On February 2nd, 2014 the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks will battle it out in a football game to determine the 48th Super Bowl. The winner will be crowned World Champions. Led by Peyton Manning the Denver Broncos have set records for the best offense in the history of the NFL over the regular season while the Seahawks and Richard Sherman post the top ranked defense in the NFL. The game will be played in New York City at MetLife Stadium. The Super Bowl will be broadcasts to over 200 countries around the world and seen by millions of people. It is a very significant event in many of our lives and to many people around the world.
Now in its third year, the death toll of the Syrian Civil War has risen above 100,000. By UN estimates, a full three-quarters of Syrians will require aid in 2014. As the fighting continues unabated, secular rebel groups have disintegrated leaving a vacuum for extremist groups to flourish. Seen as the only alternative to western countries opposed to interventionism, these extremist groups have been increasingly popular among warweary Syrians. One such organization is the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). Founded as an Al-Qaeda affiliate in Iraq after the departure of American troops, the ISIS has made huge territorial gains in Syria in the last few months. Last week, however the ISIS experienced an abrupt loss of its stronghold in the northern Syria. For the ISIS, the trouble started in late December. Public opinion turned against the rebel group after it returned the tortured corpse of the commander of another extremist faction, Ahrar al-Sham. The ISIS exacerbated the problem by kidnapping five members of Médecins Sans Frontières, a French charity doing humanitarian work in Syria. On January 3, the ISIS captured parts of the Iraqi towns of Falluja and Ramadi near the Syrian border. This may prompt the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, to intervene against the ISIS. The ISIS also overstepped itself by alienating the other rebel factions in Syria. It imposes state-like control over the territory it holds and barely contains its disdain for other fundamentalist Islamic groups. Rebel factions including Jabhat al-Nusra and other al-Qaeda affiliates as well as the moderate Free Syrian Army have collaborated to oppose the ISIS in recent weeks. As of now, the ISIS has lost all of the border crossings it controlled and its fighters are reportedly confined to a single building in the northern city of Raqqa. It has also been eradicated from the rebel-held part of Aleppo and no longer has a headquarters there. The fall of the ISIS will have many implications for the civil war in Syrian. A virulently anti-Shi’ite organization, the ISIS increased sectarian tensions in Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon. Its decline may slightly ease the religious violence in the region that made 2013 to be the bloodiest year in Iraq since 2008. Two prominent rebel factions, the Syrian Revolutionaries’ Front and al-Mujahideen, have now joined the Islamist Front and Jabhat al-Nusra in fighting against the ISIS. This coalition may indicate increased cooperation among Bashar Assad’s opponents that could shift the balance of power in the civil war. As the war in Syria continues, the relationships between rebel groups become ever more complex and unstable. The ISIS’s recent loss of power is just another example.
"The Jihadists May Have Gone Too Far." The Economist 11 Jan. 2014: 39-40. Print. Robbins, James. "How Syria Sank Into All-Out Civil War." BBC News. BBC, 17 Jan. 2014. Web. 20 Jan. 2014. "The World This Year." The Economist 21 Dec. 2013: 12. Print.
The spacecraft Rosetta was launched by the European Space Agency on March 2, 2004, for a 10-year mission to catch comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. After taking pictures of Earth, Mars and asteroids, Rosetta was put into hibernation in May 2011 after it reached the outer part of the solar system. Mission managers woke it up on January 20th and were overjoyed to see it wake it. The spacecraft is currently 500 million miles from the sun, unmanned, and if all goes well, it will find the comet in August and fly with it for two years.
Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is in hot water over the Washington bridge scandal. After emails were discovered between Christie’s aids and appointees which appears to show a plan to close access lands on the George Washington Bridge which caused massive traffic jams in revenge against the towns democratic mayor, who declined to endorse Christie in his most recent campaign. While there is some debate about if this was actually the motive since the interactions between them was supposed to be polite, this isn’t the only scandal that Christie is facing. Chrisite has been accused of misusing the hurricane sandy funds. All this is rather troubling for New Jersey but why do we care? We care because Chris Christie was the frontrunner for the republican presidential nominee in 2016. If this scandal leads to a withdrawn of Republican support from Christi then they’ll be looking for a new Republican nominee. If they don’t then these scandals will be to Chris Christi what Benghazi will be Hilary (if she runs).
