Friday, 4 December 2020

My Online Presence

     Honestly, this topic scares me a lot. I never thought much about my online presence before I took this class. I knew in the back of my mind that privacy was non-existent, but I thought that there was nothing I could do about it. It was one of those things where I didn't want to be educated on it because it scared me so much. However, after taking this class I have a deeper appreciation for technology and the internet because of how impressive and widespread it has become after a short amount of time.

         Social Media 

        I have a pretty large online footprint for only being a mere nineteen year old. I am on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Tik Tok, and probably so much more. I do not think things through when I join a new social media platform. If it is the new thing and people are doing it, then I'll probably hop on the bandwagon and see what it's about. After taking this class, I am now very aware that these platforms are businesses who have access to all of your personal information and they continue to collect and use it for their personal gain. This will probably make me more hesitant of joining new social media platforms, because I think that the extent that these companies go to is often too far. 

    Facebook is one of the biggest culprits of why people are often very skeptical of being online. They own Instagram and make a majority of their money through advertisements. This article  describes the way that Facebook advertising works. They target your advertisements based on your age, location, gender, and a plethora of other personal information. That means that if the advertisements on your page are interesting to you, then Facebook has a pretty big grasp on who you are. The reason why this is scary is because Facebook and other companies that make money from advertising knows its customers better than most people in their lives. I am willing to bet that Facebook could get me better Christmas presents than my own mother.  

    Aside from the creepy advertising that these companies do, something that massively came into light this year was the regulation of content by these social media corporations. During the election, Facebook was "factchecking" certain posts and blocked content that was deemed to be untrue. First of all, any idiot can tell that these fact checkers are extremely biased and only block certain content. These are private companies that are using their influence to skew the way that people think. We live in an age where everyone finds their information online, so to see such blatant censorship of content is extremely discouraging to the fundamental principles of this country. 



My Personal Footprint

    I have grown up in a time where everyone was always on the internet. I started my Instagram account when I was still in elementary school and I witnessed the rise of the world's obsession with other platforms such as Snapchat and Tik Tok. I am probably guilty of sharing too much information on those accounts. Sure, my platforms are private but I don't know every single one of my followers. Any random person could do a quick Google search on me to find out my birthday and the city I live in. From there, it really is not too hard to find out other information these days. It does not scare me as much as it used to, because every kid in the world with a cellphone has a social media and does the same thing. Personal information suddenly doesn't seem that personal when there is quick access to it with a simple search. 

        With all of that being said, I am pretty proud about what is out there about me on the internet. When you search my name on Google, the first link that comes up is my LinkedIn account. I have worked hard on my LinkedIn page and I think that it is pretty good. It gives the general public the assumption that I am a pretty professional person. If somebody read my profile, they would know that I have done a lot at a young age and hopefully that gives off a great impression that would make people want to hire me. My Facebook and Twitter page also come up. I am not embarrassed about anything that is on those platforms and I don't think there is anything on those that would cause an employer not to hire me. It is pretty normal content that wouldn't catch an employer's eye in a negative way. There isn't much about me on the internet other than what I choose to post. 

    I think in this day and age, you have to be pretty comfortable with the whole world viewing what you put on the internet. Even if your page is private, there is nothing truly private about the internet. Companies can even pay money to view your private Snapchat stories. I definitely freaked out a little when I found out about this. The amount of inappropriate content I see posted on social media even by my peers in this class is enough to get someone fired. The golden rule that I try to live by is that if my grandparents would not be ok with my content, then I probably shouldn't be posting it. 





    This post centered around social media, because that is the majority of my online presence. The majority of people don't have articles written about them or a ton of unflattering paparazzi photos on the internet for people to ridicule. Your online presence for the most part is what you want it to be. However, it is hard to keep up with the world without having social media. People are often judged even more harshly for not having any social media. Society normalizes sharing information on the internet which makes it easier and easier for companies to curate personal advertisements for you. 

    This class taught me to be aware of my presence on the internet and to take privacy seriously. Just because certain companies own most of the internet and can control people through social media, that doesn't mean they are right or ethical. Being educated is a pathway to fighting these companies for privacy rights. My online footprint might not be 100% controllable, but I can do what I can to be careful about what I post online. Unfortunately, a lot of us get into social media and internet sites when we are kids and don't know any better about the power of the internet to ruin lives. The best we can do is routinely clean up our online presence to make it the best that it can be. 

