What a day...

Indonesian rescue workers and fishermen searched for survivors in the waters west of Sumatra Island on Tuesday, after a powerful earthquake and resulting tsunami killed at least 31 people and left 160 missing. The tsunami, triggered by a 7.7-magnitude undersea quake, slammed into the Mentawai Islands late Monday. Local officials say the most rescue help is needed in the waters rather than on land and I quote them in saying, “We’ve instructed fisherman to help search at sea.”

So far there has been 15 bodies found at sea and numerous survivors. The tsunami caused the waters to reach as much as 10 feet in height and advanced as far as 2,000 feet inland. The disaster caused damage in the North and South Pagai islands.

Than, on Tuesday, Indonesia’s most dangerous volcano erupted, prompting many of the 11,000 villagers to flee after hundreds have already been injured. A doctor at the Panti Nugroho Hospital in Sleman reported that people had burns over 80% of their bodies. It is still not clear why the two diasters occurred within days of each other, but the island holding 237 million people have always been prone to earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic activity; Just not within 24 hours of each other.

- Scott Marsicano

Fall Out

     What is it about this time of year that heightens our sensibilities and imagination? Does the cooler weather force us to look more alive at the leaves fading to the ground while expanding our view of the world? There is chill in the air. Darkness comes faster.

     Our senses magnify and pick up more of everything, like the sonar of a bat searching for its next meal. We keep busy. Actively distracting and distancing ourselves from the summer laid back attitudes becomes - a survival mission. The darkness only comes faster.

     The holidays are sneaking up. Lights and decorations are a nice distraction from the cold winter to come. Darkness cannot manifest itself in light, for the same reason criminals avoid barking dogs. Maybe, that is why tradition leaves a candle burning in the window or a night light on in the home, so we can find our way back.

     We think about our loved ones and are haunted by our own mortality. It is a long and festive season, this time of year. We may even feel intrigued at times to give a little more of ourselves while trying to recover from the tingling bitter cold, of the wind. 

-Julie Post

Facebook Changes

              So as most of you most likely already know facebook has changed their layout once again. If you look on the left side of your screen on the home page you will notice that instead of telling you who is currently on facebook chat it now just shows there profile picture with no names. Now if your like me and don’t know what everyone’s profile picture looks like this makes it kind of inconvenient. Now your probably thinking wow Ross it is not a big deal and I realize this. But this situation did remind me of the time facebook first changed and the up roar that occurred as a result. Within minutes there were petition group’s labeled “Bring the old facebook back” or “what was wrong with the old facebook we want it back”. It is fairly obvious that us the human race is not a huge fan of change especially when it conflicts with things that bring us entertainment.  Now I know that most likely I will adapt to this change quiet seamlessly and before you know it I wont remember what it used to be like. But I cannot help but hear the voice of my father talking to me when I was a young child. “IF IT IS NOT BROKEN DON’T FIX IT”. Anyways tell me what you guys think about these changes are they improving things or are they just useless changes that tick you off!
-- Ross Radcliffe

French Riots

As many of you are probably already aware from watching the news, France is under going some serious riots. Looking at some of the pictures online, the first thing that comes to mind is the French revolution. Except this time, instead of bread the French have taken to the streets to protest The French Senate adopting new rules last Thursday to speed up voting on a controversial pension reform bill. Millions of French citizens are marching in outrage over how little money they will be receiving in there retirement pension plans. Thousands alone in Paris and many more have gathered in town squares across the country refusing to work until they feel that their needs have been met. “Lawmakers, trying to wade through more than 1,000 amendments -- many put up by opposition senators to try to derail the bill -- will group them together rather than voting on each one”, Labor Minister Eric Woerth announced. The controversy stems from the bill in question, which intends to raise the retirement age from sixty to sixty-two. This doesn’t seem terrible, but I would imagine that by the time you’ve reached sixty another two years would seem like an eternity. The demonstrations, which are being put on in high traffic areas are affecting everyone’s day-to-day life, and that’s the intended idea. The more the protesters can impede on everyone else the sooner they can get what they want. They simply have to make enough of an impact. I can’t fault them for that though; I can say that I’d probably empathize with them. 