Brrrrrr! Record breaking temperatures and snow storms have finally started to die down after the chilled every one to bone across the country earlier this month. This massive and obnoxiously damaging snowstorm was named "Hercules", and conditions were officially given the title, "polar vortex". Meteorologists warned people to not go outside at all, as temperatures in certain areas were dangerously cold. In many news videos, hot water was thrown into the air and it fell as ice. Thousands of flights were canceled for weeks, and are finally starting to continue again. The storm is still not declared over, but hopefully spring will come around soon.
The 2013 Colorado flooding was a major natural disaster from mid to upper Colorado in September. It started with a cold front and a normal amount of rain, but the rain didn’t stop. The raining started on September 9, and for some areas it didn’t stop until September 15 or 16. In boulder County, precipitation rates per day were nearly that of the average annual precipitation of around 20 inches. It was considered a 1000 year flood in some areas. By September 15, Federal Emergency Declarations were in progress in most areas hit hard. Colorado State quickly started helping with relief afterwards, and cleaning and repairs are still happening today, and will continue for some time. Still, many people lost their homes and possessions in the flooding.
Currently, a family has file a lawsuit against what they believed was a wrong court decision. 70 years ago, a 14 year old boy named George Stinney murdered two girls. He supposedly admitted to the crime but the family members are now saying that he was forced to admit due to some sort of threat. Stinney was sentenced to death and died by the electric chair. Stinney's family is now bringing forth a lawsuit to correct the wrong and to clear his name.
A well-known issue that has plagued many of the leading countries is the application of renewable, clean energy to prevent unusual climate change. Europe has attempted to represent clean energy sources for a less-polluted environment, but stunted their economic growth in the process. Now, the high costs of enforcing clean energy is taking its toll; the European Union is loosening its hold on clean energy laws, even proposing the use of fracking to drive down energy costs as the US has. They are being forced into similar situations that the US and much of Asia has contemplated, whether to focus on "mending economic problems today or addressing the environmental problems of tomorrow" (Stephen Castle). The significance of preserving the planet is continually being crushed by the world's dependence on industry.
A known issue, involves what some people call the greatest movie made, Goodfellas. The movie is about a heist from a Lufthansa plane at JFK airport in New York. Today five people were arrested in connection to the heist which occurred in 1978. The heist involved $1 million in jewels and cash. Mob captain Vincent Asaro and other members of the Bonanno crime family are accused of murder, racketeering, armed robbery, arson and extortion. The movie "Goodfellas" will probably draw a little more attention.
The Obama administration has proposed a new test standard for car seats. The new standards would require car seats to protect children from both frontal and side on crashes, The car seats would be tested in a car gong 15 miles an hour getting hit by a car going 30 miles an hour in the side. The dummies would represent one and three year olds. This new car seat requirement would be implemented on children 4 years or younger or 40 pounds or less. It is estimated that these new car seats could save up to 5 lives and prevent over 60 injuries to children each year. Even if the idea was implemented now, tests are still needed to be government approved, and car seat manufacturers would be given 3 to 4 years to meat the standards. However, this is still a big development in car safety.
For the first time, scientists have been able to produce a beam of antimatter using a new experiment developed in a Swiss laboratory. In theory, antimatter is considered the opposite of matter, and every type of matter has an antimatter counterpart with the same mass but opposite charges and magnetic spin. However, physicists are trying to understand why the universe is made of matter and not antimatter as the two substances have been proven to form together in equal quantities in lab experiments. They believe that use of the new antimatter beam could shed some light on this mystery through its production of antihydrogen atoms. By studying the way in which these antihydrogen atoms react, scientists could make potentially revolutionary discoveries about the nature of our universe, which is why the antimatter beam is so significant.
