©xhoefner
Profile Story: SpaceX Launch
This week, space exploration entered “a new era”, according to the administrator of NASA. SpaceX became the first private company to deliver supplies to the Space Station. It took two launches, but the company’s Falcon 9 rocket was able to successfully blast off, proving that there is hope for the US in space exploration after NASA’s funding was dramatically cut by US President Barack Obama. SpaceX leads the way, and the man behind that is South African Elon Musk, who founded the company. Musk is also famous for designing the first viable electric car, and founded X.com, which went on to become PayPal.
Profile Story: Music World Loses Queen Of Disco
I apologize for the lack of Profile Stories recently, I have been extremely busy with my finals for high school. Luckily, school is out for the summer now, so I can get back to the news! Thanks for your patience.
The world recently lost one of the most influential musicians in history. Donna Summer was not only the “Queen of Disco”, but also helped usher in the synthpop and dance genres. During her extremely successful career, Summer had four number one singles in the US – “MacArthur Park”, “Hot Stuff”, “Bad Girls”, and “No More Tears (Enough is Enough).” She has been called the “undisputed queen” of the seventies, and her song “I Feel Love” has been credited as the beginning of dance music. She will definitely be missed by music fans across the globe.
Profile Story: Blind Chinese Dissident
On April 22nd, blind activist Chen Guangcheng escaped house arrest, and fled to a US embassy in Beijing. He was arrived there on the 27th, and was given refuge until May 2nd, when he was rejoined with his family and taken to a nearby hospital. U.S. officials initially claimed Chen had asked to leave, and wanted to live in China as a free man. But, he contradicted these reports when he told local media that the Chinese government had threatened his wife’s life, and he wanted to come to the US for safety. The Chinese government demanded the US apologize for the incident, as they felt the Americans had no right to be involved in the issue. Guangcheng became famous for standing up against the forced abortion and sterilization that came into place as a result of the infamous “One Child” policy.
Profile Story: Romney Becomes Nominee
The Republican primary campaign has been a long, battling, and bruising process for all involved. It started with 9 serious candidates, and they slowly dropped out, one by one. Mitt Romney was the front-runner all along, but he was challenged by Herman Cain, who fell as quickly as he had risen after a sex scandal. Next was Newt Gingrich, who had all the momentum after winning the South Carolina primary. Romney’s multi-million dollar negative ad campaign ended his challenge. Finally came the most serious challenge of all, Rick Santorum. After coming from nowhere to win the Iowa caucus, the first in the country, Santorum went on to win 10 other states. But, he simply couldn’t compete with Mitt Romney’s money. Now, Romney has become the Republican nominee to take on President Barack Obama in the general election. It’s not official yet, but with 724 delegates and the laughable campaign of Ron Paul as his only competitor, it is pretty obvious Mitt Romney has won.
Natural Tunnel
I shot this photo while hiking at a nearby lake. I think there’s something beautiful about the way the tree bends over the path, almost turning it into a tunnel.
Profile Story: French Priliminary Elections
I apologize for the Profile Story being a few days late this week. I have been extremely busy with sports and school. But here it is, enjoy.
MP Francois Hollande = Pink
President Nicolas Sarkozy = Blue
MEP Marine Le Pen = Brown
In the 2012 French presidential elections, held on April 21st-22nd, Francois Hollande, a member of the Socialist Party defeated incumbent President Nicolas Sarkozy by 28% to 27%. The result was seen as somewhat of an upset, as President Sarkozy had been ahead in recent polling. However, a lot of his voters decided to vote instead for Marine Le Pen, a right-wing member of the National Front, who defied expectations by garnering 17%. Since neither Hollande nor President Sarkozy earned enough votes for a majority, they will compete in the second round, to be held on May 5th-6th. Le Pen’s voters are seen as the key to winning the election, as their candidate didn’t earn enough votes to qualify for the next round. President Sarkozy is seen as a favorite when factoring in Le Pen’s voters, as he is more likely to earn their vote than left-wing Hollande.
Profile Story: Nothing-To-Fear North Korea
This week the world watched as North Korea, led by Kim Jong-un, just as insane as his father, launched a test rocket. While the government claimed the rocket was to send a satellite into space to honor what would be the 100th birthday of the country’s founder, everyone knew it was really to test if a rocket, fitted with a nuclear head once the technology was realized, could be sent to either the United States or Europe. So the world watched – and saw North Korea fail miserably. The rock flew for only a few seconds over a minute before crashing into the waters off the Korean Peninsula. So, we saw that North Korea still has a long way to go, and we have nothing to fear from them, as of now.
Thai! (Peace) , a Gĩkũyũ poem by Ngartia
No marĩtwa tũtũirie no undũire tũtirĩ Anake marakĩruĩra thibitarĩ Mĩĩgithi nĩ nyĩmbo ciarĩ? Nĩ aigana moĩ ciao mbarĩ? Nĩkũrĩ? Nĩkũrĩ? Gũtirĩ?
Ona ngoma ciarĩ njega njũru gũtiari Cia thũkirio nĩ ahujia kanitha-inĩ Cia thũkirio igĩkĩrwo bibiria-inĩ Na ti tene, o rĩu, kariri?
Na no ndĩraigua mareĩta Agĩkũyũ karĩnga Agĩkũyũ ama a tene nĩ mathirire No anake a fote matigaire Na onao ti haraihu matigairie Tha!
Can't understand something of this poem. But this makes me free in my interptration.
Profile Story: Unrest In Mali
A group of Tuareg rebels called the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (NMLA) took control of Mali in late March, after receiving weapons from Libyan rebels. First of all, President Amadou Toumani Touré was ousted in a coup d’etat, as the military believed he was handling the situation with the rebels poorly. But, the rebels then chased the military away, and claimed power for themselves. The tension rose on April 6th, when the NMLA delcared Azawad, a large region in northern Mali, to be independent. This has not been recognized by any foreign entities. The African Union immediately called the deceleration “null and no value whatsoever.”
Weekly Report – 2012/04/02 – 2012/04/08
It is my turn to do the weekly report again, so I hope you enjoy!
April 2nd:
- Shooting at Californian university kills 7
- Britain marks the 30th anniversary of Argentina’s invasion of the Falkland Islands
April 3rd:
- Two tornadoes hit Dallas, Texas
- Cell biologist claims dinosaurs could not have lived on land, due to cell size
April 4th:
- Five former police arrested in relation to Hurricane Katrina shootings
April 5th:
- Invisible Children Inc. releases a sequel to the immensely popular YouTube video Kony 2012
April 6th:
- US Navy jet crashes into apartment complex in Virginia. No one killed.
- Azawad declares itself independent from Mali. So far, it’s independence has not been recognized by any UN members.
April 7th:
- Painter Thomas Kinkade dies of natural causes
- Turkmenistan President wins country’s first car race
- Joyce Banda sworn in as Malawi president
April 8th:
- Two white men arrested in Oklahoma after shooting five black people.
- Bubba Watson wins 2012 masters in play-off.
- 38 killed in Easter bombing in Nigeria
Challenging Colors
Optical illusions are always fun, and this can count can as one of them. One of the hardest things to do is quickly look at the picture and say the color of the font, not the actual word. What makes this difficult is that the right side and left side of your brain are fighting between saying the color, and saying the word. Give it a try:
xandimusic
emredapoet
Kyle
