The Horizon Newsletter

“Our goal as teens of this community is to inform the public in the Triangle area about our
generation’s view on topics in our world. We hope to connect with others of our age and
allow them to voice their opinions on relevant issues. Above all, we would like to encourage
our peers to do their part as active members of this society.”

June 2018 Issue

Current Events:
By Shrihan Dadi
- June 21st - International Yoga Day
- Experienced teachers will come to teach yoga for several 1 hour classes -- all
free. The goal is to spread knowledge of yoga among common citizens. All ages and
abilities are welcomed.
- June 22nd - Starlight Concert: Celebration of Bluegrass
- Here you can watch the campers of Bluegrass musical camp perform their end
of camp recital at 6 pm.
- June 30th - IDF Run for Hope 5k

Volunteering in the Summer:

Most of us today have nothing to do in the Summer except maybe go on vacation

or otherwise join in on a leisure that isn’t quite worthwhile. Sure, some of us might go on
daring ventures like internships and job opportunities but no gratification is as great as
giving back to the community. During the summer, us teens have lots of spare time and
this time can be used to give back to the community. There are many volunteer
organizations in the triangle today that are looking to recruit new volunteers and youth
that are willing to participate in community service for a greater cause. This is why I
encourage you to put down your device for a while and research a little bit to see what
you can do to give back to our community.
Volunteering also comes with benefits alongside. Colleges and Universities see
volunteering as a positive activity and it can provide you a boost among others when
applying for top tier schools. which is what colleges look for when they select their
students. Also volunteering allows you to develop a reputation in the community as a
respected citizen for giving back to our places. You can also create networks with new
people that might surprisingly help you on later in life. You can develop new skills that will
be important to develop into a leader such as communication skills, motivation
There are many organizations in the RTP area that you can join. For example, we
have the Cary Teen Council and the Morrisville Youth Council that you can join if you live in
those areas. For those who want to join more cultural specific organizations that are
designed to not only look at giving back to the community but also spreading your heritage
and culture, you can look for those organizations at your local town webpage. Some
examples of these organizations are TATA YUVA and HSNC/religious based organizations.

Health
By Pavitra Madala
It’s that time of year where we don’t only have to focus on eating healthy, but also
staying hydrated too. The summer heat can cause inconvenient symptoms if regular or
adequate amounts of fluids are not consumed.
Water is one of the basic needs required for human life. Our bodies consist of 70
percent water and your vital organs can’t function without it. Hence it is important to
continuously replenish your body with water, especially in the warm summer months.
Hydration isn’t only important during physical activity, but also when you are sitting
in the sun on a hot day. If water isn’t consumed regularly, especially in the summer, it can
lead to dehydration. Dehydration can be a serious condition that can lead to problems
ranging from headaches to life-threatening illnesses such as heat strokes.
In addition, staying hydrated is critical for your heart health. Keeping your body
hydrated helps your heart pump blood through the blood vessels to the muscles more
easily. It also helps your muscles work efficiently.
Water is one of your necessities in life. While experiencing the terrific milestones
of summer, remember to drink plenty of water to keep you going strong all summer long.
For more information, visit https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/the-
importance-of-staying-hydrated.

Deforestation
By: Amuktha Dasari
Forests and plant life make up 30% of our planet’s land. The oxygen gas produced
by these trees makes up nearly 28% of the oxygen in the atmosphere, and rest is in the
very air we breathe. Trees host a variety of plant and animal life themselves, and a single
tree is an environment teeming with insects, birds, and mammals that depend on it to
survive. The fruit they bear is a food source for many primates, birds build homes
nestled among their branches, and they provide structure and support for growing vines
reaching for the sunlight. If a single tree is cut down? The lives of the insects, birds,
plants, and animals that depend on it are cut down as well.

Obviously, deforestation can and is causing major problems for the global
ecosystem. Dying trees release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and cutting trees
down before they die naturally accelerates this process, which means more carbon
dioxide is released than the atmosphere can handle, causing a buildup of greenhouse gases.
Global warming is responsible for the sea levels rising gradually, with the rate accelerating
every year. Since 1993, NASA satellites have shown that sea levels are rising more quickly,
about 3 millimeters per year, for a total sea level rise of 48 millimeters (0.16 feet or 1.89
inches) between 1993 and 2009. That has only grown in the years since. The rising sea
levels threaten to sink the coast in the next few years, causing flooding and devastating
coastal cities.

