Weekly Roundup 8/12/12

Virginia/US
Romney tours key states with new running mate Paul Ryan
Paul Ryan was announced as Mr Romney’s choice for vice-president in one such state, Virginia, on Saturday.

The pair are going on to tour North Carolina, Florida, Ohio – and Mr Ryan’s home state of Wisconsin.

Mr Ryan vowed to save the country from “high unemployment, declining incomes and crushing debt”.

But Mr Obama’s campaign has said Mr Ryan stood for what they called “flawed” economic policies that would repeat “catastrophic” mistakes.

I hope Paul Ryan will be a good choice for Romney.

Romney makes accidental endorsement for 2013 election
During Saturday’s campaign rally in Ashland, Mitt Romney said he hoped that Virginia Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling would be the next Governor of Virginia. In doing so, Romney failed to recognize Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli – who also announced he was running for Governor.

Oops.

World
At least 250 dead, more than 2,600 injured in Iran quakes
The quakes, which had magnitudes of 6.4 and 6.3 respectively, hit just 11 minutes apart and levelled at least 20 villages, said state television.

Following the quakes, around 36 aftershocks rippled through the same area, jolting residents. The aftershocks were felt in a vast region near the Caspian Sea.

Oh my goodness! So sad!

Health
New parent? Watch the saturated fat
“Parents of younger children do tend to bring in more convenience foods into the home more often,” said Dr. Helena Laroche, the lead author on the study. “That may account for the difference in saturated fat intake.”

Not surprising.

Technology/Social Media
iOS 6 Beta 4 Removes Dedicated YouTube App
The reason for the removal is unclear, although speculation naturally turns to the strained relationship between Apple and Google. Aside from YouTube, Apple’s iOS 6 contains another high-profile departure from Google’s services with Apple rolling out its own mapping and navigation service to displace Google.

YouTube videos can still be played through the embedded viewer, but the removal of the dedicated YouTube app marks a significant reduction in the prominence of Google on iOS.

Gonna miss the YouTube app, even though it wasn’t the greatest.

US employers banned from asking for social media logins
Maryland and Illinois have passed legislation banning employers from asking for social media login information during interviews, a practice that has been growing across the US.

Watch the video. This is crazy. Invasion of privacy.

Business/Money
Google death benefits pay dead employees’ families for 10 years
Google treats its dead employees better than some companies do their living workers.

Google’s unusual “death benefits” include paying the deceased’s spouse or domestic partner 50% of their salary for 10 years.

What’s more, all of the dead Googler’s stocks vest immediately. Each child of the employee receives $1,000 per month until age 19, or age 23 for full-time students.

Entertainment
Viewers outraged after NBC cuts away from Olympics closing ceremony
NBC was pummeled by viewers who took to social media after the network cut away early from the closing ceremony of the London Games on Sunday to air a new television show, drawing outrage from those who tuned in for the highly anticipated musical spectacle.

The Twitter-sphere exploded, with “#NBCfail” and “#closingceremonies” trending worldwide, after NBC cut out performances by Ray Davies, Kate Bush, The Who and Muse in favor of a commercial-free airing of “Animal Practice.”

I seemed to have missed this part. Even though I had the TV on at my desk, I was busy working. Although I’m not surprised that NBC did this. Their coverage was just horrendous during the entire Games.

Nielsen: 2012 Olympics most-watched event in U.S. TV history
More than 219 million Americans watched the Games over 5,535 hours of broadcasting on NBC, NBC Sports Network, MSNBC, CNBC, Bravo, Telemundo, two specialty channels and NBCOlympics.com, Nielsen data show.
The figures eclipse those of the 2008 Beijing Olympics (also on NBC), which were watched by a mere 215 million viewers.

No matter how bad NBC’s coverage was, people are still going to tune in because it’s the Olympics.

Jennifer Aniston engaged to actor Justin Theroux
“Having experienced everything you don’t want in a partner over time, it starts to narrow down to what you actually do want,” the actress told InStyle earlier this year. “As I get older, I realize what qualities are important in love and what suits me. And what I won’t settle for.”
2011: Aniston: Hottest of all time?

Her quest ended Friday, when she got engaged to Theroux on his 41st birthday, Aniston’s representative Stephen Huvane said.

“Justin Theroux had an amazing birthday Friday, receiving an extraordinary gift when his girlfriend, Jennifer Aniston, accepted his proposal of marriage,” Theroux’s representative Ina Treciokas said Sunday.

