Feature

Jake Rocco

Professor Nardone

Blogger Post

April 29, 2014

Feature

National Geographic posted a new article on their website about people that own exotic animals as pets. It is thought that more wild animals are living in American homes than are in the countries’ zoos. Wildlife conservationists say that this is not only dangerous to house wild animals but is cruel and should be criminal. From 1990 to 2013 Born Free USA has tracked 2,000 incidents involving wild animals held in captivity. Each state has laws about housing wild animals. In Pennsylvania for example, a person needs a license or permit to keep a wild exotic animal on their property.  

However, some states don’t require such paper work to own exotic animals; when other bans it all together. But of course, people break the law and obtain these exotic pets illegally. And whether you are allowed to have these animals or not, there is always the chance of the animal or animals to injuries their “owners.” For Example, an Ohio man was attacked by a 200-pound kangaroo, and a Texas girl was mauled by a mountain lion her aunt kept as a pet and so on. People are not just injured but these animals but become ill from zoonotic diseases too.

People think they are in control with these animals and think they understand the creature and it habits. Since much people that have exotic pets have raised them from babies so they believe that the animal will never harm them because they are so called “mothers/fathers” of them.  

I think that people are out of their minds when they think they can own wild animals and truly believe that nothing bad will ever happen. This reminds me of when dog owners say there dog is so friendly and he won’t bit you but turn and chomps on your hand. People’s judgment with these wild animals become cloudy because of the emotional connected they develop with them.

This article was written with a lot of detail and information. This feature is something you certainly don’t hear or talk about every day. The author kind of breaks the article up into sections with certain paragraphs beginning with bold words, informing the reading that she is starting new material. The article also contains a few informational graphics which helps the reader better clarify the information being read. I certainly feel bad when you hear about someone being attacked by a wild animal but then think well that person kind of had it coming. No one can never truly understand what an animal is thinking or is going to do, so it is incredible that people trust them with no hesitation. Overall this was an interesting article to read.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/04/exotic-pets/slater-text

Editorial

Jake Rocco

Professor Nardone

Blogger Post

April 15, 2014

Editorial

Last year, Pennsylvania State Police have started using computerized license-plate cameras in their patrols. These cameras are mounted to the police vehicles to scan the license plates of parked or passing cars. The computer will then automatically check the plate number against police records of outstanding violations of law or regulations. Violations can be either unpaid parking tickets to outstanding warrants for serious crimes.

I big focus with this system is targeting stolen cars but will scan the plates for any violation in the database. This approach to surveillance of motorists has been a concern of civil-liberties types’ right. The American Civil Liberties Union is now involved with this issue about how widespread it has become.

Most of the data comes from innocent people who might have a simple unpaid parking ticket. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, in Maryland 29 million plates were scans but police only received 58,000 (0.02%) matches in the database. Of that amount only three percent we stolen vehicles/plates or outstanding warrants. Only 47 matches out of every million were connected to serious crimes.

This license-plate scanning technology is not only used by police but by private companies as well. These private companies use the scans to repossess cars, control access to gated communities, and enforce parking-garage charges and others. With all this information being collected from companies they often work with the police and share the information with them if need be.

With the available of these scanners becoming more wide-spread and lowered prices, it is easier for police agencies to purchase them. Stated in a report from last January, it was predicted that about 85 percent of police agencies in the United States could have scanners within the next five years. Enough though police are increasing the use of these scanners does not mean everyone is being targeted. There has to be reasonable suspicion that you committed a crime before reviewing the collected data. This restriction of accessing the data means the police cannot look at the data with justifiable reason, like the act of needing a search warrant.

The writer, Dan Hartzell of the Morning Call, wrote this article well comparing it to a standard editorial format. He got right the points and main information about these license plate scanners. There are also two sides provided; one from the police stand-point and one from the American Civil Liberties Union stand-point. He has equal representation of both sides, and it was written in the third person but it did not have any of his own opinions intergraded. The article was nicely broken into two sections, “Among the highlights” and “Among the proposals, which made the reader able to quickly read the most important points of the story. Overall, this was a pretty standard editorial piece. 

http://blogs.mcall.com/roadwarrior/2013/07/coming-to-a-police-station-near-you-license-plate-scanners.html

Reviews

Jake Rocco

Professor Nardone

Blogger Post

April 1, 2014

Review

                Back in October of 2013, Cadillac unveiled their 2015 Escalade at an event in New York City. This new Escalade is still a full-size luxury SUV like its predecessor, but received a complete design overhaul. This model has a more square shape with sharper edges making the vehicle look massive and have a bold stance.

