Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Ice Bucket Challenge

To start off I would like to say Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ah-my-uh-TRO-fik- La-tuh-ru skluh-RO-sis) also known as ALS is often called Lou Gehrig's Disease. Lou Gehrig’s Disease affects the motor neurons in the brain and over years shrinks the nerve cell. Motor neurons are the nerve in your brain that controls your muscle movement, upper and lower motor neurons give messages to the brain. Upper sends the messages from the brain to the spinal cord, Lower sends message  from the spinal cord to the muscle. So in the end you lose control of your body and turn Paralyzed, but luckily you don’t lose control of your mind however for most you can’t talk. Now you know what it is and if you already knew about it you just got refreshed so you can actually write a good reply because you know what  ALS is.

Facts about ALS:

• ALS is often called Lou Gehrig's Disease after Lou Gehrig a Hall-a-Fame baseball player for the New York Yankees who was diagnosed with ALS in 1930.
• In England and Australia ALS is called Motor Neurone Disease(MND)
• The French mostly refer to ALS as maladie de Charcot the after the French Doctor who first wrote about ALS in 1869

Next up, let's now start up with something fun and freezing... the ALS donation. Millions of people and celebrities did the ALS ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE. Once you get nominated you have 24 hours to do the challenge and donate. The challenge (as I will call it)has been all over the web so I would not be surprised if you also know about it with all the videos and comments around the web. The reason they do the challenge is because there are walks and runs for cancer and other donating things for different causes, but since ALS is very rare they only do one huge thing to donate once a year. We Canadians made wait for it …$13,263,681 our goal was $10,000,000 so we’ve raised 133% of our goal, great job canada! To see the video’s go on YOUTube and search Ice Bucket Challenge and there they are.

Extra: The official name Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis comes from the Greek words:

• "a" for without

• "myo" for muscle
• "trophic" for nourishment
• "lateral" for side (of the spinal cord)
• "sclerosis" for hardening or scarring

Now here are my questions for you: (you don’t just have to answer the questions you can write more if you have your own IDEAS, which I am sure you do)  

1. Did you/ your family or someone you know do the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and donate? (I do)
2. Have you heard of Lou Gehrig’s Disease or ALS?
3. Have you and your family ever donated to any cause?
4. Do you know how much other countries made?
5. Do know anyone who has Lou Gehrig’s Disease?

I hope you enjoyed my blog on ALS and I am excited to see your comments!

~Tigerlilly

Crisis in Ukraine

   So apparently, Russian Rebels and the Ukrainian government and soldiers are ready for a truce. I thought it would turn into some nuclear fueled war, but that’s coming from a kid in Grade 6. That  isn’t exactly the Ukrainian government now is it?

Now, back to the real stuff. First of all, this whole shabang is referred to as the Euromaiden Movement and took place on the 22nd of February, 2014. The cause of this movement was the procrastination of restoring the 2004 amendments to the Ukraine Constitution and the complete pardoning of arrested protesters instead of amnesty.  The protesters took control of government buildings in the capital city of Kiev where the Ukrainian Parliament voted to restore the 2004 Constitution of Ukraine.

As a result, President Yanukovych was overthrown and fled to Russia.  There were nationwide protests in East and South Ukraine against the government in Kiev and nationwide destruction of Soviet monuments.  This began the Crimean crisis and the Russian military intervention in Ukraine.  During this, Russia amassed large numbers of Russian troops near Ukraine’s borders, indicating that they would be a military threat if need be.

           There were quotes from the current Ukrainian President, Petro Poroshenko saying, ”Look, Ukraine is fighting for peace.”

I sure hope he’s right,  that they’re fighting for peace.  Another quote from Poroshenko is, ” I’m ready to do my best to stop the war.”  

The Ukrainian president and a bunch of NATO leaders agreed that Moscow,  (thats in Russia) should be punished for its role in the insurgency (Russia’s military being placed on Ukrainian soil without cause or permission). The rebels said that they are ready to declare a truce if an agreement can be reached on a political settlement for the mostly Russian-Speaking region.

As it stands now the European countries are all putting sanctions on Russia for their role in their interference in Ukraine’s political agenda.

Question: If you were the Ukrainian President, what would you do about the insurgents in the Ukraine?  Would you want to keep the peace or would you rather fight Russia knowing that you have the backing of so many other countries?

-Anonymous