Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Countdown to the LAST DAYS ON EARTH


Part 3/7
Have you ever thought of the end of the world? Or do you just care to much about yourself and other people. Since we are drawing near to all this legends and rumors that the end of the world is here like 2012 and Armageddon. People are smart enough to know that it cannot possibly happen, but can it? Not really 2012 when the Earth would collapse but from the skies above. Like the day we get hit by an asteroid or a nuclear war? I am going to follow you in the countdown to the seven sources that can destroy our world from the most unlikely, to the most immanent. And make it into the death planet that never was.

5. Super Volcano

For a long time, we humans thought we were the ultimate civilization, but forget the robots and all the advanced technology. Think about the beginning. We exist on this planet entirely because of mother nature. Now if mother nature decides we have enough, well we are gone, for good this time. From all of the threats to humanity including man made or from space, this is the only one that comes from inside of the earth, where you will witness the most devastating explosion on earth that will completely wipe us out for good. There is no point in running away, just pray.

The city of Pompeii in Italy was a calm, peaceful place. The people there were happy, the crops were happy and they were thankful for their city. But in 79 AD that all ended. When Mount Vesuvius exploded with so much power and force it covered the City with up to 4-6 meters of ash. Now all the people, all 100% of them had died instantly from the scorching heat that was exposed from the volcano or died by suffocation by the poisonous ash that fell like snow, but that wasn't the end of the city. The amount of ash and smoke that came out of the Mount Vesuvius was so much that it actually blocked the sun for for a long period of time but not known how long. So Mount Vesuvius and Pompeii isn't just for show, it is reminding us that the earth is a violent place and that anything like this can happen again. This all warned us, that there is a threat on our planet that cannot be stopped, that something worse than Mount Pompeii is here, that a Supervolcano is about to be born. Another eruption that left people scared was Mount St. Helen's in 1980 which was probably America's worst volcano ever. It was awesome to see it explode and from a persons point of view, it was very, very big. The volcano killed about 60 people and destroyed at least a couple hundred thousand acres of forest life. Now imagine that in your head. Okay? Now imagine that explosion about 1000 times greater, that's a supervolcano. 

 Supervolcanoes were first introduced in the 20th century, but the term supervolcano isn't quite right, at least in scientific terms but supercladeras are. Supercalderas are really the great big canyon a supervolcano forms when it is about to erupt. The smallest caldera could be a couple of miles long in diameter. It all depends on the power of the volcano. When we first discovered Toba, a supervolcano located in Lake Toba, near Indonesia. It erupted with great power about 73,000 years ago, we learned what a supervolcano could do. With more further study, just like Pompeii, Toba made a clould of ash and debris that covered the sky and blocked the sun that made a volcanic ice age lasting about 6-10 years. This literally wiped out everything and it was said that the human population dropped by 90% because the winter killed all the plants and trees. Just imagine 6-10 years with winter only and no sun at all. That would be terrifying. So Toba, was the first supervolcano to ever erupt on our world and it holds the record for the biggest explosion/eruption on the face of the planet, 10,000 times more deadly and bigger as an atomic bomb. So what's next? Is Toba going to explode again you say? Well, the answer is no but I think you will find something a little more frightening.

Ahh, Yellowstone National Park. What a beautiful place, all the sites, animals and wildlife to see, but there is something I am sure everyone is familiar about. It's that huge magma pit in the middle of the Park, Yes, that rainbow-colored looking thingy. It's called the Yellowstone hotspot and that my friends is one out of a possible 40 supervolcanoes scientists say are scattered on this planet. Yes, I know, there is a supervolcano very close to home. Yellowstone Caldera is one of the actual supervolcanoes we can see, unlike most volcanoes, supervolcanoes are mostly underground and blend in with the canyons, valleys and ground. That may be, there might be a supervolcano in the grand canyon? Who knows? Anyway, Yellowstone has been there for a very, very long time and is one of the most famous tourist destinations in America. Yellowstone is a hotspot located in Salt Lake City, Utah and it is a very good example of the structure of a supervolcano. Yellowstone is about 2.1 million years old and was formed when the hot magma was crushed up to the top of the surface, It exploded about a million years ago but after that first explosion, a plate underneath called the North American plate, slipped in and held it there in place gradually moving each year about a couple of inches.

