U.S. rated 9th most prosperous nation....9th?????

U.S. has been ranked the 9th most prosperous nation behind a dominant performance by Northern Europe as Finland was ranked 1st, Sweden 3rd, Denmark 4th, and Norway 5th.

Now there are typically two reactions to something like this. The first reaction is, with our current economic, political, and health situation, we are lucky to be ranked that high, while others think, what the heck do those countries have that we don't?

In order to completely understand these findings, we must first understand what is the definition of prosperity according to the 2009 Legatum Prosperity Index. "The Index identified nine key factors that drive economic growth and personal well being, which are foundations of prosperity. Each of these nine factors is represented in a sub-index and a country's final Prosperity Index ranking is generated by averaging its scores across all nine sub-indexes, equally weighted," according to prnewswire.com.

One of the major positives that did come out of this ranking was our ranking as the most innovative countries in the world. Even with our struggling economy, "The U.S. ranks 1st in the world in Entrepreneurship and Innovation and 2nd in the world in the strength of Democratic Institutions." (prnewswire.com) we also did well by being ranked 7th globally in Education and Social Capital.

Now your question may be, "If we did so well in that area, what could have possibly brought us down?" The answer to that question is, health care. The U.S. ranked 27th! According to the Index, "Dissatisfaction with their overall health is dragging down Americans' sense of well-being, affecting their determination to get ahead and their faith in their health care system." This is a very big concern. Anytime you hear someone complaining about how the congress is spending so much time on health care, you can show them that statistic. It is a major issue that is holding back our entire well-being.

Other downfalls for the U.S. were as follows:
"Ranking 19th globally, safety and security is another relative weakness of the U.S. Lower
scores are driven by the large number of people in the US who feel they live in unsafe
places, coupled with a high per capita murder rate relative to other developed nations.
The U.S. ranks 16th globally on Governance, indicating that Americans believe that there
is too much corruption in their government and sometimes doubt the honest of elections.
The United States' laws and regulations are generally seen to foster economic growth, but
government's negative effects pull down its citizens' quality of life."

These are definitely issues that our country needs to work on. All citizens of our country should feel safe, and we should all be able to have full confidence in our voting system. There is reason to worry though. The 2000 Presidential Election was probably the largest reason for uncertainty in the voting system. Nobody understood how someone could obtain the most votes yet not win the election. It did not make sense and exposed a large flaw in the voting system.

We are continuously working to become a safer nation, but it is becoming more and more difficult with the advancements in technology. Finally, on the health care issue. One thing that seems to be a commonality between the top nations is a thing called, universal health care. Although some may be against it, it is working in numerous countries throughout the world, and it is about time that the U.S. steps up their game. We all need to learn from this ranking and make the U.S. a more prosperous place to live.

Touch is the new thing...

Touch screens seem to be the newest trend in technology. Now days we see phones, ipods, computers, and other similar devices all being operated via a touch screen or pad. Just today, Apple(R) introduced the world's first multi-touch mouse. It will be coming standard with all Apple(R) computers and will also be available to buy separately as an accessory for just under $70.

According to prnewswire.com, "Magic Mouse features a seamless touch-sensitive enclosure that allows it to be a single or multi-button mouse with advanced gesture support. Using intuitive gestures, users can easily scroll through long documents, pan across large images or swipe to move forward or backward through a collection of web pages or photos. Magic Mouse works for left or right handed users and multi-button or gesture commands can be easily configured from within System Preferences.

"The Magic Mouse laser tracking engine provides a smooth, consistent experience across more surfaces than a traditional optical tracking system. Magic Mouse uses Bluetooth wireless capabilities to create a clean, cable-free desk top and its secure wireless connection works from up to 10 meters away. To extend battery performance, Magic Mouse includes an advanced power management system that works with Mac OS® X to automatically switch to low power modes during periods of inactivity. The wireless Magic Mouse is powered by two AA batteries which are included."

Now this device is just the latest in "touch" devices being released by companies throughout the world. What is it about "touch" that is so captivating. From my experience with talking about "touch" phones with my friends, most of them complain about how they suddenly stopped working before they were even a year old. Also they talk about how they loose their sensitivity and make it hard to text sometimes.

Now I have not only heard bad stories about "touch" phones. I also have friends who really love their phones and feel that they are easy to use and very slick. I have never had a "touch" anything. I like to be able to feel the buttons that I am pushing. My latest advance is to get a phone with a slide out full key pad. I do really like this as it creates a mini computer key pad, which enables me to text more rapidly, especially when it comes to numbers as I do not have to change the format I'm in to get numbers, they are already on my key pad.

