Tuesday, February 28, 2012
PETA
PETA, also known as Peta for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, have been known to go to stop animal cruelty in many cases, even going undercover in many cases, boasting the motto "Animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or use for entertainment". Documents published online show that PETA has killed more than 95 percent of the pets in it's care in 2011. These documents were obtained from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and were published online by the Center of Consumer Freedom. The CCF is a non-profit organization that that runs campaigns targeting groups that antagonize food producers. These records show that since 1988, PETA has killed more than 27,000 at its headquarters in Norfolk, VA. Virginia's head of the agriculture department, Daniel Kovich, conducted an investigation of PETA's headquarters. Kovich determined that PETA kills 84 percent of the animals they receive within 24 hours. "[PETA's] primary purpose is not to find permanent adoptive homes for animals" Kovich said. CCF's executive director, Rich Berman has also established that PETA has a $37 million annual budget. A PETA representative, Jane Dollinger, did not dispute the high mortality rate, but mentioned that PETA only kills animals because of "injury, illness, age, aggression, or because no good homes exist for them", and said in an email to The Daily Caller website that "most of the animals we take in are society's rejects; aggressive, on death's door, or somehow unadoptable". In 2005, some animals that were described as "perfect" and "adorable" were killed in the back of a PETA owned vehicle by two PETA employees. They were arrested after police witnessed them tossing the bodies into a North Carolina dumpster.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Japan and Space Elevators
A Japanese construction company known as "Obayashi" wants to build an elevator that reaches to space. They report that the elevator would go to about a tenth of the way to the moon and can cary 30 people. They plan to use carbon nanotubes and cables to suspend a counterweight in space (about 60,000 miles away) and attach the other end to a port anchored to the ocean floor. The station could reach speeds up to 125 mph and it would take about a week to get to a space station. The space station would have living quarters and facilities. They hope to reach this by the year 2050.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Lawful Acecss
In Canada, they're pushing for a new bill. This "Lawful Access" bill is basically a bill that allows the government to monitor all your internet activity. Public Safety Minister Vic Toews supports the bill, claiming that anyone who does not want their internet watched is a child pornographer. "You can stand with us, or you can stand with the child pornographers," Toews says. Interestingly enough, someone decided to show Toews how it feels to have no privacy when it comes to your personal information. A new Twitter meme was created in which users shared with Toews every little detail of their lives, and pretty soon the opposite thing happened. There was an anonymous twitter account by the name of "Vikileaks" that was giving away Toews' personal information, such as details about his divorce. Teows has demanded an investigation to find out who is behind this account, and is extremely upset that his information is being leaked without permission.
Here, he even admits that he does not even fully understand the extents of this bill.
Here, he even admits that he does not even fully understand the extents of this bill.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Weekly Top 10 Songs. Do they deserve it?
According to Top10Songs.com (http://www.top10songs.com/archive2012.htm), the top 10 songs of the week of 26 January, 2010 feature hit songs from chart topping artists such as Adele, Nicki Minaj, LMFAO, and others. But are these songs any different from every other song on the radio? Let's take a look at them, one track at a time.
#10: Tyga - Rack City. (Last Week: #10)
This track produced and co-written by DJ Mustard and preformed by Young Money member, Tyga. I've heard a few other tracks from him besides this, and they failed to impress me. This track was no exception. It has a dark and brooding production which could have been well used, but Tyga fails to deliver. The song is riddled in obscenity, with lines such as "Get ya Grandma on my ****", but that's not really what bothers me, as I've heard far worse.
The rhymes in this song sound like they were written by a child: "I'm a m**********g star/ Look at the paint on the car" and they fail to deliver a message or take the listener to any deeper meaning. To be fair, I doubt that that's what Tyga meant to do, but even if he was going to write a song about throwing "Ten Ten Ten Twenties and them Fifties b****", he could have at least paid more attention to his rhymes, or included some wordplay or punchlines (as corny as they may be), as I know he's capable of.
It is a fun track to listen to, and I can see why people enjoy it, and there was potential here, but it was all wasted.
