In the deep waters making up the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean, a treasure trove can be found on the lumps of metallic ore that litter the bottom. The ore itself is valuable, but it’s the sponges that attach themselves to the ore nodules that scientists are interested in.

According to sciencenews.org, this new species of sponge was reported by researchers on September 24^th. These newly discovered deep sea residents may help scientists monitor environmental impacts caused by deep-sea mining.

To make tracking the effects caused by the mining on deep-sea ecosystems easier, scientists are eager to setup a baseline of existing biodiversity. Especially in regions like the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (C-C-Z), which lies in the eastern Pacific Ocean, and is littered with the ore nodules.

This new sponge could very well be the key to that baseline. After samples of the ore nodules were retrieved from the C-C-Z in 2015, scientists noticed patches of snow-white sponges on the ore. It was believed to be a new species, and was later proven by DNA analyses. The proximity of the sponge to the ore may make it the perfect canary for this new coal mine.

One of the most popular games of 2017 is Destiny 2 (D2). The game was released on September 6th, and has only picked up followers as time has gone on. One month into the game, and each week has brought on the addition of something new, whether it was the Trials of the Nine, the guided Nightfall Strike, the Raid, or most recently, the reintroduction of the Iron Banner.

Veterans of the previous game and newbies alike have given great acclaim for the young game. In interviews taken from two people who have never played the game, and one person who has played through the first, and is now working on the second, more about this game can be found out. The interviews with the two who haven’t played the game were taken after they played the first mission of D2.

Jake Brand, someone who has never played the previous game, said, “It’s better than Halo, but not as good as Call of Duty.” This is a pretty big statement though, since Bungie, the developer of Destiny, is also the developer of Halo. Brand said that he liked the brighter colors of the game, and some of the action sequences. He also said that if he had played the first game and liked it, he probably would have bought the second. He also said, “It’s not my type of game. My type of game is more of the sports games.”

Caleb Deemer, another person who has never played Destiny, said, “I’m not normally into space-age games, but it was fun.” Deemer liked that the game had a little bit of a faster pace, had a good first-person view, and was better than he thought it would be. He felt that some of the smaller details could be improved, but not much else. When asked if he might play it in the future, he said yes, when he didn’t have to rely on the online multiplayer side of the game.

Kyle Mackey is a veteran of the game, having played the first Destiny up until D2 came out. Mackey said that the things he liked were the fluid game mechanics and the graphics. “They actually have a solid story line this time,” Mackey continued. When asked since he had played the first game, did it make him want the second game more, he gave a resounding yes. He also said that he probably spends an average of seven and a half hours a week on the game.

Wednesday September 27, 2017

Several fires are blazing in California. One of the largest that is close to a populated are is the Canyon Fire.

It started on Monday in Cole Canyon, and covers about two thousand acres. One thousand people were forced to evacuate, but were allowed to head back to their homes earlier today, as about 20% of the fire was brought under control.

Orange County Fire Authority Captain Larry Kurtz was quoted as saying, “There is no more increase in the size of the fire as of today.”

Residents of the Domingos Ranch neighborhood were taking shelter in the Corona High School in Corona, California.

Capt. Kurtz said, “A lot of people don’t know what’s happened in their homes. We will still have crews constantly patrolling those neighborhoods.”

Luckily, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, there have been no injuries reported, but there was damage to three houses. Cal Fire also reported that because of efforts on the ground and by air, fire activity has slowed. This is largely in part to favorable temperatures, less wind, and a humidity level of twenty percent.

According to Capt. Kurtz, the humidity level was at nine percent when the fire started.

“From a fire perspective it is hard to classify them purely by acreage,” said Capt. Kurtz. “But what makes these fires more damaging is when they occur in populated areas.”

The last person that I talked to was my roommate Jake.

I was playing games and he was doing homework, when he decided to play Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond over the Bluetooth speaker in our apartment. He then played a few more songs and we sang along.

He was wearing a dark grey sleeveless hoodie over a grey Morningside Men’s basketball t-shirt, and a pair of shorts.

Jake has an athletic build, and does like to work out quite a bit. He is quite good looking, and is confident with his looks.

If I were to describe Jake’s looks, he’s a Caucasian male standing at about 6’2″ with a Mediterranean look. What I mean by that is that he has dark brown hair, blue eyes, and is fairly tan skinned. If I were to guess his weight, he’d probably be somewhere in the 180-190 pound range.

His jaw starts of square-ish, and comes to a rounded point at the chin. His eyes are close set, but not too close. He has a medium sized forehead, and his hair only hangs down about an inch over the top of his forehead.

