How Transistors Become Calculating Machines

We learned in class that the basis of any electronic computational device found today is the transistor. For example, the most recent iPhone has 10 billion transistors in a chip that is only 122 square millimeters. But naturally, you might wonder how this computational "unit" can create such complicated functionality. I will try to explain that briefly in this post.

A transistor is most simply just a logic gate with two inputs and a single output. If both inputs are on then the output will be on. For any other combination, the output will be off. With this simple input-output rule (often called an AND gate because both inputs must be on) you can create several other logic gates such OR,  XOR,  NOT,  NAND, and NOR.  The different inputs and outputs are shown for all of these below.

The above logic gates are the most fundamental to boolean logic, and they can all be made using AND gates (a.k.a transistors), but I leave that as a challenge for someone in the comments. The question left is how do these more complex but still very simple logic gates create calculators. To demonstrate how I will show how simple adding works.

This simple adder would have three inputs (two single-digit numbers, A and B, in binary and a carry from a previous calculation) and two outputs (the value and what carries ever into the next sum). In a table format that would look like so.

When the carry input is off, everything is simple. If you look at the sum column, you might notice that that is exactly the same as an XOR gate. Furthermore, the carry output column is exactly the same as an AND gate. When the carry input is turned on, the carry output is simply inverted. The sum column is a little more complicated when there is a carry bit. With the carry bit on, you want to XOR the input digits and then AND that with the carry input. In English, this means that if the "carry" is on and either A or B is on there will be a carry. This is put into an OR gate along with the AND result of the inputs. That way if both inputs are on and the carry is on the carry output will also be on. So a simple one-digit binary adder would look like this.

This might all seem very theoretical and difficult to understand, but if you take one step back and look at what we see here, it is very impressive. We have used a simple AND logic gate to create a complex machine that can add any two one-digit binary numbers. This machine can perform operations on numbers, and it is just made up of transistors. To add two 5-digit decimal numbers, you would need five of these, one for each digit. With millions of tiny adders like this one, you can create a machine that can surf the web, play Tetris, and help you write a blog.

The Death and Life of Great American Cities

The Death and Life of Great American Cities was written by activist Jane Jacobs, who critiqued how urban renewal was affecting the American cities that she so dearly loved. She was born in the small, coal-mining town of Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1916, and moved to the expansive, urban NYC as a young adult to pursue her career opportunities.
And it was in fact New York that inspired her to write TDLGAC, as well as Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago. She believed, and wrote, that city planning was actually damaging to the cities that were being worked on; she saw it as destructive to them, and bad for the inhabitants, as families were pushed out of homes by expressway construction, and small businesses were constantly being shut down. The novel discusses how bankers might overlook a thriving, growing neighborhood, labeling it to be a slum, and refusing to give loans to those who wanted to buy homes there, causing the neighborhood to lose new residents and slow, or even stop, its progress.
Jane underscores the need for diversity in her novel, how change is necessary for a city to be successful, and particularly focuses on slumming vs. unslumming. She believed that city planners, rather than focusing on tearing down "slum neighborhoods" and building housing projects that weren't attractive to residents should focus on bettering the so-called slums, improving them and the quality of life for those who lived there, as well as increasing the population density. And to do this, she brings the idea of sidewalks into the equation.
Jacobs strongly believed in the power of sidewalks, both as a physical commodity and as a metaphor. In TDLGAC, she writes that sidewalks are important not only as a method of people to get around safely, but to boost social interaction, bring people in contact with businesses, increase public character, as a place for children to play safely with adult supervision. She writes that for sidewalks to be successful in all of these aspects, they need to be in a safe, trustworthy place, and the way to create such an environment was to create clear lines between public and private space and have the sidewalks be in constant use.
Ultimately, Jacobs' novel contradicts the urban renewal theory that was championed by Robert Moses. Rather than "a city for traffic", Jacobs believed in a "city for the people", and it was this idea that made The Death and Life of Great American Cities so inspirational to activists and city planners alike.

ARPANET: The Foundation of the Internet

Although we learned about the Internet as a creation of the 80s/90s technological revolution, the truth is that the foundations of the Internet were being laid almost three decades before it even reached the public, through the creation of what was known as the ARPANET.

The ARPANET, or Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, was a project initially funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) within the US's Department of Defense. I won't go into too much technical detail, but the basic concept of the ARPANET that made it different from previous forms of communication technology was the way in which communication links were formed. The previous method of connection was a simple link that ran from one transmitter to one receiver, through a process called circuit switching. The ARPANET, however, developed what was called packet switching, which essentially allowed one link to connect to multiple receivers and transmitters at one time.

The history of the ARPANET traces back to 1963, when computer scientist J. C. R. Licklider formulated the basic concept of an "Intergalactic Computer Network". Licklider was hired by ARPA, where he transferred responsibility of the project over to fellow ARPA scientists Bob Taylor and Ivan Sutherland. The two then amassed a team of scientists from all over the world, and, funded by the Department of Defense, began work on the ARPANET.

