Album Review

Pearl Jam Twenty

Pearl Jam Twenty is a mix of the bands greatest songs over the past twenty years of them being a band. It combines some of their old songs and some of their newer ones. The album does't have an overall meaning to it because each song has a different meaning. The album talks about trusting someone only to find out that they didn't feel the same way as you did. It also talks about how Eddie the lead singer, found out that his dad was really his step dad. The songs “Release” and “Just Breathe” talk about this and his feelings towards it. Other songs like “Black” and “Thumbing My Way” talk about relationships and his experiences with him. Each of these songs has a different meaning too them and mean something too Eddie. Overall, I think that this album was very good and had many good songs on it. I liked how it was kind of like a greatest hit's type of album. You could really get a good taste for how the band is and how they write their music. I would give this album a four out of five rating, I thought that it was put together and written very well.    

Bluff the reader

A)  DNA Test Stuns Man Who Wants All-White Town

A neo-Nazi who wants to found an all-white enclave in North Dakota has been shown evidence of racial diversity where he least expected it: in his own DNA. Craig Cobb agreed to the test as part of the Trisha Goddard Show's "Race in America" series, but he rejected the result as "short science" and "statistical noise" when it revealed he is 14% sub-Saharan African and 86% European, the Daily Mail reports. "Sweetheart, you have a little black in you," the show's British host told Cobb, who recoiled when she attempted to fist-bump him.

Cobb, whose white supremacist plans for Leith, ND, have met with protests and attempts to thwart him with building codes, says that even if a test he respects proves that he's not white enough for his own standards, he will "continue on either way," and consider himself a "border guard for the purebreds." Bobby Harper, a black man who lives in the tiny North Dakota town, says he finds the test results hilarious. "I knew there was one other black person in town," he tells the Bismarck Tribune. "Is he going to want to kick his own self out of town and discriminate against himself?"

B) Death of UK Spy Found in Gym Bag 'Probably an Accident'

The MI6 spy whose naked body was found inside a zipped, padlocked gym bag probably died ... by accident, UK police have decided. The coroner said last year Gareth Williams was probably killed by someone else in a criminal act, but now the Metropolitan Police have completed an evidence review and say it's "more probable" no one else was in his apartment when he died in his bathroom in 2010, the BBC reports. The deputy assistant commissioner said today it's "theoretically possible" Williams locked himself into the bag.

Not surprisingly, Williams' family is sticking with the coroner's initial finding, saying in a statement, "We consider that on the basis of the facts at present known, the coroner's verdict accurately reflects the circumstances of Gareth's death." And the AP notes that the police department's "tentative conclusion" is "unlikely to calm conspiracy theories around the bizarre case." Police say they found little evidence of foul play in the code-breaker's death, no signs of a struggle or forced entry, and no evidence that the apartment had been forensically cleaned to remove DNA. Click for more on the strange case.

C) Florida man gets stuck in chimney during attempted robbery

A Florida man who was doing a mean-spirited Santa Claus impression might be spending Christmas behind bars after getting caught in the chimney of a Naples home during an attempted burglary.

Richard Tyler Brandon, 25, got trapped in a chimney early Wednesday morning after running out of cash during a night out. His friend, Derek Grenfell, alerted two Naples police officers about the situation after it became apparent Brandon was stuck.

A team of police officers and local fire department officials broke into the home and saw Brandon’s foot hanging in the fireplace.

“I said, ‘Dude, you’re not Santa Claus, what are you doing?’” Grenfell reportedly said to the police.

It took two hours, but Brandon was freed from the chimney and taken to the hospital for treatment of issues including leg pain and trouble breathing. It could have been worse.

“There is a chance he could have died,” said Naples Detective Robert Young. “That space he was jammed into was really tight. He couldn’t move.”

Brandon was hit with two burglary charges and Grenfell was charged as an accessory to the crime after the fact.

D) Man attempts to rob gun range in mid daylight

A California man attempted to steal guns from a gun range in Los Angeles last Tuesday at 12:00 pm. He was shot in the leg twice, and taken to the Hollywood Community Hospital for treatment.

Officer Paul Gomez, a Los Angeles Police officer, who was off duty at the time shot the armed robber twice in the thigh, “I just came to practice my shooting, and the suspect was holding up the manager. When he saw me he aimed his pistol at me, and I took immediate action in subduing him.”

As it turns out, the suspect, 24 year old James Hroeth, did not even have a loaded gun. His pistol was in fact a toy airsoft BB gun that he had spray painted black.

“What an idiot,” said range manager, Joe Thomas, “I cannot believe that someone would try to rob real guns with a plastic toy”.

The attempted robbery was also quite traumatizing for a 13 year old girl, Ashley Russell, who was with her father, Chris shooting an AR-15 at the time of the robbery. “It is a real shame,” said Chris, “that my daughter had to witness a man get shot in front of her. Hopefully it will teach her to be more cautions of people in the world today.”

James Hroeth will be held at the Los Angeles county jail without bail until his arraignment on July 17. He is charged with armed robbery.

