Q&A: suffragette or suffragist?

Is there a difference between the terms suffragette and suffragist, or do they mean the same?

This week sees the centenary of the 1918 Representation of the People Act which finally extended the suffrage to British and Irish women over 30 who met certain criteria, as well as all men over 21. Full electoral equality was not extended to women until 1922 in Ireland and 1928 in the UK. The change in the law came about for many reasons, but was due in large part to long-term campaigns by women (and many men) to get women the right to vote.

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Zuckerberg at Congress

Mark Zuckerberg took two days to testify before members of Congress last week, and he apologised for privacy breaches on Facebook.

He said that the social media website did not take a broad enough view of its responsibility, which was a big mistake. He continued to take responsibility for Facebook, saying that he started it, runs it, and he is responsible for what happens at the company.

Illinois Senator Dick Durbin asked Zuckerberg whether he would be comfortable sharing the name of the hotel where he stayed the previous night, or the names of the people who he messaged that week. The CEO was startled by the question, and he took about 7 seconds to respond with no.

The senator used such techniques to illustrate the point of the hearing – people’s right to privacy, limits of the rights to privacy, and how much we give up in the name of ‘connecting people around the world’.

Difficult words: testify (formally answer questions, talk about what happened), breach (a problem, doing something illegal), CEO (the most important boss at a company), startled (shocked), hearing (a formal situation when somebody explains something).

Train Almost Hits a Man

In Victoria, Australia, CCTV captured the moment that a train nearly hit a man, as it travelled at around 88 kilometres per hour.

The customer walked onto the train line without paying attention and made it to the edge of the opposite platform before hearing the train, as the driver sounded his horn and applied the emergency brake.

Although it was too late to stop the train completely, the driver’s evasive measures meant that the foolish man had just enough time to get out of the way of the fast-moving vehicle.

One witness could not bear to watch – as she saw the incident unfold, she put her face against a fence so she could not see.

Difficult words: CCTV (security camera footage), evasive (avoiding – trying not to hit the man), measure (an action, an act), bear (to be strong enough), unfold (to happen).

Shooting at YouTube

Nasim Aghdam, a 39-year-old Californian resident, entered YouTube’s headquarters in Northern California and opened fire with a handgun. She wounded three people – one of them critically – before fatally shooting herself.

The Iranian-born YouTuber posted content about veganism and healthy lifestyles. The police believe that she was angry at YouTube for demonetising most of her videos and allegedly filtering her channels to keep her from getting views.

Difficult words: fatally (deadly), demonetise (remove ads from next to a video – the YouTuber cannot make money), allegedly (according to someone).

Facebook Scandal

People are deleting their Facebook accounts following a privacy scandal which hit last week when it was revealed that British consultants from Cambridge Analytica collected data of about 50 million Facebook users.

If you took a quiz on Facebook, the quiz collected data about you and all of your friends. The data, which was supposed to be used for academic purposes, allegedly was used by the Trump campaign to create targeted ads and fake news. This practice could have greatly influenced the results of the American presidential election as well as other world elections.

Facebook connects 2.2 billion users across the world, which no other company has been able to do, but some users no longer see Facebook as being secure and are considering deleting their accounts.

Furthermore, since the report came out on last Monday, Facebook stock took a big hit and suffered a 9% decline.

Difficult words: allegedly (according to what people say), influence (affect, change), stock (what a company is worth), decline (a fall).

Sisters Meet After 30 Years

Sisters Lorena Sanchez and Jacqueline Vasquez Sanchez were aged three and nine when the Tolima Volcano in Columbia erupted and devastated their town in November, 1985.

The volcano left more than 20,000 people dead and many victims were never identified. The catastrophe separated the sisters and they were put up for adoption after authorities believed that they had lost their family.

Decades later, Jacqueline saw a Facebook video, which featured her younger sister Lorena making an appeal for information on surviving family members. Jacqueline eventually was able to track down her sister.

Now, the sisters are trying to find out what happened to their parents, but despite public appeals, the search has been unsuccessful. They also have 30 years of catching up to do! Lorena said that the moment of their reunion was beautiful and sad at the same time.

Difficult words: catastrophe (a very negative event), authorities (leaders), appeal (a request), feature (to have), track down (to find).