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.

Meningitis Outbreak Multiple Stories Article

          Just recently, there has been a meningitis outbreak in the New England area. It seems as though some kind of drug was infected with the disease and was used by patients all over the United States. However it seems as though the drug was actually made in a facility in Massachusetts and shipped out to other states. As of early Thursday morning five people have been killed by the disease. Health officials say that thousands of people who got the steroid injection in 25 different states could be at risk of contracting the disease. Doctors and medical clinics rushed to tell any patient that may have used the drug to go to the hospital for test to be done to see if they had it.
           It is not exactly clear how the injections got tainted in the first place but the FDA is launching an investigation to find out. 35 people have actually contracted the disease and five of those 35 have died. Every person that has taken some kind of injection recently is urged to get tested to stop any possible outbreak that may occur. The FDA is nervous because they said the outbreak has just begun and has a possibility of spreading to hundreds or to thousands of people.
           However, the good news is that if detected early enough the disease can be stopped and will not cause any harm. Even if the person does not find out early, there are still plenty of treatment options that are available if they actually have the disease. Hopefully, this outbreak will be stopped soon because it is creating a certain type of hysteria for some states.



-http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2012/10/03/us/ap-us-meningitis-outbreak.html?hp&_r=0
-http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2012/10/04/health-meningitis-outbreak-investigation-expands-to-our-area/?flv=1
- http://centralillinoisproud.com/fulltext?nxd_id=277532&flv=1

Drinking and Driving Editorial

        This article is about a study that was done and that showed that fewer teenagers are driving and driving. It says that in the last two decades the number of teens drinking and driving has dropped by more than half. It is supposidly beacuse of the tougher laws against drinking and driving. In 1991, a study was done and students were asked in the previous 30 days if they had drank and drove and 22.3 percent of people said yes. Then in 2011, the same question was asked and only 10.1 students reported that they had drank and drove. Percentages ranged from 4.6 percent up to 14.5 percent. Now, this could be either because the driving and driving laws are stricter, people are being more cautious, or students were lying.
         Health officals say that about 54 percent of this is caused because the stricter laws such as junior operators cannot drive between the hours of 12:30am and 5:00am. Drinking and driving causes about 800 teenage deaths between the ages of 16-19 annually. Males around the age of 18 were the most likely to drink and drive while females around the age of 16 were the least likely to drink and drive. Health officals were happy with this study because it shows positive results.
       I liked this article because I think it is a very important topic for students in high school. There is a ton of peer pressure on kids to be cool and do the "cool" thing. People get so wrapped up in trying to fit in that they make stupid decisions like drinking and driving. I know of people who have made the decision to drink and drive and although nothing bad has ever happened, it still upsets me. I don't like that people are willing to put their life at risk for a 10 minute drive. If anything were to ever happen to someone I knew I would be absolutely devistated.

Students Safe at School?

        Alexandra Kogut, a freshman student at Utica College in New York, was found murdered in her dorm room last Sunday. The murder occurred late Saturday night and it was suspected that her visiting boyfriend is the culprit. Her tweets indicate that he was coming up for the weekend and that she was excited to see him. But early Sunday morning at 12:13am Kogut tweeted "should've known." indicating that something went wrong with her boyfriend. Later Sunday night her boyfriend admitted to killing her but the reason why is still unknown. I thought this story was interesting because college is supposed to be a safe place for students yet a girl died there. Also this story got my attention because two of the girls that I work with go to this college. It made me think that something like this could happen to anyone including the girls I work with.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/alexandra-kogut-murdered-college-student-left-ominous-tweet/t/story?id=17366495

Reubin Andres Compare/ Contrast

       Dr. Reubin Andres, a doctor who greatly advanced the study of diabetes, died on September 23rd at the age of 89. Andres was born in Dallas Texas on June 13th, 1923. Originally, Andres only knew how to speak Yiddish, but slowly started to speak more and more English as he got older. His daughter said his dead was due to congestive heart failure. He was first well known after giving a conference in New York about obesity. After countless studies, Andres realized the weight recommendations for younger people was too high, and the weight recommendations for older folks was too low. He concluded that to live longer, people should maintain a certain weight until about the age of forty, where from there out they should gain a pound or two every year, until about the age of 70. Originally, people thought that continuing to be in really great shape as you get older was the way to beat the aging process, but this is not true. It is better that as you get older you have a little extra weight on you. However, Andres says he is not encouraging obesity. In the late 1980's, Andres published his first book and it was an early success. Dr. Andres also developed a method that helped patient with type 2 diabetes and won many awards for this. It goes on to say where Andres studied for high school as well as college and who he is survived by. All of this information was in the New York Times.
       Another article, written about Reubin Andres death as well was in the Baltimore Sun Newspaper. However, it was not quite as lengthy, it still covered all of the basic information that the New York Times did. The first difference I noticed was, it said that Andres died of heart problems, instead of congestive heart failure. Also in the same article it mentions Andres having a brief stint in the army for five years and working as a doctor. Other than that it has all of the same information on how he grew up only speaking Yiddish, what high school he went to, what colleges he went to, and who he is survived by.

