Lottery winner's 'time bomb' fear

my article is found from BBC tittle
The story is told about a19 million (eur) lottery winner who was a doorman said his joy was overshadowed by aortic aneurism. His aortic aneurism is swelling everday and maybe birst anytime. Before doctors can operate, he sill has to wait until the swelling grows. He said he would swap the money for his health. Now he has nothing want to do but spend time with his family.

I have to say health is most important thing than others. If we are a health person, we can keep to make money and do lot of things we want. But when we are illness (or somebody we love), it is hard for us to notice other thing. In Taiwan, there is a classical example about these situation. The richest man in Taiwan,his wife and brother got very heavy sick ,so he spent nermous money trying to cuer their life. But in the end, he still failed. Both of them died. After that he looked so lonely and sorrow athough he has lot of money. So, in my opion, I think health is more inportant than wealth. Just image if you are ill , no mater how life colorful is, there won't be any meaning for you.

What is human right?(about living will)

I found this article from BBC. As you can see this article is about a living will. A living will is document in which you say what medical or legal decisions you want people to make for you if you become too ill to make these decisions yourself. It is directly related with euthanasia. However a living will is not an instrument of euthanasia. Living wills are a part of planning what to do in the event of serious illness or disability. Supporters of a living will argue that it's a patient's opinion and the patient's human right. Moreover it can help not only a doctor who is difficult to make decision whether medical treatment keep going or not but also patient's family. On the opposite side of living wills argue that it is contrary to humanity in addition it's difficult to imagine one's state of mind when they become seriously ill.

When I founded this article, one memory came to my mind. One of my friends was fallen in coma by car incident. He had nothing to do except breathed by medical machine. At that time I seriously thought about this issue. In my country’s case, a living will is illegal. So even if his injury is too serious to take care, doctor couldn’t stop medical treatment. In the end he dead because of heart attack. In my opinion, I’m support living will because it is also kind of human right too. May be there are many people who don’t agree with me. This issue has been a very controversial. So I’d like to talk about this issue.

Caffeine effects diabetes

Refering to the Reuters News on Monday, January, there's a topic caffeine. The title is "Caffeine ups blood sugar level in diabetics." It could help people with the most common form of diabetes if they cut down on caffeine better control their blood sugar levels. We can find caffeine in coffee, tea, and many soft drinks. This new findings may be on the contrary to previous research regarding caffeine and diabetes. Earlier studies show that people who frank the most coffee had the lowest risk. However, pregnant woman who dranks two or more cups of coffee a day has twice the risk of a miscarriage as those who avoid caffeine.

I think caffeine plays an important role in our daily life. It helps us strike our nerves, make us relaxed, and let us get more energy. In this news, it indicates that caffeine increases blood sugar level in diabetics. Uping blood sugar level has something to do with coffee with sugar inside. So I think it's better to drink black coffee or sugar-free caffeine drinks.

Why companies need female managers

I looked up the BBC news about female managers in the U.S. It shows why companies need female managers. Helen Fisher, who is American anthropologist from Rutgers University, explains the difference between men and women for companies. She found evidence from MRI brain scans, genetics and large-scale surveys. Fisher said women were common in the workforce in prehistoric time providing 60-80% of evening meal but after the plough was invented the power balance shifted. Over Millennia of evolution women and men became different. Testosterone is the cause and will make men focus on details in life. Helen Fisher thinks that it is important for managers to have both men and women in work force because they complement each other. An example is combining the long-term thinking of women with the short term focus of men.

This article was very interesting to me because I am one of woman, who wants to work in a company. Many women worker do not contented where they are in a company. Usually, women get less salary than men even thought they have same position. In addition, some of companies do not want to hire women worker, especially if they have children. Companies’ point of view is that sometimes women worker cannot focus to their work because of their children. However, as many people know, there are many advantages for women in some companies which have good environment for work. They have a kind of nursery school inside a company, so women worker keep in eye on their children when they have break time. In other words, they can focus more to their company stuff. I’ll talk about a little bit about the history or hormone system, but I want to focus on business more that is about why many companies do not want to hire women worker in the past.
This article shows the hormone makes the difference between women and men, therefore there are many kinds of task, what women can do well or men can do well. I hope we can discuss more about those things in a class tomorrow.

