The Martian

By Andy Weir

    In 2035, more than a decade into the future, humans have finally landed on Mars. It is Sol 16 (Martian days) of Ares 3, the third mission out of 5 to the moon. Astronaut Mark Watney is one of the four astronauts sent on the mission, and he is only to take charge if he is the only one left. By the end of the day, he's in command.

    A huge dust storm billows up, covering the Hab (a massive tent-like house), which lies in Acidalia Planitia. The wind begins to tip the MAV (Mars Ascent Vehicle). This is critical because the MAV is the only way to get home. When it begins to tip too far, NASA aborts the mission and the astronauts leave the Hab in their spacesuits. On the way to the MAV, Watney is hit by a broken section of the communications system, which decompresses his suit. This would all but certainly kill him, and when they can't find his body, the crew has no choice but to leave.

CNN 10 3/8/2021 ~ 3/12/2021

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Monday, March 8, 2021

The number of new COVID-19 cases in the United States is going down. At its peak, more than 300,000 people were infected every day; that number is now down to around 65,000. One new concern, though, is that this decline seems to have plateaued in several states, meaning that progress has stalled. In the light of this, though, several Republican-led states are easing restrictions while Democratic states are seeing continued encouragement of mask-wearing and social distancing. Still, most states are making some effort to reopen their economies. Pope Francis recently became the first pope to visit Iraq. The nation is officially Muslim today, but it is the ancient home of Judaism and Christianity as well. At sites destroyed in the war against ISIS, the Christian leader stated that hope and peace will triumph over war. At the Tokyo Olympics this year, Kane Tanaka will become the oldest person to ever lift the Olympic Torch. The supercentenarian is the oldest person alive. She is just 4 years away from also becoming the oldest person ever. Though she may seem tired at times, the 118-year-old is still sprightly and plans to walk the torch to the next person in line.

Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg

By Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik

    The name Ruth Bader Ginsburg has become almost synonymous with her fiery dissents. But she has done much more than that. As she grew up, she was constantly told that she was a girl - as though girls couldn't achieve as much as boys. Part of the reason she married Marty Ginsburg was because he saw her as an equal. Later, when they both attended Harvard and she had to transfer to Cambridge so that Marty could get a job, the Harvard Law School dean refused to give her a degree - one that was granted years later during her tenure on the Supreme Court.

Time: How Kim Ng, Major League Baseball's First Female GM, Finally Got the Top Job

By Sean Gregory

    After being passed over, Kim Ng has finally become the first female general manager in the MLB as the new Marlins GM. On November 13, when she was hired, famous women from across the US congratulated her on social media. This job has been long in the making.

    In the past year, a variety of women have risen through the ranks in sports, from coaches to officials. But prejudice is still very pervasive, and the first women in the field have a big burden to carry, just as the first Blacks did as well.

"At her introductory press conference, Ng, fully aware that bad actors can point to one woman’s lack of success as an indictment of all women holding top decision-making spots, said that when she got the job, 'there was a 10,000-lb. weight lifted off of this shoulder. And then after about half an hour later, I realized that it had just been transferred to [my other] shoulder.'"