Cyber War

By Patricia Smith
 This article is about how hackers attacked Saudi Arabia's oil company called Saudi Aramco. The state-owned company valued at $7 trillion. Last August 15, over 55,ooo Saudi Arabia Employees were at home getting ready to celebrate the Muslim holiday. A computer virus started to attack the system at exactly 11:o8. The computer virus started erasing 75% of the data the "Aramco's corporate PCs, documents, spreadsheets, e-mails, files, replacing everything with an image of a burning American flag."
"U.S officials say that Iran was behind the attack."
After the virus was stopped, more than 3o,ooo computers were useless.
"It proved you don't have to be sophisticated to do a lot of damage," said Richard Clarke, a former white house counterterrorism official. "There are lots of targets in the U.S. where they could do the same thing. The attacks were intended to say: 'If you mess with us, you can expect retaliation.' "
A defense secretary says that the United States is facing a "cyber Pearl Harbor," which is making  Washington worried.
The masterminds of the cyberwar are China and Iran.  They are the ones who are doing most of the attacking.  The United States don't start the war but will retaliate if need be. China's government has been trying to steal information the Pentagon. Intelligence officials think that Iran is responsible for the attacks on Wells Fargo and PNC bank.

I think that it's really stupid, these cyber attacks. I think that the U.S. should just try to create something to prevent these cyber attacks. They are easy to do, if your intelligent, and not much to prevent them. To protect their information, and to keep it from happening again.

Colorado school bars transgendered 1st-grader from using girls' restroom

By Edd Payne, CNN

A first grader by the name of Coy Mathis who is said to be transgendered, was told by the school district that she could no longer use the girls restroom. Coy was born with sex male organs but she calls herself a female. She dresses as a girl and all of her important information including her passport and her state identification says she's a girl. Coy's mother and father said that they were shocked at the news

"We were very confused because everything was going so well, and they had been so accepting, and all of a sudden it changed and it was very confusing and very upsetting because we knew that, by doing that, she was going to go back to being unhappy," Mrs. Mathis told CNN. "It was going to set her up for a lot of bad things."

Mrs. Mathis was scared that people would start picking with her son/daughter, she took her/him out of school during the winter break. The attorney Michael Silverman from "the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund" is representing Mathis.

 "For many transgender people, discrimination is a daily part of life. Unfortunately for Coy, it has started very early," Silverman said. "The world is going to be looking at the school, which can send a message to the world and teach tolerance, fair play and equal rights."

Mrs. Mathis said that she had got a call out of the clear blue and a letter saying that as Coy grows, his body is going to grow, and as his body starts to develop is going to make people uncomfortable and make the girls uncomfortable that he's using the restroom with. They are now filing a Civil Rights Complaint.

I think that it's so disturbing and so not normal for a first-grader to believe that he is a girl. The parents are allowing it and it's not cool. That's disrespectful, and I think that the reason for this boy to believe he's a girl has something to do with his parents. Coy i was born as a boy, and he should stay as a boy until he's old enough to understand what being transgendered and gay is. Right now, i don't believe that he knows what it is. I really think that the reason for him being a girl is because of family members, peers, or his parents. I definitely agree with the school district, he is a BOY, he was born with MALE ORGANS, and he should used the restroom with the rest of the BOYS.

  
 http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/27/us/colorado-transgender-girl-school/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

Historically Incorrect Canoodling

By Stephanie Coontz

This article, "Historically Incorrect Canoodling," is about the history of valentine's day.Valentine's day was made by the Roman Catholic Church to limit sexual activities and love. They didn't want people to love each other, they believed that women were just for bearing children and that was all. You weren't allowed to love anyone back than. But later, people turned the holiday into a love fest. No one, back then, believed that love was real or that you should love someone or be in love with someone.

Valentine's day was named after a Christian priest who was "martyred in the third century." It is said that Valentine didn't follow a rule with conducting marriages for soldiers and he fell in love with his jailor's daughter. He wrote a letter to her before he died and said "From Your Valentine."

The church then made the February of 14, St. Valentine's day. It wasn't in favor of love, it was to honor a roman goddess of marriage and love.  A festival was created called Lupercalia on Feb. 15, and the night before was when boys drew a girls name from a jar to be their sexual partner for a year.

One-hundred years after the 17th century Europeans and Americans had agreed upon letting marriage be of love and letting women chose their own lovers.

I believe that how Valentine's day started was extremely crazy. First or all, they started it after some man who was executed for something that made absolutely no sense. He loved his jailors daughter and sent her a letter. And the fact that the day the Valentine's day used to be a day that  boys could pick girls names at random as a sex partner for the year??! That's ridiculous. I'm glad that the holiday changed and Americans and the Europeans had agreed upon the whole marriage ordeal. I'm happy for Valentine's day because that's the day that the person you're with can show you just how much she/or he loves you!

Belly Button Bacteria

By The New York Times

This article,"Belly Button Bacteria,"  is about how scientists found a new species in people's belly buttons. Scientist "swabbed five-hundred belly buttons and analyzed sixty samples with surprising results." They found over two-thousand species. Over a thousand are new to the science world.
"Some of the bacterial discoveries were downright strange."
A man had a species in his navel "common in soil in Japan." He had never been to Japan.
Someone else had held bacteria from "Polar ice caps."
Scientists and researches are hoping to collect more DNA from the navel bacteria. More research may lead to find that belly button bacteria may play a role in people's health.

