3rd person in history survives Niagara Falls drop

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/05/21/man-goes-over-niagara-falls-survives_n_1534049.html?ref=canada

The third person successfully has survived the 50 meter drop of Niagara Falls without a safety device of any kind. The man in his mid 40s was amazingly able to swim to shore and walk away. Although he made it alive he suffered several injuries and was air transported to Hamilton General Hospital. In the past the attempt of going over the falls has been a stunt but this time officials have reported that this was a suicide attempt.

How people continue to survive this is mind blowing. How you could get lucky enough to avoid all the jagged rocks and currents that are waiting for you at the landing is amazing but has been done. The sad part about this story is that this man wasn't some circus freak that is doing this as a publicity stunt but as a suicide attempt. Hopefully him surviving was the best thing that could happen and he is now able to get the help he needs.

Shooting after NBA playoff game

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/22/oklahoma-city-shooting-thunder-lakers-game-report_n_1535000.html

Following the Game 5 between the OKC Thunder and the LA Lakers shots were fired outside of Chesapeake Energy Arena. A total of 8 people were shot in the incident and the police have arrested two suspects. The incident occurred when some fights broke out within the celebrating fans in the Bricktown district, a popular nightlife area in OKC. One of the people shot are in critical condition and the rest walked away with minor wounds.

Incidents like this one occur way too often after sports games specifically elimination playoff games. This is a result of people generally acting stupidly and when you have the combination of stupid people and guns in the same place nothing good can happen. People have to be able to control themselves better than they have or the police and organizations like the NBA will take action in preventing this in the future.

God sent alien hunter beheads man

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/05/22/greyhound-killer-believed-schizophrenia-alien-vince-li_n_1536004.html?ref=canada

Vince Li believes that he has been sent from god to save the world from an alien attack. In this effort Vince beheaded a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba. After Li identified passenger Tim McLean as an alien he stabbed him multiple times removing his head then ate a bit of the body. Vince has since been found mentally insane and has been sent  to Selkirk Mental Hospital to work out his problems. Since being sentenced to the hospital Vince has become more in touch with reality and has gained certain privileges such as going on supervised trips to nearby towns.

It may sound a little strange but I feel sorry for Vince. Obviously this guy has struggled throughout his entire life with living in an alternate reality and its sad that he was not able to get help before he did something this dramatic. I don't know what causes these kinds of mental malfunctions but whatever it is I hope someone out there is doing something to prevent it.

BC prepares for zombie attacks

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/05/15/bc-zombie-website-emergency_n_1516963.html?ref=canada-politics
To prepare for the possibility of a zombie apocalypse the province of British Columbia has prepared a website on how to survive. The goal behind the creation of this website is to generate interest in people's safety in case of a real emergency. The website promotes a fiction character that is a survivor of the zombie attacks and uses British Columbia's emergency twitter and Facebook pages to get survival  information directly from the provinces emergency departments.

Although this approach is unique and strange on paper it seems to be very effective. Taking advantage of peoples love of zombies the BC government has efficiently informed the province in ways to react in case of a devastating emergency. This model should be taken into consideration by other provinces and countries in a way to ensure the safety of their citizens.
http://www.emergencyinfobc.gov.bc.ca/zombie-preparedness-week-are-you-ready.html

Teachers abuse mentally disabled children

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/23/stuart-chaifetz-father-wire-son-records-teacher-abuse_n_1447330.html?ref=mostpopular

Stuart Chaifetz, a New Jersey dad whose son suffers from a mental disability was shocked to hear some of the things that the teachers of the school that his son was attending were saying in front of the children. When the teachers at Stuarts son Akian school were saying that Akian was having violent outbursts at school Stuart knew something was not right so he sent Akian to school wearing a wire to record what was going on inside the classroom. After one day of recording Stuart discovered that the two teachers that were in charge of the special needs class at the school were verbally abusing the students throughout the day. Discussion between the two teachers included conversations about their alcohol abuse and sex lives. The teachers were able to get away with this because they knew none of the students in the class had the capability of going home and telling their parents what was going on in class. After posting the audio to YouTube Stuarts actions brought this to the attention of the school board and the two teachers were obviously fired from their positions.

