All-Star Sunday!! AND My 22th Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to me!! LOL
I was going to watch the All-Star Game, but the tickets were too expensive. So, I gave up and watched at home. =[
Let's back to the All-Star Game!

NO.	PLAYER (TEAM)	POS.	HT.	WT.	BIRTHDATE	FROM
6	* LeBron James (Miami)	F	6-8	250	12/30/84	St. Vincent/St. Mary HS
1	* Amar'e Stoudemire (New York)	F	6-10	240	11/16/82	Cypress Creek HS (FL)
3	* Dwyane Wade (Miami)	G	6-4	220	01/17/82	Marquette
1	* Derrick Rose (Chicago)	G	6-3	190	10/04/88	Memphis
12	* Dwight Howard (Orlando)	C	6-11	265	12/08/85	SW Atlanta Christian Academy (GA)
20	Ray Allen (Boston)	G	6-5	205	07/20/75	Connecticut
1	Chris Bosh (Miami)	F	6-11	235	03/24/84	Georgia Tech
5	Kevin Garnett (Boston)	F	6-11	253	05/19/76	Farragut Academy HS (IL)
15	Al Horford (Atlanta)	C-F	6-10	245	06/03/86	Florida
2	Joe Johnson (Atlanta)	G	6-7	240	06/29/81	Arkansas
34	Paul Pierce (Boston)	F	6-7	235	10/13/77	Kansas
9	Rajon Rondo (Boston)	G	6-1	171	02/22/86	Kentucky
Head Coach: Doc Rivers (Boston)

NO.	PLAYER (TEAM)	POS.	HT.	WT.	BIRTHDATE	FROM
21	* Tim Duncan (San Antonio)	F	6-11	255	04/25/76	Wake Forest
35	* Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City)	F	6-9	230	09/29/88	Texas
15	* Carmelo Anthony (Denver)	F	6-8	230	05/29/84	Syracuse
24	* Kobe Bryant (L.A. Lakers)	G	6-6	205	08/23/78	Lower Merion HS (PA)
3	* Chris Paul (New Orleans)	G	6-0	175	05/06/85	Wake Forest
11	| Yao Ming (Houston)	C	7-6	310	09/12/80	Shanghai, China
20	Manu Ginobili (San Antonio)	G	6-6	205	07/28/77	Bahia Blanca, Argentina
16	Pau Gasol (L.A. Lakers)	C	7-0	250	07/06/80	Barcelona, Spain
32	# Blake Griffin (L.A. Clippers)	F	6-10	251	03/16/89	Oklahoma
42	# Kevin Love (Minnesota)	F-C	6-10	260	09/07/88	UCLA
41	Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas)	F	7-0	245	06/19/78	Wurzburg, Germany
0	# Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City)	G	6-3	187	11/12/88	UCLA
8	Deron Williams (Utah)	G	6-3	209	06/26/84	Illinois
Head Coach: Gregg Popovich (San Antonio)

All-Star Weekend Day 2!!

Here it comes the second day of the All-Star Weekend 2011!!!

We have the skill challenge, 3-pt contest and dunk contest today!
First lets talk about the skill challenge first.
Golden State guard Stephen Curry, the 2011 winner of the Taco Bell Skills Challenge at All-Star Saturday.
The players taking part in the Taco Bell Skills Challenge were:

Player Team Height Weight Chris Paul Hornets 6-0 175 Stephen Curry Warriors 6-3 185 Derrick Rose Bulls 6-3 190 John Wall Wizards 6-4 195 Russell Westbrook Thunder 6-3 187

Stephen Curry won the skill challenge with a final round time of 28.2 seconds to beat Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook.

All-Star weekend!!!

The first day of the All-Star weekend, we have the celebrity game and rookie challenge.

Justin Bieber won the MVP award in the celebrity game, but unfortunately I missed the game. I only watched the highlights. Here is the Highlights of the game.

For the rookie challenge, the rookies beat the sophomores 148-140,and John Wall won the MVP award of that game.