 

Monday, 9 November 2020

EOTO: Smith-Mundt Act

 I am so glad that my group got randomly assigned to present on propaganda this week. I researched the Smith-Mundt Act and I feel so much more knowledgeable on the United States and their propaganda schemes. I will be totally honest, I was a little shocked and disappointed to learn that the United States takes place in propaganda, but I guess every country does it now. Today's blog post will be a special one all about the Smith-Mundt Act. 



The Smith-Mundt Act was passed in 1948 and the official name for it was the U.S. Information and Educational Exchange Act. This was first introduced by Congressman Karl E. Mundt and it was signed into law by President Harry S. Truman. By passing this law, the U.S. Department of State had the basic legislative authorization for propaganda activities. What does that mean? It means that the U.S. Department of State could now communicate to audiences outside of the United States through broadcasting, face-to-face contacts, exchanges, books, movies, magazines, and other media. Congress funded these activities through appropriations. When this act was passed in 1948, it should've scared anyone outside of the United States. Essentially the U.S. passed a law stating that the U.S. State Department could lie to anyone outside of its borders. Scary stuff. 

Because of this act, the State Department could create an information service to disseminate abroad information about the United States and its people. This includes the President, Congress and all other government officials having something to do with matters affecting foreign affairs. The key to remember about this act is that it only allowed distribution of these materials outside of the U.S. This ensured that United States citizens would be immune to the propaganda of their own country. 

After this law was passed, Voice of America (VOA) was founded in 1942. This was a government-funded news service that showed its broadcasts of pro-American news stories around the world. The VOA was part of the United States Office of War Information (OWI), which was a controversial organization created for the distribution of wartime information. The OWI conducted psychological warfare overseas, using radio and print publications to demoralize the enemy. They also collaborated with Hollywood to develop propaganda films. These films were pro-American and really helped to boost support for war. 




Example of a pro-American propaganda film by Hollywood



 The Smith-Mundt Act was pretty much the same until 2013 when President Obama made some major changes to it. He signed legislation that made it possible for some materials created by the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the nation's foreign broadcasting agency, to be disseminated in the U.S. This change eased restrictions for Americans to access government-funded media content upon request that was made for foreign countries. 

This modernization of the Act was very controversial amongst Americans. Half of the country thought that President Obama had signed a law allowing propaganda to be actively pumped into the United States, which is simply not the case. Even under the new revisions, it is still against the law for government-funded media to create programming and market to U.S. audiences. All that Obama did was make the content accessible to Americans. 






The Smith-Mundt law has a rich history and is still an active part of our lives today. It is important to be aware of it and know what exactly it is. Propaganda is not always recognizable so it is good to know if you have a chance to be exposed to it. The moral of this blog post is that you should always be careful about the information you consume, especially if it is from the government. This law only had to do with the U.S. State Department. That means that any other government department could be distributing propaganda. As United States citizens we still don't have access to the Pentagon's propaganda which is a haunting concept. Propaganda is a powerful tool and it is up to us citizens to be aware of it so it doesn't affect us. 








Privacy: The Common Goal That Brings Us All Together?

  I always hear that there is an overwhelming lack of privacy in the world, but I have never stopped to think about what that means. We are living in a world where the internet has been around for less than thirty years, however it is now a force that knows pretty much everything about everyone. Pretty scary, right? 

Google, Facebook and other popular sources get billions of dollars from advertising and creeping into your personal life. They have access to every email you send, every post on social media, and even every internet search. What does that mean for you? Well, it means nothing about your life is private. At any moment in time, someone could do their research on you and you would have no idea. The reason why this is so worrisome is because people practically live their lives online. We search the answer to any possible question that pops up in our mind and we tend to overshare on social media. 

One thing that is particularly scary when it comes to privacy is email. There is such a lack of privacy when it comes to electronic mail, that every email is public. You may think that it is not that big of deal, but think about it. You exchange emails ALL THE TIME. Every business exchange or even catching up and sharing personal details with loved ones. Private companies like Yahoo and Google have access to everything and they don't even need to tell you if they are looking at your emails. It is insane to me that people are unaware of this fact or don't seem to care. 

