Transparent President by Marielle

Obama's transparency push could lead to more official Web resources, blogs

Carla Thornton, The Industry Standard, 01.22.2009

Did you ever think that your president was not being as truthful as he could be?  Well, now you don't have to feel like that for a long, long time.  On the first day of his presidency, Barack Obama promised to make things public as much as he can because he doesn't want to keep secrets from people.  Marcia Hofmann, staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said, "On the whole, it's an incredibly positive development and in line with the guidelines we asked for."  I agree.  A president that keeps secrets doesn't make the people feel like he is trustworthy.  

Meredith Fuchs, general counsel for the National Security Archive, said she "expects Obama to push e-mail and require agencies to post more information on their sites, including blogs."

I am so happy that Barack Obama is not keeping secrets like Bush was, and I hope he keeps his promise forever.      

A New Beginning with an Unclear End

A few days ago, Obama became president. He faces many challenges ahead of us. He creates brilliant ideas to overcome problems. But before he executes them his fellow Americans must agree with him. Some people won't say yes. "He's trying to tilt left to stay in the center so he doesn't get done in by friendly fire," said Democratic pollster Doug Schoen. "Right now, I think he may be more worried about Nancy Pelosi than John Boehner." Nancy Pelosi is the speaker of the house for California. Surprisingly, she's a democrat. Of course, some republicans also worry. For example, John Boehener is the house minority leader for Ohio. I think that if we all give him a chance, we can work together to avoid our problems. These are the first few days, so we know little so far. I'm interested to see how this will turn out.

My source:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090128/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_crossfire_analysis

Iceland's Government Melted Away

Iceland's Prime Minister, Geir Haarde and his cabinet resigned, Monday, January 26 of this year because Prime Minister Haarde was unwilling to meet the demands of the Social Democratic Alliance Party. Iceland is in an astronomical crisis due to the banks collapsing under deep financial debts. The banks in Iceland have "borrowed" more money then they could ever pay back. The people are crazy mad because the value of their dollar has gone down significantly and their government has abandoned them. They are reacting to this tragic situation by going into the streets in masses and hitting pots and pans in demonstration.  Iceland is going to melt...

Recruiting Goals

For the first time in a very long while, the recruiting goals for the army have been met. That means that the number of people the government had set to join the army, joined the army! There are many debatable theories on why this happened this year. When I first heard this on the radio, I was asked to think, what was one of Obama's major arguments? At first, the Iraq war popped into my mind. Then, I realized, oh, the economy, of course! What I think is a strong reason supporting the economy idea is the loss of jobs. Think of it like this, you just lost your job, you have starving children, you can't feed them, A-ha, suddenly the army seems more appealing, right? If it is a question of, your whole family starving and you being safe at home, or you going to the army, risking the dangers and feeding your family. Actually, the military gets paid a decent amount, reasonable enough, well, better than no job. Suddenly, you want to join the army just for the paycheck to feed your relatives. I think the economy is the biggest factor in the government meeting their recruiting goals.

Watch Out For 2012!

Apparently the ancient Myan's made a calender called the Long Count calendar because it had a space was 5126 years long. the Long calendar shows that the world will end on 12, 21, 2012. which is the winter solstice and also is when the sun will be at the middle of the galaxy. The Long calender has some weird calculation so that 12,21,2012 will be 13.0.0.0.0 and the next day will be 0.0.0.0.1. What might happen is the Earth might start spinning the other way. Many tourist attractions are t-shirts and survival guides saying things about 2012. Many people think that it is all just a hoax. I think that it is very interesting. -Ivy

Grusome deaths

On Tuesday A man shot and killed his wife and the rest of his family(including himself). The authorities said that he had done it out of grief of losing his job. At 8:30 am, police officers (who had been sent a fax that he was going to kill his family and himself) found 7 bodies in his house(an 8 year old girl two 5 year old girls and two 2 year old boys). I think that it is very sad that anybody would do such a thing to their family. It just isn't right!

