Book Report: The Worst Hard Time

15. The Worst Hard Time is a book focused on the survivor accounts of people living through the dust bowl in areas affected by the disaster, like Oklahoma and Texas. It tells of the stories of these people who witnessed 10,000 foot high clouds of dust whip across the land, and the way it affected the people, the animals, and the landscape, effectively destroying one of the richest ecosystems on the planet.

16. Blowing at about 50 mph, the dust storms of the 1930’s were powerful enough to scrape the paint off of buildings, crush trees, and even dent cars, before piling into huge 50 foot tall mounds. If any plantlife managed to survive the winds, millions of grasshoppers would finish it off in return. Children died of dust pneumonia, and livestock and cattle suffocated on dirt. Women hung wet sheets on windows, taped doors, and stuffed cracks with rags in attempt to block the dust from getting in, but nothing worked.

17.  In 1935, Roosevelt established the Soil Conservation Service, who built natural barriers, irrigation ponds, holding tanks, and rotated crops. Grass was restored in some areas, but after the rain returned, and prices for crops rose again, farmers harvested the landscape once again, causing the dust to return. The High Plains have yet to fully recover from this.

Sputnik

Video: http://youtu.be/qvPzUAeWZZY

The launch of Sputnik 1 marked one of the most monumental events in human history: it was the first man made satellite created to orbit the Earth. It was also the event that triggered the space race, which would continue to innovate technology with every country competing against one another to have the most advanced spacecraft. The project started on December 17th, 1954 when Sergie Korolov created the idea of developing an Earth orbiting satellite. Once his plan was approved, the space race had only just begun. Many scientists and engineers worked on this project, solving problems concerning orbit speed and velocity. October 4th, 1957 was the day that Sputnik was finally launched. 90 minutes after the launch, scientists heard the "beep beep beep" sound, confirming that the satellite was in full orbit. When Sputnik launched, it changed everything. From then in, countries were sending their own satellites up into space left and right, all with the goal of dominating the space race.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1

http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/

http://www.space.com/17563-sputnik.html

The Environmentalist Movement

The Environmentalist Movement

By: Alec Winsor

          A Fierce Green Fire focuses on how we are destroying the environment, and spotlights different organizations against pollution, and shows what they are doing to combat this growing problem. A well renowned group, the Sierra Club, fought against the building of dams. In a neighborhood near an old toxic waste dump, kids were starting to begin developing birth defects that many believed to be caused by the chemicals. Some of the moms of the neighborhood decided to take a stand against this, they had a very strong case, only helped by the fact that the chemicals were starting to leak into the basements of most of the houses. Eventually the case went to the White House, an they achieved their goal and were relocated to a different, safer area. Another famous organization was a group of whale hunters, their goal to stop the illegal hunting of whales by other nations, such as Japan and Russia.

          Air pollution is one of the largest problems contributing to global warming. It comes from man made things such as cars, planes, factories, and basically anything that has emissions. What it does is it goes into the atmosphere and traps heat in the earth, increasing the overall temperatures on the planet. Another common greenhouse gas is methane, which comes from livestock, and it deteriorates the ozone layer. Sulfur dioxide is the smog that you see in big cities. But believe it or not, it is actually beneficial to the earth; it reflects heat and sunlight from the earth. Some ways you can help lower the affects of greenhouse gasses is to carpool, ride bikes, recycle, and find ways to not use as many non renewable fuel sources.

Sources:

• "Watch Film: A Fierce Green Fire." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.

Radio Talk Show Script

Hello Everyone and this is the Sports Radio show with your best sports commentary! As you may know, you're here with your host, Patrick Leiphart! We have a very special show tonight with many famous athletes talking and answering questions. First up on the show we have the amazing baseball player, Babe Ruth!

P: So Babe, what's it like being a super star?
B: You know Mr. Leiphart, it's awesome and I love the fans. They are all welcoming and superb and I couldn't ask for anything better!
P: I got another question for ya... How did you get brought up into Baseball?
B: Well you see, I was one of the lucky ones to survive infancy in my family. The only other one that did was my sister. I was living with my parents until I was sent to Mary's Industrial School for Boys when I was six. I would play baseball there and probably played 200 games a summer. I was very good at it and became the star pitcher and hitter. When I was old enough to leave, I signed with the Orioles and played ball for 'em. And from there, I just did what I do best.
P: Wow what an amazing story! I'm astonished! Well I'm glad to have you on the show! Good luck in your career.
B: Thank you very much for having me!

