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.