The donut hole is a little squishy, but also has a rough texture thanks the the coating of large sugar crystals. It looks roundish, but also kind of like a hill. It has a dark brown color to it, but also has the white of the sugar crystals. It has a chocolaty smell to it.

When you bite into it, it has a squish from the dough part, and a crunch from the sugar crystals. You can taste the chocolate, and also the sugar.

The pirouline has a hard outer shell, and a softer, but still hard core. It has a chocolate swirl running down the outside of it, and the core is chocolate as well. The outer shell crunches when you bite into, and the core just gives away. The core is very creamy, and very rich in taste. It has a weird, off chocolate smell to it.

The two objects I had to get were a conversation about the weather, and a piece of gum that isn’t pink.

To get the gum, I went to the admissions office and spoke with Char Jorgensen. I told her what I was doing and she was excited to help out.

She had cinnamon Ice Breakers Ice Cubes. I asked her why cinnamon? She enthusiastically said, “I love cinnamon. Every gum I get is cinnamon. Except for the gum in my car, that’s Juicy Fruit and bubble gum for my grand kids.”

For the conversation about the weather, I headed to the Olsen Student Center. There I talked with the new chaplain, Andy Nelson. He was excited that I’d include him in the assignment, and was more than happy to help out.

We both agreed that we didn’t really care about the current weather. “It’s warmer, almost humid,” he said. He likes a cooler climate, and was kind of disappointed that September has stayed as warm as it has. He continued with, “I just really like jean and sweatshirt weather.”

In the end, the search wasn’t all that hard, and didn’t take all that long. In fact, the thing that took the most time was talking with Char and Andy. This was a good thing, because it helped me get what I needed for the assignment, and let me meet with someone I didn’t really know.

Suicide, in many opinions is something that shouldn’t be done, because it hurts more than just the one person who makes that decision. It hurts their loved ones and their friends. But most of all, it hurts the world. If that person hadn’t committed suicide, what could they have done? Maybe one person could’ve found the cure for cancer, and another could’ve brought world peace.

Since they’re no longer here, that won’t happen—at least not for a while. But suicide is a very broad topic, especially when you look at the ages at which people make the decision to end it all. So, to narrow that topic down, here are some articles and statistics about suicide in college age students.

In the article titled “Suicide Wave Grips Columbia” the authors Shawn Cohen and Laura Italiano talk about the seven suicides that involved seven Columbia students.

Starting on January 18, 2016, and ending on December 18, 2016, seven students made the decision to end their lives.

In January Daniel, Yi-Chia, Ezekiel all decided to take their lives in a matter of a five day stretch. In September it was Uriel—a navy corpsman. In October Taylor chose to end his life. In November Nicole made the same decision, and in December Mounia also made the decision.

According to information gathered from multiple sources by collegedegreesearch.net in 2015, an average of 6% of undergraduate, and 4% of graduate students in a four year college had seriously thought about attempting suicide in the past year. Nearly half of both those groups didn’t tell anyone.

There were 7.5 suicides per 100 thousand students in the U.S. in 2015, which added up to 1,100 students taking their lives that year. One in twelve had actually written out a suicide plan, and 1.5 out of 100 students actually attempted to commit suicide.

Twelve people aged fifteen to twenty-four committed suicide in one day, which rounded out to one person dying every two hours.

The emotional health of college freshmen had declined to its lowest extent in 25 years, going from 64% saying their emotional health being above average in 1985, to 51% saying their emotional health was above average in 2015.

Campus stress producers were found to correlate with competitiveness, acceptance rate, tuition, campus crime, and the economy.

In the article “College Mental Health Crisis: Focus on Suicide” written by Steve Schlozman and Eliza Abdu-Glass, and contributed to by Gene Beresin—a professor of psychology at Harvard—the good, the bad, and the ugly of mental health services on college campuses is discussed.

The good? There are more opportunities for developmental growth, and colleges are actively recognizing the immense variety of ways that their students are coming of age. There are many offerings for people to explore who they are and what values they hold dear.

The bad? Drop-out rates, more powerful distractions from the online world, and greater academic and social expectations for students are on the rise. The ever-growing financial challenges for students and parents are also on the rise, and the decreased certainty of finding a job makes things more difficult as well. This all adds emotional stress to the students, and adds to the pressures of the outside world that they are feeling.

The ugly? As was said above, colleges have made great improvements, but are still largely ill-equipped to help students with psychological health that needs this great of an amount of help.

