Medicine & TechnologyThe World Health Organization (WHO) has recorded over 7,500 confirmed, and suspected Ebola deaths in the West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea; and more than 19,000 recorded cases in the said trio, which are the most heavily-affected countries in terms of Ebola. Early detection and quick action are therefore necessary to curb the further accelerated spread of the disease.
Even in the face of potential international warfare, public acclaim and the media win the popular vote. So it comes as no surprise that since Sony Pictures pulled the plug last week on the release of controversial comedy “The Interview”, the people have demanded another option to see what’s ruffling international feathers—and Sony has answered them with a unique alternative. While cinemagoers will not be pleased to miss out on the comedic makings of Seth Rogen and James Franco, the stars of the newly banned film, theatergoers will be able to watch a live reading of the movie’s screenplay on Saturday Dec. 27 at New York’s Treehouse Theater.
Though the embargo has not yet been lifted, this past week indicated a change in diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba after nearly 53 years of political divide. Wednesday, Dec. 17, marked a unique turnaround between the island nation and the US in terms of political and economic relations when US President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro delivered addresses simultaneously aired, sparking hope and conversation about their future together. But this morning, Dec. 20, after President Castro’s speech for the twice-annual legislative session held at the National Assembly in Havana, Cuba, many are questioning whether or not plans may fall through with the prevailing communism underlying the nation of Cuba.
It’s been a discussion decades in the making, but one whose final answer is not yet given. On two different sides of a war years ago, the United States decided once that Cuba should face an embargo thought to keep ties between the two nations as severed as could be. But with new leaders and a new collective vision for the future, not only of politics but of the two nations together, the embargo stopping free flow of products and people between the two nations may soon come to an end.
With the publicity that e-cigarettes are the safer alternative for the more health hazardous tobacco products, more people resort to e-cigarettes (also referred to as e-cigs) and the younger generation have been drawn to the "cooler and hipper" e-cigarettes with their attractive packaging and fruity taste. However, a recent study found that e-cigarette smoking increased the likelihood among youngsters to smoke the nicotine-rich cigarette.
Allegedly created by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States in collaboration with psychologists James Mitchell and John Bruce Jessen from Spokane, the “enhanced interrogation techniques” sought out employ an interrogation approach coined by the psychologists, known as “learned helplessness”. Aside from severe physical harm and abuse, which detainees experience in collaboration with other intensely physical torturous methods, this “learned helplessness” predicted that detainees would become passive and depressed when faced with an inevitable and unforeseeable chain of events that they could neither predict nor control.
A man looks over the Affordable Care Act (commonly known as Obamacare) signup page on the HealthCare.gov website in New York in this October 2, 2013 photo illustration.