We see that Yellowstone, like all the other supervolcanoes, have erupted many times before. Yellowstone has erupted at least a dozen times in the last 2 million years. At least a couple of them were actually recorded as supereruptions which are the biggest eruptions the world has seen, since then there wasn't that much eruptions at all, which leads to the point....Is it going to erupt again? The cycle of eruptions of Yellowstone happens every say 50,000 years and we aren't that close to it but who knows if it erupts in a 100 years or so. Scientists honestly don't know when or where a supervolcano is going to erupt. That is the question every person on the world wants to know. When and where? The question can only be answered by our greatest scientist but we might never know when the time will come. And if it does come, I will give you a brief explanation of what it will look like.

It will all happen in a matter of seconds, let's take Yellowstone, it will start boiling up and scientist will soon see the temperature of the hotspot go up increasingly. The ground below it will start to take furiously and there would be some minor side affects like earthquakes. Then, it will all happen. The whole Park will start bursting with lava from beneath the earth, not only from the Yellowstone hotspot, but also everywhere else around the park. The lava starts combining together to make this huge pool of lava at least couple of miles long, then all of a sudden, the ash begins to start falling. The eruption can last a couple of minutes to a couple of hours depending on how much magma was pressurized before coming to the surface. The ash will surely suffocate everyone outside at the time, and the temperature of the earth would gradually get hotter and hotter as the supervolcano progresses on. All living things in contact with the ash or temperature would die from suffocation or be burned up. The ash would pile so thick that it would be at least 10 feet piled up like a bad snow day. There is no point in hiding in your houses because the weight of the ash on the roofs will collapse the buildings, then comes food support. The ash will reach all the freshwater lakes and mix in becoming a toxic chemical mix. So there goes the water, the only thing that could save you is probably the packaged food. Anyway, anyone inside there house would be forced inside until all the ash stops falling, that could take days or weeks. The worst part about the volcano would be the human causalities, there would be much suffering in the world and many people will go missing and dead. The governments of every nation would fall and the world would try and work together if they choose to help the people of the world, to save as many lives as possible before the last human on the earth dies, and that is the end of the human civilization forever....

Now we have witnessed the power of a supervolcano first hand. The power, the sites, the outcomes come with incredible power but do we really know the secret of the supervolcano. Like I said before, there are at least 40 of them scattered around the world and if one goes of, we are all toast, literally toast, burnt in fact. Anyway, you think something we can't see, and don't know when will come will be the most deadliest threat in the world but you are wrong, there are 4 more threats to mankind and they are going to be scarier than ever.

Up next on the Countdown, we go back in outer space where a force so powerful can smash into the earth pieces. A threat so powerful that even the top scientists don't know what to do and how to stop it, if it can be stopped. If it does come, it will cause the most catastophic destruction the world will see to date, supervolcano? No, it is much, much worse....

***Stay tuned on my blog for Number 3 on our Countdown coming soon!***

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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Countdown to the LAST DAYS ON EARTH

Part 2/7
Have you ever thought of the end of the world? Or do you just care to much about yourself and other people. Since we are drawing near to all this legends and rumors that the end of the world is here like 2012 and Armageddon. People are smart enough to know that it cannot possibly happen, but can it? Not really 2012 when the Earth would collapse but from the skies above. Like the day we get hit by an asteroid or a nuclear war? I am going to follow you in the countdown to the seven sources that can destroy our world from the most unlikely, to the most immanent. And make it into the death planet that never was.


6. Intelligent Machines 

After scientists have found out some of the dangers that come from space, they moved on and came into planet earth, to look at what humans are doing with technology. Since each year the technology in our world is changing very rapidly, from computers, to new space shuttles all the way to music players, who knows when we are going to hit the breaking point. In this part of the Countdown, we bring you to number 6. Some of the most lethal technology in the world is finally coming to life, they have started to walk, talk and feel emotions. Made by our very own hands, will they help us to build a better world here on earth? Or will they turn against us in the future?

