PS Vita Review
The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) is the newest and most advanced handheld gaming device on the market. I mean actual gaming, not little time killers anyone can get on their iPhones.
The console is a major upgrade to PlayStation’s earlier handheld generations of the PlayStation Portable (PSP). The Vita is bigger at 7.2 inches lengthwise, 3.3 inches tall, .73 inches thick, and with a 5-inch OLED screen.
OLED stands for Organic Light-Emitting Diode, which essentially means that OLED panels emit their own light rather than relying on an external light source according to an article on techradar.com.
The console boasts newer features such as the front and rear touchpads and 0.3 MP (megapixel) cameras, a second analog stick, PS Home button and three-axis accelerometer and gyroscopes. All of these are utilized in one way or another during gameplay.
The Vita is designed to get players active during play with games like Little Deviants that has levels where a player can navigate a ship by using the system like a steering wheel, use the camera and shoulder buttons to shoot invading robots out of the real world and even use the rear touchpad to roll a ball across a world while avoiding enemies.
The Vita also features Augmented Reality (AR) play. When purchased, there are six cards that come with the system that are used with certain games that can be downloaded to the Vita through the PlayStation Store.
These AR games use the cards along with the rear-facing camera to generate 3D games onto the screen. There are only three as of yet including Cliff Diving, Fireworks and Table Soccer. The first two use only one card whereas Table Soccer uses all six: Two for goals, one for the field, two for the stands, and the last one for the scoreboard.
The Vita system comes in two varieties, one comes with wireless and Bluetooth, while the other comes with 3G plus the wireless and Bluetooth. The prices at GameStop are currently $249.99 for the former and $299.99 for the latter which happens to be a bundle package that comes with an 8GB memory card and a free game.
This brings me to the issue with memory on the Vita. There is no internal memory source for the Vita. The memory cards are sold separately and are specially made for the Vita. The sizes and prices are as follows: 4GB for $24.99, 8GB for $34.99, 16GB for $59.99, and 32GB for $99.99. These are smaller than average SD cards which comparatively have 32GB cards that sell for as little as $15.
The memory and the close-to-four-hour battery life are the only major issues with the Vita. The price is bit high, but that may go down sooner than you think because of PlayStation’s notoriously quick price drops.
Any hardcore gamer, and especially PlayStation lovers, should get this if they want the portability of a handheld with the power of a console.
Paul’s Last Chance
Being 76 years old, this may very well be Ron Paul’s last chance at running in the presidential race. Although he is as spry as can be for someone his age, it doesn’t look like he has a chance.
That being said, it seems he wasn’t planning on winning either. According to CBS News and The Christian Science Monitor, Paul’s campaign was to make progress for the Libertarian movement.
Paul’s team is not giving up on making him the presidential candidate, but they’re looking at the prospect of getting him as the vice-presidential nominee.
He has yet to win a single state’s primary or caucus, but he continues to press on. Between the 2008 election and this year’s Paul’s supporters have more than doubled in Michigan, Ohio, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Georgia, and Maine and with Missouri’s caucus coming March 17, the same is expected.
A quote from CBS News’ article stated that ” ‘The campaign really is for 2016,’ Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, who has given a total $2.6 million to the pro-Paul super PAC Endorse Liberty, told Slate.’I think we’re just trying to build a libertarian base for the next cycle.’ “
It was also said in the CBS article that although this may be the last run for Paul, ”his son, GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, appears poised to become the new face of the movement going forward.”
Paul isn’t out of the race yet though because he might be needed by one of the other candidates in the long run. His way of speaking and his supporters could help turn the tide in the presidential election against Obama so that a republican will once again be in office.
I believe that if the presidential nominee position were between Rick Santorum and Ron Paul only, then Paul would win, hands down. Missouri’s primary may have labeled Santorum as the winner, but voter turnout for his victory rally pales in comparison to Paul’s speech at Lindenwood University.
