Monday, Oct 31

Today in class we discussed the article in the NYT titled "Cruel Trick of Weather Sows Havoc in the East" and I had planned on writing about it here anyways because it definitely caught my eye. The article was about the October snowstorm that hit on Saturday and went into early Sunday morning. It explained that in some places, damage was worse than the damage after Hurricane Irene. In CT, where I'm from, Governor Malloy even declared a state of emergency (there were 12+ inches in some places which is wild because up until this point in time, the record for that day was less than 1/10 of an inch!). What I really found interesting was how the reporter first discussed the damage, then Halloween, and then global warming. At first glance, I thought this was really neat how the reporter showed a bigger picture than just another storm. The article explained that this doesn't prove or disprove that global warming is real and happening and I thought that weaving this into the story of a current event was very creative and appealing. It showed that this one event might be part of something bigger, or hey, it might not be.

Monday, Oct 31 In-class exercise

Rare spotted leopard cannot be found in Durham Zoo

By Cady Kolnaski

DURHAM - Confusion and contradiction surrounded the Durham Zoo this morning when Fluffy, a rare spotted leopard, could not be found and zoo officials and police tried to explain what was going on to visitors and local residents.

Fluffy, a 10-year-old, 146-pound Romanian spotted leopard was reported missing by a visitor to the zoo at 7:30 a.m.

The zoo was closed by nine a.m. to allow for searches to take place. Police and zoo employees were dashing frantically around the zoo, some carrying high-powered rifles and others clutching their holstered pistols, searching everywhere for the spotted leopard.

James Petronkis, a resident of Newmarket and daily visitor to the zoo, said when he arrived at Fluffy’s cage he knew something was wrong. “She usually draws the straw up into a nest when she sleeps, but there was no nest – there wasn’t even any straw.”

He further explained that he was dismissed by a guard when he expressed his concern, causing him to pull the fire alarm to get the attention of the directors and employees.

 Petronkis was told she was in her “little house” and to not worry. Thirty minutes later, when Fluffy still hadn’t made an appearance, employees checked the house and found that Fluffy was not there.

“All hell broke loose,” Petronkis commented.

Gerry Durrell, the director of the zoo, explained during a press conference this morning that they were doing everything possible to find Fluffy and bring her back. “We love that cat,” he said. “We don’t want to lose her.”

He explained that everything in her cage seemed normal, adding that “the door was shut and did not appear to have been tampered with.” 

Employees were searching the grounds of the zoo, but Police Chief William Blair stated that if they could not find her in the zoo, they would begin searching the neighborhood.

“We are concerned because this is a residential neighborhood with an elementary school and we don’t want Fluffy wandering around after the kids get out of school,” Blair explained.

According to Kitty Smith, the zoo’s chief biologist, the animal is “extremely dangerous,” adding that these leopards were on the brink of extinction in Romania “because of their appetite for young children.”

Officials are hoping to find the leopard before three p.m. or else “it could be a very messy night,” according to Blair.

Blair has asked the New Hampshire State Police and the state wildlife department to aid in the search for the missing animal. Officials will search every inch of the zoo before moving outward, farther and farther away from the zoo until she is found.

The National Guard is supplying five helicopters with infrared sensors to help locate her.

“We’re gonna find this cat if it kills us,” Blair added before leaving to aid in the search.

Wednesday, Oct 26

I keep seeing articles with the name Perry in the titles, specifically in the Nation section of the NYT, so today I decided to read one and see who exactly this Perry character is. Apparently, he is a Republican and Governor of Texas and he is running for the office of President in 2012. Until I started reading the NYT, I had never heard of Perry and my only knowledge of politics in Texas is about the Tom DeLay messiness that went on at least five or so years ago. I found two articles in the NYT about Perry today and I chose to read "Perry’s Emphasis on Birther Issue: A Wink at the Right?" because it sounded interesting - I mean, what on earth is the "Birther Issue"? Apparently Perry believes President Obama was not born in the United States and he, along with members of the "birther movement", think that Obama occupies the presidency illegally. Personally, I find it pretty amusing that people are questioning the validity of Obama's birth certificate and what not because in reality, we voted him into office so hey if he for some reason really is in there illegally, whose fault is that? I just think it's funny but more sad and discouraging how willing people are to slander one another in pursuit of their own goals and aspirations. Since when is it acceptable to dirty someone's name in order to get what you want? I understand that that's politics and the society in which we live, but it just doesn't seem right or fair. Just another thing to think about!

