All posts by Alexander Hutchins

Idaho, U.S.

Alcohol in Energy Drinks? Not Many.

Recently here in Southeast Idaho, a commercial was ran advising parents that “some” (wasn’t at all emphasized) energy drinks have alcohol in them.  The commercial showed a team of children playing soccer, and the parents bring an ice chest of energy drinks.  Next scene shown, is the children playing soccer, but they appear drunk.  One striking line that the narrator states, is that “…energy drink have 9 times more alcohol than a beer.”

This is disturbing because now more and more people in the local area are believing that all energy drinks have alcohol, even teachers in the high schools.

The issue started in Utah, where the Utah County Health Department had concerns over children, adults, and convenience store cashiers not knowing which energy drinks were alcoholic, and purchasing or selling them on mistake.  Keep in mind that alcoholic energy drinks are in the alcohol section of any store.

The statement on the commercial “…energy drinks have 9 times the alcohol than a beer.” is false.  Alcoholic energy drinks contain anywhere from 4% to 12% alcohol, clearly not 9 times that of a beer (12% is around 6 times that of a beer)  One place that this commercial might have “misinterpreted” the information, is a news story from ksl.com which clearly says “…amount of caffeine inside energy drinks — nine times more than a regular cola” Which is indeed, true.

Energy drinks that aren’t in the alcohol section of a store, do not have alcohol in them.  If you are still concerned there may be alcohol in the energy drink, check the ingredients prior to purchasing it.

Check the ingredients if you are concerned with alcohol being in your energy drink.

Idaho, Reviews

Thai Paradise Review – Excellent!

Here in Pocatello, Idaho, a new restaurant opened in downtown on July 14th, 2010.  What kind of restaurant?  A Thai restaurant, the type of restaurant some people have been wishing for in Pocatello.  Is is good?  You bet, I went their for lunch and dinner, and both were great.

The atmosphere is very spacious in Thai Paradise, with a very tall ceiling.  There are two large round tables, two two-seater tables up front (nice view of outside with those), and the rest of the tables are four seaters.  Also, there is a room that hosts live music from time to time with larger tables.  There are no booths, which I would have liked.  The lighting is good, not too bright or dark, and goes well with the color scheme in the building.

For lunch, the menu is small, but tasty.  You are given a generous portion, and each meal comes with rice and the main item (curry, pad thai, etc).  The dish I ordered was great, I would have liked it to be spicier, however.  Of course you can get thai iced tea, which is one of my favorites, and it is very good, strong and creamy.

For dinner, the soup is excellent, and the dishes for dinner are better than lunch (the dinner menu is much larger).  The best dish I had was pineapple curry.  It had perfect amount of spice and the pineapples really added a nice touch.  One thing that stood out was the service.  My waitress was very polite, greeting us in Thai, and very well mannered.  At the end of the meal, she put my leftovers in boxes for me.

Dessert was a nice treat.  Coconut custard is widely used, as is sweet rice and coconut ice cream (home made!).  Purple rice with coconut custard is my favorite, and is a nice touch after a spicy meal. Price wise, Thai Paradise is not bad.  It is anywhere from $9.00 to $15.00 an item for dinner, and about $7.00 for lunch.

If you don’t like spicy, Thai Paradise does have options for you, same with vegetarians.  However, if you do not like coconut, your options are limited, but there are meals with no coconut.

Business/Economics, U.S.

Extra Long Receipts, saving paper?

When going to the store, even if it is just to purchase a few items, you are often faced at the end of your shopping trip with a long, very long receipt.  Gone are the days of simple receipts with a barcode at the bottom, company logo at the top, and you items purchased in the middle.  Surveys, coupons, even company bios can be found causing your receipt to grow.

This is what a receipt should look like.

Whether this is a good choice for the company financially, well, I don’t know.  I do know that it is a hassle for consumers, most of which don’t even read their receipts.  However, I can crunch some numbers.

On Amazon.com, I can buy 50 85 ft rolls of receipt paper for $18.29, which is 4250 ft.  Now, if the average receipt length I print is two feet, then I can print 2150 receipts at a cost of .8¢ a piece.  If I print an average receipt length of 8 inches, then I can print 6381.38 receipts at a cost of .2¢ a piece.  Of course there are some variables that can be involved, but this is to be used a static comparison.  The averages are not a number from any sort of study, simply made up as a comparison.

That may not seem like much, but for a very large retailer, that is a lot of money per week spent on paper.  Which, of course, could be potential jobs.  Maybe not very many jobs, but still jobs none-the-less.

