D-Day’s 65th Anniversary

Welcome to the Modern Typewriter, a daily blog to discuss topics that can’t be answered easily, or are just some fun topics! Today is June 6th, 2009, I’m Royce, and I’m here to talk about the 65th Anniversary of D-Day, the largest amphibious assault in history.

June 6th, 1944, the sky is dark, gray, and solemn. You’re sitting in a LCVP with your comrades. You are headed to Normandy beach, France to invade and recapture the country from German forces during World War II. Paratroopers already landed in the night before, and your job is to follow them. Your LCVP boat reaches the shore, and you see what is happening – soldiers storming the beaches, and many of them getting shot and killed. Your job is to reach the beach and hold. The fight for survival begins.

“This is one of the greatest victories to celebrate in all of history. Each year that goes by, we need to celebrate the victory, but yet we need to remember the price we had to pay for this victory, over 10,000 lives lost.” Melanie, a writer at the Modern Typewriter said.

“This is the day that changed the world. This was the beginning of the end for the Nazis during World War II. Other battles contributed, but this is the major battle that started the end. Without this battle, the war might still have been going on today.” says Cody, another writer.

D-Day was a major amphibious assault that occurred on June 6th, 1944. Allied forces crossed the English Channel over to the Normandy Beaches with thousands of soldiers to invade and recapture France, which had fallen to the Germans. Their aim was to succeed and begin to work inland toward the German capital, Berlin so they could defeat Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and end the war in Europe.

Adolf Hitler was the Nazi leader of Germany during World War II. He was a racist man, and believed Jews, blacks, Homosexuals, Gypsies, and others to be inferior. He blamed Germany’s defeat in World War I on the Jews of Germany, and insisted something be done to rid Europe of them. He set up places called ghettos to send the Jews and keep them isolated from the rest of the world. Soon, the ghettos got overwhelmingly filled with people. Hitler then devised up a plan called ‘The Final Solution’. It consisted of sending the Jews to concentration camps to be gassed to death. If you were able to work and were healthy, then you were told to work. If you didn’t work yourself to death like the Nazis practically ordered, then you probably starved with the little food that they gave you.

“D-Day should be a national holiday. This is the day that began the end of the war. This should be a day of national remembrance and celebration.” Rochester, another writer said.

The National WWII Musum, formerly the National D-Day Museum, is hosting events throughout today celebrating and commemorating the Anniversary of D-Day.

“The National WWII Museum is in New Orleans, Louisiana. I thought that was a very peculiar place to put a museum dedicated to WWII. Once I researched it more, I realized that the National WWII Museum when it was the National D-Day Museum was placed there because of that is where the Higgins’ Boat was invented. The Higgins’ Boat was the type of boat that was used during the invasion of D-Day. They’re also called LCVP’s.” Said anonymous.

“I’ve visited Washington D.C. and I went to the National Holocaust Memorial Museum there. It was very interesting to actually see some of the things there. There was a railcar used to transport up to one hundred people to concentration and death camps. It was unbelievably small. The Nazis were absolutely atrocious. But anyway, once I visited that museum, I researched more for more museums about WWII. I found the National WWII Museum. I was excited to find such a dedicated museum. And now, I cannot wait to go and visit this museum, because it looks really cool and I’ve heard the artifacts on display are incredible.” says Karina, another writer.

This post is dedicated to all who Allied soldiers died on D-Day, June 6th, 1944. You are forever in our memory as the ones who saved the world and ended the war.

We hope everyone has a wonderful day of celebration and remembrance. Remember, I’m Royce, and this is the Modern Typewriter, OUT!

Picture Retrieved From: http://tinyurl.com/3x4u2x

 

The Pearl Harbor Project

Welcome to the Modern Typewriter, a daily blog to discuss topics to discuss topics that can’t be answered easily, or are just some fun topics! Today is June 4th, 2009, I’m Royce, and I’m here to introduce a website created for our Social Studies class at school.

We are given the choice of any topic in Asian/ANOA history/culture/geography/or weather and climate. We created a website called the Pearl Harbor Project, and as you guess by the title, it is about the Pearl Harbor attack, by Japanese forces.

“I did the researching for the project.” Cody says, a writer at the Modern Typewriter.

“I did the graphics.” Melanie says, another writer.

