In 1955 there was a beautiful creation called the Space Race. The Space Race was a competition between two superpowers, the United States and Russia. Dwight D. Eisenhower was in the oval office at the time this happened, and Nikita Khrushchev was the leader for Russia at the time. The Space Race indirectly created NASA which directly created the Apollo program.

In 1955, the U.S. said that they were going to launch a satellite into orbit. The Space Race began when Russia responded to the U.S. saying that they were going to launch an artificial satellite into space. About two years later in 1957, Russia finally launched Sputnik I. Sputnik was a pretty basic satellite, it had a diameter of about 2 feet with a few antennas. Russia beat us to space, and the U.S. responded by creating a space program that’s still around today called NASA (Wikepedia).

NASA stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and it was created in 1958. NASA was in charge of all things in the U.S. for space exploration. One of NASA’s missions was the Mercury project. The Mercury project was a series of tests by NASA to see if people could survive in space. After the test results came in and showed that humans could live in space, the Apollo program was launched (History.com).

The Apollo program was created to put a man on the moon. It was John F. Kennedy’s idea because we wanted to get back at Russia for them putting the first man in space. With the Apollo missions there were a total of 6 successful landings on the moon. There were a total of 16 missions and 10 were unsuccessful. Apollo missions 8 and 10 went to the moon, they took pictures and tested equipment. Apollo 13 was a disaster. The oxygen tank blew up, the men who were on board had to do what they could to return to Earth. They safely returned back to Earth after their ordeal.

The Space Race indirectly caused the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to form which then directly created the Apollo 11 mission. The Space Race began when Russia took action after the U.S. said they were launching a satellite. NASA was the hub for all space exploration and created the Apollo program. The Apollo program sent the first man to the moon and continued for a few years after they accomplished Apollo 11. All of these things were a large part in our history and our modern day.

Works Cited

Wikipedia.com. “The Space Race.” Web.

History.com. “The Space Race”. Web

Ebola is a very deadly disease. It can kill by causing internal and external bleeding, it can also shut down the liver and kidneys. It usually takes between 3-21 days to see symptoms. It can kill within 6-16 days. It is going to be a very difficult task to try and stop the spread of the disease. Currently there are 9,000+ cases reported and 4,500+ reported dead in West Africa. The 2014 outbreak is the largest ever seen. In the U.S. there have been 3 reported cases of the Ebola and 1 death. The man responsible for bringing the virus to the U.S. is Thomas Eric Duncan. He was traveling from Liberia to the United States, he was also the first to die. There is no cure currently and probably won’t be until at least 2016. The CDC said that they would need to isolate at least 50% of the infected and that won’t stop the virus , but it would buy time to help create a vaccine.

The author who wrote this article was un-biased. My friend Toby’s opinion on this article is “It was Thomas Eric Duncan’s fault for the two cases of Ebola in Dallas. He lied right to the doctors face, and he lied about where he was coming from. We need to contain Ebola before all of Africa is effected by this virus.”

The Cuban government has made a new law that during the baseball offseason, you can sign a contract with Mexico or Japan, not America. If you sign a contract with Mexico or Japan during the offseason, you have to play regular season with Cuba, since Cuba is communist, they get most of your paycheck from Japan and Mexico. They don’t want their Cuban baseball players to sign with the US because that pretty much means you will never comeback after you sign with an American team.

It is illegal to leave Cuba for the US already, but people still do it. They leave using human trafficking and get taken to the US and often pay hundreds of thousands of dollars, if they get signed by a pro team. They usually leave for the money you can make in the US, as well as to play with some of the best ball players in the world.

I really kind of disagree with this article. Why, you ask? Because it is their life and the Cuban government just doesn’t want them to leave. I think a solution to this is to pay a little bit of money to the Cuban government to take the player. They would spend more money because they have to pay for the contract also, but the question you have to ask yourself if you were a GM is, “Would I make more money in the long run after paying him?”

The authors of this article is unbiased. My classmate Toby’s opinion is “Cuba shouldn’t be the boss but also, the players should be allowed to play where they want.”

