16. Man Pulls Gun On Black Friday Line Cutter

http://www.salon.com/2012/11/23/man_pulls_gun_on_balck_friday_line_cutter/

On November 23, the Associated Press published on the Salon about one more polemic black friday story. The articles begins in the form of an anecdote, quickly getting into the subject of how a man pulled out a gun at a San Antonio shopping mall because another shopper punched him as they were in line, waiting to come in at a Sears store. The author goes on and tells how it caused a turmoil and how the police got involved. He also provides a flashback on the story, explaining how earlier people were arguing and cutting line in fron of them. The article ends by stating the man had permission to carry the gun and won't be charged of anything, as he didn't commit any crimes.

The purpose of the article is to purely inform the reader of another black friday issue. He uses the anecdote form to keep the reader interested and also keeps the story short, going straight to the point. He achieves his purpose by quickly informing the reader about the incedent and keeping him focused on the main aspects of the story.

17.Capitalism’s grossest win: The final triumph of Black Friday

http://www.salon.com/2012/11/23/capitalisms_grossest_win_the_final_triumph_of_black_friday/

In Andrew Leonard's article, "From Plymouth Rock to Thanksgiving at Best Buy: The Puritan ethic went spectacularly astray, all for an iPad mini"; written on November 3rd, Leonard talks about how people are becoming so obsessed with low prices on things, even though sometimes the black friday prices are not always the lowest of the year. He begins his article by explaining to readers that the time that the door opens to the consumers was irrelevant, because they where already submersed in shopping mania. Leonard also says that some people say that it is the part of our culture, but in reality this metastasizing control over the their culture has only shown how they are in a poor economy, he also says that if this went true, people would`t what days and days in line just to buy something they really want. Leonard explains that the name "Best Buy" is very "American" because it already says everything an american want to hear; BEST BUY. Also he states something very shocking, how Black Friday  shows how people can have either thrift to greed; he talks about a 19 year old girl who took off from work for a whole week to be the first in line, because she didn't want to take risk of being second like last year. Leonard also says its wrong to criticize these stores who open their door every year for consumers, because despite the angry mob outside their doors who are just waiting for the door to swing open, those same people show up every time. "we're locked in a mutual embrace and neither side is willing to let go."

Leonard purpose of in this article is to show how people are beginning to forget thanksgiving and giving up their whole week and holiday to stay in a line instead of with their family members. He uses very stung diction to emphasize that its not only the store owners fault for the chaos but also the consumers. Leonard uses analogy to show that if people are willing to let go of everything to stay in a line and be close to an andy mob just to shop at their store, they are also willing to get their doors open every year. He ends his article with a very sarcastic tone when he states "Who needs a mom to bring over the mashed potatoes, when the market it more than ready to provide?"

17. Goodbye Black Friday, Hello Black Thursday? Does it Even Matter?

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2012/11/23/black_thursday_replacing_black_friday_as_retailers_compete_for_shoppers.html

In Daniel Politi's article, "Goodbye Black Friday, Hello Black Thursday? Does it Even Matter?," he discusses about the results of stores opening their stores on thanksgiving other than on the actual day, black friday.  He starts his essay by showing the problem: stores opening earlier than normal. Politi reveals that this change was actually quite successful and brought any customers and a larger number of sales. At the same time, the author reveals that black friday does not bring benefit only to the customers, but as well as the reporters and writers who receives good news and stories about customers. Black friday brings a lot of profit to many of the stores and is have become a huge success. Shoppers storm the stores throughout the two-day affair, buying everything they need.

Politi's purpose in writing this essay is to reveal Black Friday's change in this year. He also wants to show the rise of sales due to the early opening of stores on Thanksgiving. Politi's audience can be anyone who is interested about black friday and is in search of an interesting story to read. The author shows how the change was a success and the possibility of this event happening in the future years. 

