Tuesday, October 27, 2009
4th Period Current Event 10/30
Please post your current event for Friday, October 30 below. Remember to include the link to the article you read, provide the topic of your article, and write at least 5-6 sentences discussing your opinion of the article. You may also use video clips or podcasts for your current event.
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http://www.abcnews.go.com/WN/Space/nasas-ares-rocket-test-space-shuttle-successor/story?id=8925897
ReplyDeleteI thought this was really funny. I don't know why, but the fact that a NASA launch was delayed because of clouds is funny to me. Apparently, the controllers waited for 3 hours for the whether to clear up before they had to call the test flight off for the day. It's strange that something so small as a rainstorm can stop an entire launch.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/27/california.gang.rape.investigation/index.html
ReplyDeleteThis article is astonishing. I think it's horrible that TWENTY people witnessed this awful crime take place and no one thought to stop it. This goes to show how the media has normalized violence to an extent that when it happens in real life, our response is to accept it as entertainment. Gang rape is no laughing matter and when we just stand around and watch it, the problem gets out of hand. Awareness needs to be spread about the seriousness of the situation.
-Bailey
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/us/28maine.html?ref=us
ReplyDeleteSame-sex marriage, so recently legalized in Maine, may be banned in an approaching election. I really hope that this doesn't happen. Gay marriage should be legalized, not banned. To deny people the basic right of marriage because of their sexuality is discrimination. It goes against the values that America stands for. Arguments that gay marriage will lead to gay sex education in schools are perfectly ridiculous; after all, if there is heterosexual sex education in schools, why not gay sex education as well? The argument does not hold up under consideration. It is time that America move further along the road to equality.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/10/28/nasa.ares.rocket/index.html
ReplyDeleteNASA recently launched it's Ares rocket after many delays due to bad weather. This rocket was supposed to test their next generation of transport and space-craft system, which while hopefully be used someday to send astronauts back to the moon and eventually to mars. The program that developed the Ares rocket is supposed to create a space-craft that will replace the to-be-outdated in 2010 space shuttles. Space to me is extremely fascinating because it is the final frontier of human colonization, the one place we have yet to fully explore.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/27/california.gang.rape.investigation/index.html
ReplyDeleteIm am shocked that no one checked outside the building that night especially since the school has been known for violence on campus. It is also really surprising that twenty people witnessed the rape but didn't do anything about it. The school should have had people walking around outside to check on things like that because it's just not right. To be right next to a place where there are plenty of teachers and officers and have that happen to someone isn't fair because if they were doing what they were supposed to then this probably wouldn't have happened or at least not for two and a half hours. This just shows other schools that they need to watch out even more for these kind of things to prevent them from happening again.
-Katelyn
http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2009/10/29/should-people-who-witness-a-crime-face-jail-for-failing-to-report-it/
ReplyDeleteI agree completely with what was said in the article. Standing by and watching as a crime is commited right under your nose is completely immoral and should be illegal. I do not think that a loophole in the law in Calfornia should allow these people to escape punishment. I also agree with one of the posts that says not acting on something recquires a concsious desicion not to help, and not helping those who need it is wrong. It is also highly disturbing to read about people who stood around and even laughed during a 2 nad a half hour assualt. If someone is too afraid to call the police at the site, the at least could have left and then reported the crime to save the girl a lot of pain and suffering. This stuff should not be allowed and must be punished.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125685593077917117.html
ReplyDeleteAn Al-Qaeda member was recently sentenced to eight years in an american prison for providing material support to a terrorist organization. His term of eight years was much less than had been expected. The man was eligible for up to 15 years for his crimes, however was able to reduce that sentence by almost half. The reason for this was that the federal government illegally imprisoned him for 71 months aboard a us navy ships brig without sentence. I believe that those responsible for 9/11 should be justly punished but for our government to break its own laws establishing justice is ridiculous. Our government should not have this power over anyone arrested on US soil regardless of citizenship or not. I hope that this serves as an example that there are still many things about our government that need to change.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/10/29/canada.singer.killed/index.html
ReplyDeleteOne thing I read about this week was the Canadian folk singer who was killed by coyotes in a national park. I think this is pretty crazy actually, how someone was just taking a stroll in the park and was attacked by coyotes. This isnt something you see everyday in the United States. The reporters say that some hikers saw her being attacked and called 911, she was rescued and picked up in a helicopter and died 12 hours later. I also think it is very sad that she was only 19 and had such a bright future ahead of her.
http://cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/10/29/somalia.women.flogged/index.html
ReplyDeleteThe restrictions that the Somalian women have to face are ridiculous and appalling. Laws have been made to ban showing their feet, wearing undergarments, and not wearing a veil over their face. It is unfair to many of the women, because they can't even afford to buy a veil. Therefore, they have to deal with the consequences. They can be physically punished for breaking the laws. It makes me feel lucky to live in a country where we have so many personal liberties. People in other countries are often not as lucky as we are.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/27/california.gang.rape.investigation/index.html
ReplyDeleteI think it is horrible that this could happen on school grounds on the night of a big dance. I can't believe that 10 people witnessed a gang rape and none of them tried to stop it, call 911, or go to someone for help. Even worse is that this went on for 2 1/2 hours without a single person trying to stop it. The security guards at the dance weren't even patrolling the campus, even though the high school has had a history of violence.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/30/health/30cdc.html?ref=us
ReplyDeleteAlmost an estimated five million people were hit with swine flu over the spring, an astounding rate. However, only 800 died, which has led many to believe swine flu is nothing to worry about! This can not be farther from the truth. While swine flu may not be acting out as this very moment, it can easily mutate in less than an hour, and turn into a major epidemic. Therefore, I found it great that the community was finding ways to get vaccinated and protected. It’s better to be safe than sorry! However, Tamiflu should not be given to flu victims as well unless it is absolutely necessary! Tamiflu would increase the chance of a mutation (evolution,) and we haven’t even entered flu season. Imagine if it mutated into an extremely deadly diseases, the results could be catastrophic!
