Another Natural Disaster Strikes Madly

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7T7GYl0xvg


This is not a Hollywood movie. Dozens of tornadoes roared as a colossal monster vanishing everything on their way. Tuscaloosa, Alabama unfortunately was the set of this tragic event. The video shows the deadly truth this place is facing. This is the deadliest tornado outbreak in almost 40 years, leaving at least 297.

"There's not a word for what you see," said Becky Russell, spokeswoman for the Salvation Army's Alabama-Louisiana-Mississippi (ALM) Division as she surveyed the damage in Tuscaloosa. "This has to be close to what a war zone looks like. I can turn in any direction and there is nothing normal standing."

 

Natural disasters are occurring more often and even in bigger scales. Tsunamis, Earthquakes and now tornados strike mankind with no compassion. Millions of people have died and at least trillions have lost completely their home. For some the idea of the end of the world is just a myth, but as 2012 comes closer it seems that this myth could turn into a reality.     

Message in a Bottle

Thirteen-year-old Daniil Korotkikh was walking on a beach in Russia when he saw a bottle in the sand.

It turned out to be 24 years old, having been thrown by a young boy off a ship in the Baltic Sea nearly a quarter century ago. And it had a message inside, written in German.

The letter said: "My name is Frank and I'm five years old. My dad and I are traveling on a ship to Denmark. If you find this letter, please write back to me, and I will write back to you."

Daniil Korotkikh was uncertain at the begining about the legitimacy of this message. But although he had this feeling, he did not want to stay with the intrigue. So he contact the address of the letter. After a few days he got an answer, but it was from the parents of the author of the letter. He then was able to get in contact with Frank

Daniil found the bottle on a beach on the Curonian Spit, on the Baltic Sea coast, part of which belongs to Russia's Kaliningrad region and part to Lithuania. The boy said he found it hard to believe that the bottle was so old and theorized it had been buried in the sand the whole time. "It would not have survived in the water all that time," he said.

I really wanted to share this crazy news. How can the bottle survive 24 years overseas? What are the probabilities for someone to find it!?

Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGZ-svdreIU

Season Sports

We are a couple days from the so desired opening day of the Major League Baseball. It's crazy how people are so anxious for this coming season. Fantasy line-ups, new strategies and lots of things that come before this great day for those who love Baseball.

The pre-season at the warm south has shown what each team has to offer. Lots of new players have shown their qualities and some old dogs keep showing they rule this game.

Its very curious to me how sports here are played just for couple months. The reason for this is obvious, and this makes every single sport gain even more attention. Football lovers can now watch some basketball or some baseball too. Back home we just play all year long, and basically thats what happens all over the world. 

For example, soccer is played almost the 11 months per year, whether it is on Europe, South America or Africa. Any way I think that this idea of selecting which sport plays on which month also helps advertising to focus even further. Since companies have only one or two sports to sponsor, they can use more time to be as efficient as possible with their messages to the customer and providing outstanding jobs.

For this season I hope another Colombian makes a great performance like Edgar Renteria did last year, not only winning the World Series with the Giants, but being the World Series MVP. 

Opening Day Commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1U2KbUbG1Q

Positive or Negative Negotiation?

This idea has created lots of controversy. Some critics say that this alliance will create a great coverage taking away those old problems of loosing bar signal all the time. Also their spectrum will increase massively making internet faster, more applications and better devices. Also another thing that was said by the pro side was that prices will decrease. Now that they have a greater capital and become more efficient they will start cutting down some prices.

The wireless world has been shocked by the proposal of AT&T. They want to keep expanding and their new target is T-Mobile, the price, 39 billion dollars. One if their eternal rivals has now become the best opportunity to increase their spectrum.


On the other hand, some people are afraid of a monopoly from AT&T. This monopoly could skyrocket prices since they will keep on growing and control the whole wireless industry. After buying T-Mobile they could keep on buying smaller companies looking for personal benefits. Another negative aspect was that the customer services. The New York Times says it will not increase. "Bigger is not Better". These two companies are the top worst of customer satisfaction....

I hope this negotiation brings lots of benefits to everyone. I'm currently a user of iWireless which is an affiliate of T-Mobile. I hope that the benefits are also seen be their affiliates.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1YUa0I71sk&feature=player_embedded

http://blogs.computerworld.com/18000/at_t_buys_t_mobile_usa_monopoly_merger_mania?ue

A Valuable Lesson

After the massive destruction of the tsunami in Japan last Sunday,  the wave of bad luck keeps covering Japan. They are fasing a huge dilemma concerning the nuclear plant of Fukushima Dai-Ichi.

An explosion at the power station destroyed a building housing the reactor, this created a radiation leak. The reactor's cooling system was damaged in the earthquake, but when water was poured on the superheated metal container of the fuel rods, it produced hydrogen which then interacted with the oxygen outside the reactor, causing an explosion. Luckily, the explosion seems not to have damaged the reactor, but only the building surrounding it.

We have a very important nuclear plant near our current location. The nuclear power plant at Palo, IA should really take on account all this problems that could happen from a possible meltdown. Having this type of plant requires lots of responsibilities with the community. The plant at Palo should take note of this unfortunate disaster and learn from these mistakes.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5raVVOLCCts&feature=player_embedded

Bad Weather for Lent

This Ash Wednesday comes with severe weather conditions. Iowa is going to face some snow storms and windy conditions. The temperature has dropped quite a bit also. It's sad that this significant day for us Catholics faces these severe conditions. This weather could create some difficulties when meeting with some family members or going to Church for mass and getting the ash.

 

But definitely the worst part of this severe weather condition is going to be suffered by the Mardi Gras celebrations. Severe thunderstorms and tornadoes hit near New Orleans overnight, putting a damper on Mardi Gras just in time for the solemnity of Lent. There are more than 10,000 power outages in New Orleans.

Other states are being affected by the weather too, like Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

Farther north, the Midwest can expect more rain and snow, adding to between six and 12 inches of snow around the Great Lakes.

Hope this weather changes soon....

The Big Winner of the Oscars

This last weekend was celebrated the 83th edition of the Oscars. The British film “The King’s Speech” was the King of the night nominated to twelve academy awards and winning four of them including Best Lead actor (Colin Firth), Best Film, Best Director (Tom Hooper) and best original Screenplay (David Seidler).

Firth plays King George VI, who, to overcome his stutter, is introduced to Lionel Logue, an unorthodox speech therapist played by Geoffrey Rush. The two men become friends as they work together, and after his brother abdicates, the new king relies on Logue to help him make a radio broadcast at the beginning of World War II.

One of the most amazing things of this film is that it has just been in Australia on December 23, 2010 and The United Kingdom on January 7, 2011. This historical film seemed to gain a lot of popularity and amazed with its scenes, characters, script and plot. It seems that they only needed these two places to become the most awarded movie of the night. After them came “Social Network” which has the favorite to get all of its nominations. Although they shined at the Golden Globe, this was not their night.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBo4Y78HznQ&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzI4D6dyp_o