amethyst initiative

Since its founding last year, the Amethyst Initiative, a campaign to initiate a public debate about the merits of a 21 year old drinking age, has been growing every day. The Initiative, started by John McCardell, President Emeritus of ...Or so it would seem, judging from the way Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) has responded to the 128 (and counting) college presidents who support the Amethyst Initiative, which calls for "an informed and dispassionate public debate" ...The WCTU (Woman's Christian Temperance Union) has awarded the Amethyst Initiative its first Millstone Award for promoting public discussions about how best to reduce alcohol abuse and alcohol-problems among young people, ...135 college presidents have signed the Amethyst Initiative, a national petition calling on elected officials to rescind the age of 21, in favor of a newer, lower age. Certainly this is an expression of how students have been thinking ...If you're a DC-area college student and you'd like to know where your school's president stands on the Amethyst Initiative, Josh Akman wrote a review of local schools' positions in a Wednesday post for the Washington City Paper's “City ...Founded by John McCardell, former president of Middlebury College in Vermont and an alumnus and member of the board of trustees at W&L, the Amethyst Initiative asserts that despite the higher drinking age, "a culture of dangerous, ...Echoes of the Amethyst Initiative came to mind when I heard this. During the late 1970s, some states passed legislation that increased the drinking age to 21, but it was not until 1984 that Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking ...The Amethyst Initiative and the National Youth Rights Association are attempting to overturn, or at least open up, debate about overturning the unconstitutional 1984 National Minimum Drinking Age Act and restore the rights of legal ...WHEREAS, launched in July 2008, the Amethyst Initiative is made up of chancellors and presidents of universities and colleges across the United States who have signed their names to a public statement that the problem of irresponsible ...And now Leven is on board too, signing the Student Body President version of the Amethyst Initiative-the Get REAL campaign. "It's to try to encourage a responsible, honest, open dialogue to best serve these needs that have gone unmet," ...
and what percent of congress is expected to vote yes?


I have an summary of it so read well and tell to me ur reaction...I need ur opinyon so tnxx a lot... ^ ^

Strange things are happening on Earth's surface: A number of people within a 10-block radius in Boston simultaneously drop dead for apparently no reason.

Keyes and Serge are bought together by Gen. Purcell of U.S. government to determine a cause for the deaths in Boston. Keyes deduces that since he is a geologist and Serge a physicist, the people who died had one thing in common - they had artificial pacemakers. Keyes initially believes the cause to be an electromagnetic pulse.

Soon after pigeons in London's Trafalgar Square lose their internal navigational ability and start smashing into windscreens and breaking panes of glass. Upon seeing this news relayed in a webcast, Keyes realizes the cause of these anomalies: Earth's core has stopped rotating. Within a year, the Earth will lose its electromagnetic shield and be fried by solar radiation.

A team of "terranauts" is recruited to drill down to Earth's core and set off a series of nuclear explosions in an attempt to restart the core's rotation. Their $15 billion journey uses a transport made of an indestructible metal dubbed "Unobtainium" equipped with a newly-developed "sonic laser" that can cut through rock.

Meanwhile, police storm an apartment, whose occupant, Rat, a computer hacker, races to destroy his numerous hard drives with a large magnet whilst also microwaving CDs of presumably sensitive material. Aware of Rat's hacking of the FBI database last year, the U.S. government employs him to keep classified information regarding the mission from leaking onto the internet and causing mass hysteria. In return, he asks for an unlimited supply of Hot Pockets as they help him concentrate.

Construction on the vehicle begins in the Utah desert, while lightning superstorms appear above the base and around the world. Rome is devastated by one such incident with the Colosseum and Monument of Vittorio Emanuele II completely obliterated on-screen. Construction of the vehicle continues, with various countries contributing to the effort; flags are shown, including France and Iraq. However while this is going on, Gen. Purcell confronts Zimsky over whether a mysterious Project DESTINI was responsible for the impending disaster; Zimsky vehemently denies this and even states he believes DESTINI can resolve the world's predicament. Eventually the vehicle is launched in the north Pacific ocean, above the Mariana Trench.

Twelve hours into the mission and 700 miles underground, the crew encounter 'static' on the screen. Keyes reacts quickly, stating that he never programmed the guidance system to recognise empty space which is being represented as static. The vehicle drills through the outer shell of a gigantic cavernous amethyst geode, falling under gravity and eventually coming to a stop. The crew then attempts extravehicular activity to free the vehicle from a large crystal embebbed in its sonic laser. They are under pressure however, as magma begins pouring through the entrance they created. One of the crew, Bob, dies when a piece of molten rock falls through his helmet. After resuming the mission, the crew encounters another problem: Keyes' guidance system detects black objects in its path which Zimsky realizes are mountain-sized diamonds. Childs narrowly avoids them but at the last moment, the vehicle is punctured and a hull breach occurs. Unfortunately, Brazzelton is forced to eject the damaged compartment with Serge still inside, who dies after the compartment is crushed under intense pressure.

1700 miles deep, the vehicle begins to pick up speed, increasing from 90 to 130 knots in seconds. Keyes deduces that the outer core's liquid is too thin, with the nuclear detonation unlikely to restart the core's spin. During this revelation, Purcell and Zimsky reveal DESTINI: a secret facility in Alaska with which they can start earthquakes anywhere on the planet. This weapon, standing for Deep Earth Seismic Trigger INItiative, is revealed to be the cause of the stalling of Earth's core.

While the team is underground, the world is struck by more disasters. Huge blasts of microwave radiation from the sun break through the atmosphere, melting the Golden Gate Bridge and frying San Francisco. Upon seeing the devastation, Gen. Purcell decides to activate DESTINI in case the vehicle mission fails. Rat notices this and sends a covert message to Keyes, asking him if he can help. Keyes replies they need more time, and to delay DESTINI. Rat attempts to remotely shut down hydroelectric dams in Alaska but is denied by security systems.

Zimsky works out that instead of a single large detonation, a series of smaller ones will achieve wave propagation and restart the core. They split the bomb into fragments, and deposit them around the core inside ejected vehicle compartments. The Virgil can't eject compartments without them being damaged, so Braz goes into the crawlspace at the front of the ship to activate a gear which makes the ship capable of manual overrides. Braz dies, though, because the crawlspace is filled with 9000 degree fluid and his suit can withstand only half that. However, due to some miscalculations, the final bomb needs to have 30% more energy which must be obtained from the plutonium in the vehicle's reactor. Unfortunately, Zimsky becomes trapped inside a compartment along with a bomb and dies as the bomb detonates. The plan eventually works, with the core resuming its spinning. Meanwhile, seconds before activation, Rat manages to gain access to DESTINI and diverts power from the weapon to Coney Island, giving the crew valuable time to fulfill their mission.

As the ship's reactor is completely drained of power, Keyes and Childs are seemingly stranded in the core, however, Keyes remembers a property of unobtainium and discovers that the ship's hull can be used as a "giant solar panel". Implementing this new idea, they return to the surface of the planet riding on currents. Later, Rat sends files on what actually happened and the now-dead "unsung heroes" to many organizations and agencies across the world.