Southern California Student put to death by Sand Pit

          When going to the beach with friends and family, you never think that you could die from suffocating in a sand pit. Usually, you're more worried of shark attacks and staying clear of the water if the waves appear too big for you. On Wednesday August 22, a 19 year old Korean exchange student died while being suffocated in a sand pit.
         Him and his friends were at the beach having a good time and they decided to dig a 6 foot deep sand pit, they didn't stop to think that anyone could get hurt. As he laid down in the pit, the sand fell and it all collapsed on him. His friends tried to help him and the beach rescue team came and they spent 15 minutes digging out the sand. They performed CPR on him, but that didn't save him, they were too late.
       It's sad that something like that occurred at such a happy and relaxing place to be. It just shows that anything can happen and you should always be cautious and on your guard. If you and your friends are doing something that you aren't very sure about, don't do it. It's better to be safe than sorry, cause you might get yourself into a life or death situation.

Zombie Apocalypse actually real?

            A lot of Zombie stories have been popping up in the news recently. It all started when a man in Miami ate another man's face and he was still alive while this was happening. The man was immediately taken to the emergency room and is in critical period. Then there was a mother in Texas who ate her baby's brain and three of his toes. A college student in Maryland killed another college student and ate his heart and brain. In New Jersey, a man stabbed himself 50 times and threw his intestines at the police.
          These incidents are all due to the cause of a drug called bath salts and other synthetic drugs. Legislative is working on making these illegal so there won't be anymore zombie incidents. All of these occurences are really horrifying and just disgustingly gruesome.

           I've been one to not believe in the paranormal, but with all of these new zombie attacks, it just makes me stop and think. Maybe there actually will be a Zombie apocalypse with all these cannibalistic actions going on across the country. There was even one in Montreal so it has reached Canada as well. I might as well start watching Doomsday Preppers to start preparing myself for the future Zombie Apocalypse.

A Runner's high

        I recently read an article online that talked about how runners or aerobically fit people experience a "high". In the article it discussed how anthropologist David Raichlen believes humans were "wired to run".
       "Wired to run, meaning that our brains are probably, have been sort of rewired from an evolutionary sense to encourage these running and high aerobic-activity behaviors," Raichlen said. Several anthropologists believe the same as Raichlen and that humans learned to run long distances from chasing their prey down.

        Raichlen decided to test his theory and conducted an experiment using dogs and ferrets. The dogs experienced the high and the ferrets did not. This concluded that this level of exercise was encouraged by natural selection and is in our evolutionary roots. The high runner's or dogs get from this level of exercise is a body produced drug named cannabinoids which are the same chemicals in marijuana.

        I completely believe Raichlen's theory because I'm a rower and it is an intense aerobic sport and to condition we spend a lot of time running long distances. If i go three days without exercise, I find myself freaking out and feeling lazy and lethargic. I call these my exercise withdrawls and I just "have" to run or some form aerobics or I will not be a happy person. Finishing a long intense row or run, has the best feeling ever. Sure your legs are on fire with pain, but the accomplishment and every breath you've taken you know you succeeded. What can beat that feeling?

I'm pretty sure my body has produced that drug as well as in any other rowers on my team. We're addicted to rowing and the high we get from it.

Miley Cryus's new movie "LOL"

         Recently Lionsgate films have been basking in their glory with the production of the Hunger Games. They have another movie coming out on May 4th staring Miley Cryus and Demi Moore. There hasn't been much publicity on the movie because they weren't sure if it was going to be all that good. With the Hunger Games being a success they decided to only show it in a limited amount of theaters and just go straight to dvd.
          Miley Cyrus is most popular for her disney channel role as Hannah Montana. Transitioning to more serious roles like in The Last Song has not been the easiest for her. I personally think she did a great job in the Lost Song and is a great actress. The critics disagreed with me and think it wasn't that good of a movie. Now Miley has another chance to prove herself to everyone out there and I'm sure she can do a good job.

        Her new movie is about the teen culture and how texting and instant messaging has overtaken their lives. It just goes through a teen's life and the ups and downs they face. It may not win academy awards, but I'm sure it won't be a disappointment. She will also be staring in another movie So Undercover which is a comedy with actors Jeremy Piven and Joshua Bowman.

