It is that dreaded time of year again, finals. 
After a full semester of work all I have to show for it is a bunch of pieces of crumpled papers in the bottom of my backpack and the ink my teacher puts on my test telling me how I did in their class this semester.
This time is stressful for all, and I try to not get caught up in the stress, but there is just no way around it.
Honestly, most finals for me aren’t too hard.
Math? Easy.
Science? Easy.
English? Easy
History? No sir.
The U.S. Space Program if floundering to say the least. Obama, in an effort to cut spending, has cut much of NASA funding. This decline has led to other countries, in this case Russia, to advance their own space programs. They have started conducting unmanned missions, even sending craft as far as Mars.
Russia like many countries in Europe is not alone in their efforts, but has received some support from the European Space Agency. (Even though they are not members.) Russia has assisted the ESA on numerous occasions, most recently locating a lost Mars probe.
The name of the once missing probe is Phobos-Grunts and shortly after its launch on November 9th it disappeared. The accepted theory was that it was not powerful enough to break out of Earths orbit and thus became trapped. On November 22nd a Russian Space Station picked up a signal from the probe.
They were able to determine exactly were it is and the ESA have several plans to bring it back to Earth. Unfortunately for Phobos-Grunts it will no longer be able to complete it mission to go to Mars. Not only has it missed its window of opportunity but also has very little fuel left.
I for one am glad that countries have banded together to further advance Space technologies
The war in Iraq, often called the “War on Terrorism,” has taken its toll on Americans. From stringent TSA security protocol to the loss of love ones, millions of Americans have been affected by this war. A point of contention for many people is the fact that U.S. forces are still present in Iraq.
In matter of fact, one of Obama’s promises during the 2008 election was that he would remove all U.S. forces from Iraq. (This promise has still not been kept.) Obama has withdrawn MOST of the US forces from Iraq but 11000 still remain. The Obama administration has stated that all US forces must withdraw from Iraq by 31 December 2011.
This removal is happening right now with US forces passing the responsibility of Iraq onto the Iraqi Army and police force. These efforts are being hampered by the further instability of the region.(Nuclear Weapons in Iran for example) It will be very interesting to see if this removal is completed by December 31st.
Currently the U.S. is on track to ship all soldiers out of Iraq. Most of the soldiers leaving Iraq will pass into Kuwait, turn in their equipment and begin the long flight home. After the deadline only 150 troops will remain in Iraq.
Whether you support the War in Iraq or not, we are all glad to have our troops home.
“Like, ohmygodddd, it’s the last day of our sophomore yearrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.”
No, it isn’t. Shut up.
1) It is not the last day. It is the last day of our classes. Our last day of sophomore year will be the day the seniors graduate and not a moment sooner.
2) Stop whining. It’s almost summer! You should be celebrating being able to do absolutely nothing for three whole months. You should be forgetting everything you were taught and letting it melt away into mush at the back of your brain. Goodbye grammar! Goodbye math! Sayonara!
3) Yes, I will admit it is sad, all of our senior friends are graduating and leaving us for bigger and better things. But that does not mean we’re never going to see or talk to them again. It isn’t like they are dropping off the face of the earth. It’ll be okay.
So goodbye sophomore year! It’s neither been extraordinary nor mediocre.
I’ll see you in four years.
OVS Journalism Blog 