Starbucks to Stop Using Crushed Bugs

Starbucks has announced that they will stop using the "crushed bug" dye that colors their strawberry frappuccinos, raspberry swirl cake, and red velvet whoopie pie.

The company had been receiving lots of grief over the last months, since it had been discovered that the Cochineal dye Starbucks had been using, is made from the juice of crushed beetles.

Cochineal dye is also used in many foods and cosmetic products. Many lipsticks and shampoos use it. Yogurt's often do as well.

Starbucks will begin using lycopene, a tomato-based extract. They expect to be completely switched over, in all stores, by the end of April.

Remembering: Columbine

April 20, 1999, two teenaged gunmen start shooting outside of Columbine High School, in Littleton, Colorado. The boys were students at the school, and went through the school shooting people randomly. Hardest hit was the library.

By the time the shooting stopped the gunmen had shot and killed themselves. Before doing so, they had killed twelve students, one teacher, and wounded twenty-four more.

The victims that they killed were: Cassie Rene Bernall (17), Steven Robert Curnow (14), Corey Tyler DePooter (17), Kelly Ann Fleming (16), Matthew Joseph Ketcher (16), Daniel Conner Mauser (15), Daniel Lee Rohrbough (15), Coach William 'Dave' Sanders (47), Rachel Joy Scott (17), Isaiah Eamon Shoels (18), John Robert Tomlin (16), Lauren Dawn Townsend (18), and Kyle Albert Velasquez (16).

Coach Sanders, was possibly the biggest hero of the event. He is credited with clearing out the cafeteria, of more than one hundred students, before the gunmen could get there. He was in an upstairs hallway making sure students were secured and safe in classrooms, when he was shot from behind.

The Columbine library was torn down, and rebuilt as an atrium. A memorial stands near the school, with dedications to each of the thirteen victims.

Remembering: The Shot Heard Around The World

April 19, 1775, after being warned by Paul Revere and William Dawes, seventy-seven minutemen grouped together at Lexington, Massachusetts to face the coming British.

Major John Pitcairn, commanding seven hundred British redcoats, ordered the militia out of his way. They began to comply, but then someone fired a shot, and both sides let loose a volley. When the smoke cleared eight of the militia lay dead and ten others were wounded, whilst only one redcoat was hurt.

Upon reaching Concord, the British were successful in destroying the militia's warehouse of military supplies, but soon found themselves under attack by hundreds of militia. Lieutenant Colonel Frances Smith ordered a withdrawal back to Boston, and told his troops to avoid a direct confrontation with the colonials.

As the redcoats retraced the sixteen mile march they found themselves harassed by guerrilla style tactics and ambushes. At Lexington, they found the town reinforced and quickly passed through the town without engaging.

By the time the British returned to Boston, they had lost nearly three hundred troops killed, wounded, or missing. Colonial casualties were fewer than one hundred. The American Revolution had begun.

Syria Continues Shelling

Syrian government forces continue to violate the cease fire. Wednesday they renewed the shelling of parts of Homs. The state news agency, SANA, reported that roadside bombs in Idlib and Aleppo killed ten soldiers and a civilian.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem insists that the government is doing everything in it's power to have a cease fire. He went as far as offering the Syrian air force's planes and helicopters to carry around UN observers.

With both sides violating the cease fire, there really is no hope left for the truce. Time is just ticking for the conflicts to go full fledged again.

The world sits and watches unable to do much more. If they admit that the cease fire has been ineffective, the leave themselves with little choices. The only real ones there are, would be to send their own troops in to try and enforce a peace, arm the rebels, or stay out of it completely and watch the country continue to implode.

Halo 4 Release Date Announced

Microsoft has announced that greatly awaited Halo 4, will be released November 6, or election day in the US.

This installment's story line begins four years after the end of Halo 3's. Master Chief and Cortana will return, fighting an even greater and more dangerous than ever known.

The story line will also go where none of the other games have gone before. It will delve into Master Chief's past, in ways only the books and comics have.

Halo 3 was the fastest selling game ever, back in 2007, and remained so til 2011 when Call of Duty: Black Ops beat it. 4 is expected to take that back for Microsoft. But it will have competition, as Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, Assassin's Creed 3, and Grand Theft Auto 5 all come out around the same time.

Dog TV

For $4.99 a month, you can get Dog TV, an eight hour set of cable TV just for your dog. The network promises that there are never reruns, keeping it always fresh for the dogs, so they won't get bored.

Everything on the network is designed for dogs to watch. They filmed low, to match a dog's point of view. The music has been written and designed specifically for canine hearing. Even the colors have been altered, enriching blues and yellows, which dogs can see.