I watched a Ted Talk that talked about the privacy of emails. Well, the lack of privacy. Essentially the server has access to unlock your encrypted emails. It is crazy to think that even when people encrypt their emails and think they are protecting their privacy, they are not at all. There is a company called ProtonMail and it is a free encrypted email. This ensures that the only person that can unlock the encrypted data is the person who the email is sent to. It is not widespread, because it is expensive when you are trying to spread software like this and you can't use advertising. However, something amazing has been happening. The importance of privacy is bringing people together and people are donating to ProtonMail and keeping the company alive. 

I guess the moral of this post is that privacy is important and we can do our part to stop private companies from infiltrating our lives. We can support companies such as ProtonMail and be more aware about our digital footprint and who has access to it. It is crazy stuff we are talking about, but awareness to the problem is the first step. 





Diffusion of Innovation: Is Paper Money Becoming Outdated?

 

Money is at the center of everything we do. We are educated for 12 plus years in the hopes of getting a job that can fulfill our basic needs. Everything we do revolves around money. But how did we come to a point where we placed our worth around the value of a piece of paper? Relating the invention of paper currency through the lens of the Diffusion Theory, it is clear that the timeline of paper currency is spread out longer than most inventions and ideas would be. 


Paper currency was one of the biggest inventions to date because it changed the way we conduct things. Originally, humans would trade various objects to get what they wanted. This caused lots of inconsistency and the trading business had plenty of problems. 


The pioneers of paper currency were the Chinese. The first real use of paper currency popped up in the 11th century during the Song Dynasty. This was the innovators part of the diffusion of innovations. Only one part of the world was actively using this invention.


Pictured above is Jiaozi, which is the world's earliest form of paper currency



Since paper currency is a harder innovation to tackle, the early adopters, early majority, and late majority is hard to pin down. People saw how amazing it was in China and it spread throughout the Mongol Empire until it finally reached the United States in 1775. Yes, there is SO many years in between the origin of paper currency until 1775. The point is that paper currency was so innovative and useful that it keeps reaching its peak for years to come. Since we still have access to it and it is still prominently used today all over the world. 


What I can argue is that we are now finally reaching the laggards stage of this innovation. For years and years after the invention of paper currency, there was no other alternative. When people payed for things, they used paper currency. However, with the invention of credit and debit cards it is rare to see people pulling out cash to pay for something. It is pretty hard to tell for sure since paper currency is still used, but with digital forms of cash becoming more and more popular, I am willing to bet that when we look back at this time period years from now we will see that we are amongst the laggards of paper currency. Paper currency was an amazing invention and is still somewhat useful today, however, it is being severely overshadowed by paperless options of currency.


Today, my blog post was probably unconventional compared to others on this topic. However, I wanted to take this opportunity to apply this theory to an invention that is still relevant to the lives of everyone.









Monday, 26 October 2020

EOTO: Presentation Week

 

The last two weeks in class have been very interesting! Every person presented on a technology that exists and taught the class a little bit about the history of it. I really enjoyed these weeks, because I learned a lot about my favorite technologies. 

    The technology that I was really fascinated by was Spotify. I am a huge Spotify fan and I will forever think that it is better than Apple Music or any other music streaming platform. What I didn't know before the brief presentation in class was that it was actually several other things before it was Spotify. There were many different prototypes before Spotify was born. That was a common theme with all of the technologies presented, which I thought was really interesting. Every single great technology that people use everyday is the result of numerous tries. Another interesting thing about this presentation was finding out that Spotify was founded in 2006. It was a slow growth process for the company, but now it is thriving and doing so great. Overall, I enjoyed listening to this brief presentation on Spotify, because I learned a lot in a short period of time. 



EOTO: Personal Computer and Personal Computing

 

     Personal computers. We all use them and they have become a crucial part of our lives. Whether we keep our lives stored on a Mac or a PC, these devices have play an important part on how we go about out life. Today I will be telling you guys a little but about the history and timeline of personal computers. 


The First Personal Computer

The first personal computer was introduced in 1975 and it was called the Altair 8800. It only had toggle switches and binary lights for input and output. It was the first computer to sell in large numbers. They sold over 5,000 computers in the first year. It retailed for $395. If you wanted it to be assembled for you it was $498. Bill Gates and Paul Allen saw the success of the Altair 8800 and formed the company Microsoft.



Pictured above is the Altair 8800



Apple


In 1976, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak created Apple’s only kit computer and in 1977 they launched the Apple 2, which was a color computer with expansion slots and floppy drive support. The Apple 2 was one of the world's first successful mass produced microcomputer.


