What happened this week?
Positivity During Covid
During time like the present it’s difficult to remain positive at all times. In fact it Is much easier to see the world through a cynical and pessimistic lens. Typically during times of distress caused by outside forces that are uncontrollable by man, the stoic approach to life tends to be the most effective. A laymen would think of stoicism as the ultimate ability to endure pain and remain intact mentally through wisdom, justice courage, and moderation. The four virtues of Stoicism which were defined by Marcus Aralias but created by his influence Zeno and further discover by the slave philosopher Epictetus. During times of seemingly endless distress and fear that cannot be controlled, it is normal for the intellectuals of its time to turn to stoicism as a way to view the world in a positive light through enduring hardship.
Dreher Baseball
This baseball season is nothing but usual for us. On varsity we have about 3 seniors and about 15 to 20 lowerclassmen. This calls for a very young and immature team. On the field, the 6 of the 9 starters are all from sophomores to freshman. This can be a problem with lack of experience and can lead to messing up in game and or breaking down after one play. To try and cope with this problem we have really good junior pitcher who will keep us in the game as long as we make the plays behind him and hit the ball. As long as we can bunt and execute plays as a team we will have a good chance at winning many games this season.
The Return of Chik-Fil-A
Chick-fil-a in Five Points is back! The long awaited reopening of the Chick-fil-a occurred March ninth after around three months of remodeling. Originally, the remodel was supposed to last six to eight weeks. The longer than expected wait meant that Chick-fil-a stationed a food truck with a limited menu next to the parking lot of the building. The biggest change to the building was widening the drive through from one lane to two lanes, increasing efficiency and sales. Since the remodel, the Chick-fil-a of Five Points has been busier than ever, showing the community’s love for the restaurant.
The Grammy's
The 63rd Annual Grammy Awards were held on Sunday, March 14th in Los Angeles California, hosted by comedian Trevor Noah. The circumstance presented a challenge to the ceremony, but it was able to pull off a show with no fans in attendance well.
Taylor Swift’s “Folklore” won album of the year and Billie Eilish’s “Everything I wanted” won record of the year.
“This is really embarrassing for me,” said Eilish after winning record of the year; she thought the award should’ve truly gone to Megan thee Stallion. “You are a queen, I want to cry thinking about how much I love you,” she said.
Beyoncé also won 4 Grammys this year, bringing her total to 28; the most ever for a female artist. She also had 9 nominations on the night, the most of the field.
Best New artist was taken home by Megan thee Stallion, who won two other Grammys and the Grammy for Best Rap Album went to “King’s Disease” by Nas
Women took home most of the Grammys this year in an empowering show also centered on positively moving forward; something we should all focus on.
George Floyd’s family receives record $27 million in settlement approved by Minneapolis City Council
The Minneapolis City Council recently voted unanimously to approve a pre-trial settlement with the family of 46-year-old George Floyd (Good News Network). The murder of Floyd was caught on video and seen by millions of people across the world. It outraged the nation, and sparked protest worldwide.
According to the Good News Network, “The $27 million award to the family of George Floyd comes as jury selection continues for officer Dereck Chauvin’s murder trial” (Good News Network). After receiving the money, the family announced that $500,000 from the settlement will go towards helping neighborhood businesses around the 38th and Chicago Ave. in Minneapolis.
Ben Crump, the family’s attorney says, “This historic agreement, the largest pre-trial settlement in a civil rights wrongful death case in the U.S. history makes a statement that George Floyd’s life mattered and by extension that Black Lives matter“. (Good News Network).
Crump argues that the city had failed to properly train police and not firing officers like Chauvin, who had dozens of complaints previously been filed against him during his 19-year tenure, according to Good News Network.
Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender offered her condolences by stating, “No amount of money can ever address the intense pain or trauma caused by this death to George Floyd’s family or to the people of our city” (Washington Post).
Minneapolis officials report that the settlement will be paid out of a self-insurance fund that has been pushed to the brink in recent years after the city has been forced to pay tens of millions of dollars to settle police-related lawsuits (Washington Post). City officials have highlighted police reform that have been undertaken since George Floyd’s death, but observers say that the city has promised change before.
