The New Yorker: Are Asian Americans the Last Undecided Voters?

By Hua Hsu

    Politicians have tended to ignore the Asian American population in America, which has been steadily growing. They have done so because the group is very diverse, and it is believed that they are a political non-factor. Also, many communities were considered Republican because when they first arrived in the US, the Republican party was pushing hard anti-communist rhetoric along with a hard-work attitude, which appealed to many incoming immigrants. Recently, some Asian Americans have noticed the tightly-knit communities within their nationalities and wondered if they could pull those communities together for a strong national influence.

    The Asian American population has grown exponentially over the last two decades, and even more importantly most of them do not identify with any particular political party.

    The term "Asian American" covers anyone from over 20 different countries, each with different histories in the US, and even widely different levels of economic success. Because of these gaps, and the fact that many of these countries have a history with each other, it has been hard to get a hold of "Asian Americans", even though they are grouped under a single category. This reflects in the voter turnout of Asian American citizens. Since the 90s, there have been efforts to combine all of the individual communities into a single voter bloc, which has yet to manifest. These days, though, more people seem to be voting Democratic.

    Republicans were the first to understand that if they reached out to each of those individual communities, they could have a substantial impact on the election. In the early 2000s, many Asian Americans were elected to local seats in Orange County, California, and in the 2010s, the Republican Party decided that they were skilled enough to run for state seats, which they won. However, as Trump's blatant racism sped up to transition to Democrats, they began to take interest in minority groups. For example, an Asian outreach program by a first-time Texas Democrat nearly won him a seat in the state legislature.

    This election cycle, there are still efforts to mobilize Asian Americans and take them to the polls. But the leaders on the Republican side aren't sure whether they should endorse Trump. They're still Republicans, but they don't agree with the President. "'On the ground, there is so much doubt,' he said. 'On November 3rd, you will see what I’m talking about.'"

CNN 10 10/26/2020 ~ 10/30/2020

Go to cnn.com/cnn10 for the latest video

Monday, October 26, 2020

Officials have finally tracked down a nest of Asian giant hornets in Washington state. The invasive species, which can kill a person or an entire beehive, showed up last year, and entomologists have been trying to track some back to their nest. First, they tried gluing it to one - it fell off; they also tried floss - that didn't work either. Finally, they used a combination of the two to get the tracker to stick. The nest was found on private property and vacuumed out. The fires in northern California have burned many homes, and a CNN Hero is donating RVs to help those in need. In fact, many firefighters have seen their homes burned down as they fight to rescue others, and they have received gifts as well.

World Series 2020: Tampa Bay Rays revel, Los Angeles Dodgers despair as Game 4 delivers baseball bliss

By Jeff Passan

    Just after midnight on Saturday, the Tampa Bay Rays stole Game 4 of the World Series in the most ridiculous series of errors ever.

    Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had chosen to keep reliever Pedro Baez in after he blew a lead earlier in the game. The Dodgers had retaken the lead, but Baez blew it a second time, after which Roberts chose to use Kenley Jansen as his closer after a rookie finished the 8th, hopeful that Jansen could record a save and save his name. Classic example of the Dodgers' bullpen mismanagement.

    Jansen struck out the Rays' first batter, and the scattered Dodger fans at Globe Life Park came to life, hoping that this would put them up 3-1 and set up Clayton Kershaw to bring home the trophy. But it was not to be. Keiermaier hit a broken-bat single, Wendle flied out, and Arozarena was walked. With two outs and two on, Brett Phillips came up. Of course, no one was worried. Phillips was one of the only two batters remaining on the Rays' roster, and he hadn't gotten a single hit in the postseason in two at-bats. But none of that mattered when he hit a looping double just past the infield, which Chris Taylor, playing center field due to Cody Bellinger's bad back, bobbled. Keiermaier scored. The ball went to first baseman Max Muncy, who threw home to Will Smith. Perhaps if Smith knew that Arozarena had slipped, he wouldn't have been in a hurry. As it happened, he thought he had to hurry, and the ball slipped out of his glove. Arozarena scored, pounding home plate with his fist, and just like that, the series was tied.