Just recently Justin Bieber was arrested for allegedly drag racing and driving under the influence of numerous drugs and alcohol. He spent less than 24 hours in jail until he was released on bond, which was set at 2,500. Of course this isn't very significant to me but Justin Bieber is an iconic pop star with countless fans who look up to him. So its significant because he's setting a terrible example for all of his fans naive enough to look up to him and its significant enough for CNN to write an article about it, which i think is ridiculous.http://www.hlntv.com/article/2014/01/23/justin-bieber-arrested-miami-drag-racing-dui?hpt=hp_bn17
The country of Ukraine has fallen into turmoil in the past two months after the Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych turned down a deal that would have increased the country's relations with the European Union. Reports that the deal was refused on account of relations with Russia fueled the fight as protesters gathered prominently in the capital of Kiev and defamed the president for going against the peoples' wishes and aligning the country with Russia. Within the next two months, friction between the protestors and the government worsened when a law limiting public protests was passed. Recently, the protests have turned violent as protestors clashed with riot police. This unfolding event is an interesting case study in the lingering impact of the Cold War era. The EU, which was built on the basis of the European Common Market back in 1957, was originally a Western power institution, with the ComEcon formed for the Soviet sphere in response. Strict regulations were placed on all countries within the Soviet Union concerning their participation in these organizations. As the EU grows and accepts more and more countries and the Cold War becomes further behind us, it would seem that Russia still has a degree of control over the region and that a degree of dependency was created during the separation of the war. Sure seems reminiscent of Czechoslovakia in 1948, doesn't it?
On January 22, 2014, ESA (European Space Agency) scientists reported the detection of water vapor on Ceres. Ceres is the largest asteroid and the only dwarf planet in the inner solar system, orbiting in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Ceres is 590 miles in diameter and it is the smallest identified dwarf planet. However, it still holds 1/3 of the mass of the entire asteroid belt. The detection of water vapor was made by using the far-infrared capabilities of the Herschel Space Observatory. The discovery has huge implications for astrobiology. It is now more likely that Ceres harbors a subsurface ocean,strengthening the argument for life on Ceres and marking it as a prime target for planetary investigation, as well as supporting the theory that impacting comets and asteroids were the things that originally provided water to the Earth's surface.
In August of 2013, California made history as it became the first state transgendered students are offered equal opportunities to use facilities and participate in activities which are consistent with their expressed gender. This is a monumental victory for the trans-community that is feeling resistance from more conservative individuals in California. One girl that is really feeling this resistance is Staceyy Holidayy a student at El Rancho High School in Pico Rivera, California. Holidayy was suspended for two days after violating the female dress code which she admits to violating on purpose. Denied access to the girls locker room and restrooms, Holidayy has been forced to use the private bathroom in the nurse's office. The school claims using the private bathroom was a compromise Holidayy agreed to. But Holidayy says she was pressured into the agreement and so violated the dress code in order to send a message to the administration that they couldn't send mixed messages. This events importance impacts many lives. For Holidayy it means the school can no longer force her to exist in this state of limbo. For the state of California it showcases the success of passing the protection act in August. Though change may be slow to take place initially, schools like El Rancho, are finding they can no longer get away with treating their students without respect. Nationally though this is a huge success for the trans+ community as legislation is being upheld and young queer people are taking a stand for their rights. This event may inspire other transgendered students and lead to future legislation that further protects transgendered persons in the nation.
Recently, scientist have claimed to make the first discovery in one hundred years of a new river dolphin species. These creatures inhabit the waters of the Araguaia river in Brazil where people mindlessly mistake them for their other Brazilian cousin species.Although they're rather common in the Amazonian rivers, the Inia Araguaiaensis is currently the rarest and most endangered of all vertebrates, and the discovery therefore brought waves of utter excitement and enthusiasm in the field of biology. Tomas Hrbek, of the Federal University of Amazonas, was the leading scholar who first noted that these river dolphins were distinct from other animals as such by recognizing how they were essentially smaller than the other species that inhabited the region, and they also had fewer teeth. Hrbek also came to the conclusion that there'd been nearly 1,000 Inia Araguaiaensis dolphins residing within the Araguia River. This unexpected news is proof of how even though society continues to push forward in the field of technology, medicine, biology, and so on, the world continues to hold a diverse and large field of the unearthed and unknown. As far as science, there will always be questions and answers for people to discern, dissect, and analyze. The world is forever changing. http://townhall.com/news/world/2014/01/25/new-river-dolphin-species-found-in-brazil-n1784621
Not just three hours ago, the Denver Nuggets snapped a three-game losing streak in a monumental win over the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers currently hold the NBA's best record, and with a struggling Nuggets team, the 109-96 win tonight was a big upset. The Nuggets are now back at .500 and have an opportunity to take the momentum from tonight's win in push for a winning streak. Nuggets head coach Brian Shaw especially needed the win to prove to his former team that his new bunch of players meant business. The Nuggets all around dominated in the game, proving that even against the league's best they could win big. Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried made the biggest impact of the contest as he put up a double-double, leading the way to victory.
