This day in history: November 7th, 1861 by Gabbi McVey
This day in history: Civil War Battle, The Battle of Belmont, Missouri, happened. Union General, Ulysses S. Grant, had 120 dead and 487 wounded or captured. The Confederates had 105 dead and 536 wounded or captured. Grant had to retreat his troops to Cairo, Missouri. Even though Grant did not win the land, he had used a strategy that would later help him win.
“I've covered devastation. I've covered disaster. I've covered destruction. Hurricane Maria was more,” said Leyla Santiago after returning to Puerto Rico and seeing the aftermath of Hurricane Maria for herself.
Leyla Santiago was born in the village of Corozal, Puerto Rico. Although she left at the age of three with her military family, Corozal and Puerto Rico are integrated into her life. She remembers the holidays and summers she spent there. She remembers her marriage, with the mountainous terrain of Corozal as its backdrop. She remembers the once vibrant vegetation and brilliant blue waters. As she returns to Puerto Rico by plane, she can hardly recognize the place she once knew.
“‘Whoa, it looks like a bomb went off here,” the pilot says. Hurricane Maria might be gone but the destruction it left behind is not. In Leyla’s hometown of Corozal, where her family has lived since the 1880s, the village high school has become a home for over a hundred people. “There were children with asthma, an elderly woman with Parkinson's disease, and a woman with cancer,” Leyla says as she describes the squalor. Conditions are unsanitary and there is no medicine. With the energy generator no longer working, there is much spoiled food. Many people are trying to leave. “The last time I saw a cruise ship anchored here, I could hear music and laughter coming from tourists on board.” recalls Leyla. “This time, there were no celebrations. These weren't tourists. The ship would soon be filled with thousands of Puerto Ricans carrying suitcases fleeing the hurricane-ravaged island.”
But for some, escape is not an option. Iris Perez lives in an elementary school classroom with her expectant older daughter, her younger daughter, and her two-year-old grandchild. Ramón Marrero, a 79-year-old village elder, makes his home in his brother’s toolshed-- a sparse room with a single light bulb. Felix Cruz, whose garage is transformed into a makeshift motel, eats together with his neighbors, combining the little money they have to pay for gas and food. 69-year-old Raquel Mercado and her son sell snacks from her apartment in order to earn some money. Maricarmen del Llano shares her house with her husband, their two children, seven relations, a psychologist, and a veterinarian. 92-year-old Georgia Lopez Ortiz hides in her home, too afraid to brave the gang-patrolled streets. Maria Julia Martinez, who is better off than most Puerto Ricans, is surviving on a hand cranked energy generator.
There is no escaping Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. It’s there in the flattened houses and trees. It’s there in the darkness where there's not enough energy to power a lightbulb. It’s there in the increasing costs and decreasing hope of those who remain. It’s there in the haunted faces of 3.4 million people. People who are working together to survive. People who are living with the bare minimum. People who are surviving on hope. Hurricane Maria is not gone. It’s still there.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/20/us/puerto-rico-one-month-santiago/index.html
Today on October 27th, 1904 the New York City Subway opens to the public making transportation much easier, for business men and women, and tourists to get around easier from Point A to Point B within a few minutes. Thanks to the subway systems it’s basically a straight-shot from one place to another.
Sign language has grown more and more popular as time goes on. But it wasn’t always that way, in the past deaf people were treated without respect and were oppressed. People thought that they were stupid because they couldn’t hear. Luckily, there were many people who showed that people who were deaf could do many extraordinary things. Some of these people are Beethoven, Helen Keller, Linda Bove, Willian Castle, and Kelby Brick. These are just some of the many people who proved that even with disabilities you can do so many amazing things.
Languages are always changing and sign language is no different. There have been many new words added to sign language however they don’t have an official dictionary so when they create new words or phrases the process depends on how many people use it and if they show others how to. Though this process only works if people catch on which takes a lot longer than just writing in in a dictionary and declaring it a word. The new words are mainly internet related, such as they added duckface, screencap, and emoji. When these new words are introduced many people interpret them differently. Like someone might sign selfie as holding up a phone while as another person might sign holding up a camera and pushing a button. This can get confusing because if you are signing to someone and you use some of these new words that have several different variations then it might be difficult to represent what you are trying to communicate. It seems that all these new words in sign language shows that it is growing and improving.
Are you looking forwards to High School? Or are you dreading it? Either way, you’re taking for granted an education that girls in India don’t get.
“Your kids will have a better life if they are educated. No one will cheat you.” This is what Ballani, known as “Mr. Desert”, says as he travels door to door in Rajasthan, India, encouraging parents to send their children to a government-run school. Unfortunately, parents are resistant to sending their children--especially their daughters--to school, as their help is needed around the farm and home.
In Rajasthan, a part of North-Eastern India, even the Right to Education Act of 2009 (for children from 6 to 14 years old) doesn’t keep children in school. 350,000 girls don’t attend school and, of those who do, the majority do not finish 10th grade. “Just under three-quarters of students in rural India can’t subtract two-digit numbers by grade three, and only half of grade five students can read at a second-grade level, according to a recent World Bank report,” reports Liz Willen in the Atlantic.
Only a little more than half the population of rural Rajasthan is literate. Slowly though, after some 70 years of independence from Britain, India is taking steps in the right direction and trying to give children, especially girls, an education.
