Summer 2014 - Youth Festival

SUMMER TIME! Everyone is excited to be planning out what they will be doing over summer in the sun! This summer there is going to be an event held in California called the 'Youth Festival' on July 25th to 27th for kids all over the U.S. that are from Gujarat, India. In this event there will be so many different activities going on, it's going to be so exciting! The first day will be getting to know each other and more of a bonding thing. Then, there is going to be a t-shirt designing contest, singing competition, and a talent show (which I am performing in with a group of friends). Next day it's going to be a day filled with Garba performances, which is one of Gujarat's more traditional dances. I am also performing in that show with six other girls! Then the last day we will all be going sight seeing, to the beach, and to an amusement park and just hanging out with all the new friends everyone makes!

In this trip the most important performance for us is the Garba because it gets very intense. So the group has decided to do one of our old performances and just revise a couple things in it. Garba is most complicated because it is 10 times more active and energetic than regular dancing. The performance below is what I did with a group of girls for one of our holidays -- Diwali. We are going to use this performance and tweak it a bit so that its good for 7 people and then perfect it for the festival in July! We can NOT wait to be there performing this summer!

Twitter Royalty

In the real world, randomly following people is frowned upon. More likely than not, it will end in a restraining order. But that’s the difference between the actual life and the internet. For some reason, being followed online by masses of people is an increasingly desirable thing. If you haven’t been following where I’m going with this, I’m referring to the social media mega house, Twitter. It has grown dramatically since its start in 2006. Really, its bizarre how a site that’s focus is on followers and hash tags has done so well.

Unlike Facebook, which forces a mutual friendship between two users, Twitter allows people to follow (or not follow) whomever they please.  That, and the fact that friends are referred to as followers makes Twitter users feel more powerful. Kings and rulers had followers back in the day, so do current celebrities. Essentially, people of influence have followers. Now, in this digital age, anyone can feel like that.

The more followers an account has, the more fabulous it must be, right? How do average people become Twitter royalty through mere 140 character tweets? Everyone on Twitter secretly wants a ton of devoted followers. Even those who have more people in their followers list than their following list feel pretty awesome. Sometimes this illusion of power gets to people’s heads. But it’s good to remember, when the phone screen goes black and the computer shuts down, being followed in the real world is considerably less fun...

 

 

 

African Music Stars

 DJ Arafat or Arafat Muana, an ex-disc jockey in "Shangaï" on Princess Street, is a griot, DJ and singer from Côte d'Ivoire who makes music of the Coupé-Décalé genre. DJ Arafat is son of the Tina Glamour, an artist from Cote d'Ivoire.He started his career at a very young age; 18 with the title 'Jonathan' which really sprung him up into the music industry and has been the best and at the top of Ivorian music for ten years now.He is an artist with variety and changes names and styles every time. Though most of his songs are meaningless his fans still enjoy him and the music because they make you dance to his beats. He is also very arrogant but one think he loves is remaining at he top no matter what it takes for him to be there.

My second best star will be Davido,David Adedeji Adeleke, better known by his stage name Davido, is a Nigerian American recording artist, performer, and record producer. In 2011, he co-produced and released "Dami Duro", a song well-received throughout Nigeria.Here with another blooming young talent just 21 years of age and is already making millions and the African continent very proud with his music.i love him because his songs are very good and meaningful and keeps me always in the mood to want to dance.

And lastly but not the least someone who makes me proud of my country Cameroon. Petit-Pays is a Cameroonian musician. By 1996 he had sold over 50,000 cassettes. He is also known as OMEGA, Rabba Rabbi, Turbo and famously Avocat defenseur des femmes. He is looked up as the michael jackson of Cameroon if i may say. He governs Cameroon music for more than 20 years now.

These are the African pop stars who make the African continent proud keep up and love live African music.  