A Look at the Past for a Future Hope
So, the day started as any other Tuesday: I woke up late, picked up my fiancee, took her to class, and then sat through my classes. This Tuesday was different because I would be meeting with freelance photographer Don Adams Jr. I had a few others who I would’ve interviewed, but due to the fact that they were speakers for another class, I knew too much to use them as sources.
I first met Mr. Adams at Lindenwood’s Go Red basketball game, where we introduced ourselves to each other, and about a week later I met him again at LU’s women’s lacrosse game. He gave me some pointers on getting better photographs during a sports game. We chatted throughout the game and at the end I asked him if we could get together for the informational interview and he readily agreed to it. He then gave me his card and asked me to e-mail him about when we could meet.
We arranged to meet on Tuesday Feb. 28, in Tom Pettit’s office, however Professor Wheatley informed me that one of the main points of the informational interview was to go off campus to do it. So, we changed the meeting place to Picasso’s Coffee Shop on Main Street. I did not dress up or anything for the interview. I simply wore what I had been wearing that day which consisted of a t-shirt, jeans, a hoodie and an overcoat. In retrospect, I probably should have changed into something more professional, however during our meeting, it seemed much more informal.
There were no issues getting to Picasso’s. It’s a fairly close coffee shop to Lindenwood with parking that’s only a minute’s walk away. I arrived early and took a seat at one of the tables in the shop and waited for Mr. Adams to arrive. I started the interview by getting out my computer and a recording device so as not to miss anything he said. I then told him that I had a few questions to ask and he told me to go right ahead.
Having that list of questions was really helpful during the interview because if I had less than 30, the interview would have gone a lot shorter. Even though many of the questions were answered before I got to them. This went on for about an hour and 15 minutes and would have gone longer, however, I had to leave due to a class. The only one asking questions was me throughout the interview except for when I was asked to explain a question that had been worded poorly.
I did not have a resume for Mr. Adams to look over with suggestions on where I could improve, nor a cover letter. During my questioning, I asked him what a recent college graduate would need nowadays to get a job in the journalism field. He told me, “It’s like anything. You go to college to get a rounded education otherwise you go to a trade school. When you go to somewhere like Lindenwood, you learn a little about a lot. If you want to go to the journalism side of photography… it helps to know a little about a lot of things.” He also said, “If you’re going to be a photographer, you’re going to have to write captions.” I need to start writing captions for my photographs rather than relying upon the editors for the Legacy and Lindenlink.
When I asked his college experience, he had several things to say. First, he had actually gone to Mizzou to study to become a marine biologist which was one of his dreams. However, he never ended up graduating or getting a degree. Photography was a hobby of his ever since he was 12 and first picked up his father’s old camera. Throughout his life he was always taking photographs and as he was walking out of a darkroom one day, a grad assistant who had earned the title of College Photographer of the Year and was a National Geographic intern asked Mr. Adams, “Are you a Photojournalism major?” And all he could say was, “Yeah.” To which the grad assistant replied, “Good.” That was when Mr. Adams started taking all of the news and photography classes he could until he was hired by the St. Charles Journal in 1974.
When I asked him about how much he made, I was surprised to find out that he could work anywhere from 40 to 100 hours a week depending on the assignments he has. He broke down a day where he would go to photograph a football game. Getting there early, setting up the shop, waiting through the game, and victory photos after the game all equate to about 5 hours and that’s before he would have to go through the photos to find the best of the best, Photoshop them, and then write captions for each. It would be anywhere from 600-700 shots and to make them look good, he would have to work on them for at least another 6 hours.
I asked him if he enjoyed his job and his answer was just as expected, “I love it.” He reminisced about when we was working for the Post-Dispatch and missed doing things like chasing someone around a court house to get a photo or going to Illinois to photograph a plate of sausage. I then asked what his most memorable photography experience of all time was, and he said that it was when he went with a team of bikers in the Race across America Marathon (R.A.A.M.). One of his friends had recommended Mr. Adams to the position of team photographer and driver as they went from San Diego, California to Atlantic City, New Jersey in seven days.
