The Afforable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962) was approved.

It slipped by the U.S. House by a slim margin of 219-212, and we have none other to thank (or chastise) than our own statesman, Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee.

Stupak was one of the last holdouts for the approval of President Barack Obama’s most coveted campaign promise.

But the president worked some political magic and convinced the representative to vote for the bill.

His vote, along with the votes he brought on board with his support, gave Nancy Pelosi the 216 votes needed to pass the bill.

Those votes did not come without some quid pro quo, however.

Continued here: America transforms its health care

(c) CM Life

Marie Fussman, health and safety coordinator for the Mid-Michigan Red Cross Chapter, said CPR, or Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, is an important skill that everyone should learn.

March is Red Cross month and Fussman is running brief CPR training courses.

She hosted one session Tuesday night and is holding another at 7 p.m. Thursday at Morey Courts, 5175 E. Remus Road.

The courses emphasize non-breathing compression methods of CPR.

Continued here: Red Cross teaching students CPR on Thursday

(c) CM Life

Junior Jamie Favazza, 20, of Macomb hosts her 91.5 Modern Rock show, Indie Queens, Sunday nights starting at 9 p.m. (Nathan Kostegian/ Staff Photographer)

Modern Rock 91.5 WMHW radio shows are doing their part to nurture the Mount Pleasant music scene.

Radio shows such as “Indie Queens” and “Under the Radar” have regularly featured various artists from Central Michigan University and the community.

Ryan Hoger, singer of local band Jetpack On!, said getting songs on the radio helps draw attention because of added exposure.

“It’s just another force that is helping promote us. When people hear you talk about a show, they’re like ‘oh yeah, whatever,’” the Commerce sophomore said. “But when it is reiterated on the radio it kind of reminds them, and our attendance at shows definitely shows that.”

Continued here: Local radio stations and venues help push the local music scene

(c) Central Michigan Life

From Darleenclick.com

President Barack Obama and Luke Skywalker have more in common than one might think.

Though Skywalker lives in “a galaxy far, far away,” Obama too lives in a far-away world.

The world of Washington politics, sometimes so mind-bendingly confusing, often seems like a galaxy far, far away.

Our 44th president and lightsaber-wielding Jedi are ideologues who tend to bite off more than they can chew.

Look at Skywalker circa Empire Strikes Back era.

The tasks Luke undertakes in the film are many: defending Hoth from an Imperial assault…

Continued: Barack Obama, America’s Jedi

(c) CM Life

My brother celebrated his fourth birthday, and I realized that, in only a few months, it will be the 24th anniversary of my birth.

The time between us spans nearly two decades. I am actually closer in age to my stepmom than I am my brother. To top that,

I’m also 21 years older than my youngest sister.

Continued here: Siblings that are decades apart in age creates a generation gap

(c) CM Life

From http://goo.gl/k24z

I have noticed a trend on both Buzz and Twitter the last few days. There has been an immense amount of scaremongering with regard to location-based social media. But is the concern worth it? Some say that it is opening the door – almost quite literally – or burglars to find your house via the Internet and break in.

There is nothing wrong with sharing your location online, as long as you are smart about it. Here are a few things to consider.

1) Never geotag a post while at home. This potentially gives your home location to millions of people.

2) If your Twitter, Foursquare, Buzz, etc username is your real name then it might be a good idea to abandon geotagging anything if you are fearful someone might rob you because once you geo-tag a post that from away from home people could look up your address if you’re listed.

3) Geo-tagging should not be used as a constant “This is where I am” status update. Because frankly, few people want to know EXACTLY where you are at all times. In fact, unless it affects me or a friend’s or family member’s wellbeing it is not important where they are. I do not need to know that So-and-So is at the drug store or that Him-or-Her is having coffee at a specific location.

4) I will not geo-tag a Tweet, Buzz, etc unless I am somewhere worth noting, a concert, special event, etc, the list goes on. This is when I think that geotagging is at its most appropriate.

But all-in-all, I don’t think that there are burglars upon burglars trolling the Web attempting to find out when I leave. This fear of geotagging induced robbery is overblown. Just like all other information on the Internet, there is one trick – be smart about it.

