Time for Sentiments

As yearbook signing season reaches its peak, I am always bound to write sentimental and emotional messages in peoples' books. After all, it is most likely my last impression. I have been rather resistant towards that request because I feel emotions flow too freely and are expressed too easily. But lately, I have come to think that that outlook is wrong.

Why? And why now?
I am writing this merely a few days before my graduation. My entire life up to now has been defined by the daily trudge to school, punctuated by holidays every now and then. It is likely, after graduation, that I will never see some of these faces again. That in and of itself is a huge part of why I am embracing sentiments. But more scarily, after graduation I will be thrown into a whole new game. It's like getting out of bed on a cold day -- you don't want to leave the nice and warm bed, but you have to.

What sentiments?
Though I will be missing most of my classmates, I want to give a shout out to two in particular. Cari and Elaine have dragged me through this year in TPP with their incessant nagging and making me correct all their layout issues. I'll be missing them both next year.

Any last thoughts?
I wish the best to Tonya, Sophie, and Zean as they deal with the many-headed Hydra that is TPP. The Hydra can be tamed, and I know that you are all competent enough to get your issues out on time with few mistakes. Good luck. Have fun.

Emotions' Spring Show

The Emotions Dance Company held their spring show recently featuring modern and hip hop dances. This year's theme took the audience on a journey back in time. Each dance was stylized to resemble a certain period in history from the French Revolution to the present. The show was bitter-sweet as this was the last time the seniors will dance under the Emotions Dance Company name.

Hannah Tang

Sense of Place

          “There is just one life for each of us; our own.” This was said by Euripides, a Greek philosopher that believed everyone’s life was their own. Therefore everyone has their own life and individuality, which was obtained by their “Sense of Place”. One’s “Sense of Place” is how their life affects who they are, and where they believe they belong in this world. Everyone’s Sense of Place is different, due to the paths that lead their lives, leading through and to different places. Therefore I believe that my Sense of Place is dictated by my culture, environment, and influences in my life.

            Before one is even born, their family’s culture is already in existence. Unlike other factors such as where you live, your culture will always be definite, as it is passed through family and will always be a factor that affects you as well as those who preceded you. For example, my parents are from Thailand, and the culture that we display and practice is that of Thailand. Like the majority of the population of Thailand, we practice Buddhism, as it is part of my culture and the culture of Thailand. It is culture that affects your customs and attitude towards others. Such as the culture for people coming from Thailand or other Asian countries towards the elderly is extremely different than the culture of people in America. In America, there are a large percentage of people that send their parents to nursing homes due to the fact that they’re too lazy to take care of them. At the nursing homes the elderly people sometimes even abused mentally, or even physically. However in Asian cultures, Asian families usually take care of their parents until they die, without having a thought about sending them somewhere else to be taken care of. That is why I believe that culture is a very large part in your Sense of Place.

            One’s environment also dictates the way they react to situations among other factors. The definition of environment ranges from your climate, to the people around you, to pretty much anything that is around you. To first look at climate, the climate obviously affects factors such as what you wear to what temperature that you like putting your thermostat to. In terms of where I live and have lived my whole life, Houston, it has always been hot. Therefore it leads pretty much everyone in Houston to wear shorts, and a t-shirt in order to adjust to the temperature. However during the winter, when it can get to 60 degrees Fahrenheit, everyone suddenly piles layers of clothes upon themselves. In terms of the weather in Houston, 60 degrees Fahrenheit maybe be cold, but compare that to the weather in a place such as New York, in which on normal days, the weather would be 60 degrees Fahrenheit. As stated earlier, another element of your environment is the people that live in it. Houston is an extremely diverse city, housing multitudes of different people of various races, cultures, and customs. Compare this to Topeka, Kansas in which the diversity is very low, the majority of the population is Caucasian. Therefore one’s environment largely affects the way that their Sense of Place develops.