He did give me his business card the first time I met with Mr. Adams, however since we have not yet created our own contact cards, I was not able to give him one. We discussed internships briefly, but it was only that because he works by himself. Photography doesn’t pay what it once did because of the economy and the fact that camera technology is so much more advanced than anyone can just pick up a camera and start clicking.
Talking with someone like him was an amazing experience for me and it enlightened me to what I should expect in the future of this career. Being able to get the perspective of someone who has been in the field for over 38 years was so motivating. I’ll be glad when I have the opportunity to do this all over again.
From the Polls to Victory
On the day of the primary, February 7th, I headed off to the nearest polling place to me, Harvester Christian Church. Upon arriving, the scene was pretty bleak. There were nearly no cars around, no one walking to or from the building and about two campaign signs.
After about 20 minutes of waiting for something to happen, I had had enough and headed back to Lindenwood’s campus. Upon arrival, I talked to my Advanced Reporting professor, Tom Wheatley, who told me that I would not be able to write a story from the amount of time I spent there. So I was told that Rick Santorum would be speaking in the nearby St. Charles Convention Center, and the only way to redeem myself would be to photograph the event.
So, once I figured out just where the convention center was, I headed out there right away at about 6:30 p.m. Once I’d arrived I saw that there were only a few people there, and then I got a call from Tom saying that he was wrong about the speech being at 7 p.m. Santorum’s speech wouldn’t start until 9 p.m. I had been wondering why the place was nearly empty. I even overheard one of the security guards say that he had only known about the speech a couple of hours before it was first thought to begin. As the hours went by, people slowly trickled in in groups of two to five.
I was told to find a campaign worker and ask him or her some questions about the campaign and anything else I could think of. However, I froze and could not think of anything to say to one of the workers and I called Tom and told him this while asking for help. He told me that I needed to get my act together and that he would be sending two girls, a Political Science minor and an LUTV worker, to get some interviews.
Once they arrived, we went into the Grand Ballroom and I took pictures while they interviewed person after person. Whether it was a voter or a campaign worker, nearly everyone they talked to had something to say. Then two and a half hours later, the man of the hour Rick Santorum shows up, and the crowd of 50, 100, or more goes wild. (I’m not too good at guessing crowd sizes.) They chant “We voted for Rick” over and over, and he starts his speech of victory for sweeping the vote in Missouri, Colorado and Minnesota.
The most memorable part of his speech was when he said something along the lines of, “I’m not the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney, I’m the conservative alternative to Barack Obama.” He went on to give an inspiring speech to the voters who cheered and called for more. When he finished, he came down off the stage to greet people face to face and had the entire audience crowded around him, along with reporters, photographers and videographers. I was actually about 10 feet away from him at one point, only to be pushed aside by the professional photographers.
Then when all was said and done, I headed back to campus, uploaded my pictures and they were posted to LindenLink.com. My first real experience with politics was different to say the least, but it was cool to know that I was able to be that close to someone who has the potential to govern our country.
Pointless Primary Costs Millions
Missouri’s primary is a cause for unrest in citizens. Due to its decision to forgo the primary’s results and use a caucus for voting, many citizens may not turn up for the event. You might be wondering why this would be such a big deal, and that can be explained by the difference between a primary and caucus.
Missouri’s primary is to be held on Feb. 7, nearly six weeks before its caucus on March 17. Due to laws surrounding the dates primaries can be held, Missouri ran the risk of losing half its delegates if it followed through with the primary. An article posted in the Joplin Globe stated that the Republican Party has rules that say that states that hold their elections prior to March 6 run the risk of losing half their delegates to the national conventions. A quote from Jonathon Prouty, communications director for the Missouri Republican Party in a Kansas City Star editorial stated, “The party has made keeping a full delegate strength at the national convention a priority.”
A primary is like the traditional way of voting. A voter comes to a designated building, goes into a private booth, writes down who they want for certain positions (in this case, the President), and it’s all done anonymously. A caucus on the other hand is a loud and public way of voting with a show of hands, writing your candidates on slips of paper, or just using plain old ballots.
