Saturday, February 18, 2012

THE WEEK IN REVIEW: FEBRUARY 12-18, 2012

Monday is Presidents' Day within the United States of America.
The Oreo Cookie is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.
John Glenn celebrates the 50th anniversary of being the first Human being in outer space this week.
The Free Choice E-zine now has over 11,000 views on Blogger and, after tomorrow's installment of the Sunday Funnies, will be four posts away from the 800 milestone!

Amongst events that have happened around the world this past week...
*Civil unrest continues in Syria, Libya, and Bahraini.
*With the price of a postage stamp already at 45 cents, the United States Postal Service has asked Congressional permission to raise the cost of mailing a first class letter to 50 cents in order to help defray operating expenses, including a $3.3 BILLION (US Dollars) loss over the last quarter of 2011. The loss is reportedly due to the rising use of e-mail and online bill paying services, as well as alternate package carriers like United Parcel and Fed-Ex. Other cost cutting measures, including the elimination of any Saturday deliveries, is still pending.
*The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved two new reactors in Georgia, the first okay granted since 1978.
*After being passed by the New Jersey legislature, state governor Chris Christie vetoed the measure that would have acknowledged and allowed same gender marriage in that state, on the grounds that such a decision should be made by the people of New Jersey themselves. No word yet on when such a referendum would be held.
*The European Space Agency is developing a satellite that will hopefully clean up some of the "space junk" currently orbiting the Earth. While there is an estimated half a million items of trash circling the globe at the moment, the ESA project will not be ready for a trial run until at least late 2014 at the earliest.

IN SPORTS:
*Long time Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield has announced his retirement from being an active baseball player.
*While the Houston Astros celebrate their 50th anniversary this upcoming season, Major League Baseball officials will not let the team wear replica jerseys featuring images of the club's original name: the Colt .45s, citing the depiction of any weapon would present a bad image to children.
*Pitchers and catchers are to report to their baseball Spring training facilities by Monday. The rest of each team are due at their respective camps by the end of next week.

IN ENTERTAINMENT NEWS:
*Malachy the Pekingese was crowned top dog at the 136th annual Westminster Kennel Club Show February 14th.
*The next installment of the popular Angry Birds video game series is alleged to take place in outer space!
*The 54th annual Grammys were presented Sunday, February 12th, with Adele (at 6), the Foo Fighters (5), and Kayne West (4) being the biggest winners. The recently deceased singers Etta James and Whitney Houston were honored and the 50th anniversary of The Beach Boys was celebrated.
*Whitney Houston was laid to rest today. Whether or not the funeral services should have been broadcasted over the Internet is a matter of debate. Autopsy results officially stating a cause of death are still pending.

For more news at any time, either scroll down to our IN OTHER NEWS feature at the bottom of your monitor screen or visit any other reputable news source.

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