novak djokovic

Novak Djokovic 

Novak Djokovic unfortunately lost in the Australian Open, against Stansilas Wawrinka. This happened on the 21 January 2014, in Australia. The reason Novak lost is because Stanstilas Wawarinka had improved his skills, and is a much better tennis player now. Also, Novak lost because he changed coaches, and in this article he tells us that he has new coaches, and he still isn't used to them and the way they train him.

“He’s so tough to beat,” Wawrinka said afterwards. “He’s an amazing champion. He’s always fighting. He’s always finding a solution.” Wawarinka said this right after he had won the match. Right after he beat Novak Djokovic, he went to face his other opponents, Rafael Nadal, and Tomas Berdych. 

According to Wawrinka, Novak Djokovic was a hard player to defeat, and he always has a way to get through the game. Except that this time, Stansilas was more prepared. 

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/tennis/australian-open-2014-reigning-champion-novak-djokovic-loses-for-first-time-in-melbourne-since-2010-as-the-other-swiss-stanislas-wawrinka-advances-9074772.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/australianopen/10582256/Australian-Open-2014-Novak-Djokovic-racks-up-24th-straight-win-at-Melbourne-Park-to-reach-last-eight.html

Article 1 Cloud Seeding in California

California Cloud Seeding

For the second straight year, California has experienced dry winter weather, leading to desperate water agencies to try to make up for the very small fall of rain using cloud seeding. By spraying fine particles of silver iodide into a cloud, scientists hope to cause water drops in the clouds to form ice crystals and turn into snowflakes, increasing the amount of precipitation. While the system has existed for decades, it has remained controversial because of doubts about its effectiveness and fears that it may cause extreme weather. Both worries that experts say are not based on the latest research. 

In a recent report, the CDWR (California Department of Water Resources) estimated that cloud seeding projects create an additional 400,000 acre-feet of water supply in the state each year. Knowing that just one acre-foot is enough water to supply a typical household for a year, they consider the projects to be very cost-effective, especially compared to more expensive projects like desalination, new dams, and conservation projects.

Over a 12 California watersheds have cloud seeding projects, many of which began operating very recently. The state is going to need all the help it can get.



Sources: https://www.dogonews.com/2014/1/26/parched-california-turns-to-science-to-create-snow 

http://science.kqed.org/quest/audio/in-dry-year-california-looks-to-cloud-seeding/

Violent protests in Ukraine

Jiwoo Kim

13/2/2014

Violent protests in Ukraine

Frustrated protesters tired of waiting for reforms commenced attacks on government buildings wielding weapons and throwing Molotov cocktails.

What began as peaceful protests of Ukranian citizens who long for justice has become violent. Both the protesters and the police are assailants as well as victims wielding weapons and firing projectiles. As a result, both sides had to suffer the tragedy of seeing a comrade shot dead or set afire by a Molotov cocktails chucked at them. The protests against Viktor Yanukovych’s corrupted government have been going on for months in two central squares and few neighboring blocks. After constant protests made no significant improvement, the protesters decided that something must be done and fought bloody battles to change their country.

Ukraine’s president Viktor Yanukovych’s government stood only for the richest few in Ukraine’s highly unequal society. This was the one and only reason for the whole desperate struggle for power between the two forces. After futile attempts to resolve conflicts with peaceful protests, the protesters commenced attack on several government buildings leading to hours of fighting and destruction. After the protest, or rather war had ended, Yanukovych held no power and was being forced to make reforms the protesters had desperately wanted; enough to risk their lives in a bloody battle.

Protests began peaceful but became violent as no reforms were made. In their efforts to make their voice heard, they left many casualties for both sides. When the activists occupied buildings in 10 cities, things had only started to slip off Yanukovych’s hands. The aggressive protesters soon occupied the capital and 

Yanukovych was forced to offer concessions; to make the opposition leader the Prime Minister. However, a former heavyweight boxer and an activist Vitali Klitschko  posted on Twitter “No deal Yanukovych, we're finishing what we started. The people decide our leaders, not you." The demands of the protesters are Yanukovych’s resignation and a new presidential election. This seems to be the only choice for Yanukovych and it seems like the long battle in Ukraine will end and start new with a new leader.

Sources

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/22/ukraine-protests-europe-far-right-violence

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/26/ukraine-president-concessions-protests-violence

Sharing the Gold

Sharing the Gold

For the first time in the history of the Winter Olympics the gold medal is being shared by two participants in downhill. Those two participants were Slovenia's Tina Maze and Switzerland's Dominique Gisin. Switzerland's Gisin made and early run, clocking one minute, 41,57 seconds, before Slovenia's Maze recorded exactly the same time in the Sochi Winter Olympics. This happened on Wednesday February 12th, 2014. Huge smiles and hugs appeared after the two skiers record the same time for each of them to share the first place and winning a gold medal for the first time in history of alpine skiing. 

This was an incredible day for Gisin and Maze. This was a good day esspecially for Dominique who didn't go into top 5 in downhill from 2009. For me this two skiers deserved to share this gold medal since they were the best during the race and they made no mistakes during their mistakes. In the end a miracle happened and them two shared the first place with the time of one minute, 41,57 seconds. "I have been dreaming about this day!" said Gisin after the win. While Maze said "I don't think I have ever dreamed about this day." 

This was the first gold medal for Switzerland since 20 years ago when Verni Schneider won. This was the first time for them two to win olympic gold medal. Tina Maze on the last winter olympics  in Vancouver has two silver medals, while Dominique Gisin has never been in top 10 on the winter olympics. 

