U.S. charges fifteen Chinese nationals in SAT fraud scheme

 



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fifteen Chinese nationals have been charged with developing a fraud scheme in which they paid impostors to take entrance exams, including the SAT, and gained acceptance to elite American colleges and universities, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Thursday.
Conspirators were paid up to $600 each time they used counterfeit Chinese passports to trick test administrators into thinking they were the person who would benefit from the test score, a federal grand jury charged.
Between 2011 and 2015, mainly in western Pennsylvania, the defendants paid impostors to take the SAT - previously known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test - the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE), under false names, according to the Justice Department statement.
Both the test takers and the people they claimed to be are being charged.
U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania David Hickton said the beneficiaries secured admission to undergraduate and graduate schools that are "among our finest educational institutions."
Hickton declined to name the specific schools, but said that they are located all over the United States. The students also cheated student visa requirements by using counterfeit Chinese passports, he said.
The defendants are men and women between the ages of 19 and 26 currently living in several cities where universities are located, including Blacksburg, Virginia, home of Virginia Tech and Boston, Massachusetts, home to dozens of colleges and several elite schools.
"These students were not only cheating their way into the university, they were also cheating their way through our nation's immigration system," said John Kelleghan, Special Agent in Charge for Homeland Security Investigations of Philadelphia.
If convicted, the defendants face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000 or both for each count of wire and mail fraud. Conspiracy charges carry an additional five-year maximum sentence.


Source :  http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/us-charges-fifteen-chinese-nationals-in-sat-fraud-scheme/ar-BBklvj9

California 9.8 Earthquake Prediction

California Earthquake Prediction: Experts Rubbish Claim that Massive 9.8 Tremor Will Hit West Coast on 28 May

By Johnlee Varghese

Earthquake fears were stoked in California by a rather dubious viral video that 'predicted' a powerful tremor stronger than what hit Nepal will rattle America's west coast on 28 May, Thursday.
However, experts in the scientific world have completely rubbished the claim as unfounded.
The 24-minute-long earthquake prophecy video, which has now been watched by over half-a-million people, predicts a massive 9.8 earthquake will hit California at 4pm local time on 28 May.
The clip published by Frank Hoogerbeets, the founder and president of Ditrianum Media, claims he was able to assess the 'horrific' event using a computer program called Solar System Scope.
The Huffington Post UK citing Hoogerbeets noted that his theory was based on the calculation that the 9.8 quake will strike when "no less than five planetary alignments will converge with the Earth."
He claims that even Nostradamus, the famous French apothecary and purported prophet, has made similar reference to the critical planetary positions, before an impending calamity.

Hoogerbeets, recently, once again urged people to take precaution. "I advice people in critical areas along fault lines in the world to be on extra alert around May 28. Be prepared. Have an escape plan ready," he said on his Twitter account.
However, American science blogger Phil Plait has completely rubbished the claim a total 'baloney.'
Plait in an article published in Slate wrote: "First, there is simply no way an alignment of planets can cause an earthquake on Earth. It's literally impossible. I've done the math on this before; the maximum combined gravity of all the planets under ideal conditions is still far less than the gravitational influence of the Moon on the Earth, and the Moon at very best has an extremely weak influence on earthquakes."
Noting that the claim made by Frank Hoogerbeets was unfounded, Plait added: "This all stems from a video by someone who I believe is sincere but also profoundly wrong on essentially every level. It's been picked up by various credulous places online, then spread around by people who haven't been properly skeptical about it."
Rumours of the massive quake once again gained prominence especially after a 3.0 earthquake was reported on Tuesday morning 12 miles from Hamilton City. According to the US Geological Survey, the epicentre was 12 miles from Chico and 18 miles from Paradise, LA Times had reported.

 REFUTE

9.8 Earthquake Prediction Is a Joke

By Dennis Romero

A planetary alignment of Venus and Mercury will not cause a 9.8 earthquake on the West Coast of North America at 4 p.m. Thursday.
The prediction comes from a conspiracy theorist in the Netherlands, who posted a video (below) that lays out his argument that a historic temblor will strike our part of the world. He cites Nostradamus — so, yeah.
"There would be a very very large earthquake or some kind of major event with very much energy release," the video's narrator says.
California's most-potent fault can't even produce a 9.8, earth scientists say. And "planetary alignment" has little effect on the behavior of Earth.
"The idea that planetary alignments might cause earthquakes is bunk," says Preston Dyches of Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. "The gravitational forces involved are not of a magnitude great enough to trigger geologic activity on Earth."
On top of that, we've had our best scientists working on earthquake prediction for years. It's just not happening yet.
California does have a prototype warning system that can sound an alarm before a shaker in progress reaches big cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco. But it only offers seconds worth of warning.
"We've been trying for years," says Egill Hauksson, a seismologist at Pasadena's Caltech. "We can't predict, time place and magnitude for individual earthquakes."

