Reporters in the Line of Fire

How far would anyone go to the break through story? Journalists all around the world go so far to try and get their big scoop. Some people find it stupid how people risk their own lives to get a simple story. Even if journalism is your career, one should never put them self in danger for anything. It is idiotic how some journalists will risk their own lives to get a certain story. There have been many cases where journalists have seen the face of death, still survive, and still continue in this career. They are putting themselves in danger and can even put other people in danger. But we must also try to understand it through the eyes of a real journalist. These stories make their career in the first place; their reputation; their respect from others. If someone continues to just write articles about local small events, or world records, it is true that they will most likely not be recognized. Most people remember the names of those reporters who find the big scandal of a celebrity, or go into natural disasters, or even find a secret that will destroy the world. That is the goal of most reporters; to make it to the top. They want to be like a celebrity with their talents of bringing news that will have their article and their name in the headlines. Their actions are reasonable, but sometimes they go too far to get their big scoop. They violate the privacy of many people, they often break the law, and their risk the one thing that is most precious to one person; their life. Nothing is ever worth of someone's life no matter what job it is. Journalists often become obsessive with their work to expose, headline, and ruin, but these kind of reporters need to get out of the business or find another approach to their job because their work will end up killing them.

Are Wii the Children of the Revolution?

The Nintendo Wii is the latest product from Nintendo, which can be considered revolutionary. So far, all we know about the Wii is that you can play games on it which a wireless controller you can use like a remote, not exactly like a controller. Well, honestly what is the Wii and what makes it so interesting that it is "revolutionary" to all ages groups? Well, the Wii is a unique game console where a player is able to use their body movements to move the characters with their remote instead of hand controller where you are limited to buttons. What makes the Wii so interesting? So far there is no other game console that uses body motion to play. It gets the players active and able to move around instead of being limited to a seat. Why would the Wii be considered "revolutionary" for age groups? The Wii can be played by anyone. Sure other game consoles allow different age groups to play their games as well, but the Wii uses actually games that all people would be interested in playing. No matter how old you are, you can play tennis, boxing, golf, baseball, etc. It is easy to understand and tons of fun. I myself have played the Wii and found it incredibly amusing. The entire family can join in on the fun. Mom, Dad, Sister, and even some unwanted guests who just drop by to play. The Wii does not limit a player to button sequences which can get confusing and tiring. The Wii, just move to the flow, punch the other guy in the face, and hit the ball as fast as you can. The simplicity along with the entertainment, the Wii has proven to be favourable to many people. Even though it may not be appealing to you at the moment and wonder why there's so much buzz around it, ask any person who's waited outside a store for 6 hours, or paid double online, or waited 2 weeks with a special order, and they can also tell you plain and simple why they would love the Wii. It is revolutionary.

TV battles peer-to-peer pirates

In our modern world, where almost every individual has access to a computer, we are able to do many great things with this technology. Television has been around for a very long time. Sometimes we are able to witness a scene where a person is upset that they missed an episode or movie that was playing on TV. TV shows used to rely on ratings to continue their showing of episodes and to increase sales. But today, there is a new worry amongst actors, television broadcast stations, TV shows, singers, etc. Any normal person with access to a computer and internet are able to view these TV shows and shows online without missing a scene. Anyone can ask what would be so wrong with this new technology to be able to watch TV shows you weren't able to watch. Well, the answer is that it's illegal. Illegal downloading is when you go on a website and download or watch an episode, concert, movie, etc, from a source that does not belong to the owner. Pirating has become an issue to these people because they begin to lose money. What would the purpose be to broadcast a TV show on the TV at a certain time, if any person could just go online and download it. This issue has increased over the last few years. Such websites like Bitorrent, YouTube, Veoh, etc, have made it easy for any person to watch an episode or movie of a TV show. For us normal people, we find it no harm or disadvantage to download illegal shows onto our computer. We don't lose any money, all we gain is the excitement of watching a TV show/ movie over and over and over again without paying a dime. TV broadcasting stations can't afford to lose money like this, and there are alternative ways. Instead of going to jail for what seemed like a slim chance of getting caught, these episodes have been uploaded onto the websites and sold at a low price. Most people would just ignore the cautions of illegal downloading, but is there really worth going to jail or paying an enormous fine for one TV episode? Watching TV shows and movies on the computer seems like an advantage to us, and may become angry and upset that we are expected to pay for episodes or miss an episode or wait another weeks or two for the episode that's already been aired, but to be fair, look at it from a different point of view. Other people can lose up to thousands and possibly millions of dollars if this continues. It seems unfair so us, but there are always other possibilities, e.g. the Rogers on demand.