Pictured Above is the Apple 2


VisiCalc Revolutionizes Personal Computing


In 1978 the first electronic spreadsheet entitled VisiCalc was made. This technology was revolutionary for the world of personal computers, because it turned them into a useful business tool. Before the creation of this software, personal computing was seen as merely a game machine or a replacement for the electronic typewriter.



Pictured above is an example of VisiCalc software


First Portable Computer


In early
1981, Adam Osborne introduced the world's first portable computer. The Osborne 1 was about this size of a suitcase and had a tiny 5″ display. The computer weighed 10kg.The whole package sold for $1,899.



Pictured Above is an Osborne 1


First Laptop Computer


The first laptop computer also arrived in 1981. It was called the Epson HX-20.  The HX-20 was about 8.5″ by 11″ and maybe 1.5-2″ thick and used a microcassette to store data. It displayed 4 lines of 20 characters on an LCD screen above the keyboard.



Pictured Above is the Epson HX-20



Most Significant Event of 1981


The most significant event of 1981 for the personal computing industry was the introduction of the IBM PC on August 12. This caused Microsoft to get IBM to agree that PCs would not be an IBM exclusive. This paved the way for the clone industry.



Pictured Above is the IBM PC of 1981

Year of the Computer

   Time magazine called 1982 “The Year of the Computer” as the industry grew up. By 1983, the industry estimated that 10 million PCs were in use in the United States alone.



Pictured Above is the cover of TIME magazine in 1983


Apple's Biggest Failure 

In 1983 Apple introduced the Lisa which was a huge failure. Each computer sold for $10,000 and Apple lost a total of $50 Million.


Pictured Above is an Apple Lisa


Apple Macintosh


The failure of the Apple Lisa paved the way for the Apple Macintosh which came out in 1984. It was much more affordable at $2,500. This is where the timeline of personal computers end. Ever since the Macintosh, the use of personal computers has developed greatly. As of February 2019, 74% of Americans owned one.




Pictured Above is an Apple Macintosh

Monday, 28 September 2020

The Importance of Promoting Innovation

 



          All eight values of free expression speak to me, as I recognize the important of living in a country that gives its citizens fundamental rights. As a Broadcast Journalism major and theatre minor, promoting innovation is extremely important to me. If free speech was not protected under the constitution, I would have picked another major and minor. The idea behind promoting innovation is that when free speech is valued and protected, the community will be more energized, creative and interesting because they will actively fulfill themselves in many diverse and interesting ways. As a journalism major, I exercise my freedom of speech by constantly jotting down topics and events that interest me. I then interview people and write feature pieces on what is going on. The reason why people read these articles and the articles that are on various news sources, is because they are unfiltered and true. Free speech gives journalists the capability to push the limits without constantly looking behind their back with the worry they might go to prison. The pieces that are remembered in history are the ones that uncover some scandalous government secret or the exposés on powerful members of society. None of these would be written without our first amendment right. Journalists are able to write what they want and thus the world of journalism keeps innovating and pushing the boundaries of what journalism is.

    Another aspect of promoting innovation that is important to me is performing arts. My minor is theatre and I love to attend and be in shows that are powerful and have a message. Most of the time, the shows are very innovative because the artist choose to take a risk. For example, Hamilton is one of the most famous broadway musicals ever made. Lin-Manuel Miranda write the show and took some extremely big innovative risks. Instead of only focusing on Alexander Hamilton's positive contributions to the government, he took a deeper look into his personal life. This made audience's realize that he wasn't just some untouchable hero that they previously thought. This show probably wouldn't have been written so harshly if free speech wasn't protected. Speaking poorly about the government can get people into a lot of trouble in other countries.  The very culture of the United States of America is built on an influx of ideas and colorful speech. Free speech is arguably the most important right given to us as citizens of the United States. A nation where millions of people are not afraid to speak their mind fosters a society that is continually changing for the better. 





Antiwar sentiments not showcased on the news?

 

        




    Have you ever wondered why you never hear from people who are anti war are on the mainstream media? To be honest, I haven't really given the issue much thought but I've quickly come to the realization that there doesn't seem to be much place for antiwar views in the mainstream media. 

    Websites like Antiwar and the American conservative are websites that house very strong antiwar sentiments. If I didn't know where to look, I probably would have never found these websites. However, it is crucial for these websites to exist. Just because we don't actively see or hear about it on the news, doesn't mean it isn't a widely help viewpoint. 

