I found this story here
US Pres. Obama won the 2009 Nobel peace prize. Many historians are critical of Pres. Obama’s award. He is too early in his presidency to receive such a prestigious award. Other US Presidential award winners had been at least in their second term as president before winning the award.
I was astounded when I heard that Pres. Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize. My first thought when hearing this news was “why”. I agree with the historians interviewed for this article, because Pres. Obama has not even finished his first year as president and his foreign policy is still in its early stages, and not well defined as other presidents who have receive the award. After further thought, I still cannot believe that Pres. Obama has received the Nobel Peace Prize.
“Only two other sitting presidents, Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 and Woodrow Wilson in 1919, have been awarded the prestigious Peace Prize. Roosevelt was honored largely for brokering an agreement between Russia and China, and Wilson took the award for his role in ending World War I and creating the League of Nations. It's far too early to compare Obama to either of his predecessors, said Allan Lichtman, professor of history at American University.” This information is the most important when putting the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Pres. Obama into perspective.
It seems odd to me that Pres. Obama has received the Nobel Peace Prize as incentive to focus on foreign policy. The Nobel Prize has traditionally gone to people who have already accomplished extraordinary tasks. A scientist would not receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to encourage him to create cold fusion. Pres. Obama may live up to the award, but it is still too early to tell.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Moon bombs and sun chips
I found this story here
NASA launched a satellite to the moon with the sole purpose of making the satellite crash into the moon. The point behind launching the satellite into the moon was to find water. The launch was successful and two new craters were added to the moon’s façade. The resultant dust cloud has culminated into 100 terabytes of data for NASA to filter through.
This is great. I am glad that NASA is pursuing more moon research. I think that this is a great direction for the space program. The article focuses more on the impact than what NASA plans to do, if it finds water, but I think it would be great if NASA would reestablish a presence on the moon.
Just the title of the article is intriguing. “NASA Moon Bomb Stirs Up Cloud” NASA has partnered with Google and Microsoft to record this occurrence. This is great for the entire world. As the moon is the closest celestial body to the Earth, it is important to learn more about it. I think that this is a great step forward to possibly colonizing the moon. If they find water, this will make that idea possible.
The idea of finding water on the moon is fantastic for all astronomers, and amateur astronomers, everywhere. Being able to go to Google and watch the impact is great, and the cooperation between Microsoft, Google, and NASA has made it possible for everyone to view the impact. I hope that scientists will be able to find water on the moon so that further progress toward the moon can be made.
NASA launched a satellite to the moon with the sole purpose of making the satellite crash into the moon. The point behind launching the satellite into the moon was to find water. The launch was successful and two new craters were added to the moon’s façade. The resultant dust cloud has culminated into 100 terabytes of data for NASA to filter through.
This is great. I am glad that NASA is pursuing more moon research. I think that this is a great direction for the space program. The article focuses more on the impact than what NASA plans to do, if it finds water, but I think it would be great if NASA would reestablish a presence on the moon.
Just the title of the article is intriguing. “NASA Moon Bomb Stirs Up Cloud” NASA has partnered with Google and Microsoft to record this occurrence. This is great for the entire world. As the moon is the closest celestial body to the Earth, it is important to learn more about it. I think that this is a great step forward to possibly colonizing the moon. If they find water, this will make that idea possible.
The idea of finding water on the moon is fantastic for all astronomers, and amateur astronomers, everywhere. Being able to go to Google and watch the impact is great, and the cooperation between Microsoft, Google, and NASA has made it possible for everyone to view the impact. I hope that scientists will be able to find water on the moon so that further progress toward the moon can be made.
Friday, October 9, 2009
What is it and how did it get there?
I found this story here
Stonehenge is one of the world’s great mysteries. There are many theories behind why it was built and how it was built. This article explains a few of the theories behind Stonehenge and the myths that have grown around it.
I found this article to be extremely interesting. I think that all the different theories that have grown around Stonehenge to be fascinating. Before reading this article I had no idea that there were theories connecting Merlin and King Arthur’s court with Stonehenge.
“In the 12th Century, the legend of King Arthur wasn't completely regarded as fiction. In his account of Stonehenge, historian Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote that troops tried to move the stones from Ireland to England in order to provide a monument for their war dead. When they couldn't, they enlisted the help of the wizard Merlin to transport the massive stones — some weighing as much as 50 tons — back to Britain before arranging them in the current configuration.” I thought that this story was very interesting. The article continues to explain other reasons, some being that Stonehenge was built to predict celestial events, such as solar eclipses.
