Opinion

Everyone keeps talking about how awful having a phobia is. This includes how a fear of eating too many calories (cibophobia) leads to health problems, how a fear of open spaces and being outside (agoraphobia) is crippling their social life, and how being terrified of being financially responsible is turning them into Republicans (corruptophobia). The news is blowing all of these out of proportion. In my opinion, this is all nonsense.

I was driving home one evening and lined along the sidewalk were about 25 protestors. As I stopped at the red light I caught a glimpse of their signs. “Help the Coptic Christians of Egypt” was written on one banner held by a young woman. “Call Congress” was written on another as a girl chimed a triangle instrument.

If you’re a vegetarian or a vegan, I must ask that you do not take this article personally. It is in no way aimed at your lifestyle or political preference. This article is a critique of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and the continual hypocrisy and absurd political goose chases over the years that they have been responsible for.

For the last couple of weeks, thousands of Orange County citizens have been making their way to the Irvine Civic Center to be a part of Occupy Orange County CA, a branch of the Occupy Wall Street movement that began in New York City.

Recently I’ve noticed a strange rise in the number of homeless people plaguing our campus. During my first year here at UC Irvine, I never noticed anything out of the ordinary as far as the presence of the homeless is concerned. Sure, there would be the occasional weird-looking guy at the bus stop, but that is to be expected. In the past month of class, however, I’ve witnessed at least two homeless people on campus.

Google decided to take it one step further. Now they announced that they will make TV-like channels on YouTube to watch shows. I mean real channels, not user accounts with segments of shows. It should be like watching TV without watching it through a TV set.

An 18-year-old girl was captured, put in prison, tortured and eventually her family found her mutilated dead body. “Zeinab al-Hosni” is a case reported by the United Nations and only one of the 5,000 victims who were silenced by the Syrian dictator, Bashar al-Assad.

Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are entitled, under the First Amendment, to the freedom of speech. If you heard of this from any media outlet, it is likely that what you heard was blown out of proportion. To convince myself, I read the opinion of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.

Facebook, like Steve Jobs’ Apple, is constantly coming up with new features and improvements. But unlike Apple, some of Facebook’s are not as secure.

Beginning winter quarter 2012, UC Irvine will launch the Educational Technology Initiative (eTech@UCI) which, according to the eTech@UCI website, aims at “… funding the maintenance and improvement of education technology like EEE, classroom technology, and instructional computing labs.” Some of the proposals of eTech@UCI include a virtual computer lab, classroom course capture, expanded wireless (Wi-Fi) coverage across campus, charging stations for mobile devices and a student IT help desk.

I know what some of you may be thinking already: this guy is here to condemn people that eat meat and wear fur in the Opinion section of his campus publication. Someone trying to convince you that “animals are people too,” or whatever the other stereotypes that the general population may have about vegetarians and vegans.

In the middle of the night, I awoke to a siren blaring in my ear drums. The deafening alarm echoed throughout the apartment. I had heard it before. Instead of panicking or following suit, I made my way into the living room and sat on the couch, where the noise was more bearable. For 10 minutes I sat there as I became conditioned to the pounding noises after springing out of bed enraged. It was 3 a.m. and it was the second time in a week that I had been awoken by a false alarm.