Missouri’s Republican Party, along with stltoday.com, posted a rather helpful guide to the workings of Missouri’s caucus on March 17. It states the following: any registered voter who says he or she is a Republican has the opportunity to join in on his or her county’s caucus; each of Missouri’s 114 counties, along with St. Louis city, will hold their caucus’s at 10 A.M.; and each caucus could take as little as an hour to several hours to be completed, so dress comfortably.
Information also provided by the article in the Joplin Globe, states that Missouri’s primary will cost a whopping eight million dollars ($8,000,000); that’s a one million dollar ($1,000,000) increase since the last Presidential election in 2008 according to an article from the Kansas City Star.
If you’re wondering why there’s all this debate about Missouri’s voting systems between the primary and caucus, it’s time to look towards its governor and legislature. After being told by the Republican National Committee that primaries or caucuses held before March 6 would be penalized, Missouri’s legislature produced a bill that would move the primary back to March 17. However, due to the bill containing “unrelated provisions… Gov. Jay Nixon… vetoed it” according to an stltoday.com article. The legislature was then forced to create a caucus so that they would no longer lose half of the state’s delegates.
Who Wants the Truth?
People tend to live in their own little bubbles where everything is perfect and nothing is wrong. At least most of the time. We choose how we see the world even if it’s not reality. As journalists it’s our responsibility, to the people and to ourselves, to follow, as best we can, these guidelines from The Elements of Journalism by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel. At least this is what I believe. Everyone’s open to their own opinions and there’s nothing I can do to change that. It’s all up to you.
The Truth
Without it, how could anyone believe the news? People look towards the news to tell them the cold, hard facts so that they may better understand this world we live in. Without the news, people would be just as oblivious about the their communities, their nation, and the world as a newborn baby is. And all they know is that when they cry something will happen, whether it’s a changed diaper, getting fed, or just being held.
The news is a huge part of our lives in this technological age. With print, the web, radio, and TV, we can get news from anywhere at any time of the day. We need it for politics, current events, sports, a good laugh, and anything else at all. The news will always be there for what we need as long as it continues to tell the truth.
Loyalties
from flickr/by untitledprojects
Journalists write the news for the citizens. The news is for the people of the world. We must report news as it is and how it is supposed to be.
Verified
The news means nothing if the facts it uses cannot be verified. If I was writing for a news publication, and just threw in some made up quotes or statistics, how could anyone trust what I write? How could anyone believe what’s in the news if none of it could be proven?
Independence
It basically means that journalists need to be objective in their writing. We cannot be swayed by our emotions or personal views on the subject unless of course, you’re writing an Op-Ed piece.
Monitoring
Journalism is essentially the fourth branch of government. “The independent monitor of power.” There’s the checks and balances of the Judicial, Legislative and Executive with journalism overseeing and reporting on all that they do. We show the people what their government is doing. Whether it’s something that will harm us or help us, everything we can show you, we will.
Participatory
All news has to be open for criticism and review. If people can’t comment on the news, how will we know what makes good news or bad news? How would we know how many people read the paper, watch TV news or listen to the radio news? It’s not just about ratings and stuff. It’s more about knowing that we’re writing about the things that people want and need to know about.
Interest
The public needs to be interested in the stories or else they won’t even read the whole thing. The news needs to be relevant to the directed audience. If it’s a local paper, the news needs to be directed towards the community and impact them in some way. World news shouldn’t be in there. A national paper would have news from all over the U.S.
Comprehensive
The news needs to be comprehensive, which means that it should have a wider range of content and coverage.
Personal Conscience
Kovach and Rosenstiel write that the practitioners of journalism “must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience.” In all honesty, I’m not too sure as to what this might mean because to me, it seems to be the opposite of making new objective…
I believe all of these are good guidelines for journalists to follow, but it’s all up to you to follow them or not. There’s a reason there’s freedom of speech.
A Panel for Our Future
Having a panel of seniors of the journalism field come to meet and talk with you is something wonderful and exciting. They can give you insight and share their experiences with you. Giving you the know-how and what to look out for when you’re joining their ranks.