             Much like Euripides said, everyone’s life is their own and is different. Everyone’s Sense of Place is different because of their culture, environment, and influences in their life. It is these things that I believe influenced me the most in molding who I am today. So in conclusion, my life is my own and is unique because of my Sense of Place. 

My review on Call of the Wolf by JP Nelson

I’m a huge fan of epic fantasy novels, and recently I’ve been reading a ton of works by indie and self-published authors on using the Amazon Kindle system. One of the best recent works I’ve read is Call of the Wolf. Call of the Wolf is well-written and intelligent, coming of age, high fantasy novel. The story is told from a single POV, a young half-elf called Komain (and later Sedrick and then Timber Wolf). The novel is  around 700-800 pages, easily twice as long as other indie works. It’s quite detail-oriented, but the diction is never flowery and the details come through the storytelling. The story starts slowly, with the first 100 pages or so lagging a bit, but from there the story progresses smoothly. Komain is introduced as a slave tournament fighter. The story flashes back to when he was a young halfling, living alone with his elvin mother in enslavement to humans. Our hero Komain learns and grows and goes through a myriad of experiences and adventures. The world Nelson creates is vast and developed. The dialogue is natural and intelligent (nothing that makes you cringe, nothing awkward or stilted). Komain is flawed but likable. He has no qualms about killing his enemies, but he is a generally good guy. The characters around him aren’t necessarily groundbreaking, but each has his/her own personalities and faults and the relationships and interactions Komain has with them reveals his own personal growth. Great settings and descriptions, excellent action scenes (author is a martial arts instructor, a black belt, among other things, so he knows what he’s talking about), good storytelling, rich cultures behind the different races and peoples, elves and dwarves, kings, bandits, slaves, pit fighters, pirates, princes and princesses, different types of magic, a bit of romance…what more could you ask for?

Some negatives:
There were some grammar mistakes and typos, and the text read weirdly in some parts, but that’s what you expect from a self-published work, unfortunately. In one or two parts of the novel, the level of writing decreases enough to break the flow of the story. I also felt that the some of the humor and Komain’s narration were childish, anachronistic, or inconsistent with the context. These things detracted a bit from the overall enjoyment of the book, but should in no way prevent you from giving the book a shot.

Overall I would give the book a rating of 4.25/5 stars. The main character and the narrative reminded me a bit of Patrick Rothfuss’s Kingkiller Chronicles. In some instances, Nelson’s level of writing was on par with Rothfuss’s, which was very impressive.


Laurence Zhang
TPP, Editor
Bellaire HS

            Every year comes the dreaded two weeks of the entire school year: AP testing week. The long nights of studying and the endless cups of tea to stay awake begin at the start of May. A whole years worth of work all leads up to this one test that determines whether or not you’ll be able to receive college credit. This determines the difference between paying a couple of thousand dollars in college.

            As the school year starts to draw a close, I never seem to learn from my mistake of not studying early enough. It is very typical of me to not start the grueling studying process until the last couple of days before hand, basically giving myself no time and an intense amount of stress to finish reading my 500 page review book to the point where my dreams consist of me studying for my Aps. Strangely enough, I do not normally procrastinate on anything else.

            This junior year, I have a total of four Aps to take, more than I have ever had considering I only had one last year. Although I have some Aps back to back this year, a part of me has almost begun to relax knowing that I will never be able to study as intensely as I would like to.  As Aps begin, good luck to anyone taking them!

Jennifer Wang

Staff Writer

NFL Draft Pick

   

A few months ago, Johnny Manziel was a legitimate candidate to be taken by the Texans with the No. 1 overall pick. Instead, the Texans took South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney with the first pick. While some believed it was the wrong decision, others believed it was the right one and his arrogance has served him well. 
In the first picture, Johnny Manziel's body language shows one of superiority and arrogance. Even though he was the 22nd pick, his facial expression shows that he believes he is better than everybody else. In the second picture, Jadeveon Clowney's body language is one of maturity which helps emphasize that he was the better pick. 

