Source: Unsplash
January: Awfully Boring, Unless You Know Where To Look. by Jack Puts
January is in many people’s opinions depressing and boring because the all hopeful holiday season is over, but there are in fact holidays even in that month. For example…
Holidays that you could celebrate:
Jan 14. Ratification Day: The day that recognises the act of ending the American Revolution.
Jan 15. Bagel Day: The day where you can sit back, relax and enjoy a bagel.
Jan 16. Appreciate a Dragon Day: The day for fans of mythical creatures to celebrate dragons in literature and media.
Jan 17. Waterfowl Day: The day where you can celebrate both ducks and geese while they begin to migrate back from the South.
Jan 18. Winnie the Pooh Day: The day where- wait, where’s the hunny?
Jan 19. Martin Luther King Jr. Day: The day where you can celebrate the man who worked so hard for race equality. You also get the day off!
Jan 20. Penguin Awareness Day: The day where you can celebrate the swimming, flightless, cold climate inhabiting birds.
Jan 21. National Hugging Day: The day where the U.S. and several other countries encourage people to show affection through hugs to improve mental and physical health.
Jan 22. Celebration of Life Day: The day where you can celebrate the gift of life.
Jan 23. National Pie Day: The day where you can celebrate delicious foods called pies.
Jan 24. International Day of Education: The day where you can all be happy with education being a human right.
Jan 25. National Opposite Day: The playful day where people can say and do the opposite of what they mean.
Jan 26. International Day of Clean Energy: The day where some do the good deed of raising awareness about the environmental impact of fossil fuels.
Jan 27. National Chocolate Cake Day: The day where a popular food holiday is dedicated to celebrating and baking chocolate cake.
Jan 28. International Reducing CO2 Emissions Day: The day dedicated to raising awareness about climate change and encouraging actions to lower carbon footprints.
Jan 29. National Puzzle Day: The day to celebrate all types of puzzles, from crosswords and jigsaws to brainteasers.
Jan 30. Yodel for Your Neighbors Day: The quirky celebration of the unique vocal technique.
Jan 31. National Gorilla Suit Day: The humorous holiday where enthusiasts dress up in gorilla suits.
Sources: https://www.daysoftheyear.com/
Should Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern merge? By Danny Kim
Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern are two of the railroad giants in the U.S. Norfolk Southern dominates PA, NY, OH, IN, IL. Union Pacific dominates the western U.S., despite competition from Burlington Northern-Santa Fe (BNSF). The proposed merger of Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern could create one main route from the east coast to the west coast. But is this a good plan?
The proposed merger of Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern is a plan to combine into a single transcontinental railroad, pending regulatory approval. Proponents cite benefits like faster transit times and greater efficiency. Freight could move from Philadelphia to LA without any delays or handoffs. Travel times could be reduced. In 2024, Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern merged forming one direct route from Canada to Mexico, thanks to KCS’s Mexican subsidiaries. That example is among the evidence supporters use for this move.
Opponents express concerns about reduced competition and potential service disruptions, similar to problems experienced after past mergers. A good example of this is the failed merger of Southern Pacific and Santa Fe in September 1995. Santa Fe merged with Burlington Northern to form BNSF. The merger faces regulatory review from the Surface Transportation Board (STB), and requires approval from shareholders of both companies. CSX and BNSF could lose traffic as shippers turn to whatever this new company will be called.This could also constitute a monopoly and destroy shipper benefits of having companies competing for shippers in rate wars. We won’t know the results until years from now.
In November, the Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern $85 billion merger moved forward, with shareholders overwhelmingly approving it in November 2025. But it now faces a lengthy regulatory review by the Surface Transportation Board (STB) after the formal application was delayed to mid-December 2025 due to the need for an "exceptional" filing. While proponents tout the first coast-to-coast network, competitors like BNSF and CSX strongly oppose it, arguing it reduces competition and harms shippers, leading to a complex approval process with potential conditions on the combined entity.
December update: We still have no confirmation for this merger and a filing is set for the 16th of December with the STB. Shareholders confirmed the $85B merger.
Should they merge? It's all up to them to figure it all out.
Image Source: Courier Journal
What Happened to UPS 2976 And What Do We Know So Far? By Aarav Rakesh
A UPS cargo plane crashed during takeoff in Louisville, Kentucky, in early November 2025, resulting in at least 14 fatalities and major damage to nearby buildings in the area. The plane in question is a MD-11F. This tragic event shocked the aviation community and it led national investigators to look for answers as to what actually happened.
What Exactly Happened During the Crash?
As UPS 2976 was taking off at its global aviation hub at Louisville, a repeating bell was heard in the cockpit for 25 seconds, warning the crew that something was seriously wrong with the plane, likely with one of the engines. Moments later, the left engine completely separated from the left wing, and fell off as the plane was trying to gain altitude. The pilots had already passed V1 speed ( the speed where aborting takeoff is no longer safely possible). This meant that the pilots had to deal with the issue in the air.
