Fooling the Coast Guard?

On Sunday, the Coast Guard had received a distress call from a sailboat with four people on board off the coast of California. A family of four were reported from the boat, which had failing electronics. They abandoned the ship after floating out 65 miles out to sea. For the past 48 hours since, the Coast Guard covered 20,000 square miles of ocean searching for this family. It was later reported that the call came from further north than they were told. Coast Guard member, Thomas McKenzie said, "We weren't able to find any vessel, any signs of debris, we couldn't find anything that would indicate there had been an incident." The message from the man on the ship was, "Coast guard, coast guard, we are abandoning ship. This is the [Charmblow], we are abandoning ship." The Coast Guard was unable to find any boat under the name Charmblow, and they discovered that no one was reported missing. 

I think the author of this article wants you to feel bad for the Coast Guard, almost, and annoyed at the person who made the false call. McKenzie points out that 'making a false distress call is a federal criminal offense punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and a $250,000 fine and reimbursement to the Coast Guard for the cost of the search.' This is showing how much of a mistake making this kind of call was. It's a waste of time for both sides, and it's costly for both of them too. The article also has a statistic, 'the Coast Guard handles, on average more than 20,000 calls for assistance a year. Of those, an average of 18 international false distress calls and another 121 are suspected hoaxes, according to Coast Guard figures.' The Coast Guard has to treat every call as if it was an emergency, because for all they know, it is an actual emergency. The people on the other line could be fine, while the Coast Guard is worried sick about the possibly sunken ship and lost family. Just for the Charmblow case, they ran 34 searches, got the Navy involved, the Air National guard, as well as 10 Coast Guard boats and helicopters. 

I think that this is very serious, and I think that it's horrible that people would fake an emergency like that. Yes, I have made prank calls before, but only to my friends. The way the coast guard has to deal with the case, only to find out it's not real and theres no danger, it's just too much. I feel bad for the Coast guard. I also wonder if any other government-issued safety department has been prank called. My guess is probably, a lot of times. I think that if people have nothing better to do, they can go watch tv or something, instead of wasting someone else's time. If the Coast Guard were to get more prank calls, they wouldn't be able to tell which were serious and which were fake. It would be like the boy who cried wolf. 

Coast Guard calls off boat search after questions raised

Would your friends invade a fortress with you?

In the book Virals by Kathy Reichs, the main character Tory and her three friends Hi (Hiram), Shelton, and Ben are transformed into mutant wolfdog-human creatures. Tory and her friends work together to figure out the mystery behind an old murder. They also work together to hide their mutant powers. As they solve the mysteries, their friendship grows stronger. Tory is also respected by her friends, and shown to be the leader many times over. Throughout the book, their friendship and Tory's leadership is strengthened because of their adventures.

In the beginning of the book, on page 106 Tory and Hi are joking about prom. Hi asks Tory if she's shopping for prom dresses, and they joke about it from there. "Thanks", Tory responds dryly. "You'll still be my date, right? Or do you have a playoff game that night? I'll understand; we need our star quarterback on the field." Hi isn't actually a football player, this just shows their relationship. Tory also says, but not out loud, "Despite the ribbing, I was glad to see Hi. We had identical schedules and spent most lunches together. Joking with someone about being cool was more fun than being unpopular alone."

On page 187, Tory and the guys are deciding whether or not they should search for the people who chased after them. Tory says, "We're a team, guys. We're smarter than the creeps who did this. We can beat them." On the next page, Hi says, "Why do all your brilliant ideas involve felonies?" This shows that Hi respects Tory's ideas, and thinks they are very smart, but also thinks they are dangerous. Tory is the one that organizes their break-ins, proving again that she is considered their leader.

Tory takes a lot of responsibility throughout the story. On page 289, Tory plans out how they will retrieve information, and on page 415 Shelton says, "She's going to say 'tonight', isn't she? Every time I think I'm done for the night, Tory says we have to invade some fortress." Shelton wouldn't go against Tory's ideas, and he probably agrees with most of them. Tory's friends trust her, and they look up to her.

I have had many friends and role models that I looked up to and respected. None like how Hi, Shelton, and Ben looked up to Tory, though. They were connected by secrets. But I have friends that will always have my back, and would hopefully stand with me when invading a fortress, although that may be too much to ask. I also consider myself one of these kinds of friends to others. I hope people look up to me, and respect me. I may not be as smart as Tory, or genetically enhanced, but having good friends will always be something we have in common.