Although most computer scientist companies regarded the concept as ridiculous and impossible, but eventually found awarded the contract to build the ARPANET to Bolt, Beranek and Newman Inc., the company J. C. R. Licklider had originally worked for when he came up with the idea. With a team of only seven people, they developed Interface Message Processors (IMPs), which were essentially the early version of modern-day routers. The company worked for nine months, and, in the beginning of 1970, had a functioning system that allowed one computer in Utah to connect with three in California at the same time, something that had never been done before. In 1975, the system was officially declared operational, and by 1981, 213 computers were connected through the ARPANET.

The ARPANET continued to connect computers through a single system up until 1990, when the project was shut down for good. However, while the ARPANET simply remains a part of history today, it's impossible to overlook the impact it had on modern Internet. It was the first application of many of its basic properties, and laid the foundation for what would come to be argued as one of the greatest technological advancements in human history.

Colin Powell

I kept seeing Colin Powell in our documentaries and he seemed so incredibly self-assured and well-spoken and after I found out even my parents knew who he was I knew I had to write something about him. Here is a brief summary of his life and accomplishments.

Colin Luther Powell was born to Jamaican immigrants in Harlem, New York and raised in the South Bronx. He eventually graduated from Morris High School without any clear plan for the rest of his life. He found his calling in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps and soon became commander of his unit. The ROTC gave his life structure and direction.

After his graduation from the ROTC he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army and met his wife while stationed in Massachusetts, they married in 1962. That same year, he was one of 16,000 advisers sent to South Vietnam by JFK. The year after, Powell was wounded by a punji-stick booby trap while patrolling a border. For this first tour, he was awarded a Purple Heart (a military decoration for being wounded or killed while serving) and, a year later, a Bronze Star (a decoration given for heroic achievement/service, or meritorious achievement/service in a combat zone).

On his second tour in Vietnam, Powell was injured in a helicopter crash but was still able to rescue his comrades from the burning helicopter. For this, he was awarded the Soldier's Medal (a decoration for distinguishing oneself with an act of heroism not involving conflict with an enemy) and has received 11 in all, including the Legion of Merit (a decoration for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services/achievements).

After, he attended and graduated from George Washington University and won a White House fellowship in 1972 where he was assigned to the Office of Management and Budget under the Nixon administration. He made a lasting impression on the secretary of defense and national security adviser and would often offer them counsel. He served a tour in Korea as a battalion commander and then worked for the Pentagon. He was promoted to brigadier general in 1976 and commanded the 2nd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division. Under Carter, he was an assistant to the deputy secretary of defense and secretary of energy. Then, he assisted in the transition from Carter to Reagan as major general and then a senior military aide to the Secretary of Defense and helped coordinate the invasion of Granada and bombing of Libya.

In 1987, under Reagan, Powell became national security adviser and helped coordinate technical and policy advisers during summit meetings with Gorbachev. When the Iran-Contra Affair hit, he was not implicated for any wrongdoing. Under George H. W. Bush, Powell was promoted to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest military position in the Department of Defense, and was also the first African-American officer to receive this distinction. During Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm (actions taken against Iraq and Saddam Hussein) and developed the "Powell Doctrine," an approach to military conflicts that advocates overwhelming force to maximize success and minimize casualties. In 2000, he was appointed secretary of state and, at the time, obtained the highest rank in civilian government ever held by an African American.

Though it's evident that Powell's life was full of great accomplishments, it was not without problems. He, for example, came under fire for his role in building a case for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He appeared before the UN to present evidence that Iraq had concealed an ongoing weapons development program but later testified before Congress that the sources he used were "wrong" and it was unlikely Saddam had stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. Under Clinton, he publicly disagreed with his stance on admitting gay people into the military though eventually adopted "don't ask, don't tell."

In present day, he, along with his wife, are co-chairs of America's Promise, a nonprofit they started dedicated to fostering character and competence in young people.

Sources:
https://www.biography.com/people/colin-powell-9445708
https://www.cnn.com/2013/08/20/us/colin-powell-fast-facts/index.html

Inner Workings of Reaganomics

My first impression of Reaganomics was "this is absurd". I believe that many of my classmates had the same impression of Reagan's economic policy. It sounds logical to say supporting the rich financially, who would then spend that money, would benefit the economy. However, it is illogical to even assume the consumer behavior of the rich. On which basis did Reagan believe that his economic plan would resolve stagflation? Or is there another reason, unrelated to the problems of stagflation, which motivated Reagan to support this policy?

Reagan, as expected, was not the most studious student in college. When he majored in economics and sociology in Eureka College, he graduated with a C grade. In terms of the logistics of government and economics, therefore, he was incompetent. Nonetheless, he took on a leadership role at a very young age. He performed 77 rescues when he got his first job as a lifeguard at the Rocket River in Lowell Park. He was the student body president and led a student revolt against the college president that tried to reduce the faculty. His performance as an actor also contributed to his leadership appeal. Therefore, he could be considered a political figurehead, except with his own unformulated, elusive ideals and real authority to implement them.

In spite of the elusiveness of his Reaganomics ideas, the plan was not without access. Spending during his presidency averaged 21.6%, which almost tied with President Obama for the highest among any recent President. Nonetheless, consumerism was never the only solution to growing recession. Public debt rose from 26% GDP in 1980 to 41% GDP by 1988 - a roughly three-fold increase in dollars. Consumer spending did, however, help decrease unemployment to 5% and inflation to 4% in 1988. This increase in national debt which followed individual financial improvements can be argued as an integral cause of modern industrialism and entrepreneurship. The advent of entrepreneurship was indicated by a 3.5% growth in real GDP, an increase in non-agricultural employment by 16.1 million, and a decline of manufacturing labor by 582,000.