FSRA change of heart

          FSRA stands for the "Florida Scholastic Rowing Association" recently they have changed their rules for championships causing the teams to field only first varsity boats in order to race anything beneath them. This is unfair for teams that aren't able to field varsity boats. Boats that race at the varsity level have been in rowing for 5 or 6 years. Palmetto Crew has only been around for a little over a year and we aren't experienced enough to race at that level.
     Our coach decided that we won't be attending the West District Championships due to this new rule created by the FSRA. We will be attending the State Championships and racing way beyond our level at first varsity. We'll be training hard and putting long hours into performing our best at states.
      I feel like the FSRA didn't put in the new rowing programs into consideration when they made this new rule. It's unfair to our program because we don't get to race out our level and actually have a chance of winning. Instead we get to race at a level way beyond ours and don't have any chance at winning. We'll perform our best and hope for the best outcome in the end.

Spoiler Alert for the Hunger Games

          May the odds be ever in your favor. For months that's all our generation has been talking about and reading; the Hunger Games. The first book out of the trilogy is bound to be a major hit in theaters. It officially hits theaters today, March 23rd. There was a midnight showing that I and a few others attended.
        When I first heard that Lionsgate film production was producing and directing the movie, I was a little worried. They are most famous for the SAW movies, but that's about it. The other movies they produce aren't very good as the other production companies.
     I originally was planning on seeing it today, Friday the opening day, but then my best friend told me we were going at midnight and I was stoked. We arrived an hour early, bought drinks and popcorn, and headed to the theater to watch the film. As the lights dimmed and the theater grew silent, I knew this was the moment all of America has been waiting for, the 74th annual Hunger Games.
       The beginning of the movie was a little different then the book and not as I would have liked it to be, but every production company changes some stuff around. I would have liked to see Katniss receive her symbolic MockingJay pin from her friend the governors' daughter instead of the old lady. That was the only major scene they really cut out and as the movie progressed it got better.
        The costumes and make up done by the designers and artists was phenomenal. I could definitely see   the movie being nominated for an Academy Award or some award for their designs. The props and settings was outstanding as well. A lot of how I pictured it was like it was in the movie.  The casting was also really good. The choice of actors for the characters was right on for the movie.

     Overall, the movie was a lot better than I thought it was going to be and I was glad. I love the books and am a huge fan of the Hunger Games. I'm really excited to see how they next two movies are going to come out to be.

Run for your lives 5k

       Be on the look out for zombies coming to a town near you. A 5k race that is an obstacle course and where you run from zombies. If you're a huge zombie fan or just love to run this is the race for you.
         You can register at runforyourlives.com and can either register as a runner or a zombie. Registering as a Zombie is much cheaper than the actual runner by the way. If you're a runner you are given a belt just like in flag football and the zombies have to snatch all the flags off of your belt. If they snatch all of your flags then you become infected and when you finish the race you become a zombie. There are also obstacles you have to make your way through, although they aren't mandatory if you don't go through one then you aren't able to win in your age group.

        The race sounds like it would be a lot of fun and worthwhile. There is a 5k race in Orlando November 17, 2012. Make sure to register early before June 6, if you want to be a runner so you only pay $67 after that date the price increases by 10 dollars. So if you're a zombie fan or just looking for something fun to do over the weekend, try out this race.

Invisible Children: The full story

Freshman year I wrote a research paper on this topic for my Ap Human Geography class and thought I could share it to inform everyone how terrible this Kony guy truly is.
               

