#Gamergate: Beyond Fun and Games
Do you play video games? If so, you may be aware of an ongoing controversy that goes by the name #Gamergate. (∗See explanatory note at the end of this article.∗) There has been a lot of coverage, and a lot of confusing accusations, flying around this story. So btw is going to try and break […]
Stuff YOU Should Know
Unemployment Down, Optimism Up The data released each month by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in particular, is watched very closely by many (btw included) to determine the ongoing state of our economy. September unemployment rate, which has been steadily dropping for several months, fell below 6 percent (5.9) for the first […]
Stuff YOU Should Know
Tom Hanks Has an App? Best Actor Winner. Movie star. Former sitcom star. All-around nice guy. Technology developer? Tom Hanks, known to many as that guy in Forrest Gump and Castaway, decided to take his love for vintage typewriters to a whole new level. Launched last month, Hanx Writer emulates the clacks and dings of […]
Stuff YOU Should Know
Workingman’s Holiday For many of us, the upcoming Labor Day means “last blast of summer” before returning to school (or a gentle reminder of summer if you’ve already started back). But how many of you know the origins of this holiday? There are conflicting reports over its earliest incarnations, but most agree on the year. […]
Women’s Equality Day
Tuesday, August 26 is Women’s Equality Day in the United States. This day commemorates the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment where women citizens in the United States were give the right to vote. Learn more about this day by reading information about it on the White House blog page. You can also learn more about […]
YOU DECIDE: The Comcast Merger
Should Comcast be Allowed to Merge with Time Warner Communications? Does your family have cable in your home? How about Internet access? If so, the recent announcement that the country’s number one communications company Comcast has acquired the second-latest communications company Time Warner Cable might affect what you see (and how much you pay). Comcast […]
Economics of the Olympics
There’s been a lot of press out there about how the current Winter Olympic Games is the most expensive in history. But what does this mean exactly? And if the cost to host the Olympics continues to rise to such epic proportions, why do countries keep bidding against one another for the privilege? Who Pays? […]
50th Anniversary of the War on Poverty
Solving the problem of poverty is a complicated issue as well as a continuing political hot-button topic in America. In 1964 then-president Lyndon B. Johnson made this issue a priority by declaring a “war on poverty” during his first State of the Union speech. On January 8th of this year, Johnson’s daughter, Lynda Johnson Robb, joined […]
Looking Back at Two Decades of NAFTA
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is a treaty (like a formal contract) that was signed into law by the leaders of the United States, Mexico and Canada in 1994. It was created to increase trade between the three North American nations by lowering (and finally eliminating) trade barriers. Those barriers were mostly duty […]
Detroit Declares Bankruptcy
Back in the 1950s, Detroit, Michigan was a thriving city, the fourth largest in the United States. This success was due, in part, to the strength of the American automobile companies–Ford, General Motors and Chrysler. These multinational companies placed their headquarters and assembly plants there. But, the expansion of the auto industry into other cities, […]