ETORG ATSIRK~KRISTA GROTE

National

Power Protection

SUMMARY

A test cyber attack was made on an electric power generator at Idaho’s National Lab. These generators are the source for all of our electricity and if one happened to go out it would difficult to survive, because we are so reliant on electricity in today’s life. It is scary how easily the generator’s computer program canned be hacked into if someone has the patience, a computer, and mouse to click. They could literally destroy a power plant. If someone wired a number of generators throughout the country to self destruct they could potentially lead our country into an event worse than the Great Depression. An effort has been made to increase cyber security to prevent this from ever happening but instead the government decreased the security budget. The main concern with this issue is that other countries use the same programs and password for their generators, and our country could be at great risk if a terrorist ever tries to do this to us.

OPINION

I think the government made a bad choice in not investing in more cyber security to prevent our country from a second great depression. It is also dumb of CNN to make a clip about this make it more none, because there are some crazy people in this world and we don’t need to be giving them any extra ideas.


International

Horse Smuggler


SUMMARY

A man smuggles a small house onto a plain by checking it in a large dog crate from Germany to Atlanta, but once the horse is discovered while trying to get on a flight to Guatemala is when the horse was discovered and the problem occurred. The house was not allowed to complete its journey, because the owner did not have the proper permit and the carrier was obviously too small for the horse and considered inhumane. After the horse was rescued from confinement it was tested for diseases and fed hay and water. A report of violation is being reported against the airline and the horse’s owner.

OPINION

It is not right for someone to confine such a large animal to such a small cage and for such a long period of time. I agree that it is inhumane and wrong of the owner to try and get away with this. The bigger issue though, is that the airlines in Germany did not even check to see what was in the crate before they let it get on the plain to come to the US. There could have been a bomb or something even more harmful in that crate and it would have been easy to bring it into the US. Security around the globe needs to take the same or more precautions in airport security.

National

Violence on plains

SUMMARY

Parents are complaining that there is not enough concern taken in choosing in-flight movies. The parents would not allow their children to see rated R and PG-13 movies, but once they are on a plain they have no choice. Congress is taking action on this issue. This week they proposed a bill that will require a kid safe viewing areas on plains to keep children from seeing adult films. The airlines already sensor sex, nudity, profanity, and plain crashes on the in-flight movies, but they don’t do anything about violence in the movies, which makes parents most concerned.

OPINION

I like how parents are taking a stand against letting airlines show adult films to their children, but I do not think the solution that congress chose to handle this situation was the best idea they could have come up with, because it will just create more confusion when assigning seats on a plain. What they should have done instead was ban movies with violence or tell airlines to sensor violence as well.

International

118

SUMMARY

A group of Swiss firefighters came together to make a video about their new directory assistance telephone line number for fire emergencies. There has been some confusion since they recently changed their number from 112 to 118. They are trying to get the point across that if you have a fire related emergency to call their number and not if you have any other type of problem not to call them, because the time taken to redirect a wrong call takes away from the time used for those with real emergencies.

OPINION

Making a catchy rap song about an important telephone number that could save someone’s life is a great idea. People are more likely to remember something if it is part of a catchy song rather than just having a boring commercial that just shows the number. It is always cool to see people come up with innovative ways to get people to remember things, even when it is only a simple three digit telephone number.

The full video “118”