Cuba strikes out as it tries to keep it’s ballplayers home

Scared, the Ginger flinched as heard shattering of glass in the kitchen. One dark and stormy night was a lonely ginger in his room texting his midget friend, giant friend, and pasty white friend. The rain was pouring and lightening was striking everywhere around San Diego. Hurricane Jackson was about was about to land in Ocean Beach. The winds were getting up to 100+ miles an hour window panes would shake every time thunder boomed. All we could hear was trees shaking and crackling about to crumble to the Class 2 hurricane. The four of them were hiding in their rooms with their dogs. All hell was breaking loose the trees were being thrashed cars went flying roads began to flood and the only people driving in the rain were the ones who needed food, water or just to look at the destruction.

At this point it is about, 10:00 or 10:30ish. The giant watched his window, like a cat staring down a mouse. As they sat quietly in their rooms charging their phones so they can get as much battery life as possible to get them through the rough night. All of a sudden, the gingers power went out, then the midgets power went out, then the pasty kid’s power went out, and then the giants power went out. They all began to search their houses for their parents. After a few minutes they all had candles lighting up the night. After the power went out and everyone’s phone was charged at 100%, everyone but the midget and the ginger went to sleep.They were relaxing to the sounds of nature such as the thunder and the rain. Then after a while they went to sleep too.

When they all woke up in the morning the winds were still howling at 75 MPH, the rain was still drenching the county of San Diego, the light from the sun wasn’t really showing through the clouds, and you for sure could still hear the window panes rattle every time the thunder boomed with a deep voice. The ginger looked out into his back yard only to see that a huge King Palm tree in his back yard had snapped, even with a three foot diameter through the trunk. He then ran to the front of his house to see debris, and car parts that had been ripped off by the amazing wind speeds, all over the quiet neighborhood streets. He stepped outside into the 40 degree, breath taking air. He then went back inside to check for power, but there was still none so he decided to text the giant, the midget, and the pasty white kid.

They all responded back within minutes. They all said that they didn’t have power and there was also debris in their streets as well. The ginger checked his phone for a weather update and it said exactly as he thought it would say, cold, wet, rainy, and stormy weather for the next day or two. They had to go out and get any supplies like water or meat. For breakfast and lunch they had to eat dry foods that they had kept out of the fridge (to try and keep the cold air inside the fridge/freezer so the food would stay good). For dinner they all had meat that was barbecued. After that they all didn’t really use their phones, trying to conserve battery percentage.

The next day after a long peaceful night, the midget got up and texted the ginger, the giant, and the pasty white kid. After that everyone got up and the pasty white kid went to his front window only to see that it was snowing! He texted his other three friends and told them to check for themselves. So they all got up to find that the pasty white kid wasn’t lying, it was snowing, and there already was a few inches on the ground. The giant ran outside with his younger siblings and started to play in it. Then the midget ran outside and also with his siblings, he also played in the snow. Then the pasty white kid ran outside with his older brother and did the same. Then the ginger followed with his siblings as well. All of them joined their neighbors in having a good time.

After a long day of snow fun, they all took hot showers and relaxed. Their mothers made them a nice tasty hot chocolate. It was a nice refreshing thing to end a wonderful day. They all had a absolutely amazing sleep, only to wake up to find the power is back on and the weather had returned back to the regular winter 65 degrees. It was a wonderful week, all though it got a little hectic on the first day the hurricane was coming in, it got way better.

Have you ever felt what it is like to hit a homerun? I have, I’ve felt that thrill about ten times and it never gets old. During the early summer of 2014, somewhere in June, the baseball team I was on went to the TOC or Tournament of Champions. We had the opportunity to play against teams that had won their division, as we did ourselves. We were in the first or second game of our TOC visit when I accomplished something that gave me an amazing feeling and it’s also something I don’t think I will ever forget.

While our team was warming up, I began talking to my teammate, Chris. “Hey Chris, how far do you think that fence is from home plate?” He replied with, “It looks about 220 or 225 feet.” After that I just kept to myself and tried to get ready to play. When I took batting practice I was feeling pretty good about myself.

