Japan VS Pripyat

     With Japan’s recent disaster, people are comparing it to the disaster in Pripyat that happened on April 26, 1986. On that day so long ago, 50,000 people had fled after Chernobyl’s No. 4 reactor exploded I a devil’s brew of cesium, strontium, iodine and plutonium. The city was new when it was destroyed, only 16 years old. Now grass grows through cracks in the streets and dry leaves shudder from the memories of the dark past in this not-so-forgotten city. Many people are comparing the horrors of Japan to the dramatic tragedy of Pripyat because of the money it will cost to reconstruct the city. “As a rule of thumb, the more developed the country, the higher the cleanup costs will be,” said Grimston. “However, it will be hard to separate out responsibility and costs between the earthquake, the tsunami and the responsibility to the Tokyo Electric Power Company, which operates the Fukushima No. 1 plant,” he said.

    

Alexa Loo

            Alexa Loo was your average 15 year old when she started snowboarding. She kept snowboarding and then she tried qualifying for the 2002 winter Olympics but she missed it by 11-hundredths of a second. 4 years later in Italy, she became the first Canadian woman to compete in the parallel giant slalom and came in 20^th. Sadly, Loo tore her knee ligament in early 2007 and was forced to re-evaluate the way she raced. She did physical therapy and returned that September with renewed focus. Because of the lost time while she was out on injured leave, she lost her financing in 2007. She needed to finish in the top 16 in the world to qualify for her $18,000 that was stripped from her past financing.

   

           Two Chinese brothers had heard her story and began putting her profile on the re-usable bags that were sold in their grocery store. This really helped Alexa in getting her money back and she won a World Cup Silver Medal in Austria. For 10 years, Loo walked her Olympic journey alone. Now because of her bummed knee, the Chinese brothers, and those of her community, she will now snowboard for the city that kept her journey going.

~LIBYA~

                     As many people know, Libya is going through one hell of a time right now. Not many people are following the tragedies and hardships that these people are going through and I don't really understand why. I guess it could be because it is a small country, or because it isn't by us or maybe because people are ignorant enough to think that they are more important enough than those people in Libya. Well, I am here to share my opinion on the subject.
                     I watch sxephil on YouTube and he tells news stories that are the most popular from the last couple of days. He always mentions those in Libya in his videos and sends his good thoughts out to them. He encourages support of Libya and that is how I keep updated on what is going on there.
                    I hate how people are making jokes about this and saying that they deserve to be bombed? WHAT THE F*** AMERICANS? What is your problem? People are in trouble and you think it is funny? I also don't think bombing was a good idea in the first place. Reasons:
                                                                  1. The missiles were crazy expensive and got us into a ton more debt. Great move Obama, try digging us out of this one after getting that health care plan finalized. (This will never happen.)
                                                                  2. You hurt the citizens just as much as the people you are aiming to bomb in the first place. I don't understand how this is helping the rebels at all, you are just depleting their numbers even further.
                                                                   3. WE ARE GOING TO GET BOMBED BACK. DUH, THEY ARE GOING TO BE PISSED THAT WE ARE BOMBING THEM AND IT IS GOING TO BACKFIRE.
                    Id also like to point out how it took us so long to even notice any of this was going on when it has been happening for years. Americans are lazy, stupid and selfish and we only care about ourselves and now our only solution for anything is weapons, machinery and the constant intake of Big Macs.
                    And what is up with this insane Gadhafi guy? Why do people have all this lust for power? You ruled a country for a while; it should be checked off your bucket list. Ruling the world is an old fashioned idea and I think that it is very clear that it is IMPOSSIBLE. Nobody likes you as their ruler, wouldn’t you feel bad and want to step down anyway if people were trashing you like that? I would. Plus, his pedo-stache seriously scares me.

Wait for it....Wait for it....Wait for it....Wait for it......

                      SEXY POSE!

 

                   Rebels are also running low on guns and ammo; there really isn’t a way for them to fight back efficiently without these things. Also Gadhafi has been supplying the citizens who support him with guns to attack the rebels with. Plus Gadhafi’s men have tanks and all this other stuff they are using to attack everyone else.