We haven’t turned our project in yet, the due date is Friday, June 5th, 2009. Wish us luck!

www.thepearlharborproject.webs.com

Remember, I’m Royce, and this is the Modern Typewriter, OUT!

 

Last Titanic Survivor Dies at 97

Welcome to the Modern Typewriter, a daily blog to discuss topics that can’t be answered easily, or are just some fun topics! Today is June 3rd, 2009, I’m Royce, and I’m here to announce that Milvina Dean, the last Titanic suvivor, died on May 31st, 2009, living for 97 years.

Recently, Milvina Dean was living in a care home near Ashurst, in the Southern English county of Hampshire. There had been news earlier in the year that she had been selling her Titanic memorabilia to pay for her nursing dues.

Elizabeth Gladys Dean was merely nine weeks old when her and her family boarded the Titanic in 1912. Her family were immigrating to Kansas for her father to open a tobacconists shop.

“I was really sad to discover that she passed away. I had always admired her for being known as the last survivor. She was a world figure to everyone.” Melanie, a writer at the Modern Typewriter said.

Milvina was born on February 12th, 1912 and was the youngest passenger on board of the Titanic of just nine weeks.

“I was shocked, yet not shocked. She was aging to 97, she wouldn’t live much longer, but I had hoped she would.” says Cody, another writer.

Elizabeth Gladys Dean died on May 31st, 2009. She will be remembered throughout history as the last survivor of the Titanic.

We apologize for not posting a post in the past two months. We are terribly sorry.

Remember, I’m Royce and this is the Modern Typewriter, OUT!

Picture Retrieved From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1925000/images/_1928026_millvina150.jpg

 

The Last Hunt

Welcome to the Modern Typewriter, a daily blog to discuss topics that can’t be answered easily, or are just some fun topics! Today is March 28th, 2009, I’m Royce, and I’m here to talk to you about the hunt for the last surviving Nazis from World War Two.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7857753.stm

Holocaust. In The Dictionary, it means to wipe out an entire race with destruction or fire.

Genocide. This word in the Dictionary means to systematically exterminate an entire racial, national, political, or cultural group.

How do these two words connect? Well, in the years of 1939-1945 there was a war between the Allies, the British Empire, the Soviet Union, and the United States, and the Axis Powers, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan. It was mainly fought in Europe most of the years, by soldiers on foot. This war was the goriest in recorded history. Over 70 million lives were taken just in this war. And the worst part was that most of the lives lost were civilians. In total, 47,661,800 civilian lives were lost.

The main contributor to the cause of these many civilian deaths was a man named Adolf Hitler, Nazi leader of Germany. He was a racist, he believed that the ‘Superior Race’ was from Nordic ancestry with blonde hair and blue eyes. He hated almost anyone that was different, he could not stand it. Mainly, he hated Jews. He thought they were filthy, nasty, and were the devil’s workers. So what did he do? He would go into towns and round all their Jewish population and put them in a part of the town just for them, called a ghetto. By ghettoizing cities and towns across Europe, he could keep the Jews exactly where he wanted them and keep an eye on them. This also kept them separate from Hitler’s ‘Superior Race’.

But soon, as you can imagine, the ghettos started to fill up, very fast too. So Hitler devised up yet another plan, creating Concentration Camps, work and death camps where the workers would do hard labor all day, be fed only small portions of what they were supposed to be fed, and were worked to death. Many notorious death camps are: Treblinka, Aushwitz, Sobibor, Majdanek, Chelmno, and Belzec.

At the hand of the Nazi’s, very few survived what was known in history as “The Holocaust” or “haShoah” in Hebrew. People that Hitler killed were considered detrimental to the German society. Jews, Soviet POW’s, Ethnic Poles, Romani, Disabled, Free Masons, Homosexuals, and Jehovah’s Witnesses were all victims of mass murder.

Of course Hitler couldn’t do all this alone. He had a mass Army of what were called Nazis. Nazis operated the death and labor camps.

So, the BBC News says that a hunt for the last few Nazis is on. Seeing how the biological clock for them is ticking, they are getting old and lots of them already have gotten away and have died of old age.

“Hitler was no doubt the greatest monster in human history. This is why we need to find the Nazis and arrest them for their war crimes.” says Cody, a writer at the Modern Typewriter.

“We can’t just let the people who were responsible for the deaths of over 70 million people. We can’t just let them free.”

