Joey Porter of the Miami Dolphins...

The other day when the Dolphins were playing New England Porter refused to leave the game.

He is one guy that is really stubborn and wants things to be things own way all the time.

A buzz is going around that Porter should be reprimanded for his actions.

He is has a lot of heart and he lets it overshadow his play sometimes.

Porter need to calm himself down and focus on the game and not let his emotions get the best of him.

Gay adoption...

A Florida circuit judge Tuesday struck down a 31-year-old state law that prevents gays and lesbians from adopting children,

allowing a North Miami man to adopt two half-brothers he and his partner have raised as foster children since 2004.

This is interesting because there was just a vote that shot down the legal rights of gays.

In this case the judge allowed this man to adopt children even though he is gay.

This issue is something that is quite controversial and it will be examined for years to come probably on a case by case basis.

A judge sentences some teen noise offenders to listen to Barry Manilow...

I don't see anything wrong with that punishment.

There is nothing wrong with Barry Manilow's music.

I actually like it, not all of it but some.

There are a lot of worse things to listen to than him.

As a matter of fact Manilow is the man, you go Barry!

Michael Vick pleads guilty to state dogfighting charge

The former Atlanta Falcons Quarterback pleaded guilty Tuesday to a state dogfighting charge, a move that could make him eligible to leave prison early and potentially speed up a return to pro football.

He arrived wearing wrist and ankle shackles with his gray suit, but the restraints were removed by the time he entered his plea.

Vick ruined his life by committing this atrocity.

He might eventually be able to return to the NFL, but I think it will be too late for him to be successful.

The way I see it he will be in jail for at least 3 to 4 more years and by that time he wont be half as good as he was.

What a waste of talent and the team that does get him will be ridiculed for having him, so the whole situation is stacked against him.

Broward woes...

What is going on in Broward County.

This is just nuts already.

First there was a shooting at Dillard High School where one student killed another.

Then a college student killed himself live on a internet webcam broadcast.

Now a teacher is accused of punching a 8 year old student.

All of these things are very disturbing to me, but they are par for the course.

Broward's population is growing and with that comes crime.

It just so happens that recently there has been as much or more crime happening up there then usual.

The economy is hurting everyone...

Even Las Vegas is getting trounced by what is going on.

They are hurting for customers over there I hear.

Nobody can afford to take the trip out there let alone gamble any kind of money any more.

This will affect tourism through out the country as well.

Lets take for example Miami.

Normally this town would be jumping at this time of year and the traffic would be terrible.

I was out on South Beach the other night and it was dead.

Tourism is going down the tubes all over the place.

Sirius XM

Sirius satellite radio and XM have merged and it is now called Sirius XM.

This should be okay in the long run, but in the meantime things are all screwed up for subscribers of both services.

The thing is that the lineups have changed for both sides.

With these changes some of the existing stations have disappeared or they have a new name.

It is going to be very confusing to decipher which station is which for a while, and in certain cases some of the stations people really enjoyed are no longer on air.

Eventually people will figure out the system, but until then I expect them to get lots of complaints.

The new James Bond movie...

Even though this new film "Quantum of Solice" is a hit at the box office, it doesn't compare to all the other Bond movies of the past.

It stars Daniel Craig and I don't like him like I liked Timothy Dalton or Roger Moore.

I'm not saying he is bad, but these other guys to me are more suited for the role.

They are more debonair.

The other thing is the movie itself is to much of a modernized version of what is a classic film series.

This version reminds me of a "Mission Impossible" style film.

Next time they should make the movie they way it used to look.

An actor on the show "The Sopranos" is going to trial for a cop killing.

Lillo Brancato has turned into a drug addict and his life is in turmoil.

It is a sad story when drugs take over some one's life.

This former actor in a mob show has really become a true to life version of his character in a sense.

In the show he goes and kills people and now he is accused of doing it in real life.

The life of a televison star is always easy and this guy took things to another level.

Hopefully he will be rehabilitated in someway or another.

25 best cities to find a job...

"Job seekers with no ties to any particular location often seek jobs in big cities like New York, Chicago, Illinois, Los Angeles, California, or San Francisco, California."

This was the main point in an article on cnn.com.

What a joke I mean with unemployment soaring the way it is and then they write this article.

