Face Transplant

I read an article on CNN.com about a woman in the United States who had a face transplant. It was the first face transplant in the U.S. and the fourth in the world. The woman had suffered gunshot wounds to the face and had no nose, right eye or upper jaw. She recieved a nose, lower eyelids, upper lip, skin, muscles, bone, hard palate, arteries, veins and nerves. I could not believe this story when I read it. Face transplants have been in movies for years but I didn't think it could be done in real life. This technology will be very helpful in the future to help patients with facial trauma.

Chocolate Powered Race Car

I just read an article on FoxNews.com about a race car that was built from parts derived from vegetables and runs on a fuel derived from chocolate. The car is 95% biodegradable and conforms to most of the International Formula 3 rules. I find it very interesting that a race car could be partly built from and powered from food. Automotive technology has been advancing very fast lately, but I have never heard of a car running on chocolate. Although this car cost over $200,000 to build, I hope that this technology is expanded because we really need cars that will run on renewable engergy.

Swine Flu

As the recession continues, people in the U.S. are faced with another rapidly spreading problem: the Swine Flu. It seems that the cases have spread from Mexico. Many cases have been reported in the U.S., including many students in New York who recently returned from a trip to Mexico. Today officials from the Obama administration said that deaths are a likely result from this flu and that vaccines are weeks or even months away.

GM Cuts Four Brands

Today I read that General Motors will be cutting Pontiac, Saab, Hummer, and Saturn. I have loved cars my whole life, especially GM cars. I was very disappointed to hear this news today, particularly because one of my personal cars is a Pontiac. GM had to cut back as much as possible to continue to recieve help from the government. GM will continue with four brands: Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, and GMC. In the summer and during other school breaks I work at my family's autobody shop. Since I am around cars so much, it will be strange for the production of these cars to stop.

Graphic Novels

Recently in class we began to study grapic novels. One of the discussion questions we talked about was if we considered graphic novels, or comics, to be literature. I feel that it depends on the individual work. A story such as Maus by Art Spiegelman should be considered literature because it accurately depicts historical events. The drawings only add to the story because they show actions and emotions in a way that would not be possible in a regular novel. An example of this is how Jewish people are drawn as mice while the Nazis are cats. The Sunday comics in comparison should probably not be considered literature. They do not involve the higher level of thinking that Maus does. They are mainly intended for entertainment than to tell a complex story.

Classic Cars Blog

http://www.classiccarsblog.net/

I enjoyed reading this blog because it is about one of my favorite subjects, classic cars. This blog has stories about classic cars, techniques for working on cars, and pictures of finished show cars. The blog seems to be updated almost daily. I especially enjoyed the acricle about Jay Leno going to visit the 1954 Jaguar XK 120 that a neighbor owned when he was a child. Leno, who is an automobile enthusiast (he owns over 150 automobiles and motorcycles) says that this car is what ignited his passion for automobiles.

A-Rod Admits Using Performance Enhancing Drugs

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-rodriguez-steroids&prov=ap&type=lgns

This article covers the A-Rod performance-enhancing drug scandal. On Monday he admitted using performance enhancing drugs from 2001-2003, after Sports Illustrated reported that he tested positive for steroids in 2003.

I feel that this is rediculous. A-Rod is the highest paid and supposedly the best player in the MLB. Although I am not an A-Rod fan, he is a role model to other baseball players of all ages. By using illegal performance enhancing drugs, A-Rod is showing young players that it is alright to break the rules and the law to obtain an advantage over the competition. This makes the entire MLB look bad, because their most famous player is a cheater.