Aarti Singh is one of these girls. Singh spent her childhood moving to and from local hospitals in search of a bed to sleep in. The daughter of an illiterate mother who married at the age of 16 and of a father who drank and beat his wife and children, Singh realizes the importance of education. When she finally went to school she says, “‘I felt like I belonged … you can go to your teacher and talk to them about your personal problems. Discussing our lives was part of being in school.’”
Urvashi Sahni wrote about Singh’s plight in Reaching for the Sky. Sahni serves on an advisory council for government schools and is “convinced that having schools recognize the trauma and poverty inherent in their lives is a start, particularly in a country stratified by gender, religion, and a caste system that still permeates daily life.”
Aashna Shroff also values education but realizes it is a privilege not everyone has. Graduating from her private high school in Mumbai, she was one of two girls taking computer classes. From there, she graduated from Stanford University and is now working towards giving every girl in India the same chance she had. “‘There are so many barriers for women in India when it comes to education,’” she said in the Atlantic. Unfortunately, she does not place great faith in the government's ability to fight these barriers. Instead, Shroff tries to do her part, including setting up a Girls’ Code Camp to teach girls computer science.
Although the future of girls’ education is shaky, one thing is certain: “‘To change mindsets, you have to start at school,’’ Sahni said in the Atlantic. “It’s not just about reading and writing and counting. It’s about developing a social and political consciousness. You want [girls] to have a good life.’”
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A rare female white koala was born in an Australian zoo. The koala is not albino because there is pigment on the skin; in fact the koala’s skin is rather dark. The koala is most likely white because of a recessive gene, also known as a silvering gene. There are barely any rare white koalas in the wild because their light fur makes it easier for predators to spot them. Veterinarians predict that the koala’s fur will get darker as it grows older. The mother of the koala, Tia, has given birth to pale Koalas in the past but never as pale as this one. The zoo is asking people what name they should give the little koala.
Image Source: BBC.com
Image URL: https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/720x405/p05d16fb.jpg
Catalonia is somewhere you’ve likely never heard of-- it’s a region in the North East of Spain, just South of France. For years, Catalonia has been a willing part of Spain, but now they are more a land held hostage.
On October 1st, the people of Catalonia held a vote to become independent. The Spanish Government ruled the vote illegal and sent riot officers to the land. On October 1st all sense of order was shattered, as officers used battering rams to break down doors and smash ballot boxes.
Despite how horrid it may seem, this was only the beginning. After their attack on the ballots, the officers attacked the people with batons, hitting people over the head with them, despite the peaceful nature of the people-- even as they saw their voting polls torn apart. Videos surfaced of a woman being dragged by the hair out of the building and of brutal attacks, including an incident where a dog following its owner—who was being dragged—only for the loyal dog to be struck full force by a baton. The worst act by far, is the use of rubber bullets, a non-lethal but extremely painful bullet. These bullets left intense injuries and some found their way to a man’s eye who was placed in intensive care. The use of rubber bullets was outlawed in Catalonia years ago.
The wounded count is 840, though none have died thankfully. Currently attempts to negotiate with the Spanish Government have been nothing short of a failure, as a dozen Catalonian officials have been arrested for supporting the referendum for independence.
You and your friends are relaxing at the beach. It’s midday, the sun is beating down, and it is sweltering. One of your friends offers to grab you a drink at the rundown convenience store. How much are you willing to pay? What if the drink was from a fancy hotel? How much are you willing to pay then?
This scenario is the basis of an experiment that Richard Thaler ran (except he used beer). Economics says that people should be willing to pay the same amount for the drink- all that matters is how hot and thirsty they are, which determines the “utility” or value of the drink and how much they will pay.
Richard Thaler found that people are willing to pay more for the drink from the fancy hotel than the rundown convenience store. (This is probably how you felt as well.) But, remember, the drink is the same, it just comes from a different seller. So why are people willing to pay different prices?
People are willing to pay higher prices because they are taking into account that the fancy hotel has higher costs to cover. In other words, they are thinking about the “fairness” of the price. In his research, Thaler continued to investigate how “fairness” (and other factors) influence consumer behavior. His work shows us the psychological side to consumer behavior compared to the rational rules of economics.
Richard Thaler was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics this year for his research. He is a Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics at the University of Chicago. His work has inspired many other researchers to dig deeper into “behavioral economics.” Who could imagine how many discoveries could be made from getting hot and thirsty at the beach?
Today in History: October 9th
by Gabrielle McVey
Today in History on Oct 9th, 1967 Che Guevara Was executed by the Bolivian Military.
Che Guevara was a Socialist Revolutionary and Guerilla Leader in Bolivia.
After he was killed his body was buried in an unmarked grave and in 1997 his remains were then shipped back to Cuba for a burial ceremony that Fidel Castro and many other Cubans attended.
This Day in History: September 29
Peter D. Mitchell, a Famous British Biochemist was born on September 29th, 1920 in Mitcham, United Kingdom. He is known for his discovery of the Chemiosmotic Mechanism of ATP Synthesis. The Chemiosmotic Mechanism is related to osmosis*. ATP Synthase is an enzyme that makes Adenosine Triphosphate, an important chemical in the making of energy for living cells.
*Osmosis- Noun- used in chemistry and Biology- The process used of the molecular structure of a solvent used to pass through a semipermeable membrane from a less concentrated to a more concentrated form