Forgotten Heroes - Homeschool Blogger

The day the earth almost died....

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:57:00 -0600

Over the last century, and especially recently, countless people have predicted that the world is going to end due to some catastrophe. Some predicted aliens; some prophesied that overpopulation would lead to massive incurable famines; still others proclaimed that the end would come by disease, permenant submersion of all habitable land, a super volcano, an experimental accident, global warming, a nearby supernova, superintelligent computers, or grey goo nano-technology that would dominate the universe. All these scenarios have been seriously put forward, but few as much as one: that earth will be hit and destroyed by a giant asteroid.

Now serious people usually brush off all these scenarios off, calling them "alarmist" and "apocolyptic." Those who trust in science say that man could ward off any of these threats that might actually be possible. For example they say: 'We can detect astroids years before they come near earth and a well guided missle sent from earth could end an asteroid's life far out in space.'

Well, theses people sound much more credible and believable. And they are, but neither side has things completely right as was proved this past week.

Science was proved faulty last Friday when an asteroid nearly struck earth and was not detected until 15 hours before it made its closest approach. (Click here for article). Fortunately, the asteroid was only 23 feet in diameter, and would have been much reduced in size by the time it hit earth. Still, it could have exploded in the atmosphere and caused severe damage.

Several historical events show the damage that can be done even by small asteroids or meteors:

1. In prehistoric times a 54 yard long meteor hit in what's now Arizona. It caused a 4,000 ft long crater that is 570 ft deep. See the picture below.

2. In 1490, in China, historical documents tell of 10,000 people being slain by "falling stones." Astronomers believe these "stones" to have been the result of an asteroid that exploded in the atmosphere.

3. The most recent impact catastrophe was the Tunguska Event in Russia in 1908, when a 4-6 mile wide meteor blew up in the atmosphere directly impacting 830 sq miles.

Fortunately it happened above an empty part of Siberia populated only by extensive evergreen forests. The damage was still tremendous. The explosion was 1000 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb, and produced the effect of a level 5 earthquake.

There are many eyewitness accounts from Tungus villagers and Russian settlers living many hundreds of miles away on the shores of Lake Baikal. They report seeing a massive blue column, as bright as the sun, descend from the sky and immediately after, a massive explosion that knocked people off their feet, broke all the windows, and severely damaged crops.

This was all hundreds and hundreds of miles away. The influence of the explosion was felt even in Europe. There was no night in either Europe or Asia for several days afterward due to the explosion. People in London could read their newspapers at night in its light. It was generally assumed to be the beginning of the end of the world.

In Siberia itself, where the explosion actually happened, a new lake was created 80 million trees were felled as seen in the picture below.

If that asteroid on Friday had hit earth and if it had been as big as the Tunguska asteroid, our world would be drastically changed. And scientists didn't even see it coming until hours before the event. If an asteroid like Tunguska hit the US, China, or Europe, the world as we know it would truly have been at an end.

Angle-Ball

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:36:00 -0500

This Saterday our church's youth got together with those from several other churches and played an awesome game called Angle-Ball. It's basically a mix between ultimate frisbee and basketball. Each side is defending a ball on top of a pole. You pass around a third ball and try to knock the other teams ball off the pole. Here are some pics.

Here's the group.

Here's some of us playing

Going for the Goal.

Me eating... :P

BP and I.

Paul Hastings made an amazing music video!!!

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:43:00 -0500

Blame School...

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:53:00 -0500

Sorry for leaving you all so long. . Just blame school...

Speech and Debate club meetings have started:

Our awesome new president Ben S.!

Paul H., one of our amazing debate coaches.

My debate partner, Daniel G..

Mine field game played at the debate workshop(unfortunately I wasn't there) :(

Kathryn C. dressed as a pirate(not, actually waiting for her turn to try out the mine field game when we were trying it out the week before the workshop).

Me doing the same thing.

Hopefully I'll post something more exciting soon.

Pictures from Cali

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 09:56:00 -0500

Here's some California pictures!

My cousin, Ross, after his barmitzvah, with his family.

My little sister with my cousin, Brooke.

My little brother, Andrew.

Andrew and Brooke with the beautiful mountains behind them.

Me holding my cousin Malina, my Aunt Stacey, and Anna

My Mom

Anna and I

Our 8 person "bikes" on Balboa Island.

About to go on the ferry at Balboa Island

Anna at the San Juan Capistrano mission

California!

Sat, 8 Aug 2009 23:48:00 -0500

I'm in a hotel outside Los Angelos, now. We flew in last night. It was an awesome flight. We had an insanely tight connection in Denver but we made it.

This morning was my cousin's barmitzvah which was in the house of a Habbad Hassidic Orthodox Jewish rabbi who was in his early twenties. The service was really cool. Mostly in Hebrew. The chanting was really neat, a lot like our Orthodox Christian chanting, done at monestaries and some churches. The service was really cool. It felt sorta wierd wearing a yamacha and huge prayer shawl, but neat. No picture taking was allowed because it was the Sabath. :( Oh well. Maybe I'll get some tomorrow. It was a good day. We wento my Aunt and Uncle and two cousin's house after. My other Aunt and Uncle and baby cousin from Florida are also here a couple rooms down and so are my grandparents. Twill be fun. KG, you always prophecy correctly. ARGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH!

Florida!

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:41:00 -0500

I have been without internet unexpectedly since Sunday so here's a recap of my week in pictures.

Friday-Sunday: At my Aunt and Uncle's in Orlando.

Andrew and Kathrine with my cousin Malina.

In the pool.

Monday: At Natural History Museum and Butterfly rainforest.

A Mammoth.

In the Butterfly Rainforest with Kriss and Lora.

One of million of butterflys.

Tuesday: The Zoo

The fattest frog of all time! An African Bullfrog.

Jaguar.

Chimpanzee drinking.

Me and Elizabeth and Andrew.

Wednesday-Thursday: Not many pictures. Went to beach and Saint Augustine where we stayed.

One of Saint Augustine's Awesome buildings. Saint Augustine is pretty much a medieval city. It is the oldest city in the U. S.

Pictures!

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 14:06:00 -0500

I'm at my Aunt's house in Orlando. Here's some pictures of the trip that my sister took.

USS Alabama in Mobile Bay.

She didn't take this one. :)

At a stop in the Florida panhandle.

In Mississippi

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:11:00 -0500

I’m writing this from a hotel in Pascagoia Mississippi. We’ll get to my Aunt’s in Orlando tomorrow for dinner. Some highlights of the day:

Listening to an amazing hilarious reading of one of Kipling’s Just so Stories on tape.
Driving through the Louisiana swamps this afternoon.
Getting to watch a video of myself debate Harding-Pinero at Regionals. :P
Eating a delicious omlette at IHOP. Yum…
Listening to Treasure Island on tape.
Crossing the Mississippi River at Baton Rouge(It’s awesome every time!)
Listening an old Clannad tape I’ve never heard before

PS. We only have a tape player in our van if you were wondering. :) though we brought a CD player along as well.

Stupidist lines in an article

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:53:00 -0500

I just found this incredibly stupid sounding lines of all time in this BBC article:

A 121-million-year-old baby arboreal bird, fossilised while still curled in its egg, has been found in China. The fossil is thought to be the most ancient unborn bird ever discovered.

It has piqued researchers' interest because it had feathers, whereas many modern flying birds are naked and helpless when they first hatch. The authors say this supports the view that birds developed the strategy of hatching featherless later in history.

Wow!!! Birds developed the strategy of hatching featherless?

If you know of any stupid lines in articles, feel free to share them in the comments. Lets see if you can beat mine.