Ronald Reagan could definitely be considered as one of the less economic-savvy politicians. He was unable to see the whole picture of the results of his economic plan, which was not well-formulated in the first place. As a member of the controversial movie industry, part of his plan might have been inspired by a desire to appeal to the upper class. Nonetheless, intentionally or unintentionally, Reagan established the foundations for modern American economics. The mounting national debt, the rapidly growing startup companies, and the huge financial disparity are all a party of his lasting economic legacy. His arbitrary economic reformation, perhaps by sheer luck, set us up to become one of the most rapidly-growing nations that is compatible with the modern global economy.

Ann Atwater and C.P. Ellis: The Best of Enemies

This past Sunday I went to go watch Us (great movie by the way) and one of the trailers that played before the film started was for The Best of Enemies, starring Taraji P. Henson and Sam Rockwell. The Best of Enemies details the real-life friendship that developed between black civil rights activist, Ann Atwater and former member of the KKK, C.P. Ellis and I was really interested in learning more about their relationship.

Atwater was born in Hillsboro, North Carolina to sharecropper parents. Her father was a deacon in a nearby church and as a child, Ann worked on a nearby white-owned farm to help her family. She married at the age of 14 and moved to Durham, North Carolina for better employment opportunities. Eventually, she became involved in a local anti-poverty program and spoke to her landlord, demanding repairs for her dilapidated house. He surprisingly agreed and she thus became an advocate for better housing and an expert on Durham's housing policies. In 1971, she was invited by the local city council to co-chair a 10-day event called "Save Our Schools," a meeting intended to deal with racial tensions in Durham schools. It was there that she first met C.P. Ellis.

Ellis was born into a poor family in Durham, North Carolina. His father was a mill worker as well as a member of KKK. Ellis married young, had three children and soon found that no matter how hard he worked, he would never have enough money to keep his family in decent condition. He grew bitter and blamed his lack of success on the black population in Durham which led to his entrance into the KKK. The group made him feel like a somebody and gave him some semblance of power. Eventually, he became the Exalted Grand Cyclops, or local leader, of his town and attended city council meetings armed. It was at one of these meetings that he met Ann Atwater.

Over the course of the ten days, the two, seemingly diametrically opposed, came to find that they had more in common than they previously thought. They wanted the same thing: a better future for their children, equal access to opportunity, and a living wage. Both were advocates for their community and, after working with a school group, both realized that most of the problems and suffering was caused by the tension in schools. On the final night of the event, Ellis ripped his Klan card in front of the audience and later formally told the Klan he would no longer be a member. They became life long friends and continued to fight poverty and system racism for many years after.

Years later, this friendship and this story are much needed in a country that is so deeply divided.



Sources:
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/nov/18/guardianobituaries.usa
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/atwater-ann-g-1935-2016/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/03/28/want-unify-country-community-organizer-klan-leader-showed-us-how/?utm_term=.22a4e5c5d029

Cambridge Analytica

When talking about recent digital history and the history of the internet it's hard to overlook the massive scandal that was Cambridge Analytica and the role they plaid in influencing the 2016 presidential election. This company used private data provided by Facebook and was employed by the Trump Campaign in order to sway voters by creating an echo-chamber. That is to say, an environment in which political opinions are only echoed with similar opinion articles and media. This can have the effect of radicalizing the audience as they are increasingly pushed to a belief set by a constant stream of media without even having to engage with the other side. This was used in many ways to radicalize republicans who may have had doubts about Trump into voting for him.
That wasn't the extent of the disturbing violations of the Scandal; Analytica also collected all sorts of personal information from the user's things that Facebook guaranteed would stay private at least in the context of use by corporations. Part of the problem of Analytica was that they presented themselves as a research company and development lab in order to gain more specific data in order to use in the Trump Campaign.
Ultimately this massive breach of Privacy and political meddling resulted in a massive backlash against Facebook. Once well-respected names like Mark Zuckerburg and Sheryl Sandburg are now seen as ruthless and unethical tycoons. Facebook stock plummeted and Mark Zuckerburg had to attend a Congressional Hearing. But this all raises the question, how do guaranty privacy in the digital age and what kind of information should stay private online and what things do companies have access to?

Studio 54

Studio 54

Studio 54 still resides in the heart of New York City. In the 70s, it was a nightclub that promoted a feeling of excitement. It was a place people can to escape their normal lives and experience a sense of freedom.

Founded by Syracuse University graduates, Steve Rubell, and Ian Schrager, bathed in the success of their nightclub. However, it was only open for 33 months between April of 1977 and January of 1980. Although short-lived, it definitely left its mark on the community.

What stood out about Studio 54 was that everyone was someone in that club. Andy Warhol commented, “Studio 54 is a dictatorship at the door and a democracy on the dance floor.” It was hard to get in, but there were no rules inside the club. It allowed people to freely express themselves and not care about whatever else was happening around them. Of course, this mindset promoted the excessive use of alcohol and drugs, much like the rest of the ’70s.

