Title: Osama Bin Laden Death Raid

Date: May fifth, two- thousand and eleven

Written by: Alec Stockton Finke

            Osama Bin Laden is known as a very evil, terrible human being here in the United States of America and all over the world. On the day of September eleven, two- thousand and one; the Al Qaeda leader plotted out a terrorist attack on America. On that morning, Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners. Two of those jet airliners were intentionally crashed in to the “Twin Towers” or the “World Trade Center” located in New York City, New York. The two tallest buildings in New York City collapsed within two hours, killing two thousand, seven hundred and fifty two innocent, American citizens.

            One of the other planes crashed in to The Pentagon located in Arlington, Virginia just outside of the nation’s capital, Washington D.C. This attack killed another one hundred and eighty four people. Lastly, the fourth plane was attempting to crash in to the White House located in Washington D.C. This attempt failed due to the passengers on the plane. The passengers tried to take over control of the aircraft and it ended up crashing in to a large field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. There were no survivors from any of the flights.

            This was the most tragic, horrible terrorist attack America has ever gone through. This killed more American citizens and did more damage to our country than any other attack. This scarred a lot of lives and this was a terrible thing we had to go through.

            The master mind to this attack was the Al Qaeda leader, Osama Bin Laden. This attack led to war over in Iraq and Afghanistan. This war has been the longest America has ever fought in a war. We have been fighting and looking for Osama for ten years now. This is an unbelievable fact; but, on the day of May first, 2011. Osama was killed by American Navy SEALs and taken in to U.S. possession. The United States have been waiting for this day to come ever since the morning of that horrific attack. When our president, Barack Obama announced “Osama is dead.” Hundreds of U.S. citizens rallied around Washington D.C. waving their American flags and celebrating over this man’s death.

            President Obama called for a last-second press conference on the night of the killing of Osama. He released some information about the situation on how it happened and it was pretty interesting.

            This was the biggest counterterrorism mission in U.S. history and it was one of the most secretive as well. Very few U.S. officials knew what was about to happen.  The location of the attack was at a fortified compound in a popular Pakistani town. There was 18 foot walls topped with barbed wire surrounding this compound and there were two security gates which was the only way to enter the multi-million dollar compound. U.S. officials knew this had to be a hide out for some terrorist but they could not figure out who it was. They thought and thought about it and every conclusion on who it could be was Osama, They knew it had to be the Al Qaeda leader. So President Obama planned secretly and heavily for a good eight months before the actual attack.

            After heavy training and tremendous focus and determination by the small group of Navy SEALs, on April 29, Barack Obama approved the operation to kill Osama. The Navy’s elite SEAL Team Six flew in to the town of Pakistan in two helicopters. One ended up crashing tdue to mechanical failures and they had to destruct the aircraft for their protection. After they waited for about forty minutes, the stealthy entered the building and attacked Osama. After a “fire fight,” Osama was killed including three others, and one of those three was his son and another was a woman that Osama threw in front of him as protection.

            Americans have been waiting ten years for this day and it has finally come. This will always be known as one of the greatest military operations in American Hisory.

Name: A- dog

Title: Ghost City Symbolizes Cost of Nuclear Disaster

Date: Wednesday, April 8, 2011

Author: Richard Ingham

This article is about a small city, Pripyat, in the Soviet Union. In this now vacant city, a tragic event occurred a while back that forced the whole population to evacuate.  On that day of April 26, 1986, the 50,000 people who lived there left due to a #4 reactor explosion. This threw caesium, iodine, strontium, pluotonium in to the air. This was a big scare for the city so it caused an immediate, emergency evacuation.

This would be very scary and a horrible thing to go through. A lot of the people who lived there said that it was one of the greatest places to live in the Soviet Union. I can not imagine leaving in such a wonderful place and being forced out of my home. This would be a very tragic, horrible thing to encounter.

A lot of people think the same thing will happen to certain areas in Japan. That would be a terrible thing because Japan is such a good country and it does so much for our world. It would be horrible to see such a thing happen.

Name- A – Dog

Title- Doubts raised on book’s tale of atom bomb

Author- William J. Broad

Date- February 20, 2010

          The Atom bomb is a very destructive weapon. It is probably the most effective weapon out there. In the book “The Last Train from Hiroshima,” it claims that a secret accident occurred. It says that the atom bomb killed one American and irradiated others. This situation greatly reduced the weapon’s destructive power. But, there is one problem with this section in the book. All of the information and technical details are based on the recollections of Joseph Fuoco. He is known as a substitute on one of the two observation planes that escorted the Enola Gay.

          However, this statement is wrong because Mr. Fuoco, who died in 2008 at the age of 84 years old, never even flew on the bombing run. Also, he never substituted for anyone either.  Mr. Fuoco did a ton to put all of the pieces together with this. I am very glad that he cleared everything up. When ever I hear these kinds of stories it really makes me wonder how much stuff is over exaggerated. This is a great example of the saying “Don’t always believe what you hear.”