Thats the first day of the All-Star weekend 2011! I missed the whole day!! =[

Facebook Addiction

Facebook is a social network website found by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and fellow computer science students Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes in February 2004. According to Social Media Today, there are around 600 million active members on Facebook and it is estimated that 41.6% of the U.S. population has a Facebook account as of April 2010.

With the exponentially increasing number of Facebook users, Facebook Addiction Disorder (FAD) became one of the hottest topics all over the world recently. FAD is an addiction presented by some psychologists which means people whose lives are highly affected by unrestrained Facebook activities. There are around 350 million people suffering from FAD and the number of patients is increasing in a fast rate. Yet, what makes Facebook so addictive; moreover, does Facebook Addiction even exist?

I believe there are three main reasons that make Facebook so addictive. First, it gives users a sense of self-worth. Facebook gives a platform that allows users to let the world know about their interests, thoughts and bits and pieces about their lives. They can also talk and share anything without the fear of being labeled as self-obsessed. Also, each message and notification makes them feel important and can boost their self-esteem. The second reason is Facebook stalking. Facebook allows users to view and spy on photos and conversations of their friends or even someone they don’t know without other people knowing. Facebook can also help people who are too shy or too busy to meet or call to catch up with their friends. Last but not least, Facebook on mobile phones makes Facebook addictive as well. As more and more people are using smart phones nowadays, Facebook application on mobile makes it easier for users to get access to Facebook. People can update statues and photos whenever and wherever they want. “Almost one fifth of users are now accessing the site through their mobile phones and official statistics suggests that users become on average 50% more active once they do so” (Understanding Facebook Addiction, www.suite101.com).
 

Now we know Facebook is addictive, however, there is no official medical founding that supports Facebook Addiction. So, to prove whether FAD exists depends on how we define “addiction”. There are commonly two forms of symptoms can be called as “addiction” according to The American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and StatisticalManual of Mental Disorders: substance dependence and pathological gambling. Obviously, it is inappropriate to use pathological gambling to judge the existence of FAD, and it is also hard to prove whether Facebook is substance dependent. Therefore, I would like to link it to an official disorder, Internet Disorder. In fact, FAD should be categorized as a kind of Internet Disorder. 

In 2008, China registered Internet Addiction as a medical disorder with the World Health Organization. Tao Ran has reached his conclusion by studying 3000 people for four years, and he also set up the first Internet Addiction clinic at Beijing’s Military General Hospital. “Dr. Tao said that he compared his data with that of experts in the United States, where internet addiction is not recognized as a disease. He had determined that an addict spent 6.13 hours online each day, a figure that coincides with the US assessment of 6.14 hours a day. Research by the internet media company InterActiveCorp shows that 42 per cent of Chinese youngsters polled felt addicted to the internet, compared with 18 per cent in the US” (Internet addiction made an official disorder in China, The Times). 

Dr. Tao found that Internet Addicts usually also suffer from depression, sleeping disorder and unwillingness to interact with others, which coincidently match with the symptoms of FAD. So, studies support that Facebook Addiction is a form of Internet Addiction. 

Facebook addiction can cause depression. A recent study from Edinburgh Napier University says, the more friends you have on Facebook, the higher the chance you will be stressed out. According to Dr. Kathy Charles, the doctor who conducted this research, 32 percent of Facebook users feel guilty when they reject friend requests, and 12 percent of them think Facebook makes them anxious. Many of them feel stressed and anxious because of the exclusion on Facebook community and lack of attractiveness of their pages. Furthermore, some of them even lose sleep, miss meal and school because of FAD. Thus, I think the negative impacts of addiction to Facebook definitely outweigh the benefits of using it.

To prevent yourself from getting too deep into Facebook, you can test yourself to see whether you are addicted to Facebook. Here are five ways from CNN to check if you have FAD. “1. You lose sleep over Facebook. If you're staying up late at night because you're on Facebook, and you're tired the next day, Facebook may be a compulsion for you. 2. You spend more than an hour a day on Facebook. 3. You become obsessed with old loves. Reconnecting with old friends is one of the great attractions of Facebook, and there's nothing necessarily wrong with ‘friending’ an old boyfriend or girlfriend. 4. You ignore work in favor of Facebook. If you're not doing your job in order to sneak time on Facebook, you could have a real problem. 5. The thought of getting off Facebook leaves you in a cold sweat. Sarah Browne, who writes the Guru of New blog, gave up Facebook for Lent last month when she realized that she had a ‘mild’ addiction to the site” (Five clues that you are addicted to Facebook, articles.cnn.com).

