Article 12/15 - A New Device to Help First Responders

http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/09/tech/innovation/bounce-imaging-explorer-disaster-emergency/index.html?iid=article_sidebar

This article from CNN talks about a new imaging device called the Bounce Imaging Explorer, which would help first responders evaluate different crisis situations without putting themselves in danger. This device is the size of a baseball and, after thrown, can offer a wide range of sensory from temperature to imaging. Applications of this could be fireman, policeman, and search and rescuers. The inventor of the device, Francisco Aguilar, was inspired by the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. He watched on television how so many people had been trapped in the rubble, and the efforts of search and rescue to try and find them with things like fiber optics. Though these fiber optics are useful, they are expensive and somewhat difficult and slow to use. In order to solve this problem he invented his Bounce Imaging Explorer. It is easy to use, and he hopes that it will price from five hundred to a thousand dollars. The purpose of this article is to inform of a new way to help evaluate crisis situations. The intended audience is those interested in technology or search and rescue efforts. This article uses description and also emotional appeal with the anecdote of the author in regards to Haiti. I found this article interesting and would like to see one of these sensors in real life

Article 12/8 - LOOK UP IN THE SKY! IT'S A BIRD... IT'S A PLANE... no it's another Amazon delivery

http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/02/tech/innovation/amazon-drones-questions/index.html?iref=allsearch

This article from CNN talks about Amazon's announcement regarding their research and development of a delivery system manned by drones. How it would work is that there are centers where the drone would leave, then fly to your doorstep and drop off the package. When it is ready, it will only be available mostly to people who live in urban areas or in a ten mile radius of warehouse centers. With all of this development it needs to be recognized that this technology is nowhere around the corner. There are still problems that need to be fixed. Issues include: battery life of drones (right now only thirty minutes), prevention of being shot down (humans like to try and shoot things out of the sky), possible malfunction (the package could drop and hit someone on the head), and bad weather protection (heavy rain and snow inhibit the drones sensors). With all of these downsides, Amazon says the technology is very feasible, and there are examples of drone technology already being used in other parts of the world. The purpose of this article is to inform and analyze the recent announcement by Amazon regarding drone delivery. The intended audience is those interested in technology, drones, and faster deliveries. The author establishes ethos by being a technology writer for CNN. Logos is established by providing quotes and statistics. Pathos is established by talking about certain common sense ideas such as "What prevents people from just shooting it down?". Overall, this was an entertaining article and I am excited for the possible technology. 

Article 11/29 - The Gambit that is Black Friday

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304281004579217863262940166?mod=trending_now_2

This article from the Wall Street Journal talks about how Black Friday deals are not really deals. Retailers actually engineer the prices and discounts and then work backwards to the starting price so they have almost the same profits all the time. According to research of thirty one retailers, between the years of 2009-2012, the number of discounts available increased by 63%,  and the average discount value increased from 25 to 36%. But, while all this occurred the gross margins (difference between what they paid and the price at which they sold) hovered around 27.9% barely increasing or decreasing. This gambit is partially because people are hungry for a sale, whether or not it actually is one. For example, Penney's CEO, Ron Johnson, lost his job because he avoided the system of discounted high pricing and just stuck to low prices. This caused sales to drop because people did not see any "sale" sign. The purpose of this article is to inform about the strategies of retailers today and also the way the general populous shops. The intended audience is those interested in the idea of Black Friday, how retail companies work, and also general discount shopping. The author establishes ethos by backing up her argument with examples, and also being from the Wall Street Journal. Logos is established through statistics from many studies and quotes from interviews. Pathos is established by talking about the idea of how everyone likes to get a good deal. Overall I thought this was an interesting article and enjoyed reading it.

Article 11/17 - JFK

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/16/us/jfk-assassination-conspiracy-theories-debunked/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

This article from CNN talks about different conspiracy theories regarding the JFK assassination, and specifically a Dallas resident, Dave Perry, who has spent years researching the subject. He regards how there are numerous conspiracy theories regarding the assassination, but goes into detail about the five most famous ones that have circulated. Perry goes on to disprove four of the theories ranging from LBJ doing it to the "mob". The only one, he says, is tough to disprove is that the CIA ordered it. There's always ambiguity revolving around the CIA so there will never really be a way of finding out. The purpose of this article is to inform about and argue different conspiracy theories about the assassination of JFK. The intended audience is those interested in the subject and JFK. Perry establishes ethos since he has been researching the assassination for 37 years. He establishes logos through his extensive research. He establishes pathos by appealing to everyone general curiosity regarding the conspiracies. Overall, I enjoyed reading this article.

