Humble Beginnings

When you take the company Whatsapp into consideration the first thing to probably come about is the 19 billion dollar price tag, but the most remarkable aspect of the business comes from the hidden story of Jan Koum's journey to his wealth. 

Koum was born and raised in the Ukraine until his teenager years of the 1990's to the United States. Although he was forced to live with government assistance to survive, such as welfare and food stamps, the extremely expensive phone calls back home posed a problem to keep in contact with his family. 

Eventually Microsoft's Skype drastically reduced prices of international calls, but Koum's mission was to do the same for text messages on mobile phones. 

In his own perspective he feels he "barely passed" high school in mission Viejo, California. He later studied at San Jose state, but eventually dropped out. He then worked as security at Ernst & young and would later become security and operations engineer at Yahoo. 

In 2009 he created the Whatsapp which gained 450 million users, and is now gaining around 1 million users a day. 

Although his story is extremely remarkable, Koum has been really shy towards the spotlight. He takes few interviews and refuses appearances on shows. His CEO title isn't even listed on his social media accounts. He resorts to calling himself a tester and tweet manager instead of the prestigious title he deserves. 

 

Koum owns 45% of the stock and is valued at 7 billion dollars. His story serves to show that although the government served to help him through everyday life, the possibilities to improve are endless. 

Split Decisions

The United States spoke out boldly Wednesday on the topic of halting the escalating political violence in Ukraine, but analysts hold different opinions, warning that there was little that outside pressure could do, especially if the Ukrainian military gets involved. 

President Barack Obama condemned the unrest that killed 26 on Tuesday and began to spread passed the Ukrainian Capital, Kiev, by Wednesday. Protesters were reported to even seize control of government buildings, thus sparking an almost inevitable urge for their military to want to take action. 

Nevertheless, Obama has warned the government to show restraint against peaceful protesters, and stay cautious of the consequences of excessive action. By allegedly saying the Ukrainian military should stay out of it as it has done so far. 

Shortly after the Ukraine's president and the opposition leaders agreed to a truce and to talk out an agreement. 

nd to fresh talks.Obama stated that he hoped this development will "provide space for the sides to resolve their disagreements peacefully." 

He insisted  that Ukraine isn't a pawn on some "Cold War chessboard" with Russia, Obama said that he hopes a unity government will be formed to pave the way for "fair and free elections."

"The situation that happened in Ukraine has to do with whether or not the people ... can determine their own destiny," he said.

Later on the United States issued visa bans for 20 senior members of the Ukraine, responsible for the crack down in Kiev, or just affiliated with the government. 

The president of the council on foreign relations, Richard Haass state his opinion by saying that the main question would come down to whether the government would support the Ukraine by assisting the military or assist the protestors by staying in the barracks (remaining uninvolved). 

In the concluding perspective, the American government is stuck with the capability to help an ally to restore order to their system or help the opposing force by remaining neutral, but regardless of choice the possibility of and enemy is possible. The consequences remain complex but differ on however the debate between the sides conclude. 

Don't Drink the Water!

 In Charleston, West Virginia health officials tested the water and declared it to be safe to drink. Some residents in virginia reported getting rashes on their body after bathing. When this was reported, on January 9th, the water was tested again and the chemical 4-methylcyclohexane methanol, or MCHM, was discovered leaking from a storage tank and was leaked into the water supply. This scared everyone and they decided to do a "do-not-use" order. When residents ran the water on hot there was a licorice odor which worried residents. 300,000 West Virginians were unable to drink or bathe in their water for a week. The chemical is known for helping to wash coal to reduce ash, but other than that, little it known about the chemical and it's effects on a person body if inhaled. "The spill was originally estimated at about 7,500 gallons, but Freedom Industries said late last month that about 10,000 gallons of chemical had escaped. The company also told regulators that a second chemical -- a mix of polyglycol ethers, known as PPH -- was part of the leak." Awhile later, official lifted the "do-not-use" rule after discovering that the chemical only appeared in the water supply are very low levels. This still worried the residents of West Virginia. The Centers for Disease Control and Preventing were hired to do further research on the issue. The chemical MCHM was found in the treated and untreated water from two homes in Charleston Virginia." The amounts ranged from less than 0.5 parts per billion to 1.6 parts per billion, well below the 1 part per million that the CDC has said it considers unlikely to be associated with any adverse health effects." "We stand willing to continue to assist and will be discussing with officials there what additional toxicology and epidemiology studies may be needed," said Laura Bellinger, a CDC spokeswoman."The official agencies are saying (the water is) OK to drink," said Dr. Rahul Gupta, health officer and executive director of the Kanawha-Charleston and Putnam County health departments. Officials are saying that the water is "okay" to drink, but they are not saying that the water is "safe to drink". "Safe" is the word that makes people feel more comfortable. If I lived in West Virginia I would honestly be very skeptical of what the government says. I feel that sometimes they do not have the citizens best interest at heart. Sometimes the temporarily fix things. Things like wondering if the water supply is okay to drink and bathe in is something that we should not have to worry about as citizens of these United States.