Garage Entrepeneurs

Apple. Disney. Hewlett-Packard. Mattel. Google.

What do these companies have in common? They all started out in humble garages.

The story of the founding of Apple, Inc. is now almost an urban legend. Steve Jobs and co-founder Steve Wozniak set up shop in in Jobs’ parents’ garage in Los Altos, California and began developing and then selling the first Apple computer, the start of what would become a multibillion-dollar company. The other companies mentioned in the short list above had similar stories, all involving garages as makeshift laboratories, studios, or offices while talented individuals poured tremendous devotion into their work. Interestingly, all of the companies listed above started out in Californian garages, to be more specific: Los Angeles for Disney, Palo Alto for Hewlett-Packard, El Segundo for Mattel, and Menlo Park for Google.

Despite the interesting similarities between these companies, the correlation between garages, California, and successful entrepreneurial companies should not be taken too strongly. The creation of multimillion-dollar corporations is not done through a single magic formula with what seems to be just the right ingredients. However, with a willingness to take risk and to remain determined and passionate in pursuit of a goal, success may just be around the corner.

Jason Weilee
Centerpiece Editor

Appendix is an extra organ that hangs off the large intestine. It doesn't have a specific job to itself but it can be inflamed. This condition is called appendicitis. It is very common in the United States. 1 out of 15 people have this health problem. Appendicitis is caused by the blockage of the appendix. Symptoms of appendicitis are stomach ache, nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite. If not treated, the appendix can explode and spill bacteria inside the body.

Appendicitis, which was solely operated trough surgery in the past, can now be treated with antibiotics. An experiment was performed on the patients with appendicitis to see the affects of antibiotics on the appendix. 12% of them did not benefit and were immediately taken to the surgery while 88% cured without the surgery. 

Instead of cutting open the abdomen to prevent further complications , the infected appendix can be fixed with treatments.  Traditionally, appendicitis was treated with immediate surgery in order to prevent swelling and leakage to the abdomen cavity. But some people can now be cured by medicines. 

Physicians believe that treating the appendicitis with antibiotics is more effective with the least harm and pain.

Sabika Rehman 

Irony in popular television

The hit show "Breaking Bad" captivated audiences around America. "Breaking Bad" highlighted the story of Walter White. After being diagnosed with terminal cancer, White, a high school chemistry teacher, began making meth with a former student to guarantee his family would have money after his passing.

As the AMC series came to end, the network held a contest for avid fans. The winner had the opportunity to fly to Los Angeles and watch the "Breaking Bad" finale with the cast. Winner Ryan Lee Carroll won the contest, attended the finale party in Los Angeles, and met the cast members.

Carroll was recently arrested in Florida for possession of synthetic narcotics, possession of controlled substances without prescriptions, and keeping a vehicle for dangerous drugs. Police discovered Carroll was running a synthetic drug distribution operation in Lee County. Police suspected Carroll used a cement mixer to create the drugs and shipped the drugs to other states through the U.S. Postal Service.

Throughout the series, "Breaking Bad" focused on the risky industry of drugs. Even watching the violence and gore fictionally on the hit television show did not deter people like Carroll who continue to make and sell illegal drugs. "Breaking Bad" did not persuade people to avoid the drug industry; instead, it highlighted it and made ordinary people interested in it.

