Topic Reading-Vol.507-8/31/2013

Dear MEL School’s Topic Readers,

Our first line of defense against violent solar storms.

You see, feel and enjoy the benefits of the Sun every day but how much do you know about the activities and their effects and influences on our lives? You may find it more substantial than you can imagine especially on aviation, communication and power generation when solar activity becomes extreme.

Enjoy reading and learning what space weather means and affects our lives, such as how strong the solar wind is or will be and how resistant the magnetic field of our planet is.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130823-all-eyes-on-the-space-storms/1

Topic Reading-Vol.506-8/30/2013

Dear MEL School’s Topic Readers,

A post-Christian Middle East?

It’s a highly sensitive topic to discuss, the relationship between politics and religion in a country, and the majority and minority of the races and religions in a certain region especially when the regime or the population changes.

Not only the proportion but also the size of non-Muslim population in the Middle East seems to have been decreasing over the past decades. And when things go unstable, unjustifiable hostility grows against each other and that is when conflicts and clashes between religious groups evolve.

Enjoy reading and learning about the religious conflicts in the Middle East. 

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/22/opinion/bergen-post-christian-middle-east/index.html?hpt=hp_c5

Topic Reading-Vol.505-8/29/2013

Dear MEL School’s Topic Readers,

China announces end date for taking prisoners' organs.

Taking internal organs from executed prisoners for transplants is a highly controversial topic especially in a country where over thousands of prisoners are estimated to be executed every year and the justice system doesn’t seem to be as independent as other established countries.

China has been using “donated organs of executed prisoners” for transplants but recently admitted such practice and announced to cease it within the next several years because those organs of the executed prisoners are more likely to be infected by some disease which could cause long term affects to those who are undergone the transplant.

Here is a question. Is it acceptable to use a dead prisoner’s organ to save someone else’s life provided that an execution is something that is usually scheduled, which does offer a great convenience to prepare for a transplant but it also could create a chance to be traded, not to mention the possibility that the prisoner might have not been notified his or her donating the organ(s)?

Enjoy reading and thinking about the practice and discipline.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-23722796

Topic Reading-Vol.504-8/28/2013

Dear MEL School’s Topic Readers,

Things you may not know about the 1963 March on Washington.

Today a half century ago at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during “the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom”, this one of the most famous and influential speeches was addressed by American activist Martin Luther King, Jr., asking for equal rights for all.

The event took place in the nation’s capital at a larger than ever attendance of 250,000 civil right supporters. Considering the situations going on in the streets of Egypt between the supporters of the former democratically elected president and publically supported (?) military forces, it seems quite amazing that such a large-scale rally went peacefully without any bloodshed.

To commemorate the 50^th anniversary of the historical speech, enjoy reading some of the facts before and around the scene and seeing some photos of those days.

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-1963-march-on-washington-1377018072-slideshow/

Topic Reading-Vol.503-8/27/2013

Dear MEL School’s Topic Readers,

India: the Story You Never Wanted to Hear.

Some of you might have heard how unfairly and disrespectfully women are treated in some countries in Asia, the Middle East or Africa, not being allowed to attend any school, forced to get married before teenage or even circumcision. India is known as one of the worst place when it comes to how women are treated because of the frequent rape incidents not only to the local residents but also to foreign visitors.

The day before the 50^th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” address in Washington asking for equal and fair treatment to all, read and learn how an American university student wants to express her disastrous experience in India. 

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1023053?hpt=hp_c1

Topic Reading-Vol.502-8/26/2013

Dear MEL School’s Topic Readers,
Saudi King intervenes to help 610kg man.

There must have been several benchmark weights like 100, 200 or 500 to take serious actions to reduce, or at least to stop, adding weight, such as  exercising more, eating less or getting medical treatment. But now this person weighs way over half a ton, heavy enough to draw attention from the king of the oil rich country. He is an extreme case but overweight seems to be a common problem in the Middle East, where over one-third of the adult population considered overweighed.

Does horseback or camelback riding help people more from becoming obese than car riding? One thing for sure is that neither of those animals would be able to bear such weight anyway.

Enjoy reading and learning about the growing concern in the gulf.

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/19/world/meast/saudi-arabia-obesity/index.html?hpt=hp_c3

Topic Reading-Vol.501-8/25/2013

Dear MEL School’s Topic Readers,

CIA acknowledges its mysterious Area 51 test site for first time.

How many of you believe there have been visitors or contacts from other planets to ours? Many suspected or believed so when reports of Unidentified Flying Objects - or UFOs - started to emerge from the desert near Las Vegas, Nevada in the middle of the 20th century. There were numerous photos, some were fake, appeared in the newspapers and on TV shows in those days and many people suspected that Area 51 was the place where contacts with extra terrestrial, also known as E.T., were made.

However, a newly declassified government report acknowledges the existence of Area 51 as a site to base secretive reconnaissance aircrafts such as U-2s and A-12s, whose moves and lights looked so differently from others that many supposed them as U.F.O., which in a sense correct because they looked unidentified flying objects.

Enjoy reading and learning how people got excited about what they saw (believed to see) in the sky about a half century ago in the 500^th topic reading.

http://news.yahoo.com/cia-acknowledges-mysterious-area-51-test-first-time-010524549.html