Nienke's blog

Zelensky’s Answer to Escalating Russian Threats: Defiance

In a nightly address, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine told Russian soldiers: “If you want to live, run.”

Russia had been sending threats to Ukraine as they make preparations to take the step of declaring parts of Ukraine to be Russian territory. President Zelensky and the Ukrainian government are responding to this stream of threats with deviance and a touch of bravado.

Mr. Putin has made threats about escalating the war and using nuclear weapons. Ukrainian forces are still pressing ahead with their attacks on Russian troupes in the east and south in regions that Russia is planning on claiming as its own. Mr. Zelensky said that he does not believe Mr. Putin was bluffing about the threats of military escalation or the use of nuclear weapons.

By claiming Ukrainian land, Russia wants to assert that Ukraine is attacking Russia’s territory instead of the other way around. So, if Russian troops would be captured or forced to flee along a remaining road under Ukrainian control, it would be an embarrassing setback for the Russians in an area that they were moving to declare part of Russia.

Ukrainian analysts and former security officials see Russia’a nuclear threat as a sign of weakness, not strength.

In my opinion, this was an interesting, easy to read, article. The information in the article is written in a way and order that it’s easy to follow. What I think is the strongest factor of this article is that it’s telling both sides of the story. There is definitely a bigger focus on the point of view from Zelensky and Ukraine then on Putin and Russia, but both are being included in the article. Everyone knows about the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia, so people want to stay up to date about the events that are happening over there, especially when it affects them or their country. And that’s what makes this story newsworthy.

Brian Cornell, chairman and CEO of Target, wrote a letter to Target’s shareholders talking about the Annual Report for 2021.

Target has grown a lot over the past years. Throughout often difficult months, they have taking action of which the results did not speak to the past but to the future. “In the simplest terms,” Cornell said, “we’ll keep growing because we’ve invested in the team, strategy, and capabilities to do what’s at the very heart of our company culture.”

Cornell states in the report that in 40 years in business, he has never seen a better blend between a team’s aspiration and the capabilities that are needed to bring them to life. In addition to that, Cornell says that back in 2017, Target didn’t have the tools to perform on the consistent level and scale that they had envisioned. But now that they do, the results are unmistakable. “It has also sparked exceptional business performance,” Cornell says.

Target’s record growth of 2020 and their additional expansion of 2021 were enabled by investments they had made in a unified set of initiatives which intended to drive growth over long time horizons. Target, however, remains much closer to the start of their growth than to the end of it.

Five years ago, Target saw enormous potential in their purpose, and now they have the actual performance to back it up. This performance points to even greater potential. Target expects that the investments that they have been making will keep them growing faster than the marker for years to come.

Cornell concludes the report saying that no one understands better than their team how much potential there is in front of them. When he reflects on different issues the team has worked through together and he can’t think of a team that is better suited for this job than the team that the have. Cornell says that they have shown as a team that they have the values to meet the requirements of the job. And that is why, in Cornell’s opinion, Target will continue to deliver tremendous value for shareholders and all stakeholders for many years to come.

An athletic achievement

During our Journalism class, I got the privilege to interview Marnix van Exel about his athletic achievements over the years.

The first achievement he talked about was here at Morningside University. Marnix is on the soccer and plays as a center back where he stops all his opponents from scoring goals. In Marnix’ freshman year, he got to start on the varsity team towards the end of the season. This was a big achievement as a freshman considering that there were only two other freshman that got to play on the varsity team that season.

In addition to that achievement, he said, “This year, there is not even one freshman getting close to making the starting eleven.”

Marnix also shortly talked about a big athletic achievement from when he was younger. When he was about 16 years old, he switched to a bigger soccer club to hopefully be able to play on a better team there. And indeed he did. Marnix got selected to play on the highest possible team that club had to offer. This was a big achievement for him, especially because he came form a small club as opposed to most of the other people that got selected.

“I put a lot of work and effort into the sport,” Marnix said, and that definitely shows. After putting in all of this effort and hard work, he made the highest team at 16, got to go to the United States to play soccer, and has now already started every varsity game in his sophomore year so far. I am curious to see what else he is going to accomplish in the future.

