Expectedly many modern influences in forms of writers, politicians, medical professionals, leaders, comedians, and many others from the 20th century are dying off.

Yet one of my favorite American authors Jerome David Salinger, or simply known as J.D. Salinger who is mostly famous for the novel Catcher In The Rye and other works such as A Perfect Day for Bananafish, passed away due to natural cause. He died at the age of 91 in his home in the state of New Hampshire where he had lived as a secluded individual for at least 50 years due to unwanted publicity.

While his works are fascinating, so too is his life.

Born in the year of 1919, he started dating Oona O’Neill, who later married Charlie Chaplin the great comedian, right before he entered World War II! While his earlier short-stories and works were rejected by various magazines and publishers, his failures did not deter him from meeting Ernest Hemingway in France after D-Day who praised Salinger’s talent as a writer. Salinger also participated in the famous Battle of the Bulge and acted as an interrogator due to his fluency in both French and German.

A remarkable short novel that catapulted Salinger to fame.

Later he began to claim renown as a writer and received unwanted public attention due to his Catcher In The Rye which enthralled both adults and teenagers for more than half a century and sells 250,000 copies per year according to statistics of 2004. Salinger began to become isolated from society and thus remained so except for an occassional interview along with taking part in legal conflicts such as the famous supposed plagarism of his protaganist in Catcher In The Rye.

J.D Salinger’s death is a rather terrible blow to the literary community but as with all renowned authors such as he, his influence and aura lives on through those who pick up his works in remembrance or simple curiosity.

“I hope to hell that when I do die somebody has the sense to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetary. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you’re dead? Nobody.”

- Jerome David Salinger

On Thursday, February 28th, two Iranian men arrested before the post-election protests were executed for “being involved in an anti-government organization.” or simply moharebeh which is ‘war against God’ along with the involvement with the protestors (Sea of Green).

Arash Rahmanipour; 19 years old, one of the two men convicted and hanged in Tehran, Iran for anti-government reasons.

Iran, in the wake of the mass protests after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected into office, is still turbulent and individuals who protested and are even slightly against the government are in danger of being used as an excuse to hunt down other dissidents in even more severe forms of police/militia crackdowns where in 2009, more than 4000 were arrested and perhaps hundreds killed which gives an idea of increased severity on part of the Iranian government.

The two Iranian men: Arash Rahmani-Pour and Mohammadreza Ali-Zamani seems to serve as an official and chilling warning and intimidation to the election’s protestors as the atmosphere of Iran may allow anyone to be arrested for any excuse as these two were given very random convictions such as the plotting to assassinate political figures in Iran with U.S officials along with the charges mentioned above.

An example of the massive Iranian protests which may occur in bigger size and intensity on the promised date of February 11th.

Any way, things will hit the fan.

- Authored By: Indigneous

1/30/10

There were many reactions toward President Obama’s 2010 State of the Union Address, some chanting “Obama, Obama!” while others grumbling “Liar-Liar Pants On Fire” and many others with mixed reactions merely commented on the skill of oration and certain comments.

Here we will be comparing the last Presidency with the current Presidency in terms of wordle visuals of the State of the Union Addresses.

President Bush in his last speech in the year of 2008 is shown below:

As we can see from simply the numerical count and emphasis of/on certain words, President Bush addressed topics of war, security of country, and a necessary “must” do against terrorists, in Iraq, and for America.

In short, President Bush was a “hawk” stating on the topics of war, without much mention of the economy.

So, did President Obama address the correct subjects in the new decade, and does it look brighter and better for America judging from his recent State of the Union Address?

We’ll see below:

From a glance at this ‘summary’ of the 2010 State of the Union Address, we can see that President Obama has mentioned the American people numerous times along with emphasizing on the economy including tax, businesses, jobs, and so forth. Yet one sees no mention of the word, ‘war’, totally opposite from President Bush’s speech.

The speech is also giving others doubt of the President’s truthfulness and willingness to tackle problems regardless if the Republican Party/Bush Administration was at fault for the economic situation or not, along with the uncertain fact of Obama saving 2 million jobs as he orates in his speech.

Although SOTUAs are normally addressed to the U.S Congress for further support of the President or President’s party, the public also takes the speech as an audience which may or may not improve public perspective of the Presidency. The future is as indiscernable as ever, although the government may focus even more on the economy than the previous year, one does not know whether or not the economy will be ‘better’ and its people more ‘optimistic.’

- Authored By: Bera Te.

