CNN 10 10/4/2021 ~ 10/8/2021

Go to cnn.com/cnn10 for the latest video 

Monday, October 4th, 2021

There is a new vaccine mandate in California. All children attending school in person will have to be vaccinated. The mandate will go into effect as soon as a vaccine becomes fully approved by the FDA for younger children. If it goes into place, it will be the first and only such law in the US. There will surely be many lawsuits over it; some parents believe that being vaccinated should be a personal medical decision, seeing that children have higher survival rates from the virus. In one of the many impacts of the pandemic, China is seeing energy shortages. As the second-biggest economy in the world bounces back and begins producing goods again, its industries have needed lots of energy. But China is also working to meet its renewable energy goals, which are making it hard to meet the high energy demand.

Thursday, October 7th, 2021

Tensions between China and the island of Taiwan are rising again. China recently flew 150 warplanes into Taiwanese airspace. Taiwan says it has done nothing to provoke an attack. This likely occurred because the US is an ally of Taiwan. Over the past few years, it has given billions in military funding to the country in a show of support. China says that the Taiwanese island should be and is its territory, and that the US has provoked it by sailing warships in the Taiwan Strait. This rivalry has existed since 1949 when the Communist party in China won a civil war and established the People's Republic of China. The previous Democratic government fled to Taiwan and calls itself the People's Republic of China, each claiming to have authority over all Chinese territory. Since then, tensions have cooled and economic and tourist ties have been established, but the government in mainland China still says that it is prepared to take Taiwan by force if necessary. Hovercraft were amphibious vehicles that seemed to float on air across the water and were once heralded as the future of travel. However, high costs and low profits have caused the service to dwindle down to one port on the Isle of Wight, where people use the remaining craft to travel and play. There is even a museum of the boats that once took people across the English Channel, and surprisingly remains the fastest mode of transport across to this day.

Friday, October 8th, 2021

Global supply chain backups are taking a toll on the US and its consumers. Due to a lack of dockworkers to unload ships, ports around the country are seeing back-ups, keeping cargo ships idling for weeks before they can unload. Once the containers are on the ground, the picture isn't much better. Truckers are having to wait long hours to get their trucks loaded, and there is a shortage of them as well. All of this translates to less availability of goods and higher prices, which could have negative impacts on consumers. In China, archaeologists have uncovered a Great Wall fort from the Ming dynasty. It contains well preserved walls, as well as several clay statues.

21 Lessons for the 21st Century

By Yuval Noah Harari

    Humans have irreversibly changed the world. This book explores the ways in which we have done so, in ways that many may not even realize, and explains the impacts of these changes on the future.

    The first few chapters discuss how AI and computers have progressed. They are slowly taking over jobs that normally would have required humans, and though they may never gain full "consciousness", which is something that even people don't really understand, they will have significant impacts on humans and the workplace. Because of these rapid changes, the job market will also fluctuate rapidly, which means that the traditional model of education may not work anymore. It might no longer make sense to learn basic skills then train your entire life for one occupation. Instead, dynamic learning, constant retraining for new jobs, might be necessary. Connecting to the idea of AI, the future might also be shaped by computers. Algorithms are already getting better than even humans at detecting user interest - perhaps in the future, Google or Facebook will know you better than you do yourself.

    Part two discusses politics and religion. Nationalism is a big thing these days, and while humans always tend to gather into groups, ultra-nationalism is dangerous. It is what causes war and division, but the world needs to collaborate to succeed.

    Part three is about war and peace (no not the book). It first delves into terrorism, and how it has changed our world. In the past, terrorists would have had no impacts at all. But we have gotten so used to being perfectly safe that even the slightest tremors make us afraid, make us overreact, which is exactly what the terrorists wanted in the first place. As for war, in today's world, war for big countries means mutually assured destruction. But one should never underestimate the stupidity of humankind, when one misstep could cause catastrophe. And that is why a little humility would be good for everyone.

