Fear and Laughter, how the internet is slowly devolving

Unless you’ve not yet got any sort of television or the internet, you’ve most likely heard of the current leaks happening on the internet. If you haven’t, then let me give you a very short explanation. A large amount of photos and videos, saved to the Apple iCloud and now Snapchat have been leaked on the internet, showing how unsafe the internet really is. I’m not here to say that it’s the people taking these photos who are at fault here, even though it’s not a great idea to trust random companies with your private photos.  The companies aren’t being blamed for this happening, as although they’ve been shown by most major news sites, it’s usually the fault of the “Hackers” that do it, instead of the company, which just breeds an aura of “There was nothing we could do about these leaks” and “We’re fixing it now that it’s happened”.

And before you say it’s a one off thing, this has been happening for a while now, and it’s slowly devolving the internet. For example, only after the credit card numbers and numerous private information got leaked from PlayStation a couple of years ago, was it found that PlayStation did not actually encrypt any of the numbers, along with the NSA leaks, where it was found that the United States government along with many others are spying on its own people, being given access to pictures, phone calls, internet history, pretty much anything that they wanted. And yet there was barely any outrage from people, as the internet seems to be for most politicians and world leaders a joke. I mean think about what happened when it was found that the white house was monitoring just its opponents! Surely the whole world should be a little more important?

But no, as the internet today is just seen as something that can’t be taken seriously at these moments. For politicians, the internet is just a tool that needs to be supressed, and with events like the leaks happening, it’s making people a lot more likely to agree with the government, as by disagreeing to not censor, you are seen as the same as the people leaking pictures and videos, the internet being put into one big bubble. But people don’t care, as currently, and rightly so, the only crackdowns made are for those doing illegal activities. But governments want more power over the internet, and people don’t care about giving them it, as it “Doesn’t affect them.”

The government won’t do anything while the majority care about the internet being censored. But luckily for them, it seems a lot of voters don’t care what happens. And that’s what will break our freedom of speech, not some totalitarian censorship or sneaky NSA spies arresting random people.

It will break from people not caring.

By Damian Bemben
Columnist

#dontpanicbutton

By Kyra Balderstone

Today in aid of World mental health day, I sported my red button in aid of anxiety. Anxiety is a feeling of worry and nervousness for fears and just panicking in general. Believe it or not, 1 in 6 people experience anxiety at least once in their life. There are many different symptoms of anxiety which can include:

·         Feeling frightened, nervous or panicky all the time

·         Feeling down or depressed

·         Having difficulties sleeping and eating

·         Difficulty to concentrate on things

·         Feeling tired and irritable

·         The racing of your heart

·         A dry mouth, trembling

·         Faintness

·         Stomach cramps

·         Diarrhoea

This campaign was originally made by beauty blogger and Youtuber Zoella (a.k.a Zoe Sugg) because she is the new ambassador of mental health. Zoe herself suffers from quite severe anxiety and panic attacks and likes to raise awareness by posting videos on her channel and writing passages on her blog.

Zoe told her viewers on her daily vlog to wear a red button if you suffered from anxiety or knew someone who did, take a picture and upload it onto social media with the hashtag: #dontpanicbutton

The red buttons symbolize solidarity and also to help raise awareness of mental health issues. The symbol is a red button because a red button is normally considered a symbol of emergency and panic like a fire alarm or an emergency button in a lift. So to try and raise awareness Zoe and the mental health charity Mind took the button and have adapted its meaning.

I sported my button today, did you? Will you be inspired and raise awareness?

Pluto set to return as a planet?

By Virginia Mitreva

There were once nine planets however back in 2006 the International Astronomical Union stripped Pluto of its status by saying it was too small to ‘pack sufficient gravitational punch’. Pluto is now known as a ‘dwarf planet’ leaving eight planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

Pluto was originally kicked out because it did not ‘meet the criteria’ set up by the International Astronomical Union (AUI). Indeed Pluto doesn’t meet the criteria because it is small and has a radius of around 750 miles, which is less than 20 per cent of the Earth’s radius and its circumference is about 4,500 miles (this makes it smaller than our moon).

However not everyone agreed with the decision and the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics released a statement saying “a dwarf fruit tree is still a small fruit tree, and a dwarf hamster is still a small hamster.” Furthermore the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre held a debate and let the audience decide if Pluto was a planet and the audience decided that Pluto is in fact a planet by a 2-1 vote.

There is no definite answer that Pluto will return to its previous status as a planet. But there is hope due to the fact that in 2015 a spacecraft called New Horizons will be launched, the first ever spacecraft to be sent to Pluto and should arrive at the ‘dwarf-planet’ by July of the same year. New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern, believes that Pluto is a planet. “I think the public is better suited to this than astronomers, at least,” Stern continued to say, “The IAU should never have pretended to have the expertise to enter into this debate. It’s a matter for planetary scientists, not astronomers.”

Do you think Pluto should be defined as a planet?

Ebola Crisis

By Jolanta Grant

Eight attacked and found killed - talk about outbreak acceleration.

