Validation

Short film Validation is the perfect Holiday season pick me up for every person in need of gentle humor and a smile. Directed by Kurt Kuenne, the film is about a parking attendant that gives out free compliments while validating parking for customers. By giving out compliments, actor TJ Thyne, hopes to make people smile. The parking attendant is met with a challenge, when he goes to the DMV to get his driver license photo taken, but can't make the gorgeous photographer, Vicki Davis, smile. The film is takes a viewer back into the old days, with its black/white color and fast photography.

White House Shooting incident

On November 11, around 9 pm Secret Service officials heard a gunshot about 800 yards away from the White House, where they found a vehicle near by with a weapon registered to Ortega-Hernandez. Following that determination, Secret Service issued a warrant for Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez.

Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez was arrested Wednesday, for allegedly being connected with a White House shooting incident. Secret Service found two bullets on the night of November 11, one on the outside of the house and one aimed at a bulletproof window.

Ortega-Hernandez, originally from Idaho, was found in western Pennsylvania and is to appear in Federal Court on Thursday afternoon. The young man was found by a anonymous tip at the Hampton Inn, where his bags were searched and he was later detained.

Overbilled $12,000 over past 10 years

Condo Owner, Tony Santoro, was overcharged $12,000 by Connecticut Light & Power. The 73 year old was overpaying by about $100 a month, paying over $220 for living alone and eating microwave meals.

"The only thing I use is the microwave oven, maybe once a day. And that's it. It's just me here. Just me. At the barber shop I pay $150 a month. We have air conditioning, a lot of lights, a lot of machines," says the elderly man.

Santoro claims that when he was receiving bills, he called to complain, but due to his poor english the company did not care to listen. Tony Santoro finally knew it was time to take more action against the company when he received a bill for $240, after being on vacation for one week out of the month.

Connecticut Light & Power has offered to give Santaro credit for the last four years. However state advocate for utility ratepayers, Joseph Rosentha, says that the company needs to pay every dollar they overcharged for the past 10 years to Tony Santoro.

Oil Plans Halted

The State Department of the United States announced it would delay plans for the Keystone XL pipeline. The 1,700 underground pipeline would help create jobs and would decrease the amount of oil the country would get from the middle east.

However the project is delayed due to the concerns of environmentalists, saying that the underground aquifer in Nebraska would become contaminated if the pipeline passes it. The decision was made by Obama, causing many people to support and oppose.

"We hope he continues to consider climate, health and the impacts of extreme energy like tar sands on our land and water while creating a path to real energy independence," says Founder of BOLD Nebraska.

The pipeline is a $7 billion dollar project that would bring oil to refineries in southern U.S. from the tar sands in canada. For now there is a halt of this project due to it's potential problems, and activists say they plan on making sure this pipeline never gets built.

Penn State Coach

Infamous Penn State coach Joe Paterno was forced to step down from his coaching position on Wednesday night. Paterno was forced to step down due to the associations with former assistant coach Jerry Sanduskly, who was involved with 40 counts of sexual abuse.

Paterno was fired due to the fact that he had acknowledgement of the sexual abuse between Sandusky and a 10-year old boy in the locker room shower and did not do more to stop it. Joe Paterno was willing to retire at the end of the season, but board of trustees at the University fired him immediately.

News of Joe Paterno being fired from the University caused outrage among Penn State students. Students started riots around campus, turning over news vans and chanting the footballs coach's name in the stadium. In addition to the riots on campus, the students showed their support for the coach by gathering outside his home, holding signs and flashing their cell phones in support.

Along with the forced step down of Joe Paterno, Penn State University president was forced to step down due to his knowledge of Jerry Sandusky's sexual abuse scandal and not reporting it to the police.

In my personal view of this situation, I felt that Joe Paterno should not have been fired from his position. The 84-year old was willing to retire at the end of the season, after serving the school for 61 years. The University should have let him leave the school with some pride and retire at the end of the season, instead they fired him. In my opinion the University did it just save their reputation, but they should have thought about the man that brought them that famous football reputation.

New tablet

In addition to the article on the tablet that I wrote, Barnes & Noble just announced that they are planning on releasing the new nook tablet on November 16, 2011. The price of the Nook tablet is cheaper than some of the other tablet such as the Ipad. The Nook tablet will cost around $249.

The Nook tablet is similar to the Nook color that Barnes & Noble came out with, except that this new tablet will have a new software. The tablet releasing on the 16th includes HuluPlus, comics, magazines, and Pandora. Lastly the Nook tablet will be 25% faster in turning pages than any other e-reader on the market and have a long battery life that can provide two months of reading.

The prices of the other Barnes & Nobles tablets such as the color and touch will dramatically reduce. The price will range from as high as $249 to as low as $99, making this a great deal.

Review of Classmates blog

Reading other people's blogs was interesting because I got to see what kinds of news stories people write about. Some of the news stories were similar to mine, which was interesting to see.

From last weeks blogs and reading reviews I learned that with every blog you have to keep in mind who the reader is and who you are trying to appeal to. I learned through other people's blog that it is okay to write about the smaller things, not just the headlines in the news. There is always someone your story will appeal to. I think that one thing I feared when thinking about what to write is " will someone want to read this." After seeing everyones else blog, I know I can step out of my box more and attempt to blog about different ideas.

I might start blogging about my academic life, because I never really talked about the issues around me in school. There is so much that needs to be changed or improved on in USP, that blogging about it will help those matters get more attention.