1) Do you think companies want to hire women?
2) Think about advantages and disadvantage to hire women workers for a company.
3) What is hiring women like in the companies outside of the U.S.?
4) Why many companies do not want to avoid women workers?

Wal-Mart chops prices in bid to lure shoppers...

The title of my article is title
Wal-mart is the biggest retailer in the U.S.
In this article I think Wal-mart cut down its price is a good news to consumer.
The strategy is to give consumer discount in some consumers and electronics.
It's will lure more people's to shop there.
As everybody know, the economy is so tough that many people will care about price of everything they need.
If they can save money, they will use monney more effectively.
And the advantage for wal-mart is they can attract more consumers do theur daily shoppings in Wal-mart.
According some reports and surveys, about 90% people will be attracted by the discount, especially women.
They also will have some special shopping holidays like Valentine's Day.
I think it will have some positive impact to the customer and the sale's rate for Wal-mart.

McDonald's overtime pay

The Title of my article is McDonald's told to pay overtime to manager. It discusses that McDonald's Co. in Japan was demanded to pay huge money to a manager. The manager, Hiroshi Takano, presented an argument to a court because he had often worked over 137 hours a month without being paid. He was seeking around 11 million yen with palimony and unpaid overtime over tow years to McDonald. Then, the court judged McDonald should pay 7.5 million yen ($ 750,000) of overtime pay to a manager. The court recognized that the position of manager of McDonald is not a legally manager defined in the Labor Standards Law because the managers do not have influence on work. However, McDonald is not satisfied of the judgment and is going to appeal to a higher court.

The newspaper article is interesting to me. Now, I am learning about American culture in AC class. This incident expresses Japanese culture. Many people in Japan overwork without being paid. A few workers are just hard workers, but most of workers want to pay in their mind. The workers can't say to their boss what they want to say or complain because of their position or formality. However, Mr. Takano appealed to a court with the thouths that other workers want to pay unpaid overtime. His appealing may make waves in Japan. Also the judgment may influence many managers who work at the similar corporation such as KFC.

Save ourselves

Light is very useful for human, at the night we needs light can help use reading book, do homework, make ourselves safe and a lot of things. And holiday is very important, at that day we can use a lot of things make people happy, like in the Christmas, it is very important for a lot of countries, like the USA, close that day, a lot of American families try to make their houses beautiful, so they have a lot of pastime-lighting up the outside of their houses with thousands of electric light bulbs in extravagant displays. It looks like their house very beautiful, but another thing will not beautiful, that is our earth. Because we will have a lot of CO2, per day, so we needs stop this and find another way to make our houses beautiful and make our earth clean at the same time!


People who use a lot of light in the party, we know you just want to make your house looks very beautiful, but when you do this you forget one thing our earth, you use a lot of electricity, and it comes from we needs fire a lot of then can get it, so this is why you make it beautiful and at the same time make our earth dirty. Now it is time to say we needs find other way to make your house beautiful and make our world clean!

In abortion and crime stats, we see what we wish

My topic isIn abortion and crime stats, we see what we wish

For many years, abortion has always been a big issue around the world. Some people agree with it ,but some don't. people who agree think it's good for those "parents" who have't ready to be mothers or fathers. Besides, those unborn children may cause series problem after they come to the world. Beause most of them will grow up in single families. they couldn't be educated in a good way as normal children do . Some of them even will be abandoned . I can't imagine 10 or15 years later , when they grow up ,they might be burglars, thiefs, more over , they might be murders.

People who disagree think it's too cruel and not humane. Every life should have it's own opportunity to live on the world. And we are responsible to provide these opportunity instead of killing them.

