Around The World

Abby Sunderland, the sixteen year-old girl that set out to be the youngest woman to sail around the world, on the day before yesterday she lost contact with the world and set off emergency beacons. Yesterday she was spotted, she is fine, and rescue boats on the way to her. Should her parents have let a daughter that young go off by herself on a grueling trip around the world? I'm on the fence. Part of me says let the girl go for her dream and then another part of me asks, are you freaking crazy?

Kyron Horman, a seven year-old boy that went missing on June 4, 2010, is still missing. Search teams from several counties in Oregon met yesterday and have expanded the search for him. The Missing Kyron Horman Facebook Page now has over thirty-three thousand members. When I went to the page I was surprised at the number of messages making accusations towards the family. There also seems to be a lot of judgments about the family not speaking out yet. They have issued a statement through the police but haven't held a press conference. The other bone of contention is that the step mom went to an exercise class. Some people found that unusual. Do you find that unusual? Do you think the family should speak out? Here is what I think. People react to tragedy differently and cope differently. Some just can't face the world and roll up in a ball avoiding all contact with the outside. Others stand on the tallest building and yell at the top of their lungs. Some people cope by being with family, others cope by going swimming. I think the judgments and accusations should stop and people should let the family handle the situation the best way they can for them. The thing that trumps all is the boy's safe return. Your take on it?

The World Cup starts today. This is soccer's premier event. For us here in the states the main match this weekend is USA vs. England. What are the referees for that game doing to prepare for their job? They are learning American cuss words so they know when they are being abused. Think I am kidding? Read the following article:

http://blog.taragana.com/sports/2010/06/10/referees-for-england-us-world-cup-match-learning-english-swear-words-that-players-might-use-109949/

From sports to driving. We do it all here. According to the GMAC web site 20% of licensed drivers failed GMAC's driving test. That translates to thirty-eight million drivers nationwide. Here is the article:

http://autos.aol.com/article/study-driving-test/

I got sixteen of the twenty questions right for a passing score of eighty percent. On three of the missed I was more cautious then their answers. You can take the test here:

http://www.nationaldriverstest.com/national-drivers-test/ndt-test.php

What was your score?

WHO AM I?

I was born in 1818 and died in 1889. I was the first cousin four times removed from Benjamin. I had nine brothers and sisters. My parents were Quakers. The Quakers believed in equal education for women so my parents insisted that I receive the same quality of education as boys received. The Quaker religion taught, among other things, intellectual equality between the sexes. Additionally, Nantucket's importance as a whaling port meant the wives of sailors were left for months and sometimes years to manage affairs while their husbands were at sea, thus fostering an atmosphere of relative independence and equality for the women who called the island home. Women still lacked the right to own property or to vote. When I was eleven dad built his own school. I was both a student and teaching assistant at his school. Dad taught me astronomy using his personal telescope At age twelve and a half, I aided dad in calculating the exact moment of annular eclipse. One year after opening my own school I was offered a job as first librarian and worked their for eighteen years. I once discovered my own comet and it was named after me. This gave me worldwide fame. I was the second woman to discover a comet. I was the first woman member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. During my life I left the Quaker faith and followed Unitarian principles. In protest against slavery, I stopped wearing clothes made of cotton. I was posthumously inducted into the U.S. National Women's Hall of Fame. I was the namesake of a World War II Liberty ship. I was known for the famous quote, "We have a hunger of the mind. We ask for all of the knowledge around us and the more we get, the more we desire." Who Am I?