If you are unfortunately addicted to Facebook, I have some suggestions for you to quit it. The first thing I recommend is to close your Facebook wall. Once your friends can’t post anything on your wall, you don’t have to spend time on responding to the posts or keep checking new wall posts. It is more efficient than disabling email notification. This allows you to cut yourself off from the addiction without having to sacrifice the good communication network of Facebook. If you can’t get rid of your Facebook addiction by closing your wall, you can get a time limiter plugin to help you. The purpose of getting a time limiter is to keep track and control the time you spend on Facebook. Imagine a nanny standing beside you doing nothing, but reminding you to get off Facebook when you exceed the time limit. Sounds Great? If everything else failed, the last thing you can do is to deactivate your Facebook. Totally cut yourself off Facebook and go get a life! 

There are many benefits of using Facebook, but moderation is very important. Through Facebook, you can find some of your old friends; you can find business connections; you can chat and keep track on your friends’ life easily, so Facebook is a great social network platform. However, overusing and addiction can offset the benefits you get from Facebook. Thus, try to find your way out as soon as possible when you are addicted to it. Moderate your time on Facebook, and spend more on your real life.

McVend??

A few days ago, I wrote a proposal for my marketing class. I have an idea of making fast food vending machines for McDonal's, called "McVend". Since there is almost no competitor and feasible in technology. The current vending machines only sell snacks and drinks to consumers, but no vending machines actually sell foods like burgers. So, my idea is to dominate this market by being the first one. The startup cost is not expensive, because we don’t have to invest in technical research. The only thing we need to do is to purchase the vending machines and apply the produce procedures of burgers to the machines. I believe the return of advertising benefits and actual sales revenue will far exceed the investment.

My idea is sell some McDonald’s popular burgers with soda through vending machines. However, I am not going to include fries in the vending machine, because too complicated to make fries. Thus, the burgers will be sold with only sodas, and the price will be $2 USD less the original combo price. (e.g., the in-store price of a Big Mac Combo is $8, then the vending price will be $6.)  I assume the price range will be from $4 to $7. The cost of the machine to McDonald’s is around $2000-$3000 per machine, not including the daily operating costs. (e.g., cost of electricity, raw materials for burgers, soft drinks, etc.)

 

There are many fast food companies in the United States, such as Jack in the box, In & Out, Burger King, etc. However, none of them are selling their foods through vending machines. Thus, we are the first one in the fast food vending machine market, but I found a close competitor who is selling pizza through vending machines. La Pizza Presto has recently announced their pizza vending machine in the United States. They can make pizzas from scratch in less than 3 minutes, and the price is around $6.

Furthermore, the McVend appears to be feasible with current technology. The fast food vending machines would be just a bit more complicated than normal snack vending machines by assembling and heating the burger instead of directly sell the snacks to the end customer. Moreover, I can guarantee the quality of the burgers would be the same as the burgers in-stores. Since McDonald’s follows a make-to-stock system, so the raw materials (e.g., burger bread, meat, cheese, etc.) of burgers are already cooked and just waiting for assemblage. The same concept is applied to the fast food vending machine, we put all the cooked raw materials into the vending machines, then we assemble and heat up the burger in the machine when customers make their orders.

Our targeted markets are kids, youths and college students. We want to startup this project by putting the vending machines in schools first. The idea to start in schools first is to build up and consolidate the brand loyalty, also to provide an even faster access of fast food to students, especially college students. College students sometimes don’t have time to have lunch between classes; putting fast food vending machine outside of classroom can provide them a convenience access to fast and tasty food. The vending machine can also establish a new image of McDonald’s and purchasing habit of customers. I believe it is a good way to steady or even further expand our market share in the future.

