Cartoon Scandal

There are a bunch of Facebook games. I'm not talking about the ones like Farmville or Family Feud. I'm talking about the ones that you make as your statuses or do in notes. From "Why Wassup" to "30 things" there are a gazillion of the out there. On November 16th Facebook users all over the U.S. started changing profile picture to memerable cartoon characters. A popular trend tracking website called Know Your Meme stated the craze started with users Greece and Cyprus.

This whole idea was to raise awarness of child abuse. But some how word got around that the campaign was crafted by pedophiles hoping to add innocent children as friends without them knowing. Spokesperson Simon Axten from Facebook says the whole accusation is false.

Harry Potter

Harry Potter, A world known character, book, a phenomenon. The Harry Potter series has been with all of us since we were born. From June 30 1997 J.K. Rowling's book has a impact on our culture.

Book stores worldwide began holding midnight releases for the books. When the Goblet of Fire came the holdings would include events like face painting, mock sorting and live entertainment. This midnight releases have been so successful that at least nine million of the 10.8 million copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that were made were sold out in 24 hours. Harry and The Deathly Hollows the last book was so good that it became the fastest selling book in History. When most of us think of this book we think of teen readers. But Harry Potter has collected adult readers. Because of this, two editions of each book were released. The first one the one that we mostly know of has a cover that is aimed for children while the second edition was aimed to adults.

Harry Potter has received some many awards. Some of them include four Whitaker Platinum Book Awards, the Inaugural Whitebread children's Book of the Year award and three Nestle Smarties Book Prizes are just to name a few. Although the series has relieved many praises it also came with some controversies. Claims by American Christian groups stated that the books promote witchcraft among kids.

All in all whether or not Harry Potter has won all the hearts of international readers it is still one of the best collection of books anyone could ever read. Challenging but funny at the same time these novels have motivated children all over to begin reading. Even if it was just these series. This whole other world has inspired everything around us. Movies , T.V. shows even a theme park. One thing for sure is The Harry Potter series will go down in history for ever.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving or what I say Turkey Day is coming up. Now Thanksgiving isn't as popular as its sister Christmas, but it is still as fun. With the notorious amount of food and having a a week off from school you have to love it.

Everyone knows that Thanksgiving started in Plymouth Massachusetts in 1621. After a very successful growing season (all thanks to the Native American Squanto) they decided to share the food with the the Native Americans. The feast consisted of things we don't usually think of for Thanksgiving. There was food like squash, corn ,seafood and wild animals like geese and ducks. Now, Thanksgiving didn't become a national holiday until 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln announced it to be celebrated every fourth Thursday of November. Thanksgiving has commercialized over the years. If you hadn't noticed; the main part of
Thanksgiving is what we eat and the big thing would have to be the turkey.Around 46 million turkeys are eaten on this special day. If the average cost of a turkey is $1.19 per pound and weighs around 16 pounds, that's about $875,840,000 spent just on one piece of food. That's enough with the turkey I thinks it's time to shine some light on the other important foods that take part in a regular Thanksgiving dinner. 60 million boxes of the stuffing brand Stove Top are sold each Turkey day. Since one box cost $2.99 that times 60 million is a grand total of $179,400,000 every year. Cranberry sauce, everyone has got to love some sweet tarty cranberry sauce with their meal. Ocean Spray sells 72 million cans of cranberry sauce during the holidays. One can cost $2.39 times that by 72 million and you get $172,080,000. Last but not least is the best part of the whole entire meal. The desserts. I prefer cupcakes but I think pies will do just fine. Costco almost every year sells about 1 million pumpkin pies during the week of Thanksgiving. Given that each pie cost $5.99 each they make about $5,990,000 that week just on pies.
From this point of view Thanksgiving seems very expensive. But wait until Christmas rolls around, people spend like it's their last day on earth. The statistics were brought to you by GoBankingRates. Here's a fun fact: Did you know that Thanksgiving is the busiest traveling holiday. The reason it wouldn't be Christmas is because most people like to spend Christmas with their intermediate family.

Fast Food Ads vs. Reality

We all have seen the food ads. Whether they're from Mcdonald's, Wendy's or Burger King the food in commercials look good- better than good delicious. Every time I see one, it makes me want to hop in the car and head on ever to Mickey D's and get a large fries and Mocha Frappe. Who can deny everyone has had that mouth watering experience. But once you get there that feeling has died down because of what you receive instead of what ordered. Rather than having a Frappe with tons of whipped cream and carefully drizzled chocolate sauce on top you get a cup that looks like it contains chocolate milk and barely enough whipped cream and chocolate sauce to see. Now I'm over exaggerating a little with the drink but I can otherwise with the other foods you are handed. Below are some images of what the advertisements promise and what you are really getting.
Shocking isn't it. The advertisement is twice as big as the actual Whopper and you can barely see the tomato and lettuce. I wonder if they forgot about the pickles and onions. I think it's safe to say that the real burger is more than just fluffed up for the ad.

