A quick glance at Adam Wheeler’s credentials would have impressed most anyone at first glance. At 23 years of age, Wheeler had already attended some prestigious institutions including MIT and Phillips Academy, won numerous awards, and collaborated on several books. Harvard found Wheeler’s accomplishments equally impressive and offered him a full ride at the university. Too bad he was nothing more than a sham. Harvard officials discovered the illegitimacy of the student’s background after having reviewed his application for the Rhodes and Fulbright scholarship. It turns out that Wheeler submitted the work of a professor from the school with his application. Following an investigation, the student was turned over to police officials. Wheeler is now facing criminal charges, among them fraud, for conning some prestigious institutions out of nearly $45,000 worth of grant and financial aid money.

The student managed to maneuver his way into Harvard after submitting falsified teacher recommendations from MIT professors, SAT scores, and transcripts. The student attended none of the schools which he listed on the application, but rather had a short stint at Bowdoin College in Delaware before he was dismissed for academic dishonesty. According to the Boston Globe, Wheeler was very careful to ensure that the forged documents he submitted to schools were as close to the real thing as possible. They would have been passable had it not been for an English instructor at Harvard that questioned the student’s essay submission. When confronted about the issue, Wheeler said he was no longer interested in attended Harvard and took off. It was then that the full extent of his trickery was exposed. He is in custody in Cambridge waiting to be arraigned on nearly 20 charges stemming from his scheme.

BP officials are working desperately to try and get a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico under control as it continues to seep barrel after barrel of oil into the pacific ocean. The spill started following an explosion on an oil platform and has continued to rage on nearly 30 days later. Despite efforts to contain the spill, nothing has panned out quite as expected. The most recent effort to quell the spill has involved the use of a mile long tube used to redirect the oil to the surface of the water. BP crews managed to attach the end of this tube to one of the pipes leaking oil under the Pacific ocean. They are now working to burn off the natural gas released by the underwater pipe. According to the Wall Street Journal, there are nearly 500 BP crew members actively working at the site of the spill trying to contain it. Some critics continue to charge that the giant hasn’t been doing enough to address the problem. Questions continue to mount as to why measures weren’t taken to have prevented the initial explosion that caused the mess.

Even if the latest technique does work, it is not a permanent solution. Oil will continue to surge out of the pipe until it is properly clogged. BP estimates that this could take at least two months.

There has been an increase in searches for “Temblor en Puerto Rico Hoy,” which is translated to earthquake in Puerto Rico today. According to the United States Geological Service, the nation suffered a 5.7 earthquake epicentered five miles north of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. The quake struck at 1:16 am local time. At the time of this writing, there were no immediate reports of injuries. This quake is the most recent in a chain of powerful temblors that have rocked various parts of the world this year. In January, the nation of Haiti experienced a 7.0 earthquake, causing considerable damage and a quarter million deaths. The quake is believed to have displaced nearly 1,000,000 people from their homes. Celebrities and the general public came together to help raise money towards recovery efforts, which were concluded in mid-January.

Earthquakes in Chile and Taiwan later followed these quakes, the former producing fatalities as well. With the large amount of earthquake activity, concerns have been mounting that a big earthquake may strike California or some other area along the pacific coast very soon. Seismologists have confirmed that the area is due for a big earthquake sometime in the near future, although they are unable to give any precise time frame. What we do know is that the San Andreas fault line is continuing to build stress, stress which it cannot tolerate forever.

Students across the country are prepping for the AP English Language and Composition Exam that is set to be administered tomorrow. This course, typically designed for senior students in high school, is the equivalent of second year English course at the college level. Students who manage to successfully pass the test with a score of 3 or higher will be awarded college credits upon transfer to a college institution. The grading criteria for these tests varies, but the cut off score can be roughly translated to a grade of “C” or higher in the course. The number of students challenging themselves by taking AP course work has increased tremendously throughout the years, and with the cost of attending college rising, more and more students are seizing at the opportunity. More stringent admission requirements among the many reputable schools in the United States has also fueled a high demand for AP courses. The AP English Language and Composition Exam is one of the 31 exams available for students to take at the modest price of $80. The test is divided into portions – a multiple choice section and an essay section. Taken in May of each year, the tests are sent to the College Board for processing. Students are notified of their performance on a said exam via e-mail in July.

We can only hope that those of you scheduled to take the AP English Language and Composition Exam tomorrow will hit the books for a final refresher. Be sure not to overdo the studying and to get plenty of sleep. Cramming will do you no good at this point. Get ample amounts of sleep and have a wholesome breakfast to ensure you perform well on the AP English Language and Composition Exam!

The folks at JetBlue are at it again, offering their customers a deep deep discount for certain flights. This latest Jetblue 10 Dollar Flights promotion is set to take place tomorrow up until Wednesday. JetBlue is an national airline, so don’t expect to be flying to France or Germany for $10. This promotion applies to non-stop flights headed to 59 different destinations throughout the United States. As you might imagine, the low price is only in effect while supplies last. If you don’t get on this promotion soon, it is unlikely you’ll be able to grab any of the remaining seats. JetBlue is offering this amazing deal as part of their 10th anniversary celebration. The airline has been one of the first to offer customers such an amazing incentive to fly.