Sophie Daily

Three Penny Press

Reasons why classic rock is just so much better

In this day and age of modern technology, a new favorite song is hardly hard to find. A plethora of archives exist in both physical and virtual format, ready for perusal and critique. Options exist from all genres of the musical spectrum- from the bluesy-soulful Norah Jones to queen of punk pop Avril Lavigne. If you're angry, there's a song for that. If you're sad, there's a song for that too. There is simply no form of human expression that can't be covered by a song.
And then, there's rock.
We all get that feeling every once in a while, when the wind's blowing a certain way and everything seems to be going right for us for once. It's a mystical, whimsical feeling that is truly unexplainable- that is, until you listen to classic rock. Classic rock is a dying culture, the echoes of an era gone by. These days, the name Led Zeppelin or Lynrd Skynrd is met with a confused glance and "huh?" rather than the high pitched squeal of a teenager, screeching "those are my favorite bands!" Guns N Roses has morphed into the Black Eyed Peas. Who are Simon and Garfunkel? "Is that a restaurant?" A typical teenager today might ask. And then there are those people- those few, sad, miserable people- who know nothing about the Beatles.
The pounding, crashing chords and synthetic overlaid beats of pop music are the symphony of the 21st century. Pop is the anthem of technology; it is the sound of modernization. But does pop music mean anything? I mean, sure, I want to just dance, it's gonna be okay, dada doo doo. But the lyrics pouring forth from our pounding boomboxes serve little purpose other than getting us to jump around and sing along. Case in point: The Will.I.Am smash "Power", featuring teen heartthrob Justin Bieber, encases such gems as the hook "Imma take it higher/and high, high, higher/ I stay in my attire." What does that even mean? Nothing, as it turns out. Compare that to the haunting, ten minute long "Stairway to Heaven" (Led Zeppelin) which opens with spine-tingling guitar chords as lead singer Robert Plant croons "There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold/and she's buying a stairway to heaven." Man, I get chills just thinking about it.
The difference between classic rock and modern pop is surprisingly simple: emotion. Pop has none and classic rock almost has too much (note the key word almost). The purpose of a pop song is to inspire dancing and fist pumping and cheesy sing-alongs with hairbrushes as microphones. Pop is sugary and sweet, like a store-bought cupcake. Classic rock is like cigarette smoke, dripping and swirling with anguish and swagger and intoxicating guitar bridges. Rock reverberates in the soul.

Although, it may be just a little too late to save the face of the classics. Perhaps that's just the way the cookie crumbles- or should I say, the record spins.

Recently, College Board has announced that they are redesigning the SAT.  The announcement has raised a debate among middle school, high school students, high school graduates and most of all, the parents.  The new redesigned test will be administered for the first time in spring 2016, and the structure focuses more on skills that are used more often in college classrooms.  Incorrect answer choices will no longer count against you, and the math incorporated in the problems with be math that "matters most."  No longer based on a 2400 point scale, the new exam will be on a 1600 point scale and based more on real-world problems that incorporate science and history.  In a way, the new SAT test somewhat resembles the ACT.  Along with a plethora of other changes that are in favor of the test taker, the new SAT has been, for lack of a better wording, dumbed down.
Over the past years, high school students have struggled to find a way to conquer the SAT with its esoteric vocabulary words such as "bucolic" and "obdurate" and the seemingly impossible reading comprehension section questions. The new SAT will now use vocabulary that is more likely to actually be used in a college classroom and ask reading comprehension questions that aren't filled with flowery and difficult to understand answers.
The opinions on the SAT test change are controversial.  The people who are struggling right now to get a good SAT score are upset and wish the new test would go into effect now, while the current eight graders are excited to take the brand new test.  Thousands of dollars have been spent by students' families on SAT preparation courses such as Testmasters and PrepMe.  Now, it almost seems like it was a waste to some people.  In other words, the odds are definitely against the past test takers of the SAT.

Claire Weddle
Staff Writer

Net Neutrality
Iceland Vu

   We have over come many difficulties in the past regarding the state of the internet. In 2012, Stop Online Piracy Act(SOPA) and ProtectIP Act(PIPA) were the causes for concern. the vaguely written acts would cause "The bill would also cut off funding by prohibiting payment services from cooperating with infringing sites" and "require the manager of a flea market to shut down the entire market because some of the merchants were selling counterfeit goods" according to forbes.com. An argument to these acts that piracy is good for the industry because it people get their hands on let's say, a TV series, and purchase merchandise because they come to love the characters on the show.

