What If #7

What if I didn't sprain my ankle 2 hours into spring break? I might be out doing something instead of dragging my foot everywhere. My injury came about due to my friend’s basketball goal being located next to a hill. The hill starts at the far edge of his driveway and there is a small plastic wall sticking out of the ground to stop erosion onto his driveway. I went in for a layup and came down onto the plastic piece; my foot rolled and then hit the concrete. All of about 180 pounds plus gravity fell on my then completely sideways ankle. Needless to say, I could not walk for about a day, and it still effects me almost 3 days later. Luckily for me, it is spring break and I did not have an trips planned, so I have plenty of time to heal. It just sucks when you are looking forward to freedom for the weekend and you screw it all up. My week is going to be spent working on English and Chemistry homework. I want to get my homework out of the way so I can enjoy my spring break and be able to study for my biology test on Tuesday. I still enjoyed my weekend with my friends; I just could not run anywhere. I had to wobble everywhere we went and I slowed us all down. After the accident when I could not walk, I began to truly appreciate the drive-thru at fast food restaurants, they saved my life! This also made me think of all those who cannot walk at all, it would make me very depressed to never be able to walk again, to deal with the pain forever… I would not be able to take it, but I am healing and will be able to run around in a day or so, hopefully.

What If #6

What if we had never made it into space? We would not be as far into our technological advancement if not for our space travel. Velcro was perfected by NASA for use by the space program. It allowed for an astronaut to stick something to his or her suit and not have to worry about it floating off of what would have been some sort of hook. So next time you use something with Velcro, thank NASA. A list of other inventions originating in space are: satellite dishes, medical imaging (CAT scanner/MRI), vision screening system( the big E at the top), the ear thermometer, fire fighter equipment, smoke detectors, sun tiger glasses, automobile design tools, cordless tools. aerodynamic bike wheels, thermal ware, space pens, shock absorbing helmets, ski boots, failsafe flashlights, invisible braces, edible toothpaste, joystick controllers, and advanced plastics. The list is massive, and none of these would have come about if not for our push to be the first nation into space. Can you remember those little freeze-dried balls of ice cream called Dippin' Dots? Those were invented for astronauts while they are in space. NASA even helped develop a process for new-age pavement where old tires are cooled to below -200 degrees Fahrenheit to separate the elements that make up the tire. Specific parts of the tire can then be used to make new pavement. All those who wear glasses can appreciate NASA's work on scratch resistant glass. On the medical side, NASA helped develop the technology that allowed the satellites to send signals and receive updates remotely without having to make contact with the dish. This led to the wireless capability of pacemakers to send signals to doctors without them having to open up the patient. Last but certainly not least are your "kicks". The soles of your shoes are most likely composed of viscoelastic bubbles that are designed to contour to your feet as you apply pressure and then return to normal. The technology derived from NASA's material that was used to cushion astronauts during the high G forces of liftoff.

What If #5

What if I had a super car? Which one would I pick? At the moment, the Ferrari F430 and the Lamborghini Gallardo come to mind. What car would you have? There are so many choices when it comes to very nice cars. These include: Dodge Viper SRT-10, Ferrari F430, Lamborghini Murcielago or Gallardo, Buggati Veyron, SC Ultimate Aero, Audi R8, Porsche 911 or GT series, Mercedes McLaren SLR 722, Pagani Zonda, Aston Martin Vanquish, the list goes on and on. But my dream car has to be the Lamborghini Gallardo. The Gallardo may not be the most expensive of the list, but it would have to be the most fun to drive. The thrill of going almost 200mph down streets in a Lamborghini instead of 45mph in my Honda Civic would be crazy. The Gallardo would cost about $220,000 with the e-gear, carbon ceramic brakes, navigation, and other options. This car will drain your wallet, but that is why it is called a dream car, money isn't in issue in your dreams. Driving a super car would be tons of fun, but if I had a choice, I would rather have a fighter jet. But that is another dream. The Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560-4, the current model of Gallardo, sports a 5.2L V10 direct injected power plant that provides 552 horsepower and 398 foot pounds of torque. The Gallardo can reach from 0 to 62mph in 3.7 seconds and 120mph in 11.8 seconds. I have no idea where I could take advantage of all that horsepower, because there are not many straight roads around Memphis that aren't patrolled by cops or are way too busy at all times. Just the looks of the car alone is enough to make me want to buy one. If I ever have a few hundred thousand bucks laying around, I'll be sure to go pick one up, preferably a black one.

