Indonesian Volcanic Eruption Forces Thousands To Flee

At the risk of sounding like a pretentious douche, you probably haven't heard about this story. I'll be the first to admit that I only heard about this several minutes ago. As Americans, we tend to overlook world news in favor of events close to home. But, unfortunately for our cozy little lives, we are only 350 million in a world of 7 billion and it's no longer viable to ignore the rest of the world.

With that painful little spiel out of the way, allow me to quickly bring to light the events currently transpiring in Indonesia. Mount Sinabung (which sounds suspiciously like the shameful airport eatery) is a volcano in western Indonesia. Over the past several months, since September, it has been erupting and displacing thousands of families that live on or near the mountain.

However, today, the volcano spewed "blistering gas farther than expected" according to Al Jazeera. The result was an extension of the danger zone by authorities, forcing even more residents from their homes.

That's really all the information I have on the story at this point, but it's worth noting and I hope that you'll all keep the residents in the surrounding area in your thoughts.