    But now we have a huge debacle about accessing whatever website we want. The FCC(federal communications commission) want to regulate how much speed each website gets. for example, an Internet Service Privider(ISP) would have to pay more for their website to run faster because the ISP is controlling the speed of their website. If this sort of thing was to be allowed on the internet, the future of the internet would involve a fee to visit a website.

Timeless classics are always better

Jane Austen. Emily Bronte. Louisa Alcott. These amazing authors of timeless novels have contributed much to the world of classic romantic literature. However, young readers today are usually more attracted to contemporary and meaningless such as Twilight and Vampire Academy. These books might sound interesting and exciting to read; but after having a blast with intense vampire fights and sweet high school loves, these stories are soon forgotten as teen seek for more modern fiction.

Personally, I believe these new fictions are abundant in quantity rather than quality. The main reason for their appeal to teens are their thrilling story plots instead of meaningful themes. Although this might not to apply some books like the Hunger Games and the Uglies Series, most teen novels unfortunately fall into this category. As a fan of the past classics, I definitely recommend more teen to read books such as Anne of the Green Gables, Little Women, Sense and Sensibility,  and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Don Quixote is dubbed the greatest work of Spanish literature, the first modern European novel, a timeless classic. The timeless tale dives into Don Quixote’s quixotic goal toward chivalry while exploring social issues of 17th century Spain. Yet the author, Miguel Cervantes died of poverty and his body is nowhere to be found. Legend has it Cervantes was buried underneath the Convent of the Barefoot Trinitarians. Recently, the Spanish government announced its plan to search for and exhume the body of Cervantes. They plan to spend over 100,000 euros to locate the body of the author using radar technology. The goal is that the investigation will reveal more information on the mysterious author. Even after centuries of death, forensics can still analyze the injuries for possible sources of death. Investigators hope to find evidence that could lead to answers. The only clues we have of Cervantes is found his his writing for he frequently referenced himself in them. We know that he supposedly has several bullet wounds from his days in the navy as well as only six teeth.

There is a close parallel between the fate of William Shakespeare, who died of an unknown cause and is buried in the Holy Trinity Church in his hometown of Stratford, Warwickshire. A few years ago, a group of scientists asked for permission to exhume the body of Shakespeare. However, the English government rejected the proposal.

Famous authors are often subjected to the intense investigation of the media as celebrities nowadays face. Shakespeare’s writing is tainted by myths of his corrupt character. Many people do not read his plays because they believe Shakespeare was a fraud or he married a woman eight years his senior.The substance of literature too heavily depends on the identity its creators.

It might be best to respectfully leave Cervantes in peace and remember Don Quixote on as we do now, unaffected by the corporeal being who wrote it.


Tonya Chen
News Editor

Earth's Twin - blog 4

James Fang - 4th

NASA revealed the first discovery of an Earth-sized, prospectively habitable world in the universe on April 17 by the Kepler telescope. The planet, named Kepler 186-f, is an exciting development in the search for extraterrestrial life and potentially space-colonization.

Such a planet has been extremely difficult to find due to the vast number of conditions that must all be met for life as we know it on our planet to exist. We are therefore looking for an Earth doppelganger in the vast universe.

For the temperature on the surface to be habitable, the world must be the right distance from its star, the goldilocks zone - not too hot and not too cold. This is required for the existence of liquid water which in turn allows for biological life. Next, in order to protect planetary organisms from the harmful radiation of the star, the exoplanet must have a protective atmosphere. Another prerequisite, more geared towards human colonization of space, is the similar size of the exoplanet to that of Earth’s in order for ideal gravity as well as planetary composition (ie. solid rock instead of gaseous surfaces of larger planets or liquid surfaces of smaller planets).  