Just today I read something about Obama creating a special task force to save jobs and create new ones.

I find it hard to believe that in any major cities there is an abundance of jobs.

This article is funny to me and I actually don't appreciate it, but I don't appreciate much these days anyway.

Carvalho wants help for Miami-Dade Schools

With the state facing a potential $1.4 billion tax shortfall, Miami-Dade Schools chief Alberto Carvalho called on the federal government to consider a bailout for the nation's public schools.

He said the state tax shortfall could mean an additional $65 million reduction in spending for the Miami-Dade school system which isthe nation's fourth largest.

The school district has cut a huge amount out of its budget already and plans to cut more.

This is not a good situation whatsoever. If we want to continue to educate children properly we are going to have to do something about this.

Carvalho is right about this Miami-Dade needs help and so do so many others.

Lets act on this now and help children get the education they are entitled to.

Suspect clubbed with frozen turkey

A shopper in North Carolina clubbed an alleged carjacker with a frozen turkey as he tried to steal a woman's car in a grocery store parking lot.

This is a very interesting case. I guess it shows criminals not to mess with certain people or else they will pay the price.

The suspect ahit several cars as he tried to escape, but police arrested him right away.

He sustained serious head injuries when he got hit in the head with the turkey.

It looks like justice was served, as citizens took the law in to their own hands.

Maybe now he won't try and rob anybody else at least until Thanksgiving is over.

Man found in bed, on fire pronouced dead

A Pompano Beach man whose tenant found him engulfed in flames in his bed Sunday morning has died in the hospital.

The 65-year-old owner of the home died from second- and third-degree burns to his face, neck, arms and chest while at Jackson Memorial Hospital's burn center Monday morning.

The man was said to be smoking in his bed, which was the reason for the blaze.

He also had some weapons and explosives in his apartment which contributed to the fire spreading.

He was careless and the result is that he lost his life.

Miami Hurricanes fall to No. 2 UConn in Basketball

The Canes were in the Virgin Islands participating in a tournament this past weekend called the Paradise Jam.

They had to play the University of Conneticut which is a powerhouse of a team with a 7 foot 3 inch center Hasheem Thabeet who had 19 points and 14 rebounds to hand UM its first loss.

The No. 17 Hurricanes threw all kinds of double- and triple-teams at the likely future NBA lottery pick, but that along with a 27-point effort from Jack McClinton wasn't nearly enough to overcome their former Big East rivals in a 76-63 semifinal loss at the Paradise Jam.

When you have to play a team like UConn you are going to have to play extra hard to win, and even then you probably won't be succesful.

Miami basketball is stronger than ever, but they will have certain hurdels that they will have to overcome in order to be succesful this year.

South Florida teen commits suicide live on the web...

This is a horrific story about a South Florida college student who killed himself by overdosing on drugs in front of a live online audience.

The audince who was watching this take place had mixed reactions to what he was doing. "Some computer users egged him on, some debated his method, and others tried to talk him out of it."

Abraham Biggs a 19 year old from Pembroke Pines, died Wednesday at his home from a major overdose from a combonation of several drugs.

Obviouslly there was something wrong him mentally. He need phycological help and nobody around him recognized it.

It seems he is just another casuality of the modern world which eats people up and spits them out.

A cold front has come our way.

It is always nice to get a burst of cold air down here in South Florida. With the temperatures being so hot all the time the cold weather is a welcome change. I hope you enjoy it while it lasts. Now if you would take a look a the forecast for the next few days.

Believe it or not weather is news too and when we get pleasant weather such as we have had the past few days everyone is all bundeled up. It is funny to see that down here when the temperatures drop people dress like their up north. I think they over do it. It is just not necessary to wear heavy jackets in 60 degree weather. I mean by the time we reach 12 noon it is up to 70 and people are still in the same heavy jacket. Then around 3pm it goes up to 75 and nobody sheds the jacket. It is funny to see this sort of thing. I wonder how these people would fare somewhere like Minnesota. It wouldn't be a pretty site let me tell you. They would cry up there trust me; I know what cold is and I cried my eyes out when I had to live in those conditions. Well that is why I'm back here at least for now.

Girl mauled by a cougar...