The downfall was a culmination of many factors. In 1979, both founders pleaded guilty for tax evasion and served 20 months in jail. They built a magical place that allowed people to escape, but it was too good to be true. They didn’t have a building permit when construction started and their liquor license was a temporary catering permit that was distributed daily. The owners were targets of many aggravated people and “were the poster boy for all that was wrong in the economy”.

Today, Studio 54 is used as a theatre. Currently, Kiss Me, Kate is playing along with the club that is co-owned by Michael Feinstein next door. So, although it has evolved to be more theatre-oriented, the spirit of the Studio 54 of the '70s lives on.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/05/movies/studio-54-documentary-ian-schrager.html

Honoring Christa McAuliffe

        Remember the Teacher in Space Project, 1985?  Or do you remember the teacher, at least?  Her name was Christa McAuliffe, and around 40 schools around the globe are reminded of her every day.  She was one of the seven deaths, and the only civilian casualty, that resulted from the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster on January 28, 1986.  But what else was she?
        She was a teacher, and a mother.  A social studies teacher, like Mr. Stewart, at middle schools and high schools alike.  McAuliffe, née Corrigan, was born in Massachusetts and grew up during the Space Age, one of her greatest inspirations.  Her favorite role was that of an educator, and her students would become well learned in the law, economics, and history, as well as The American Woman.  She most definitely served as a strong example for what the American woman might look like, becoming the first civilian out of 11,000 applicants to be selected to fly into space.  The selection committee explained why they chose her: one NASA official described her "infectious enthusiasm" and another noted her great balance of features.
        Reagan created the project initially for the purpose of gathering the public's attention and interest toward the space shuttle trials—McAuliffe did it all for the same reason, of course with excitement for space travel as well.  And indeed, schoolchildren worldwide were tuned in to watch the legendary space flight with a civilian onboard.  It must be understood that as McAuliffe stepped aboard the vessel, Americans across the country were getting on too.  So, when 73 seconds into the flight, the entire shuttle combusted on live television, it was a national tragedy.
         A presidential commission was formed to uncover the problem, and they would soon learn that some pressure seals had inadequately served their purpose due to the weather that day.  But the nation would not let Christa McAuliffe die in vain.  Buildings worldwide are named after her, including schools like the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center in Utah.  There are scholarships additionally titled for her.  She's been awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor and has been inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame.  I could go on for a while.
         McAuliffe once said, "If I can get some student interested in science, if I can show members of the general public what's going on up there in the space program, then my job's been done."  When I consider the national attention she was able to bring to the space program and to the capabilities of civilians with passions and perseverance, when I note how many times her story has been and will continue to be shared, when I realize I looked into everything about space travel as I researched for this article... I think she's done a pretty good job.

The AIDS crisis

Many of us already know about the AIDS crisis, but not so in-depth, just that it happened. But it wasn’t just some little thing. Since the beginning of the epidemic, nearly 675,000 people with AIDS in the United States have died, and even today, nearly 13,000 people with AIDS in the United States die each year. That’s more than the number of Americans who died in Vietnam (58,220). And it is largely ignored. A reason behind that could be homophobia, as almost all of those who contracted it were queer men, or just plain ignorance. But I think we should all know a little more about the crisis that wiped out a generation of queer people in the United States.

The epidemic started in the mid-to-late 70s, but never really came into the public eye until the 80s. In 1981, there were over 270 reported cases of immune system deficiency among gay men, and many had already died. During the early stages in the first few years of the 80s, it became known as “gay cancer.” The disease is associated with drug use and homosexuality, and despite doctors suspecting it is sex-linked and the CDC saying that touch isn’t the issue, many fell into the belief that even casually touching someone with the disease could spread it.

The idea of AIDS as a “gay plague” or “gay disease” or anything of the sort was extremely misleading and homophobic. It wasn’t only gay men who could get the disease, so people who believed that were put at risk by not actually researching what to do to protect themselves. These ideas also created huge problems for the gay community, who suddenly had to fight battles about housing, job, and school discrimination. Many extreme religious people spoke harshly about those living with AIDS, saying it was punishment for homosexuals going against nature.

Reagan was the president at the time of the AIDS crisis, and there are mixed opinions about his actions. Though the epidemic was well known in the early 80s, Reagan never even publicly mentioned the word until 1985. Many berated him for his administration's low budget spent to help solve the crisis, with congress deciding it was too little and boosting funds from 70 million to nearly 190 million. Many activists condemn Reagan for failing to even mention AIDS during his first term, saying that if the problem had been tackled earlier it may have been less of a crisis, and more lives could have been saved. Others argue that his commitment later on and his large funding of research was enough.

In the 1990s, more effective treatments were found against AIDS. But it is not just history, and the story does not come down to just facts. Many people lost their lives, slowly and painfully, all the while being berated by much of society for their sexuality. In 1987, the AIDS quilt was put on display in Washington D.C., as a memorial to those lost. Today, there are over 48,000 individual 3-by-6-foot panels that have been hand-made and sewn together by friends and family alike to honor those who have died.



Another haunting image shows the San Francisco Gay Men’s Choir in 1993. Those in black symbolize those in the choir who died from AIDS. An entire generation of queer people wiped out.