With today’s lifestyle, time saving products are increasing in demand. The rate of growth in consumer expenditures on fast food has led most other segments for much of the last two decades. The sales growth rate of fast food is constantly at 4% these few years. As one of the biggest fast food company McDonald’s, it is time to expand our service into different segments, and I believe the vending industry is the best place to start our expansion. The hectic lifestyle is driving the sale of fast industry up, and a more convenient way to sell fast food is demanded. So, I have the reason to trust this idea"McVend" is profitable.

Do you think it would work?

Can't even do it in Winning Eleven! Rooney! Are you really a human?

It was tough luck on City, who were the better side, and responded to Nani's opener by levelling through an Edin Dzeko shot which deflected in off David Silva.

But Rooney's moment of genius was worthy of winning any game, and with City surely out of the running now, maybe it will win United the Premier League title too.

Attempts from both sides to avoid inflaming what was always going to be a volatile atmosphere, even before City's startling rise up the Premier League, were breached only by a member of the Blues groundstaff, who used a social networking site to post some pretty ugly comments and also the stadium announcer, who repeatedly welcomed supporters to the "greatest football club in the world".

A goalless meeting between the sides in November had prompted complaints of negativity towards Blues boss Roberto Mancini, a feeling a similarly tepid encounter with Arsenal last month only reinforced.

Faced with a table that showed his team five points in arrears of their neighbours, having played a game more, this was the point of no return for City though - and Mancini went for it.

City should have been ahead after only three minutes.

Silva started an intricate move that also involved Micah Richards before Carlos Tevez threaded a brilliant pass through to the Spain international, leaving him completely clear deep inside the penalty area.

Edwin van der Sar advanced quickly, forcing Silva to make an instant decision, the former Valencia star turning in anguish as his delicate prod rolled just wide of the far post.

Even at that early stage, Mancini must have wondered whether another such opportunity would come.

Yaya Toure and Aleksandar Kolarov both went close as the visitors continued to press. But City could not get a clear sight of the United goal.

Not that their hosts were doing much in return.

It took them almost 35 minutes to force Hart into a meaningful save, Darren Fletcher climbing to reach Ryan Giggs' curling cross and though the Scot's header was firm enough, it lacked power.

Nani had been a peripheral figure up to that point. He did serve notice of his intentions shortly afterwards though as he fired over from the edge of the area.

Having done so well, City would have been cursing at the manner in which they were opened up.

One long ball from Van der Sar, which Rooney flicked on to Giggs. A neat pass from the Welshman and Nani was in, his first touch taking him away from Pablo Zabaleta before he steadied himself, then beat Hart with clinical ease.

City must have spent the interval cursing at the injustice of it all.

They were the ones who continued to press after the restart, although it was not until Mancini had called Shaun Wright-Phillips and Dzeko off the bench that they got their equaliser.

Even Mancini would admit it took his side a huge slice of luck to drag themselves back into it, with the substitutes combining at the start.

Dzeko's shot from Wright-Phillips' cross was going well wide of the goal when it struck Silva on the back, the deflection leaving Van der Sar totally helpless.

It looked like City would grab a winner, with Dzeko causing huge problems inside the United area.

But the inspirational figure was wearing red. For so long now, there have been questions about Rooney's form.

There can be none now, not after he met Nani's cross with a jaw-dropping overhead kick that sent the ball into the far corner, Hart rooted to the spot.

Read more: http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Manchester-United-2-1-Manchester-City-match-report-Wayne-Rooney-settles-derby-with-bicycle-kick-made-for-three-points-article695717.html#ixzz1E4BCnehM

Here is the video of Rooney's goal!!

Wayne Rooney's amazing goal!!!!

Melo?Artest?

For the last few months, everybody were talking about the Carmelo Anthony-Andrew Bynum trade and Ron artest.  Some Lakers wanted a Melo and Al-Harrington for Bynum and Ron Artest deal, but definitely not me. Since the Lakers is not doing very well to defend their champion title, I think a trade is needed. However, should we trade Bynum for Melo? I don't think this is a good idea. The combination of Bynum, Gasol and Odom is a huge reason that Lakers has been so sucessful. Bynum's ability to control the glass and block oppnents are somthing that Melo can not provide to Lakers, but Lakers is needed to protect their title. So, I don't support a Melo-Bynum trade.

