Cancer patients lose out due to a societal cancer

2014 was a big year for Apple, which shook up the technology industry when it unveiled the large-screen iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Along with the latest iPhones, Apple also introduced the latest-generation iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3, a 27-inch 5K Retina iMac, its HealthKit and HomeKit platforms, the latest OS X Yosemite and iOS 8, and a sneak peek into the still unreleased Apple Watch. It was also a big year for Sony, whose latest film The Interview has won a few fans in between sparking apocalyptic warnings from North Korea, but for defectors who escaped the communist state, there's nothing funny about it. That's not to say they're not watching it. Defectors based in the South have flocked to see the film at the centre of an escalating international row thanks to its lurid depiction of the assassination of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un. The United States claims that the film's presentation of Kim, whose family has ruled the reclusive, impoverished state for more than six decades, prompted Pyongyang to launch a massive cyber-attack on Sony Pictures, the studio that made it. Defectors from the north have reacted to the movie with a mixture of shock and bafflement. It's not just that its crass humour is largely lost on a North Korean audience, it's that growing up immersed in a personality cult, which gives god-like status to the ruling Kim dynasty, is not an experience that can easily be forgotten. Even for defectors who have been in the South for years, it is jarring to see Kim ridiculed as a Katy Perry fan who has a complex about his dad. Speaking of jars, for the second consecutive year on New Year's Eve, police are investigating the theft of two donation jars for a children's hospital that were taken from the Speedway on West Fourth Street. In what appears to be almost an exact replica of an incident from 2013, Ontario police are investigating the theft of two donation jars for Akron Children's Hospital Children's Miracle Network taken from Speedway on 2132 West Fourth St. A surveillance video captured this year's incident, which took place at 1:58 a.m. Dec. 30. Ontario police detective Jon Sigler said the video showed a heavy-set woman reaching over the unattended counter to pick up two jars filled with cash. The woman then placed the jars under her arms, left the store, and drove away in a blue Dodge Avenger. Whoever you are, should you come across this post, you better give back those jars. This has become a police matter now and the cops will be coming after you sooner or later. That money you took was meant to help sick children. How would you feel if I or somebody else were to steal stuff from you?