Daily Archives: January 15, 2013

Gun control in America???

There is no doubt that after what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School here in Connecticut everybody has been affected in some way shape or form. Even though it has already been a month, we are still seeing and feeling the effects. One thing that has changed just recently is in our class every day. Have you noticed the doors locked? This is one action Dodd has taken towards our safety to protect us at school. Another debate that has occurred is Gun Control, which in my personal opinion is very important and very close to home.  If you recall the man who is accountable for the deaths of these innocent children and workers at the school, he stole the firearm. Obviously any man that would do this should not be allowed to have a firearm, and he probably couldn’t get one, that is why he stole it from his mother, who was completely sane. That might not why he stole it that is what I personally believe.

Many people want the second amendment right taken away; which is the right to bear arms. I can’t help but wonder if the people who support this idea , have ever shot a firearm on a regular basis, have learned to respect firearms, learned how they work , how to handle firearms , and how to shoot a firearm. I firmly believe the answer to all of these is not yes, but for me they are. I have been shooting firearms every week at least for over a year. I have learned to respect all firearms in such a way that I doubt anybody in the school could even compare. If I was not introduced to firearm safety I would not respect them. I strongly believe all people should be introduced to firearms so they develop a respect for them .When you tell most adults as a 13 year old girl that you shoot firearms, they automatically believe that you are doing it irresponsibly. That is not at all the case.  Every person that I have met that shoots firearms at the range I go to have such a respect for firearms that most people underestimate. You will never joke around with a firearm and safety is insanely important if you are using them responsibly.

The people that abuse firearms should not be able to shoot a firearm. This seems very obvious to most people. When you buy a firearm you have to present your permit and not just anybody could have one. What you don’t need a permit for is rifles and shotguns.  Instead of banning firearms from everybody, including people who are perfectly capable of handling a firearm, Congress should pass laws requiring a permit to purchase any kind of firearm. Any type of firearm could harm or kill anybody if used in the wrong way. You don’t need to ban firearms because people who do shoot them correctly wouldn’t use them in the wrong way. If people can buy a firearm who shouldn’t be, that is the problem that should be fixed. There are millions of people that use firearms to protect themselves, hunt or use recreationally that would not be able to use them if the second amendment right is taken away. If that is taken away over a million people can’t defend themselves if need be. For somebody like me who shoots recreationally and most importantly to get better, their sport will get taken away. Would you like it if lacrosse , football, soccer , baseball , softball , hockey , basketball and anything else you do would get taken away? It is the same thing here. This isn’t the right answer; instead you should prevent people who shouldn’t be shooting firearms from being able to, instead of not allowing people who should be able to shoot firearms from being able to.

-Mikenzy Golebiewski

Apple is Losing it’s Edge

Ever since the Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone in June of 2007, the smartphone industry exploded. In effort to keep up with the profit that Apple was making, other cellular device brands, such as LG and Nokia, furiously spit out smartphones in every size and shape. After the launch of the iPad in 2012, brands like Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Samsung made their own tablet appearances on the market.

None of these other products grew to be quite as popular as Apple’s iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, of course. Apple was a clear leader in the “smart” gadget market. Their innovation was clean, sleek, and user friendly products that weren’t exactly economical or sturdy. By not catering to the consumers, Apple somehow managed to dominate the market and leave people lusting after its products. And, as anyone can see, after their first glorious innovation, more advanced versions of the product, iPhone, persay, aren’t much of a stretch compared to the first.

Anyway, back to the release of the iPad in 2010. At the same time, eReaders were making an appearance in bookstores and on Amazon.com. This evolved into the popular new 7 inch tablets such as the Kindle Fire and Samsung Galaxy Tab 7. At that time period, Steve Jobs claimed that Apple would never make a 7 inch tablet. That, of course, would be following someone’s lead. And surely, in his mind, once you become a follower, you will forever be a follower.

In 2011, Steve Jobs passed away, leaving the fate of his company in Tim Cook’s hands. TIm Cook isn’t making good executive decisions for Apple Corp. First of all, he approved startling changes to the proportions of the iPhone and iPod Touch. The new “tallboy” display adds half an inch to the iPhone and iPod Touch’s screens, elongates the rectangular shape of the device, and makes it awkward to use, take pictures with, and use in general. It also caused a massive inconvenience to app developers. Rather than having to optimize their apps for iOS 6, developers were forced to alter, remake, and program in new graphics information to support this new display. The new iPhones now have an ugly strip of shiny plastic on the top of the back, rather than either a fully matte or fully shiny body. The new iPods are even worse, with some sort of strap holding attachment at one of the bottom corners that all new cases and covers must accommodate for. However, the dramatic, totally unexpected change that came was that the iPod touches were now in fact being offered in different colors. This was Apple’s first time in trying to cater to customers, giving them choices, and is quite a change from their original philosophy. Also, this change isn’t going to help them sell more. Research shows that people buy more, and make better choices when there are fewer options. Take the classic jam example. More customers purchased jam when there were 6 different types, rather than 24. It’s easy to choose between a black or white, rather than six different colors.

The recent iPad mini would never be on the market if it were up to Steve Jobs. However, Tim Cook, current CEO of Apple tries to save face for his company by claiming that a 7.9 inch tablet is in a completely different league than a 7 inch tablet (which the iPad Mini is). The iPad mini is clearly an attempt to keep up with the 7 inch tablet market. Most models in the said market cost half as much. Boo you, Apple. You’re becoming a follower. The new iPad Mini’s volume control buttons are on the right, no longer the left. This leaves anyone that’s not a brand new Apple customer (like myself) trying to push nothingness on the left side of the device for a couple moments every time they try to change the sound, only to realize moments later that the buttons have moved.

On a last note, the awkward, ear-side specific, and strange-feeling new “EarPods” (redesigned earbuds that direct sound straight to one’s eardrums) are too much of an inconvenience for our lazy generation- no one has the time to make sure that they’re putting the right one in their right ear and left one in their left. Unfortunately, because of their design, they don’t work otherwise. The redesigned chargers make it confusing in a household where people might have both older and newer Apple products. These new “features” (if you could call them that) make the once user-friendly Apple products more inconvenient.

Apple used to be a global leader in the electronics industry- other brands would scramble to try and catch up with them, model their products after Apple’s. However, since former CEO and forever innovator Steve Jobs’s demise, new CEO and not-so-much innovator Tim Cook has been making decision that are dulling Apple’s competitive edge at light speed. Because of these decisions, Apple is falling behind (especially after the release of the pretty darn innovative Windows 8) on innovation and its ability to impress the fickle consumers of our modern world.

~Elaine Cao