P: Next we have Bobby Jones on the show! Hey Bobby!
B: Hey Mr. Leiphart, Thank you for having me!
P: Of course! So let me ask you a couple questions for our great audience here. What  influenced you to get into golf?
B: Well I was battling some health issues as a child and so I was prescribed to play golf to make me stronger. I immediately loved the game. I won my first child's tournament when I was 6 and continued to get better from there!
P: Wow interesting! I have also heard that not only are you a great golfer, but a great sport!
B: I mean I like to keep the game fair and keep cheatin' out of it. Golf is a wonderful game, no need to ruin it.
P: I understand that you hit a ball wrong when hitting onto the green and called a penalty on yourself?
B: Yes that is true, like I said before, I want to keep things fair.
P: Well thanks Bobby, thank you for coming on the show!

P: Next we have what some say, "the greatest athlete of the world!" Jim Thorpe!
J: Hello there Mr. Leiphart.
P: Hi there, so Jim, what's its like being a Native American athlete?
J: Well you know, Native Americans haven't been treated quite fairly as others but I would say what was more difficult was my childhood. My mom died of birth complications and I argued with my dad a lot. I would run away from school and such until I got into sports.
P: I hear you do many sports like baseball, football, lacrosse, track, and even ballroom dancing! What would you say your favorite is?
J: I love all of them but football is my passion. I play so many positions and it's a good 'ol time when I'm on the field!
P: Well thanks Jim and hope to see you out on the field for who knows what next!
J: Thank you Mr. Leiphart

P: the last guest we have on our show is Jack Dempsey! Hey Jack!
J: Hello Mr. Leiphart
P: I was watching your championship fight and man, you really beat the crap out of that guy! There is a lot of speculation that you had "loaded gloves". What do you think about all the controversy?
J: Well, believe what you believe, but I am saying that I am the champion and I won that fight, no doubt about it. If you think I was wearing "loaded gloves" then think that, but ask my trainer or anybody, I just had my taped hands and regular boxing gloves.
P: Now I hear you have another fight coming up to defend your title against your opponent, Billy Miske. How are you preparing for that fight?
J: I'm working as hard as I can, eating well, and training hard. Nothing can hold me back for this fight!
P: Well thanks Jack! Can't wait for that fight! And that concludes  our show tonight! See you next week! Good Night!

Operation Fortitude

Operation Fortitude

By: Alec Winsor

          
          Operation Fortitude was the codename for a deception plan created by the Allies so they could land more troops to invade Normandy. The idea was to create fake armies in order to distract Axis forces away from Normandy so reinforcements would be delayed. This operation was one of the major components of Operation Bodyguard, which was the Allies larger plan for the Normandy Landings. The plans were created by the London Controling Section, a secret group set up to manage the Allies' deception plans. It was thought that at first the plan would leak through five main sources. The first was physical deception; fake infantry including tanks and equipment would be set up to fool any Axis plane flying above. The second was to leak controlled amounts of information through diplomatic channels, to be passed on to Germany. The third was to use wireless traffic to make it seem like it was real units communicating. The fourth was to give the German intelligence services false information via German Allied agents. The fifth and final was to put notable staff, like General S. Patton, with the fake units to make them seem even more real.

Decoy Tanks

Map of Planned AttacksSources:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Fortitude
• http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/army/mipb/1996-2/meeks.htm
• https://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Operation_Fortitude.html

Chapter 9 & 10 Test Review

I Intro: The Great Depression was caused by various factors, including farm failure, overspeculations, an unstable economy, and was finally triggered by the stock market crash of 1929. It not only affected Americans, with over 1/3 of the population becoming homeless, but the whole world because other countries could not trade with the U.S. Things did not get any better with Hoover in office and kept getting worse until Roosevelt was elected and put the New Deal into action.