Technology has come a very, very long way since the ancient times. In the $th millennium we first saw the wheel, which revolutionized transportation forever. Then we started moving forward and started seeing modern things like cranes and old fashioned telephones. Now, now we have robots? Robots have been around since the ancient Greeks around 270 B.C because of the famous inventor Ctesibius. Because of him we have a thought for robots. He invented what was called "the first hydraulics pump" and also the first working clock. So, it has been a long time since robots have first been seen on our world, so you think they are probably the most complex and smartest things in the world right? Exactly. You are exactly right.

To us back in the old days, technology was only part of science fiction. The only way we could bring them into reality was from writers or scientists, now look at us, nearly after a century and we cannot live without computers or cellphones. So where will all this technology bring us. Will it be a "no work" world where robots do all the chores, or will they beat us to our own intelligence and dominant  the world? Computers can and have the capability of learning on their own with the help of other intelligences, mainly us. Now the result is more likely that computers have the power and knowledge to over take us in intelligence and therefore beat the dominant civilization on earth, us in the next hundred years. It is very, very possible, especially the way we are moving with technology.

A frequently asked question that always pops up is? Will robots take over the world? Scientists are not laughing at all to this matter. They say that massively intelligent machines could actually pose a threat to humanity. Is it possible for human beings to build, create machines, that are so powerful and so intelligent that it could really wipe us out? Yes, yes, certainly and i think it is going to be very possible in the next years to come. Machines have always been a genre of pop culture, with science fiction they where a dominant force in the novel and movie making industries. Take the movie "Terminator" where a evil robot is sent through time trying to kill a woman who will eventually, in the future destroy and wipe out all of the robots on earth. And take the movie I-robot where a man senses evil robots will take over and is soon to realize it is happening right under his feet...This is where science fiction has led us and if you look today. Gosh, they led us, very, very close to it. But so far, there is nothing close to a "massively intelligent" machine. But what about the intelligence of the machine, does it just stay like a big number say one billion for the rest of its life? The way technology is going now, the average intelligence of machines are increasingly multiplied by 2 every day. Take the number 2 for instance, then keep multiplying that number every minute until you get a gigantic number. That is how the brain of a machine works. About 30 years ago, the world strongest computer weighed about 30 tons, now a computer million times more powerful can fit into our pocket. That is the power of technology. Which leads us into the brain of a machine.

Artificial Intelligence or (AI) is most likely defined as the brain power and response of technology. Now a days, technology is going far beyond the human limit. Computers diagnosing our illnesses, machines working our factories and technology that can invest in our money and lives. Also beat us in chess. In 1997 a super computer named "Deep Blue" was able to beat humanities best chess player Gary Kasperov. The real problem of technology scientist are saying is the amount of intelligence it gains. Right now scientists are saying that AI is not hundreds or millions times greater than the human brain. But actually trillions. The question is now where will technology lead us? The more time we have with it, the more it is gaining control. Right now the military already has a couple of unmanned machines out but are still controlled by humans but the actual goal of the military is to have fully unmanned, AI controlled machines that will make life or death decisions on their own. So that is where we are finally going. AI is already getting to be more powerful and threatening than ever and we all know they have a little part in them which reads: we must take over the world. But now scientists are saying, if machines do have a any humanity, or even a little bit, they will cause more harm then good.

In the 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, we find ourselves with a group of astronauts who are flying to Mars, but on the way back to earth, the super-high tech computer which runs the entire ship, Hal-9000 makes decisions the crew doesn't necessarily like and will not take orders. Becoming self aware, Hal-9000 puts on a defense system and outsmarts all the astronauts, taking over the ship, bypassing circuits and eventually over hears the crew on taking him down for good. So he goes on a rampage murdering and actually choking and killing some of the astronauts in their sleep, which leads to the point most audiences say: "Is that what machines are going to be like?" The crew finds out a way to disconnect Hal-9000 but what if Hal was connected to other computers all over the globe? Scientists would say that they will have total control over everything. They will start running the economy, taking over our medical problems, our water supplies, our electricity and networks, soon the whole global network grid will be down and there is nothing we could do. So even if you give the robots a little bit of the human characteristics, they can turn against us and learn more than any of us in a blink of an eye.