What If #4

What if the periodic table made any sense? It might be much easier to read. Why does Primo Levi constantly compare fascism to chemistry? The guy cannot seem to keep writing on one thing for a whole chapter. His language seems very loaded and the words only seem to confuse me even further. It would be more interesting and easier to understand if half the book wasn't written in Hebrew. I like the plot so far, it is just that he cannot keep it going, I understand what he is getting at but I have to sit down and decipher each page. I can normally read about 50 pages in an hour, but I have been reading this book for almost 3 days, and I'm still on page 65. I have great respect for Primo Levi and have empathy for him and what he had to go through, but I have to say that I am not enjoying this book so far. I can only hope it gets better as I read further. Did anybody else make any sense out of the first ten pages of the book? There are just too many people and Hebrew words to keep up with. This book is going to be very difficult to finish reading by the fourth. I do not know how I am going to do it, but I will push on.

What If #3

What if Memphis wins the national championship in basketball next year? The new team is looking quite fierce, and there is no doubt that we will be a national contender. With the number one recruiting class, we may be able to go all the way and finish what we could not while Derrick Rose was here. The number one obstacle for the Memphis Tigers next year will be, in my opinion, the Ohio State Buckeyes. With the number two recruiting class just behind Memphis, they will be receiving quite a bit of talent. I do not know how Pastner will try to use all the talent he is bringing in, but I know for sure that we will have a much deeper bench for all the grueling games where players will be fouling out. Hopefully these new prospects will stay at Memphis and be able to hit free throws. If Memphis wins it all, it will be our first ever national championship victory. The new recruiting class will bring in not just more point guards, but some talented power forwards and a strong center. The new recruiting class consists of Tarik Black, Chris Crawford, Joe Jackson, Antonio Barton, Will Barton, Jelan Kendrick, and Hippolyte Tsafack. The number of players being recruited are enough to start all of them together, but we know that is not going to happen. The talent will be spaced out with the veterans in order for them to grow more comfortable and learn the strategy of the team. I believe Pastner can pull the team together with the new recruits to create a powerhouse for next year. It should be a lot fun watching Memphis run an undefeated season.

Hot Zone Reflection

The Hot Zone really scared and interested me at the same time. The thought of a level 4 biological agent getting loose in a heavily populated area should scare anyone. It takes a certain amount of lunacy to work in a level 4 biolab. Any mistakes you make become amplified due to the infected area you are working in. Only three layers protect you from one of the nastiest diseases this world has seen. The black plague does not even hold a candle to Ebola. The parts of the book that took place in the biolabs left me breathless and restless. You never know what is going to happen. If something does happen, there is no way to know if they are infected until they start showing symptoms. The lives of many hung in the balance during the outbreak of Ebola Reston. The efforts of many brave men and women helped eradicate the outbreak and contain it in the monkey house. As we know now, the Reston strain of Ebola does not affect humans, but they did not know that. They showed great courage to walk into the area knowing that it was infected so that they could make it safer for others. The book interested me because the Ebola strains may have been around since before humans even developed, according to evolution. The smallest thing can still overtake one of the most complicated systems in your body and essentially turn it against you. A breakout of Ebola that has the ability to transmit through the air and have the same effects as Ebola Zaire could take out a significant number of the population of earth. A single cell organism could effectively wipe out 50%-90% of the Earth's population of humans. If we assume there are currently 7 billion people on earth, which is a death toll of roughly 6,300,000,000 people under a worst case scenario. That would leave around 700,000,000 people on Earth; that is just a little over twice the population of the United States alone. The amount of power contained in the single cell organism that is about 300 nanometers is both awe-inspiring and downright frightening. Let's all hope we can stop the next breakout before it becomes too dangerous.

What If #2

What if there was life on other planets. The world as we know it would never be the same, especially if the other life forms were invading. The planet could be taken over and the human population could be wiped out or made into slaves. The aliens do not necessarily have to be invading; they could be coming to help us out. They might show us how to perfect fusion power so that we do not have to pollute the world. World religions would change overnight if a sighting occurred that nobody could denounce. Not only would current religions be affected, but new religions, cults, and other groups would appear. Everything you have ever thought would be challenged; the world would forever appear differently due to the new extraterrestrials. The repercussions of a stronger more advanced species coming to earth would be that all humans would look at each other differently. The borders and cultures that separated us would no longer be as apparent. The human population would either feel or actually be threatened; the will to survive would overcome the will to stay separated by race and culture. But no one can be sure of what we would really do because we have never been in that situation. It would be interesting to see how it would all turn out. If a superior technological alien race decided to attack our planet, how fast would we be able to counter attack and defend ourselves? Would we trust each other to give up our government’s secrets in order to better protect each other? When I think of different cases of this happening in fiction, I tend to think of Independence Day and Halo. Halo is different because the human population had already spread from earth. Independence Day took place during the current day and we had not moved from earth. The different nations had to join military power to take out the aliens and return earth back to normal.