Tesla Motors

The new technology automobiles, Tesla Motors is an independent automaker that are the first  car company to make models that run on battery’s. They also sell other electric vehicle powertrain components. There is no gas involved in these electric cars. In the first quarter of 2013, Tesla posted profits for the first time in its ten-year history.  This major car company gained its first attention around the world when Tesla produced the Tesla Roadster. It is a fully electronic sports car. With the couple models they have, they also produced the Model S, which is a fully electronic luxury sedan. Tesla does not use single- purpose, large format cells like other automakers but they use thousands of lithium-ion 18650 commodity cells. Those cells are small cylindrical battery cells, which are normally found in laptops or other electronic sources. These cars are more affordable and gas producing cars. For the model S the base price was 57,400 dollars and this company plans to produce a car that is only 30,000 dollars soon to be called the BlueStar.   

With all this new technology, Car Company’s are picking up and trying to have Americans save money in my opinion. Americans are still spending a lot of money on gas with non electric cars and it is ridiculous. I think this was a good idea to build this type of cars and also considering that the company is offering electric cars for an affordable price.

Because of all the new technology and the items that are being produced, you cannot always tell how reliable they are. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has investigated the model S because of a response call; fires destroyed two cars. The aluminum shielding that is supposed to protect the lithium-ion battery packs had been pierced by debris.  Americans need to watch out and make sure they do not purchase the first year because it could be a fluke.

social media becoming too popular for our culture

Social media is starting to get out of hand these days I feel like. Popular applications such as Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat is changing and shaping our society into a large group of crazy insecure people. Girls are posting obscene pictures just to gain attention and likes from anyone to make themselves feel better. They don’t think twice about it either, they will post anything. What has happened to morals and standards? Have they completely fallen out the window?

Guys are cheating on their partners on a whole new level and vice versa! People don’t care anymore whether someone has a girl friend or boy friend, that wont stop them unfortunately. I understand people like options, but there is a very thin line between options and just being a player or a slut. (Excuse my language).

People are literally turning crazy over these applications. Girls or guys will freak out on one another if they see a certain person in their Snapchat best friends or if they like someone’s picture on Instagram! What happened to these applications actually being used for social reasons and not some new way of flirting to get with someone? Some people are getting too carried away with these applications and are using them to stalk others and be bullies. I am not saying every girl or guy does this by any means! I am pointing out the fact that these social media applications are starting to take a turn for the worse.

I have had friends break up because their partner followed a certain person on Twitter and Instagram or was snapping the wrong people. It blew my mind! No one can trust anyone anymore because of social media, everyone has trust issues and I wonder why. For the people who don’t abuse social media and actually use it with good intentions I applaud you. For the ones who use it or have used it the way I previously described, then, not to be rude, I think you need to slow down and just think for a minute, is it really worth it?

Windows XP retirement

Computer hackers have been waiting for the day Microsoft stops releasing security patches for Windows XP. It is left open for computer hackers to get virtually anything they want off of infected computers that run Windows XP. On April 8, 2014 Microsoft stopped supporting Windows XP. Now, Windows XP is vulnerable and open to hackers to exploit. Hackers will use exploits and bugs that they have discovered and have been saving to use on retirement day. They have been building up ways to hack into the system for some time now. Hackers can use the 0-day exploits to gain full access to a computer system using XP. This retirement will cost companies millions of dollars. Companies will have to upgrade to a newer operating system or face the threat of hackers. They will be forced to change in order to comply with federal laws like HIPAA, FERPA, PCI-DSS, and more. It’s either pay to upgrade or pay the fine. It was expected that a little over a fourth of computer users are still using Windows XP. This isn’t much of a shock. Many of the computer illiterate won’t upgrade, haven’t upgraded, and don’t understand why they need to upgrade. This will lead to breaches of computer systems all across the world. For example, almost all ATM machines are running on Windows XP. If they haven’t been updated they will compromise the banking information of hundreds of thousands if not millions of people. Hopefully everyone will become aware of this security risk and upgrade their systems.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9241585/XP_s_retirement_will_be_hacker_heaven

Pinterest

The image sharing and scrapbooking site is a visual tool most used by students or adolescents, mainly girls, to collect and share ideas for every possible idea in the world. Pinterest with it's more than 70 million users, 80% of these are women, is a worldwide site that everybody with internet available seems to know of. Pinterest was named the fourth largest traffic source of the world in August 2012, and third most popular, just coming behind Facebook and Twitter. An interesting fact is that 81% of women in the United States trust Pinterest as a source of information and online advice.

