IRP blog post 12 -media

During the summer, when Bryson went on day hikes, he came across a man with an "Enviro Monitor". The man clearly wanted to brag to people about what it was and how it worked but Bryson saw it as more of a joke. The man named off all of the things that it could do, equalling out to a bunch of meaningless numbers. Bryson then went on about how all the new technology is making it so people who don't belong on mountains hiking now belive that they do. Another point was -what is the point of having a machine that can measure the environmental conditions that you are currently experiencing? By the time that the machine realizes it is cold, you will as well. This can relate to many things in our lives now. People rely so much on technology and they believe that it can just do things for them, like help them climb a mountain. Some things need to just be kept free from technology because they are better off, like the Appalachian Trail.

IRP blog post 11 -cited passage

At the very end of the book Bryson and Katz both realized that it was time for them to go home. When they stepped off the trail for the last time they were torn between being relieved or sad. Bryson questioned if it was really a good idea to leave because it felt like they hadn't really hiked the Appalachian trail. "I had come to realize that I didn't have any feelings toward the AT that weren't confused and contradictory. I was weary of the trail, but still strangely in its thrall; found the endless slog tedious but irresistible; grew tired of the boundless woods but admired them for their boundlessness; enjoyed the escape from civilization and ached for its comforts. I wanted to quit and do this forever, sleep in a bed and in a tent, see what was over the next hill and never see a hill again." (389). This quote basically sums up their whole journey. When reading it you can understand the emotions that Bryson is feeling. You can tell that Bryson feels differently about life now because of his journey on the trail with Katz. When Bryson questions if they really hiked the Appalachian Trail, Katz replied simply that they had, and what they missed was just simply details. Afterward, Bryson realized Katz was right and that its true, nothing else matters but the fact that they did hike the Appalachian Trail.

IRP blog post 10 -link

During Bryson and Katz's journey, they hear stories about all different types of people and their experiences on the trail. There are several bizarre stories about people who have suffered from hypothermia. Most of the time hypothermia victims are people that are not in severe conditions but rather just underprepared for a drop in temperature. "Hypothermia is a medical emergency that occurs when your body loses heat faster than it can produce heat, causing a dangerously low body temperature." When someone is suffering from hypothermia their body temperature drop below about 95 degrees farenheit. Someone suffering from hypothermia experiences confusion, shallow breathing and severe shivering. Most victims are usually found in strange cirsumstances because hypothermia caused confusion before they died.

health- hypothermia
http://www.bing.com/health/article/mayo-125883/Hypothermia?q=hypothermia

IRP blog post 9 -cited passage

Bryson's wife picked up Bryson and Katz in Front Royal, New Hampshire. Katz was going back to Des Moine and Bryson had to take care of some work realted things. They decided that they would meet up again in June and complete the trail. Bryson could not tear himself away from the trail. He felt unfufilled when he was not hiking it. Each day during the spring he took on peices of the trail at a time. He felt compelled to continue hiking the trail because it had been his entire life for months. "And thus I was to be found, in the first week of June, standing on the banks of the Shenandoah again, in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, blinking at a gray sky and trying to pretend with all my heart that this was where I wanted to be." (p.326) He didn't want to have to be hiking all the time but somehow that was where he always ended up.

IRP blog post 8 -image

One day while hiking a section of the trail, Bryson came across a town in Pennsylvania called Centralia. Apparantly this town used to be a thriving mining town until one day the coal that was under the town caught on fire. Smoke began to rise through the ground in random parts of the town and sink holes would also randomly form. Someone estimated that there was enough coal under the town for it to burn for hundreds of years more. In 1979-1981 the bizarre town, now wasteland, attracted national attention. The fires are still burning in the ground. All that is left now are destroyed homes on top of unstable ground.

IRP blog post 7 -link

At the beginning of this section, Bryson thinks that he heard a bear near the campsite the night before. He had a very difficult time trying to sleep after that. He heard big footstaps snapping branches around the outside of camp and when he shown the flashlight into the woods to eyes glared back at him but he could not see the size of the animal. The animal never actually came into the campsite. Katz wasn't concerned about the animal at all, only about getting his full night of sleep. They were camping right off the trail in Shenandoah National Park. When the park was first created in 1937 there were only 10 bears known to live in the area. Through the years the population increased and now it is thought that there are bears anywhere from the low to high hundreds living in the park.

bears in shenandoah national park
http://www.nps.gov/shen/naturescience/black-bear.htm

IRP blog post 6 -media

The Appalachian Trial is approximately 2,181 miles long and it passes through 14 states. The trail stretches from Georgia to Maine. In 1921 the trail was only idea but in 1937 the trail was completed. Each year the trail is rerouted in parts but the majority of the trail remains the same from year to year. The trail passes through 8 national forests and is maintained by 31 different clubs and parterships. Only white paint blazes mark the direction of the trail and some hikers have been known to get lost. Often Bryson complains about the quality of the maps of the trail. Each year about 300 people complete the Appalachian Trail all in one trip but that is a small fraction of people who have that intention when they start.

