Prosthetic Limbs

Losing limbs has always been a scary thing. It happens very frequently, especially around heavy machinery and farming equipment. It can be very hard to lose an arm or a leg but know our technology has grown so that we can get a prosthetic part and still go along with our everyday lives. Nigel Ackland was one of these unfortunate people that has lost the lower part of his arm.
With today's technology Nigel has gotten a muscle powered arm. The arm can do many motions that a normal hand can do. He can go from cracking open an egg to grasping heavy things. The arm is functioned by the muscles in his arm that are connected to a small amp that can tell which muscles he is using. To close his fist he simply tightens the inner muscles of his arm and the outer muscles will open the hand. Doing both these actions together causes the hand to rotate to different angles that he wants. It comes with different functions that can determine how tight of a grip he wants his hand. This prosthetic lets him grab a beer, hold a tool and even make a handshake. He can do many things with his bionic hands that all of us can do with our normal hands.
Even prosthetic legs are become so advanced. With this bionic leg Zac Vawters climbed 103 floors which has never been done before him. His leg is completely controlled by his mind. It is linked to his hamstring which then lets him tighten his thigh and the leg pulls up allowing him to climb up stairs.
The prosthetics are coming a long way in todays technology. Before it was just pieces that looked like the limb that was lost but today they are actually functioning like the real thing. Scientists have a long way to go before each one is complete with all the motions but still knowing that they have come this far means its only a matter of time before they nail it completely.
Having this technology makes me feel a little better knowing that I could still go one with my everyday life normally, if I ever did become unfortunate enough to lose a limb. I'm sure that these pieces are pretty spendy but with healthcare and insurance i'm sure it wouldn't be to terrible. It's all just completely amazing to me!

Playground

Dickinson is planning on adding a new playground in one of their districts. They want to take out an old playground and add and new one that has features such as climbing rocks, a log balance beam, wood towers, bridges and an awesome stand-in-place xylophone, with swings, slides and twirling thing that usually makes people sick. Amy Mangold is the leader in the new playground. She has been trying to design it since she used to play there all the time. She thinks it's a good way to give back to the community. Since she is designing the whole playground she thinks it's a good thing to incorporate nature into the playground. Many kids these days don't understand what nature really is, with all the new technology they don't get outside as much. 
I like that all these people in the community are totally game for the whole nature playground idea. Kids these days don't understand what being outside and making up their own games mean. They just don't know what to do without their new fancy ipods and iphones. When i was young people had to make up their own games and find different ways to have fun. We had so much fun in the parks because it was a new thing and everyone wanted to play on it. I remember when we had the shakey bridge and you were the coolest person if you could cross it. Hopefully kids will appreciate this new playground like we did when we were young. 

Deer crossing signs

So recently a lady had called into one of the local radio stations and was demanding that they move the deer crossing signs. At first the radio station kind of just went along with it but then realized that she was being completely serious. Her argument was that the deer shouldn't be able to cross at the places that had the deer crossing signs and that the signs should be moved to less traffic areas. She thinks that the deer can read the signs and that they know to cross the road there because of them. She believes that if we move the signs to different locations of less traffic that the deer won't be hit and less accidents will occur. What is she thinking?! No deer can read a sign! She has sent out many emails to the organizations that make the roads and signs.

Here's a video with the whole conversation between her and the radio station. She said that she has hit three deer shortly after she has seen a deer crossing sign. Does she not understand that the signs are to warn people about how abundant the deer are in that area? Or does she really not understand what they are for?

Many people have gotten a kick out of this call in. It's huge right now! I can't get a grip about how she actually thinks that moving the signs will actually get the deer to not cross the road at that specific spot. Wow! When I first heard about this I thought that it had to be a big prank but then she talked about how many times she has tried to contact people about this 'problem' and knew that she wasn't just being stupid but that she was being completely honest. She actually wants them to be placed in smaller towns like a school crossing for the deer.

All faith in this lady realizing that she is completely wrong is lost. Goodness gracious!!