Why is Pinterest so popular? Unlike most of the social networking site Pinterest is unique in one way by doing a single thing really well. They have embraced that less is more ethos that propelled this site to the forefront of internet sites. Another reason this is so popular because you can fully immerse yourself into a website that is 100% visual, so no boring reading is required. Lastly, this site is a great way to solve your problems for when your stuck on unique ways to ask people to prom, creating shirts, designing gifts, looking for a funny videos, or even images of traveling around the world this site the solution. On Pinterest you can follow threads that you like or enjoy and get updates from them whenever they post new pictures. For example, Everything Funny is a site on Pinterest that posts funny signs, comics, texts, photos, and videos. Check their profile here.

A Letter From Fred

Fred Stobaugh, a 96 year old man whose wife of 75 years had just passed away, writes a beautiful song called "Oh Sweet Lorraine" to represent their wonderful love. He sent his lyrics to Green Shoe Studio for a songwriting contest that he had no expectations or intentions to win. Sure enough, Jacob Colgan, a singer and song writer of Green Shoe Studio, decided without even meeting Fred at that point that they were going to do something about it. The song had really touched everyone's heart. Without any hesitation, Jacob wanted to bring his song to life and that's exactly what he did. His song took him to the top of the charts and set a Billboard record. Currently, the video has over 6 million views which Fred never imagined would have ever happened. Fred is not a musician, but now his wonderful lyrics are being shared with the world. Fred and Lorraine shared a love of music together which drove him to write "Oh Sweet Lorraine." After the song was written, he felt closer to Lorraine. Fred and Lorraine's love story is unbelievably heartwarming and as Fred sees how many people around the world are enjoying his song, happiness is filled in his eyes. This story melts my heart. The first time I watched it I started bawling. This man has inspired so many people around the world. Fred and Lorraine's love story is one of the best I've ever seen and Fred's song sends a message that dreams really do come true. He never would've thought in a million years that his song that he sent to the studio would become as famous and inspiring as it has. I think it was also inspiring that Jacob Colgan was determined to make Fred's song known to the world because not everyone would do that to make someone's dream come true. I'm excited for the song to come out officially. The happiness that Fred has definitely inspires me to continue pursing my dreams because in the end, it will be worth it. His story is heartfelt and meaningful in so many ways and I encourage everyone to look into his and Lorraine's amazing love story.

Anyone else over J-Biebs?

When was the last time you heard people talking about something good Justin Bieber did? I am sure most people have seen Bieber's name in the tabloids recently due to his latest stunt. His most recent talked about scandal was his DUI back in January of this year. Bieber was allegedly drag racing with friends in Miami when, of course, they got caught. 

After resisting arrest, Bieber, frustratedly said to one of the police officers, "I'm 19 years old, I'm just out having a good time. What were you doing when you were 19?" The police officer replied by saying he was not out late at night, driving a lamborghini around, in which Bieber responded, "Yeah, well, I bet you didn't have millions of dollars in your bank account either." Valid point, Justin?

As a result, he is now not welcome in any major clubs in Miami. Below is a picture of him smiling for his mugshot, the same night of the DUI arrest.

Getting a DUI was not the beginning of Justin Bieber's rebellion and poor behavior. In 2013 he did his fair share of douchey things; like forcing two of his bodyguards to carry him up the Great Wall of China.

A little earlier in the year, while at a Miami Heat Game, Bieber brought a bodyguard, who stood behind him, blocking multiple people's views.

2014 hasn't shown any improvement in Justin's behavior. To start the year off, in January, Bieber egged his next door neighbors house, causing 20K in damages. When police raided his house in search of evidence of the crime they found drugs instead.

A month later on a flight from Canada to New Jersey, Justin and his father disobeyed a pilots demand to stop smoking pot. The marijuana smoke was so strong in the jet's cabin that flight crew members had to put on oxygen masks.

Not only is Justin disrespectful to people in general, but also to his fans whom are the reason he is even famous to begin with. Back in November of 2013, during a concert in Brazil, a fan threw an empty water bottle onstage. Instead of being mature and ignoring it, Bieber stormed off the stage and never returned.

