Have New Innovations in Technology Lost Their Functionality?

When I was two years old, I was gifted a little VTech laptop, where I played educational games, but could not access the Internet. Ironically, the laptop still works, and I found its ability to teach me simple addition, subtraction, and multiplication as revolutionary. There has never been an answer to the most difficult question facing our generation today: what is too much innovation? In my opinion, there should not be a limit in regards to inventions. However, at the same time, I found something that appalled me to no end.

 
The product was called the CTA Digital iPotty. This product completely changed my views on innovation, noticing how unproductive and complete inefficient it has become. The iPotty is an invention to make potty training your toddler even easier, and it is exactly what it sounds like. It is a little tiny toilet with a slot to put your iPad in, so the toddler will be occupied as they do their business. I did not know that classic potty training was not working anymore. Nowadays, a toddler cannot be trusted to sit on a toilet seat for two minutes without making use of some sort of electronic device. If a toddler wants stimulation as they go about their business, give them a magazine.
 
Innovation in the consumer world has diverted from making processes more efficient. Rather, most companies are now trying to make usually arduous processes more enjoyable instead, which in turn, does not help the world in general. I am sure these inventors have one main objective in mind: to make money. However, the necessity to make money in this sickeningly pathetic economy has driven our great minds to invent the iPotty, the Potty Putter, and the One-touch Pizza Ordering
Magnet (yes it does exist- it made the NY Daily News' list of World's Stupidest Inventions).
 
We could be advancing our society. We instead find stimulation through Twitter toilet paper (which published Twitter feeds on your toilet paper), Fork chops (a fork with chop sticks on the other side), the Solar Hat (on those hot summer days, maybe you can produce enough electricity with that solar panel atop your head to power your house, not), and my personal favorite: Bacon scented products. The point is that we don't need any of this crap, and we don't have any use for it in our society (please do not use the bacon scented products- it truly is disgusting).
 
Our country has great minds with terrible ideas. We could use these ideas to make our country better than it is today. Instead, we continue to invent items that give us temporary stimulation and relief from our problems. It is time to quit making Beer Pagers (just in case you forget where you put your beer) and start solving the scenarios the world really needs to be solved. It is time to become productive and efficient once again.

Written by R. Turk
http://expertscolumn.com/content/are-new-innovations-technology-children-entertainment-necessarily-good-thing

The United States Congress: A Satire

There is very little I need to say about the United States Congress to make people laugh at it. Their ability to get things done (or lack thereof) makes them enough of a laughing stalk to begin with. The way that Congress has been operating over the past five years makes people not want to trust the federal government in general. I just wanted to take this opportunity to convey a few points about the current U.S. Congress.
 
I guess we shall start with the 2013 Sequester debacle. This is evidence that our 113th United States Congress is unable to compromise to save their own lives and the livelihoods of all Americans. I would be almost afraid to put a box of blocks in the middle of the House or Senate floor and tell the congressmen to share... Somehow, I don't feel like that would work; I don't trust the current Congress to bake me a pie without burning it. They probably would not be able to figure out who gets to take it out of the oven.
 
The Sequester was threatened as of August 2, 2011, giving Congress over a year and a half to provide a feasible budget to avoid the looming cuts. However, Congress had other plans; they had snack time. They fought over who got to eat the bigger cookie and who got to sit in the front of the carpet for story time.
 
If you have not noticed yet, I am comparing our Congress to a class of preschoolers because that epitomizes their obvious intelligence. You might call them our highest leaders; I call them chimps with the mental capacity of a three year old. This nation was founded on the principles of compromise. These "men" could not navigate their way out of a jungle gym, let alone an "agreement."
 
The House of Representatives is probably more of a problem than the Senate. And by the House of Representatives, I mean Speaker of the House John Boehner is a real problem. Boehner supported a plan that contain budget freezes, which would freeze the pay of government workers, including school teachers, for an allotted amount of time. Do you wonder why most teachers lean liberal?
 
