1. Post which book you'll be reading in addition to Dark Tide.
2. Write one paragraph about something has surprised you so far from either book.
3. Write three things you think your classmates don't know about you.
As this month is short, you are not required to comment on classmate's posts for June. You may want to try it so you can experiment with the feature, but it is not required.
My copies of the new books just came in the mail and I'm very excited to read them as they've been on my list for a few years now.
3 things you probably do not know about me:
1. I did not own my first cell phone until I was 22.
2. I played at Symphony Hall as a senior in high school. 2nd seat, bass clarinet section in the All-State band.
3. I used to caddy during the summers when I started teaching.
1) In addition to Dark Tide, I'm reading Freakonomics.
ReplyDelete2) One thing that's suprised me so far from Freakonomics was the link made between crime and abortion. It mentions in the introduction that children born into "an adverse family environment" are more likely to become criminals than children born into better circumstances. Abortion is connected into this because the mothers from these "adverse families" are most likely to have an abortion but if they are forbidden to by law, they are bringing children into the world that will likely grow up to be criminals. This suprised me because I never would have thought of abortion being legalized as having an impact on the decline of crime.
3) Three things my classmates may not know about me are that I have two dogs, my favorite food is pickles, and I work at Montilio's bakery.
1) In addition to Dark Tide, I'm reading Freakonomics.
ReplyDelete2) One thing that's suprised me so far from Freakonomics was the link made between crime and abortion. It mentions in the introduction that children born into "an adverse family environment" are more likely to become criminals than children born into better circumstances. Abortion is connected into this because the mothers from these "adverse families" are most likely to have an abortion but if they are forbidden to by law, they are bringing children into the world that will likely grow up to be criminals. This suprised me because I never would have thought of abortion being legalized as having an impact on the decline of crime.
3) Three things my classmates may not know about me are that I have two dogs, my favorite food is pickles, and I work at Montilio's bakery.
1) In addition to Dark Tide, I am going to read Outliers.
ReplyDelete2) I am reading Dark Tide first because Outliers hasn't been delivered yet. What I'm really surprised about with Dark Tide is it's not boring. I was excited to learn what had happened, but I wasn't excited about how it may have been written out. My first impression of the book was that it was just going to be some boring book about the molasses flood, but it's not. I'm actually enjoying the book and I'm happy that it is part of the summer reading list. It's told as an actual story, it isn't just facts states in paragraphs. I thought I wasn't going to enjoy it that much, but I really do.
3) Three things my classmates don't know about me are I can't swim, I've never been on a roller coaster, and the only other state I have been to is New Hampshire. Hopefully this summer I will learn to swim and go on my first roller coaster.
1) In addition to Dark Tide, I'm reading Freakonomics.
ReplyDelete2)What surprised me from Freakonomics was the link between Real estate Agents and The Ku Klux Klan(KKK). It proves that whether one is a member of a terrorist organization or a real estate agency, the imposition of fear is a very powerful tool. Although the two used it for two different reasons, the way they went about it was strikingly similar. One thing that I found strange was that the KKK didn't do half as much as they claimed they would do. They would burn a cross and threaten African-Americans, but very rarely did they actually follow through in their threats. They used the power of fear to get what they wanted without committing brutal crimes every time. This same way, a real estate agent often can convince a home-seller to accept a lower offer by imposing the fear of never selling the house at all. When in reality, the agent doesn't want to have to waste much more time keeping a house on the market that would translate into $30,000 more for the seller, but only $400 more for themselves due to the way commission works. This is proven when stats show real estate agents keep their own houses on the market longer than they would a clients.
3) Three things my classmates may not know about me is that I am a twin, I've never been out of New England before and I've never been on a plane.
1) Along with Dark Tide, I will be reading Freakonomics.