              

Justin Bieber thinks far too highly of himself. His actions prove him to be selfish and arrogant, and he clearly has no respect for others. He doesn't deserve fame and fortune, and I wouldn't be surprised if he has no fans left. There is a difference between Miley Cyrus doing absurd things for publicity and Justin Bieber doing absurd things because he is disrespectful.

2014 Coca-Cola Advertisement

The 2014 Coca-Cola super bowl advertisement brought out a huge controversial argument. Still three months after the advertisement was first released the Coca-Cola Company is receiving strong criticism. This advertisement is trying to sell the product of Coke by celebrating America. The controversy and criticism comes from the many forms of diversity in this video. It celebrates many kinds of people in America, people from different colors, lifestyles and origins of America. Many faces were shown in this video including, hijabs, cowboy hats, brown, white, young, old, straight, gay, people playing, eating and exploring all over America. The song played is “America the Beautiful” and this song is sang in many different languages. This was the biggest uproar, the critics asked how can the song, “America the Beautiful” be sang in different languages, “it is an American song”.  So why is this an offensive advertisement to the typical American? Because society has given people the image and misconceptions that America is “Rich, white, straight and English is the only language”. All which is true but that is not  America as a whole that is only part of America.What makes America whole are the many forms of diversity celebrated around the country. I think Coke was smart to recognize that in order to sell their product they need to reach out to every group of people to have the best outcome. “America isn’t weakened because people don’t submit to a monoculture; it’s strong because it can absorb the peoples and aspirations and talents of the rest of the world without erasing their cultures.” This was the New York Times comment on this issue. I wish more people could absorb this adverstisment. I do not think everyone has to agree with the message but I do think people need to learn how to respect the country they live in and realize the reality that America is made up of many forms of diversity, as listed above. Without these forms of diversity, there would be no America.

Crimean Crisis and National Interests

For the last month their has been a lot of news about Russia and Crimea.  Crimea is a peninsula on the coast of Russia that is part of Ukraine.  Ever since Crimea joined Ukraine in 1991, it has had a strong Russian population and alliance.  With the Ukrainian Revolution unfolding, the president has been impeached after he fled from the capitol.  Russia then slowly took over the Crimean Peninsula and took control of the region.  Then after they invaded politicians were replaced, they declared themselves independent, and also stated the possibility of joining Russia by voting on it.  They held the election and it was claimed that there was nearly 90% turnout with around the same percent voting to join Russia.  Many former Crimean politicians claimed this was false and that the election was not legal, and the Russians cheated it.  Regardless of how it happened it still brings up a very important question.  Can larger countries like the United States, Russia, Britain, etc. invade other countries for their own benefit economically or for other motives?

I think that this is a very good question.  Many Americans seem to be very critical of this situation and jump all over the Russian government while we have been doing the same in Iraq for the last 25 years.  I don't think that this justifies either being right, because they are clearly not, but that Americans possibly need to open their eyes to also what we are doing.  America help Saddam Hussein in his war against Iran by giving him weapons and other military supplies necessary for him to conquer Middle-Eastern countries.  Then Saddam said he would invade Kuwait, and United States politicians and White House officials said they had no stance on the matter.  When he invaded we released statements saying how awful it was, and eventually it led to United States invasion.  With a falsely based platform and reasoning, we invaded Iraq.  Was it really because of the Kuwait incident, supposed involvement with Al-Qaeda or was it because we wanted an economic foothold in Middle-Eastern oil, one of the most oil rich countries in the world?  I think that the people of today need to sit back and think about what our actions are causing.  Do we really live in a world where millions may die just so we have economic benefit?

Flight 370

It has been almost a month since Malaysian Flight 370 disappeared with almost 240 people onboard and the search is still continuing for it. This is tragedy, no doubt, but it does make me wonder just how far the world is willing to go to find this missing plane. I want to believe that the passengers found a way to survive, but with recent pings from the planes black box showing up deep underwater in the Indian Ocean, its hard to stay positive.

My point here is that despite how positive we want to be, there eventually has to be a point where we say enough is enough. If the trend with the black box pings continues, if there is any wreckage to be found, it will be so deep that we can't even initiate any kind of rescue or salvage operations. The world may have to accept that those people are gone and then we can let them rest in peace, even if they didn't die peacefully.