While all of this mayhem was happening with the debt ceiling, Boehner focused on another "major problem in the United States": taxpayer funded abortions. Our country was headed towards economic collapse and Boehner was focused on an issue totally irrelevant at the time. I am guessing this bill did not pass the Senate because Former Missouri Representative Todd "Cross Your Legs" Akin was one of the sponsors. That automatically makes the joke write itself.
 
Speaking of Todd Akin, I heard he is currently teaching classes to women, showing them how they can shut their bodies down during rape scenarios.
 
I hope this was enough to convince pro-Congress Americans that these politicians are getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to play with citizens' money like Playdough. I called out a couple of congressmen, but at the same time, half of them are just as bad. Henry Clay, in his prime, was known as the "Great Compromiser." Every member of the current Congress is just a "great fake."

Written by R. Turk
http://expertscolumn.com/content/united-states-congress-satire

The College Party Scene: It is Not for Everybody

At the beginning of my first semester attending college, I felt as though to fit in to the school's social scene, you would first need to attend parties on the weekends. My first semester was filled with partying, heavy drinking, and nights filled with drunk girls, the drunk guys trying to "tap" those drunk girls, and the claustrophobia of 1000 college students "socializing" in the same room. After my first semester, I figured out that the party scene is truly not for everybody, myself included.
 
When I attempted to go out partying with my friends, I always felt out of place. I had a lot of fun hanging out with my direct friends, but all of the other people attending were foreign to me. I didn't make too many quick judgements; I just got no satisfaction whatsoever from fighting to get to the front of the room where the tap, filled with cheap beer, resided. It amazed me how people would push and shove for a cup of cheap beer. I have never been a huge fan of drinking beer - vodka and rum are more sophisticated and more of my fancy.

 
As a guy, the typical college party would cost me $5 to get into. In my opinion, this cost is not worth it unless I somehow drink $5 worth of beer or have a really, really good time. Nonetheless, I never seem to have that great of a time because I always feel out of place. I'm not a great dancer, I am a little bit shy, and I am also a bit claustrophobic toward the crowds they hoard into usually two rooms of the house.
 
However, what may seem ridiculous to me may be perfectly fun for someone else. I am not saying that college parties are all bad; my main point is that they are not for everybody. Some college students feel pressured into partying because they think that people will think they are a "square" or a "loser" if they don't. The last time I checked, college was supposed to give individuals the opportunity to express themselves and spend their time the way they feel it should be passed. In that case, why do some students feel that partying is the only worthwhile way to spend a Friday or Saturday night?
 
Some college students live for the party scene at their respective universities. However, I am not one of them. I gave the party scene a shot (no pun intended) at my school, but I felt as though there were more productive ways to spend my time. I am not against underage drinking or what some define as fun. Some define the party scene as relaxing, which I think sounds like the complete opposite. My definition of "relaxing" is sitting in my room with a nice cup of coffee and watching stand-up comedy. Though many will not agree, I think this is a perfectly fine way to spend a Saturday night. It does not make me antisocial; it just makes me different.

Written by R. Turk
http://expertscolumn.com/content/college-party-scene-it-not-everybody

Symbolic Speech: What is Protected Under the First Amendment and What is Not?

Originally Published: March 17, 2012

In government and law terms, symbolic speech stands for a message someone is trying to convey by using actions rather than words. There are many forms of symbolic speech, and it has been interpreted that symbolic speech is technically protected under the 1st Amendment to the Constitution of the United States as freedom of speech. However, some forms of symbolic speech have been deemed as unconstitutional over the years and this article will tell you what is protected and what is not.

Established by former Chief Justice Earl Warren and his Supreme Court was a way to figure out if a form of symbolic speech violates the 1st Amendment and it is called the O'Brien Test, named after the 1966 Supreme Court case United States v. O'Brien (1966). This test involves four guidelines in which the law in question must adhere to:

1. The law must be within the consitutional powers of the government to enact.
2. The law must further government or other important interest.
3. This further interest must not be related to suppressing speech.
4. The law must not prohibit speech more than is necessary to further that interst.

Over the years, the Supreme Court has heard many cases involving symbolic speech. In Tinker v. Des Moines (1965), the court heard a case about five students wearing black armbands with a white symbol on top and the school system wanting principals from these students' schools to suspend them for wearing them. The court ruled in favor of Tinker and the rest of the plaintiffs, defending their right to wear the armbands and their symbolic speech.