http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/10/29/2112069.aspx
ReplyDeleteI read this interesting article about a young girl who burned herself to get out of an abusive relationship. that was not the only case of women burning themselves in Afghan, many cases have been reported. Some by accident and some havent been. I think that could be one of the most horrible things to do to yourself. Her life must have been very poor indeed to burn herself alive.
-John Alex Porter
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/29/AR2009102903576_2.html
ReplyDeleteI was quite surprised to find that so many schools in the nation have closed on account of very high percentages of the schools' student population's absences. I had heard that a handful of schools had closed across the nation, but I was certainly not aware that the numbers had reached several hundred. This means that more than 126,000 students have been affected by school closures. In many schools with a high percentage of absent students, there is a great amount of panic among students and parents about students not being able to complete their work for their grading period. Even though H1N1 vaccines are available at this time, many schools' absences have gone through the roof, much more so than any other recent flu season.
-Sarah
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/29/california.rape.victim.friend/index.html
ReplyDeleteA teenage girl in Richmond, Virginia left her homecoming dance early. Her friends thought that she just decided to go home but unfortunatly that wasn't the case. Upon leaving the dance the girl was beaten and raped by 10 different individuals. They beat her for almost 3 hours, if this isn' disturbing enough 10 people witnessed this happening and didn't try to break it up or call the police. Is our society so bad that when we witness someone being physically and sexually assaulted we do nothing about it? I just found this entire article to be disturbing and heartbreaking.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/28/california.gang.rape.bystander/index.html
ReplyDeleteThe law only says that a bystander can be prosecuted only if they aid the person committing the crime. They have no real legal obligation to call the police or to try and help. This does not make any sense to me at all. I do not see how people can be so cruel and inhumane as to just watch, and not try to help and call the police. It is part of our civic responsibilities to keep our community safe, which is not watching a rape happen and doing nothing.
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE59S3QJ20091029?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews
ReplyDeleteThis article is about how 30% of Americans have a certain gene variant which apparently makes them bad drivers. Dr. Steven Cramer from University of California Irvine conducted a study to test this; he and his team tested 29 Americans (22 lacking the gene variant, seven possessing the gene variant) by making them drive 15 laps on a simulator, and then do it again one week later. I think it's interesting how there's a gene that can affect your driving ability! The gene variant controls a certain kind of protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor. So I guess it's suggesting that Americans with the gene variant have trouble remembering basic road rules and such when it comes to driving. I wonder if there's anyother common activity that is effected by this gene variant signifigantly. Also, I wonder how many other nationalities it's common among, and maybe researchers could find trends.
http://www.shelbystar.com/news/deer-42735-shelby-october.html
ReplyDeleteYes, deer are very cute. After watching Bambi you can't help but feel sympathetic to the poor creatures, but the deer population in North Carolina continues to rise. It's dangerous to driving with deer populations this high. I have been in two car wrecks with deer and once there's a deer twenty feet in front of a car going 50 mph, there isn't much you can do. Driving down I-40 the other day I saw three dead deer in about a 20 miles range. Deer are becoming fearless and they aren't exactly small animals either, hitting one is like hitting a person. I'll see them walking around my neighborhood sometimes and they don't even run. Humans are no longer a threat because we tried to conserve them for so long. I love animals and wouldn't want to do anything to hurt them but they don't have any natural predators to control the population. Deer don't seem to be afraid of anything, especially cars which is becoming dangerous.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/28/california.gang.rape.bystander/index.html
ReplyDeletei think it's horrible that so many people saw what was going on and yet didn't do anything. It's disappointing that their excuse is "I don't want to get involved" because there's a line between "getting involved" and "stopping something illegal". I think it's terrible that they would be willing to stand there and watch someone suffer, and even laugh at her pain. While I'm glad that California has a law that makes it a felony to witness something illegal and not do anything about it, I wish that it doesn't apply only to victims under 14, but other victims too. Hopefully, the bill will change to include victims of other ages and other states will adopt a similar bill as well.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/30/us/30obama.html
ReplyDeleteI think that it's a very good thing that Obama gave his respects to the 18 men that died in Afghanistan at the Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. It shows that he actually cares about the men who are wounded or killed in Afghanistan, seeing as he left the White house before midnight and returned at 4:45 a.m.. It's extremely sad and depressing to think that almost every day, an American troup is hurt or killed, and in many cases, many men are hurt or killed. By now, I'm thinking that Obama is questioning the usefulness of the war. We may eventually win, but at what cost? We've already been fighting for eight years, and we still don't know when it'll end. The Soviet Union only lasted nine years.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/11/02/kilimanjaro.glaciers/index.html
ReplyDeleteThis is horrible! I cannot believe some people STILL think global warming is a myth! I think that this has to do a lot with the technology growth. I just don't see why we wont make our technology more eco friendly. If we continue our actions we are going to ruin everything around us. If we want to improve our earth we have to do it together!