On July 4, 2012, scientists at the Large Hadron Collider, or particle accelerator, in Geneva, Switzerland, announced the discovery of a particle that had the approximate mass of the elusive Higgs Boson. The “God-particle”, the Higgs Boson is thought to be the explanation for mass and its origins. In 1964, a physicist by the name of Peter Higgs proposed that the entire universe was permeated by an energy field known as “The Higgs Field”. When particles move through this field, it is the “drag” on the particles from the surrounding energy that causes objects to have mass. The Higgs Boson is essentially a direct product of this field, and its confirmation will show scientists that the Higgs Field actually exists. This is huge for Physics and science in general; the question “Where does mass come from?” has almost been answered.
This year, the 2014 Winter Olympics are going to take place in Sochi, Russia, the first time the Olympics are taking place there since the breakup of the USSR (in 1991). Several controversies have taken place in the lead-up to this event, including rumors of corruption, concerns stemming from Russia's issues with LGBT rights, and security concerns involving possible attacks from Islamist Jihadist groups. So far, the estimated cost tops 51 billion US dollars, and if carried out, will make it the most expensive Olympics in history. The corruption rumors and allegations claim that part of the budget has been embezzled by Putin, leading to the severe cost overruns.
Just one year after the 33 and the hospitalization of over a hundred, the two owners responsible for the listeria cantaloupe outbreak have been given their sentence. Owners Eric and Ryan Jensen now face 6 years of probation, 6 months of which are on house arrest. The two are also responsible for restitution to each family that lost someone.
On December 14, 2013, China landed on the moon for the first time since the Soviet Union did it in 1976. The craft, called Chang'e 3, made China the third country to conduct a soft landing on the moon, joining the US and the USSR. The craft was unmanned, but did hold a lunar rover called the Yutu. The goal is for the Yutu to explore the surface of the moon for several months. It has solar panels, a mechanical arm, and lots of science equipment. Many people hope that this event will re-spark international and national interest in the moon and space.
Shirley Temple Black Died the other day at the ripe age of 85. She was a very famous child film star and the name of a very popular drink. What she is little known for is her work as an ambassador. She was an ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia. She was also the Chief of Protocol of the United States from 1976-1977.
The United States Supreme Court blocks any further same-sex marriages while Utah officials appeal the decision made by Judge Shelby in December 2013. The block creates legal limbo for the 1,300 same-sex couples who have received marriage licenses since Judge Shelby's ruling. This is very relevant because of the obvious issue of the banning of same-sex marriage all over the country.
Despite threats of terrorist attacks, complaints about poor preparations and the international condemnation over their anti-gay law, Russia kicks off the costliest Olympic Games in history with an opening ceremony filled with music, floats and a light show using the most advanced technology available. The opening ceremony is mostly glitch free, although one of the five floating Olympic rings fails to open. Russian President Vladimir Putin attends and officially announces the start of the games during the ceremony. On the same day as the opening ceremony, a passenger on a Turkish jetliner tells the crew a bomb is on board and to fly the plane to Sochi. Instead, the crew sends a signal to Istanbul where it lands. The suspect is taken into custody. No bomb is found onboard. Meanwhile, the U.S. government bans all liquids, gels, aerosols and powders in carry-on luggage for flights to and from Russia. The ban comes after the U.S. issues a warning that explosive material could be concealed in toothpaste tubes.
On February 2nd, 2014 the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks will battle it out in a football game to determine the 48th Super Bowl. The winner will be crowned World Champions. Led by Peyton Manning the Denver Broncos have set records for the best offense in the history of the NFL over the regular season while the Seahawks and Richard Sherman post the top ranked defense in the NFL. The game will be played in New York City at MetLife Stadium. The Super Bowl will be broadcasts to over 200 countries around the world and seen by millions of people. It is a very significant event in many of our lives and to many people around the world.
