The strain of governing is weighing down the Islamic State group, a new report in the Financial Times states. The FT reports that the terrorist group, which is commonly referred to as ISIS, is having trouble stamping out the institutional corruption that was endemic under previous regimes in the territory it controls. “You’d have a front-line…
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This Facebook Post From Right After The Orlando Massacre Is Just Perfect
This Facebook post is republished below with the permission of the author.
By Brian Gil
As someone that literally never goes out to gay clubs, gay pride parades, or gay anything. I have to say, I have never cried so hard in a single day in my life.
This shooting and the effect its had literally (49 dead) and metaphorically are the fucking worst.
Only a gay person will truly feel the pain today that comes with living a life subconsciously anxious about stigmas, prejudices, and whether or not people will just generally accept you for how you are naturally.
Only a gay person has had to wake up everyday before this event, and looked themselves in the soul to tell themselves they’re worthwhile,while the rest of the world questions your integrity.
Your gonna tell me, on top of carrying all that around, the single location gay people can convene and feel comfortable about themselves in our society has someone walking in with a rifle shooting and rotating the gun across the room? Kick them while your down why don’t you, piece of shit.
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While the past few years the gay community has seen several progresses (marriage equality mainly), it seems we’ve all gone complacent about how unequal gay people still are.
Employment discrimination is still legal in many states. Anti-LGBT legislation has been sweeping the nation in the news lately. Clearly someone feels unaccepting to the point where they carried out their prejudices into mass violence.
I wanted everyone to see how a couple (literally very few) progresses towards acceptance doesn’t mean the related bigotry in our society has gone away.
Just like racism – just because the civil war, civil rights movement, and #staywoke movement have improved our society, it doesn’t mean racism doesn’t still exist (post-racial narrative).
We have to do what we must as people everyday to be conscious of these problems so we can change our world to make future generations better so these types of tragedies stop happening.
How many innocent marginalized members of society have to die before they become accepted? My point is, theres a better way – which is simply understanding, compassion, and solidarity for other humans
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Here’s The 10 Best Nickelodeon Shows From The 1990s
By Danielle del Pico
With the return of classic 90’s Nicktoons presumably coming to Nickelodeon later this year, we thought it would be smart to take a look back at some of the best shows from that era in our lives.
So here’s our top 10 best Nickelodeon 90’s shows. Tell us in the comments if you agree or not:
10. Ren and Stimpy
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With its crude humor, animation style, off the wall situations and chaotic relationships, Ren and Stimpy was the most controversial show on Nickelodeon for its time. It was that cartoon show that you watched while your parents looked on behind you in absolute disgust. Mission accomplished. This was one of the original three Nickelodeon shows and changed the playing field for cartoons to follow since its release in 1991. Unlike many of the shows on this list, it didn’t provide any moral ground for the characters. It was just good fun. Isn’t that what we need sometimes?
9. AAAHH!!! Real Monsters
Photo Credit: Nickelodeon
This show is high up on the list simply for the animation style, a style that is just quintessential nineties. That “dirty animation” has influenced cartoons for future decades to follow. This show taught that the monsters you’re afraid of are actually not so different from us. It was set around monsters in training, adolescents in a monster school trying to figure out their place in the underground and pass class. The show features characters Oblina, Ickis and Krumm set against the backdrop of New York City.
8. Rocko’s Modern Life
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This makes the list because of its nuanced adult humor. A second watching of this and you may pick up some things you missed when it first debuted in 1993. Today, there are instances of censorship of the beloved Wallaby. Most of the characters are rather eccentric and play into Rocko’s displacement as an Australian in his new home, O-Town. The show played into the mundane ins and outs of daily life and showed the humor and excitement that can happen in those “in betweens”.
7. Rocket Power
Probably not the most popular show on this list, but definitely worth a mention simply for the female character of Regina alone. She totally deconstructs feminine stereotypes and is an equal amongst her male counterparts. This show revolved around four diverse friends residing in a California town that love to participate in extreme sports and getting themselves into different oftentimes sticky situations. It originally aired in 1999 and ran for four seasons.6. Clarissa Explains it All
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Melissa Joan Hart was the 90’s sitcom princess, also starring in the title role of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, part of the TGIF lineup. This show aired from 1991-1994, and was also presented in a narrative style, much like Doug. This time, Clarissa helped explained all the tough, typical dilemmas teens have to face set against the backdrop of a video game narration style. It was supremely edgy for its time. Sort of the ‘Sex and the City’ for teenagers. Without the sex.