Luckily, the number of abortion has decreased on now days. One of the sentence in the artical I like most is---The best lesson for us to remember in dealing with the future is to remember what worked in the past. Then keep doing it!

Here’s your sign: Teen gets public punishment by K

According to nbc news article "Here’s your sign: Teen gets public punishment
Mother makes girl suspended for bullying hold poster outside schools" one of seventh-grades girl got punished because of bullying another student. Her mom let her stand outside school with a poster, which is "I engaged in bullying behavior. I got suspended from school and this street corner. Don't be like me. Stop bullying." sign. This is rare case that the harmer's mother participate daughter's punishment. Patricia Mathis,assistant principal at Gardner Middle, said she agreed that the mother have a right to train her daughter. The last of suspension day, Miasha who is bullying another student does not want to hold the sign in public place anymore, but she realized it is the right punishment.



After read this article, I felt bullying is not just an individual problem. There are simiral cases in Korea, which called wang tta. Some of victims suicided because they do not want bullying anymore even though they are just teenagers. In this case, the harmer realized what is fault through her behavior and punishment, but most of the harmers do not realize what is problem. Many teenagers suffer with this problem, also, they are reluctant to tell anybody. Maybe it can be getting worse, if nobody take care of them. Therefore, we have to think about victim of bullying, and be concerned about this problem for our next generation.

Mother Delays Cancer Treatment So her Baby Can Live

Mother Delays Cancer Treatment So her Baby Can Live

My article title which is the following summaries the situation:
Mother Delays Cancer Treatment So her Baby Can Live.

I read this article in Fox online news. It is a new from Daily Mail. It deals with an expectant mother who had to choose between cancer treatment to save her-self or no treatment to allow her baby to survive. The article report that she learned that she has advanced liver cancer when she was four months pregnant.
This mother which name is Lorraine Allard, 34 years, chose to let the fetus come to term. Actually she got a healthy but premature boy a week before the expectancy date. Unfortunately she died two months after because she began chemotherapy too late considering the scientist methods.
I stopped on this article because it is a new perspective in comparison on what occur in my home country. Pregnancy in my country has many risks and complication even without cancer. The special thing about it is that women’s opinion is not required when doctors have to save the mother or the children. They automatically save the mother live. If it has been possible for the women to choose, their relative would not accept to save the baby instead of the mother. For example a husband has the responsibility toward his family in law to keep his wife healthy.
This event made me wonder this mother has done the best choice because she had already three children who will miss her.

Marijuana Vending Machines in US

I read "Marijuana Vending Machines in US" on BBC news website on Monday, 28 January 2008. The article is about vending machines that will sell Marijuana in California states for sick people. These vending machines will only sell to people with prescription by identifying their fingerprint and faces. Also, a security guard will guard them. The marijuana is used to relief the pain when the patient need it. However, there are only eleven states in the US that allow the legal use of marijuana (as a medicine). Finally, we might see a trend in the future where people buy their medical needs from vending machines spreading all over the city.

I was interested in this article because in Advanced English 2 core class our topic was about crimes. One of the crimes that we studied was drugs, and there was studies in the text book that some people think that all kinds of drugs should be legal!! . The advocates for making it legal say that it is my body and I should be able to do what ever I want to do with it. So, I was wondering how these vending machines would affect or have impact on making drugs legal. Also, will people use it in a bad way. For example, a person with an access to the machine buys and sells to other people that don’t have access. Finally, I think that we will see medicines vending machines that sell all kinds of medicines in the future using electronic prescriptions.

