Two Current Events You May Have Missed

On the face of the Earth and in orbit around it, big changes are happening.  It’s easy to miss them with classes in session and other stories getting more coverage in the news, but these two events are worth noting.   Ask at the library if you’d like to learn more about either one!

There is a new nation being born in Africa, when an existing peace treaty between two factions expires at midnight.  After decades of brutal civil war, the sub-Saharan nation of Sudan is dividing into two independent countries.  The northern area will still be known as Sudan, but the southern part is now its own nation of South Sudan.  It is hoped that this will end animosity between the two groups, although tensions are still high.  You may know about this region from George Clooney’s charity work to end the genocides of Darfur or from books and films about the Lost Boys, the Sudanese child refugees who came to the US to escape hunger, poverty and being forced to serve as soldiers.

The second piece of news is literally out of this world: the very last Space Shuttle flight launched this morning at 11:29.  After 30 years, the NASA program is being shut down and the Space Shuttles retired permanently.  This has left many people asking if the United States will continue to fund space flights in the future.   The crew of four astronauts is scheduled to return on July 20.  Read more from NASA here: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/launch/index.html

Dictionary.com

Have you ever been stumped by a word you just don’t recognize?  Whether it’s a term you’ve heard on television or a word you’ve read in a book or magazine, there is a resource that may be able to help. Dictionary.com is a free website that will give you definitions for thousands of words.  In many cases, you can also hear it pronounced —which is especially useful for those terms you’ve seen in print but aren’t sure how to say.  Just click on the speaker icon to hear the audio version.  Here’s an example of a popular word in the news right now:  haboob.

If you aren’t sure how to spell a word, type in your best guess and dictionary.com will provide a “did you mean?” list to help you locate the right spelling.  Medical and legal dictionaries like Stedman’s Medical dictionary and Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Law also provide definitions for this site so you can search for more specialized terms.  From the top of any page on the site, you can also connect to thesaurus.com to find synonyms for a word or phrase.   If you feel you’ve used the word “argue” too many times in a persuasion paper, thesaurus.com will suggest alternatives like assert, justify, show and suggest to try instead.