Name - A – Dog

Title – God said multiply, and did she ever

Author – Joseph Berger 

Date – Unknown

          This article is about an old lady named, Yitta Shwartz. She died recently at 93 years old, surviving World War 2 and the Holocaust. Her husband also died about 34 years ago. She had 15 children, more than 200 grand children and many great, great, and great grand children. This woman could be responsible for perhaps 2,000 living descendants.

          This is very awesome. I think it would be great to be In a big family like that because you would always have someone to go to. Especially in this family, because this mom cared about everyone. She knew all of their names, she visited everyone and she looked out for everyone. I am in a small family, and I think it would be way sick to be in a huge family.

          This is a great thing that this lady did. She is very kind to take care of all of these kids and to be a good mom. This is the coolest thing I have ever heard. I think she was very kind and the best mom ever to do all of this.

Tsunami in Japan

Horrible tsunami in Japan

            On the very sad, horrible day of March 11, 2011, a 9.0 earthquake rocked the country of Japan. This was the biggest earthquake in the country of Japan’s history. It caused a gnarley tsunami to hit Japan as well. This only made everything worse. This has been a crazy, devastating event that the families and the people of Japan have had to go through.

            Because of all of these terrible events happening, the nuclear plants in Japan have been going through devastating times. They have been exposing radiation in to the air and in to the oceans. The other day they found radiation that is harmful to the citizens of Japan, in their beef. This has been a major scare across the globe.

            The day this terrible earthquake hit Japan, I was vacationing with my family in Maui, Hawaii. I was leaving the day it happened and we were so very glad. We got out on the flight safely. About 2 hours after I left the island, they starting getting very nervous because the earthquake caused energy inside the earth and they were expecting tsunamis in Hawaii and on the pacific coast of California and Oregon.  I flew from Hawaii to California. So it was still a scare in California, because of that, we were still kind of nervous about it. Luckily, we got out in time before anything intense happened.

            A lot of scary, horrible stuff has been going on in the country of Japan.  We know that eleven thousand, seven hundred, thirty four people have died. Also two thousand, seventy-seven people are injured and sixteen thousand, three hundred, seventy five people are missing. This is very scary stuff.

            A lot of this is due to the tremendous after shocks of the earthquake. The first one was at 7.0 and the second one was a 7.4. This resulted in a major tsunami that devastated many families and towns. The tsunami was rocking through cities, buildings, towns, cars, and roads. It had as much dubree in it as the Great Wall of China. That is a lot of stuff rolling through the country. It ran nearly 6 miles in to land. This is an insane statistic. The towns kuji and ofanto got swept away with no trace that towns were ever there.

            This was the biggest earthquake that ever hit japan and it is a very devastating time for their country. I hope that all goes well and I hope that they will recover soon.

Here are some pics of what I LOVE to do. Shreddin the slopes every weekend on skis. Playing and watching my favorite sports. Also, listening to 70's music.

Utah Utes B-ball

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=14767336&nid=635
This article tells about how the Utah Utes are looking for a coach that will guide them to success. They fired their former coach Jim Boylen on Thursday.

C.R. Johnson~One of the Best Skiiers Ever

C.R. Johnson was born in Truckee, Lake Tahoe California, on October 8, 1983. He skiied at Squaw Valley Resort all through is childhood. Skiing Squaw Valley's radical terrain, he developed to be an extreme big mountain skiier and he also developed a wide range of tricks. He was one of the best all around skiiers and one of the fan-favorites in the ski movies.
In 1999, C.R. threw down a 1440 and that trick got his name out there into the world of freestyle skiing. Johnson was a fearless skiier who would do any cliff, trick or ski any line out there. The great passion and dedication that he had for skiing quickly emerged him as one of the best skiiers ever. He is mostly known for his mindset of "Go big or go home" and that mindset got him to be a great skiier.
In 2001 C.R. placed first in the Core Games quarter pipe in Japan and he medaled in the Big Air X-Games in Mount Snow, Vermont. The next year, in the 2002 Winter X-Games, Johnson won the gold in "Big Air" and silver in "Slopestyle." In addition to these accomplishments, he was also named Male Skiier of the Year by ESPN Actions Sports. The following year, in the 2003 X-Games Superpipe, C.R. was supposed to win the gold, but he ended up crashing on the lip of the pipe, which knocked him down to a bronze. In between all of these competitions, he was being filmed for major rolls in alot of ski movies, such as "WSK 106," "Front Line," and "Focused."
On February 8, 2005, C.R.  was skiing at Brighton Resort in Utah on a powder day. He was filming for a movie with three other people. one of the three, Kye Peterson, struck C.R. directly under the helmet, while going off a cliff. He was in critical condition in the hospital for three months. He was so determined to get back to his old form of skiing. It took him about 2 or 3 years but he finally got back to skiing extreme lines and being in ski movies.
In 2010, Johnson was skiing at his hometown resort, Squaw Valley. He chose an extremely rocky line to go down and he got caught on an exposed rock and tumbled down the mountain, He immediatley died.
C.R. will be missed and he will always be known for his fearlessness and didication to skiing. R.I.P. C.R. Johnson.

