supermoon

On Saturday night, the forcast predicted fog, clouds and a chance of rain. The lunar cycle also predicted the rare lunar phenomenon commonly known as "supermoon." Supermoon is the biggest, brightest moon of the year due to it being 15,000 miles closer to the earth on this day. NASA officials predicted the moon to be 16% brighter than an average full moon but do to a fluke in the lunar orbit, the supermoon of 2012 ended up actually being 30% brighter. Last year on March 19, 2011, the supermoon was a little bit closer to the Earth than it was this past Saturday night by about 248 miles. Spectaters were nervous about their ability to see the supermoon on Saturday because of the overcast weather and unclear conditions. However, in our area the weather began to clear up around 6 PM and I was able to see the supermoon! It was amazing to see such a bright moon and amazing spectacle. People all over the world were able to see the supermoon and the amazement of such a spectacle united our global community.

Furniture by political prisoners

Lately I have become pretty obsessed with shopping for furniture and decorative pieces for my dorm room for next year. One place that I often shop for these types of things is Ikea. Ikea is less expensive then their competiters, easy to assmble and who doesn't enjoy a ride on their giant escalater or a trip to their swedish cafe? However, threatening to tarnish the squeaky clean reputation of Ikea, are new allegations that the furniture manufacturer utilized free labor from political prisoners in Germany and Cuba. Ikea has responded to these allegations made by a swedish news station by launching their own investigation and interviewing employees.

Too young to be trusted?

Recently this weekened, the case of two year old Caliegh Anne Harrison developed and gained coverege from several news stations. Harrison was playing on the beach on the day of her disappearance; her mother stepped away for a short time to retrieve a ball that had bounced away and Harrison was left with her four year old sibling, the only direct witness at the time of the girls dissapearance. Harrison's sister claims that the two year old girl was carried out to the ocean by the strong rip tide. Authorities are now struggling to determine if this story is likely or a fable manufactured by a child's imagination; which raises the question, at what age do we allow ourselves to believe the words of a child. Is there a reason to doubt the story of Harrison's sister? When it would be the most likely story and she was the only direct witness... Another issue within this case is the fact that Harrison's mother left two young children unattended near the ocean and that her story has been modified a couple of times since her original questioning. This story seems mysterious. I think that Harrison's four year old sister is reliable seeing as shes the only witness. In my experience, four year olds are very verbal, and though imaginitive, know when a situation is serious and know when to stop playing make believe.

The Fresh Water Crisis

In the morning I drink a glass of water, take a shower and make breakfast. Using a lot of fresh water to complete my morning routines. With the close proximity of our community to Lake Michigan this seems obvious. However, stated in the constitution, is that nobody has complete power over lakes and rivers. Therefore, states like Nevada, Arizona and Texas have just as much access to our fresh water resources as we do. Can you imagine a giant pipeline running from Lake Michigan to Nevada? Desert states would suck the Great Lakes dry. People sometimes do not take the fresh water crisis seriously because they believe that we will be able to utilize desalinization or have new technology that will solve our issues with shortages on fresh water. However, this is our one planet and we have limited resources, so we need to start respecting these resources and stop pollutting them in an effort to avoid a crisis involving fresh water.