The AIDS crisis is one that cannot be forgotten, and one that still affects us today, all over the world. There are many campaigns working to get better treatments, pushing people to get checked for HIV, and trying to eradicate it. There is still no cure for AIDS, only a strict treatment. I believe it is extremely important to remember those who lost their lives to this awful disease, and the steps backwards we took in tolerance and acceptance at that time. I cannot share every fact and detail about this horrific disease and time period, but there is so much more than the summary I put here, and so many more stories that I could not share. The AIDS quilt is available to view online if anyone wishes to do so.

Sources:
https://www.aidsquilt.org/about/the-aids-memorial-quilt
http://www.factlv.org/timeline.htm
https://www.avert.org/professionals/history-hiv-aids/overview
https://www.amfar.org/thirty-years-of-hiv/aids-snapshots-of-an-epidemic/
https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/overview/history/hiv-and-aids-timeline
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/modern-us/1980s-america/a/emergence-of-the-aids-crisis
https://www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/casualty-statistics
https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/docs/factsheets/todaysepidemic-508.pdf
https://sdgln.com/causes/2017/11/28/picture-1993-reminds-people-loss-life-due-aids

Princess Diana

     Princess Diana, or Diana Spencer, was born into the royally affiliated Spencer family in 1961 in Sandringham, England.  Her parents were the Viscount and Viscountess of Althorp.  From birth, she had access to the most elite educational institutions and was taught in both England and Switzerland until she inherited the title of Lady Diana after her father became an Earl.  She frequently played with the queen's sons, Albert, Edward, and Charles.  Sources recount how she was well-liked by the royal family, and Charles began to date her when she was 17.  They were engaged at the age of 20.  Diana was immediatly showered with gifts, including a diamond and sapphire brooch from the queen herself and a multiple-karat invaluable ring featuring white gold, diamonds, and sapphires. 
       She was equally well-liked by the public.  Her down-to-earth and shy demeanor set her apart from all other royals at the time, and nicknamed her "The People's Princess".  It was almost as if her royal status hadn't fazed her - she refused to comply with many palace rules, and this earned her both the public's trust and scorn from her mother-in-law. 
       Diana was pregnant with the couple's first child that same year.  However, this is where her mental state went south.  She admitted to throwing herself while pregnant down a flight of stairs because of her depression and feelings of inadequacy.  She was overwhelmed with the pressure of constantly being in the public eye, and she felt constantly under attack by the older royals in the palace.  Luckily, the soon-to-be Prince William was not harmed.  Two years later, Diana gave birth to Prince Harry.
       Diana's marriage was completely falling apart.  Due to the large age gap of 13 years, her husband and her were never very close.  They were only married for public appearances, and both were unfaithful.  Prince Charles started dating his ex-girlfriend Camila, and Diana was dating her former riding instructor, much to the dismay of her family.  They even tried to order couple's therapy, but it was uneffective.  The two were simply no longer in love, if they had ever even been.
       The pair divorced 1995.  Diana blames Camila partially for their divorce, but also realizes how she was not entirely blameless.  The royal family blamed Diana's affairs and her general poor mental health (it was later revealed that she was frequently involved in self-harm, severe depression, and borderline personality disorder).  However, this only boosted her popularity.  Her rebellious actions as well as her charity work in both HIV/AIDS and cancer were supported by the British people.  The day that she died is revered as one of the most tragic days in modern British history.
       One August night in 1997, Princess Diana was killed in a car crash.  She was accompanied by rumored boyfriend and Egyptian millionaire, Dodi Fayed.  She was being mobbed by paparazzi in Paris, and her driver was heavily inebriated with both prescription drugs and lack of sleep.  He was driving at high speeds, and lost control of the car.  Diana's bodyguard survived the crash, and both a paparazzo and her driver were convicted of manslaughter. 
       The palace was immediatly flooded with flowers on one of the public gates.  Both American and British people were completely destraught with the loss of the people's princess.  Charles showed sadness as well, but later remarried to now-Duchess Camila of Cornwall.
       Diana was not just a princess- she was a cultural icon.  She encompassed rebellious ways of the late 80's and early 90's, and she represented the people in a place of power.  Diana created a cultural legacy for herself that is not just widely revered, but worshipped.

The Process of Presidential Removal

        In class we learned about Nixon's trial for impeachment, and I wondered how exactly the process of removing a President worked, so naturally I looked it up.

Step 1: A member of the House of Representatives proposes impeachment.

Step 2: If there is a decision to proceed, the Speaker of the House appoints the House Judiciary Committee or a special committee is formed to proceed with an investigation with no time limit. They come up with Articles Impeachment for the House to vote to adopt.

Step 3: The member of the committee vote on which articles they feel they have enough evidence to present to the House. They just need a majority to present them.

Step 4: In a public hearing, they present the articles they believe there is evidence for to the House of Representatives, and the members of the House vote for which ones to adopt. In the House all they need is a majority to pass the individual charges of impeachment. If any pass, a President has been impeached, but not yet removed from office, nor legally or officially impacted.

Step 5: The Chairman of the Committee who investigated recommends some "managers" who need to be approved by a resolution of the House, but if they are, the become the prosecutors in the Impeachment trial before the Senate. In this Trial, the Supreme Court Justice is the presiding Judge while the Senate is the Jury and the President appoints his own defense attorneys.

