Today September 25, in the Los Angeles Times, it was reported that the Madre fire near Azusa reached 90 percent containment. This is good news because the winds were said to have been a large factor in the spreading of this fire. Nearly 268-acres were up in flames as it moved out of San Gabriel Canyon, due to the high winds. The National Weather Service issued a high-wind warning, which was carrying embers and sparks, aiding in the spread of the large fire. To gain better contain with the fire at one point 522 firefighters were assigned to the job.

This is just one of the local news stories that is covered within this large newspaper that is based in one of California’s largest cities. One of the differences of this paper is… unlike New York Times is that it also gives local stories. There is not a tab that I could find on the Internet site for the NY Times that would allow me to just focus on local news.  I am sure that in the NY Times that they have stories about what is going on in New York, but they are probably major stories that most news organizations would also cover. The LA Times is very much like the NY times in that they cover many of the same stories. These stories include issues that are domestic and foreign. They focus on national and international business and a large variety of other topics.

In other serious news the gunman of the Navy Yard shooting believed that he was subjected to an “ultra low frequency attack.” He also stated that it the test had been going on for the past three months and that is what led him to his attacks. He was believed to have had no specific targets in his shoot and that he didn’t expect to make it out alive after murdering innocent people.

On the light side of news, Oracle Team USA came back from a 2-race deficit to win the America’s Cup in sailing. The catamarans engaged in what was said to be the longest and arguably the most exciting series in America’s Cup history. After a long hard battle the Oracle team crossed the finish line 44 seconds before the second place finisher.

The audience for this outlet is someone with interest in really any news. The sources covers so many topics I would find it hard to believe someone didn’t find something that appealed to him or her. The outlet is one that has such a variety they are bound to find something that will catch their attention rather it be stocks to the medicine field.

I found the media outlet to be quite interesting. It has a nice flow it and I would definitely read articles on it again. I love a newspaper that I feel isn’t clustered and trying to give you as much information that they can pack on the page. All in all I give this source a big thumbs up from me, and that’s coming from a guy who tries to avoid reading at all cost.

Personally I have never really like grammar and it all started in middle school. I had a teacher who was very particular about the way grammar should be done. We had 50 page packet of grammar rules that we were supposed to memorize.

In that packet I found that punctuation was always the hardest thing for me. I could never figure out where to put the correct punctuation or sometimes I would just not see why it need it. I think if I actually spent a decent amount of time with a one on one tutor that I could get down the rules of punctuation.

I have a rule when I get text or writing that anyone who cannot use the correct form of their/there/they’re really will get under my skin. Most likely will not respond to them or I will just tell them exactly what they did wrong. It isn’t hard to figure out which one goes in which context. There is only three words to know the rules for, so I feel like people should stop being lazy and put some effort into it.

My group and I have decided to follow an individual that is constantly in the news. He is one that people have great interest in and he likes to think HE is the most interesting man in the world.

My partner and I have decided to follow the life of football star Johnny Manziel. He is an interesting character. This is part of the reason the ESPN is always talking about him. Johnny Football as we all know him has been in the news for quite some time now for many of different things.

I am hoping to learn and gain a further background information about him not just about his football career, but also his off the field career. This is so that I can help myself and the general public also understand him in a more positive way. I’m looking forward to looking deeper in the life of Johnny Football. I also would like to improve my writing skills, so this gives me plenty of chances to do that throughout the semester.

I really was uneasy at first about going up to people and interviewing them because it is out of my comfort zone. I am an outgoing person, but this is something I have never really experienced. I attempted to find some friends in the library to make it easier on myself, but then failed. After walking around I found these nice gentlemen.

The Questions: What do you think of Johnny Manziel as a person? Do you think his off field personality has an affect on his on field game play?

Travis: I don’t know I think he is a decent person, he just gets bored because he is getting bored of all the fame. It probably doesn’t help that he goes out and gets drunk every night, but I guess you can do that when you take online classes.

Jonathan: He is disrespectful and he isn’t a good role model. I don’t care what A&M’s players or coaches say they just cover his butt because they want to keep their reputation high. I think if he acted he acted a little more mature off the field more people would have respect for him.

