It has now been over three months since the bombing at the Boston Marathon, and in that time the details of the event have come into place. The culprits were apprehended a few weeks after the event, and were revealed to have no ties to any larger terrorist organization. They were homegrown terrorists.  The final number of deaths was three, a young restaurant owner, a Chinese university exchange student, and an eight year old child. The clarity of these statements seems obvious now, why would they be questioned? However, at the time there were no clear statements, and the truths and facts all became very muddled.

The Boston Bombings are a horrible event, and a fresh reminder of the times that we live in. Our society has become destructive. This destruction does not just apply to the people who were injured by the bombings themselves or the family members of them. It applies to everyone who was able to be affected by the event in any way. The first example of this self-destruction was when the bombings first occurred, and the Reddit community jumped into action, analyzing photos of the event and finding all the possible suspects. They did guess the actual culprits in the photos, however, they did not find out who the culprits were. Due to this the Reddit community  falsely accused other people of being involved in the bombing, all of which had nothing to do with the activities. This lack of education in proper protocol lead to the family of one of the false suspects being subjected to major invasions of privacy. When the falsely accused subject was finally found, he was dead in a river with no connections to the attacks. The other major failure was that of the media in the first two days after the event had occurred. Eager to receive the sales that would inevitably come with the reporting of the deaths due to the bombings, the news companies used information from unreliable sources, and in doing so falsely reporting 3 different deaths, and not actually reporting the correct information until it was already released by the government. The disruption to the lives of the people who had thought they had lost someone during  this time would have been major, and to find that in the end the person that had been lost was still alive would have been even more of a shock. The confusion of death and betrayal is not something that anyone should have to go through, and the media and internet communities during the Boston Bombings seem to have made it all too easy for these sorrows to experienced unnecessarily. In the future, I hope that we will not need to worry about events like the Boston happening, but until that point I hope that society can mature to the point where the race for information is the not put before the well-being of other humans.

The recent discovery of smoothed rocks on Mars has proven that there was water on Mars at some point in planetary history. The rocks were discovered in the Gale Crater by the Curiosity rover. With photos received of the rocks, scientists have determined that they were most likely exposed to water flowing for sustained period at around 3 meters per second (walking speed). As well the water is calculated to have been between ankle and hip depth. This new discovery is a huge step in the scientific community, not only because it displays the ability of new technology, but also because of the scientific implications of water existing in liquid form on another planet in our solar system.

Since the discovery of other planets there have been stories of space people, and creatures. These thoughts are now invalid in the eyes of the educated population; however the idea of life outside of Earth still carries on as valid possibility. The discovery that there was water on Mars the notion of life off of Earth becomes every bit more tangible. Liquid water is the base of most life as we know it, and proof that it existed on Mars allows for thoughts that life forms had developed there. As the temperature necessary for water to stay liquid is also the temperature range at which most life can survive. The proof of water continues to inspire work on Mars, and now allows for Curiosity to continue its search for other factors in planetary development, including the search for other signs of life.  In my opinion finding that there was water on Mars is one of the most important scientific discoveries of the 21st century. With this information the research on Mars will be able to continue on to a new level.

http://news.discovery.com/space/lifes-a-beach-for-curiosity-mars-pebbles-discovered-130531.htm

Margaret Thatcher was most notably he first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. However, this is only a minor part of the person she was and actually affect the United Kingdom very little. During her period of power within Britain many new ideas were brought in about how a country should be run. These ideals were of mainly conservative orientation, but not completely. Margaret Thatcher was also a voyageur, who supported gay marriage, and abortion, two topics which are still hotly debated in politics, especially in politics of the conservative variety. Born into a middle class family from Grantham, Lincolnshire in 1925, Margaret Thatcher came from humble background. Her father was the owner of two local grocery shops, along with being an active member of the local parliament. This is a possible reason why Margaret decided to go into politics in later life. She excelled in school and graduated from University with a Chemistry Bachelor of Science. This education later found Margaret as the only scientist to be the Prime Minister of Britain, along with the only female. After she made the transition from the sciences into politics Margaret was elected as the Member of Parliament for Finchley. This eventually lead to her job as the leader of the Conservative Party, and from there she managed to get into office. During her time in office Margaret passed many new bills based on her political ideals. This idealism of Margaret Thatcher was later termed “Thatcherism.” Elected in 1979, Margaret Thatcher ruled for a solid three terms dealing with the Falkland Island war, tensions between Soviet Russia, and the declining economy. Then in 1990 after over 10 years of consecutive leadership, she agreed to resign, handing the seat over to John Major. Her resignation as Prime Minister did not stop her from continuing to speak to the people though, she continued giving speeches for another 12 years until in 2002 she was rendered unable to continue the work because of a series of small strokes. In the end, Margaret Thatcher died of stroke on April 8, 2013.


Through my research on Margaret Thatcher I have come to no solid conclusion on whether I think she would have been a good leader or not. I share many common ideals with her, such as the belief that marriage and abortion should be a right for all. However, I also disagree with certain points she had made, such as her support of corporal punishment, and her causing a drastic increase in unemployment due to downsizing of taxes. In the end though, none of these things defined who she was as a person, which is someone who was driven, intelligent, and understanding in the United Kingdom's time of need.  

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher

Recently the monetary stability of both Nokia and Apple, two major technology companies has come under the public eye. Apple has gone through a major drop in its stock price due to fewer purchases, and Nokia has been losing sales on most types of its phones. Apple according to the information provided in the article has been experiencing fluctuations similar to the ones experienced during the technology breakthroughs during the 1990s. For Nokia which is used to a comfy position in the technology market is also having issues adapting to less purchases. Basically, after many years of being top selling technology companies, what happened?

