Current Events Quiz 3.1

1. In Thursday's paper on page D1in the story called "Flatbed taking on key role in arts," what is the main focus of the story? Please be specific and summarize the entire story. The story is about The Flatbed Press, which is a place for artist and creative professionals. The story tell about the people that work or go there and some details about the facilities.

2. On the side of that story, there is a "sidebar" with additional information about arts in Austin. What types of information were provided in those sidebars that you didn't get from reading the "Flatbed" story? The sidebar provides answers to questions some people might have.

3. In Wednesday's paper on page D1 in the story called "Formula one for success," what is the main focus of the story? Please be specific and summarize the entire story. The focus of the story is how the author started like Formula One races because of the food that was served there. Then goes into details about some of the food.

4. What does the writer do that causes you to keep reading the article even if you don't care about cooking, or formula one car racing? He throws in some funny quotes.

5. What techniques did the page editors at the Austin American Statesman use to break up the lengthy text present in that story? They broke the story up into smaller paragraphs.

6. In Tuesday's paper on page D1 in the story called "Hug to out is the ethos of Roy Spence,"

what is the main focus of the story? Please be specific and summarize the entire story. The story focuses on the writer going to go interview Roy Spence, the author of "The 10 Essential Hugs of Life". Roy talks about writing the book and the meaning of the hugs.

7. Would you want to get a hug from Roy Spence? Why or Why not. Yes, It may be a little creepy that Roy is 65 years old, but he seems like a really cool guys.

Feature Writting Preview

1. What is the difference between a hard news lead (lede) and the one you read above? A hard news lead tries to get all the information out as fast as possible.

2. What paragraph(s) did you learn the following information?
a. Who- Ted Williams
b. What- Has an amazing voice
c. Where- Hudson street ramp
d. When
e. Why
f. How- He was infatuated with radio and attended broadcasting school.

3. Are there quotes in this story? yes

4. Are those quotes arranged in the "quote-transiton" style we used in news writing? yes

5. Who is quoted in the story? Ted Williams

6. What quote is the most powerful in the story, in your opinion? "I think he really has no idea how big this is going to be"

7. How many paragraphs is the story? 33

8. How many words is the story (hint: you can copy and paste into Word and get a word count)? 762 words

9. What is significant about the lead (lede) and the final paragraph of the story? The lead is used in the last paragraph.

10. Why do you think the writer did that with the lead (lede) and final paragraph? To bring it all together.

11. Was the story interesting to read? Yes

12. When you finished the story, but BEFORE you watched the video, did you want to hear the voice? Yes

13. Multimedia approaches are powerful tools, what impact did the video have when watched directly after reading the story? It was amazing hearing this guys voice. It sounded exactly how I imagined reading it.

14. Would the story have lost its impact without the video? Yes, because I would not have known how great his voice was.

15. Did the writer try to come up with a way for you to hear the voice, i.e. did he try to describe the voice or give you a way to "hear" the voice without really hearing it? Not really.

16. How did the writer do that?  All the writer did was quote Ted and the rest was up to your imagination.

Opinions writing

Gun Control

Gun control, it's a very touchy subject in the United States right now. There have been multiple shooting this year all over the state. Some shootings have been extremely tragic with multiple casualties. To help with this problem the government is trying to put more restrictions on guns. I believe that this will not make things better in the long run.

With these restrictions the government will have all the innocent law abiding citizens defenseless. While people are not allowed to buy or carry fire arms because the law says they can't, the criminals who already don't follow the law will do what they want, putting the people in more danger.

Some may argue that's what the police is for, but the problem there is that when you call the police there is waiting involved, and even when the police show up it's still not the end of it because by then their could have multiple casualties already or the shooter takes hostages and police can't really do anything. However if their was a citizen with fire arm he could have taken out the shooter when the situation first started and there would be less death and mayhem.

I can see how lowering the people with guns can lower the chances of shooting and if they add a lot of requirements their would be less crazy people buying guns. This could also lower the shootings exponentially.

However as i stated earlier, the criminals are not abiding the law from the start, and they will find some way to find some sort of fire arm and it will still end badly for the citizens of this country. Which is why I am against gun control.

2nd Opinions Piece

Fast Food

Fast food one of this nations biggest bad guy right now. Fast food is a meal you get on the go, that is affordable, quick, and pretty darn good. The only problem is that a lot of the fast food out there is not very healthy. As a matter of fact fast food has been blamed for the rise in Obesity in the United States. However with how fast paced this world has become fast food needs to be a there for the people who have no time to slow down.