Kepler 186-f has all the hints of meeting these requirements, but being over 490 light years away, the planet cannot be thoroughly investigated by current space technology. It appears to orbit a dwarf star and is at the far edge of the preferred goldilocks zone. This is important because: 1) the fact that the star is a dwarf star means the star is in its older years, suggesting that 186-f has been around longer than Earth has, which means any life on it would have had potentially billions of years to develop (perhaps, we may find advanced, intelligent life-forms) and 2) regardless of atmosphere or not, the distance from the star and the smaller amount of energy emanating from a dwarf star would protect life on the planet from harmful radiation. The size of the planet, having a diameter of 8,700 miles, is only 10% bigger than Earth’s at 7,918 miles. This suggests that surface is rocky and suitable for lifeforms like those found on our planet.

Bay Area Environmental Research Institute's Thomas S. Barclay said, "It's a progression. ... This is a very, very exciting milestone discovery. It has a much higher probability of being habitable. This planet really reminds us of Earth."

Future developments in space technology may help us confirm the composition of Kepler 186-f, but the discovery of such an exoplanet has broken our idea that Earth is alone in the universe. Further investigation may even reveal that we, as intelligent lifeforms, may also not be as alone as we think.

For more information:

http://www.policymic.com/articles/87881/nasa-discovers-the-best-evidence-yet-that-life-exists-outside-our-solar-system

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/17/tech/space-earth-size-planet/

Blog #3

Michael Pineda, New York Yankees' starting pitcher, was suspended for 10 games for having smeared pine tar all over his neck while playing against the Boston Red Sox.

The 25-year-old's action was a clear violation of Major League Baseball (MLB)'s Rule 8.02, which states that a pitcher "shall not apply a foreign substance of any kind to the ball" and warns of a 10-game suspension in the case of an offense. 

Which sounds perfectly law-abiding and all (it follows the rule to the T--pun intended) except for one thing: pine tar is a generally-accepted part of baseball, at least as far as hitters and managers are concerned. (http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/michael-pineda-suspended-10-games-by-mlb-after-pine-tar-incident-190834347.html).

In other words: Pineda was not punished for violating MLB's rule; he was punished for blatantly violating MLB's rule, for slathering the substance all over his neck and for not being (successfully) sneaky about it (though Manager Joe Girardi did admit to not having noticed the paste, so it must have not been too conspicuous).

This incident was the first pitcher’s suspension for use of a foreign substance in baseball since that of Joel Peralta (in 2012). Pineda began serving his suspension Thursday.

Allie Lefkowitz

Staff Writer

Period 4

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/14/the-new-york-times-wins-two-photography-pulitzers/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0


The photo from the lens.blog shows a young man on a therapy bed after having his legs amputated because of the pressure of the 2 pressure cooker bombs at Boston bombing taken by Josh Haner. This photo is very centered and expresses the man's emotions as he is looking up at the ceiling.

The article talks about the New York Times photography won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize. It talks about how Josh Haner was awarded Pulitzer for his photography during the recovery process for a survivor of the Boston Marathon bombing.Another photographer Mr hicks has won many international award such as Newspaper Photographer of the year.This shows how New York times photography is getting better day by day.

Here are some of the photos taken by Tyler Hicks.

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/tyler_hicks/index.html

They follow the rule of thirds and expresses emotions.One can definitely see the situation just by looking at the photos.

A case for why classic bands who no longer exist should come back together occassionally

For rock bands that reach seminal status, but no longer exist, tributes often consist of numerous versions of their songs as well as numerous cover bands. While both song covers and tribute bands are a good way of respecting the artist, no one can outdo the original band.

Throughout musical history, popular rock acts have lost members to a myriad of causes. Often, A member’s death can cement the band’s status, but lead to an uncertain future for the band that depends on the people in it. Led Zeppelin and Nirvana called it quits after John Bohnam’s and Kurt Cobain’s deaths (drummer of Led Zeppelin and frontman of Nirvana, respectively). However, the Red Hot Chili Peppers (RHCP) continued under the same name after guitarist Hillel Slovak’s death, and the surviving members of Joy Division continued as New Order after frontman Ian Curtis’ death. Still others split and members established distinguished solo careers for themselves.