China's Chopsticks Crusade Feeds Environmental Movement

The title of my article is China's Chopsticks Crusade Feeds Environmental Movement
In summary, using disposable chopsticks are such a waste. Not only because of trash but trees sawed by humans. In order to protect such an environmental destroying, some China students start to persuade campus cafeterias to replace disposable utensils with reusing ones. Even some children write letters to Premier Zhu Rongji asking him to ban them. It means people are beginning to think deeply and independently, instead of just accepting what the government or society tells them. However, some students prefer disposable chopsticks to plastic spoon because they're accustomed to the the thin spoons and often cut their mouth on the sharp edges. In fact, the reason why disposable chopsticks gain in popularity is higher incomes and busier lifestyles, consequently, more people eating out, more restaurants, and more chopsticks. However, Liang Congjie, one of crusade to solve China's environmental problems. But beginning realizing what's the impact on the environment.

In my opinion, nowadays having a meal outside is one of our common daily activities. Consumers usually use disposable dining utensils to eat, for example, wooden disposable chopsticks. However, lots of people don’t know about the secret of disposable chopsticks. Even if they understand the secret, they still use them because they are convenient. So do you know how many disposable chopsticks FCU teachers and students use approximately in one day? There are about 17 thousands people, so about 51 thousands are used to eat. What a terrible number let alone chopsticks used by all Taiwan people. If you know the secret about the disposable chopsticks, you’ll find that using them to have a meal is bad for our moral concept, our body, and our environment.

Mobiles linked to disturbed sleep

I read "Mobiles linked to disturbed sleep" in the BBC online news. This article is about the effects of the mobile phone on our quiete sleep, and how it will be different when someone sleep without making a call and with making a call before sleeping. The researchers said that those people in the study who use their phones before getting to their beds, can't sleep early and don't sleep for enough time. The scientists believed that there is an influence of the radiation from the mobile phone and the stress system. The article recommended that the best way to make a call before going to bed is using the land line. Compared to other similar studies, the result is not the same, because in other studies, researchers believed that there is no short term effects of using the mobile phone but they couldn't approve that over the long term.

This article attracted me because I am one of the people who can't sleep early and have difficulty in my bed. I hope that i can sleep whenever I want, like some of my friends. I tried many things to make me sleep early, such as, not drinking coffee in the night, reading books to make my eyes feel tired, drinking a cup of milk before going to bed, turning off the light and trying to not think about anything, but they don't work. This problem is making me angry sometimes, especially when I have some important event in the next day. When I read this article I became happy to follow their recommendation and not use my mobile before going to bed and I closed my mobile but it doesn't work as well. The last weekend you will not believe me if I said that I stayed awake from 9 am on friday until 9 am on saturday and I waked up at 2 pm then I slept at 12 noon on sunday. I hope that someone give me an advise on my problem.

Homeless Cuban exile can't get help.

The title of my article is ."Homeless Cuban exile can't get help"

It's about the man who fled to South Florida seven months after Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba. His name is Florestan Ors. But unlike many of Cuba's early refugees who are now prosperous citizens, Ors is virtually penniless at 71. and oddly, undocumented. Ors is among a growing number of immigrants who, despite having worked for decades in the United States and paid taxes, are shut out of Social Security and other benefits. because they are ndocumented. Many are homeless include him. Before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, no one asked for immigration documents. After that, those wanting to drive in Florida would have to show immigration papers.

In my opinion, I think they need help. Every country (may be except North Korea) have some refugees or people who documented. Espacially, U.S.A started from immigration. Therefore they have many immigration in the country. California and Florida have the highest percentage of immigration because two of them is nearby Mexico and Cuba. This article have Cuban refugees problem. They said they can't do anything in the U.S. after Sept. 11. I know it's very difficult to immigrate in America. But if many Cuban refugees can't get help, it would be escalate big problem in the U.S. society. In Korea, many Asian come from make many money. But they can't go hospital. Because they are undocumented. It's very big problem in Korea. One employee died by appendicitis. He couldn't get surgery, he was undocumented and didn't get insurance. So, many people asked to government for visa. Korea have one or two day per year to give visa for undocumented people. And We have many volumteer who take care of undocumented person. I think U.S.society need this kind of things. Because to defend society's secure, you can make bigger danger in your around. They really need help.

