Google?

What's been going on? Can no one else do anything right? Apparently not, because Google has been dominating the map of the technology world since its beginning in early 1996. It started out as a project at Stanford University, with a couple guys trying to figure out a better way to search for things on the internet. They conquored: google is the #1 most popular search engine, and has been for a number of years. But lately, that hasn't been enough. Google, in the past years, has added many new features that have shadowed over many existing technologies. It seems as if Google can do anything.
A few years back there was a nifty way of searching for an adress: the white pages. But since the explosion of the internet, a website rose that allowed you to simply type in the address, and would give you directions. This was MapQuest. But Google came along, and introduced Google Maps (maps.google.com), giving access to all of the features of MapQuest, along with click-and-drag maps, instantanious zoom, and 3-D views of some areas. Dominating MapQuest, which I personally used a lot pre-Google Maps, I haven't given MapQuest a second thought since.
A similar tale is unfolding with the release of the "Google Phone." T-Mobile has teamed up with Google, to create a phone that rivals the iPhone, and apparently working out all of the kinks of the iPhone as well. In addition to the touch-screen, it has a slider-style full QWERTY keyboard, access to Google Maps, gmail, and YouTube. One-upping the iPhone, along with the WiFi and 3G network capability, it also includes GPS funcionality, and a 3.0 megapixel camera. While you can buy songs on the iPhone for only $.99, the google phone has again one-upped Apple, allowing users to buy songs from the Amazon mp3 store for only $.89. The total cost for this phone is only $179, plus a 2-year subscription (http://cnet.com)

Guns In School

Recent news that has caught my attention: teachers allowed to have guns in school? This is an interesting concept, that has got me thinking. So why shouldn't eligible teachers be allowed to conceal carry on campus? The way I see it, they've already had a background check when they got the job at their current school. They also have to obtain a concealed-carry license, so they now how to treat a gun, and shoot it. And some lawmakers are proposing that teachers also go through a "crisis-management" class as well. So after all this you know the teacher is qualified to carry the gun, and is not a criminal.

In the event of a Columbine-type attack, I think the added protection would help protect the students, or prevent the attack all together. Someone plotting an attack wouldn't even think about attacking the people inside a gun show, because no one would attack an entire group of people that were armed. The same applies to a school, no one would break into a school if every adult in the building had a gun in their waistband, and even the intimidation factor would scare away 99% of potential threats.