Cybersecurity and Cybersecrets

This post was a long time coming. I have no idea why, but I have a healthy obsession with the lives of Snowden (as in Edward) and Assange (as in Julian). Which is weird, right? What these men did was treasonous, and wrong, and put the US in danger, right? 

Or what if what they did was an extreme form of citizen journalism or whistle blowing? Sure, what they did was risky and questionable/downright wrong legally speaking, but was it morally wrong? Are these men criminals? Or are they the ultimate martyrs for truth and transparency?

Personally, I think the latter is true.

Think about how the world would be today without folks like Assange, or Snowden, or Deep Throat and Daniel Ellsberg if we want to go back further into history. What if WikiLeaks didn't exist? What if the NSA leak was smothered before it lit aflame in the media and the public? What if The Washington Post never printed that article? What if the public never got to see The Pentagon Papers?

WikiLeaks: Exposed corruption in Kenya, "friendly fire" in Afghanistan, the US government's blind eye regarding reports of torture in Iraq during the Iraq War

Snowden: Exposed NSA's PRISM (and more) programs, use of metadata interception, and various international and commercial partners

Some may argue that this type of action, especially regarding WikiLeaks, is "aiding and abetting the enemy." But is that what it's really doing? Has the actions of Assange or Snowden put a major number or lives in danger? I think if that was the case, we'd hear something about the life-or-death thing blasting in the media. 

What is does endanger is the chance of governments getting away with questionable actions and it highlights the fact that "transparency" is to "government" as "classy" is to "Kardashian."

Governments denouncing Assage and Snowden? Snowden threatened with treason? Of course! They just got caught. You think that they're going to let him get away with it?

My point is that people like Assage and Snowden, like Deep Throat and Ellsberg, are brave. In the face of big, BIG punishments, they go out and they speak the truth, wether or not it wants to be heard or wether or not it is allowed to be heard.

And I know I shouldn't, but I can't help but find that honorable.

(This is here because I like Benedict Cumberbatch's face)

My Favorite Spots on the Internet

The internet is a BIG place, undoubtedly. It's like a whole new world! Here's a list of some of my favorite blogs, pages, sites, and anything else I can think to put on this post.

The College Prepster

I love this blog! Carly, the girl who runs it, started her blog while she was a freshman at Georgetown and continued it ever since, following her daily life journeys in NYC and any other place she goes. As the name implies, she is quite preppy. I adore her style! Not only do her clothing choices rock, she gives great wisdom about starting out your life after college and how to be a happy human being.

TIME's NewsFeed

All of the day's top news stories - political, economic, silly, and everything in between - are consolidated here. News Junkies rejoice.

Fan-Based Twitters

I follow character accounts from my favorite shows - particularly people from The Newsroom and House of Cards. As lame as that sounds, I really don't care. @WillMcAvoyACN, @MackMcHaleACN and @Frank_Underwood are three of my favorites.

The Londoner

Rosie, the girl who runs this blog, is amazing. Check out her blog if you want a peek at delish recipes, luxurious adventures around the globe, neighborhood goodies in London, and her awesome sense of style as a Brit. She gives great beauty tips as well! Warning though, you'll experience a tad bit of envy as you see her globe trot in her perfect bikini body on a glorious yacht, eating large amounts of expensive food.

tumblr

It's tumblr. I really don't need to explain more.

Unabashedly Prep

Oh lookie here, another Prepster blog! You know the "Prep in my Step" blog post I recently made? All those pics were from this site. Tons of street style, tons of inspiration. Give it a look!

The Beauty Department

Lauren Conrad's (or, as I like to call her, LC) two books, Style and Beauty, are literally textbooks for me. I've annotated them and post-ited them, I'm not even kidding. So when I heard that she was creating a beauty blog with new tips and tricks all the time, I was really excited. And I was not disappointed. Great tutorials, great DIY projects, and great inspiration and trend-watching posts. I came into the whole beauty-and-make-up game pretty late into my life. LC taught me how to do the Cat-Eye, how to put on mascara the right way, and about skin and hair care. Her beauty words are Gospel to me.

Go! Peruse the interwebs! Surf the net!