Alzheimer's Cause By Poor Diet?

     An article written by Mark Bittman of the New York Times says that reducing the amount of junk food a person eats can lower the risk of getting Alzheimers Disease. This idea has been around since 2005 but it has started  becoming more convincing more recently. This information has been presented by a cover story in the New Scientist handbook. This study is proven when people understand how insulin is important in maintaining homeostasis in the body.
          Insulin keeps the blood vessels that supply the brain healthy and absorbs gluclose allowing the brain to become stronger. When insulin levels are low in the body it can lead to reduced brain functions. When eating too much junk food, your brain may become "insulin resistant", which leads to memory loss and becoming disoriented which are the early stages to Alzheimer's. Along with loss of memory, it can cause a change in a person's personality.

           This type of loss of brain function is being called Type 3 diabetes. So in short having a poor diet can cause not only type 2 diabetes but also type 3 diabetes which means not only are you not healthy physically, but your not healthy mentally either. Scientists are encouraging people to start becoming more healthy with their diets. They want people to see the risks in what these foods are and keep them from making bad decisions.

Packers vs Seahawks Game Has Country in Awe

         A few days ago, I blogged about one of the most prevalent issues in sports at the moment which is the issue with the replacement officials. One game in particular just sent fans, other teams and coaches over the edge. On September 24th the Monday Night football game was being played between the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks. In the game there was only time for one more play as the Seahawks were down 7-12 and quarterback Russell Wilson threw a hail mary pass to the end zone. Now from here the rest of the story is pretty much up to interpretation.
          From the video below, you can see that when landing with the ball both players have a hand on the ball. While it seems as though one of the Green Bay defenders has a better grip and hold on the ball, it was ruled that if both teams had possession of the ball, the tie breaker would go to the offense. With this rule being in place, the officials ruled it a touchdown and the Seahawks won the game. However, in many different angles we can see that the Seahawks player who caught the ball, Golden Tate, pushes off one of the Green Bay defenders sending him to the ground. If the officials called offensive pass interference like they should have, the play would have been called dead on the spot and it wouldn't have mattered who caught the football in the end zone.
          Many fans, players and coaches are appauled and also angered by the poor job of the replacement officials. After the game, many Green Bay players tweeted about the lost and how it was surprising the NFL could let such a thing go on for so long. For the past 24 hours or so, the game has been the talk of almost every newspaper, newscast and sports show. It is amazing to see what one little play can do to a country and a league.

Zoo Panda Multiple Stories Article

          This morning I read an article about a baby panda the died after living for only six days. The baby cub was a female. Sources say, the panda cub that died had abnormalities on its liver and fluid in its abdomen, but they don't yet know the cause of death. To figure out the cause of death, scientists are doing a
necropsy (an examination and dissection of a dead body to determine cause of death or the changes produced by disease) and they should know the cause of death in the next two weeks or so.
          The zoo workers reported that the cub seemed fine on Sunday morning and that there was no signs of distress from the 4 ounce panda. The zoo workers realized something was wrong when the mother panda was making a honking sound, which is a pandas way of making a sort of distress call. Ever since the baby has died, the mother panda has rarely come out of hiding. She often stays hidden away from visitors and has barely been eating any of her food.

http://www.abcnews4.com/story/19622722/zoo-panda-cub-that-died-had-liver-abnormalities
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/national/south/view/20120924zoo_panda_cub_that_died_had_liver_abnormalities/
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2012/09/24/national_zoo_panda_cub_cause_of_death_undetermined_cub_had_liver_and_abdomen_abnormailties_.html

Replacement Refs Editorial

       As many people know, the referee's in the NFL are currently on strike and refusing to ref the football games. The refs are not necessarily asking for more money now, but for their retirement funs. They want to be paid the same amount of money and get the same retirement benefits that other NFL employees are getting.  Not only are the NFL refs refusing to referee the games but also the Division One refs who are supposed to be next in line are refusing to ref as well. So the NFL did the next logical thing and hired the Division Two college refs. Now this has caused quite a stir in the NFL not only for coaches, players and teams but also as fans. The "replacement refs" as many people call them, have had a hard time adjusting to the new set of rules that are in palce for the NFL. The rules in the NFL are different from that of the rules of the college league.

