the
*
Danger!
% f *v Animal species dwindle
^ ^ humans destroy their
'*i V'* '" ■ ** ' habitats and hunt them
- jiji for their monetary value.
pages 8-9
Volume 86, No. 5
Grimsley High School
801 Westover Terrace
Greensboro, NC 27408
January 31, 2011
hLIFE
The un
deniable
fact is that
College
Board is a
monopoly
in the educational sys
tem. Education run by
industry directly goes
against all that this coun
try was founded upon,
and College Board
should be held account
able for its unethical
actions.
pages
55
Scammers exploit
Facebook to con
graduating class of
2015 college students
into use their products.
page 2
People pay large sums
of money for diamond
engagement rings, but
are they really worth
the cost?
page 4
Cases of bullying
become more frequent
in schools and cause
alarm among students
and parents.
page 12
New Tar Heels
forward Harrison
Barnes disappoints
fans with his recent
abysmal performance.
page 14
Index
News
2-3
Opinion
4-7
Spread
8-9
Features
10-13
Sport
14-16
Aspirin provides hope for oncology
patients, people at risk of cancer
BY MAC BALL
Reporter
British and American scien
tists reported in early Decem
ber that aspirin pills provide a
small chance for people to sur
vive certain types of cancer.
Over a 20 year period, the sci
entists tested over 25,000 pa
tients who took an aspirin
daily. Results showed that, if
taken daily, aspirin lowers a
person's cancer risk by ap
proximately 20%.
Certain types of the disease
carry a much higher percent
age including esophagus can
cer at 60%, bowel cancer with
40%, and lung cancer at 30%.
Some other cancers either had
a lower percentage or were not
entirely proven at a specific
percentage due to the
patients' problems with other
illnesses. At this stage of re
search and development, doc
tors recommend that if a per
son has more than a ten per
cent chance of experiencing a
stroke or heart attack, he or she
should take an aspirin daily .
Even if someone is healthy and
athletic with a good heart rate,
doctors still recommend it.
Reasoning for this routine is
because, like a normal sickness
for which an aspirin helps one
heal, the aspirin attacks the
existing cancer cells and alerts
them to stop multiplying, and,
in some cases, makes the cancer
cells self-destruct. Also, re
searchers believe that such
self-medication reduces
chronic inflation of the cells that
generally leads to cancer..
Dr. Peter Rothwell told
BBC that because the risk
for cancer increases with age,
the benefit of aspirin increases
as well. He recommends that
people start a daily aspirin
regiment at the age of 45 and
continue for about 25 years.
The only'reason to stop taking
it daily is that by the age of 75,
the body's chance for bleeding
increases dramatically, and
aspirin can cause the depletion
of platelet cells, which are
the part of the blood that
make it clot when a per
son bleeds. Regular bruises
and cuts can continue bleeding
for unnecessary periods of
time. Some small internal
bleeding can continue un
knowingly and cause extreme
organ damage.
Another scientist. Dr. Igor
Astsaturov, told BBC that as a
primary care doctor, he recom
mends taking aspirin long term
for the best results, especially
near the age of 65, because the
study showed the highest pre
vention at that age. Dr.. Ed Kim,
a scientist at the University of
Texas, agreed; however, he
would not recommend it to
patients unless they speak to
their doctors first about both
the benefits and risks of taking
the medication.
Dr. Kim stated that this study
does not completely prove that
aspirin protects against cancer,
but does show some kind of
hope that more research can
find ways to lower certain can
cer rates. He added that other
risks may negate the help of as
pirin, and it would not work,
and in some cases, may actually
cause more harm than good.
WikiLeaks universalizes information,
causes chaos for Australian activist
BY MARY CLAIRE HURLY
Reporter
"Time Magazine" claims that
the WikiLeaks "could become
as important a journalistic tool
as the Freedom of Information
Act." This non-profit organiza
tion was launched in 2006 with
a goal to bring important news
and information to the public;
however, the creators have not
been formally identified. Many
people believe the initiator is
WikiLeaks spokesperson
Julian Assange, an Australian
Internet activist. According to
the WikiLeak website, it
strives to provide an "innova
tive, secure, and anonymous
way for sources to leak infor
mation to our journalists."
The site accepts tips and in
formation in a few ways,
which include postal drops,
and an electronic drop box; ev
erything remains distinc
tively anonymous.
As noted on its website,
WikiLeaks believes that "pub
lishing improves transparency,
and this transparency creates
a better society for all people."
Although the organization re
ceives numerous awards, as
well as respect and praise, it
also endures constant criticism.
Some government officials
oppose the organization, believ
ing that the release of classified
information harms national
security and compromises
international diplomacy.
Just after one year of the
organization's beginning, the
website claimed to have over
1.2 million leaked documents.
Through investigative jour
naling, a critical verifying pro
cess and detailed examination,
it publishes what has been pre
viously hidden from the pub
lic. Headquarters is located in
Sweden because it has one of the
world's strongest shield laws to
protect confidential source-
journalist relationships.
Most recently talked about is
the leak involving a "thermo
nuclear" file to which Julian
Assange held access. He claimed
that it is composed of "key
parts" of secret United States
government cables. Assange,
arrested in December for a sex-
relafed crime, threatens to re
lease this file if anything hap
pens to the organization.
Assange surrendered to British
authorities regarding a Swed
ish arrest warrant. He was de
nied bail by District Judge
Howard Riddle because Swed
ish authorities had presented
"serious allegations against
someone who has compara
tively weak community ties in
this country and the means an
ability to abscond," reported by
the British newspaper, "The
Guardian," on December 7.
Lawyers of Assange say
that they have been under sur
veillance by members of the
security services and have ac
cused the United States State
Department of behaving inap
propriately. "I've noticed
people consistently sitting
outside my house in the same
cars with newspapers. I prob
ably noticed certain things a
week ago, but mostly it's been
the last three or four days, said
Jennifer Robinson of the law
firm Finers Stephens Innocent
to "The Guardian" in an article
on December 5.
Pentagon officials are desper
ately trying to figure out the
mystery of what information
the file actually contains. De
spite Assange's setback,
WikiLeak released a number of
cables as if to show that it can
not be intimidated. Visa,
PayPal and MasterCard all
stopped processing donations
to the group, but spokesperson
Kristinn Hrafnsson told The
Huffington Post" on December
7 that it "will not change our
operation."
Many websites that par
tially or fully duplicated
WikiLeaks have been created
for the organization's protec
tion. In just one day following
the arrest of Assange and all
of the gossip that followed,
more than 1,000 "mirror" sites
appeared online.
Over the short time that the
organization has been active,
WikiLeaks has released docu
ments, videos, cables, pictures,
and information dealing with
Sarah Palin's emails that raise
questions about flouting public
records to information regard
ing the United States' foreign ac
tivities. Stories on wars, mur
ders, tortures, diplomacy, spy
ing, ecology, climate, nature,
sciences, corruption, finance,
taxes, trading, censorship tech
nology, Internet filtering, cults,
religious organizations, abuse,
violence, government, trade and
corporate transparency, and
suppression of free speech and a
free press have all been publi
cized in the media through the
determination of WikiLeaks.