Category Archives: History
SDSU men’s basketball team wins their 17th game in a row
San Diego State University’s Senior Point Guard Xavier Thames earns 31 points for the Aztecs in an overtime victory against the Utah State Aggies on the road. He went for 10 points in overtime. Number 5 in the nation San Diego State brings their record to 18-1 on the season only behind Wichita state, Florida, Syracuse, and Arizona. Number 1 Arizona beat San Diego state in the second game of the season which is SDSU’s only loss.
San Diego State has had a team field goal percentage between 30% and 37% in their last 4 games, yet they have won 17 games in a row! How? because of their absolutely outstanding defense led by their starting center Skylar Spencer with 48 blocks in 19 games this season.
SDSU is having a phenomenal season. Starting forward Josh Davis is averaging 11 rebounds per game. Point guard Xavier Thames is averaging 18 points per game, 81% from the free throw line, and 46% from three point range. But what has really got SDSU winning is defense. SDSU ranks 1st in field goal percentage allowed out of 350 teams.
San Diego State is the 5th best team in the nation. The highest ranking the Aztecs had before this year was 6th in the nation in 2010. The season we all know as the “sweet season” where we made it to the sweet sixteen and we won our first NCAA tournament game in school history. The San Diego State University Aztecs men’s basketball team is like butter, because they are on a roll.
“42” Movie review
The movie “42” is about a young African-American baseball player who started his pro career in the Negro League and later was picked up by a courageous Branch Rickey, former general manager/ currently in the baseball Hall of fame, decided to bring an African-American into Major League Baseball. He put Robinson in the minors at first to test his durability against the abuse he would get from whites. When Rickey signed Robinson he told him he wanted a player that “Has the guts not to fight back”(Branch Rickey 42). Jackie was insulted, abused, not just by baseball fans or ordinary white people, but his own teammates! But they started to treat him better when they saw him play on that baseball field.
Jackie was a second baseman/ short stop, but the Dodgers needed him to play first base. Jackie never played first base in his life! But he did well. However, he wasn’t just worried about the game. He received death threats from baseball fans. So he had to play with the thought in the back of his head, that someone in the stands was going to shoot him on the field. He had an extremely hard baseball career, and hard life.
Because of the strength, and courageousness of Jackie Robinson, baseball allows people of all races in M.L.B. as long as you had the skills. Today you are not judged by you’re skills not race. The movie 42 is probably one of my all-time favorite movies. I would recommend this movie to people of all ages.
Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi’s Styles
Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi were two of the greatest men that ever lived. They both impacted our lives today by giving freedom to every human being. Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi’s “I have a dream” and “Non-cooperation” speeches had different audiences but similar imagery and purpose.
Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech was given on August 28, 1963. His imagery was exquisite. One example of imagery he used was, “Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood”. What M.L.K. Jr. was saying in this quotation was that it was time to end racism and to begin a time of peace where one is not hated because of the color of one’s skin. When he gave this speech he spoke in front of 250,000 Americans, not including the additional radio listeners. The purpose of the speech was to help give African Americans their freedom in America.
Mahatma Gandhi’s “Non-cooperation” speech was given August 12, 1920 in Madras, India. Gandhi gave this speech to the British government because he wanted freedom for India. Gandhi used imagery similar to Martin Luther King Jr. “On this heart of the Muslims of India has become Lacerated”. This quotation showed that they wanted their freedom from Britain and they wanted it badly.
Gandhi and M.L.K. Jr. had different audiences but similar imagery and purpose in their speeches. The “I have a dream’ speech helped give African-Americans their freedom, and the “Non-cooperation” speech helped give India their independence from Britain. They were two of the most important men in history and they gave two of the most important speeches in history. Without them, history wouldn’t be the same.
Cesar Chavez web
Interview a Vietnam Veteran
1. What was Vietnam Like? It was hot and dry, and hot and wet.
2. What was your reaction when you saw a Vietnamese? “We would just frown at each other”.
3. Were you ever injured during war? “Yes, my thumb while putting in an air conditioner”.
4. Were you ever involved with the Agent Orange? Not Directly
5. What did you think when you heard about the My Lai massacre? “I read about it”.
The Jackie Robinson story
What do you know about Jackie Robinson? Well, Jackie was one of the most important people involved in the Civil rights movement. He broke the color barrier between blacks and whites in Major League Baseball.
The Nuclear arms race
What do you know about the Nuclear arms race? The Nuclear arms race of the Cold war was when everyone thought the more weapons you had, the more power you had. The Nuclear arms race caused the creation of the Hydrogen bomb, M.A.D. (Mutual assured destruction), and the Nuclear test ban treaty.
The Nuclear arms race was when every country stockpiled on weapons. The countries with the most were the U.S. and U.S.S.R. “The US had 2,032 launchers and 11,000 warheads, The USSR had 2,490 launchers and 10,000 warheads,” (Yahoo). I thought it was a complete waste of money to spend money on a bunch of weapons that we didn’t use, for example the Hydrogen bomb.
The Hydrogen bomb is a “Thermo nuclear weapon that uses the heat generated by a fission bomb to compress and ignite a nuclear, fission state,” (Wikipedia). This results in an explosion. The Hydrogen bomb was designed by Edward Teller and Stanislaw Ulam in 1951. They tested the bomb in 1952. It was called the “Ivy Mike” nuclear test.
The creation of the H-bomb scared Russia into thinking we would attack them which created the idea of M.A.D, Mutual Assured Destruction. M.A.D. meant that if one country strikes another, the other country would strike back, causing a nuclear war. An example of M.A.D., or Mutual assured destruction, would be if the U.S. attacked U.S.S.R. then U.S.S.R. would attack the U.S. This was a fear of the Cold War. So we agreed on the Nuclear test ban treaty.
The nuclear test ban treaty was an agreement to not use or test any nuclear weapons because of the fears of a Nuclear war. It was manly for the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. because we both had the most weapons in the world. This prevented the use of the Hydrogen bomb, which also put aside M.A.D.
The nuclear arms race caused the creation of the H-bomb, M.A.D., and the Nuclear test ban treaty. And who knows if the H-bomb would have been created if the Nuclear arms race never happened. Or would there be M.A.D if the Hydrogen bomb didn’t get created?Would there have been any wars? Maybe. Or maybe not…
Current Event
Cruise missiles are accurate but are they effective?
The weapon the U.S. has chosen to use against Syria is the Tomahawk missile. “Though powerful, the missile alone would likely not be capable of crippling Bashar Assads rigme”(brook1). Each missile costs $1.1 million. The US’s involvement with Syria is because Assad contains chemical weapons, but the U.N.(United Nations) were not informed of the reasons of needing the weapons.
My mom’s opinion is that “The U.S. should not waste are time with Syria when we have our own problems”. She does have a point because the U.S. are sending five missiles which will cost the U.S. 5.5 million dollars to make, even though we have our own problems.
However, Assad creating the chemical weapons without the U.N’s consent was not the way to go about this. So we must send the tomahawk missiles into Syria and deal with our problems later.
USA today’s Tom Vanden Brook is leaning toward the side against sending missiles into Syria because he states “If Assad is eating cheerios, were going to take away his spoon and give him a fork. Will that degrade his ability to eat cheerios? Yes, will it deter him? Maybe. But he’ll still be able to eat cheerios”.