Are the 1940 Census Records a real threat to privacy?

The 1940 Census records have finally been released to the public. Historians, sociologist, genealogist are already busy browsing through these records – and you should take a look at them too. You can easily look for your last name and find your ancestors. Do you know what your family was doing in 1940? You might learn a lot about your past.

There is a 72 year confidentiality clause on this type of records, which expired yesterday for the 1940 census. This means anyone can have access to these records for free. Some people are worried that personal information will be released, since a lot of elderly citizens would have their birth documented in these records.

What are the risks of someone stealing your identity by using the 1940 Census records? Slim to none. These records to not display any sensitive information such as birthdays or social security numbers. However, the American Civil Liberties Union is opposed to the release of census data; it is considered as a violation of someone's right to privacy.

I understand there is a privacy concern since anyone would have access to addresses and know the income of your family. It would be easy to conduct a quick background check on someone to find out where they come from. But these records are also very valuable to researchers who can use them to determine trends and document life in the 1940s, a cornerstone era of modern American history. It might be hard for living people to accept that their lives are part of our history, but these records are actually helpful to a society in need of a roots.

Autism Awareness Day aims at sensibilizing people about autism

Today is Autism Awareness Day and different organizations are taking action to educate people about autism. What do you know about autism? There are a few simple things you need to pay attention to in order to recognize autism. Keep in mind that only a doctor is qualified to diagnose a child with autism and that this condition makes the child unique, not ill.

It is hard to diagnose autism before a child is three years old, but certain signs are usually linked to autism. Does the child smiles back when the parents are smiling? An autistic child might have a hard time recognizing facial expressions and imitating them. Paying attention to the environment is also difficult: autistic children do not respond to stimuli such as their names, touch or eye contact. If a child seems isolated and unresponsive, this could be a sign of autism.

A child with autism does not reach out to others. If a child is not making any efforts to communicate with the caregivers or with other children, there could be an issue. Motor development is also affected; a child with autism is going to acquire certain motor skills more slowly than others and sometimes engage in unusual or repetitive movements.

If you notice this kind of behavior in a child, do not get alarmed. The best thing to do is to go to a doctor to get the opinion of a professional. These symptoms can be caused by other things, or might the sign of an independent child.

Wrestlemania 28 comes to an end

The 28^th edition of the Wrestlemania event is over and it is time to over the results of this competition. Let's go over the most memorable fights and moments of this season.

The Undertaker against HHH in a cage fight was probably the best match of the season. The Undertaker won after a stunning display of skills and strength. His final pilediver was perfectly executed, and HHH did not stand a chance once he let the Undertaker get in position for this devastating move. Let's hope he will learn from his mistake and develop a better strategy next time.

The Rock's victory over Cena got a lot of attention, probably because the Rock brought part of his movie audience to the ring. Even though he is not a very good actor, the Rock knows how to fight. He won against Cena with a trademark 'Rockbottom' move.

And Sheamus won the title in a match that lasted only 18 seconds. Daniel Bryan proved to be no match for him after he was wiped out by a devastating Brogue kick. The title is well-deserved in my opinion. There should actually be some very exciting matches in the future if anyone is foolish enough to challenge Sheamus for the title.

In the end, Wrestlemania 28 was a pretty good season. The outcome was more or less expected, except for a large number of Daniel Bryan fans who thought he had a chance at the title. I think a lot of fighters have learned their lesson and need to develop better strategies to avoid simple mistakes: the next season should be interesting.

Santorum uses classic Amityville Horror techniques to scare voters

The presidential campaign gets ugly as Rick Santorum releases a video depicting a horrific 'Obamaville'. The video makes references to horror classics such as Amityville Horror, Twilight Zone episodes and some old Alfred Hitchcock movie. The video is pretty good and rather humorous, but is it a legitimate way to gain votes?

The video is filled with cliches from horror movies. The American public is used to these cliches: movie makers know this and will create movies that are considered frightening solely because they use these techniques. There is nothing scary about these movie techniques, but the public has integrated them and learned what a scary movie should look like.

