Claire's Current Event Blog

       I’m very interested in same-sex marriage. The first time when I heard of it, I was shocked: how can two people of same sex marry each other?! Then this idea became more and more common. Even a good friend of mine came to me one day and told me that her girlfriend proposed. They were about to move to Netherlands and get married there. That’s how homosexual became one of my favorite topics. United states is well-known for its openness and human rights. However, there is an irony: the same-sex marriage is only allowed in five states; homosexual do not gain enough respect and they feel sad about it. I was so exited when I saw this article on Los Angeles Times.

      It’s a short article comparing to other ones I did. It is quite brief but has a clear structure. First, it mentions about the background of homosexuality in New England. After a hopeful start, the same-sex marriage law turns out to be rejected. Then it indicates that United States government has already improved in realizing the importance of gay/lesbian rights. For teenagers, just like our generation, have more open mind and they are less influenced by the religion that opposes the same-sex marriage. It can see the future of homosexual is optimist. And finally the article urges people not to wait for the young generation to grow up and vote for equal rights of homosexual, but to act from now.

       I like this article pretty much. It is good to see the same-sex marriage to be described as an “essential right”. The society is progressing; new opinions should be gradually accepted by people. Like females and African Americans in the Revolution War, they were excluded when Thomas Jefferson wrote “All men are created equal”, whereas today, they have gained their equality (well not totally but almost), and now it is time for gays and lesbians should fight for their rights. Check this short video:

      “The younger you are, the more likely you are to support the idea.” I agree that the new generations are more open and they can accept this idea more easily, and I also would love to witness the time when same-sex marriage becomes legalized in more and more places. It is crucial but still hard. However I believe that it will come true one day.

　　When I’m at home, I always remind my dad not to smoke, although he never listens to me. I feel really worried about his health. It is not hard to imagine how I feel when I read this article on slate.com. It is actually a briefing version, so I then found the original article  from US. News.

　　The article first gave readers the background:  the percentage of smokers was been decreasing since decades, however this year, it increased from 19.8% to 20.6%. Experts think that it’s because of the cut of budget for state tobacco-control programs. It then gave some statistics like male smokers vs.  female smokers, smokers graduated from high school vs. smokers who did not graduate from high school, Asian American smokers vs. native American smokers. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the reason for which there are more people smoking, is that the state is not giving enough money for them to control the situation, which is somehow, good to know since it proves the success of control. The report also indicates that the money that we spend on tobacco is $203.5 billion, which is almost 33 times greater than the money spent on tobacco prevention. After focusing on these negative sides, the author also wrote about the positive things. The topic firstly narrows: the secondhand smoke is mentioned, then the article provided some advices to reduce it. Then it starts to talk about the overall situation again, finally winds up with the adolescents smoking problem caused, according to them, by movies with smoking scenes.

　　To be honest, I did not like this article. It is organized in some order, good for the first part, however the second part from the weekly report did not make much sense to me. It is merely a report of survey result without many opinions. Those datas are not really interesting. However, numbers talk. Large amount of data shows figuratively the fact. I’m surprised that “states have received $203.5 billion in tobacco-related revenue”, but the budget for tobacco prevention is less than 3 percent of that. This is something that the government should consider thoroughly. They  indeed, raised tobacco tax to shock smokers early this year. Check this video:

I also went to the NPR news to find other reasons why they increased the tobacco tax and I do find it: actually, this measure is also related to  “bridge budget gaps“. It is obvious to tell: money matters the most.

　　I should not be writing the last blog post now and I must confess myself to procrastinate. It’s not reasonable and I should try to finish work ahead. But because of it, I did not miss this great news: NASA found evidence of water found on the moon! Isn’t it an exciting moment?

　　I was shocked when I refreshed the NPR and saw this article appeard on the home page. “Plenty of water” is found on the moon. Scientists analysed the data given by the spacecraft that they crashed on the moon last month and they finally figured out that water do exist on the moon, at least near the south pole. Then the author points out the significance of water on moon, and introduced the way NASA discover.

　　Since it’s so recent, that’s all I see in this short article. And on Youtube, i gladly found this video:

　　That is a momentous discovery! It is a landmark in the lunar science. Astraunauts now can envison camping on the moon because of the water that makes it easy. Although it still takes time for scientists to figure out futher usage of water on the moon,  the “crash” of the moon brings them to a whole new page on the knowledge of our neighbor. 

　　It is a giant step for all human beings, and especially a brand new victory of NASA. It shows the  strong national power to the world again(although it’s already very well recognized). I look forward to seeing more and more exciting discovery. But still, people should also be aware of not being overconfident. We are almost nothing comparing to the nature, so it is important not to offense it, or it will eventually distroy us.