USG Split on Fee Increase

The title of my article is USG Split on Fee Increase. The Undergraduate Student Government are discussing about fees increase. Tuition will not change, but athletic fees might rise $54 and housing fees rise more than $500 per year. Those fees will for staff and maintenance. Some asserted that the increase is needed, and some argued that students should not pay for the fees.

Fees should not be changed for several reasons. First, students go to college not exercise but to study. SIU students don’t have enough equipment; students use old computers, and projectors are easy to break. Meanwhile, Recreation Center has much better equipment than classrooms. Students do not need to pay additional fees. Next, students are not rich. $500 is big expenses. Housing fees are still expensive, and students have to buy other things like their insurance and textbooks. Last, organizations could help the fees. SIU is a big college and might have many organizations which the graduates from SIU organize. Some of students like to suport SIU, so some organizations can help paying increased fees. Therefore, fees shold not be increased.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Starbucks tests $1 cofee, free refills
I found this article with the title above ,on the
homepage, the yahoo online news. It is about the
world-famous coffee house Starbucks tried to sell
small sups of drip coffee for $1 with free refill
as part of test in its hometown(Seatle). That's
about 50 cents less than the Seattle-based coffee
retailer normally charges for an 8 oz. cup of joe,
though prices vary from store to store.The public
statement e-mailed Wednesday by the spokeman mentioned
that"Testing is a way of life for us, as we are constantly looking for new ways to connect with the customer and provide the best Starbucks experience," So that we could realize that the thing
Starbucks wants to provide is not the product, but it's the best Starbucks experience.

This article was interested to me, because one of the courses I studied is "marketing". This subject tells us how to sell your
merchandise effectively with some useful strategy.The crucial factor of marketing is "brand". A successful brand should let their customers think that they're not only provide the products they want but the service. Starbucks did it!

poster : Geiger Jan.27

Scary movie making viewers sick

The title of my article is title


One blogger said on his blog "I had to get up and leave the theater for nearly 20 minutes just to keep from hurling." Lots of people like watching scary movie in theather. Most part of people won't affect by the film but some are not. For those few people they might feel thing are moving all the time but in fact, they are not. Dr. Michael G. Stewart say vertigo is a classic symptom of scary movie. If you really want to "enjoy" the scary movie but you don't want to feel sick. Here is some tip for you. First, close your eyes briefly during the movie. Second, rent the movie. Because you won't feel sick if you watching the movie in your house.


In my opinion, people like to torture themself by watching scary movie. I am that kind of person I mentioned aobut. I like scary movie and I also feel threaten by those film. I don't feel vertigo after I watching scary movie but some time I feel unfomfortable and disgusting after I watch the film. I don't know why in the begining. But after reading this article I think those symptom are cause by my head. Balance system goes confused.



Penny Chen

Gone with the wind on ‘kite ship’ by Ankit Shah

According to Steve Rosenberg in the BBC news article "Gone with the wind on kite ship", he was surprised when he learned about the giant cargo ship, which is passing through the sea by itself. The latest news says that there is 90% of world wide transportation done by the sea and because of this transportation ships emit 4% of the world's carbon dioxide (CO2) into the air, which is more than the aviation industry. But, MS Beluga Sky Sails has the solution of this global warming: a kite ship. The 1722 square foot kite is tied with a heavy metal rope to the ship with the help of the wind after half an hour; when the ship is on the way it picked up and with the help of the kite power, the ship’s engines don’t work at the same power; it causes a decrease in the power of engines. Kite power helps to save fuel as well as reduce the level of CO2 in the air. Two computers controlled the kite, one to keep flying the kite in a figure eight with maximum power, second to adjust the kite's direction. The kite level in the air must be 100-300 m. above the surface level because at this level winds are strong and steady. The kite ship runs at list 12-74 km/h not only in a forward direction but also in the opposite direction.