Santorum is obviously taking advantage of these codes to manipulate his audience. We have been exposed to this code so many times that we are conditioned to feel scared when the camera moves in a particular way or when the music sounds eerie.

Even though the movie is well done andthere is obviously a good campaign director behind it (JohnBrabender), it is a very cheap shot. The video depicts a future where Obama has been re-elected. Gas prices have skyrocketed, small businesses are closing down and people have to wait for weeks before seeing a doctor. Is it an accurate depiction of what will happen if Obama get re-elected? Only time will tell.

We are now waiting for the response from the Democrat party. Let's hope they will have something intelligent to say about this instead of responding with a similar video in an effort to manipulate the voters in a different direction.

How to plan a good April Fools prank

What makes a good April Fool's prank? The perfect prank is a combination of originality and humor and should be unexpected. It is best to plan your prank early in the day: if your victim has not been exposed to any other pranks yet, they have probably not realized it is the first of April yet.

Keep in mind that a good prank should always be in good taste. It is not acceptable to hurt someone physically or emotionally. Make sure nothing could go wrong with your prank: accidents happen, especially if you have never tried this prank before. You should probably test your prank first if you have any reason to believe someone could get hurt if something went wrong. You can avoid to hurt your victim emotionally by not humiliating them publicly and by avoiding any kind of offensive prank.

Ask yourself how well you know your victim. A close friend probably understands your sense of humor and appreciates it, but your other acquaintances might not.

Get other people to help you with your prank. This makes the whole April Fool's tradition more fun and this is also a good way of planning the best prank possible. You will also have more possibilities with a team helping you.

Should you record your prank? Watching the video again with your friends could be a lot of fun, but do not share the video online or with others without the permission of the victim of your prank. Remember that you have no way of knowing how popular your video will get once you post it online.

Autism Speaks launches Autism Awareness Month

Have you noticed any blue lights on your neighbor's porches lately? These lights are part of a campaign organized by Autism Speaks for the Autism Awareness Month. The main goal behind this campaign is to educate people about autism. Thisoften misunderstood condition affects 1 in 88 children. This number is increasing, not because more children have autism but because people are more aware of this condition and more children are diagnosed and helped.

Why is it important to know about autism? Autism does not seem to be related to genetics: anyone could have a child with autism. Parents need to know about this condition and its symptom to be able to recognize them in their children. You might think that autism would be easy to recognize, but there are different forms of autism. A mild autism might be interpreted as shyness and a child who needs support and supervision will not get the kind of attention needed if no one is able to recognize the symptoms.

Educating people is also a way of fostering acceptance and understanding. There are still a lot of ignorant reactions from people who see children with autism and recognize the symptoms as a form of retardation. This kind of reaction is extremely hurtful for the children and their families.

If there is one thing you should learn during Autism Awareness Month is that there is nothing wrong with autistic children. They function differently and you should think of them a unique individuals, not as children with a medical condition.

Are the 2012 Kids Choice Awards a safe program for your children?

What are the Kids Choice Awards? Apparently, a series of awards are given to performers depending on how popular their work is with children. The whole thing is sponsored by Nickelodeon and the network is of course strongly influenced the votes. A quick look at the nominees is absolutely heart-breaking. The movie category gave children the choice between Harry Potter, the Muppets, the Smurfs and Alvin and the Chipmunks. Where is Scorsese's Hugo? Where are the other good movies of the year? I cannot believe these four movies are representative of what children enjoyed last year. The musical category is even worse: we find LFMAO, Justin Bieber, Usher, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and the Black Eyed Peas among other. I see pop music, country music and rap. Doesn't anyone listen to rock n roll, blues or jazz anymore?

The worst award nomination was probably Kristen Stewart, who won the best actress award. The competition was not very tough, but even children should be able to tell she has no acting skills. Nickelodeon is teaching children that awards should go to actors who stared in a popular movie, not to actors who gave a quality performance.

