Topical Blog Post

Today's world is becoming a little overwhelming and exhausting the more I try to catch up with the latest technology.

Perhaps something that is innate for my generation has skipped me, but I constantly find myself baffled and frustrated at how rapidly the technology around me changes. It is so insane how things stay current for a year, at best, before they seem so outdated. There always seems to be new devices or upgrades for things once I finally understand them. I always feel behind the pack.

This utter distaste for technology really came into full force with the worlds newest innovation, the iPad. Everywhere I look I see ads for the iPad and everywhere I am I hear about the iPad. The iPad is gearing up to take over the world. It is incredibly interactive, it is internet ready, can read books, be an iPod, can make Skype phone calls and can do so many more things that I couldn't even begin to imagine. It seems as though it is gunning for the laptops current role as portable computer and is trying to take down the purpose of the Kindle before I could even decide if I wanted one, or actually understand all of what it does.

As amazing as it all sounds, the iPad just seems like another unnecessary thing I can't afford and don't have the time to utilize, or understand. I think technology, at least in the consumer sense, should slow down and let me try to catch up.

Broadcast Style

(Anchor on Cam)

An electrical power surge paused Metro-North Commuter Railroad train service in Matthattan Monday afternoon, leaving 47,000 commuters with out transportation.

(Anchor/VO)

Power was lost due to a squirrel scampering around the on the power lines causing an electrical surge, Metro-North spokeswoman Donna Evan says. This weakened an overhead bracket causing a wire to dangle down and get entrapped in a train passing underneath that ended up tearing down all the lines.

The commuters waited for hours, but trains never came. Service was not restore until Tuesday morning.

Copy Edit the World Missing Points

The Correction here would be e-mail, not email.

The correction here would be 20 percent.

The correction here would be 63 percent.

The Correction here would be 25 percent.

The correction here would be $4.59.

Focus Story Structure

Even with the risks, Pete Stenhoff, 16, played high school football. Little did he know how high the costs could be.

During his senior year at Chula vista High School in Redmond, Calif., he rammed his head into the ball carrier's chest. Stenhoff cracked vertebrae in his spine and now is confined to a wheelchair. He is not bitter. "I knew the risks involved when I decided to play football," he says, and adds, "I wish I would have known just how bad it could be." At the time of the accident, Stenhoff weighed 210 pounds; now he weighs 172 pounds.

Unfortunately, there are 20,000 injuries in high school football each year -- 12 percent of them permanently disabling the victims. Thirteen youths died last year and thirty-five percent of the injuries are to the neck or head. Most critics blame the helmet. Pete didn't graduate with his class is and trying to get his diploma by taking correspondence courses.

Finding Featured Leads

Anecdotal lead:

At a long-ago birthday party, my cartoonist friend Peter gave me a framed piece of his artwork. As he handed it over, he said, "This is for you, so no matter what happens with him, it's yours."

http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/personal/04/16/dividing.stuff.after.breakup/index.html

Anecdotal Lead:

Either I had a really short attention span as a kid and never made it past the first verse of a song -- which is entirely possible -- or there are some obscure lyrics to the songs we all know and love.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/04/16/mf.second.verses.little.known/index.html

Pop Culture Column REVISE

In fear of ever being exposed for something that could ever put me in a negative light, or just completely humiliate me, I usually try to keep scandal to minimum in my life. Even though the amount of limelight I’m in working at Starbucks can be excruciating, it cannot even compare to the amount of media attention is being focused on the likes of Jesse James and Tiger Woods.

Both men, who are either famous in their own right, or are famous for being married to someone who is famous, made poor decisions with 22 women collectively. With this all brought to light, two questions arise. One, why would they think that what they were doing would never be brought to light and two, why do we care?

My answer to the first question is that when a man believes in something enough nothing can stop him, or so he thinks. I think these men truly believed that people thoroughly enjoyed having sex with them for reasons outside of their stature and really believed no one would ever find out because people always keep their mouth shut like they promise.

My answer to the second is much shorter. People are stupid! People get wrapped in the drama that revolves around unknown people’s lives because they are celebrities. For some reason it is so important for us to crucify them in order to make them seem more human, or for us to seem much smarter than them. We let it go as far as to allow major news outlets waste their space with celebrity trash as the prominent source of news. We need to let it go!

Magazine Blog Post

Magazine: Vman Magazine.

Target Audience: I would say that the target audience would be fashion minded or fashion student people, especially men, from ages 16-35 because of the clothes they are offering are more outrageous and extravagant than something that the average 35 and up would be interested.

I have been reading the magazine since its launch which was when I was 17 and I have always found it to be a starting point on what I wanted to be wearing.

Focus: The magazines focus is based around male fashion, containing elements of high and casual elements. The magazine takes on a different take than many other fashion magazines in the sense that it almost completely full of male fashion. It showcases classic, independent, and new designers so that the pieces are from different ranges of price and attainability.

Writing style and tone: There are a lot of different styles that are used in Vman. There is a lot of interviews that usually very coy. Most of the articles have a comical or personal take on issues regarding pop culture. When ever I read about something I usually catch myself cracking a smile.

Check it out @ http://www.vman.com

Ethical Decisions

Would you read them? Take them? Ask her

about them when she returns?

No I would not read them, take them, or ask her about them when she returns because if the roles were reversed I would find what the person was doing unacceptable. I think that it's wrong because it's stealing and I would not that to be the impression I want of myself or my company. I think that I would try to ask for more information on the topic or ask if she had anything more to add instead of just snooping.

Would you do it? Why or why not?

I don't think that I would be that invasive. I think I would first try and get into contact with some people that formally worked there, or patients that may have previously stayed there and left the facilities. I think if I were to get hired and told of something I saw to my editor it would violate the privacy that would be required of that job, which could lead me into trouble which I want to avoid.

May you use those quotes as if you

obtained them yourself, or must you

credit the other written source?

–What if you obtained the quotes from a

web site?

You have to credit the other source because it would be plagiarizing if you claim it as your own. The same thing goes for if the quote was from a website.