Book Club #2: The Fault in Our Stars

If you want to read a book that will make you laugh, cry, eyes widen with fear, heart glow with cutie-patootie love, your soul feel full and empty all at once, laugh while you cry, cry during your laughter, and ruthlessly rip your heart out of it's bodily cavity at the end of it all, then this book is your book.

I'm not even going to a give a synopsis. I just finished this masterpiece yesterday, I am still emotionally compromised. No other book has made me cry this much. No. Other.

Most importantly, what I love about this book is that it gets you thinking about the fragility and the finite-ness of your own life. It also gets you thinking about what love really is. Is it held in moments? Is it held in actions? Is it held most in your heart? Your mind? Your memories? Your thoughts? Your soul? Your gut-feeling?

It also gets you thinking about destruction and decay. The cycle of life, essentially. Everything in this world is created only to be destroyed. But is love an exception? Does love die? Or does it transcend time and space to leave behind a legacy, or a myth of what a great love really is?

I'd also like to start a petition to make every teenage boy read the beautiful words of John Green. Books like The Fault in Our Stars remind me of what love is. It gives me hope (probably a fruitless hope) that there are men out there who are above making 1:00 AM text messages in an attempt to woo a chick whilst drunk and/or faded, or giving false impressions and sweet nothings that mean absolutely nothing. I'm not expecting every teenage boy to be exactly like Augustus Waters (the main dude in the book), but maybe take one or two pointers on how to be a true gentleman in the modern world. (Such as: Display that you genuinely care about us and our feelings, simple things like that)

There's one quotation I will never forget from this book, as said by the amazing Augustus Waters:

"You don't get to choose if you get to hurt in this world, old man, but you do have some say in who hurts you."

Love, summed up in one quotation.

READ THIS BOOK. THIS A COMMAND. READ IT.

A Prep in my Step

Full-Frontal Disclosure: Even though I am in no way shape or form a White-Anglo-Saxton-Protestant, I am a 100% wannabe-WASPy. 

Which is very bad. I know, but I can't help but fall in love with the whole vibe. Summers in Nantucket? Autumns/Winters in the city? J.Crew? Seersucker? Vineyard Vines? Sweaters? Blazers? Country Clubs? Prep Schools? I may have been born in the Philippines, and I may have been raised in SF and LA, but I'm pretty sure I left my heart somewhere in New York or Boston.

I can even take it one step further: I am a 500% wannabe-Londoner. A full-stop Anglophile. Earl Grey. Sherlock. Cath Kidston. Barbour. BBC. Oxford University (Oxford Union is better than Cambridge Union). Summers spent on sprawling green countrysides. London autumns/winters. Oxford Rowing (OUBC > CUBC). I know I just said that I left my heart in NY or Boston, but let's just say that 50% of my heart was also stashed in the depths of Britain. 

Whether it be in the US or the UK, there will always be a special place in my heart for all things fresh out of the Prep culture.

British Pubs are the Best Pubs: The Eagle and Child and The Bear are two of Oxford's best. I've had the privalege of going to both of them during my month in Oxford last summer! Pub Life, Grub Life.

Preppy and Studious... ;)

JFK's Residence in 1957

All photos from this lovely site.

Have a Preppy Day!

x

Fictional Women I Adore

Inspirational women in reality are amazing, but what of the women that we read/see in our favorite books/TV shows/movies?! I think that fictional women have even more influence than the ones we see in reality, because we are simply more exposed to these characters and we, as humans, consciously or unconsciously, emulate the characters we admire and relate to probably a bit more than we should.

So without further ado, here are the heroines that have inspired me, relate to me, and whom I admire dearly:

MacKenzie McHale - The Newsroom

Being the Executive Producer (EP) of a primetime evening newscast is my dream job. I could be an EP for the rest of my life, and I would die the happiest woman who ever lived. MacKenzie is so fantastic at being EP for News Night. She delivers the important stories right, and makes the critical decisions (with Will McAvoy, anchor and managing editor for News Night) like no one else. She was also a reporter for quite some time before her EP gig and got stabbed in the stomach while out in the field! I have no idea why, but I find that quite noble. She's sweet, sour when she needs to be, sassy when necessary, and she knows what she wants and has the conviction and determination to get it. She is such an inspiration. Not to freaking mention her beyond-cute office romance with Will. I know office romances are distracting as hell and basically always a bad idea out in reality, but I can't help wishing that I was part of an "Ultimate-Journalism-Power-Couple" thing.