The plane crashed into a nearby business and exploded into a massive fireball, causing destruction of businesses along its path. The path was almost half a mile long. Most of the destruction was caused by the 38000 gallons of fuel on board for its long flight to Honolulu, Hawaii which is almost 8 hours long.
Who Was Affected?
The crash resulted in the death of at least 14 people. This included the 3 pilots which were Captain Richard Wartenberg, First Officer Lee Truitt, and International Relief Officer Captain Dana Diamond. Other people who were working in the businesses when the plane crashed, tragically lost their lives. Some were identified by their families after the crash. Several others were pulled from the wreckage or are still missing.
How Did It Happen?
The NTSB ( National Transportation Safety Board ) are still working to find the root cause of the accident, but initial reports suggest that the left engine was on fire when the plane was taking off. The engine fire was so intense that the left engine completely separated from the rest of the wing. Considering the plane had already crossed V1, there was little that the pilots could do. Videos from phones, security cameras, and cars had caught the moment of impact on camera, allowing investigators to study the crash from multiple angles.
What Happens Next?
The NTSB is currently working with UPS to know exactly what happened and to prevent similar crashes from occurring in the future. It will take months to release their findings and release all details, but safety teams are looking closely at the alarms, possible technical failures, and how the pilots reacted to the critical situation.
Why Is This Important?
Plane crashes are very rare and pilots constantly train for emergencies like this. This loss is deeply felt by families, coworkers, and the pilots' cooperation, who stress that the crew did everything they could to prevent more harm. This event reminds us how important airplane safety and quick action are, as well as how sudden tragedies can affect so many lives.
Image Source: Unsplash
Rest In Peace to the US Penny by Lulu Hudson
“Farewell, old friend. You were never worth much on paper, but your value was in your omnipresence. You were the constant jingle in our pockets, the weight at the bottom of our purses, and the forgotten treasure found in couch cushions and parking lots. You were the first glimpse of wealth a child got when they found you on the ground, such a small amount that parents said, "Just keep it."
You linked us to our history, bearing the stoic profile of Abraham Lincoln since 1909. You taught us the rudiments of commerce, the first coin that the earlier generations used to buy a penny candy(back when people actually could). The first coin, the later generation thought, could buy way more than it actually could.
Who among us hasn't used you as the all-powerful currency in a game, hasn't taped you on the ground on April Fools? Attempted to clean out a purse only to find quarters in the form of that tiny, copper-plated piece of zinc that always seemed to be in surplus? You were a nuisance to some, requiring extra counting time at the checkout, but you were also a necessary component of exact change when tax made you pay $5.54 instead of $5.55.
You may have lost your purchasing power decades ago, but you never lost your ability to anchor the smaller moments of life. Billions of you will live on in circulation for years to come, legal tender indefinitely, but today, November 12, 2025, the presses have run for the last time, and tomorrow, they will be silent. The family line has ended.
I ask you all to raise a coin jar to the penny. May your final resting place be a lucky one."
-Lulu Hudson, 2025
Three Upcoming Lego Speed Champions Sets That You Won't Want To Miss! by Matthew Caswell
Image Source: AWS
AWS Outage by Colin Corcoran
As of today, there has been an AWS outage. No big deal, right? Wrong. So many things run on AWS and website after website are going down. In this article, I will go over this mass spike in websites being down and its effects on us.
What websites are affected?
As most know, AWS’s system is a backbone of the internet as others use its structure. But what websites are currently being affected? Here is a short list of them
Venmo. Venmo is a mobile payment service that allows friends and family to give money to each other digitally.
Reddit. Reddit is a social media platform where people share memes, stories, news, and ask questions.
Life360. Life360 is a tracking site so parents and friends can see where you are. With this outage, some parents are disconnected from their trackers.
Apple Music. Pretty self explanatory, an app by Apple inc. that allows people to listen to music on cell phone without Spotify.
Wordle. This game by New York Times is a very popular word game, and has a streak system, so some may lose their streak due to these outages.
Ring. Ring is a doorbell app that shows ringing and a camera at your doorbell on your phone, so you don’t have to worry at work about burglars.
Xbox, PlayStationFortnite, Roblox, and Rainbow Six: Siege. That’s right gamers, these gaming sites and games are experiencing outages, too. Good luck loading into a game.
There are many more I could mention, but let’s move on.
How does this affect us in our lives?
Other websites, like Formative, are also down. Formative is a website that makes classroom assignments, (mainly for math), and my math class uses this. This disabled our math class from doing our bell ringer assignment. On other websites, like Wendy’s, are down, too, which means there may be an issue ordering Wendy’s online.Other websites that are down like YouTube, Apple Music, and Fortnite might put a dent in the fun plans you had to relax and wind down. This affects the companies themselves, too, like Amazon. They are taking losses, with Amazon losing 42 million dollars of that loss (source: https://www.tenscope.com/) . This shows a glaring problem with the system of our internet: if one big website like Amazon goes down, a ton of other companies will, too. Amazon is working on a solution right now, but for now, this is all for this report.