Tuesday, Oct 25

After yesterday's article about more animals dying and being slaughtered (even with bans prohibiting that and what not) I was relieved to see no articles about animals today - whether good or bad. I did, however, come across an article about children spending too much time in front of screens (TV screens, iPad screens, video game screens, etc). I found the following quote to be pretty interesting... "Despite the American Academy of Pediatrics’ longstanding recommendations to the contrary, children under 8 are spending more time than ever in front of screens..." Personally, I've seen so many children under the age of ten or so given "iPad time" for the more affluent or "TV time" for the less affluent (according to the article that is how the break up between screens is made) whether it be when I'm babysitting or teaching tennis lessons. I taught lessons to a family from NYC this summer and the mother always came and watched the lessons on Saturdays and Sundays. She usually brought her daughter along to the tennis courts and if she behaved, she was rewarded with five or ten minutes on the iPad. I just remember always being outside and doing things when I was younger and rarely remember being rewarded with TV or computer time even though I know it was common even then. I'm interested to see how the "app gap" as researchers are calling this age group of children with so much technology will diff from other generations. Who knows!

Monday, Oct 24

I couldn't help but notice another article about the slaughtering of animals on the front page of the NYT today. Just last week the Times featured an article about an exotic farm owner who released his animals (tigers, lions, bears, leopards, monkeys, etc) before committing suicide. More than 48 of his animals were killed by police following "shoot-to-kill" orders. Although I understand the animals could've been dangerous, I wish they had been tranquilized or something because the thought of those animals dying kills me. In this article, the victims are horses. I didn't even realize horses could be (and are) consumed by people. What are "tare de cheval" and "basashi sashimi" and if there is a ban on the slaughtering of horses, how come they are still being consumed in other countries? One of the latent dysfunctions of this ban on horse slaughter is that just as many horses are being "destined for dinner plates", just not in the U.S. The article features a breeder who takes in starving horses and he even said that the ban hasn't improved the lives of horses. I understand the need for newspapers to report all the news that is out there - we need to be aware of what is going on in the world around us - but please, no more stories about animal slaughter (or at least I hope not).

Thursday, Oct 20

The NYT usually has a few light-hearted (or at least not super negative) stories in it every day, maybe to balance out the amount of negative news stories and events going on in the world around us. Today, however, I struggled to find something optimistic. There was a story about exotic animals being killed after they were released onto an Ohio reserve, which I didn't read because anything having to do with hurting animals really bothers me - I just don't have the stomach for issues with animals. There were a bunch of articles in the National section about the upcoming election, which I can't believe is in about a year! It seems like only yesterday I was a senior in high school, anxious for the presidential (and even local) election so that I could vote for the very first time. Many of the articles featured stories about candidates and the "bad blood" between certain ones, among other things. I'm starting to realize how much work really goes into putting a newspaper together because the massive number of stories written on such vast topic areas is unbelievable to me, and the fact that they produce this paper every single day is remarkable. I think I have taken for granted the fact that newspapers do all of this hard work to provide us, the readers, with information they've deemed necessary to give us. Just something to think about on this rainy day!

Tuesday, Oct 18

I couldn't really find anything that I wanted to read in the NYT today, at least in the sections that I usually browse and read from like the front page, the world section, the U.S. section, (and lately the business day section), etc, but today I figured I'd take a look at the science-based section of the paper, section D I believe. Most of the articles sounded too advanced for me, even though I've heard that the NYT is written at a third-grade reading level (I could be wrong though). An article in the section, "Not Such a Stretch to Reach for the Stars", caught my attention initially simply because of the title. When I started reading the article, I couldn't believe what I was reading was real because it discussed visiting the stars (in the future, of course), what it would take to create an engine that could propel a starship, the fact that an engine like that could destroy the planet, and so much more. None of the information made sense to me because although I realize technology has made amazing advances in this field, it's crazy (but I guess not too crazy) to think that traveling to the stars is possible in the somewhat near future. The article mentioned that NASA's future is uncertain, but the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Darpa, is the organization heading this possible century-long space project. The name of the organization, specifically the word "defense", makes me wonder what we are defending ourselves from... Anyways, it's articles like this one that make me realize just how small our world, and even our planet, are!