Record Breaking

I have to admit that I watch Oprah religiously. Everyday you can guarantee that at 4 o’clock, channel 7 is on for her show. Today her guest was David Blaine! I love watching him and seeing him performs street magic and “stunts.” David always wanted to hold the record for being able to hold his breathe the longest.

Well today, David was given the chance to break the world’s record of holding his breathe the longest. The time that he had to beat was 16 minutes and 32 seconds. I will tell you right away that he did break the record. He held his breathe for 17 minutes and 4 seconds. Throughout the whole show, I was stressed hoping that he was going to make it. His heart rate was pretty high for him as it wasn’t as low as he should have had it for the stunt. Toward the end with about a minute left, you were able to see that he wanted to come up and breathe. However, David was able to sustain from coming up before beating the record.

I was so excited that David was able to break the record. He went through a lot of training in preparation for this and it has proved to be worth it. I cannot wait to see the next thing that David has up his sleeve to do. He did tell Oprah though that it may be to stay up the longest than any other person who is set at 11 and half days.

Disturbia

Today I watched the film Disturbia. It is a film that I would recommend others to watch. This is not the first or last time that I have seen Disturbia. Without given you all the details the movie is about a teen that is placed on house arrest. While on house arrest Kale starts to spy on the neighbors in order to pass some time. He soon realizes that one of his neighbors may be a serial killer. As Kale tries to prove this, he has to find a way to protect himself along with those that he cares about. Is he able to do this successfully?

There are some things throughout the film that I think they should have thought out a little more. Without given too much away I am going to keep everything vague. Here is a list of things that I think they should have paid more attention to when creating the scenes.

- When Kale is placed on house arrest he is told that he has to stay in a certain radius of the base. Later when he puts the different things around the yard so that he knows where he is able to go, it is a square instead of circular.

- When Kale is spying on his neighbors from his room with the binoculars he has all the lights on when they should be off so that he can’t be seen.

- When Ashley gets call from her mom she says she is at the store and that she will be home in a while. Meanwhile she is next door with Kale and makes it home in about a minute.

The film also promoted a lot of different companies and brands throughout the whole film. From beginning to end you are able to see the different brands. Next time that you view the film, try to spot these along with other items that I may have left off the list.

- Coke
- X box 360
- Hershey syrup
- Red bull
- Twinkies
- Skippy peanut butter
- I tunes/ I pod
- Elmer’s glue
- Philadelphia cream cheese

Disturbia is a film that I would recommend to anyone. It has become one of the movies that I am able to watch over and over again.

Balloon Popping

I couldn’t believe what I read…did I read it correctly? Apparently I did. A priest decided that he wanted to break the world’s record of flying by helium balloons for over nineteen hours. During the whole time that I was reading the article, I thought of it as almost like a cartoon that I have seen when I was younger, like in Winnie the Pooh.

The priest, Rev. Adelir Antonio de Carli, did not just do this stunt to break the record that is held but did it for a good cause. He was using the money that he earned to fund a “spiritual rest stop for truckers.” Going into this challenge he was given a GPS system (so that he could be tracked), a floatation device, a thermal suit, and a parachute. At first everything was well until he called for help. He was in contact with port authority until they lost connection. There was a search for the missing priest eight hours after he went missing. They still have not found him after a day searching. However, they did find balloon pieces scattered. It is believed that if he is uninjured he will be able to live for at least five days if not longer.

I still can’t believe that this story is real as I feel it is something that I always thought as impossible. That is to fly away with just balloons! I hope that searchers are able to find him before it is too late. Carli’s heart was in the right place trying to help others out in a stunt that has proved to be dangerous.

An affect

After handing in my portfolio today based on The Curve of Binding Energy, by John McPhee, I thought that I have heard the last of nuclear bombing and testing for a while. Well I was wrong. The article that I read was Artillery Shrapnel Hits House, Kills Cat that deals with some of the things that we have discussed in previous classes about the book.

In The Curve of Binding Energy, we learn about Ted Taylor and the live that he has while he lives on a compound where nuclear bombs are created. We see how different exponents factor into the testing and making of nuclear weapons. For one of the pieces that I worked on for the portfolio was a proposal about what my final paper would be about. I chose the topic of the affects that nuclear weapons have on both people and the environment that the testing takes place.

In the news article, there was a family that had to place their cat to sleep after a piece of artillery shrapnel went through the family’s roof. The piece ended up in the ten year olds room where her bed is. Luckily the girl was not in the room as she was picked up moments before, but the cat stayed sitting on the bed where they have been before Cassandra left. The family’s house is located about three miles away from a military research area. Based on some research that I have done for the paper, I have found that at this distance from a test of a nuclear weapon site the results is something goes wrong can be deadly. This unfortunate accident proved how badly things could turn out.

Overall, I am glad to hear that the girl was not home and that no one was hurt. I think it is ashame that they had to put their cat to sleep. I am glad that the government is going to look into making the testing safer so that there is no other accidents like this one in the future.

Revenge from Third Graders

Wouldn’t you think that school is the safest place to be? A spot where children can express their knowledge in a good manner? Well I always thought this until I started to consider it when I heard the news about what has occurred in Georgia.

In Georgia, a group of third graders decided that they wanted to punish their teacher after she yelled at one of their classmates. The teacher yelled at the student for standing on a chair, which could be dangerous. There were nine children that partook in this scheme. Each one had a specific job to do. The extent of their planning is mind blowing. I could not believe that the students were able to come up with such a twisted plan at that age.

As an education major, I plan to be an elementary school teacher. By taking on this role I have always known that I would have to be ready for the unexpected. However, I never thought that I would have to deal with this situation, especially in elementary school. I am grateful that the teacher was unharmed as this could have been a deadly situation. As for the students that took part in this, I hope that they get help that they need to see why they had the intention of doing such a thing. I wonder what was going through the students’ minds as they were planning this revenge.