Withdrawal

Hilary Clinton resigned from the Senate immediately after being sworn in as secretary of state. Caroline Kennedy was planning (and wishing) to take her seat in the Senate. Many disapproved of this and said she wasn't committed and other things like that while others toke note of her brains and compassion and say she would make a solid choice as a senator. Kennedy, age 51, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy and a resident of the Upper East Side of Manhattan, has never served in public office.
Anyway, she has withdrawn from consideration for the vacant Senate seat in New York. A person she told of her decision said that Kennedy’s concerns about the health of her uncle, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who suffers from brain cancer and was hospitalized after suffering a seizure Tuesday, prompted her to withdraw. Kennedy believed that the seat was hers if she had wanted it, though no one has confirmed her assumption.
After hearing this there were many different reactions, some being, "Thank goodness!" and others being, "too bad!". "I would have loved to see her in office. She would have made a difference. I hope she will consider running in the future." "I wonder why she REALLY backed out." "For Caroline Kennedy to withdraw is a crying shame. Given her academic, political education and gracious, sincere manner, I am certain her Uncle Ted would prefer her seek the appointment and prove her worth for a landside victory on her own merits in the near future election."

New flashlight can change the future of law enforcement

The police have a new weapon called the Incapacitating Flashlight(IF). When the IF is pointed at some body's eye they feel nauseous and dizzy. Robert Lieberman CEO of Intelligent Optical Systems explains how it works "The flashes incapacitate a person in two different ways. The flashes temporarily blind a person as any bright light would,.... and the light pulses in a way to

cause vertigo and nausea. Its designed to be used on someone coming at you" If the suspect looks away it doesn't work.I would rather throw up instead of being shot.          

sources are Technology Review

The 2009 Inauguration

During the inauguration it was sorta chaotic at first but then it got more sorted out. I think the new President Obama's speech was WONDERFUL! It was one of the best speeches I've ever heard. There was also a guy who said "May blacks never be told to get back, may browns never be put down, may a yellow be mellow, may a red man get ahead, man! and may whites do what's right." I think that is so funny! Also, most people think President Obama forgot his lines when saying the oath of presidency but he had actually memorized the lines perfect but the guy saying the words for him to repeat mixed up the words! Oh and my source was the t.v.

--Ivy

Water Plane by Marielle

Pilot Is Hailed After Jetliner’s Icy Plunge
By ROBERT D. McFADDEN
New York Times: January 15, 2009

A plane ran into a flock of Canadian geese, and some got caught in the engines, and the pilot was trying to safely land the plane. It landed in the Hudson River. “It made this huge, gigantic splash, and I actually thought it was a boat crash at first,” said Fulmer Duckworth, who works in computer graphics for Bank of America. If I was in that plane, I would probably never want to ride in a plane ever again.

Everyone got out safely, and ferry boats and tugboats helped the people get back to shore. The water was 35 degrees, so some people got hypothermia, which means you don't have enough heat in your body. When I heard about it on the radio, I was wondering how they would be able to get the plane out to inspect it. Then the next day I found out that they got all the pieces out of the water except for one of the engines. They needed both engines to see what caused them to stop. I'm not sure if they have found it or not, but I hope they do.

I'm glad that they have all these safety methods because otherwise I wouldn't feel safe in a plane. I still love going on planes, they're fun.

When Death is Defied-JC

Jessica Keenan is getting married on the 24 of January and has breast cancer. This society called the Dream Foundation is helping her to get over her illness so she can get married. Unfortunately for her, she cannot afford the wedding because the money has been "sapped by her cancer battle". I think that with a good attitude that she will be ale to have the wedding and get over her Stage 4 breast cancer. 

What a pilot!

On Thursday afternoon, a U.S. jetliner with 150 passengers (155 people) lost power from both engines due to a flock of birds. The birds found their doom (the jet engines) three minutes after taking off from the La Guardia Airport. The only reason that prevented the low-flying/gliding plane from flying/gliding/crashing into buildings like a terrorist attack was the pilot's quick thinking. He knew that without engines he couldn't get back to the airport. He landed in the Hudson river although the water was almost freezing—some people had to go to the E.R. because of hypothermia—All 150 passengers and all 5 crew members made it out alive. (So that's what they do in NY when we get home from school!)