At Lindenwood…
My journalism class had the honor of welcoming six editors working for Patch.com including a regional editor.
This isn’t the first time we’ve played host to an editor of Patch; Holly Edgell visited us a few weeks earlier to talk to our Introduction to Journalism class about Patch and to intrigue some of us to start working for Patch by doing blogs.
The Editors
Kurt Greenbaum – A regional editor of St. Louis and Patch editor for the Maplewood-Brentwood Patch. While talking to us about his past experiences, he mentioned how he wished he appreciated what he was doing more. He told us, “We’re the only way people can get information about their communities in that way,” as he talked about working for a small-town newspaper.
Jim Baer - The Patch editor for the Ladue-Frontenac Patch. He wishes that when he was starting out in journalism, he knew more about “backpack journalism.”
Tammy Duncan - The Patch editor for the Lake St. Louis Patch. She urged my class to keep up to the pace of the advancing technology so that we don’t fall behind.
Maggie Rotermund – The Patch editor for the Wentzville Patch. She always knew that she wanted to be a journalist, but nonetheless urged us to have a well-rounded education because as she said, “You don’t think of how the other non-journalism classes are going to be important… You don’t want to lose perspective.”
Joe Barker – The Patch editor for the St. Peters Patch. When he started out, his first job was in a newsroom of five people where you didn’t have to worry about budget cuts, but you’d be constantly working.
Chase Castle – The Patch editor for the Ballwin-Ellisville Patch. He was inspired by the film “Almost Famous” to become a journalist and told us that although there might be some not-so-great areas of journalism, there are some really cool parts too.
Patching In
The wonders of the world of Journalism are at our fingertips. We were given a six first-hand accounts of what we should expect when we graduate and start reporting to inform the masses. With the guiding hands of our peers, colleagues and seniors, we are given the chance to make something of ourselves.
Curiosity is one of the most important aspects of journalism. Without it we are dull, boring and only do the bare minimum of all we can do. Would you want to read a story where they just said that something happened in someplace with someone without giving you anymore detail? Or would you rather read a story from someone who could be your neighbor in your community, full of detail and intrigue; where the stories hit home because they could be affecting your daily lives?
The latter is the better, right? Well thanks to all the people at Patch, we are given the chance to read about the local news, not just some small article in something as big as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. They give us the stories from inside our communities, the stories we look for in the paper so we know about our schools, local stores, construction, anything in the area that would affect us. There’re even event listings so that we can know even more.
Sins are sins
Whether they’re the original seven of the Bible or the seven of journalists, sins are sins and they’ll get you in trouble.
Deception and Greed: Lying or misrepresenting yourself to obtain information
They go hand in hand: lying to get what you want and wanting so much that you’d lie to get it. It goes against the morals and ethics of good, hardworking people. These people have credibility, the metaphorical currency of the street, that helps society to trust them, but when a news outlet loses that credibility, they’ll go under. Would you trust anyone who would lie just to get a story?
Conflict of Interest and Gluttony: Accepting gifts or favors from sources or promoting social and political causes
A reporter with a conflict of interest will offer to write anything for the right price. They continue to take from anyone who wants to be promoted in the news and is willing to pay whatever is necessary. A true journalist would never do something like this. We are supposed to be objective and unbiased, not governed by under-the-table dealings for some quick cash or free things.
Bias and Pride: Slanting a story by manipulating facts to sway readers’ opinions
Being biased is not what journalism is about. A journalist needs to give both sides of every argument, give both sides an equal opportunity to defend themselves and give both sides an equal amount of press. We need to give the people the truth in its entirety, not a version in which one side gets praised while the other is thrown in the dirt.
Pride ties into biased writing because if someone is overly zealous about a stance on a particular subject, he or she might let his or her personal feelings dictate the way the story is written.
Fabrication and Sloth: Manufacturing quotes or imaginary sources, or writing anything you know to be untrue
Fabrication and sloth go together because it’s just plain lazy when a journalist doesn’t even want to take the time to write a decent story. Making up quotes and sources just isn’t right and it can lead you straight into a lawsuit that most likely will end with you in a lot of debt and without a job.
