Blog #52: Mid-Term Assignment

1.It's amazing what people do these days and not even notice their little conscience man poking at their brain. It's a fact, smoking will harm or even kill you, get over it. It's time for us to grow up and accept the facts. A little cigarette is fine, right? Just to calm the nerves. It won't hurt me at all. Wrong. One cigarette instantly increases your risk of cancer and death. This is not okay and unacceptable.

                       What I find worse than people smoking, is when the smokers light up near other people. We do not need your stench, your habits, your choices, or your cigarette around us. Secondhand smoke is scientifically proven to be more harmful than first hand. I cannot even begin to elaborate the people who put not only themselves, but children, elderly, and everyone in danger. The General warns them that there is an extreme possibility that they will die, yet not even take a second glance at it.

Scientific studies have shown that 99% of children that live in an apartment have more tobacco chemicals in their blood than those who live in houses. The children who were tested didn't even live in an establishment with smokers. The amount of people who smoke in apartments have increased these children's risk of cancer and dying. As if first and secondhand smoking was bad, there is now thirdhand smoking. This is when residue of tobacco on clothes, hair, or skin gets transfered to another person, it's nearly the same as first and second hand smoke. There aren't any words to describe how clueless people are.








3.New York Times Best Seller: The Zombie Survival Guide

  

     The book, The Zombie Survival Guide, written by Max Brooks, was published in 2003. The Survival Guide is just what it is, a survival guide. Not just an ordinary burglary, fire, or safety survival guide. This guide will help you for the coming Zombie invasion. We all knew it was coming, and now it's time to prepare.

     The guide consists of 6 chapters of preparation strategies. In the chapters are previous attacks throughout history. These chapters will help you through the apocalypse. In the guide, there is the origin of the Zombie and how they have come to be and how they spread to others. There is a list of weapons that can be used to kill a Zombie for longer protection. There are recorded attacks and several ways to not let history repeat itself.

     This book will be my recommendation to anyone who needs to survive this coming attack. I will be on top of my game during this battle, will you? To be aware is to be prepared. Bring it on.


4.http://katiekoo.glogster.com/glog/

5.http://katiekoo.glogster.com/salvation/

Blog Assignment #50: Steve Carell

http://katiekoo.glogster.com/stevecarell/

Blog Assignment #48: Articles

1.CLASSIFIEDS

Selling, buying, or giving away? This is a perfect place for you and your family to advertise to people you can trust. This is BETTER than Craigslist! Why sell to strangers when you can sell to people you or your child knows?

Selling? Maybe a student has a sibling or parent who's looking. Buying? Vice versa! Your puppy/kitty/hammy/piggy had a couple cutie pies that you can't keep? You know kids always want one. Need help with a project? We can help!

This would be a cool idea because it's original. You only see classifieds in the Sunday Newspaper. Not many kids read that. There's a chance some might not read this one either, but for the ones who do, it'll be great.

It may not be as big a hit as I would imagine, mostly because it's the middle school. But this is something I would love to see in a school newspaper. Why should we exclude the parents though? We can help a lot of people out. Including ourselves if we need too.

2.STUDENT'S BABY PICTURES

Aww! How cute! You haven't changed a bit! Who wouldn't get a kick out of this?

Student's can choose to submit their baby pictures, or a devious friend could do it for them. Kids will be crowding over in our paper to see their classmates as a toddler. I really think this will be a big hit. I mean, why wouldn't it?

It may take a bit of ink, but it's worth it. People will love our newspaper. I believe the rest of this is self explanatory :)

3.WEATHER

I love knowing how cold or hot it's going to be. It will be an interesting tidbit to have on the side of our newspaper. It can also tell us the overall temperature we should look out for and for any rises or drops.

If this was once a week it would be perfect. But, once a month can do fine as well. Instead of doing the weather of what have already passed, we can do it on the following month. Say, temperatures for December.

We can also include if it will snow or not or if there is a chance. When it will rain, when it'll be a perfect day to go and play, or a bad day to go fishing/sports/anything else.

I would love to see this in our newspaper and think everyone else will as well. Let's make our newspaper really a newspaper!

Blog #47: The Times Picayune-NO

Man dies months after shot during robbery
Alvin Black died about 4 p.m. at Interim LSU Public Hospital from a gunshot wound in his neck that never completley healed. Alvin, age 63 died on Wednesday. He was a victim of a robbery that occurred in May. Not much information was else given.