A 16-year-old girl was mauled by a cougar, but survived when a neighbor saved her from the animal's cage at a northwest Miami home.

The girl sustained some really significant wounds and she was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

She and her friend by the name Anthony Zitnick illegally entered a wildlife collector's home.

Once they got into the house a 150-pound male cougar named Chaos "pounced on the girl and clenched his jaws around her head."

Zitnick was later arrested.

A neighbor heard screams and wrestled the animal away.

The owner of the home is said to have legal permits to keep two cougars and several snakes, tortoises and alligators.

My opinion of this is why is this man allowed to keep wildlife in home?

And as for the guy who brought the girl into the home to get mauled, I wonder how he felt when he saw the cougar on top of her.

What was going through his head at that point and why did it take a neighbor to get the cougar off of her and what was he doing the whole time.

The whole situation is just ridiculous!

Final Project for CNJ 442

Here it is hope you all enjoy it!

Jane Fonda on Ted Turner

The other night there was a feature on 60 minuets with Ted Turner. At the end of the piece Jane Fonda was interviewed. She said that Turner was chase by demons. Fonda is Turners ex-wife and she is bitter about their failed relationship so said the above.

Turner came out and denied this accusation. Turner said "Well, I'm not chased by demons. I feel pretty good."

Fonda still loves Turner and she probably wants to reconcile with him. This situation is personal in my opinion and I don't think that she needed to throw him under the bus like she did. Every marriage has its problems, some end in divorce. Turner has a lot of money even though he lost 7 billion and with that money came responsibility. He was away from her a lot and that is what made the relationship fail period. For Fonda to come out and air their dirty laundry on national TV to me is flawed. Keep it to yourself Jane, what are you in high school?

What is it about fantasy football that is so intriguing?

A new phenomenon has taken over the sports world. It is called fantasy football. I got introduced to it several years ago and now it is something that I follow every day. It is very hard to get away from and it is often very distracting.

Before I get into how distracting it can be let me explain to you the basics of it. Every NFL season you pick in draft form a team comprised of several players. These players give you points on a weekly basis according to what they do on the field. Every week your team takes on another team that is in your league. The team with the most points in that head to head match up wins. You then have a record just like a real football team does, but the only thing is that your team consists of players from many NFL teams not just one.

Now that you have heard the basics let me tell you how so many people are addicted to it. News reports say that so may people are addicted to this game that it distracts them from doing what they are supposed to be doing at their job. Companies are losing money because their employees are following their fantasy football team and not working!

Fantasy football is not all it is cracked up to be. Since your team deals with individual statistics and not NFL team stats it is hard to enjoy the game the way it is supposed to be enjoyed. I play fantasy and it makes it hard for me to enjoy the game and I find myself just cheering for my players. I guess I just in to deep, oh well.

CNN.com #5/CNN TV

The site also has a small section that promotes what it will air on television. In my opinion it is too small. This is what this company does (television). This is how it got started. Why not make the plug for your television shows bigger and better? There are so many shows that run everyday and it is necessary to make the public aware of them. I mean some people do use the internet to find out what is on television. CNN.com doesn't care about what will take place on the air it is mostly dedicated to news stories in print form. The site isn't glamorous and I think that it should be bigger and brighter. It should have more bells and wistels.

CNN.com #4/CNN International

CNN.com has two versions that you can navigate to. The first is the standard edition that we use and the other one is an international edition. You are given the choice between both of them toward the top of the home page. This is another major development that CNN has come up with for their web page. Not everybody offers this and it is nice that they do. It gives audiences from around the world the opportunity to enjoy this American based network. It is also helpful for Americans that want to follow news from all over not just here.

CNN.com #3/Design and Layout

The site is designed to be user friendly for the most part. The top part of the home page offers up several tabs that will take you wherever you need to go. There are several categories to choose from and the site caters to news junkies from all over America. It also has tabs about entertainment, sports, health, tech, travel, living, etc. This site is broad in its topics and if you visit it you will be able to enlighten yourself in topics that you are interested in. These topics aren't just on the top of the page, but the same ones are found on the bottom of the page; so that if you miss the top section you can always get there from the bottom. This is a neat trick because some people overlook the top section and scroll right down to the bottom and then they are able to see what they missed yet again. The site looks good and users shouldn't have any problems with it overall.

