Happy New Year by Ryan Robinson
Before I begin, I would like to wish everyone reading this article, the owners of The Oakland Journal, and all the other columnists a very happy and safe new year. 2008 was a blur of many different things happening.
2008 has been an up and down year and I think if you split the year in half, you can see a lot of good and bad things that are cause and effect related. For example, if you split the year in half, the first part of the year would lead up to the current recession with gas process sky high and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac collapsing. Then, look at part 2, when we have big government bailouts, gas prices plunging and the Big 3 Automakers begging for help. Here are a lot of big note-worthy stories and things to think about that “just” happened last year.
January 2 – The price of petroleum hits $100 per barrel for the first time.
January 21 – Stock markets around the world plunge amid growing fears of a U.S. recession, fueled by the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis.
January 23 – Thousands of Palestinians cross into Egypt, as the border wall with Gaza in Rafah is blown up by militants.
February 5 – U.S. stock market plunges more than 3% after a report shows signs of economic recession in the service sector. The S&P 500 fall 3.2%, The Dow Jones Industrial Average 370 points.
February 5-6 – A tornado outbreak, the deadliest in 23 years, kills 58 in the Southern United States.
February 7 – STS-122: Space Shuttle Atlantis launches to deliver the European-built Columbus science laboratory to the International Space Station.
February 17 – Kosovo formally declares independence from Serbia, with support from some countries but opposition from others.
February 18 – A general election is held in Pakistan, delayed from January 8 due to riots in the wake of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Opposition parties, including Bhutto’s, take more than half of the seats, while President Pervez Musharraf’s party suffers a huge defeat.
February 19 – Fidel Castro announces his resignation as President of Cuba, effective February 24.
March 1 – In Gaza Strip, at least 52 Palestinians and 2 Israeli soldiers are killed in the most intense Israeli air strikes since 2005
March 14 – Demonstrations by Tibetan separatists turn violent as rioters target government and Han Chinese-owned buildings.
March 19 – An exploding star halfway across the visible universe becomes the farthest known object ever visible to the naked eye.
April 27 – The Taliban attempts to assassinate Afghan President Hamid Karzai in a military parade in Kabul.
May 3 – Over 133,000 in Burma/Myanmar are killed by Cyclone Nargis, the deadliest natural disaster since the Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004.
May 12 – Over 69,000 are killed in central south-west China by the Chengdu quake, an earthquake measuring 8.0 Moment magnitude scale. The epicenter is 90 kilometers (55 miles) west-northwest of the provincial capital Chengdu, Sichuan province.
May 25 – NASA’s Phoenix spacecraft becomes the first to land on the northern polar region of Mars.
June 14 – A 6.9 magnitude earthquake in Iwate Prefecture, Japan, kills 12 and injures more than 400.
June 22 – Typhoon Fengshen hits the Philippines and capsizes the ferry MV Princess of the Stars, leaving hundreds dead or missing.
June 27 – After 3 decades as the Chairman of Microsoft Corporation, Bill Gates steps down from daily duties to concentrate on philanthropy.
July 28 – At least 48 are dead and over 287 injured after bombs explode in Baghdad and Kirkuk, Iraq.
August 7 – The 2008 South Ossetia war begins, as Georgia and Russia launch a major offensive inside the separatist region of South Ossetia after days of border skirmishes between the 2 sides.
August 8-24 – The 2008 Summer Olympics take place in Beijing, China
August 17 – Michael Phelps surpasses Mark Spitz in Gold Medals won at a single Olympics, winning 8
August 22 – Pirates hijack German, Iranian, and Japanese cargo ships off the coast of Somalia, in 7 such attacks since June 20.
August 26-September 1 – Hurricane Gustav makes landfall on Louisiana as Category 2 and kills 7 in the United States, after making landfall on western Cuba as Category 4, and killing 66 in Haiti, 8 in the Dominican Republic, and 11 in Jamaica.
September 1-14 – Hurricane Ike makes landfall on Texas as Category 2 and kills 27 in the United States, after killing 4 in Cuba, 1 in the Dominican Republic, and 75 in Haiti.
September 12 – A Metrolink train collides head-on into a freight train in Los Angeles, California, killing 25 and injuring 130.
September 15 – Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
October 3 – Global financial crisis: U.S. President George W. Bush signs the revised Emergency Economic Stabilization Act into law, creating a 700 billion dollar Treasury fund to purchase failing bank assets.
October 7 – Global financial crisis: Russia agrees to provide Iceland with a 4-billion-euro loan.
October 21 – The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is officially inaugurated. It is a collaboration of over 10,000 scientists and engineers from over 100 countries as well as hundreds of universities and laboratories.
October 29 – Delta Air Lines merges with Northwest Airlines, forming the world’s largest commercial carrier.
November 4 – United States presidential election, 2008: Barack Obama is elected the 44th President of the United States and Joe Biden is elected the 47th Vice President. Barack Obama becomes the first African-American President-elect
November 22 – Frozen water is found on Mars.
November 25 – Political crisis in Thailand: Protesters from the People’s Alliance for Democracy party storm into Suvarnabhumi Airport and block flights from taking off. More protesters seize control of Don Mueang Airport the following day.
November 26 – November 29 – A series of terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India kills 195, and injures at least 250.
December 6 – Riots spread across Greece after a 15-year-old boy is shot dead by a special guard of the Greek Police.
December 12 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. The Moon appears to be 14% bigger and 30% brighter than the year’s other full moons. The next time these 2 events coincide will be in 2016
December 27 – Israel initiates a series of airstrikes followed by an invasion in Gaza Strip, killing at least 460 (including at least 75 civilians) and wounding over 2,700.
December 31 – An extra leap second (23:59:60) is added to end the year. The last time this occurred was in 2005.
Now, these major events are only a FEW of a whole bunch of major stories and this is just for the world in general. Imagine doing this specifically for the United States! The list would go on forever! But, like we say every year, out with the old, in with the new. However, some things, like major events, don’t just go in and out. Sometimes, they seem to just keep going; like the fighting in the Middle East, or the Economic Crisis here at home. When I hear about news either in the country, the town, or the world, I always think about the “massive impact” and not just to you. I think about news this way:
-Your House
-Your Neighbors
-Your Block
-Your Street
-Your Section of Town
-Your Town
Your Town and your Town’s Neighbors
-Your County
-Your State
-Your Tri-State
-The Northeast
-The US East
-The USA
-The North Hemisphere
-The East/West Hemisphere
-The Continent
-The World
So, think about something that can fit all of those categories. Your House could be that you bought groceries. Neighbors could be that they got new siding. Your Block is having a block party. Your Street is getting paved. Your section of town has a new police station. Your Town is making a downtown plan. The FLOW area now has an online newspaper. The County is having elections. The State passed a new law. The Tri-State area has cheap gas prices. A snowstorm clobbered the Northeast. A major hurricane hit the US East. The news can go on and on and while something like a block party might be easy to forget, a new law or a major hurricane could be something that sticks with you for a while.
So, don’t FORGET 2008 or just let 2008 be JUST another year. Make it like another year in which this, this, and this happened and keep that in mind.