At 12:04 a.m. on March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez Supertanker ran aground on
Bligh Reef near Valdez, Alaska and spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound. The massive spill triggered the largest clean-up effort in history.Nonetheless, it soiled 1,500 miles of pristine coastline, killed thousands of marine mammals and shore birds, affected the lucrative Alaskan commercial fisheries, and spawned 11 years of litigation. Exxon, Inc. paid over $1 billion in fines and penalties and was assessed what was at the time the largest punitive damage award in history, $5 billion. Years later, debate still rages over the long-term effects of the spill and clean-up efforts on the Prince William Sound ecosystem, on populations of fish, mammals, and birds, and on the Alaskan people and communities directly affected by the spill.The 987-foot Exxon Valdez departed from the oil terminal in Valdez, Alaska with 1.3 million barrels (50.4 million gallons) of North Slope crude oil bound for refineries on the U.S. west coast. To maneuver around floating ice from nearby glaciers, Captain Joseph Hazelwood steered the ship out of the normal shipping lane. Then just as the ship sailed beyond the Coast Guard’s radar tracking area, Hazelwood left the bridge, leaving
the ship in the hands of a third mate who was not licensed to pilot the ship in waters so close to shore. The Exxon Valdez sailed out of the navigational channel and ran aground on Bligh Reef. The grounding, and possibly the captain’s attempt to rock the tanker off the reef, ruptured the hull and spilled millions of gallons of crude oil into the waters of Prince William Sound.Ten hours after the grounding, Hazelwood tested at a .061 blood alcohol content,higher than the .04 limit Coast Guard regulations permit to operate a ship. Later court
testimony indicated that Hazelwood had a history of both great skills as a mariner and of alcohol abuse. He had several alcoholic drinks before his ship departed Valdez on the evening of March 23, and consumed two beers between the time the ship grounded and the blood alcohol test was administered. Later, Hazelwood was found guilty of a Class B Misdemeanor of negligent discharge of oil and was sentenced to 1000 hours of community service.The initial response to the spill was impeded by a lack of preparation, as well as communication and coordination problems. The Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, the consortium of seven oil companies that built the Alaska pipeline, had responsibility for first response to the spill. Later analysis indicates, however, that Alyeska employees were poorly trained and lacked sufficient equipment to respond to a spill of this magnitude. Over fourteen hours elapsed before any containment or clean-up efforts began, and even 18 hours after the accident no boom had been placed around the ship to contain the spill. A barge that was supposed to be loaded with containment equipment was undergoing repairs instead. Two small oil skimmers dispatched to the scene quickly filled their holding tanks, but had no facility into which they could offload to continue their operations.
Further complicating the immediate response were disagreements over decision making
authority and the best clean-up methods. In addition to using floating booms and
oil skimmers to contain and collect the oil, Exxon experimented with chemical
dispersant s and even burning the oil by covering it with a napalm-like substance and
igniting it with lasers. One test using chemical dispersant s was successful. Proponents argued that the dispersant s would speed the natural degradation process and limit the amount of oil reaching shorelines. Opponents argued that the dispersant s would only hide some of the oil by dropping it in the water column, and that the chemicals themselves would be toxic to sea life. The argument became moot, however, as little of the required quantity of dispersant was dispatched to the scene in time to be deployed effectively.In my opinion i think that we should really reduce or dependency on oil. These crazy accidents and situations happen and we are left in panic and craziness. We should learn how to solve this problem and have a basic step by step system for every reappearance. Countless animals should not have to die because of our needs or lack of being preprared.

The first thought of the 1960's in America people often think of hippies, flower power and phrases like no war man! but we quickly forget about another group of people. The darker group, the underground crowd their leader was Andy Warhol. A man who was changing art with his peers and looking at the world in a very different way. He was at the forefront of pop art; a bright and edgy new art style. Warhol and other artists changed the quantity and quality of art per artist while they upped the anty for progression. Warhol was the fourth boy of his family and was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As a kid he was very creative but could not play sports because he had contracted chorea a disease of the nervous system and soon after became a hypochondriac. He was always talented and very interested in art and when he attended School of Fine Arts at Carnegie Institute of Technology he studied in Fine Arts. After when he moved to New York many people started to take notice of Warhol's work, when he got a job in a magazine creating illustrations. Not only was Warhol a painter but he was a director and promoted The Velvet Underground. A rock band that would change rock music forever. He first started using the video camera to do screen tests on people. It was when a person sat down in front of the camera and he simply videotaped them being themselves.His movies were usually to show the real emotions of people, he did have some success in his home movies. Many of his paintings included simple house hold objects like Campbell's cans, coke bottles and Brillos. He did mostly silk screens. Silk screening is when an artist obtains a woven material to hold stencil over it while the artist places paints over the material, the paint goes into the open places of the material and creates a painting.This technique let artists do much more painting in a certain amount of time they could also do copies and different variations of the same idea.He was very smoothly combining commercial arts with fine arts. Many people enjoyed this type of art while many did not, they simply though the had no talent. Any man with some paint and a cloth could do that. People portrayed his paintings as not original or progressive but as simple. In their minds they saw no progression but regression. That is were the argument begins about Warhol's art. Was he just a man with spray paint or was he a man with a fresh new idea about American culture? In my opinion he was what art needed at that time. America was changing and sooner or later the art had to. Without new ideas and concepts there would be no progression, everything would be the same and boring. The 60's were all about refreshing the reality of America and what the young people could really do. Warhol got very lucky to be apart of this time because people had a very open minds at this time and wanted to try everything they could. Warhol did paint very simple and well known objects but it was the way he expressed them. He twisted them into a vision and idea, we could have never seen. To me he was taking American's culture and simply splashing it into their faces again and again. Was the actual painting of the silk screens hard, no but coming up with the inspiration was. Only a hand full of people knew what to do with those simple ideas and turn them into fine art. To me being and artist is being able to see things in a different light and expressing them through whatever. Warhol did this so easily and gracefully. He played a major part in art in that time and in history. Today everyone around the world looks at what Warhol and his peers did and still admire them and appreciate them.

