Sorry about that! Here is the actual link.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
POD-O-MATIC TROUBLES
THE SERVER HAS BEEN BUSY FOR A LONG TIME AND I WILL UNFORTUNATELY HAVE TO TURN IN THE AUDIO PORTION OF MY ASSIGNMENT LATE...GRADE ME HOW YOU WISH!
BROADCAST ASSIGNMENT
I’VE RECENTLY BEEN HASSELING WITH THE REALITIES OF HAVING TWO PUGS IN THE HOUSE. YOU WOULD THINK THAT ADDING TWO CUTE, FUN LOVING CREATURES INTO MY LIFE WOULD MAKE THINGS MORE RELAXING AND ENJOYABLE, RIGHT?
WRONG!
WHILE HAVING BUFFY AND PEACH AROUND HAS HAD IT PERKS, I HONESTLY CAN'T HELP BUT WONDER WHY I DIDN'T BUY TWO CATS INSTEAD.
I MEAN REALLY, WHY SET YOURSELF UP WITH SOMETHING YOU HAVE TO POTTY TRAIN WHEN YOU CAN GET A CAT?
CATS HAVE BEEN LITERALLY PREPROGRAMMED TO DISCARD THEIR OWN FECAL MATTER IN CONVENIENT, OUT OF THE WAY PLACES.
OR IN OTHER WORDS, THEY GO ON YOUR NEIGHBOR'S LAWN. NO CLEANUP NECESSARY!
BESIDES THE OBVIOUS, THEY ARE INDEPENDENT, CAN FEED THEMSELVES AND, LET'S FACE IT. THEY HAVE A LOT MORE CLASS THAN ANY OLD MANGY SLOBBERY DOG WILL EVER AMOUNT TO.
IN OTHER WORDS, THINK TWICE BEFORE CHOOSING FIDO OVER FLUFFY!
Saturday, May 9, 2009
How To Appear Smarter Than You Actually Are
The amount of people I've met who have declared that they were "just born stupid" is astounding. I know that everyone has been insecure about his or her intelligence at some point or other, especially when conversing with people you don't know too well. I, who have gotten mostly straight A's since middle school, still manage to feel stupid in conversation from time to time.
Thankfully it's actually pretty easy to come off as an intelligent individual with minimal effort. All you have to do is learn a few obscure facts, and presto! In this small article I will reveal several key things that you can actively begin doing to ensure coming off more intelligently in conversations, etc.
First, like I mentioned above, learning a few obscure facts can greatly enhance how smart other people perceive you. Think about it; hardly anyone you meet will know much about your area of expertise! You also won't have to worry about making mistakes because no one else will know enough about your topic to know the difference!
About now you're probably wondering how one can go about learning obscure facts in a pain-free way. No one likes going to the library to do extensive research! The answers are simple:
1. If you pick up and actually read scientific magazines you're guaranteed to literally become an expert on something weird and interesting. National Geographic and Scientific Weekly are both landmines of obscure information. My sister learned quite a deal on "bog bodies" after reading an article in National Geographic and has impressed quite a few of her friends with her knowledge.
2. If reading entire articles at a time consumes too much time for you and your schedule, you can always learn through trivia game cards and "word-a-day" calendars. Simply place them by your bed and learn a new word or fact everyday, as simple as that.
I hope that this has helped you to understand just how easy it is to appear smart, and that you apply some of these techniques in your daily lives! It's essential that every person feel comfortable with their ability to appear knowledgeable and interesting in social situations. The simple learning of obscure facts definately helps with this. If my ideas seem like too much work for you, you can always opt to not say anything at all, for "it's better to keep your mouth shut and have people think you're a fool than to open your mouth and prove it"!
News Website Critique
a) Do the news items reflect immediacy?
Yes, they do. The Santa Barbara fires are a very important story right now, and it is given the most attention ontheir the home page.
b) Does the site try to help readers save time?
No. The site takes time to navigate through. The type is in small font, and there is a lot of it on the page. You really have to focus and physically get close to the screen to find what you want out of all of the rest of the stuff they have displayed.
c) Is it quick and easy to get information?
Check above.
d) Does it provide both visual and verbal information?
Yes, although most of the pictures are quite small. It would have been nice to have some bigger ones! There was also quite a bit of text covering the page!
e) Do the stories contain lists and bullets to make them easier to scan?
Yes, there are lists and bullets, although the bullets are hard to distinguish since they are not physically separated from the bullets above and below them.
f) Are the stories broken into "chunks"?
Yes, some stories are broken into chunks. On the right hand side of the screen there are links to several stories, all with a small chunk of catchy information to get the reader to pursue the story.
g) Do stories provide hyperlinks to additional information?
YES! For example in an article titled, "South Bay voters approving school tax measures", there is a link provided to help readers to get a better understanding of the material.
http://www.mercurynews.com/elections/ci_12303561?nclick_check=1
h) Are there opportunities for readers to "talk back"?
Yes, there is a designated area on the bottom of each article for people to make comments as they see put. Not many people appear to be taking advantage of this, however.
i) Does the site use multimedia to enhance understanding and add appeal?