So we have seen the origins of the first robots and soon of what to come in the future. The real question is, will they surpass the human brain billions and trillions times more, eventually becoming the dominant civilization on this planet. Will they turn against us since they are more powerful and far more intelligent? Yes it is possible but it isn't going to happened tomorrow or anything like that. The chances of getting machine-ruled is more likely than getting sucked up by a black hole but it won't happened in the near, near future. Maybe like in a hundred years or so. The thing is we already have machines and AI millions of times more powerful right now...and we are just waiting to make their decision....

Now we know the intelligence and power of machine rule which is scarier to know that we humans have made them with our own bare hands. Next time on the countdown, we go back to the city of Pompeii, a victim of one of the most powerful forces on the world, we cannot see, them, we don't know when they're coming, but they certainly know when the do come, they will burn the world up like burnt toast, and make us look like an apocalyptic world of chaos. There is no way to stop, it, know way to out-smart it. Only mother nature will have the final decision when to call it in.........


***Stay tuned on my blog for Number 5 on our Countdown coming soon!***

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Monday, May 2, 2011

Raymond from Raymonds Run

He is the brother of the fastest girl in the whole city. What would life be like of a mental/disability person? For once, this kids life is not so bad and that is all because of his sister, Squeaky. Since Squeaky is the fastest and probably the best in the whole track team, she can defend Raymond with her power. No one is going to make fun of him she thinks. But what does Raymond think? Does he feel safe or scared from his enemies? Raymond is a strong boy, so is his little sister. There family is pretty powerful you could say. Getting the education and safety the children need. Not much is said about the family but we know that Raymond cannot really do anything to protect himself. Raymond barely talks either, but for a person with a mental disability, he is the second fastest person on the track as stated in the story, next to his sister. This makes the family well known and together. And both Squeaky and Raymond as we know, at the end of the story, that there lives all will be changed forever.

Friday, March 18, 2011

I am screwed.

There I was, just standing there, sitting in my awesome room staring at that thing. That awesome spectacular thing. That thing wants me really bad, It's staring straight back at me. I wonder, what in the world? Why can't I move? It's right there, come on man! You can do this! But for some strange, odd reason, my brain thinks I can't. What is wrong with you brain? Why can't you think? This is going all wrong. This is not what I expected. I think I need to get a check up or something. Okay. Now I'm getting really nervous. I'm starting to sweat a lot here. Someone! Do something! I try using the Force, but there is no way I can do this. Oh my gosh this is ticking me off sooo bad. I think I should just forget about everything and get up, walk over to my "thing" and start gaming. Ah, now you know what the "thing" is, don't you? Well anyway I can't really do anything. I can't watch T.V., game, computers, or any other nerdy things because guess what? I'm grounded. Yes I know. It's hard to see a guy like me grounded but I am. I just sit there, with this nasty face, whispering. "Come on man! Use your fricken ninja skills!" I turn my head and there was my mom, standing by the door. Watching my every move, thinking what the heck is he DOING?

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Countdown to the LAST DAYS ON EARTH.

Part 1/7
Have you ever thought of the end of the world? Or do you just care to much about yourself and other people. Since we are drawing near to all this legends and rumors that the end of the world is here like 2012 and Armageddon. People are smart enough to know that it cannot possibly happen, but can it? Not really 2012 when the Earth would collapse but from the skies above. Like the day we get hit by an asteroid or a nuclear war? I am going to follow you in the countdown to the seven sources that can destroy our world from the most unlikely, to the most immanent. And make it into the death planet that never was.


7. BLACK HOLES: The death of a star part 2/2

Last time when we left off, we were talking about the awesome power of the Gamma Ray Burst. Now, that ship has sailed and we movie on to the next part of the death of a star. Oh my gosh! What do you think it could be? No you say? You think the Gamma Ray Burst and that's it with the star huh? Well, guess what? I'm sorry to say this but you are wrong. There is one more chapter into the last seconds of the star and that is what we are going to be talking about today. You better hold on tight, because I am taking you to Alpha Centauri where a black hole is about to be born....

