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These days, most people are content to watch "CSI" or "NCIS" to receive their fill of criminal investigations. While the shows are entertaining, they are obviously not real, and as we all know, usually the truth is stranger than fiction.
I suspect anyone who is reading this already has a number of technology gadgets. I suppose this could be anything from a computer to a cell phone to an MyePet (quick survey ... does anyone really have a MyePet?). Anyone with a gadget knows that it doesn't always work right. However, according to a recent study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 15 percent of individuals never bothered repairing a piece of technology that broke within the past year.
Before moving to Baltimore, I had had little experience riding most types of mass transportation. Back at home in Louisville, I occasionally took the bus places, but most of my other experiences were infrequent. I can count on one hand the number of cities (Chicago, Boston, Seattle, San Francisco) where I had ridden some form of public transit.
During the weekend, I had a chance to finally attend the Baltimore Writers' Conference. There had been times in the past when I was thinking about going to one, but I could never fit it into my schedule. Luckily, I think I picked a pretty decent one to attend. First, it happened to be at Towson University, where I attend grad school. Second, there was a pretty good crowd of people there, all of whom seemed like qualified members of the writing profession.
The day after the election, I had a chance to check out all of the front pages from around the world. It was remarkable how many international newspapers had Obama as the top story, and as expected, a number of U.S. papers devoted their entire front pages to election coverage. I created an Obama collage of the papers as a tribute to our next president. Feel free to use as a screensaver or desktop image!
What constitutes an American tradition? It probably depends on who you ask. When I think of traditions of this country, I think of baseball, apple pie, and freedom (not necessarily in that order ... ). Holiday traditions in the U.S. are a little easier to define, only because they are recognized by a large number of people who live here. Religious traditions can be seen in the same vain, although few religions were actually created in this country.
I would assume you aren't naive enough to think your cell phone records are still private. True, I can't just pay a company to find out who you called, but ... oh wait. I CAN do that!
AOL has had its moments over the years, but attempting to level a tax on sending email is just a bit over the top. Fortunately, with the help of MoveOn.org, there's an online petition you can sign to thwart this from starting.
The organization has created Our Open Letter to AOL to help prohibit AOL and other ISPs from setting a tax on emails. Let's face it: Would you pay to send an email?
Editor's Note: This was Ben's final column while writing for the Crawfordsville (Ind.) Journal Review.
This will be the last column I write for the Journal Review. I may start them again sometime in the future. I would like to. But for now, this will have to do.
If any of you have column ideas, please still tell them to me and send them. I will keep a list, and somewhere down the road, maybe they will let me do this again.
1. Based upon you interpretation of the Yeaman article and your experiences, how would you define “critical theory?†What key terms do you feel are needed to create this definition? Write a brief definition and include a list of 5 terms (not including critical & theory).