Top 10 best, most dangerous spring break destinations
According to U.S. News Travel, the top 10 spring break destinations for 2013 are:
1. Miami, Fla.
2. South Padre Island, Texas
3. Cancun, Mexico
4. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico 5. Bahamas 6. Puerto Rico
7. Jamaica
8. Cabo San Lucas, Mexico 9. Playa del Carmen, Mexico 10. Sanibel Island, Fla.
According to USA Today, the following popular spring break destinations rank in the top 10 most dangerous locations. Rankings are based on violent crimes data, FBI crime statistics, car crashes and murder rates.
1. Orlando, Fla. 2. Daytona Beach, Fla.
3. Las Vegas
4. Myrtle Beach, S.C.
5. West Palm Beach, Fla.
6. South Padre Island, Texas
7. New Orleans
8. Panama City, Fla.
9. Jacksonville, Fla.
10. Miami, Fla.
The only destination in the midwest ranked in the top 25 was Steamboat Springs, Colo., which was ranked No. 21.
Foreword: This is not an article that encourages people to drink alcohol. It discusses the fact that it's very clear people will do this anyways (especially in a school like ours where hard alcohol is banned) and that they should be aware of just how much they are actually drinking. This is useful information for 21+ areas who need programming.
Shots iGot Is A New App That Can Tell You How Much Liquor You Just Poured In That Gatorade Bottle
Posted: 03/01/2013 9:52 am EST | Updated: 03/01/2013 1:41 pm EST
If you are of a certain age, and of a certain mindset about how you should spend your weekends, you've probably gone out drinking with an emptied-out Coke bottle or Gatorade bottle filled with liquor and a mixer.
Furthermore, if you've ever prepared one of these to-go bottles, or taken a big juicy swig from one -- at the movie theater, or the public park, or the Chuck E. Cheese's, or wherever -- then you know that you have no idea just how much booze you've poured in, or how many shots of liquor you're actually consuming from your stealthy container.
A new app for the iPhone called Shots iGot wants to end your ignorance and let you know exactly how plastered you can expect to get from your plastic bottle concoction, all with the simple swipe of your finger. The people behind the app have mapped into it 44 different common containers that you might use as an impromptu flask, including a Solo cup, a Coke bottle, a soda can, the Slurpee cup and more, so that you can visualize the number of shots of you've poured.
You just choose the kind of bottle or container you're pouring your liquor into, and the app brings up a touchable model of that bottle; you then slide your finger to the level of the container that you've filled with liquor, and the app measures, in real-time, how many shots you're about to swallow down.
Three screenshots from the Shots iGot app, showing a 20 oz. bottle, the iconic red Solo cup and a Gatorade bottle, filled up with 1.8, 2.5 and 3.4 ounces of liquor, respectively. You can adjust the amount of liquor in the cup by sliding your finger up and down the graphic to the appropriate level.
There's also a mixer mode, which shows you how many shots of booze you can squeeze into a bottle that is already somewhat full of the original liquid. So if you've got half a bottle of Coke, the app can tell you how many shots of rum you'd be pouring in if you filled it up to the top.
Because it's a bit hard to imagine if you've never used it, here's a quick clip of Shots iGot in action. Though the design is simple, it runs smoothly, and it's quite easy to figure out how to use:
The app assumes a standard 1.5 ounce shot and is accurate down to one-tenth of a shot, according to Paras Jain, one of its creators. The inspiration, Jain said in a phone interview, comes from a very real place.
"My buddy Josh [Rosenheck, now CEO of their startup] and I, we both were at our fraternity at Rutgers, and we used to see girls and guys carrying out bottles around all the time," he said. "And the girls would say, 'How many shots do you think I have in here?'"
"One day my buddy Josh ... said to me, 'Wow, now there's an iPhone app -- that you can just virtually see the number of shots,' and it just clicked."
They sought out developers, eventually finding two at a hackathon on the nearby Princeton University campus. Soon, after carefully measuring 44 different drink containers and mapping them into Photoshop, Shots iGot had launched in the app store. About 10,000 sneaky booze drinkers around the world have downloaded it so far, and Jain, Rosencheck and developer Mike Verderese have formed a startup, Something With Flow, to promote the app and explore possible corporate partnerships.