    The mainstream media is notorious for not giving the American people the whole truth. Everything we see on the news goes through multiple edits and modifications before making it out into the media. Because of this, antiwar sentiments are not showcased because it doesn't fit the media's agenda. While I hate admitting this, the media is strategic about what the show in the news. Antiwar messages are not good for the news, because the media needs the support of American citizens for war. We are known for being a patriotic country and if the antiwar sentiments were shown on the news the support for the wars would shift. Without that support, the United States wicked be thrown into chaos. People would not regularly volunteer to serve or support our armed forces. 

      In order for the country to be in a peaceful state, overwhelming support for the wars we engage in is important. While the government doesn't completely censor or take down antiwar sentiments, they certainly make them harder to find. This should make us as citizens wary of anything we see on the mainstream media. 












Saturday, 26 September 2020

Do Black Lives Matter Protests follow the First Amendment?

     The first amendment in the United States Constitution gives citizens six fundamental rights: freedom from religion, freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition. Today, I will be delving deeper into the first amendment right of speech and assembly in relation to Black Lives Matter protests. 

        In Portland, Oregon a group of protestors threatened to burn a young couple's house down for displaying the American flag outside of their house. According to the Bedrock Principles, first amendment protection is not absolute. You can not go out and threaten people and expect to be protected by the first amendment. Threatening people is against the law and you can be prosecuted for it. However, it is OK to attend BLM protests and express outrage for police brutality. It is our right to criticize the government and let them know that the lawless racial targeting and killing of people disgusting and something needs to be done about it. All of the great changes in our society have been a direct result of people speaking up and demanding that change must take place. For example, the 19th amendment giving woman the right to vote was passed because of all the outspoken people in the country speaking out. Most of the speech happening in response to police brutality for the BLM movement is peaceful and protected under the first amendment. 


                                    

              Pictured above is BLM protestors marching through a residential area in Portland, Oregon.


       Unfortunately, although the majority of BLM protestors are peaceful the chaotic ones are more often portrayed in the news. The first amendment protects the right to assemble, as long as it is peaceful. We are seeing the difference between what is peaceful and what isn't especially now with the multitude of BLM protests that are occurring. In Oregon, BLM protestors used random furniture around a predominantly white neighborhood as fuel for fire. This is crossing a line that is obviously property destruction and not peaceful. Even when a small percentage of people are setting things on fire in the name of Black Lives Matter, it leaves a bad taste in the mouths of many people. 


                                             Pictured above is BLM protestors in Portland, Oregon. 


    The Black Lives Matter movement has ignited a fire in many across the nation and have allowed for many necessary uncomfortable conversations to take place. Most people have abided by the first amendment when it comes to speaking out and protesting on the matter. However, there is a small percentage of people who ruin the message for countless across the country. If everyone acted in a way that was protected under the first amendment, I personally believe more change would happen in this country. 










Wednesday, 9 September 2020

Supreme Court Overview

  

      A common topic learned in grade school is the three branches of government. Embarrassingly enough, it has been years since I have had to properly think about the branches and the roles that they play within the United States government. Today's post will focus on the Supreme Court (which is part of the judicial branch) and I will be referencing information from this article.  




                                          Overview 


    The United States Supreme Court is the head of the judicial branch and is the highest federal court in the nation. The Supreme Court was established by the constitution and has the ability to check the power of the legislative and executive branches. The ultimate job of the court is to make sure that laws in the United States are constitutional. 




                                           Early Days


    In 1789, Article Three of the United States Constitution established the Supreme Court. Congress had the power to decide how the court would be organized and this led to George Washington signing the Judiciary Act of 1789. This act stated that the court would be made up of six justices who would serve for life or until they retired. The court used its early days to sort out how it would be organized and they did not have their first case until 1791. 


                             

                                           Justices


    The executive branch has the power to appoint Supreme Court justices. The president nominates them and it is up to the U.S. Senate to confirm them. The first chief justice was John Jay. The chief justice presides over the Supreme Court and sets the agenda for meetings. Amongst many other responsibilities, the chief justice also presides over trials of impeachment. Currently, there are nine seats on the Supreme Court which is a change from the original six. Today, the chief justice is John Roberts Jr. and the associate justices are Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Samuel A. Alito, Sonia Sotomayer, Elena Kagan, Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh. 
    


                                           Pictured is chief justice John Roberts Jr. 