What these two teachers have done is pretty disgraceful. Taking advantage of disabled children should result in bigger punishment than them simply losing their job. Stuarts actions should be rewarded as he has started the reinvention of some special needs programs in order to give the children the care and schooling they deserve.

The 30th anniversary took place on this past Tuesday. A fundraising event held in Toronto was attended by Liberals who oversaw the charter's creation. The charter was created during the time Prime Minister Trudeau was in office with a lot of support from all parties. The purpose of the charter was to ensure that every citizen had their rights protected.  The charter is recognized around the world as a model for human rights. The charter has been celebrated by Canadians politicians that were involved in the charters conception annually. 


http://www.cbc.ca/m/touch/politics/story/2012/04/17/charter-30-anniversary.html

Anna Mackowiak, a dentist from London is facing jail time after removing all 32 of her ex boyfriend's teeth. Her ex boyfriend Marek Olszewski scheduled an appointment with Anna for a toothache thinking she would act professionally. After putting him under Anna lost control and pulled all his teeth out. After she was done she wrapped his head in a bandage so he wouldn't notice that he has no teeth. After returning home Marek was shocked to see that all his teeth were. To make matters worse Marek's current girlfriend dumped him because she decided that she couldn't date a man with no teeth. Anna is now facing a three year jail sentence.

In my opinion both people acted extremely stupidly in this situation. Marek obviously shouldn't have trusted Anna who most likely hates him with something as important as his teeth and Anna should have acted like a complete lunatic and should have seen the three year jail sentence coming.

A Unique Form of Animal "Art" Surfaces

Susan Jeiven has started a new form of unique art. She hosts a anthropomorphic taxidermy class where a class of about 20 students learn how to model dead mice as humans and create "artwork". One example of this art form is a mouse holding a tiny guitar, and in another the creator dressed up the mouse in tiny clothing and gave it a tiny New York Times to read. The students in this class are taught how to remove the mouse's internal organs and replace them with clay and wires to help model the mouse in a position. Then the "artists" are free to dress up their dead mice in a variety of miniature accessories that are provided by Jeiven. This art form was popular in England during the 19th century and a museum in Sussex features this type of art which features dioramas of mice cats and rabbits. A video tour of the museum can be found here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2012/02/would-you-buy-or-make-dead-mouse-art.html .

Personally I don't understand the sickos that participate in this art form, if doing this doesn't violate some form of animal rights law I think a law should be passed that does.

Another Cruise Boat Accident

A cruise boat carrying more than 1000 passengers is stranded in a pirate infested area of the Indian Ocean. A fire erupted in the boats generator room causing parts of the boat to shut down leading to the situation that it is in. Several rescue boats have been sent but officials say that a French fishing boat will be the first to make contact with the boat. This incident raised fears among cruisers because it occurred just 6 weeks after the boats sister ship crashed off the coast of Italy which killed 25 people. Some good news is that the boat is still upright and no one has been harmed. In the worst case scenario that the boat is hijacked by Somalian Pirates the cruise ship is equipped with an armed Italian military anti-pirate team.

In my opinion I think incidents like this one and the incident of the boat crashing on the coast of Italy will steer travelers away from cruises to other forms of vacation.

Greece Bailout Declined

http://www.canada.com/news/Decision+bailout+Greece+deferred/6156030/story.html

European finance officials held off last Wednesday on bailing the country of Greece out for the second time. The decision to hold off the bailout was made despite Greece's last second rush to try to fulfill the initial list of demands by the European Union after the first bailout. The denied bailout has led some Greece officials to think their days left in the Union might be over soon. The cause of the denied bailout is caused mainly because richer European nations such as Germany and the Netherlands are tired of spending their own money on a nation that hasn't put the necessary effort forward to climb out of the hole that they have dug for themselves. Another reason is that in the last 3 quarters of 2011 event stronger European economies had low quarters. The cancellation of the bailout has upset the Greek people causing riots in the streets of Athens.

The cancellation of the bailout has shown that there are two sides to helping a country out of economic turmoil. The first starts with the struggling country; the people and the government have to work together to build on the economy. With this progress it will give other countries the confidence that if they loan money to Greece that the money will be returned which counties such as Germany do not have which led to the cancellation of the bailout.