Overall Rating: 4/10
Listen to it here
#9: David Guetta featuring Sia - Titanium. (Last week: N/A)
This track written and produced by David Guetta and preformed by Sia is an uplifting track with good vocals. Sia's voice is light and fits the mood of the song well, with a catchy hook. Guetta's been producing a lot of generic sounding tracks lately, and that hurts the overall quality of the song. It's a good song that's sung well, promoting the power of women, and with little-to-no use of autotune, but nothing too groundbreaking.
Overall Rating: 6.5/10
#5: Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris - We Found Love (Last Week: #4)
Rihanna seems to be on a mission to take over the radio lately, releasing two albums within a couple months (Loud and Talk That Talk) and singles from each: What's My Name, S&M, Cheers, Only Girl (In The World), California King Bed, Man Down, You Da One, Talk That Talk, and finally, We Found Love. The bad thing is, with all the new releases, quality took a back seat to quality. We Found Love is an overly autotuned song with lyrics that are supposed to be uplifting: "We found love in a hopeless place", but just comes off as cheesy. It's a very bland and repetitive song with a feature that adds little to the song, and I wish she put a little bit more of an effort in it. She's capable of singing pretty well when she wants to, but this song hides all her vocals behind voice effects. This song is more well suited for someone like Ke$ha, who relies on autotune to make her hits.
Overall Rating: 4/10
Listen to it here
#4: Kelly Clarkson - What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger) (Last Week: N/A)
Kelly Clarkson comes out with her new hit single "What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger)" delivering a message that asserts "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, Stand a little taller, Doesn't mean I'm lonely because I'm alone." The beat isn't anything special, but it matches Kelly well and the lyrics well. It's a nice, catchy song without being too annoying. Again, it's a good song, but nothing groundbreaking.
Overall Rating 6.5/10
Listen to it here
#3: Flo Rida - Good Feeling (Last Week: #2)
Another club song from Flo Rida, most known for hits such as "Low", "Right Round", "In The Ayer", and "Club Can't Handle Me". Recently, every song he released sounds almost identical, and this fits that category perfectly. With the sample from "Pretty Lights" it's a song that is sure to play in the club, but the production is simplistic and generic. The lyrics are even worse with eye-rolling hooks that belt "Sometimes I get a good feeling, yeah", and Flo Rida doing his usual twist/speed rapping talking about clubbing, money, women etc... which, again, I don't really mind, but it would be better if he could do this with some actual talent. At least have some better rhymes or flow. Flo Rida spits: "No trick plays, I'm Bill Gates, takes a genius to understand me. Maybe if he actually rapped more than generic lyrics over generic beats with a pathetic flow and sad punchlines, this line could be met with some credibility, but Flo Rida is has no sense of lyricism or entendres, or anything that would imply lyrical intelligence.
Overall Rating: 3/10
Listen to it here
#2: David Guetta featuring Nicki Minaj - Turn Me On (Last Week #5)
David Guetta shows up with his second single in the Top 10, Turn Me One, featuring Young Money's "Rap queen", Nicki Minaj, though she doesn't do much rapping here. The only reason this is so far up the charts is because Nicki Minaj's name on it. It's another generic pop beat by Guetta (surprise), with extremely engineered vocals to the point where she stops sounding like Nicki and starts sounding like a Rihanna rip off. The lyrics are shallow and, apparently, turning into a pop star millionaire makes you forget how to rhyme: "My body needs a hero, come and save me/ Something tells me you know, how to save me". If she was a good singer or had the vocal range, rhyming isn't a big deal, but since they put no effort into the music, they could've at least put some effort in the lyrics. Now, I'll admit that I thought Nicki was decent before she joined Young Money and actually rapped, now she's just another pop star.
She attempts to bring back her rap persona, but it fails miserably with her sounding like she has a bad stutter and has no idea what to say: "D-D-D-D-Don't let me die young, I just want you to father my young, I just want you to be my doctor, we can get it cracking: chiropractor, I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I". This is one part that needs to be heard to be appreciated. She makes her flow switching between sweet sounding and yelling, which is one of her trademarks, but sometimes it gets annoying, and it's very gimmicky. This was a weak effort with a weak beat with weak lyrics that was not suited for Nicki at all. This may have gotten a higher rating if it wasn't sung by a weak rapper pretending to sing.