Article 11/10 - "IT WAS OUT", "NO IT WAS IN"

http://blogs.wsj.com/numbersguy/sports-make-final-call-on-technology-1292/

This article from the Wall Street Journal talks about the accuracy of technology used to measure where balls land in sports. The article specifically focuses on a company called Hawk-Eye which is used in many sports including tennis and soccer. The technology is used in situations in tennis when it is too close to call whether the ball was out, and in soccer when it is too close to call whether the ball crossed the goal line. In both situations the technology is very beneficial and trusted by most officials. The only problem is that because of how realistic the replays look to viewers, it is accepted that it is exactly where the ball landed. Overall this technology has a very slim chance for error and is widely accepted in many different applications. The purpose of this article is to inform readers about the growing use of technology to aid calls in sports. The intended audience is those who are interested in this subject or just sports or technology in general. The author of this article establishes very little ethos through being a credible writer on the Wall Street Journal, logos through different quotes and statistics from Hawk-Eye and other researchers, and pathos by presenting the article in such a way that is easy and relatable. We can all think of a game or match where no one was 100% sure whether that ball crossed the line and that's hopefully where this technology will help.

Article 10/27 - “Yes the wind, yes the wind keeps, hooowwlin”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/cedricmuhammad/2013/10/23/album-review-lets-be-still-by-the-head-and-the-heart/

This article from Forbes talks about anticipated release of The Head and the Hearts new album, "Let's Be Still". This new album reflects how talented the group is and the uniqueness of their sound. The Head and the Heart is a six part band consisting of Josiah Johnson, Jonathan Russel, Charity Rose Thielen, Chris Zasche, Kenny Hensley, Tyler Williams. The author goes into analyzing each of the songs and how well each generally features an instrument, and also how the band has such a great ability to meld and create a pleasing sound. Another key aspect is that the band is very much one unit. They are unified and all share credit in the success of this new album. The purpose of this article is to inform about the new release a music album. The intended audience is those interested in music, specifically indie or folk. I greatly enjoyed reading this article being a fan of The Head and the Heart, and have already bought this album. I would recommend listening to this album and also their previous one.

Article 10/21 - Online Dating

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/21/tech/web/online-dating-pew/index.html

This article from CNN is an interesting one on how internet dating is becoming more popular and socially accepted. According to a Pew Research Center project, six out of ten Americans now believe that dating websites are a legitimate way to meet people. Also, only two out of ten still believe that it appears desperate when a person uses an dating site. Even with increased numbers and acceptance there is still a flip side, being that about 54% of the users said they met someone whose profile was not accurate to themselves, and 28% said they had been harassed by someone they had met. More specifically, people ages 18-24 are the most internet social based and most admit to having flirted over the internet. I found this article very interesting and not surprising that with today's integration of technology and social communication this idea of online dating has become popular. The purpose of this article is to inform about a new acceptance of online dating. The intended audience is those who are interested in possibly using online dating or those who are interested in technology and social media. The author establishes very good logos with all of the facts from the study, but lacks in pathos and ethos.

Article 10/13 - The latest drug that's sweeping the nation!

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/10/learn-something-new-your-brain-will-thank-you/

This article published on the CNN website talks about how learning new things can actually become pleasing to your brain. This pleasure is due to a release of dopamine in the brain because the brain is recognizing that it is learning something new. The difference between this dopamine release and the one that you receive from drugs is that you also have the feeling of accomplishment. The user do not have to keep going back to the activity in stronger doses to get the same rush unlike drugs. This idea plays back to Aristotle's idea that developing and living one's life to the fullest is much more satisfying than passing momental pleasure. Studies have shown that those who focus on personal development have lower stress levels and better sleep. Overall this article was interesting but a bit jumbled. The author jumps around from topic to topic. The purpose of this article is to inform and intrigue readers about habits of the brain. The intended audience is those interested in living a healthy life and or interested in neurological study. The author's ethos is that he is a cognitive psychologist. The logos is a few neurological studies but none mentioned in great detail so evidence is lacking a bit. The pathos is the author's own attempts at learning to play the guitar which many of us can relate to. 