Every year, nearly 4 billion trees are cut down around the globe. Of these 4 billion,
nearly 35% are cut down for paper production, meaning we use 1.4 billion trees yearly in
paper products alone. The U.S consumes 30% percent of the world’s paper, despite only
making up 5% of the global population. Though many people may not consciously recognize
it, we use paper for almost everything. Paper towels, tissues, and grocery bags are some
of the more commonly recognized, but one thing that is often the greatest consumer of
paper is also the most often overlooked: mail. More specifically, junk mail. Junk mail is
advertisements sent out by companies to homeowners, boasting of “incredible” insurance
policies, or “unbelievable” sales. 44% of these envelopes are thrown out without being
opened, the others, discarded without a second thought.

With the development of modern technology, methods like email and texting have become
the preferred modes of communication. Social media platforms like Instagram and
Facebook have been flooded with digital advertisements for various products, services,
and companies. This presents the question: Why do we still use mail, slow and wasteful as it
is, as a form of advertisement and communication?
President Trump Nominated for 2019 Nobel Peace Prize
By Pranay Koneru

According to the official Nobel Prize website, the Nobel Prize is “any of six international
prizes awarded annually for outstanding work in physics, chemistry, physiology or
medicine, literature, economics, and the promotion of peace.” So it may come as a surprise
to many when they learn that United States President Donald Trump has been nominated
for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize. According to a United Kingdom news website known as
the “Telegraph”, President Trump was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by the
Norwegian Nobel Committee in early May. This was due to his efforts in trying to
denuclearize and achieve peace with North Korea, a venture which eventually resulted in a
summit with North Korea that took place on on June 12 in Singapore. The committee
considered his nomination after a group of 18 of the President’s biggest supporters in the
House of Representatives sent a letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee attempting to
persuade them to nominate the President for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize. Trump’s talks
with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un have also proven to be fruitful with the President
achieving his goal of denuclearizing the Korean peninsula. Overall the summit was a success
earning praise from world leaders like Chinese president Xi Jinping. Trump and Kim also
made history by becoming the first U.S. President and North Korean leader to meet. In the
end both countries which were previously at odds with each other have implemented new
agreements to move forward in creating a more peaceful world.

TECHNOLOGY

By: Harvik Kolla

.A physics laboratory in Tennessee just started Summit, likely to be named the world's
speediest and smartest supercomputer. The supercomputer,which fills a server room the
size of two tennis courts, can give answers to 200 quadrillion (or 200 with 15 zeros)
calculations per second, or 200 petaflops, according to Oak Ridge National Laboratory,
where the supercomputer resides. The former "world's fastest supercomputer," called
Sunway TaihuLight, can perform 93 quadrillion calculations a second , inside China's National
Supercomputing Center in Wuxi.If one person were to run the calculations,it would take 2.3
trillion days, or 6.35 billion years. "Summit's computer architecture is quite different from
what we have had before," Daniel Jacobson, a computational biologist at, who is working on
Summit, told Live Science. For one thing, the computer uses the Tensor Core feature in
its graphics cards , which is designed specifically for applications focusing on machine
learning and artificial intelligence , and to be fast. Basically, unlike older computer chips,
these chips are optimized for a special type of mathematical operation on matrices, or
rectangles filled with numbers with rules for adding, subtracting and multiplying the
different rows and columns. And though pricey ,a New York Times report puts the cost
at $200 million , Summit could deliver big for science and math. The supercomputer is built
to integrate artificial intelligence into its computing, which could make Summitt a crucial
tool in exploring the world's biggest mysteries.

SPORTS
By: Harvik Kolla

The FIFA World Cup is the biggest single-event sporting competition in the world
and is contested by the men's national teams from the 208 Member Associations of FIFA.
The competition has been played every four years since the first tournament in 1930. The
world cup is a symbol of excellence and pride for every country. This year, it is held in
Ekaterinburg,Russia.

Egypt, who have lost both of their matches, are the first team to be knocked out.
They are joined out of the tournament by Saudi Arabia. Cristiano Ronaldo's goal after just
four minutes was all Portugal needed to win their game against Morocco. The result has
seen Morocco knocked out of the competition. France have advanced to the knockout
stages after beating Peru 1-0. The result means Peru have been knocked out of the
World Cup after their second loss. In addition, Costa Rica have been eliminated.

The finals of The FIFA World Cup is being held on July 15,2018 at 11:00. No matter which
team you root for, it is a fun and outstanding experience.

