Oil Spill in Mississippi River

In a recent news story, two tank barges collided into a bridge in the Mississippi River early Sunday morning.  The incident happened near Vicksburg, Mississippi and due to the collision, one of the tank barges started to leak.  It is still unknown how much oil may have been spilled into the river, but the tank contained 80,000 gallons of oil.  Fortunately, a Coast Guard team has stopped the source of the spill and no one was injured in the accident.  Another similar incident happened last year in February when a tanker barge spilled 10,000 gallons of oil into the Mississippi after a collision near New Orleans.

I realize that oil is a valuable resource but oil spills damage the surrounding environment and leave lasting impressions.  Oil spills are too common and oil industries need to take steps to avoid these catastrophes.  Many people can relate to the largest oil spill in U.S. history when a BP well released oil into the Gulf of Mexico.  This oil spill killed wildlife, damaged beaches, hurt local businesses, etc.  Hopefully, oil industries realize the severity of consequences of oil spills and take more caution to prevent these type of catastrophes.  

For more on oil spills, click on these links:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/27/us/mississippi-river-oil-spill/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-04-19/business/35453515_1_oil-spill-peter-roopnarine-transocean

Manti Te'o

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team had a tremendous season this year with a 12 -1 record and a trip to the BCS National Championship game against Alabama.  They were led by Manti Te'o who was their starting linebacker.  Manti Te'o had a magnificent year coming up second in he Heisman race and is said to have a successful future in the NFL.  Recently, a story has surfaced stating that Manti Te'o fell for a "catfish."  A "catfish" is when someone fakes an identity online to decieve his or her way into a fake romantic relationship.  Since this story has been reported, there have been many people questioning whether Manti was a helpless victim or a co-conspirator.

Manti Te'o is a victim in this situation but this situation could have easily been avoided.  It is unbelievable that someone can have a relationship with someone they haven't met personally.  Some of the blame must go on Te'o for being oblivious to the actions of the culprits.

"Catfish" has become a more common term with a TV show on MTV dedicated to uniting two people who have a relationship based solely on communication online.  The results when the "couple" are united vary between the person meeting the actual person they have fallen in love with and meeting the opposite.  What society needs to learn from this story is to be more cautious of how we use the internet to prevent more people from becoming victimized.

For more on this topic, click on this link here: http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/17/tech/teo-online-identity/index.html?hpt=hp_bn5

About Me

            I was born on September 18, 1996 in Omaha, Nebraska.  I was given the name Matthew Jacob Hagge and was named after my dad.  Even though my first name is Matthew, to avoid confusion since my dad's name is Matthew, I go by my middle name.  My family has a tradition where every member of the family has the initials M.J.H.  This tradition started with my grandparents whose names both start with the letter "M," and has been carried down to generations.  I am the oldest of four children and I have three siblings who are triplets.  Their names are Jimmy, Joey and Megan and they are in the 8th grade.  I have lived all my life in Gretna, Nebraska and attended elementary and middle school in Gretna Public Schools.  When it came time to transition into high school, I chose to follow in my dad's footsteps and attend Creighton Preparatory School or "Prep" where I am now a sophomore.  At Prep I play football and baseball and hope to participate in a variety of other activities before I graduate.