The boomers had marches and sit-ins in the 1960s. In the ’80s, America had punk rock and, now, we have the Internet, primarily social media.

Our generation has embraced sites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and now Google Buzz as our primary conduit for sharing information, like no other technology.

Continued here: Social media: a new avenue for protest

(c) CM Life

This hope started when he first picked up a violin in elementary school. Then, in high school, he added bass and piano to his repertoire.

It was not until the Troy junior got to Central Michigan University that Hertler played the guitar.

“I started seriously writing music during my second semester of my freshman year in college,” he said. “I just bought a guitar and it started from there.”

Continued here: Joe Hertler plays piano, bass, violin and guitar

(c) CM Life

Buzz has a lot of promise, and has a lot to offer the social media world. But right now it is too noisy.

One of the reasons is that Google automatically has the Buzz feed show the most popular Buzz at the top, even if it’s 12 hours old. This takes away from the real-time aspect Google is so strongly pushing for Buzz. I love Mashable‘s stories, but I don’t like having the same story on the top of my feed 24/7. It makes it much harder to see that latest information in my feed.

Google would be wise to offer filters for Buzz, allowing users to view the most popular Buzzes and and the newest in chronological order, like the Twitter feed. This would make the whole Buzz experience better, because many Buzzes get lost in shuffle when the most popular posts are at the top of the list.

But as cool as Buzz is, it has two other flaws that keep Buzz from being the top social network on the Web.

First, I don’t like how Buzz automatically assumes that the people you contact the most are the ones you are closest to. When you are first granted access to Buzz it auto-follows the people you e-mail the most, because they assume they are personal contacts. But what if you are a journalist and are your primary contacts are sources? If you decide to use Buzz your contacts are revealed in your public profile.

It is possible to remove those from your Google profile but clicking the “Display the list of people I’m following and people following me” box when you edit your profile.

Second, Google should make Buzz its own network, outside of the Gmail framework. This not only would attract more people to the network, but also potentially reduce the amount of noise Gmail has now.

If you comment on a post you will receive an e-mail in your inbox notifying you if someone commented on the same post. This is nice because you can see directly what others are saying, but simultaneously if you comment on a very popular Buzz you will receive several e-mails. But setting up an entirely new network could reduce the  noise in Gmail.

But Buzz does have its advantages over other social networks. For instance, when inserting a link in a Buzz, unlike on Twitter or Facebook, you have the option to pull photos from the site into the Buzz itself making it more attractive for readers

Also, again unlike Twitter (140) and Facebook (420) there is no character limit for a Buzz. I can Buzz one sentence or a novel, though it is best to stay somewhere in the middle. It allows for better elaboration on what a link contains or what an article is about, giving followers a better glimpse into the Buzzer’s opinion on the topic. This is one thing I think gets lost in the Twitterverse because there are only 140 characters available.

Keeping all of this in mind, I am still not sold on Buzz. It is interesting and has its perks, but its flaws seem to override the benefits. I hope that Google makes a few tweaks to it, improving functionality. If they do, I’m in all the way.

But with hard work and frequent gigs, he has engraved himself into its local music scene.

Robin Horlock, 29, right, of Northville performs with Kenny Sams, 26, of Brighton Friday night at The Cabin, 930 W Broomfield St. Horlock has performed every few months at The Cabin for the past 6 years, has been performing professionally for 8 and has had around 1,300 shows. Horlock is a popular act at the Cabin and usually draws a large crowd that sings along with him. "Life without music is no life at all. Nothing else can come close to satisfying me" Horlock said. Jeff Smith/Staff Photographer

The 29-year-old singer and guitarist’s journey to the area is atypical — he is not a Central Michigan University student (he actually attended Western Michigan University), nor did he grow up in the area, in fact, it is quite the opposite.

Born in Essex, England, he split time living there and in Cologne, Germany, until his family decided move to the U.S., landing in Northville, Mich., when he was 10.

Horlock admits he has an eclectic group of influences.

Continued here: England native makes music in Mount Pleasant venues

(c) CM Life