Discovery Rockets to Space

On Tuesday of this week the space shuttle Discovery was launched into space and will be doing construction projects on the space station for the next two weeks. Bringing with it a new part of the space station called Harmony. It is a live-in compartment that will be attached to the station on arrival. European and Japanese labs will be arriving in December to assist with more construction on the space station. The launch went smoothly but still caused some concern. Ice build up-do to the passage of hydrogen from the tank into the shuttle-concerned many of the scientists and astronauts but was not potential threat. It melted as the count down advanced. There were also three panels on the shuttle's wings that were being watched but no adjustments were made to them. They were just fine throughout the liftoff. 130 of the elementary students that helped to name Harmony were present at Cape Canaveral to witness the launch. Also there to witness the launch was the director and writer of Star Wars, George Lucas. To mark the 30th anniversary of the Star Wars films the lightsaber used by Luke Skywalker in "Return of the Jedi" in 1983 was on board the space ship to honor the occassion.

This is great that we are still sending people into space despite the rough time our country is going through right now and since the space ship Columbia exploded on its return in 2003. The progress we have made with space travel is tremendous and hopefully will just keep improving! The space station is growing all the time and everyone is working together to build it. This is one thing that can push everyone to their limits and still work together in peace. It is also pretty neat that Luke Skywalker's lightsaber was on it, it's kind of funny but really cool that we can acknowledge American culture in such fun ways.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/10/23/space.shuttle.ap/index.html
http://www.jaunted.com/files/3/star_wars_is_30.jpg

Wildfires force students from dorms, shut Pacific Coast Highway

The Los Angelos County Fire Department has now been fighting a wild fire for several days and have had to force many homes into evacution. Including the students at Pepperdine University. The students were not in any direct danger but it was stated that a couple of the buildings on campus were threatened, the university was evacuated. Students and staff were all evacuated. Campus security walked door to door making sure that students in the dorms were getting the message and getting out of the building. Two hundred other homes were evacuated and many businesses were also. Three businesses, three homes, and one church have all been destroyed in the blaze. Over two hundred fire men are fighting the fire in efforts to save the wildlife and peopel in surrounding areas. The winds are very strong and are able to blow embers of the fire up to two miles away, and other fires are started from there. Dick Van Dyke, Mel Gibson, and Olivia Newton John are also residents of the threatened areas.

It is a sad thing when wildfires get out of control and people are forced to evacuate their homes. But atleast they are warned and have a little bit of time to get out. It is also a good thing though, fires burn the old foilage on the ground and new plants are able to grow in place of them. Strong healthier and newer growth for a new age. So some good can come of something so bad. Yet if peopel treat wildfires the way some treat hurricanes then it doesn't really do anybody any good. It isn't smart to stand in the way of mother nature, no one can control her and people actually think they can outsmart it. it is good that the people are getting out of there and that firefighters and other volunteers are steering people away from this dangerous situation.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/21/wildfire.ca/index.html?iref=mpstoryview#cnnSTCText

The island Paradise Built on a Garbage Dump

In Pulau Semakau Singapore there is a new type of dump. The landfills on the mainland have long since been filled up and a new dump has been designed and space on the main island is hard to come by. Espcially for a landfill. The landfill has been assigned to two islands off the shore of Singapore. The islands are connected by a long rock embankment and are lined with clay and thick plastic to keep toxic wastes from leaking through into the ground of the environment. All of the waste is sent through an incerators and is reduced to 10% of the original volume. Saving space and reducing the chance of waste hurting the environment. All of the waste is put into "cells" inside of the landfill. Once the cells is full is covered in dirt and grass is planted over it. The 11 cells in the landfill should last Singapore until the year 2040, four have been used since its construction in 1999. The wildlife around the landfill is not negatively effected either. The species of plant and animals and flourishing and new species are accounted for even after the building of the new landfill. Proving that there is a "balance between the need of urban development and nature conservation." Wang Luan Keng

This is such a great development! For years i have been wondering if there wasn't anything more we could do to lessen the amount of waste that humans produce. Unfortunately I think humans will always be wasteful and won't think of the consequences of it, but this is such a huge step to cleaning our mistakes. It is a good thing to kow that this landfill is not harming the environment but may also be helping it too! That is such a huge accomplishment. Landfills are so disgusting with all of the leftover garbage that we are sick of looking at. Most of the stuff we throw away could be recylced or reused in some way or another. it's too bad that we don't try to save our environment more. I am just as guilty about this as the next person is and i am trying to not be so wasteful anymore. I only hope that the rest of the world can follow in Singapore's footsteps and help save the world one landfill at a time.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/07/26/ji.semakaulandfill/index.html

Girl swims with bound hands, feet

10 year old Huang Li of Zhangjiajie in Hunan province China was thrown into the Xiang River on Tuesday by her father. She swam for a mile with the current before her father pulled her out. These actions were done in an effort to prepare her to swim across the English Channel someday, which is her dream. She used the dolphin kick and occasionally used her tied hands to paddle with her. Her father, Huang Daosheng, said that she was a very strong swimmer and chose to this of her own free will. The family cannot afford a more adequate swimming coach for the Huang Li therefore her father serves as her coach. He wants her to achieve her dream and would never do anything that endangered her life. Her father did swim beside her the whole time she was in the river. Several other cases such as this have happened. One where an 8 year old ran 2,212 miles in 55 days with her father riding on a scooter behind her the whole way.

OK, this is just kind of weird. It is great that kids have big dreams and are taking action to help them to achieve those dreams, but throwing yourself (or your own child) into a river with hands and feet tied just seems utterly ridiculous to me. There are more conventional ways of preparing yourself for large tasks at hand. Not to mention that she is still only TEN YEARS OLD! Let her have a childhood, don’t risk her life by throwing her, bound, into a river just because she wants to. As for the kid who ran those 2,212 miles in 55 days. I don’t think I have ever ran that much in all of my life. It is beyond me why these kids want to go to such an extreme extent for things like this and that they can find the drive and energy to do so at such a young age. Kudos to them for trying but how are they going to be when age starts to catch up with them?

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/10/04/china.swimmmer.ap/index.html?iref=mpstoryview