Plus, as far science knows, California can't do a magnitude 9.8.
"The biggest we could have is an 8.3 that would rupture the whole length of the San Andreas fault," Hauksson said. "More likely is a 7.9."
That's reassuring.
By the way, the earthquake disaster movie San Andreas is scheduled to shake up theaters Friday. Any self-respecting conspiracy theorist would focus on the beneficial timing of this outlandish prediction rather than on the prediction itself.

Personal Comment

First of all, planetary alignment has NOTHING to do with any natural disaster on earth, unless it has something to do about sunlight. Even I, who does not have any special knowledge about astronomy or geography, know that. Also, why California? I think this idea came out from the fact that California will have a severe earthquake within  30 years, and I support this theory. But don't just stick everything about earthquake to California.It scares us who have our family and home at Calif. In fact, the theory about a large earthquake in California was quite unreliable because it started as within 15 years and changed to 30 years. I'm more surprised about this huge effect a conspiracy theorist just made and how people can believe such thing. 

North Korea modified submarine missile launch photos, says U.S. official

North Korea, sanctioned by the United States and United Nations for its missile and nuclear tests, said on May 9 it had successfully conducted an underwater test-fire of a submarine-launched ballistic missile which, if true, would indicate progress in its pursuit of missile-equipped submarines.
On Wednesday, North Korea warned the United States not to challenge its sovereign right to boost military deterrence and boasted of its ability to miniaturize nuclear warheads, a claim it has made before and which has been widely questioned by experts and never verified.
But North Korea is still "many years" from developing submarine-launched ballistic missiles, U.S. Admiral James Winnefeld told an audience at the Centre for Strategic & International Studies in Washington on Tuesday.
"They have not gotten as far as their clever video editors and spinmeisters would have us believe," said Winnefeld, who is vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Analysis seen by Reuters from German aerospace engineers Markus Schiller and Robert Schmucker of Schmucker Technologie appeared to support Winnefeld's statement.
The Munich-based pair said photos of the launch were "strongly modified", including reflections of the missile exhaust flame in the water which did not line up with the missile itself.
North Korea, which regularly threatens to destroy the United States, had a record of offering faked proof to claim advances in missile technology, Schiller and Schmucker said, such as poorly built mockups of missiles on display at military parades in 2012 and 2013.
The pair agreed with analysis posted by experts on the websites 38north.org and armscontrolwonk.com that the missile was likely launched from a specially designed submerged barge, and not from a submarine
A photo on state television showed a missile high in the sky leaving a trail of white smoke, whereas other photos from state media showed no white smoke, suggesting the two photos were of different missiles with different propulsion systems, Schiller and Schmucker said.
South Korea stood by its position that the photos appeared authentic. "We haven't changed our stance that the rocket was fired from a submarine and flew about 150 meters out of the water,” a South Korean military official said.
The North's National Defence Commission, the main ruling body headed by leader Kim Jong Un, said on Wednesday the submarine-based missile launch was "yet a higher level of accomplishment in the development of strategic attack means".
(Additional reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by Nick Macfie and Jeremy Laurence)

Source :  http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/north-korea-modified-submarine-missile-launch-photos-says-us-official/ar-BBjYSwJ?ocid=iehp

This Senior Got Accepted to Every Ivy League College and Rejected Them All

 

Source : http://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/smart-living/this-senior-got-accepted-to-every-ivy-league-college-and-rejected-them-all/ar-BBjVJG3?ocid=iehp

Every Ivy League school wanted Ronald Nelson, Jr. But after considering his options, he said no to every last one of them. Instead, the National Merit Scholar is going to a state school, and for a really savvy reason.
Ronald chose the University of Alabama, Business Insider reports, because he got into their prestigious honors program and received a full scholarship. He didn't get a single merit-based scholarship from the Ivies, which generally don't offer them. The idea is to save money now to spend later He's thinking about going to medical school, which will cost him a pretty penny. "I was looking toward my long-term education and not just my short-term goals," he said on the Today show.
College is crazy expensive, and Ronald decided he'd get a great education at Alabama without going into lots of debt. "The Ivy League experience would certainly be something amazing, to make these connections, and have these amazing professors," he told Business Insider. "But I really do think I'll be able to make the same experience for myself at the college I chose." After all, college is what you make it, and pedigree doesn't decide everything. As they say at the University of Alabama's sporting events, Roll Tide!

Personal Comment

First, I want to give him a hand of recognition to his determination. I don't think I can follow his choice when I was in his shoes; probably, I would have gotten a loan to pay for Princeton. But when I read his statement, it felt like something had hit me in the head. Believing his own choice confidently had inspired me, who is a junior in high school, and relaxed me a little from the stress I am experiencing now. 

'How to get away with crimes'.jpg

A terrible court decision regarding child-rape in Korea has horrified the world by contradicting their jail sentence decision.

