Assignment 12-1

On Saturday the 17th of April, like every mid April Saturday the kenduskeag canoe race goes on. It s a tradition here in Bangor, Me. When all the locals dig there canoes out of the back of the shed. Dust themselves off, and in about a day become the most rag tag professional canoeist on this side of the Mississippi.

The event is like the Bangor fair and the Fryburg smashed together on the water edge. The only missing is the friend dough, and the clowns. Other then the ones with the paddles. So the race started out eventful as the crowd gathers at local hot spots along the stream, mostly near bridges, like the famous 6 mile falls, and the finish line.

The races top competitors contains some great white water enthusiast, like Maclean who finished the race in first in 2 hours 19 min and 5 seconds, and Lang who came in second with 2 hours 23 min 46 seconds. Jeff Owen from Orono and Steve Woodward from Cumberland came in third with a two man canoe. Being the first two man vessel to cross the finish line.

The race is also used as publicity stunts to all out hysterical events that involve Obama's, cut out, gumby, a guy dressed like captain Morgan, and the Mohawk twins. These boats please the crowds and bring in the audiences. That and the many tipped over canoes along the way. This race isn't just for professionals but it is for anyone who has a canoe. Some people cant even hold a paddle, which of course the shore is lined with safety just in case someone takes a swim. This race has a total of 889 paddlers in 479 canoes and kayaks entered the race.

The unexpected event during this years race is the unbelievable water flow. The water was questionable by the lowest that some of the veterans have ever seen it. This caused by the quick melting that occurred in February and March. This leaves no snow to melt and fill the rivers at the specific time.

Windmills

Energy is all around us, from what we cook with to flicking on the light switch. We need energy to survive, but at what cost does will it take to have energy. We are burning coal, putting up nuclear power plants and extract to oil to keep up with demand. This process is hurting the world around us, we are killing our only resource, the earth. What solutions do we have to keep our energy demand satisfied without hurting our earth.
One option that has been harness for hundreds of years but never has been fully taken advantage of is wind. Wind is all around us in the State of Maine. Its on our lakes, rivers and mountains, its near our coasts and on the rolling hills. If its so plentiful, why are we having trouble harnessing it.
In the town of Lee, a wind project on Rollins Mountain was planned to go into effect and constructed on Summer of 09. The plan was 31 windmills along the town line of Lee and Lincoln all the way down into Burlington. The purpose of the project was to harness wind energy for the state of Maine therefore leading to a lesser carbon foot print in the state. Carbon footprint mean energy used and carbon release by combustion into the atmosphere. The project was going to bring jobs to the area, which is great because our only industry, has been failing since 80's early 90's. It was the solution to the world and the towns problems, but the project never got off the ground.
The problem was that people don't seem to like windmills all that much, there reason being that they are ugly, loud, and annoying. They state that the windmills aren't natural. Statements like this are made everyday when observing the windmills in areas like Mars Hill or Stetson Mt. I may agree with most of the opinions of the locals but these people realize that even though they are all those things, they are still an necessity and need to be constructed, kind of like telephone poles once were. They are need to support the high demand of energy that we have.

There are a few groups that fight these environmental project because they either cannot get by the reasons obvious annoyance or they have there own beef with the spinning wonders that are saving the planet, its hard to say. Its groups like this that are killing the environment.

Windmills are the best option for the success of the earths cure, the reverse of pollution and in the hard economic time, to get jobs for hurting citizens in rural areas. We need to stop the bull crap and deal with the turbines, just like our great-grandfathers dealt with telephone poles.

Lifelines Meeting

Campus Ministry opens up new schedule for students outdoor activities at crazy cheap prices. Lifelines the ministry is ready to plan a new fall of rafting, rock climbing, hiking, and paintball schedule. They are offering these trips to whoever is ready for adventure and has a great attitude.
Lifelines has been around for the last 10 years trying to build leadership, character, and spirituality with students on most of the Bangor campuses in this area. Joe C, the leader of lifelines works on staff with them years round. He states to his group, “We need to get trips together, and we need to find people who are willing to commit; that's the hardest part nowadays.” Lifelines method of running trips is almost always contacts from students. If a student in the organization knows someone that is part of another group, they get together and make a plan to make something happen. This makes it a more personal relationship with the group that is on the trip.
“Our focus is to reach as many students as possible,” says staff member Tessa Prest-Berg. The group likes to reach students in different majors, groups, organizations, religions, and views. “The more people the better” Joe states as he goes throughout the meeting.
Lifelines has seen a dwindle in the numbers for their trips. The rafting which is usually full every year, have had a tough time getting the numbers that they are used to. Which is hard to believe because rafting is such an awesome sport, the action, adventure, the rush! Lifelines hope to see a different turnout this fall, improve numbers, and more group members to take the leadership of students that are graduating.
Lifelines is a Spiritual based organization that focus to is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone.