There is hope, however.  Apple, Inc. has been asking if you would like the receipt emailed to you instead of a paper one since 2005.  Many store are following suit.  Also, some stores are starting to reduce the length of their receipts.  Alas, the store that aren’t cutting back on receipt length, are still complaining of running out of paper and their printers breaking all the time.

Here is a bit I personally would like to see on my receipts; percentage of the total an item cost, so I can see where I am spending the most.  This wouldn’t require a longer receipt, just a little number in the white space next to the item price.

Technology

Verizon’s 4G LTE Network to Hit 38 Markets by 2011, Rest of US in 2013

CEO of Verizon Wireless Lowell McAdam holds up a map showing the projected coverage LTE high speed network, which begins commercial coverage in the fourth quarter, as he responds to a question from a Reuters reporter during a Reuters Global Technology Summit in New York May 14, 2010. REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi (UNITED STATES - Tags: BUSINESS)


The first thing Verizon Wireless touts, is it’s contiguous 700 MHz spectrum across the continental U.S. and Hawaii, which will carry Verizon’s new LTE (Long Term Evolution) 4G network.  Verizon plans on deploying 4G to 38 markets by the end of 2010, however, does not currently have a 4G enabled phone, but is expecting one by mid-2011.  The rest of the U.S.?  Well, you will just have to wait until 2013 for Verizon’s 4G to be in your area.

As for speed, Verizon expects download speeds of 5-12 Mbps, and upload speeds of 2-5 Mbps.  This is great speeds, exceeding most dsl and cable speeds.  However, one of the larger issues that PC gamers experience on wireless networks, is slow latency.  Here is the good news, Verizon’s LTE network will have 1/4 of the latency that their 3G network has.  All of this is great news for people who use the Verizon network for surveillance, video streaming, or other bandwidth intensive applications.

Another benefit, is the ability to have multiple users per time slot, as opposed to only one user being able to communicate data in a single time slot.  This leads to the faster latency times, and greater “always on” data connections.  Also, the LTE network has better building penetration, providing better signals deep inside a building.

LTE has a theoretical download speed of 100 Mbps, while its rival, HSPA has a theoretical download speed of 14.4 Mbps, according to Verizon’s website.

Technology

Google TV has lots of Apps, Two Products Set for Fall Release.

We have all seen our fair share of DVRs, however, Google has released one set-top box OS that is sure to gain popularity.  Google TV is not a set-top box, but more of an operating system, as on Google’s website, the products listed are a Sony TV with Google TV built in, or Logitech Revue set-top box with Google TV.  Both of which have yet to be released.

Logitech Revue with Google TV

What sets Google TV apart from the rest are its freely accesible apps from the Android Market (starting next year).  Google TV does come preloaded with apps such as Netflix, Twitter, Pandora, and more.  Yes, of course Google TV comes with Chrome and Adobe Flash Player 10.1, which means you will be able to freely browse the internet, regardless of website requirements.

Other features include the ability to use your Android phone or iPhone as a remote, with unlimited remotes possible, the ability to “fling” video from your phone to your TV, and the ability to record TV from DISH Network (if you subscribe to DISH Network) right from the search bar.

As for a release date, its up in the air.  Rumor had it at September 29th, now the release date is expected on October 17th, but all of this is could change.  One thing is for sure, it will be released sometime this fall.  If you would like to check out more on Google TV, you can go directly to Google’s website at www.google.com/tv.

Opinion, U.S.

Issues with the U.S. education system, and how to fix them -Opinion

The United States has been facing an education crisis for the past 10 years, getting worse, and worse.  Now, 2010, many are thinking of ways to fix the education system.  However, most arguments are for one of three probable issues; techers, students, or administration.

Teachers

From my experience in school, more and more of the good teachers are getting fired, retiring, or quitting.  These teachers mostly get replaced with teachers that either care less about teaching, and more about their paycheck, or are very opinionated in their teaching.  There are the good teachers, those who know what they are teaching, how to teach it, and keep their own personal views and life outside of school, out of the classroom.  Then there are the bad teachers, who like to add their own view, talk about their personal life while teaching something, don’t know or care about what they are teaching, don’t know how to teach what they are teaching.

Students

While I was in school, most of the students with me seemed to care about their studies, and tried to get good grades.  Even those who didn’t want to be in school, tried to get at least D’s.  However, there were those who frankly didn’t care.  They didn’t care either because of drugs, laziness, or even, they were so rich, they didn’t ever have to have a job.  I don’t see this as an issue in the education crisis.