If six Red Cross volunteers who were attacked on the 14th of September wasn't enough, eight people (who were part of a team of 9) sent to educate villages in Guinea about Ebola, have been found dead after they were attacked by angry locals.

The discovery of the bodies happened in a remote area, south-east of the country which was clarified by the Guinean Government Spokesman, Damantang Albert Camara. He hauntingly describes"The bodies were found in the village latrine", he reports, "Three of them had their throats slit".

Action was taken as a result and Guinea's Prime Minister, Mohamed Fofana had stated that six people had been arrested following the incident, which took place on Tuesday the 16th of September in Wome.

Mr Fofana notifies Guinea that the ruthlessly killed team consisted of local administrators, two medical officers, a preacher and three accompanying journalists. There is still one body missing.

Although investigations into the killers have proceeded, Guinean officials have vowed to pursue anyone else involved in the killings.

"Everyone else involved in these murders will be hunted down and brought before court to be sanctioned under the law", Government Spokesman Damatand Albert Camara notified the town.

Ebola first broke out in March in this south-east Guinea area, close to the town of Nzerekore.

Since then, Ebola has killed somewhat 2,630 people and infected at least 5,357 people according to the World Health Organisation.

The team of nine who had a prospect to educate the village, were part of a large group of people who volunteered to take on extreme measures to contain the outbreak. Now there's 9 less vital people to help sustain the lives of others through this unfortunate time and event.

Sierra Leone has been worst-hit by the by the virus and has begun a three-day nationwide  lockdown aimed at eradicating the virus.

What was initially a loan to locate the ill, the Government said the lockdown will now seek to make people aware of the risks of Ebola and what steps to take if a family member falls sick. The actions taken were as follows, an exemplary number of 30,800 volunteers have trained for their dawn-to-dusk information campaign, with residents flocking to buy food and medicine before the lockdown starts.

Volunteers were relieved and satisfied to see queues forming alongside streets as people stocked up on fuel to equip them for the days ahead.

Banks are overflowing as clients rush to withdraw cash, as a result, there has been a decline in working hours to reduce infections among people.

Some pacifists and optimists suggest a few days of hardship are worth it if it can help stop Ebola's progression across the country.   

Arachnophobes beware!

By Jolanta Grant

Professor Hart of the University of Gloucestershire said that the mild summer meant the weather has not been able to thwart the quantity of prey available to spiders, meaning they had more to feed on than usual- which lead to experts saying what many of us arachnophobes dread to hear, larger-than-usual house spiders will be crawling over the door mats of many UK homes soon.  

Males spiders finding warmer environments in homes and seeking to pry out females is always foreseeable in this season, but due to the warm summer this year, spiders have been feeding on the abundance of prey in the last few months. This means we are not only predicted to see a greater quantity of spiders arranging themselves behind wardrobes, and wrapping themselves in silky safety nets on higher ground, but exerts are implying that they will be bigger too... Yes that's right, let's blame the summer.

It was the fact that the summer was so mild that drove the motive of spider survival. The not too hot or cold weather gave the spiders a wider access to their prey which kept up the biodiversity this month of male and female spiders. Both sexes stay in their webs until the autumn when the males become more nomadic and search for females.

Alongside the fact that people are seeing house spiders more frequently due to the increase in their population and more frequently because last winter was quite mild, or even because the conditions around them have become better (attracting more spiders) the point that Professor Hart tries to hit home is how useful they are at pest control.

'We want to encourage people to respect and learn more about their little house guests' - quite a proposal for you fellow arachnophobes!

Autumn Awareness – How to keep your pets safe this season

By Pippa Wilson
The trees are browning, the weather is turning colder and the 5^th of November traditionally translates to millions of cats and dogs cowering under sofas and stools wondering what all the commotion is about...

Fireworks tend to be extremely stressful for your pet as they are loud, unexpected and cause them to feel anxious and vulnerable. We don’t often realise that dogs can not only hear the loud banging, they can also sense the vibrations, making the whole firework display a very traumatic affair!

The best way to calm your pet is to close the curtains, put the light on and play some music to mask the sounds of the fireworks outside. If your pet sees you are anxious, it will display similar signs so the best idea is to ignore the fireworks. Pretend they aren’t happening and your pet may believe that too!

The use of calming pheromone diffusers are becoming increasing popular as they help your pet feel calmer and safer. Adaptil for dogs and Feliway for cats are recommended to be used at least 48 hours before the fireworks are due to start.

Fleas and ticks are also a massive issue for cats and dogs in the autumn; they thrive in long grass and woodland areas so are easily transferred onto your pet’s fur. Make sure your brush your pet after any possible contact with fleas and keep up to date with your pet’s regular flea treatment.

Having a quick chew on a conker is also a big no-no! Conkers, acorns and fallen fruits can cause stomach upsets so make sure you don’t let your dog sneak one into his bed to nibble on!

All in all, as long as your pet is clean, calm and conker free, you should be in for a wonderful autumn!