Landshark Rap

Watch out...this song will get stuck in your head...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swsEvb2yytU

Here's an Idea For You...

Recently I had almost an epiphany. I refer to it as almost one because the idea might actually not work as well in reality as it does in my head.

The US national debt is over 15.5 trillion dollars and rising. Breaking that down, per citizen it’s about 50,000 dollars; per taxpayer it’s about 140,000 dollars; the US federal budget deficit is about 1.3 trillion dollars; and US federal spending is over 3.5 trillion dollars. (Deficit is per year what debt we have while the debt is overall what has been accumulated.)

Now the whole idea of getting rid of the deficit is for consumers to start spending more money so that aggregate demand will increase. To do this, you’ll have to cut taxes and increase government spending.

–Which by the way, ignore the republicans budget idea for the new election because it is a proven fact in economics that if they cut government spending, we’re going to hit another recession. If government spending decreases then aggregate demand does as well which means less GDP, less spending, and a lower price level.

If we’re going to cut taxes then that reduces the amount of money going into the budget. Also by increasing spending the government will have to borrow the money in order to increase their spending, which in turn, will increase consumer spending. So basically it’s just a vicious cycle of debt and it seems there is no way out.

But here’s my idea. There are plenty of rich people out there that earn billions a year or more and I bet that they don’t use every last cent of that earned money. I think it would be extremely beneficial if everyone that earns over 1 million dollars per year contributes to paying back our national debt, just out of the goodness in their hearts. If they could contribute each year more than 1.5 trillion dollars (all together) then we can begin to bring the debt down and get this nation to feel secure again.

However, a lot of these rich people are just big jerks like Mitt Romney and won’t help out the people who are affected by an increasing deficit because they’re still earning millions to billions of dollars. Hell, I even bet that some of those super rich people don’t even realize how big of a problem this deficit is. They’re going to sit there and spend millions on a new clothing line instead of helping out the nation they live in for our future generations.

If I was a billionaire, I’d totally donate my money to decrease the deficit and not expect a penny back.

Snow in Late April?!?

A large snowstorm came barreling through the Northeast on Monday, threatening to drop 16 inches in some areas and frustrate commuters.

By Monday morning, Newfield, New York, was reporting 10 inches of snow, while Ridgebury, Pennsylvania, had 8 inches. More accumulation was expected, especially in higher elevations.

The blustery blast follows a mild winter that saw little snow and the warmest March on record.

"The last time we had a big snowstorm across the East Coast was back in October," when fall foliage was still on the trees, said CNN Meteorologist Rob Marciano. "This has been a crazy, crazy winter" in the region, he said.

 Snowstorms of this magnitude are very rare for this late in April. Forecasters expect record snowfall for this time of year in some areas. "We have a forestry division on standby that they're going to be ready to respond to any tree problems and issues that we have," Rob Kaczorowski of Pittsburgh Public Works told CNN affiliate KDKA-TV. Regarding snow removal, he said, this "will be a wet, slushy snow and we'll be in a plow mode actually pushing the slush off the street."

The highest recorded snowfall for Pittsburgh on this date was a half-inch in 1956. Up to 5 inches of snow are forecast for Monday, the weather service said.

Snowfall rates in central Pennsylvania are expected to reach 1 inch per hour at times on Monday afternoon, said CNN Meteorologist Sean Morris. One "bull's-eye is Dubois, Pennsylvania," he said.

Another is Erie, Pennsylvania, where snowfalls totals along the southern side of Lake Erie could reach 16 inches, Morris said. "The snow will be heavy and wet. The weight of the snow accumulating on trees combined with gusty winds could cause branches to come down on power lines, resulting in widespread power outages," he said.

Snowfall amounts of 6 to 14 inches are forecast for the Allegheny Mountains of western Pennsylvania and near Lake Erie, the National Weather Service said. Snow advisories also are posted for West Virginia, western New York and extreme northeastern Ohio.

The snow won't last long, Morris said. Temperatures are expected to rise into the 40s and 50s this week, with overnight lows remaining above freezing.

Meanwhile, rain will challenge commuters along other parts of the Eastern Seaboard for parts of Monday, spilling precipitation from the Washington area into Maine. Flood advisories are in place across the region as the forecast calls for 2 to 4 inches of rain and widespread urban flooding.

The storm could also play havoc with air traffic in major business centers like New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Washington, which will be subject to wind gusts of up to 31 mph in addition to the rain, forecasters said.