Some statistics that Schlozman, Abdu-Glass, and Beresin provided are;

1. There are more than 1,000 suicides on college campuses each year, which adds up to 2-3 deaths every day.
2. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among college students.
3. More than half of college students have suicidal thoughts, and one in ten seriously consider attempting suicide.
4. 80-90% of college students who committed suicide were not receiving help from the counseling centers at their college.

Following this, they asked what can be done to improve the situation? They came up with these 6 things colleges can do to help;

1. Establish new educational platforms about depression and suicide.
2. Increase access to mental health services.
3. Support community forums
4. Foster peer counseling.
5. Decrease the stigma of mental illness.
6. Promote means for increasing student wellbeing.

With colleges being unique, they need to tailor these things to their circumstances. If they do, the benefits are immense. If colleges act, they can literally save lives.

Four students from Armstrong Aeronautical University were involved in a boating accident, after their ship sprung a leak.

Randy Cohen, Christy Wapniarski, Daniel Perrin, and Tammy Ennis were sailing in a 16-foot catamaran, when at about 5 pm the boat sprung a leak and later capsized.

The four hung on to one of the boats pontoons through the night, as none had a life vest on.

When morning came they decided to swim for shore, which was four miles away.

Cohen was about twenty feet in front of Wapniarski, when he heard her call out for help, saying that a shark had attacked her. Cohen called to Ennis for help, but she yelled back, “Randy, don’t go back there, you’ll get eaten too.”

By the time Cohen had swam back to Wapniarski, she was unconscious, and he could see no sign of a shark.

He put his arms around her shoulders and started swimming back to shore.

Perrin, who had been swimming behind the other three, caught up with Cohen and checked Wapniarski’s pulse. He told Cohen she was dead, but Cohen refused to leave her behind.

He swam for another 10-15 minutes, before he became to exhausted to carry her any longer.

Six hours later the students made it back to shore.

Cohen was admitted to Halifax Hospital in Daytona Beach, Florida, with injuries from being stung by dozens of Portuguese Man-of-Wars.

This information is from Cohen, who was interviewed at the hospital.

A United Airlines plane with 61 people on board crashed in a residential district south of Chicago while approaching The Windy City’s Second City Airport on Friday afternoon.

42 bodies were found, one being identified as Representative George W. Collins, D-Ill., who was on his way back from Washington to “organize a children’s Christmas party.

16 people, including the three flight attendants were admitted to Holy Cross Hospital with injuries.

An eyewitness was quoted as saying, “I saw the plane coming lower and lower. I couldn’t believe it. I thought surely it would go back up into the air. But it kept coming down. I knew it would never make it to the airport. I was scared.”

One of the survivors, Marvin Anderson, 43, of Omaha, said, “The last words the pilot said to us were, ‘We are at 4,000 feet and everything is going well.’ I knew something was wrong a few seconds later because he began to rev the engines.”

Curtis Vokamer, deputy fire marshall, said his crew found most of the 55 passengers dead in the debris of the Boeing 737. He was quoted as saying, “If Hell has an address, this is the place.”

Suicide can have several meanings, it just depends on how you look at it. For some it’s a senseless and selfish act that takes loved ones away from their families. For others it’s seen as something that has taken a loved one. And for others still, it’s a way to end the pain, or to leave behind the loneliness that’s drowning them. The dictionary definition is, “the intentional taking of one’s own life.” But suicide is a very broad topic, especially when you look at the ages at which people make the decision to end it all. So, to narrow that topic down, I’m going to talk about suicide in college age students.

Suicide, in my opinion is something that shouldn’t be done, because it hurts more than just the one person who makes that decision. It hurts their loved ones and their friends. But most of all, it hurts the world. If that person hadn’t committed suicide, what could they have done? Maybe one person could’ve found the cure for cancer, and another could’ve brought world peace. Since they’re no longer here, that won’t happen—at least not for a while.

According to http://www.collegedegreesearch.net/student-suicides/ in 2015, an average of 6% of undergraduate, and 4% of graduate students in a four year college had seriously thought about attempting suicide in the past year. Nearly half of both those groups didn’t tell anyone.

There were 7.5 suicides per 100 thousand students in the U.S. in 2015, which added up to 1,100 students taking their lives that year. One in twelve have actually written out a suicide plan, and 1.5 out of 100 students have actually attempted to commit suicide.

Twelve people aged fifteen to twenty-four committed suicide in one day, which rounds out to one person dying every two hours.

The emotional health of college freshmen had declined to its lowest extent in 25 years, going from 64% saying their emotional health being above average in 1985, to 51% saying their emotional health was above average in 2015. Campus stress producers were found to correlate with competitiveness, acceptance rate, tuition, campus crime, and the economy.