Theft and Lust: Obtaining information unlawfully or without a source’s permission
Thievery and lust are a little different in comparison with the true subject matter, but the concepts have similarities.
Stealing from others to get what you need will land you into trouble, and if the stolen material happens to be used in a court case, it could be thrown out. Unlawfully obtained evidence cannot be used in trial.
Lust is basically the excessive desire for something or someone. In relation to journalism it could mean that a reporter would do anything to get the information he or she needs, so he or she will steal it.
Burning a Source and Wrath: Deceiving or betraying the confidence of those who provide information for a story
Wrath can control and overwhelm people causing them to lose sight of what they stand for. For journalists it can lead to a source, a confidant, a friend being taken in from the sidelines of animosity and thrown into the fires of the judging public eye. People would get the maddest if their perfect little bubbled view of someone was suddenly shattered, like a politician’s corruptness is exposed or a family member’s crime is brought out for all to see.
Plagiarism and Envy: Passing off someone else’s words or ideas as your own
All students should have the knowledge of plagiarism hammered into their heads by now. They should know that by stealing the works of others, they’re just going to get in trouble. At Lindenwood, for example, it’s three strikes and you’re out for good. Page 46 of the Student Handbook starts to outline Lindenwood’s Academic Honesty policy.
Envy coincides with plagiarism because it seems that anyone who plagiarizes is envious of the work someone else has done, which is better than anything he or she can come up with, so he or she tries to pass it off as his or her own.
Do you have what it takes?
Everyone goes to college with a set course in mind, but be it a few semesters or a few years later, they might decide that their course of action wasn’t what was right for them. And then they get stuck at college for a semester or two, or maybe even five, longer. I’m one of these people. I started out going to Lindenwood University to be a computer teacher for high school, but an advisor there told me there were little to no jobs there and urged me to become an English teacher instead. Since then I had been an English major for a year and a half, and then I came to realize, with the help of my fiancée, that teaching was not right for me. Instead journalism was the right path. Well, photojournalism or rather just plain old photography is what I’d rather do, but having a degree in journalism would be much more helpful. And now onto the what this post should be more focused towards; the reader.
There’s a quiz in the book my class uses that will be very helpful for those who are unsure of whether or not they are journalist material and I’d like to ask you those questions.
Reading
If you enjoy reading, then journalism is most definitely for you. You will be reading constantly in this profession. Looking over other publications and reading about news happening all over the world can help you get a better idea on how you should write and what will bring in the most readers. How can someone write for a living if they don’t even like reading? It just doesn’t make any sense.
Writing, Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation
Do you like writing? If you don’t, then get out now. Journalism is all about writing. Even if you don’t think you’re going to be a reporter and would rather have a desk job somewhere in the office, you’re still going to need to write. You’ll need to know how to write down the most important information first thanks to the telegraph system and the inverted pyramid. Even the broadcast journalists need to know how to write, especially if the go out into the field and report live.
If ya’ll ain’t got no good grammar, ya ain’t gonna be a good journalist. Spelling, grammar and punctuation are all very important also and go hand in hand with writing. If you misspell important names of people or places, you might be ridiculed or put on Epicfail.com
Tech
Can you use a computer? How about a video camera? A tape recorder? You better at least know the basics because nearly all news stations are going digital. News needed more outlets, so people decided that the only other way people can get the news, besides papers, radio and TV, was to put it on the World Wide Web. Just about everything is on the web now. The world’s newest generations are becoming the Web 2.0 generation. They will be the ones to make the web what it will be for the future.
Organization, Memory and Research
As a reporter, you’ll need to be able to organize any information you get very quickly and efficiently. If you can’t write things down fast enough, get a tape recorder and make sure you can hear the person you’re interviewing or even yourself if you’re just making up questions on the spot.
You need to be able to remember and process lots of information constantly. While interviewing someone, if you’ve done your research, you’ll be able to catch them in a lie if they say something contrary to what they’ve said earlier.