The storm could also snarl New York City's sprawling mass transit system.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority was preparing for potential problems, including the possibility of snow affecting Metro North service upstate.

"The MTA has put together its emergency plans and preparations," Joseph Lhota, executive director of the authority, told affiliate NY1. "The subway system, Long Island Railroad and Metro North as well as all of our bridges and tunnels are on alert with the concern of wind as well as the amount of water that we're about to receive."

The Long Island Power Authority also braced for the storm's fury. "LIPA crews are ready to respond to any potential power outages caused by damaging winds and will work ... to restore power as quickly and safely as possible," the utility's website said.

The system rained out both the Mets and Yankees baseball games on Sunday.

A "pattern shift in the jet stream over the weekend" caused the weather change, with temperatures dropping in the country's eastern half and spiking in the west, said CNN Meteorologist Sarah Dillingham. "This trend will continue through Tuesday and Wednesday," though by Wednesday temperatures will be working their way closer to normal, she said.

--This article thanks to CNN

After reading this it makes me happy to be in Iowa. We usually have the worst winters here in the Midwest and now it seems as though the tables have turned and now the other states get to experience what winter really is. I even remember when it snowed in May when I was younger. However, due to the extremely mild winter that Iowa had, our temperatures now seem cold. But had we of had our normal winter weather, these temperature would be super warm.

But one big question follows all of this crazy weather: Is this the cause of global warming?...

Swimmers Don't Just Swim

When swimmers have to train for their upcoming season obviously you would imagine that they swim a lot to prepare. What a lot of people don’t realize, though, is that swimmers also need to do dryland (workouts not in the water).

Abs are essential to every swimmer, there isn’t a time in the water that they aren’t using their abs. Plus legs workouts like lunges and squats also help for kicking. Finally, lifting helps the muscles grow stronger so it’s easier to go faster in the water.

Iron and Exercise

When exercising, and especially swimming, there’s an obvious need for protein. But what some people don’t realize it that iron is just as necessary.

We can get iron from two sources: meat and fish or plant foods. Even though both kinds are absorbed and used by the body, iron that comes from meat and fish, rather than plants, is easier to be absorbed by the body. The reason that iron is so helpful to a swimmer is because iron helps transport oxygen to cells. If a swimmer is iron-deficient then there won’t be as much oxygen going into the muscles. Considering that a swimmer uses every muscle, oxygen is very important to have in them.

Oddly enough, as you age the need for iron increases. This is because blood volume expands naturally. Below are the general requirements for males and females:

Male

9-13 years: 8 mg per day

 14-18 years 11 mg per day

Female

9-13 years: 8 mg per day

14-18 years: 15 mg per day

The reason that girls need to almost double their intake of iron once they hit puberty is because of the loss of blood due to menstruation.

If you don’t get enough iron then it is possible to get fatigue or lack of energy, paleness, low body temperature, chronic infections/colds, and reduced academic performance. If you don’t have the sufficient amount of iron for too long, it is possible that you could then develop anemia.

Swimmers and other endurance athletes are at higher risk for iron deficiency anemia. This is because of blood cell breakdown during exercise, making iron more of a concern. Children and teens who are picky eaters, dieters, meal skippers or who have a poor quality diet (more junk food than healthy options) are also more at risk for iron deficiency.

Possible foods that are rich in iron include liver, red meats, poultry, and fish. As far as other foods go that aren’t meat then iron rich foods include spinach, kale, beans, tofu, fruits or raisins, iron-fortified cereals, iron-fortified bread, bagels, muffins, soy, almonds, and cashews.

If you feel like you don’t have enough iron in your diet, here are some tips on how to get more:

-Plan to include iron-rich foods at each meal.
-Vitamin C promotes iron absorption of non-meat sources. Pair citrus juices, fruits such as strawberries and mango, and other sources of vitamin C with plant-based iron-rich foods.
---Example: iron-fortified cereal with raisins and a glass of orange juice
-Protein helps iron absorption. When meat is combined with iron sources (the “meat factor,”), absorption of iron increases 2-3 times!
---Example: Enchiladas with lean ground beef and beans; steak and spinach

A great example is a simple iron-rich smoothie:
4-6 ounces of orange juice
½ - 1 cup of baby spinach leaves (or kale)
1 cup of frozen berries (raspberries, blueberries, or other)
¼ cup plain Greek yogurt or iron-fortified tofu

Teach Tolerance, Not Defense

On February 26, 2012 in Sanford, Florida Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by George Zimmerman. Trayvon was a 17 year old African American male who was unarmed. Trayvon was staying at his father’s girlfriend’s house in a gated community. His father and girlfriend had decided to go out to dinner that night and Trayvon decided to watch the NBA that night. He walked to the gas station to get skittles and an ice tea and while walking back Zimmerman followed him.