Dear Che,
I am a daughter of a citizen of Cuba who was killed, because of you. You killed my father in your attempt to end the dictatorship in the country. I have had to grow up without a father in a country that has not yet fully recovered form what you did to it. Our new leader is still a dictator. Living in this country is an obstacle in itself because my opportunities are limited. I basically had to raise myself growing up in this oppressive country. My whole life I have wanted to live in America. It will be a challenge but I am determined to raise my children in a free country. I have faced many hardships and I know I will face more on my quest to America but I am determined to leave this country.
Sincerely, Angry

IRP blog post 5- cited passage

From the beginning of the trip, Bryson's intentions were to hike the whole Appalachian Trail. Even he didn't realize what a feat this would be. While passing through the town of Gatlinburg, they went into a hiking shop to buy new shoelaces for Katz. There was a four feet long map of the Appalachian Trail in the shop. "Of the four feet of trail map before me, reaching approximately from my knees to the top of my head,we had done the bototm two inches...All that we had experienced and done-all the effort and toil, the aches, the damp, the mountains, the horrible stodgy noodles, the blizzards, the dreary evenings with Mary Ellen, the endless, wearying, doggedly accumulated miles- all that came to two inches." p.150
It was hard for the two hikers to put into perspective how long the Appalachain Trial actually was, but this map was a rude awakening. It shocked them how insignificant their trip had been so far. After the initial shock, Byson was liberated by the idea that no one was forcing them to hike the whole trail. They decided that instaed of getting on the trail right where they left off, this time they would drive a bit so after their next hike they would be closer to the town.
This was a big part of the book. It changed their whole plans when the imensity of the trail was put in a tangible form in front of their faces. They realized what some fail to realize, hiking the trail is a choice. Some take it on as burden but really it is just for your own purposes. No one would ever know or care if you skipped some trail here or there or if you just decided that hiking the whole trail wasn't for you. The Appalachian Trail can be just for leisurly hiking, it doesn't have to be a miserable undertaking.

IRP blog post 4 -link

After days of hiking and seeing less than 5 other people, Katz and Bryson are relieved for any type of civiliazation, even if it is Galtinburg Tennessee. The town had been talked about in a book called "The Lost Continent". That gives you a pretty good indictation of the type of town Gatlinburg was. Now it is filled with mini-malls and overpriced burger joints. The town feeds on the touristst that come through the town. (I don't understand who would want to be a tourist in the town unless you were hiking that Appilachian Trail.) It is strange to think that in our modern times there are these small times that have been forgotten so now they sell themselves to the tourists to make the town ugly and fakely industrial.

Gatlinburg Attractions
http://www.gatlinburg.com/things-to-do/attractions/

IRP blog post 3 -video

During the hike Bryson and Katz stop in very small and southern towns. Hiwassee, Georgia was one of them. The towns that Bryson and Katz stop in along the way are extremely small and seem to be out of date. The motels that they stay in are small, questionably clean, and family owned. The town of Hiawasse was no different. Hiawasse is a Cherokee word meaning "meadow". The town survives on hikers and people passing through on the Appalachian Trail. In 2000 the town population was 808.

A little taste of the night life in Hiawasse, Georgia-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fZR3eJu61o

IRP blog post 2 -cited passage

Bryson and Katz both dropped their lives and started hiking the Appalachian Trail. They knew that the next few months of their life would consist of nothing but hiking. Most people would not be willing to put thier lives on hold like they did.
"Life takes on a neat simplicity, too. Time ceases to have any meaning. When it is dark you go to bed, and when it is light again you get up, and everything in between is just in between. Its quite wonderful, really" p.100
While hiking throught the mountains Bryson began to realize he liked having nothing to worry about. Everyday he woke up just to walk as far as he could, then went to bed and did the same thing the next day. He said that the routine they developed was not so bad even though they slept in crude shelters and ate very little. Katz and Bryson went days having only exchanged several words. A lot of thinking must take place while hiking the trail. I wonder if they will return to their lives as changed men.
I chose the quote on page 1000 because it immediatly stuck with me. It made me want to hike the Appalachian Trail one day. The simplicity that he describes seems like a good way to get back in touch with the simple and maybe more important things in life.