17. Don’t shop at Wal-Mart on Friday!

http://www.salon.com/2012/11/21/dont_shop_at_wal_mart_on_friday/

On November 21st, Robert Reich posted an article about how today’s largest private-sector employers pay very small wages to their workers compared to before and the working conditions are also poor. Reich opens by comparing average hourly wages earned by employees who worked for GM 50 years ago with today’s hourly wages earned by Wal-Mart employees. He points out several reasons such as globalization and technological changes but the main reason is the decline of labor unions. “As a result, the typical American worker no longer has the bargaining clout to get a sizeable share of corporate profits” while all of it is divided among a few people only. Reich says that the workers have organized strikes especially on Black Friday and Wal-Mart has been trying to fight against them to avoid he strikes. One solution given by the author was to increase the wages paid to the company’s employees, even though it would cost a large sum of money it is a small percentage compared to its total earning and will help bring thousands out of poverty while also increasing retail sales since the workers would be able to buy more.

The author’s purpose in writing this article was not primarily to tell readers why not to buy at Wal-Mart, but to make them aware of the problems that exist in large companies especially the low wages. Robert Reich uses the title and the example of Wal-Mart to attract the reader’s attention since it is a well known retail corporation. Reich used comparison to show how the wages have decreased drastically and supplies reasons for this decrease. The main strategy used to persuade his readers to agree with his suggested solution was the usage of statistics. They helped show that an increase in wages would help many people and would not have a huge effect on the company’s earnings despite the apparently large number.

17. What Do Anonymous and MTV Have in Common?

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/bulle/2012/11/anonymous_and_mtv_trying_to_protect_kids_online.html

Emily Bazelon posted an article on Slate Magazine on November 20th about cyberbullying. Her article started with an attention grabbing story of a young teenage girl Kylie who was about to commit suicide after receiving hate comments like “I think i just made someone cut herself yayayyyy” and “We hate you just die…” through Twitter. Two internet groups known as Anonymous and Rustle League appeared and stood up against cyberbullying against Kylie, as well as threatened to reveal the bullies' names. The organization of the article was progressive, starting with the problem, moving on the the action taken, and the solution and results. Next, Bazelon introduced MTV's app "Over the Line?" and showed how this one too, was in favor of protecting kids online. The article had examples from MTV's app and from New York Times of kids struggling to reveal themselves in fear of being bullied or rejected by others. Her conclusion connected both MTV's app and Kylie's case together, giving a strong closing to the article.

The author's purpose in this article was to both inform and bring awareness about bullying that does not only occur in schools, but also through the internet. The author's diction was formal, but not very hard to understand, which probably made the article directed to teenagers who could relate their lives with Kylie's, and parents who could be aware of this kind of problem. The fifth paragraph explicitly revealed Bazelon's stand regarding the situation, and this was evident in phrases such as "I find it utterly dismaying and weird—why on earth would anyone court that kind of danger?" and "I agree with Laura Beck at Jezebel that it would have been nice to see some of Kylie’s peers step up to defend her, but in their absence, I’ll take the adults who showed up this time to police the Internet." In addition, she portrayed the hacktivist group Anonymous as people who did good - fought against bullying - which clearly showed she praised the group for such action.

17. "Seeking a Better Way to Find Web Images"

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/20/science/for-web-images-creating-new-technology-to-seek-and-find.html?ref=technology

On November 19, 2012 John Markoff wrote an artile on ways you can better find the image you are looking for. Now, you find an image through search engines and the only images that pop up is what matches what you typed in the search box with the picture caption. So many times it is hard to find the exact image you are searching for. Therefore scientists will create a new generation of visual search technologies before the interent goes "dark" as scientist Fei-Fei Li said. With the help of many scientists, Dr. Li created the world´s largest visual database with over 14 million objects. Humans wrote the lables but now the machines can recognize and make good assumptions as to what object it is. It has been tested, known as Imagenet, and worked very well. This is a big site not only for Google but also many scientists. Dr. Li´s goal is to build a vision system the way a human´s brain works. The interent is about to explode with all the imagens and videos we are uploading in it. Dr. Li found out that the Mechanical Turk was a perfect way to gather her database. Every year Imagenet provides images for 20,000 to 30,000 people. A normal worker can indentify 250 images in 5 minutes. The futhur up in the caterogy you go, the less error you will find. They are looking to getting better and better as time goes.

The purpose of this article to show the reader another option in which you can search an image that you want and it will pop up. Markoff gives a good explaination as to what Imagenet does and how much better or accurate the search is compared to other search engines. Markoff provides us with many well said quotes on how it works and why it is better than anything else out there right now.

