Bomb blog post #1

The book I chose to independently read is the book called "Bomb" by Steve Sheinkin. The book is based off of the amazing story of the race to build an atomic bomb. The book begins by introducing Harry Gold, a soviet spy during World War 2. The author then goes on to introduce Dr. Oppenheimer, the leader of Los Alamos. He introduces Dr. Oppenheimer by telling a short story about him, it was about a time when he was on a date and he excused himself from the car to go walk for a while, the girl agreed. While Oppenheimer was out, his date fell asleep in the car. She awoke hours later without the return of Oppenheimer, she called the police and they began a manhunt. They went to his house to look for clues and they found him sound asleep in his bed.

I believe that this short story depicts Dr. Oppenheimer very well because he was an absent minded  young man, but at the same time, he was one of the most brilliant men in the U.S. I also think that it is a good way to introduce him like this because it shows us some of his characteristics and how he acts, it also gives us something to go off of to compare throughout the entire story.

Proceeding the short story and background of Dr. Oppenheimer it explains a little bit of the current state of being of the world, it explains how Nazi Germany is quickly expanding its empire using its lighting war to crush opposing countries. Then it shows the pictures of all of the significant figures of the Manhattan project along with soviet spies and German scientists. This gives us an image of all of the people involved which some people could see as a negative thing while others see it as a positive thing.

Satire blog post

The satirical article I chose to use was one called " People are Dying to get in" by Hannah Good. It starts off by including some statistics about crime rates increasing in the united states. It also states how the jails are filling up with the major offenders like murderers, rapists and serial killers, but the real criminals are slipping under the radar. The shop lifters out in the open are causing much more harm than a rapists in jail. Many people like Hannah Good believe that we should be cracking down on these criminals committing petty crimes.

In 2013 it appeared as if the people in favor of cracking down on these petty criminals got their wish, more than 3,000 petty criminals got life sentences for their crimes. But as the jails started overflowing, paroles were given out like free ice cream in the summer, and once again, the only people in jail were the murderers, serial killers and rapists. Hannah Good believes that with every step forward, they are taking two steps back, and that eventually even the worst offenders will be released on parole.

What makes this article satirical is Hannah Good's inclusion of ridicule towards the governing system of the jails, including her comment about handing out paroles like free ice cream on a hot summers day. She also makes it humorous by repeating the word petty, and saying some of the stupidest crimes like robbing a store right next to a police station.

Krista Ramsey post

The Krista Ramsey article that I chose to read was the one titled, "Carolyn Greco Feels Like a Ghost". The article is about a woman who feels like she has no purpose in the world, she's been married twice and divorced twice. She became a mother at twenty one, studied hard, plowed right through college and then when back to school a couple years later for a master's degree. Nowadays she's used to being ignored and when she put out a notice for a room for rent, with her phone number in tearable strips at the bottom of the page, there wasn't a single taker. She has trouble finding the motivation to get out of bed in the mornings and doesn't feel like there is a reason to.

I think that Krista Ramsey wrote this article to show people like Carolyn Greco that they are not alone with the whole being ignored thing. There are a lot of people in the world that can relate to this story, being ignored and treated as if you don't exist your entire life, I can see why it would be hard to get out of bed in the mornings if I were being ignored like that. Thankfully I have plenty of friends and family members that know that I exist, that I don't have to feel that way.

I hope that this article inspires other people to do something the next time they see someone sitting alone at lunch or standing alone at a social gathering, because I can only imagine how it must feel to be treated as if you were a ghost. I also hope that Carolyn Greco can someday find some happiness in her life so that she doesn't have to keep searching for reasons to get out of bed each morning.

Einstein blog post #13

Albert Einstein is nearing the end of his life and at this point he has proved his theory of relativity, E=mc(2) and that you don't need to have socks on every morning to be incredibly smart. The reason that I bring up the socks is that Einstein almost always forgot to put on his socks in the morning. Many of the local kids would ask him why he didn't have socks on and he would respond by looking down at his bare feet and saying that he hadn't even noticed that he didn't have any socks on. The true reason is that he had so much stuff going on in his head that there was no room for socks or regular every day things.

Unfortunately, not all of Einstein's big discoveries went down in history as good things for example, the atom bomb originated from one of Einstein's ideas, but he never meant for them to be used as a weapon of destruction. Einstein was appalled when he learned that one of his works was being used to kill hundreds of thousands of people. Einstein, nearing the end of his scientific carrier and life, began to observe the stars as a way to pass time with friends, he liked looking at the constellations and at some times making a few of his own.