My opinion for this article is I personally believe that if we can come up with these kinds of new ideas for the ecosystem in the future we can figure out about how to decrease the global warming. Nowadays global warming and skyrockets of fuel can be a future problem or problem for the next generation. Most developed countries have no more gas, oil, or metal. They are importing from the other countries, but if we can find out about some of these new ecofriendly systems it can work for us and for our future also. Fuel rates go up and population has no control of increase. More people, more fuel, and the price goes up all the time. I think this kind of resources and idea must work in the future. We can see our future better with this kind of eco friendly systems.

-Ankit Shah, News C

Obesity surgery seen as potential diabetes cure

I read, “Obesity surgery seen as potential diabetes cure” in the CNN online news. It is about new research that found a kind of obesity surgery can help to control or even cure diabetes after 2 years therapy. This research was done by Australian researcher. This research includes 55 patients who were obese and had a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes during the previous two years. Their average age was 47. Half of patients accepted a surgery called laparoscopic gastric banding; the others got the standard care. Both groups lost weight over two years; the surgery patients lost 46 pounds on average, while the standard-care patients lost an average of 3 pounds. All of those patients got the same education about how to eat healthy and were encouraged to exercise. Why did they use obesity surgery to treat diabetes patients? Because obesity is the highest risk for diabetes

This news has two reasons to attract me, one is my major, and the other is the epidemiology. Every time, while you watch TV, how many commercials is talk about diabetes? America has more than 20 million people who have diabetes. For 20 years or older group the prevalence was 9.6%; age 60 years or older was 20.9%, in 2005. In my country, diabetes always is the top 5 reason to cause people’s death. Actually, in my family we have a family history for diabetes, and know I have 2/5 family members who have diabetes. Now, people can live longer and longer, so the chronic diseases such like diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease have become common. As a result, how to prevent and treat chronic diseases is a “hot” topic around the world.

The Impact of Video Games on The Children

In this article,“The Impact of Video Games on The Children, the author discusses that spending too much time playing video games may affect on the children behaviors. He says that video games became more attractive to the children and adults because of the high quality graphics. In addition, the video game that contains of violent behavior is turning into aggressive teenagers and the amount of time they spend playing video game is more likely to increase violent behavior to the players. And then, he states that some behaviors that may (make) players more violent, more argumentative with their teachers, start to fight with their friends and influence to their grade in school. Moreover, he gives the difference of the negative effects between playing violent video games or watching violent movies which is the teen that plays violent video games allows to him to be a part of this action and after he reflects on the real life. Finally, he gives some advice to parents in order to help them to control their kids for example, selects video game to their kids and talk to them about how they feel about this or that game and manage their kids’ time when they want to play.

I totally agree with the author’s opinion that video games are one of the reasons that make children aggressive. The parents have to care for their children and give them the opportunity to explore and enjoy these types of games. It is good for children to play video games that assist them to develop their ability and skills. There are so many games that have no relation to violence, such as mathematical games or any adventure game to discover a particular area such as Africa to know how those people live and how their culture is instead of learning how to use the gun or knife to steal cars, banks or shops. The government still has to solve this issue by enforcing video game companies to eliminate them even if it is profitable for them because the government is responsible to protect its people before they get mental illness.

SMOKING OR NOR SMOKING

SMOKING OR NOT SMOKING

I recently read an article on the newspaper about smoking ban that came into effect on January 1. At the beginning many restaurant owners were very concerned about the different reactions and consequences this new law could brought with it, but now they seem to be happier, because most of their customers are following the new law appropriately. Nevertheless, many heavy smokers might not be content with the law, because they will have to go outside to be able to smoke their cigarettes and consequently some people might take this as a good chance to go out the restaurants without paying the bill.

This newspaper article was very interesting to me as a non smoking person, because I will breath clean air and also enjoy more the environment. I think that smokers should smoke in places that are not surrounded by innocent people who have nothing to do with smoking. It would be unfair as a non smoking person to have lung problems in the future because of those people who smoke freely without caring others health. It is important to recognize that smoking is a habit that is not easy to be broken, but this new law will support those who really want to quit smoking. I personally think this new law will give us more benefits for those who do not smoke and for those who are very close to quit smoking.
Remember that smoking harms your health and harms others when being exposed to it.