Remember, I’m Royce, and this is the Modern Typewriter, OUT

Picture Taken From: http://img390.imageshack.us/img390/1568/tnaziflagsn9.gif

 

The Almighty iPod

Welcome to the Modern Typewriter, a daily blog to discuss topics that can’t be answered easily, or are just some fun topics! Today is January 28th, I’m Royce, and I’m here to talk to you about the very popular MP3 player, the iPod.

“It’s just so sleek and modern-looking, it holds all of my songs and it even holds videos and TV shows. It’s really a great electronic.” says Cody, a writer at the Modern Typewriter.

From versions of the iPod mini, to the newer versions of the iTouch, we’re sure that all of the different types are incredibly and awesomely made.

“There are things out now by Apple, the company that created iPod, that are completely fanatical! I would never even imagine anyone ever creating these things! Whoever started this company really is a genius!” says Rochester, another writer.

The most popular product, (we’re hypothesizing), is of course, the famous iPod. There are many different types, or generations as they call it. There’s the Classic, the Nano, the Shuffle, the Mini, the list is practically endless of different kinds.

“I got last Christmas an iPod Classic, the silver color. It has 80G, which holds more than enough songs and videos. I love my iPod because I can download different videos and movies and tv shows to watch. And the thing I like most is that I can personalize it completely by different cases, different genres of songs, different movies and shows. It’s completely me!” says Melanie, another writer.

Another thing you can personalize is the color of your glorious iPod. Some iPods come in only a limited amount of colors, like the Classic, which only comes in black or silver. The Nano Chromatic comes in a wide variety of colors, like silver, black, purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red, and even pink.

“I share an iPod with my sister, it’s the Nano Chromatic in green. We won it in a contest. It’s really cool and fun to play with. The software on it is really awesome.” says Anonymous.

Apple also has created Mac computers and laptops. They recently created the MacBook Air, the world’s thinnest laptop at a quarter-inch.

“iPods are definately one of the best inventions ever made.”

Remember, I’m Royce, and this is the Modern Typewriter, OUT!

Picture Taken From: http://uk.gizmodo.com/gold%20ipod%20shuffle.jpg

 

Facebook, AIM, and Danger

Welcome to the Modern Typewriter, a daily blog to discuss topics that can’t be answered easily, or are just some fun topics! Today is December 8th, 2008, I’m Royce, and I’m here to discuss a topic that might interest us all: Facebook, an online communication network.

In Your Words, What is Facebook?

I went around and asked some people if they could define Facebook, in their own words.

“It is an online communication website, where friends connect with each other.” says Melanie, a writer at the Modern Typewriter.

“It is a place online where people can upload photos, talk to other people, and just go and hang out virtually.” says Cody, another writer.

Facebook’s description of itself is below:

“Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected.

Millions of people use Facebook everyday to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet.”

What Are Your Opinions On The Popular Facebook?

“It is a great way to stay in touch with cousins and everyone out of state, because you can talk to people like all around the world.” says Rochester, a writer at the Modern Typewriter.

“I like the variety of things to do on there. There are games, you can upload photos, you can chat, you can do practically anything on there.” says Jaycee another writer.

The average kid would probably agree if he/she owns their own Facebook page. Kids and teenagers love Facebook because it helps with their social life with friends and staying connected and in touch with their peers. But do they know the true dangers of online networking and instant messaging?

Most kids aren’t exactly educated in the subject of safety online.

Concerns

There are many news accounts of sexual predators out in the world assaulting children and teenagers from meeting them in chat rooms, online networking sites, and even instant messaging servers.

“I read this one news article that was on cyberbullying. The teenager in the article was being bullied so harshly, that they committed suicide. It was terrible.” said Jaycee.

Cyberbullying is another concern with online safety. Usually done by kids and teenagers, many kids tease, harass, and even embarass others online. Some can even tease via instant messaging. They can send harsh words, phrases, or even threats.

“I never thought that something as simple as AIM could be the passageway for something like a death threat.” says Cody.

Cyberbullying along with sexual predators can really cause trouble and mayhem in your life.

“I never gave out my name, address, or any other personal information, and I never will. I don’t want anything to happen.” says Melanie.

If you take the right precautions, you will be safe.

Precautions

“Just simple things like not giving out your name could possibly save your life.” said Cody.