Source 

Please Stay Ms. Mickalski

 Ms. Mickalski is leaving to Philadelphia because she gets to live in a glorious house and gets to finish her novel called "My Book of Secrets". Let me explain her to you. She's like your favorite holiday, favorite food and breakfast, and favorite comedian mix in a teacher who makes school fun. If your reading this please comment and say if Ms. Mickalski should stay or go.

Torture in the Court!-JC

A Guantanamo detainee named Mohammed al-Qahtani who is sometimes described as "the twentieth hijacker" during the terrorist attacks of 2001 was given the torture penalty when he was on trial. The military prosecutors actually almost went for execution. I personally feel that although it is a vicious thing to do, he did break the law! 

Battle In Gaza

Apparently there is a very big battle going on between Israel and Hamas over a narrow strip of strip of land called Gaza. There was a six month truce between them but then Hamas blamed Israel for continuing raids in Gaza and Israel blamed Hamas for firing rockets at their cities. Many people were killed and so far an estimated 1023 were killed. I think that it is weird to be fighting for so little land! -Ivy

Scientists map DNA of prehistoric animal by Marielle

By Azadeh Ansari
CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/11/19/mammoth.dna/index.html?iref=newssearch)

November 19, 2008


I cannot believe it. Scientists at Penn State University found some DNA of a woolly mammoth. I think that is so cool. They figured out that the woolly mammoth’s DNA is almost just like the modern African elephant. They do look like elephants.

They found the DNA in some hair - woolly mammoth hair to be exact. The hair looks like a big fuzz ball. In the hair, the DNA was all separated, and they had to put it back together. "It's like a mirror that you smash on the floor. Then, like a jigsaw puzzle, you try to piece the DNA back together," said Stephan Schuster, a Penn State University biochemistry professor and co-author of the research.

They might be able to make a real-life one. "It could be done," said Stephan Schuster. "The question is, just because we might be able to do it one day, should we do it?" I think we should, because if we do, who says that it will run around wild and be too much for the elephants to handle. The mommy elephant will probably just treat it like a regular elephant baby. It will probably act just like the other elephants, and it would be awesome to see a real live woolly mammoth.

Christmas with No Presents?

Colin “No Impact Man” Beavan

From Yes magazine, Issue 48 – Winter 2009



By Marielle Bardon

Christmas with no presents? Oh, no! That’s what I thought when I saw this article. But for Colin and his family they are perfectly fine with no presents and they still have all the things that we all love at Christmas like food, music and family. The reason they didn’t have presents is that “we could go a long way toward dealing with the crisis in our planetary habitat if we found a way to avoid those uses that don’t improve our lives—like the packaging that comprises 40% of trash in landfills.” If we didn’t drive to all those stores, then we wouldn’t be putting all those emissions in the air, and we wouldn’t have to pay extra money and have to store all those gifts that you do not want at Christmas.

If I didn’t have presents at Christmas I would be sad. But that’s only my opinion. I love the feeling of waking up and seeing all the cookies and milk gone in the morning, and looking at all the presents under the Christmas tree. I love presents on Christmas day.

Dance in science by Marielle

Contest Puts Scientists' Bodies In Motion

National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, Science Out of the Box, November 22, 2008 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97356050



This story was about a dance contest with people’s PhDs. The students had to make up a dance about their PhD dissertations. “I have to admit my primary motivation was just the hilarity of it, and I was surprised and delighted to see that at least half of these dances are rather moving. They’re serious stuff. And so the idea is that the public will be engaged with science at a level they usually don’t encounter it,” said John Bohannon, a correspondent for Science magazine and the creator of “Dance your PhD”, a dance contest to see who can make up the best dance for their PhD.