Zimmerman thought Trayvon was acting suspicious and called the police who told him to just stop following him so they could take care of it. Zimmerman had shot Trayvon in the chest and when police arrived he said that he did so in self-defense. Since Florida has a Stand Your Ground law (which allows you to use a weapon against someone if you feel as though you’re in danger) Zimmerman was released from custody without charges. When Trayvon’s father got home he figured Trayvon went out to a movie with his cousin so he then fell asleep. But when his father woke up in the morning Trayvon still was not there. The police came to the door and showed him a picture of a young boy, dead; lying on the ground with a bullet wound and asked if this was his son. It, in fact, was his son Trayvon Martin.

In Tulsa, Oklahoma two men were caught and charged with 3 counts of first-degree murder and 2 counts of shooting with intent to kill. Jake England and Alvin Watts went on a shooting spree on five African Americans. The case is still being examined as a hate crime, even though the shooters say they aren’t racist. However England had posted really vulgar racial slurs on his Facebook status on the anniversary of his father’s death, which had died because of a murder from a black man. He wrote: “Today is two years that my dad has been gone shot by a f—— n—– it’s hard not to go off between that and sheran I’m gone in the head.”

Early this morning in Cedar Rapids, Iowa a man was shot and killed at a show club. Police arrived around 12:45am to find a man suffering from a gunshot wound. Although he was rushed to the hospital for treatment, he died shortly after. The man was shot in the parking lot and although the name of the victim will not be given out to the public until his family is notified, friends of his on Facebook are giving him a farewell to his death this morning. When I read up on people’s post for him, it turns out he was African American.

With all these outbreaks of hate crimes, should guns really be allowed to the public? Should we really have the right to carry or conceal a weapon? At first, I thought people should be able to carry a weapon, but after all these recent killings I’m not so sure anymore. If you’re trying to protect yourself in an act of self-defense then pepper spray could do the trick. No one would have to die. If guns weren’t allowed then they would be harder to find and other less damaging weapons would be used. This could also help that when hate crimes are committed those victims don’t die.

So I think I’m starting to lean towards the fact that people shouldn’t be allowed to have guns. Innocent lives are being taken and it’s not fair for them or their grieving families. What I find even worse is that we grow up in a society that teaches us how to defend ourselves against bad people; we aren’t simply taught to not be bad people. Why can’t we be taught to be tolerant of everyone? It’s the environment that people grow up in that decides whether they will be violent or not. So I think we need to change the environment by teaching people to be tolerant of others instead of teaching them how to defend yourself from the intolerance.

Animals Deserve As Much Respect As Humans

Considering that I am a vegetarian, I find animal rights to be very important. I don’t eat any meat or fish because I do not agree with the inhumane ways of catching or killing them.

Most of all, cows. Along with whales, cows are my favorite animals. I stopped eating beef over a year ago because I learned how they treat them. Farmers keep cows in a confined area and just continuously feed them so that they get obese. They can’t run around much so they just keep eating until they’re fat enough that they’d sell for big bucks when the farmer kills them. How is that okay at all?

Next comes fish. Fishermen on big boats that catch fish for the American population are ruining our seas. We are catching too many for the fish to survive. We have to keep going out into deeper and deeper waters because the ones close no longer have any fish. Soon enough, the ocean in its entirety will no longer supply fish. Plus the way that they catch them is really upsetting. They use huge nets and either scroll it along the bottom or just go in and come out.

By scrolling the net across the bottom of the ocean they are ruining the ocean floor by kicking up everything that lives on there and moving it around. When they put the net in and then pull it back out it’s incredibly common to catch something other than what you wanted. So many sea turtles, dolphins, and other kinds of fish get caught in the net and either dies because they can’t get air, or die because they aren’t supposed to breathe air. The fishermen then just throw those animals away as if they were a waste.