The 2012 Kids Choice Awards is not an occasion to let children decide what they like and reward their favorite performers; it is an occasion for Nickelodeon to influence the children and tell them which movies they should be watching and which CD they should buy. Think twice before you let your children watch this program, unless you do not want to encourage them to develop their own tastes and identity.

A new Total Recall movie is on the way

A new Total Recall movie is about to come out, but was it really a necessary remake? Perhaps few people remember the 1990 movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. I remember the original movie had some unsettling visuals, including freakish aliens, a man getting his arms cut off by an elevator and a close up of Schwarzenegger's face as the broken visor of his spacesuit exposes him to the absence of atmosphere on Mars. Will the new movie be just as fun and gritty?

The original short story by Philip K. Dick is a forgotten classic. Dick wrote a tremendous amount of short stories and a lot of them have been made into movies: Minority Report, Paycheck, A Scanner Darkly, Blade Runner, Impostor, Screamers and Next. And yet none of these movies truly makes justice to Dick's genius ideas, which sometimes suffered from his rushed writing and his inability to develop them any further.

I would like to see a new Total Recall movie closely based on Dick's short story. His style is hard to transcribe on the screen, but I think Ridley Scott did a remarkable job with his Blade Runner. It seems like the new Total Recall has a decent budget: perhaps we will see sets and special effects closer to what Dick had in mind.

Even though the original Total Recall movie is not that great, I think it has a small following and a lot of people remember the fun parts of the movie, including Schwarzenegger's character. I think the new movie will be more inspired by the 1990 version than by the original short story because this is what most of the audience is expecting.

The best Google April Fools hoaxes

Google made the headlines yesterday with the release of an excellent April's fool hoax: an 8 bit versionof Google Maps. But there is more: Google released a series of hoaxesthis year. The funniest one is probably the YouTube collection: you can now have your favorite YouTube videos delivered to your door on DVDs. Google Street is going to use kangaroos to collect pictures of Australian roads. Google is going to launch a new NASCAR car, which would not be hard to believe unless the car was not a 'self-driving race car'. I would not be surprised if we actually see that happen twenty years from now.

Gmail is also updated with the Gmail Tap feature: the usual QWERTY keyword is replaced by two buttons, a dot and a dash so that users can write everything in morse code. A rather funny joke, but I'm afraid it will be lost on a lot of internet users who are too young to know what morse code is. Google is also interested in the food industry, with the energy bar 'Google Fiber'. Somehow this bar enhances your ability to surf the internet. The least funny hoax is probably the Chrome multi-task mode, which allows you to be more productive when you surf the internet.

Some of these announcements are funnier than others, but overall, Google is taking April's fool very seriously. These funny hoaxes are actually a great way of pushing real Google products. And this strategy works: I have not visited any other search engine today because Google knows how to keep me untertained.

Patti Smith to release a new LP: is it an April's fool joke?

After eight years of silence, Patti Smith is releasing a new LP. Announcing this on a 1^st April is probably not a good idea; I am still not sure if there is actually an LP. The announcement sounds serious, but what Smith has to say about certain songs is sort of alarming. Is this an April's fool joke or a legitimate announcement?

Smith apparently wrote a song dedicated to Amy Winehouse: why would Smith pay tribute to Winehouse? Saying a few words is fine, but is it really necessary to write an entire song? Winehouse's music is not even remotely in the same league as Smith's, and I doubt most Patti Smith fans really care about Amy Winehouse. Smith also wrote a song for Johnny Depp's birthday. This is what makes me think this announcement is a hoax, along with the fact that Smith has not released anything new in eight years. Writing a song for a friend's birthday is fine, as long as it is a private thing. Featuring this song on an LP is probably not a good idea.

We should know more about this new LP in a few days – I am kind of hoping the whole thing is an April's fool joke not subtle enough to be immediately understood. Stay tuned for more updates on Patti Smith's possible comeback with this new LP, no matter how strange her song selection is. After all, the music might be great in spite of the theme of the songs.