            On March 19, 11, French military jets were preventing forces from attacking the rebel-held city of Benghazi. The world leader meeting was in Paris and they were discussing the course of action to take against Gaddafi, this meeting didn't include President Barack Obama. The Leader of the Free World is on an "official" trip to Latin American countries that includes a stop in Rio. While Obama is ogling Brazilian hotties, the French President assumed the mantle of leadership, and announced that French military jets are going flying over Libya. America shouldn't go to war against another Muslim country, our troops and military resources are already over-extended in a war that is currently going on. (Obama still has not been successful in bringing our troops home, as I may point out.) He also made the decision to participate in enforcing the no-fly zone over Libya, so Obama should show a little at least a bit of leadership. Maybe Obama can set the suntan lotion aside for a couple of moments, and at least get off his lazy @** and help us get help to the situation in Libya.

Ed Gein

         

Ed Gein

                 


                               Although you may not have heard his name, Ed Gein could be America's most famous serial killers.  His actions from four decades ago inspired the movie, Psycho and its sequel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and also the more recent movie, Silence of the Lambs. 

                              Ed Gein was born on August 27, 1906 to his parents – George and Augusta Gein. He was raised on a farm right outside of Plainfield, Wisconsin. His father was a raging alcoholic and his mother was strict and she controlled her two boys at all times. Gein was raised in a religious home where his mother was doing one of two things: creating jobs on the farm for the boys to do or preaching the gospel and teaching them about the evils of sex and women. His mother died five years after the death of Mr. Gein.

                  When Gein was a child, he was made fun of at school. When he finally made a friend he went home and told his mother. She was enraged and told him that a pal outside of family was the works of the devil. Therefore, Ed Gein lived a very lonely childhood.

                   While Ed lived alone after his mother died he became fascinated with experiments the Nazi's preformed during the holocaust. He then became obsessed with dismemberment, and his sexual fantasies and dismemberment merged into one. Gus was a longtime friend Gein. Gein told him of experiments he wanted to perform but he needed bodies. Together they began robbing graves for the needed bodies. This same scenario went on for more than 10 years. He also dug up his mother and used her body for experiments. The experiments with the corpses became more gruesome and bizarre over time and included cannibalism. Gein's obsessive fantasies revolved over his obsession over becoming a woman. He would construct items out of the skin of the body that he could then drape on himself such as a female mask and breasts. He even made a complete jumpsuit that he would wear that made him look like a woman.

                     Gein's needs escalated into believing to perfect his desired sex change he would need fresher bodies. On December 8, 1954, Gein was 48, and killed Mary Hogan who was the owner of a local tavern/inn. At the time of the incident, the police were unable to solve the crime of Mary's disapperance. Gein's friend Gus was not involved in the murder. He was institutionalized before the killing began. Only Gein knew for sure how many he women he tortured and killed.

                      The next woman he killed was Bernice Worden, the owner of a hardware store in town. On November 16, 1957, Gein entered the hardware store that he had been to hundreds of times and Bernice had no reason to fear him. She didn't think anything unusal when Gein removed a .22 rifle from the display rack although her instincts sharpened when she saw him insert his own bullet into the rifle. Gein shot the gun and murdered Bernice he then placed her body into the store's truck went back to get the cash register, then he drove the store truck to his home. Her son Frank was deputy sheriff, returned late in the day from a morning hunting trip and found his mother was missing and blood was spilled everywhere on the floor of the store. When he looked over store receipts he found a purchase of a half of gallon of antifreeze.

                        Frank thought about any suspicious activity that had happened recently, and he remembered that Gein had been in and out of the store the past week and also at closing time the night before. He remembered Gein saying he'd be back in the morning for antifreeze and that Gein questioned Frank about going hunting the next day. Although Gein had never been involved in any criminal activity, or so they thought, the sheriff felt it was time to pay the odd loner a visit.

                         Gein was found by the police at a store near his home. Police went into Gein's farmhouse in hopes of finding Bernice. The shed was the first area they looked. Working in the dark of the night, Officer Schley lit a torch and slowly swung it around the shed. Inside was a woman's naked corpse hanging upside down, the body disemboweled, and the throat and head missing. It was the body of Bernice Worden.

                        Next came the search of Gein's house. The police officers waded through piles of garbage and an incredible amount of junk with only oil lamps and torches to guide them. As the officers eyes adjusted, the junk began to become familiar with them, it was one of the most horrific scenes ever imagined. Everywhere they looked they saw body parts, some used as household items such as skulls made into bowls, jewelry made from human skin, lips hanging, chair seats with human skin lining, facial skin that was well preserved and resembled masks, and a box of female genitals - among which was his mothers, painted silver.

                      It was later determined that the body parts came from 15 different women although some parts could never be identified. One of the most shocking items found was Bernice's heart, which was found in a pan on the stove. The lives of the police officers who walked through the house of horrors on that night changed forever.