5. Kenan and Kel
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Who loves Orange Soda? Kel love Orange Soda! Now comedian Kenan Thompson continues to entertain audiences on Saturday Night Live. This creation of Kim Bass (Sister, Sister) was wildly popular with teenagers, even spawning a cult classic movie. The show followed the dynamic duo and the different shenanigans they would get themselves into. Special nod to the awesome theme song by Coolio ‘Aw, here it goes!’
4. The Wild Thornberrys
Who doesn’t want to travel all around the world with their family as they film their own nature show? Eliza Thornberry is the original Cady Heron from Mean Girls, except she can talk to animals and doesn’t have to deal with Regina George, just her moody sister Debbie (who doesn’t remember the episode where Debbie tried to make her own shampoo? Talk about being organic before it was a thing!) Eliza Thornberry, (voiced by actress Lacey Chabert, who played Gretchen Wieners in Mean Girls…these cannot just be coincidences) may not conventionally be your typical heroine but in the same vein, she is the best heroine. Here is a girl who stands up for what’s right and moreover, will do anything for her friends. Fun fact: their little brother Donnie (found in the wild and raised as their own) is voiced by Flea, bassist for Red Hot Chili Peppers. Tim Curry voices the father, Nigel Thornberry. Can Nickelodeon get any cooler?3. Doug
Photo Credit: Viacom
When Doug first debuted on the air in 1991, it wasn’t just kids that were talking about it, teenagers quickly identified with Doug’s confidence issues and finding his place in his new hometown of Bluffington. This show featured a wide cast of characters, and took on a narrative style of storytelling. Think ‘The Outsiders’ meets ‘The Wonder Years’. Much like other shows on this list, Doug never talked down to its audience and connected well with the struggles that adolescents face every day.Jim Jenkins, the creator of Doug, based the cartoon on his story growing up. This show focused on much of Doug’s experiences with bully Roger Klotz, his love for Patty Mayonnaise and his friendship with Skeeter Valentine.
2. Hey Arnold!
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Like many Nickelodeon shows, the characters of P.S. 118 and other residents of Hillwood never talked down to a young audience. The subject matters could range from social class to parent/child relationships. Running for five seasons, many episodes of Hey Arnold! centered on the hierarchy of public school and the microcosm of adolescent experiences. Many episodes focused on finding the good in people, doing the right thing and using caution with harsh judgments. Arnold oftentimes found himself in a position of leadership and never faltered with his good character. He always tried to be a friend to everyone, earnestly, This example is somewhat lost in mainstream cartoon shows, relying mostly on sarcastic comebacks to illustrate what “cool” is. Arnold’s individuality amidst all the other students of P.S. 118 showed you never have to conform, it’s okay to be who you are. Lastly, Helga is hilarious and made unibrows a safe conversation topic.
1. Rugrats
Yes, they have their own Hollywood star. Photo Credit: PROBonita de Boer/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
Who doesn’t remember running from the next room when the theme song started? Not only did it run for nine seasons (with a reboot in serious whispers) and spawned two spin off TV shows, All Grown Up! And Rugrats Pre-School Daze and three movies, The Rugrats Movie, Rugrats in Paris and Rugrats Gone Wild (featuring the Wild Thornberrys), Rugrats also spawned various merchandising, like video games, confectionary items, and even a live stage show. Rugrats is an empire. This TV show takes the number one spot because these cartoon babies were far more entertaining than most adult TV shows on at the time, let’s be honest. Rugrats instilled in audiences an understanding that parents and children will not see things in the same perspective, but at the end of the day they still love you, albeit in their own wacky way. It also emphasized friendship, loyalty and caring for one another set against the imaginative world of a child. Who didn’t want a friendship like Tommy and Chuckie? This show is also number one for its eccentric cast of memorable characters such as the devious Angelica, sweet Grandpa and the rebellious twins Phil and Lil. This style of animation is now considered iconic, and is often emulated but never duplicated.
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Elon Musk Will Soon Be Our Overlord In Space. Let’s Hope He’s Nice About It
By Matthew Alvarez
A couple of years ago you would of thought that the possibility of colonizing another planet was pure science-fiction, and you would equally think anybody wanting to attempt it was just crazy.
Like so many other scientific fantasies before it, that possibility is no longer a possibility, but an actual goal that is being made possible through the fact that we’re on the verge of a complete transformation of the space flight industry.
This revolution is being led by SpaceX, who are in turn led by the same guy that is trying to save our planet down here through Tesla, Elon Musk (here is a link to my article on that subject).
The world may seem like it’s plagued by enough problems to have to worry about another space race across our solar system, and ironically enough, that’s the exact reason why SpaceX wants to get us all the way to our red neighbor.
Just like Tesla, SpaceX had an ambitious yet tough start. The company was formally founded in 2002 by Elon Musk, after he sold PayPal to personally fund the company.