Next up is the McDonald's Big Mac. Notorious for having 2 beef patties and a special sauce to tie it all together. Both burgers are close in size but the real thing isn't as attractive as the ads. The actual Big Mac looks like it it missing a patty. All in all I would give who ever made this burger a C+

This one is ridiculous. First of all you can't even see what's inside. Heck, I wouldn't even know what it is if it wasn't for the ad. The two tacos look like pieces of tan paper stained with oil. Who ever made this needs to be fired immediately. The tacos don't even look edible. I'm Sorry but who made gets a F-.


So There you have it. The real thing verses what we are showed in the ads. Either while watching TV or driving down the road we may never get what we expect. Pictures were taken by Dario D. from aphaila.com

Best Diguise

An aged wrinkled old Caucasian man boarded a plane in Hong Kong and a young, youthful landed in Vancouver. Canadian government is calling this an astonishing case of disguised identity. Halfway through the Oct. 29th flight the man entered the planes bathroom where he removed a complex and very detailed mask. As he returned to his seat his true self, an Asian man in his early 20's. According to an "Intelligent Alert" broadcast by the Canadian Border Services Agency "Information was received from Air Canada Corporate Security saying there might be a possible imposter on a flight the originated from Hong Kong. The passenger in question was examined at the beginning of the take off to be an elderly white male to appear to have young looking hands. During the flight the man went to the lavoratory and came out as an Asian looking male that looked as though he was in his 20's." The Canada Border Services would not confirm that they had "intercepted and detained the traveler attempting to enter the Canada under false preferences." A spokesmen from the Canada Immigration Ministry and Air Canada confirmed the details according to the incident included in the CBSA bulletin. Though his name was not released the man was met at the gate by Canadian security officials. He stated his refugee status after being escorted through customs. The officials searched his luggage and found a disguise making kit which included a leather cap, glasses and a sweater. He admitted he went on the plane with the mask on and within a few hours he removed it. It was said that the man swapped boarding passes with an American born in 1955. After this incident the airline requires all passengers to show a passport before getting on international flights leaving Hong Kong.

iPhone VS. Droid

The iPhone has always been the phone of the 21st century. With the face time and 3G speed browsing who could deny it. The phone may have some problems, but what phone doesn't. Either way nothing that came out has ever been better or even compared. That was until the new line from Verizon called the Droid hit the market.The are three different Droid cellphones. The first one is the Droid Incredible by HTC it has a 3.7" touchscreen the can be used for game playing or web browsing. Next up is the Droid 2. Unlike the Droid Incredible the Droid 2 is created by Motorola. Though it doesn't have a touchscreen it has a whole new redesigned QWERTY keyboard. Last but not least is the Droid X. With a screen that is 4.3" it's the biggest out of the 3. Not only is the screen huge but, you can shoot in HD resolution.

Now that we have the Droid phones covered it is time to shine some light on the iPhone 4. This phone has something called a retina display. Since it is a retina display the pixel density is so high our eyes can't tell each individual pixel apart. Face time is something else the iPhone has. In case you didn't know face time is like video chatting but through the phone. With the iPhone 4 you can run third party apps and change between the just as fast. The last new thing about the iPhone 4 is the HD video recording. With that, every video you record will be high definition.

The iPhone and Droid has many similarities and differences, but now is time for the face off. The first thing we will be judging is the display. With the 4.3 inch touch screen I would think the droid is a clear winner here. But clearer is the tie breaker. You see since the iPhone has the retina display that gives it a much higher result ion. Another thing is Apple uses a technology called IPS that means the phone looks and preforms better when it is in sunlight. Basically it all depends on what you like. Do u like a bigger screen or a clearer one? Next up is the camera. The Droid X has higher mega pixels but the iPhone has a front face that allows us to video chat. Both phones have shoot in high definition but since the iPhone has the front facing camera it's the winner of this round. Round three is up and we are talking about battery life. The iPhone 4 has an amazing battery life. You can get up to 7 hours of talk and 16 hours of wifi and 3G browsing plus a whole bunch more. Sadly Motorola hasn't yet release the official battery life for the Droid X but they stated the battery life will indeed be larger and the processor will be faster than the original. Still it won't be as good iPhone 4. So once again the winner is iPhone. The last thing we will be taking a look at is Network. The iPhone 4 is available on AT&T. Now, is not only known for selling the iPhone but for it's dropped calls and bad iPhone traffic in the metropolitan areas. Luckily the Droid is on the Verizon network which has been shown to have better handled the smart phone traffic. So in the last round the winner hands down is the Droid.