Christian: I think he is acting appropriate for his age. He is under a lot of media pressure so he deserves a pass here and there. I think if the prospect gets more into the NFL he may need to clean up his act a little.

The Baylor Bears defense has been tweaked since last season. Some key players have different positions on the defense. The switches of two players, Ahmad Dixon and Sam Holl, have paid off greatly for the Baylor defense so far this season. Art Briles said, “Ahmad is a gifted guy who can run that’s a very dynamic player in his own right. It gives a little more speed on the backside where we can change some coverages.” The detail by Briles gives us a little insight of why he thinks the change was for the better for Dixon. After being moved to nickleback, Sam Holl says, “I think nickelback fits me more.” Holl also said, “I love safety too, but this position allows me to use my strengths more than I did at safety.” This shows that even though he loved his position he had faith in Coach Briles’ ability to do what is best for the Baylor defense. These quotes give a little bit more depth to what exactly the thoughts and feelings are of the people that are being affected by the decisions of the coaching staff. Being quoted in a newspaper is not a life goal of mine especially for something bad, but if I was being recognized for something positive, why not. Being in the newspaper is not always bad and sometimes it is an honor, so I wouldn’t mind being in a well known newspaper.

Today September 19, 2013 the new operating system for the iPhone came out. It was IOS 7 and it is said to turn your old iPhone into your new iPhone. This operating system is completely different than all of the other operating system updates that apple has come out with. The Huffington Post covers this topic very well and even gives instructions on how to prepare your phone for the update. It also shows some of the new features you can expect when and if you decide to download the update.

The Huffington Post is like a couple of the other sources I have written about thus far it just is a little more liberal than the others that I have covered this far. Those of you who do not know liberals tend to be in more favor toward the Democratic party.

This week John Boehner is trying to push a bill to defund Obamacare. He is trying to cut spending on something that he feels is a “failed health care law.” The bill that Boenher is trying to pass is expected to be be vetoed by President Barack Obama. All of this turmoil is said to have a deadline of Sept. 30th which only gives congress days before it must figure out how to pay for the federal government. John Boehner said on Capitol Hill that, “ defunding President Barack Obama’s health care reform was a key part of that effort.”

The continuing events and discussion of the Syrian attack were spoken about in depth today by President Bashar Assad. He admitted that his country had possessed chemical weapons, but that they would also destroy then. He claims that the process will take about a year and cost the country upward to 1 billion dollars.

I feel these stories apply to most of the individuals living in the United States. Most of these stories are pertinent to the growth and future of this country. The technology will help stimulate the economy with its new ways and then set people up to buy new iPhones starting this week. The national and international events are key to the future of our country, because they determine the well being.

The outlet appeals to me in some ways or another because I look at the stories with an open mind and willing to gain knowledge about the news and issues of this country. I like to learn all sides of the story.

I was looking on the New York Times and it was surprisingly  more difficult to find a story that followed good writing rules than I thought it would be. It is stated in our class textbook that that writers don’t have to worry about space as much they do in newspapers, so they can be a little more wordy. After some searching I finally found an article that I felt would display a few of the good writing rules.

The piece is over the attacks in Syria and the Russia presidents views on it. I found that the article exemplified the use of short paragraphs. All of the paragraphs were very short and to the point one of them being “President Vladimir Putin of Russia said in an Op-Ed article that we published last week that “there is every reason to believe” that the chemical weapons attack in Syria on Aug. 21 was carried out by the rebel forces in a crafty plan to provoke the United States into bombing Syria and unleashing all kinds of mayhem.”

Another rule that stood out in the article was the use of very short sentences and getting to the point. “It’s pretty amazing, by the way, that Kremlin propagandists use Twitter and cite YouTube videos.” This gets to the point of how the propagandist work with very few words telling how they come to idea quickly and sharply.

Even though their sentences may be quick and to the point some also vary like this one. “They’ve been putting out a wacky tale of a rebel mole who infiltrated the Republican Guard to fire off the weapons, and putting out tweets pointing to discredited YouTube videos that claim to show that the government did not launch the attack.” It is a little bit longer because it is a compound sentence, but it at the same time is very fluid so it doesn’t feel that long. The use of different types of sentences in this had very nice fluidity, so even though some were longer than others most felt the same length.

