Hard News Analysis

After reading Missing Dad Texted Son, ‘Did You Hurt Mom?’ , multiple times, I watched both videos. The article itself was well written and quite informative, but the structure took me away from it. I think there is a lot of room for improvement. For example, the article starts out with a sentence stating that a Connecticut man feared that his son was setting him up for murder. I think that having a screenshot of the text message mentioned, an actual photo, would be a more efficient way of pulling a reader in. Also, I think the back story of Jeanette and Jeffrey Navin should be one of the first things stated in the article.

In the beginning of the video, we get to see a picture of Jeanette and Jeffrey. However, there was no photo of their son, Kyle. It would be nice to put a face to the name.

Also, each video cut off before the reporter was finished reporting. I think adding another ten seconds or so to wrap up the video would work really well at adding other important information. Sometimes it’s nicer to hear a reporter telling the news rather than reading it.

The second article I read,Tennis Star James Blake Mistakenly Tackled By NYPD Cops, was a little shorter and only had one video. The video was very informative. It backed up the article and even added more information. The video showed many action shots of James Blake and also little clips of him briefly talking about the incident.

In the video, Blake states that there is also a footage of the incident. I think putting a small clip of that at the end of the article would really sum it up and tie everything together. However, it was also stated that the surveillance footage has not been released to the public, but Blake hopes that it soon will be available.

I would have liked to see more direct quotes from Blake as well. The writer only put in three quotes from Blake and none from the police officers who attacked him or none from any witnesses. An NYPD spokesman was interviewed.

The end of the article states that Blake would more than likely make a public announcement, but I haven’t found anything related to the incident.

Article links:

Missing dad texted son: “Did you hurt mom?” http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/55f1c6ece4b03784e27862f8

Former tennis star James Blake mistakenly tackled by NYPD cops http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/55f0aa9ee4b093be51bd7d38

Unit 10: Wash Clothes and Burn Calories at the Same Time!

No, I’m not talking about the old fashioned wash basin and rub board from the 1920’s and 1930’s.

What I’m talking about is something for the fitness lovers and for the people who are all about going green!

A group of students who attend Dalian Nationalities University in China have been thinking of ways to use human energy as a way to save on other electric items, such as a clothes washer. However, this stationary bike and washer duo was not designed to replace your typical household washing machines. It is being designed in hopes that you can save some electric energy by taking five minutes out of your day to pedal your way to clean clothes. According to digitaltrends.com, it only takes five minutes to thoroughly wash and rinse your clothes and you can even store the extra energy you created for later!

Unfortunately, this idea is still up in the air at this time. It sounds fantastic in theory, but the designers are still working out a few kinks.

Until this bike-washer is ready for sale, you will soon be able to purchase the Drumi.

The Drumi can wash up to 7 smaller pieces of clothing using ZERO electricity and it is only about fifteen pounds. This makes for relatively easy transportation. Bring it along on your week long camping trips! All you need is some soap, ten liters of water, and some foot power. That’s right, all you do is step on the green pedal (pictured above) for about four minutes in total and you will have clean, rinsed clothes. Then all you do is hang them in the sunshine to dry! I know I’ll be ordering on of these bad boys as soon as possible!

Unit 9: Get Ready 90’s Babies

My favorite game as a kid was hands down, Super Mario Brothers.

I’ll never forget sitting on my parents linoleum floor, playing Super Mario on our 13 inch, box TV. My brother and I would constantly fight over who got to be Mario. Of course, being the younger sibling, I was always Luigi. And most times I lost anyway. Sometimes I still pull out my ancient Super Nintendo and play Mario Cart. If I’m lucky, after blowing into the game several times, I can get Super Mario to work too. We played that game for hours, every day after dinner. I’m surprised it worked as long as it did.

But get this, NINTENDO IS BRINGING SUPER MARIO TO SMART PHONES EVERY WHERE!!! If you can’t tell by the obnoxious capital letters and multiple exclamation points, I AM SUPER EXCITED.