                The definition of ethnic cleansing is a process in which a more powerful ethnic group forcibly removes a less powerful one in order to create an ethnically homogenous region (Rubenstein pg.250). In the country of Uganda there is a war going on between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Government of Uganda. The war started in 1986 and has been going on ever since.
              The Lord’s Resistance Army leader can be traced back to Alice Lakwena. Alice had believed that God spoke to her and told her to over throw the Ugandan government for being unjust to Acholi. The Acholi were an ethnic group from the areas Gulu, Kitgum, and Pader in Northern Uganda. Her group first called themselves the Holy Spirit Movement. The momentum increased as resentment towards the government increased. Lakwena soon got exiled and than there was no leader after that. Joseph Kony, who claimed to be her cousin, took over and changed it to the Lord’s Resistance Army.
            Joseph Kony did not receive support from the Acholi people so he started to abduct children and indoctrinate them into their ranks. He considers himself a very good Christian and has his group based on the Ten Commandments. So far, the LRA has abducted about 20,000 children to use either as fighters or as sex slaves. In part of their initiation they have to kill their parents so they won’t have homes to come back too. Once the children are part of the LRA they are used as pack mules; to carry supplies until they get to weak to walk and when that happens, they kill them or leave them to die. The boys are used as targets or decoys, they send them to the front lines unarmed whenever the Ugandan Army comes after them. The girls that either Kony or his commanders find attractive become their “wives”. Kony supposedly has 60. The prisoners that give him a bad time usually get their noses, lips, and/or ears cut off and then they have to eat their own flesh.
               In 1996 the Ugandan government forcibly evicted thousands from their homes and relocated them into overcrowded camps in hopes of protection. Ten years later, about a million individuals are still living in the camps and struggle to survive among the effects of object poverty, rampart disease, and near certain starvation.
                  In 2001, the US Patriot Act had officially affirmed the LRA to be a terrorist organization. This ended up being a mammoth step in drawing attention to the conflict and the atrocities committed by the LRA. They thought the war was going to end in 2003, because the LRA declared a cease fire and said they wanted to talk to Yoweri Musevini. During that time, the districts of Gulu, Kitgum, and Pader were still being terrorized by the LRA. The main victims were the Acholi people. On July 25,2003, forty eight people were hacked to death near the town of Kitgum in the far north. Newspaper reports read that elderly people were killed with Machetes and spears, and babies were flung against trees.
             Feb. 2003 Sudan agreed to let troops from neighboring Uganda enter its territory to attack the LRA rebels who had been trying for years to overthrow the Ugandan government. The Ugandan army called on the LRA to surrender or be defeated. That agreement gave them what they had been waiting for; a chance to eliminate the LRA. The optimism that the war would end started to grow. June 2003, Kony told his fighters to destroy the Catholic missions, kill priests and missionaries, and beat the nuns.
                    In 2004, the Congress passed the Northern Uganda Crisis Response Act. It was the first piece of American legislation to address the disaster. The Ugandan minister, Amama Mbabazi stated the government of Uganda killed 928 LRA rebels between Jan. 1, 2003 and Jan. 16, 2004. 791 rebels were either captured by the army or surrendered during “Operation Iron Fist”. The army rescued 7,299 abducted people by the LRA. Eighty eight army soldiers died in combat, one hundred forty one were injured, and four went missing. Then in 2005, International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Joseph Kony and his four top commanders. There was soon a strong desire to secure peace around Uganda.
               July 2007, the US State department appointed Tim Shortley to Senior Advisor for conflict resolution with his burning focus on Northern Uganda. He solidified the United States commitment to end this conflict peacefully. The same year the United Kingdom bolstered their commitment to peace by allocating 70 million pounds in aid. Germany committed to a twenty five percent increase in aid to Uganda by October 2010. Canada later became more than an international supporter of the peace process in February 2008 by joining peace talks as an official observer.
             The Cessation of Hostilities Agreement had expired and Joseph Kony has failed to sign the Final Peace agreement for the 4^th time. This proves that his promises are to be futile and ultimately disabling the peace talks. His uncertainty has been lingering.
                 Since September 2008 hostility in the Orientale province in DR Congo and Western Equatoria in South Sudan has reached an intense ground . The LRA attacks have become more frequent and hostile, which provokes military action against them. Governments of Uganda, DR Congo, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic launched an attack on LRA strongholds within DR Congo. Called it “Operation Lightning Thunder”, turned out to be unsuccessful.
                    On Dec.24^th, 2008 the LRA launched a retaliatory attack against the people of DR Congo. The attack murdered over 600 people and abducted more than 160 children to fight in their group. More than 104,000 Congolese have been displaced since Christmas in attempts to escape from the LRA forces. The LRA motives have just been becoming more ambiguous and the crimes become more horrific.
Just recently, Joseph Kony’s mother who was on her death bed asked him to make peace. His response is yet to be determined. She had believed that her son was possessed with evil spirits. These occurring are still going on in Uganda today right now and there are many people trying to end this war.

A Cause worth crying for: Invisible Children.

