Category: general news

Stuff having to do with the news in general.

Unguaranteed Success

vabenissimoLeave a comment

Of course, a mother would want her child to receive an excellent education

However, in South Korea, this desire is taken far too extreme.

South Korean “Children” are forcefully sent abroad without any guaranteed success.

Often times, these students end up in committing unethical behaviors such as underage drinking and substance abuse and become anxious and obfuscated with their conflicting cultural identities; to simply put, unhappy.

Exceptions exist. They can benefit from the early experiences of independence and cultural diversity and possess careers within international range.

My point is not about tilting onto one side of this global study overseas issue. It is about recommending much more careful judgment about this experience and not merely following a trend based on an obscure success.

Check out this New York Times article, “For English Studies, Koreans say Goodbye to Dad” by Norimitsu Onishi.

Mauritania Wants Obesity

vabenissimoLeave a comment

“You are fat.”

I am almost certain that most women around the world want to avoid this title except for the ones in the northwestern region of Africa.

Fascinatingly, Mauritania considers obesity as an intricate beauty symbol.

Since young age, females from this place are pressured to stuff themselves with fattening foods. Their parents encourage them to gain weight constantly. Believe or not, vomit is even considered to be “natural” and “good.” They also intentionally increase their weight before marriage to satiate their “lovers’” taste.

This practice seems odd. However, this tradition is something to be reflected much more gravely.

An increasing number of these women are experiencing health threats and are becoming mentally traumatized by the societal demands.

Thankfully, younger generation seems to be less committed to this practice and some organizations initiated their help to educate these victims the healthy ways to live.

Unfortunately, this case divulges no vast difference from the case of most young women from other nations where the desire to thin out is choking numerous women out of their lives.

Please girls and women,  you decide the right ways to live.

Losing it

yourgingerkidLeave a comment

People die everyday. In fact 146,357 people die each day, 6098 people die each hour, 102 people die each minute, and almost 2 people die each second.

Out of all those people, out of the whole entire globe, we meet somewhere between fifteen and eighteen thousand people in our lifetimes.

Out of all those people, out of the whole entire globe, a person has two to three true friends, and thousands of other aquaintences.
When you lose one, it may seem like the worlds over.

Kittehs

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‘Art Crime’

sennymcfly1 Comment

Graffiti

Are you an artist? What’s your medium? Music? Pencil and Paper? A bottle of spray paint and the South wall of your local bank? How many times have you been condemned for expressing you art? All of these questions are risen in my mind by two words, “Art Crime.”

A photograph can be argued over because it depicts a man laying naked with another man or it shows a woman dressed in torn, wet, fishnet tights and a ripped corset with make up leaking down her cheeks, holding a bottle of Whiskey, walking down the dark streets of San Fransisco. People get offended by images that show truths that most of us are unwilling to accept. That’s called provoking emotion. That is the sole purpose of art, to provoke emotion. So why is it that some art forms are illegal?

It’s true that some graffiti isn’t very pleasant to look at like gang tags and stupid anarchy signs that morons use to “mark their territory.” But, I literally don’t see anything wrong with the graffiti art that posted around the world. I mean the graffiti that actually has meaning and shape and colors and creativity. I don’t get what the big deal is. Graffiti is just painting but instead of using a canvas you use a building or a billboard or something like that. It’s just another way for artists to express their, well…..artistry.

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The Aussie Economy Surge

smackyjackjackLeave a comment

Good for some, and bad for pretty much everyone else, for the first time in history, the Australian dollar has risen above the American dollar. This is a bit of old news (about 2 weeks), but it deserves a lot of notoriety.  For the entire history of both countries, the Australian dollar has been the underdog. But due to a falter in America’s economy and a recent surge in Australia’s, it has happened.

 

The Aussie Currency.

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Obama to be in INDIA!

delhigossipLeave a comment

The people of India cannot begin to explain their enthusiasm about the current US president, Barack Obama, visiting India this Sunday. The security is being tightened around the capital, New Delhi, and the places he is to visit. Even the five star hotel in Delhi, Maurya Shelton, which will be the President’s residence for couple of days, has refused to rent rooms to others.   “Authorities are taking no chance with security measures and we are doing whatever is needed,” a senior police official said.