For our first article this semester, we had to select a topic of interest to us and then find at least three recent news articles, on the chosen subject, from three different sources. We had to summarize what those articles said about our chosen subject in a brief article. In addition, we had to use 2-3 good, short quotes and attribute them to the source. And as for the rest of the material, we had to strive to summarize and paraphrase the information for a reader who wants to know more about the subject.

For this article, I think I put the most effort into the organization of the information that I had collected. I wanted to make sure that I wrote everything in the right way and in a logical order. I wanted it to become a clear article that would be easy to read but would also give all the information necessary. I wish I had spent a little more time on how to properly order the different paragraphs. It wasn’t a big problem in my process, but I feel like I could have spent more time on it. 

The most difficult part for me in writing this article was to actually start writing it. I have never had any trouble with writing, but I did always have trouble starting because I don’t know where to begin. I was really overthinking this assignment because I had never “written an article” before. But then I found out that it is not that different from writing a normal paper.

There were no big obstacles for me in writing this paper, but I did encounter a small one. When I chose my topic and started searching for sources, I found out that all the articles were very similar. So, it took me some time to find three articles to use for the assignment which would not be almost identical. Even though I encountered this problem, I did not give up and I ended up finding the sources that I needed.

Overall, I enjoyed this assignment and I learned a lot from it. I learned that writing an article is not that different from writing a paper, which made it a lot easier for me to do this exercise. But I also learned that even though writing an article is similar to writing a paper, there are still differences that you need to pay attention to. For example, paragraphs are usually a lot shorter when it comes to articles. This is really going to help me in the future with assignments like this. And last but certainly not least, I learned not to keep a kangaroo as a pet because it seems to be very dangerous.

Federer and Nadal Were the Best of Rivals. In the End, They’ll Be Partners.

The rivalry between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal has been one of the greatest rivalries in tennis history, it has been a 21st-century staple. This rivalry will end in harmony on Friday when Federer will play his final competitive match with Nadal as his doubles partner.

Righty versus lefty. Panache versus perspiration. Zen versus Vamos.

“Sitting here, it feels good that I go first from the guys; it just feels right,” Federer said at a news conference on Thursday, flanked by Murray, Nadal and Novak Djokovic, all his teammates for this special farewell weekend at the O2 Arena.

Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal used to be the Big Four, but they have later become the Big Three, which includes Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic. Their careers are all deeply, inextricably intertwined. Actually, Nadal and Djokovic have played each other more often on tour than Nadal and Federer. However, the rivalry between Federer and Nadal was still the original golden-age rivalry.

Federer was not prepared to play one last singles match because of his knee injuries. So, he chose doubles because it was the safer option, but this will still be the first competitive match he has played in 14 months.

“I’m not sure if I can handle it all; I’ll try,” Federer said. “I have had some tougher moments as well in the past, you know, being horribly nervous all these years sometimes before matches. This one definitely feels a whole lot different.”

It’s different in part because his co-tormenters-in-chief, Nadal and Djokovic, are teammates this time.

“I am super excited to have them on our team and my team and not having to play against them on my last match,” Federer said.

On Friday night, on the same side of the net, at the end of an era, Federer and Nadal can take care of each other.

In my opinion, this is a well-written, beautiful, and even somewhat emotional news article and it is definitely newsworthy. Roger Federer was a famous tennis player that touched a lot of people around him. This article is especially newsworthy now that Federer has announced that he is retiring. People want to read about him now more than ever. This article beautifully describes the relationships he had with his fellow tennis player, especially his friendship/rivalry he had with Nadal. This really supports the main topic which is the fact that Federer’s last match will be a doubles match with Nadal as a partner. This article allows its readers to think back at the friendship that Federer and Nadal have and, opposed to that, their rivalry. Mentioning these moments in history makes the fact that they’ll be partners even more amazing. As someone who has played tennis for 7 years and who has followed a lot of Federer’s games, I think this article is beautifully written. I enjoyed reading it and it has made me a lot more excited to go and watch Federer’s last match on Friday.

Today, I had to do a scavenger hunt and I was on the hunt for 2 different objects: a creatively bent paper clip, and a favorite Morningside memory.

