Active Reference

From IPL Wiki

Welcome to the IPL Active Reference Wiki! This is a spot to collect reference links for current hot topics. These topics will be taken from twitter trends and google trends predominantly, and they'll be topics that should still stay interesting in a couple weeks.

This is a wiki, which means anyone can edit it. So if any fellow IPLers have any additional references to add to these topics or additional trending topics to add, please do.

Contents 1 This Week (2009-11-17) 1.1 Atlantis Shuttle Launch 2 Last Week (2009-11-08) 2.1 Black Friday 2.2 Health Care Bill 3 Older 3.1 Trick-or-Treating 3.2 Fall Time Change 3.3 FTC requires bloggers to disclose paid endorsements

This Week (2009-11-17)

Atlantis Shuttle Launch

What is this all about?

On November 16th, the space shuttle Atlantis launched successfully.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/launch/index.html

This mission, STS-129, will last 11 days. The shuttle is bringing spare components to the International Space Station.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-129

What is the significance of this shuttle launch?

The Atlantis shuttle had been scheduled to be retired in 2008, but that decision was reversed.

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2008/01/atlantis-flying-to-2010-hubble-slightly-delayed-manifest-re-aligned/

'More information about the shuttle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Atlantis

---

Last Week (2009-11-08)

Black Friday

What is this all about?

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving in the United States. It is known as "the biggest shopping day of the year" and the real beginning of the holiday shopping season. Stores often have large sales on this day.

Where did the name come from?

The common thought is that Black Friday refers to the day that retailers are finally "in the black" or not in debt. The term's origins are actually a reference to the heavy traffic on that day in Philadelphia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(shopping)#Origin_of_the_name_.22Black_Friday.22

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0804D&L=ADS-L&P=R5955&I=-3

Health Care Bill

What is this all about?

Congress just passed a controversial new health care bill. The trending topic here is actually "who voted for health care bill" and so here are some answers:

The New York Times has a list of the Democrats who voted against the bill along with some relevant demographics of their districts:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/11/08/us/politics/1108-health-care-vote.html

A general news story about the bill's passing:

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/nancy-pelosi-democrats-pass-sweeping-health-care-reform/story?id=9027367

Older

Trick-or-Treating

What is this all about?

From Wikipedia: "Trick-or-treating is a custom for children on Halloween. Children proceed in costume from house to house, asking for treats such as candy, or sometimes money, with the question, "Trick or treat?" The "trick" is an idle threat to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property,such as Eggs and Flour being thrown at householders windows if no treat is given." (Trick-or-treating)

This article also discusses the origins of trick-or-treating, dating it back to the middle ages.

More Information

Wikipedia article on Halloween: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween

Fall Time Change

What is this all about?
Each fall and spring, most of the United States changes the clock an hour backwards (in the fall) or an hour forwards (in the spring). Many other countries around the world change their clocks as well.

Daylight Savings Time, or DST, is the period of time in the spring and summer months when the clock is set an hour forward. The important thing to remember about DST is that it gets dark later in the evening during these months. Here is a page with more info:

http://www.timeanddate.com/time/aboutdst.html

Some more information:
This article discusses possible health issues associated with DST, particularly the way our bodies may be affected right after the time change:

http://www.timeanddate.com/time/daylight-saving-health.html

This article discusses general issues about DST, including energy conservation:

http://www.timeanddate.com/time/daylight-saving-debate.html

FTC requires bloggers to disclose paid endorsements

What is this all about?
The Federal Trade Commission has stated that bloggers who endorse a product must disclose any "material connections" they have with the producer of the product. Here are the official guidelines:

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/endortest.shtm

Why is this an issue?
There are bloggers who make money by writing paid product endorsements on their blogs. Here is news from National Public Radio about the issue:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113548758

But sometimes advertisers buy an endorsement from a blogger who doesn't reveal the paid nature of the endorsement.

This is a good blog post about the issue that shows the two conflicting views:

http://thenoisychannel.com/2009/10/05/jeff-jarvis-and-matt-cutts-on-the-new-ftc-blog-regulations/