Goat Attacks Woman

http://www.canada.com/news/Grumpy+goat+traps+woman+home/6079471/story.html

A few weeks ago in a rural B.C neighborhood a angry goat managed to trap a woman from Abbotsford, British Columbia in her house. On her way to the car the woman noticed the goat as she was making her way to the car on the morning of January 30. As she scrambled to get in her car the goat charged at her and kicked the car. The goat then continued to chase the woman up her porch and into her house. Even though the women was out of sight the goat began ramming the front door with its head trying to break it down. The woman then fought back from within the house by throwing various household objects at the goat. The goat didn't appreciate this so it decided to knock over her barbecue as if to "send a message" according to Const. Ian McDonald. The conflict was solved when a pair of police officers grabbed the goat by its collar and dragged it back to its owner.

I think cases like this one will further investigate the effects of having animals contained in smaller environments such as farms or zoos. Events such as this one has happened in the past and hopefully scientists will do more research to come up with solutions to make animals confortable in smaller environments so events like this could be prevented.

Neuroscience

http://www.canada.com/technology/Neuroscience+face+warfare/6113405/story.html

Recent advances in the field of neuroscience are generating a new form of warfare. Ideas such as weapons that use wave beams or the use of electrical brain stimulation to boost solders combat abilities sound futuristic but due to new research these ans similar ideas to them are on the horizon. The continuous research in neuroscience may produce the first neural interface technologies which would allow things like military drone air crafts to be operated by a persons brain. Along with the potential dangerous effect that these advancements have neuroscience may be the answer to diseases or disorders such as Parkinson's, depression, schizophrenia, epilepsy and addiction.

I think these advancements made will translate to neural interface technologies being available in everyday devices used by the general public such as phones and computers. I think this will open the door to have more powerful and useful technologies that would expand what people could do using technolgy to make a more advanced planet.

Canadian Universities Looking at More Than Grades

Traditionally Canadian Universities admission departments focus heavily on students' grades since most programs require students to have straight A's to even consider them for their programs. However universities such as the University of BC are starting to focus on admit more well rounded students that not only have good grades but also contribute to their community. James Ridge, and associate VP at the University of BC say that they university is now requiring students to submit a personal profile detailing their community activities and leadership skills, much like colleges do in the U.S which gives the university more information on how successful a student will be at their school. This trend is catching on across Canada including Ontario schools U of T and Trinity. The general information that the universities that are switching to this method are trying to obtain is which students are going to be able to carry their success that they had in high school into university.

I think that this new way of looking at high school student is beneficial to students across Canada and more specifically at schools like St. Andrews. Since St. Andrews has son many opportunities that allow students to contribute to the community the resumes that students develop will now play a bigger role in getting into the university of their choice.

Lego Man In Space

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1120808--toronto-teens-send-lego-man-on-a-balloon-odyssey-24-kilometres-high

Three weeks ago two Toronto high school students, Matt Ho and Asad Muhammad sent a Lego man into space. The Lego man was attached to a homemade weather balloon that carried along with the Lego man, 4 cameras to document the trip. The balloon reached an estimated 24 kilometers above sea level on its 97 minute journey. Their project that took 4 months of time and $400 has captured the attention of many experts in the field of astrophysics including Dr. Micheal Reid of the University of Toronto who compared the project to some of the work PhD students do. What is more amazing about this project compared to the ones of PhD students is that this one was done with little resources. Materials used for the project were: cameras that were bought off Craigslist, a sewn homemade parachute, a professional weather balloon bought online and about $160 worth of helium from a local party supply store. Other issues that the pair face was the launch of the balloon. They had to launch the balloon at a point so that it would land in an accessible location. One day the GPS they were using to calculate this reported that the balloon would land near Peterborough so they launched their balloon. Throughout the trip over 1500 pictures were taken which can now be viewed on media outlets such as youtube.

Personally I am very impressed by what Matt and Asad have been able to accomplish. The creativity that they put into this project went along way for them considering that they are both starting to apply to universities. Due to this idea some high schools across could take ideas from this project by providing a senior year course that allowed students to apply what they learned to a project which could help them get more recognition from universities.