On December 14th, 2012, Adam Lanza went on a rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. Using his mother's own guns, he shot and killed her in their house, and proceeded to murder twenty children and six staff members at the school where she worked. As first responders closed in, he committed suicide by shooting himself through the head. On April 17th 2013, gun control measures to improve criminal background checks, ban assault rifles, and limit the size ...

America is a country of sports fans. The three biggest sports are gridiron football, basketball, and baseball. Having experienced the insanity of college football, I set my eyes on the NBA, attending the December 1st game between the Golden State Warriors and Indiana Pacers at Oracle Arena in Oakland. For those unfamiliar with the nomenclature, California is sometimes called "the Golden State", and the Warriors are the local Bay Area team.

NBA teams play several times a week, adding up ...

I consider it a privilege to have been in California during the 2012 US Presidential Election.

California is strongly Democratic (as in the political party), and Berkeley is a liberal bastion in the Golden State. Add a strongly left-leaning student body and a convenient time zone, and you have the ingredients for a euphoric night.

The tension began around 5pm, as polls on the East Coast closed and the counting began. Naturally, Romney took an early lead due to the ...

Here in Berkeley I'm living in the International House (affectionately known as I-House). I've previously lived in the International House at Sydney (which we called IH), and sometime soon I'll write more about these places. But earlier today I attended my first college football match, courtesy of some free tickets from I-House. It was the opening game of the season - the California Golden Bears playing at home in Berkeley against Nevada.

Now, I know that college football ...