In Texas v. Johnson (1984), another court case involving symbolic speech, Johnson, at a protest of the Reagan administration, burned an American flag, breaking a no flag burning law in the state of Texas. He was arrested and sentenced to one year in prison, but the Supreme Court, on a 5-4 vote, voted on behalf of Johnson. Burnign the American flag, though frowned upon by some, is legal and protected  under the First Amendment.

In the end, most symbolic speech is protected. You can demonstrate almost anything as long as it does not harm or hurt another person or the United States as a whole. One piece of symbolic speech that was found to not be protected is burning your draft card because a draft card is technically property of the United States government and therefore, you have no right to burn it. Though it can be confusing what types of symbolic speech are protected and what types are not, it still is amazing that the Constitution protects our right to say what we want to say and how we want to say it.

Written by R. Turk
http://expertscolumn.com/content/symbolic-speech-what-protected-under-first-amendment-and-what-not

Can NASCAR Be Defined As A Sport?

Originally Published: February 23, 2012

There are many fans of NASCAR in the United States who feel that NASCAR is one of the most competitive and most entertaining sports to watch. I can highly disagree with that, although I know many people who think it is quite interesting to watch. But what always bugs me is when they say that NASCAR is a sport. It annoys me more when they say that NASCAR requires more skill than any other sport. Of course there are many advocates of NASCAR out there and I am not saying that NASCAR is a lame activity or one that requires no skill, but I am rather attempting to show people that it is not, technically speaking, a sport...

The usual excuse fans use when defining NASCAR as a sport is that it is televised on the FOX Sports segment and on the SPEED channel, which is described as a sports channel (although I do not believe that for a second either). Though car races are interesting to watch, they can hardly be defined as a sport. The common misconception is that a sport is defined as an activity that someone needs heightened and exceptional skill and training for to win a competition. If this were the textbook definition, I can definitely say that I am really good a lot of sports: chess, poker, eating (competitive eating is a sport according to this definition), Halo (the video game), and shopping (because you are in competition to find the best sales before others and requires good vision).

  
The actual definition of a "sport" according to dictionary.com is "an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature." NASCAR is an activity that requires skill and prowess and is quite competitive, but there is nothing athletic about it. Breaking it down, an athlete is "a person trained or gifted in exercises or contests involving physical agility, stamina, or strength; a participant in a sport, exercise, or game requiring physical skill." NASCAR requires mental agility, but has no physical impact whatsoever: the car does all the work and the strength of the car is utilized. If you want to be a very loose interpreter, you can say the car is the athlete, but a car is not a person.

I am sorry to dash the hopes of anyone who claimed that NASCAR is a sport: bocce ball has more qualities of an actual sport than NASCAR. Nonetheless, I do have respect for the drivers, I know there are dangers involved, and these drivers must have high mental acumen to be able to drive those cars around a track at such high speeds. But the most physical activity drivers get is stepping on pedals. Therefore, NASCAR cannot be defined as a sport, but rather as an elevated activity. Therefore, we conclude that though NASCAR does have its redeeming qualities and entertainment value for watching purposes, the people competing are drivers, not athletes.

Written by R. Turk
http://expertscolumn.com/content/can-nascar-be-defined-sport

The Difference Between Having Swagger and Having "Swag"

Originally Published: June 23, 2012 on Expertscolumn

As funny as this is going to sound, having what some kids today call "swag" is actually different than having regular, old-fashioned swagger. Though it may seem that the word "swag" came as a result of abbreviating the word "swagger," the two have seemingly taken on much different definitions recently. But if these words are so similar in sound, how could their meaning be so far apart? The main reason is because one is a real word and the other has just become common slang.