The bands that continued on honored the influence of the deceased, but did not let it overshadow their own new work. In a twist of fate, RHCP and New Order arguably entered one of the most critically and artistically successful periods of their career. RHCP's second album not to feature Slovak reached 15 million in sales and was called by Steve Huey of Allmusic, “…probably the best album the Chili Peppers would ever make.” New Order expanded from Joy Division’s depressing post-punk into the electronic and dance genres in the 1980s.

For the bands like Led Zeppelin and Nirvana, however, there was no group evolution or future albums. While getting back together may not be feasible, occasional reunion concerts are – and something I very much support. The two surviving members of Nirvana, after their band’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, joined the stage on their original instruments. Several artists across decades, some influences on Nirvana, others influenced by them, handled vocal and other duties. Led Zeppelin has played with John Bonham’s son on drums, and lead singer Robert Plant has said he is open to a possible Led Zeppelin reunion.

With these two bands as an example, this approach is excellent. It honors their legacy – when the band was at their creative prime – in a responsible way. Whether the results of all occasional reunion shows may not turn out so well, I believe it is always worth a try for the fans, for the music they created and for any band members are with them. I genuinely hope and urge more bands to have reunion concerts.

Instant Replay in the MLB: Pros & Cons

This season is the first season that Major League Baseball will allow instant replays of certain plays in its games. Replays are available for plays that are crucial to player statistics. Debates about the MLB's allowing for instant replays of certain plays began about two seasons ago, and people were certain this allowance would happen very soon following the beginning of these debates. Now that they have been implemented, many pros and cons have arisen. 

Time concerns are the first con to this new rule in major league baseball. Games already take upwards of three hours for just nine innings, and that’s excluding games that go into extra innings. Adding replays can add time to every single play that happens, especially in big games between rivals where the games are hard-pressing. There is no arguing that adding instant replays to the game of baseball would add considerable amounts of time to each game. Where this might not be an issue is that baseball fans already know how slow the game is, so what negative effects would extra time, or “free baseball” have on them?

Instant replays in other sports have led to increased tenseness on the bench and from the coaches toward the referees and now umpires who could miscall the play in the replay. The umpires will inevitably make bad calls, but just how many they make could enrage fans even further than current bad calls. Following this, judgment calls are also a pressing issue while replays could make the proper call more obvious to fans who better know the rules than the umpires might. How an umpire determines pitches will always fall under the judgment category. Unfortunately, this is a way that fans get the most worked up against the referee.

Another issue would be the camera angle. When concerning whether a player has completely swung for a strike or not, camera angle is extremely important. Every ballpark has different cameras which could lead to different interpretations of the play in discussion. This could lead to further controversies about the issue of allowing instant replays in MLB games.

While these are all negatives with hidden positives, more accurately being able to call every game will not have bad effects. Similarly, not too many plays should have to be reviewed, so not too much time should be added to every game.

The argument about whether the MLB should continue to allow replays has become more of a historical argument on big mistakes that umpires have made in the past, big plays they have called incorrectly that have led to sweepingly different results from the season than should have occurred. It will be very interesting to see if instant replays remain in the professional game of baseball forever and if they will in any way be changed.

Leslie Cundiff

Senior Sports Writer 

The Rider online
Layout is very similar to ours but they have a very strong masthead that we are lacking. I really liked "MTV Quality" a column about how MTV has changed. I also do not like how they have veered away from actual music program it actually used to be a channel that only played music videos. The Rider also has very good head shots for their staffers rather than mugshots. The website is very easy to navigate and has lots of content for each section

The Red Ledger
I really like their entertainment section they have a rating system, good headlines, and they even have the trailer above the review. The headlines for the reviews are also cleaver not just "movie review".
I enjoyed the story about the student who was in "Noah" it was really cool that they had a student in a movie. The article was also well done and the interviewee asked good questions.

