Camping Chaos

Photo Credit: captainstewbaycruise.com

After an incredible summer, I’m back and ready for my senior year.

Coming back to school felt so sudden, especially when I heard the news that there was a mandatory all-school camping trip on the second week of school.

Uh oh.

I give credit to my editor and friend, Kendall Shiffman, for this quote that is oh so accurate: “I’m just a happy camper who hates camping.”

The thought of being consistently dirty for five days makes me cringe, but the decision was already made that I had to go.

On the drive up to Moñtana De Oro, I became warmed up to the idea of camping, and as soon as we arrived I was suddenly overwhelmed with excitement.

The environment was incredibly green, cold, and lush. Camping instantly seemed less terrifying.

As the trip went on, I ventured far out of my comfort zone. I never would have imagined having fun was a possibility on a mandatory camping trip, but that’s exactly what happened.

This camping trip truly taught me one thing: I feel more open-minded about life than I ever have before.

Car Chaos

This week, I stumbled across yet another technological advancement while reading news articles.

Since September 2014, Google has released roughly 50 self-driving cars out and about on the streets of California. These futuristic Lexus’ and Audi’s have been roaming the streets in hopes to prove that they are safe to drive themselves.

So far, there have been only 11 accidents that were minor and included no injuries.

“Not once was the self-driving car the cause of the accident,” said Google’s Chris Urmson.

In my opinion, although self-driving cars sound kind of cool, they also sound terrifying. What if we know something is wrong with our car, but we cannot control it because the car is in control of itself?

However, Google makes some very strong points as to why their cars are safer than human driven cars: robots do not get tired, they are not emotional, they are over-cautious rather than fearless, and these cars can see things human’s cannot always see.

Is this an unrealistic plan with too many issues involved? Or what our future will be like?

Photo Credit: extremetech.com

Kylie Krisis?

Photo Credit: eonline.com

For a while there have been rumors circling around reality star, Kylie Jenner, about her supposed lip injections.

In a matter of a few months, her lips went from being thin and natural to puffy and large, sparking rumors that she had undergone plastic surgery.

Whilst attempting to comprehend how Kylie’s lips made such a drastic transformation in such a short amount of time, the “Kylie Jenner lip challenge” became quite popular.

In this challenge, a shot glass is placed around the lips and the person has to suck in as hard as they can for a couple of minutes. However, there has been a lot of controversy related to the challenge because of the permanent damage it can cause; discoloration and popped blood vessels.

After months of trying to figure out how Kylie managed to grow the size of her lips so quickly and so drastically, viewers finally got the truth when an episode preview of Keeping Up With the Kardashians came out a few days ago.

Kylie has temporary lip fillers.

“I have temporary lip fillers. It’s just an insecurity of mine, and it’s what I wanted to do,” Kylie said in the video.

Kylie’s age has raised some eyebrows, as a majority of plastic surgeons will not perform any plastic surgery on anyone under the age of 18, regardless of parental consent.

Is Kylie too young to be getting lip injections?

Or does she have the right to fix her insecurities, especially as the whole world watches her every move?

Drone Control

Photo Credit: http://www.newsobserver.com

As the 21st century continues to barrel forward, new technology begins to come forth.

One of the newest technological advances is drones.

Yes, they have been around for a while, but usually for recreational or military use. Now, ideas of having drones become more involved in everyday life are becoming more prominent.

Amazon has expressed that they are interested in being one of the first companies to deliver packages to residential areas.

However, this brings up a large list of legalities.

How high can drones fly above someone’s private property? What if someone does not want to have packages delivered by drone? Can a homeowner shoot down the drone if it gets too close for comfort?

A couple of days ago, my mom was outside gardening in our yard. She was going about her business when she heard a loud, buzzing noise. Not knowing what it was, she walked all around our house until she found what the noise was: a drone hovering twenty feet above our roof.

She had never seen a drone in residential areas, and when she told me the story, she was furious, as someone else’s drone was being obnoxious above our property.

My mom is not easily angered, so to see her reaction was shocking. I can’t imagine how the rest of the world would feel about this.

Baltimore Riots

Over the course of the past week, thousands of people have been rioting in the streets of Baltimore, Maryland for what they believe is justice for the death of Freddie Gray.

But what started out as a large group of teenagers, has turned into utter chaos for all the wrong reasons.

The death of Freddie Gray under police custody raises some eyebrows because of his ethnicity and gender: African-American male.

The police in the United States have set a precedent for themselves: they are overly aggressive towards African-American males. Looking back on the past few years, there are more than enough cases to confirm this precedent.

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Although there are many cases that give tangible evidence to show there is a “reason” for these riots, they are unacceptable and out of control.

These kids have no idea what they are getting themselves into. Looting, arsonist tendencies, and violence being committed on their own city is simply tragic and disappointing.

It is time for the United States government to begin to take control of this situation, and begin to make an effort that can be seen by the American people.

 

 

Journalism Competition

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Monday, March 30th, OVS’ Journalism class took a trip down to Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks for a Journalism competition.