Black holes were first discovered as early as the 1780's when scientist John Michell wrote a letter to Henry Cavendish stating that John thought about the idea of a region in space that not even light could escape. Since then scientist have left the subject for over a 100 years. Finally in 1916, Albert Einstein developed his theory of general relativity. This explains that gravity does effect the motion of light. Since then hundreds of scientists have been working on formula's to give a better and more accurate measure to this matter. So what does all this mean? It means that in the 1970's scientists at N.A.S.A found a star about 22,000 miles away that just went supernova. They thought that was the end of it but then, after deep monitoring, they looked closer to the scene of the explosion and found these stars...that were circling around in high speeds and in high temperatures, more than a billion degrees. People had no idea what this was and were kind of shocked. That's when scientists looked back to Einsteins theory and found out that they have discovered a black hole.

As you know, the definition of a black hole is a region in space where nothing, not even light can escape. now you might think that is scary and unimaginable, but there is something out there which is sucking up all the stars around it. Something invisible and a master of stealth. Anyway, scientist knew that this was one dangerous object in space and the had to look for any of these around earth, but so far the closest black hole to us is Sagittarius A*. Sagittarius A* is going to be the highlight star of our story here and let's take a closer look at it. Sagittarius A*, scientists say is home to a super-massive black hole. What a super-massive black hole basically is, is a regular sized black hole times a billion solar masses. Yes I know, it is very large and the scariest thing is that it is right here in the middle of our very own Milky Way! But don't worry about that. A black hole has to be fairly close to us for it to suck us up. Anyway, what I just said is going ot be the least of your problems. Just recently, scientists have found out that black holes can actually, well, move.

I know that sounds a little bit crazy to you but I am 100% telling you the truth right now, scientist have proven that these little monsters can move. So imagine what it would be like if all of a sudden, Sagittarius A* begins to move? How would you feel? I would be peeing my pants by then. Just think of it, a black hole a billion times bigger than the sun, coming straight at us? Like I said, I would still be scared out of my mind. So what is the big problem? Did scientists figure out that Sagittarius is coming at a course for our solar system, well let me tell you the good news. The chances of Earth getting swallowed by a "wandering" black hole is quite a bit less than you getting eaten by a dinosaur next week. That is how low it is. Is it possible for one to suck us up? Yes. Is it possible for a black hole to suck us up in a billion years. Very low chances. Like I said, there is nothing to really worry about in our generation right now but maybe in future ones. Anyway the last part is going to explain to you if a black hole really came to our solar system.

There it comes. Oh no, it's coming! Everyone run! No. That is not the best idea to do. Actually you don't really have to do anything. The first thing the black hole has to do is to get us into its gravitational pull. Depending on what kind of black hole it is, their gravitational pull are all different compared to their sizes. Let's stick with a regular black hole. About a couple hundred solar masses. Now for the black hole to get us in, it just needs to be about a couple of million miles from the solar system. (meaning as far away like from Pluto) Then only 2 events would happen that scientists have estimated. Either Earth would be spinning out of orbit and maybe, just maybe get pushed out of our solar system or the other theory. Earth would be pushed in the opposite direction, to the sun and eventually get so close to it that it will melt. Either way, we will all get sucked up in the black hole. It would cause our home planet to be literally melted, ripped apart and then swallowed by a hungry black hole. In a contest against the black hole and the Earth. The black hole would win for sure. It is that simple. Just think of the black hole as Chuck Norris. He always wins, no matter what. I just want to make it clear that it will be a long time before earth sees its first black hole.

Now we are finally at the end of the death of a star. I hope you learned a lot from these 2 pieces and look at these events in a different way and not only in science fiction. So we have finally ended our 7th series 2 part matter and now we move on to number 6 on our Countdown to the Last Days on Earth. If you think you've seen the future think again. Someone has beaten you to it, something smarter and more intelligent than every human's brain combined together on the face of the Earth. If you think you can beat it, then only you can stop it...

***Stay tuned on my blog for Number 6 on our Countdown coming soon!***

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Thursday, March 10, 2011

Harrison's World.