Congrats to the happy couple!

Sports
Olympics: Team GB aims to top Beijing golds
Team GB, hoping to pass the 19 golds achieved in Beijing in 2008, stand third in the London 2012 medal table – behind China and the US – with 18 gold, 11 silver and 11 bronze.

That would be awesome. It’s always nice to see the host country doing well in the medal rankings.

Gabby Douglas Makes Wrong Turn on Bars, Fails to Medal
Gabby Douglas finished dead last in the individual uneven bars final Monday, the same event that earned her the nickname “The Flying Squirrel” for her gravity-defying height.

She apparently turned the wrong way in her routine and could not recover well enough to earn a high score.

She’s still a winner in my eyes.

London 2012: Games set for grand finale
The finale will feature about 4,000 performers alongside artists such as George Michael and the Spice Girls.

The US topped the medal table with 45 golds, followed by China with 38 golds. GB came third with 29 golds – their best tally for 104 years.

I feel like this year’s Olympic Games went by so fast.

Weekly Roundup – 5/27/12

Virginia/US
iPhone ‘stolen’ on Disney cruise, pictures uploaded to Facebook
Katy McCaffrey had her iPhone stolen while aboard the Disney Wonder in April. The ship is operated by Disney Cruise Line.

A man, who appears to be a Disney employee named “Nelson,” allegedly used the stolen iPhone to take photos of himself and other coworkers aboard the ship. Those photos were then automatically uploaded to McCaffrey’s Apple iCloud Photo Stream account.

This is why you don’t steal people’s iPhones or anything that doesn’t belong to you. As a former Disney Cast Member, I’m ashamed how these people behaved.

Source: RPD cops made ‘inappropriate comments’ about Obama, first lady
In his re-election bid for the White House, President Barack Obama stopped at VCU’s Siegel Center earlier this month where thousands of people flocked to hear him speak.
But a source within the Richmond Police Department (RPD), who does not want to reveal his identity for fear of retribution, is blowing the whistle on the department.
The man tells CBS 6 News’ Sandra Jones that inappropriate comments were made by a 20-year police veteran, against the president and first lady.
“There was an officer providing exterior security to the President on that day on the phone with the supervisor. The supervisor said to that particular officer, ‘you’re down there right? So, you can take a couple of shots, you might have to kill yourself, but you can take a couple of shots.’”

This is coming from law enforcement? That’s not right at all.

Richmond billboard turning heads
The billboard outside Ellwood Thompson’s says “1, 2, 3, 4. Open The Closet Door. 5, 6, 7, 8. Don’t Assume Your Kids Are Straight.”
The creators of the billboard, Mothers and Others of Virginia, say they’re raising awareness of discrimination against gays and lesbians in Virginia by some citizens and lawmakers.

I’m not sure what to think of this billboard.

World
China hits back on U.S. human rights
“The United States’ tarnished human rights record has left it in no state — whether on a moral, political or legal basis — to act as the world’s ‘human rights justice,’ ” China said in an annual report on U.S. human rights.
The report cited the arrests of protesters participating in the Occupy Wall Street movement in the United States. Many protesters, it said, accused police of brutality.
It also said the United States has “fairly strict restrictions” on the Internet, saying the U.S. Patriot Act and Homeland Security Act both have clauses about monitoring the Internet, giving the government or law enforcement organizations power to monitor and block any Internet content “harmful to national security.”
Chen Guangcheng: I’m doing fine Chinese dissident Chen’ new life
“The facts contained in the report are a small yet illustrative fraction of the United States’ dismal record on its own human rights situation,” China’s report said.
Thursday, the U.S. State Department criticized a number of countries, including China, in its annual report on human rights around the world. The human rights situation in China, it said, “deteriorated, particularly the freedoms of expression, assembly, and association,” with Chinese forces reportedly committing “arbitrary or unlawful killings.”

Wow. Both countries have human rights issues.

Health
Music: It’s in your head, changing your brain
“I think there’s enough evidence to say that musical experience, musical exposure, musical training, all of those things change your brain,” says Dr. Charles Limb, associate professor of otolaryngology and head and neck surgery at Johns Hopkins University. “It allows you to think in a way that you used to not think, and it also trains a lot of other cognitive facilities that have nothing to do with music.”

Gotta love music.