17. Out of the Shelter: How One Homeless Teenage Mother Built a Life of Her Own

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/11/out-of-the-shelter-how-one-homeless-teenage-mother-built-a-life-of-her-own/265110/

In the article, "Out of the Shelter: How One Homeless Teenage Mother Built a Life of Her Own," Kevin Ryan, the president and CEO of Covenant House International, and Tina Kelley, a former New York Times reporter, conveys the story of a young girl working her way up in life across many difficult circumstances. The article starts off by involving the reader in a hypothetical situation similar to the girl in the article, providing statistics of "nearly 750,000 American teenage girls..., a third of them under 18 and almost 90 percent unmarried" who gets pregnant and decides to have the baby. From these young girls, those who are alone are faced with the impossible calculations requiring to work 20 hours a day just to earn enough to afford a  small apartment, putting aside the problem of finding a childcare which "costs more than a year in a state college" in a year. Creionna, in addition to such extreme challenges, was faced with the remains of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Her mother died when she was two and her father was soon arrested for selling drugs, leaving her to her grandmother. After the hurricane, she came to live with her aunt whose house was "a base camp for various relatives with drug problems." There, she met a young man next door named Rashad and she became "with child." She spent her time of pregnancy in great hardship without any support from her family members of Rashad and was later left without a home to return to. Even through all the difficulties, she found aid from the Covenant House and managed to graduate high school, get accepted to Southern University, Shreveport--she was "heading from homelessness to higher education in eight months." Creionna has got a job at a health clinic affiliated with Tulane and lives with her three-year-old son in a small, simple and hopeful home of her own.

Kevin Ryan and Tina Kelley presents this article in acknowledgement of Creionna's persistency and courage to get off the streets and go to college even with a child and many obstacles. Their purpose also aims to encourage any readers to regain confidence of achieving their goals, because Creionna did it even through all the imaginable difficulties. The article especially stands as another inspiring, hopeful story to young people faced with troubles, seemingly blocking them from becoming the adults they hope to be.

16. Syria's Spray-Can Revolution

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/11/syrias-spray-can-revolution/265470/

James Harkin, the author of War Against All: The Struggle for Northern Syria, writes about the roles of children within Syria's current conflict. Harkin illustrates the terrible, brutal loss of innocence and the loss of lives of the young Syrian children. He describes the typical understanding of foreign views that the AsBasar al-Assad regime is killing thousands of innocent children for no reason. On the contrary, Harkin states that this generalization of young children as "passive victims of a tyrannical regime," greatly "underestimates their role in the revolt." In March 2011, 10 Syrian children painted "The people want to topple the regime!" on the walls of a school building in the city of Dara'a. These "spray cans of schoolchildren, and by other young people who then turned to Facebook and YouTube to get the message out" led to the start of popular demonstrations which led to everything else. Harkin demonstrates this activeness of children through his experience with Saleh and his family who are rebel supporters in refuge. Saleh demonstrates abundant knowledge about weapons "like many Syrian children," knowing "more about weaponry than the average war reporter." His small brother aging around six even answered "I will kill Basher al-Assad," when he was asked what he wanted to do to the president.

Harkin's easily comprehensible explanations and descriptions of past events, current conflicts and even weaponry terms determines a broad range of audiences without need of much prior knowledge about the war and the Syrian children. However, Harkin's purpose is to notify the general foreign public that viewing these young children as only "passive victims of a tyrannical regime" is precisely a great underestimation of their role. This indicates that the intended audience must have interest about the victims of the Syrian war, and perhaps have thought that the young children are no more than helpless innocent victims of the corruption of authority. Harkin effectively uses dialogues and personal experiences of contact with the Syrian people to provide complete evidence of his assertion that the young children may be much more actively involved in the war than they are widely perceived to be.