CNN.com #2/Videos

On cnn.com I don't see a link to access a video archive of thier broadcast stories. If there is one it is buried deep in the site and not on the home page. There is a section for live video which is quite small and doesn't really draw you toward it. CNN is a TV station and people want to see video online especially if they missed the story on air. ESPN.com does a great job with video archiving and CNN should follow in their footsteps. On more thing is that the video player takes a long time to load and when it finally does the video is streamed and I don't think they have worked all the kinks out of it because when I tried to watch a video I had trouble. You would think they would have their act together, but they don't and they need to fix their video section badly.

Analysis of CNN.com #1/One story many angles

Continuing with the theme of the election cnn.com has there whole site dedicated to election coverage today.

Yes it is election day and you would expect them to focus on the election, but what about the rest of the news.

There is not one single other story to be found on the site. What happens if I want to take a look at another story, do I have to go to another website.

If you would like to see any other news you can go all the way down to the bottom of the page and click a pretty inconspicuous link called more news.

The election coverage however is outstanding and looks at every angle you could think of.

Local sports in full swing

The Miami Dolphins are coming off a huge win in Denver against the Broncos. The Miami Hurricanes football team is playing solid and have a shot t win the ACC. They just had a big come from behind win the other day in overtime against Virginia. The Miami Heat have a a new look and are on a mission. They "have something to prove" as their new ad campaign states. Their draft of Michael Beasley is paying off already even though this team has a long way to go. All in all the local teams are all doing more this year then in years past and hopefully the fans will enjoy this success.

Another election day issue.

This isn't an issue that will be voted on today, but it is something that just boils my blood. I was having a conversation with someone from somewhere other than the US. They were telling me that they were taking a trip back to their country of orgin. They said once they get there all they will hear about is the the failure of America as far as the economy as well as all the other problems that go along with that. This is when I snapped I said this is what is wrong with America. Too many other people rely on us and it has got to stop. I am so sick of all these people around the world with their hands out looking for Uncle Sam to break them off. We as a nation need to become stronger from within and that means helping people out right here on our own soil and stop giving everybody and their mother around the world anything else. I am so angry right now just writing about this. It is due time to refocus our efforts on ourselves!

Amendment 2

While I am on the subject of voting lets discuss Amendment 2 which puts the issue of Gay marriage on the ballot and wants you to decide whether or not it should be legal. Even though in my opinion I think marriage is something between a man and a woman, I think that people should be able to do whatever they want. When it comes to key issues of freedoms there is always governmental regulations. People should be able to make their own decisions without the involvement of the government. This country is supposed to be the land of the free. It is not right this country has become a wasteland and other countries that have never been half as good as we are are catching up and it is disgusting to watch this. So let gay people do whatever they want and concentrate on real issues that affect the life blood of this country!

Local battles for Congress

The presidential election isn't the only thing people are voting for today in Miami-Dade county at least. There are three key congressional races. Two of them involve brothers. The Diaz-Balart brothers are each taking on respective opponents. Lincoln is up against Raul Martinez and Mario's opponent is Joe Garcia. These brothers are incumbents and republicans. They are said to be associated with George Bush and this might hurt their re-election efforts. One thing that is favorable for Lincoln is that his opponent Martinez, the former mayor of Hialeah is a crooked as Lombardi Street in San Francisco. This may be the only thing that will keep Lincoln in office. The last race is another republican incumbent Ileana Ros-Leintenen taking on Annette Tadeo. Ros-Leintenen has been around for a good number of years and I don't think that she is going anywhere despite a nice effort by Tadeo. This election day is going to be very interesting on a national and a local front.

Election day is here

This is it the day we have all been waiting for. It all started over a year and a half ago when these candidates first hit the campaign trail. No matter who wins today: this has to be considered the most historic election ever. Record numbers of people are going to vote this year and that just shows us how significant this election is in American history.

Trick or Treat...