I think that belly button dirt is so nasty. I believe that it is one of the worst the that can be on your body. I mean, they are getting swabbed for the tests but why do they have the dirt in their belly buttons anyway? It shouldn't be there. I remember a time when a girl had showed me the belly button dirt on her finger telling me that it's supposed to be there, and if you take it off, your belly button will fall off or fall apart. All i could do was laugh. It was one of the funniest and the stupidest thing i have ever heard. And what made it even funnier was that she was dead serious.

Give Lance Another Chance?

Cnn

This article,"Give Lance Another Chance?, is about how Lance Armstrong cheating his way to the top and everyone seeing him as a disgrace. He lied about cycling and for a very long time. He apologized to his charity, and will be interveiwed by Oprah. Some say that he still has a chance to redeem himself despite of what he has done and others say that he shouldn't be forgiven and he is no longer trustworthy.
Frida Ghitis said,"Lance Armstrong's story of triumph over adversity captured the imagination of millions around the world, including people like me, who don't usually spend a lot of time absorbed in following sports news. That's because Armstrong's achievements recovering from cancer and then breaking records in the cycling world made him a source of inspiration, an icon of hope."
"The important ethical question isn't wether Lance deserves a second chance. Chance to do what? Cheat in seven more tours? Lie about it seven more times? Bully seven more teammates into doping? He behaved badly and is rightly censured," said Randy Cohen. "But that should be the beginning, not the end, of this disheartening story."
"No, he gets no second chance from me," said Roxanne Jones. "There are too many reasons to question his apology."
"He's almost 42, forget about it." said Jeff Pearlman.

While others have their opinions about it, I have mine. I didn't really know anything about Lance Armstrong until I read this article. I've heard of him of course but i never knew what he was famous for. If he cheated his way to the top, who cares? Who says that this man shouldn't be given a second chance? Everybody makes mistakes and it may take a very long time for a person to learn from the same mistake. He more than likely lied about it because he didn't want to be viewed differently by the public eye as a bad role model. He wanted to be great and an encourager, so of course, he lied but people lie all the time. I believe that he should be forgiven because if the show was on the other foot, someone would probably want people to forgive them as well.

Civil War in Syria Raises Questions About When to Intervene

By Ja'anai Delaney for NewsHour Extra

This article, Civil War in Syria Raises Questions About When to Intervene, is about a war that is currently going on in Syria. It is a war between the military that is loyal to the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and protest fighters. "However, in an attempt to justify his brutal crackdown, Assad has blamed foreign actors and terrorists for the initial uprising and continued violence." The war is making it unsafe for innocent people who live in the country. They are fleeing from their homes to refugee camps in need of food, water, shelter, and for those who are sick, medicine. "(UNHCR) The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that over 200,000 people have fled their homes for calmer parts of Syria or neighboring countries such as Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon."
"The united Nations estimates that as many as 2.5 million people have been affected by the crisis."
The other countries do accept the refugees but they don't have enough resources to care for other people outside of their community.
"The opposition is a patchwork of groups fighting to overthrow Assad and establish a democracy in his place. The opposition includes the Free Syrian Army, the Syrian Liberation Army and fighters across the region. Terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda have even joined the fight, worrying outside observers."
The United states is wondering wiether or not if they should intervene in this fight to see if they can help those "caught in the crossfire." The U.S and other peoples are seeming supporters of the "anti-regime groups, they said that they will not get in between the war unless Assad use Chemical Weapons."
Assad is also threatening that if the U.S gets involved that they would hurt them as well, so the U.s is trying to not have anymore people get hurt in the process for a fight that's not ours.
The armies in Syria have a lot of weapons and there have been reports of city massacres.

I do not think that United States should get involved because it would do more harm than good. The U.S is always seemingly to get into some nonsense that had nothing to do with us and then it backfires, like the reason for the 9/11 attacks. The war started over a fight for oil and it backfired and killed hundreds of people in the process. I think that the U.S should just wait it out and see what happens, weither the kill Assad or her kills his opposers, I believe that us intervening would make things worse putting innocent lives in danger and there could be another attack like the 9/11.

All work no play: Why Your Kids Are More Anxious, Depressed

By Esther Entin

This article,"All work and no play," is about how children are becoming more anxious when they have no free time to play. Children don't have as much free time now as they did when their parents were younger and it's because the interference of school and parents. School and school work is taking up much more time than it has before and giving the children no free time to play. Parents are not letting children go outside and play anymore because of safety issues. Their time are being regulated and only giving them little time to themselves, which can cause depression and anxiety.
"Since about 1955...children's free play has been continually declining, at least partly because adult's have exerted ever-increasing control over children's activities," says the author Peter Gray.
The article lists five ways that play benefits children. "Play gives children a chance to find and develop a connection to their own self identified and self-guided interests, It is through play that children first learn how to make decisisions, solve problems, exert self control, and follow rules, children learn to handle their emotions, including anger and fear, during play; play helps children make friends and learn to get along with each others as equals, and most importantly play is a source of happiness."
Each benefit of play describes why children need more free time.
I agree with this article. I think that children deserve more free time because of the simple fact that most of their time is dedicated to school. The children are still young and they have to get out and explore. take an adventure and play. And then at least every decade the time children play gets lower and lower because of things getting in their way. A child being cooped up in a house all his or her life isn't going to help the child grow. they'll have a lack of responsibility because they hadn't gotten the chance to be responsible.