Locavores or Loco-Vores?

A locavore is someone who pledges to only consume foods what was produced within a 100 mile radius of them.  While this movement has not been around for a very long time, it is starting to get some attention in the past few years around the nation.  Locavores believe that by eating within an 100 mile radius, they are helping solve air pollution, global warming, as well as doing a great amount of good towards their local economy, however, I believe otherwise.

According to James E. McWilliams and his article about locavores, there is a lot or errors that they are not accounting for.  Major issues that locavores claim they are solving is global warming, as well as the issue of air pollution, are being solved.  While locavores believe that by buying locally, they are lessening the air pollution which leads to global warming, however, they do not account for the miles that the locally grown foods are traveling.  Take for instance a truck and an airplane, the truck can only transport little goods over a small amount of distance, while an airplane can take a large amount goods over a large amount of distance.  There was even a study done for this funded by the New Zealand government that found if you account for the amount of goods per miles, the carbon footprint left is virtually the same.

Like I mentioned before, locavores main reason for eating locally is to lessen the air pollution of foods transported across the world.  According to a graph analyzing the climate impact of certain foods used in conservation magazine, showed that the transportation of foods is not a problem at all when looking at the greenhouse gas emissions let off.  In fact, the transportation only accounts for roughly 10% of emissions from food consumption.

One last reason why locavores choose to eat locally is to help their local economy prosper.  Wouldn’t going to your local grocery store or farmers market be helping your local economy?  Also, what do locavores do in the winter months, which are brutal almost all across America?  Just saving up some foods for 4-5 months doesn’t sound very appetizing, and your food would not be nearly as fresh as going to your local market or convenient store instead.

http://www.locavores.com/

"Join the Locavore Movement." N.p., 2007. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.

Bus Crash in California Leaves Several Dead

A charter bus with 48 people on board, 44 of which who were high school students, was involved in a fatal accident in California on Friday afternoon.  A FedEx merged into the other lane with oncoming traffic on interstate 5 in California when it collided with a charter bus with going down the opposite way.  Upon collision, there was a huge flame as the two vehicles collided. In total, there were 1o people killed in the accident, and investigators are still trying to figure out exactly what went wrong for the FedEx driver.

We have seen it in several tragic cases before, someone falling asleep at the wheel and merging into the oncoming lane or traffic and hitting another vehicle, but never are two large vehicles involved in the same crash.  There are other possibilities that may arise as causes of the accident, but the driver falling asleep is the most realistic right now because there was no attempt for the FedEx driver to avoid the collision, according to several spectators.  The spectators said that they saw the FedEx vehicle cross the grassy median and into the other fast lane of traffic.  However, one spectator said she thought she saw flames coming from under the FedEx truck before it crossed over the median, while the other spectator said they did not see any flames.  However, the bus driver was extremely alert because there was about 150 feet of break marks on the interstate from the bus driver trying to stop and avoid the crash before in happened.

Investigators will continue to look into the stage case, closely inspecting any little detail that they think will help them come to a conclusion as to what left 10 people dead in the accident Friday afternoon.  The death toll includes the two still unidentified drivers, 5 students, and 3 adult chaperones that were on the trip as well.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-bus-crash-fedex-truck-fire-skid-marks-20140413,0,6799409.story?track=rss#axzz2ymtJRwix

Megerian, Chris. "Bus Crash: Report of Fire in FedEx Truck, No Skid Marks Add to Mystery." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 13 Apr. 2014. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.

Selfies: The New Thing

I’m sure many of you have heard of a selfie before, and were confused of the meaning, as I was when I first heard of the term.  The selfie was first used as a slang term for over a year, used to describe a person taking a photo of themselves, but the selfie didn’t stop there.  Celebrities started taking them, the “selfie Olympics” was made, and they were used on social media sites such as instagram, Facebook, and twitter.  The selfie would become so widely used and such a know term that it would be added to the dictionary.

One could argue that the selfie has been around as long as the camera has been around, but with the expansion of technology, the amount of Selfies taken has dramatically increased.  From Facebook to instagram, the selfie is used virtually everywhere online and around the world.  There was even an app created that uses mainly selfies, called snapchat.  Snapchat is an application on the I phone or android that allows you to take a picture of anything and write a caption, then send it to any of your friends.

Selfies have also been taken by famous people, important political figures, and star athletes.  Selfies have been taken by the president, basketball star Lebron James, and even the president of the Untied States.  Selfies were taken so much that another level of the selfie was soon created.