ReplyDeleteNow in its third year, the death toll of the Syrian Civil War has risen above 100,000. By UN estimates, a full three-quarters of Syrians will require aid in 2014. As the fighting continues unabated, secular rebel groups have disintegrated leaving a vacuum for extremist groups to flourish. Seen as the only alternative to western countries opposed to interventionism, these extremist groups have been increasingly popular among warweary Syrians. One such organization is the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). Founded as an Al-Qaeda affiliate in Iraq after the departure of American troops, the ISIS has made huge territorial gains in Syria in the last few months. Last week, however the ISIS experienced an abrupt loss of its stronghold in the northern Syria.
ReplyDeleteFor the ISIS, the trouble started in late December. Public opinion turned against the rebel group after it returned the tortured corpse of the commander of another extremist faction, Ahrar al-Sham. The ISIS exacerbated the problem by kidnapping five members of Médecins Sans Frontières, a French charity doing humanitarian work in Syria. On January 3, the ISIS captured parts of the Iraqi towns of Falluja and Ramadi near the Syrian border. This may prompt the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, to intervene against the ISIS. The ISIS also overstepped itself by alienating the other rebel factions in Syria. It imposes state-like control over the territory it holds and barely contains its disdain for other fundamentalist Islamic groups. Rebel factions including Jabhat al-Nusra and other al-Qaeda affiliates as well as the moderate Free Syrian Army have collaborated to oppose the ISIS in recent weeks. As of now, the ISIS has lost all of the border crossings it controlled and its fighters are reportedly confined to a single building in the northern city of Raqqa. It has also been eradicated from the rebel-held part of Aleppo and no longer has a headquarters there.
The fall of the ISIS will have many implications for the civil war in Syrian. A virulently anti-Shi’ite organization, the ISIS increased sectarian tensions in Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon. Its decline may slightly ease the religious violence in the region that made 2013 to be the bloodiest year in Iraq since 2008. Two prominent rebel factions, the Syrian Revolutionaries’ Front and al-Mujahideen, have now joined the Islamist Front and Jabhat al-Nusra in fighting against the ISIS. This coalition may indicate increased cooperation among Bashar Assad’s opponents that could shift the balance of power in the civil war. As the war in Syria continues, the relationships between rebel groups become ever more complex and unstable. The ISIS’s recent loss of power is just another example.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteSources:
Delete"The Jihadists May Have Gone Too Far." The Economist 11 Jan. 2014: 39-40. Print.
Robbins, James. "How Syria Sank Into All-Out Civil War." BBC News. BBC, 17 Jan. 2014. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.
"The World This Year." The Economist 21 Dec. 2013: 12. Print.
That was awesome. Well written and packed with information.
DeleteThe spacecraft Rosetta was launched by the European Space Agency on March 2, 2004, for a 10-year mission to catch comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. After taking pictures of Earth, Mars and asteroids, Rosetta was put into hibernation in May 2011 after it reached the outer part of the solar system. Mission managers woke it up on January 20th and were overjoyed to see it wake it. The spacecraft is currently 500 million miles from the sun, unmanned, and if all goes well, it will find the comet in August and fly with it for two years.
ReplyDeleteRepublican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is in hot water over the Washington bridge scandal. After emails were discovered between Christie’s aids and appointees which appears to show a plan to close access lands on the George Washington Bridge which caused massive traffic jams in revenge against the towns democratic mayor, who declined to endorse Christie in his most recent campaign. While there is some debate about if this was actually the motive since the interactions between them was supposed to be polite, this isn’t the only scandal that Christie is facing. Chrisite has been accused of misusing the hurricane sandy funds. All this is rather troubling for New Jersey but why do we care? We care because Chris Christie was the frontrunner for the republican presidential nominee in 2016. If this scandal leads to a withdrawn of Republican support from Christi then they’ll be looking for a new Republican nominee. If they don’t then these scandals will be to Chris Christi what Benghazi will be Hilary (if she runs).
