Leaping Sea Creatures!

On March 30th, 2011 CNN released an article on leaping sea creatures. It was reported that on Friday a 300-pound eagle ray leaped onto a boat in the Florida Keys and on Sunday a 375-pound mako shark jumped onto a boat off Texas. Some people are worried we need taller boats and we aren't safe. People aren't sure why the creatures leaped up but Timothy Mullican has several reasons as to why. He believes the boat could have spooked the fish, they could have been just accelerating through a cloud of chum and leaped out of the water and happened to land in the boat, it could have been a one-in-a-million chance the two connected, and maybe they were just "flipping the fin" to the fisherman.
I find this a funny story. I don't think we need taller boats. I believe this just happened out of nowhere and it wont be a common occurance. It was a good day for the tourists on the boat in Texas. They got a special treat. Not everyone gets to see a shark leap out of the water and land on their boat. It's a rare event and not such a good outcome for the creatures that don't make it, but I don't think we need to think anything of it or worry about it. It's just leaping sea creatures.

4-year-old Girl Reunited with Family in U.S.

CNN wrote an article about a 4-year-old girl named Emily Ruiz being reunited with her family after a mix-up when trying to enter the United States. Her family is originally from Guatemala and now live in New York City. Emily was on her way back with her grandfather from recuperating from asthma when a customs officer stopped her and her grandfather and wouldn't let them return because of a violation from 20 years ago. Emily was to either return to Guatemala with her grandfather or be turned over to state custody; she went back to Guatemala. Nearly 3 three weeks later, Emily was able to return to New York City with her family. Her lawyer, David Sperling, said, "Immigration officers treated her like royalty." 
This story touches my heart. It's things like this that living worth living. This little girl was refused to return to the United States because of a violation not pertaining to her. I'm sure if Emily's parents understood their options better they would have came and got her from immigration control and not sent her back to Guatemala. It's terrible that she was turned away, but its wonderful that she was finally returned to her family. David Sperling said, "Mission accomplished." I couldn't say it any better.

Working Out to a Beat

On March 7, 2011, Micah Mertes posted an article about David Skau's findings about working out with music and what beats help and which ones don't. He says music does help, to a point, and he goes on to expain himself. He conducted an experiment by assigning a dozen people to pedal while listening to various types of music with different beats. David monitored the distance cycled, heart rate, and comfort. He found that the best work out tempo is between 120 and 240 beats per minute. He said that once you get over 480 beats per minute, it's like working out to no music at all. It was too much.
I like working out to music. It takes my mind off of what I am doing and I focus on the music, therefore, I can do more and go longer. Running without music makes it difficult and it feels like it takes forever. I focus more on what I am doing and how long it's taking and I get tired faster. I don't pay attention to what everyone else is doing and I don't get distracted when I listen to music. It helps me a great deal.