17. Church of England Rejects Appointing Female Bishops

      In this article, the writer John F. Burns writes about the rejecting of female bishops in Church of England. In the introduction, he draws the readers' attention by informing the readers about what had happened on the last Tuesday: the church of England voted against the appointment of women as bishops. More than 70% of people voted in favor, however, it is necessary for two thirds of votes for it to be applied. The writer, then goes on, by saying that it has caused many problems, for an instance, a man named David Sims wrote: “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do”. However, even some women were against it, and thought that it would lead them to be viewed as a humiliating concessions. Then he ends the article by quoting someone that says that by voting women as bishops, the church could show the diversity of view without division, diversity in amity.
     The purpose of the writer is to show that even though nowadays women are equally treated with men, there are places such as in the Church of England, where women are still rejected. In addition to that, he is trying to inform the readers that even though churches are trying to unite people, for all of them to have equal rights, ( he even talks about the Church of England about to approve two people from the same sex to get married) women are sometimes treated differently:  Even though men can be bishops, the women cannot. The church would allow women to be bishops in 2014 if the vote was more than two thirds, but since it was not, they do not know when the rule will be changed. 

16. Online Privacy: Could Your Crummy Klout Score Keep You From Getting a Job?

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/10/03/online_privacy_can_employers_use_klout_scores_facebook_profiles_to_screen_applicants_.html

Will Oremus writes an article on October 3rd, informing readers on how their online activities might cost them their next job. He begins his article, describing and showing how California recently passed a law forbidding employers to get access to the job applicants social media accounts. He continues by using a very harsh tone of voice showing his disagreement, with many companies by judging someone based on private things they post online. Oremus stingily provides evidence on how users assume their messages will be kept private. After many strong and well verbalized paragraphs, Oremus uses direct examples from interviews, and says "Olanoff explains that Klout score is useful in some context and not in others…" He also states a very important thing, that wraps the whole theme of the article, he explains that when applying to a job be wise, on weather or not you will be judged by something on your Facebook account, and if so change it or do not post it.

Oremus writes a well written article, telling his readers about the influence of online activities have on job applicants. He begins his article by explaining that California already has passed down a law  forbidding employers to ask applicants access to their personal information in media accounts and how many other places are already trying to pass this law. He continues to explain the role of media in the lives of people and shows his disagreement on the evolvement the job has with they applicants personal life. But he also justifies that may people now that online media isn't always private and can go public. Oremus explains that if someone wants to get into a goof job that asks for access to their media accounts, make it a good account and don't post inappropriate things that may cost you, your job.

17. Sandy Exposes 90-Year-Old Shipwreck on Fire Island

http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/11/18/sandy-exposes-90-year-old-shipwreck-on-fire-island/?iid=nf-main-mostpop1

In the wake of the devastating super storm Sandy, a ship has appeared on New York’s beaches. The exposed wreckage is from a different era. The ships skeleton was found about four miles east of Davis Park along the Fire Island National Seashore. It is believed that the vessel is the four masted Bessie White, which was lost at sea during a heavy for in 1919 or 1920. However, the exact identity of the ship has not been confirmed. The ship could also be a post Civil War cargo ship built before 1880. In the past, some parts of the ship peaked out but has never been so dramatically exposed. “There’s so little of it left we may not be able to determine which ship it actually is, but we may be able to learn more about its age,” Valentine told OurAmazingPlanet. “It’s just a rare treat to see something so exposed.”

The author, Emma O'Connor, gives some background information, like how the entire crew and the captains cat were able to make it out alive. The O’Connor uses various other sources such as OurAmazingPlanet as well. The purpose of this article is to inform about certain happenings in the world. This article might appeal to people interested in ships or looking for something interesting to see.

16. Senators Propose Comprehensive Immigration Changes

http://nation.time.com/2012/11/11/senators-propose-comprehensive-immigration-changes/

Two senators are trying to conclude changes of immigration laws that would help about 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, and Lindsey Graham, a Republican, proposed similar proposals that paths to citizenship would not be available till borders were secure. Graham says that those in the U.S. without authorization can, “come out of the shadows, get biometrically identified, start paying taxes, pay a fine for the law they broke…They can’t stay unless they learn our language, and they have to get in the back of line before they become citizens. They can’t cut in front of the line regarding people who are doing it right and it can take over a decade to get their green card.” Schumer said that he and Graham have begun talking on immigration policies that broke off a couple of years ago and “have put together a comprehensive detailed blueprint on immigration reform…(that has) the real potential for bipartisan support based on the theory that most Americans are for legal immigration, but very much against illegal immigration.” With immigration policy being ignored during President Obama’s first term, the issue has re-emerged. More than 70 percent of Hispanic voters were supportive of Obama. Graham believes that there has been a wall built between the Republican party and Hispanics with Hispanic support dwindling. Both senators said that the overhaul would include developing a secure document to assure employers they’re hiring people authorized to work in the country, and allowing legal immigration for needed workers at all skill levels. The path to citizenship would require immigrants to learn English, go to the back of the citizenship line, have a job and not commit crimes.

