Tuesday, April 18^th-  Just barely a year into Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise’s new romance, Katie Holmes gave birth to their new baby girl, Suri.  Suri, which means “princess” in Hebrew and “red rose” in Persian, arrived weighing 7 pounds, 7 ounces and being 20 inches in length.  

“She almost seems born for motherhood. She’s a nurturer. She’s got mother qualities a lot of girls her age don’t have,” stated Oliver Hudson, a former co-worker of 27 year old, Katie Holmes. 43 year-old Tom Cruise on the other hand, already has tow children from his marriage to Nicole Kidman, Isbella, 13, and Connor, 11; both adopted. When asked, it was stated that Cruise was an excellent father already. 

After giving birth to their new baby girl, the next plan for this couple is marriage. “In summer we want to get married. I won’t let this woman get away,” stated Cruise.  But for now, all that is on the couple’s mind is Suri. Both Katie and Suri are doing well.  

“We believe that the potential role of cats should be considered in official guidelines for controlling the spread of H5N1 virus infection,” states both Albert Osterhaus at the

Erasmus
Medical
Center in
Rotterdam and Peter Roeder of the Food and Argiculture Organization of the United Nations.

Scientists advise cat owners to keep their cats inside, away from both the infected birds and their droppings. Along with this, cats that demonstrate any symptoms should be quarantined immediately for further testing.

Although scientists are still unsure of the role cats play in the H5N1 virus, they explain that they rather be safe than sorry until further information is provided.

Learning several months ago that birds, a species that creates a large population in my living area, I became quite scared. But after learning that my two cats are able to not only become infected, but possibly spread this disease to myself, the fear increases even more so. As this ever growing bird flu makes its way to local areas, myself and others continue to fear.

“It is extremely rare to have two fetuses being discovered inside another,” stated Dr. Zaheer Abbasi, the chief surgeon and head of Nazia’s operation. “Basically, it’s case of triplets, but two of the siblings grew into the other.” Abbasi still is unsure of the cause of this abnormality.

After a two hour surgery, Nazia remained in critical condition, while the two other fetuses, totaling about two pounds, were removed. The two fetuses had died about four months ago.

This is a remarkable story.  The chances of this abnormality occurring is so unlikely, making it almost impossible for experts to even determine such cases. The thought of twins or triplets growing into each other is simply unbelievable. To know that there is even a chance that anyone may be the next 1 in 500,000 pregnancies to experience this abnormality is a thought too scary to think about. The strength and courage of both Nazia and her family is astonishing.

Sunday, March 19^th, two boys, 11 year old Purvis Virginia Parker and 12 year old Quadrevion Henning disappeared while playing together outside. They were last seen at 3:30 pm, when one of their grandfathers’s asked them to come in. They asked to keep playing, he approved. At 8:30, he phoned the police reporting their disappearance.

            Police started searching once receiving call of their disappearance. They first searched the lagoon in the local park, to be able to rule out the possibility of drowning. When the boys’ bodies were not found in the lagoon, police began to split up and search all directions, including all the registered sex offenders in the area.

            When interviewed, each child’s parent explained that the chances of the boys running away were highly unlikely. Neither one of the boys has any history of running away. The suspicion that they were taken is the most probable, according to the families. “I know somebody’s got them”, said Quadrevion’s grandfather, Garry Henning.

            “If I had a chance, I’d say, ‘Boys please come home. We’ve got everyone worried about you guys. Everyone out here just wants you home.” Angela Virginia, Purvis’ mother plead to CNN on national television.

            Local police officers have been using dogs and thermo-imaging equipment to search for the boys. They have knocked on 75% of the doors in the area. No one has seen them.

            On top of their search, The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and America’s Most Wanted has posted pictures of the boys. A Florida Group called A Child Is Missing is also helping.

            There have been no indicators as to the boys’ disappearances, but police are continuing to search. Family members are waiting nervously for the return of their children.

 TIME Magazine’s photo gallery website, not only demonstrated photo galleries of the most recent week, but also showed “More Photo Essays” that contained various different subjects of past news articles and events. When looking through this section of “more photo essays”, I found the photo gallery of the Winter Olympics to be the most interesting. The ways in which the photographers captured the action of each athlete and event was amazing. I found TIME Magazine’s photo galleries to not only contain brilliant photographs, but provide a story through the use of their photo galleries.

National Geographic’s Photo Gallery website was my particular favorite photo gallery website. The extent and varity of photographs that the photographers of National Geographic Magazine captured were unlike anything I have ever seen. The variations of the different photo galleries and the uncountable amount of photo galleries, in my opinion, ranked National Geographic to be by far the best photo gallery website. When wandering farther into this website, I began to explore “Animals”, from here I continued my journey by enhancing my knowledge and vision in the area of “Land Mammals”, specifically “Wild Cats”. Observing the closeness and great detail these photos possessed was mindblowing. The way the photographers captured the actions of each of these wild cats, also made for an exciting viewing. In my opinion, National Geographic’s Photo Galleries not only told a story and demonstrated a new variation of web journalism, but took the viewer on a eye openning journey into the world of wildlife.

The Times Union’s Photo Gallery website ceased to be my least favorite photo gallery website. After viewing both TIME Magazine and National Geographic Magazine, each of which possessed such innovative photo galleries with visually stimulating photographs; I became less impressed with the content and extent of the Times Union’s Photo Galleries. Although they too provided various galleries, all of which tied hand in hand with recent and past news, I still found the detail and extent to be not as advanced as the others’. The one photo gallery that I did find interesting was the Capital Region’s Photographs. Viewing a slideshow of photographs that are currently around me as a member of the Capital Region’s community, provided an insightful story into the deeper prospective of the Captial Region. Even though these photo galleries took last place in my mind, I still found the Times Union’s storytelling method to be an enhancing and enduring one.

