When this post hits Thursday morning I'll be arriving back in the states for two weeks (NYC & Chicago/Michigan, then moving to Europe). Except for 3 hectic months last summer I've been away from the states since Oct 2010, living in S.America with the majority of my time spent in Buenos Aires.
So what have I missed in the last year? And more importantly, how is the country doing?
I haven't been keeping an eye too closely on current events / news / politics / sports / pop culture - some of these I avoid on purpose, some I hear about from my fellow expatriates after their visits to the states, and some I wish I kept a closer eye on. I try to follow the major stories, but i'm sure there's plenty I've missed.
What are the biggest differences in everyday life (if any) between now and a year ago? e.g. will I see people on the street wearing google glasses and driving Tesla cars? Or maybe very little has changed and I won't notice a thing besides the inevitable (but a joy to experience) reverse culture shock.
Side note, In The Flesh and I are hosting a WSO Meetup TONIGHT at 7PM, Galway Hooker Midtown. See the event page here.
Major news: obviously I heard about Sandy, the Boston shooting, Trayvon Martin, recent filibuster / gay marriage situation, legalized marijuana in WA, - what are some other big national news stories I missed?
Politics:
Don't bring it up
Tech:
Chromecast looks awesome, can't wait to get it
Looks like Samsung is taking over the iphone? though I hear there's a new iphone coming out?
Does everyone's grandparents use a tablet? that was the trend i saw last summer when I was back. Which tablet is the best?
What else is new in tech?
Entertainment / Pop culture:
Any good new movies / music / podcasts / books I should make sure to check out?
Sports: I keep up with espn so no need to fill me in here, if I hear another mention of Johnny football i'm going to puke.
p.s. Seahawks are going to win the superbowl.
ps 2 writing this reminds me when I came back to the states after a year in china and the first thing I noticed when walking through JFK was all these people wearing these ugly electronic ear pieces...."wtf?!".... oh blue tooth.
Argo was good. I also have heard great things about chromecast, gonna order one real quick here. As far as podcasts you should check out/catch up on Radiolab and This American Life, Adam Carolla has been getting a lot of attention to if you are into that kind of thing.
Amanda Bynes is in a psych ward.
/thread
This guy in New York named Carlos Danger started showing his wang on the internet
Maybe i'm more caught up than I thought, listen to all of the above, especially carolla, add rogan to the list
heard dr drew saying something about her, what happened? give me the gossip
Lumina Investments now has $6.75 AUM
Andy, where are you headed to in Europe?
She basically was blowing through her money on plastic surgery and would take to twitter calling everyone ugly. Then she had a breakdown, started a fire in her driveway and got arrested, tossed in a psych ward and her parents sought a conservatorship (sp?) from the courts to gain control of her and her money.
Pretty funny to watch, actually.
iPhone 5S and the cheaper, plastic iPhone 5C rumored to be announced on Sept 10. Pretty much just slightly better specs than the iPhone 5. If you like gigantic phones than the Samsung Galaxy IV might be good. But you shouldn't pass over the HTC One, which has good reviews.
Really, Apple hasn't innovated a lot with the iPhone while other manufacturers have been able to catch up with design and specs, Android adding features to match iOS, and combine that with consumers moving beyond the need to have Apple branded products leads to loss of market share for the iPhone. Non-expert opinion.
Also, Roku 3 came out in March as is apparently pretty good. Just picked one up but haven't used it yet. The Chromecast doesn't necessarily compete with Roku or Apple TV directly, but has potential if people can hack it or whatever. Roku has a bunch of different channels, while Chromecast is mostly about streaming from PC or a mobile device to your TV. It has potential, because it seems to be more about sites allowing/coding Chromecast connections. It doesn't just work out-of-the-box for every site or app.
download snapchat ASAP
I was living in a shitty little town in Oklahoma and now I'm back in Htown. That's pretty big news if you ask me...
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/wall-street-is-obsessed-with-snap…
so how do i approach a girl now... "can I snapchat you sometime?"
"Hey, whats your snapchat?"
Tinder.
jk
(but seriously)
"Nothing's new under the Sun" The Bible
Really, the political parties arguing; celebrities acting above the law and with about 15 years less maturity than their chronological age; the stock market has been on a sugar rush from artificially low interest rates; half of home purchases in 2013 have been in cash (up from 20%); the unemployment rate has slowly ticked down to 7.8%; something like 75% of jobs created since the end of the recession have been part-time jobs; nobody can figure out what America's foreign policy response should be to the Arab Spring; Apple continues to do well in spite of the consistent criticism it takes at every turn; Tesla Motors' 2013 Model S has been considered by many to be the best car ever built (and it just recently received a 5-star crash rating from NHTSA); Elon Musk also just revealed the Hyperloop concept (look it up); the biggest civil rights case since Don Imus in 2007 was the Trayvon Martin shooting and the shooter's acquittal (again, look it up); Obama's new Fed chief will be either Larry Summers or Janet Yellen (very different candidates); Amazon.com CEO purchased the Washington Post for WAY above its market value for reasons yet unknown; sequestration has created a situation where the national debt has not risen in nearly 90 days; 2016 presidential race has already begun with presumed candidates actually for once not denying or sugarcoating their intentions to run; Alabama wins another college football national championship, with their only loss of the season to Texas A&M, whose freshman quarterback "Johnny Football" won the Heisman Trophy.
Basically, unless you're pretty well read, nothing has materially changed since 2010 for the man-on-the-street. As always, slow, slow societal evolution.
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