Everyone may call me an insensitive jerk or callous for not believing that the passengers may yet still be alive, but the longer that they remain missing, the more unlikely it is that they are still alive. Like I said before, I want to believe that they may still be out there waiting for us to find them but we eventually have to face facts and move on. We can't move on if we are constantly trying to reclaim what was lost to us. That is not how the human brain works.

The Illuminati

If you have kept up with modern pop music and talked to friends about rap and hip-hop, you have probably heard something about the Illuminati. A lot of controversy about this topic has come about recently. The Illuminati is define as people claiming to possess special enlightenment or knowledge of something. Many people join illuminati who are in high positions of power or who desire to be in high positions of power. I am in no way in support with this kind of a secret society, yet it is interesting and scary at the time. They start by selling their soul to the devil. This basically guarantees they will forever rot in hell in order to gain a short life full of riches, fame, and prosperity. Two huge members of the Illuminati are no other than the very commonly known Jay-Z and Lebron James. Notice how much wealth and fame Jay-Z has. His net worth is over 550 million! Look how successful and famous Lebron is as an athlete. Have you also noticed his pre game ritual? Lebron proceeds to put his hand up and makes horns at the sky to represent the devils horns, then form the illuminati triangle, and then lastly he forms sixes with each hand, which, along with the six on his jersey, create 666. The mark of the beast, otherwise known as satan.





The illuminati is set on creating a new world order. As a conspiracy theory, the term New World Order or NWO refers to the emergence of a totalitarian one-world government. They promote their name and beliefs through mainstream artists to show their power they have. I mean, come on, it is everywhere you look! The all seeing eye is even on the back of the dollar bill! They plan to corrupt the people and deceive them

Another very very interesting thing I found was a thing called the Illuminati card game. Sounded boring to me until I actually read them and then I was quite freaked out. This game was released in 1995 and predicts many events that occurred today. You may look at this card and say so what, its

Just a jogger? Well, this is referring to the Boston Marathon run and the people killed in the bombing. 




















Here is another picture that should be very familiar to all of us growing up. Its basically 9-11 put into pictures, and these cards were created in 1994! If that doesn't make you feel a little sketchy about this then I am seriously concerned for you. This is not to make you paranoid, but rather to inform you of what is going on.

The final card I will show you from the game is another interesting card. This card refers to the commonly know incident that happen with BP Oil a few years ago when they had the massive oil spill that affected a giant amount of the ocean ecosystem.

Its in my hope that you realize how we are being deceived. My hope is that from this you'll recognize the illuminati and their agenda to take control of our minds. This article is not meant to send you into paranoia, trust me, when I first found out about it I got a little paranoid for a day or two. Recognize these deceptions and be aware of what the music industry is trying to do to our young minds.

Safe Haven

Based off of another number one selling book by Nichols Sparks, Safe Haven was a huge hit as movie also. It shows the struggle one girl faces to erase her horrific past and move on with her life with a clean slate.  When Katie moves to a small town in North Carolina she is scared to get close with the community because she is afraid they will bring up questions about her past.  Katie slowly is about to start putting roots down by getting a job and buying a small house that is far away from everyone with no neighbors for miles around. After meeting Alex, a widowed father of two, at his small store they slowly start to build a relationship together and this is when this past she was worried about starts to come back up. She is forced to tell Alex the truth about her past any why she just picked up and left her old home with nothing. She must rely on true love and hope for forgiveness that her and Alex can make it through the hard time together. Through the whole journey Katie has met a mysterious friend herself to help her through the hard parts.

 

 I would highly recommend this movie to anyone who hasn’t seen it yet. Though it may be a love story it is a story that will pull on the strings of your heart.

Shameful Truth About Naked Juice

The Shameful Truth About the Naked Juice Class Action Lawsuit Settlement and What American Consumers Can Do About It

Written by Max Goldberg on July 24, 2013. Follow Max on Twitter.

Last week, Naked Juice agreed to settle a very important class action lawsuit whichaccused the company of deceptive labeling.