Ethos, Pathos, Logos

Cheetah’s

Ethos- The fastest land animal in the world, the cheetah is a marvel of evolution. The cheetah’s slender, long-legged body is built for speed. Cheetahs are tan in color with black spots all over their bodies.    

Pathos- In 1900, there were over 100,000 cheetahs across their historic range. Today, an estimated 9,000 to 12,000 cheetahs remain in the wild in Africa.

Logos- Historically cheetahs were found throughout Africa and Asia from South Africa to India. They are now confined to parts of eastern, central and southwestern Africa and a small portion of Iran.    

How happy were you that the Red Sox won the world series? Did you think that David Ortiz deserved the MVP award? If not, who do you think deserved it.  Did you watch the Red Sox parade through Boston?

I think that the idea to limit teen’s time using technology for only two hours a day isn’t a good idea. I think that if you do this to teens than it could lead to more problems than there were originally. Teens should be allowed to use technology when they want to as long as they have completed what they were asked to do. If you limit your children’s time using technology or limiting their TV use. Then it could just lead to them rebelling against the rule and sneaking to go watch a show when their parents leave. This could also lead to them staying up late watching a TV show or a movie. If they do this than it could also lead to their teachers asking why they are falling asleep during the school day. The teachers could even ask the parents into a meeting to ask why their kid was sleeping all the time in class. Overall, I think that limiting teens use with technology and TV won’t really accomplish that much.   

Magazine Analysis

Austin Cheda

Truckin Magazine

The results for my 100 word passage were that the average age of readers for my magazine was 15. This average seems like it is a few years to young than what the magazine is talking about. There were more pages with ads than articles in the magazine. Which makes sense for what the magazines content is about. When comparing my results with other people at my table, the results were all the same except for one of them. This says that the results of my magazine were similar to others magazines. The other magazines were probably directed to the same aged people that my magazine was directed to. The target reader of this magazine would be between the ages of 18 to 35. I think that anyone interested in trucks or learning how to modify them would be interested in this magazine. There is a lot of information that you can learn about trucks and how to modify them properly in this magazine.              

Austin Cheda

Journalism 

Do professional athletes get paid too much money? If “no”, what justifies their sky high salaries? Should what sport they play determine how much money they get paid? Should their performance determine their earnings?

Some people think that athletes get paid too much money. They think that athletes should have a limit on how much they get paid. Some people believe that the money should go to something different and better, like a charity or something. Other people have said that they thought that teachers who work really hard at their jobs should be the ones that get paid more money. They help teach the next generations of Americans and work hard at their jobs. I think that athletes should get paid less money then they currently are getting paid. Some athletes have outrageous salaries for what sport they play. Others have high salaries that don’t help out their team to their full potential.  

            The interview that I did had various outcomes to the questions about athletes getting too much money. The answer to the questions were both pretty much the same with the answers. Their were more yes answers than no answers though. Some people didn't think that athletes are paid too much. But some people thought that they were and that they should have a lower salary. The people that said no thought that the sports with the bigger fan bases should get more pay. They also said that the amount of money they generate from jerseys and other merchandise should help justify their sky high salaries. People also said that their immense amount of skill’s and swag make them able to get paid a lot of money. Some other person also said that, if athletes get paid too much, then we would also have to say that musicians make too much money. The people that said yes had different solutions to athletes getting paid too much money. They said that athletes should get paid depending on how good their performance has been for the sport that they play. Some also said that the money that goes to athletes could help America with its debt. As well as helping to feed children that are facing poverty. Someone else also brought up that they thought athletes should just endorse in some shoe, or jersey company and make some money from that.

            I think that athletes should get paid less than they are currently getting paid. I think this because there are so many athletes that are really good, but have these really high paying salaries. I know that they work really hard to get were they are today and it’s not easy to get there. But I think that there should be a cap on how much money they can get. I think that having this cap would make it better and fairer for other players as well. There are a lot of athletes that get paid more than other ones do because they are more popular than others. I think that if every one was paid more fairly then there wouldn't be as many fights on what team has more money to buy that player. There would also be more money for teams to pay for other things besides their players. For example, if their stadium needs to have work done to it. They could pay for that without having to worry if they have enough money. They could also be able to redo parts of the stadium if they wanted to and make them more modern. Another way that sports organizations could spend some of their extra money on could be a charity or something. If they had a little extra money, they could donate to some charity and help out. There are many different ways that sports teams and organizations could benefit from paying their athletes less money.                  

                                                                                             

The Man: Matt Whittington

Matt likes many different genres of music: “hmm to many to pick”.  Matt’s favorite sport is football, he is a linemen. In his spare time, he likes to watch TV and play video games. Matt does not have a favorite movie, but if he had to pick a more recent one. He said “I would have to say right now, Pacific Rim”.  Matt didn't go anywhere that fun during summer vacation. He has one pet, “A dog” he said, “a yellow lab”. Matt also isn't really a fan of school. If he had to choose his favorite car, he would pick the Lamborghini Aventador or a Bugatti. Matt had a very cool and interesting talent. Matt told me, “I can drink a water bottle in three seconds”. Matt seems like a very nice and down to earth kid.       