A lawyer involved in the Damond case, a similar case to the present case says, “This is the same police department, They don’t learn, so the settlements are ratcheting up. If something else happens, the next settlement will be $30 million”.
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NASCAR Driver Alex Bowman Supports Local Animal Shelters by Sponsoring Adoptions
Everybody loves to start their day of with some positive news so here’s some news about NASCAR driver Alex Bowman and his helping support for animal shelters.
Alex Bowman kicked off the NASCAR season at the Arizona’s phoenix Raceway by driving a car with a paint scheme honoring Best Friends Animal society.
Alex Bowman: “Their goal is to end kill shelters and save them all”, “Theirs a lot of animals that are in need of homes and I have a rescue dog named Roscoe.”
Throughout the season each city that hosts a NASCAR Cup race will 1,000$ donation and Bowman will personally match the company and the driver will donate 33,000$ to the Halo Animal Rescue in Avondale Arizona. Bowman grew up in Tucson
Also Ally has pledged to donate 10,000$ to the local shelter in any city in which bowman wins the race bowman hopes that his fans will consider adopting a pet from shelters.
Bowman: “You’re really saving a life when you go adopt an animal.”
Star News: Super Earth
A newly discovered “super Earth” has been discovered near one of our galaxy’s oldest stars.
“For every day you’re on Earth, this planet orbits its star twice”, said UC Riverside planetary astrophysicist Stephen Kane.
TOI-561B is about 50 percent larger than Earth, but its orbit only takes less than half a day. Part of the reason why this planet has such a short orbit is because of its proximity to its star, which incidentally means that the surface is much too hot to host any kind of life at an estimated 2,000 degrees kelvin. Although it is impossible to host any known life today, scientist believe that it may once had been possible in the past.
“Though this particular planet is unlikely to be inhabited today, it may be a harbinger of a many rocky worlds yet to be discovered around our galaxy’s oldest stars.” Kane later said.
Kane also added that the planet although the planet has about three times the mass of Earth its density is the same, and it is for this reason that the planet is believed to extremely old. Older planets tend to have a lower density, due to there not being many heavy elements available at the time of their formations.
“TOI-561b is one of the oldest rocky planets yet discovered”, “Its existence shows that the universe has been forming rocky planets almost since its inception 14 billion years ago.” said team lead Lauren Weiss, a University of Hawaii postdoctoral fellow.
Astronomers are continually studying the relationship between the mass of new planets and their radii, the information learned from TOI-561B gives a great insight to the interior structure of planets too far to explore and sample with today’s technology.
Four Days a Week
Many schools have started going back to 4 days a week after the pandemic has lightened up and vaccines have come out. There are many pros and cons about going back to 4 days a week. Little do many people know, but going back 4 days can be financially beneficial for schools because they cutting back services that cost tons of money. Going back 4 days a week also attracts more teachers which is something a lot of districts and schools have struggles with through the pandemic. Along with the pros are cons. Long days can be difficult for some students. I relate to it being difficult to sit in a room for 8 hours with little to no breaks is very hard for many.
Opinion: online school is a good thing
Being in a pandemic comes with a lot of negatives. It’s hard to think of any good things to come from it, it all just depends on the type of person you are. This pandemic is probably a lot harder for extroverts than it is for introverts like myself today I’m going to discuss some good things about our situation based off of what I think.
For me one of the positives is that I don’t have to be around a lot of people as I said I’m an introvert I just feel more comfortable not being around a lot of people and not having any “bad kids” distracting me in class. I also don’t have to ask to go to the bathroom or wait till someone comes back I can just go. During lunch I can get whatever I want and I don’t have to wait in line which is great.
Doing work online while at times it’s hard and annoying I think that it’s easier as well and for students who always need more time to do things online teachers give a lot more time. It’s also easy to lose a piece of paper but online I think that it’s easy to save all your work. Not to mention that being online cuts back on paper usage so wasting less paper is also a good thing. While doing work online has it’s downsides I think overall it’s pretty good.
Another positive is food if I want to make a five star meal I can get up and go in the kitchen and just bring my laptop with me. If I want to door dash something I can and the best thing is I won’t miss class I can take it with me. I can even ride places and still be in class and I can eat in class. Some teachers don’t allow students to eat in class but online they can’t tell you not to eat in your own house and they can’t make you put it away.
