Filipino Veterans

In 1946, President Truman signed the Rescission Act. His action of doing so, resulted in the Filipino Veterans of WWII to not recieve the 'full benefits' that the U.S. had promised these soldiers. Truman wrote to the leaders of the House and Senate, stating that "The record of the Philippine soldiers for bravery and loyalty is second to none. Their assignment was as bloody and difficult as any in which our American soldiers engaged. Under desperate circumstances they acquitted themselves nobly." Therefore, the U.S. did not pay the Filipinos for their services. Today, out of the 250,000 Fillipino soldiers who volunteered to fight, only about 15,000 are alive. "We were loyal to the United States. Even up to now, we are loyal to the United States, except that the United States has forgotten us in many ways. It's only now, because of the insistence of Sen. [Daniel] Inouye in the Senate, he was able to act on this." Franco Arcebal, another leader of the American Coalition for Filipino Veterans, said. "Now we are only 15,000. And the amount that they're giving us is a small amount. But we appreciate that. Because it will finally recognize our services ... as active service in the armed forces of the United States," he added. The Veterans who now are U.S. citizens are recieving $15,000 and the non-citizens will recieve $7,000. Repaying those Veterans is the right thing to do. Although it is so long ago, the U.S. had promised them benefits, and for those reasons, the soldiers joined WWII fighting on our side. "For a poor man like me, $15,000 is a lot of money," said 91-year-old Celestino Almeda. With that in mind, although the Filipinos had waited for this payment, they are still grateful that the U.S. had decided to pay them. I think that this is good that we had finally decided to pay them back because they are 'loyal to the United States'.

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My Roller Coaster Website

The Elephant

Roller Coasters

When riding on a roller coaster, people don't consider why the roller coaster makes their stomach lurch and fly up into their chest. And no one considers Newton's laws of motion. Those people are just in it for the pleasure and the excitement of the speed and the thrill. Well, the workers and scientists who build these roller coasters most definitely consider these laws. The reason for why a stomach lurches into one's chest, is because of inertia. Inertia is when an object of matter suddenly stops or accelerates at a fast pace and the other object is not stopped, so it continues on at that current speed. For example, when a car suddenly stops, the passengers slide forward because their bodies are not stopped by the force reacting against the car. In our science class, we demonstrated Newton's laws by building roller coasters. Not the kind that you may think of that are fifty feet high, but roller coasters made from toilet paper tubes and recyclable items. Most roller coasters started from a high point, to attain a gravitational force. The marble, which simulated as the roller coaster cart, also gained rolling force which caused it to continue on. When the marble came to a hill in our roller coaster, it would slow or either fall back. This was because the force was not great enough, and the hill was too steep. Because of this, the marble would fall back because of the lack of energy. By having done this project, I have learned the laws of motion clearly. Building a model roller coaster set a model for myself of how these laws applied to what we see as just a ride. When looking at a roller coaster, people just think about how fun it will be, or how scary. Yet, they do not consider why it looks fun or scary. It could be how high the hill is, or the speed at which the roller coaster travels. Therefore, roller coasters are much more complicated than what we think. In fact, building it requires much thought and knowledge of Newtons Laws of Motion.

Food Pantry.

As more people become unemployed in South Brunswick, the food pantry is trying their best to take care of those families. This past year there has been an intense increase in families that need to have financial help. The food pantry has been trying their best in trying to help these families with the economic slump. ”We spent $23,000 more last year than we did in 2007 in total expenditures including spending and gift cards for places like Stop&Shop,” said Social Services Director LouAnne Wolf. “In total we gave out $73,000 last year alone.” Fortunately, donations have been strong this year, with someone donating food almost everyday. But food donations are still critical. "We’ve seen people who normally would be donating who have come to us for assistance," Ms. Wolf said. "We’ve also had people come to us for referrals to figure out what they can do." In the past year, the number of families who used the pantry went from 25 to 40. And for that many families needing to resort to the pantry only in South Brunswick, imagine how many families nationally need help from their local social service! I think that because of economic times, everyone should pitch in and consider what others need. Even in school we have had a period of days where students can bring in canned goods to bring to the pantry. I believe that contributing to our community is really helpful to those families who need it.

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HD80606b

In Paris, astronomers have discovered a distant planet for a few hours, burns 1300 degrees Fahrenheit hotter every time its orbit brings it close to its sun. "The results are very exciting because they give us important clues to the atmospheric properties of the planet," says Gregory Laughlin, the leader of a group of researchers in Santa Cruz at the University of California. They have even generated the most realistic image of this exoplanet, which is the term that identifies planets outside of our solar system. They have named this planet HD80606b. In the generated image, one side of the planet is completely red from the scorching of the sun and a very thin blue crescent to show the 'dark' side of the planet, or the side that is unaffected by the sun's heat. "This is the first time that we've detected weather changes in real time on a planet outside our solar system," said Laughlin. HD80606b swings around its sun in an elliptical orbit every 114 Earth days. From the telescope's angle into space, the planet passed behind the sun, something called a secondary eclipse, just before reaching its highest temperature of 2240 Fahrenheit which is hotter than molten lava. I believe that the discovery of this planet is a very interesting one. With no life found in any other planet in our solar system, it is really surprising to find temperature changes on a planet.

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