It was a treat this year for baseball fans in Philadelphia. Their Phillies dismantled the Tampa Bay Rays 4 to 1 in the World Series earlier this week. Even so this may have been one of the lowest rated fall classics in a long time. Nobody was really interested in either of these teams. Neither of these teams are a big draw on a national scale. The one thing that people will remember it for was the fact that the last game had to be stopped due to rain in the 6th inning and played subsequently 2 nights later. That is something that doesn't happen and it was unprecedented that it did. It was game 5 and the score was tied at 2 when play resumed and shortly after that point it was all over for the Rays. The State of Florida would not have a world champ at least for this calendar year.

Former Detroit Mayor sentenced

Another story of corruption within government. This time the former Mayor of Detroit Kwame Kilpatrick is going to jail for four months. Kilpatrick pleaded guilty last month to two felony obstruction of justice charges stemming from his efforts to cover up an extramarital affair. He also pleaded no contest to charges of assaulting a police officer attempting to serve a subpoena on a Kilpatrick friend in that case. It seems to me that when people become placed in a position of power that time and time again they want to exploit it. It is a shame that he took advantage of his power, but justice is served at least for now.

Obama And Bill Clinton To Campaign Together In Orlando Wednesday

Former President Bill Clinton is coming to Barack Obama's rescue. Clinton's support of Obama might help him win Florida, at least this is what he is hoping for. By appearing in Orlando together tommorow the duo might swing voters in Obama's direction. Also Orlando is located on the what political analysts are calling the I-4 beltway, which represents Florida's most important group of voters. These voters represent the Tampa area as well as the Orlando area and all the way through the center of the state to Daytona Beach. This population will decide Florida and this is why both of the campaigns are hammering away at that area. Clinton is an important figure and it can only help Obama to have him by his side especially in this type of political climate.

The election is upon us...

In one week the most historic election in history or so it has been called will take place. Not all people are waiting till November 4th to vote however. Early voting is drawing record numbers and some of the lines were 3 hours long last week. Miami-Dade County needs to do something about this because if the lines are so long now what is going to happen on election day. Will the lines be 6 hours long? To me this is a joke, but it not a shock. I feel that the elections departments all over Florida have been a disgrace to the system since way back when. I won't reiterate what happened in 2000, but enough is enough. Isn't it time that they got their act together.

Red Sox make history yet again....

Last night the Boston Red Sox were down 7-0 late in the game. All of the sudden they started a huge rally. First David Ortiz unloaded his bat for huge 3 run home run and then JD Drew followed suit with the same caliber 3 run blast. After that, the game was tied and the Red Sox went on to win by one run with in the bottom of the ninth inning. This was the biggest comeback in Major League Baseball history since 79 years ago. Go ahead and WATCH it for yourself.

Mother indicted...

The mother of the missing Florida girl was just indited on first degree murder charges. A grand jury returned charges of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter and four counts of lying to investigators against Casey Anthony in the death of her daughter. The mother is being held without bond. This lady is going to deal with the wrath of the jury. It is a terrible story that doesn't seem to have a happy ending in store. The body of the girl hasn't been found as yet and it won't be. This woman named, Casey Anthony told authorities that she had left her daughter with a baby sitter in June, and that the two were gone when she returned from work. She says she spent the next month trying to find her daughter and didn't call authorities because she was scared. There will be an appeal process, but she will probably do some hard time. Another story, another lesson learned!

Lets take a trip..

Aren't you tired of Miami don't you need a vacation? I do and I want one thats permanent, maybe Tahiti! Well some peole can't afford to go there now I know I can't so why not stay in North America and why not learn something while your at it. L.A., D.C., Toronto and Roanoke, Va. are all opening new museums this fall and MSNBC has some info for you on these destinations. My favorite one has to be the Sports Museum of Los Angeles. Not only do I love sports, but I love L.A. and I can't wait to make another trip out there. I also like D.C. and I've been there many times and there is alot of history there as well as museums to visit. So go out and travel somewhere, you will have fun and learn something at the same time.

Stocks came back on Monday for a record gain...

Monday was the biggest gain in history and we sure needed it after all the heat we took last week. Today is Tuesday and the market rallied early, but then they lost steam as the day progressed. I'm not sure how this affected me directly as far as the totals of the last several weeks of plunging but I know that what little money I have in the market is probably gone with the wind. Oh well I am hopeful that things will get better eventually and we will all ride of into the sunset. Actually I am not I just said that to make myself feel better. I am starting to like this blogging it is kind of cathartic.