NOPD identifies suspect in Monday's shooting in the Desire neighborhood

A warrant has been issued for Walker on two counts of attempted first degree murder in connection to the shooting that took place in the 3200 Block of Oliver White Street shortly before 6 p.m. The 22-year-old and 24-year-old male victims were taken to a local hospital and are both listed in critical but stable condition.

Man killed overnight in Metairie shooting

Anthony Alexis, 34, was shot and killed in front of his apartment in Metairie early Thursday morning. Deputies found Alexis lying on the ground in front of the apartment complex suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. Alexis was pronounced dead on the scene.

Male shot dead in Jefferson Parish

He was shot multiple times shortly after 9 p.m. His body was found lying in the street. His identity is being withheld until relatives can be notified. His age was not available. No other information was given in the article.

Covington woman sentenced to 10 years in husband's slaying

Seconds after a St. Tammany Parish judge sentenced Kendra Talley to 10 years in prison for participating in the shooting death of her husband two weeks before Christmas 2004, the victim's brother walked over to Talley's mother and asked, "So, what do you think?" "Fair," Karie Thiac replied Wednesday. "It is better than life."

Blog Assignment #46: Chicago Sun Times

Murders of two officers were 'cold-blooded killings'

A man accused of the “cold-blooded” killings of a Chicago Police officer and a former Chicago Housing Authority cop allegedly fired one shot into each of their heads and then finished them off when he saw one moving. Michael Flisk and Stephen Peters were killed Friday afternoon in an alley. 

Teen's boyfriend charged after triple murder

A man believed to be the boyfriend of the 17 year odl woman found fatally stabbed along with her mother and younger sister inside an apartment. Denzel Pittman, 18, was charged with three counts of murder. Pittman is expected in court. All three died of multiple injuries and their deaths were ruled homicides.

Dad could be key in search for missing Michigan boys

 The key to finding three young Michigan brothers who have been missing for nearly a week ultimately may lie with what their father tells police. For the fifth day in a row, an army of volunteers are expected to trudge across fields, woodlands and dirt back roads in search of 9 year old Andrew, 7 year old Alexander and 5 year old Tanner Skelton, who have not been seen since Thanksgiving. So far, police say, the father, 39 year old John Skelton, hasn't told authorities much that they can use.

Businessman to turn over slain Marine's belongings

A Northwest Indiana businessman said he plans to return the personal items of a fallen soldier to her family. Mark Perko said he wants to return the items today to the family of the late Marine Sgt. Jeannette Winter -- the first U.S. servicewoman killed in Afghanistan.

"I just want them to go to the right place," Perko said. "I will take a loss on the items."

Perko, who says he has been pressured over the belongings, had planned to cash in on the items. Perko purchased the former property of Winters from a delinquent storage unit at least four years ago. As part of an attempt to resolve the matter, Perko attempted to call her brother Matthew Winters Jr. but he was visiting the woman's grave at Calumet Park Cemetery in Merrillville.

Lawyers push for new trial for Tony Rezko

Two years after his conviction, Tony Rezko’s lawyers are asking for a new trial. And if two years was too long to wait to ask, blame the government and the U.S. Supreme Court, they say. Rezko’s lawyers argued in a Tuesday filing that the businessman who was once part of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s inner circle, started talks with the feds right after his June, 2008 conviction. At the time, Rezko volunteered to be taken into custody.

Blog Assignment #45: LA Times

Wisconsin teen shoots himself after holding class hostage

A teenager at Marinette High Scholl held nearly two dozen students and a teacher hostage in a for about five hours before shooting himself when police finally arrived at the scene. No one else was harmed. Officers outside the classroom said they heard three gunshots shortly after 8 p.m. and broke through the door. The gunman, a 15-year-old boy, then shot himself. Five of the 23 students taken hostage had been released about 20 minutes before police entered the classroom because they told the gunman they had to use the bathroom. The other 18 students and the teacher, who was informing the police about the teen, were unharmed. 

Afghan policeman kills 6 American troops

An Afghan border policeman on Monday turned his weapon on Western troops, fatally shooting six of them. NATO did not disclose the nationalities of the slain soldiers, but a Pentagon official said they were American. The Western military said it was investigating the attack, which took place during a training exercise in Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan. The regional commander of the Afghan border police said all the trainers were U.S. troops. 