After viewing and observing various different photo galleries,  I’ve come to the conclusion that while journalism and reporting is mainly all about the writing and facts, the visional appearance also plays a large role. While a story might contain insight and depth, it is the added storytelling ideas that make or break a story, especially those of web journalism. Photo galleries not only hold the readers attention, while still providing information and facts, but they can enhance the depth of a story, by creating a visually stimulating experience to completely get a point across. When viewing National Geographic’s “Wildcats” photo gallery, I have always know how vicious they can be. Along with this, I have read various articles stating the damage these wildcats can do, but it was not until I viewed the photo gallery of them, seeing slide after slide the length of their teeth to the speed of their bodies during hunting, that I fully understood it all. In my opinion, photo galleries add the extra visual material most stories need.

            According to Warren Farrell, the author of “Why Men Earn More: The Startling Truth Behind the Pay Gap- and What Women Can Do About It, the reasoning for increased wages among men is due to the more hours put in by men than women. “People who do best in a field (financially) just plain put in more hours”, states Farrell.

            However, hours alone are not the only cause of the difference in salary among men and women. Farrell discovered 25 work life decisions that men and women make in relation to their careers that have a direct result of their potential earnings. Farrell discovered that reasons behind men’s higher wages can include: relocation and travel for work, taking on more hazardous assignments, working in the hard sciences, taking greater financial risk jobs, and working in unpleasant environments.

            Women on the other hand, are more likely to seek “careers that are more fulfilling, flexible and safe,” states Farrell, the tradeoff being “the pay can be lower because more people compete to be fulfilled, causing the supply to exceed the demand.”

            Farrell found 39 occupations where women make at least 5 percent more than men, to the most 43 percent more than men. They range from the highest being a sales engineer to the lowest being advertising and promotions managers, with telephone operators, radiation therapists, legislators, and many more in between.

            Farrell states that the reason why these fields pay more to women is unknown, but in his opinion it can range from scarcity of women in certain fields to equal opportunity standards, to combining technique expertise with people skills, to the increased number of career programs designed to advance women. Whatever the cause may be, there are various fields that favor women over men.

            Whether a woman makes more than a man or less, Farrell states that women always seem to lead a more balanced lifestyle than men.

            To me, just seeing the list of 39 careers that women dominate in pay, are just 39 steps in the right direction for women. As society has progressed, women have came from the bottom, to the top in certain professions, it is just a matter of time till our society will progress to the best it can be, making men and women equal in the workforce; no matter what career it might be.

            Wind gusts peaked at 98 mph at Angel Island and reached 71 mph at the San Francisco International Airport, causing various delays. Along with power outages and airport delays, the storm brought on destruction of a shopping mall in Cupertino, when a 300-ton construction crane was blown onto its rooftop. No one was injured, but damage remains.

            As this Pacific storm slowly makes its way inland of northern California, coastal rain and mountain snow is forecasted. Power will remain out until Tuesday morning, once the storm begins to pass.

            Along with the introduction of March’s “Lion”, brings about increased temperature drops in the Sierras, Cascades and Northern Rockies, changing rain to snow. The East of the country will too experience cold northwest winds, to bringing about snow in the Great Lakes region, northern New England and the northern Appalachians. The Northeast and the Great Lakes are stated to be the coldest regions in the country, with the highs being in the 20s and 30s.

            While the Northeast experiences all that March’s “Lion” has in store for the country as spring slowly makes its way, the South remains untouched by these storms. The South remains warm and dry, with temperatures remaining in the 70s and 80s.

            As February and winter near to a close, the weather remains still in its prime of winter. To me, this next month will give us all that this winter has held back. This previous winter has been one of the best I’ve seen lately, but as March rounds its way, the last stretch of winter appears to be the ugliest.

     This year’s Super bowl was between one of the most storied franchises in football history verses a team that has never won a Super bowl. These teams are the Pittsburg Steelers and the Seattle Seahawks. The former of which was considered a large favorite to win the game; although their record was worse during the regular season.           

     The first half of the game was quite close. By half time, the teams were only separated by four points. After a fabulous performance by the Rolling Stones, the stage was quickly cleared, and the teams returned to the field. This half however would prove to be much different than the first. By the second play, Pittsburgh’s Willie Parker recorded the longest run in Super bowl history, by breaking away for a 75 yard touch down score. As the Seahawks would try to regain their composure, they were stymied by both the refs whom many thought were favoring the Steelers, and by their own coach who made controversial play calls and managed the clock poorly.

     As the Steelers would end up winning the Super bowl, the biggest story possible was manifested as running back Jerome Bettis, the fifth leading rusher in NFL history would win a championship in his home town of Detroit and then announce his retirement on the field after the game. His speech was considered the greatest retirement speech of all time.            

     After watching the Steelers’ victory of the Seahawks, I would have to rate this year’s Super bowl as mediocre at best. It was somewhat close, but the Steelers seemed to manhandle the Seahawks the whole second half. The most exciting part of the entire Super bowl was the ending with Bettis’ retirement speech. Although the plays were adequate, Bettis’ speech dominated over them. This year’s Super bowl was not one to contain breathtaking plays, but rather breathtaking events.