The 2015 Escalade uses GM’s body-over-frame construction like the 2015 GMZ Yukon and 2015 Chevy Tahoe and Suburban. The redesigned front end features new grille and headlamps, which are vertical, filled with LEDs and wrap over the hood to lead into the vehicles shoulders. To match the front the trail lamps also receive vertical LED lighting that runs up the D-pillar.

These updates match the rest of Cadillac’s vehicle line-up using their Art and Science design language. Like the out-going model buyers can get the 2015 Escalade in either standard or ESV trim levels, with the ESV adding 14 inches to the chassis to increase space inside the cabin and cargo area. New features also include better aerodynamics, active noise-cancellation technology, magnetic ride control, and an upgraded power-plant.

This new Escalade gets its power from a 6.2-liter, V-8 motor that delivers 420 horsepower and 460 lb-ft of torque, along with improved engine technologies.  Accompanying the powerful power-plant is an updated safety system, featuring a new radar-based system, adaptive cruise control with full speed range, forward collision alert, lane departure warning, lane change assist, rear cross-traffic alert, and blind-spot monitoring.

Cadillac also added a hands-free power lift gate to the 2015 Escalade. With the entry fob in the driver’s pocket, simply kick a foot under the rare bumper and it will open or close the lift gate. Inside the vehicle there is a 12-inch LCD instrument cluster that the driver can customize, along with an optional full-color head-up display. In the center dashboard there is Cadillac’s 8-inch CUE (Cadillac User Experience) infotainment and navigation system.

I feel this was a well written vehicle review. The author, Antuan Goodwin, gave just the right amount of his own opinions on the new Escalade without making inappropriate comments. The organization of this article was well done, with and introduction and then “sections” with different topics, which made for a pleasant reading. There were also a lot of details about the new model without making the information to boring with full detailed specifications. He concluded the article with comparing it to older generations but states that the 2015 Escalade is still on brand but nothing like most of the past and it came a long way since the first announcement of the Cadillac Escalade.

http://www.cnet.com/products/2015-cadillac-escalade/

Profile

Jake Rocco

Professor Nardone

Blogger Post

March 18, 2014

Profile

Professor of Geobiology in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Roger E. Summons, studies organic material in the rocks that are discovered deep inside the Earth and looks for evidence pertaining to how life began and evolved. Growing up in Australia, Summons’ interest was sparked with his hands-on science classes. He says, “… I really enjoyed this ‘doing’ of science much more than sitting in math class—and I was better at it.” After high school Summons continued his education and received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Wollongong, and later his PhD in chemistry. After his schooling, Summons was offered a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Cambridge but made a change of plans after speaking with Berthold Halpern. Halpern told Summons that he shouldn’t go to Cambridge and study natural products; instead he should go to California and try something different. Summons then got an offer from Stanford; so wrote his thesis while packing for California. Summons claims, “This was a life-changing experience for me…” Once at Stanford he studied and analyzed organic components in blood and urine using GCMS with Alan Duffield. Summons had no clear focus, other than doing what was offered to him and want was natural, even with all his schooling. Now leading a five-year project, that is the first to be funded by the NSAA Astrobiology Institute, which wants to understand how life developed on Earth and how it is preserved in sedimentary rocks. With having so much knowledge and life experiences, Summons states, “I recommend that anyone in science change their career a couple of time during their working like.”

Roger Summons’ profile was well written and provides a lot of important and impressive information about his life and his successful career. This profile is broken up into smaller sections like “Country life,” Technology boom,” “Earth and beyond,” and so on. This provides an easier reading structure instead of just large paragraphs. These sections kind of act like a summary of the article, because it gives a quick preview. The writer of this article, Anna Azvolinsky, provides a lot of quotes from Summons which provides a nice insight into his personality. This article give just the right amount of background information about Summons without going into every little detail of his childhood, schooling, career, and so on which makes the article pleasing to read. It stays focused on his development in Geobiology. Overall, this article stays true to profile style of writing.