Lastly is sleep you can sleep longer up till a few minutes before class starts. Instead of waking up an hour or two early so you can get ready and get to school on time you can wake up at 8:10 and log on and boom you’re on time with more sleep under your belt. You can also take short naps in between classes if you set an alarm like I do. So not only can you sleep longer before school but you can also take naps as well sounds like a win win to me not to mention the added bonus of not having to get ready.
Over all I think online school is great especially if you’re an introvert. You can get more sleep, eat or cook whenever you want, you don’t have to get dressed, you get more worktime, it’s easier to save work, you can use the bathroom whenever you want, and the best part to me is that you can take naps. It really makes me miss naptime those were the good days. These are just some things that I like about having to do online school due to this pandemic based entirely off of my own opinions.
DDC Performance
This month, the Dreher Dance Company will be bringing you a well awaited show on March 25th & 26th, 2021. Since the COVID-19 pandemic last March, there have been no official dance shows as last year’s Dancing with the Teachers was cancelled. However, the Dreher dance company is bringing an entirely new show as a replacement for the annual Dancing with the Teachers. Featuring the entire dance company, and senior members’ last time on a Dreher stage, we highly encourage you to come. Faculty and staff are welcome Thursday, March 25. Family and invited guests are welcome Friday, March 26th. We hope to see you there!
Dreher Robotics
As this crazy school year progresses, more and more plans are changed, which include robotics. At the beginning of the robotics season it was announced that teams would have to complete a set of challenges and send in their scores and proof to score points.
After a long season of building, the team is there. For once, they have finished their entire robot and only need to make minimal changes going forward.
The team is competing in 5 challenges, all with their own requirements and objectives. Two require the ability to shoot, one quickly and one accurately. Two others require the ability to drive around an obstacle course, with the robot both player controlled and autonomously controlled. The team has already achieved a good score in the player controlled driving challenge, and is looking forward to achieving one in all of the other challenges.
Prince Philip Returns Home
Prince Philipp, The Duke of Edinburgh, who is 99 years old, was photographed being helped into a holding car outside a medical clinic on Tuesday morning. "Following treatment for a disease, the Duke of Edinburgh was discharged from King Edward VII's Hospital today and returned to Windsor Castle." Buckingham Palace said in a statement. "His Royal Highness wishes to thank all the medical staff who looked after him at both King Edward VII’s Hospital and St Bartholomew’s Hospital, and everyone who has sent their good wishes."
"I am excited about it," said Prince Charles, the eldest of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip's four children, when his father was released from the hospital for the first time. During a visit with Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, to a pop-up COVID-19 vaccination center at Finsbury Park Mosque in central London, Charles spoke about his father. When asked if he had spoken, he said yes. Philip, who will turn 100 in June, was taken by taxi from Windsor, England, to King Edward VII's Hospital on Feb. 16 as a "precautionary measure," according to Buckingham Palace, after he reported feeling unwell.
On March 1, he was transferred to St. Bartholomew's Hospital in east London. Doctors will "continue to treat him for the time being," Buckingham Palace said at the time. The Royal Hospital of King Edward VII is situated near Windsor Castle, the royal residence in the English county of Berkshire, just outside of London. According to the hospital's website, St. Bartholomew's Hospital is a larger facility that specializes in cardiovascular treatment.
Canada launches satellite that can detect illegal fishing boats.
Many fishing boats in Canada’s waters are illegally fishing by turning off their location transmitters. The boats become undetected and are hiding in plain sight out in the middle of the ocean. Canada’s 7 million dollar satellite can detect dark vessels in the ocean and then pin point their location and bust these illegal fishers. These illegal fishers take away the law-abiding fishers catches, these law-abiding fishermen make sure these fish are protected and of legal catch. These illegal fishers catch about 30% of the fish caught around the world. ”representing up to 26 million tons of fish caught annually at a cost to the global economy of more than $23 billion a year.” The ocean is not very well protected and there is more out there than what we see day to day and these waters should be used carefully and the laws protecting it should be abided. Now we are progressing to protect our waters better and more efficient.
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