1/28/10

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As the Washington Wizards move ahead, you can’t help but look back into the near past on star guard Gilbert Arenas’ road to a gun felony. Arenas, born in Tampa, Florida, had a mother who was a drug addict and was raised by his father. Arenas was drafted as the 31^st pick in the 2001 NBA draft by the Golden State Warriors before signing with the Washington Wizards by decision of a coin flip. It was in Washington where Arenas made his 3 All Star appearances before suffering an MCL injury late in the 2006-2007. Arenas struggled with consistency the next two seasons until an inexplicable incident. A day before Christmas, 2009, Arenas admitted to have unloaded firearms inside his locker at the Verizon Center, where the Wizards play, violating not only team rules, but Washington D.C Metropolitan’s rules on gun control. On New Years Day, 2010, the biggest shock came.

Gilbert Arenas; Suspended indefinitely from the NBA.

Reports said that Arenas and teammate Javaris Crittenton both had unloaded guns in the locker room, regarding an argument between both players about their gambling debts. On January 6^th, David Stern, the NBA commissioner, decided to take action after a pregame celebration involved Arenas shooting imaginary guns from his hands at his teammates. Three weeks later, Arenas and Crittenton were suspended for the rest of the season. Arenas was charged with carrying a gun without a gun license and his trial is near the end of March. For Arenas, only he can hope that someday he will rise from the shame that surrounds his great talent and have the guts to perform as “Agent Zero” would.

Authored By: Dave H.

1/27/10

                One may visit the fairly recent splendors of Washington D.C, visit the monuments of former Presidents, wander through the Library of Congress, walk on the same ground the Civil Rights activists marched on, and visit the war memorials dedicated to the memories of young American soldiers who sacrificed and risked their lives for their country. One may even visit the Korean War memorial portraying the harsh winters of the Korean peninsula plaguing the American soldiers sent there. Many say the Korean War (1950-1953) is the “Forgotten War” of the 20^th century.

Yet we are reminded of this “forgotten” war by the harsh ringing of the Stalinist regime and its grip on North Korea as provocative and tense-producing actions bellow from one of the poorest and one of the last Cold War communist countries in the forms of uranium-enrichment programs, flying missiles, detainment of foreigners, and most recently a “military drill.”

Unlike many other actions North Korea took, this may be the tipping point of where the Korean War may, highly unlikely, but may return into full swing. North Korea today has shot naval shells into the direction of the North-South Korean maritime border in the pretext of a military drill. Although North Korea, in speculation, may have done this for attention in demand for more negotiation and in its desperation of much needed foreign aid in the forms of food and other necessities, they may have pushed it when South Korea, their democratic counterpart, returned the fire clearly giving a message of “back off!”

1953; The Korean War armistice.

The Korean War technically never ended, in the year of 1953, North and South Korea signed an armistice, not a peace treaty, but rather a ceasefire. Although fifty seven years have passed since the signing of the armistice, no peace treaty has ever been made and the two nations are still “at war”. This event may provoke North Korea or even South Korea to very tense diplomatic positions which could prompt the Korean War to resume or at the very least have North Korea even more isolated from negotiation and the outside world leading to even more instability in the Korean Peninsula and even the more nigh-impossible task of bringing North Korea to the table in case of its resuming the fervent pursuit of a nuclear power.

- Anonymously Yours

- As the Australian Open Moves Into It’s Latter Stages, the Favorites Appear for future Grand Slams, While Nadal Needs to Find Way to Stay Healthy

After yesterday’s victory by Croatian Marin Cilic over American Andy Roddick and retiring of Spaniard Rafel Nadal vs  British Andy Murray and a confident Russian Nikolay Davydenko playing Swiss Roger Federer in primetime on Wednesday, it is becoming clearer and clearer who will contend for this year’s Grand Slams. 

Andy Roddick who lost to Marin Cilic, one of the "young guns".

The “young guns” such as Marin Cilic, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and U.S Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro are expected to flourish this year, while the 15-time Grand Slam winner and world number one Federer always remains a threat and a favorite.

Rafael Nadal; His future is still cloudy in the fields of tennis.

 Davydenko, currently on a 12 match win streak and playing the best tennis of his career, is expected to finally break through to a grand slam final, setting up great scenarios for the tournaments to come. The future of Rafael Nadal, however, remains ever so cloudy. After failing to defend his Wimbledon crown and losing his number one ranking due to injury, “Rafa” returned more determined then ever to recapture both of those titles. However, just one Grand Slam into the year, the defending Australian Open champion had to pull out after just two sets into his quarterfinal match up against Andy Murray.