How about Ron-Ron?  I have no comment on it, but seems like Artest wants to stay in Lakers now. So, the Lakers may stay the same this year. Anyway, nobody can predict what will happen in NBA, because NBA is Where _______ happens. We'll see.

SAT in China???

The SAT Is to America as ____ Is to China

Mainland applicants have to take the test abroad. The U.S. College Board wants to change that

By Daniel Golden

As a high school student in Beijing, Xi Zhao cleared a hurdle applying to U.S. colleges that Americans don't face. The SAT college-entrance exam isn't offered in mainland China, so Zhao flew to Hong Kong and South Korea to take it twice. She earned the maximum 800 in math and 2080 out of 2400 overall—a score that helped her get into the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Not being able to take the SAT on the mainland "is a hassle," says the 20-year-old, now a junior with a 3.8 grade point average. "It's not fair that other students can just take the test at their high schools and we have to travel for hours."
The number of Chinese undergraduates in the U.S. has quadrupled in four years. Now, the nonprofit College Board, which owns the SAT, PSAT, and Advanced Placement programs, is seeking the education ministry's permission to start offering the SAT on the mainland. "We've had serious discussions with Chinese officials," says Board President Gaston Caperton. "They recognize it's a big burden on parents."
The SAT's absence on the mainland is a relic of an era when China was less open to the West, Caperton says. As a former British colony, Hong Kong has long let students take the exam. China permits other U.S. tests such as Advanced Placement exams, which let high-schoolers earn college credits.
Chinese officials "have a very mixed feeling" about the SAT policy, says Tom Melcher, chairman of Zinch China, an online social network that matches Chinese students with U.S. colleges and scholarships. Officials "don't want the SAT blasted on all the walls of all the high schools," Melcher said. "It would feel politically invasive."
In the last academic year, 39,921 Chinese undergrads studied at U.S. colleges, passing South Korea as the No. 1 source of international undergraduates, according to the Institute of International Education, a nonprofit group in New York. "All of us in higher education are hopeful that the day will come when the SAT will be available in mainland China," says Kelly Walter, executive director of admissions at Boston University. The Education Ministry in Beijing and the embassy in Washington, D.C., did not respond to messages.
U.S. college recruiters are mining China's best schools for well-qualified, full-paying applicants. Increasing affluence and China's one-child policy mean middle-class Chinese can afford tuitions that far exceed the price of school at home. "There's this real sense of a huge, untapped market," says Timothy Brunold, dean of admissions at USC, which admitted 162 students from China in 2010, up from six in 2005.
The College Board, which had revenue of $623 million in fiscal 2009, charges $47 to take the SAT in the U.S. and $75 internationally. The Board in 2006 introduced an Advanced Placement course in Chinese language and culture, and has brought more than 450 instructors from China to teach it in the U.S.
Next year, Chinese schools will offer the PSAT, which identifies academic strengths and weaknesses in younger students. Says Xiang Wang, who in 2009 became the College Board's first vice-president of international relations for Asia, Chinese officials are "very tantalized but very cautious" about introducing international educational programs. "This is not an easy decision."

Copy from Bloomberg.

Finally Beaten...

Manchester United was finally beaten by Wolverhampton. Manchester United had not lost in the league since Chealsea won at Old Trafford in April last year, and it was just only one game away to beat the club record set by them in 1999.
Manchester United had a wonderful start of the game. Nani scored one for United just 3 minutes after the game started, but goals from George Elokobi and Kevin Doyle earned a much needed win for Wolverhampton.
"It's disappointing, it's been a long run for us," United manager Alex Ferguson told reporters after his team's first loss in 29 league games going back to last season.
"But we didn't get going really in the second half today. Wolves are a handful at set-pieces and they proved that again today."

Here is the link of this match's highlights. Watch it!