Swagger

One big difference between the two descriptive words are that one shows up in a real dictionary and one is just common slang that you can find in the Urban Dictionary. The dictionary definition of swagger is "a very confident and typically arrogant or aggressive gait or manner." The Urban Dictionary definition for swag is almost laughable. Sure, the two words are similar in meaning, but read between the lines and you can tell that there are major inconsistencies between them. Below is the definition for the word "swag":

"The way in which you carry yourself. Swag is made up of your overall confidence, style, and demeanor. Swag can also be expanded to be the reputation of your overall swagger. You gain swag, or "Swag up", by performing swag worthy actions that improve this perception. A person can also "swag down," by being an overall pussy and garnering negative swag for their actions. Swag is a subtle thing that many strive to gain but few actually attain. It is reserved for the most swagalicious of people. Swag can also be quantified, with point systems existing in some circles of friends." (compliments of Urban Dictionary)

Swag

According to the definition above, you are to assume that "swagger" is almost like a form of "swag." The first part of the definition is "the way in which you carry yourself." Well, if you carry yourself with confidence and semi-arrogance, then you are carrying yourself with swagger, not swag. Swag sounds like it is your reputation or "street cred." Swagger, on the other hand, sounds like a normal way of composing yourself. And the differences do not just stop there.

Though swagger's utter definition is to show off your overconfidence and arrogance, I feel that having "swag" is more arrogant. All swag seems to be is a way to talk yourself up and try to be better than everyone else. Swagger is just a word used to describe someone who is probably a little too proud and a little overzealous about themselves. People who proclaim to have this "swag" tend to be very arrogant, the epitome of overzealous, and are too proud to admit they are not as good as they proclaim to be.

Remember for a second: "swag" is not a real, proclaimed word. However, as much as we hear it in today's society, we might as well just add it to the dictionary. If you ask anyone who proclaims to have swag, they will preach to you that swag and swagger will never be one and the same. But if you proclaim to have swagger instead of swag, it seems to everyone around you that you have grown up. Swag seems like a juvenile concept thought up by someone who had nothing better to do and tried to talk himself up. The word "swag" may have started as an abbreviation of the word "swagger," but in the end, they are in no way one and the same.

Written by R. Turk
http://expertscolumn.com/content/difference-between-having-swagger-and-having-swag

Race Wars in Modern Times: Racism Never Left

Who knew that race was really still such an issue in the modern United States? I find it pathetic how we are still trying to define the word "discrimination" and attempt to call people out on certain practices and statistics. It hurts me to say this, but as far as we have come since the 1960s, it is still not enough. There are always going to be racists in the world, but practicing and preaching racism is not the answer to making society any better.

NFL.com, among other sports websites, started race wars on their forums just by using controversial titles to announce the Historically Black Colleges/University organization's new College Football Hall of Fame class. There are many on the forums that have claimed that blacks are discriminating against all other races.

First of all, the last time I checked, this hall of fame was created specifically for pro football players and coaches, who either played or coached at a historically black college or university. This is not discrimination; this is a private organization putting together a ceremony for people they want to honor. If you don't like this, then contact the KKK about allowing African-Americans to join their organization; then, we will talk about exclusivity in the United States.

You should come to expect private organizations to rise up with only one race in mind. Looking back on our United States history, we can tell why there is still racism in our country. Some have not let go of the early 1900s and its unyielding discrimination and segregation laws.

In 2010, there was an issue at the University of California when the historically all-Caucasian fraternity, Pi Kappa Alpha, decided to throw a cookout to make fun of African Americans during Black History Month. They were encouraged to dress up as the many common stereotypes associated with the modern African American, such as nappy hair, gold chains, and cheap clothes, just to name a few. For refreshments, they served chicken, watermelon, malt beer, and "dat purple drink." I find this to be quite a pathetic stand, but this act just proves that racism still is a strong deterrent in our country.

Why else would people be up in arms about the HBCU's decision to honor students from Black colleges and universities? That is not racist; if a white football player decided to attend a historically black college and plays exceptionally, they could end up in the HBCU's College Football Hall of Fame as well. However, the forums just display complete ignorance to the fact that the world has changed. Sadly, some people have not made the change with it. Hatred and ignorance is a personal problem, not a collective one. It is just sad to see that, despite all the strides we made to end racism in our country, it will probably never fully go away.