Nyota Uhura - Star Trek

This character is no stranger to Political-ish. What do I not like about Uhura? She's basically the only main woman on The Bridge on the Enterprise. She is a vital part of the crew and she does her work like nobody else. She's an expert on alien linguistics, acts as Communications Officer for Enterprise, and a lieutenant, no less. She kicks butt. She's awesome. You can't tell me otherwise. She's also in a really nice relationship with Spock. It's cute as cute can be. Alright, I'll stop talking about relationships now.

Elizabeth Bennet - Pride & Prejudice

She's smart, witty, and won't marry for money, regardless of what anyone tells her. She wants to find true love, and she luckily finds it with Darcy. She's also extremely sassy, independent, and she's not afraid of what society thinks of her. The society that surrounds her is beyond superficial, only taking interest in women who sew and draw and do useless things. Rather than employ herself doing those things, she reads and harvests knowledge for no one else's pleasure but her own. She's fearlessly herself. In other words, she is different. And she's not sorry for it.

Sloan Sabbith - The Newsroom

Oh, to be Sloan. One, she's really freakin' gorgeous. Two, she's smart as hell when it comes to money matters. A PhD in Econ? Beauty and brains. Also, her sassiness is unparalleled. I love when a woman enters a male-dominated industry and just kicks ass. She'll school anyone on any fiscal matter and do it in 4-inch stilettos and a pencil skirt, no problem.

Katniss Everdeen - Hunger Games

It's Katniss. No commentary or explanation needed.

Maggie Jordan - The Newsroom

Yes, I do realize that there are now THREE Newsroom characters on this list, but I forgot to care. Maggie seems like a strange choice, but being promoted from intern, to assistant, to Associate Producer  (AP) for News Night is pretty freaking impressive. She didn't get it because she was lucky either. She was loyal to News Night when no one else was, and she got rewarded. She brings awesome story ideas to the table, and is extremely hardworking. Even though she has panic attacks, takes Xanax to subdue those (and she picked journalism, probably the most high stress job there is) and she's in a really weird relationship with who I like to call "Douchebag Don," she is invaluable to the staff. And I KNOW I said I wouldn't talk about relationships anymore but her chemistry is Jim Harper is the cutest thing I have ever come across. The are soul mates, just like MacKenzie and Will. Yeah, I know office romances are bad news, but like I said at the beginning of this paragraph: I forgot to care.

Spencer Hastings - Pretty Little Liars

This seems like a weird one (which is why it's at the bottom) but hear me out. Out of all the PLLs, she's pretty much the only one who has any sense of logic (in the TV show and the books). Also, she's the only one who's not excessively vapid. She cares about grades and takes pride in her intelligence. Sure, she's hooked up with a couple of her sisters boyfriends/fiancés BUT she makes up for that because she gets in a relationship with Toby and she's able to see past his weirdness and alienation to see a really sweet dude!

And there it is ladies and gents. There was A LOT of Newsroom feels tossed in there, so I thank you for putting up with that.

It's 2014 in a couple days, can you believe it? If I don't post until then...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

xx

It's the little things...

There's a bunch of little things that I just adore about life, and here's a list of all of them (because I feel like listing them):

