Current Events Assignment 11/20/15

The drought in California is only proving worse.
“Drought drops an important California lake near the ‘dead zone'”
www.foxnews.com
On Sunday, the Northern California lake—which supplies drinking water to half a million people—hit a record low of 140,410 acre feet, according to CBS Sacramento. The previous low of 140,600 was set in 1977. The lake can hold 975,000 acre feet when full, but it’s now approaching the 100,000 acre feet “dead zone,” at which point it would be too low to reach intake pipes, affecting water for three cities. The water level dropped 3 feet in September alone, and this winter’s El Niño is unlikely to solve the problem. Officials are proposing a new reservoir nearby to help store water. And according to Gizmodo, the state is installing emergency pumps to avoid the “dead zone.”
I’m sure we have all heard about the drought in California. I haven’t heard about it recently so I assumed it was improving. Evidently not. If I was anyone over there, I would take my happy little self out of that high income tax state. Not just because of the drought problem, but because the people there are dumb. Texas ‘4 lyfe’.
Is this a world problem? Well not now, but perhaps in the future. California itself makes more income that a lot of countries. So like Ron Burgundy, they are kind of a big deal. Apple’s headquarters also lies in California. I’m sure most of us hope that they don’t get too thirsty to forget about making the next iPhone. The water regulations may be minor now, but increased happenings like this may lead to more severe water restrictions. Dear ghost of Steve Jobs, do fam’ over there a favor and give them some precipitation for crying out loud.

Current Events Assignment 10-30-15

Bacon and other processed meat may cause cancer.
“Bacon Causes Cancer? Sort of. Not Really. Ish.”
www.wired.com
-The World Health Organization (WHO), recently classified processed meat as a group 1 carcinogen. The same group as tobacco. Which is actually quite silly considering it does’t consider how much either substance actually increases your risk of cancer. Smoking increases your relative risk of lung cancer by 2,500 percent. While eating two slices of bacon a day increases your relative risk for colorectal cancer by 18 percent. So bacon and other processed meats can cause cancer, but it’s not likely.
-As I read the beginning of the article, I thought of a couple of curse words as I thought my life would soon end because of cancer. However, it turns out it’s not that likely to do so. So you can bet that I’m not going to hold off of on bacon anytime soon. Even if I do get unlucky enough to obtain cancer from it, I can always eat more bacon in heaven.
-I certainly don’t think the world needs to trip big time over this. This really only effects the people who are really death conscience. You know those people who drive with two hands, drink tea in the mornings, and don’t know how to live. For the rest of us, we can continue to fill our mouths with delicious bacon just as carelessly as before knowing such information because it’s worth it. And for goodness sake, what doesn’t give us cancer? It’s like every month it’s a new thing that will give cancer. I believe it’s time to accept that cancer will probably happen to most us. Oh well.

Current Events Assignment 9/25/15

There is no evidence of alien life in nearby galaxies.
“Study: No evidence of advanced alien life in nearby galaxies”
www.foxnews.com
After studying hundreds of galaxies in numerous recent studies, there still remains no sign of alien life. However, their has been several signals they have received from their thermal devices but they believe its just their own waves they are putting off. It is believed that we as humans are here and alive, is because we are alone in the universe.
I personally believe we should continue to research for alien life. I think it would be really cool. Imagine having an alien fried. Pretty cool, huh? After the awkward stage of not being able to understand each others dialect, we could just sit around watch netflix and eat Reeses pieces. Sadly, this isn’t very likely to happen. So in actuality, this doesn’t affect me at all because aliens have proven to not exist.
These recent studies probably sadden all those like myself who wish aliens existed. If this article was about how aliens are out and about in the universe I would definitely say this effects the world because we should all fear death at that point. Unless they show up in our backyards to chill like I said earlier, then they probably just want to take our resources and kidneys. So because this article is not about that, the world should continue to not live in fear of aliens and continue living their normal lives. Unless anyone’s normal life consists of punching puppies in the face, in that case, change it up a bit.

Current Events Assignment 9/11/2015

There has been a rise in the shark population along the East Coast.
“Study finds more sharks than ever swimming in waters along the East Coast”
www.foxnews.com
Many more sharks have been tagged in the waters of Florida to North Carolina. About 2825 to be exact, A little more than a thousand more three years ago. Of the thirteen species that have been tagged, the sandbar, sharpnose, dusky, and tiger sharks have been the most common. With the rise in shark number, it does come with its negatives. Eight people have been attack, which is the most since the Florida museum of natural history began tracking shark attacks over 80 years ago.
Sharks are beautiful, majestic creatures, however, sharks can be extremely deadly. With that being said, I don’t think anyone needs to take action in trying to shorten the population of sharks. That simply should not be the answer. I’m not necessarily an animal nut, but I do believe they deserve to accompany the waters as mush as we do. The people who live along the East Coast should take these recent studies into consideration before heading out into the waters.
This situation absolutely affects the population of people who live along the east coast that enjoy getting into the ocean. While this article did state that there have been several studies and pieces of evidence that proves the rise of the shark population in the east coast waters, it did not specify that the world population of sharks have ultimately increased. So, this doesn’t affect anyone else per-say. As far as those who live along the east coast, they will probably benefit from making changes to how they visit the beach. Perhaps not going in the water during the dawn and dusk hours, as well as employing more safety nets to keep them semi-safe from sharks and get the overall shark attack numbers down.

