Reading Minute

For my reading minute I choose Deception Point by Dan Brown. I choose to read it because i think Dan Brown has a great writing style and writes really good books. This book is about a NASA discovery in the arctic circle. They find proof of life outside of the earth. During the thriller, scientists are trying to validate the find. During the whole novel there is a tightly contested presidential election between current president Zach Henry and Senator Sedgewick Sexton. One of the main points in Sexton's camping is how Henry spends millions of dollars on NASA. Sexton's daughter, Rachel, works for the NRO and writes gists for the president. President Henry invites Rachel to go to the arctic circle and brief his staff about the discovery. The part of Deception Point I'm reading about is when Delta Force is spying on the scientists validating the NASA discovery using a microscopic robot. I'm reading this because it shows the government is up to something with the discovery since they are making sure the scientists think they found something great. This really deepens the plot because it seems Henry might be trying to show all the money on NASA was well spent, which would really help him in the election.

Protect and Defend

I recently read chapters 20-23 in Protect and Defend by Vince Flynn.  In chapter 19, Ashani, an Iraqi government official was hospitalized because he breathed in a lot of dust when the nuclear power plant blew up. He disagrees with many of the current presents ideas.  He hears that the president wants to blow up some of their own aircraft carriers so it will look like America blew it up, and it would look like they blew up the power plant.  Then he tells one of his employees to sneak him out to speak to the president.  In the next chapters, Rapp meets with the Israel Secret Services.  He talks to Ben Gurion and Rapp tells him that the U.S. knows Israel blew up the plant.  Gurion Dennie's it, but e doesn't fool Rapp.  It ends with Rapp leaving to go to Iraq.  

The Case for Barack Obama

I recently read The Case for Barack Obama, an article in News Week by Fareed Zakaria about how this campaign the debates aren't full of negativity, but each side respectively discussing their ideas.  Zakaria writes about how McCain is a brave war veteran, has broken with his party on many issues, yet he is not the the right man for president.  He's out of tune with the economic crisis.  He wants to continue fighting in Iraq but not with a modern day strategy.  His campaign hasn't been steady like Bararck Obama.  Obama has a broader economic agenda including health care reform and a major push of alternate sources of energy.  Zakaria says neither candidates have experience needed for this presidency.  Most people believe Obama has run a superb operation while McCain has been chaotic and ineffective.  

Individual Sports Heroes

The type of heroes I researched were individual sports heroes. An individual sport is where the athlete is basically competing for his own team. The categories I sorted them into were athletes that overcame ailments and record setting. To show what sports heroes are I used videos, media, and pictures

Overcoming Ailments


This video show highlights of biker Lance Armstrong who overcame cancer.He won 7 Tour De France titles.

(http://nbnl.globalwhelming.com/2008/08/23/beijing-olympics-2008-personality-natalie-du-toit-one-leg-but-not-any-slower/)

This article was publsihed at http://www.foxsports.com.au/beijing_olympics/story/0,27313,24217435-5016786,00.html

SOUTH African swimmer Natalie du Toit didn't win a medal in the women's open water 10km race at Shunyi. She didn't need to.

The 24-year-old's journey to the start line in Beijing has been an achievement worthy of any Olympic medal. Du Toit yesterday made history as the first amputee to compete at the Olympic Games, finishing 16th in a field of 25.

Du Toit lost her left leg in a motorcycle accident in 2001, a year after narrowly failing to qualify for the Sydney Games. Her leg was amputated at the knee after it began to turn gangrenous.

She was back in the water three months later and yesterday's 10km race was the culmination of her life-long dream to compete at the Olympics.

Such was the immense interest in Du Toit's story, she was mobbed by reporters from all around the world after the race.

The five-time Athens Paralympic champion, who gives motivational speeches for a living, admitted she was overcome by emotion before the race and was almost choking up as she later spoke about her journey.

"For me to come to the Olympics Games has been a dream come true," du Toit said.

"To be here, it's been a long road. I have worked hard to get here. I deserve to be here on merit. I don't want to get anything free."

