Tornadoes

By: Bowen Beecher

You have to live all over the country before I realized that Americans everywhere live with some kind of fear hanging over their daily lives. Natural disasters exist everywhere. Those who live in river towns grow up with stories of floods. West Coasters joke about earthquakes to anesthetize themselves from the omnipresent reality of the real thing. Those who live in California and the Southwest can expect drought and horrific wildfires once or twice a decade, and anyone who lives a lifetime in the Gulf area must feel like they've lived through the plagues of the Old Testament. In the South and Midwest, of course, it's tornadoes. Tornadoes in my opinion are the most terrifying. They do damage in seconds and show up unexpected. Tornadoes teach us humility. For all of our scientific technology, there really isn't a thing we can do to protect those who are caught in their path. That was taught to everyone in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on Wednesday and early Thursday. In all, the death toll from the wave of powerful storms that struck was more than 280 people in six states. In Tuscaloosa alone, at least 36 people lost their lives. After reading about this it made me fear tornadoes. I am glad I don’t live in areas prone to them. We are protected by two mountain ranges to the East and West. That’s why we don’t experience many tornadoes. On average only about two tornadoes occur per year. They mostly take shape in southern parts of Utah and are generally small in nature. Not many disasters occur in Utah. Living in areas around Alabama you can expect at least a tornado each year. It was estimated that the damaged ranged seven miles and was one of the most powerful residents have ever seen. That’s pretty scary, it seems like all the weather around the world has been apocalyptic lately. Many people thought that it was going to be the end of them.

The Itsy Bitsy Climbing Spider Who Climbed the Water Spout

By: Bowen Beecher

Once upon a time there was spider named Tony. He was a climber. He climbed all the time. He climbed rocks, trees, and fences. There was only one thing he hadn’t climbed; the water spout. It was a difficult climb because of the running water that was practically unpredictable. Not many around him had done it. At the age of 26 he was diagnosed with cancer. He knew he did not have very much time to live. Tony thought about all the things he was happy with and all the things he regretted. He found only two. He never talked to any of his 3,000 siblings or his parents, and he had never attempted to climb the water spout. He started training the next day. He had about 3 weeks until he wanted to climb it. Tony got all of the necessary equipment and spent time working on his upper body strength. The day of the climb was approaching and he was confident. The spout had gone two days without letting out anything due to the lack of rain. He started the climb in the early afternoon. He hoped to finish by dinner time. Tony was about two hours in and feeling great. Just as he was approaching the top at 11:00 AM, he heard thunder.  He knew it was a storm approaching him. His only choice was to hurry to the top, but it was too late. A slow drizzle started down on him, followed by a raging river of water. It washed him straight out of the water spout. His dreams were crushed. He thought that he was going to die with regrets. All of the sudden it was like the world had shown sympathy for him. The rain cleared and dried all at once. He attempted the climb again and completed it 2 hours before his set goal. He was extremely happy and decided that he was destined to never give up. He built a lab in his basement devoted to find the cure for cancer. He worked nonstop for nine weeks and three days. He succeeded on the last day. He called up a medical clinic to present them with his findings. They scheduled several presentations throughout the country. The cure for cancer turned out to be feta and mozzarella cheese mixed together and injected directly into the bloodstream. He discovered this while carrying his syringe and dinner at the same time. He tripped over his dog while walking and the food and syringe mixed together into a holy combination that destroys cancer on contact. His genius discovery earned him millions of dollars and something to be remembered by. He proved the world that you can do anything that you set your mind to. About three years later while leaving an inspirational presentation he was hit by a car and died. He proved that no matter how you cheat death, you are going to die anyways.