                                      Notable Justices


There have been so many justices on the Supreme Court that are remembered in history for their significant contributions. Below, I have listed just a few of them. 

John Marshall: This chief justice is remembered for setting the precedent of judicial review in the case of Marbury v. Madison in 1803. Marshall was the fourth chief justice and served the longest term of any chief justice in history. 




Charles Evans Hughes: This chief justice was in charge when the court transitioned from being the protector of property rights to the protector of civil liberties in the 1930s. 




Earl Warren: This chief justice issued these landmark decisions: 
Brown v. Board of Education- Banned school segregation
Miranda v. Arizona-  Put Miranda rights in place 
Loving v. Virginia- Abolished interracial marriage prohibitions




William Howard Taft- He was the only person to serve as chief justice and president. 




                                     Final Thoughts



         It is important to note that even though the Supreme Court has made some very influential decisions, not all of them have been good choices. For example, in the case of Dred Scott v. Sanford in 1857, the court denied citizenship to African American slaves. There are many other cases in the history of the United States that do not uphold traditional American values. It is important to judge every decision for yourself, instead of completely trusting every ruling of the court. The United States Supreme Court is an important part of the government and I am glad that after a few years, I have finally read up on it. 

Wednesday, 2 September 2020

My Top Five News Sources



As a journalism major, I pride myself on keeping up with what is happening in the world. There are so many different genres of news and it is important to expose yourself to all of them. This can be exhausting at times but having different sources is a helpful way to keep news interesting and fresh. Below I have cited my top five news sources and why I choose to consume them.



                                            1) BBC


BBC news has quickly become one of my default sources of news. I like this source because it has a nice mix of national and soft news stories that are really interesting. For example, today when I went on the website I immediately saw a story about a population boom of sea otters in British Columbia. This is interesting news that is devoid of politics (which typically stresses me out) but still teaches me about what is going on in the world. BBC is often underrated in the conversation about best news sources which is unfortunate because it is one of my favorite places to browse.





The above image is of a sea otter in British Columbia.

                                           2) CNN


 Even though politics can quickly gives me a headache, I still like to keep up on what is happening in the political spectrum. I always check CNN because it is one of the most popular news sources in the world. All of my family members use CNN as a trusted source and I want to keep up with their conversations. I am always cautious of the news that I read because it can be very biased. Even though there are multiple topics that CNN reports on, I solely use it for political news. For example, there is an interactive map of what senate seats are most likely to flip political sides in the 2020 election. This is interesting because it is interactive and there are explanation paragraphs for each senator about why they will probably lose their seat.




The above image is of Michigan senator Gary Peters. The CNN article says that Michigan might flip to having a republican senator because Trump won Michigan in the 2016 election.



                                          3) FOX


 Fox News is without a doubt the source that I am exposed to the most. My parents are die hard republicans who always have Fox News blasting on the television. However, when I'm at college I still find myself checking this source because it presents the other side of the political argument. If I check a left leaning source, it is only fair to check the right leaning counterpart. Like CNN, Fox News has many topics that it reports but I choose to only focus on the politics section. Fox has a lot of exclusive interviews with the president that I like to follow because I know that the words coming out of his mouth are real.


The above image is from an interview with Donald Trump, where he talks about the state of the country.

                                      4) Nepali Times



Most of my family lives in the small country of Nepal in Southeast Asia. My family has been very linked with the politics of Nepal and for that reason I keep up with the news there from time to time. The Nepali Times is the biggest news source in Nepal and it is fascinating to me. The top stories are not about politics or Covid-19, instead they are all about the rich history of the country. For example, for the first time a religious festival is being cancelled due to Covid-19. This article is about the history of the festival and it is so engaging.


The above photo is of a jasmine flower called Parijat. It is said that the god from heaven came down to earth to steal these flowers.



                                          5) People

After I have checked all of the national news and political happenings of the nation, I like to reward myself with a little bit of fun news. People is my preferred source of entertainment news and I receive notifications on my phone whenever there is a juicy update. I don't follow a lot of celebrities on social media, so People is how I keep up with what is happening in Hollywood. I have always been fascinated with the lives of celebrities and I tend to get invested in their lives. I can spend hours reading news on them and People is always one of the first sources to get updates. A story that I am currently following is about celebrity responses to the tragic death of Chadwick Boseman.



The above image is of Micheal B. Jordan and Chadwick Boseman. Jordan has shared that he wishes the two had more time together in a heartfelt tribute