Red Bull Stratos

So last week Felix Baumgartner planned to jump from a helium balloon that brought him up to 120,000 feet. The mission got called off and rescheduled because of huge gusts of wind. The balloon wouldn't go straight up because with each gust of wind it would throw the balloon off course. Which could be very dangerous because if he got off course it might be hard to keep him under peoples watch. Plus if the wind is gusty down here on earth who knows how bad it would be up towards the top of the atmosphere. He plans on doing it this coming Sunday or Monday if every thing works out fine and the weather holds up. I will definitely be watching it live whenever it happens!
The mission is to reach super sonic speeds and reach the speed of sound. Remember he is free falling so a lot of things can go very wrong very fast. He could go unconscious which then he wouldn't be able to pull his shoot and would fall to his death (very scary). At one point he would be going so fast that his blood could literally boil inside of him and he would die that way. All this things that could go wrong would end up with him dying.
He's a huge risk taker and loves to live on the edge it seems like. He started out just skydiving and doing stunts for Red Bull. Then when that wasn't enough of a thrill for him he started base jumping. Base jumping is when a person jumps from a standing object and free falls n then pulls a parachute at the very last second. Here's a video of how close to the ground and intense base jumping can be. You have to have special training to do this but I think the adrenalin rush would be amazing.
If I could learn how to base jump and skydive I think that would be amazing. It's always something that i've wanted to do but have never had the chance. I feel like you would get such a rush from it. It would be exhilarating!

Wolf packs

In Washington many cattle have been killed and eaten by a pack of Gray Wolves. Many farmers have reported cattle missing or killed and eaten by a crazed pack of wolves. No one knew what to do because they couldn't get rid of the wolves even if they tried. The first attempt to rid of the wolves was to kill one and see if it 'scared' them away, or at least scare them into eating other animals. This attempt didn't work at all. It really had no effect on the wolves what-so-ever. So finally the Fish and Wildlife department got together and decided what they should do with the animals. They decided that killing the pack would be the safest and fastest way to get rid of the animals. So they got a sharp-shooter and took of in a helicopter. It took them a while to actually get a good clear shot since the animals lived in forested areas. Eventually they finally took down the alpha-male and the rest of the pack. From then on the farmers haven't had any missing or dead cattle so looks like the problem is solved.

 I can't decide if this was the best way to take care of the problem. It seems a little harsh, but I understand that the wolves can be very aggressive about their territory. Would it have been better if they tranquilized the pack and then took them to a different area without cattle or livestock around? They could have at least tried it before killing them all together. The wolves didn't know that they couldn't eat the livestock. It was just a free meal ticket for them. But even then the wolves aren't going to learn whats right and wrong so all together killing the pack off was probably the best solution out there. But is that going to open a whole new case on where people can just shoot random animals that are being a nuisance?

neglected animals

So everywhere in the world animals are being neglected. This particular story is about a guy that has been neglecting loads of animals. They have found over 40 animals that have been abused. Then the cops also found carcass's of multiple horses, cows and pigs. Many other animals like horses, pigs, cows, goats, dogs and rabbits were rescued from his place. But many more are still on site and the veterinarian shops aren't sure what to do with them. There's so many animals that its hard to find places to put them. Over half of the animals needed immediate medical attention. It didn't say if any of the animals died once they found them but all of the animals were starving and no one knows how long this has been going on. It has to have been going on for a while since they found carcass's around. The guy has been picked up by the police and is getting charged for animal neglect and abuse. This whole thing was turned in by a someone on the tip hotline.

Hopefully the guy that did this (they aren't releasing his name) gets charged with animal cruelty and neglect. If he gets away free I feel like things in the United States are going down hill fast. I just don't understand how people don't feel any sorrow for these poor animals. Maybe he doesn't have enough money to feed all these animals? But then why would he even try to have so many animals in the first place if he knows he can't afford them. I know this happens all around the world but animals are a huge part of our world and without them we wouldn't have all the stuff we do today. Animals are very good companions, how could someone be so selfish and not care for them.

I'm glad someone called this in. I feel like alot of people would just turn their head at the site of this. Personally being an animal cop would be like the greatest job ever. Being able to save animals everyday from crazy people like this would make my day every day!