             Out of all the organizations and fundraisers there are  in the world; this has to be the one that I'm full of compassion and passionate about. The Invisible Children organization. I found out about this organization in 8th grade after I watched the movie Blood Diamond. It was an eye opener to see how other people are actually living their lives. In America, we have it so much better than a lot of people.
          Those Africans in Blood Diamond were treated terrible and didn't have half the luxuries we have here in America. We complain about going to school, work, traffic, not having the right sauce for our meal, when the only thing those Africans want is to make it to the next day. Some of them just want to die because they feel their life is to rough. 
            There's a man by the name of Joseph Kony who makes Hitler look like he was letting the people off easy. Kony abducts African children in the country of Uganda. He takes them to be his slaves or if you're a girl a sex slave. These children as part of their initian process, have to shoot their parents. If we ever had something like that happen in America, that man would be arrested in a heartbeat. Since he's in Africa and in Uganda no one else in the world seems to care about these poor children. These children suffer on a daily basis being this man's slave.
               The children Kony has captured are used as pack mules to carry supplies until they get to weak to walk and when that happens, they kill them or leave them to die. The boys are used as targets or decoys. They send them to the front lines unarmed whenever the Ugandan Army comes after them. The girls that either Kony or his commanders find attractive become their “wives”. Kony supposedly has 60. The prisoners that give him a bad time usually get their noses, lips, and/or ears cut off and then they have to eat their own flesh.
         This war has been going on since 1986 and hasn't stopped. It will keep progessing and Kony will keep succeeding if no one puts a stop to his revolting actions. He's on the run, but that doesn't mean we can't catch him. We caught Osoma and Sudam; so we are able to catch Kony. It's just if people actually care enough to spend their time, money, and effort into preventing innocent children from dying.        

J.K. Rowling to produce new Harry Potter book, JK.

         It  recently came out that J.K. Rowling is going to be producing a new novel, but for adults and not her general target audience; children. The title, date, and details hasn't been released yet. A lot of people probably are thinking it's going to be similar to her Harry Potter series, but it won't be anything remotely close to it.

      A lot of authors that have been generalized with one target audience have been known for it to be harder to break out of that specified field of writing. J.K. Rowling is an amazing author and can probably pull off her next novel.

Sacrificing for Lent.

 Yesterday was what some people would call "Ash Wednesday". It's well known in the catholic and episcopalian faith. I'm a Christian and attended an Episcopal school for about five years and I remember every year going to the chapel and attending the Ash Wednesday service.
        I never really understood the meaning of it, until I was older. My memories were always watching all of the pictures and things of value in the chapel get covered in purple until it was Easter. My favorite part was receiving the communion and the ashes of cross on my forehead. I was told that we were supposed to sacrifice something so I would always give up something, but never kept it.
      Now that I'm older and understand the true meaning, I actually go through with it. This year I have decided to give up Nutella and all sweet delicious foods. This is going to be super hard for me since I'm a Nutellaholic and Ice Creamaholic. I know with a lot of praying and keeping my mind in the right I can do it. For everyone else that has given up something for the next 40 days, remember you can do it!

The world loses yet another fantastic singer.

       On February 11, the world had to say goodbye to yet another great singer, Whitney Houston. She died at the Beverly Hilton hotel where she was staying to get ready for the grammy's which were the next night. She died in the bath tub of her hotel room and it was said she was full of pain pills and was drinking a lot of alcohol. What she didn't know was that the mixture of alcohol with the pain pills, can kill you, which it did.
    It's a sad thing that Whitney had to pass away, but she did it to herself. She has done drugs in her past and continued to do them. She overdosed on the pills and drank way to much alcohol. I feel bad that she's gone, but it's not the end of the world.
   What I don't understand is we make the death of a celebrity or sports coach top headline news, but when another soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan dies, we do nothing about it. Sure, soldiers die every day, but maybe once a week or every month we could do a tribute to them. They are the ones putting their life on the line for us and our country. They go through hell and back to win and keep us safe.
     Being a soldier in that war is no fun and games. They don't get paid tons of millions of dollars to do what they love. They volunteer their lives to fight for our country. A lot of the soldiers have families with kids back home too, just think of what those people must go through. Every day without speaking to each other, it must be in their head "What if they're dead, or I never see them again". We need to give our soldiers a lot more credit than they have been getting. They are the real heroes and real celebrities in this world.

Super Bowl Commercials a Bit of a Downer.

         Each year I only watch the Super Bowl for one thing and one thing only; the commercials. I'm a football fan, but college football is more appealing to me. The commercials are always the best part of the Super Bowl for me, not the game or the halftime show. This year, I was a bit disappointed with the commercials I watched. There were none that I was like, "THAT'S HILARIOUS!". There were a few that were funny and I liked, but no favorites this year.
       The commercials this year had a lot to do with cars and dogs. A lot of the commercials that had cars in them also had dogs in them. Then there were the doritos commercials that had dogs and the skechers with the dogs. One of the funniest commercials had to have been the M&M's with the LMFAO music.

