The Internet.....

The article "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" by Nicholas Carr states that the Internet has changed the way people read anything. It talks about how its causing everyone to just skim through pages instead of reading them thoroughly. The article "The Internet Is No Substitute for the Dying Newspaper Industry" by Chris Hedges state that the Internet is causing the newspaper to die. Chris says that because of some newspapers companies going out of business, many people lost their jobs.

In the article "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" there was the quote by Nicholas Carr:
"Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.".
Nicholas Carr compares scuba divers to people who read and actually get the information they need out of articles, while he compares a guy on a jet ski to people who skim through articles. I have to agree with Nicholas Carr because personally i have felt the same way, as if I've lost the ability to concentrate on any type of reading whether its for homework or just for fun. I get distracted easily because its hard to concentrate.
I disagree with Chris Hedges because some of the newspapers have their own sites on the Internet. People can just go on the Internet to read their daily news.

The Onion....

The Onion...

After reading couple of the articles from " The Onion", I was able to conclude why The Onion might have chosen to write their articles the way they are. In my opinion, the reason why they make their stories funny is to catch their reader's attention. Honestly, there are not so many people left who take anything so seriously. Everybody wants some kind of humor here and there. So to achieve more reader they make their articles funny. The Onion mocks all different kind of current events, from the issue of the president to simple things that are now on television.

[own fake comic news story]

Video Games Gone Wrong....
by: Karuna Kumari
published: September 22,2009

JAMAICA,QUEENS - Ever wondered why kids have become more violent. Well video games could be the cause (maybe). It can be proven that any kid can be come a bit evil just by playing Halo 3, Street Fighters, or even Soul Calibur.

" I don't think video games make you a bad person. I just think some kids are stupid enough to go on and do whatever game characters can do" said Tom to reporters. "Like serious who in the world thinks they will be able to go to a castle and defeat a big turtle looking thing named Bowser to save Princess peach, literally....".

People believe that playing games such as Maple Story wont make kids go crazy. (think again people)

yea....awkward he broke his freaking keyboard! O_O

" I think world of warcraft is a very addicting game recently" said Shad. Indeed it is. It is one of the most played MMORPG game these days. " I heard that many mothers play WoW because they have nothing to do at home" Shad said to reporters. " If you play you can see there are more female players than males".

Lastly, the one and only famous party game "Rock Band". Rock Band allows people to create their own at-home band. It lets people play their favorite rock songs using lead guitar, drums, bass and a microphone. But please, if you can't sing, don't try.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
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First- person VS News article

[News Story Version]

Snow VS. AP Biology
by KARUNA KUMARI
Published: September 19, 2009
source: Hillcrest Highschool students

JAMAICA, QUEENS - When students are told to study for an AP Bio midterm early next week, it becomes chaotic. When it begins to snow, nothing (not even bio midterms) can stop students from a snow fight in people's drive ways.

" Screw AP Biology, its more fun throwing snow balls at my friend's faces rather than studying for an exam I know I won't do well on" Sharan said to the reporters.

It is said that the number 1 cause for students failure in school is Procrastination. Student are distracted by many things surrounding them. Such as Electronics,food and maybe even the weather. We had some of the student from Hillcrest Highschool interviewed regarding studying for AP Biology. Students were Sharanjit Saini, Durjayeta Lall, and Megan Persaud. " Well, we all decided to meet up at Karuna's house to have a study group, but who knew Karuna was such a awesome instant noodle cook" said Durjayeta Lall.

We asked Sharanjit and Megan on their views to study groups. "Well knowing that it might snow today, according tot he weather channel, I knew we girls would have been distracted by the snow." Sharanjit said to reporters. "Honestly I've always wanted to have a snowball fight like today".

" I tried to stop them from getting distracted from the snow outside, but soon I realized that snow wasn't just the cause of our distraction" Megan said. " I have to blame Karuna for this because of her iTunes playlist and her Asian drama addiction no one was able to pay attention to any work we tried to do".

In the end, it can be proved that no matter how hard students try to study there will always be some kind of distractions out there. As for friends studying together, according to these 4 students it can be proved that eating instant noodles, listening to music and watching dramas will not help students pass midterms.






[First- person story version]

Snowy Biology Day

Before the bell had rung, my bio teacher had reminded us about our midterm which would be given to us in a week or two. Since it is an AP class, I thought that I would be nice for once and ACTUALLY study for this midterm. My studying days went by and I figured that I couldn’t do this alone. *sighs*

So I gathered couple of my friends and decided to have a study group. It was a really cold day with cloudy skies, but I had no idea it was going to snow. To warm ourselves, I made instant noodles for everyone.

After warming up with hot 3 minute noodles, we studied for about 2 to 3 hours and got very “hyper”.

