The nation celebrates and wants equalty and opportunity finished for generations to come.

By Steve Hendrix, David Nakamura and Ashley Halsey III 

Updated: Wednesday, August 28, 4:13 PM

 The President's Speech:

...Taking the lectern, (click here) the nation’s first African American president paid homage to King’s legacy, saying that “because they kept marching, America changed.” But Obama warned that the struggle for equality is not yet complete, adding that “the arc of the moral universe may bend toward justice, but it doesn’t bend on its own.”

“To secure the gains this country has made requires constant vigilance, not complacency,” Obama said. He cited as setbacks the Supreme Court’s decision in June to strike key provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the high rates of African American incarceration....

This surprised me.

I was somewhat skeptical about the "Syrian Electronic Army" actually being Syrian, but, then I found this. SVU has been in existence since 2002, but took on a greater role in educating more students about 2006. Assad began the school. It is in Syria.

I thought the Syrian Electronic Army might have been Chinese in origins, but, China would know that and either seek to facilitate it or end it. But, this was a surprise. 

The goals of the SVU (click here) include offering education to those who want to learn but cannot afford to do so by going to a "brick and mortar" university. It is headquartered at the Ministry of Higher Education building, Damascus.

4-year Undergraduate Programs

ISE

ISE is a credit-based BSc program in Information Systems Engineering. The content is very much that of a traditional Computer Science degree, but offered online. The student has to take a number of "core courses" and then a number of "specialized courses" with the aid of a career planner. There are currently (as of 2008) four core specialization areas: Software Application Development, Multimedia Systems, Networking and Operating Systems, and Intelligent Systems. It is possible to choose an emphasis within a core specialization area. A student must complete requirements in one or more specialization areas to graduate. The duration of study is (typically) five years.

Sorry to hear about Gus, but, they might want to save a specimen of his DNA.

Being 27 years old means his genetic diversity might be greater considering the species is now threatened.

ESTHER ZUCKERMAN

Gus (click here) —the Central Park Zoo's polar bear, who became a symbol of the stress of living in New York—has died.

The bear, 27, was euthanized Tuesday, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society. The bear had been "exhibiting abnormal feeding behavior with low appetite and difficulty chewing and swallowing his food," and veterinarians found a "large, inoperable tumor in his thyroid region." Gus became something of a symbol of the stresses of living in New York City in the mid-90s. 

Not long after arriving in New York in 1988 after being born in 1985 in Toledo, Gus' habit of swimming laps back and forth in his pool had zoo-goers worried and got him labeled the "bipolar bear." In 1994, an animal psychologist was brought in to treat Gus. "Gus, insists Allison Power, the zoo spokeswoman, 'is actually healthy. It's just a mild neurosis,'" John Kifner wrote in the New York Times in July of that year. "JUST A MILD NEUROSIS? CALL YOURSELF A NEW YORKER AND ALL YOU GOT IS A MILD NEUROSIS?"...