If you thought you liked listening to Katy Perry’s popular “Firework” or Justin Bieber’s “Somebody to Love” before, let’s add some college baseball players into the mix.
YouTube user whitenasian has been producing lip-sync videos during Wentworth’s annual spring training trip to Florida and has recently graced YouTube viewers with his last installment appropriately titled, “The End of an Era.”
Article first published as Wentworth Baseball Team Presents the End of an Era on Technorati.
Watching a space shuttle launch from the ground is a fascinating sight to see as it is, but, this past Thursday, passengers on a commercial flight leaving from Orlando International Airport were able to capture brilliant video footage of shuttle Discovery’s final lift off.
Among many things, Discovery was the first shuttle to be piloted by a woman in 1995, carried the first African American spacewalker and, at the end of this mission, will have brought 180 people into space.
Article first published as Stunning View of Space Shuttle Discovery’s Final Launch on Technorati.
On Tuesday, the National Hockey League announced a seven year sponsorship deal with Molson Coors in Canada and MillerCoors in the United States. Serving as the largest corporate sponsorship in league history, the deal is worth nearly $400 million.
But, the NHL may have made an enemy in long-time beer sponsor Labatt Breweries in Canada. Hours after announcing the deal, which is more than twice as much as what Labatt will have paid through this season, the incumbent sponsor expressed its surprise citing current renewal negotiations and an agreement to extend their sponsorship until 2014.
“We have an agreement with the league and are pursuing all legal remedies available to us to enforce the agreement,” said Charlie Angelakos, a vice president with Labatt, to the Wall Street Journal.
Bill Daly, deputy commissioner of the NHL, responded with, “Labatt has been and continues to be a terrific partner, but we strongly disagree with their assertion that an agreement was in place for the 2011-2012 NHL season.”
Labatt’s relationship with the NHL will be terminated at the end of June 2011 after serving as the official beer sponsor of the NHL in Canada for more than a decade.
The new agreement with Molson Coors includes money for television advertising and deals with individual teams.
“What this will allow us to do is take the brand to a whole new level,” said Dave Perkins, president and CEO of Molson Coors Canada to the Associated Press. “It enables us to really take hockey to our beer drinkers and to fans, and to provide hockey experiences behind the brand.”
The new beer sponsorship is seen as just a piece of a much larger puzzle for the NHL, who saw sponsorship revenue grow by 32 percent in the 2009-2010 season.
In the 2010-2011 season alone, the NHL has renewed deals with Bridgestone, Cisco Systems, and McDonald’s and signed new deals with Canadian Tire, Tim Hortons, Blackberry, Discover and Hershey’s.
Article first published as NHL Snubs Labatt Breweries With Surprise Beer Sponsorship on Technorati.
Despite Push for Tougher Immigration Laws, Number of Children Crossing the Mexican Border Continues to Rise
By Laura | February 24, 2011
Despite tougher immigration laws, increased checkpoints and previously reporting a drop in the number of immigrants crossing into the United States illegally, Border Patrol agents are now seeing an increase in the number of children trying to cross the border from Mexico.
The East Valley Tribune in Arizona reports that about 3,000 juveniles, some only months old and many traveling alone, were repatriated to Mexico from Nogales, AZ between January and September 2010, according to Alfonso Vera Sanchez, Mexican consul for protection at the Nogales Mexican consulate.
“We have the biggest number of unaccompanied minors repatriated every day,” Sanchez said to the East Valley Tribune.
Over the past year, the Department of Homeland Security has dedicated historic levels of personnel, technology and resources to the Southwest border and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection has more than doubled the size of the Border Patrol since 2004. On the state level, Arizona recently proposed a new round of controversial immigration restrictions that will bar illegal immigrants from driving in Arizona, enrolling in school or receiving public benefits. Children of illegal immigrants will have special birth certificates indicating that Arizona does not consider them Arizona citizens, reports the New York Times.
For 2010, U.S. Customs and Border Protection also reports that Border Patrol apprehensions, which are a key indicator of illegal immigration, were 463,000, down 36 percent over the past two years.