Image Source: Unsplash
The Lore Behind Black Cats By Bash Mainzer
When you hear the word “black cat”, what do you think of? For some, it may be a cute, fluffy little pet. For others, it may be a wild animal that strolls around the neighborhood. But for most, they think of bad luck, witches, and Halloween. Where and when did this start? Why black cats and not tabby or calico?
Where & when did it start?
You may be wondering where and when this all started. Well, the short answer is that it started in Medieval Europe. More specifically, in the 1200s, and it only settled down in the middle of the 1900s. This superstition originated in a church document called Vox in Rama, Pope Gregory Ⅸ, on July 13, 1233, issued that Black cats were a sign of bad luck, or, more specifically, “‘an incarnation of Satan,’ says Layla Morgan Wilde”, according to “Why Black Cats Are Associated With Halloween and Bad Luck” from History.com.
Why is this?
What connects black cats to Halloween? There are a few ideas. One is that they were the companions of witches. Also, it is partially because of Greek mythology. The goddess Hecate was the goddess of the moon, magic, sorcery, and witchcraft. According to lore, Hecate had a pet black cat, creating another connection to witchcraft. Another reason is that around the same time as the Vox in Rama, the black cat population skyrocketed, and they were seen as pests rather than pets. Though early Christian churches lived alongside witches, they were eventually viewed as “competition” for “the hearts and minds of the people,” states History.com.
Exceptions
There were a few exceptions to this theory. For example, if you see a black cat on Halloween, it’s viewed as good luck. Or, in ancient Egypt, the black cat was one of the most sacred animals. In fact, there was a cat goddess named Bastet, who resembled a black cat, causing them to be honored. Also, in Welsh culture, if you find a black cat at your doorstep, it could indicate good luck or good weather to come, states carnegiemnh.org.
In conclusion, it always depends on the culture, like European culture believes that these night colored felines are bringers of bad luck, while the Welsh see an omen of good luck and weather.
Citations:
The Happiest Country in the World by Colin Corcoran
Since 2017, the Nordic country Finland has been reported as the happiest country in the world. Naturally, this made me wonder, why is Finland, of all places, the happiest country? So in this article, I’m going to give reasons on why Finland is the happiest country.
The #1 answer people have come up with is the amount of trust and freedom. This leads to a more productive society with higher well-being. Finns tend to trust their neighbors, government, and others more than most countries. This also means that they will worry less about issues with the government and focus more on productivity and happiness.
Another reason is one of the cornerstones of Finland is a mindset called “sisu”. Sisu is usually translated as grit or determination, but it’s more than just a word. To Finns, it’s a way of life, a state of mind. Sisu means determination, courage, and resilience, even in the hardest scenarios. This also leads to more productivity, success, and happiness.
One other very important way Finland puts itself out as a happy country is that they have many ways to be relaxed. One way is exploring in nature, because they are surrounded by forests, and spend time outdoors very often. The other is they have very good saunas, and use them a ton. Not only does the sauna help Finns relax, it has cultural significance, physical benefits, and a space of community.
So to conclude, Finland is the happiest country for many reasons, including trust, connection to nature, relaxation, and the mindset of Sisu, and we should all learn from Finland. Next time you feel stressed, get off your phone and go in nature to relax.
Sources:
Image Source: Unsplash
The Myth Behind the Rose by Serena Tian
The Myth Behind the Rose
In modern times, roses are ways to convey affection for someone, and the ancient Greeks have a reason for this! They have a myth that explains how the rose was created.
In a version of this myth, Chloris, the goddess of flowers, happens to stumble upon a lifeless nymph while walking through the forest. Saddened by the nymph’s death, Chloris turned the nymph into a flower so that she could be remembered through a flower (similar to the death of Narcissus, who turned into a Daffodil). The Olympian gods were so impressed with Chloris’ work that some gods came down from Olympus to bless the flower. Aphrodite then named the flower “rose”, in honor of her subordinate, Eros.
Now this flower lacked something we all know what it has today: its thorns. There are multiple versions of how the rose got its thorns, but the most interesting - and the most petty- record of this myth is the one that involved Eros.
Eros got stung by a bee that just pollinated the flower, and in his anger, he complained to Aphrodite about it. Aphrodite simply gave her son some arrows. Eros then, in a fit of rage, shot the arrows at his beloved roses, which created its thorns.
Another account is much simpler: When the Olympians came to bless the flower, Ares, the god of war, gifted the rose its thorns in order to protect its beauty.
Now, in another myth, Aphrodite was running through the woods to warn her lover, Adonis, of imminent danger when she ran through a rose bush. Because of the rose’s thorns, Aphrodite’s blood stained the flowers red, which is why roses are commonly red.