Step 6: The trial is held and the Senate votes on each article whether they feel the President is guilty. A 2/3 majority vote is needed for the President to be removed from office.

         
         What I found really interesting was that the only punishments a President may face from this process is being removed from office and disqualification for future holding or enjoying of any office of honor, trust, or profit under the US. Any charges would have to be taken to another trial in another court for the President to face any other punishment like jail time. This was interesting to me because the only things a president can be impeached for are treason, bribery, and any other high crimes and misdemeanors. However, the Party convicted can be held liable for this and is therefore also subject to Indictment, trial, judgement, and punishment.

Sources:  https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/impeachment-process-works/story?id=51202880
The US Constitution

How the World Series Saved Lives

          In the 1989 World Series, it was a Battle of the Bays, an Oakland A's versus San Francisco Giants game. On October 17th, the third game of the series was to be played 5:30 pm at Candlestick Park, then the Giant's stadium. The series was lead 2-0 by the A's. Naturally, almost everybody in the Bay Area had left work early so they could either go to the game, or go to a party to watch the game. This is what saved people.
          At 5:04, normally a bumper to bumper rush hour traffic time, a 6.9 level earthquake (Loma Prieta) hit San Francisco, but because of the World Series, the roads were not so full as they might have been. When the two story Cypress Structure (part of the 880 freeway) collapsed on itself over a mile in length, but there were only 42 fatalities. There were 67 fatalities in all from the earthquake, $5 billion in damages, gas leaks that lead to fires, and a massive power outage. However, had it been almost any other day that that earthquake hit, many more would have died.
          This World Series later became known as the Earthquake series and the one truly unfortunate outcome of it was that the A's won.

Source: https://www.history.com/topics/natural-disasters-and-environment/1989-san-francisco-earthquake

Prefontaine

The US has been the home of many tremendous athletes. There have been basketball icons such as Michael Jordan or Stephen Curry. There have been boxing legends like Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson. There have also been countless highly decorated Olympians such as Michael Phelps, Jesse Owens, and Simone Biles. But in the sport of distance track events, arguably none is as well known as Steve Prefontaine.

Although he died at the age of twenty-four in an automobile incident, Steve Prefontaine already held seven American distance records (from 2k meters to 10k meters), had competed in the 1972 Olympics, and had won nearly every NCAA cross-country and track and field race he competed in. He is such a running icon, that one of the biggest track meets ever is named after him (it is the Prefontaine Classic and I plan on watching it live this year). He is also very easily recognizable for his long blond hair and distinct mustache.

Prefontaine showed grit at a very early age. Although his freshman year mile time was only a 5:01 (the same as my freshman year time 😦), by his senior year of high school he was running an 8:41 two-mile, which is mind-blowing. To put that into context, the fastest high schooler in California (which is the fastest state) ran a PR of 8:48 just last week. Around 40 colleges recruited Prefontaine, but he decided to stay local and run for the University of Oregon (which has one of the best distance programs in the country).

Prefontaine had a very distinct yet risky racing strategy. He would always insist on going out hard and controlling the front. One of his most quoted sayings was "I am going to work so that it's a pure guts race. In the end, if it is, I'm the only one that can win it". Compared to other distance runners, Prefontaine had great speed. His mile PR (3:54.6) was only 3.5 seconds off the world record of the time. If you have time, I highly suggest you watch his Olympic 5k, in which he kicked a little too early and died out.

Unfortunately, Prefontaine made some questionable decisions that lead to his death at age 24. After a tremendous 5k on the 29th of March, 1975, Prefontaine went to a college party. When he started driving home, a little after midnight, he crashed his car and got stuck under the wreckage. He was still alive, but by the time emergency services arrived, he had passed. His blood alcohol level was found to be 0.16. At this level, you begin to feel sick and you suffering from gross motor impairment. His death truly marked the end of an era in the sport of distance running.

Khmer Rouge

Khmer Rouge
In 1973, the signing of the Paris Peace Accords effectively “ended” the Vietnam War and allowed US troops to withdraw from the region. In fact, it actually sealed South Vietnam’s fate and the ensuing conflict destabilized a number of other countries, including Cambodia, allowing the Khmer Rouge to come to power.

Between 1965 and 1975, the expansion of the Vietnam War into neighboring regions aggravated Cambion political disputes. From as early as 1951, Vietnam communists facilitated the creation of a Cambodian communist party, which was first known as the Khmer People’s Revolutionary Party (KPRP), though it was mostly controlled by Vietnamese. Throughout the next decade, the party went through a series of reforms to become the Workers’ Party of Kampuchea (WPK) in 1960 and later the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) in 1966. The aim of the CPK was revolution over reform, and believed their task was to empower Cambodia’s peasant farmers and eradicate all vestiges of Western influence, intellectualism and technology.

Between 1965 and 1969, the US bombed 83 sites in Cambodia, including B-52 carpet bombing in 1969 to facilitate the withdrawal of US troops. They targeted North Vietnamese communists in the Cambodian jungle.

In March 1970, a coup was launched against Prince Sihanouk, ruler of Cambodia, resulting in a new government with Lon Nol, a pro-American general. Because of this, the Khmer Rouge, now supporting Sihanouk, began intensifying their attacks on the government. Widespread opposition to Lon Nol, combined with continued American bombing of Cambodia, helped build support for the Khmer Rouge and destabilize the Cambodian government. By 1972 the Khmer Rouge had more than 30,000 regular soldiers and more than 100,000 reservists.

