Saturday, March 21, 2020

The Effects of September 11 essays

The Effects of September 11 essays The Effects of September 11, 2001 on the United States of America September 11, 2001 was a typical Tuesday morning for most of the United States. People were about their everyday lives. Workplaces were carrying on typical business, classrooms were filled with students. No one was aware that within the next twenty-four hours their lives would be changed forever. Or would it? Everyone knows the story. At 8:46 in the morning, American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Seventeen minutes later United Airlines Flight 175 slammed into the North Tower. America was in complete shock and confusion. Was this all an accident or was it part of a large scale attack? That question was answered with much clarity when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the United States defense headquarters - the Pentagon. America fell under attack on its home soil for the first time since World War II. Thousands of lives were lost; others were left asking questions th at had no answers yet. America was left facing uncertainties, left never to be the same. Or is it? Throughout the history of our country the American people have risen to the occasion in times of need. During the World Wars, people went to the factories in order to supply troops with the proper materials needed for war. People gave up certain items of food different days of the week in order to send more to their troops. Towns and communities stopped their everyday activities, went to their local churches and prayed for the safe return of the soldiers at war. America saw the same uniting in the early nineties during Operation Desert Storm. When our country is in need the American people are faithful to stand in the gap. On the evening of September 11, President George W. Bush addressed the American people stating that Freedom itself had fallen under attack. He also said, "Tonight I ask for your prayers for all those who grieve, for the children whose ...

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Giant Hyena - Facts and Figures

Giant Hyena - Facts and Figures Name: Giant Hyena; also known as PachycrocutaHabitat: Plains of Africa and EurasiaHistorical Epoch: Late Pliocene-Pleistocene (3 million-500,000 years ago)Size and Weight: Up to three feet high at the shoulder and 400 poundsDiet: MeatDistinguishing Characteristics: Large size; short legs; powerful head and jaws About the Giant Hyena (Pachycrocuta) It seems that every animal on earth came in larger packages during the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs, and the Giant Hyena (genus name Pachycrocuta) was no exception. This megafauna mammal was very similar to the modern spotted hyena, except that it was about three times the size (some individuals may have weighed as much as 400 pounds) and more stockily built, with comparatively shorter legs. Save for these crucial differences, however, the Giant Hyena pursued a recognizably hyena-like lifestyle, stealing freshly killed prey from other, presumably smaller, predators and only occasionally hunting for its food, when circumstances demanded. Tantalizingly, the fossils of some Pachycrocuta individuals have been discovered in the same Chinese caves as the modern human ancestor Homo erectus; however, its unknown if Homo erectus hunted the Giant Hyena, if the Giant Hyena hunted Homo erectus, or if these two populations merely occupied the same caves at different times! ​Ironically, given its massive size compared to its modern descendant, the Giant Hyena may well have been driven to extinction by the much smaller spotted hyenawhich would have been ranged much more nimbly over the grasslands of Africa and Eurasia and been able to chase prey over longer distances (during times when freshly killed carcasses were thin on the ground). The spotted hyena was also better adapted for the conditions that prevailed at the end of the Pleistocene epoch, shortly after the last Ice Age, when most of the worlds giant mammals went extinct for lack of available food.