Expert sets up survey on cheating

I found this article with the title above, in the local free campus newspaper, the Daily Egyptian today. It is about a national expert on plagiarism, Don McCabe of Rutgers University, who is doing a survey here at SIUC and who will visit SIUC in February to present his results. SIUC invited him here partly as a response to a plagiarism scandal involving its president, Glenn Poshard, and in order to raise awareness of plagiarism in general. By the way the DE invited both students and faculty to take the survey here. In general Dr. McCabe knows about and collects stories of academic cheating from around the USA, and is interested in SIUC probably because its students could be compared to students at other big universities. It is interesting to him, for example, how much our awareness of the plagiarism scandal could change our opinions.

I am very interested in this situation, because I have studied plagiarism for years, and I knew who this man was before I read the article. Plagiarism is quite different for my international students than it is for Americans, most of whom have heard about it for many years before they arrived in the university. My students in general are shocked at the high price American academics pay for being associated with plagiarism, especially since copying is quite common in some countries and in some circumstances not even considered wrong or illegal. I think it's important to teach it to them as soon as possible, but I hope they don't leave CESL without having some idea what people are saying about plagiarizing in general. I strongly recommend that SIUC students go to this talk (4 PM, Feb. 7, Old Baptist Foundation) for this reason.

-Tom Leverett

Smoking Ban

The title of my article is Smoking ban has unforseen effects on restuarants. It discusses the positive and negative effects the smoking ban has had on restaurants around Carbondale. The article examines the effects of the ban by looking at the sales, speaking to the owners, employees, and customers of popular previously smoker- friendly restaurants. Some expected Longbranch to experience a decrease in sales, but the owner happily reports an increase of approximately 7 percent. Also on a good note, customers are enjoying the smoke-free air. Despite the advantages for the businesses and the customers, not all the effects have been beneficial. Some employees don't like smoking outdoors and feel it is unsafe, some confusion has occurred in knowing when to clean off a smoker's table, and this confusion creates a possibility for some smokers to skip out in paying their check.

I found this article to be surprising and interesting. I did not think common smoking restaurants would increase in sales after the ban came into effect. I worked in two restaurants that both allowed smoking and you would have regulars come in just to smoke and drink coffee. I think this group is now less likely to come in to the businesses. I, myself, as a non-smoker am pleased to have cleaner air in restaurants and now won't have to worry about getting a headache from the smoke. I also have been to Longbranch once before the ban and remember the food being good, but the air having a lot of smoke. Although, I do appreciate the ban for my own sake, I don't know it is fair to change the way some people enjoy their meals.

Computer security stress

I read Stress afflicts security bosses in the BBC online news. It is about a survey of business computer experts in Europe, and what they believe about computer security at their companies. The researchers believe that those computers are not protected enough. The author says that more viruses are criminal now; the people who are ruining your computer are doing it for criminal reasons. 91% of computer security bosses thought their computers were safe, but the researchers found many ways that they weren't safe. For example, they found 415 employees who clicked on phishing e-mails. The security bosses admitted that protecting computers was more stressful than a divorce, or moving to another house. Laptops are a special problem, because when they give a laptop to an employee, they think that employee is responsible, but he or she might not be.

This article was interesting to me, because my work computer crashed twice in 2007, and I still don't know why. People here at CESL put new virus protection programs on it regularly, but things still happen. I would like to find out what happened and make sure it doesn't keep happening. The last time, in December, my computer wouldn't start up, and I lost everything. I think security is a huge problem, and I'm glad I'm not dealing with more important information, like national security, or bank accounts. One problem is that most of us really don't know much about how the computer works. Another problem is that there is usually a way to make us click on something bad. For example, I got a greeting card the other day, and it looked very real, so I clicked. Oh terrible! Maybe it will crash again!

-Tom Leverett

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