In fact, right now the population of tuna is rapidly declining. Because of the over-fishing Blue Fin tuna are now going extinct. They way that they catch these tuna? They use about four boats to corral a bunch of tuna into one area and then they pull them out as they are leaping out of the water and then gut them right then and there.

Finally, chickens. Companies that supply chickens for a large corporation (such as McDonald’s) keep the chickens locked in their cage. They come every now and then to pick up any new eggs, but for the most part, most chickens are just crammed together in a barn and have just about zero ability to move. They just get to poop and pee everywhere and be forced to live in it.

I know by me deciding not to eat animals, it doesn’t do a huge difference. But I’m not trying to make a difference. I just don’t want to be a part of the horrible in-humane ways that people get their meat to the market. I don’t want that on my conscience.

Now although majority of farms treat their animals horribly, there are organic farms that treat their animals just as if they were loved pets. These farmers make sure everyone knows and puts it on the label that they treat their animals well. I think if I ever decide to eat meat again, I’m going only for those brands.

Warmer Weather = Sooner Jobs

This past March has been one of the warmest on record all across the United States. Not only are students and children enjoying it but so are the construction workers.

Because the temperature is so warm, employees in the construction field are able to start earlier. This has caused unemployment to shrink earlier than it usually would for these seasonal jobs.

In fact, this entire winter we have received very mild weather making temperatures warmer than usual at the very starting of this year. January brought an increase of about 7,000 jobs, and the Connecticut Department of Labor announced on March 29 that approximately 5,500 additional private sector jobs were added in the month of February. In New Haven, unemployment fell from 12.5 percent in January to 11.7 percent in February. Seven months in a row now the economy has been obviously growing and unemployment shrinking.

Because of this weather, private construction jobs are more likely to occur rather than jobs on the highway which will take place later this year. But for now, businesses, universities, and hospitals can receive construction earlier than last year.

New Warning Sirens

We all know the sound of a tornado warming siren. That siren that seems to get strong and pull back and do it over and over. But how often do we really listen to it? What’s the real ratio of tornado siren warnings to actual tornados? Well, the sirens probably win.

Because we often hear the warnings more than we see the actual tornado it’s not uncommon for us to not take action when we hear the siren. I know I’m guilty of that. I’ll hear a siren go off and I’ll go ahead and step outside and look around at the storm because I don’t feel the danger in doing so. Our sirens went off so often last year it seemed like our weather service was in a completely different area considering our storms weren’t that damaging. In fact, a lot of people don’t react much to tornado sirens because they aren’t one hundred percent sure that it’s coming. They will wait and look for additional information to really confirm that a tornado is heading towards them.

Now that people are used to the sirens it doesn’t seem like a big deal when they go off. But recently the tornadoes have been horrific. The National Weather Service is actually planning to change the sirens to give more of a scare to people so that they listen and take shelter.

The new sirens aren’t set to release in every state yet; it will mostly be in the states that have recently been hit by the sweep of tornadoes. They are planning to say something about how the damage will be so catastrophic the land will be unrecognizable after the storm is over. The goals of this new warning system are as follows:

- Provide a non-routine warning mechanism that prompts people to take immediate life-saving action in extreme events like strong and violent tornadoes.

- Be impact-based more than phenomenon-based for clarity on risk assessment.

- Be compatible with NWS technological, scientific and operational capabilities.

- Be compatible with external local warning systems and emerging mobile communications technology.

- Be easily understood and calibrated by the public to facilitate decision making.

- Maintain existing "probability of detection" for severe weather events.

- Diminish the perception of false alarms and their impacts on credibility

-These are the kind of warnings that will go out:

Standard Tornado Warning: These warnings are the basic warnings issued by the National Weather Service. These are generally the sirens that are used all across the United States.

Potentially Dangerous Situation (PDS) Tornado Warning: If a PDS Tornado Warning is issued, then it means that the storm has a tornado on the ground that was spotted by a storm chaser or the public. This is the second highest warning that could be issued by the National Weather Service.

Tornado Emergency: In a tornado emergency, a large tornado is on the ground producing a lot of damage and is headed towards a populated city. This is the highest possible warning used to alert people. It has already been used in some cities as of last year when super cell storms were occurring.

These warnings are going to be launched in St. Louis, Kansas City, Topeka, Wichita, and Springfield, Missouri. If they prove to be more effective than the previous warning system then it will be expanded to the entire nation within the following years.