Have you heard about the black market? No, well let me tell you the official definition. The black market is a anywhere where there is an illicit buying and selling of goods in violation of legal price. All this black market business actually started during World War Two when everyone was rationing. By everyone I mean from mothers at home to soldiers across seas. Europe is where the black market really took off, in most cities there was already some what of a black market. A lot of the black markets costumers and sellers were soldiers selling American cigarettes. American cigarettes were very popular and sometimes people would have asked to be paid in cigarettes rather than currency. A soldier could get a carton of cigarettes for fifty cents and then sell them for twenty five-dollars. Although all currencies were different there were stops in camps were you could trade your current money to a different currency. At this time the Unites States were actually printing money from different countries for soldiers. There were consequences given by the government but many people simply dismissed them. The government was not so much concerned with soldiers selling cigarettes but more with people selling Army weapons. Most soldiers stopped at selling cigarettes because they did not want anything interfering with them being able to go home.The European government was also concerned not only weapons but with the money exchange. This process consisted of people trading American currency to French francs, selling items on the black market then exchanging the money they had gotten back to American currency and creating twice the money they had in the beginning. Once you tried this you simply could not stop, the whole process was so simple that anyone could do it. Even thou there were many people making a lot of money of the black market there were many civilians who needed gasoline for their daily lives. The Army would offer and they would pay anything for it. Rationing was what everyone had to do and the black market was a very helpful for these people, but look on the flip-side there were many scammers trying to cash in on the war.That is were the argument begins really. In my opinion I think that it was more of simple civilians in Europe trying to make a living rather than sneaky people trying to con other people. Trough the years I think that the black market has become more of a home for people trying to make a lot of money illegally rather than actual people struggling to survive. Either way the black market could not have been able to succeed and thrive if it was not of these two types of people. Even thou one side is uglier than the other the black market needed both of them. Today the black market still exists all round the world, and the same argument is still present. Many third world countries have a bigger black market than other countries because of their countries problems. Many people in need of money will sell body parts on the black market for small amounts of money;while the buyers obtain them and sell them for much much more than what he paid. This order is really sad but now that the economy has worsened across the world I think that the black market might grow in all countries. I hope it does not come to that but if it does just remember "It's not illegal if you don't get caught".

"Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err. It passes my comprehension how human beings, be they ever so experienced and able, can delight in depriving other human beings of that precious right." This quote was said by a revolutionary man;Mohandas Karamchad Gandhi more widely known as Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi among other great things attempted to bring the Muslims and Hindus together for their country of India. After the first World War and before the second World War India was searching for independence from Britain. While the first World War wagged on hoses hopes of freedom were put aside. Many people thought that the Indian population would take this chance to provoke their want of freedom. This idea soon failed when India united with Britain for the better cause of the war. It seemed as though the war was turning into a great cause not only for India but in the whole world. Indian and British troops united under one single goal and accomplished it together.Because of the Indian's willingness and loyalness to Britain they expected some freedom in return but did not receive any. Instead the British created the Government of India in 1919. This act did not give many freedoms but did allow voting from the wealthiest men in India. Gandhi saw this and was soon a prime figure for India's liberation. Earlier in his life he was a lawyer and played roles in the Zulu War of 1906 and World War I. When Gandhi returned to India he started to become a political activist. One of his main reasons for this was the improper salt taxation in India. He believed very strongly in Non-violence which led him to marches and boycotts. While Gandhi refused violence it was simply inevitable between the Hindus and Muslims. Before the war Hindu nationalism was rapidly growing which created even more tension in between both of the groups. Later The Muslims created the Muslim League; a group pushing Muslim nationalism. Gandhi saw these two parties and knew that they had the same goal of freedom. With his undying character he attempted to unite these two groups for the better of their country. Although Gandhi was a very important and key character in the independence movement he was not the only one. Jawaharlal Nehru was more on the political side of everything. After the World War Nehru wanted to start taking action by marching and protesting Gandhi preferred not to right away."But if it was Gandhi who alerted the world to India's struggle, it was Jawaharlal Nehru... who alerted India to world struggle" John Keay. Nehru a son to a political leader of India really transferred into politics with the help from mentor;Gandhi. Nehru and Gandhi became good friends and primary leaders of the movement. In 1929 Nehru was elected President of the Congress Party which let to the Civil Disobedience of 1930 lead by Gandhi. This movement really worked and in 1935 Britain issued the Government of India Act. There was still a problem though. The Hindus and Muslims were still unhappy with this act because Britain still had veto power.Gandhi tried as hard as he could to make these two live in peace with non-violent solutions but since there were more Hindus and less room for Muslims in the movement Muslims got frustrated which frustrated the Hindus even more. They still were not appeased when India got its independence in 1947. They had to create the Partition of India. This created India as a country and Pakistan as a country as well. When the borders were drawn many innocent people were killed including Gandhi. He was assisted by a Muslim nationalist in New Delhi on January 30th 1948. He will always be remembered as a spiritual leader a non-violent activist and a gift to the world.

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