just released their list of best return on investment schools by state plus the runner-ups for each state.  How does your school stack up?

As usual, feel free to comment on any of today's articles.

Technology Tuesday

Articles about two technology giants:

The Microsoft Store.  That just doesn't sound as nice or as appealing as say, The Apple Store.  But, Microsoft is giving it a go.  They opened their first store back in 2009, and only have eight to date, which explains why I've never heard of or seen one.  In theory, this sounds like a good plan to better compete with Apple, which is quickly taking over the market.  But, in reality there are just too many problems that Microsoft has to deal with that Apple doesn't.

These Maine kindergarteners now have their own iPad2s.  Why does a 5 year old need an iPad you might ask?  To learn the alphabet of course.  Teachers are finding that this touch activated tool is actually increasing child literacy rates, which is a good thing in my opinion.  I just hope these kids don't decide to do any finger painting on these pricey gadgets.

If you have thoughts about either of these articles, feel free to share!

The Order of Dating

My friend posted a link to this interesting article, which talks about how birth order affects your dating life. The article examines the qualities of the various placements one can be within the birth order, and then tells the reader who would be their best fit for marriage according to birth order placements.

I found this article to be interesting in theory, and I know the description fit me very accurately.  But, I don't know if I agree with who it says my match would be.

What do you think?  Is this article an accurate portrayal of your life?

Holy Sports

Looks like the wide world of sports just may be getting a little more religious.  More and more professional teams are promoting religious sports outings such as Christian night, Jewish night, etc. in order to drive group ticket sales.

I think this is a good idea in theory, but it does have the potential to offend many people.  Plus, a good question raised in the article is just how inclusive and diversified these nights will be?

Shopping for Health

A new study from Taiwan found that shopping may actually be good for your health, especially among older people.  Shopping gets you out, makes you interact with people and can keep your mind sharp.  Plus, who doesn't enjoy getting some new, even if it is just new groceries.  I guess this study adds more validity to the phrase Retail Therapy.

Rock N Roll 101

Colleges are constantly seeking out new ways to engage students in the classroom.

College is supposed to be a time for students to further knowledge and explore areas of interest to them, but students are paying good money, so they also have high expectations for their classes.  It seems that most classes are the same old lecture and note-taking courses.  So, when I stumble upon a course that tries to actively engage me, I tend to actually be more excited about learning.

Colleges have picked up on this, and are encouraging professors to do something different in the classroom, sometimes even hiring staff from outside the world of academia.

It seems a new trend is for former musicians to help teach music and music business classes.  I know that UGA has some former music artists as professors in their music business programs, and I've heard these students really gain something from these classes.

What other types of professors have you had or heard about?  What have your professors done to engage you in the learning process?

The Internet Giant

I'm a journalism major.  Saying this out loud to myself or better yet, a room full of people can be quite intimidating.  I get asked what exactly I plan to do with my degree, since it appears to the naked eye that the journalism world is on its way out.  I always politely respond to people who question my decision, telling them about how I don't think journalism is quite dead and how my skills are applicable to many other jobs should I find otherwise.

Today's two articles both deal with this sensitive issue of the vitality of journalism in the face of the Internet and new media.

Journalism is ever expanding into the digital world, where the readers are.  Readers for the most part no longer flock to the print media, and we realize this, and are in the process of adapting & evolving to fit these new demands.

Though, the digital world presents a fair share of problems as well.  Including increased competition, which might very well bring an end to journalism as a serious profession.

I personally believe that journalism can and will survive, it is just going to morph into whatever form that the public demands and wants, and that is perfectly acceptable to me.

The Southern Life

New Smyrna Beach, FL

Growing up in the South has had its advantages, and I can say that I am proud to be a G.R.I.T. (Girl Raised in the South).  I've had the opportunity to see and do many distinctly "Southern" things, and those have truly affected my outlook on life, and my life in general.  People may think that all Southerners are rednecks, hicks, uneducated or backwards, but most of us aren't.  We just happen to say "y'all", act politely to people we may or may not know and love Sweet Tea.

View from Rock Coty

If you want to learn about more Southern traditions that you should experience, this story from Southern Living is for you.  Personally, I've done about half of the items on the list, and I hope to do the rest before I die (except yell "War Eagle"...I'm a Georgia Bulldawg through and through).

And, if you're from the South, I want to know what you would add to this list?  Perhaps it's going to see a Braves game or visiting Rock City in Chattanooga.  What's your Southern tradition?

 

Atlanta Braves

                            

Job Outlook

While the job market may be looking a little bit brighter, it is not looking brighter for everybody.  There are still a lot of people who have been unemployed for a long time, and will probably continued to be unemployed.  Also, unemployment rates are not changing everywhere, and the cost of living is still on the rise, while salaries are generally not.  Thankfully for me, companies are tending to want to hire recent college grads.

Animal Talk

Two short stories to share again today:

This woman finds solace for her depression from her disabled Kangaroo; although, it looks like she may not get to keep her hippity hoppity animal if the government intervenes.

SNAKE! On the loose in NYC, you can even follow this cobra's adventures on Twitter.

Enjoy your Sunday!

Saturday Shake-up

Two pretty simple stories that I've found interesting this morning:

These pups are awing the City of Atlanta with their amazing tricks!  Needless to say, they're pretty darn cute as well.

If you've ever wondered about the origin of the month of April, now you might be one step closer to the answer.  I know that when I took Latin, I learned the same thing as the article's theory.  But, maybe you have your own theory you'd like to share?

Enjoy a hopefully sunny & sweet Saturday!

Drinking + Studying = Failing

A new study confirms the hypothesis that drinking does have an affect on student's grades.  The study was conducted because of the lack of previous studies done on this topic.  Other studies have simply focused on how social media or other distractions affect students grades, but this recent study shows that alcohol is actually worse for grades than any other distraction.

This study doesn't mean that students should give up drinking altogether; the study also found that most students that perform poorly, don't in fact know how to study properly.  However, students should loosen up on the booze intake if they want to see an improvement in their grades or study habits.