Daily Archives: October 17, 2011

End of an Era

Steven Paul Jobs

February 24th, 1995 – October 5th, 2011

Wednesday, October 5th, was the end of an era.  Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, passed away from pancreatic cancer. Jobs took everything he knew and tried to make it better. You know how he got the idea for the iPod? Well, there were some broken hard drives that could only store music files. Instead of trashing them, he turned it into one of the most wanted top-of-your-Christmas-list gadgets that almost everyone wanted. He also did the impossible, shrinking down computers from dinosaurs, taking up entire tables (and waaaaay before that, rooms!) and crunching them down into palm-sized devices.(That not only had your pictures, music, and documents – but games and apps, too!)

My thoughts? I think that he was a smart guy who contributed a lot to the world in the way of technology – although, he was just a guy. Like anyone, he has a good side and a bad side. He was not perfect, having many faults such as giving his teachers a hard time, to having a horrible temper and taking it out on people at work.   I am glad he was here, but the world keeps spinning, and life moves on.

Interesting Facts

– Jobs was born from teenage parents, and then adopted by Clara & Paul Jobs.
– He was a college drop out, leaving in 1976 (when he was 21 years old), to start up the company we now know as Apple. After being with the business for a while, he jumped into an animation studio, helping it along and staying with it to help produce what our children might know as “the classics”. (I’ll give you a hint: the company produced UP, Cars, and Wall-E.

Assassination in Afghanistan

In Kabul, Afghanistan there was an assassination of their former president Burahanuddin Rabbani. It was committed by a suicide bomber who waited days to meet the president. The killer hid the bomb in his turban. He then posed as part of a Taliban Peace Convoy and killed him in is room. This was a terrible blow to attempts to bring peace to a country that has had decades of war. This will also most likely delay bringing the troops back from Afghanistan if it has not already.

This assassination was only a few days after a daytime attack on the U.S. Embassy. There was also an attack on the NATO headquarters. These reasons have deepened the fear in the country. The close friends of Rabbani say that a high contact from the Taliban came to speak with him. After insisting on not being searched they got into their meeting. Then he bent his head down and his turban exploded. The friends say it destroyed the windows of his house and shook other houses.

I feel that these events will greatly impact bringing peace to the middle east. I also believe that because of the assassination security will be greatly increased around people of high value. The attacks on the U.S. Embassy and the NATO headquarters will also call for increased security around all U.S. buildings. Since the Taliban attacked the former president of Afghanistan I think they will try to attack the current president of  Afghanistan next. I think that more attacks will occur on U.S. buildings and more assassination attempts of high ranking people will take place.

~Andrew Goggin

9/11/01: Never forget, Never surrender.

As you know, it is the 10 year anniversary of the tragic 9/11. On this day, American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the north tower of the Words Trade Center in New York. Only minutes later, a second plane crashed into the south tower. Not to long after that, a third plane crashed into the western wall of the Pentagon in Washington D.C.. The tragedy affected many people throughout the United States, leaving many, many people wondering “why would someone want something this bad to happen to us?”.

To me, this was only my second day of pre-school. I was only three and I had no idea why everybody was depressed when I got home. I had no idea of what was unfolding miles and miles away. Personally, I had a great day at school. However, I noticed many of my classmates leaving school early. I was not worried for I had family working/learning at school. It was only a half day and when my mom came to pick me up in the parking lot I heard a lot of mumbled words like terrorist and pentagon: words I have never even heard of before. I will never forget that day? What was your experience on that day?

~Joe McCarthy