For now, though, the Shots iGot app serves a specific and useful purpose, encouraging smarter, more informed alcohol drinking on college campuses (and sports arenas, and rock concerts, and the office, etc.). Rutgers, Jain said, is even considering introducing the app to incoming freshmen to promote safe drinking. Of course, that would open up the can of worms of whether the school should be preaching abstinence or safety -- an argument that the public university likely does not want to get into, Jain said.
Noor has issued a challenge! If you have any upcoming programs that you'd like to be on our radar, shoot Noor an email so she can attend! If you're worried or have any questions, send her those as well!
Stress Management… It’s All About What You Do With It!
By Kim Moistner-Bartlett
Partner, Reslife.Net
When presenting workshops on stress management to college students, I always begin by asking participants to identify the stressors in their life. Responses vary but most always include, “classes”, “finances”, “parents”, “boyfriend/girlfriend”, “lack of time” and “work.” As an RA, stress is a normal part of your life. Learning how to deal with this stress is critical to your mental and physical well-being. So…what can you do to deal with the stress in your life? There’s no one magic answer for one person. Rather, there a number of things you can do. It’s up to you to discover a stress management technique that works for you. Here are just a few methods of stress management you may wish to consider trying during the upcoming events of finals and closing down the residence halls: Focus on the Positive: Before reading any further, try this. Take 20 seconds and make a mental list of all of the negative things that you were faced with in the past week. Finished? Now take another 20 seconds to make a mental list of all of the positive things that you were faced with in the past week. Which list was easier to develop? Which items popped into your head most readily? If you’re like many people, you probably had an easier time identifying the negative things. Why? We often fail to give the positive events in our lives as much attention as the negative events. When we focus more on the negative, rather than the positive we’re likely to feel more stress. Making an effort to focus on the positive, rather than the negative, will lessen the level of stress that you may be experiencing. Talk it Out: Don’t keep your problems and worries bottled up inside. Find someone that you trust to share these things with. Whether it’s another staff member, a relative, or a friend on campus, talking things out will serve as a way to release some of the stress you may be feeling. Take One Thing at a Time: When we’re experiencing stress, we have a tendency to look at everything that we must accomplish as one huge, gigantic task. Rather than clumping everything together, try to break things down into tasks. Focus on accomplishing the most important tasks first and then move on to the others. Don’t forget that the stress and tension you are experiencing due to an overwhelming number of demands on your time is only temporary. This hectic time will pass and things will return to a more normal pace in the near future. Make Time for Fun: When we are very stressed, the amount of time we have to accomplish everything seems very limited. One of the first things that we eliminate is time for exercise, recreation and fun. “I was going to go to the fitness center to work out, but I just can’t spare 45 minutes today.” Sound familiar? Unfortunately, 30 minutes of exercise might have been just what you needed to relax and put things in perspective. Even during hectic, stressful times, be sure to schedule time for fun and recreation. Give these time commitments just as much priority as your academic and other RA commitments. Be good to yourself during this hectic time of the year, and best of luck with finals and closing down the residence halls. Enjoy your break…you deserve it. About the Author Kim Moistner-Bartlett is working full-time for Reslife.Net, after spending the last two years designing and developing the Freshman Year Experience Program, while working in the position of Director of the Freshman Year Experience at the University of Southern Mississippi. Kim has also worked as an Assistant Director of Residence Life for Staff and Student Development, and a Resident Director. Kim received her M.A. in Student Personnel Administration in Higher Education from Ball State in 1992 and a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in 1988. In addition to her work with Reslife.Net, Kim is currently in the process of developing "imagiNATION" Inc., a training and development company.
TAKEN FROM: http://www.reslife.net/html/tools_1201a.html
So we're trying this blog as a new way to represent the RA newsletter. If you have any suggestions or anything you'd like to add, feel free to use the comment section. Or you can always email any of us and we can go from there.