Austin Cheda

9/22/13

Journalism

Later School Start Time

I think that the school day should start later in the morning so that students can sleep later in the morning. I think that a good time for school to start is at nine in the morning. This would be enough time for students to sleep later in the morning. The students would be able to focus better in school if they were more rested. Students that aren't as rested sometimes don’t pay attention as much in school. Since the school day would be starting later, the school day would have to go later into the afternoon. I think that the school day going until three in the afternoon is reasonable. Some high school students have work after school. By the school day ending at three, it still gives them enough time to get to their jobs. Another thing that I think might work would be to have younger kids take the earlier start time for school. Most of them are up that early anyways, so why not have them start their school day earlier. It would work out better for their parents as well, because they could just drop their kids off at school on their way to work. By the school day starting later in the day, it would make it not only easier and better for high school students, but also better for younger kids as well.                  

Austin Cheda

9/17/13

Rolling Stone Controversy

Journalism

In the Rolling Stone article about the marathon bombings, Janet Reitman portrays Jahar a boy who had no bad background, could do something so horrific to innocent people, leaving the reader with more questions than answers. The reader was left thinking about Jahar and wanting to know more about him, was he influenced by his brother, or someone else? His brother might have had an influence on him. His brother often was mean and hard on him. “All I know is Jahar was really wary of coming home high because of how his brother would react. He’d get really angry,” says Will. He was a really intense dude.” This may have been a contributing factor to Jahar. But, it definitely wasn’t the main thing that could have made him do something like this. The article mentioned how his friends said, “that his brother made him do it”. This could not have been why he would do something like this there has to be another explanation as to why he did it. The article also mentioned that his friends were saying that he got framed by someone. They said in the article that the FBI found a backpack that wasn’t like the one that he usually had. His friends said, “That it wasn’t his usual backpack, someone must have framed him”. What if he bought a different backpack just for this, so that no one would recognize him? That way he could get around quickly without one of his friends seeing him and stopping him to talk.  

            The cover of the Rolling Stone for august, had the picture of Jahar’s face on it, below his picture were the words “The Bomber”. This cover was very different from the other people that are usually on the cover. Usually they are a popular celebrity or someone that did something important. People are usually honored to have their name and face on the cover. But, this cover was different from ones like that. This cover almost didn’t make sense, because why would you put some one that did something so horrific to so many people on the cover. The cover also has words after it, the words are almost defending Jahar in some way. The cover talks about how he was failed by his family and that he became a monster. He may have had parents that left him. But, that alone wouldn’t be why he would have done something so horrific. It may have been part of it, but there had to have been some other explanation as to why he could do something like this. Rolling Stone could have been making a point by putting him on the cover. They could have been saying, “Hey we can put other things on the cover, even if they aren’t someone famous or important”. That may be true, but was it the right thing to do and how many people took it that same way. The article also has a lot of views from Jahar’s friends weighing in on Jahar. They all said that he was a good kid and they don’t know why he would have done something like this. A few of his friends said that he had too have been framed by someone else. Even if that’s true, then how could he have followed his brother through the whole thing and known how to do the whole plan. He had to have been with his brother from the beginning to know how to do everything. The other interesting part of this article was the ending. It talks about how, according to his nurse, Jahar cried for two days straight after he woke up in the hospital. All his friends said that they could see doing that and they hoped that he was crying after doing something like that. But, no one knows exactly what Jahar was crying about.

           

Another article entitled, “Decision to glorify bomber is what’s truly heartbreaking” by Carmen Rasmusen. It talks about how Rolling stone could, “even think about putting an alleged murderer into a rock star by plastering his “soulful brown eyes” on the front page”. The article comes from a woman’s perspective and what she thinks about the cover of the magazine. Some of her points make sense to what I think of the cover. But, then some of them didn’t really make sense too me. I think that their is much more to the case then what they have found out so far, about Jahar. The article also talks about how even if he had a mental illness, it wouldn’t be why he was a mass murderer. There would have too be some other aspect as to what was really going through is mind leading up too that day.

           

The last article entitled, “Behind Rolling Stone’s cover, a story worth reading”. It talks about more of the same thing, but it has different points as well. For example, it talks about Sean Murphy, a photographer with the Massachusetts state police. He was furious about the Rolling Stone cover and accused the magazine of “glamorizing the face of terror”. He was relieved of duty just hours after he turned over hundreds of photos to the magazine. The article also mentions how Jahar looked like any other normal American teenager. Except he was on the cover of the Rolling Stone. It mentions the cover with the pretty boy on the front appeared too have deep, nascent ugliness in his heart. The article was just saying that there was clearly something else to Jahar that maybe no one will ever know. He couldn’t have done what he did without being messed up in some way. He might also have angry at someone or something that was happening in the country or in the world. But that didn’t give him the right to hurt many innocent people and it especially didn’t earn him the right to be on the cover of the Rolling Stone.