Overall Rating: 2/10
Listen to it here
#1: Adele - Set Fire To The Rain (Last Week: #1)
The latest single from Adele, an artist who is no stranger to chart toppers with her previous singles, Someone Like You and Rolling in the Deep, mixes mournful and unique lyrics with a fantastic voice. Most of Adele's song tell of heartbreak, but the topic never seems to get old with Adele belting the lyrics: "But I set fire to the rain, watch it burn, as I touched your face, Well it burned while I cried, 'Cause i heard it screaming out your name". Well deserving of it's top spot, Adele is one of the few female artists that don't need autotune and sex to sell songs.
Overall Rating: 8.5/10
Listen to it here
#10: Tyga - Rack City. (Last Week: #10)
This track produced and co-written by DJ Mustard and preformed by Young Money member, Tyga. I've heard a few other tracks from him besides this, and they failed to impress me. This track was no exception. It has a dark and brooding production which could have been well used, but Tyga fails to deliver. The song is riddled in obscenity, with lines such as "Get ya Grandma on my ****", but that's not really what bothers me, as I've heard far worse.
The rhymes in this song sound like they were written by a child: "I'm a m**********g star/ Look at the paint on the car" and they fail to deliver a message or take the listener to any deeper meaning. To be fair, I doubt that that's what Tyga meant to do, but even if he was going to write a song about throwing "Ten Ten Ten Twenties and them Fifties b****", he could have at least paid more attention to his rhymes, or included some wordplay or punchlines (as corny as they may be), as I know he's capable of.
It is a fun track to listen to, and I can see why people enjoy it, and there was potential here, but it was all wasted.
Overall Rating: 4/10
Listen to it here
#9: David Guetta featuring Sia - Titanium. (Last week: N/A)
This track written and produced by David Guetta and preformed by Sia is an uplifting track with good vocals. Sia's voice is light and fits the mood of the song well, with a catchy hook. Guetta's been producing a lot of generic sounding tracks lately, and that hurts the overall quality of the song. It's a good song that's sung well, promoting the power of women, and with little-to-no use of autotune, but nothing too groundbreaking.
Overall Rating: 6.5/10
#8: Gotye featuring Kimbra - Somebody That I Used To Know (Last Week: N/A)
This is a great track that starts out slow and builds on feeling and momentum as it goes on. The beat sounds simplistic and playful, sampling the nursery tune "Baa Baa Black Sheep", but this just enhances the feeling that you get while listening to him sing of an old flame that is now nothing more than "somebody that he used to know". Kimbra sings the second verse, showing how getting hung up on whoever he used to now has hurt his future relations, singing with hurt and fury adding a great effect and further contrast to this song, telling a tale of love and heartbreak while managing not to sound cheesy.
Overall Rating: 8/10
#7: Jessie J - Domino (Last Week: #6)
Another generic pop song. There's not much to say here, Jessie J recycles overused topics and it has a very "Katy Perry" vibe to it (though she did help write the song). It's catchy, but the style is old and played out.
Overall Rating: 5/10
#6: LMFAO - Sexy and I Know It (Last Week: #3)
LMFAO fuses pop-rap and techno for an extremely catchy song. The beat sounds like everything other song they made (See "Party Rock Anthem") yet, somehow, this keeps climbing to the top of the charts. The lyrics are shallow and repetitive, and sometimes rely on shock value to keep it interesting, with lines such as "I got passion in my pants and I ain't afraid to show it" or "When I'm at the beach, I'm in a speedo trying to tan my cheeks". Both of the members of LMFAO are pathetic rappers with no lyrical talent or any flow. Sexy and I Know It is way too overplayed on the radio, and there's nothing special about this song, besides the fact that you'll be saying "I'm Sexy and I know it" all day. Usually without realizing it.