Bibliography:

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/winter-olympics/26057205

http://www.b92.net/sport/soci2014/alpsko-skijanje/vesti.php?yyyy=2014&nav_id=811186

Seahawks Crush Broncos for First Super Bowl Win

Seahawks Crush Broncos for First Super Bowl Win

            Super Bowl XLVIII took place in East Rutherford, New Jersey on February 2 2014, where the Seattle Seahawks faced off against the Denver Broncos in one of the biggest defeats in Super Bowl and NFL history. The Seahawks dominated the Broncos in every aspect of the game in Super Bowl XLVII, with a crushing final score of 43-8 for the Seahawks.

            The Seahawks victory was sparked by a defense that ranks first in the league and maybe one of the best defenses ever. In addition the Broncos where completely dominated in special teams and even offensively, by Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson. Wilson had the Denver defense completely beat and had already thrown for 100+ yards by halftime. Wilson goes on to say “We been relentless all season. Having that mentality of a championship every day. At the end of the day you just want to play your best football.” Head coach Pete Carroll also says "This is an amazing team. Took us four years to get to this point but they (Seahawks) never have taken a step sideways. These guys would not take anything but winning this ballgame."

            In further detail Super Bowl XLVIII’s MVP award went to linebacker Malcom Smith, which was the first time in more than ten years that the MVP was a defensive player. In addition the score line for the game went: 8-0 for Seattle at the end of the first quarter, 22-0 at halftime, 36-8 at the end of the third quarter, and a final score of 43-8. All in all we can see that the Seahawks had the Broncos completely disarmed in every aspect of the game and put up one of the most dominant games in Super Bowl history.

Sources Used:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865595471/Super-Bowl-XLVIII-First-quarter-ends-in-disaster-for-Peyton-Manning-and-the-Broncos.html?pg=all

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2014020200/2013/POST22/seahawks@broncos#menu=highlights&tab=recap

Kick off of Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics

Alex Walker
Y News
February 13th 2014

Kick off of Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics

     The World watches as Russia hosts the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi,Russia. The Sochi Olympic started on the 7th of February 2014. Overall everything has been going to plan, except for the incognito whistle blower who claims that the contracters are corrupted and stealing money from the Olympic construction.

    The Olympic games started with a ceremony demonstrating Russia's culture and society .An unknown whistle blower fled to Great Britain from Russia after being threatened by criminal organizations saying "You will be drowned in your own blood". Valery Morozov, one of the accused corrupted contractors says "The contract is their", defending himself from the accusations. Besides the suspected corruption the Sochi games have been a success for Russia, Igor Naumov a local journalist says "Regardless of how many medals our nation team ends up with, Russia can already be considered a winner."

   The 30 countries participating all successfully made there way to the Winter Olympics, and are all looking forward to a successful Winter Olympics in Sochi. “We think about it every day because it is fun and we can see all the countries are like a family. Peace and love and that’s all.”
Brian Joubert
France, figure skating


http://o.canada.com/sports/sochi-2014/quotes-from-the-opening-ceremony-of-the-sochi-olympic-winter-games-394256/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-echochambers-26092729
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/threats-sochi-olympics-whistleblower-drowned-blood/story?id=22270000

 

Cristiano Ronaldo Crowned the Best Football Player of 2013

Cristiano Ronaldo beats Lionel Messi and Franck Ribery for the FIFA Ballon D' Or. 

Portugal Captain and Real Madrid Forward Cristiano Ronaldo, 28 is awarded the Ballon D' Or. The ceremony took place in Zurich, Switzerland on the 13th of January 2014. The Ballon d'or is an award given to the player considered the best in football in the previous year. The Ballon D' Or is organized by FIFA, The Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 

Ronaldo was awarded the Ballon d' because of the number of points he received. He received 1,127. The coaches, Captains and some Journalists from the 170 countries in the FIFA associations were chosen to vote for their top 3 players. England manager,the US coach and american captain chose Ronaldo as well as many others. This is the first time since 2008 that he has beat Messi, breaking Messi's four year streak. First place with 1,365 points is Cristiano followed by Messi, 1,205 and Ribery 1,127. In 2013 he scored 69 goals in 59 games for Real Madrid and Portugal. He has 14 headed goals, 37 right foot goals, 6 free kick goals, 18 left- footed goals, 8 hat-tricks and 17 assists in the year of 2013. " First of all i have to say great thanks too all of my team-mates with the club and the national team. Without all their efforts this would not have been possible. I am very happy, it is very difficult to win this award" said Ronaldo as he accepted his award. He brought his son to the stage with him and his Girlfriend; Irina watched in the crowd. "He deserved it" - Lionel Messi. 

The Women Best player was Nadine Angerer. The bet coach was awarded to Jupp Heyndes. Messi and Ronaldo didn't vote for each other. Ronaldo voted for Radamel, Gareth Bale and Mezut Ozil. Messi voted for Andres Iniesta, Xavi and Neymar. Ronaldo has been known as the first runner up but now he is the best of 2013. Lets see what happens next year. 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1881792-how-is-the-ballon-dor-winner-selected 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/news/20140113/cristiano-ronaldo-ballon-dor-lionel-messi-ribery.ap/
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/25705654

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alWMlVlyHyI 

http://fansided.com/2014/01/13/cristiano-ronaldo-fifa-ballon-dor-2013-acceptance-speech-video/#!vtQk6