Jonny Moseley Dinner roll in 2002 Olympics

Olympic Gold Medal Run 1998

Jonny Moseley "The Greatest Freestyle/Moguls Skier Ever"

Jonny was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on August 27, 1975. Moseley is one of the greatest skiers ever. He has won a great amount of medals and competitions for freestyle, big air, and mogul skiing. He is known for skiing moguls and his most famous trick, "The Dinner Roll." Moseley is one of the most well-known skiiers and he has made skiing one of the best extreme sports.
Jonny has had alot of success in professional competitions but the most important one that everyone knows him for, is the Olympics. Moseley had attempted to qualify for the 1994 Olymics, but he did not make the cut. This made him the most determined man in the world to qualify for the 1998 Olympics. He worked his butt off for 4 years and it definitley payed off. He made the 1998 Olympic team and ended up winning the gold medal by pulling off a sick, mute grab, helicopter in the finals for freestyle moguls. After he won the Gold, that boosted his confidence like crazy. He trained so intensely all the time that he didn't have anytime for anything else at all. He had to quit college and quit his social life for a little while just because he trained so hard everyday. When it came time for the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, everyone was expecting him to make a 2-peat for the gold. He ended up throwing his radical "Dinner Roll" in the finals but it was only good enough for forth place. He was a little disapointed in the outcome of his performance, but, as he always said, "I had fun, that's all that matters."
Moseley is known for his great performance in the Olympics. However, he has found great success in other events as well. When Jonny was a junior in high school, he joined the Squaw Valley Ski Team. Later that year he won his first Junior National Title in freestyle skiing. In 1993, one year later, he graduated from high school and joined the U.S. Ski Team. This started Jonny's great skiing career. In 1998, he of course won the gold medal in the Olympics. But, that wasn't all. He competed and won the first two world cup events of the year and he ended up winning the World Cup Mogul Skiing title with 9 wins that season. In 1999, Moseley won the silver medal in the Big Air competition at the X-Games. Jonny was the first skiier to medal in the X-games and the Olympics. Also, in 2000, he won the U.S. Free Skiing Open.
Jonny Moseley has definitley changed skiing. He brought in alot of new tricks and different styles of skiing. One trick that he is mostly responsible for bringing in is the "Iron Cross." He is the biggest thing that ever happened to skiing and he is one amazing skiier. If we have anyone to thank for what skiing has come to today, it is Jonny Moseley.

Is Blogging Journalism?

I disagree with this article big time. I think blogging is definitaley journalism when you are writing about life, events, politics, etc. But, if you are writing to your friends and socializing, it is just social networking and not even close to journalism. So, I can see both points of view on this topic.
There are alot of tools for journalism and I think blogging is one of those tools that helps you with your writing about news and politics. Blogging is also a great way to get your name out there in to the journalism world. Blogging is definitley journalism in my eyes.

Solitude is SICK

I have skiied at Solitude for 6 years now and I have experienced some of the best skiing you will find in Utah. However, Solitude is known for beginners, groomers, and for how small it is. I have two words for everyone who thinks that. Under-rated. Solitude has some of the best terrain in the wasatch mountains.
Their most famous area within the resort is called, "Honeycomb Canyon." This has some of the deepest snow in all of Utah. You can either hike up on the east side on Honeycomb or traverse accross the cat-track on the west face. Both of those are always amazing skiing.
One of their greatest lifts is called, "Powderhorn." This takes you up to the top of this huge face of the mountain. Their is 6 named, black and double-black runs. This provides you with plenty of cliffs, moguls, and steep, big mountain skiing. The powder piles up fast too. This is fantasitic skiing!
The last thing I am going to talk about is the lift, "Summit." There is so much terrain and so many different runs on this lift. Not only does this take you to "Honeycomb Canyon",  you can hike on the backside of the mountain and ski this amazing terrain called, "Highway to Heaven." You will always find untouched powder here and it is an experience that should be shared with everyone. Also, you can hike up to "Corner Peak", which is an amazing hike and an amazing run. The view is great and the skiing is phenomanal. Another run that is extremely fun is called, "Evergreen", you have to traverse accross the east face of the "summit" area and there is plenty of cliffs, long, narrow shoots, and just plain big, mountain skiing.
To sum it all up, Solitude is a great place to ski and when your day is done, you will always remember the epic, ski day at Solitude.

"Claim"..the best ski movie ever..powder session..!