The article is written by the Associated Press of Time. Like most always, the news article is to inform people on recent happenings. This article has to do with the touchy subject of immigration in the United States. Most likely immigrants or people wanting to become U.S. citizens would be most interested in this article. The article shows two senators from different parties trying to come to some sort of solution. The author uses various quotes from the senators as well.

17. israel and gaza: edging closer to war

if the latest round of violence between israel and  and hamas the palestinian islamist who run gaza were to end this weekend it would've involved everyone. but it is possible that  the bombing and rocketing will drag  on into next week with the threat growing  by israel the destruction in inevitable . it is said that for the israel and hamas the key questionn for them is ,"did it win in the eyes of  our public opinion?" and so due to thie rivalry the war that was supposed to end may be edging to start once again. they have already set more gun and tool while people are packing to stay away from certain areas.

ten author describesthe background of these two cultures and informing that a war might be edging dut to indifferences and threats that has been going on with these two "types of people" which is why it is leading to this unfortunate war that could be changing the matters for many people that are going through this unfairness of the ministers

16. Rape is not a "fashion violation"

In November 2012  A famous designer Anad Jon was bookended on W magazine. this article had become quite as issue because the title had nothing to do with the article itself. the three words "fashion violation " did not refer to the model next to the designer that was wearing a attention getting red lipstick that had nothing to do with the models outfit but as it turned out it was referred to a rape.  15 counts of sexual assaults on young girls around 14 years old gave jon a 59 year to life sentence in jail .apparently this is not the end of his punishment he has yet to face a trial in Texas and new york. many yound girls and ladies have come foward to testify this act even though Jin is a known celebrity which should not be the reason to silence the victims. it has tramatized ladies and it is becoming a harder issue to control but as a brave lady said ," I learned that a victim can only become a survivor by sharing his or her story, and it is not by coincidence that so many victims are still living in the shadow of rape -or as W magazine considers mine,'a fashion violation '."

     this author has turned thses ladies experiences into words and brings out an argumentation that even though the raper is famous and blackmails the victim to silence them these thing should not be kept silent because the victim only becomes a survivor when they shared their stories and persuades the victims to beome courageous and not suffer in silence to give the sinner what he deserves to go through trials . also by stating the cause And effect of an rape to get to her argumentation the author has proven her point


www.salon.com

17. High Anxiety: How Worrying About Math Hurts Your Brain

http://healthland.time.com/2012/11/08/high-anxiety-how-worrying-about-math-hurts-your-brain/

                According to researchers, when someone feels embarrassed because of their lackluster mathematical skills, it could be more than simply embarrassment.  Apparently, when anxious about anything to do with math, the part of your brain that reacts when a person feels physical pain is stimulated.  “Many math-phobics go out of their way to avoid math-related tasks or thinking about math problems, and this reaction led the scientists to wonder whether something more than dislike was involved,” said Olivia B. Waxman, they author of this article.  A test with 28 participants, half anxious, the other half   not, revealed that the more anxious of the groups had a harder time solving math problems.

                This article, like many others, was informative rather than entertaining or challenging.  It was a good read and very educational, I suppose.  Olivia B. Waxman did a splendid job in presenting her purpose with not only statistics, but quotes and research to back up her claims.

16. How Mutant Mosquitoes Are Fighting Dengue Fever

http://healthland.time.com/2012/11/09/how-mutant-mosquitoes-are-fighting-dengue-fever/

                With 50-100 people infected each year, dengue fever is one of the fastest growing mosquito born diseases.  Scientists in Brazil know that, being carried about by mosquitoes, killing out dengue fever is almost impossible, so they have decided to modify the mosquitoes’ eggs rather than try to kill them all.  These lab-bred male mosquitoes receive and gene so that when they mate with a female in the wild, either it prevents the female from having offspring, or causes the next generation to have shorter life spans, hopefully short enough that they cannot spread dengue fever.