There are no videos on the site, but there are quite a lot of photos!
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Lead Exercise
LEAD #1 : As Californians grapple with ways to save water in this third consecutive dry year, Jerry Block has taken an extreme path.
Last month, the retired medical doctor had four gravity-fed, 5,000-gallon polyethylene water tanks installed on his Monte Sereno property. The system will harvest raindrops to provide irrigation for an extensive food garden.
Block sees it as a patriotic as well as an environmental statement.
LEAD #2 : Given the circumstances, Kristen Graczyk might have abandoned her pursuit of a soccer career. She has suffered three major knee injuries and wasn't drafted when the Women's Professional Soccer league began this year.
ANALYSIS : Lead #1 is a focus story lead while Lead #2 is a character lead.
Last month, the retired medical doctor had four gravity-fed, 5,000-gallon polyethylene water tanks installed on his Monte Sereno property. The system will harvest raindrops to provide irrigation for an extensive food garden.
Block sees it as a patriotic as well as an environmental statement.
LEAD #2 : Given the circumstances, Kristen Graczyk might have abandoned her pursuit of a soccer career. She has suffered three major knee injuries and wasn't drafted when the Women's Professional Soccer league began this year.
Yet she has become a starting defender for FC Gold Pride.
ANALYSIS : Lead #1 is a focus story lead while Lead #2 is a character lead.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Exploring 'White Culture'
In one of my classes we were recently assigned to present a short speech on our culture to the class. To this several of the white students complained, “What am I supposed to talk about? White people don’t have a culture!” Even I had trouble grappling with the task at hand.
And then it came to me.
There are so many different kinds of white people out there that it's hard to fit us all into one universal category. The reality is that white culture consists of a variety of sub-cultures, and it's the lifestyle you lead that defines which sub-culture you belong to. Alas, we are not culture-less after all!
Take my family as an example. We are all as white as you can get, but we definitely belong to a culture and lifestyle that differs greatly from others of our kind. What makes us different? Where we come from and the values we share. In our case this common ground is a love of hunting animals for food and sport.
I come from a family of farmers and ranchers from North Dakota, where killing your own meat is literally a way of life. When you have chickens and deer running around why go to the supermarket when you can chop a head off or go hunting? My uncle who lives in Alaska embodies this ideal perfectly; he shot a moose out of his own backyard a while ago and has been living off the meat for months now.
The fact that conversation at our family get-togethers always seems to revolve around hunting stories should have given me a clue that I had a culture a long time ago. We talk 'gun-talk' like some people talk about football!
I guess what I'm getting to is that you should never allow yourself to think that you are 'culture-less'. Just because yours pales in comparison to more colorful and obvious cultures (complete with costumes, blatantly obvious traditions and relics) doesn't mean that yours doesn't exist!
If you want to get a clear idea of what your TRUE culture is all about, think under the skin. Is there a core value, tradition or lifestyle that you and your whole family share? That alone should give you a strong clue and help you to discover that you do have a culture after all.
And then it came to me.
There are so many different kinds of white people out there that it's hard to fit us all into one universal category. The reality is that white culture consists of a variety of sub-cultures, and it's the lifestyle you lead that defines which sub-culture you belong to. Alas, we are not culture-less after all!
Take my family as an example. We are all as white as you can get, but we definitely belong to a culture and lifestyle that differs greatly from others of our kind. What makes us different? Where we come from and the values we share. In our case this common ground is a love of hunting animals for food and sport.
I come from a family of farmers and ranchers from North Dakota, where killing your own meat is literally a way of life. When you have chickens and deer running around why go to the supermarket when you can chop a head off or go hunting? My uncle who lives in Alaska embodies this ideal perfectly; he shot a moose out of his own backyard a while ago and has been living off the meat for months now.
The fact that conversation at our family get-togethers always seems to revolve around hunting stories should have given me a clue that I had a culture a long time ago. We talk 'gun-talk' like some people talk about football!
I guess what I'm getting to is that you should never allow yourself to think that you are 'culture-less'. Just because yours pales in comparison to more colorful and obvious cultures (complete with costumes, blatantly obvious traditions and relics) doesn't mean that yours doesn't exist!
If you want to get a clear idea of what your TRUE culture is all about, think under the skin. Is there a core value, tradition or lifestyle that you and your whole family share? That alone should give you a strong clue and help you to discover that you do have a culture after all.
Football Injuries
The ball-carrier from an opposing high school football team runs towards the goalpost. Pete Sternoff has the perfect opportunity to wrestle his opponent to the ground before he makes it...He leaps and braces for the contact...and his life changes right before his eyes.
Sternoff knew there were risks involved when he decided to play high school football. He didn't realize how serious they could be until that fateful game; the day he hit his head into the side of the opposing ball-carrier and cracked several vertebrae in his back.
Now confined to a wheelchair, Sternoff is not alone. Out of all of the 20,000 high school football related injuries that occur each year, roughly 35% involve injuries to the neck and head; 12% of all cases result in permanent damage. 13 youths died from football-related accidents last year alone.
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