backontrack
Established Member
So, the year finally draws to a close. Not before its time, either.
We've lost some truly great people (Bowie, Rickman, Cruyff, Prince, Cohen, Muhammad Ali, Victoria Wood, Father Jack). We had too many terrorist atrocities to mention (though only one is just too many). We had racist police killings in the US. We had nuclear tests in North Korea. It was declared that the world could lose 2/3 of our wild animals by 2020. Stephen Hawking has said some very scary things. And with reason. We've had undue amounts of political uncertainty with Brexit, Farage, Le Pen, Corbyn, May, Trump...it's been a stressful year.
But then, there have been some positives.
Team GB had its greatest ever medal haul at any Olympics. It came second. Andy Murray won Wimbledon. Leicester City won the Premiership New chemotherapy breakthroughs have increased the 5-year survival for pancreatic cancer from 16% to 27%. Scientists figured out how to link robotic limbs with the part of the brain that deals with intent to move. We got a spacecraft called Juno into Jupiter's orbit. France introduced a law preventing supermarkets from wasting food.
Child mortality is decreasing. Panda, tiger and manatee numbers are increasing - tigers for the first time in a century. We've discovered which gene is responsible for ALS. Iceland killed it in the Euros. Germany powered its nation solely on renewables for a day. Portugal did it for four days straight. A solar powered plane circumnavigated the world. Volunteers in India planted 50 million trees in 24 hours.
ISIL is making huge losses in Syria. A new medicine has been shown to increase the survival rate for melanoma to 40%. Coffee consumption has been proved to help curtail cancer and suicide rates. Humanity has made massive strides in preventing Alzheimers' disease. The Anglican church resolved to solemnize same-sex unions. The hole in the ozone layer has very nearly been closed. Tim Peake's been to space and back.
So...a bit of a mixed bag...
We've lost some truly great people (Bowie, Rickman, Cruyff, Prince, Cohen, Muhammad Ali, Victoria Wood, Father Jack). We had too many terrorist atrocities to mention (though only one is just too many). We had racist police killings in the US. We had nuclear tests in North Korea. It was declared that the world could lose 2/3 of our wild animals by 2020. Stephen Hawking has said some very scary things. And with reason. We've had undue amounts of political uncertainty with Brexit, Farage, Le Pen, Corbyn, May, Trump...it's been a stressful year.
But then, there have been some positives.
Team GB had its greatest ever medal haul at any Olympics. It came second. Andy Murray won Wimbledon. Leicester City won the Premiership New chemotherapy breakthroughs have increased the 5-year survival for pancreatic cancer from 16% to 27%. Scientists figured out how to link robotic limbs with the part of the brain that deals with intent to move. We got a spacecraft called Juno into Jupiter's orbit. France introduced a law preventing supermarkets from wasting food.
Child mortality is decreasing. Panda, tiger and manatee numbers are increasing - tigers for the first time in a century. We've discovered which gene is responsible for ALS. Iceland killed it in the Euros. Germany powered its nation solely on renewables for a day. Portugal did it for four days straight. A solar powered plane circumnavigated the world. Volunteers in India planted 50 million trees in 24 hours.
ISIL is making huge losses in Syria. A new medicine has been shown to increase the survival rate for melanoma to 40%. Coffee consumption has been proved to help curtail cancer and suicide rates. Humanity has made massive strides in preventing Alzheimers' disease. The Anglican church resolved to solemnize same-sex unions. The hole in the ozone layer has very nearly been closed. Tim Peake's been to space and back.
So...a bit of a mixed bag...
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