• Peppermint anything (Mochas, Bark, Gum, anything)
• Shopping (Window-Shopping, online shopping, and actually buying stuff)
• Pad Thai
• Sweet Potato Fries from The Kettle or The Counter
• Coke Zero
• Coffee anything (the drink, the ice cream, anythinnnnggggg)
• Twinings Tea (Earl Grey and Lady Grey)
• Spotify
• Gummy Worms
• Fiji Water
• Tumblr
• Reading a new book
• Re-reading a beloved book
• Cats who sit on your lap and purr and don't scratch you
• Having zone-out time with Netflix and your couch/bed
• When you wake up and have a few minutes to just lay in your bed and truly enjoy it's warmth and unparalleled coziness
• Gossip seshes with your best friend(s)
• Late-night car drives and blasting the radio with friends
• Getting ready for a night out or an event
• School sports events (you can't beat the Friday night lights...)
• Spending time with people who you can be yourself around
• Good-looking guys who are actually nice and stuff like that
• New shoes, esp. boots and high heels
• The sound your heels make when you walk
• Swiping your debt/credit card (a dangerous thing to like...)
• That salon-hair smell right after you get it cut
• My phone
• That satisfied feeling you get when you're done applying your makeup and you look straight-up awesome
• Taking drives down PCH
• Compliments (giving and receiving)
• Being flat-out proud of your work (in school and out of school)
• J.Crew and Madewell
• Reading physical newspapers
• Going to Barnes & Noble
• Rain
• Snow
• The plethora of pretty colors during Autumn
• Coats
• Warm showers
• That empty-and-sad-but-semi-satisfied feeling you get when you finish reading a book
• That awesome feeling you get when the thing you were trying to remember finally pops into your head
• Knowing that people honestly care about you

I could go on and on, but you know what they say: "Pay attention to the little things in your life, because looking back, the little things might become the big things."

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

xo

Have a "Correct" Christmas

Fighting: 2013's Holiday Caroling

This is something I have wanted to blog about for awhile, and I think the Holiday Season is the perfect time to do it.

That's right ladies and gents: Political Correctness. Oh yeah, I'm going there.

Society may want me to walk on eggshells and tiptoe through the tulips on this subject, but I refuse to. I'm sick of it. I'm tired of having to censor what I say.

I have one question: Why is everyone so so so OFFENDED? ALL THE TIME. People of all colors seem to be offended. People of all genders. Heck, animals and objects are offended. Why in the world is everyone so damn sensitive. 

Schools can't have images of Santa up in classrooms. We have to call ugly christmas sweaters "ugly sweaters" if you want to have an "ugly sweater" day in December. I want to put up a mini-Christmas tree in my school's journalism room? No can do! We can't even call it a Hanukkah Bush. I can't even buy a "Holiday Fern." Why? Because the school afraid that people are going to get offended and sue them.

I'm all for the separation of church and state. Forcefully putting students through any type of serious religious promotion in a public state-funded school is unlawful. But decorations with good ol' Saint Nick on them aren't allowed? Really?

I honestly can't identify a person at my school who gives a damn. I'm pretty sure teenagers don't care if they see a Santa or a mini tree. I'm pretty sure they'd find it cute and festive. Why can't everybody just bring in their own decorations? Christmas is December 25th... so it's pretty fitting that most December decorations are connected to Christmas. But do students want Hanukkah represented? What about Kwanzaa? What about other religious holy days? The more the merrier! Bring your decor! Let's all celebrate together!  What I don't get is that schools in general seem to preach and simply love the idea of multi-culturalism, yet they block every sort of religious expression when it December comes around... talk about "Bah-Humbug."

But I'm not just talking about schools here. The whole "What race is Santa?" debate? WHY DOES IT MATTER SO MUCH? WHY? SOMEONE TELL ME. Santa has been an icon since forever, and he has been depicted as a big, fat, jolly-looking white old dude with a long ass beard. It's always been that way. People weren't offended before, why are people so offended now? And I have done my research, and it turns out that Saint Nicholas is of Greek nationality. Should Santa be white? Should Santa be black? If we want to be factual, he actually should be Greek. 

My point is that December celebrations are really good-natured and everyone has their heart in the right place. In my eyes, the real Scrooges in this situation are the people who claim that one religious group can't do a certain activity because it is offensive. Does someone want to bring a menorah to school? How about something to represent Kwanzaa? Scientology? Heck, why not! I'm Roman Catholic, and I'm not offended one bit.

We should be evolved enough to speak up if the term "Secret Santa" offends us or makes us feel uncomfortable. You wanna call it "Holiday Homie" instead? I'm down with anything at this point.

We shouldn't have to tiptoe around people. We shouldn't have to be hyper-sensitive about every issue. We shouldn't have to spend our holidays worrying about being "racist" or "intolerant." That's not what the holidays are about. I just want the freedom to express my merry December spirit, uncensored.

P.S: Aren't we technically offending Atheists by saying "Happy Holidays" considering they don't believe in any sort of holy celebrations? Idk...

Happy Holidays/Christmas and a Merry New Year! :)