 A Review of: Ghost city symbolises cost of nuclear disaster

By: Richard Ingham

Bowen Beecher

4 / 8 / 11

This story gives you a little bit of a scare. It talks about how the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl ruined the young 16 year old city. It caused nearly 50,000 to flea the city of Pripyat. If you tour there you must wear protective gear and not touch anything. Throughout buildings there is a thick, white powder of deadly chemicals and nuclear fallout. It is kinda scary because the earthquake in Japan could cause a huge disaster. L l l l l l l l lbl l l l l l ll l l l ll l l l l l l l l l ll l ll l p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p  p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p op p pp p p p pp p pp p pp p pp p pp pp p pp the end J

4/7/11

Doubts Raised on Book’s Tale of Atom Bomb

By William Broad.

Published: February 20, 2010

The questioning of this book is very interesting. It is questioned because one section of the book is based on the word of Joseph Fuoco, who is described as a last-minute substitute on one of the two observation planes that escorted the Enola Gay. The problem is he never flew on the bombing run. James Corliss made the flight just how it was scheduled. Many people such as scientists, historians, historians and veterans are upset at this. They are calling Mr. Fuoco an impostor. The author Charles pellegrino agreed to change that section of the book. A lot of people were shocked because many admired Mr Fuoco and he had tons of documents and pictures to back up his work. “ I liked and admired the guy,” said Mr. Pelligrino. He agreed that the wrong history should not be going out, It needed to be corrected. Mr. Corliss died a while back but his family kept the documents that proved his participation in the historical flight  including an air metal given to him from president Harry S. Truman. It turns out that Mr. Fuoco saw the damage of the bomb afterwards when Mr. Corliss fell ill.

Bowen Beecher

4/6/11

Yitta Schwartz died in January of 2010. She left with 15 children, 200 grandchildren, and many more great grandchildren. It is estamated she had about 2000 descendants. Mrs. Schwartz was a member of the Satmar Hasidic sect, whose couples average nine children. She may have generated one of the largest clans of Holocaust survivors ever. She was an extremely religious person. She attended almost every religious event that occurred in her family. She considered having that many children a tribute to god. She had her first child around the age of thirteen.

In my opinion this is completely rediculous. The fact that she had so many children at such a young age is crazy. She probably had a very limited social life because of it. She was probably more family oriented than anything. Her life was completely absorbed by family and the Jewish religion. She gave birth to a total of 18 children. She lost two children in the Holocaust. Another one was lost in a summer camp accident. She lived in New York near Monroe for the last thirty years of her life. Her children worked in ranges from rabbis , teachers, merchants, plumbers, and truck drivers. She led a very interesting life.

Bowen Beecher

4/5/11

This article is very interesting. It talks about a specific case in Uzbekistan in which one man was charged for slandering and insulting their people. He was charged with a prison sentence of up to three years.  The pictures included children lying in a mud-floored house. It implies that the children live there, but more than likely he just went inside out of curiosity.

The key point of this is that the media may expose the more negative side of a situation. You should not take everything you hear to heart. I thought it was very interesting that someone actually took action and exposed someone for something that has been going on for years. I agree that people should try and focus more on the positive and beautiful parts of other cultures instead of the negative. Nobody is perfect and homeless people exist in the US too. There are also a lot of people who are poor and hungry or live in violent parts of town.  Every time you look on National Geographic you find albums about other nations and it shows all the negative views of their society. This article really brings the matter to your attention.

Bowen Beecher

4/4/11

This article talks about three different people. One of them is from Vancouver British Columbia. Her name is Alexa Loo and she is a snowboarder. The others are the Kin brothers who moved to America from Asia. They came with nothing.

One part I found very interesting is that two Asian immigrants can move to America and know nothing about the country and still become extremely successful. They didn’t let anything hold them back. They started out working long days and learning the language and ended up owning a grocery store chain that is known for its extremely fresh produce. I was also impressed that Alexa Loo didn’t ever give up on her dream to make it to the Olympics. She didn’t even let a torn knee slow her down.

This article made me really consider what my dreams are and how I can pursue them. It really gives you a sense that if you focus enough you can achieve most anything you want. They worked hard but everyone knew that it would pay off in the end. The Kin brothers got much further than most people could, but that is because they never gave up. Alexa Loo didn’t want her chances to get in the Olympics ruined so she got over her torn knee and kept trying.