We began the game and I was getting pretty excited but I was also nervous. Everything was ordinary at first base. When I went up to bat the first time in the 2nd inning I hit it between 2nd base and shortstop for a base hit. After that we scored five runs and they scored two. In the fifth inning I went up to bat and my friend Jake was on first base. I took a strike and a ball. Before the next pitch I stared at the pitcher until the pitch came in. I was a little nervous but when the pitch came in and I jacked that thing 235 feet over the fence and into the trees behind the fence. It went faster than a redneck on Mountain Dew. With that hit I made it 7-2 we were winning. When I hit it I had a great feeling, like butterflies in my stomach, it’s a really great feeling.

It was the last inning, bottom of the 7th and we still have the lead 4-7. Our team was doing a pretty good job, and that’s where the errors began to show up. We made simple throwing errors and catching errors. At this point in the game it was tied up, bases loaded,1 out. There was a shallow outfield hit. The center fielder had to run in and tried to make a play which he missed. Their last run scored and we were eliminated from the TOC.

After the game we were all very bummed. When you hit a homerun, it’s its an amazing feeling but it’s kind of hard to explain. It’s like you just helped your team out; it’s like scoring a goal with 1 second left to play, or shooting the game winning buzzer beater shot. All I can say is that feeling will never ever get old.

Though this is day 6 of our plants life, it is only the second report day. The plants have been growing nicely. We have three or four that are beginning to sprout very good. The group that’s sprouting the best is the B group.

A1 1/4 inches growing

B1 2 1/2 inches

B2 3/4 inch

C2 1 inch

On September 17, 2014 Chris Kemoeatu and his older brother, Ma’ake held a news conference at University of Maryland Medical Center following their August 27 surgeries. Chris had learned that his health was deteriorating, especially his kidneys. He played 7 seasons for the Pittsburgh Steelers and is 31 years old. The only person who could save him was his older brother Ma’ake, 35, who was a former Baltimore Ravens player and was a 99% match to donate a kidney, and he was happy to do so. The surgeries were scheduled to take place in July when Chris was too stressed and had a major heart surgery instead. They will return to Hawaii after a couple more months in Baltimore.

My opinion of this article was that it was very brave of Ma’ake to donate a kidney to his younger brother. The author was not biased in the article.

My classmate Eric said “I agree with you that it was a kind gesture and very brave to donate his kidney”. I hope that both men will have a quick and safe recovery and I hope Ma’ake returns to football.

NFL brothers share Super Bowl titles and a Kidney

Chris Kemoeatu (left) and his brother Ma’ake laugh during a news conference at the University of Maryland Medical Center, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014, in Baltimore, Maryland. Chris Kemoeatu’s football career was cut short after seven seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers when he learnedhe’d need a kidney transplant. Photo: AP Photo/Patrick Semansky

Today we started planting our plants for our Mission to Mars. We have to see which plant will grow the fastest. We planted 4 different types of seeds. We put fertilizer in it and now we are waiting for our results. 

Deanna VanBuren and 18 prisoners got together at the beginning of the summer to begin a design program to help the men who were part of a program called “Resolve to Stop the Violence”. It helps heal both inmates and victims of crimes. They got to design the cells any way they wanted with anything they wanted in it. One inmate designed an area with a sun roof, a waterfall, and barriers to take showers and go to the bathroom in privacy. With the help of Deanna VanBuren and kiddie supplies and paper the Men created paper models.

My opinion on this article is that the men who are in this program aver very lucky and it is a good thing they all 18 of them pledged to “Resolve to Stop the Violence”. After my mom read this article she said, “given their opportunity they should use it to the fullest and change for the better from this.”

“’The most important thing is to be accountable, but in order to work on yourself you have to be comfortable,’ said Gillis, who is planning a restorative justice circle to ‘make up for the harm’ he had inflicted on his 16-year-old son through his absence and violent tendencies.” This is what one of the inmates said about what he had done.

Here is the article ———–> Prisons by design, by prisoners