    The final parts discuss how, in the digital age, humanity as a whole has gained massive knowledge but individuals know less and less because so much easy information is at our fingertips. And this is why fake news is so dangerous.

    Many think that life is a story that you are the center of. But it's not. So just take a step back and reflect, observe, and meditate.

Note: I've read so many books by this person and I'm a little bored...

CNN 10 9/27/2021 ~ 10/1/2021

Go to cnn.com/cnn10 for the latest video 

Tuesday, September 27, 2021

There are three major bills on the legislative agenda this week on Capitol Hill. The first is a bill that would authorize more funding for the federal government and raise the federal debt limit. Current funding will expire at midnight on September 30th, which means the government could potentially face a shutdown. The other part is the debt ceiling, which is a limit on how much the government can overspend. Experts estimate that that will be reached around later October or early November, and in the past, the debt limit has always been raised, regardless of which party is in power. Now, though, Republicans want Democrats to do it themselves, while Democrats oppose this because they want to avoid looking like they are acting unilaterally. There are also two infrastructure bills, one of the $1 trillion and the other $3.5 trillion. The first would invest in infrastructure, while the second focuses more on social issues. These are very important cornerstones of President Biden's legislative agenda, and there is still division among the Democrats about the bill as the Senate vote on it comes up. Parts of south Britain is seeing gas shortages due to a lack of truck drivers. While there is plenty of oil, there aren't enough drivers to take it to gas stations, leading to massive lines and shortages. The coast of New York is not a place you would expect to see whales, but it is actually one of the most popular places for whale watching. It also has lots of ship traffic, resulting in heavy environmental damage. The Wildlife Conservation Society is trying to help by using sensors to detect when whales are in the water and alert nearby ships.

Thursday, September 30, 2021

There are many concerns about inflation around the world right now. Inflation means that your money loses value. this can occur because the central bank prints too much money, making each piece of paper worth less. A healthy rate of inflation, around 2% is considered good for a growing economy. But over the past few months, the US inflation rate has been around 5%. This started with the pandemic, and economic analysts originally expected it to return to normal soon. However, as the pandemic continues and variants emerge, the Federal Reserve reported that it expected inflation to stay up for a while. NASA is sending a probe called Lucy to the asteroid belt around Jupiter. Its goal is to learn more about the solar system and how the planets ended up in their current positions. After orbiting around Jupiter, the probe would then return toward the Sun. 

Friday, October 1, 2021

In major ports around the world, there are still massive delays. There are many reasons for this. One of them is the ongoing labor shortages as many people don't want to return to work, meaning it's harder for remaining workers to do their jobs. There's also the varying vaccine mandates around the world. For instance, some sailors have been vaccinated as many as 6 times, while others have never been vaccinated. Some countries require testing, sometimes multiple rounds of it, all of which makes the process longer. Many sailors have been at sea for almost the entire year, and many are afraid to sign on to ships as the holiday season nears, fearful they won't be home by Christmas. Robocalls are ubiquitous these days. They are generated by computers that generate random phone numbers to call, and more random numbers to make the call look real, called spoofing. If you pick up, you will likely be handed over to a human operator, and get a bunch more robocalls now that you are on a "hotlist". Robocall regulations exist, but they're hard for the FCC to enforce since calls can come from anywhere, even abroad.

CNN 10 9/20/2021 ~ 9/24/2021

Go to cnn.com/cnn10 for the latest video 

Monday, September 20, 2021

The US military is apologizing for what it has called a "tragic mistake". On August 26th, a terrorist group called ISIS-K launched a bombing near Kabul airport as the US military completed its rushed withdrawal from Afghanistan. Three days later, they launched a drone strike on a car that was believed to be carrying a terrorist and weapons. However, people nearby said that civilians had been killed, and on Friday, the Pentagon admitted to the mistake, saying an aid worker and 9 children had been killed in the strike due to a fatal miscommunication. We learned that in the minutes before the attack, the CIA warned military officials that children could be in danger. Military officials have said that effective anti-terrorist attacks in Afghanistan are still possible, but infinitely harder without boots on the ground. On the US-Mexico border, a new crisis is unfolding. Hundreds of thousands of Haitians are flooding the border after President Biden granted them temporary protected status in the US in light of the recent natural disasters in the country. That order has since been rescinded, and border control agents are now in the process of trying to process all the immigrants for deportation. In the meantime, camps are already going up in Del Rio, Texas, as thousands of migrants await.