The final phase of the U.S. bombing campaign, from January to August 1973, aimed to halt the rapid advance of the Khmer Rouge with a B-52 bombardment campaign that targeted heavily populated areas but affected the entire country. The effect of this was that the takeover of capital Phnom Penh was delayed, but the hard-lines within the CPK were strengthened and the bombings further turned Cambodians against Lon Nol, facilitating communist recruitment efforts. After the US bombing campaign ended, the Khmer Rouge and Lon Nol forces continued fighting for two more years.

By the start of 1975, it was clear the Khmer Rouge would soon be in control of the entire country. On April 1st, as Khmer Rouge forces approached the capital Phnom Penh, Lon Nol resigned and fled Cambodia. Twelve days later the United States military launched Operation Eagle Pull, a brief mission to evacuate American diplomats, foreigners and some Cambodian officials from Phnom Penh.

Initially, the Khmer Rouge were welcomed in the capital. However, they immediately evacuated the city and began searching for and arresting foreigners. They reinstated Sihanouk; however, the real rulers were the Angkar, the leaders of the Khmer Rouge, with Saloth Sar heading the organization. He was referred to as Pol Pot.

Socially, the Khmer Rouge began focusing on “rewinding” westernization and wanted to construct a Marxist-esque, classless, communal society. Schools and colleges were closed, foreign embassies were seized and Buddhist pagodas were destroyed. Cambodia’s legal system and courts were virtually abolished and replaced by the Khmer Rouge’s ‘death squads’ or its ‘re-education camps’. Cities, which the Khmer Rouge referred to as  “hives of bourgeois corruption”, were evacuated. Those with higher education were executed, while the rest were put to work in fields without adequate food, medical care, or shelter.

Accompanying the social reforms were high rates of death, as the government targeted anyone suspected of being an enemy to the revolution and sent them to the “killing fields.” During the KR reign, it is calculated that around 1-3 million people died from execution or from starvation and disease.

In 1979, the Vietnamese army invaded Cambodia and drove Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge from power. However, they left behind a legacy of unprecedented violence and death.

Sources:
https://alphahistory.com/vietnamwar/khmer-rouge/
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-10684399
https://sites.tufts.edu/atrocityendings/2015/08/07/cambodia-u-s-bombing-civil-war-khmer-rouge/
https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/the-khmer-rouge

The American Suburb

In a previous post I had discussed why living in a suburb was so appealing to many Americans during the postwar period. But despite the peace and quiet life it promises, the American Suburb has many flaws.

One of the things that made it appealing to live a suburb in the first place was it's convenience. Cheap gas, and the Interstate Highway system made it super easy to commute to work and drive back. Technology like refrigerators/freezers made it possible to not have to go buy food daily. Now, we can buy food at big box stores once a week. However, that convenience is starting to fade away.

When we planned our suburbs, we built them around the car, which we have become ever so dependent on. Americans drive more miles per person than any other country in the world. In 2014, American drivers wasted 6.9 billion hours stuck in traffic, which is 42 hours per person per year. For a person living in the San Francisco area, that figure goes up 79 hours per year. Not only does the idling of cars waste fuel, and cause air pollution that is bad for your lungs, but it also damages your mental health. Research shows that spending time stuck in traffic often leads to higher stress, blood pressure, and irritability.

The subdivision itself also detrimental to the environment. Farms, forests, and other wildlife habitats are leveled to make way for roads and houses laid out in an inefficient fashion. In America alone, we lose up to 1.2 million acres of farmland each year - how do we feed more people with less land?.  And aside from displacing wildlife, runoff from roads, cars, and lawns can pollute the local groundwater. Speaking of lawns, not only do they not support any wildlife, but use precious resources like freshwater to maintain.



The American way of life can be summed up with one word: big. Big cars which need large amounts of gas, big houses which need large amounts of energy to heat/cool, and
a big carbon footprint - which is terrible for the planet. If everyone lived an American lifestyle, we would need 5 Earths to support humanity! It's clear that we need to make a change. We can't really rebuild our cities from the ground up, but can make a difference. We could use recycled water to water our lawns, and make our infrastructure better to support electric cars. We could also try to use the thermostat less, and only heat/cool the house when absolutely necessary.

However, we can't stop people from living large if they want to. Living large is our identity. It ties hand in hand with our interpretation of freedom, and the right to live the life you want. But we need to consider our planet as well. The age of Cheap Oil is long gone. Going forward, we all must look to more greener ways of building cities. For our planet, and for our future.

Sources:
https://infogram.com/which-country-travels-the-most

https://traveltips.usatoday.com/effects-traffic-congestion-61043.html
https://thedownstreamproject.org/2013/08/26/take-the-test-how-many-earths-do-you-need/

Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

     Known as the 2nd worst oil spill in U.S. history, the Exxon Valdez oil spill was caused by the Exxon shipping company when they had mistakenly spilled 11 million gallons of oil into Bligh Reef on its voyage to Long Beach, California. The Valdez oil spill had covered 1300 miles of coastlines and had killed thousands of seals, whales, otters and sea birds living in Alaska. The oil spill had supposedly been caused by a drunken captain who had put an inexperienced third mate in charge of steering the ship. He was eventually charged with felony charges, totaling up to 50,000 dollars, and 100 hours of community service.