The Pride Online
The format is the same as ours but they also have a really strong masthead. I think our site has too much white the background should be grey. I like that they had a story about how they wrote a story about what they were doing to interact with their readers.

Nathan Hiransomboon Blog 3

1.
A. http://www.odysseynewsmagazine.net/
The Odyssey Online is an extremely interesting website in the fact that they use high resolution pictures in basically their entire website. All the different colors exemplify the rest of the website which in turn makes the stories more desirable to read.

B. http://ttonl.org/
This website is extremely similar to that of the TPP. I feel like the masthead of the website is something that is really effective in not only catching the reader's attention, but also keeping the website looking clean. As online editor of the TPP, I actually feel like this website is extremely similar to ours.

C. http://www.elestoque.org/ 
The thing I like most about this website is their focus on a specific color: purple. With defined portions of the website as always purple (such as the text of letters), it creates a uniform, but varied feeling to the website. I find this really interesting as it also goes with the font of the website, which just acts to make it more effective.


2.

A. The first story that caught my attention is one about teachers now using social media and are now more involved in using applications like Instagram, Twitter, Vine. I feel like this helps to make a connection between students and teachers by  connecting what teachers do with students. Even if the teachers aren't necessarily familiar with this type of technology, becoming familiar creates a connection.

B. The second story that  caught my attention was one about students taking stimulants to study better. This is an issue that not only exists within high school, but on the collegiate level as well. I've even had some friends that have used or considered taking things like ADHD medication to help them concentrate to get better grades. 

Blog 3

Alex Luckey

Point of View - This website has a very clean, minimalist look to it. This online newspaper is completely different from all of the others because it isn't about things happening in a high school, but about world events which is really interesting. But I like the layout more than the content, and most of their photos look like they were taken from the internet.

El Estoque - I like the simplicity of this online newspaper. It's very organized with drop-down menus and all the most recent stories on the home page. The color scheme is simple, and it looks really clean. There are a lot of photos and a ton of stories related to the school and local issues and events.

The A-Blast - This website looks a little less clean than some of the others but I like that about it. It looks really professional and makes the school look like a really close-knit community. It's pretty easy to navigate and has a lot of interesting photos and stories.

1) One of the stories that caught my eye in the Best of SNO was the story about students taking Adderall to get their schoolwork done. The story made some interesting points, some that I didn't really agree with.
2) Another was a story about a school's breathalyzing policyn to prevent alcohol use at school functions.

Vikram Seth Blog 3

Vikram Seth, Blog

            The Pride Online, Claudia Taylor Johnson High School, San Antonio, TX;

This website has a very user-friendly layout. The images that change on the main screen are very visually stimulating, and the color scheme is also very pleasant and proud of the school. The only drawback however is that there are too many titles and that the titles are also too close together and not equally spaced. The top bar also has good organization regarding a user’s requirements.

Lasso Online, George Mason High School, Falls Church, VA;

This website’s layout is all white, which can be distracting to the user. The website does however provide many opportunities for social media connections between the user and the school. The pictures that the website chooses to display are not great quality. The ads that the website chooses to run pertain to students, such as “Modern Senior Portraits” or “Behind the Wheel Driving Instruction”. Beyond that, the links towards other stories that are at the bottom of the page are too cluttered and disinterests the reader.

           

The Boiling Point | www.shalhevetboilingpoint.com, Shalhevet High School, Los Angeles, CA;

This website has an ongoing color scheme of red and white that even shows in the pictures that they display, which is creative and well-tasted. Useful information regarding addresses and contact numbers are portrayed on the top of the screen, which is critical to users. The categorization of articles is useful and not too specific. Articles that this staff writes are also very edgy, such as Judaism and feminism.

The Tribal Tribune | www.wandotribaltribune.com, Wando High School, Mt. Pleasant, SC;

This website has a very dark color scheme and seems unlike any other type of news source. It seems to advertise less than most other websites, yet also seems less legitimate than other types of news websites due to its types of stories (videogames and nothing going beyond school)