My favorite theory is that space aliens built Stonehenge, because it seems even more farfetched than Merlin moving the stones by magic from mountains in Ireland. Though there were some more scientific explanations presented. Mostly, scientists believe that Stonehenge was built as a means to judge when the winter and summer solstices. It was also interested that Hawkins, had found 165 different celestial correlations between astrological phenomenon and different points on Stonehenge. Also, it is fascinating that Stonehenge has been around since 3000 BC, far before the Druids, the people that are usually connected to Stonehenge.
Stonehenge is one of the world’s great mysteries. There are many theories behind why it was built and how it was built. This article explains a few of the theories behind Stonehenge and the myths that have grown around it.
I found this article to be extremely interesting. I think that all the different theories that have grown around Stonehenge to be fascinating. Before reading this article I had no idea that there were theories connecting Merlin and King Arthur’s court with Stonehenge.
“In the 12th Century, the legend of King Arthur wasn't completely regarded as fiction. In his account of Stonehenge, historian Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote that troops tried to move the stones from Ireland to England in order to provide a monument for their war dead. When they couldn't, they enlisted the help of the wizard Merlin to transport the massive stones — some weighing as much as 50 tons — back to Britain before arranging them in the current configuration.” I thought that this story was very interesting. The article continues to explain other reasons, some being that Stonehenge was built to predict celestial events, such as solar eclipses.
My favorite theory is that space aliens built Stonehenge, because it seems even more farfetched than Merlin moving the stones by magic from mountains in Ireland. Though there were some more scientific explanations presented. Mostly, scientists believe that Stonehenge was built as a means to judge when the winter and summer solstices. It was also interested that Hawkins, had found 165 different celestial correlations between astrological phenomenon and different points on Stonehenge. Also, it is fascinating that Stonehenge has been around since 3000 BC, far before the Druids, the people that are usually connected to Stonehenge.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Blame it on Rio
I found this story in the Guardian,
The 2016 Olympic Games will be held in Rio De Janeiro. It will be the first time in the history of the Olympic Games that it will be held in South America. This article lists the competitors as Madrid, Spain; Tokyo, Japan; Rio de Janeiro; and Chicago, USA.
When I first saw that there was finally going to be an Olympics held in South America I was excited. It’s great that the world is expanding to include more less- developed nations. Though as I continued reading the article, I thought it was odd that Pres. Obama found it was worth his time to go to Copenhagen. It seems that when Chicago was eliminated in the first round, it was a great embarrassment to him, because he took such a personal interest in the project.
“It made for a dramatic denouement to a day that had begun with Obama making a late dash across the Atlantic to try to secure the Games for Chicago. In a slap in the face for the president, who had faced criticism from domestic political rivals for making the overnight trip to Copenhagen in order to spend just under five hours lobbying the IOC, the US city was eliminated in the first round of voting.” It was this paragraph that made me critical of our president’s actions. There are a lot of domestic issues that most people would think to be more important than where the 2016 Olympics will be.
I am still excited about the Olympics being in South America. I know that many people will be looking forward to the 2016 Olympic Games with bated-breath as always; especially, because of the drama involved in the location decision, which garnered such a dramatic move by Pres. Obama.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Anyone up for a Pint??
I found this story at ABCNews.com. It is about Irish tourism.
The Guinness Storehouse in Dublin, Ireland was the most visited site in all of Ireland last year. It had more than one million visitors. The majority of visitors cited culture or history as their reason for visiting the Emerald Isle.
Bord Failte ( the Irish Tourist Board), estimates that cultural tourists spend nearly twice what an city-break tourist spends. Making the cultural tourism sector worth around two billion euros, for Ireland every year. They figure almost 3.4 million overseas visitors travel to Irish culture sites, every year.
Although I have yet to visit Ireland it is one of my top 3 places I plan to visit. The St James Gate Brewery is one of the attractions I plan on visiting. Guinness is one of the most successful beers in the world and is the best selling alcoholic beverage of all time in Ireland. Besides being a great drink Guinness is good for you, since it contains many of the same antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables.
The Guinness Storehouse in Dublin, Ireland was the most visited site in all of Ireland last year. It had more than one million visitors. The majority of visitors cited culture or history as their reason for visiting the Emerald Isle.
Bord Failte ( the Irish Tourist Board), estimates that cultural tourists spend nearly twice what an city-break tourist spends. Making the cultural tourism sector worth around two billion euros, for Ireland every year. They figure almost 3.4 million overseas visitors travel to Irish culture sites, every year.
Although I have yet to visit Ireland it is one of my top 3 places I plan to visit. The St James Gate Brewery is one of the attractions I plan on visiting. Guinness is one of the most successful beers in the world and is the best selling alcoholic beverage of all time in Ireland. Besides being a great drink Guinness is good for you, since it contains many of the same antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