Du Toit, who wears a prosthetic leg out of the water, was prompted to give open water swimming a try last year because there is less emphasis on the start and no tumble turns to worry about.
She qualified for Beijing after finishing fourth at the 10km world open water championships in Seville in May. Despite her thrill of competing at the Games, du Toit marked her own performance harshly.

"For my first Olympic race I am a bit disappointed. I didn't have such a good race," said du Toit, who finished 1min 22.2sec behind Russian gold medallist, Larisa Ilchenko.

"Placing 16th is not too bad, but I wanted to come top five.

"But I tried my best and I still have the Paralympics, so I have to keep focused."

Du Toit admitted she had proven doubters wrong that she would never make it to sport's biggest stage, but did not consider herself a campaigner for athletes with a physical disability.

"For me it's not about being able-bodied or disabled, it's all the same to me, I get up and I race. I am not a campaigner, it's just my personal dream and my personal goal," she said.

Du Toit finished one position behind Australian Melissa Gorman, who came 15th in 1min 05.9sec behind Ilchenko (1hr 59min 27.7sec) in only her second major international open water race.

After almost two hours in the water, yesterday's result came down to a sprint finish, with just three seconds separating Ilchenko and British silver and bronze medallists Keri-Anne Payne and Cassandra Patten.

The conditions were testing for the swimmers, who swam in 28C water. Gorman had a big pack of ice shoved down the front of her swimsuit after the race to help bring her core body temperature down.

"I am happy with how my race panned out for the most part," Gorman, 22, said.

"It was pretty tough out there. It was certainly hot and 10km, when you are going as hard as you can go, is not easy in hot water.

"This is only my second major international race and I improved 10 places, so hopefully I can go even better."

Record Breaking

Michale Phelps has 26 individual swimming world records.










Michale Johnson has the world record in the 400m dash, and was once the 200m dash world record holder. He received 5 Olympic metals.

Conclusion
I found that there are really only two types of sport heroes, ones who overcame an ailment, an ones who set records. The ones that over come ailments are usually considered greater heroes.

Protect and Defend

I have been reading Protect and Defend by Vince Flynn very slowly, but I recently read chapters 17-19.  Recently the Ironies nuclear power plant was bombed by the Israels.  The Ironies think that America actually bombed them because they think that only America could have a weapon that could make the plant into rubble.  What they don't know is that Israel had an inside man that weakened the structure of the multimillion plant.  This chapter ends with the Israels promising to make whoever did this will pay.  Then the setting switches to Washington D.C. where there is a meeting between the president and the CIA director, Irene Kennedy.  They have a discussion to make sure that they had nothing to do with the bombing, and to see how Israel bombed the plant.  Chapter 19 ends with Mitch Rapp landing in Israel.  

Ready, Aim, Fire!

I recently read and article in Newsweek titled Ready, Aim, Fire! by Sharon Begley.  The article is about negative ad campaigns.  Begley claims the tradition of our nation's negativity comes from the Declaration of Independence.  More than half of it were attacks on England.  Today Obama and McCain are using a lot of attack ads.  77 percent of Obama's ads are negative, while 54 percent of McCains ads are negative.  Polls have shown that 80 percent of voters believed that negative ads are unethical and damaging to our democracy.  70 percent of polled voters said McCains's ads were too negative and nasty while 41 percent Obama's were.  In the week ending on October 4th, almost 100 percent of McCain's ads were negative, while only 34 percent of Obama's ads were negative.  Begley says one of the most noted attack ads ever was the 1964 daisy ad.  It showed a girl pulling petals of a daisy, and at the same time counting from ten to zero.  Once she reaches zero a bomb goes off.  It ends with, "Vote for President Johnson."  There was no mention of opponent Barry Goldwater, but the message was clear.  

If You Build, Will They Pay?

I recently read an article in Newsweek titled, If You Build it, Will They Pay? by Johnnie Roberts and Andrew Murr. The main point of the article is that building a new sports stadium costs a fortune building a new sports stadium costs a fortune building a new sports stadium costs a fortune now days. After building a new stadium, the franchise usually charges more for a seat to a game. For example, the Yankees' are moving into a newly built stadium next year. For the best seats in the stadium, they are going to chare a ridiculos $2,500 per game. They must be able to sell the tickets becuse New York City has alot of rich bussness men. The Dallas Cowboys will play in their new stadium next year, and to help pay for the new stadium, they are offering the right to buy a season ticket which could cost as much as $150,000, and that only gets you 8 games. The article latter talks about how the Twins are building a new stadium in hope to make a bigger profit, because they didn't sell very meany seats in the Metrodome. They are going to conduct a study to see if a new stadium helps bring in more fans.

