Five earthsized planets discovered in our Milky Way

Our planet - Earth

February 2, 2011
This article talks about how the Kepler telescope is continually finding planets that orbit in stars of our galaxy. Furthermore, the Kepler space telescope detected five earth-sized planets orbiting in the Milky Way. The importance of the discovery of these planets is that all of these are circling inside the habitual zone, which puts them into a possiblity the existence of water. Not only that, but this telescope also found 6 more planets orbiting into a sun-like star in our galaxy, which are approximately 2,000 light years away from our planet. To this point, the telescope found 1,200 planets orbiting the Milky way, and this supports the established statement, in which there are uncountable numbers of planets orbiting in a sun-like stars in our galaxy.

The Kepler Telescope

I'm astounded by the efforts that these astronomers are putting into to discover new planets that orbit in our galaxy. To be honest, it will be very difficult to find about these new planets, because the astronmers will measure every aspects about the existence of the unknown planet, such as measuring the light differences, and so on. If the astronomers make a tiny little difference, then the whole measurement and finding the new planet gets ruined. I believe that this truly supports the statement that we are not alone in this planet. Furthermore, article makes me to believe that there may be some other creatures living in our own galaxy. I hope that these astronomers can find even more planets, and extend the knoweldge of understanding the universe.


http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/02/02/nasa.kepler.planets/index.html?iref=NS1

Walmart targeting on 8-year-old girls

2/3 2011



This article mainly deals with the concerns of the company Walmart's new GeoGirl product launch, which is mainly aimed to attract young 8- to 12-year old girls to buy their products. The company mentions that the reason why they are launching the item is to provide a better, harmless cosmetic options for the teenage girls who are willing to try make ups. However, this is said to be a problem for the following reasons. The majority of the young tennage girls who are being targed by the company still think that boys are icky, and that the company is only launching this item to increase the consumer's profit. Not only that, but the article mentions about how the girls are not properly washing their makeup after it is used, and this can have a lot of bad effects. Therefore, the article truly concerns about what the young teenagers are starting to put on themselves and its future effects that may cause a problem permanently. 

 



In my opinion, I honestly don't understand why these young teenager girls need to wear makeups. Considering that these girls will be wearing makeups in 20s and 30s of their lives, why do they need to start using makeup so early? I partially understand that comestetic products are used for our own self-satisification and for the joy of others, but what the Walmart company is aiming is 8 to 12 year old girls. They are still in a process of growing, and although the product is set to be less harmful, it wouldn't be a great idea to put the chemical products on the young skins. Therefore, I disagree with the launch of the Walmart's new item that aims on young teenage girls to try cosmetic products on.

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/932434--do-8-year-old-girls-need-anti-aging-makeup

Facebook moving into a new office

 

February 8, 2011

The article deals with the announcement of Facebook moving its office to a new place – a campus in Menlo Park, Calif. The main reason for this movement is due to the expanding growth of the size of the company. The new campus is suppose to be a “long-term campus” where they can stay for a long period time, but according to the previous results, in which their prior campus in Palo Alto office was suppose to be a “long-term campus” as well. However, this campus quickly grew fast, and that made them to move into a bigger office. Just in case the size of the company outgrows again, Facebook purchased 22-acre space near their new campus so that these can be connected in underground tunnel.

I’m truly astonished by this article. It is hard to believe that a single company can expand so fast enough to change its office into a bigger one in a year. This fact truly shows the power of facebook, in which this program connected by 600 million people in the world. By having its company to grow, we know that there are even more employees needed for Facebook, and that I believe will make more people to have opportunity to work and earn money. Furthermore, I really respect the creator of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg’s idea of moving his office into a new office. I really like the way in which he is predicting what will happen in the future, and putting his plan into an action and making future plans. I wish that I could be one of the person like him who can accurately plan for the future and be successful.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/facebook-friends-a-new-campus/?ref=technology

A new future is awaiting for Egypt as the president finally resigns

02 11 2011

The dictator of Egypt, President Hosni Mubarak, resigned from his position and gave a new life to Egypt.  Due to the 30 years of harsh ruling by the government, there was a historic 18 days of pro-democracy demonstration by thousands of Egyptians. The president of Egypt could not withstand these enormous protestors, and he finally decided to the Egyptians’ voice. The article states that Canada gives a suggestion to the Egyptians, in which they should have free elections and respect the human rights. Also, the president of U.S., Barrack Obama states that he is truly inspired by the courageous acts that the Egyptians had done in order to obtain their human rights. Therefore, this historical moment of the President resigning from his office will open up a bright future for Egypt, where human rights and freedom are reserved.

I was truly happy to see that thousands to millions of people in Egypt were finally “Freed” from the harsh governments. I did not expect for such a momentarily result to happen this fast, because usually there is a great process taken when there is a protestors setting up a demonstration and going against its government. This process usually takes a long period of time, but this result, in which the president resigned from his office, happened more than just fast. I believe that this result truly shows that nothing can obstacle the human rights in the society that we live in these days. This shows that when people’s voices gather up, this has a potential power to make a difference. I sincerely respect the president’s action, to actually listen to his people and understand what they really want and give up on his dream. This I believe takes a great effort, to take away his ambition and make his country a better place. Not only that, but I also respect the courteous actions that the protests had taken, in which they would fight to their governments despite of any obstacles. Furthermore, this relates to my nearby country in Korea, in which the North Korean is a society where there is a dictator controlling the whole ecosystem and the people’s rights. I believe that because there can be a change made when people gather up, the citizens in North Korea can also gather up and make a difference as well. And I really hope that they do, because we all know that the North Korean civilians have their human rights taken away by the harsh government. I want those people to also prove that the tyrant dictator does not work in these days.