It's time to tally up the scores. 1 point goes to the iPhone 4 for its incredible retina screen and one more for the outstanding battery life. That makes it a total of 2 points out of 3. That means the last 1 go to the Droid. For the best network. But you might have noticed there were 4 rounds. Like I said the winner of the First round depends on your taste. Whether you like for the text and the pictures to be displayed bigger or for the screen to be clearer and have a higher resolution. Either way all the phones are great in just depends on what you like.

Young Love

Most people get married or find their soul mates in their early twenties, maybe even in their teenage years. This does not apply to the two young Syrian kids ages 3 and 5. Five year old Khalid asked his father to marry his kindergartner sweet heart Hala . Both families decided to prepare a ceremony when Khalid is 15 and Hala is 13 even though it is still against the law.

The children first met while both were on vacation in Latakia. His father Juma said, "He was so love sick after
parting from his girlfriend that he refused to go back to his nursery unless Hala came too. When Juma's wife
contacted Hala's family she was surprised to discover that the little girl had the same feelings. Whether the
kids are committed in a to each other for life is doubtful. Juma has vowed that if they did not marry in a
decade he will respect there wishes. Juma said, " We know that Khalid and Hala might change their mind in
the future, but what we do know is that they are very happy and talk to each other every other day.

No Ordinary Family

There is a new show coming to ABC. You might have heard of it, it's called No Ordinary Family. The series is about a family who encountered special abilities during a family vacation. The Powells (that's their last name) consist of the father Jim, who has super strength, the mother named Stephanie who is super fast, the daughter Daphne who has telepathic capabilities and finally the son JJ he has the powers that everyone wants, super intelligence. Each one have their own issues and tries to work them out with each other through out the series.

Jim feels worthless as his kids are growing up and Stephanie is busy with work as a scientist. His job as a police sketch artist isn't making things any better. When he discovers that he has super strength he feels like he has a new sense of purpose in his life. Being an award winning scientist who works 80 hours a week isn't easy. Imagine doing that and having to deal with all the families have to deal with. Well that's Stephanie Powell's life. Having the abilities to run at outrageous speeds will help find time for being a mom, wife, and one great scientist. It is already hard enough being a teenager and being able to read people minds can make things a even more complicated. Through out the show she learns how to control her powers so where she can only here one voice, and that's hers. The youngest of them all JJ struggles with finding a place in his family. Having a brilliant scientist as a mom and a sister who is one the most popular kids in school makes it a hard shadow to follow. When they all start receiving their powers in the beginning and his don't show up makes life harder. Once he discovers his intelligence he tries to tone it in order for his parents to accept him for him and not what was magically gifted to him.

So check of No Ordinary Family on ABC every Tuesday at 8:00 pm

Popurlar Bracelets Causing Trouble

The "I Heart Boobies" are a hit with almost every teenager out there. But it doesn't seem they are a hit with most of the school officaily. In states like Minnesota to California Schools think that the word boobies is too slang for the classroom. The bracelets are meant to support breast cancer not direspect women. It seems to the aurthorities that the bracelets can lead to sexually harrassing coversation. According to breastcancer.org the bracelets are meant to raise awareness to a touchy subject. They also stated that the the campaign is not ofr everyone.

Students say they wear bracelets for respect to those who do have breast cancer family members or a close friend. One student named Aryn Clark said " I wear mine because my cousin has breast cancer and so does my aunt. There was one comment on the Fox afiliate website claim that "Breast Cancer isn't the only cancer that needs support. I have several cancer survivors in my family. Including thyroid and colon. But I don't see anyone walking around with I love rectum bracelets. Some people just wear them as a joke. " We're just seeing how far we can go without getting in trouble." Said Matthew Moorehead; a student from Bakersfield High School.
So what do you think. Is having these "I love boobies braclets toxic to the kids in middle and highshool or is it just a bracelets to help kids be aware of Breast Cancer?

Dog Stolen From a Little Girl

The Dog was only a puppy when it was taken without permission from the 13 year old delawarian. "I came home from school and called his name. When he didn't come I knew there was something wrong.

13 year old Jade-Lyn thought he was dead. " I was scared to walk around house because Luckily he wasn't dead might have found something I didn't want to see. Luckily he wasn't dead; instead Jade-Lyn's mother took him to the Humane Society without her permission.


"I was so tired of his barking and messing up stuff. It was time for him to go. But her grandparents stepped in and decided to adopt the dog back and have him live with them.