When War Meets Video Games

Unsatisfied with society's view of amusement, people invent game consols such as Nintendo, Play station, X box, Dreamcast, etc. With these game consols, people ranging from children to adults are able to enjoy their time with video games to pass time. As the evolution of video games evolves in our environment, youths, especially children become clueless of the unknown struggles and hardships that third world countries may experience. Young males become attracted to such war games like Call of Duty, Day of Defeat, Brothers in Arms, Medal of Honour, Sum of all Fears, etc, because the nature of men are interested in violence. Men enjoy the emotion of superiority and feel the need to stay in charge. War games attract more men than women because some are too sensitive or feel that it is unnecessary to enjoy war in any form. War games are popular because the game world is at its highest and is profiting from the sales of different variety of games. About 1 out of 3 men in grade 10 attending Mary Ward Catholic Secondary School own a game consol. Violence is becoming popular between youths because it is becoming an issue in North America but are unaware of the true nature of the violence if the game was their actual life. They find it amusing to murder and kill characters off the video game. These reenactment in the video games started out as real war simulations for new recruits in the US. Now they are being used to amuse children and adults to enjoy killing. If it's not realistic they find it a waste of time. The more realistic it is, they find that they are in the actual war themselves. They go create strategies and follow through plans. Being realistic ensures that the game doesn't feel fake because males like to be in actual fights and shoot the enemy down. The only differences apart from real soldiers and people in front of the TV playing these games is that the soldiers are actually running, ducking, shooting real people instead of characters. They are also scared and worried while on the other side of the TV where the person holding the controller doesn't feel the pain of having a leg amputated or the restlessness from lack of sleep or the emotional damage of seeing your friend get bombed. The players also don't have to worry about their life lines. If they lose a life, they may have 2 or 3 left when real soldiers only get one chance to live and survive to get back home. Children can not understand the true fears of war and killing unless they actually experience it. If they enjoy killing characters and are proud of the number of characters they've killed, it truly says something about their personality. War games almost hypnotize you to enjoy the games. I myself have played a few and find the games rather amusing but I find the story lines and the true base of the game almost disgraceful. While we are enjoying murdering other soldier characters, the game could have been real at one point and time in someone else's life. I do think that they desensitizing people, I do believe that these games are corrupting the idea of war onto children from an early age to think war may be fun, and I do think that these war games are wrong. There's nothing wrong to have fun killing pretend mystical characters but I find it wrong when they are based on real people and turn the horrifying trip for others into amusement.

An iPod Classroom?

Education is a vital requirement to be successful in life in this modern age we live in today. Fusing technology with education is an extraordinary finding. If I were a student at York University, it would be a pleasure to work independently and would be excited to start. As a Mary Ward student, I have learned some qualities in the full year I have attended this school, and suggest that this iPod in a classroom would be an excellent idea for students here at Mary Ward. Since Mary Ward is already a self-directed and independent learning school, with students who need frequent breaks, and do mostly hands-on work, it would not be a problem adapting to such methods in the future. I personally, think that the iPod in my classroom would benefit my learning skills when in university. The iPod is still hands-on work, but I would also be attending a university. Instead of going to college, I would still be able to go to university and be in a comfortable environment. With the good, comes the bad. Some disadvantages with this new learning method would be distraction. Students are easily distracted if they find something that is not interesting in their opinion, and may get caught in another subject. The iPod video was originally created to view music videos and movies. If a student can make up an excuse to do work, they can obviously trail off their work to watch a few unrelated school videos during class. In a school like Mary Ward where the teachers are not able to look after every single student especially if they are in a consultation, they cannot watch over the students to make sure they are doing work. So would the iPod benefit or distract a student? The answer, it depends on the student. If they are self-disciplined, and focused on work and able to concentrate, the iPod would definitely be a benefit. If a student like the majority of Mary Ward students dislike work, and are distracted or get bored easily, the iPod may make things worse when it is time to sit down and do work seriously.

With the GOOD, comes the BAD

Journal Entry Question for Grade 10 #1.

Modern Technology is surrounding our daily lives everyday. We are able to find technology anywhere we look. An example of modern techonology can be the computer. The computer is an amazing machine that helps society a lot. Without computers, our lives will be demoted to cavemen. The computer helps everyone and everywhere. It can help find a criminel, or even bank with your banking account; the computer is so simple and effective, everyone can use it. With the good, comes the bad. The computer or PC is something that is in almost every household. Adults or parents are most likely to use the computer for important issues that are beneficial. Other than adults, adoscents and children are able to use the computer. Teenagers are most likely to use the compter for their personal uses instead of productive or useful contents. The computer wastes a lot of time, and can be addictive for teenagers. To children, the computer are able to explore the internet to anywhere, anytime. The internet can be harmful to young children because they are able to be exposed to porn, viruses, and harmful predators in online chatrooms. These unfortunate events can be prevented ewith virus scans, blocking cetain pages, and keeping a close eye on your children. The computer is very helpful, but it needs barriers or restrictions in some households. I myself have a computer at home, and i spend about 4 hours on the computer after I come home from work, and about 8 hours when I come home from school. On weekends, I spend about 6 to 12 hours on the computer, and the websites/programs I go on vary from microsoft word, to livejournal, and asiantown. The computer is very useful as a student. It can help me with my homework and help me print out work, but more than 60% of the time I am on the computer, I am doing non-school related things. In conclusion, the computer can be harmful to children, and even more distracting to teenagers. Even though the computer comes with these negatives, it should not be removed. Modern society would not survive without it. We are too dependent on these kinds of technology and even without the small music players or video games, people would not survive.

hi =)