Overall Rating: 2/10
Listen to it here#5: Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris - We Found Love (Last Week: #4)
Rihanna seems to be on a mission to take over the radio lately, releasing two albums within a couple months (Loud and Talk That Talk) and singles from each: What's My Name, S&M, Cheers, Only Girl (In The World), California King Bed, Man Down, You Da One, Talk That Talk, and finally, We Found Love. The bad thing is, with all the new releases, quality took a back seat to quality. We Found Love is an overly autotuned song with lyrics that are supposed to be uplifting: "We found love in a hopeless place", but just comes off as cheesy. It's a very bland and repetitive song with a feature that adds little to the song, and I wish she put a little bit more of an effort in it. She's capable of singing pretty well when she wants to, but this song hides all her vocals behind voice effects. This song is more well suited for someone like Ke$ha, who relies on autotune to make her hits.
Overall Rating: 4/10
Listen to it here
#4: Kelly Clarkson - What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger) (Last Week: N/A)
Kelly Clarkson comes out with her new hit single "What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger)" delivering a message that asserts "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, Stand a little taller, Doesn't mean I'm lonely because I'm alone." The beat isn't anything special, but it matches Kelly well and the lyrics well. It's a nice, catchy song without being too annoying. Again, it's a good song, but nothing groundbreaking.
Overall Rating 6.5/10
Listen to it here
#3: Flo Rida - Good Feeling (Last Week: #2)
Another club song from Flo Rida, most known for hits such as "Low", "Right Round", "In The Ayer", and "Club Can't Handle Me". Recently, every song he released sounds almost identical, and this fits that category perfectly. With the sample from "Pretty Lights" it's a song that is sure to play in the club, but the production is simplistic and generic. The lyrics are even worse with eye-rolling hooks that belt "Sometimes I get a good feeling, yeah", and Flo Rida doing his usual twist/speed rapping talking about clubbing, money, women etc... which, again, I don't really mind, but it would be better if he could do this with some actual talent. At least have some better rhymes or flow. Flo Rida spits: "No trick plays, I'm Bill Gates, takes a genius to understand me. Maybe if he actually rapped more than generic lyrics over generic beats with a pathetic flow and sad punchlines, this line could be met with some credibility, but Flo Rida is has no sense of lyricism or entendres, or anything that would imply lyrical intelligence.
Overall Rating: 3/10
Listen to it here
#2: David Guetta featuring Nicki Minaj - Turn Me On (Last Week #5)
David Guetta shows up with his second single in the Top 10, Turn Me One, featuring Young Money's "Rap queen", Nicki Minaj, though she doesn't do much rapping here. The only reason this is so far up the charts is because Nicki Minaj's name on it. It's another generic pop beat by Guetta (surprise), with extremely engineered vocals to the point where she stops sounding like Nicki and starts sounding like a Rihanna rip off. The lyrics are shallow and, apparently, turning into a pop star millionaire makes you forget how to rhyme: "My body needs a hero, come and save me/ Something tells me you know, how to save me". If she was a good singer or had the vocal range, rhyming isn't a big deal, but since they put no effort into the music, they could've at least put some effort in the lyrics. Now, I'll admit that I thought Nicki was decent before she joined Young Money and actually rapped, now she's just another pop star.
She attempts to bring back her rap persona, but it fails miserably with her sounding like she has a bad stutter and has no idea what to say: "D-D-D-D-Don't let me die young, I just want you to father my young, I just want you to be my doctor, we can get it cracking: chiropractor, I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I". This is one part that needs to be heard to be appreciated. She makes her flow switching between sweet sounding and yelling, which is one of her trademarks, but sometimes it gets annoying, and it's very gimmicky. This was a weak effort with a weak beat with weak lyrics that was not suited for Nicki at all. This may have gotten a higher rating if it wasn't sung by a weak rapper pretending to sing.
Overall Rating: 2/10
Listen to it here
#1: Adele - Set Fire To The Rain (Last Week: #1)
The latest single from Adele, an artist who is no stranger to chart toppers with her previous singles, Someone Like You and Rolling in the Deep, mixes mournful and unique lyrics with a fantastic voice. Most of Adele's song tell of heartbreak, but the topic never seems to get old with Adele belting the lyrics: "But I set fire to the rain, watch it burn, as I touched your face, Well it burned while I cried, 'Cause i heard it screaming out your name". Well deserving of it's top spot, Adele is one of the few female artists that don't need autotune and sex to sell songs.
Overall Rating: 8.5/10
Listen to it here
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