II Causes (The causes of the great depression were farm failure, too much borrowed money, stock market crash)

A overspeculation

• Too much money borrowed in order to buy stocks.
• People unable to repay loans.

B Govt Policy

• Bull market and buying on margin.
• Only so many shares of stock can be bought.

C Unstable Economy

• Too much borrowed money.
• Stocks growing to fast.

1 uneven prosperity

• Rich get richer, poor get poorer.
• No middle class which is needed for stability.

2 overproduction

• Too much product being produced.
• Nobody to buy it so the company sits on it.

3 worker issues / farm issues

• Many unemployed, make barely any money.
• Government fearful of riots.

III Effects

A Poverty

• 1/3 of americans unemployed.
• No money being put into the economy.

B Society

• People homeless and live in HooverVilles.
• Hobo riots start up.

C World

• Other countries couldn't trade with the U.S.
• The depression affected everyone.

IV Solutions

A Hoover

• Hoover did not do much.
• Tried but not that hard.

1 Volunteerism

• Help the poor.
• Soup kitchens.

2 Public Works

• Put people to work.
• Made bridges and dams.

3 Hawley Smoot

• Raised tariffs on international trade.
• Contributed to the fall of the economy.

4 RFC

• Reconstruction finance corporation.
• Made loans to railroads, banks,and other businesses.

B Roosevelt

• Elected over Hoover.
• Willing to try anything to help.

1 new deal

• Acts to pull the country out of the depression.
• Helped just about everyone.

a alphabet soup

• CCC
• CWA
• WPA

b Criticsim?

• Left and Right wings.
• Some thought too much some thought not enough.

2 2nd new deal

a. Improved use of natural resources.

b. Social Security

c. Welfare

V Criticicism

B Political Criticism (ex. Came from both the left and right.)

A Conservatives

• Too much government control.

B Liberals (ex: criticised the new deal also. They....)

Ex: Not enough government control.

ex: Tax the rich and give to the poor.

VI Effectiveness

A Changes in US

• People called for government assistance.

B Unions

• Unions were granted more power and privileges.

C Culture

• Modern entertainment became more popular.

VII Conclusion: Without Roosevelt, the U.S. may never have came out of the depression, because of the drastic changes he was willing to make. His New Deal and established programs provided relief to the people, and his fireside chats instilled more confidence in the government, making the population willing to back Roosevelt and not only beat the Great Depression, but prosper.

The Empire State Building

The Empire State Building

By: Alec Winsor

          The Empire State Building is a 103 story tall skyscraper located in Manhattan, NY. It stood as the worlds tallest building from 1931 to 1970, almost 40 years. The building now only the 23rd tallest, but it has been named one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. John Jacob Raskob, former Vice President of General Motors, wanted to build a scyscraper of his own, so he, along with his partners, purchased a piece of property at the corner of 34th street and Fifth Avenue of 16 million. It's overall cost to date is $629 million with inflation and deflation accounted for, but $40,948,900 in actual dollars. 

          The design of the Empire State Building was created by William F. Lamb, who worked for the firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, the blueprints for the were created in just 2 weeks. Lamb's mission was to make the building as tall as he could without it falling over. With the plans developed, a race between Lamb and Walter Chrysler had begun, Chrysler working on the Chrysler Building. Both architects planned to make their respective buildings the tallest in the world. Lamb thought that 80 stories would make it the tallest but then the Chrysler went higher. They then lifted the building 5 stories, but it was only 4 feet taller than the rival building. Raskob was worried that Chrysler would pull a trick, like putting a rod in the spire and then pulling it out at the last minute, so he needed to come up with a plan to counter this. The plan was to make a "hat" for it, which could also be used as a docking station for airships in the future. This won Raskoba and Lamb the scyscraper race, the Empire State Building ended up being over 1,250 feet tall and the Chrysler Building was 1,046 feet.

