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Olympics in Greece

There are many thoughts on how the games started, but most believe they originated from the gods. The earliest myth says that Herakles and his two brothers raced at Olympia and the winner was crowned with a laurel wreath, which they use in the modern Olympics that was held in Greece in 2004. The other gods would compete in sports like running, wrestling and jumping.

 The first real (not mythological games) were held in Olympia in 776 BC.  and lasted for just one day.  The first event was a foot race called Stadion, which lasted the length of the stadium which was about 600 feet. The true length is uncertain because the tracks that were found by archeologists are all different sizes. In later years many other types of races were added, such as boxing, long jump, javelin and discus. Boxing became much more hardcore over time. Originally you covered your fingers with soft leather, but eventually harder leather with metal weights were used. The fight continued until one man surrendered or died. Killing someone was not a good idea because the person who died was declared the winner. 

In the events the athletes competed nude. They did this because the games were suppose to represent the achievements of the human body. Also only men were allowed to compete and watch the games. Also you had to be Greek and be a free man. Now men and women from everywhere in the world compete in the Olympics and wear athletic clothes. In the ancient Olympics if your won you were considered a hero, and got free food for the rest of your life.

To get into the games the athletes had to have their names written in lists. Only young people participated in the games. There was a story of a young man who was rejected for being too old. Every one in the games had to take an oath in front of the statue of Zeus, saying they had trained for ten months.  

The Olympics was not only about sport, but also a religious event. The games were in honor of Zeus, and there were several ways they would honor Zeus one of the ways was in the middle of the games they would sacrifice 100 oxen.  Art was also a big part of the games. Poets, painters and other artists would come to games and display their works in which became an art competition. 

The Olympics happened every four years in Ancient Greece just as it does today, but in 393 AD the Roman emperor at the time ordered that the games be abolished because he thought they were a tribute to the wrong gods. It wasn’t in till the 1890’s when a French man revived the games and the first of the modern Olympic games was played again in Greece. 

Hurricane facts

I am interested in hurricanes because I know they happen quite a bit, and they are very destructive, so I wanted to learn about them. I also thought they would be interesting to learn about why we don’t get them over here, and how they start. 

A hurricane starts to form over warm water, this heat up the air making lighter and the water evaporates making water vapor which is also lighter than air. The warm and wet air begins to rise sucking cooler air in at the sides. Sine the world is spinning the air being sucked in start to spin slowly, as the air is pulled in the spinning becomes faster and faster. If the hurricane is fast enough  it can produce wind speeds of 140 

 The hurricanes in the Northern Hemisphere usually turn north in a counter clockwise direction and the hurricanes in the Southern Hemisphere turn in a clockwise direction. This  is caused by the pull of the Earth’s poles. This reminds me of how water turns different ways when it goes down the drain in the Northern and southern Hemisphere.

 The average size hurricanes are 420 miles wide. The big hurricanes can some times be 552 miles wide. The eye of the hurricane is mostly calm, it is generally 20 to 30 miles wide. The biggest hurricanes occur in the northwest pacific ocean. 

If the hurricane reaches land, it can be very destructive. The most destruction happens in the area right around the eye. The speed of the winds in the hurricane are over 100 miles per hour, causing trees to bend, roofs to come off houses, and mobile homes to flip. The wind can also push the water in the ocean on shore destroying everything near shore.

Originally for hundreds of years hurricanes  were named after the Saint’s day they occurred on. In 1953 the U.S. weather service decided to name the hurricanes female names for the storms. In 1979 both men and woman names were used. One name for each letter of the alphabet is chosen, except for Q, U, and Z. They decide the name by using six lists in rotation. The same lists are reused every six years. The only time a new name is added is when the hurricane is so deadly that everyone remembers it, that name is then retired. A good example is Hurricane Katrina. 

We have had some very bad hurricanes in recent history in the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, and Hurricane Andrew in Florida caused millions of dollars in damage and killed lots of people. These areas have hurricane warning systems to evacuate people in the event of another hurricane.