The primary basis of the lawsuit stemmed from the company’s use of the words “All Natural” on products that contained Archer Daniels Midland’s Fibersol-2 (“a soluble corn fiber that acts as a low-calorie bulking agent”), fructooligosaccharides (an alternative sweetener), other artificial ingredients, such as calcium pantothenate (synthetically produced from formaldehyde), and genetically-modified soy.

Since these ingredients are either genetically-engineered or synthetically produced and do not exist in nature, it is completely misleading to consumers for these juices to claim to be “All Natural.”

As part of the settlement, Naked Juice, a subsidiary of PepsiCo, has agreed to remove the label “All Natural” from all of its juices and to pay a $9 million settlement to the class action group.

Without a question, this is a big, big win for consumers and is a huge step forward for more accurate labeling in the U.S.  It also puts other food manufacturers on serious notice that GMOs are anything but natural and cannot be marketed as such.

Yet, as one digs deeper into the fine details of this lawsuit settlement, there are some extremely troubling details of which the general public is completely unaware.

My Analysis:

Hearing about Naked Juice and how popular it has been in the last few years, after reading this you might change your mind about it. When most people hear about Naked Juice they think right away that it’s a really healthy drink because of how many fruits and vegetables they say are in them. They also advertised them as being “all natural” which makes everyone think they are really healthy. It turns out that they are not as good as they claim to be and they could be harming our health more then benefiting it. Throughout the article they talk about how Naked Juice is being sued for false advertisement. They have been labeling their juices with an “All Natural” label, which is not true because they are filled with artificial ingredients and other things, even products filled with synthetically produced from formaldehyde. They have now agreed to remove the “All Natural” label from their juices and are also going to pay a $9 million settlement to the class action group for misleading many customers.

            This whole article really affects me because I personally love drinking naked juice because of the flavor and because I thought it was healthy for me. Now that I have read this article and it talks about how it is misleading people because it really isn’t “All Natural” makes me think twice about it. It also makes me wonder how bad all that stuff is for everyone and the fact that I drank it all the time shows that it could really harm me. I think that the whole mislabeling should have never happened and they shouldn’t be able to have their product sold anymore because this could have harmed many people. I believe this is great information that everyone should know about Naked Juice so I recommend any age to read this and hear more about it.

2 hours, 2 beers, 6 shots

This is what 2 beers, 2 shots of Captain Morgan, 2 shots of apple pie moonshine, 2 shots of whiskey, and a handful of liquor soaked blueberries looks like on a 16 year old.

This 16 year old girl, Taylor, and her cousin had never drank up until the night that their parents left the home alone for 2 hours. They raided their parents liquor cabinet and got themselves so drunk that when their parents came home they were unresponsive. Their parents rushed Taylor to the hospital to find out that her BAC was .43-that's five times the legal limit and enough to kill a grown man. She had a temperature of 95 degrees which gave her hypothermia and was unable to breath on her own for 13 hours. She had tubes down her throat to her stomach which was continuously draining fluid. The doctors stated if their parents wouldn't have come home to find her, Taylor would have died that night.

2 hours, 2 beers, 6 shots

Being in college, it is expected to go out on the weekends and drink with a big group of friends in order to have fun. At this age, drinking is still considered "new" to many of us and have not gotten our share of drunk stories. Many college students feel the need to go out and make their own drunk memories in order to fit in. Since most students party on the weekends, others feel obligated to join in on the fun by getting drunk along with their friends. Since some teenagers come out of high school without experimenting with drinking back home, they can find themselves in a lot of trouble at college. It's common to go to a party and see people passed out on the couch or throwing up in the bathroom because they haven't found their limit. It's sad that drinking for a couple hours, throwing up, then going back home is the entertainment of many college students lives. Socially drinking and watching your amount is one thing, but drinking so much that you can't take care of yourself and passing out is another. Going out with friends to parties on weekends can be fun and add a little excitement to the weekend, but there are plenty of other ways to have fun on the weekends. I think too many college students are wrapped up with the idea that they need to prove to people they are fun enough and can party hard too, even if they don't actually enjoy it. With the story of Taylor, it's scary that people can lose their lives just by drinking too much alcohol out of curiosity.