Drones save the day

By: Sumant Anantha

After the spread of lava from kilauea, there are Hawaiian residents still trapped in
places where lava have covered. A Man was trapped in his home after the lava spreaded
all over his home. Since Authorities were not able to help since the lava was surrounding
the place. Scientist then send a drone to the man’s home. The man uses the flashlight on his
phone as the first responders ask him to follow the way the Drone leads him.
The man used the flashlight on his cellphone to signal his location, and rescuers on
the ground eventually met up with the man in the jungle behind his home.In drone footage
released by the USGS, the man can be seen shining his flashlight into the air as several
first responders with flashlights approach him. Just feet away, smoke plumes from the
fast-moving lava flow, which has set trees and other vegetation ablaze as it tears down
the street.
After the man was evacuated to safety, the USGS team continued to survey the
lava flow for several more hours and relay important information to other crews on the
ground.

The Shooting of XXXTentacion

By: Sumant Anantha

Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy, also known as XXXTentacion, was shot in a robbery on

June 18th, 2018 at Pompano Beach, Florida. Onfroy went to go withdraw money from his
bank account before he would go to River Motorsports. After returning from the bank,
he entered his BMW i8 before being ambushed by two assailants. They shot him in the
neck after which he showed all signs of losing life.
TMZ was the first to report Onfroy getting shot. After his death, the
Broward County Sheriff offered a $3,000 bounty to any information about the criminals.
The County found the suspect and arrested him. The suspect was charged with First
Degree murder and Probation Violation.

Hacking Your Mind To Its Fullest Potential

By: Abhiram Dasari
There are many benefits to having a good memory. Obviously, being able to
remember things is good, but having a good memory affects us in more minute ways than
we know. For example, if you can’t remember that one formula before your math test,
you would be understandably stressed. You would then go through the long ritual of
searching your brain for anything, anything at all that had to do with that formula. As you
can see, having a bad memory increases the pressure that you put on yourself, and
makes you feel more stressed, tired, and overall not up to your usual standard. Another
way memory affects us is by affecting the way people think of us. For example, picture
a person that you know that is constantly apologizing for forgetting your name or the
date you said for them to have something done by. In your opinion, doesn’t that person
seem less smart, or at least less pleasurable to work with, than the person who
remembers everything you say in detail? It turns out that you can be that person in just a
couple of steps with these 3 mind tricks:

1. Making a List:
This one of the classic memory tricks that you might have already known before. If you
are having trouble remembering something by only writing it down, make a picture that
relates to it. This picture should include a focal point of yours, or something that you see
a lot of everyday.
This helps to make the picture more memorable. If you have to remember more than one
thing, you can stack the pictures. For example, let’s say you have to remember 4 things:
You need to cut the grass, wash the dishes, take out the trash, and do the laundry. Let’s
also assume that your focal point is your kitchen counter. Picture yourself pushing a
lawnmower on your counter (cutting the grass). Instead of grass, picture dirty dishes in
its place (washing the dishes). Then, in the background, picture your trash can tipping over
(taking out the trash). Finally, picture yourself wearing a very dirty piece of clothing while
wrinkling your nose (do the laundry). Remember, the more absurd the picture is, the more
likely you are to remember it.
2. Telling a Story
This is one of the most foolproof memory tricks out there, and it’s simple too. You simply
create a storyline with the objects on the list you want to memorize. For example, if I
want to memorize the words: tree, computer, Lamborghini, porch, POTUS, and string, my
story would go a little something like this: There is a picture of a pine tree on a computer
screen. The screen then switches to a Lamborghini, which is parked in a garage next to a
porch, where President Trump is standing. The frame then zooms out to reveal that
President Trump is actually being controlled with strings from an alien spaceship. Keep in
mind that the more unbelievable it is, the better you will remember it.
3. Walking Through Your House
This is an easy method to implement, as it involves one of the things you see daily in your
everyday life. All you have to do is plan your journey through the house. As you plan this
journey, take note of some major landmarks (counter, stove, fan, couch etc.). On these
landmarks, put the pictures of the things you have to remember (like in Method 1). When
you have to recall these things, simply ask yourself “What did I put on….” followed by your
landmark. For example, you will eventually remember that you put an alarm clock on your
counter to remind you to wake up earlier tomorrow. Remember, the crazier the picture
is, the more likely it is you will remember it.
In conclusion, our quality of memory affects us in many ways in our everyday lives.
From changing the amount of stress you put on yourself to changing how other people
think of you, memory can change us and our environment in ways we may not think of at
first. But there are ways to improve this, and they are very easy to implement. With a
little practice, and a lot of persistence, each of us can be our own Albert Einstein.