       Personally, I don't think that the replacement refs should get the benefits that they are asking for. This is for a number of reasons but the most prominent in my opinion, is that they only work about 4 months in the entire year. They are asking for full time benefits when they are only part time workers. Now, i'm not exactly sure what they would do for work in the other 8 months that they are not refing but I'm sure they would be able to find something. Also, I think the replacement refs are absolutely horrible. They make bad calls, talk about the calls for way too long, are indecisive, and worst of all, they let players take cheap shots at each other and don't do anything about it. For example, yesterday in the Patriots vs Ravens game, players were hitting each other after the plays and they were talking smack to each other. The refs didn't step in at all and just let it happen. At the same time, I feel like the players and coaches should be more respectful and understand what the refs are going through. I think the players especially are taking advantage of the refs because they are easily intimidated. Long story short, the REAL NFL refs need to come back immediately.

Presidential Results

           I believe I align with this candidate because we have similar views about the national debt and immigration policies. I somewhat agree with the results but not completely. I think in a regular election I would probably vote for Obama instead of Romney however. I am more susceptible to vote for Obama because he is more concerned with helping the middle class citizens. Where as Romney thinks the rich should just get richer. The test fails to account for overall perception of each candidate as a whole. When choosing a president I think many citizens also take into consideration their personal and family lives.  Also the test fails to account for whether you trust the candidate or not.

Tourism About to Set Record in US

          The US Department of Commerce Reports that the tourism rate in the United States this year is on pace to set a new record. It is reported that over 1.1 billion dollars was made every month on travel and tourism related activities. It is also reported that tourism is one of the only "bright spots" in the economy. Analysts say that the increase in tourism is due to the slowly declining drop in the dollar value. The ravel industries growth is responsible for 12% of the economy's overall export gains so far in 2012, as opposed to 6% in 2011.When foreign tourists buy goods in the United States and bring them back home, it's considered an export. In 2011, 10.6 million tourists visited New York City from foreign countries, up from 6.8 million in 2000. Also the mayor of New York City has commented on the situation and said that the tourism has created thousands of jobs for people in the city.

Chicago Strikes End

           After almost seven days of picketing and striking, the union finally reached a contract in Chicago. On Wednesday, children went back to school and resumed classes.  Before the strike started the kids had only attended five days of school. The parents of the children were happy that the kids were going back to school and could start working on their education again. While many other parents were just happy to not have their lives be so chaotic anymore. Mayor Rahm Emanuel was photographed greeting all of the children as they came back to school. It was hard to see which side actually "won" in terms of the contract. Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teacher Union were both claiming victories on the settled contract. The teachers were fighting for less students in classes, more classroom materials such as books, and more nurses and social workers in the schools. In the Chicago Teachers Union there is over 26,000 members which are all expected to sign the contract in the next coming weeks. This contract would extend the school day to be seven hours and also increased each teachers salary by over 17 percent in the upcoming years. Overall, I was just happy that the students were back in school again.

Arctic Treasures

             For this blog post I chose  to give my personal opinion on a popular news event. In the Arctic, the ice is melting at a record pace. Many people see this as bad, but some people are seeing it as good. In the Arctic, there is an abundance of natural resources such as, oil, gas, and minerals. However only the United States, Russia and a few European nations have claims to the Arctic territory. Countries like China have been trying to find ways to tap into these resources as well. The New York Times states, "At one point this summer, 97 percent of the surface of Greenland's massive ice sheet was melting" Another interesting fact the Times tells is, "Scientists say that by the end of the decade most of the ice will be melted." Now, I am not much of an environmentalist but I think something needs to be done about global warming. There is no way we should be letting these massive icebergs melt away in a few hundred years when they have been around for over a few thousand decades. I don't like that people are more concerned with tapping into the natural resources that the Arctic has to offer rather than trying to stop Global warming or at least slow it down. I think it just shows what kind of people we have become. I think it shows how most people are more concerned with making money than the important thing which is preserving the Earth for future generations.

Mitt Romney 47%

This video of Mitt Romney talking about Obama and other Americans has caused a big stir. Romney talks about 47 percent of Americans who "pay no income tax" and are "dependent on the government". The video was made last May but has just begun to surface now. Shocking right? That a video where Romney is criticizing the Americans and Obama surfaces just a few months before the election. I don't think this video surfacing now was a coincidence.