ReplyDeleteBrrrrrr! Record breaking temperatures and snow storms have finally started to die down after the chilled every one to bone across the country earlier this month. This massive and obnoxiously damaging snowstorm was named "Hercules", and conditions were officially given the title, "polar vortex". Meteorologists warned people to not go outside at all, as temperatures in certain areas were dangerously cold. In many news videos, hot water was thrown into the air and it fell as ice. Thousands of flights were canceled for weeks, and are finally starting to continue again. The storm is still not declared over, but hopefully spring will come around soon.
ReplyDeleteThe 2013 Colorado flooding was a major natural disaster from mid to upper Colorado in September. It started with a cold front and a normal amount of rain, but the rain didn’t stop. The raining started on September 9, and for some areas it didn’t stop until September 15 or 16. In boulder County, precipitation rates per day were nearly that of the average annual precipitation of around 20 inches. It was considered a 1000 year flood in some areas. By September 15, Federal Emergency Declarations were in progress in most areas hit hard. Colorado State quickly started helping with relief afterwards, and cleaning and repairs are still happening today, and will continue for some time. Still, many people lost their homes and possessions in the flooding.
ReplyDeleteCurrently, a family has file a lawsuit against what they believed was a wrong court decision. 70 years ago, a 14 year old boy named George Stinney murdered two girls. He supposedly admitted to the crime but the family members are now saying that he was forced to admit due to some sort of threat. Stinney was sentenced to death and died by the electric chair. Stinney's family is now bringing forth a lawsuit to correct the wrong and to clear his name.
ReplyDeleteA well-known issue that has plagued many of the leading countries is the application of renewable, clean energy to prevent unusual climate change. Europe has attempted to represent clean energy sources for a less-polluted environment, but stunted their economic growth in the process. Now, the high costs of enforcing clean energy is taking its toll; the European Union is loosening its hold on clean energy laws, even proposing the use of fracking to drive down energy costs as the US has. They are being forced into similar situations that the US and much of Asia has contemplated, whether to focus on "mending economic problems today or addressing the environmental problems of tomorrow" (Stephen Castle). The significance of preserving the planet is continually being crushed by the world's dependence on industry.
ReplyDeleteA known issue, involves what some people call the greatest movie made, Goodfellas. The movie is about a heist from a Lufthansa plane at JFK airport in New York. Today five people were arrested in connection to the heist which occurred in 1978. The heist involved $1 million in jewels and cash. Mob captain Vincent Asaro and other members of the Bonanno crime family are accused of murder, racketeering, armed robbery, arson and extortion. The movie "Goodfellas" will probably draw a little more attention.
ReplyDeleteThe Obama administration has proposed a new test standard for car seats. The new standards would require car seats to protect children from both frontal and side on crashes, The car seats would be tested in a car gong 15 miles an hour getting hit by a car going 30 miles an hour in the side. The dummies would represent one and three year olds. This new car seat requirement would be implemented on children 4 years or younger or 40 pounds or less. It is estimated that these new car seats could save up to 5 lives and prevent over 60 injuries to children each year. Even if the idea was implemented now, tests are still needed to be government approved, and car seat manufacturers would be given 3 to 4 years to meat the standards. However, this is still a big development in car safety.
ReplyDeleteFor the first time, scientists have been able to produce a beam of antimatter using a new experiment developed in a Swiss laboratory. In theory, antimatter is considered the opposite of matter, and every type of matter has an antimatter counterpart with the same mass but opposite charges and magnetic spin. However, physicists are trying to understand why the universe is made of matter and not antimatter as the two substances have been proven to form together in equal quantities in lab experiments. They believe that use of the new antimatter beam could shed some light on this mystery through its production of antihydrogen atoms. By studying the way in which these antihydrogen atoms react, scientists could make potentially revolutionary discoveries about the nature of our universe, which is why the antimatter beam is so significant.