NBA star Devin harris gets embaraced by a London street baller...

This has to be a joke right well take a look at this video and see there is nothing funny about the fact that an NBA basketball player getting shown up. If this guy could take to Harris on the court like that this speels trouble. Harris' image is officially tarnished. I guess it just goes to show you that in this day and age with all of the modern technolgy we have that if you are going to look silly that it probably will wind up on video somewhere, so becareful what you do or get exposed to everybody. GOTCHA!!

Your money lasts longer in Texas...

This is a picture of Austin, Texas and its picturesque skyline.

Lets all move to there! Austin and San Antonio are two cities in Texas that top the list of places that your money will last a little bit longer. Houston and Dallas are also on the top ten list. This is interesting to me because I thought that Texas would be expensive, not New York, Miami, Los Angeles expensive, but expensive. So it is nice to know that you don't have to move to the middle of nowhere to get some bang for your buck. Take a look at this article that gives you an extensive look at where we can live in this country that is somewhat affordable.

One good thing about the economic slide...

Is the fact that gas prices are dropping and that is a good thing. I heard that gas price may be as low as $3 a gallon by Thanksgiving. This will help lots of us because as McCain says "times are tough". American people need help. Many of us are suffering now more than ever. We need change and the only way we are going to get it is by electing all new officials, because the ones in office now have craeted a time of trouble and danger for this country. Gas prices are on the decline and at least for now people can start driving again and not have to be scared that they might run out of gas because they can afford to fill their tanks up. Did you hear what I just said people may be acared taht their tank may run out, this is nonsense what is happening here.

"W"

Next week a film will be released called "W" that documents the actions of one President George W. Bush. This film is directed by Oliver Stone and this is a very intriguing look at the current president. I am looking forward to see how this movie plays out and how actor Josh Brolin portrays Bush. Brolin was in the Oscar winning film No Country for Old Men and he performance was solid. This new movie will definitely give us a topic of discussion. Stone's film usally do.

Hockey season is here...

Young coach Peter DeBoer finally gets a chance to concentrate solely on coaching and maybe take the Florida Panthers to that next level. Ok so what we live in Florida who even cares about hockey, especially when our team really has done anything to speak of in years. Yes the Panthers did get to the Stanley Cup Finals once and lost to the Colorado Avalanch. Hopefully this year something will spark this team into the playoffs, but only time will tell and expecations should be low because there is no indication thaqt this team can or will amount to anything. So hockey season is here, big deal, who cares!!!

A bumby ride!!

Passengers on an American Airlines flight to Miami from Argentina got a little more than they bargained for. Turbulence on this flight was so intense that 7 people were injured and 6 had to be taken to the hospital. It could have been worse however and the fact that the plane landed and there were no fatalities is good to hear. Airline travel is pretty safe overall, but as with anything things can happen to disrupt the situation.

Wall Street woes!!!!

What is happening to the stock market is unfathomable. I mean just a few months ago the Dow was somewhere over 11,000. Now as I am watching CNN the screen is telling me that the Dow Jones Industrial average is at 8470.31. That means that it has dropped almost if not 3000 points. This is absurd. This startling drop is being driven by uncertainty and fear some say. What is going to happen now? How are we to rebound from this? This isn't funny, no not at all. It is scary just plain scary. With all of these going on at this time, what does the future look like for us. People want answers and they will suffer from this meltdown. In my opinion what has happened is a complete and utter tragedy.

Twitter #5/My final tweet/O.J. Simpson

O.J. guilty on 12 counts. I guess that justice was served after all. He gets away with murder and now he is gonna do time for robbery, idiot!!!

Twitter #4/Nick Nolte

I heard that Nick Nolte had to escape from his house while it was on fire. Maybe he should lay off the wacky tobbacy.

Twitter #3/Miami Dolphins

Yes the Miami Dolphins are 2 and 2. To tell you the truth I can't remember the last time they won 2 games in a row. I am finally excited.

Twitter #2/Economy

The DOW just keeps on dropping and markets all of the world are feeling the effects. It looks like we are in real deep.

Twitter #1/Presidential Debate

The debate of last night didn't sway me in either direction. Both of the candidates seem to sound like a broken record.

Another day another story...