Fast food places are not forcing you to come eat at their establishments. It's not forcing its food down your throat, you are choosing to go eat at these places. If you choose to eat at places where their food is high in fat and then blame the them for you getting obese is just ridiculous.

With how fast paced this world has become Fast food place have become almost necessary because, people need to eat and with lunch breaks lasting 30 minutes to an hour nobody has time to go all the way home and prepare a meal.

Also with all the homeless and low income families fast food is an affordable meal. Even though fast food is not very good for, if someone had the choice to choose between eating out of the garbage or eating food that isn't the best for them, they would eat fast food everyday.

Granted if the fast food establishments would spend time making their food healthier or maybe change the serving sizes to minimize the calories their wouldn't be as many arguments about the healthiness of their food. I also understand that with their are other countries with the same fast food places that make their food a lot healthier than we do in the United States.

However fast food has a lot more pros than cons, With it being affordable, fast, and pretty darn tasty. Ya their is some stuff they could change, but it is works out for the people who need it right now.

Quiz #2.4

1. Who is the new UT Athletic Director, or what school did he come from (first or last name)? Steve

2. Did the affordable housing bond pass? Yes

3. Why is the county about to pay almost $50,000 to move a tree? because this tree belongs in the great waters of lake MiniTanka

4. What is the 15th state to allow gay marriage? Illinois

5. What country just launched a mission to Mars? India

1.  I feel that this type of behavior is childish and some what abusive. It is a professional league not some middle school locker room. I feel Incognito should be suspended because he threatened Martin with physical violence. On the other hand Martin should not have just sat around and let himself get abused by Incognito, he could have reported him to his manger or just stayed away from the guy. In the end Incognito was not acting like a professional athlete, but like a child in school making fun of the new kid.

Editorials and Personal Columns

Editorial Ideas
1) Off-Campus privileges- Criticize
2) Mr. Nourse's animation class- Praise
3) Driving safe- Persuade


Columnist
SourceFed- I keep going back to these guy because they keep me interested in what they are telling me.

SNO Online Papers

Portable Books Without the Aroma

1. Who wrote the story? Caroline Yong

2. What is their story about? Their story is about how e-readers are more convenient then actual books.

3. What is their direct opinion about that topic? Please quote it directly from the story or do a really good job of paraphrasing. The author feels that e-readers are more convenient then books and that she likes her e-reader more than books.

4. Did they address what the other side might think about their topic? No

5. Were they wishy-washy with their opinion? By this I mean did they every go back and say well maybe if this were to happen, then their opinion wouldn't be valid. Support your opinion. The authors opinion was wishy-washy, because when the author started the story she sided with traditional reading and in the middle she sided with e-readers, and in the end it seemed as though she was still debating.

6. Are there any quotes in the story? No

7. What point of view did they write in (1st, 2nd or 3rd)? 1st

Thoughts on Moving

1. Who wrote the story? Nikki Eduave

2. What is their story about? Nikki moving to Texas.

3. What is their direct opinion about that topic? Please quote it directly from the story or do a really good job of paraphrasing. The author's opinion is that he is excited about about living in Texas.

4. Did they address what the other side might think about their topic? Yes

5. Were they wishy-washy with their opinion? By this I mean did they every go back and say well maybe if this were to happen, then their opinion wouldn't be valid. Support your opinion. The authors opinion was wishy-washy because the author still misses being Miami and she has homesickness.

6. Are there any quotes in the story?Yes a Direct quote- "we should [ insert activity here] once we're seniors"

7. What point of view did they write in (1st, 2nd or 3rd)? 1st

Custodians Not Shown Enough Appreciation

1. Who wrote the story? Emily Carr

2. What is their story about? This story is about giving custodians more respect by picking up after yourself.

3. What is their direct opinion about that topic? Please quote it directly from the story or do a really good job of paraphrasing. The author opinion is that the custodians should be treated with more respect.

4. Did they address what the other side might think about their topic? NO

5. Were they wishy-washy with their opinion? By this I mean did they every go back and say well maybe if this were to happen, then their opinion wouldn't be valid. Support your opinion. Their opinion was not wishy-washy at all. They stuck to their opinion 100%

6. Are there any quotes in the story? No

7. What point of view did they write in (1st, 2nd or 3rd)? 1st