In addition to an increase in children immigrants, the Mexican consulate in Nogales has also seen an increase in missing persons and they continue to see more people with criminal histories attempting to enter the U.S.
To help combat the immigration issue, the Mexican government is stepping up efforts to spread awareness on the dangers involved in crossing to the U.S. illegally.
Article first published as Despite Push for Tougher Immigration Laws, Number of Children Crossing the Mexican Border Continues to Rise on Technorati.
Did you picture a spread of nutritional dishes when you thought about the Superbowl feast at the White House this past Sunday? Better think again.
Days before celebrating the first anniversary of the anti-obesity campaign “Let’s Move,” Michelle Obama enjoyed a selection of bratworst, kielbasa, cheeseburgers and deep dish pizza while watching the Green Bay Packers claim victory again the Pittsburgh Steelers. Defending her fat-laden meal choices, the First Lady recognized the importance of a balanced diet to reporters on Tuesday.
“I like to talk about my obsession with French fries because I don’t want people to think that “Let’s Move” is about complete, utter deprivation,” said Mrs. Obama to reporters on Tuesday. “It is about moderation and real life changes and ideas that really work for families, today’s families too.”
Looking to the facts, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled over the past three decades and one in every three children in our nation is overweight or obese. Due to both larger portion sizes and a different lifestyle, we are now eating 31 percent more calories than we were forty years ago.
Continuing the fight into the second year, the First Lady will address the achievements of the Let’s Move campaign over the past year and propose what more needs to be done to reduce childhood obesity to an audience in Georgia on Wednesday.
“We’re here to celebrate a new conversation in this country about the health and well-being of our children,” Mrs. Obama will say during Wednesday’s speech. “It’s a conversation about what our kids eat and how active they are. About how they feel and how they feel about themselves. And about what that means, not just their physical and emotional health, but for their success in school and in life.”
The First Lady will also unveil a national PSA campaign for “Let’s Move,” created by the Ad Council, that will reach 33,000 media outlets.
Article first published as Michelle Obama Recognizes Balance as Key to Fighting Obesity on Technorati.
“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
~ Henry David Thoreau
Having graduated early, the majority of my friends were still attending class, writing papers and living the college life while I was blessed enough to have found a full-time job in the exact field I hoped for, I often forgot that my friends were still in the job search with up in the air futures.
This past week I’m happy to say literally all of my friends from BU and other schools received job offers and some are already settled in their new positions. I wanted to post this to say how overwhelmingly ecstatic and proud I am of each and every one of you.
Congrats! I hope you enjoy every minute of it.
With two of my close friends recently discovering the wonders of 
Foursquare, I’ve heard the phrase “Did you check in yet?” more times than I can count. Each stop warrants a new Foursquare check in, and on good days, a new badge or mayorship.
Combining the media frenzy that surrounds the popular location based service and eagerness of social media addicts to try the “next Twitter,” Foursquare’s check in rate more than doubled in February. Even though some believe Foursquare is a unique service that is paving the path for all location based services, many early adopters the days of Brightkite and Google Latitude. Unfortunately, neither services were able to tap into the perfect mix like Foursquare.
So, why do you check-in? I was introduced to Foursquare as a location-based service where if I can receive coupons and other promotions from businesses when I check in at their venue. I love the check-in part of Foursquare but have yet to experience any type of promotional activity on the application. Since many already discussed the idea of Foursquare being the “next Twitter,” is this an indication of how quickly businesses will adapt to yet another social media service?
The way I see it, Twitter is still a scary concept to many businesses, both large and small. Blogging has yet to be widely accepted by top management. Communications professionals are still experiencing resistance when trying to introduce a company to the world of social media. So, how long will it take them to latch on to Foursquare?
We will see a trend similar to Twitter but I think business leaders will actually be more open to the idea. Those who have started to use Twitter have already taken a huge step. If their Twitter usage has been successful to them as a brand or a business, the next step of joining Foursquare is much smaller than the first. They’ve already seen how social media can help them and will hopefully be much more open to the idea than they probably were even just a year ago.
