Thursday, December 25, 2014

Drones: The Next Big Thing?

As today is Christmas, being from a Jewish family, I am very bored. Reading an article I found online, a 'Social Media Holiday Wishlist' courtesy of the analytics firm Prime Visibility, I discovered something interesting. Through social media monitoring, the company determined that the #4 most wanted gift this holiday season was a drone. This is a huge upgrade from last years' #4 (Justin Bieber tickets). Drones have stirred up quite a bit of controversy as of late. As with all new technologies, there is an uncertainty as to how they should be regulated. An average American now has the ability to go out and purchase a small aircraft for a relatively low price. This is quite troubling for the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration). The FAA has already come out and said that they likely will not have regulations for unmanned aircraft until the year 2017. As of right now, the commercial use of these drones is banned until the FAA makes up their mind. Amazon has been researching the possible implementation of drones as a way of an unmanned delivery service. They have been forced to research and develop out-of-country and I personally think this is a huge missed opporotunity. Transportation costs on online goods would plumit. Gas would be saved. Time would be saved. Most importantly to Amazon and consumers, money would be saved. The video below is a quick demonstration on how said process would work. 

I think this has potential to turn into something awesome. What do you think?

Thursday, December 18, 2014

The US and Cuba: Two Best Friends

"Today the US is changing its relationship with the people of Cuba. We'll begin to normalize relations between our two nations. Through these changes, we intend to create more opportunities for the American and Cuban people and begin a new chapter," Obama said in a press conference. The President declared the end of what he called America’s “outdated approach” to Cuba. He stated plans to open an embassy in Havana and end a 50 year old feud. Along with that, citizens of the US are now free to travel to Cuba. Encouraging these statements were Castro's actions. Cuba released American aid worker Alan Gross​. Mediating the negotiations was none other than Pope Francis and the Vatican. The Pope was very impressed at how our two countries were able to compromise. 

The new ties also secured the swap of a top US spy held in Cuba​ in exchange​ for three Cubans who were jailed based on intelligence he​’d ​provided, Obama said. I think both sides of these negotiations - both the US and Cuba - went about things very eloquently. Reading what Castro had to say about Obama afterwords you would think that they were best friends. I think this will open up a new chapter with our friends in the Gulf.

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Black Friday Murder

Amongst chaos and shopping on Black Friday, a man entered Nordstrom in the heart of downtown Chicago with a firearm. In what is being called a domestic crime, he shot his ex-girlfriend
Nadia Ezaldein. She was a seasonal employee in the store. Following the attack, the man reportedly shot and killed himself as witnesses fled from the gunfire. Ezaldein passed away after being taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

In somewhat of a surprise, the Nordstrom location closed its doors for the day following the attack during one of the busiest shopping weeks of the year. According to a store affiliate, the management intends to keep the store closed until further notice.

I happen to have a mutual friend with the late Nadia Ezaldein. She was a very nice woman and had a very abusive past with her former boyfriend, Marcus Dee. Dee was ex-military. According to my mutual friend, after he came back state-side he was emotionally troubled. All news outlets have failed to mention his military past. This seems to be another case of a disturbed veteran with PTSD.

We (as Americans) fail to support the very people that risk their lives defending our rights. This is a huge issue. Do I have the solution? Absolutely not.
Marcus Dee (Left) and Nadia Ezaldein (Right)