Oil Rig Explosion Update

Last week I blogged about the tragic oil rig explosion, today I am going to follow up with another article. Oleander Benton was a cook aboard the oil rig when the explosion occured. He talks about how the the lights went off on the rig and then he heard a terrible noise. He survived the tragedy and is telling his story. Copy and past the following url to read the article.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36796373/ns/us_news-life/Gt1=43001

What do you think of Oleander Benton's story? Have you ever or anyone you know expereinced some sort of tragedy similar to this?

Declaration of Independance Video

Check out the video below. The video is of popular actors and actresses reading the Declaration of Independance in Philadelphia.

http://educ570.ning.com/video/declaration-of-independance

What do you think of this video? Would you ever be intrested in creating a similar video with another historical document?

Marine Graduation

This weekend my brother made my family very proud and graduated boot camp and is now a United States Marine. The ceremony was in South Carolina at Parris Island. The ceremony was very beautiful and historical. The Marine's were started in 1775! Boot camp has been going on in Parris Island since 1915. My Grandfather attended boot campt there when he was 17 years old in the year 1945. One of the Marine's that was leading the ceremony was telling the crowd about the historical background of the Marines and the various battles that they have been involved in. My brother was telling me all about life in boot camp. I was shocked to hear about it, it is so different from my life! Does anyone know someone that was or is involved with the military? What have they said about it? Check out the Marines website and let me know what you think!

http://www.marines.com/?WT.srch=1&WT.mc_id=AXW101AXXABXO607

Oil Rig Explosion

Did anyone hear about the oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico? So far it is reported by the Coast Guard that 11 people are missing and at least 7 are critically injured. One of my friends works on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico so I was extremelly worried when I saw this news article, he even works for the same company! Luckily, it was not the same rig but still what a scary thing! Copy and paste the following link and read the actual CNN article on this tragedy.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/21/oil.rig.explosion/index.html

What do you think of this tragedy? My friend that works on the oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico is home for three weeks then has to be on the rig for three weeks, would you like this type of job?

Great Depression Video

The Great Depression was a devastating time to live in the United States. Most people lost their jobs and could not support their families. Many women had to look for jobs in order to feed their families because their husbands lost their jobs. Copy and paste the link below to view a video which shows actual images from the Great Depression time period. After you view the video answer the following question:

Do any of the images in the video remind you of events that are occuring today in 2010?

http://educ570.ning.com/video/great-depression

In Connecticut smoking in bars and resturants has been illegal for a few years. There are a few places where people can still smoke. These places are Elks, Moose, ethnic, milatary, etc. clubs. Even people that go to and belong to these clubs might not be able to smoke there anymore. Read this article from the hartford courant http://http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-no-smoking-clubs0419.artapr19,0,5600755.story

What do you think on this issue? Should all places ban smoking?