           Hopefully next year, the Super Bowl will have some phenomenal commercials and not just good ones like this year.

Fast Food Not the Latest Fad.

              Living in America gives you the access to fast food at almost every corner of every block. Some cities have the same restaurants in two or three different locations, if not more. A lot of people eat at these places since their quick, affordable, and taste good. What most American's don't know is the hidden secrets these places have been hiding for the longest time.
             McDonald's just came out with how they finally stopped using ammonium hydroxide in the production of their hamburgers. That is a chemical you can find in your household cleaner, fertilizer, and chemistry class at school. That isn't something you want to be putting into your body. There are other chemicals that these fast food chains use as well.
           Some other chemicals are Propylene glycol that is an antifreeze used in ice cream, if this wasn't used you'd be eating ice. Another is Silicon Dioxide that is an anti-caking agent. I don't know about you, but for me I don't want to be eating a bunch of chemicals. I'd rather spend the extra few dollars and eat a meal that I know tastes good and is good for me as well.
          The fast food chains only care about one thing and one thing only; MAKING MONEY. They don't care if you get food poisoning from their food or that you get some other sickness. As long as they are making money, they're happy. I've stopped eating McDonald's and all the other fast food restaurants food, and I feel so much better without those chemicals in my body. There was one time where I gave in and had a burger and ended up with food poisoning since my body wasn't used to eathing those chemicals and fake food. Never will I ever, eat fast food again.

             One more thing is, even the water or ice at these restaurants isn't sanitory. A 12 year old boy in Florida, did his science fair project on whether the ice at Fast food chains or toilet water was more sanitary. Guess what? The toilet water was found to be more sanitary. The restaurants don't wash their machines and don't take the best care of things. So if you want some water, I would get a bottle and don't get any ice unless you want some unsanitary water.

Eating your way to Diabetes.

                 For most Americans, everyone has heard of Paula Deen. She's the heart of the south and it's southern cooking. Paula has been on TV for a while, letting all America in on her secrets and how to make delicious southern cooked meals. What most people never knew about her is that for 3 years she kept her diabetes a secret.

                 The food Paula cooks is very greasy and is way up there in cholesterol as well in fats and sugars. Take her well known burger recipe for example, which replaces the buns with two glazed doughnuts. One glazed doughnut is bad for you let alone two. I rarely eat doughnuts, so I probably would never try it on my hamburger. I don't understand why people like this, but they do. During those 3 years of hiding her secret, she still kept promoting her greasy high in fat and diabetes giving food to all America. A little harsh if you ask me.
                Just last week, Deen let everyone in on her secret and has signed on to be a pitch woman for a diabetes drug. Hopefully she can turn the tables for her fans and start altering her cooking ways becoming more health efficient and beneficiary to every one's health across America.

Can Yoga be harmful?

                "Namaste Namaste," those are the words you usually think of when it comes to yoga. Most people take classes to relieve stress, exercise, or gain flexibility. What most people don't know is that just doing random poses thrown together in a class can be harmful and cause injury rather than prevent it.
                A teacher in NY by the name of Glenn Black is your traditional yogi who traveled over to Pune, India and studied over there. Black knows all about the damages and harmful things that can come of not practicing yoga correctly. His approach is much different from most of the other teacher's or what you are used too. He tends to focus on a few poses and holds each pose for a long amount of time letting the pain build up.

      Black believes a lot of people shouldn't practice yoga because they won't practice it correctly. A lot of people use yoga to burn calories and as a weight loss method which can be very harmful. I do yoga, but only at rowing practice when I really need to stretch and lengthen my flexibility. I'll definitely start being more careful about the yoga I do. Everyone should be more careful, because the injuries that yoga can cause are endless.

First meteor shower of the new year.

                   For all you interested in space and the stars be sure to stay tuned for the Quadrantid Meteor Shower tonight at 2:30 am. The Quadrantids offer one of the most intense annualmeteor showers which lasts only a few hours. The shower is unpredictable leaving you on the edge of surprise and satisifaction.
                  Viewing the meteor shower might just be the most difficult thing. It depends on your location and if you can manage to stay up for that long to view it.
                   Meteor showers are always such an interest to the world and just a natural beauty. A great way to start of the new year with a phenomenal shower.

Happy New Year!

2012 is finally here Happy New Year!