CNN 10 10/19/2020 ~ 10/23/2020

Go to cnn.com/cnn10 for the latest video

Monday, October 19, 2020

Fighting is breaking out in Asia between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Both countries claimed freedom from the USSR in 1991, and they have long disputed a territory called Nagorno Karabakh. The area is within the borders of Azerbaijan, but it declared independence in 1991 and has ruled itself with the help of Armenia. In 1994, a fragile ceasefire was declared, but on September 27th, one of the countries fired a shot, reigniting fighting in Nagorno Karabakh. A week ago, the two countries agreed on another short-lived truce, and the government in Nagorno Karabakh says that more than 700 members of its military were killed in the fighting. Internationally, Armenia is backed by Russia, and Azerbaijan is backed by Turkey. The UN, EU, NATO, and the US are all afraid that a large scale conflict could force these two larger countries into a war, and are urging the two nations to end the fighting. Music can help heal the brain, and a CNN Hero is helping senior citizens with dementia to help them get through these challenging times. Listening to music can help people with memory loss connect the song to something they have heard in the past, and it momentarily brings them back to who they are and where they are. A bacon company has created a bacon-scented mask. It uses something similar to scratch and sniff stickers on the fibers, and it can be won through a raffle.

In the Time of the Butterflies

By Julia Alvarez

A high school Contemporary Heritage book

    Based on a true story, this novel is set in the mid-1900s Dominican Republic during the reign of the dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo and revolves around 4 Mirabal sisters, who work to free their country. Three of them, Minerva, Patria, and Maria Teresa, were killed by his secret police on November 25, 1960. The fourth, Dedé, was not with them and is portrayed throughout the book as a woman telling the story of the others to a reporter who resembles the author.

    The four sisters grew up in Salcedo province, in Ojo de Agua. Patria, the eldest, is shown as a religious character, who evolves throughout the book as she loses her faith with the death of her third child, then regains it in a new fashion during a pilgrimage. Dedé, the second daughter, is weaker than her sisters and was prevented from joining her sisters' revolution by her husband, which is why she survived them. Minerva, the third eldest, is the most headstrong and courage of the four, leading two of her sisters into the revolution. Maria Teresa, or Mate, is the youngest, and she evolves as well, going from always admiring Minerva to realizing that she can choose her own path.

Apple's new Apple Silicon Macs could be released on November 17

Sources: 9to5Mac, MacRumors

    At WWDC 2020, Apple announced that it would be transitioning away from Intel x86 chips to its own Apple Silicon, the same ARM-based CPUs already in its iPad and iPhone lineups. It said it would be announcing the first Mac with these processors by the end of this year. Some expected it to be released at the October 13th event alongside the new HomePod Mini and iPhone 12 series. New Twitter leaks by Jon Prosser have stated that Apple will announce a November 17th event on the 10th. A separate Bloomberg report had previously floated a date in November for the ARM event. There is also controversy as to which Macs will be the first to get the new processors. Some are hoping that the discontinued 12-inch MacBook Pro will be revived, and others think it will be a 13-inch MacBook or an iMac.

    If you recently got an Intel MacBook, don't worry (too much). Apple has said it will keep supporting Intel-based computers for "years to come", and I will write another article explaining this.

Read about the first Apple Silicon, M1.

Time: America’s unequal economic recovery

By Alana Abramson and Abby Vesoulis

    On October 2nd, the Payroll Protection Program ended. Thousands of workers were laid off as small businesses ran out of what little savings they had and big corporations stopped receiving relief funding.

    During the pandemic, the wealth of American billionaires has soared with the stock market while 22 million workers lost their jobs in the same time span. Now, there are still 11 million fewer jobs than in February, and it has largely affected people along gender and racial lines. 7% of whites were jobless last month, compared to more than 10% of Blacks and Hispanics, and 4 times as many women became unemployed than men.

    This is largely due to the ineffectiveness of Congress and the White House. The divided chambers of Congress failed to reach an agreement on a bipartisan stimulus package after the first $2 trillion in March, and the White House has rejected any proposed plans, with Trump blatantly telling Republicans not to agree to anything earlier this month before reversing course as the pandemic worsened. On the other hand, the Federal Reserve has had no qualms about pumping money into the stock market. Jobs are still disappearing and people are being evicted as the protections from the March deal expired in August, and the stimulus checks in April weren't nearly enough.

    Part of this is due to Washington's distance from the rest of the country. Most politicians on Capitol Hill aren't broke, and neither are their friends, making it hard for them to grasp the magnitude of the economic recession. In the meantime, all the furloughed workers are in freefall without a safety net.

