Third Assignment

Tornado and Windstorm : Twin Sons from Thunderstorm

We have witnessed for some windstorms in Indonesia that has damaged many things around. In these months, we have watched some news reporting about ‘puting beliung’ that occurred in some places across the country. The last windstorm hit Yogyakarta was in February 2009. Although windstorm causes many damages and injures people, the information about windstorm provided by the government is very rare. The main cause is that windstorm or tornado is not predictable in a long time before the occurrence. Even in the United States, tornado is never predicted long time before it happens.

Windstorm in Indonesia is similar to tornado in North America. The difference is the quantity and quality of occurrence. In North America, tornadoes happen many times in spring. Five tornadoes could happen a day in a same region. The quality is also able to be ranked from EF0 to EF5 in Enhanced Fujita Scale. Different in Indonesia, due to the archipelago, Indonesia receives less tornado or windstorm in wet. The quality is also never as big as in North America.

A tornado is born from a thunderstorm and usually accompanied by dark cloud, lightning and rain. The process of its birth is started by a cold wind which blows fast on the high altitude. A great and wide plain has more possibility as the birthplace of a tornado compared to the rugged place because the high wind flows freely. While the cold wind blows free in the high altitude, a hot breeze flows slowly in the land’s surface. Those winds meet up and causes horizontal whirlwind. A thunderstorm has a deep effect of their meeting. During the storm, the whirlwind is being erected by the surface hot wind which flows upward and be a vertical whirlwind. Then mesocyclone is formed by the mixing of the rotated wind which is erected by the surface wind. It then makes the thunderstorm to live long after stabilize the thunderstorm. After that, cooler air moves downward on the backside of the storm to the ground. The birth process ends, and a new tornado is born.

On its short life, tornado moves directed by the thunderstorm. When a tornado is formed on the mesocyclone, it’d move straight. It’s also affected by the thunderstorm’s velocity, when it moves fast; the path would be straight as arrow. But when it moves slowly; the path would be identified as loops. For a tornado which is formed outside the mesocyclone, it’d move fast and happen quickly; then followed by another tornado. The material sucked by tornado depends on the land’s surface. When a tornado crosses a town, the material would be the house’s roof, paper, barks, leaves and even cars. When tornado happens in the lake, water would be sucked by it.

Until now, the destiny of a tornado is still debated by scientists. Tornado happens in a short time and cannot be predictable. That what have made scientists cannot learn much about tornado. But at least, when we see a thunderstorm forms mesocyclone, it’d be better to stay at home in the basement or under the table.

source:

Fortin, Jacques, et. al. Visual Ilmu Pengetahuan Populer untuk Pelajar dan Umum: Memahami Iklim dan Lingkungan. Jakarta: PT Bhuana Ilmu Populer. 2006.

Shapiro, Alan. "Tornado". Microsoft® Encarta® 2009 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation. 2009.

Second Assignment of Paragraph Writing

It's not Superman, It's SuperPC

For about three years, my life has been saved by my simple-looking computer. It has accompanied me to pass the days, from the easiest days to the most difficult, from the busiest days to the loneliness. Every one who sees my PC would think that it is not a special one. It's powered by Intel^® Pentium^® D 2,8 GHz, 512 MB of Random Access Memory (RAM), 128 MB of Video Graphic Accelerator and Gigabyte™ as it motherboard. It can contain about 120 GB of data. All of the software inside can be seen through the Advance™ 15" semi-flat monitor. To accommodate my interest about music, a pair of Logitech™ speakers flank the monitor. It is not the best speakers in the world, but at least my ears aren't feel bad listening to the music through them. My PC lacks of DVD-ROM or DVD-RW, but it doesn't mean that my desire about watching movies can't be satisfied, because it still has a CD-RW.

For three years, my Personal Computer hasn't changed much in physical appearance. I only changed the keyboard few weeks ago due to the former keyboard's dysfunction. The software has a different fate with the hardware. Some of the programs have changed, added and removed several times. The most significant change was few weeks ago, together with the change of the keyboard. My PC had been long infected by a worm virus. It denied the anti-virus access. It couldn't be deleted by any anti-virus, and anti-virus wouldn't work. After the infection had become more dangerous, my father called a computer repairman to repair it. The repair deleted many program files included my favorite program, Microsoft® Encarta Encyclopedia Standard 2005. But at least, the Microsoft® Documents has been upgraded to the newest version.

As I've written above, Microsoft® Encarta is my favorite program, then why? I had installed the program since I was in the eleventh grade. This program is very interesting and it had made me know the world. My dream is living and working abroad in North America or Ireland, and Microsoft Encarta had encouraged me to dream and to struggle. It happened when I was in the last semester of my high school. I chatted with some people in the United States and Canada, and they has inspired me to dream and to struggle. I've also learned about American Dream, where dreams become true in that land of opportunity. The life story of Barrack Obama has also inspired me. There are many Americans and Canadians who have inspired me to dream. My friend from chatting, Emily McCoy from Lubbock, Texas, has also encouraged me. Right now, I have some friends from those countries. I also feel that they aren't far. Brittany Quick, an engineering student from the University of Wisconsin at Platteville, has become my friend and told me much about American life. Kaila Marie Cote, a French Canadian girl, also has told me the Canadian way of life. All of my friends there encourage me to struggle, and all of that has started by the existence of Microsoft® Encarta.

I've started to write a novel since the odd semester ends. It can't be accommodated without the existence of my lovely Personal Computer. It provides the standard program files to write, Microsoft Word. I get many information about the place settings of my novel from the internet. I surfed anything I want to surf. My computer isn't connected to the internet, so I have to go to the internet café to get the information I need. But I've installed Mozilla® Firefox to my computer, in case when I need to read the information I need. I copy the Firefox's pages into my USB drive and move them to my computer's hard disk. Then, whenever I need to read again, I can open it through Mozilla® Firefox. Microsoft® Encarta used to help me finding information I need also. But, after the repair, I can't find with it. I've planned to find a Microsoft® Encarta installer to some of my friends, but I haven't found it yet. Maybe I'll find it in the CD-Rental.

My life has really been saved by my computer. I used to be a boy that don't have a dream, and now because of my computer, I've changed into a boy who has dreams and spirit to make the dreams come true. At least, it's what I feel right now.

First Assignment of Paragraph Writing

Beyond the Border

Pembina is a small agricultural city located in the state of North Dakota, USA. It is the oldest settlement in the Dakotas and was founded as a city in 1797, even before the state was founded. For every American, every North Dakota's city is imagined throughout the nation as a rural city surrounded by wide farms. Even everyone probably thinks that every city there is just far from word 'strategic'. The first thought about Pembina is just true but the second one ain't true, because it has been long known as a strategic settlement because it lies just west of the confluence of Pembina River and Red River of the North which used as fur trading area in the past. The Interstate-29 which connects Winnipeg and Kansas City stretches west of the city. The Canadian border lies few miles from the city and the 24-hour port of entry is located nearby. The Greyhound Lines' coaches, the number one coach lines in the United States, are assembled there. Despite its strategic location, Pembina doesn’t have many residents. Based on the Pembina's official website, it’s only settled by 642 people. Right now, Pembina has some tourist attractions such as the Ukrainian Church, Pembina State Museum and the nearby nine-hole golf course. But, Pembina is still able to be called as an agricultural city.

P.S.: Some of the data are taken from the Pembina's official website.
http://pembina.govoffice.com/

The picture is taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pembina.jpg.