The Good: Stephen Colbert, one of the most annoying and funny people out there, has another title to add to his list. Colbert is already an Emmy Award nominee and winner, a Peabody Award Winner, the inventor of the “word of the year”, an honorary Doctorate recipient, one of the Time’s 100 most influential people, the 2nd Sexiest TV news anchor, and the “Greatest Living American” just to name a few. Now he can add Webby Person of the Year to his Wikipedia page, an honor bestowed to the person who has shown excellence on the internet.
The Person of the Year award, along with the other categories in the Webby Awards, are sponsored by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. Some other Webby winners are the Huffington Post, will.i.am, PostSecret, and NYTimes.com. The award recipients are chosen by internet poll and a separate group of judges.
The Shocking: We all know crime is a scary thing, but we trust the court system to keep these criminals in line. That made it all the more shocking when Victor Wright, a man on trial for a drug charge, attacked a lawyer with a razor blade. Wright, described as a “career criminal” attached the prosecutor as he was walking by. U.S. Marshals jumped on the man, along with the Vietnam vet stenographer, and saved the attorney.
Security in the court is now increased, with extra deputies for prisoners with long jail sentences or violent crimes. Wright, now back behind bars, will have to hear the verdict on his case from a closed circuit television at the prison. The incident happened in Brooklyn.
The Good: In 2007 the United States lead a surge of troops into Iraq to help police the streets and lower levels of violence. Opinions on the war aside, it has now been determined that the surge is no longer needed and 3,500 troops will be going home in the next few weeks. This release of troops is the product of “continued progress in Iraq” according to General Allyn, chief of staff of Multi-National Corps. Even more exciting is that two more groups of soldiers are slated to be released in July of 2008.
While seeing troops come home is wonderful, there are still some 127 thousand troops in Iraq. Regardless of your feeling for or against the war, if we want to bring these hardworking men and women home, we need to start doing it in larger numbers. Maybe next year we will see an increase in troops coming home.
The Bad: A massive cyclone hit the small country of Myanmar Friday and Saturday, battering the country. Myanmar, sometimes referred to as Burma, faced a 12-foot tidal wave, pounding wind and rain, and more destruction than what has been seen in the country in many years. Myanmar’s government, a military junta, opened its doors to ask for help from other countries for the first time in years.
The current source of aide for the country is from the Red Cross, other aid agencies, including the UN, are still working for visas into the country. The death toll has now been confirmed as 22,464 with 41,000 people still missing. Houses are wiped out, people are living under small pieces of tarp, and food is stretched thin. If you would like to help, please donate to the Red Cross to help their efforts.
Posted in United States by Amanda Roberts on May 5, 2008
The Interesting: Ever since Alfred Hitchcock’s Birds there seems to be this sinister stigma attached to our feathered friends. New research shows though that many of them are more afraid of us then we are of them. Yes, the old adage is true, a study by the University of Bristol shows that birds (in this case wild starlings) will avoid confronting a human who makes eye contact with them. Researchers believe that the stares of a human being are interpreted as the stares of a predator (rightly so) and thus star away the birds.
What does this mean for you? Well if you sit outside watching your birdfeeder and no birds come, you could be the thing scaring them away. If you avert your eyes, using only your peripheral vision to look at the birdfeeder, the birds will interpret it as non-dominate and begin to eat.
The Sad: Sea lions in the Columbia River are currently protected by federal law. Unfortunately, some people have the audacity to violate these laws by shooting sea lions. Six sea lions were found dead on Friday, the immediate cause of death believed to be from bullet wounds. These sea lions occupied the Columbia River near the Bonneville Dam (between Oregon and Washington). An endangered species of salmon also occupy the Columbia River, and in order to protect this species of salmon authorities in Washington and Oregon were allowed to kill up to 85 sea lions per year.
This privilege is currently being contested, and while the matter is disputed no sea lions were allowed to be killed. The six sea lions who were found killed were in underwater cages (presumably to prevent them from eating the salmon while waiting for the legalities to be straightened) and will be given a necropsy to assess cause of death and see what charges could be pressed. A similar killing happened in California on Saturday, any link is not yet known.