I started off by walking to the Olsen Student Center to look for someone that had a paperclip. I went to the Morningside Bookstore and found Amy Derrick. When I asked her if I could ask her a question for a class assignment that could maybe be a little weird she immediately responded that it’s never weird. This already made me feel so relaxed in communicating with her.

I asked her if she had a paper clip by any chance and if she could bent it creatively. She replied, “Okay, seriously, you are gonna think ‘that’s weird’ . . . We bend them all the time for a specific purpose.” She said that when they sell books, the once that are shrink wrapped, they flip them open, with these bent paperclips.

Amy has worked at Morningside for 10 years and she works in the Student Olsen Center in the Bookstore. She loves Morningside and thoroughly enjoys her time that she spends and has already spend here.

The second person I found fro my second object, a favorite Morningside Memory, is Maddie Wright. Maddie works at Student Financial Planning as a work study and student financial coordinator. Maddie herself attended Morningside and graduated back in 2018.

I explained to her what the assignment was and she immediately knew her favorite memory. She said, “My favorite Morningside memory is when I attended the semi-final football game at Olsen Stadium and we beat St. Francis in like triple overtime or something like that.” She said that everyone stormed the field after this win and that it was all very exciting.

Maddie’s most beautiful part of the memory was being able to experience the football game with former football players next to her in the stands. Her husband, who used to play football at Morningside when they were dating, and his football friends were with her and she loved being able to get to hear their perspective while watching the game.

Finally, she added that the stands were completely packed even though there was at least foot of snow on the ground that day. Maddie explained how the field was cleared of snow right before the game and that the cold did not interfere with everyones excitement and enthusiasm.

Overall, I really enjoyed this scavenger hunt. It was a lot of fun to talk to people that you don’t normally talk to and learn more about them and their time at Morningside.

What a Young Philosopher Discovered More Than 200 Years Ago About Nature

Philosopher Friederich Schelling introduced the idea that there is a “secret bond connecting our mind with nature.” His idea, that the self and nature are in fact identical, was both sample and radical.

Schelling was only 23-years-old when he had become the youngest professor at the University of Jena in the winter of 1798. Large groups of young men rushed to the town university’s biggest auditorium to listen to their new professor. And Schelling explained to them his idea by pointing to the moment when the self becomes aware of the world around it.

“At the first moment, when I am conscious of the external world, the consciousness of my self is there as well,” he said, “and vice versa — at my first moment of self-awareness, the real world rises up before me.” According to Schelling, being in nature was always a self-discovery, a journey into oneself. This philosophy of one-ness became the heartbeat of Romanticism.

Many 18th century travelers would describe a village, city, landscape or country as detached observes. They would see the countryside through the windows of their carriages and they would describe art and architecture through the prism of their learning and books. But then, in the early 19th century, Schelling’s idea had started to spread. The young Romantics began to feel a deeper sense of connection to the world around them. Now, instead of just visiting museums and cities, people wanted to feel nature rather than to observe what they were seeing. People wanted to discover themselves in nature.

When people think more about Schelling’s philosophy, nature can be understood as a web and its vulnerability will become obvious. If one part gets damaged, other parts might suffer as a result of that. This concept of nature still shapes our thinking today.

Not everyone would say that this article is newsworthy because it has a very clear topic: philosophy. Not everyone would necessarily be interested in that. However, this article very much is newsworthy. The article discusses a philosophical theory that was created 200 years ago but still influences people’s thinking to this day. The article presents a clear story about how Schelling created his idea and how his idea impacted people to this day. I do think that there are certain parts in the article could have been explained a little bit less detailed but these parts don’t interfere with the main topic. Before I read this article, I wasn’t consciously aware of the idea that everything is one. How after Schelling’s idea spread, people wanted to feel nature, rather than to observe it. This article helps people realize the impact that this idea had on the human way of thinking. In my opinion, this is a well written article. The information in the article is written in a way that everyone can understand it even if they don’t know a lot about philosophy.

A kangaroo attacked a 77-year-old man in Redmond, Australia – the first fatal kangaroo attack in Australia since 1936.