How would you like to dance your PhD? I would love it, because I would be able to express what I thought my PhD looked like off of paper. I saw some dances that were very creative, but some didn’t look like they had put much effort into it. My favorite was “Hydrodynamic Trail Detection in Marine Organisms", because it has so much movement, and also because it looks like they put lots of effort into it. I love the shark, because it is so cool how she climbs up on the ribbon, and she is so beautiful and flexible. “Mr. Whiskers” is very funny. I’m not sure what he is, but I think he is a catfish. That is one of the videos that I recommend for you to look at. If you want to look at it, just press this link: Hydrodynamic Trail Detection in Marine Organisms

One of my least favorites was Brian Stewart’s "Refitting repasts: a spatial exploration of food processing, cooking, sharing and disposal at the Dunefield Midden campsite, South Africa " ( University of Oxford , 2008). It did not have that much effort, but if you want to see it, here is another link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRoSk_6pyp8&feature=PlayList&p=E5CA8590F580962D&index=0 I think you should check out other ones, and see which one you like the best.

Maybe I should do it for a science project.

Aging Presidents - by Marielle

“Advice to Obama on battling presidential aging”, Source: CNN | Added January 6, 2009

We all know how regular people age – one year passes, they age one year. But for presidents, one year passes, they age two years. Dr. Michael Roizen says it’s because of stress. When you become president, there are lots of things to think about and when you are stressed, sometimes it can make you age faster. And also, eating unhealthy foods can be bad for you.

Luckily, Barack Obama is not one of those people. He is actually quite fit, He plays basketball. And although George Bush still did age, he has cat-like reflexes. "I mean, did you see him dodge that shoe?" said David Zinczenko, editor-in-chief of Men's Health magazine. I don’t know about you guys, but I thought that was pretty funny.

I think that Obama is going to handle the aging problem better than the other presidents because he is one of the youngest presidents we’ve ever had. Since his family is going to be in Washington with him, I think he will be more chilled. NO DRAMA OBAMA!!

If you want to see the video on this story, go to http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/01/06/presidential.health.aging/index.html?iref=mpstoryview#cnnSTCVideo

The First Governor of Illinois to be Impeached

On Friday, January 9 Governor Rod Blagojevich was impeached. He was impeached because he was found trying to sell Obama's seat for Senator. He went to trial and he was quite confident that he would retain his seat as Governor. "I am confident that at the end of the day I will be properly exonerated," were his exact words. (They roughly translate to: I am sure that at the end of the day I will be found innocent!) The State House of Representatives took less than 1 hour and 30 minutes to vote. They voted 114 against 1 to remove Blagojevich's seat as Governor. This makes him the first Governor of Illinois to be impeached! Source: NYT

Solved but Unsolved (Source: nytimes)

The economic CRISIS is familiar to everyone. It affects businesses, people, demands, and much more. One question everyone and everything wants to know is... HOW DO WE GET OUT! We heard several times that new president Barack Hussein Obama says he'll get us out of the situation. He said he'll say more by February because he is working on weighing the options right now. Until he does, we can't believe him no matter how much we want to. One of my favorite expressions is "easier said than done". That definatly applies here. His risky plan could easily backfire and send us farther into the CRISIS. This graph sows how Obama will spend loads of dough on creating jobs. He thinks it will remove our deficit over time. For example, he will spend money on freeways creating jobs and improving freeways at the same time. This may seem great but the expenses of doing this will make 2009 a harsh year but after that it should lighten up a little. Whatever he does I think I speak for everyone when I say he better get us out of the CRISIS!(I hope so, it's difficult doing scary words ;-)

Daniel - Tesla Motors might hold the Car of the Future

What makes the Tesla Roadster so special? There have been other battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in the past. The Tesla, I think, is the best BEV to date. It can can from 0 to 60 mph 4.0sec (as fast as a Porsche 911 Carrera S) and can travel over 240 miles on a single charge. The only problem? It currently costs $110-120,000.00! Maybe they will decrease in price when the make more and more of them? I sure hope that are they are the cars of the future.

Source: RoadandTrack.com

Marina Trench Made National Monument

President Bush is protecting endangered wildlife and marine volcanoes by making the Marina Trench and the Pacific Remote Island a monument. Now scientists can study the ecosystem and save precious species such as endangered sharks and fish. That is good because they are some of the few unharmed places in the world. Also did I tell you that it is the deepest place in the world and is not really part of the U.S.A.? I think that is very cool!-Ivy