I have only been in Journalism for a little over three months now, so this is still all very new to me. Regardless, I was very excited.

After waking up at 5:30 a.m., we got some coffee and drove to the competition.

This competition is held each year and OVS has won awards almost every year they have competed.

I was competing in the Feature category with my fellow journalist, Daphne Psaledakis.

Our speaker told an interesting story about a Patagonian sheep herder traveling to the United States in order to earn higher pay so that he could support his family and his children can have a higher education.

It was intriguing and interesting, and something I had never heard a lot about previous to the competition.

Although I did not place at the end of the competition, some of my fellow journalists did. I was so proud of them, and even though I did not win an award, I learned so much from this experience that will help me to become a better writer.

 

Germanwings Catastrophe

Hundreds of airplane crashes have happened since the invention of airplanes. A multitude of reasons are responsible for these disasters; terrorist attacks, suicides, engine failure, technological failures, and extreme weather conditions.

This week, Germanwings flight 9525 came to an end shortly after it departed from Barcelona, Spain, en route to Dusseldorf, Germany, when the Airbus A320 plummeted into a remote region of French Alps, killing all 150 passengers and crew on board.

This catastrophe came as a shock to Lufthansa Airlines, the owning company of Germanwings, and to the Airbus manufacturing company.

There was no explanation for the crash until the black box from the Airbus was recovered earlier this week. In the recording, the pilot is heard yelling into the cockpit, insisting he be let in to regain control of the plane.

Now here come the accusations.

The co-pilot had locked himself in the cockpit when the pilot left for was seems to be a bathroom break. In the recording, the co-pilot can be heard breathing in a normal manner, dismissing the theory of a medical emergency preventing him from opening the door to let the pilot back in.

Not only was the pilot locked out of the cockpit, but when he initially left, the autopilot elevation setting was changed from 38,000 feet to 100 feet, the absolute lowest setting.

So far, all we know is that the co-pilot intentionally locked the door to the cockpit, all people on board were killed, and the plane is completely demolished.

Photo Credit: i3.mirror.co.uk

The black box recording raises a few questions to chew on:

Was the co-pilot suicidal?

A terrorist?

Or did he suffer a medical emergency which inhibited him from opening the door to the cockpit to allow the pilot back in?

… To be continued.

 

Courageous or Crazy?

The all too well-known BRCA1 gene is a genetic mutation generally found in women that causes breast cancer.

Breast cancer will affect 12% of the women population in the world, making it one of the most common forms of cancer, alongside skin cancer.

Two years ago, Angelina Jolie was tested for the BRCA1 gene and was told she had a 87% chance of getting breast cancer. She was also told she had a 50% chance of developing ovarian cancer.

A lot to digest?

Yes, but this is nothing new. Hundreds of thousands of women develop breast cancer every year, but Ms. Jolie took a bolder approach than most.

She had a double mastectomy two years ago, and recently had her ovaries removed as an extreme, but somewhat necessary, preventative measure

Her strong voice in the media has been an inspiration to many women, as she shows the not so glamorous side of her life, and the honest fear she felt when she received the news that she had a very large chance of developing breast or ovarian cancer.

Photo Credit: thedbz.com

She’s a whole lotta woman, with a whole lotta courage.

The Jinx Justices

As most of the world may know by now, Robert Durst has recently been caught and is in custody for the murder of Susan Berman, his friend, in 2000.

His admitting to this crime came to surface during Durst’s six part documentary series The Jinx on HBO.

This happened when Durst was still attached to a microphone, and during a bathroom break, muttered under his breath that he “killed them all.”

A little disturbing? Yes.

Durst had been interrogated many times about his friend, Ms. Berman’s, death. He had not once admitted to any participation in her murder. After holding in such a serious secret for 15 years, it appears that it had been taking a toll.

If you watch the documentary series, during his final interview, Durst has a physiological reaction, uncontrollable burping and muttering nonsense under his breath.

His reaction to the questions asked in the documentary obviously shows how psychologically disturbed Durst is, as his odd behavior increases to a max, he finally admits to the murders… thinking he was all to himself.

Photo Credit: mentalfloss.com

 

Shark Bait Ooo Ha Ha!

Recently Sharks have been spotted in the ocean off the coast of Ventura…

Sharks in the ocean? Not again.

Six sharks were spotted quite close to shore near Ventura South Beach.

Still wanna go for that morning surf?

Previous to this warning, there have been multiple incidents off the Ventura Coast involving sharks.

The sudden emergence of these creatures makes me wonder why they have chosen to come a little too close for comfort.

After doing a little research on the subject of shark’s behavior, many (probably false) websites accused the animals of coming near shore to look for people.

Most of me doesn’t believe this due to the fact that sharks do not have a behavioral history of purposely attacking humans, but what if they actually are coming closer for more food?

All I know is I will NOT be going in the ocean for quite some time.

Photo Credits: http://www.treasuregurus.com