[CE.] Occupy Movement Goes Global

Protesters worldwide have joined the "Occupy Wall Street" movement in a cry of rage against bankers, financiers and politicians they accuse of ruining global economies and condemning millions to poverty and hardship through greed.
Dozens of cities across the world - from Tokyo to Alaska via London, Frankfurt and Washington - are holding demonstrations on Saturday, in a show of solidarity with the rallies that began last month in downtown New York.

It's surprising to see how much of an impact one movement in New York has made. It began as a small gathering of people all tired and angry of the same thing. That group of people continued to grow and grow until it became big. Not just across the nation big, but WORLDWIDE big. It's amazing how people can unite under one idea. This whole movement can also be seen as something that raises awareness, and that it does. As the movement began to grow, other countries were noticing the problems that we were protesting and saw those very problems in their own homes.

Now, more and more countries are beginning to realize that that problem is a big one and something has to be done about it. So they're gathering up and organizing their own 'Occupy' protests. Not necessarily occupying anything, but just getting rid of the idea of corporate greed and inequality. They want to fix how flawed the relationship between government and economics is. It's a good thing to protest for and every government should behave and serve the people as they should.

[CE.] Steve Jobs?

Passionate, prickly, and deemed irreplaceable by many Apple fans and investors, Steve Jobs made a life defying conventions and expectations. And despite years of poor health, his death on Wednesday at the age of 56 prompted a global gasp as many people remembered how much he had done to transform the worlds of computing, music and mobile phones, changing the way people communicate and access information and entertainment.

I agree with the response that Steve Jobs' death is getting, but only to an extent. What has this man brought us? He's brought us the gadget that we most likely carry around in our pockets every day. He's given us the idea of how we should keep trying new things and that eventually we'll find something that works. To lose a person like Steve Jobs, what is it like?


Bringing it to a personal level, I wasn't really that into Apple. The only thing I ever owned from Apple was the iPod Touch, so I guess I owe Steve that. Oh and, the fact that he founded the animation company, Pixar, that created a plethora of greatly successful films. I do owe him for some things.


With every great innovator, he still has to owe the person that gave him the tools to become great in the first place. To that, I think he owes Dennis Ritchie. Who is Dennis Ritchie? Well, let's just say that without him, a bunch of the modern technology you see today won't even exist. He was a computer scientist who developed the most common and versatile programming language, C. C would eventually evolve into C++ but the fact that he laid out the groundwork for greater things is something that we all owe him. 


Dennis Ritchie died on October 12th, 2011. His death didn't gain any, or very little news coverage. I think it's sad that we overshadow the actual people behind the scenes and only mourn for the people who managed to gain more publicity and popularity. Maybe that's how Dennis Ritchie wanted it, but I think we still owe it all to him.

[CE.] Hackers Aren't All That Bad

The activist groups Anonymous and RevoluSec claimed responsibility on Monday for the operation, leaving their mark on sites such as the ministry of transport and ministry of culture.
Activists replaced the official sites with caricatures of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and a message saying, "Don't let Bashar monitor you online", along with tips on how to avoid detection by Syria's online intelligence - known as the Syrian electronic army.

 When we usually think of hackers, we think of people with malicious intent working hard to get into your personal information and stealing everything you've put out in the internet. We've had our own share of experiences with the tools of a hacker as well. From viruses, worms, trojan horses, phishing sites, keyloggers, we've probably had a situation with it one way or another. But people should know that hacking isn't always done with a malicious intent. There's online activists that use similar tactics but for the greater good instead. Exemplified here by the largely known Anonymous and partner in crime RevoluSec, whom is part of the antisec movement.

Most people who have heard of Anonymous have labeled the group to be bad. But there's one thing you should know about Anonymous; there is no organization or definition of who is in anonymous. Everyone who uses the internet can be a part of Anonymous, and they can choose whether or not to do things for the 'lulz' or for the greater good.

What Anonymous and RevoluSec is trying to do is protect the rights of the people of Syria over the internet. They want to get rid of attempts by the Syrian government to monitor the use of computers and have hacked government sites to create awareness. The internet could easily be classified as a land, or country of it's own. A lot of the things on the internet are different from in real life and there's a different set of rules when you're on the internet. Being on the internet gives you basic human rights and that is what Anonymous and RevoluSec are trying to preserve.

[CE] France Bans Public Prayer

The idea of banning public prayer is to an extent, justified. Angela brings up the point that people have the freedom to assembly and rights but you have to think, just because that applies to the United States doesn't mean that it's the same thing in a different country. I don't know much about the French government but I do believe that they will have justifications on the ban. And as expected, most of the opposers are the ones who practiced before the ban.

The government has the right to regulate what they think may be [and I don't know if I'm using the right word] harmful to the public. It's not really much of a ban on public prayer, but more of a relocation. they didn't completely outlaw it but they basically said hey don't do in the street, just do it here. I don't think it would be too harmful to the Muslim community either. Personally I would be happier if it was just a relocation instead of a total ban. I would still get to do what I want to do, but just not at the same place. And it's not like their relocation is any worse than the streets either.

It may be controversial but I think it's justified to an extent. They're relocating them to a more proper mosque instead of the streets. It wasn't that 'controversial' of a decision in my opinion, it sounds like it's better off that way for both Muslims and French citizens.

[CE.] Obama urges no 'political games' on jobs plan

"This is a bill that will put people back to work all across the country. This is a bill that will help our economy in a moment of national crisis," Obama said, flanked by teachers, police officers, construction workers and small business owners he said would be helped by his plan.

He took aim at Republicans who have resisted many of his economic initiatives in the past. 

"We can't afford these same political games, not now," Obama said.

I honestly wish I could quote this whole article.

The topic of money, debt, and jobs have been ongoing for a ridiculous amount of time. How many times have we tried fixing it and where have we actually gone? I don't really keep up with politics but it seems like we're still stuck in a gridlock. Both sides of congress have different views and we're not really meeting in the middle. To both sides, it's like give us what we want or have nothing at all.

It's really frustrating because Obama has been putting a good effort into actually getting something done, but congress just keeps bickering at each other, nitpicking at the little things in every proposal and avoiding any progress that could have been made. The ultimate sufferer of this gridlock is Obama, because everyone thinks it's his fault that getting to a solid solution isn't happening. I think congress should give Obama's plan a chance and pass it anyways, since they haven't been going anywhere for what seems like quite a long time now and maybe it's just what they need.

[CE.] The Unsung Heroes of 9/11

There's always been talk about how many people have virtually gone unappreciated when it comes to the events that happened on 9/11. Some of the things we first think about when it comes to 9/11 are the terrorists, the victims, and how much of a tragedy it was. Seldom do we think about the people who cleaned up after that mess, saved lives, and helped to protect the people after the event. 

This news video kind of shocked me in a sense. It had some information that I was completely blind to at first, such as rescue workers actually suffering from PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD is a lot more common in soldiers who witnessed the atrocities of war, where they constantly watch their friends get shot, dead bodies scattered everywhere, and a lot more horrible things. I can only imagine what the cleanup workers had to see. A lot of people were in the World Trade Center and a handful of those people actually jumped down to their deaths. It could very well be a traumatizing experience. 

The workers had to make sacrifices and they ended up suffering psychological and physical issues alike. The man in the video ended up with asthma and he's probably not the only one. Hell, there could be other rescue workers who had it worse.

I'm honestly grateful to the sacrifices these people willingly made. Some of them can't work anymore and the government isn't even compensating them enough. Things like these are life breakers, and the government should make an extra effort to give back to those who made these sacrifices. It's a shame that these heroes are largely forgotten.