Gary Johnson Interview

On assignment for The Johnsonian I got to ask Gary Johnson a few questions along with Shamira McCray. The video can be found here

Death to the Electoral College

This election day I plan on sitting on my arse, cracking open a nice cold mountain dew, and playing Halo 4 all day. No where do I plan on voting. Now this is mainly because I am registered to vote in Charleston County,  didn’t sign up for absentee voting, and forgot to vote early when I had the opportunity. Despite all of these factors it still doesn’t mean my vote counts at all. No matter who I or any other student at Winthrop votes for, (I’m assuming most are South Carolina residents) it doesn’t change the fact that our states 9 votes in the electoral college will go to Mitt Romney.

People bombard you with the message that “your vote matters”, what they should add is an amendment to that saying “your vote matters, if you live in Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, or another swing state”. People might say that just the vote matters, while in discussion yes, but to think politicians would ever change the  current easily exploitable election system that breeds a two party system is delusional.  In 2008 Barack Obama received 45% of the vote in our state, all of the people who voted for him received no proportion of their voice herd when the state cast its, at the time, 8 electoral votes. With a system like this, what encouragement does Barack Obama to make promises to the state, why would he ever want to be nice to us if its impossible for our electoral votes to reflect our citizens votes.

The worst part about our system is that it absolutely destroys any hope of a viable third party candidate ever being elected to the office of presidency. The fact that electoral votes don’t accurately reflect actual votes makes it very difficult for third parties to rival major parties, especially when third parties have no funding at all. Obviously what I’m driving at here is that I would like to see a system that allocates the votes proportionally, this way the electoral vote more accurately reflects the popular vote. Two states already do something similar on their own, Maine and Nebraska.

Many will complain that republicans and democrats can’t agree on anything, I will make the argument that they can agree on a way to keep a corrupt system in place, whether its super pacs or the electoral college they know how to keep America a nation ruled by parties and not people. Just avoid all the hoopla, stay in (I here its going to be cold anyways) and slay some aliens with me*.

*Exception, if you vote in North Carolina then congratulations, your vote actually does matter, go out and do your civic duty. 

Red Bull Space Jump

Felix Baumgartner fell from the stratosphere and into the history books Sunday October 14 2012 wearing nothing but a parachute and a pressurized suit to keep his insides from boiling.

All of the numbers reported are subject to confirmation by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, if confirmed then Felix Baumgartner will be the new holder of 3 impressive records.

According to a press release, the Red Bull Stratos team claimed to have broken 3 of the attempted 4 records they were attempting.  Unofficially he became the first human to break the sound barrier with out vehicular power by reaching a speed of Mach 1.24 on his dissent. He set the record for highest altitude ever jumped by man and also highest manned balloon flight.

The one record attempted that was not completed successfully was a go at the record for longest free fall, Joseph Kittinger had a free fall time 16 seconds longer at 4 minutes and 36 seconds of free fall. 

The Austrian pilot and parachutist fell from 128,100 ft or about 24 miles above the Earth. The daredevil was in free fall for 4 minutes and 20 seconds before deploying his parachute at 8,000 feet above the earth.

In those 4 minutes Baumgartner was able to reach a speed of 850 miles per hour thanks to a lack of air resistance at the altitude he jumped at. 

At 9:30 that morning Felix began his assent in a specially designed gondola that was lifted into space by a weather balloon. After 2.5 nerve-wracking hours Felix was at the jump altitude 24 miles above the Earth.

After the final checks and before the big moment the capsule communicator and current official record holder for highest altitude jump and longest free fall, Joseph Kittinger, told Felix “start the cameras and our guardian angel will be with you.”

Baumgarter stepped on the edge of the space gondola, and replied with “I know the world is watching now. I wish you could see what I see. Sometimes you need to be really high up to realize how small you are. I’m coming home now.”

With a salute and a tiny step forward he then plummeted back to earth.

Baumgartner’s free fall was time was cut short by a malfunction causing his visor to fog up, he was unable to determine his altitude at the time before pulling his parachute.

The event was broadcast live on television and the internet. Youtube claims that it had over 8 million viewers throughout the world watching.

Looking to the future it is nice to see that this event was funded by young peoples addiction to energy drinks and direct funding by taxpayers. It’s also a good  showing to the world that the private space sector can broadcast a man falling over 800 miles per hour live on television. It’s a promising sign that maybe in a couple of years any thrill seeking millionaire can pay a couple hundred thousand bucks and jump from the edge of space himself. 

Barry Drakes Final Visit to Winthrop

Graphic design student Amanda Moore creates a time lapse video for a project about creating unique fonts.  

Scholars Walk 9/11 Chalk Art

On the 11th anniversary of 9/11 students at Winthrop University made a chalk memorial in the ground featuring inspirational messages to students.

The above photo was taken by Judy Longshaw. A story with full details can be found at mytjnow.com

Samsung vs. Apple

Recent legal actions by a certain technology corporation, named after the fruit that tempted Eve into sin, appears to be falling into their own sinful ways.  Apple has won a lawsuit against rival smart phone maker Samsung. 

The Korean company has been forced to pay a Dr. Evilesqe $1 billion for patent infringement. 

I am having a tough time distinguishing what exactly Apple is trying to accomplish with this move. According to a Reuters report, Samsung parts are 26 percent of the component cost of the iPhone.  

Why does Samsung have to pay $1 billion to a company they sell to? Well, a Business Week story put it best when they described Apple’s true target as Google.  Sam Grobrat describes it as being like the Cold War. Apple can’t directly sue Google because the Android operating system which Google makes is free for any manufacturer to use. This means that when Apple is concerned over its loss of market share it is forced to sue Samsung. 

The concern is the same now as is it was during the real Cold War, Apple would never want to get rid of Google services on the iPhone, and Google would not want to lose access to those users. 

What I find to be the most terrifying is not the stupidity and general playground bullying of one of the worlds largest technology companies, instead it is the idea of what can a company really own.

 If one reads “ Steve Jobs” by Walter    Issacson, then it will become clear that after Steve Wozniak left, Apple never really invented anything new. Apple does make cool products all on their own, but how it creates them is by ordering the best computer parts from around the world and putting them in new products.

Read the full story at at mytjnow.com