Tuesday, September 21, 2021

A volcano on the Canary Island of La Palma had a major eruption on Sunday. This was expected - geologists had seen dozens of small earthquakes around the area beforehand - and several hundred residents and tourists have been evacuated from the area around the volcano. The lava has damaged several homes, but no casualties or injuries have been reported thus far. Eruptions occur because magma, or molten rock, deep within the Earth's core rises and comes to the surface, turning into lava. If the magma is thin and runny, gases can escape easily, leading to slowly flowing lava, like what we have seen in Hawaii and the current eruption. But if it is thick and sticky, that traps gases, leading to bigger explosions. Seahorses are a majestic seawater creature, that, like so many others, is becoming endangered. One of the biggest threats in bottom trawling, where fishers drag nets along the sea bottom, which is an extremely effective way to harvest many popular kinds of seafood but also devastates ecosystems. Project Seahorse is one of the organizations trying to change that through collecting data and spreading awareness about the creatures.

Wednesday, September 22, 2021

In New York City, the 193 member nations of the United Nations are kicking off the 76th UN General Assembly. On Tuesday, the General Debate, where representatives from each country can voice their concerns, began. In his first speech as US President, President Biden talked about the issues of COVID-19, climate change, and human rights. Consumer spending is still down from pre-pandemic levels, and spending wasn't as high as expected over the summer because of the Delta variant, leaving stores and restaurants with even more challenges. Employment did not go up in areas such as leisure and hospitality last month, leaving employers to try new solutions. One of them is robot workers, who assist the human ones. Owners say they aren't taking away anyone's jobs because no one is coming out to work, possibly because of the unemployment benefits from the most recent stimulus bill.

Thursday, September 23, 2021

There are new travel restrictions in place for the United States. The list of banned countries suffering from high levels of COVID-19 was expanded. However, fully vaccinated individuals who provide additional tracing information can now travel to the US as tourists. The new rules are expected to go into effect in early November. Yesterday was the second equinox of the year, the autumnal equinox for those in the Northern Hemisphere and the vernal equinox for those in the south. This means that the lengths of day and night were almost the same at the equator. For those far south and north, this means that they will start seeing daylight extremes soon, such as long daylight or night hours. Up at the North Pole, people will also start to see the northern lights more often. In areas with lots of trees, you may also start seeing the red leaves. This phenomenon occurs because the chlorophyll normally in the leaves that photosynthesize light and produce green colors go away in the winter, allowing red and yellow pigments in the leaves to show.

Friday, September 24, 2021

Congress is in turmoil over the debt ceiling. It was first established in 1939 to set a limit on how much the US Federal Government is allowed to borrow. It has been raised time and again in the past regardless of which party is in power because the government operates on debt. Right now, the debt is at 28.5 trillion dollars, right up near the limit, and if it is not raised, the government could be unable to pay its bills, leading to a shutdown. The Democrats say that Republicans should be "responsible" and support their increases; the Republicans say that the Democrats should do it themselves since they have control of both chambers of Congress and the White House. Neither side wants to look like it is acting unilaterally, but if a resolution is not reached soon, it could have disastrous consequences for the economy. Nigeria is the biggest country in Africa, but many of its inhabitants live in poverty. Around 80 million of its inhabitants live with food insecurity, but at the same time, a lot of the food sold in open-air markets is going to waste because of the Nigerian heat. Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu is trying to solve this problem with coldhubs. These solar-powered, low cost refrigeration units can keep food fresh for several weeks - enabling farmers to maximize profit and making sure people can get food.