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/39218/title/Summoned-From-the-Depths/

Hard News

Jake Rocco

Professor Nardone

Blogger Post

February 25, 2014

Hard News

            On February 24, 2014, Samsung Electronics has officially announced and revealed its newest flagship Android-powered mobile device to the world, the Samsung Galaxy S5. The unveiling of #TheNextGALAXY happened at Samsung’s UNPACKED 2014 Event during the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Spain, making the GS5 the successor to the previous model the Galaxy S4. The Galaxy S5 got plenty of hardware and software upgrades making this the most advanced Smartphone in Samsung’s portfolio. This year’s UNPACKED Event was much more simplified compared to 2013 with its Radio City Music Hall Event. The head of Samsung’s mobile division, JK Shin, states that "With the Galaxy S5, Samsung is going back to basics to focus on delivering the capabilities that matter most to our consumers." Samsung has really focused on five aspects of what their consumers want, which include, a modern glam look, a great camera, the fastest network, protected for your life, and to stay fit. The main updates of the Galaxy S5 include resistant to water and dust, new adaptive display, on-board heart rate sensor, fingerprint scanner, HD 5.1” screen, 2 GHz processor, larger battery, updated camera functions, and a new clean user interface. Samsung has announced that the new Galaxy S5 will go on sale in April of this year.

This article about Samsung’s UNPACKED 2014 Event was written clearly and directly. The writer has a good comprehension of the new device and can clearly and quickly explain the most important details of the Smartphone. Based on the Hard News style of writing, this article did not mention anything about the environment of the event space other than its location and that it was a more subdued press conference. The other thing that the writer of this article did not mention was that along with the unveiling of the Galaxy S5, the Galaxy Gear2 and the all new Galaxy Gear Fit were announced. With the Galaxy Gear2 and Gear Fit being wearable-tech, it is innovative and an excited part of the press conference that the writer did not mention. I feel that this writer was not at the actual event, maybe he was writing this based off information and specs from an associate that was maybe at the event. Did like that at the end of the article the writer stated what he that was the most useful feature, which was the Galaxy S5’s new display that adapts to indoor/outdoor lighting and adjusts the screen brightness/contrast/saturation according. Overall this article serves it purpose by informing the readers about the new Galaxy device.

 Link to the article is below:

http://money.cnn.com/2014/02/24/technology/mobile/samsung-galaxy-s5/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Obituaries

Jake Rocco

Professor Nardone

Blogger Post

February 11, 2014

Obituaries

Famous for acting in the “Fast and the Furious” movies, Paul William Walker, passed away on November 30, 2013 at the age of 40. Walker was a passenger in a Porsche Carrera GT that crashed and caught on fire killing him and the driver, Roger Rodas, in Valencia, California. The car accident was a result of high speeds and losing control of the vehicle. Before the crash, Walker was at a charity event for his own organization, Reach Out Worldwide. Walker began acting at a young age playing supporting roles in moves, but got his break with “The Fast and The Furious.” He was an undercover Los Angeles cop investigating street racing. Thanks to Walker and the rest of the cast like his good friend, Vin Diesel, $30 million film made about $207 Million with sequels to follow and grow the franchise. Walker liked to race in real life as well and even had a car collection of his own which included a Porsche 911 GT3 similar to the one he crashed in. He helped run a luxury garage in Valencia as well. Even with great success in the movies, Walker was a simple man and tried to stay out of the tabloids and the party scene. He once said he did not feel at ease in the limelight. Walker has been spending his time with his 15-year-old daughter, Meadow, and was living together before his death. Paul Walker leaves behind his daughter, father, mother, two brothers and a sister.

I feel the form of this obituary for Paul Walker felt more like just another article instead of a standard obituary. Yes, it included all the specs of how he died and who he left behind and so on, but I feel that it didn’t talk about his past enough. After reading this, I get the feeling that acting in “The Fast and The Furious” was Walker’s greatest accomplishment but I don’t think they focused enough on who he was as a person. It was all about how he died and his role in the “Fast and Furious” movies, but then again that is the purpose of obituaries. Another thing I didn’t notice from this obit/article was any details about his funeral. However, recently I did read from another news source is that Paul Walker has left his entire $25 million Estate to his daughter. His father was named the will’s executor and his grandmother to become the daughter’s legal guardian. Paul Walker will certainly be missed and live on forever in his loved-one’s hearts.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/02/movies/paul-walker-screen-actor-is-dead-at-40.html