ICE, scream

One of the benefits of paying for a data plan for my cell phone is that I get to read the news while I'm on the bus heading to and from work. This one happened to catch my eye, and I hope you'll find it as disturbing as I did.

The Associated Press, courtesy of MSNBC.com, reports that Jazz, a subsidiary of Canadian airlines Air Canada, will be removing life jackets to save on fuel.

TO SAVE ON FUEL.

Is this what's it's come to? Jeopardizing lives to save a few bucks on fuel?

One plane, which carries up to 50 people for regional flights, contains 55 pounds of life jackets. The company is now telling passengers to use the seat as a floatation device.

Um... does that mean I need to stay buckled into my seat until the airplane captain says it's OK for me to release my seatbelt?

I hope Air Canada doesn't try to play this as being an environmentally friendly solution. I really don't think losing 55 pounds on a flight will decrease fuel consumption any more than if they stopped serving Pringles and gin on the plane.

Or, maybe they should've told everyone on the plane that they can't use the bathroom the entire flight. I mean, c'mon, the airline only flies a short distance. Customers can hold it in for a few hours, right? Puh-lease.

P.S. The acronym ICE (in case of emergency) is a handy contact in a cell phone. Many police and emergency teams know that the acronym stands for "in case of emergency."

For example, if you're out partying on a Wednesday night because, hell, it's a Wednesday night, and just to happened to pass out on the sidewalk, the police or a medical crew could call your contact(s) listed under ICE. What better way of letting people know that last night was a night to remember... or completely forget...

... Or... um, how'd I get here?

Changes to the Web site

I think it's time to narrow the focus of what the ColumnBreak Web site is supposed to be, since it's been up for almost a year. When I first started this site, I had this idea that I'd update a bunch of sections fairly often, which turned out to be too demanding. Here's what I'd like to do within the next month:

• Delete the News page
• Delete the Technology News page
• Redo the Japan landing page—just the page with the map of Japan
• Redo the ColumnBreak Mobile site
• Add new videos to the video player on the main page
• Start a new ad campaign through CitySearch
• End the ad campaign on Microsoft AdCenter
• End the ad campaign on Facebook

Guess I better get to mapping my plans to make these updates.

Didn't quite make it...

For those of you keeping track, I didn't reach my goal of 10,000 songs on my Zune. My tally was 9,975 songs, which still puts me at about 40 songs per day since December 12, 2007.

Just for those keeping count... :P

Unsportsman-Like Conduct

Did anyone see the immature antics of Greco-Roman wrestler Ara Abrahamian during the Olympics on Thursday, August 14? He removed his bronze metal, put it on the floor, and walked away because, in his words, "I don't care about this medal. I wanted gold. This will be my last match. I wanted to take gold, so I consider this Olympics a failure."

If there's any failure at the 2008 Olympics, it's the attitudes of athletes who whine. Obviously, those who complain were beat for a reason: They were simply outplayed.

Lay off the steroids, man.

10,000 songs by August 15

A few weeks ago, I made a goal for myself: To meet 10,000 songs played on my Zune by August 15. As of now, I'm sitting at 9,717 songs with two days left and not a whole lot of time left.

You better believe that I'm trying to get those last 283 songs by Friday.

Check out the ColumnBreak Zune counter to see how many songs I've listened to since December 12, 2007!

Opening The Doors to what's going on in current international affairs

Russia invades Georgia (not the state... the country), and as usual, the United States wants to play hero, meddling in other countries' affairs. I wish the U.S. government would stop trying to show the world that they are all-powerful world moderators, especially when they can't control situations outside and inside it's own country.

Stop fighting with Georgia? Let's try try to stop fighting—physically and verbally—with just about every other major country. U.S. politicians and other high-status individuals who represent America need to get off of this power trip that portrays the United States as this might being that can do no wrong and can't confess to mistakes.

Now, if you'll excuse me, it's time to relax with a movie that everyone should watch: The Doors.

Mobile blogging!

It took a little bit, but I'm now able to post from my cell phone, which is one feature that I really wanted.

Now, I just need you to use the other feature I wanted, so post those comments!

Well, that settles it

I was trying to figure out what to do with creating a comment feature on my blog, and then I started thinking, "Wow, wouldn't it be great if I could also make posts from my cell phone? Maybe I should've majored in computer science so that I could figure out how to do it all on my own...." Well, here I am, relying on a blogging service to do my dirty work.

Mobile blogging sure will be nice while I'm traveling and just bored on the bus.