Windmills in Maine

Drew Pickering

Windmills in Maine


The state of Maine is going through some changes, the one thing that Maine is not good at doing. Maine has always been the nature state. The place where it is “the way life should be.” Maine is a stubborn state full of stubborn people, but what if changes were for the good of Maine, and the environment.
A new type of energy has storm the east coast in the form of wind. A new wind revolution is changing the way Americans see green energy. Energy is something that is as easy as a gust of wind, making is simple to capture. But how will this wind energy effect our small towns across Maine.
In the more north eastern part of the state, a town called Lee has been the same way for 200 years since it was established. Lee has about 800 people total, and it has little to no economy. Its inhabitants mostly work in the mills and lumber yards in the surrounding areas, which has been a steadily dropping business for a while. Little does Lee know, but it is a prime spot for a set of windmills on Rollins Mountain, a range on the west side of town.
The windmills would provide money for the land owners in the project area, the companies would be paying big dollars for the once known worthless land. The wind turbines would also provide a source of green energy for the state of Maine. Lowering the carbon foot print of our state.
This may sound like a good deal, but there are some problems with the wind turbines. They stick out if place in the middle of Maine on the side of a mountain. There white color and tall stature makes them an eye sore among the Maine landscape. They have been rumored to make a ridiculous noise, that is more of a drowning to the sense.
This will greatly effect the rural towns in Maine. They will have to switch from their rural ways of classic living to giving up natural beauty to green energy and modern technology.

Stop Light

Drew Pickering
Stop Light

As of February the new stop light on the East Entrance of the University of Maine campus has been installed. Its intention was to provide support to the overwhelming commuter traffic that floods the university campus every day. The system is a failure and waste of time for many students.

The light has a system that is primarily for traffic from the main road into campus, but when you are leaving campus the odds are against you. Although the system seems very simple, it is very expensive for the value. Lastly, are the people trying to always beat the red light. All considered I would like to get to school without encountering a light.

The lights primary objective is to cars into the campus in the most effect manner, off the main road into campus to park their cars and run to class. This makes sense; the light has the ability to be programmed to give different times for the stop to go pattern. This light however is very one sided, leaving a line of cars from the main entrance backed up. It takes forever to leave this campus.

The expense of this piece of equipment is ridiculous. The cost of a stop light can be up in the 10, 000 of dollars or more. This equipment does not seem to give us a so called bang for the buck. I have driven through the intersection many times in the last 4 years without the use of a metal box telling me what to do. I feel that we as student have done well overall in completing the task of getting through the intersection safely and quickly.

Red lights always seem to bring out the bad side in us. Why do we always seem to be racing that damn light even thought we know that the yellow means red is coming. I feel that this causes more accidents than anything else. The idiot that figures he has got at least 3 seconds, which may seem like a life time in a car but is defiantly not. They speed through expecting that everyone sees them coming. Meanwhile, the other drivers now affected by the lights draining inability to think for ourselves, we drive aimlessly into the oncoming impatient idiot. This I feel is more dangerous than life without a stop light.

The East Entrance on our beautiful, untouched Umaine campus does not need a traffic light, but save the time, money, and judgment of your students and take the idea of a stop light out.

Small Town Kid

Drew Pickering

Small Town Kid



In 1968 a boy was born in the small town of Lincoln. His parents named him Thomas, which very quickly grew into Tommy. The kid didn't speak a lot , quite, content, always kept more to his father. He grew up quick, strong, stubborn, and hard working which most small town kids do. Tom was smart but having the attitude that you cant get paid to go to school, he spent more of his attention on work then on class.
Toms father was a logger, which was the only other profession in this small town other then working in the paper mill. Tom started to help his father at age 14, running the skidder, and hauling logs. By the age of 15 he was running his own operation on the weekends, from chainsaw to skidder, using the equipment while his father was taking the weekend off.
In high school he did not focus on physics or calculus but region classes that included mechanic's, heavy equipment, and woodworking. Tommy would bring his car into class to work on it, focusing on skills that had more practical applications. Tom had also developed a strong personality, the “no bull shit kind.” He only saw one thing that was important, “the harder you work, the better off you are.”
After graduation he went right into the mills, working nights full time, trying to make enough money to ask his girlfriend to marry him. About 5 months after he graduated his family home burnt to the ground. Tom then asked his girlfriend Cindy to marry him on Christmas Day, a month after the tragic incident with the home. Then things turn bad for Tom's family as his father suddenly had a heart attack and died that February leaving no one to reconstruct the widowed mothers home.
Tom took it upon himself to build the house for his mother. Having no experience, and no knowledge of what to do, he took on this large project alone. People around town would stop by and show him different things, which he would work at till done. He worked full time,in the mill an hour away, driving home after work to construct. Every free moment of Tom's life at that time went into a house that wasn't even his. It took him only four months to finish so his mother could move in.
Tom then married Cindy about a year later, starting a family and having 3 kids. He also built five more houses for his family. He would not have done so if not for the skills that he learned in desperate times.

Sad day for the Frisbee fans!

Frisbee inventor dies at 90 years old.
Pick