New favorite app - Flipboard

I recently downloaded Flipboard on recommendation from a friend. Flipboard is a mobile app, that essentially congregates different stories from different topics into one app.

While this isn't exactly what the app looks like anymore (there was an app update yesterday), this gives good overview. There are five tabs on the bottom of the page. The first one is just an endless list of articles that are concatenated from all the topics that you follow. You can flip to see more articles (hence the name, Flipboard), and then click on any one to read more. 

The second tab is a grid layout, with different tiles. Each "tile" represents one topic, and clicking on a tile will bring up all articles that fall under that topic. The third tab allows you to search and add more topics to the second tab, while the last two tabs have to do with your account. 

There are a few things that I really like about Flipboard - my favorite being the interface. It is an incredibly clean one - the grid is very clear, and the flipping motion is incredibly intuitive, and also easier than having a continuous scroll layout to articles. Also, Flipboard is really clever in the sense that if it notices that there's a link that's an article that is saved to your clipboard (let's say you were copying an article link to send to a friend in an email), it'll automatically ask you if you want to add it to one of your magazines when you open the app. 

Which brings me to the second reason that I like the app - you have the ability to not only create magazines, but also add contributors to your magazine so multiple people can add to your collection of articles. This is a great way to not only keep track of articles that you like, but also a way to share articles between a group of friends. 

All in all, great app!

Counter vs Stack'd vs Burgatory

So last week, I flew out to California from Thursday to Monday. And while that meant that I missed a TON of class, I had a blast. One of the beautiful things about California is not only the weather, but also the food. On Sunday, a few friends and I went out to lunch at the Counter. For those of you not familiar, Counter is a build-your-own burger place. We got regular fries and rosemary parmesan fries for the table, and then everyone got their own burger. I still think Stack'd (which is the Counter equivalent in Pittsburgh) is better, but everytime I say that, I get crazy looks from everyone. Burgatory is another build-your-own burger place, but it's a lot more like Counter than it is like Stack'd. Here's why I think Stack'd is the best.

Fries: Stack'd
Okay, while I love the Rosemary Parmesan fries at Counter and the Truffle Oil Gorgonzola fries at Burgatory, nothing beats the curly fries at Stack'd. They just go with the burger so well - and they're not too heavy, which means you're not in a food coma by the end of your meal. Another reason why Burgatory isn't here - you get chips with your meal. Like, potato chips. No.

Patty: Stack'd
Again, Stack'd. I always get the veggie patty, and Stack'd is just far far superior to the both of them. The patty at Burgatory is a little hard, and the patty at Counter is just not as flavorful and falls apart a little quicker then the ones at Stack'd.

Bread Options: Tie between Counter and Stack'd
Each place has a variety of bread options. The reason that the Burgatory isn't up there is I feel like their bread is a little oily

Toppings: Counter (I think)
I think Counter has the most free toppings. I could be wrong.,

Spicyness: Stack'd
Habanero peppers + the spicy sauce = death

Value for money - Stack'd
Overall Winner - Stack'd

Miscellaneous notes:
Stack'd appetizers are rip-offs - 5 jalapeno poppers that look like they came out of a frozen box for $7? No thanks
Burgatory Spiked Shakes are very boozy
The special fries at Counter and Burgatory are a tad oily

Reality Checks

It's articles like these that remind me that what we see on social media isn't always the whole truth of the situation/person/event/whatever the social media happens to be describing. Most of us only post the best parts of our lives on our various social media platforms, yet the rest of us viewing those posts don't know that and just assume that that's how everyone's lives are like - which leads to a feeling of envy (regarding the other people's lives) or depression (regarding our lives). I think there has been a study on this (and obviously, Facebook has been playing with peoples' emotions recently), so I will try and find more concrete evidence of this in the morning (or at least, later in the morning). 

Is the NFL hypocritcal?

I was watching the highlights of the Colts-Texans game (sidenote: Andrew Luck and JJ Watt. Holy shitaake mushrooms), and I noticed that most of the football players had on something pink - for breast cancer awareness. Which is great! Breast cancer is the second most common cancer that women have (after skin cancer), and is the second most common cancer that women also die from (after lung cancer). It's great that the NFL is spreading awareness to this disease that affects so many women.

Until you realize that this may just be a marketing ploy. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and the NFL is using its player to simply show that they support this initiative, that they support women in their fight against this cancer. But that's the only fight that NFL supports women in. In any other fight - women are on their own. Charges of domestic violence? Well, you'll only get kicked off a team if a video emerges of you doing it (looking at you, Ray Rice). You're a cheerleader who wants the money she deserves for her work? Oops. Outta luck (Raiders, this shout out is for you). You're a reporter covering a football event? Careful, you might be the subject of catcalls and lewd gestures by naked men (Jets and Patriots, you guys are similar in this regard). The NFL only seems to care about women when there is marketing money at stake or when the issue is one that's popular and already in the media - like Breast Cancer Awareness month. Otherwise, they just try and sweep it under the rug.

Maybe I'm being too harsh. After all, its possible that the NFL actually does care. But I don't think so. I think they're trying to repair their reputation by doing the least possible - having their players wear pink sneakers rather than teach their players to respect women.  

Pretty Coffee Infographic

Enjoy looking at this while you're drinking your daily cup o' joe.

Great article on Bollywood and women's roles in Bollywood

http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2014/10/women-in-bollywood/

#1 Most Viral Image

Our infographic was the number 1 most viral image on the internet (according to imgur) last night (I believe we hit this status at about 2AM EST).

And it was amazing to see the climb - every refresh of the page was adding thousands of views, people were commenting, upvoting, sharing - exactly what we needed for our project.

But also it nice to see that the most viral images on the internet don't necessarily need to be pictures of cute dogs or cute babies. It can be an actual informative artifact, and if it's about something that people care about, people will view and share it.

We made the front page of imgur!

This is so exciting, view counts are increasing exponentially!

Can you find us?

Good news!

I went to the Doctor to ask about the lead in foot situation - it's not infected and I'm cleared to dance!

That being said, he said it would take about 2 weeks to heal completely which means for 2 weeks I'll be awkwardly limping. Oh well. You win some and you lose some. 

Pinterest

Pinterest is something that has always confused me. I don't understand how people spend hours on it - to me it seems just like a newsfeed for pictures, and people can hang on to the pictures that they like by "pinning them". 

What is the appeal of it? 

I decided to spend a few minutes scrolling through Pinterest today, looking at everything that was filed with the tag "infographic", and while I appreciated looking at all the amazing infographics that were there, after a while, I just got bored. I wanted to create these infographics rather than just look at them and pin them, but I've been getting the vibe that that's not the main purpose of Pinterest (I could also be totally wrong about this). 

What's appealing about using Pinterest?