These are just some quick key writing rules that I found in the article that I found to be important to keeping me interested in the story.

The experience of writing my leads while adhering to the inverted pyramid style was seemingly more difficult than I had expected it to be.  Even though it is easy to find out the important information it is still difficult to word it in a way that is short enough to keep the reader enticed yet, still on point. When reading a news article it is easier to discover the inverted pyramid, which makes me want to stop reading toward the end because I have already sifted through the important information. Normally if I am reading a news piece I still have to read it in its entirety because I’m probably going to be be quizzed over the whole thing. Reading and hearing the leads of others in the class gives you different takes on how people think and what they find to be the more important parts when shaping their news.

Remembering 9/11

Good to see you all back again this week.

Today is September 11, 2013, as you all remember the attacks on the twin towers, the Washington post has a nice article about the remembrance of the event. The Post covers various topics much like the New York Times without a bias toward any political party. The one that would stick out for me today was the ceremonies at the Pentagon marking the 12-year anniversary of this tragic event. The ceremonies began today at 9:30 in the morning around the time that the plane was hijacked and flown into the Pentagon. President Obama spoke at the first ceremony about the events of that day and of those who had lost their lives. There are also a couple more ceremonies at the World Trade Center site and the Flight 93 memorial later today.

Our problems with terrorist are ongoing and today we are facing attacks all over the world one of them being in Syria right now. The United States has began to aid rebels in Syria with light weapons, so they can try and fight against attacks from the regime of Bashar al-Assad after the use of chemical warfare on its own people.

In other news, Apple has released the preordering of the iPhone 5C and 5S. The 5C is a little less expensive than the 5S and will be able to come with different colors for its back, which is unlike any other thing apple, has done.  Both of these phones will come with the new IOS 7 operating system, which is said to be completely remodeled.

I feel that the audience for this outlet is anyone of all ages willing to learn about what is going on in the world because most of the topics even though they are domestic have an effect globally whether it be stock trades or technology.

This media source appealed to me due to the fact that that is well diverse in all of its topics and doesn’t keep them just within the United States.

Photo credits to acmnewsroom.com by Rick Rogers

Hello again! Today we go back in time before there were cell phones or tablets to gain media knowledge.  We travel back to the age of using the good old-fashioned newspaper. I was given a New York Times the other day in paper form which I have honestly not seen in years. The New York Times for those of you who don’t read newspaper or news at all; it is a paper filled with many of different categories that give news on just about anything going on in todays society. If you are looking for business, international, or technology news this is the right place for you because it contains all of that and is right in the midst of all the action.

Being given this newspaper in class on September 3, 2013, I wondered where you could even find this anymore besides on the street in New York. I opened it and began to read about CBS and its debates with Time Warner Cable about increasing fees and then not allowing Time Warner to play the CBS channel until things were resolved. Both of these companies took about a month to come to agreement on what company would get what rights and how much would pay the other. This long dispute caused pain to millions of viewers on Time Warner with the lack of the number one news station in the nation and the also, separately paid for, Showtime movie channel. When all was said in done Time Warner’s cable chairman said that they “ended up in a much better place than when we started”.

There are many disputes going on today in the world some domestic like the Time Warner and CBS, but there are also very important foreign ones that should not be left out of the light either. There is growing hostility today towards the Middle East in Syria and Iran with the United States deciding on what military action it should take. (Pg. A6) Also, with that the United States has engaged in talking with the Russian government about what should be done to solve the crisis in Syria. President Obama did not have any intentions last year of bombing and now is second-guessing himself on what should be done since Syria is allies with the Russian government. He will meet this week in St. Petersburg, Russia to converse about the issues at hand. (Pg. A8)

This is not something that should be taken lightly and also does not appeal to all ages. All, mainly the older generations, should understand it because they will be affected largely by it. This is because it could potentially cause another war that would leave those of older and younger age to take charge in American society to keep the homeland up and running in a positive direction.

This media appealed to me due to the fact that this is an issue that could shape the way of the world for years to come. Being in the prime age for military recruitment you cant help, but stay up to date on something that could have the magnitude of that.

Austin L.