How’s the weather

April showers are in store. After the last week with 4 out of 7 days raining, it doesnt look like it will lighten up. SNOW was expected in the "higher elevations of the Sierras". Can you believe that? SNOW!! THis is the first time in a while that i have been glad to live in New York away from that snow.

I don't mind cold weather, but after you just spent 10 days in Myrtle Beach, SC where there was not one cloud in the sky and the temperature did not drop below 80 degrees, even at night, you expect a little heat. I am not picky and asking for 80 degrees, I would just like 65 degrees with sun.

Because of low pressure on the Canadian border, rain is expected in the New England states. Scattered thunderstorms were the product of a "storm system organizing over Mississippi Valley".

In Local News: Wedgies are against the law

A student at New Convenant Charter school was given a wedgie over the summer by a teacher. As a result, the teacher, Mark Holley, 41, of Scotia, is faced with a misdemeanor charge after the boy's mother contacted authorities.

Now the article was unclear as to whether the student didn't like it and told his mother or whether he was laughing about it while he told his mother. But apparently that is irrelevant.

Honestly, wedgies are probably not the most appropriate thing you could give to a student, but just how far can people go to freaking out about their childrens interactions with adults. People are so afraid to talk things out amongst eachother and confront trivial issues that they hide themselves behind authority.

Free Topic: My Rob Zombie Concert

So the day started out by waking up at 6:50 in the morning for class. I perform my regular routine (as usual). My boyfriend and I decide to drive to class together since we were going straight to the train station in poughkeepsie right after class. Being a nice day, i decided to leave my coat in the car. However, what I regretfully forgot was my keys in my coat pocket which were now locked in the car, and since Casey (my boyfriend) did not need his car, he left his keys, which had a spare key to my car, at home). So what started as a relaxing day then turned into caotic.

I then had to meet up with my sister, drive her car to the house, pick up Casey's keys, drive back to the school, park my sister's car in Indian gold lot (she is that particular), then go to my car, then proceed to poughkeepsie.

I dont know if you have ever been to the poughkeepsie train station but never get your directions off of yahoo maps!! They are wrong!!! It really is not a difficult and complicating as it sounds. But anyway, we make it to the train station. We board the train. Then out of couriosity, ask the conductor how long the trip is ( the website said it was only a hour and twenty minutes journey). She responds with TWO HOURS AND FORTY MINUTES!!!!

So we arrive in New York City, Grand Central Station. Oh! I forgot to mention, the weather channel said it was to be 65 degrees but neglected to tell us that the wind was whipping so fast that is made it feel like thirty. We are in a short-sleeved shirt and shorts (capris for me), and Freezing our asses off!!

The tickets said doors open at 5:30 pm. Normally at concerts the show starts thirty minutes after doors open. So rather than walking around the city for a couple of minutes, we get to the theater and get inside, Only to find out the show does not start until 8 o'clock!!!! What the Hell!!!! And we are not allowed entry after we already leave.

 So after two REALLY bad bands perform; Lacuna Coil and Bullet for My Valentine, the Zombie comes to the stage. It was the most KICK ASS performance I have seen. This would be the second concert but it was 30 times better than the first.

The first time I saw him perform, where i met him, was at the Northern Lights in Clifton Park. That show was crazy. It was as crazy as SLayer. By crazy I mean getting punched in the face, tossed around, crap like that that makes a concert into a F@%&*$^ Concert.

So after the show was done, we look at our watches, the train leaves in seven minutes and we are six blocks from Grand Central Station. That is when Casey and I haul ass six blocks and make it in less than four.

After only getting six hours of sleep and being awake for 19 hours, we finally arrive at home and pass out, only to look foward to another concert on friday.

Hope you enjoy the pic

Photo Gallery

I found the Most wanted bodies photo gallery to be the most entertaining. The reasoning for this is, they say Gwen Stefani has the best legs while only showing a bust picture. they also show Beyonce for the Best curves, yet only show her from the waste up. The same happens with Mary J. Blige and Brooke Burke..just to name a few. On occasion they do show what they are appreciating like Heidi Klum for Post-Pregnancy body.

I liked the Australian Cricket match because I have never really seen any photos of the sport cricket. I believe not many people have an idea of what it is. Sure I have heard of the sport but if you asked me what equipment is used or even what ball they play with, I would not have a clue on how to answer.

Mike P. Farrell’s photo gallery on the Times Union website is amazing. It touches on different aspects of news. But not just that, he also has a very interesting artistic style to taking photos.

(I was under the impression that the photo gallery blog was due next week. So in the place of my business blog, I would like to put this one in its place and let the Business one be for next week.)

 

(This is being published on 15 March 2006 at 4:00, not the 16th…I think the dates are off on the website)

Business

Recently, space travel has become the new fad again. More and more governments are spending a lot of money on space travel projects. According to CNN, within the next 20 years, the U.S. will signing contracts that total well over $400 billion to send a human to mars.

The Private investments in space travel has also increased. They have now begun to exceed government spending. What is the likely reasoning behind all this? Profit. Now there is huge money to be made, that is if you first have it to invest.

Will there be any immediate profit to be made? 99.9% not, unless we dont mess up another billion dollar project to mars. But then again those who are investing have the money to spare.