Prior to starting SpaceX, Musk had different aspirations, wanting to use current in-market rockets to start a Martian bio-experiment with plants.
After several visits to Moscow and with various rocket companies, Musk felt that the price to launch things into Space was too expensive, so he decided he would instead start a rocket launching company from scratch.
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He read and memorized everything he could on the subject matter and recruited rocket specialists to start re-envisioning what a rocket is.
Most rockets in use today are based off of cold-war era technology, or worse, were built during the cold-war era.
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To revolutionize space travel, SpaceX needed to make more efficient rockets to reach their first goal: Launch a rocket successfully into orbit at efficiently lower costs. After 3 failed attempts and on the verge of bankruptcy, on September 28, 2008, SpaceX would finally launch their first rocket model, Falcon 1, successfully into orbit, and land a 1.6 billion dollar contract with NASA.
Today SpaceX uses the Falcon 9, the name coming from their signature merlin engines, in which Falcon 9 has nine of. It’s one of the most advanced rocket systems on the planet, and is joined by the development of their dragon spacecraft and Falcon Heavy rocket system.
With the Falcon 9, SpaceX would become the first private company to dock with the International Space Station, send a satellite into orbit, and recover a launched space flight vehicle.
Space X has come a long way, but it’s most important accomplishments to date have only recently happened, creating new optimism across the entire scientific community.
Their current goal is to master re-using first stage rockets, which means getting launched rockets in orbit back to the ground in repairable condition, and favorably, in one piece.
Out of the last seven attempts, SpaceX has managed to successfully recover the Falcon 9 three times. After two failed landings on an autonomous barge in the ocean, history was made when Falcon9 landed back in Cape Canaveral, making SpaceX the first entity to land a rocket on the ground from orbit.
However, this was not SpaceX’s ultimate goal for reusability.
Ground landings cost more fuel, and often leave the rocket in worse condition than preferably landing in the ocean, which is more versatile but also more difficult. SpaceX would finally accomplish an ocean landing on April 8, 2016, and once again on May 6, 2016, with more landings planned for most future launches.
The re-usability of rockets is the key to lowering the cost of spaceflight by a considerable factor, being that it costs approximately 60 million dollars to construct each Falcon 9.
It’s important to note that recovering the rockets are currently the secondary mission of any individual launch, the primary objective is delivering the rockets payload successfully. To date, the Falcon 9 has had 24 missions, 22 of which were successful, creating a very impressive track record.
Everything SpaceX is doing now is leading to a culmination that they hope will enable them to reach Mars in the future, their true long term focus.
But SpaceX wants to do a lot more than simply get to Mars, they want to colonize it. All of a sudden this goal turns from a scientific venture, into a political, social, and ethical soup of many variables. We’re talking about human beings permanently living on a different planet within our lifetime. That statement begs the question, why do it?
Why leave Earth to live on an un-inhabited planet that doesn’t naturally support life? The answer is both inspiring and disheartening, but holds merit. With the fear of global warming, active nuclear arsenals, and the possibility of natural world ending events that will eventually happen (whether it be in 10 years or 1000), Elon Musk believes we need to “back up” the human race.
If something should happen to our home planet, we’ll at least have people elsewhere, ready to continue our existence.
This may not make sense to everybody, it might sound like an impossibility, but it is a valid concern held by some of the top minds of the world.
The calculated time it would take to reach Mars with current technology is about 2 years, along with geographic and atmospheric problems such as the Martian air being unbreathable, an average temperature of -63 degrees Celsius (-81.4 degrees F), and gravity 38% of Earth’s.
As you might imagine, colonizing Mars won’t be easy, and will likely take decades to fully realize. At minimum however, the colonization of another planet will still be the biggest scientific event of the last century, and will pave the way for a space faring future. As of now, SpaceX wants to get to the red planet by earliest 2018.
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Optimistically, both NASA and SpaceX also want to get humans to Mars sometime in the 2030’s, with SpaceX having plans to unveil the technology to do so by the end of this year.
SpaceX’s progress is incredible and very exciting to watch unfold, but they aren’t the only private company in the business of space travel.
Notably are the current space industry juggernauts, Lockheed and Boeing, along with the repeatedly delayed program of Virgin Galactic. Other come-ups include Orbital Sciences and Blue Origin, both of which have contracts with NASA.
In the coming years, we’re going to be seeing a lot more companies and governments take up the challenge of getting us back to space, and re-igniting the thrill of venturing off world that was lost decades ago.
It’s a safe and certainly exciting bet that SpaceX will be leading the way back into the final frontier, but the ripples of their (hopeful) success will be just as important if we want to become a multi-planetary species.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in public affairs. You can write for us.
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