 Literal Translation

Court 'has remorsed deeply' ... Rapist Who Sexually Abused a Mentally-Ill Teenage Girl Released in Court Apeal

The court of Korea announced release of the rapist who sexually violenced a mentally-unstable teenage girl in probation reversing their decision of 3-year sentence.

The reason included that fact that the rapist washed the victim with warm water and showed enough regretting attitute during trial.  

Seoul's head justice announced probation of 4 years instead of 3 years of prison sentence to the culpit Lee(54)

Comment regarding this article

ㅇㅇ|2015.05.18 19:37

살인하고 시체 토막내고 그 자리에서 반성한답시고 바늘로 꿰메면 잘도 용서해주겠다 ㅅㅂ.

 

 Translation : Then the court will forgive me when I stitch back the corpse I chopped up? WTF?

Personal Comment

I have always thought that punishment of Korea is too light to actually 'punish' the culpits. By only looking at this article, you can realize that the orignal decision of 3 year sentence was not enough in American's perspective; and I myself, Korean, also cannot understand this so-called 'cotton-bat punishment'. As you know, Korea is a divided country that requires a mandatory 2 year service for every young man. Citizens of Korea are also concered about the condition of prisons that are better than that of military's. Recently, a photo was released of a prisoner watching his private television is his cell with his pet! As you can clearly see, Korea is emerging as 'the best country for criminals to live' and am also certainly concered although I'm living in America.

Picture source : http://m.pann.nate.com/talk/327153482?currMenu=talker&order=RAN&page=2

[Cafe Iota] Character Macaroons

[Cafe Iota]

528 S Western Ave

Los Angeles, CA

Although Iota is located at the middle of Koreatown, it is majorly loved by non-Korean consumers.

With their sophisticated design and wide variety of menus ranging from dinner plates and desert, it has

become an 'it' place to visit when hanging out in Koreatown. 

  

Not only they present western-style dishes, they also have fushioned-Korean dishes like omelette with fried rice inside(right).

 

Now up-to-date, Iota has presented their limited-edition character macaroons of six flavors. From top : honey , blueberry , strawberry , (sorry can't remember) , birthday cake , and chocolate flavor!

In my own opinion, the best flavor was strawberry. It contained real strawberry jam instead of artificial flavored paste. The worst was honey flavor at the very top, which also contained real honey that you can get it at Ralphs or other grocery markets. However, it did not match with the dough of macaroon and was no 'harmony' at all. Chocolate flavor was also okay, all the other ones were not my type.

I believe it was around 2.75 each, which isn't bad for a macaroon which other stores sell it for 3.00. Also, the design is unique. It is worth a try!:)






Picture source : 3 pics of top from google search 'cafe iota'
   

5 Ways to Kill your Dream

Bel Pesce, MIT graduate dedicated her study on how people achieve their dream.

After two years of research, she came back with her inspirational lecture :

5 Ways to Kill Your Dream

1. Believe in overnight success

 "You know the story, right? The tech guy built a mobile app and sold it very fast for a lot of money."

Although these kind of story may sound true, Bel suggests to see the background. If your investigate furthur, the inventor was someone who worked and threw away 30 prototype apps for years, and most importantly, had the Ph.D. degress. working in that field for at least 20 years. Bel experienced herself too when people were astonished saying, "what a great luck" with the fact that she was accepted to MIT with a personal statement written within two weeks. What they failed to observe was the effort that Bel put into for last 17years. The overnight success is only a result of efforts you put in in prior to that.

 

2.Believe that someone else has answers for you



 "Constantly, people want to help out, right? All sorts of people: your family, your friends, your business partners, they all have opinions on which path you should take"

 

However, when you follow that advice, other questions and decisions will follow. That you have to decide yourself. The pathway is infinite.

 

3.Decide to settle when growth is guaranteed

"So when your life is going great, you have put together a great team, and you have growing revenue, and everything is set -- time to settle"

 



Okay is never okay. When you found a peak in your life, you have to work harder to find another peak, or even go higher.

 

4.Believe the fault is someone else's



"I constantly see people saying, 'Yes, I had this great idea, but no investor had the vision to invest.' 'Oh, I created this great product, but the market is so bad, the sales didn't go well.'"

 

It is your responsibility to achieve your dream. If it seems like someone else is blocking your way, like bad market and no interested investor, then there must be a problem in yourself. If your product is great, investors will contact your first. "Be responsible for your dreams".

 

 

5.Believe that the only things that matter are the dreams themselves

"Life is never about the goals themselves. Life is about the journey."

Yes. Achieving your dream is only temporary happiness, when life isn't. You should fully enjoy your every step towards that dream. At the end when you look back, what makes your dream look beautiful is your pathway.

 

 

Bel Pesce is still working hard to inspire us more. For the original speech, visit : https://www.ted.com/talks/bel_pesce_5_ways_to_kill_your_dreams/transcript?language=en

Have a nice day and don't stop working:)/