Administration

This is a big one I have seen.  Rules are set in the aspect of money, not how well the teacher can teach with that rule in effect.  Administrators get paid too much.  When the superintendant of one school district gets paid more than the governor of the state, there is money getting thrown away that could be spent for education.  Administration does not have to do what a teacher does, their work is much simpler.

How to fix it all

First off, teachers need to be taught how to teach in the real world, not like how one of my high school teachers told me, “…they told me that the students are craving for someone to teach them, and they come to school ready to learn.”

This is obviously not the case.  Teachers also need to know how to teach their subject, and care about that subject or teaching for that matter.  More time needs to be spent teaching the information, and not review the past year, or “teaching how to learn”.  Teachers also must not get mad at a student for being an open atheist, or dressing a way the teacher does not like.  Teachers are there to teach a specific subject.  If the teacher is teaching “how to be like the majority of the populous” or “Ethics”, then fine, but in math, who cares what the student is wearing or thinking.

Administration needs to be reduced, drastically.  Administration came into the picture in the mid to late 20th century.  We got along just fine without it.  That is basically it for Administration.  More power to the teachers.

U.S.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Fails

WASHINGTON - MARCH 18: People sign their names during a rally in support of a repeal of the 'Don't Ask, Don t Tell' policy March 18, 2010 at the Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC. The policy is currently under review by the Pentagon and Democrats in the House and the Senate have unveiled legislation to repeal the policy. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

While it was not a bill itself, the defense funding bill failed to get the required 60 votes to pass Tuesday.  Although it had majority support, many senators voted against the bill because it had too many amendments.

“…I cannot vote to proceed to this bill under a situation that is going to shut down the debate and preclude Republican amendments,”  Senator Susan Collins (ME – R.), a supporter of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.  Collins was the only Republican to vote to put the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in the defense bill.

More than 3/4th’s of Americans support the repeal, even Senator John McCain’s (AZ – R.) wife and daughter support it.  One of the more popular supporters is Lady Gaga, who rallied in Maine on Monday in an attempt to get the two senators to vote for the defense bill.

Business/Economics, U.S.

LED street lights for Arlington County, VA

Over the next 6 years, Arlington County, Virginia, is planning to replace all 4,200 high pressure sodium (HPS) street lights owned by the county with LED street lights. Spending approximately $1.5 million just in 2010 to replace 1,800 fixtures with LED technology.

However, Dominion Power owns 12,000 street lights in Arlington County. The county is discussing with Dominion Power about working together to replace all 16,200 street lights with LED technology over the next decade. This will result in an estimated a $1 million per year savings once the project is complete.

“We anticipate reducing our total streetlight energy costs by nearly 50%, and when we successfully convert all 16,000 streetlights, we will be saving about $1 million per year.” Chief of Transportation Wayne Wentz, Arlington County.

from www.newstreetlights.com

Arlington County, VA, isn’t the only one switching to LED street lighting. Los Angeles, CA, Seattle, WA, and Pittsburgh, PA, are just a few of the many cities planning to convert to the new lighting.

LED street lighting emits a whitter and brighter light, which studies suggest may decrease or displace crime in the better lit areas. Some argue the bluer light has a calming effect as opposed to the harsher orange-yellow HDS street lights. However, some argue that it may increase crime due to the increased visibility.

Reasons for opposition include; glare, light pollution, light trespass, operations to upgrade lighting being disruptive, officials attempting to disrupt livelihood. Opposition can also come from nearby neighborhoods in the form of jealousy or concern for displacement of crime to their neighborhood. Opposition in business districts can be similar.

from U.S. Department of Justice – Improving Street Lighting to Reduce Crime in Residential Areas

U.S.

Repealing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’

PORTLAND, ME - SEPTEMBER 20: General view of atmosphere at the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network Grassroots Rally in support of repealing 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' at Deering Oaks Park near the University of Southern Maine campus on September 20, 2010 in Portland, ME. (Photo by Cliff Kucine/Getty Images)


Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (NV – D.) wants to push a bill that repeals the military’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ rule put in place by the Pentagon in 1993.  This rule bans gays from openly serving in the U.S. military.

This repeal is attached to the $726 billion defense bill, which is set to be on the floor in the Senate next week (has passed in the House).  In order for this move to go through, it would need 60 votes and support from at least one Republican senator.  Of course, the bill still has a veto threat looming in its horizon.

The Department of Defense is going to study what the effects of this bill would be in practice, due by December 1.  Many want to see this study first before taking action on ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’, including Senator John McCain (AZ – R.)