Room 613 Student Blogs - 2005/2006

Queen Elizabeth II is with Prince Philip [and] arrived in Australia for five days. She will be at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne on March 15. Queen Elizabeth’s first visit to Australia was in 1954 and her last was in 2002. It is amazing that several hundred well wishers went to greet her arrival. This may be her last overseas tour,and she will be turning 80 next month. I found this at this website.      

A bus driving from Istanbul to Van with passengers crashed. The bus drove into a fast moving Kelkit River in Tokat provinces, 200 miles east of Ankara . The company operating the service said 39 people bought tickets but they say more people could have been on board, but it is not very clear how many people on the bus. One passenger managed to free himself and walk to a near by village to find help. A rescue team and divers found 16 bodies, most of them inside the bus. Some of the 16 bodies found were 12 miles down the river.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4789480.stm

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1705675&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

In Baghdad, Iraq, gunmen dressed in camouflage kidnapped 50 security workers. Later Iraqi officers and US found 24 bodies scattered around the capital. The attackers went to the al-Rawafild Security Co. at 4:30 in the afternoon and forced the workers into cars. The people that did the kidnapping were a mix between Sunni and Shiite from eastern Baghdad.  While police were patrolling other areas gunfire and explosions killed several others. American Patrols found 18 more bodies in a building. All of them were men. In other parts of the city six more bodies were found. After all of this, on February 22, there was a bombing on an ancient Shiite shrine. Then there was a car explosion and killed 2 officers and injured 5 other people.

I found my information at

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,187139,00.html

1938

Dear American friend,

As you know I am a citizen of Turkey. Much has happened that you have yet to hear. So without further ado, let me tell you! You know those hats that men would always wear? They were called a fez. Men started wearing them when an Ottoman sultan demanded his officials and soldiers to where fezzes. This was actually an advantage for the Muslim men because when they prayed, their hats reached the ground and made it easier for their foreheads to reach. Then in the year 1925, Mustafa Kemal (our president of the Turkish republic) showed up with a hat that had no brim, and western clothing. So being the dictator he is, Mustafa made all men wear these hats. Yuck! These poor men then had to give up their lovely fezzes because Mustafa made it a law that they shall no longer where fezzes. Many men disliked this law and wished the could have their fezzes back! If I had to do that, people might have thought I’d given up my religion! But for us, we just had to wear veils. So I thought! He then took our veils away. He was like taking everything away from us! Then we got to go to school, get jobs and vote! That was pretty good. But all this was new to us so we adapted pretty slow. Wouldn’t you? All of this took part after World War One. But Mustafa carried on again about how he wanted more changes to our government.

You know Mustafa gave the idea of western clothing? Well guess what else he did, he moved the capital from Istanbul to Ankara, showed an alphabet that was related to the Roman alphabet for Western European languages. Then he printed new covers of newspapers, books and street signs in his own style. You may recognize this name Mustafa came to be known by, Ataturk. That means “Father of the Turks.” Pretty cool name! The government changed many times over the past five decades after Mustafa’s death, this year.

Well I’m out of time!

Write back as soon as you get a chance!

Hope all is well in America!

~ Katarina

Did you know about the smallest fish called Paedocyris Progenetica? The fish is in the carp (family) and lives in acidic tea colored water in Sumatra in Indonesia. Its body is completely see-through. Its head has no strong bones. It has bizarre grasping fins. It is about a quarter of an inch long. It is a male angle fish and its habitat will disappear. If you want more information about it go on http://www.timeforkids.com

Photo by MARC LESTER / Anchorage Daily News

The A575 foot tanker loaded with 4.9 million gallons of gasoline plus other petroleum products. Less than 100 gallons of the ships cargo spilled that was from pumping equipment that was used to fill the hold. Petty Officer Steve Harrison said the ship made a soft landing, running aground on silt rather than rocks. Tugboats later secured the ship. This accident happend when the dubble hulled Seabulk Pride was being pumped up with cargo in Cook Inlet of Nikiski, and about 80 miles from Anchorage.A ice floe had struke the Seabulk which caused its line to break. It drifted for nealy an hour before running aground a half a mile away. There were no injuries reported among 34 members. The cargo included oil products similar in consistancy to asphalt. If you would like to fined more about this oil tanker please go to:news.google.com and click business.

Over the past year, a group of astronomers (who are scientists that major in the study of space) called “planet hunters” have found numerous Earthlike planets outside the Milky Way Galaxy.

One of which was discovered around June 15, 2005 and it is similar to Earth in several ways. It is referred to as “Super-Earth” because it is 7.5 times larger than Earth and it doesn’t have an official name at the present time. This planet has a star about one-third the size of our sun it revolves around called Gliese 876. According to National Geographic, it is the “smallest known star to host orbiting planets”. “Super-Earth is most likely never going to have any tourists of any species due to it’s rocky and arid climate that can reach temperatures that are well over 500 degrees Fahrenheit! This newly discoverd planet has a 48 hour long year because it is very close to Gliese 876, so it can orbit the star faster. In addition to being called “Super-Earth”, it has also been called “Earth’s bigger cousin” by Paul Butler,who is an astronomer at Carnegie Institution of Washington D.C.

Well, for now we live on the only inhabited “Earth” that we know of. Who knows,maybe Earth doesn’t just have a “cousin” , maybe it has a whole “family” of planets that are just waiting to be discovered in our continues, infinite universe. If you want to learn more about “Super-Earth” then check out the site below..