IRP blog post 1 -link

Bill Bryson moved into a community right off the Appalachian Trail and he suddenly felt compelled to walk it. He sent out a note to friends and family seeing if any wanted to join him. An old friend Stephan Katz replied and said he like to join. They hadn't talked in years. Just getting to the beginning of the trail took several days. They were told that most people turn back after the first few days because they trail "isn't what they expected," They hoped to not be some of those people. After a few days they found a small, old and not very clean motel but it was refuge from the trail. They were incredibly relieved adn took advantage of the warm water and full meals. After being in the woods for several days it becomes clear all things things you take forgranted.
Unlike our recent theme, their journey does not have a purpose other than completing the Trail so they can say that they have done it.

The official Appilachian trial website
-trail maps
-all about the trail
-volunteer for the AT
-AT apparel
http://www.appalachiantrail.org/site/c.mqLTIYOwGlF/b.4850441/k.EFAB/The_Trail.htm

IRB blog post # 1- book and author

A Walk in the Woods
by: Bill Bryson

180 degress south

"Fear of the unknown is the greatest fear of all."
Jeff Johnson recognized that there was no point in being afraid. He went into the world to experience everything because he knew that fear of the unknown is the greatest fear. If you know about the unknown then there is no fear.
This quote applies to my life after high school because right now I am excited but also nervous about going to college. College is a new idea to me, therefore it is unknown.

IRB blog post 4- Double Feature: Dinner and a Movie

"To Upgrade From Dirty Carpets and Tubs of Popcorn, Theater Chains Try Full Menus, Seat-Side Service"
With the increasing amount of ways that you can order movies right from your home, movie theaters are trying to think of new ways to bring in customers. However, theaters are still relatively dingy with cramped seating and expensive candy. New theaters are trying to make going to the movies a more pleasant night out by adding dinner to the experience. These theaters are offering gourmet or casual dinners that you can eat while you watch. The seats are also larger and much more comfortable with more space in between rows.
I think that in order for the movie theater industry to continue to make money they are going to have to make improvements such as the ones mentioned in this article. People are not going to continue to go out and pay too much for a movie and candy if they can get the same thing at their house for a fraction of the price.
How long will it take all theaters to catch on to this new money-making opportunity?
Will people continue to go to regular movie theaters if they are not changed?

The pictures that goes along with this article makes these new theaters look very appealing.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703808704576062040285064856.html?mod=rss_Arts_and_Entertainment

IRB blog post 4- BP, Transocean, Halliburton blamed by presidential Gulf oil spill commission

BP was the main company in the news being blamed for this summer's oil leak, but according to recent reports there are three main companies to blame. BP, Transocean, and Halliburton are blamed for being irresponsible and overlooking systemic failures. It is reported that all three companies ignored warning signs and didn't take necessary precautions. New reports documented the exact missteps of the three companies. There was also "poor communication between BP and Halliburton". Reports say that a disaster like this could happen again unless there are changes in the oil system.
Will these large companies suffer financial because of their poor management?
Will oil companies change the ways that they get their oil to make it safer?

Another article that talks about the three companies involved in the oil leak.
http://247wallst.com/2010/09/08/bp-report-blame-transocean-and-halliburton/

IRB blog post 4- Study Linking Vaccine to Autism Was Fraud, Journal Reports

Results from a test supposedly proving that vaccines were linked to autism, has been renounced by 10 of its 13 authors. The paper was written in 1998 by Andrew Wakefield and his colleagues. It said that there was a link between a childhood MMR shot and autism. According to new findings information about the study was not true. They altered information about the children participating in the study. Apparantly, 5 of the children in the study had already been noticed to have developmental issues even though all 12 children were stated to be normal. Andrew Wakefield is no longer allowed to practice medicine in Britain.
After this study went public, many parents didn't give their children these vaccines. Even now, the rate of these vaccinations has not gone up to what it was before the study. Not giving children vaccines puts everyone at risk of highly contagious diseases that could be prevented. There have been recent studies proving that there is no link between autism and vaccinations.
Will people now understand that there is no link between vaccines and autism, or will they still be looking for something to blame?
Will the rate of vaccinations go back up to what it was before the altered study?
"It is easy to scary people, but, hard to un-scare them." -5 oclock news

This article also discusses Andrew Wakefield and his false study.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110106/ap_on_he_me/eu_med_autism_fraud