Spirits in the Night

I recently read an article in by Neal Justin in the Star Tribune titled Spirits in the Night. The main point of the article is about how TV shows have little faith in them. Justin claims religious shows receive low ratings, resulting in a quick cancellation. Dudley Riggs said, "Networks are scared offending someone. They're still trying to be all things to all me." Touched by an Angel was a top show in the late 90's and might have led to few signs of christian series, Promise Land and 7th Heaven. Johnathan Priced said, "Navel-gazing isn't very good on TV, a character just thinking about life." He says that you might need a well known actor to make the show better, but most probably woudn't take the job, because religious shows haven't been a big success. Now days on TV, almost every thing has some sort of violence, whether it's CSI or 24. I guess people would rather watch that than religious stuff.

Twin Cities Marathon

I recently read an article in the Star Tribune titled Rainy Tears of Joy (http://www.startribune.com/sports/30498724.html?elr=KArksUUUU). It was about last Sunday's Twin Cities Marathon. Fernando Cabado crossed the finish line first in the 26.2 mile race in a time of 2 hours, 16 minuets 32 seconds. The conditions were cold and rainy. In a post race interview, Cabado talked about how he had recently struggled, due mostly impart to partying. He had a tough childhood because his father keept on going in and out of jail. Runner up, Matt Gabrielson, was over one minnuet behind Cabado. He is the assistant coach for the Edina boys cross country team. Cabado and Gabrielson qualified to compete in next summers matrathon world chapionship in Belgium.

Protect and Defend

I have recently been reading Protect and Defend by Vince Flynn.  The main character, Mitch Rapp, is an assassin for America.  Although his official title isn't this, that's what the U.S. uses him as.  Through chapter 13, Rapp has had a lot of action.  In the beginning he kills a man who has committed treason.  The man had killed many innocent American politicians.  Rapp is such a patriot that he thinks it's okay to kill people as a result.  Once he arrives back from his trip, the president invites him to join him on Air Force One.  This spooks Rapp because he thinks he's in trouble, but realizes it wouldn't be from the mission because he assigned it to him.  Rapp probably thinks the meeting is about how he slept with his assistant on the mission.  Rapp's wife recently died, so he is trying to find someone to connect to.  The meeting turns out to be about an Afghanistan building holding nuclear weapons being bombed by Israels.  This is about as far as I got.  I'm interested to see if Rapp goes to Afghanistan.  

image: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n45/n229125.jpg

Deca Iron Man

I recently read an article on the internet titled 1997 World Deca-Ironman Championships by Bobby Brown (http://www.bobbysrun.co.uk/ironman.html). The article was about Brown completing a Deca-Iornman. The race started with a 24 mile swim, then a 1120 mile bike, and finaly 262 mile run. Brown competed in the race because he wanted to reach his full potential in life, and without competing in this ultimate test of endurance wasn't living to his full potential. It takes alot of time to prepare for a race like this and Brow was well prepared. Since the race takes over 8 days, Brown once stayed for 60 hours to see how his body reacted under extreme tiredness. He would also swim for seven hours at a time to react the boardom of the swim during the race. Brown realized he would need some rest during the race, but he knew he could only aford one hour of sleep every day. He made his body clock used to only sleeping one hour at a time by setting his alarm at 11pm, and once he woke up he would set his alarm for one hour later. He would do this throughout the night. After weeks of doing this, he would automatically wake up after one hour every night. Brown said the training was the hardest part, and the race would be easy. This makes scence, becase he spent two years training every day for this event. All of the suffering he went through almost every day was harder than the race. The race started at noon on November 17th, 1997. To complete the swim portion, Brown had to swim 1520 laps of the pool. It took him over 13 hours to complete this. Then it was off to the bike. He had to bike 980 laps around the track to do this. Sinnce this took over 4 days, he had slept for 4 hours, one hour each day. The leg of the race was the run, 10 marathons back to back. This took him another 4 days. During the run he was in so much pain that he took 6 ibuprofin to dull the pain. He ended up taking to many making him very sick. At the end of the race he was fatigued that he started crying uncontroably. It took Brown over two years to recover from the race, which was partly due to the ibuprofin. He had completed the ultamate test of endurance, and learned alot about himself, including pushing through pain barriers, and his metal and physical limits.

