Earth Day

April 22 is Earth Day nation-wide. I've never really known much about Earth Day or how it originated, and I was curious to learn more about it.

Here are some interesting facts I discovered:

-US Senator Gaylor Nelson founded Earth Day to inspire awareness and appreciation for Earth's atmosphere in 1970 at a time of great over-population concern

-Nelson chose April 22 so he could maximize participation on college campuses. April 22 did not fall over exams or spring break but would likely have good weather

-20 million Americans celebrated the first Earth Day
-Different countries celebrate Earth Day on different days

-Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to watch a TV for three hours

-If every newspaper was recycled, we could save an estimate of 250,000,000 trees each year

-Only 27% of all American newspapers are recycled

-Some people are against Earth Day, claiming that it's come to symbolize the marginalization of environmental sustainability

Earth Day helps us take a step back and reflect on some of our habits. Things like not littering and recycling are really easy activities we can do that have an immense benefit for our Earth. I was surprised to learn that only 27% of newspapers are recycled. To me, this is ridiculous. We hold the fate of Earth in our hands, and we should want the best for future generations. Earth Day has allowed me to reconsider many of my habits, and I hope you do the same.

Speaking up for yourself and others

The other day at the basketball game, my parents, my friend, and I were standing in line, waiting anxiously for the doors to open to watch an exciting game. After standing around for about half an hour, I realized that the line was moving incredibly slow. I watched for a few minutes and soon decided that this was partially due to people strolling up to the front of the line instead of waiting their turn behind everyone else in the back.

I consider myself a pretty calm and understanding person, but I admit I was getting a little annoyed. I wasn't so much concerned with getting good seats or being one of the first in the gym, but I was disturbed by these people's inconsideration.

Now my dad isn't a mean or short-tempered guy by any means, but after watching several pairs of adults pass us and everyone else in line, my dad had had enough. Just as another man tried to shove his way past my dad, my dad asked him politely to wait at the end of the line. The guy responded rudely and continued, saying something along the lines of "I have business up there." This could've been true, but somehow I doubt it. They exchanged words for a few minutes before the man snootily proceded to the front of the line.

When my dad first confronted the man, I admit to being embarrassed. Several people around us were watching the conversation, and I was a little ashamed that my friend was seeing my dad like this. As the conversation continued though, I realized my dad was doing absolutely nothing wrong. In fact, he was standing up for himself and everyone else who had allowed these people to pass them. I kept waiting for the bystanders in line to support my dad, and when no one did, I considered saying something to him. The guy had a good 100+ lbs on me though, so I decided I'd sit this one out. Being a "kid", I also didn't think I'd be taken seriously.

Looking back, I regret not doing anything. I feel like the anonymous man probably would have laughed at me, but I could care less. As for my weight... it is extremely unlikely that a middle-aged man is going to throw punches at a female half his size. Whereas I was originally embarrassed about my dad's actions, I'm now embarrassed that I stood there doing nothing.

Equally upsetting, however, is the fact that no one else did anything either. It seems silly to get in an argument about someone "cutting" in line, but if we allow people to get away with these types of things constantly, the next time it will be something else, something bigger.

I guess my point is making a difference can be hard, but we can make it easier for one another by standing up for ourselves and each another. Too many times we let others push us around. Be the person that isn't afraid to voice yourself when you see something you don't agree with. And if you see someone doing the same, don't hesitate to support them.

Gray hair gone

Some scientists think that they may have discovered the cause of gray hair, according to a WebMD article.

The article suggests that gray hair may begin forming due to a lack of an enzyme known as catalase. There's naturally hydrogen peroxide in your hair, and a decrease in catalase would mean that there's nothing to break down the hydrogen peroxide. This would result in a build up of hydrogen peroxide in the hair, creating gray hairs. Basically, your hair is bleaching itself, beginning on the inside and spreading outward.

Now that the cause of gray hair is known, it will be interesting to see how this information is used to stop graying, for those who choose to. It's possible that in the future, seeing someone with gray or white hair will be rare.

This discovery just goes to show that we are constantly learning more and more about our world through science. Although this is a minor example of utilizing science, discoveries like these can be of great importance.

Blink's back!

For those of you that don't know, Blink-182 is a band formed in 1992. Blink consists of three guys, Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus, and Travis Barker (a drummer who replaced the band's first drummer, Scott Raynor).

The original trio met after Tom got expelled from his high school. At Tom's new high school, he quickly befriended Mark and soon recruited Scott. Mark's girlfriend became jealous of the time Mark was spending with the band, so for a short period, Mark quit. He couldn't stay away for long though, and eventually left his girlfriend and reunited with his bandmates.

The band called themself "Blink", but somewhere along the road an Irish band threatened to take legal action because they had the same name. This problem was easily solved by adding "182" to the end of their name. Thus, Blink-182!

Scott eventually was asked to leave the band because of his extreme drinking habits. They were on a tour, and in this time of desperation, Mark and Tom asked Travis, a member of another band on the tour, to fill in as their drummer. Soon after, Mark and Tom offered Travis a spot in the band, and he accepted.

