Author Archives: Ryan Zee

Is 2012 Election a Time for “Crisis”?

July 19th, 2012

Peggy Noonan might not be able to read your palms, but the Wall Street Journal columnist thinks she knows how you “talk” and “think” about the upcoming presidential election. She knows, for instance, that you know “that who we pick now really matters.” She also knows why you’re not that excited about the election this year.

Calling the election a “crisis election like 1932 or 1980,” Noonan theorizes that “behind the general lack of passion” is my and your double awareness “that what America needs right now is the leadership of a kind of political genius” and “that neither [Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney] is a political genius.”

What Tumblr-ers Need to Know

July 17th, 2012

My dad might be surprised Tumblr has nothing to do with gymnastics, but you probably aren’t. With an active base of roughly 44 million users and an exponential growth rate, the multimedia-centric blogging platform grows in popular awareness (and page views) by the day. Chances are you’re Tumbling in a side-tab or will be shortly. But how can you persuade people to care?

Whether you’re 15 or 55, a student or a CEO, Pragya Thakur of Social Media Today has some tips to help you reach a larger audience on Tumblr.

• Use High-Quality Images: Whether you’re using Tumblr to promote a product, present your favorite websites or flash breaking news, images are essential. Tumblr users tend to prefer visual stimulation to lengthy articles. They’re unlikely to re-blog something that clogs up their homepage.

Feeling Safe on Twitter? Think Again

July 12th, 2012

To tweet or not to tweet? With nearly 200 million registered Twitter accounts, more than 50 million “active” users, and roughly 3 million tweets posted every day, much of the world would seem to respond in the affirmative. A recent court ruling, however, might begin to lessen Twitter’s appeal.

This past week, a New York judge decided in favor of prosecutors who sought access to the  Twitter account of an Occupy Wall Street protestor over a three-month period.

Move Over, Edison: Say Hello to Steampunk

July 5th, 2012

If you thought air was just for breathing, Danielle Fong has a surprise for you. No, it’s still not edible. But the 24-year-old Princeton dropout and co-founder of LightSail Energy is developing perhaps the next best thing: air-based energy. By storing the excess energy produced by gas, coal, wind and solar power in giant tanks [...]

Is Email Evil?

June 27th, 2012

Breast cancer. Bosses. Husbands. Wives. Algebra. If I were to make a list of what ruins people’s lives (or at least of what people say ruins their lives), email probably wouldn’t top the list. Or even come a couple thousand spammy articles near the top of the list. But according to Lynn Parramore of AlterNet, [...]

Southern Baptist Church: Blacks, O.K. Gays? Not So Much

June 25th, 2012

If you read the title and thought, Duh?, you probably made the same initial mistake I did. To clear things up: the Westboro Baptist Church, as per the infamous title of its website, is still vigilant as Atlas in upholding a homophobic global vision. Don’t fret. More surprising: the Southern Baptist Church (SBC), America’s “largest Protestant [...]