Santa Comes to Town

Each year Santa brings toys to children across the world and visits malls and cities for the children.

This year, in Brooklyn, Michigan, Santa was welcomed with a parade and a song sung by the viewers. He was brought in by the Michigan International Speedway’s pace car.

The parade started with the lights and sirens of the Columbia Township Fire Department.

Several other local businesses followed. The favorite of the crowd was the advertisement for the Annual Hot Air Jubilee with their baskets that they fired up.

Other local businesses included local churches, Curves, Dance Schools, and Patrone’s Hair Salon.

After the parade was over, Santa went to the gazebo and the children and their families helped him turn on the holiday lights by saying “Merry Christmas” all together.

The viewers of the parade were then invited to go into the Township Hall to get pictures with Santa and warm up with some hot chocolate.

To hear the audio file, please click here.

Movie Film, Gone Wrong (News Scoop Assignment)

People lined up at movie theatres across the country for the world-premier of “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” on November 20, 2009.

People in the Jackson area lined up inside and the line continued outside to watch the mid-night premier at Jackson 10. Lines started to form at 10 p.m. and people were still arriving at mid-night.

About an hour into the movie, the film melted from the lamps. It caused two theatres to be out of commission at the same time. The manager acted quickly in the event and was able to get the film fixed and back up and running within 20 minutes.

For the following 30 minutes of the movie, the manager was watching the film and having to stop it two more times in attempts of fixing the film.

Many customers began to get up and leave the theatre. About 200 customers were in those theatres.

After the film, many customers stood at the front of the movie theatre asking for free tickets to return. The manager of Jackson 10 began filling out “Emergency Tickets”.

The next day, people continued to line up at Jackson 10 to watch the premier of “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.”

“New Moon”, based off of Stephanie Meyer’s book, had movie sales for the mid-night viewing at $26.3 million, according to ABCNews.com. The opening-day viewing brought in $72.7 million, which beat the previous record of $62.2 million with “The Dark Knight”, according to ABCNews.com.

Smoke Detectors

A story posted on WILX.com was a huge eye-opener about the use of smoke detectors.

A police officer was at the right place at the right time, wilx.com said. There was a couple who was sleeping and they didn't know their house was in flames. The officer went in and saved the couple from the blazing house.

From experience, smoke detectors can go off because of moisture in the air. So when you have a smoke detector near the bathroom and you get it foggy in the bathroom, it can cause the smoke detector to go off. So, because of this, people take the battery out to make it so they don't go off. Or they take the batteries out because of the sensitivity of the detector.

This is an important reminder of families to check their smoke detectors often. Once something catches on fire, it doesn't take long for the rest of things to go up as well.

The Future of the Internet

The Internet has grown very quickly. More and more people are beginning to rely on and use the Internet daily. Before, Internet used to be a luxury, in few people had it to play games on and things of that nature, now most of everything can be found on the Internet.

The Internet is used to communicate with old classmates using Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. It is used for mail with e-mail servers. It is used to pay bills. It is used for research, instead of using books. And it is used to access the news verses getting the news from the television or newspaper.

Sir Timothy Berners-Lee published a report on "Digital Future of the United States". In his report he talks about the beginning of the web and how the web has grown from the beginning. Berners-Lee discusses how HTML has expanded and how more accessible the websites are now.

He states at the end of his report about how the web is not complete. "The Web, and everything which happens on it, rest on two things: technological protocols, and social conventions. The technological protocols, like HTTP and HTML, determine how computers interact. Social conventions, such as the incentive to make links to valuable resources, or the rules of engagement in a social networking web site, are about how people like to and are allowed to, interact."

A Free Newspaper?

In Leonard Downie Jr. and Michael Schudson blog, The Reconstruction of American Journalism, they talk about the change of newspapers to the digital age of Internet.

"Larger newspapers are seriously looking into ways to seek payment for at least some of the news they put online." Why shouldn't they? Newspapers should be charging viewers for the newspaper online. Yes, Internet is free, but there are some sites that you may not read the rest of the story until you have paid.