According to NBC News, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata told reporters, “This will allow us to build a bridge between smart devices and gaming consoles,”  “It doesn’t mean smart devices will eat away at gaming consoles, it will create an entirely new type of demand.”

I think the idea is genius. In the months to come, Nintendo is teaming up with another company to launch an online membership accessible to smart phones and the Nintendo Wii systems. Very little is known about this new online membership.

Be on the look out. I know I will be!

Unit 8: Facebook Messenger Now Available on Desktop

Facebook is already doing big things this year, from virtual reality to legally getting a divorce through the site to sending cash to your friends or adding stickers to your photos. Also, Facebook Messenger was recently rated as the number one app for iPhone users. But they weren’t going to stop there. Yesterday, Facebook launched it’s newest feature, Messenger.com. Finally, no more having to type on a tiny screen on the lower right side of your Facebook page on your PC. No more annoying distractions from your news feed. And no more killing your cell phone battery by chatting away with the messenger app. Now you can simply log on to the Messenger website and send messages without any interruptions. You will, however, still be able to use the messenger option right on Facebook.com or the Facebook app, if you choose to do so.

According to cnet.com, over  six million people use Facebook’s messenger app each month. They are constantly trying to figure out new ways and new updates to keep users from going to competitor apps. Facebook also bought out Whatsapp last year and released a desktop version for it in January. CEO Mark Zuckerberg is quite intelligent if I do say so myself.

I personally haven’t tried out the new site, but below is a photo I borrowed from the web on how the new messenger website looks.

Unit 7: Flying Cars are Finally Here…Almost

The Slovakian company AeroMobil has only been around for a mere five years, but they have already created a vehicle that can drive the freeway and soar through the sky. This new dual-purpose vehicle seats two people, can drive almost one hundred miles per hour, fly at 124 mph and can stay in the sky for 435 miles. The car isn’t quite ready to hit the market just yet, but it should go on sale by the year 2017. Not that the wait isn’t painful enough, if you aren’t bringing in well over a few hundred thousand dollars per year, this vehicle will be way out of your budget. According to Marketwatch.com, the car will cost somewhere around a couple hundred thousand Euros.

The inside of the flying car looks exactly what I pictured it to be.

Here it is, in action. After some research, I couldn’t find a reliable source that stated whether the car would come in colors other than the one pictured above. However, according to Marketwatch.com, Aeromobil is in the process of creating another version of the flying car, one that seats more passengers.

Click the link below to see a small clip of the driving car take off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l2HRGmgACM

Unit 6: Girl Scouts go Digital

The day has finally come where you can log on to http://www.girlscouts.org/program/gs_cookies/digitalbuyer.asp and order a box of Girl Scout cookies. That’s right ladies and gents, those delicious thin mints that you wait all year for can now be shipped directly to your home. You don’t even have to leave the couch!

If this is appealing to you, you can become the next digital cookie customer. And get this, an actual girl scout will deliver the cookies to your house. Nice touch, right? Much better than the creepy FedEx man throwing them onto your porch in a snow storm.

As a former girl scout, the thought of ordering the cookies online was foreign to me. Not just foreign, but wrong.I stood outside of grocery stores, in the cold, to make sales and I went door to door selling cookies. Why should it be easier for younger generations? But then again, why shouldn’t it? It is 2015. Many people order online today. If you can order a couch and have it dropped off at your house, why not order a box of cookies?

Of course there’s a catch.. Digital cookie sales are not available every where. Go figure! But there is a convenient link on the Girl scouts website that will let you check the availability in your area.

Happy cookie eating!

Unit 5: Water Blues, Green Solutions

Have you ever thought about water: where it comes from? How it is cleaned and ready for you to drink? Is it really that big of a deal? Do you need to conserve water? Maybe learn to mitigate storm water runoff? Can I get involved?  If you live in a large city, like Philadelphia, and have a lot of storm drains, your water systems may be becoming more polluted every time mother nature decides to drop an inch of rain.