Are there any strings attached to this Jetblue 10 Dollar Flights deal? Well only one – you have to book your tickets online. The official JetBlue website has all the information you need to get started, just be sure to login right now. As people start coming home from work, there servers are sure to be swamped with people trying to get their slice of the pie. You can visit JetBlue by following this link. Try to reload the site if loading carries on at a slow rate.

The Securities and Exchange commission is still investigating what exactly caused a 1,000 point dip in the Dow Jones industrial average Thursday. Reports continued to circulate Friday that a computer glitch may have been at the center of the problem, although those close to the investigation have not confirmed these reports. The glitch is rumored to have originated from black box trading software that handles trading orders without human input. The software uses an algorithm to maneuver stocks tied to mutual funds and the like. Although the Dow Jones rebounded Friday, down to a loss of 140, it dipped by nearly 6% this week, taking other indexes with it. The abrupt plummet caused $1 trillion from the market to simply disappear. The vanishing act has agitated a number of lawmakers who are now asking that upcoming financial reform require transparency over the matter. Efforts to include such clauses in the reform are being spearheaded by two Democratic senators.

Unrest in the market is expected to continue into next week with the continually volatile situation unfolding in Greece and in other parts of Europe. It is unclear how long the SEC intends to keep its investigation open or what actions, if any, it intends to take to keep such an incident from repeating in the future.

Fans of the popular console game Halo are early waiting for the Halo Reach beta to be released by Microsoft. This upcoming release is the fourth installment in the Halo video game series which catapulted Microsoft’s game console known as the Xbox to the top of sales charts. The first two releases were designed to be played on the original XBOX console (although versions were also released for PC users), while the latter were intended for use on the XBOX 360 platform. It appears that the first beta of Halo Reach will be available on an invitation only basis. Players will need a Halo Reach beta code to activate the game. The beta is slated to be available from May 3rd to May 19th, at which Microsoft will pull it from the internet.

If you are one of the millions anticipating the release of the beta, you should do your best to download it as soon as it hits the internet. Many anticipate that the sudden surge of download activity that the release will cause may hamper others from reaching the download site. We can only assume that Microsoft has taken special precautions to ensure that its servers will be able to handle the intense traffic.

There is not official word on the Halo reach beta release time. You will have to wait it out to see when it gets posted for download.

Airlines at home and abroad have been battered by the economic conditions due to a declining demand for air travel. Some national airlines like JetBlue have managed to get passengers back to the terminals by offering heavily discounted rates on plane tickets. Foreign airlines like Lufthansa have also had to deal with contract disputes with employees, causing walkouts that translated to millions of dollars worth of losses. The most recent event to impact air travel was the eruption of an Icelandic volcano that sent a plume of smoke into the atmosphere, stalling air travel for several days.

Shelley Lubben, a former prostitute and porn star turned founder of Pink Cross Missionaries, an organization seeking to provide guidance to those active in the adult industry, is now lobbying a state agency to pass a mandate that would require adult film makers to wear condoms in sex scenes. Although the risk of STDs among adult stars is higher than average, the use of condoms has seen a drastic decline in adult films. The threat of new legislation is putting adult filmmakers on edge. The San Fernando Valley, a hotbed of porn production studios is responsible for as much as 90% of the billions of dollars worth of revenue that the adult film industry generates on a yearly basis. Film makers have made it clear that they will move their operations elsewhere if a change in legislation bars them from continuing on the same course. Lubben argues that such a move will never come to fruition due to the fact that most states classify hardcore pornography as a form of prostitution.

The jury is still out on how consumers of adult entertainment would respond to such a change. Based on the threats of relocation made by the adult studios, the forecast seems less than favorable. Whatever damage that this may cause to bottom-line, it is worth the well-being of the entertainers.

David Kernell, a former University of Tennessee student, has been found guilty of two charges, including obstruction of justice, relating to his successful hacking attempt of then presidential nominee John McCain’s running mate Sarah Palin’s e-mail account. The leak caused quite a stur after it was discovered that Palin, the former governor of Alaska, was found to have exchanged e-mails related to government business through the account provided by Yahoo. The young adult was initially facing four charges, one of which he was found to be not guilty, the other pending the outcome of a retrial. Much of the jury’s decision rested on the fact that Kernell hacked into the account with the intent of tarnishing Palin’s reputation. After gaining access into the account, Kernell distributed the login credentials online and even boasted of the feat. This obviously got him much more than he initially bargained for.

During the sentencing phase, Kernell may face a few decades worth of jail time at the worst. This is not something that most twenty year olds would ever imagine having to grapple with. Most of us would agree that Kernell isn’t particularly deserving of a very lengthy sentence. Sure, he does deserve to get punishment for what he did, but in the whole scheme of things it would be a waste to lock him up for ten or more years. There are bigger fish for us to go after, like those who contributed to the economic meltdown back in 2008.