If the newspapers give the regular subscribers a username and password they would be able to use that and get their newspaper online, but others would need to put in other information. "Whether 'information wants to be free' on the Internet has become a highly charged, contentious issue, somewhat out of proportion to how much money may be at stake or its potential impact on news reporting."

Because the newspapers are publishing their newspaper online for free, they are loosing profits and having to cut employees and trainings. People who have Internet are now able to view their local newspaper online for nothing, so they no longer purchase the local newspaper.

"As newspapers sharply reduce their staffs and news reporting to cut costs and survive, they also reduce their value to their readers and communities."

A Tribute

I can remember being in Middle School and on Veteran's Day, we had an assembly in the gym.

A few weeks before the assembly, our teachers handed us some red, white, and blue starts to put the names of the Veteran's on them. I can remember sitting down with my Grandma and learning about my family and who was in the service. My dad, great uncles, uncle, and aunt. It was quite a learning experience with me and it gave me time to sit with my Grandma at the kitchen table. At the time I just wanted to get them done and be done with the project. But looking back I realized that I had gained a lot of knowledge about my family history.

So many of these times and wishes are starting to catch up with me. Paying more attention to my social studies classes, so I know more now. But I've also realized that things that I didn't think I was ever going to use, it's starting to come back to me now. It's so weird to say, "hey, I know that answer!" And realizing it was something I learned in High School and didn't think I would ever use it in real life. I guess I should have listened.

I am so grateful to have a country like ours. I am thankful for all of the men and women who served in the services for me and for my life!

Video

This is my video of the Tahquamenon Falls in Upper Michigan. My finace and I went up there over the summer and it is beautiful! =]

H1N1/Flu Shots

Every time the news is turned on or looked at online, something in the headlines talks about the new flu season and the H1N1 vaccines. The headlines include several information about how there is a vaccine shortage for the H1N1 vaccine.

Several people have expressed their deep interest against getting a flu shot. The main reason they give for not getting the flu shot is that they have never gotten one and they are unsure about the outcomes. Just recently on the news there was a story about a cheerleader who received the flu shot and is now disabled due to it. Many people have been cautious about getting the flu shot from their doctor or clinics, and this situation has given the patients more of a reason not to get the shot.

Each year, I go to my doctors and receive the flu shot. This year I will also receive the H1N1 vaccine. I have noticed that I do not get sick as often, and if I do it's not as bad. My doctor has informed me that it builds the immune system and I wasn't for sure how. I had heard that there was a strand of the flu in the shot and you get the flu. I asked my family physician and he informed me that wasn't the case and that it was healthy. I am protecting myself.

Many people are still unsure as the H1N1 vaccine is still new and with their views about the yearly flu shot. But I hope that they make the best decision in protecting themselves and those around them.

Life Is Too Short

This last weekend, on Halloween, I had an eye-opener on how life can be so short.

A 26-year old died on his way home from work. They aren't for sure how exactly it had happened, but the family is able to draw two conclusions, either he feel asleep at the wheel or someone had road rage and pushed him off the road. He wasn't wearing his seatbelt and the car hit a tree then jumped up back onto the road. The air bags kept him in the car, or he would have been ejected.

He is my best friends brother. He was friendly, kind, loving, sweet, a wonderful son, and was soon to be engaged. It is so tragic.

We all learn in drivers education to not drive while you are tired, to always wear your seat belts, to not drive if your emotional, or while drunk. Most of us probably have done at least 2of the 4. You may have had a long day at school or work and have driven home. Coming home from a party or taking a long trip can make you tired. When I have had a bad fight, just need to get out of the house because I can't be in the situation, I take a drive. It calms me down and I love hearing my favorite song screaming out of the speakers. When you hear a sad song, or a song that just hits that spot, you shouldn't drive. And I have taken my seat belt off because I have dropped something and tried to reach it, not while driving of course, I'm not that talented.

All of those situations, you aren't suppose to drive. Your supposed to pull over until you're fully able to be functional. But I know I haven't.

Life is just too short. Before you know it you will be thinking back and saying, I wish I would have... Next time you want to do something, do it. Next time you want it, get it. Next time you have an opportunity you might not get again, take it. No matter what the situation, take it. You never know what will happen, you can't get back yesterday, and you might not get tomorrow, all you have is today.