TedEd: The infinite life of pi

A TedEd by Reynaldo Lopez

If you were to measure the parts of a circle, how would you do it? The radius and diameter can simply be measured with a ruler, and the circumference would be a bit more complicated, perhaps requiring a tape measure. But there is actually a very important relationship between the circumference and diameter. The ratio of the two is what is known as pi. Although it is unknown when this relation was first discovered, we can see evidence of it going back 4,000 years. It can be found in ancient Greek, Babylonian, Chinese, and Indian texts, and is even believed to have been used in building the pyramids. Mathematicians estimated it by inscribing polygons in circles, but we will never be able to get an exact value for it. This is because pi is an irrational number, or cannot be expressed as the ratio of two whole numbers. So in decimal form, pi is an endless series of digits starting with 3.14159. For everyday usage, we write it as π instead of an infinite string of numbers, and there are even world records for memorizing the most numbers. Pi is used in all calculations involving circles, and it can also be used for curves and oscillations like clocks and music. In statistics, it is used in the calculation of a normal distribution curve, and it has been used in physics for the Hadron Collider and proof of the wave-particle duality of light. In fact, it has even been used to calculate the total density of our universe!

The New Yorker: Why Facebook Can't Fix Itself

By Andrew Marantz

    When Facebook was founded in 2004, there were few regulations in place to determine what was allowed on the platform and what was not. The general signal that the first content moderators received a few years later was to trust their gut instincts. Eventually, a list called the Implementation Standards was created to assist the growing number of moderators. A watered-down version of this document is on Facebook's Community Guidelines page.

    Facebook has always considered itself a neutral platform and therefore resisted calls for more effective censorship. However, the many bouts of bad press because of its shortcomings have left it relatively unscathed. And in fact, many former employees and insiders have found that no action is being taken to improve Facebook's moderation standards. For example, several employees left Facebook after offensive or degrading posts by influential politicians were flagged by moderators but reversed by Facebook's so-called "experts". They also say that numerous memos and presentations were given to top executives, to no avail. For example, Facebook did nothing about Trump's false political ads and rude posts about police brutality against African Americans even as Youtube and Twitter flagged similar content.

    On the other hand, we have seen these same posts go down in a matter of weeks whenever Facebook gets bad publicity from the media. A profile created by a nearly militant British political party that was anti-Muslim was repeatedly flagged by moderators but never removed until they incited real-world violence, which was clearly against Facebook's protocols.

    Of course, censoring content could also lead to accusations of suppressing conservatives. But analysts have found that conservative content often dominates Facebook's top posts in terms of interactions. The bottom line is, as many have seen, Facebook's algorithm, which automatically draws viral content up, is flawed, and the company has no plans to change that because it would likely result in large revenue losses if banned and flagged accounts decide to move against it.

TedEd: Performing brain surgery without a scalpel

Hyunsoo Joshua No

Thousands of people each year undergo brain surgery without an operation. A new procedure called stereotactic radiosurgery works by using beams of radiation to wear away malignant cells. The procedure involves a series of CT-scans that determine the location and size of the tumor. For some patients, an additional MRI may be needed. CT-scans also calculate the Hounsfield units of various parts of the brain, which shows the density of a material. This is important because this determines how radiation will spread through the brain. Radiosurgery uses multiple beams of radiation that converge on a tumor and destroy it. This is also helpful for doctors because they can change the angle and intensity of each beam to avoid surrounding brain structures. When the beams hit a cancer cell, they essentially cut their DNA into pieces, which causes the malignant cell to break down and eventually die. The radiation also breaks down molecules in the brain and produce unstable products called free radicals that create a poisonous environment for the cells. The immune system then cleans up the dead cells and produces scar tissue. However, there are multiple restrictions on radiosurgery. It is generally used in very small areas, and because radiation adds up in the body, recurring treatments are risky. Still, the benefits often outweigh the risks. Its success rate is as high as normal surgery for many diseases, and it requires little to no recovery time or pain.

CNN 10 10/12/2020 ~ 10/16/2020

Go to cnn.com/cnn10 for latest video

Monday, October 12, 2020

Hearings for President Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, begin today and will last through Thursday. The Republicans in the Senate are hoping to confirm her to the high court by the November 3rd general election, while the Democrats are hoping to delay the vote until after the election, in which they hope to win more seats in the Senate. The presidential debate that was supposed to be held this week was canceled; after the president's positive COVID-19 test, the Commission on Presidential Debates proposed a virtual debate on October 15th. Joe Biden's campaign accepted that but President Trump's did not, and the debate was canceled. The next debate will be on October 22nd. In Louisiana, Hurricane Delta dumped more than a foot of rainfall after it made landfall as a category 2 storm on Friday. It has caused more damage to a region still recovering from Hurricane Laura. North Korea's ruling Workers' Party celebrated its 75th anniversary over the weekend; the party controls all aspects of the country, and it unveiled its latest weapon during the military parade. A ballistic missile that is now one of the largest in the world and, according to experts, could carry multiple warheads. Kim Jong-Un also did something unconventional during his speech. He admitted that his economic policies had failed and put citizens into especially hard conditions during these times, and tears could be heard in the audience as their leader gave his speech. 2015 CNN Hero Maggie Doyne runs a children's home in the Asian country of Nepal. When the pandemic hit, she had to find new ways to keep it running.