After no apparent injury was sustained, Nadal called the trainer and soon later retired from the match. While Nadal’s health is in question, there is no doubt that up and comers such as Cilic and Del Potro will be a threat to the reign of Roger Federer.

Authored By: Dave H.

1/26/10

-  Even though the TV’s across New York won’t be blaring and the New York Jets team will be packing their bags for home after their loss to the Indianapolis Colts, they still have a lot to cheer about. After being nearly mathematically out, and with their coach, Rex Ryan saying “its over” the Jets managed to persevere and fight into the playoffs.

They traveled into two tough stadiums and beat two confident teams in the Cincinatti Bengals and the hottest team, the San Diego Chargers, doing it with a hardnosed attack, combining the best defense, arguably the best blitzing team in the NFL, and the best running game, behind Shonn Greene and Thomas Jones. Frankly, the Jets have a bright future ahead. They have a rookie quarterback with a rocket arm in Sanchez, who played surprisingly well against the Colts, an explosive running back in Greene, who rushed for 125+ yards and scored a TD in the first two games before suffering an injury, a 1400+ yard rusher in Thomas Jones, a pro bowl left side of the offensive line, and good receivers in Braylon Edwards and Jerricho Cothchery with other playmakers such as Brad Smith.

Oh yeah, Did I mention the number one ranked defense, with the best shutdown corner in the league Darrelle Revis and linebackers David Harris and veteran Bart Scott? By the way, the fans have something to cheer about when the “New Meadowlands” opens next season. That sounds, to me, like a very good team to base around. The Jets managed to defy odds by not only making the playoffs, but also beating the both the Bengals and the Chargers at their own stadiums. That, on its own, is a tremendous feat.

- I live right near Pittsburgh, in the state of Pennsylvania and I haven’t seen much ‘police brutality’ news lately. The reason why I mentioned the location in which I live in is because I was scrolling through the news and found about a teenager being jumped by police officers.

According to MSNBC’s/Associated Press’ Ramit Plushnick-Matsi, the police officers in plainclothes (without-uniform) basically pounced on an eighteen year old teenager named Jordan Miles then basically gave him a few good punches here in there resulting in: “…his face covered with raw, red bruises, his cheek and lip swollen, his right eye swollen shut. A bald spot mars the long black dreadlocks where the 18-year-old violist says police tore them from his head.” (MSNBC)

Taken by Jordan Miles' mother, the picture shows the damage done on Jordan Miles who has no criminal record and had no "suspicious" things on him that night. (Photo source; CNN)

Interestingly, racial profiling on part of the three, white police officers may have had something to do with it as they used various methods to “restrain” Jordan Miles by the use of fists, a stun gun, yanking of hair, and finally handcuffs. It turns out that the police officers who “restrained” Jordan Miles suspected he had a gun which turned out to be a bottle of Mountain Dew.

BUT! There’s an extra twist to the story, Jordan Miles said he had NOTHING in his pockets let alone a soda bottle.

So, police brutality added with false information? Doesn’t sound much of an efficient police force to me.

The results are that an 18 year old violinist is lying down in a hospital bed for nothing along with further investigations into this matter.

As for the police officers who did this, they have been put back in uniform and their status [names, age, rank] are unknown as of this moment. They presumably failed to show up on Thursday for a hearing, but the trial has been postponed by the judges until February 18th, 2010.

 Obviously this WAS racial profiling and police brutality. There was only need for a stun gun and according to Jordan Miles, the police officers didn’t identify themselves. As for racial profiling, it was dark outside, city-nights are full of ‘dangers’ and of course a black person is strolling by, what would you suspect?

A lot of things.

- Indigneous

1/24/10

- Creationism and Evolution seem to crop up as a controversial debate in society. It almost seems a struggle between science and religion, because how religion views the origin of life is being questioned. Many would perhaps argue that science isn’t something to fear, because it has been with us for many years putting explanations behind things we do not understand, helping develop society, technology and health in many ways. Evolution is a theory supported by the scientific process, which proves right about many things. Creationism, bases itself around the word of religion and tends to offer a biblical perspective, however, if you take creation scientists like Kent Hovind, you will see that not only is it scientific but there are misconceptions about the argument from evolution. Are science and creationism compatible? It would appear not.

However, it would be interesting to look at the argument in a different light. Because it seems the argument of science and religion here seems to be so focused on the origin of life, that perhaps a different angle might need be considered.

A creationist, on the Christian side of the argument is perhaps somebody who believes that the book of Genesis is correct on the origin of life, and that the Bible is to be read in a literal way. It is by this standard this article is based. In the Bible, there exists another story and that is that of the Tower of Babel, if belief in reading the Bible in a literal way is consistent, then this story too would be believed as being true. From it, there is the following quotation:

            Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there
            confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord
            scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.”