- Matt Tilley

Not for the Claustrophobic

      For over 60 days now 33 Chilean miners have been stuck deep beneath the earth surface.  They remain connected to the world by a small tube which was drilled down into their very small living quarters.  Through that tube officials have passed a video camera which allows them to communicate with the people on the surface.  Before the tube, they minors were forced to ration cans of tuna for up to 2 weeks. Now they receive food which is directly correlated with the amount of calories required to survive in those conditions.  The miners have been stuck underground longer than anyone else in history.  Even with that being the case, they remain positive and have been helping with the drilling efforts themselves so that they can remain in shape and fit into the rescue capsule when it is able to be used.  On the surface where there is sunlight and even a hot breeze, the families of the minors have set up a camp of sorts.  The camp includes professional chefs who cater to the families and even a small school for the minor’s children to attend as they anxiously wait for their fathers return.
     With all that in mind, don’t you think that mining should have newer up to date safety precautions?  With the amount of collapsed mines across the world and the importance of the job, I feel that we should come up with a new way to ensure the safety of another human beings life.  What do you think?

-Miles Kerbein

Halloween: The Grown-Up Version

                When I was younger, I couldn’t wait until the Party City costume magazine came in the mail during the month of October.  I’d get a marker, and circle all of the costumes that I wanted to consider for my trick-or-treating mission!  Ah, the thrill of watching your bag grow from pounds and pounds of yummy candy throughout the night! I’ll never forget it.  Now, however, since we’re officially “grown-ups” we substitute that night of trick-or-treating for more exciting things, like haunted houses and crazy haunted trails. 

                Regardless of where you live, it’s almost impossible not to find some type of haunted attraction near you. We have several in the Charlotte area.  One of my favorites is Scarowinds, a haunted amusement park.  For a pretty reasonable price, you can combine your love of thrill rides with over six different haunted attractions, mixed in with loony haunted employees who enjoy chasing you around the park.  It opens around 7:00 PM and closes at either midnight or 1:00 AM.  Scarowinds does a great job setting the mood with countless smoke machines, gory decorations, and wonderful makeup artists who make the actors look pretty scary.  It’s a great family attraction.  Kids who scare easily can opt for the rides, while those more daring may challenge themselves to face every haunted house in the park.

                I visited this past weekend and had an absolute BLAST.  I’m a thrill seeker, so I had to ride all of the rides, but I also visited every haunted house.  I was chased out of every single one by either a person with a chainsaw, an asylum escapee, or some other crazy looking person that I never had a chance to look at because I was too busy running away!

                This Halloween, try to find a haunted attraction near you.  Just because you’re an adult, doesn’t mean you can’t still have fun.

-Brittani Hunter

Stolen Laptops

Apparently in Sweden, a professor was in his apartment and was in a rush to do some laundry before returning to his apartment. He set his backpack with his laptop behind a door. After doing his laundry he noticed that his backpack was no longer there. A few minutes later he checked behind the door again where he left it and his bag was there except with no laptop inside it. About a week later, he gets an envelope with a USB drive in it. The thief had backed up all of his information and sent it to him. Not all people are lucky enough to have their laptop stolen and the thief gives them an anonymous backup. The moral of the story, don’t leave your laptop and other valuables laying around. 600,000 laptops are stolen in airports each year. If your hard drive fails or if your laptop is stolen, then you won’t be losing all of your hard work. Also there is a program that you install on your laptop called LoJack for laptops. It will track where your laptop is in the event that it is stolen. I have just recently started backing up my computers with an external hard drive. They are not very expensive and can save you from losing all of your information. 

-Clay Chapman

Tough Enough???

Mac book strong? Good joke ! Today I accidentally dropped my mac book on the floor , the first time I have ever had anything bad happen to it, it wasn’t a forceful hit and was only from about 3 feet high, the chord slowed the fall tremendously but it still managed to hit the ground. Now its making weird sounds and running a lot slower and I can imagine this hit to ground be costly for me. This brings me to my next point, mac books are arguably the best laptops on the current market but they have no protective system, one fall and your precious mac is ruined . I think it is time for apple to make a more rugged mac book. I think that apple’s technology is too advanced to not have something more rugged. I would love to see a Macbook that is well padded and can still operate smoothly. It doesn’t have to be that much of a change just through some “otter box” type material around it. Weather you’re a college student that has a tendency to drop their laptop or a solider in the army that doesn’t have time for a whimpy laptop, I feel that if any company can deliver its apple.

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-Jason Cuzzupe