After several years of good times and good music, Blink came to a hault in 2005. Tom wanted to take some time off to spend time with his family, a few concerts were missed, Tom quit, and soon the band was done...




Until now!!

At the Grammys on February 8, all three members appeared on stage to announce that "Blink-182 is back!" (Blink's website confirms this.)

During the band's hiatus, Tom began Angels & Airwaves while Mark and Travis created +44. It'll be interesting to see what becomes of those bands, but for me, Blink's reunion is way more important! And exciting!

If you've never heard much Blink, I'd encourage you to check them out!

I hope their new stuff will be as good as their old stuff!

Utilizing technology

Today at an SA board meeting, we discussed ways to make the school a more learning-friendly environment, and many people agreed that the key to this was the use of technology.

I couldn't agree more! In the past few years, I've seen teachers taking advantages of SMART Boards, creating their own websites designed to help students, and most recently, promoting Moodle. These pieces of technology are fantastic, but I still don't think we're utilizing technology and much as we should be.

The other day after leaving my math book in chemistry (for the millionth time) and nearly losing my Torch journal, I began thinking about how all of this could avoided if we simply had all our books, notes, worksheets, etc. on our own individual laptops.

For those of us who don't use our lockers because of their extremely inconvenient locations, I think this would be especially beneficial! I know I'm sick of lugging around my massive text books between school and home, and I think having our texts on something like a CD-ROM would save a lot of time, energy, and space. Every student could have his or her own laptop (the school could lend them to students who are unable to purchase one), and teachers could send notes and "handouts" to us through the computer. To insure students wouldn't use their laptops to cheat on tests and exams, teachers could simply disconnect the internet in these instances.

This thought made me wonder in what other ways we could use technology to its full potential, in and out of school. Technology has advanced so much over the past few years, it'd be a shame if we didn't utilize it to the best of our ability.

Octuplets!

1 woman,
46 physicians and staff,
8 babies (1 unexpected)!

Last Monday, a woman gave birth to octuplets in a California hospital near Los Angeles; she was assisted by 46 members of the hospital staff. This is only the second time in history octuplets have survived for more than a few hours after birth!

I'm so relieved the eight babies and mother are all alive and well, but I can't help wondering if the mother has been making the right choices regarding these children.

The mother, who has chosen not to reveal her name, had these babies via in vitro fertilization. She is simply obsessed with children and also has six other kids at home, ranging from 2-7 years old. There's so much ethical controversy about this, but my concern is for whether she'll be able to provide for these children.

I think it can be said with little disagreement that little kids are a handful. I guess I'm dumbfounded by how a single mother living with her parents in a one-story house will be able to provide for 14 children, one of which has autism.

I don't know the financial condition of the family, but it seems unlikely that she'll be able to support all these kids financially. This makes me think that she'll eventually end up on welfare, in which case tax payers would be supporting her children. I don't mean to sound cynical, but to me, that seems kind of unfair.

More importantly, I worry the mother won't be able to provide for her kids in terms of giving them the attention and care they'll need.

Because the mother already had six children previous to the birth of the octuplets, an ethical debate has sparked, and many medical experts are claiming the woman shouldn't have been given fertility treatment.

Although I undestand why people are distraught by that, I don't think it's the job of fertility doctors to tell a woman how many babies she's allowed to have. As Dr. James Grifo, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the NYU School of Medicine points out, "I am not a policeman for reproduction in the United States. My role is to educate patients."

The end of the world?

Happy new year!

I was at a party as the clock struck midnight last Wednesday, and I heard someone make a comment about how we're another year closer to 2012--"the end of the world." I couldn't tell if they were joking or not, but it was still pretty disturbing. I've heard speculations about this before. I didn't know much about it, and I wanted to know more. I found myself doing a google search on 2012. Some of the stuff I found was kind of creepy.

From the little that I've read, it seems that there are a few things "indicating" that the world will end in 2012, more specifically, December 21, 2012. The Mayan calendar ends on this day and many believe that on 12/21/2012, the sun will rise in the middle of the Milky Way Galaxy, causing an alignment between the earth, sun, and galactic center. I know very little about astronomy, but it seems to me like this event would only be significant from our perspective on earth. This site explains that the Mayans never predicted anything for 2012. Basically, all we know is that their calendar ends. I feel like we're putting a lot of words in the Mayans' mouths.

I watched a couple videos on Youtube, and there are cases to support both sides. I have a really hard time believing that anything incredibly significant in terms of life on earth will occur in 2012. The idea is pretty frightening, but I don't think it's anything people should be getting paranoid over.

This year, the movie 2012 will be released. The movie is about a global cataclysm that brings the world to an end and tells the struggle of the survivors.

Here's a trailer:

(2012movie)

People also believed the world would end in 1868, 2000, 2007, and probably every other year. I'm not too worried about it.