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/936824--egypt-reborn-again-with-mubarak-s-resignation-politician?bn=1

16 items in the Egyptian Museum stolen

One of the stolen item: the limestone
 statue of pharaoh Akhenaten

02 13 2011
During the 18-days of uprising demonstration that opposed the President of Egypt out, robbers sneaked into the famed museum and escaped with 18 valuable items. When the protestors surrounded the Cairo’s Tahrir Square near the museum and burned down the near areas, number of robbers climbed through the museum and went onto the roof and through the ceilings of the top floor of the museum. Some of the stolen items include – the wooden statue of famed boy king of Tutankhamen, and the limestone statue of the Pharaoh Akhenaton. Not only the museum, but the article mentions that the thieves went into a storage site at the royal necropolis of Dashur, located at south of the Cario’s Tahir Square. The Egyptian Museum now remains closed with guarded forces.

I really don’t like the fact that people are actually using advantage of the confusion in their country for their own goods; this is so wicked. It is horrible to believe that the thieves stole these treasures that had been reserved for thousands of years. The gravity of these ancient treasures are deeply valuable, and this is probably one of the greatest lost ever happened in this year.  Also, this makes me to believe that money is a powerful thing that attracts people to do anything – even if it is immoral. To be honest, who would even imagine of sneaking into a museum when there is a huge demonstration and fight going on right beside? This shows that money has a great potential on humans, and sometimes it can actually be very awful- like this incidence. I truly hope that the workers or people who are in charge of the museum to find out who the thieves are, and hopefully  improve on the security system so that this tragic can never happen for the rest of the times. 

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/938067--king-tut-statues-16-other-items-missing-from-egyptian-museum

Arab fighting for their rights

02 13 2011



Young protestors fighting for their rights and freedom



The article mainly talks about how the new generations of the Arab countries are reforming themselves and trying to change their society.  After the explosion that occurred in Egypt, the young populations of nearby Arab countries started to rise and go against their dictatorship government. These protestors include all sorts of people including – poor class workers, students, middle class workers, citizens, religious or none religious people. The only thing that these people want or demand is “the basic human rights”. Even in Morocco, where there a respect and affection towards the King Mohammed VI, is starting to change by the young generation’s reform. These protestors or reformers arising can be extremely effective, because the 20 countries that compose the “Arab World” all have almost half of the population at under age of 25 – a young generation. Although the author mentions that there is a great population arising to claim their human rights, he slightly points out that there won´t be a substantial change because the leaders will be finding solutions to only fulfill the public demands.

           

The nearby Arab countries that are starting to arise from the explosion of the Egypt relate to one of my experience I had back in 2010 as a community service.  When I was handing out pamphlets in downtown Toronto to let the people passing know that there are poor African children who are exposed to hungers, I realized one thing. When the first person passing by accepts to have the template, then the next passerby automatically gets the template as well – like a wave. In the contrast, when the first person passing by rejects to have the template, then the rest of the people coming down the street are more likely to not take the template as well, because they saw the previous person not taking the template. This experience I believe is very similar to what happened in the countries of Arab. One country, Egypt, went against the dictatorship society and has won. This makes the nearby countries to rise, because the country right next to them has done it, and gained the human rights. Furthermore, I strongly believe that what the people of Arab are doing is right. They honestly did nothing wrong to be restricted from the freedom. What they are demanding is just the basic human rights and nothing else more than that. I strongly suggest the dictators of Arabs to have sympathies towards their people and listen to their opinions like the dictator of the Egypt; He resigned from the government of Egypt and this shows that he listens to his people’s voice.

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/article/937677--the-arab-awakening-youth-power-fuels-democratic-reform

Military drill launched on Korean Peninsula



S. Korea and U.S. running Live-fire drill

 03 07 2011

The article talks about the previous minor practice that occurred on South Korea supported by U.S. and S. Korea. The North Korea has continued to threaten South Korea over the past, and the recent one that happened killed 4 South Koreans. This tension is the main reason why the military practice was made. This can prevent any unconventional attacks that may happen in the future by the military of N. Korea. The military drill is practiced 15 km away from the demilitarized zone that separates South and North Korea.  The practice shows how the soldiers can withstand chemical or any other attacks. This makes the practice very real and threatening. The N. Korea views this exercise as a provocation, and has threatened to engulf Seoul in a sea of flames. However, not only the joint of S. Korea and U.S. view this as a deterrent, but also shows the relationship between the allied nations, which is viewed as one of the strongest allies in these days.



A North Korean soldier glares at the other side.
The tension between these two countries have flared over the past 60 years.



I’m kind of surprised to see this article. In fact, I thought that this was quite ironic. Because, if you are a citizen or a person living in South Korea, it feels like nothing is happening. Everything is calm and you live in a usual life just like in Canada. But by reading the article, I feel like as if there is going to be a war soon happening in Korea- this is not true! However, in the perspective of Korean, I am depressed and perhaps encouraged to see this. I am depressed, because 60 years ago, there was no such thing as South or North Koreans, and they are in a great tension and are really hating each other. But on the other hand, I am encouraged, because our country will be safe. But to be honest, I’ve never thought that my country is in danger just because there is a tension going on between North Korea and South, because this tension will always happen as long as they South and North Koreans exist. It’s natural that there is a tension or minor fights going on, because these two countries never actually signed a permanent peace that can last forever. Overall, I am partially in a good mood that the military of Korea is taking their responsibility by defending the country from the outside threats.  

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/07/skorea.drill/index.html