                     Gein was committed to the Waupun State Hospital for the duration of his life. It was revealed that his reasons for killing older women stemmed from his love-hate feelings for his mother. He never admitted to his cannibalistic activities. At the age of 78, Gein died of cancer and his remains were buried in his family plot in Plainfield. The property eluded evil and horrific memories for the people of Plainfield and eventually it was torched by citizens.

 

Plainfeild Farmhouse

             

Family Vacation

Ive been working on my photography a lot lately and I'm hoping to get some input on it :)

-The Sun Will Rise Again


-Our Door Is Always Open


-Zion


-Headstone


-Deaths


-The Bells

Weekend Ideas!

It’s Saturday, you are at home – skipping channel after channel looking for something to watch. You sigh and think about how nice it would be to have something exciting to do. Click, click, click… There still isn’t anything worth watching on television. You stand up and head to your bedroom. As you plop yourself down on the bed, you realize your friend is most likely just as bored as you are. Your phone is small and the keyboard is missing a few buttons, but you pick it up anyway and text away.

     Your friend is now sitting with you in your living room. Both of you are bored beyond relief. Aha! Now you remember that you have your school newspaper that has some amazing ideas for things to do on the weekend!

     First thing you have to take into consideration is the weather. If it’s cold outside you can’t exactly be going swimming and if it’s really hot you can’t be trudging around with your sled. Next thing you have to think about is $Money$ in today’s economy, money isn’t exactly easy to come by. A lot of teenagers are usually stuck at home due to this issue, but thanks to this article – it shouldn’t be a problem anymore.

     Well if it is sunny outside and you are stuck at home flipping through channels or listening to your siblings scream their heads off, this is a great idea for you. First, grab a few of your best friends and have them meet you down at the trax station. There are two trax locations near here, one is right by Jordan high school and the other is by Jordan Commons Theater/ Mount Jordan Middle School. Next, hop on and head down to the Gateway Mall. You will have tons of fun on the ride, plus going in and out of those stores can be quite the adventure. Now for the final event….bum bum bum…GO SWIMMING! You may be thinking “What the heck? You can’t swim at the mall.” But you stand corrected. Bring your swimsuits and play in the fountain downtown. This is a great way to cool off and have an amazing time. Be careful not to trip over little kids and after your soaked and cooled off, stop by a restaurant to get some ice cream. This is a cheap idea and it will be lots of fun. Don’t forget the sunscreen!

     The next idea that I have for you is for if it is a snowy day. Of course, get a bunch of your friends together and have them meet at your house. Next, have everyone hang out and watch a movie for a while. Once it is dark outside, or the sun is setting, have everyone dress warm and grab a sled. Have everyone pile in the car and head to the nearest steep hill. Bring flashlights and have a blast sledding in the dark. Have the car you rode in keep the headlights on, that way no one gets hurt. This is the best way to go sledding. The more people you have with you, the better.  Be sure you get back home before too late though, and check before hand on whether the place you are going closes at a certain time. After you are done sledding, head back and have some hot chocolate and possibly a sleepover. Stay warm and keep safe!

     If it is rainy and sad outside, it’s the perfect time for a water balloon fight! Go to your dollar store and get a few bags of water balloons. Then, fill them with WARM water and head outside. Be sure you are wearing a swimsuit or some clothes you can get wet. Next, stand on your lawn or on different sides of your street. (As long as your street isn’t busy and you keep an eye out for cars) Now toss your balloon back and forth between the two of you. Whenever you get wet, it actually feels really good because of the warm water. Since it’s cold outside the warm water feels amazing!

     These are just a few ideas’ you can use to get yourselves off your lazy butts and get out and play!

Photojournalism

I took this picture at the back entrance of our school one day when I was walking home from basketball.  I really liked the ring around the sun and how it was showing so beautiful through the clouds. I feel like this picture is one of my best because I love the lighting in it.

I took this picture while we were driving. I was hoping that I would be able to get it to not blur, but I really like the way that the colors seemed to dance in this picture. I also liked the way the shades of blue are lighter towards the center of the picture and get darker higher up. I like the simplicity of this picture but at the same time it seems really complex. I feel like it almost symbolizes the chaotic aspect of every-day city life.

 

I took this picture at the top of Sego Lilly on a super foggy day. I liked the way our mountains looked on this particular day. We are so blessed to have such beautiful mountains here in Utah and we take them for granted a lot. I also really liked the way it makes the picture look really old because of the coloring of it. Another think I would like to point out is that the snow is almost the same color as the sky, so the rock on the mountain really stands out.