This time I'm at the Dade County Courthouse covering a case in which Judge Jeri Beth Cohen came close to ruling in favor of Miami-Dade County's massive Megaplan, the nearly $3 billion public works project that will build a new $500 million home for the Marlins, among other things. The owner of a large car dealership in Miami, Norman Braman sued to stop the deal, arguing that any attempt to use public money to fund a private enterprise, like the Marlins, should go to a vote by the people. Last week, in a similar case, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that no referendum is needed.

My final look at the "Atom smasher" story

The story is still a top story at 8pm. It looks as though the body of the story has been consistent all day. The story moved from the lead to the list of top stories. While on that list it progressively moved down to 3rd position from the top of CNN's list immediately after it was taken down as the lead story. Later in the day and currently is in the 7th position from the top of CNN's list. This story was very important because CNN stayed with it all day and I enjoyed following its path. There is much to take into account as the news operation when running an online site and order of stories is very necessary.

Update to "Atom smasher" article

At this point it hasn't even been a full hour it is now right around 10:40am and the article I am following has been replaced as the lead story on CNN.com. The thing about this website is that it only has one lead story and then to the right of that story are all the other top stories in a list format. So the way they have approached the design of the site to me isn't appropriate. Their design only showcases one story at a time. If I was to do this assignment again, I would definitely visit another site. My story however is still a top story and I will update my blog later if and when I see any changes...

10am version of "Atom smasher down for two months"

The article is same and the copy is the same on the front page but a different photo was used at this hour. This is the photo that was used. I have tried to include the orginal photo from the 9am hour, but I have been succesful with the import.

Monitoring changes in an online article

----9am version----

The article I am followong is one on CNN.com. the orginal article is as follows:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/09/20/hadron.collider.damage.ap/index.html

An article on the front page of CNN.com is what lead me to this story. It reads as follows:

Atom smasher down for 2 months

The world's largest atom smasher -- which was launched with great fanfare earlier this month -- is more badly damaged than previously thought and will be out of commission for at least two months, its operators said today. A sector of the Large Hadron Collider will have to be warmed up well above the absolute zero temperature used for operations so that repairs can be made. (full story)

How credit scores are calculated...

If you ever we wondering how your credit score was calculated well check out this link:


www.walletpop.com/credit/experian/credit-score-myths


To me this is all a bunch of nonsense, credit card companies are all crooked. All they do is take your money and destroy your hopes and dreams of living well. If you make one mistake with paying your bills with them you are in trouble. Credit card are one big scam. It is important however to make the right decisions and keep your credit in check.

Hurricane Ike's warpath...

I'm a really glad that we here in Miami didn't get hit by Ike. I do however feel really bad for all of the people who lost everything including their loved ones in Texas. This storm was miserable and the destruction was catasthophic. This storm was a force to be reckoned with. I hope that hurricane season will take it easier on us for its duration, which will probably be sometime in November. Ike didn't only affect people in Texas it passed through several states and wound up in the Midwest. Last night I was watching a football game in Cleveland, Ohio and there were wind gusts of up to 60 mph from Ike. Millions of people were affected by Ike, the storm of the year so far.

A campaign rally for Joe Garcia...

I had the pleasure of going to to my first campaign rally the other day. It was for Joe Garcia, who is running for the US House of Representatives. He was at Miami-Dade College, Kendall Campus on last Friday. Senator Bob Graham was also on hand. Garcia is a Democrat and he spoke of how he wants to represent Florida's 25th Congressional District. The district includes: Kendall, Florida City, Homestead, Hialeah Gardens, Immokalee, Golden Gate, Lely Resort, Naples Manor, Orangetree, Miami Lakes, Cutler Bay, Doral, and Palmetto Bay. Now that is one large district. I am not an advocate of Joe Garcia however. As a matter of fact I don't even live in his district. I went as part of the media and I just felt like blogging about the event, thats all!

Miami Spice Month...

Every year for the last several a really nice event takes place called Miami Spice. This is something thats lets people try several resturaunts all across town for an affordable price. These resturaunts offer lunch and dinner and they all present a three course meal. The meal includes an appitzer an entree and a desert all for one price which for dinner is $36 per person. That is a good deal compared to what some of these resturaunts normally charge. This events runs till the end of the month and I hightly suggest you take advantage of it.

www.miamirestaurantmonth.com

http://www.miami.com/dine-o-mite-tips-for-miami-spice-month-article

Boy trapped in washing machine...