Doing your research about the person, place or thing you’re going to be writing your next story on is extremely important. If you don’t know anything about it, how will you even be able to write a story? You won’t be able to ask the right questions to the right people and you’ll just get confused and fail.
So yeah, make sure you know for sure that becoming a journalist is what you want to do. Otherwise, find another profession while you still have the time to do so.
What makes news news?
News is always happening all around us and all over the world. Anything from something happening down the street to something on the other side of the world, news is always occurring and becoming history. It might be a natural disaster killing thousands or a group of people saving a man they don’t even know, but whatever happens, we will always be able to look back at our past thanks to the journalists of the world.
Proximity: The things that are closest to you can hit the hardest
On Wednesday, Sept. 21, St. Charles High School was on lock down nearly all day because of a letter which threatened several teachers and students was found early that day. Students were questioned and evacuated from the school to the football field where they were released after nearly six hours. The St. Charles Police were on the scene quickly and took complete control of the situation; even going so far as to place snipers on the roof for extra precaution. The parents were not allowed onto the campus and had to wait across the street until their children were released by 2:35 p.m.
It’s a parent’s worst nightmare when he or she doesn’t know what’s happened to his or her child or if he or she is OK and there’s a threat of a bomb or a shooting or anything else. People never used to have to worry about something like this until the infamous Columbine and Virginia Tech shootings.
Timeliness: What’s “happening”
With the fall season of new series and new seasons of old ones, this is a time for shows to sink or try their best to stay afloat. “New Girl” is one of the shows that’s not going anywhere any time soon. With only two episodes under its belt, “New Girl” was given the order to film a full TV season. With a debut “to more than 10 million viewers on Sept. 20… [it] maintains around 92% of its premiere audience.”
The time every show needs to watch out for will be during Sweeps Week when the celebrity guest stars begin to show up all over the place.
Impact: Who cares?
As Typhoon Nesat raged across Hong Kong, one of Asia’s largest financial centers, the streets were clear of nearly everyone since the Chinese government had “recalled ships, suspended flights and ferry services in preparation for the typhoon… [and the] usually crowded streets were devoid of people as its tram system stopped operations and the subway and bus systems cut trips.” Tens of thousands of people, citizens and tourists alike, were saved from harm thanks to their fast response after hearing that “after [Typhoon Nesat] passed through the Philippines… it left at least 35 people dead and 45 missing.”
The following is a video of Typhoon Nesat as it pummeled Philippine capital of Manila:
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Prominence: The celebrities people love to hear about
The death of Michael Jackson hit surprisingly harder than I would’ve ever believed. It was all over the news that he had died, but then when people started questioning the how, the news switched from Michael Jackson to Dr. Conrad Murray, Jackson’s doctor. Now, two years later, Dr. Murray is being “charged with involuntary manslaughter” for the death of the King of Pop.
Conflict: Why can’t we be friends?
The answer to that, is that people just love to argue too much. There’s always gonna be two sides to every story, be it between children or grown men, people will always debate, argue, fight and in extreme cases, go to war.
Senator Rand Paul is an example of our human nature as he is “the only senator opposed to a bill to toughen federal safety regulation of oil and gas pipelines.” From what I’ve read in this article, the bill would be a great help to the safety and well-being of the citizens of the U.S. The bill was partly in “response to a series of pipeline accidents over the past year and a half, including a gas explosion last year that killed eight people and heavily damaged a suburban subdivision in San Bruno, Calif.”
<a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/cce281/3546785049/” title=”Corrision of Natural Gas Pipe by Corrosion Course – CCE281, on Flickr”><img src=”http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3561/3546785049_4f031d0d17.jpg” width=”500″ height=”375″ alt=”Corrision of Natural Gas Pipe”></a>
Human Interest/Unusual Stories: A look at the… odder side of the news
Stationary company, Hallmark, has introduced a new line of greeting cards for the recently working-impaired additions to the population. According to Yahoo!’s Odd News, sales have actually been doing quite well with the “Job Loss” and “Recession – Humor” cards.
Personally, I think the unusual stories are the best because they can make you laugh.