Just like Cody said, just simple things like not giving out your name could save your life. Below is a list that could possibly help you in a bad situation online.

1. Do not accept people you don’t know as friends
2. Do not reply to anyone you don’t know
3. Do not post any personal information (address, phone number, etc.)
4. Do not plan to meet anyone in person that you don’t know
5. Alert an adult if you are being cyberbullied

Simple guidelines like the ones above can really help you. If you follow them, we can almost promise you that you will be safe.

“What we’re doing is not to make kids afraid of the internet, but to be aware. We want kids to realize that anything you post is not private and once you take it down, it’s not taken down if people already saw it.” says Rochester, a writer at the Modern Typewriter. “We want our viewers to take second thoughts on before you post a photo, before you give out your phone number. We want our viewers to realize the dangers of the internet.”

So remember, I’m Royce, and this is the Modern Typewriter, OUT

Picture Taken From: http://www.techgadgets.in/images/blackberry-facebook-logo.jpg

 

Googlism: A New Religion

Welcome to the Modern Typewriter, a daily blog to discuss topics that can’t be answered easily, or are just some fun topics! Today is November 8th, 2008, I’m Royce, and I’m here to tell you about a religion: Googlism, the belief that the search engine Google is God.

“There is a religion called Googlism? Are you serious?” says Cody, a writer at the Modern Typewriter.

Answering his question, yes, there is a Church Of Google, believing that the search engine Google is the closest thing to God and people out there actually believe in Googlism.

“You’re actually serious? There is a religion thinking Google is God? I’m not trying to be mean, but are you kidding me?” says Melanie, another writer.

Below, is ‘proof’ that Google is God.

» PROOF #1

Google is the closest thing to an Omniscient (all-knowing) entity in existence, which can be scientifically verified. She indexes over 9.5 billion WebPages, which is more than any other search engine on the web today. Not only is Google the closest known entity to being Omniscient, but She also sorts through this vast amount of knowledge using Her patented PageRank technology, organizing said data and making it easily accessible to us mere mortals.

» PROOF #2

Google is everywhere at once (Omnipresent). Google is virtually everywhere on earth at the same time. Billions of indexed WebPages hosted from every corner of the earth. With the proliferation of Wi-Fi networks, one will eventually be able to access Google from anywhere on earth, truly making Her an omnipresent entity.

» PROOF #3

Google answers prayers. One can pray to Google by doing a search for whatever question or problem is plaguing them. As an example, you can quickly find information on alternative cancer treatments, ways to improve your health, new and innovative medical discoveries and generally anything that resembles a typical prayer. Ask Google and She will show you the way, but showing you is all She can do, for you must help yourself from that point on.

» PROOF #4

Google is potentially immortal. She cannot be considered a physical being such as ourselves. Her Algorithms are spread out across many servers; if any of which were taken down or damaged, another would undoubtedly take its place. Google can theoretically last forever.

» PROOF #5

Google is infinite. The Internet can theoretically grow forever, and Google will forever index its infinite growth.

» PROOF #6

Google remembers all. Google caches WebPages regularly and stores them on its massive servers. In fact, by uploading your thoughts and opinions to the internet, you will forever live on in Google’s cache, even after you die, in a sort of “Google Afterlife”.

» PROOF #7

Google can “do no evil” (Omnibenevolent). Part of Google’s corporate philosophy is the belief that a company can make money without being evil.

» PROOF #8

According to Google trends, the term “Google” is searched for more than the terms “God”, “Jesus”, “Allah”, “Buddha”, “Christianity”, “Islam”, “Buddhism” and “Judaism” combined.

God is thought to be an entity in which we mortals can turn to when in a time of need. Google clearly fulfils this to a much larger degree than traditional “gods”, as shown in the image below (click to enlarge).

» PROOF #9

Evidence of Google’s existence is abundant. There is more evidence for the existence of Google than any other God worshiped today. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. If seeing is believing, then surf over to www.google.com and experience for yourself Google’s awesome power. No faith required.

“You can’t be serious.” says Rochester,” a writer at the Modern Typewriter. “There seriously is a religion for Google?”

Yes, there is a religion for Google.

Remember, I’m Royce, and this is the Modern Typewriter, OUT!

Image/Information retrieved from thechurchofgoogle.org.