So what is going to happen with "touch" devices? Are they going to be a trend that suddenly disappears? Or are we going to see more and more devices using "touch"? Personally, I can definitely see more and more "touch" devices. I just wonder what will be next. Are we going to see touch screens being standard in cars for setting cruise control, the radio, heating and air conditioning, lights, etc.? Are we going to see students writing their papers on a computer notebook that transfers the writing to word process, much like some laptop computers are capable of doing? What is next? I am sure we will soon find out...

U.S. President Barack Obama wins the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

President Obama is the 2009 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Yes, you heard that right. President Obama did in fact win the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, something that shocked many throughout the world whereas others seem to have seen it coming.

I was definitely surprised to see this awarded to our President as where many of my fellow Americans. In class after it was announced, I was talking to several of my classmates about what they thought about President Obama winning such a prestigious prize. The ultimate question coming off of nearly every classmate's tongue was, "Why?"

I myself even asked that question. I campaigned for President Obama in the previous election, so I would definitely be considered a big supporter of President Obama. Even as a supporter, I still could not help but ask why.

When going through his qualifications, I see that at age 48, he seems too young. Also, I understand that he is working hard to increase world peace, but what has he gotten accomplished so far that is so grand? I cannot come up with an answer to that question.

So after trying hard to figure out why, I decided to see what other people thought was the reason. Some are saying that the Nobel committee will sometimes give the award to someone who they feel is in the process of doing something great. By doing this, they hope to draw more attention to what that individual is doing in an attempt to get quicker more wide spread results.

I can definitely see this being a reason, as President Obama is doing a lot to try and increase the U.S.'s relations with countries throughout the world. I have also heard people who think that he only got it, because he was our first black president. I do feel that just that itself does give U.S. a different look from countries throughout the world, but I cannot see that being the sole reason for his award.

The reason that is published most is that President Obama was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." This is according to almaz.com.

No matter what the reason, President Obama receiving this award can have nothing but a positive effect on our country, so everyone put your hands together and congratulate the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize winner, President Barack Obama!

American writers, not good enough for Nobel Prize in Literature, or are they?

The Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded Thursday, October 8 to Romanian-born German writer Herta Mueller. Great for her, but there is something else going on behind the scenes that is to an extent overshadowing this great accomplishment.

Certain members of the Nobel Prize selection committee have very strong opinions on certain areas. Literature is definitely one of them. According to The Associated Press, "Before last year's prize announcement, outgoing permanent secretary Horace Engdahl said the U.S. was too insular and ignorant to challenge Europe as the center of the literary world."

Wow! That is one strong statement. This opinion is shared by other members of the committee as well, but not by all.

"Englund struck a different tone, telling AP Tuesday that in most language areas 'there are authors that really deserve and could get the Nobel Prize and that goes for the United States and the Americas, as well.'" This is taken from an article in The Associated Press.

So what is it? Is American literature good enough or not? Apparently, there are multiple opinions on this issue. Specifically, they discuss the American songwriter, Bob Dylan.

According to The Associated Press, "Dylan is believed to have been nominated several times before, but doesn't quite fit the profile of a Nobel literature laureate. Besides primarily being a songwriter, his mass following could also be considered a minus by the Swedish Academy, which often chooses writers who are unfamiliar to the everyday reader. However, Dylan is considered by many prominent literary critics to be a major poet, his song lyrics worthy of serious study."

Why should the writers by unfamiliar to the everyday reader? This does not make sense to me. Are not Nobel Prize winners people who make a difference in the world through their work? Then, what is the use of their work if nobody reads it? Bob Dylan is being criticized, because too many people like his work? Something is wrong here.

The fact is, although the committee is to be politically neutral, there will always be some politics involved.

AP also wrote, "The last American winner was Toni Morrison in 1993. No writer from South America has won since Gabriel Garcia Marquez in 1982. The last North American writer was Canadian Saul Bellow, who won in 1976 and was a resident of the United States for much of his life."

Some serious rethinking needs to be done by some members of the Nobel Prize committee. What is it about American literature that is so bad? Nothing. Open your eyes committee. There are several well deserving individuals who write massively influential pieces of literature that deserve to be recognized for what they have done for the world.