White House Pays Tribute to France at State Dinner
Last week, President Obama hosted a state dinner, a formal affair thrown as part of a formal visit between the United States and another country. This event’s guest of honor was President Francois Hollande of France. Other guests included more than 300 politicians, influential businesspersons, celebrities and other notables. The décor for the evening was […]
10 African-Americans You Might Not Know (But Should!)
Surely you know that February is Black History Month, right? And by now, you probably have a decent handle on the trail-blazing efforts of Frederick Douglas, Harriett Tubman, Martin Luther King, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, and Jackie Robinson. Even modern-day legends like the Obamas, Oprah Winfrey, the Williams sisters, Beyonce’ and Tyler Perry have become household […]
Stuff YOU Should Know
A Year of Action: President Gives State of the Union When writing the Constitution, our forefathers decided that our president would, “from time to time, give to the Congress information of the State of the Union.” In it, he would “recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary.” This means summarizing the […]
President Obama Announces NSA Reforms
Last summer, btw reported on accusations made against the National Security Agency (NSA). Edward Snowden, a former independent contractor for the CIA, exposed questionable surveillance practices of the United States government. It sparked a national debate about the balance between our country’s ability to defend itself and the rights of its citizens against government interference. […]
Japan’s Shrinking Population
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in Japan recently reported that there were 6,000 fewer babies born in 2013 (1,031,000 total) than the year before. This is the fifth consecutive period of decrease. At the same time, there were 19,000 more deaths (1,275,000). This trend is not new news, as Japan has seen a […]
Awesome Way to Raise Awareness (and to do a lot of good)
The holiday season is a popular time for people to donate to their favorite charities. On December 17 and 18, thousands of them were featured in a two-day “virtual charity drive” called The Project for Awesome (P4A). John and Hank Green, brothers behind a very popular Internet show broadcast on YouTube called the VlogBrothers, sponsor […]
Nelson Mandela, 1918-2013
Nelson Mandela passed away yesterday. Mandela was one of the most significant political and social leaders of the late 20th century. As a political activist, Mandela led social protests in South Africa against that nation’s apartheid policy of racial segregation. For his actions, Mandela was jailed by the South African government. He spent 27 years […]
We’ve Gotta Have It!
It seems to happen like this: you’re living your life and suddenly you must have a certain communication device, you just can’t possibly function in the same way without it. For your parents it might have been a VCR or a personal computer, maybe a digital pager. For your grandparents it might have been an […]
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China Ends One-Child Policy China has the highest population of any country in the world. Between 1949 and 1976, its population almost doubled from 540 million to 940 million. This was due, in part, to a dramatic increase in life expectancy as well as a belief that more people empowered the country. In 1979, however, […]
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Super Typhoon Thrashes the Philippines The strongest recorded storm ever to reach land hit the Philippines on November 8. There are at least 10,000 reported deaths so far, and more than 11 million people said to be affected, around 673,000 of them completely displaced. The Philippines is a country made up of a cluster (or […]