Beyond 9

The Human Genome Project was an international scientific research project with a primary goal to determine the sequence of chemical base pairs which make up DNA ,and to identify and map the approximately 20,000–25,000 genes of the human genome from both a physical and functional standpoint. In simple terms, it was to find out more about DNA. The person who was responsible for this project was James D. Watson.

Jack Kevorkian, more commonly known as "Doctor Death" assisted 130 patients die. Between 1999 and 2007, Kevorkian served eight years of a 10-to-25-year prison sentence for second-degree murder. He was released on parole on June 1, 2006, due to good behavior. He said that "dying is not a crime". I personally believe that he was an agent of mercy. I tend to look at things more positively.

Nancy Kerrigan was a 2 time American Olympic figure skating medalist and 1993 U.S. champion. Kerrigan gained considerable fame beyond the skating world when, on January 6, 1994, she was hit in the knee with a collapsible baton by Shane Stant at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit, part of a planned assault on her, masterminded by rival Tonya Harding's ex-husband Jeff Gillooly and friend Shawn Eckardt.

Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were in a home run chase in 1998 to beat Roger Marris's record in 1961. McGwire ended up breaking the record first, however Sosa came back and hit 68 homeruns to take the record. In my opinion, it is still Marris's because both McGwire and Sosa were convicted of using performance enhancing drugs. McGwire was my childhood hero, and when he was convicted of using steroids, my dream of becoming a baseball player ended. Way to go McGwire.

The Centennial Olympic Park bombing was a terrorist bombing on July 27, 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States during the 1996 Summer Olympics, the first of four committed by Eric Robert Rudolph, former explosives expert for the United States Army. Two people died, and 111 were injured.

Map of Terrorist Events in the 1980s

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You Gotta See This...Part II

Well, my mom wanted to give her opinion on the 80's TV shows, so here goes it.

Top 5 80's TV shows

1. Family Ties

2. Wonder Years

3. Cheers

4. Mork and Mindy

5. Alf

You Gotta See This

When I asked my dad who the top five athletes were in the 1970s, he said, in no specific order

Nolan Ryan

Joe Greene

Muhammad Ali

Terry Bradshaw

and finally, his personal favorite, Roberto Clemente.

Lee Harvey Oswald is assassinated

Pictured above is Lee Harvey Oswald's assassination. But before we go into details on the picture, lets give credit to who took the picture. Robert H. Jackson was awarded the Pulitzer prize for this photograph. However, this wasn't Jackson's first encounter with an Oswald case. He also took a picture of the sixth floor of the Texas school book depository just seconds after the final shot, but by this time Oswald had already left his position. Prior to this photo, Oswald was found as the assassin of John F. Kennedy. I decided to look up some of the interesting looking people in this photo. The one getting shot (Lee Harvey Oswald) was just about to be taken to jail, when he was shot by Jack Ruby. Jack Ruby frequently carried a gun wherever he went, and impersonated a NBC news reporter to get a chance to kill Oswald. At the time he said he killed Oswald "to spare Jacqueline Kennedy the ordeal of appearing at Oswald's trial". We found out later that statement was bull, it was actually a spur of the moment deal. He was presented the opportunity and took it. The man to the left of Lee Harvey Oswald, is detective Leavelle. After the incident, he took some time to share his thoughts on the murder. He believes that if he wouldn't have been murdered he would have easily been convicted and sent to jail if not worse. Although I wasn't able to find out the name of the guy on the far right (believe me, I went through about 10 pages of google and got nothing) I like how in spite of all that is happening, he still needs makes sure to hold his cigarette while Oswald gets shot. I found that amusing.

Rushmore

If I could put four people on Mt. Rushmore, I would pick Martin Luther King Jr., Jackie Robinson, Robert Oppenheimer, and Eisenhower.



The reason I picked Martin Luther King Jr. is because I beilieve he was the sole leader of the african-americans movement toward freedom. I also picked him because he was a leader with great ethics. He alway protested non-violently. And all of his protests were peaceful. My final reason for picking him was because he was a great Christian philosipher. Some of his work was fantastic. He had such great insight to the christian world. It was a shame his life was ended to soon.



The next person I picked was Jackie Robinson. I picked Jackie Robinson because he was the man to desegregate America's pastime, and pretty much all other sports. He was more than just a baseball player, and he showed that to the fans as well as America. I think Jackie Robinson deserves to be on this.


The third person I picked was Robert Oppenheimer. I picked him because I feel he is somewhat of an unsung hero. He practically won us World War II. When he invented the atomic bomb, it gave the United States power over the rest of the world, something we still partially have today. This invention also fueled Ike's presidency.


The final person I chose was Dwight Eisenhower. I think Eisenhower should be up their because he was a president that won. He won a war, won two elections, and won the adoration of the people. He did a lot, and played his cards right with the hidden hand policy. I really respect Ike as a good president, and I feel that he made a lot of right decisions. He was really well suited for the situation given to him in Korea, and won.

Important eyewitnesses of the JFK assassination

One of the many eyewitnesses I found interesting was Gordon Arnold. Gordon was off duty from the military, so he decided to take his camera and film the president. When he took his camera to the grassy knoll, a man in the "secret service" told him he could not be their for "security reasons". After the shootings another secret service officer, or the same one, says to give him his camera tape. That seems extremely suspicious to me. However, when he went on the Dallas Morning News and was interviewed on what happened in Dealey Plaza, a man named Ralf Yarbourough, said he saw Gordon, ""Immediately on the firing of the first shot I saw the man you interviewed throw himself onto the ground. He was down within a second of the time the shot was fired" Am I the only one who finds that strange that within a second he was down. I understand he was in the military, but that is insanely percise reaction time.