Hasta La Gadget!

by Carolyn Hsu, BRIDES

Photo: Getty Images

The wedding budget: Most wedding planners would say that it’s the most important thing to have when planning your wedding (aside from the groom of course!), but it can certainly be one of the most anxiety inducing. While you may know the basics to sticking within your budget — not overdoing it with over-the-top florals or spending 40 percent of your total budget on a dress, for example — there are some less obvious ways that you may be racking up costs without even realizing it. Suffering severe sticker shock is no way to end the best day of your life, so we turned to wedding planner Claudia Hoste, owner of Hoste Events, to advise on five things you need to be aware of to keep your budget in check.

1. Buying things before you have a budget and a plan.
“You have to have a budget tracker,” says Hoste. “There is no way you can keep track of things in your head. Don’t buy anything for the wedding until you make your budget guidelines. It’s so easy to get caught up in the excitement of starting to buy things, that money can get spent on little fun details (Pinterest inspiration anyone?!) that in the end will not mean as much as you originally thought. You could end up spending way more on something that turns out to be not important and then have to skimp on things that are.”

2. Getting carried away with the guest list.
Of course you want to invite everyone to celebrate this major life moment, but not being careful with the guest list is the easiest way to blow up your budget. “Keep in mind that every guest touches every part of the budget. In addition to the cost of food and beverages for each additional guest, you’ll also have to factor in costs of rentals, transportation, and favors,” explains Hoste. “If you add more than a table’s worth of guests, you’ll need to add more linens and centerpieces as well.”

3. Not being clear on what the site fee includes.
“Every venue is different. Some might require you to rent everything from the napkins to the tables to the lights and bathrooms, which adds up very quickly,” says Hoste. “Make sure you call a rental company and get quotes for anything that is not included with the site so that you’ll know what the total cost is for that venue before you book. What seems like a good deal in the beginning can in the end make you go over budget.”

4. Not sticking to your timeline.
“Usually you contract vendors for a specific number of hours. If you don’t stick to your timeline, you run the risk of things running late,” says Hoste. “This means that you’ll end up incurring expensive overtime fees that were not budgeted.”

5. Opting for a consumption bar instead of a per head package.
It can be tempting to opt for a pay-per-drink bar because you think some guests won’t drink that much, but that usually ends up being a risky choice. “Generally people will drink more at weddings that they would do normally in other social situations,” says Hoste. “Plus they will want to raise multiple glasses to celebrate the big day!”

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Among the results of an election-eve poll conducted by Latino Decisions last month, one finding in particular stands out: of registered Latino voters who did not vote on Election Day, 14% reported that they did not currently possess an unexpired form of identification.

While not all states require an ID to vote, there are currently 30 states with voter ID laws that do. In these 30 states, then, eligible Latinos may very well be sitting out elections, uncertain whether they would be able to vote if they made the trip to the polling booths. Research suggests that voter ID laws negatively impact black and Latino turnout, since many eligible voters lack whatever form of identification these state laws mandate. Others, in turn, may sit out elections simply because they fear their identification won’t be accepted.

The Hispanic electorate is expanding rapidly and has become increasingly influential in recent electoral cycles. Is it merely a coincidence that states are passing voter identification laws that disproportionately impact Latino voter turnout, at precisely the moment at which the Latino vote is growing more influential? Experts agree that voter-fraud is extremely rare, and that voter identification laws are a solution in need of a problem. Yet rather than woo a rapidly growing Hispanic electorate by embracing Latino policy priorities, some politicians have instead opted to suppress the Hispanic electorate through measures such as voter I.D. laws. These policies are bad for our democracy, and over the long-term they represent bad politics, given that the Hispanic electorate will only continue to grow.

Efforts to restrict voter participation don’t stop at requiring valid identification from registered voters. Some states have gone even further than requiring identification at the polling booth, in several instances by passing laws that require individuals to provide proof of citizenship before registering to vote. In the 2006 elections, 16% of all voter registration applications in Maricopa County, Arizona were rejected because the prospective voters did not provide sufficient proof of their citizenship as mandated by a state law passed in 2004. The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona noted at the time that many of these would-be voters, particularly the poor and elderly, would likely have lacked the documents they needed to prove their citizenship and the transportation and resources to get adequate documents. In Kansas, a proof-of-citizenship law designed by Kris Kobach (architect of Arizona’s notorious “show me your papers” immigration enforcement law) had suspended the voting powers of around 21,000 registered Kansas voters as of Nov. 7, 2014.

The good news is that both of these proof-of-citizenship laws have since been partially struck down in federal courts. Earlier this month, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that neither Arizona nor Kansas would be allowed to require individuals registering to vote to show proof of citizenship if those individuals applied used a federal voter-registration form. Nevertheless, voter ID laws remain in effect in both states.

When we see that too few Latino voters came out to the polls in these latest elections, our legislators should be working to increase the participation of all eligible voters by passing laws that enable voting by all eligible citizens – regardless of income, age, or race. Consider the case of Colorado, where the 2014 elections were conducted entirely through mail. The numbers show that Colorado’s electoral modernization measures resulted in impressive levels of voter participation. It’s simple: if electoral law facilitates rather than restricts the voting process for eligible voters, turnout will increase significantly.

The numbers don’t lie. Voter fraud is largely nonexistent, while Hispanic voter participation continues to lag behind other groups. Given this state of affairs, laws that restrict the ability of eligible citizens to vote make absolutely no sense. To safeguard a strong representative government, we ought to resist and repeal voter ID measures that disproportionately impact the poor, young, and elderly; onerous proof-of-citizenship requirements that disenfranchise already-registered voters; and any other laws that serve only to weaken democratic participation in the name of a false problem.

We’ve seen a microscope add-on for iOS devices that has 80x magnification. The Super Spy telescope lens for the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and Samsung Galaxy Note 4 on the other hand has 80x optical zoom. Apparently that’s enough to see people’s faces clearly from up to 100m (approx. 330ft) away.

The telescope comes with a tripod and a compatible lens mount that doubles as a protective case for the phones.

That definitely won’t fit in your pocket. You can order the Super Spy telescope lens from Brando for $220 (USD) each. The store also has more affordable telescopes that have 50x and below optical zoom.

With the holiday season upon us it means that advertisers are going to do more to tug at our heartstrings to get us to send our holiday spending their way. With UPS and their Wishes Delivered campaign that may not be totally a bad thing. In exchange for some great advertising copy they are making a few wishes come true — and one special little boy got to live the dream of a lifetime.

Let me start by saying that if you’ve haven’t watched the amazing TV series Breaking Bad, you’re probably not going to get what makes this new app so funny. Also, you should go and watch the show right away, it’s really good. If you have seen the show, then get ready to download “YB,” an app from Breaking Bad star … Continue reading