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Halloween Prank Taken Too Far

yrreskrapLeave a comment

Burning_Vehicle.jpg

October 29, 2010, just two more days until Halloween. It is 9:20 PM, and flames are calling out for attention. Soon, sirens are heard in the distance, shattering the cold, stifling miasma that surrounded the fiery mess. The students of UCSD were in for a surprise.

A burning SUV was found on Voigt Drive, juxtaposed to the UCSD baseball field. Police arrived at the scene to find a woman’s charred remains within the blackened vehicle. The woman’s identity and cause of death are yet unknown.

Could this incident be a horrible Halloween prank gone wrong? Did the minds of excited college students stretch the moral boundaries? Was this an accident, a life lost through an fortuitous event? Or was this woman’s life lost to cold blooded murder? We will not know until further information is released by the San Diego Police, but I believe that this event was indeed a Halloween prank taken too far.

Dia De Los Muertos

pikachu04Leave a comment

P1010184
On Friday , after lunch, my AP Spanish class headed down to the pool area to celebrate the Mexican holiday Dia De Los Muertos. Kids from lower campus came up as well, we integrated as a group and had fun learning about the culture behind Dia De Los Muertos.
This holiday celebrates both the fullness of life, and life after death. People bring flowers to the graves of their loved ones along with music to remember them. Their spirit is said to be present during the celebration, and families become reunited once again in happiness.
For our celebration we decorated sugar skulls with colored icing. Everyone had a lot of fun bringing out their artistic sides with the decorating. In addition, the spanish classes have created “offrendas” , or offerings, dedicated to loved ones that have been lost. The offerings and alters will be set up in the library in the next couple of days for people to pay respect, and visit. I think that we should do more activities like this because it brings together the upper and lower campuses in a fun way. Sometimes i feel like we stand so separately as campuses, and it is activities like this that bring us together as one “Ojai Valley School.”

X-Woman

sennymcflyLeave a comment

We all enjoy a good laugh every once in a while. So, we result to looking up hilarious videos on Youtube or sometimes even look up weird news articles. Well, while I was searching for entertainment I stumbled upon what is probably the most unbelievable story I’ve read. But, here’s the thing, it’s the kind of unbelievable that’s so ridiculous you wonder if it could be true. You think, “There’s no way that’s real!” but, then that little voice in the back of head says, “How do you know it’s not?”

Here’s the story: A 40 year old woman from Indonesia is supposedly growing metal rods FROM HER BODY!

(Taken from funnymos.com)

Okay, take a second. Is your little voice going off? See! I’m not the only one. I mean what are we supposed to believe? The picture is right there! The article says that this woman has been growing these wires out of her for 18 years. She says that sometimes they will “retract back into her” and then pop up in a different area on her body.

It makes you wonder whether or not this woman staged the whole thing just to get recognized. Then it brings you back to the “Tree Man” who seems to literally be made up of tree trunks. So, maybe there is such thing as a metal filled woman who continues to grow such metal out of her skin. The article even says that doctors believe that this anomaly is not a publicity stunt, but a true story. How weird!!!!

Death and Art Value

vabenissimoLeave a comment

In the worldly beloved art museum of Louvre, there is an important rule strictly applied to all artists.

Every artist must die for over sixty years to have the masterpiece displayed.

This rule abandons the positive correlation between price and demand and most logics that we could possibly mention.

Then, why is it true that artistic value increases along with death?

The answer may be related to the discovery of veiled works after death like Emily Dickinson‘s findings, people’s preference for old genre, or successful estate planning.

Estate planning essentially ensures the art value for the artists. During this process, they are highly recommended to make a will with a careful selection of their artworks that have been evaluated professionally, to decide the management of these works for 70 years after their death, and to figure out a way to reduce the inheritance taxes.

However, the case with Vincent van Gogh who left the world without such plan divulges a mystery of dramatic increase in his artistic value.

Despite the high appraisal he receives from the world today, his death was lonely with unpopularity. Perhaps, his artworks were overly avant-garde to be appropriately appreciated during his lifetime like Leonardo Da Vinci’s previously infamous but revolutionary creation of wheel transportation.

In the midst of this ambiguity, the Louvre Museum continues oblige its artworks to belong to the dead artists.