ReplyDelete2) One thing that surprised me from Freakonomics was the ability of the writers of the book to come up with interesting questions, which in turn reveal interesting answers. An example of this would be the correlation between crime rate and abortion. Who would think, or for that matter be able to prove that the babies who weren't born were a certain percentage more likely to become criminals. I also liked another piece about the criminals, which was that when police started to crack down on small crimes, people believed that it was like cutting the oxygen supply of the major criminals, because then those petty criminals don't turn into bigger criminals. Which goes along with the abortion idea of, what isn't there can't do any harm.
3)Three things that my classmates may not know about me are, my only pets are fish, my favorite song is "Let the Drummer Kick," and I have a job painting.
1) I am reading Freakonomics along with Dark Tide this summer.
ReplyDelete2) So far in Freakonomics one thing that has surprised me were the connections made in the book. For example the author shows how the legalization of abortion greatly dropped the crime rate in the U.S. during the 1990s because a smaller amount of children were being raised in adverse situation. Another example is that how to contrary belief money doesn't influence elections that much and most candidates are elected due to their image and how people perceive them. Some other surprising connections are between sumo wrestlers and teachers and their need to cheat, and how adoption can seemingly affect one's success. These connections are mostly unexpected and generally surprising. They make the book very interesting to read and overall quite enjoyable.
3)My classmates may not know:
-my favorite movie is Forrest Gump
-I have a beach house in Green Harbor
-my middle name is Teresa
1) In addition to Dark Tide I will be reading Outliers.
ReplyDelete2) I was surprised by the amount of damage caused by the wave of molasses in Dark Tide and how the USIA was never told to fix their clearly structualy unsound tank.You would think that if everyone who saw the tank thought it looked like it was going to burst, someone would have reported it to someone. But back then there was probably no building requirements back then and Jell was adament to cover up the situation, so I guess it is not all that suprising. The damage done by the molasses was also quite suprising. I would not have expected it would be able to destroy brick buildings.
3) Three things my classmates may not know about me is I have two cats, I have an older brother, and my favorite food is tacos.
1) In addition to Dark Tide, I am reading Outliers.
ReplyDelete2) In Dark Tide, I was surprised by the main purpose of the molasses; I thought it was just something to be used in food, and didn't know it could also be turned into industrial alcohol. It was also surprising that molasses could be so crucial to the war effort against Germany. However, even if it was a surprise, it did help me understand why Jell was in such a rush to complete the molasses tank that he did not thoroughly test for leaks by completely filling the tank with water first.
3) Three things my classmates may not know about me:
-I used to have two parakeets and a beta fish.
-I am bilingual (I speak English and Vietnamese).
-One of my goals for the future is to become fluent in Spanish, German, Korean, and Japanese.
1) Along with Dark tide, I am reading Freakonomics.
ReplyDelete2) In Freakonomics I was surprised to find the inside view and information on drug dealing. The complicated business side of drug dealing was a side that I had never thought of being an aspect of drug dealing. After reading the section on drug dealing in Freakonomics it became evident that drug dealing is as much of a business as any other. I found most surprising that in the business of drug dealing the dealers themselves commonly are not using the drugs they sell. Lastly it was surprising that most street-corner drug dealers are not paid well, often being paid minimum wage and constantly working to move up on the drug dealing latter. I enjoyed reading this section on drug dealing because all stereotypes of the drug dealers were removed and only facts about the business were revealed.
3)Three things my classmates may not know:
-This summer I will be traveling to California
-I have a job in a business center and roofing houses
-I hope to travel the world later in life, and maybe have a job doing so
1.) In addition to Dark Tide, I am reading Freakonomics.
ReplyDelete2.). In Dark Tide, there are multiple things that I learned, along with several aspects of which make the story interesting. I thought that it wouldn't be that exciting, but Puleo's writing style and the use of a variety of people's accounts an perspectives makes the story intriguing. One thing that surprised me was the munitions industry. I did not know that the economy of the time so heavily relied on this industry, and I did not know that molasses was used in the process to make industrial alcohol.
3.) Three things others might not know about me are that I have a dog, a younger brother, and I work as a bus boy at a resturaunt.