 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/06/0615_050615_planet.html   

With a smile on her face Michelle Kwan stepped onto the ice at her home rink in front of a panel of judges. These judges would decide if she would go to the 2006 Olympics or not. Michelle Kwan performed, the judges would take a 45 minute break to make their decision. The decision was yes, Bob Horen chairman of U.S. Figure Skating said “It is truly the opinion of the monitoring team that Michelle could win the Olympics!” Michelle will skate with recent national event winner Sasha Cohen, and 16 year old Kimme Meissner on the U.S. Team.

Imagine this, you’re in an exhibition hall in Poland and there is snow on the roof. Suddenly, because of the weight of 1 foot of snow, the roof collapses and you’re buried under metal and snow. Well, that is exactly what happened to about 500 people on Saturday in Katowice, Poland. Somewhere around 160 people are injured and 62 are confirmed dead. Of the 59 corpses that have been identified, 7 were foreigners. A search for bodies using dogs trained to find corpses failed and officials have basically given up hope for finding more survivors. A new law is being discussed that will compel large building owners to remove ice and snow from their roofs. Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewica states that “The changes in the law will be based on raising penalties, including the closure of buildings whose roofs are not cleared of ice or snow.” I think that the new law should go thorough in order to keep people safe. Don’t you?

For more information, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5581549,00.html

On February 10^th the Olympics will officially start in Turin, Italy. In just 17 days 84 medals will be given out to many athletes. Whether its biathlon, bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, luge, ice skating, or snow boarding, only one will receive the gold. These games are not in only one spot. They occur in eight others, Bardonecchia, Pinerolo, Pragelato, Cesana-Pariol, Cesana-San Sicario, Sauze d’Oulx, Sestriere, and Torino followed by Claviere and Torre Pellice, the two training centers. Now that you know where it will take place and what you will see, lets move on to the judges. There will be 650 judges and referee’s. 10,000 journalists and media operators will be there to ketch every game. Back then the Olympics were nothing what you thought they were. They were only one day until 684 B.C. That’s when it extended to three days. But as the 5^th Century B.C. came along, the Olympics moved its way to five days. What you would watch was, running, long jump, shot put, javelin, boxing, pankration and equestrian events. Men could participate and watch the games. But not all women could go see these games. Some of the women did not like this segregation and would dress up as men to watch the games. If they were ever to be found they would be thrown off the Mountain of Typaion. As listed in the rules. There were also regulations. 14 articles in the regulations had an article on corruption. If a judge or opponent made a corruption, they would serve their punishment by being whipped.

Well there you have it. All you need to know about the Winter Olympics is taken care of. Now all you have to do is watch them for yourself!

For more information on the 2006 Winter Olympics,

go to: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/winter-olympics-turino-preview.html or http://www.sportsline.com/olympics/winter/

Credit to ‘Columbia Crossroads’

Well not exactly; But the skull of a 135 million year old sea monster was found. Scientists discovered this large fossil in southern Argentina in an area that was once part of the Pacific Ocean. The creature’s name is Dakosaurus Andiniensi (its nickname is Godzilla) and is a whole new species of ancient crocodilians, but unlike today’s crocodiles “Godzilla” lived entirely in water. The creature was measured 13 feet from nose to tail. “Godzilla” does not have feet but four flippers and a fish like tail to move threw the water. Something that makes this mighty beast stand out is it’s snout. Most crocodiles have a long snout with sharp, identical teeth, but “Godzilla” has a short high snout with jagged teeth. These traits lead scientists to what it ate. “Godzilla” ate large marine reptiles and other sea creatures. But don’t worry Tokyo this ones in South America.

Ref:Photo and story from National Geographic for Kids

Trial Delayed?

by Keith C

Recently Saddam Husseins trial was delayed. Why you ask? Because in Iraq where the trial will be held a minor hold up has occured. There was a new chief of the trial panel appointed to the trial. Which caused bickering between the other judges. Which resulted in a 5 day delay of the trial which was scheduled to resume on Tuesday Jan 24 will now be resumed on sunday Jan 29. Judge Hussein Moussawi , says ” this is just an excuse to give the judges time for long disscusions”. These long disscusions are needed to resolve issues surounding the bump in the road from getting their panel mixed up. This panel has lost two other members in the month long recces. Some of Saddams lawyers have been killed by people that do not want him to get off. I feel Saddam has killed many people and should be convicted. I also feel that this delay of the trial is not neaded very much. If they’re professional judges they should be able to resume the trial on time no matter what goes on in their trial panel. Well now you know my opinion and most of whats going on in Iraq. If you want to look this story up further go to the link below:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-012406iraq_lat,0,2481443.story?coll=la-story-footer&track=morenews

The rescuers work extremely hard to save this 17 foot, 4 ton northern bottle-nose whale. It is the first time since 1913 that a whale has been in the Thames River. A member of the British Diver Marine Life Rescue group, Alan Knight said he feared the whale was going to get beached because the tide was going down. Alanalso said “It might be coming up river to die.” The whale looked thin to the rescuers. But,if the whale is in the right condition the team will attemt to attach pontoons and lift and lift it into a boat and bring it to sea. The Thames river has alot of mud at night it might be hard to do but they will do anything they need. Friday later a 2nd whale was spotted trying to follow the whale that was already in the river. Tom Howard-Vyne saw the fist whale swim under the Westminster bridge.”I saw it blow,It was a spout of water which sparled in the air.” Alison Shaw maine and fresh water conservation program said “It is just a race against time.” Saturday night as they tryied to bring the whale to sea it died. To investigate this storie more click here: http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/01/20/britain.whale/