Lifeguard App

I was a lifeguard this summer--best summer of my life--but one thing I wish I had to help me was an app for lifeguards. Every day they work, lifeguards are required to go over their training to keep it fresh in their minds in case of an emergency. Sometimes this becomes difficult. Maybe there are time constraints, medical problems, or forgetfulness that may prohibit a trained lifeguard from remembering every detail of their training. If there was a lifeguard app, things could be different.

The idea I have for this app would have two main parts to it:
1). the app would automatically would push notifications to your phone  being the "tip of the day" or "never forget" messages that would be set at random and come to the phone every day.
2). when the app is open the user could take practice tests or go through the lifeguard manual that would help jog the users brain when remembering his/ her training.

There would definitely be security precautions that would definitely take place to ensure that only lifeguards can use this app. The user would have to put in their certification information that could only be obtained after taking a class. This makes sure that this app is not a replacement to the actual training needed to become a lifeguard. Also, if the user fails multiple practice tests in a row some of the information would be sent to their current supervisor. This ensures that if the user is not keeping up doing anything to remember their training, then he/ she would not be allowed to take care of the people at his/ her pool.

This is just an idea I had, but if there is anything out there that is anything like this then please comment.

Down and Out in Paris and London

If you have ever read 1984 or Animal Farm, you  know that George Orwell is an excellent writer. He completely immerses his reader into the setting and the story he tries to convey. This third book, Down and Out in Paris and London, is written very much the same. Though the first two books were quite dark reads, Down and Out, despite what some may think, has more of positive outlook on life.

Down and Out is about an English language teacher, who is first in Paris, finding himself without a job. With the help of his friend, Boris, the two currently “down and out,” scavenge Paris for a job while trying to keep their money supply from dropping, while also trying to keep up the appearance that they aren’t struggling. Soon they find a job, two actually, and all goes well for a while. Then our main character returns to England on prospects of getting his job back, when it turns out he has to wait another month before his employers come back. He is “hard up” again and finds the helping hand of Paddy. Paddy helps the protagonist by showing the “do’s and don’ts” of English poverty. After a month, his employers do come back and even though he is pleased to have his job back, he expresses what he never realized about poverty and those engulfed by it. 

The moral of Orwell's story is not the fact that poverty is the end, because it is not. The moral of the story is that even at the lowest point in life, there are still people out there who will lend a helping. Throughout the book, the protagonist is helped with other people of common interest to find a steady job, or to find a place to live. The homeless and the unemployed are not some inhuman monsters. All they are are people who have had a bit of bad luck.

This could be a good movie that would serve the purpose of subtly influencing people to be kinder to the beggar on the street, or to donate a little more money to charities. Or, they could model a documentary about this novel that instead of subtly stating what people should do would directly show how good deeds greatly influence the lives of others. If it its a movie already, I'm not surprised, but if not, someone should definitely make it one.