According to scientists, the technological level of TVs now allows for dogs to see the screen. With older TVs they couldn't actually register what was going on.

The Escondido Humane Society, near San Diego, has been a testing ground for the network's relaxation videos. Development director Jean Loo-Russo said that, "We handle 5,000 animals a year. We get high-energy, big dogs that need to calm down. When we plugged it in, we saw almost immediate results.

So far the network is only available in the San Diego area, but plans are underway to go across the US by the end of the year. Options are being looked at to add smell to the screen. Developers say that the technology is available, but is just not cost effective yet. Due to comments from pet owners, that cats are entertained by Dog TV, they are also working on developing Cat TV.

Remembering: The British are Coming!

April 18, 1775, General Thomas Gage, the British governor of Massachusetts, orders British soldiers to march on Concord to cease weapon stores and on Lexington to arrest colonial leaders John Hancock and Samuel Adams.

The colonials had been waiting for this move, and plans were prepared. Two riders, Paul Revere and William Dawes, were waiting for a signal to let them know which way the British were headed. One lamp would be lit in the steeple of Boston's Old North Church, the highest point in the city, if the British were marching out of the city by Boston Neck, and two would be lit if they were crossing the Charles River to Cambridge.

On the night of April 18, the two men saw the signal of two lights in the steeple, and set off through the countryside, on different paths, to warn everyone. Hundreds of Minutemen were warned, and armed themselves. They reached Lexington moments apart, and together warned Hancock and Adams. As they left the town they were joined by Samuel Prescott.

The three riders then took separate ways towards Concord. Only Prescott would make it there. Dawes would end up losing his horse avoiding British patrols. Whilst Revere would be captured and questioned, but later released.

Maduro Accuses Obama of Conspiracy

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro accused the United States government, and specifically President Obama, of orchestrating a conspiracy to remove President Hugo Chavez from office.

This conspiracy involves plans to instigate street violence and according to Maduro goes as far as plotting a coup against Chavez. "At this moment it's difficult to consider an improvement in the relations with the United States due to this conspiracy," he said on Venezuelan TV.

Maduro also stated that the United States is increasingly isolated from it's other American neighbors. He warns that there will not be another Summit of the Americas, if the US does not back down on issues regarding Cuba.

The Foreign Minister also took shots at Great Britain, making it clear that Venezuela will back Argentina in any continued conflict over the Falkland Islands. Argentina has been increasingly vocal and belligerent with it's demands that the islands be handed over to them.

Remembering: Benjamin Franklin

On April 17, 1790, America and the world lose one of the greatest treasures when Benjamin Franklin died.

Under British rule, Franklin became a prominent leader in the New World. In Philadelphia, where he had chosen to reside, he helped found the first public library, police force, fire brigade, and an academy that later became the University of Pennsylvania. He helped grow and improve the local, and then later regional, postal system.

Franklin began Poor Richard's Almanack, filling it with useful and humorous information. In it he coined what have become some of the most famous phrases. He also the Pennsylvania Gazette, which even in Europe became known as one of the most reliable colonial newspapers.

His fascination with science, is still well known. He invented many things, including bifocals and the Franklin stove. He experimented with electricity, and greatly moved man's knowledge of it forward. In his scientific papers, Franklin created many terms in the field of electrical study, including battery, conductor, positive, and negative. Franklin became the first American scientist to be respected by Europe.

Throughout all this time he was active in colonial affairs as well. In 1754, he proposed a union of colonies, that would've established a joint parliament for the colonies. Even though that parliament would've still been subservient to the crown, such a move would've given the colonies partial independence, and so was quickly rejected by England.

Until 1775, he was often in England, arguing before Parliament for colonial rights. But in 1775, he did return to America, as he saw that war must come. In 1776, he was on the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence. Afterwards, he became the ambassador to France, and succeeded in gaining treaties that brought France into the war as an American ally. Franklin would be one of the three Americans to sign the Treaty of Paris, which ended the war with Britain, and recognized American independence.

In 1785, he returned home and by 1787 was a member of the Constitutional Convention. He believed deeply in the Constitution and fought hard for it. Benjamin Franklin was without a doubt one of the greatest and most important Founding Fathers of America.

Real Life Sweeney Todd

Three people in Garanhuns, Brazil have been arrested on charges they killed people, and then used their bodies as meat for pies.

To make it more interesting, they all confessed. One of them saying he did it because the voices in his head, told him to.

The pies were famous throughout the town, for how tasty they were. Neighbors, schools, businesses, and hospitals all purchased the pies.

Police found two bodies, and believe that the cannibals were responsible for at least ten murders.