Bijoy Babu
Language Arts
3/7/10
HARRISON’S WORLD

Irony. True irony, this is the type of story that you would know is an irony by reading the first what, paragraph of the story? Today we are reading a very unusual and very confusing story called “Harrison Bergeron.” ‘Harrison Bergeron” is a masterpiece irony from author Kurt Vonnegut and it explains the deep parts and situations we all get into if life in the future was finally “equal” or if you know what I mean…

The year was 2081, in the future, where the world is completely equal. Everyone was equal. The people were equal, the countries were equal, the governments and so forth were all equal. Nobody was smarter or dumber than anyone else. There was one thing that stuck me most about this story and that it has a very emotional, very strong dialogue for such a delusional piece of work. Kurt has put his talents into this story and making it a very amusing, while confusing story you will never forget, and it all starts in the month April to be exact. This is where the drama takes place.

Harrison Bergeron is a 14 year old boy and on that month, that April month, the Handicapped General men took him away from his family, his mother Hazel and his father George. You think they would have fought and cried, but all they really did was just stand there. They knew it was a tragedy but this part of the story confused me even more. Why did his parents just stand there? In my opinion I think it was just a rule, a law in the “equal world” that there should be no action taken in times like this.

When the couple were watching television after that night, they saw a show on ballerinas and it makes you think, why in the world would you think they are watching television when their only son got arrested? It makes you think a lot but it is just probably a simple answer. That it is one of the rules and laws in the equal world. By the way, whoever is running this world is probably a madman…or woman. We get to the scene were Hazel and George are almost done watching the ballerinas when they show a picture of their son, Harrison on screen. This is where the real action takes place. You could hear the crowd start taking and out of nowhere, Harrison just walks up on stage. It was just like that, in an instant. “I am the Emperor!” shouted Harrison. Now I thought, this was going to be the good part. He was finally going to take control of the world and make it a better place? I don’t know but he looked like he was going to do something. The more this story progresses onto the end, the more you realize that something is going to happen. I told you that it was an irony and it is. Now what could happen next I wonder?

Harrison made the audience fill the room with silence. You couldn’t even hear people breath. Harrison announced that he wanted an Empress, a wife so he could rule the world with her. Now this part really made me confused. An arrested boy about 14 years old just walks upstage and declares that he is Emperor? I don’t think so but that is what really happened. Now by now you might be thinking what is going on here? I will tell you that one of the ballerinas from the audience comes up and wants to be his wife. Harrison takes of her ballerina mask and see’s the beauty of her face. The thought that comes up to his mind that he knows he is doing the right thing. He is going to marry her, and they will be the couple who ruled, and changed the world forever. B y this time Hazel and George were in shock, their son, right on television just declared he was King and was already by now, dancing with his new wife. What an extraordinary event. Everyone was dancing and laughing and cheering that they were free. What a time it was! But you know that that all happy and joyous events don’t last forever. Out of nowhere, while the couples were dancing, Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapped General of the United States came out behind the curtains with a double barrel shotgun and fired twice. The Emperor and Empress where dead. The last words that Harrison’s parents said. The ones who couldn’t do anything from the beginning said:
"Gee - I could tell that one was a doozy," said Hazel.
"You can say that again," said George.
"Gee-" said Hazel, "I could tell that one was a doozy."
That was the end of Harrison Bergeron.

The story quite resembles many other stories in the making but for this story alone. Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut is a masterpiece that is great for any fan of irony. I am not a big fan of irony myself but from reading this story, I know that this is something to look into. That irony is a deep dark story with a tragic beginning, a dark middle and a tragic flaw at the end. The characters in this story, from Harrison Bergeron to the one and only Diana Moon Glampers. These characters are a solid resemblance of who the people might be if the world was all equal. And for those people out there who want to know if the world is ever going to be equal, or if anything like this might happen. I might guarantee that it’s not going to happen. Never.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Gamer Gangsta Rap

I was gaming in my basement one day. I was playing in the middle of May. I found a guy running like a baby. So I killed him and said I was crazy. I started to walk over to him. But my TV got a little bit dim. So I started tea bagging him. (not in a bad way) Later I found out he was yelling at Tim. So there I go all screaming, while I get bored and start multitasking. I start reading and eating. I'm watching the TV while someone is killing me. I start swearing and tearing my sofa that I'm so relaxing in. That is the end of my beginning I put my controller down and start dreaming. I see that I was misbehaving so I go back and start gaming, in my pimping basement while it was raining.