Tonight, I’m flipping through the channels and landed on the infamous American Idol for the first time since… probably high school. I’ve always loved watching the initial auditions but get pretty bored after they pick the first 24 finalists. 
All I have to say is… seriously? From when I started watching this show in maybe middle school or high school (yes, the Kelly Clarkson years) there was a LOT of talent showcased in a half hour. Now? I’m sad, but not surprised, to say that American Idol has turned into our favorite genre of ‘reality show.’ It seems the judges and producers are going for more of the story instead of the actual talent. 
I could be entirely off base since I haven’t been following the season, but let’s think about it. How many people are in this world? How many of the ACTUALLY make it? The percentage to become a star is pretty much close to none, and the few performers I just watched didn’t really impress. I fell for their stories more than their voice and while, yes, that is a way to sell, it’s not going to carry them through. It’ll make me listen, but it won’t bring me to the concert. Most say Simon is too harsh and while I usually agree, maybe in this season, he’s just telling it how it is.
I feel uncommonly blessed when it comes to my college experience for several reasons, but mainly, in regards to academics, because of the valuable relationships I formed with my professors and friends, or soon-to-be colleagues. I learned everything from the intricacies of public relations to the routines of interviewing to the practice of networking while soaking up the knowledge of my experienced professors and the tales of friends just dipping their toes in the world, learning from everyone and sharing what I could.
An important milestone was, of course, my first internship interview and for someone who has never been in the hot seat before, it can be a very daunting. I went to everyone and everything – professors, friends, family, internet – gathering all the advice I could before taking my first step in the professional world.
Now that I’ve had the amazing opportunity to sit on the other side of the table and be the one asking the questions, I realized that some students might not have the resources I did when preparing for an interview and while all were wonderfully to speak with, some either forgot or didn’t know some of the basics of interviewing.
I wanted to share the three things that no prospective employee should ignore:
1. Research the company/agency before the interview
2. Create a list of questions to spit out when asked the final “Do you have any questions for me?” question
3. Write thank you emails after the interview
While the above might seem rudimentary, the most common one to forget is writing a thank you note. This is a tried and true tactic that will remind interviewers about your interview, and allows you to repeat some of your best qualities that set yourself apart from others for the position. In terms of always having questions prepared, this is a piece of advice I heard from almost everyone and I believe helped me many times in my interviews. Even asking a question that you don’t necessarily need to know the answer to will show how interested you are and might also uncover some facts about the internship or company that you didn’t know about. When jobs are as competitive as they are these days, it’s the little things that set you apart from the rest.
I downloaded the official Twitter application for Blackberry today (at the expert recommendation from colleague Donald Martelli) after using Seesmic for a couple months and UberTwitter before that. This might be personal preference, but I think the app blows other “unofficial” apps out of the water. As an iPhone user of over a year before I bought my Bold, I was very disappointed moving over from my beautiful Tweetie app to the practically archaic apps on the Blackberry.
Here’s my quick rundown of the new Twitter app:
Intuitive
The app includes a handy, easy to use reference bar at the top of the screen that offers a button or a click to all of my Twitter needs. Other applications, such as Seesmic or UberTwitter, I had to navigate through the menu button to get to my @replies and DM’s. The Twitter app also offers “Popular Topics” and “Find People” and these are two options I never found on other apps, and if I did they weren’t easy to use.
Fast
I no longer have to stare at the “updating” text on Seesmic because this app refreshes on it’s own and at a much higher speed than other apps. When I’m scrolling down through recent tweets, the last thing I want to do is wait to see more. Worst than that, on UberTwitter I would often get error messages when I tried to refresh and it seemed to slow my whole Blackberry down as well.
Not too bad to look at
This application takes the cake in terms of aesthetics, hands down. Since it came from the source itself, it clearly mimics the graphically elegant Twitter homepage and actually has some design to it instead of just a list of tweets (some apps are with or without avatars.. hardly a plus on their part).
All in all, definitely download this application even if you’re happy with your current one. That’s the same boat I was in but now I don’t think I’ll use anything else on my Blackberry.