Hurricane Sandy (Final)

By Nicholas Pepitone

 

                Hurricane Sandy was one of the most devastating storms the U.S. has ever encountered. Thousands lost their homes, their cars and even their loved ones. Many people made the mistake of staying where they were even after being told to leave, but faced the consequences later on. We are still recovering from the storm all over the world, and will most likely continue to do so all year.

Sandy’s rampage lasted just over a week, from October 22^nd to the 31^st, taking over 250 lives with her before she dissipated. The eastern seaboard, as well as the Bahamas, Jamaica, Hawaii, Eastern Canada and many other areas, experienced winds up to 110 mph leaving devastation all throughout the hurricane’s path. Countless homes on the coast were flooded with over seven feet of water trapping people inside of their houses, but not all of them were able to get out. Many stores and businesses everywhere, as well as people’s homes, were destroyed by the flooding leaving them susceptible to looting.

“ This is terrible, I had no idea the storm would be this bad. I can’t believe someone would smash my grandsons’ piggy banks, that is just wrong. ” says Maria Indelicato, victim of a robbery in the Hurricane Sandy aftermath.

After being labeled the largest Atlantic hurricane on record with a wind diameter of over 1,100 miles, the media began to refer to the hurricane as Superstorm Sandy. A very fitting name considering the 24 states that were affected by the storm left the U.S. with approximately $63 billion in damages. Some even considered the storm to be the beginning of the end of the world as predicted by the Mayans in the first millennium.

“This storm is not yet over,” Obama said during a visit to American Red Cross national headquarters in downtown Washington. (According to Politico.com)

We can clearly see that Hurricane Sandy was detrimental to the United States along with many other nations as well. Houses, cars, pets and loved ones were lost in the mass destruction that was Hurricane Sandy. It will take a long time to recover from this but we will pull through if we work together as a nation.

Challenger Disaster

The space shuttle Challenger is known for the many feats and accomplishments that is has achieved throughout it’s career. Although, it is also known for what happened on January 28^th 1986, the day it was lost along with the 7 astronauts that controlled the spacecraft. This was a monumental loss for the families of the astronauts as wells as NASA and the United States as a whole.

It was on the ship’s tenth mission (STS-51-L) that it was lost after breaking numerous records and achievements such as carrying the first female, african-american and canadian astronauts. The final mission also marked the start of the Teachers In Space Program or TISP which was uncuccessful for obvious reasons. It was just over a minute into flight when all went wrong. It was eventually determined that the explosion was caused by an O-ring (that NASA was warned of by engineers working on the ship) leak that was made worse by intense heat which overheated and weakened a support that attached a booster to the external feul tank. The booster broke off, puncturing the fuel tank causing a leak which then ignited causing the devastating explosion.

 

The Challenger disaster resulted in the 32 month review of the shuttle program where officials sought to make sure something like this would never happen again. Emergency ejection seats were originally removed from the craft after being deemed unnecessary after the first four seccuessful missions. Many suggestions were given but it is likely that none were carried out due to cost and design demands.

 

 

Political Cartoon

This political cartoon represents a school dean taking the hat of a small innocent boy. We chose to make this cartoon because many students find it ridiculous that hats and other objects are being taken due to suspected gang affiliation. Especially considering they are being confiscated from the least suspicious of students. Our statement is that it is

unnecessary to being worried about gang affiliated clothing when there are many more serious problems throughout the school.

 

 

Facebook Fanfare

Three 8^th grade girls from Indianapolis were recently expelled from their school after jokingly conversing about which of their classmates they would like to kill. On behalf of the girls,  the American Civil Liberties Union claimed that the school violated the girls’ free speech amendment. The school then argued that the girls had violated the school policy against bullying, harassment and intimidation.  It was eventually decided that the girls would be allowed to attend the school next year in the 9^th grade.

          Children of such a young age tend to use sites like facebook as a toy. Considering the amount of controversy and problems that occur over the site, these students should not even be authorized to have an account. However, as true as this may be, problems like this will never go away as long as the site exists. Facebook is a personal website (depending on a user’s settings) and should remain that way within reason. If no serious damage is done and no possible threats are being made, the things a person chooses to say should not matter to others, let alone be brought to the attention of the school

The Second Coming

At the most recent Coachella music festival, there was a certain surprise appearance alongside Snoop Dogg on stage; Tupac Shakur. Or a hologram of him, that is. This little surprise brought about quite a bit of controversy among fans of the hip hop legend. Many fans felt this was completely offensive to to Tupac and he should be left to rest in peace. It was also seen as just plain wrong to use him as a money making scheme.

Rapper Waka Flocka voiced his opinion, agreeing with many other fans in saying “I don’t think they should be doing that cause they getting paid off a dead man’s body. You don’t know what a dead man be wanting to do, let that man rest in peace.”

The Beastie Boys, Sabotaged

Co-founding member of the Beastie Boys, Adam Yauch, also known as MCA, has recently passed away due to throat cancer. This hip-hop legend was diagnosed after the discovery of a tumor in his salivary gland. Yauch’s condition kept him from experiencing the Beastie Boys’ induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, delayed the release of the group’s most recent album, and made the band unable to make music videos since the diagnosis. The trio was considered a pioneer of hip-hop itself and Adam Yauch will be remembered as long as the genre exists.

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