*note the bag of chips and iPods* OH YES WE WERE STUDYING!!! : )

It was either because of the Heresy’s chocolate I gave them or we just got really bored. I had given up on AP Bio as well, so then we watched couple of our favorite scenes from our favorite Asian dramas.

this is what I do most of the time when I'm home

Our party of 4 people moved to the outside world, where it had begun to snow.

Well when I think snow, I automatically for a snowball and hunt for my first victim. But this time I had the camera in my hand. Well the outcome is this:

*should have paid her for shoveling my drive way haha*

*Thank you Devi, Sharan, and Megan for not killing
me for the use of their embarrassing pictures*

Blogs...

The point of the article "Blog: All the Noise that Fits" is that in today's generation everybody is blogging on issue that they find "interesting" without even trying to find evidence to prove their opinion. While there are reporters who have the patient to find facts. Michael Skube states that a story written by a reporter or journalist takes time.
"...such a story demanded time, thorough fact-checking and verification and, most of all, perseverance..."

As said in the article by Andrew Sullivan, he states that journalism functions have changed over the past years. He states that blogging is free, but it could help you make a profit. Andrew says that people can also publish their own book, without doing much. People could just go to a print on demand website and make could of copies using their own money, then selling them with a higher price.

In other words, Michael Skube was against Internet blogging while Andrew Sullivan was with Internet blogging. When it comes to my opinion, I believe that i would agree with Michael Skube. I agree with him because I also feel that if you are going to tell the society about an issue that you find important you should at least gather some facts to prove that the issue you have is true, rather than just passing on some rumors that would cause a chaos and ruin somebody's professional or ordinary life.

Snowy Biology Day

Snowy Biology Day

Before the bell had rung, my bio teacher had reminded us about our midterm which would be given to us in a week or two. Since it is an AP class, I thought that I would be nice for once and ACTUALLY study for this midterm. My studying days went by and I figured that I couldn’t do this alone. *sighs*

So I gathered couple of my friends and decided to have a study group. It was a really cold day with cloudy skies, but I had no idea it was going to snow. To warm ourselves, I made instant noodles for everyone.

After warming up with hot 3 minute noodles, we studied for about 2 to 3 hours and got very “hyper”.

*note the bag of chips and iPods* OH YES WE WERE STUDYING!!! : )

It was either because of the Heresy’s chocolate I gave them or we just got really bored. I had given up on AP Bio as well, so then we watched couple of our favorite scenes from our favorite Asian dramas.

this is what I do most of the time when I'm home

Our party of 4 people moved to the outside world, where it had begun to snow.

Well when I think snow, I automatically for a snowball and hunt for my first victim. But this time I had the camera in my hand. Well the outcome is this:

*should have paid her for shoveling my drive way haha*

*Thank you Devi, Sharan, and Megan for not killing
me for the use of their embarrassing pictures*

"The Jamaica Idea"

“The Jamaica Idea”

When someone says Jamaica, what do people usually think of? Reggae music? Jamaicans? Well, when you live in Jamaica part of Queens, it’s not only (no offense) black people, but also Hispanics, Asians (which includes Indians), Greeks, and many more. It’s a pretty diverse part of Queens in my opinion.

When one decides to go to Jamaica Avenue, you will see many different types of people interacting with each other.

When you walk around Jamaica Avenue, you could see the different type of people. The reason why I think this diversion is possible is because of all the public transportation available for all these people to be able to get to different places on their own without worrying about traffic and what not. There is a Bus Terminal in Jamaica right across the Central library.

But personally, the buses that I usually take are either the Q25 or the Q34. Because of my dad being so, “Over Protective” so I won't get my license revoked by the DMV if I do anything that would cause either myself or someone else to get injured... *sighs*

TADA!!

I am forced to take the bus even though I am able to drive, sadly. The Q25 and Q34 takes you from Jamaica -Archer Ave and Parsons Blvd to Flushing Roosevelt Ave and Main Street. The first time I got onto the bus, alone, it was very frightening because of two reasons. One, because I had no clue where I was headed and two people on the bus scare me. Now that they have the "limited" buses, it freaks me out when the bus goes pass the stop I originally wanted to get off. curse the limited bus!!!!!!

" I, Karuna Kumari, state that I am a New York State licensed driver, yet I still pay $4.50 everyday to get to and from college"

Another transportation around Jamaica would be the subway. The F train is the one more closer to me, but there's also the E train. F train takes you all the way to Coney Island (YAY!!).

Since I'm Indian (we're part of Asia too believe or not !!!) There are many Indian Temples around in Jamaica. There's one on Hillside Avenue also another one right by my middle school M.S. 217.

Overall, since I've been living in Jamaica for the past 18 years, there's nothing you cant find in Jamaica. If you are not able to find what you need in Jamaica, well then hop onto a bus or a train and off you go to your adventure to a neighborhood you probably are not familiar with (the Queens Center Mall doesn't count).

: D

(you might have to take the train or the bus for this heehee)