ReplyDeleteJust recently Justin Bieber was arrested for allegedly drag racing and driving under the influence of numerous drugs and alcohol. He spent less than 24 hours in jail until he was released on bond, which was set at 2,500. Of course this isn't very significant to me but Justin Bieber is an iconic pop star with countless fans who look up to him. So its significant because he's setting a terrible example for all of his fans naive enough to look up to him and its significant enough for CNN to write an article about it, which i think is ridiculous.http://www.hlntv.com/article/2014/01/23/justin-bieber-arrested-miami-drag-racing-dui?hpt=hp_bn17
ReplyDeleteThe country of Ukraine has fallen into turmoil in the past two months after the Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych turned down a deal that would have increased the country's relations with the European Union. Reports that the deal was refused on account of relations with Russia fueled the fight as protesters gathered prominently in the capital of Kiev and defamed the president for going against the peoples' wishes and aligning the country with Russia. Within the next two months, friction between the protestors and the government worsened when a law limiting public protests was passed. Recently, the protests have turned violent as protestors clashed with riot police.
ReplyDeleteThis unfolding event is an interesting case study in the lingering impact of the Cold War era. The EU, which was built on the basis of the European Common Market back in 1957, was originally a Western power institution, with the ComEcon formed for the Soviet sphere in response. Strict regulations were placed on all countries within the Soviet Union concerning their participation in these organizations. As the EU grows and accepts more and more countries and the Cold War becomes further behind us, it would seem that Russia still has a degree of control over the region and that a degree of dependency was created during the separation of the war. Sure seems reminiscent of Czechoslovakia in 1948, doesn't it?
On January 22, 2014, ESA (European Space Agency) scientists reported the detection of water vapor on Ceres. Ceres is the largest asteroid and the only dwarf planet in the inner solar system, orbiting in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Ceres is 590 miles in diameter and it is the smallest identified dwarf planet. However, it still holds 1/3 of the mass of the entire asteroid belt. The detection of water vapor was made by using the far-infrared capabilities of the Herschel Space Observatory. The discovery has huge implications for astrobiology. It is now more likely that Ceres harbors a subsurface ocean,strengthening the argument for life on Ceres and marking it as a prime target for planetary investigation, as well as supporting the theory that impacting comets and asteroids were the things that originally provided water to the Earth's surface.
ReplyDeleteIn August of 2013, California made history as it became the first state transgendered students are offered equal opportunities to use facilities and participate in activities which are consistent with their expressed gender. This is a monumental victory for the trans-community that is feeling resistance from more conservative individuals in California. One girl that is really feeling this resistance is Staceyy Holidayy a student at El Rancho High School in Pico Rivera, California. Holidayy was suspended for two days after violating the female dress code which she admits to violating on purpose. Denied access to the girls locker room and restrooms, Holidayy has been forced to use the private bathroom in the nurse's office. The school claims using the private bathroom was a compromise Holidayy agreed to. But Holidayy says she was pressured into the agreement and so violated the dress code in order to send a message to the administration that they couldn't send mixed messages.
ReplyDeleteThis events importance impacts many lives. For Holidayy it means the school can no longer force her to exist in this state of limbo. For the state of California it showcases the success of passing the protection act in August. Though change may be slow to take place initially, schools like El Rancho, are finding they can no longer get away with treating their students without respect. Nationally though this is a huge success for the trans+ community as legislation is being upheld and young queer people are taking a stand for their rights. This event may inspire other transgendered students and lead to future legislation that further protects transgendered persons in the nation.
Recently, scientist have claimed to make the first discovery in one hundred years of a new river dolphin species. These creatures inhabit the waters of the Araguaia river in Brazil where people mindlessly mistake them for their other Brazilian cousin species.Although they're rather common in the Amazonian rivers, the Inia Araguaiaensis is currently the rarest and most endangered of all vertebrates, and the discovery therefore brought waves of utter excitement and enthusiasm in the field of biology. Tomas Hrbek, of the Federal University of Amazonas, was the leading scholar who first noted that these river dolphins were distinct from other animals as such by recognizing how they were essentially smaller than the other species that inhabited the region, and they also had fewer teeth. Hrbek also came to the conclusion that there'd been nearly 1,000 Inia Araguaiaensis dolphins residing within the Araguia River. This unexpected news is proof of how even though society continues to push forward in the field of technology, medicine, biology, and so on, the world continues to hold a diverse and large field of the unearthed and unknown. As far as science, there will always be questions and answers for people to discern, dissect, and analyze. The world is forever changing.