The selfie Olympics was soon created on social media, mainly twitter.  The selfie Olympics wasn’t actually an Olympics but was just a friendly competition of who could take the best selfie using several props and a specific theme in front of the bathroom mirror.  The selfie Olympics has been taken to several extremes where people, usually teenagers, would go all out to take their selfie for the selfie Olympics to get it featured on twitter for everyone to see.

And after millions of Selfies were taken all around the world, it was finally time to make it a real word.  The term “selfie” was added to dictionaries all over, defined as “  A photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a Smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website”.  The selfie would eventually go on to become the 2013 word of the year, and is still continued to be used today.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/04/13/clutching-palms-olive-branches-faithful-join-pope-at-holy-week-start-in-st/

"Pope Francis Poses for 'selfies' after Palm Sunday Homily." Fox News. FOX News Network, 13 Apr. 2014. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.

School Stabbing in Pennsylvania

What seemed like the safest place on earth is now turning into a place where people’s lives are now starting to be in danger.  School shooting and stabbings are starting to happen even more and more in today’s world, with students being able to access weapons much easier than before.  Yet another school, just yesterday in Pennsylvania, a student brought two kitchen knives to school and stabbed a total of 21 students on a rampage.  The question keeps being asked ‘what can we do to stop this from happening?’ and the answer may be frightening.  Is there anything that can truly be done to stop this from happening, or even limit them?  Perhaps several precautions can be made to help stop school shooters and stabbers, but they can never exactly be stopped.

Just a normal 16 year old boy, on a normal Wednesday morning at Franklin Regional Senior High School in Pennsylvania, right outside of Pittsburg.  The hallways were crowded, as usual, and everyone was going about their daily routine.  It was then that people started noticing a kid walking around stabbing whoever was in his way.  The kid had stabbed 20 people, along with a security worker at the school, before the assistant principal tackled the student to the ground.  It was in the middle of the stabbing when a `student noticed what was going on, and pulled the fire alarm to make sure all students evacuated the building as soon as possible.  Many students said they didn’t know what was going on but there were students rushing out of the school from everywhere and there were a few that came out several minutes later bleeding.  It was then that teaches asked a few students to take off their sweatshirts and used them to stop the blood flow.  There are currently five students who are considered to be in critical condition, but are expected to live.

How can there occurrences be prevented many ask?  There are several precautions that can be taken at schools, however they may be blowing things way out of proportion.  We want kids to feel safe at school, not like they’re in some sort of prison.  Some things schools could do to help stop there tragedies from happening is arming the teachers with Tasers incase of an emergency or hiring a full time on duty police officer to be at school at all times.  These things are going to keep happening and there needs to be ways to prevent them from happening sooner rather than later.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/10/justice/pennsylvania-school-stabbing/

Castillo, Mariano, Pamela Brown, Paul Courson Reported from Murrysville, Mariano Castillo, Ben Brumfield Wrote the Story in Atlanta. Chelsea Carter, Miguel Marquez, Greg Botelho, Ashley Fantz, Dana Ford, Jason Hanna, Steve Almasy, Ronni Berke, Justin Lear, Allison Malloy, Stephanie Gallman, Leigh Remizowski, Debra Goldschmidt, and Shimon Prokupecz. "After Pennsylvania School Stabbing, Authorities and Community Ask: 'Why?'" CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.

Wildcats and Huskies Shock the Nation

Despite all odds the Kentucky Wildcats and the Connecticut Huskies have made it to the NCAA March Madness Championship.  Both teams, starting out with almost no odds of making the championship game, have shocked the nation on their games played last night, Saturday April 5^th.  They have truly shown that no matter what other people think, if you put your mind to something you can do it, despite the odds.

The University of Connecticut Huskies have had a difficult schedule to make it to where they are now, and had to take down several of the top teams in the nation.  Going into the tournament, they received a 7 seed in their division of just 16 teams. Many people thought that the Huskies were going to be taken down in an upset against St. Josephs the very first round of play, and they almost were too.  They made it to the second round and faced 2^nd ranked Villanova, and were expected to lose that game as well, but they powered through and played strong until the end, in a huge upset.  Next, the Huskies took on the 3^rd ranked Iowa State Cyclones in a well played game where they came out on top once again.  Next was the Elite Eight where they took on the Michigan State Spartans, who were ranked 4^th but were contenders to win the tournament; and yet again the Huskies shocked the nation.  Last night was the final four game where they played number one ranked Florida, a difficult game.  The Huskies came out strong and pulled away at the end in a victory and ticket to the Championship game on Monday Night.

On the other side of the bracket, the Kentucky Wildcats made their way to the championship game as well.  They also had a difficult schedule, taking on undefeated Wichita State and winning.  Then beating 4^th ranked Louisville in the next round.  Kentucky went on to play 2^nd ranked Michigan state where they won in the elite eight, and last night took on 2^nd ranked Wisconsin Badgers where they came out with a last minute one point victory to win it and proceed to face Connecticut in the championship.