Current Events Assignment

Tom Brady and the “deflategate” case.
“It’s past time to wrap Deflategate”
www.charlotteobserver.com
Tom Brady was accused by the NFL about seven months ago of having knowledge of the deflated footballs in the game against the Indianapolis Colts. He, however, believes he is innocent and decided to take the matter to court. Success in court would take away his four game suspension as well as his somewhat now tainted legacy.
Personally, I don’t find this matter to be a big deal. The only reason the NFL is still fighting this case is because they believe that what he did was a form of cheating. That being said, at the time there were no official PSI rules that were enforced. Secondly, it ultimately couldn’t have affected the game to the entirety of the Patriots big win 45-7. Though I would be lying if I said I wouldn’t be happy to Brady’s backup in their fourth game against my Dallas Cowboys.
In the grand scheme of things, this court case doesn’t truly matter. Nobody is in risk of dying. It’s rather a matter of Brady getting a suspension or not. Either way he will be able to compete in the playoffs when the games have major value, so the Patriots fans don’t have too much to mull over. In a way, the NFL has already won. This case has gotten so much media attention that has got many people talking about it and any publicity is good publicity.

New Story #2

There will be a meeting Wednesday between the PTA and principal Olympia Rainer to discuss Rainer’s proposal of putting a cell phone jammer to prevent cell phone use in school.

“I am listening if anyone has any better ideas. I am meeting with members of the PTA next week. Perhaps they will have a better idea, but so far I haven’t heard a solid alternative solution.” Rainer said.

So far this year, 350 out of 850 students have had discipline referrals regarding cell phone use.

“Instead of trying to restrict us more, why doesn’t the administration lighten up? If students could use their cell phones during lunch or passing periods, we wouldn’t have to use them in class. I bet that would solve the problem.”

Students are allowed to use their phones before and after school, but there has been a ban on phones in school hours for two years.

“What happens if there is an emergency? No one could use their phones. My mom feels more secure when I have my phone with me.” Junior Tara Dominguez said.

The president of the Parent Teacher Association, Gale Chen, said most parents understand Rainer’s frustration over cell phone use during school but most do not feel comfortable with a jammer on campus.

“My pastor actually gave me the idea. He was talking with me about how he hates it when cell phones go off during his sermon. He said he wished he could put a force field around the church during the service to disable cell phones. Basically, that is what the jammer will do.” Rainer said.

Rainer said the administration could turn the jammer on at 8:15 a.m. when school starts and turn it off at 3:45 p.m. when school releases.

“We made the request so we could be ready. If the district moves forward with this proposal, we would like to test the jammer out for a month before we request full approval.” District lawyer Ted Gringot said.

FCC spokeswoman Mira Sorno said the district will likely get a one- month approval.

 

New Story #1

News Story #1

Voting  on Jim Stack’s request, the school board is going to determine whether to overturn principal Tonya King’s decision on Stack’s hair.King denies Stack’s request because long hair on male students is against the school’s policy.

“Had I approved Jim’s request, then I would have students every day asking if they also could break the dress code,” King said.

According to Stack, he  wishes to grow out his hair in order to donate it to charity, he was motivated to do this after his 5-year-old sister lost all of her hair last year during her chemotherapy treatment.

“When my sister received her wig,” Stack said, “I decided that was something I could do.”

The charity association Stack wishes to donate to, according to him, is “Locks of Love”, an association that uses real human hair for wigs.

“I was moved by Jim’s passion to donate his hair. We desperately need human hair for our wigs. Every month we receive about 200 requests from families who cannot afford a wig for their sick child, and every month we have to turn down about 150 of those requests,” Gisel Roco, the president of “Locks of Love,” said.

In support of Stack, the student council sent a letter to the school board which was signed by 350 students. The letter also had a list of 150 students who also were willing to grow their hair to donate to the Locks of Love, and of those 150 students, seventy-eight were males.

As the overall determiner of the situation, school board president,  Bill Valdez, said, “I can’t comment on this issue right now. We will discuss it at the board meeting next week.”