Albert Einstein, the greatest physicist of all time, died on April 18, 1955. He had internal bleeding and in the week he was preparing a big speech, he died peacefully in his sleep. His brain was salvaged and was studied, but the rest of his remains were cremated and his ashes were scattered. During the study of his brain, scientists found that he used up to 15% more of his brain than an average human. His IQ was estimated to be between 160 and 190, but since it was never determined, it stayed at 160. Although he is dead, the legacy of Albert Einstein will continue.

Einstein blog post #12

I have come all the way to where Albert Einstein is now an adult and he is beginning to develop his theory of relativity. it is quite fascinating how a boy that was said to have some sort of early developmental issue, could turn out to be one of the most respected and important scientists known to man kind. Einstein ahs also created many quotes by now including, " I don't know what WW3 will be fought with, but I know that WW4 will be fought with sticks and stones." I think that this quote is very accurate because at the rate that we are creating deadlier and deadlier weapons, by the fourth world war, we'll all probably be dead.

Albert finally found a woman that he likes, her same was Elsa, they got married, but eventually got a divorce, and when Albert Einstein got a divorce, he promised her that he would give her all of his nobel prize money if he won it. This of course did nothing to help and change Elsa's mind of leaving him, but I guess it made Albert sleep better at night. She, of course never got back together with Albert but she did send him gratitude after what Albert Einstein did next.

In 1922, Einstein won the Nobel prize in physics and just as he had promised, he gave all of the money that he won to his wife Elsa, she was surprised when she received the money because she thought that Einstein was going to bail on his promise and just keep all the money for himself. This gesture of kindness made Elsa Einstein begin to regret his decision of ever leaving behind the genius that is Albert Einstein.

Einstein blog post #11

After Albert's sister was born Albert's literary skills and scholarly skills in general decreased drastically, he became quiet once again and his parents became very angry since they had spent much of their money trying to educate Albert. They sent him to a military school which was the worst punishment you could have given him. He absolutely detested the thought of war or anything to do with war, he wanted peace. He protested against the marching and all of the things that he had to do, but refusing to do something when commanded to do so, meant punishment. So unfortunately, Albert was forced to march and look like a good little soldier or get severely punished.

 After a year of military school, Albert begged his parents to get him out of military school and it was his mother that sided with Albert this time. They got Albert out of the military school and back into his studies, happy to be back in the area that he liked, Albert's grades shot through the roof. He was finally allowed to go to a public school and he amazed his fellow students along with his teachers. His analytical skills were the best that most of the teachers had ever seen.

Albert's parents started inviting a college student for dinner most nights of the week. Albert took full advantage of this and he began to ask the college student all of the questions he had, which was quite a lot of questions. By the time that the college student had to go away, there was nothing the he knew that Albert didn't. At this point of his life he started helping his father at his store and he would play around with the little gizmos that he would find around his father's shop. He would ask his father questions that his father had no idea how to answer, Albert and his father began building a strong relationship.

Einstein Blog post #10

For my third and final book I decided to read a bibliography on Albert Einstein. So far, I have read that he was born in Germany and as a child, he was always very quiet and he never talked. His parents were very worried because they thought that he had developmental issues, which back then was a big deal. The doctors kept telling Albert's parents that he probably had some type of mental illness like down syndrome or another type of mental disease, it was Albert's father that knew it wasn't a mental disease. He enrolled Albert in some private classes since he wasn't allowed to go to school if he couldn't talk, what happened during the classes was breathtaking.

Albert showed immense progress in all of the school subjects that the private tutor showed him, even though he hadn't seen those things in his life. Even though he was an extraordinary student and extremely gifted in everything, he had a tendency to be very impatient and was known for his temper, at the age of six, he threw a vase at his music teacher, she never came back. Albert's parents tried to show him manners and the proper way to do things, but common sense wasn't in the boy's vast knowledge, which became a problem later on in life and was then corrected when he met his wife.

Then came Albert's sister, at first, Albert though that it was just another toy for him to play with and was disappointed when he looked into the cradle and saw no wheels, just two baby blue eyes staring back at him. Yet, Albert grew to love his little sister, he played with her and tried to show her some of the things that he was learning, which at the time was four grade levels above him. Albert didn't care that his sister wasn't as smart as him, he loved her either way.