Written by R. Turk
http://expertscolumn.com/content/race-wars-modern-times-racism-never-left

Subscribe Now

Hey everybody. I just wanted to let you all now that if you want to receive a notification whenever I release column on my blog, you can subscribe to my page easily using the 'Subscribe Now' box under the poll. Also, commenting is allowed if you want your voice to be heard to. Thanks for reading everyone.

Music Review: Modestep -- Evolution Theory *NEW ALBUM*

British electronic rock/dubstep hybrid Modestep released new album Evolution Theory on February 13, 2013. Modestep is a group of four, headlined by lead vocalist Josh Friend. I was introduced to this quite intriguing group when I heard their song "Sunlight" on Youtube. When I heard they were coming out with a new album, I had extremely high hopes for it. And luckily, they truly lived up to the hopes I had for the album.

From first track "Show Me A Sign" to final track "Saved the World," Evolution Theory truly puts on a clinic of versatility, blending elements from rock, alternative, dubstep, house, and electro into a seemingly flawless composition. In many cases, when other sounds are added to dubstep, they seem to sound a bit forced at times. However, this is not the case with this album; rather than headlining these alternate elements, Modestep allowed these other elements to show themselves.

My personal favorite tracks on the album are "Show Me A Sign," "Another Day," "Sunlight," and "Bite the Hand." "Show Me A Sign" is a nice classic dubstep song, which has a hard-hitting drop, but also melodic singing to soften it up. "Another Day" is your classic "feel good" track, and rather than using convention dubstep drops, they created a heavy wobble house beat to accompany the song. "Sunlight" is well constructed overall, while "Bite the Hand" gives a great display of juxtaposition between the song's message and the tone of the song itself.

Many people have compared Evolution Theory to anything that Foreign Beggars would come out with. However, with no offense to Foreign Beggars, this album is truly better than anything they have ever come out with. The album is a perfect blend of many elements that they don't attempt to overpower their tracks with, but rather use as accompaniment. I also commend their experimentation, especially with switching tempo mid-song. This trend is most notable in the track "Sunlight," where they change the tempo after the third drop.

Overall, I give this album a 10/10. This album should truly be purchased by anyone who admires dubstep. It is truly a work of art, and I expect big things from Modestep in the future.

Written by R. Turk
http://expertscolumn.com/content/music-review-modestep-evolution-theory-new-album

Why Technology Company Stocks Are the Safest Bet for Investment

The first thing you need to know about the stock market is that anyone (above the age of 18) can invest. Online stock investment applications, such as E-Trade and TD Ameritrade have revolutionized the once experts-only club and turned investing for the future into a normal, everyday practice. The biggest decisions one must make when investing their hard earned money into such a risky market is how much money to invest and where to invest it.

Obviously, how much money you invest will, in turn, effect which companies you will own shares of. Everyone knows the basic philosophy of the stock market: buy low and sell high. That is the primary way to make money, and there are certain types of companies that will make you more money than others. In my own experience, I have found that purchasing shares in technology companies are the safest investments to make.

Currently, I own shares in processor company, AMD and computer hardware company, Dell. AMD has not been one of my better purchases, but it is slowly rising back up to what I purchased it for. However, Dell has been my main cash cow. Near the end of October, I sold my shares in Office Depot, which made me a profit of $15.00 total and purchased some shares of Dell at $9.50 a share. Currently, the Dell stock is valued at $13.78 per share. With just Dell stock in mind, I have made a 29.95% net gain on the money I invested initially.

Many over the last decade have seen major gains from certain technology companies. Apple and Microsoft, for instance, skyrocketed over the past decade and have made many people much more well-to-do than they were. Apple, recently, took a nosedive, but I am sure that it will resolve itself. When a technology company's stock trends down sharply, in many cases, the company will reevaluate within a few months to fix the problem. Such was the case with Dell, and I bought shares of the stock when it fell harshly.

You may thing that investing in the stock market is too risky. However, without risk, there is no reward. If you are bit skeptical, invest only $200 or so just to get your head in the door, as I have. Sure, the gains will not be monstrous, but it gets you used to the joys and pitfalls that associate with trends. Think of the stock market as a smarter way to gamble your money, in which you control your own destiny with the companies that you choose.