A young boy was trapped inside a wash machine yesterday at Miami laundromat. The boy sustained serious injuries and this seems to be a case of negligence on his mother's part. She however is just happy that the boy is alive. She said "I think that if he would have been in there any more longer it would have been worse than it is. This reporter wonders what the boy was doing in the machine in the first place. I guess that only his sister may have that answer but in the meantime all we can hear from her is the resonating sound of her saying "my brother, my brother." What a mockery this was and people should use this as an example of what not to do with their kids. This is one case that can be solved very easily and that is by just using some common sense.

This is a link to a news report on this story:
www.local10.com/news/17436177/detail.html

Obama accuses McCain camp of lies, phony outrage

On The Miami Herald's website www.herald.com there is an article in which we can see how heated the presidential election is getting with less than two months to go.

Here is the link to that article:

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/679395.html



Obama today accused McCain's campaign of using "lies and phony outrage and Swift-boat politics" when they said he used a sexist comment when refering to ice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Obama said "you can put lipstick on a pig and it will still be a pig." He might have been taking a shot at how Palin said earlier in the week "what is the difference between a pitbull and hockey mom?" Her answer to that question was "lipstick." That was Obama's cue and when he retorted the way he did all hell broke loose. Obama's reaction was that he thinks of the McCain campaign's is portraying "phony outrage" regarding his comment. To me this is just another ploy that the media has drawn up to add fuel to this election's already massive conflagration. This matter, however is just par for the course and shouldn't be scrutinized any more than it already has been.

A visit to The Miami Herald

It was a very informative visit to The Miami Herald this evening. I was able to take in the sights and sounds of one of the largest newspapers in the country and for me as a journalist I really appreciated my time there tonight. It was nice to see how a major paper operates. Mr. Rick Hirsch was very helpful in describing all of the duties of a modern paper. He explained how the medium was changing and how he has implemented plans for the future. Here are some of the photos I took during my visit:

Geraldo does it again!

It seems like every time a major hurricane is headed toward us, reporters from all over flock to cover the story. Geraldo Rivera is no exception. He is a reporter that loves the spotlight and during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans he brought us some really gripping footage, but this time the storm (Gustav)was weaker and he was just looking for any angle so that he could get back into the spotlight. In this video he sees a man in the water who is repairing something for the army corps of engineers. Geraldo thinks for some apparent reason he is going to drown and starts screaming "a person look a person is in the water..." Good try however, I do appreciate his reporting style it is very in your face. Some guys love action and I think that Geraldo is very entertaining when it comes to breaking news such as a natural disaster.

New York Times embraces semantic web...

In case you are not familiar with what the title of this post refers to, well let me clear it up for you. Semantic web in this case refers to mobile. Now what I mean by mobile is that media conglomerates such as the New York Times are becoming really excited about posting parts of their entities' work online, but not just online they are actually formatting a page that people can access from their cell phone. This page which they are creating especially for cell phones has to be compact and concise. In the link below one of the top guys at the paper in the mobile department talks to a reporter and shares with him how excited he is about posting for mobile phones exclusively. He also shares how good he and his team have become at refining the techniques that they have implemented to make their mobile page top rate. This to me is a very important topic because the mobile medium is just plain huge, I mean who doesn't have a cell phone? This gentleman also discusses the relationship between mobile and print and he thinks that they will have a better relationship that online and print do because of several key factors. This is an exciting era for journalism, new mediums are popping up left and right. Lets take advantage of all of them while ideas such as mobile are still fresh on the audience's mind.


http://www.cyberjournalist.net/new-york-times-embraces-semantic-web/

Understanding and Appreciating Online Journalism...

The first half of tonight's CNJ 442 class here at University of Miami was very informative as far as what the basics of online journalism consist of. To really understand what it takes to become an online journalist in this day and age you really need to enroll in a course such as this one. There are many aspects of online journalism that you will have to take into account before you truly understand what this field is about. Once you have familiarized yourself with the basics of the field than there are many other concepts that you will need to become proficient within online journalism.