Oregon terrorism suspect pleads not guilty

Terrorism suspect Mohamed Osman Mohamud pleaded not guilty Monday to a federal charge of trying to explode a car bomb at a crowded holiday celebration last week in Portland and his lawyers suggested that he was entrapped by the FBI. The 19-year-old Somali American at the center of the latest allegation of homegrown terrorism said, "Yes, your honor," in a soft tone when U.S. Magistrate Judge John V. Acosta asked if he understood his rights.

At least 113 killed in series of Baghdad attacks

Militants unleashed a wave of deadly attacks in Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least 113 people in Shiite neighborhoods in an apparent bid to provoke a new sectarian war in the country. Seventeen car bombs and other blasts shook the city at sunset in one of the bloodiest days this year. The coordinated attacks, which bore the earmark of the Sunni Arab militant group Al Qaeda  in Iraq, came just 48 hours after 58 people were killed after armed men seized a Baghdad church.

Iran agrees to new nuclear talks

For the first time in more than a year, Iran has agreed to talks with world powers over its nuclear program. European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told reporters in Brussels on Friday that she had received an affirmative response from Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili to a standing invitation to talks and that he was ready to restart negotiations sometime after Nov. 10 "in a place and on a date convenient to both sides," according to news agencies.

Blog #44: The BBC

Iranian nuclear scientist killed in motorbike attack

Majid Shahriari, an Iranian nuclear scientist was killed. The scientists were targeted by men on motorbikes who attached bombs to the windows of their cars as they drove to work, officials said. Dr Shahriari was a member of the nuclear engineering department of Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran. His wife is said to have been injured in the attack. The nuclear scientist injured in the second attack was named as Fereydoon Abbasi. His wife was also wounded.

Aztecas gang boss Gallegos 'admits Mexico murders'

Arturo Gallegos Castrellon was captured. He confessed to ordering most of the killings in Juarez since August 2009. Aztecas gang members work as hitmen for the Juarez drug cartel. Gallegos was captured during a weekend raid along with two other alleged gang leaders, Carlos Rodriguez Ramirez and Gisela Ornelas Nunez. Gallegos admitted to ordering an attack last January which left 15 dead, most of them teenagers, believing rival gang members would be there, police said.

'Afghan policeman' kills six Nato troops

The man opened fire during a training mission in Pachir Wagam district, Nangarhar province, said Nato. He was also killed in the incident. Local officials said they believed the incident was not premeditated, but had arisen out of "a misunderstanding". Nato has not revealed the nationalities of the dead soldiers, but local sources said they were American. "An individual in an Afghan border police uniform turned his weapon against International Security Assistance Forces during a training mission today, killing six service members in eastern Afghanistan," Monday's statement said. "The individual who fired on the Isaf forces was also killed in the incident. A joint Afghan and Isaf team is investigating this incident."

Suspected serial killer seized in Sicily

Giuseppe Raeli, who has no previous criminal record, has been charged with five murders and four attempted murders in Cassibile between 1998 and 2009. He was arrested when a helicopter and a special police unit raided his house early on Monday, reports say. The man behind the murders was dubbed the Monster of Cassibile for firing at his victims with a 12-bore shotgun. Among those shot was a married couple who died and their daughter who was wounded. Prosecutors say they have linked Mr Raeli, a married man known locally as Pippo the Wolf, to more than a dozen cases. "The serial killer would kill for just 200 euros" chief prosecutor Ugo Rossi told Italian media. "He wanted justice for himself over those who didn't pay him for small jobs he'd done for them."

Empire Strikes Back director Irvin Kershner dies

Irvin Kershner, director of Star Wars film The Empire Strikes Back, has died in Los Angeles aged 87, his agent has confirmed. 

Kershner - who also directed James Bond film Never Say Never Again - died at home after a long illness, according to his goddaughter Adriana Santini. 

Born in Philadelphia in 1923, Kershner trained as a musician before making documentaries and then features. 

His other credits include Robocop 2 and Eyes of Laura Mars with Faye Dunaway. 

Known as "Kersh", the director was behind the camera when Sir Sean Connery reprised his 007 role in 1983's Never Say Never Again. 

The University of Southern California film school graduate had previously worked with Connery on his 1966 romantic drama A Fine Madness.

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