How we manage our water now will have huge impact on our health and our way of living in the years to come. People from all over our country have joined together to conserve water when in drought and learn how to navigate rain water.
I have heard of xeriscaping, drought management, and even a storm water charge, but I have never heard of a project called rain gardens. The city of Philadelphia will actually pay for residents to reconstruct their lawn area to create more of a green atmosphere. This will help aid in the prevention of storm water and sewage running together into the river and ultimately, stop polluting the river. Their goal in and around Philadelphia is, in the next twenty-five years to have ten thousand green acres around the city and hopefully find a way to reduce storm water runoff at every property. This is amazing and I’m going to look into volunteer opportunities so that I too, can be a part of this amazing new way of life.

People in Portland, Oregon are also making some changes to the landscape so the water from storms will run into the ground instead into the storm drains. They are putting “green” roofs on the tops of buildings throughout the city.

Near San Antonio in Texas, Lake Medina is dropping a foot every few days because people aren’t obeying the conservation laws. A lot of the population there wants to have green, luxurious lawns, but the location isn’t fit for that naturally. Water is being wasted watering grass that shouldn’t be there in the first place.

The public media department at Penn State created a 60 minute Documentary about protecting our natural water supply. Their Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/WaterBluesGreenSolutions and their website is http://www.waterblues.org/.

I encourage everyone to watch this documentary. It is extremely interesting and life changing. Check it out and get involved!

Unit 4: The Daily Show, Without Jon Stewart

Just a few short days ago, Jon Stewart announced that he would be leaving the Daily Show. Stewart filmed his first episode of the show in 1999. On Tuesday’s episode of the Daily show he said, “Seventeen years is the longest I have ever, in my life, held a job, by 16 years and five months,” he said with the sense of humor America loves. “But in my heart, I know it is time for someone else to have that opportunity.”

Check him out on the show announcing his undetermined departure– http://youtu.be/8KM_kGxVUJw

I have found myself pondering who that “someone else” may be. On social media, some have joked that suspended NBC newsman Brian Williams may take his place as host of the Daily Show. I think this is pretty doubtful.

How about John Oliver? Maybe Amy Poehler? Whoever succeeds Stewart, hopefully will be a success.

Many people, especially around the college/high school age, got their news information from his show, including myself. The fifty-two year old was not simply a talk show host, but accomplished many things throughout his career. In the early 1990’s he hosted his own television show, The Jon Stewart Show. He was also in Adam Sandler’s film, Big Daddy, a personal favorite.

Phở

This brothy noodle soup looks so scrumptious. My mouth is literally watering. If I’m ever in Hanoi, ordering a bowl of Phở is on the top of my list.

Pursuit of Life

“A first-rate soup is more creative than a second-rate painting.” Abraham Maslow

Most of the street stalls, eateries and makeshift sidewalk joints, which dot Hanoi and other cities in Vietnam are little more than holes in the wall, serving up quick bowls of steaming noodles in a chaotic scene of noise and activity with orders being yelled out, employees dodging one another and customers attempting to pay their checks. I found that, as with most street food throughout the world, these little places serve up the most flavorful recipes, especially when it comes to Phở.

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Unit 3: Apple’s at it again

A few months ago Apple had unveiled it’s new invention–the Apple Watch. At the time, the watch was said to be released sometime in early 2015. It’s February and people are getting pretty anxious for the near four hundred dollar “watch.” Appadvice.com says that some editions of the watch may cost about five thousand dollars.

According to a recent statement from Apple CEO, Tim Cook, the watch will launch sometime in April.

The watch is said to have an extremely high pixel density to make reading text and time easy, especially while in motion. But telling time is just one of many features this new wearable device has to offer. Like other smart devices, you can also check the weather, your location, and your calendar with a simple swipe of your finger. However, you can only sync this device with other apple products and not android, for obvious reasons.

Like the already available Fitbit, the new Apple watch has a heart rate sensor and an accelerometer. And with over fifteen styles and different colors, there is an Apple watch for everyone.

For more information about this fascinating new accessory, check out https://www.apple.com/watch/technology/