There are theories on what is happening with the technology market. The one that seems the easiest to believe is that for many years there were a few companies that provided better systems at slightly higher prices, while still allowing them to be affordable to most of the population. This caused people to buy these products without question. However now, many other companies are beginning to catch up with the technologies, as well as producing them at a cheaper price. Along with this price drop in quality technologies the general public has noticed and begun purchasing for cheaper. The public's transition from higher priced goods worries me, as it means that the companies that I have trusted in the past are losing their support. I guess this transition has to come, but I won't go down without a fight.

Sources
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22197404
http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2013/04/18/apple-shares-are-dirt-cheap-so-what/

    In recent times North Korea has been posing threats to the rest of the world, specifically the United States. Initially the threats were only statements, but in the week past they have moved from this level to the movement of weapons.

Threats from North Korea are not unusual, and with the tensions between North Korea in the last century many people do not take them seriously. This figure also includes me. The reasoning for this is due to many factors, but the main point that I would like to touch on is the basis of North Korea having a newly appointed leader. Though North Korea is technically a democracy, the way that their political system works, the leader is hereditary and not actually elected by the people. The lack of a chosen leader is so important because in a regular democracy where a leader is elected, the leader has already had the chance to prove themselves and their government to the people, by the time they are elected. Whereas, in North Korea the leader has to prove themselves to the people after they are elected. I think in this scenario Kim Jung Un is making these threats because it is the only way that he can see creation of  a more profitable government. In the end, the threats made by Kim Jung Un can be looked at as a way to earn his people's approval, but not an actual initiation of war. 

The release of Google's new augmented reality glasses to the “general” public, named Google Glass, occurred last week. Google put out a video showing the capabilities of the glasses, and their design, which contradictory to their name look less like glasses and more like a fancy forehead visor, that also happens to include a small clear holographic screen and a camera. This design of glasses will be available to a select group of Americans who are able to put out an interesting enough tweet about what they would do with the glasses; along with being able to afford the $1500 to purchase them and however much more needed to fly out to a conference for those selected.


The idea of a wearable device such as the Google Glass is something that has been thought of as too futuristic, and far from our current abilities. However, Google has proven this idea to be wrong, and though the Google Glass is still out of the average person's price range, it is foreseeable that it could soon become affordable. Thought of technologies like this soon being within grasp brings in more unanswered questions though. If I can send my life to anyone at any time, is there even a such thing as personal information anymore? My first reaction was to never put myself in a position where my life could be broadcast to the world. My assumption was that others would also react in this way. Yet, after reading through comments on the device I was quickly proven wrong, the majority of the people were asking for the device. As a consciousness many of the middle class seems to be accepting of this change. This frightens and fascinates me, how soon will ownership of these devices be normal? When will we fully lose our privacy, and will it be a bad thing?

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21519859

On the heels of the last Pope's retirement, the world it clamouring to remember how a new one is going to be chosen. This article so cleverly preys to that and describes the way that the next pope will be chosen. 

Outdated systems and irrelevant rules are facing harsher critisms the longer they go on, and the Papacy is not exempt from this trend. So, with this said I feel it is only natural that I question the system behind the election of the Pope as well. Starting with the issue of age, for hundreds of years the Papacy has consisted of old men. However, during these hundreds of years the definition of old has changed. When the first Pope was ordained the Average Life Expectancy was also lower. Following through with this concept the Pope in the middle ages would have been ordained in their 50's when they were still sound of mind. Whereas now, when the Pope is ordained he is usually into his mid 70's or early 80's, and in most cases beginning to lose the speed that a younger mind usually possesses. The system of electing those with seniority no longer makes sense. The other argument which I feel the need to touch on, if briefly, is that of sexism. As is common knowledge, in the past women were not acknowledged as being equals to men. This stopped women from coming into positions of power in the Catholic Church. Why this was ever thought to be a sound choice I can only theorize, however with the leadership of women now becoming a more common thing, I believe that it is only right to also allow them to become leaders in their religion. Overall, the classic ideas of the Catholic religion are no longer applicable to everyday society, and the religion itself can only become less applicable as the world changes. 

Pope: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/12/world/europe/in-conclave-ritual-and-secrecy-in-election-of-pope.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

A close to death incident was prevented this Sunday near Londonderry/ Derry, North Ireland, when a van carrying enough mortar bombs to cause significant destruction was caught. Police stopped the van and arrested two men at the scene, one who had been driving the van and another following behind on a motor cycle. The bombs onboard were immediately disassembled. These bombs were homemade, and according to Chief Supt Stephen Cargin had the potential to cause “mass murder.” (Vincent Kearney, 2013). Because of the potential danger to the area around the van, evacuation was ordered for approximately 100 families. The van was thought to have come over the border with it’s final destination as the Londonderry Police Department.

In recent years terrorism in Developed Nations has become much more of a threat, asking the question, what are we going to do about it? In our continually developing society of superficial wealth and peace this thought is not something that often crosses our minds. However, events such as this should bring pause. We can no longer go without thinking about how to keep ourselves safe. As well, we can no longer go on thinking that we are a safe as we want to be. Precautions are no longer applicable to the future. This event is only one example of how our safety has been compromised in recent years, and it demonstrates what little we can actually do to keep ourselves safe. This frightens me, as I like anyone else, do not like the idea of being vulnerable. However, in the end there is no other option but to stand by and watch the new age begin.


Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-21651900