Now, in just what may be two of the highest ranked seeds to play each other in NCAA March Madness Championship history, the 7^th ranked Connecticut Huskies will take on 8 ranked Kentucky Wildcats in the championship game held tomorrow night.

https://www.google.com/#q=ncaa+march+madness+championship+game

"Google." Google. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2014.

Detroit Boys Attack Man

Today in Detroit, a boy was riding his bike down a residential road when a man did not see the boy, and accidently hit the young boy.  Instantly, the man had known what he had done and immediately stopped his vehicle.  The man quickly went out of his truck to check on the boy that he had just hit, making sure they boy was not in and critical condition.  It was then, that a group of about six people came up to the man and stated beating him for almost no apparent reason at all.

What was just a complete accident, turned into an all out attacking on a man driving a pickup truck who had hit a younger boy while riding his bike.  Like any normal person would do, the man rushed to the boy to make sure that he was okay and not severely injured.  It was at that very moment when police say that an angry “mob” of about six people attacked the man and started severely beating the man.  There was no reason for these people to attack the man, and police has said that the public is extremely outraged because of the attacking.  Police have already investigated the scene and are trying to get to the bottom of the case; however this will be hard because there really was no potential motive for the attacking to occur.  Possibly the boy was a family member or a neighbor of the people who attacked the man, and they were angry.

The man is currently in the hospital and is in critical condition due to the attack.  Police have been thoroughly investigating the case and have recently found two teenage boys who they believe are prime suspects in the attacking against the man.  A 16 and 17 year old boy are currently in custody and questioning with the police, who are trying to find out more about the attack and their motives.

The boy that was hit is not in critical condition and doctors say the boy will be fine,  it is just the man that people should be worrying about.

"National News." KFOX14 KFOX-TV El Paso. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2014.

http://www.kfoxtv.com/template/inews_wire/wires.national/20eb60e6-www.kfoxtv.com.shtml#.U0B0fKhdWSo

The Final Four

What seemed to have started just days ago, the NCAA March Madness tournament if down to just four teams from each region.  Florida, without any doubts, makes it to the final four from the Southern region.  Connecticut surprised many by beating Iowa state in the sweet 16 and then going on to beat Michigan state, who was a prospect to make it into the final four or further.  Connecticut, the winner of the Eastern region of the tournament, will take on Florida in a tough match up to proceed to the championship.  Wisconsin, without any surprises, was the winner of the Western region, and makes it into the final four.  Lastly, Kentucky, the winner of the tournament two years ago, makes it to the final four after a long and tough journey, beating number one ranked and undefeated Wichita state, then beating number four ranked Louisville in the sweet 16, and the number two ranked Michigan in the elite eight.  Kentucky will face Wisconsin in a close match up on Saturday night.

Now that I have established that Florida, Connecticut, Wisconsin, and Kentucky will advance to the final four, the only question that remains is, who will win each of the three games remaining?  Let’s start with the first game that will be played Saturday night, Connecticut and Florida.  Now Connecticut is a seven seed coming into the tournament, and despite all odds, has made it to the final four to face Florida, who has had an easier pathway of getting to the final four.  The line of the game has Florida winning by 6.5, but I think it will be a way closer game than that.  Connecticut has beaten several great teams to make it to the final four and if they preform to the best of their ability, I believe that they can beat Florida in their game on Saturday.  Now this game can be anyone’s game, and we have found that out earlier on in the tournament.  If both teams go out and give everything they have, the score will be very close going into the final few minutes of the game.  Despite the odds that have been given, I believe that Uconn will outplay Florida in the last minutes of the game and will advance to the championship.

Now that leaves Wisconsin and Kentucky, who will play in the second game on Saturday night, in a battle to make the championship.  Both teams are extremely talented and have the potential to not only win this game in the final four, but win the whole championship.  The game’s outcome will come to whoever simply outplays the other.  I think that this game will be a close one into the last minute where Wisconsin will start to pull away.

Lastly there is the championship game, which any team has the potential to make, but I have chosen Connecticut and Wisconsin to proceed to the championship.  I think that this game may not be the closest game that we have seen in the tournament, as several teams have only won by one or two points. I believe that Wisconsin will come out with a lot of fire, as they have done all year, and defeat Connecticut in the championship game next Monday night.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2015035-ncaa-tournament-2014-predictions-odds-for-saturdays-final-four-matchups

"College Basketball." Bleacher Report. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2014.