Written by R. Turk
http://expertscolumn.com/content/why-technology-company-stocks-are-safest-bet-investment

The Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI: How Does "Criminal Minds" Sice it Up

Originally Published: January 29, 2012

One of the most watched television dramas currently airing is the CBS primetime drama "Criminal Minds," a show that chronicles the existence of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit and its main team of elite profilers that search and capture serial killers and rapists that threaten and harm society. The show is an amazing thrill to watch, but then after watching a number of episodes, one wonders how much of this action and thrill is real. Do FBI's behavioral profilers jump into burning buildings to save victims and actively head into the line of fire to capture the best of them? The answer is a very blount no. "Criminal Minds" is a sice up of what the Behavioral Analysis Unit really is and what they honestly do. 

For one thing, nobody who works in the real BAU call any kind of suspect an "unsub" (short for unknown subject). "Unsub" was simply a term created for the TV show, but it goes further. For one thing, "Criminal Minds" makes one believe that the BAU consists of hundreds of criminal psychologists working day in and day out to capture criminals, when in real life, there may be ten or twenty of them working as full time employees. The reason they do not need that many is because these experts would be lucky to get ten cases total in a single year, and any more than one-hundred deaths due to a serial killer any year would be a tragedy. Not to lessen the impact of their position, but they are more provisional workers than they are active in most cases.

You may also wonder why I have not called these employees, "profilers." On the show, the team is made up of high class profiler/special agents, but in reality, the FBI does not contain an occupational position as a profiler; most of them are known as criminal psychologists. They never end up in the line of fire, nor end up trying to capture the criminals they helped to figure out in the end. Most of the time, these guys do not even leave headquarters unless it is absolutely necessary.

Also, on the show, the team is, more often than not, able to solve a case in two to three days. In reality, on the other hand, cases that are pushed up to the BAU by the local, state, and federal governments usually take weeks or months to crack, and at the point they usually end up there, they have been investigated for around two to three weeks. There are actually over 25,000 times more criminal psychologists in the field of capturing Internet sex offenders than there are in the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI. 

As much as former producer Edward Bernero wants audiences to believe that these are just well created chronicles of what happened on real cases, the superhero-like qualities make the characters of "Criminal Minds" less and less of the epitome of criminal psychologists in the BAU. Nonetheless, many will still believe that what they are watching is what they want to be when they grow up. If what you see on "Criminal Minds" is what you want to do with your life, then become a detective or a police officer; criminal profiling is not for you. But even with the many flaws the television show displays, "Criminal Minds" is probably one of the best shows on television and I will continue to watch it for entertainment (it comes on at 9 pm eastern time on Wedensday nights on CBS).  

Anywho, even if the real criminal psychologists of the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation do not do the radical police work that the show portrays them to do, they are still heroes who help capture the criminals and put them behind bars. 

Written by R. Turk
http://expertscolumn.com/content/behavioral-analysis-unit-fbi-how-much-does-criminal-minds-sice-it

Pope Benedict XVI Resigns: Was it Old Age or Something More Social?

 It was a shock to the Christian community this morning when it was announced that Pope Benedict XVI would resign his post as leader of the Catholic Church. The official statement cites inability to perform regular duties as the leader of the church due to old age as the cause of this most shocking turn of events. However, I am not completely sure that old age has anything to do with this 85 year old's choice to abdicate.
 
Some facts that support old age as a reason include the fact that no pope has made it to their 85th birthday since Pope Leo XIII back in the 1800s and early 1900s. However, he was able to perform his duties up until he turned 93.
 
I had a lot of problems with Pope Benedict's policies, and there was certainly a reason why he was called "God's Rottweiler." This is probably because of my agnostic stand; certainly many Christians follow his word. However, he continually worked to denounce homosexual rights, homosexual marriage, and birth control.
 