Article 10/6 - Where am I?

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/26/tech/gaming-gadgets/google-niantic-ingress/index.html

This article published on CNN talks about two new Google apps that help you interact with the world around you. Both of these app are being developed by a team called Niantic, named after a famous ship that was run aground in San Francisco. The first app the team developed is called Field Trip, and has been out for approximately a year. This app, using your current GPS location, looks up interesting landmarks near you and gives you general information about each one. The second app called, Ingress, is a worldwide game where players must "capture" landmarks for their one of two teams, according to their location. Though this app is still in beta, it has received great reviews from the test users. They have said that it really bring groups of people together, while at the same time competitively discovering new and interesting landmarks. The purpose of this article is to inform those who are interested in travel, and or technology of new apps that provide information of the landmarks near you. The intended audience is readers of CNN, and those interested in technology and travel. The author uses great description in the article, and almost appears trying to sell the apps to the reader.

Article 9/22 - In a galaxy far far away...

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/13/science/in-a-breathtaking-first-nasa-craft-exits-the-solar-system.html?pagewanted=all

This article published in the New York Times talks about a great achievement NASA just reached: having a spacecraft leave the solar system. In 1977, NASA launched the Voyager spacecraft to take pictures of Jupiter and Saturn, but stopped its picture taking to conserve energy in 1990. More recently, the Voyager team detected that it was getting close to the border between our galaxy and interstellar space. So, in order to gather more data they needed to write some more code. The problem being that the Voyager computer system is very old and most people today are not experience with that old of a system. So finally, they found the person for the job,  Lawrence J. Zottarelli, a retired NASA engineer who came up with a solution. With his solution the team was able to estimate that the Voyager left the solar system approximately August 25, 2012. The purpose of this article is to inform the general public about a great achivement by NASA. The intended audience is readers of the New York Times, but also those who are interested in astronomy and space. Some rhetorical elements are flashback, and explanation. The organization of this article is somewhat chronological, but the author jumps around slightly.

Article 9/15 - Caveman Running

http://www.runnersworld.com/sports-psychology/caveman-gym

This article from Runner's World talks about why people as a whole experience boredom while running on a treadmill. It states that why treadmill running is so boring to us may be because of our "caveman instincts" still somewhere in our brain. Way back when during the Pleistocene age our ancestors only had one goal: eat or be eaten. Our ancestor would kill the mammoth and have dinner, instant gratification. Compared to today where we have to train for months for our reward of a successful race. Also, while our ancestors were running, there would be a stimulus from a change of scenery and terrain compared to a treadmill where there is neither. Even with both of these setbacks, the author tells us that we can still train our brain to cope with treadmill running by reflecting on ourselves, like how we feel. The author's purpose is to give reason why runners have such a hard time running on a treadmill. The intended audience is runners and possibly other athletes that use treadmills. Rhetorical appeals are ethos (the author wrote a book about the subject), logos (not much factual evidence but the argument is logical), and pathos (talking about the mouse and the usual running on a treadmill situation).

Article 9/8 - Possible cure for cancer and diseases

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-07/rx-every-disease

This article from popular science talks about the use of protein killers to treat cancer and other various illnesses. The idea of this comes from a biotechnology company called Alnylam, which had great success when it tested a protein killing drug on liver cancer patients after chemotherapy had not worked. The science behind the drug is that RNA makes copies of strands of DNA. These single strands, called mRNA, signal cells to make proteins. In the human body, RNAi regulates these functions. So what Alnylam did was make a synthetic RNA strand that matches the one for specific functions of a cancerous cell: blood vessel production, and overly rapid cell division. The RNAi in the patients bodies recognized this and stopped the production of protein by that strand, causing the tumor to stop growing. There are hopes that this idea could be used to treat many illnesses just by using synthetic RNA strands. The author's purpose is to inform a person with little background knowledge of cell biology of a possible cure for cancer. The intended audience is a person who has interest in biotechnology and other science subjects. A rhetorical element is process analysis.