Life Leverage

By Rob Moore

    In this book, Rob Moore describes how to "get more done in less time, outsource everything and create your ideal mobile lifestyle." One of the key topics that he revolves around are efficiency and merging life with work and passion with profession.

    The traditional ideals of society are working for the majority of your life and then having that little time after retirement for your pleasures. However, as Moore states, the amount of money you save now won't be enough for the future due to inflation. Instead, you will just waste your "yearning" years, working endlessly, never reaching your goals. But with the Life Leverage Philosophy, you don't have to do that.

    There are a few main points to the Philosophy. First, outsource everything and make maximum usage of your time. You need to build a core team around you - even if you think you can't afford it. If there's something you're not good at, outsource it. There are plenty of good outsourcing websites these days, or you can have your team do it as well. Then there is the concept of NeTime - No Extra Time. Make use of all the time you have. Listen to a podcast, read an educational book, all while exercising, going somewhere, etc.

    Merge your passion with your profession. You need to have a passion, and something you want to do during your lifetime, something that will attract others. This should be the foundation of your business (this is a very business-oriented book).

Time: How to build a safer world: Fires, pandemic, drought. We need to rethink how we live

By Fareed Zakaria

    Millions of acres have burned across the West Coast this year, an area the size of the state of Massachusetts. Temperatures skyrocketed, the sky turned orange, numerous power outages affected large areas, and cities have had the worst air quality rankings in the world. All of this is happening due to human factors, and these little occurrences will add up to make a big difference in the future.

    In recent years, the number of global disease outbreaks has also been on the rise. SARS, MERS, Ebola, Zika, and now COVID-19. In the past, most viruses stayed contained in local areas, but as human development speeds up, so are the viruses. "People are living longer, producing and consuming more, inhabiting larger spaces, consuming more energy, and generating more waste and greenhouse-gas emissions." In 2019, a UN report found that nearly 3/4 of land and the ocean had been altered in some way by human activity. Animals are being driven to extinction as ecosystems collapse, and biodiversity is falling with them.

    Because we are expanding so quickly, humans are living a stone's throw away from wild animals and nature, practically asking to be infected with novel diseases. Billions of animals are slaughtered every year for consumption, despite only making up a small percentage of our calories. Because these livestock are bred for specific traits, gene variation decreases, and a virus can easily infect a massive population with little genetic resistance. Desertification is happening at an alarming rate as well. 57 acres are being turned into desert every minute.

    We cannot stop any of this from happening, but we can help reduce its effects. If world governments cooperate against viruses, we can flatten the curve much more effectively, as we saw with smallpox eradication. Similarly, by enacting laws against carbon emissions, we can inspire research into alternatives and higher awareness as well. We all need to recognize that the world is changing, and giving up some small luxuries can mean a better, safer future.

Time: 'You’re Gonna Beat It.' How Donald Trump’s COVID-19 Battle Has Only Fueled Misinformation

By Vera Bergengruen and W.J. Hennigan

    As soon as he returned to the White House from Walter Reed Medical Center, President Trump began to downplay the severity of COVID-19, brazenly taking off his mask as he got off the Marine One and recording a video about how he overcame the virus. He urged Americans to not let the pandemic dominate their lives.

    The conservative media and Republican lawmakers immediately began to spew misinformation about how the CDC had exaggerated the pandemic to ruin the Trump administration, among others. Facebook and Twitter both flagged some of his posts as misleading information, and a study by Cornell University found that nearly 40% of coronavirus misinformation was related to the president.

    As this happened, several prominent Republicans who had been in close contact with him had been hospitalized, and he was still heavily drugged and not perfectly healthy. Should one of them die, the road ahead would be very unclear, and the children of several others who had followed Trump's guidance and died have spoken out against him.