     During the first couple of weeks, of cleanup, there was minimal progress in cleaning up the spill as no equipment could reach the area of the spill. The news of the oil spill had spurred on thousands of volunteers all who wanted to help clean up the spill. Many conservatives of the time had stated that the environmental disaster was "the worst this country has seen in decades", which they blamed on the oil company solely. During the cleanup project, many environmentalists had purposely left part of the Prince William Sound (location of the spill), uncleaned to test whether or not cleanup efforts were completely successful. They had learned that while the cleanup efforts were successful, the method in which they used had caused unnecessary damage to the remaining plant and animal life, at the expense of removing the oil. Despite the hard work and effort of thousands for many years, it is impossible to clean up an oil spill of this large, because of the magnitude of impacts it had on the ocean that still lingers till this day.

Impacts of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill :

The oil spill had caused the death of over 250, 000 birds, 3000 sea otters, 300 harbor seals, 250 bald eagles, 22 killer whales, and 22 billion salmon eggs.

The oil spill had caused the collapse of many local fishing industries and caused many fishermen to become bankrupt.

Reports after the spill show the total amount of costs to be around 2.8 billion dollars.

26 years after the spill many killer whales had been slowly killed off by the oil spill, which many scientists couldn't figure out why until they were tested and shown to have a large amount of oil poisoning.

This map shows all 613 reported Oil Spills in America from 1989-2018, the top left red point being the Exxon Valdez Spill

     This spill had led to George W Bush passing the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, which had increased the penalties for oil companies responsible for the spill, and for all oil tankers in American waters to have a double hull rather than a single hull, around their tankers. While these improvements had made oil tankers safer, an even larger oil spill had occurred in 2010 in the Deepwater Horizon, spilling over 53000 barrels and killing a lot more wildlife than in the Valdez spill. The Horizon oil spill is currently the largest accidental spill ever recorded in human history killing 82,00 birds, 25,900 marine mammals, 6000 sea turtles, and tens of thousands of fish.

     While the Exxon Valdez spill had wreaked havoc on Alaska's Sound and had killed such a wide amount of wildlife, it had led to worldwide recognition of oil spills being a major problem, and had caused the passage of numerous regulation and acts trying to prevent something like this to ever happen again.


https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/03/oil-spills-30-years-after-exxon-valdez/
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/03/oil-spill-colombia-animals-killed-spd/
https://www.history.com/topics/1980s/exxon-valdez-oil-spill

The Rise of CNN

     In 1980, CNN at had made its appearance as the first 24-hour a day news network. While the idea of a 24 hours a day network seems normal today as many news networks provide this service, it was not like this back then. Before 1980, America had been dominated by 3 major news networks,  ABC, CBS, and NBC, whom all had daily 30 minutes broadcasts where they would relay national news. While this way of informing the news, seemed too inefficient, and short, It was how the new was told 30+ years ago. Initially, other networks we able to keep CNN out of business because CNN was perceived as such a foreign idea, it had eventually become one of the largest new networks in America. From a miniscule 2 million viewers in 1980 to an unsurpassed 160 million household views today, those who have watched this news network know of their amazing climb to success.

     Originally started by Ted Turner, a cheerful businessman born in Atlanta who was known as the "Mouth of the South". Turner had come into a fortune when his father committed suicide away leaving him with a successful billboard company. Turner used this billboard company to fund many of his future purchases while expanding it at the same time. Turner eventually made enough money to buy a failing Atlanta TV station that had only broadcasted old movie and reruns. Turner had used this TV station as the basis of a concept that was nonexistent in America till he had coined it, a "superstation", where we would try to broadcast his network across the country. Many of turner peers had told him that making a station that could broadcast 24 hours a day, could not be done and that it was a waste of time. But after 4 years of development, and finding the right staff that could be the face of the network, Turner has created CNN, anchored by Dave Walker and Lois Hart. 

     As a 24-hour network was a very foreign idea, CNN was considered the laughing stock of the new network for a very long time. Many people had even referred to CNN as the "Chicken Noodle Network" because they saw this network as a foolish idea. However Turner had not given up and invested more and more money into the network expanding its influence slowly across the world After a couple of years, CNN was able to gather enough money to buy out their main competitor, the Satellite new Channel, thus eliminating their main competition.

Some of the various advertisements competing companies used to slander CNN.

     What stood CNN from the other competitors was the fact that they were able to cover live events around the world as they happened, and because of running 24/7, they often beat other new networks to stories before they had the chance to broadcast. Spurred on by the increasing amount of usage by the television, CNN's audience grew more and more, and they were eventually able to take over Time Warner, and America Online, thus making what had originally grown up as a ridiculed network, into one of the biggest titans of the news in America. Even today CNN continues to stretch the boundaries of television reporting, as they continue to expand their services to get news from even the most remote parts of the world, a feat that could not be achieved decades ago.

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/cnn-launches

https://www.britannica.com/topic/CNN

http://www.cnn.com/services/opk/cnn25/cnns_impact.htm