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

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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.