Hello and welcome to my article on the current events that are taking place in our valley.
I am sure you all know of the town of Hanford. It is not too far from the city of Fresno and is a rather cultural place to visit. Especially on the first week of every October where the yearly renaissance fair is held. It is aimed to recreate the era of King Henry the Eighth , and it does a very fine job at that I might add. It is a great event for history buffs and also very fun for the family. I strongly recommend all try and make the time to go see it as it only takes place on the first week of October, and another thing that is wonderful is it is totally free of charge! Hanford also has the Kings Symphony Orchestra for those that love classical music. They are very talented and I also recommend them to people that take an interest in classical pieces. They also stray aside and play more modern things as well to please more of an audience. Sadly they only play four times out of the year which sort of makes it more special since it is a rare occurrence. Hanford also has things to do that occur more often and not a few times of the year. The Kings art center has a very wide variety of art ranging from water colors, Pottery, Textiles and photography among many other forms of art. It also teaches classes on how to paint and make pottery on top of many other subject regarding art. Hanford is a very cultural place and has interesting things to do, yet sadly it also infamous.
Many notice right away that Hanford’s water has a rather disturbing smell to it. This because of Hanford’s water system. You see the wells that supply Hanford with ground water bring up Hydrogen Sulfide along with the water. Hydrogen Sulfide exists deep in the earth and Hanford just so happens to be below a pocket of the Hydrogen Sulfide gas which is also known as H2S which has the smell of rotten eggs. If you ask anyone who works on an oil rig they will cringe in fear at the word H2S. That is because while the machinery is pumping up oil it sometimes gets H2S along with it, which in major levels can be very deadly and leads to death upon breathing it in. They of course have an alarm system that detects it as it is coming up but unfortunately not everyone is so lucky to make it safety on time. H2S gas is also in swamps and volcanoes and “wells”. Luckily there is nothing to fear though as it is in very small amounts and only gives a rotten egg smell in Hanford’s water supply.
On December 7th 2009 the city of Hanford was relieved to know that the dangerous levels of arsenic which is a very deadly poison. Has been eradicated from the wells. This was fixed by drilling new wells to replace the ones that were tainted with the dangerous levels of arsenic. They now meet the federal standard of only 10 micrograms of arsenic per liter of water and is now safe for public use. So now that we are all more educated on the fact that Hanford’s water is safe we can all have one less thing to worry about.
In more entertaining news I would like to talk about an interesting web comic by the name of “Blur the Lines”. It is a hilarious web comic about two gay men by the names of Rick and Drew who are a couple. It is very clever and is just simply awesome. The artwork of the comic is also pretty good and is made up of short yet very funny skits that range from day to life, pop culture and some odd events that Rick and Drew face. Do not just take my word for it though. Here click the link and give it a try yourselves http://www.blur-the-lines.com/ . I especially suggest that you read this comic on the recent fiasco where a school had given students laptops with built in video cams to spy on them at home. http://www.blur-the-lines.com/?p=224. A very controversial case in the courts I might add.
Well that concludes this news column on recent valley events. I hope you all benefit from it and I look forward to bringing to the next column. Good day and stay safe.