Technology/Social Media
Goodbye to Windows Live (and Whatever It Meant)
An array of products, with no natural connections to one another, have received the “Windows Live” moniker. Windows Live Essentials, for example, was the name for a suite of software products that could be installed on a PC, and included photo management, video editing and instant messaging. Windows Live Mesh provided file synchronization among one’s personal computers, including Macs. And the list went on: Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Search, Windows Live Toolbar, Windows Live Family Safety, Windows Live Writer, and others.

Except for maybe Windows Live Mail, who used these programs?

Business/Money
With Personal Data in Hand, Thieves File Early and Often
With nothing more than ledgers of stolen identity information — Social Security numbers and their corresponding names and birth dates — criminals have electronically filed thousands of false tax returns with made-up incomes and withholding information and have received hundreds of millions of dollars in wrongful refunds, law enforcement officials say.

The criminals, some of them former drug dealers, outwit the Internal Revenue Service by filing a return before the legitimate taxpayer files. Then the criminals receive the refund, sometimes by check but more often though a convenient but hard-to-trace prepaid debit card.

The government-approved cards, intended to help people who have no bank accounts, are widely available in many places, including tax preparation companies. Some of them are mailed, and the swindlers often provide addresses for vacant houses, even buying mailboxes for them, and then collect the refunds there.

This is crazy. Basically, they’re just trying to cash in on people’s refund checks.

Entertainment
‘American Idol’ finale: Ace Young proposes to Diana DeGarmo
At least Ryan Seacrest didn’t make us wait until after the commercial break. During the “American Idol” finale, he invited former “American Idol” also-rans Diana DeGarmo (she placed second to Fantasia Barrino in season three) and boyfriend Ace Young (he made it halfway through season five) up to the stage, and then stepped aside as Young got down on his knee and proposed to his girlfriend of two years.

Aw, congrats guys!

American Idol Finale: Who Won the Whole Thing?!
Phillip Phillips was named the winner of the 11th season of American Idol tonight—and was immediately engulfed in hugs and back-pats from his fellow finalists before last year’s winner, Scotty McCreery, handed the trophy over.

Congrats!

‘Dancing With the Stars’: Donald Driver pulls out surprise win
Donald Driver took home the coveted mirror ball trophy Tuesday night on “Dancing With the Stars.” The victory was a bit of a surprise, with runner-up Katherine Jenkins and third-place finisher William Levy performing well with their partners throughout the season.

Congrats Donald and Peta!

What were the Top 10 most-watched shows this season?
CBS can call itself the country’s most-watched network for the ninth time in the past 10 years.

The network won the 2011-12 television season, which ended Wednesday, by averaging nearly 12 million viewers each week. That’s about 3 million more viewers than closest competitor Fox, the largest margin of victory of any network in more than two decades.

America continued to be passionate about reality competition series this season, although there are signs of wear and tear in the relationship. Half the country’s 10 most-watched programs this season were reality competition shows, including two nights each of “American Idol” and “Dancing With the Stars,” and NBC’s “The Voice.”

Gotta admit that I watch a few reality shows. The only shows I watch on CBS are The Big Bang Theory, The Amazing Race, and How I Met Your Mother. Other than that, I watch DWTS, So You Think You Can Dance, Smash, Grey’s Anatomy, The Bachelor, The Office, and Glee. Occasionally, I’ll watch American Idol, Mad Men, and Weeds. New shows I’m looking forward to this summer: Duets and The Newsroom.

“Call Me Maybe”: The song of summer 2012
If “Call Me Maybe” hasn’t gotten its hook into your head by now, it’s only a matter of time. Jepsen’s earwormy tune has all the characteristics of a great summer song, as did Katy Perry’s ”California Gurls” in 2010, and “I Kissed a Girl” in 2008, and LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem” last August. It describes the nervousness of making the first move on a crush: “Hey, I just met you / And this is crazy / So here’s my number / So call me, maybe?”

It’s such a cheesy song, but I love it!

Sports
London 2012: Haile Gebrselassie Olympic 10,000m hopes ended
Ethiopian two-time Olympic 10,000m champion Haile Gebrselassie has failed to qualify for this summer’s Games in London after finishing seventh at the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games in Hengelo.
With the race being an official Ethiopian Olympic trial, Gebrselassie needed a top-two finish to qualify.
But the 39-year-old ran a time of 27 minutes 20.39 seconds, nearly nine seconds behind winner Tariku Bekele.

Wow, what a difference 9 seconds makes.