ReplyDeletehttp://townhall.com/news/world/2014/01/25/new-river-dolphin-species-found-in-brazil-n1784621
Not just three hours ago, the Denver Nuggets snapped a three-game losing streak in a monumental win over the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers currently hold the NBA's best record, and with a struggling Nuggets team, the 109-96 win tonight was a big upset. The Nuggets are now back at .500 and have an opportunity to take the momentum from tonight's win in push for a winning streak. Nuggets head coach Brian Shaw especially needed the win to prove to his former team that his new bunch of players meant business. The Nuggets all around dominated in the game, proving that even against the league's best they could win big. Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried made the biggest impact of the contest as he put up a double-double, leading the way to victory.
ReplyDeleteOn July 4, 2012, scientists at the Large Hadron Collider, or particle accelerator, in Geneva, Switzerland, announced the discovery of a particle that had the approximate mass of the elusive Higgs Boson. The “God-particle”, the Higgs Boson is thought to be the explanation for mass and its origins. In 1964, a physicist by the name of Peter Higgs proposed that the entire universe was permeated by an energy field known as “The Higgs Field”. When particles move through this field, it is the “drag” on the particles from the surrounding energy that causes objects to have mass. The Higgs Boson is essentially a direct product of this field, and its confirmation will show scientists that the Higgs Field actually exists. This is huge for Physics and science in general; the question “Where does mass come from?” has almost been answered.
ReplyDeleteThis year, the 2014 Winter Olympics are going to take place in Sochi, Russia, the first time the Olympics are taking place there since the breakup of the USSR (in 1991). Several controversies have taken place in the lead-up to this event, including rumors of corruption, concerns stemming from Russia's issues with LGBT rights, and security concerns involving possible attacks from Islamist Jihadist groups. So far, the estimated cost tops 51 billion US dollars, and if carried out, will make it the most expensive Olympics in history. The corruption rumors and allegations claim that part of the budget has been embezzled by Putin, leading to the severe cost overruns.
ReplyDeleteJust one year after the 33 and the hospitalization of over a hundred, the two owners responsible for the listeria cantaloupe outbreak have been given their sentence. Owners Eric and Ryan Jensen now face 6 years of probation, 6 months of which are on house arrest. The two are also responsible for restitution to each family that lost someone.
ReplyDeleteOn December 14, 2013, China landed on the moon for the first time since the Soviet Union did it in 1976. The craft, called Chang'e 3, made China the third country to conduct a soft landing on the moon, joining the US and the USSR. The craft was unmanned, but did hold a lunar rover called the Yutu. The goal is for the Yutu to explore the surface of the moon for several months. It has solar panels, a mechanical arm, and lots of science equipment. Many people hope that this event will re-spark international and national interest in the moon and space.
ReplyDeleteShirley Temple Black Died the other day at the ripe age of 85. She was a very famous child film star and the name of a very popular drink. What she is little known for is her work as an ambassador. She was an ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia. She was also the Chief of Protocol of the United States from 1976-1977.
ReplyDeleteThe United States Supreme Court blocks any further same-sex marriages while Utah officials appeal the decision made by Judge Shelby in December 2013. The block creates legal limbo for the 1,300 same-sex couples who have received marriage licenses since Judge Shelby's ruling. This is very relevant because of the obvious issue of the banning of same-sex marriage all over the country.
ReplyDeleteDespite threats of terrorist attacks, complaints about poor preparations and the international condemnation over their anti-gay law, Russia kicks off the costliest Olympic Games in history with an opening ceremony filled with music, floats and a light show using the most advanced technology available. The opening ceremony is mostly glitch free, although one of the five floating Olympic rings fails to open. Russian President Vladimir Putin attends and officially announces the start of the games during the ceremony. On the same day as the opening ceremony, a passenger on a Turkish jetliner tells the crew a bomb is on board and to fly the plane to Sochi. Instead, the crew sends a signal to Istanbul where it lands. The suspect is taken into custody. No bomb is found onboard. Meanwhile, the U.S. government bans all liquids, gels, aerosols and powders in carry-on luggage for flights to and from Russia. The ban comes after the U.S. issues a warning that explosive material could be concealed in toothpaste tubes.
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