Space Jump Compare/Contrast

            Felix Baumgartner set out to be the first person to ever parachute from space and land safely on the ground almost 25 miles down. He rode all the way up their in a balloon which took about 2 hours and 21 minutes to reach its optimal height. The balloon was about 750 feet high. He hoped to make the highest jump history and be the first sky diver to break the speed of sound. There was over 300 NASA employees involved including 70 engineers, scientists and physicians who have been working on this project for more than 5 years. There was an extensive checklist that all of them had to follow to make sure everything went okay.
        Every other article I read had the same basic information. The jumpers name, why he wanted to do this jump, the records he was making and who helped him to accomplish this. The only difference I found was in another article it said that the jump took 2 hours and 15 minutes, but they could have just been rounding. After doing all of these compare and contrast blog entries I have learned that many newspapers take information from other newspapers and use it as their own. The often have the same exact structure and information except for a few minor details. 

Joe Biden Laughing Too Far?

   On Thursday October 11th both Joe Biden and Paul Ryan sqaured off in a heated debate between the two possible vice presidents. The debate was viewed by millions of voters. During the debate, a split screen was shown so that both candidates could been seen at once. So while one person was talking, we could see the reaction of the other person.

    Throughout most of the debate Joe Biden was seen laughing, smiling and smirking at the things that Paul Ryan was saying. However, Paul Ryan not being as well experienced in debates kept to the main topics and tried to say all of the "right" things. This was to ensure that Romney would not lose any points in the polls for his mishaps. While Biden had no problem speaking and saying what he wanted to.“With all due respect that’s a bunch of malarkey,” Biden told Ryan in one of his most memorable lines.

    Like we said in class and once again stated in multple news papers, Joe Biden is not afraid to be who he really is an excepts when he makes a mistake. That is one of the reasons that the common American can relate so well to Biden. He accepts his failures and instead of trying to erase or cover them up he just learns a lesson and moves on.

http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5077d70a69bedd8d28000015-619-464/here-are-all-the-moments-when-joe-biden-laughed-at-paul-ryan-during-the-debate.jpg
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/10/laughing-joe-steals-the-show-at-vice-presidential-debate/
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/paul-ryan-didn-t-prepare-laughing-joe-biden-041921510--election.html

Tom Hanks Back on Broadway

    Just a quick tid bit about a story I read on Tom Hanks going to Broadway next year.Producers of Nora Ephron’s play "Lucky Guy" announced Thursday that Hanks will play Mike McAlary in the play. This play was decided to be preformed after Ephron passed away in the summer. The opening night is scheduled for April 1st 2013. Hanks is the star of such films as ”Forrest Gump," "Philadelphia," ”Sleepless in Seattle," ”Apollo 13" and "Saving Private Ryan."

     This article caught my eye because I feel like I could never see Tom Hanks on Broadway. It just seemed obscure to me.

Maryland Man Escapes Death Penalty

       An interesting story that I read the other day was about a man in Maryland that murdered his estranged wife that was 51and his son who was 11. This happened in Rockville Maryland and the man arrested has already been in jail before. Lopez, the ex convict, beat both the mother and son to death with a baseball bat and then dumped their bodies in a wooded area near their home.  The bodies were found nearly a week later by a hiker. A day after the bodies were found Lopez was found in a motel with his girlfriend.  He now faces two charges of murder. Although it has been confirmed that he will not get the death penalty he still faces a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted.
        Personally I am happy that he didn't get the death penalty. I think that he should have to suffer and live with what he has done instead of getting the easy way out and dying. I think emotionally it would be less painful for him to just die. I think serving a life sentence in jail is worse for him and seeing as how he is an ex convict and killed both of those people with intent, I have no sympathy for him. These were supposed to be people he loved, so how could he do something like that? Some people now a days are really messed up.

Female Quaterback Editorial

      Today I read an interesting story about a female high schooler that lives in Florida and plays quarterback for her high school team. Erin DeMeglio is a 17 year old senior at South Plantation High School in Florida where she plays QB for her high school team. Erin only being 5'5" and weighing in at 140 pounds has found her true calling in high school. Although she is not the starting quarterback, she is the third string quarterback which is also the first girl to ever play QB in Florida. She was first discovered by the coach of the football team when she was playing flag football at school. The coach thought she had some real talent so he invited her to throw at an off season workout. As time when on Erin fell more in love with the game and wanted to pursue the sport.The coach was worried about her safety but she kept coming back to practice time and time again until the coach finally gave her a spot on the team. Erin says that everyone pretty much treats her the same and the only difference is that she has to change in the girls locker room but is a price she is willing to pay to play the sport she now loves so much.
       I read about this article in Upfront Magazine which is a magazine that we have to read for English class but I really liked this story and wanted to share it. I think something like this is good for the school and diversity. It shows that no matter what you set your mind to you can achieve your dreams. Also I have heard many stories like this before where a girl has wanted to play on a boys team but has not been allowed. It is awesome that Erin got out there and actually did it. I think it will be a learning experience not only for Erin but also for the boys as well to deal with situations they might not be accustomed to. I can only imagine there were some boys on the team that protested Erin joining and some may have even quit, but for the ones that stayed I think it will be well worth it to be around a new atmosphere. 

Green Line Trolley Compare & Contrast

            Earlier this afternoon, a green line trolley derailed and hit another empty trolley but in the process sent the operator and a few passengers to the hospital. Although no one was killed, many people had serious injuries. Many people complained about serious neck and back injuries.  The incident occurred a little after 4pm and happened between two stops. Each of the trolleys had two carts on it and serious damage was done to each cart.
          It was confirmed that the accident was due to human error. The investigation showed at a certain section their is a crossover that was supposed to switch the cart but the switch was never flipped so it ran into the other car. The accident had nothing to do with faulty equipment.  The train is currently expected to remain derailed until next Tuesday. I got this story from the Boston Herald and it was just posted a few minutes before I went on the website. I checked various other local newspapers and no one else had a report on the derailed trolley. However since I have nothing to compare to, I would only assume that any other paper writing about this story would probably have something similar to what was in the Herald seeing as how it is such a small story.

Presidential Debate 2012

     Last night on Wednesday October 3rd, president Barack Obama and presidential candidate Mitt Romney had a debate at the University of Denver. This was the first one on one debate that Romney had ever been in of this magnitude while for Obama it was just another day. I posted this video to my blog so that everyone could watch the debate because I think it is important for our society to know what is going on. Although at some parts it was a little boring, each candidate did a great job and talked about the major points they wanted to discuss.