News Of The Day

By: Jerry Xiao

Every other day I'm going to be writing about the most weird, akward, exciting, interesting, funny, stupid, or embarrassing news on the web on that day. Most of my titles will be coming from Yahoo! and the occasional Google. I will include a summary and a link to the original article if available. Here goes.

Whoa! Cool Auto...chair?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080818/ap_on_fe_st/odd_speeding_chair;_ylt=AslJ_LN21hDOF70_QXSB9gSs0NUE

German Police Officers in Gross-Zimmern took away a motorized chair today. The chair, invented by two 17-year olds, had a lawnmower engine, bicycle brake, and a metal frame. No news as to how fast it goes.

Wait A Minute... Who Are You?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080818/ap_on_fe_st/odd_wrong_suspect;_ylt=Ar1ddls.3MU2Si9yCnOCj2qs0NUE

A Kentucky Sheriff drove 4,100 miles to pick up a fugitive wanted for fleeing police and drunken driving. The fugitive, named Joe Orus, was being held in Tehachapi, California, when police noticed he had an outstanding warrant. California Police officers then called Kentucky sheriff Joe Gaddie to come pick him up. However, when Gaddie got back to Kentucky, He noticed a mistake. The man was not Joe Orus. In fact, he had stolen Joe Orus' identity.

LAX In Trouble

LAX has suffered a terrible year in domestic flights to and from Los Angeles International in the past years due to high fuel costs. However, international flights are just starting to be affected. Foreign Airlines are cutting back on the flights to LAX. The cuts by the foreign flights surprise LAX officials and economists, who thought that the internatioal flights wouldn't be affected by economy. In fact, LAX officials used the international flights as ways to even out the drops in domestic flights. The recent upgrades to the Tom Bradley International terminal in LAX are not going to be affected for now, though LAX officials may have to rethink spending strategy soon, such as a hiring freeze. The cuts are supposed to bring fewer non-stop flights overseas, higher fares, and more crowded planes.

Featured Video - Road To Redemption

Today's video features a documentary on the "Redeem Team" in the training sessions before the Beijing Olympic Ceremony. This is Episode one Part one of the series.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5pXbOlcRA4&feature=PlayList&p=1D1723D68AA08366&index=0&playnext=1

What Do You Think?

By Jerry Xiao

What do you think about a 4 day school week? In fact, a 4 day school week isn't that rare around the nation anymore. Because of the ailing U.S. economy and the soaring prices for fuel, schools around the nation are cutting back on costs in anyway possible. By reducing the school wek to 4 days, school do not have to pay that extra day for the school buses, which could save $50,000 a year. However, to compensate for the missing day, schools are adding 10 minutes to the class times on the other four days. Some schools are even cutting back on electives, saving them an average of $65,000 a year. Montgomery County in Maryland, is cutting back funds to its award winning mathematics club.

Lenelle Cruse, the state PTA president, said that the state budget for education was so tight, that the schools actually had a toilet paper drive. Many schools have stopped ordering new textbooks, making use of the old ones and rebinding ones themselves.

And schools aren't the only people cutting back on costs for education. Many parents are starting to shop conservatively, making their children reuse their backpacks and materials from the year before. Parents were asked to carpool together to the athletic meetings in Paw Paw, Michigan.

If the U.S. economy doesn't pull up soon, who knows how it will affect the rest of the people in the nation.

Medal Update - Day 10 (Cont'd)

The following is a list of the medals won overnight, the country the athletes represent, and the names of the athletes:

Women's Discus Throwing
Gold - Stephanie Brown Trafton - United States
Silver - Yarelys Barrios - Cuba
Bronze - Olena Antonova - Ukraine

Women's Pole Vault
Gold - Elena Isinbaeva - Russia
Silver - Jennifer Stuczynski - United States
Bronze - Svetlana Feofanova - Russia

Men's Team Table Tenis
Gold - China - China
Silver - Germany - Germany
Bronze - South Korea - South Korea

Men's Horse Vault
Gold - Leszek Blanik - Poland
Silver - Thomas Bouhail - France
Bronze - Anton Golotsutskov - Russia

Men's Long Jump
Gold - Irving Jahir Saladino Aranda - Panama
Silver - Khotso Mokoena - South Africa
Bronze - Ibrahim Camejo - Cuba

Women's Individual
Gold - Wenna He - China
Silver - Karen Cockburn - Canada
Bronze - Ekaterina Khilko - Uzbekistan

Men's 3000-Meter Steeplechase
Gold - Brimin Kipruto - Kenya
Silver - Mahiedine Mekhissi Benabbad - France
Bronze - Richard Kipkemboi Mateelong - Kenya

Women's 800 Meters
Gold - Pamela Jelimo - Kenya
Silver - Janeth Jepkosgei Busienei - Kenya
Bronze - Hasna Benhassi - Morocco

Men's 400-Meter Hurdles
Gold - Angelo Taylor - United States
Silver - Kerron Clement - United States
Bronze - Bershawn Jackson - United States

Team Jumping, Equestrian
Gold - United States - United States
Silver - Canada - Canada
Bronze - Norway - Norway

Medal Update - Day 10 (Cont'd)

The following is a list of the medals won overnight, the country the athletes represent, and the names of the athletes:

Men's 470 - Two-Person Dinghy
Gold - Malcolm Page, Nathan Wilmot - Australia
Silver - Joe Glanfield, Nick Rogers - Great Britain
Bronze - Nicolas Charbonnier, Olivier Bausset - France

Women's 470 - Two-Person Dinghy
Gold - Elise Rechichi, Tessa Parkinson - Australia
Silver - Lobke Berkhout, Marcelien de Koning - Netherlands
Bronze - Isabel Swan, Fernanda Oliveira - Brazil

Women's Points Race
Gold - Marianne Vos - Netherlands
Silver - Yoanka Gonzalez - Cuba
Bronze - Leire Olaverria - Spain

Men's Rings
Gold - Yibing Chen - China
Silver - Wei Yang - China
Bronze - Oleksandr Vorobiov - Ukraine

Men's Team Pursuit
Gold - Great Britain - Great Britain
Silver - Denmark - Denmark
Bronze - New Zealand - New Zealand

Women's Uneven Parallel Bars
Gold - Kexin He - China
Silver - Nastia Liukin - United States
Bronze - Yilin Yang - China

Men's 94-105 kg
Gold - Andrei Aramnau - Belarus
Silver - Dmitriy Klokov - Russia
Bronze - Dmitry Lapikov - Russia