Warding off Birds at the Airport

You may have heard of the flock of birds that flew into US Airways Flight 1549, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing in the Hudson River. Steve Osmek's job at Seattle Tacoma International Airport is to prevent a disaster like this from happening again. The airport has been trying to do this since the 1970s. They have many methods of to prevent birds from landing at the airport and ward them off. To prevent the birds from landing in the first place, they try to cover up the environments that attract the birds. To make them go away, on the other hand, they fire explosive shells in the air pistols of shotguns. He also has a laser that when shined at a bird, supposedly mimics a predator stalking it and forces it to take flight. Finally, he has a radar to help him spot birds with greater ease. I think that this is a very effective way to ward off birds and prevent them from causing harm. I also think that it is great that other airports are also getting radars to help them deal with their "bird problem". All in all, I think that these are great ways to prevent an accident like US Airways Flight 1549 from occurring again.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/02/11/seattle.bird.radar/index.html#cnnSTCText

North Korean Missles Now Capable of Hitting the U.S.

According to the South Korean Defense Ministry, North Korea has recently spent a great deal of money improving it's land and sea forces, as well its weapons. The is no word yet on why they are doing this, but because they have recently thrown out their peace agreements with South Korea, they appear to be preparing for an oncoming war. One weapon they decided to improve is the medium-range ballistic missile. It is now capable of flying about 1,900 miles which may put U.S. bases in Guam in their range. They also improved their long-range missile, the Taepodong-2, which is believed to have a range of 4,200 miles, which puts even Hawaii and Alaska at risk. I think that this is a very serious issue that needs to be dealt with immediately. These missiles should be unarmed right now with no questions asked. I can't believe anyone let their weapons advance this far in the first place.\

Source:http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/02/23/northkorea.missiles/index.html

Small Earthquake Hits Denville

On Monday, a earthquake with a magnitude of 3.0 hit Denville, New Jersey. One Resident thought a tree had fallen or a neighboring building had exploded. According to seismologist Won-Young Kim the earthquake was very small and it was unlikely the event would cause any serious injuries. I think that the residents are unlucky, because they were hit by and earthquake, yet still fortunate that it was very small and not very damaging. Also, I think people should be more prepared, as Kim said that it was not unusual for earthquakes to occur in that region. All in all, I think that people should still feel lucky that the earthquake was weak and be more prepared if it occurs again.

Sources:
http://www.news12.com/NJ/topstories/article?id=225148
http://www.news12.com/NJ/topstories/article?id=225182