Genesis 11: 8-9 from the King James Version of the Bible

"The Tower of Babel"; By Pieter Brueghel the Elder, year 1563

So in the story God creates multiple languages in order to confuse the builders and also: the languages were scattered abroad upon the face of the earth. We could look at language too in another light, Adam and Eve could speak with God and thus required an established and working language to begin with, though this would be leading down another path.

The problem with arguing that God, at the time of the Tower of Babel created the alternative languages is that we can trace language very far back and know an awful lot about its history, how it changes, how it’s formed and how it evolved. If language didn’t evolve studies like Etymology wouldn’t exist. The knowledge of the evolution of language has a lot more under its belt that the evolution of species currently does.

 We can look at the evolution of written language, for example, cuneiform in Ancient Mesopotamia:

Full Evolution can be found here

You can see the changes, no doubt first in tools and then style over time. From the pictographic form, it grows into the ideographic, take the first one, you have head, then the second, you have bread, combine them (the third) and you’ve got ‘to eat’, which is an ideogram. This is only an early development of the written language. By the time you get to Akkadian cuneiform, the system is very much capable of recording great epics, including the most famous one in their culture, The Epic of Gilgamesh.

We also know from scripts that also, the alphabet evolved, for example the letter ‘A’ is the word ‘Aleph’, which means ‘bull’ and derives from the ‘bull’ pictograph. The word ‘aleph’ undergoes its own linguistic change into ‘alpha’ – so we have alpha, beta, gamma, delta – the Greek alphabet, which are all derived from pictograms.

The Gilgamesh Epic; an example of Akkadian cuneiform.

The language we have today has changed a lot. Heck, English is a mix of several languages, it existed as a child of Norman and Old English, but many other words have entered our language from various backgrounds, have a look at the word ‘kiosk’, it’s borrowed from Turkish. We can look at other word origins – ‘democracy’ comes from δημοκράτια, or in our alphabet, dēmokratia. It travelled from Latin before entering our language as ‘democratia’, only a small change and in Middle French, “democratie”. Word origins stretch across other counter-parts, some of our language comes from Anglo-Saxon and Norse, these languages are perhaps the reason English is referred to as a Germanic language. Some of the old words still exist in our dialogue, for example, have you ever wondered why a Scotsman says, ‘oot‘ as opposed to ‘out‘?

To only speculate, it could have existed in their dialect, possibly from the days of Norse speaking Vikings, because ‘out’ in Norse is út, which would likely have been pronounced exactly the same.

On another front, scholars are looking into the languages of Indo-Europe and looking for what language connects all Indo-European languages, because there are so many linguistic similarities across languages in the continent– some words in Sanskrit are very similar to English and German, despite both developing in two different parts of the world. The language labelled by scholars is ‘Proto-Indo European’ or ‘PIE‘ for short, there are no discoveries of artifacts containing this language, but the languages do take root in an ancient Indo-European language. Language development can be traced as far as the earliest civilizations, such as the Sumerians who pre-date the creation of the Earth in biblical terms.

 - The evidence to support language evolution are undoubted and languages can be traced as far back as thousands of years. But how would the Tower of Babel weigh against it? Did God create the different languages or did they evolve? Can the evolution and creation debate be reconsidered on understanding the relationship of evidence and knowledge?

- Authored By: Bryn Price

1/23/10

- Here in the UK, and probably elsewhere around the world, our Queen Elizabeth the Second along with Prince Philip (her husband) will be visiting New York to address the United Nations in July this year after she takes a royal tour of Canada.

Even we here at London don’t exactly know what the topic of the Queen’s speech will be, but all of us can guess at what might be addressed. Obviously the Queen hasn’t addressed the U.N General Assembly for 57 years. (Yes she’s that old.)

Her last speech was basically an encouraging speech for the U.N where she said, “…the future of this organisation will be determined, not only by the degree to which its members observe strictly the provisions of the charter and co-operate in its practical activities, but also by the strength of its people’s devotion…I offer you my best wishes in your task and pray that you may be successful.”

We can safely assume by the context of her previous address that she will give a similar speech addressing current issues and specifically pointing out events that the U.N has been successful in up to now and as the head representative of 16 U.N country members make “constructive criticism” and praise what the U.N has achieved in the past half-century. It certainly won’t be like the Speech at Tilsbury given by Elizabeth the First in terms of well, terms.

- Tim M.Y Belden

1/23/10