CNN 10 10/5/2020 ~ 10/9/2020

Go to cnn.com/cnn10 for latest video

Monday, October 5, 2020

President Trump was diagnosed with COVID-19 late last Thursday, along with several others. First Lady Melania Trump, White House advisor Hope Hicks, former advisor Kellyanne Conway, Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien, and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie all tested positive for the disease. Most of these people attended President Trump's announcement of his Supreme Court nominee, and many of the attendees were not wearing masks or social distancing. The president checked in to Walter Reed National Medical Center, and although multiple reports said his vital signs were concerning, his doctors said he has been improving and could return to the White House by today. But what happens if the president is so ill that he cannot do his job? The Constitution states that he can inform both chambers of Congress of this and his powers would be transferred to the vice president, currently Mike Pence, and he would serve as Acting President. If he is so incoherent that he cannot make this decision, the vice president and Cabinet can decide to take power. If they cannot reach a consensus, then a supermajority (2/3 vote) of Congress could also transfer power. But what if Mike Pence also contracts COVID-19? Then the Constitution states that the Trump administration's rival, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, would take power. Of course, most experts believe that the Republicans would find a way around that, either going to the next in line, Republican Senate President Pro Tempore Chuck Grassley, or a member of the Cabinet. If this sounds complicated, don't worry - there are laws in place for far more complex situations. On October 31st, the SpaceX Crew Dragon will embark on its Crew 1 mission - taking 4 astronauts to the ISS - in its first fully operational mission.

Air and Space: SpaceX Wants to Conquer the Internet

By Jon Kelvey

The broadband satellite market is worth an estimated $300 billion, and SpaceX has plans to grab some of that. Elon Musk's company will launch 12,000 Starlink satellites into LEO (Low Earth Orbit) to provide Internet service to unconnected and rural areas. However, any people are skeptical. All LEO satellite companies in the past have gone bankrupt. Even though billions of people in rural and undeveloped areas need the Internet, they can't afford the price. Not only is getting satellites into LEO extremely expensive, getting routers to people and connecting it to existing infrastructure will be expensive as well.

    Because low-orbit satellites are not stationary, they must move very quickly. Also, their low altitude gives them a smaller range than geostationary satellites, requiring more of them to cover the same area. As for the price of the user terminal, SpaceX has been very tight-lipped. Altogether, unless Musk has another ingenious idea, connecting Africa alone could cost as much as $100 billion. One thing that might save SpaceX, though, could be a government grant. It could be very advantageous for the US to partner with SpaceX to provide Internet connection to Africa, where the Chinese company Huawei is already the dominant provider.

Son, Kane both 9/10 as Spurs smash six past 10-man United

By Danny Lewis

    The Spurs came into this game at the end of a busy week. On Tuesday they beat Chelsea on penalties in the Carabao Cup, on Thursday they routed Maccabi Haifa 7-2 to reach the Europa League group stages and today they humiliated a struggling Manchester United 6-1.

    Son Heung-Min was not expected to play due to his hamstring injury, but Tottenham fans were glad he did. Bruno Fernandez scored a penalty for MU in the first few minutes, but that would be the only goal of the game for them. By the seventh minute, Tanguy Ndombele and Son Heung-Min had scored, putting Tottenham up 2-1. Anthony Martial was ejected in the 28th minute, and the Spurs got two more through Harry Kane and Son before half-time. Tottenham scored twice more in the second half, including a penalty by Kane.

Tottenham fans given hope as Heung-min Son travels with squad for Manchester United clash

By Tony Morgan

    Tottenham Hotspurs Son Heung-Min was subbed out at half-time in the 1-1 draw against Newcastle and has sustained a hamstring injury. Manager José Mourinho said that he could be out indefinitely, and we do not know the extent of the injury. He has been phenomenal so far, scoring 5 goals in his first 3 appearances for the Spurs this season.

    Fans did receive some hope, though, when traveled with the rest of the team to their match against Manchester United after sitting out against Chelsea and Maccabi Haifa.

National Geographic: What President Trump’s emergency COVID-19 therapies say about his condition

By Michael Greshko

    President Trump revealed that he had tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, and is now undergoing multiple treatments. While he has continually downplayed the severity of his condition, his medical staff and advisors have said that although his condition has improved, the next few days will be critical to his treatment.

    The president is currently on two drugs. One, developed by the US company Regeneron provides monoclonal antibodies, and the other, Remdesevir, has been shown to decrease the recovery duration in patients.

    Monoclonal antibodies are the Y-shaped proteins shown in the picture. They can latch on to the viral body's spike proteins and if enough of them get on it, it can prevent the virus from infecting cells. Regeneron's treatment, called REGN-COV2 is designed to prevent the virus from living in the nose and mouth so that it cannot reach the lungs. The drug is still in the early stages of testing and many medical professionals have been hesitant, using it only on a few special cases.

    The president is also scheduled to have a total of 5 doses of Remdesevir, a repurposed over-the-counter drug that has decreased recovery time in some patients.