Many of the projects that companies are investing in are $4 billion satellites. A new major movement is to build infrastructures in space. An excerpt from the Money section of CNN.Com:

Building infrastructure is the first step, and here historical analogies abound. The federal government is poised to begin contracting with the private sector to deliver cargo into orbit, a trend that could nurture a market for civilian spaceflight in much the same way that airmail contracts from the Post Office spurred the development of civil aviation a century ago. Prize money — the incentive that launched Charles Lindbergh — is now being offered for everything from building a machine to extract oxygen from lunar soil ($250,000) to building an aircraft capable of delivering tourists to orbit by 2010 ($50 million).

 

Entertainment

Alright, I had written a blog last week on Monday and apparently it did not post. Good thing I just checked. I wrote one last week because I thought one was due last week rather than this week. Oh well!

Last week I had watched a documentary on the virtually unknown sport of wheelchair rugby, otherwise known as “Murderball”. I had read articles on the sport before but had no true idea of the intesity of the sport until I saw the documentary.

If you have not seen it yet, I highly recommend it. After watching it, I was automatically compelled to look further into the sport and how I can get involved and help. It seems to be an unknown sport unless you know someone that plays it or you yourself in fact play it. 

Not a lot of people realize the talent these people have. For example, one of the players on the team, had lost both his arms and legs from menangitis at the age of 9. Meanwhile, he catches, throws the ball, and wheels like hell down the court. It requires and immense amount of talent as well as persistance to get to where they are.

The documentary also has a few scenes of humor. Like when they show how after a person is told they are paralized, the first thought that comes to mind is “Will I ever be able to have sex again?” They show how the doctor responds “Yes” and then shows them a video of different positions etc. The movie was made in what seemed like 70′s B-movie quality.

It is definately a must see. The documentary does not leave you feeling sorry for the people who play but rather supportive.

You can find “Murderball” on A&E on 12th March at 12:00pm.

Sports

It seems as though the Olympics were a lot more popular when I was younger. The more and more I ask people about what is their most popular tv show, during this season, not once have i heard that the olympics are on the top of their list. As a matter of fact, if I do hear the word “olympics”, it is only to say they are not interested.

The decrease of interest in the olympics can also be seen in the amount of empty seats. The author on CNN.com of the article Turin’s Turnout Troubles, wrote “seven of the 10 events have been completed and only once has the temporary seating at the any of the ski venues been filled to capacity. Only three times has it been close”.

From Personal experience and preference, I can honestly say my image and interest of the olympics have not changed. I was never really interested to begin with. However, tennis was the only sport that I could sit for 30 minutes and watch before getting bored. That is how I got interested in tennis, 16 years ago.

U.S. News

Once again the GOP is dealt another near-fatal blow. Vice President Dick Cheney shot his friend while hunting for quail. All I can do is laugh. Honestly I can see how mistakes happen while hunting deer and larger animals…BUT QUAIL,come on! There is a distinct difference between a human and a bird.

Now with the facts. It took Almost an entire day for the media to be alerted. But anyone who has read the accident report, or seen the diagrams of where the man had been shot, it makes you wonder just how acurate is the newest release of the man’s heart attack truly is. To me the it is an uncanny coincidence how his wounds range from the man’s chin down past his heart, and he just so happens to have a heart attack later on.

If the man was a democrat, it would be the scandal of the century (so far). But he wasn’t, so it is not as clear cut.

Now one problem that arrises is, if the man dies, Cheney can be criminally charged. But as we all know, he is not likely to be convicted. If Bush can get away with sending innocent people to death by the thousands a day, than Cheney will not even come close to being charged with one man’s death.

 

 

http://www.cnn.com/2006/images/02/14/CheneyAccidentReport.ap.pdf

Science

Ok, so on Tuesday 7 February, scientists in Oslo, Norway released that they had found a “Garden of Eden” in Indonesia. It is an, until now, undiscovered Mountain Jungle. Scientists state that not even the Indigenous peoples would enter the land which is approximately the size of Luxembourg. Upon entering the “garden”, “The expedition found a new type of honeyeater bird with a bright orange patch on its face, known only to local people and the first new bird species documented on the island in over 60 years. They also found more than 20 new species of frog, four new species of butterfly and plants including five new palms.”

 So now the question that comes to mind is, if they truly are scientists and value the preservation of the environment, especially now that every greedy oil-digger wants to get their hands on untapped resources, even if it means destroying the rainforest in the process, why would they go to an area that not even the natives want to enter? If they did want to document the new species, i feel there could have been a better way whereas to not disclose the location. By disclosing the location, it raises the ears of those who are looking for new areas to dig for oil.   

 

Web log #1: Hypocrisy

It seems as though many of the main acting countries including Bush and the United States are put between a giant rock and a hard place. Bush’s main argument is to spread democracy (that is the main reason we are in Iraq), while at the same time deciding whether to accept Hamas as the new ruling power in Palestine.

Currently, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, has stated herself that Germany will only recognize Hamas if they, in return, recognize Israel and give up violence, which is perhaps the stance that many other countries take. However I find it almost hypocrytical for the push for democracy but only when the leadership is favorable to either one country or the the rest of the world.

This is not saying that i am in anyway in favor of Hamas being the current ruling party. However I am in fact incredibly against it. I believe the fight over land to be extremely immature and irrational. But it is the hypocrisy of not only our nation but International politics as a whole that i critisize today.