Stuff YOU Should Know
Anti-Weapons Group Receives Nobel Prize
Lately, there has been a lot of talk in the news about nuclear weapons, particularly as tensions escalate between the United States and North Korea. So it seems fitting that this year’s Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to a group that is working hard to get rid of nuclear weapons.
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons is a group of disarmament activists based in Geneva, Switzerland. The group draws attention to the horrors of nuclear war. It also worked to promote the first treaty banning nuclear weapons, which was signed by the United Nations in July. Fifty-three nations signed the treaty, though so far only three have formally ratified it. Fifty United Nations member countries must ratify the treaty in order for it to go into effect. The treaty prohibits the use, threat of use, testing, development, production, and possessing of any nuclear weapons, and requires nations that already have nuclear weapons to destroy them.
The Nobel peace prize committee said they are hoping to bring attention to the issue and encourage all nations to disarm. The Peace Prize was established in 1895 and is one of the five Nobel Prizes created by the Swedish inventor and industrialist Arthur Nobel. It is unusual for an organization (rather than an individual) to receive the award.
Dig Deeper Use internet resources to come up with a list of the nine nuclear-armed nations which refused to sign the United Nations’ treaty back in July. Did any of these countries surprise you?
Apple Releases New Emojis
What’s your favorite emoji? The eye-roll? Thumbs up? Sleeping face? Whether you like them or not, emojis have changed the face of popular culture and changed the way that we communicate with one another. Sony Pictures even made a (not very successful) movie about the pictographic symbols last summer. In July, in honor of World Emoji Day, Apple introduced 12 new emojis. This was just a preview of the hundreds which will be released next week. Some of the new emojis include a sandwich, a zombie, a head of broccoli, and a hedgehog.
Though emojis may seem like just a silly accent to texts and emails, the newest ones reflect a growing trend toward diversity and inclusivity. In 2015, Apple made it possible to select a skin tone for the human-based emojis. A mosque and synagogue were also added to complement the existing church emoji. The newest emojis include a woman in a headscarf, a woman nursing, and a genderless person available in a variety of races and ages.
This new batch of emojis will bring the total available to nearly 3,000.
Dig Deeper Many people use emojis to communicate beyond what the original emoji was intended to mean. For example, people can use emojis to send coded messages. Visit this Web site link to create your own emoji code to write secret messages to your friends!
Salad-Making Robots?
Have you ever gone up to a salad bar in a restaurant just to find that it looks pretty unappealing? You may think that you’re making a healthy choice with a salad bar, but many salad bars are areas that stand a higher chance of being full of bacteria and viruses. Luckily, Deepak Sekar, a San Francisco-based inventor, has come up with a solution: Sally the Salad Robot.
Here’s how it works: If you want a salad, you use a touchscreen to place your order (you can order from the prescribed menu of salads, or create your own). Then, the machine takes precut vegetables out of refrigerated canisters and drops them into your bowl. The entire process takes less than a minute, and better yet, humans aren’t touching the food.
Sounds great, right? There’s one problem. As robots like Sally become more and more prominent in the food service industry, there is the potential for large numbers of people to lose their jobs as a result. Some industry watchers worry that up to 50 percent of U.S. jobs could be lost in the next ten to fifteen years largely because of robots.
Mr. Sekar claims that Sally won’t put anyone out of work. The machines will still need to be restocked by people (the vegetable canisters only hold enough for about 50 salads at a time), as well as cleaned and maintained. Furthermore, restaurants could still use human staff to do the cutting and chopping of the vegetables. Plus, with its hefty price tag, it isn’t like we are going to see Sally in every U.S. restaurant anytime soon: one salad-making robot costs $30,000.
What Do You Think? Imagine that you are the owner of a restaurant and you have $30,000 to spare. Would you purchase a salad-cutting robot? Why or why not?
Goodbye AIM
Before Snapchat, before Facebook, before Twitter, there was AOL Instant Messenger (or AIM for short).
Released in 1997, just as the internet was rapidly spreading into more homes, AIM was an enormously popular way for teenagers and young adults to communicate with each other online. Users built their own screen name and online profile, and interacted with a network of friends and acquaintances, often for hours at a time. Much like texting, AIM users developed their own shorthand (such as “g2g”), but unlike today’s technology, it wasn’t possible to send photos or images. Before this, the internet was thought of as a “useful” technology, but AIM also made it a fun place to “hang out.” (The fact that most parents didn’t understand how to use it probably also added to its appeal.)
For many people in their 30s and early 40s today, AIM was where they first asked someone out on a date or fought with a friend. But despite its history, AIM never really made the jump to mobile and couldn’t compete with newer forms of social media. As a result, it will be shut down for good on December 15. If you still remember your password, and your buddy list still exists, you can log in until then, but after December 15 all data will be deleted.