However, in an interview conducted in 2010, Benedict stated, "... with the intention of reducing the risk of HIV infection, may be an indication that the prostitute is intending to reduce the evil connected with his or her immoral activity." This statement was aimed at homosexual men who are sexually active, but he still condoned the use of condoms, which he devoted his entire career to deny. Of course we all know that homosexual couples can not create a bady. However, STDs can still be contracted through any sort of sexual behavior. It sounds a bit hypocritical to me that he states that homosexual men can use condoms to reduce risk of AIDs because they are already "sinners," yet heterosexual couples are not allowed, by any means, to use birth control.
 
The sad fact of the world is that not everybody waits. Many Christians want people to wait until marriage, but the reality of all of this is that there are many who do not wait. Condoms are meant to keep an accident from happening, and they are proven to help reduce the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases.

Benedict also had many problems with scandals over his entire time working for the papacy. For one thing, he stated that pedophilia was a normal behavior.
“In the 1970s, pedophilia was theorised as something fully in conformity with man and even with children,”
“It was maintained — even within the realm of Catholic theology — that there is no such thing as evil in itself or good in itself. There is only a ‘better than’ and a ‘worse than’. Nothing is good or bad in itself.”
- Belfast Times Article- December 21, 2010
 
This is the man that we are so concerned with resigning his post as the highest power in the Roman Catholic Church. Here is the hard truth: this is a man that uses his power and position to practically justify some of the horrible things he says. He is not retiring because he is old; he is retiring because of the terrible way he has run the church. I have respect for organized religion and people's right to practice it on their own time, but I have no respect for people that promote pedophilia and hatred towards other groups.

Written by R. Turk
http://expertscolumn.com/content/pope-benedict-xvi-resigns-was-it-old-age-or-something-more-social

Music Review: The Goons -- New Self Titled Album

The Goons are a new and popular local indie rock duo from Northern Virginia. Their combination of old-fashioned 50s/60s rock sound with new alternative elements make their sound much different than things you will hear on the radio nowadays. The duo consists of singer/guitarist David Gray and drummer Ryan Cunningham. Their newest album, The Goons, has distinct qualities that make it quite far above the norm nowadays, putting it in a category of its own.

The album begins with "The Interrogation," a song that sounds a bit like Sublime with a twist. The song is very pop oriented, but the singer is a bit harsher on this song than later tracks on the album. "Let Go," the second track on the album, gives a much softer tone than the latter, but the song is not quite as catchy as others on the album.



The third track, "Hotel," is by far the most impressive song on the album and has garnered many's interest in the duo. The song sounds like a pop-rock hybrid that you would literally hear in Elvis' time. The lyrics are well-written and catchy, and the guitar hook will keep anyone captivated. "Taxi Cab" brings a more modern twist to their style than prior tracks, and fifth track "Weak" caught my eye as somewhat of a power ballad. However, neither could live up to the grandeur that was "Hotel."

Sixth track, "Boomerang Girl," gives a more western sound than most of their other tracks, but unlike some of the prior tracks, it brings back some of the catchiness that made "Hotel" such a hit. This is followed by the soothing ballad, "Tomorrow," which was quite impressive and reminded me of some of Led Zeppelin's softer songs. "One Way or Another has one of the better guitar parts on the entire album, but lacks when compared to some prior songs.

The following tracks, "Blaze," "Fisherman's Cove," and "Running for the Hills" are all pretty good tracks in their own way but also all lack the catchiness "Hotel" had. The final song, "Fight or Flee" is much more aggressive and is truly a perfect way to close the album.

My final grade for The Goons is an 8/10. An 8/10 is a great score for an act that is just getting started, and we should be pretty impressed they ranked higher than Hollywood Undead's new album. There were some blatant strengths presented, such as David Gray's guitar work through the album, but also some weaknesses as well. However, most of the weaknesses were probably due to the fact that they set the bar so high with "Hotel" and could not really live up to its superiority on the rest of the album. However, I do request this album to anyone who wants to listen to something new with no autotune. The talent is certainly there; if you give the album a chance, it certainly does deliver.

Written by R. Turk
http://expertscolumn.com/content/music-review-goons-new-self-titled-album

R. Turk: Opinions and Columns

Due to recent events, I will begin to republish my works from Expertscolumn.com on this blog. I hope you all like this. I hope to publish one every day on here. Good luck all.