China's shocking snow storm

In several areas of China there have been terrible snow storms the past few days. So severe, it has killed at least 24 people.
There has not been a snow storm this bad in over five decades. The prime minister Wen Jiabao was quoted, "Due to the rain, snow and frost, plus increased winter use of coal and electricity and the peak travel season, the job of ensuring coal, electricity and oil supplies and adequate transportation has become quite severe.”
And there is more snow on the way. Trains have been postponed for three to five days and many flights have been cancelled.
Civil affairs estimates that the economic cost of this is expected to be $3.2 billion and 78 million people are going to be affected, including around 800,000 evacuees.
I thought that this article was interesting for several reasons. The first thing that popped in my mind is that I think this may have something to do global warming. For it to have snowed that bad and it hasn't happened in over 50 years is odd.
I also think that the U.S. will suffer from China's economic loss.
My question to you all is Do you think that this has anything to do with global warming and all its talk about the seasons changing drastically or do you think this is something that just happened at random?
Also, do you think the U.S. will suffer from this economically?http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/29/world/asia/29china.html?ref=world

Are the oscars still on?

I'm sure everyone has heard about the writers strike that has been going on for the past few months. I thought it had been settled, but I guess not.
Gilbert Cates is the producer of the awards telecast and he is positive that the red carpet will roll out on the night of the Oscars awards show, which airs Feb. 24.
The writers and many celeberties, such as George Clooney and Angelina Jolie have threated to boycott the awards show.
It was said by a group of 30 award winning writers, producers, and actors, "Awards are nice, but we would rather have a fair contract for the writers."
The Acadamy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are holding an emergency meeting before the big night.
This could very much hurt them finacially. Last year almost 40 million people tuned in. This does not only concern the telecast finacially, but the publists, designers, hair and make-up, and even the near by hotels that people stay in while attending the show.
This is not the first time this has happened, in 1934 there were writers outside the show protesting. Then there was another boycott in 1988, but it had no affect on the show.
My question to you all is Do you think that the Oscars will suffer from this? Or do you think that in the next four weeks the strike will be settled and they will get there fair contract? Do you think that the actors, producers, and writers are being fair in boycotting the show?
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/business/la-et-oscarplan19jan19,1,5449080.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

Tiger Attack in San Francisco

A tiger escaped his designated area and attacked a young man at the San Francisco Zoo. After one caller, either Paul or Kulbir Dhaliwal, they are not clear on which one made the call, the siberian tiger had already killed Dhaliwals 17 year old friend.
One of the Dhaliwals was on the phone with the dispatcher screaming for help. The dispatcher replied that they needed to be careful of letting the paramedics come out there because they might be at risk.
He had also asked the dispatcher if they could fly out a helicopter or do anything. They had a seven minute long conversation. The police got the tiger and shot it. Both the brothers were injured and there friend was killed.
The call was reported at 5:05pm and help did not come until 30 minutes later. The victims said the zoo employees were very helpful.
My question to you all is do you think that the dispatcher was correct in replying we can't put our paramedics at risk? What do you think about help arriving 30 minutes after the first 911 call? Do you think that time would have made a difference?http://wire.jacksonville.com/pstories/us/20080115/236963191.shtml

This is a practice link to buzz machine.

Hello

Hello Fellow Bloggers! This is going to be a great semester.