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Stimulus Pakage

The stimulus package consists of 787 billion dollars and will be used to help the ailing economy. Part of the plan is to reduce home owner's current mortgage payments. This will give homeowners extra money to be used on other necessities. The stimulus package was signed on February 17, 2009 and this will, "Set our economy on firmer foundation."(This is just to help the economy and not fully fix it.) Next, a large amount of this money will be being used to help repair roads, bridges, transit,and build new schools. Also, if you are thinking of purchasing a new car or house, this package will give you tax breaks. Therefore, it is an excellent time to buy! I believe while this package lasts, the economy will grow better but the money will not last forever. The government may have to go back and think about something similar to the Stimulus Package. Also, I fear if the package doesn't work, the economy may just grow worse. An example would be, people who bought houses when the money was helping them to afford one would quickly lose their homes once the stimulus package is over. Poverty and unemployment would grow. This would happen because the mortgages would go back up to normal prices, so houses may become unaffordable. As you can see, there are many positive and possibly negative affects from this stimulus package.

Link:http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2009-02-12-stimulus-package-effects_N.htm

Link: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=6886824&page=1

Link:http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/u/united_states_economy/economic_stimulus/index.html

Wind Turbines

Due to the lack of wind in the United States, blackouts may become more frequent. Without wind to power our wind turbines, the amount of energy in the US has declined. The loss of wind energy in the USA is much worse then if a county in Europe was to have less energy. This is because there are many different climates and local geography. Also, wind powered energy is the leading renewable energy. Because of this lack of wind, INESC Porto was requested to make a new wind platform in order to reduce wind power and costs of the machines working.Wind platforms are similar to oil rig platforms in the oceans, but instead will hold wind turbines. The reason why they will be placed in the ocean is because wind is not obstructed in the ocean. These platforms should be operating in 2010 . I think this is a very clever idea and will increase the amount of energy produced by these mills. As you can see, scientists are coming up with energy solutions everyday to help improve our earth.

Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090204085311.htm

Link: http://www.windplatform.eu/

Earthquake in New Jersey

At 10:30 on Monday night, a 3.0 earthquake shook Victory Gardens and was felt in Rock away, Dover, and Morris Plains. Luckily, no injuries nor deaths occurred according to seismologist, Won-Young Kim from Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory. Numerous frightened citizens frantically called 911 unsure of what had just happened. Some thought an explosion of some sort went off. A citizen of Victory Gardens, Mr. Smaga said, " there was a loud boom and then the building shook. The vibrations lasted around two or three seconds." For this region an earthquake of this magnitude is uncommon, although smaller earthquakes are not unexpected. As you can see, earthquakes can happen anywhere in the US.

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090203/ap_on_re_us/nj_earthquake.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/nyregion/new-jersey/03njquake.html?ref=us

Emporer Penguins

Due to the loss of essential aortic sea ice, Emperor penguins are facing extinction with in the next century. Researchers say that an emperor penguin population in Terrie Adelie will shrink from it normal size of 3,000 to a staggering 400breeding pairs in this amount of time. With out sea ice, penguins are unable to eat, breed, or molt. Also , krill a coruscation that lives in the Arctic thrives on the algae underneath sea ice. Krill is a food source for numerous animals including penguins. Therefore without sea ice the penguins will die of starvation . This is because fish also eat krill so there will be no fish to eat for the emperor penguins. I Believe if people avoid the use of traveling in short distances in cars by walking and should avoid using spray chemicals. By doing things like these you can help to stop global warming therefore ice will not decrease as fast, giving scientists time to make solutions. In conclusion, Emperor penguins are an amazing animal, but can only survive from choices humans make everyday.

Link:http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090127090728.htm

Picture link:http://www.lodi.k12.wi.us/schools/PS/penguins/emperor_penguin.jpg

Inaguration

On January 20th 2009, during the inauguration, Barack H. Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States. Also, Joe Biden became the Vice President. Barack is the first African American President of the United States, which is a huge achievement on his part. This historical event was held in Washington D.C. at the Capitol. Although the temperature was cold, it didn't stop the millions of people from attending. People were stationed between the capitol and the Washington monument. Next, this inaugurating was the most costly one so far. In fact,75 million dollars was spent to make it possible. "Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet." This is part of President Obama's speech that shows all of the problems our country is facing and I believe that like Barack says, he will bring change. With a new president I think anything is possible.

After the inauguration, many events were held such as marching bands, floats, balls, and a luncheon. One of these special events was the inauguration parade. This is an American tradition that honors the newly sworn in president and vice president. The parade is open to the public and people couldn't line up for the parade till 7:00. Due to the parade, many roads were closed and the amount of security was larger than normal. Ten thousand people from 50 states will follow the vice president and president.I think this is one of the most special events after the inauguration. This is because everyone can go to it as well as its on TV so millions can watch it. Last, many citizens at the inauguration parade say that a ''black president is giving them allot of inspiration.''

With a new president comes new responsibilities and changes in our country. For millions of people they believe president barrack Obama will help to solve the many problems our country is faced with such as education, economy crisis, the war in Iraq and many more. In conclusion, i believe that Obama will change the united states for the best.

link:http://dc.about.com/od/specialevents/a/InaugParade.htm

link:http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/01/the_inauguration_of_president.html

link:http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/20/obama.politics/index.html

Loggerhead Sea Turtle

The loggerhead sea turtles are a species of endangered aquatic turtles.

Unfortunately, every year 1000 of these beautiful turtles unfortunately die. Jim Balsiger is one researchers who is helping to identify threats to the the loggerhead sea turtle in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean, as well as solutions. It is very important for many areas of the Atlantic where these turtles are commonly found to be safe. This is because these turtles travel and nest in numerous areas thorough their life. A few threats imposed on them are lack of habitat due to fishing netters, as well as the down sizing of their environment. The recovery of the loggerhead sea turtle will take a longer period of time to recover than any other species of turtle. Researchers claim the reason for this is because they are always being threaten by fish netters and it takes them longer to mature than other turtles. I believe if scientists find where sea turtles commonly travel, they will have a greater success with helping to save them from extinction.

Link:http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090116163930.htm

Picture:http://www.underwater.com.au/content/1054/gallery_main.jpg