No Guns in Chipotle

In a response to recent legislations passed by states allowing concealed and/or open carry of firearms, the Chipotle Mexican food chain has changed its policy on the possession of firearms in its restaurants. They have politely asked their customer not to bring guns, most importantly high-powered rifles, in the restaurants, which basically meant don't bring guns into Chipotle. This statement was issued because some customers were feeling uncomfortable in the presence of large guns while enjoying their delicious burritos. This is a sticky situation because if Chipotle bans firearms in their restaurants, they could lose a large customer base, and the same could happen if they openly allowed firearms in their establishments. As of right now, gun control activists are praising the statement as a "bold and meaningful" decision.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2014/0520/Chipotle-Mixing-guns-and-burritos-is-intimidating-so-please-disarm

Jupiter's Red Spot

The famous red spot on the surface of Jupiter, which is actually a giant cyclone, is actually shrinking. The spot is known worldwide, and the winds inside the storm reach speeds of a few hundred miles per hour or more. When the spot was first observed in 1831, it was 25,000 miles across, which is wider than three Earths placed next to each other. Now, in 2014, the size of the spot has decreased to 10,000 miles across, only 40% of the first observed size. Nobody knows why the storm is shrinking, or whether or not it will continue to shrink until it no longer exists. Interesting indeed.
http://www.wired.com/2014/05/jupiter-great-red-spot-shrinking/

Amazing Supercomputer Space Simulation

Recently, the "entire" universe has been recreated in an astounding simulation that chronicles 13 billion years of time, which is about 12 million years after the big bang.. This simulation was created and run by a highly advance state-of-the-art supercomputer. The section of the universe that was simulated was 330 billion light years across, which is equivalent to about 1.94x10^24 miles, an almost incomprehensible distance. The simulation was created by a group of scientists from MIT through a program called Illustris. Even though no one knows exactly how big the universe is or exactly how everything developed, this simulation is still an astonishing and groundbreaking achievement in the astronomy field.

http://www.wired.com/2014/05/supercomputers-simulate-the-universe-in-unprecedented-detail/

Donald Trump Buys Turnberry

On Monday night, Donald Trump bought the historic Turnberry Golf Resort on the west coast of Scotland. Trump payed 37 million pounds, equivalent to about 37 million USD for the course, his 17th golf property that he owns. The Ailsa Course on the property, the most prestigious, has hosted four British Opens, and will be hosting many more in the future. Trump wont be making any changes to the golf course, but he'll be making renovations to the Turnberry Hotel, in hopes to make it "the finest golf hotel in the world." He also plans to possibly rename the course Trump Tunrberry, which shouldn't happen and would be a disgrace to the golf world if it did.

http://scorecard.golf.com/2014/04/29/donald-trump-purchases-historic-turnberry-resort/

Disneyville

Yesterday, Disney announced that they will be opening a new theme park, Disneyville, in Valmy, Wisconsin. Valmy is a booming metropolis in the heart of Door County, Wisconsin, and soon they'll have another major tourist attraction to bolster their already entertainment-packed city. The park will cover an area of over 9 square miles, which only takes up a small section of the city. Some might say that Disney should've opened the new park in a smaller village like Dallas or Chicago to bring more people to the area, but Valmy was apparently the obvious choice.

David Wise Wins Inaugural Halfpipe Gold

On Tuesday, David Wise of the United States Freeskiing Team won the first ever Olympic halfpipe gold medal. He perservered through rain, snow, and a very slow and slushy pipe to post a score of 92. Canada's mike Riddle came in a close second, and France's Kevin Rolland placed third. Wise was the favorite for gold coming into Sochi, as he has won the last three XGames halfpipe golds, and he was the only American to take gold in either ski or snowboard halfpipe so far. Another American skier, Lyman Currier, blew out his ACL on a crash during qualifications while attempting a double cork 1260.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2014/02/18/american-david-wise-wins-gold-halfpipe-skiing/fHsiFg1A0Fh5yLJiQ4RM9K/story.html

Oregon Avalanche Finally Safe

Last week in the Wallowa Mountains of northwestern Oregon, four skiers were caught in a deadly avalanche. Two of them died, and the other two have recently been evacuated to the hospital after a night stranded on the cold slope. They had to be carried 10 miles by snowmobile to the nearest road, where they could be picked up by an ambulance. This past year has been particularly prone to avalanches across the country, and there will surely be more to come.

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/us/article/Skiers-stranded-by-Ore-slide-en-route-to-hospital-5226726.php

Shaun White Drops Out of Slopestyle

Early this morning, February 5, world renowned snowboarder Shaun White decided to drop out of the Sochi Winter Olympic inaugural slopestyle competition. He did this in part because of a jammed wrist he suffered the day before, which is a significant injury for a snowboarder. His other reason was that the jumps on the slopestyle course are particularly large and dangerous, so White wanted to remain healthy in order to defend his 2-time gold medal in the halfpipe competition. Fellow snowboarder Torstein Horgmo, or Norway, is very awesome and he broke his collarbone Monday on the slopestyle course. I personally think White should've stayed in the slopestyle event because he was a favorite for double gold in that and the halfpipe.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/winter-olympics/26044564

American Freeskiing Olympic Team

Last week, the coaches made their final picks to solidify the United States Freeskiing team for the Sochi Winter Olympics in two weeks. The slopestyle team consists of Bobbys Brown, Gus Kenworthy, Nick Goepper, and Joss Christensen. Somehow, Tom Wallisch was left off the team. The halfpipe team is three time defending XGames gold medalist David Wise, as well as Torin Yater-Wallace, Aaron Blunck, and Lyman Currier. American team members won their respective events at the XGames last weekend so they are the projected favorites in Sochi next month.

Is a Perfect Bracket Possible?

Billionaire Warren Buffett and his company Berkshire Hathaway have invested $1 billion in Quicken Loans as a bet that no one will fill out a perfect NCAA basketball tournament bracket. If anyone were to craft a perfect March Madness bracket, they would receive $25 million a year for the next 40 years, or simply a lump sum of $500 million. Last year, there were no ESPN brackets perfect after the first round of 64, and the odds of making a perfect bracket are 1 in 9 quintillion (quintillion=1,000,000,000,000,000). So it looks like Buffett made a pretty safe bet this time.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-21/buffett-s-1-billion-safe-bet-on-ncaa.html

Could Justin Bieber Be Deported

Lately, Justin Bieber has been pretty crazy and misbehaving a lot, and it is possible that the American immigration authorities may deport him back to his home country of Canada. He recently has been accused of egging a neighbors house and causing thousands of dollars of damage, and his house was searched by the police. If he is convicted of a felony for the egging incident, it is very possible that he could be deported back to Canada. This is actually really cool, and i hope h goes back to being a Canuck.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2014/01/15/could-bieber-be-deported-dont-hold-your-breath/4496451/

Ford Solar Car

Ford unveiled a new concept car called the Ford C-MAX Solar Energi. This car has solar panels on the roof that can almost completely supply the energy that used to be provided to the car by plugging it in to a charger. These panels use a Fresnel lens, which captures eight times the energy of a normal solar panel. Each, day, these rooftop solar panels can provide about as much energy for the car as a four hour battery charge. It is possible that the C-MAX Solar Energi could be made into a production car within the next few years.

http://www.dailytech.com/Ford+CMax+Solar+Energi+Concept+Features+a+Solar+Concentrator+Lens+on+Roof/article34023c.htm