The man that was killed in the kangaroo attack has been identified as a local alpaca breeder named Peter Eades. He was a well-known alpaca breeder, establishing the Agonis Alpaca stud in 1997 and building up a 60-head flock.

After the attack on Sunday, Mr. Eades was found on his property with “severe injuries” by one of his family members. The police and paramedics were called to the scene. They could not immediately get to Mr. Eades because the kangaroo was preventing the paramedics from getting to the him.

When the police found that it was impossible to safely get to Mr. Eades, they fatally shot the kangaroo in order to reach him. Unfortunately it was already too late and Mr. Eades was pronounced dead at the scene. “The kangaroo was posing an ongoing threat to emergency responders,” the statement said.

The Western Australian Police Force released a statement that said that the victim, Mr. Eades, may have been keeping the wild kangaroo as a pet.

In Australia, permits are required to keep wild animals as pets. Permits do allow some citizens in some situations to have kangaroos on their property, but there are also laws that prohibit keeping Australian native fauna as pets. The police, however, did not respond to the questions that were asked about whether the victim had a permit to keep the kangaroo or not.

Tanya Irwin, a senior veterinary nurse and wildlife caregiver at the Native Animal Rescue in Western Australia, said that it’s not common for authorities to approve permits to keep kangaroos as pets because they don’t cope well in human situations in care.

Irwin said that fatal kangaroo attacks are extremely uncommon because it is the first instinct of a kangaroo to flee. Kangaroos will not attack unless they feel threatened or cornered. “Typically, when you come across them in the wild, they’ll let you know that they’re there and keep an eye on you, but they don’t come after you,” she said.

Western Australia is the home of the western gray kangaroo, which can grow to be a little over four feet from head to tail and weigh nearly 120 pounds. The male western gray kangaroo can be aggressive, and when they fight people, they will use the same techniques as they use with each other. They will use their short upper limbs to fight with their opponent, use their muscular tales to take their body weight and then lash out with both their powerful clawed hind legs.

“This looks like it was an adult male and they become quite aggressive, and they don’t do well in captivity,” Irwin said about the kangaroo of the attack, “We don’t know what the situation was; If he was in pain or why he was being kept in captivity and unfortunately … they’re not a cute animal, they’re a wild animal.”

Sources:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/13/world/australia/man-killed-kangaroo.html

https://www.npr.org/2022/09/13/1122653907/kangaroo-fatal-attack-australia

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2022/09/13/kangaroo-kills-man-blocks-medics-australia-death/10364378002/

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-13/suspected-kangaroo-attack-leaves-man-dead-near-albany-in-wa/101432566

At four o’clock this morning, there was a fire in a barn at Norfolk Downs Race Track, Chicago, killing 15 horses.

This tragic event happened one day before the opening of racing season. In the barn in question, 25 horses were stabled. Ten of the horses were able to escape the fire, two of which stampeded through the barnyard with their backs on fire. The fire smoldered until noon, and after that only several rows of charred wooden supports remained intact.

Arson is suspected as the cause for the fire. For this reason, an arson squad has been called to the scene. Jim Connery, fire chief: “The fire exploded near the center of the barn. Flames were shooting out of the building when we got here. The fire is definitely suspicious.”

Statements from officials also shine more light on the suspiciousness of the fire. Dan Bucci, assistant general manager of the track: “It could have been of an incendiary nature because it started in the middle of the barn, not at the end. The only heaters and electrical outlets were in the tack rooms at the ends of the barn.

This tragedy affected a lot of people. Both the jockeys and the owners of the track experienced a great loss. One of the jockeys, Albert Ramos, watched workers as they cleaned up the area. “That’s my best friends,” he said, pointing to a surviving horse, “I love horses more than I do people. I feel like I want to cry.”

Cathy Wensen (22) was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol last night, her third time in six months.

Cathy Wensen is the daughter of locally prominent attorney Jim Wensen. Her mother, Sharon Wensen, lives in Ontario, Canada. Cathy is a senior at Vanderbilt University where she goes for a graduate study in Biology. She was this year’s homecoming queen, has been a cheerleader, and is a straight-A student. No one expected her to do this, and definitely not three times in six months.