Author: seanh2015

Prompt #3

On  September 28th, 2018, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake hit Indonesia, I  learned about the effects of the earthquake in the city of Palu. What was once a vacation destination turned into a total disaster zone with body bags lining the streets, disease, and no electricity. Initially I did not have many thoughts about the disaster because I could not relate. When I saw pictures of the totally destroyed neighborhoods I came to the realization that we should treat everything we have like its the last day we have them. An earthquake of this magnitude only takes seconds to destroy everything we have, or anybody we love. I had a great sense of gratitude for what I have, I started to feel very sorry for the people of Palu and all of Indonesia who were affected. I feel more personally connected to the victims when I watch interviews with the survivors, the more you get to know them the more you feel for them. I was glad to see how devoted some doctors were to tending to the victims, they gave up time with their own families who may or may not be alive to help total strangers. I felt like I should do something but my mind went blank as I though of what to do. I feel powerless because there is nothing i can realistically do besides donate money which wont make too much of a difference anyways because of the amount of destruction. This disaster made me come to the realization that being financially strong is not the only thing I should be concerned about, which is what we like to think in western society. We need to realize that we cannot control nature to our will and we should respect it more.

What went wrong in today’s lab and what could be a solution?

One of the problems is that nobody has the same exact technique of doing the waves so the waves were all inconsistent, as a solution only one person should be recorded for maximum accuracy. When triangulating to find the epicenter not everybody had a straight path to their recorder, this could be fixed by making a clear straight path with a string or something.

In order to find the epicenter of an earthquake we need more than one seismometer, we need at least three. We measure the time the S and P waves hit each seismometer and locate the epicenter referring to the time to the times of the wave hitting each, hence the name triangulation.

Locating the epicenter is important to our society because if we knew where the earthquake would be most powerful we could avoid that area.

we could use the data in an emergency situation to locate the epicenter and avoid it to avoid the most powerful location of the earthquake

We may not realize it but the continents we live in fact do move because of a phenomenon

that scientists call continental drift. A very credible German scientist that goes by the name of Alfred

Wegener discovered very convincing evidence of continental drift quite some time ago. He is a

credible source because he has a Ph. D from the University of Berlin, is extremely intelligent

(obviously) and he is a meteorologist, better known as today as a “weather boy”. One of the things

that Wegener discovered is that just by looking at the map of the world we can see that all of the

continents fit together kind of like a puzzle. The continents fitting together birthed the theory that all

continents were once together, forming a “super continent” we know of today as Pangaea. Pangaea

then split apart and the continents drifted into the positions they are in today. It is not just a

coincidence that all of the continents just happen to fit together . Another piece of evidence that

Wegener discovered was the Correlation of fossils on completely different continents. Fossils of the

now extinct Cynognathus were found on South America and Africa, directly across from each other.

This animal does not swim so it most likely could not have crossed the Atlantic ocean. Another fossil

found in both South America and Africa is called the Mesosaurus which too did not have the ability to

cross that great body of water because it only lived in fresh water and the distance was too great. The

fossils were found in both continents not because they moved themselves, but because the

continents moved them. Wegener’s was the reason that continental drift is a seriously researched

topic now, all this time later National Geographic still strives to learn about continental drift. In this

article (https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/continental-drift/) it is said that “…

continents rest on massive slabs of rock called tectonic plates. The plates are always moving…” It

seems to be a fact that continents do in fact sit on plates, and the tectonic plates do in fact move, so

the continents MUST be moving, it is undeniable at this point. National Geographic is a very reliable

source, they have many bright minds at their disposal and have earned a great reputation and

credibility over their many years of providing good information to the public. This reinforces the idea

of continental drift substantially and supports my thesis. My last piece of evidence is from an article

from Britannica (https://www.britannica.com/science/continental-drift-geology), another

extremely reliable source. We know for a fact that plates collide and form ridges underwater,

Britannica is suggesting that “As the plates move away from the flanks of the ridges, they carry the

continents with them.” This has to be true because the continents are sitting on the plates, so the

continents must move with the plates. In conclusion as we can see from all of this super concrete

evidence from all these super credible sources that the theory of continental drift is not just a theory,

it is a fact. 

 

How was the way Canada joined WWII different from WWI. Canada took up arms in WWII because Germany declared war on Britain. This is very similar to how Canada joined the first world war but this time in WWII Canada actually had a choice to join, in WWI Canada was forced to join. The BCATP or British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, was a way for Canada to contribute to the war without actually fighting. Canadians would train pilots from the British empire, and the pilots would go into war, but not actual Canadians. CD Howe was the head of the department of munitions, he was responsible for regulating production of munitions and weapons. Canada was reluctant in joining the war because of their lack of a military and the fact that they are in a depression. The comic below perfectly sums up Canada’s attitude towards WWII. Why should Canada join a war when we cannot even defend ourselves, as represented by the measly defenders defending a massive net that represents Canada.  

This cartoon shows how WWI started in a nutshell. figure A represents Serbia, B is Austria, C is Russia, D is Germany, E is Britain and F is America.

A terrorist group from Serbia known as the “Black Hand” was trying to assassinate the Duke, after a failed attempt leaving many of the Duke’s men injured, the duke decided to visit his men at the hospital. On the way there the Duke was assassinated. Austria declared war on Serbia, Russia mobilized troops to defend Serbia, Germany declared war on Russia for being against Austria, Britain wanted to defend Russia and or Serbia, America only joined the fight 1 year before it ended to help Britain.

Serbia is depicted as a child due to the scale of their military compared the other more significant forces such as Germany and Russia. The title is ironic because the cartoon shows countries going to war and the title is “The Chain Of Friendship”, which is verbal irony because it is sarcastic. Sarcasm by definition is meant to hurt another individual and irony is used to convey a message, this cartoon is ironic because it does not hurt anybody and it convert a message on how wars start.

Cycle:

Poverty cycle of country with high prevalence of HIV/AIDS

Baby born with HIV -> extremely poor health -> gets impregnated or impregnates another woman -> dies prematurely due to AIDS -> partner likely infected with HIV/AIDS and is passed on to offspring. 

Solution(s):

When a baby is born with aids it can be treated before the age of one to slow down the effects of the illness, this won’t fully eradicate aids from the patient as there is no full cure. 

Another solution to cut the cycle is to educate the people with HIV to not have kids so their kids don’t get aids.

Cycle: 

Child born into poverty -> child is malnourished -> attends a public school with extremely poor quality of education -> forced to work at a young age because of poor education and the fact they have no food -> child works for close to nothing for the rest of their life because they have no choice until death -> could possible have kids of their own to work for them on a farm (rare)

Solution(s):

We can cut the cycle by providing a quality education so the kids can grow up and not work for super cheap. A harsh reality is that people who live in poverty should not create a family they can not support or they will likely starve. 

Cycle:

Women born into inequality -> no education -> married by 12 -> pregnant by 15 -> turns to prostitution for income. 

Solution(s): 

The simplest solution is to educate people to treat women equally like we do in developed countries. If women are treated equally they will receive an education and will have a chance to have a good job in the future. Unfortunately women born into places where they have less rights than men have almost no chance to be something other than a housewife.