Sources:

• http://history1900s.about.com/od/1930s/a/empirestatebldg.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_State_Building

Letter Home

Letter Home

By: Alec Winsor

Dear Mom and Dad,

               How have things been going? Hopefully better than they are over here. The war has been pretty rough on all of us, but we will get through it and win it. At least it's not as bad as I thought it would be, after all, I'm not dead yet. The only part of the whole thing that actually scares me is when we get sent into the trenches. All of the artillery fire raining down is enough to break a man, but mixed in with all gunshots and people dying, it's no wonder that dozens of our men get evacuated because of shell shock. Oh yeah and the rats and disease will kill you even if the bad guys don't! The rats are everywhere! Always around your feet, scurrying about on the ground and swarming around our wounded. I'm also worried that if we have an outbreak of the flu or something, that it will kill us all. I've heard some rumors that the Germans have lounges in their bunkers with like cushioned seats, sofas and that sort of thing. I wish we had it that good over here on the other side of no mans land, I mean, if you're lucky, you get to sit on a piece of wood. Well at least I'm healthy enough to write this and keep in the fight. Say hi to the rest of the family for me and I hope you all are doing good.

     Love,

               Alec

WWI Causes

World War I Causes

By: Alec Winsor

The four main causes of World War I were militarism, the alliance system, imperialism, and nationalism. 

• Militarism: The British had the strongest navy in the world,and the Germans, along with other countries were trying to establish their own so they would be ready for any conflict.
• Alliance System: An alliance is an agreement between two countries, like the U.S. and Britain or Germany and Austria-Hungary, for support during times of war. This can be bad because if one country goes into war, then all their alliances has to help them, tying up many countries into an conflict originally between only two nations.
• Imperialism: Imperialism is building power of a nation by taking over smaller colonies. Before WWI, countries were fighting about colonies that they both wanted to claim, so they decide to go to war over them.
• Nationalism: Nationalism is extreme passion for your home country. What  triggered WWI was when a member of a Serbian nationalist group called the Black Hand, named Gavrilo Princip, killed the Archduke of Austria-Hungary. He was showing nationalism because at the time, Austria-Hungary controlled Bosnia, and he wanted freedom for the people.

During June in 1914, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir of the Austro- Hungarian throne, was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian revolutionary, while he and his wife drove through the streets of Sarajevo. With Serbia's alliance to Russia and Austria-Hungary with Germany, the two countries went to war. Eventually many more countries would become involved in this dispute, including the U.S and Britain, because of the alliance system.

1. Unrestricted Submarine Warfare started in 1915 and continued until 1918. During this time the Germans were the main country doing, this using their U-boats to sink British and American cargo and passenger ships claiming that they thought they were undercover battleships.
2. The sinking of the RMS Lusitania took place on May 7th, 1915. The ship was shot down by a torpedo from the German U-boat U-20. It sunk 11 miles off of the coast of Ireland,killing 1,198 people and leaving 761 survivors.
3. The Sussex Pledge was a promise made by Germany in 1916, saying that they would not target passenger ships, and merchant ships would not be sunk unless weapons were identified and the passengers and crew had to be kept safe.
4. The Zimmerman note was a proposal sent from Germany to Mexico in 1917, to join the Central Powers. The note was intercepted by British intelligence, decoded, and shown to the U.S. which caused war to be declared on Germany.   

Shell Shock

Shell Shock in WWI

By: Alec Winsor

               Shell shock was a reaction to the stress of war that affected some soldiers. It especially was common with soldiers that faced a certain event, such as, stabbing someone in the stomach or the face, being bombarded by artillery, or just witnessing killing in general. Some men that bayonetted  Common symptoms include fatigue, tremors, confusion, nightmares, and impaired sight and hearing. Different doctors had different theories as to what causes shell shock, including hidden damage to the brain, and poisoning from the carbon monoxide from explosions. It was later concluded that it was from emotional damage, versus physical. After World War I, the term shell shock was replaced with combat stress reaction, which was used through World War II and present day.

               During earlier stages of the war, shell shock victims were immedietly removed from the front lines mainly from fear of their unpredictable nature. But as the war went on, and the number of men able to fight decreased, the question of what to do with shell shocked soldiers became a bigger issue to authorities. Officials became more concerned with this situation and had a hard time returning these men to battle. If a man was uninjured physically, it was easier to redeploy him. Because of this, they had to devote more time and effort to understanding and attempting to treat shell shocked victims.

 

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_shock

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/shellshock_01.shtml