1) In addition to Dark Tide, I will be reading Freakonomics.
ReplyDelete2) In Dark Tide, I was surprised to find out that the tank had been crumbling and breaking down long before the tank actually exploded. What surprised me even more was that no one did anything to repair the tank's leaks and splintering metal sides. What also was interesting was the fact that the molasses stored was mostly distilled into alcohol for munitions during the war in Europe. Though I know little about the flood, I had always imagined that all of the molasses was used for eating and baking.
3) Three things my classmates may not know about me is that I have two parakeets, love to travel, and hope to become a lawyer later in life.
1) In addition to Dark Tide, I am reading Freakonomics.
ReplyDelete2) What has surprised me the most so far in Freakonomics is the common belief in that the rise in security and law enforcement was the leading cause to the drop in crime rate. This notion had become so widely accepted that it was just considered true. The fact that abortions have been the real leading cause in the drop in crime rate is astonishing. With children being born into better family conditions, this allows them to lead a healthy, family life style.
3) My classmates may not know;
-I do not like the taste of water
-I'm Canadian
-I work in the courtesy booth at Trucchi's supermarket in Abington
1)Along with Dark Tide, I am reading Freakonomics.
ReplyDelete2) The perspective in which Levitt and Dubner took on modern culture and economics was what suprised me the most about Freakonomics. They make the reader truely think about what the real reason is behind common events in our day. In just the first chapter the book grabbed me by explaining why increased police force and new laws lowered the crime rate but in reality it was the increase in abortions which lowered the crime rate. This first chapter is just a quick glimpse into the freakish world that we live in and I am looking forward to learn more about it.
3) I am a short order cook
I am Polish
When I was a child I was afraid of the movie Wizard of OZ
1. I am reading Freakonomics along with Dark Tide.
ReplyDelete2. What surprised me about Dark Tide is that the molasses tank was doomed from the first day it was complete. I have only read the beginning but so far i have learned that the tank was never completely tested before it was put into use because it was rushed to be completed. Jell and his company barely finished before the first load of molasses that was put in the tank. Then, once the tank was being used, everyone noticed that there was molasses seeping out of the rivets in the steel, enough so that children could fill buckets with molasses and bring them home. Also, the manager of the tank had nightmares about it collapsing, so he ran to the North End every night for weeks and emptied molasses into the harbor.
3. Things my classmates may not know about me.
-I have a motorcycle permit
-I want to see the Northern Lights
-I had blonde hair as a child
1. I am reading Freakonomics along with Dark Tide
ReplyDelete2. One thing that interested me in Freakonomics was the fact that teachers would change their students answers in order to appear a better teacher. Though with the money that was offered to the best teacher it seems hard to resist. However, more astonishing than that is the fact that someone took the time to find an algorithm in order to catch these cheating teachers. I spent a good twenty minutes studying the graphs in the book to find out which teacher was the cheater and it was very hard to see. Good thing these men took the time to try to find a correlation and get rid of these dishonest educators.
3 Things my classmates may not know about me
-I was once on a competitive bowling league
-It's a dream of mine to see a musical on Broadway
-I am afraid of heights
1. I am reading Outliers along with Dark Tide.
ReplyDelete2. The thing that surprised me most about Outliers was the very first section about the relationship between birthday and how well a hockey player performs. This is due to the cutoff date of Canadian hockey leagues, which is January 1st. Players who are born close to that day are the oldest and most experienced when talent-based teams are selected, so they almost always seem more talented because they are bigger and stronger. Then they get extra time to develop aqnd become good players. Essentially, the Canadian hockey leagues are just making their oldest players the best with the cutoff date. The thing that surprised me most about Dark Tide was the fact that Isaac Gonzales knew about the impending danger of the molasses tank but was torn about whether or not to speak up about it.
3.Three things my classmates may not know about me:
I am a lifeguard at Island Grove
I have flown on an airplane and explored a new city by myself
I play the saxophone