A Civil Action

The movie, A Civil Action, shows us that that our relationship with the earth can be very distant. In the film two companies are so concentrated on making money that they dump toxic waste into the earth. The waste eventually sinks into the the water system of the community. This kills seven children. If the companies had spent a few extra dollars could have moved the waste to a safe environment. Another example is when Jan Schlichtmann gets two speeding tickets in the same day. He is in such a rush with his business that he isn't paying attention to anything going on in the environment. It seems he only cares about himself and not others. In the movie, everyone except for some of the families, seem so contained in everyday life that they aren't seeing the big picture. The environment was being harmed, and all they cared about was money. They should pull themselves out of that cycle and start paying attention to the environment.

Animal Dreams

My favorite quote from Animal Dreams is on page 239. Loyd says, "We're on our own. The spirits have been good enough to let us live here and use the utilities, and we're saying: We know how nice you're bing. We appreciate the rain, we appreciate the sun, we appreciate the deer we took. Sorry if we messed up anything. You've gone to a lot of trouble, and we'll try to be good guests." I like this quote because it tells us why Loyd would die for the land. It also let's us know more about the Navajos. It tells us they are very gracious of the land, and every thing we have is thanks to the land.

My favorite character in Animal Dreams is Loyd because he is changing Codi's life. First of all he is trying to teach her that she can fit in places. She can only do this if she doesn't have that negative attitude that she also has. He also teaches Codi that she can't keep on moving to try and find a new life, she has to live her life the way it is. I also like Loyd because he seems to have changed a lot and seems very knowledgeable. He changed his mind state from his younger one and also gave up cockfighting, which was a very big part of his life. He is also very knowledgeable about the land because he is always telling Codi about it.

I think the most important scene from the book so far is when Hallie is kidnapped. I feel this is going to be one of the things that could push Codi into her new life. If Hallie does die, it will teach Codi to rely on someone other than Hallie, and it could be Loyd. Codi used to only talk about Hallie and that's probably why she felt she never belonged anywhere. She felt like she only belonged with Hallie. Now she can fells she belongs with Loyd.

Recent read

I recently read an article in the Star Tribune titled True to their Faith, True to their Teams. It's about Minnesota varsity high school athletes who are Muslim. Starting in the beginning of September most Muslims observe Ramadan, where Muslims fast for a month from dawn to dusk. The teens wake up before five in the morning so they can have a big meal. This is interesting because it shows that the teens feel their faith is more important than their faith. I read the article because my mom said it was very interesting and because it had to do with cross country. I was very impressed that teens have enough will power to do this. It also impressed me that they thought religion was more important than sports.

Favorite Book

My favorite book is Memorial Day by Vince Flynn. It's basically about Afghan terrorists trying to blow up Washington D.C with a nuclear bomb. A CIA operative, Mitch Rapp, finds out about the terrorists' plans, and does everything he can to stop them. This includes torturing and even killing people. Memorial Day also tells us about confusing politics in D.C. by bringing us into huge meetings concerning terrorists and bombs. The book was so actioned packed I couldn't put it down. Most chapters ended with Mitch Rapp hunting down a terrorist, or the bomb being smuggled into America. I also liked the book because it showed us into Mitch Rapp's mind, which is completely different from mine. He is a patriot that will do anything to protect our country. This includes, as I said before, killing people. The book also has a good ending where all of the main characters are together.
picture: http://www.bookreporter.com/art/covers/140w/0743453980.jpg

Codi and Hallie

This is my bubble map coparing Codi and Hallie.

Brett S.

Hey,
This is my first blog so all of this is kind of new. Some of the things I'm interested in include running track and cross country, playing baseball, hanging out with my friends, biking, and reading.
Brett S.