                This article was short, yet effective in its message.  Many people over in Brazil, or in any of the other countries that are threatened by dengue fever, should be interested.  Author Alexandra Sifferlin did an excellent job on this essay, as usual, bringing up statistics and quotes to support her reasoning. 

16. Deadly Myanmar Quake Destroys Bridge and Mine

In this article, the Associated Press writes about the earthquake that hit Hyanmar. In the introduction, the writer gets the readers' attention by giving a brief description about the earthquake. It was a strong earthquake that struck northern Myanmar on Sunday, collapsing bridges and mines. Then it goes on by describing the earthquake more deeply. The major cities did not have a major damage, but the underdeveloped smaller towns closer to the quake's epicenter did. According to many towns, 6 people were reported dead and 64 injured. Also near the earthquake's epicenter,  on the Irrawaddy River, 6 people were reported dead and 11 people injured. Besides these, other towns and places reported more deaths and injuries. Then the writer ends the article by informing the readers that the earthquake hit Hyanmar one week before Pesident Obama was going to visit, who was going be the first president to visit. 

The purpose of this article is to inform the readers about a strong earthquake that hit Hyanmar since many people are not aware of it. It was not big enough for the whole world to know, however, it  killed many people and injured many, and destroyed many towns. One of the biggest problems was that it caused more damage on the smaller towns that are underdeveloped, destroying the mines which their economy is based on. Besides that, after describing everything, the writer also wants to inform that Obama would have been in danger if his visit was 1 week earlier than it was actually scheduled. 

16. "Yale Graduates Seek a Hip-Hop Degree"

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/11/fashion/yale-graduates-seek-a-degree-in-hip-hop.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&ref=technology&adxnnlx=1352653701-2nC0SI4Qyr6S7JdW/p4YHw

Joshua Brustein wrote an article on November 9, 2012 about Yale graduates going after a hip-hop degree. It started in 2009, when one of the graduates, Tom Lehman, did not understand a lyric in a rap song called "Family Ties". His friend, Mahbod Moghadam, guessed that the part of the lyric "jamaican clothes" signified the poor people in Jamaica. Although his guess was wrong, it was enough to inspire both of them to start a site, Rap Genius, in which explains lyrics. This site also works a little like Wikipedia  anyone can add what they want to say, pictures, or videos. This site has 2 million viewers a month and a capitalist from Silicon Valley has even invested $15 million into the site. One problem this site deals with is race and authenticity. Lehman, 28, is very grammatical and wears a different pair of sunglasses everyday with the money he received. Moghadam, 29, is always trying to show off his muscles and brags a lot about meeting Gucci Mane or Big Boi. Zechory, 28, says that his friends are pretending to be someone they are not. He said "I have never seen them break character." The thing that made this site big is the fact that famous rappers have gone on the site themselves to explain their lyrics. The site has been accused of providing the wrong description though.

Brustein does a good job on providing information of this site and how it began. He uses many quotes in how the site has had some racial problems, providing the reader with examples that happened. Brustein also gives a little history as to the minds behind this soon to be famous site, more than it already is.

16. After Sandy, thousands left to freeze in public housing

http://www.salon.com/2012/11/09/after_sandy_thousands_left_to_freeze_in_public_housing/

On November 9th, Laura Gottesdiener wrote an article about some of the results after the Hurricane Sandy's disaster. The first paragraph of the article introduced the topic by describing a descriptive scene where thousands of Northeast residents are locked inside buildings with no way of getting out, while state authorities struggled to repair destroyed infrastuctures as well as other damage. In the next section, Gottesdiener gave a shocking statistic of trapped residents and further explained people's living conditions in the freezing weather as winter approaches, and how they were surviving without the basic and essential needs for living (electricity, heat, and even running water). By stating that despite doctors and volunteers are going around giving checkups and writing prescriptions and many said no one came to check on them, the author gives an idea of how many people are living in rough conditions.

The author's purpose for the article was to inform the general public about the effects and the intensity of destruction of Hurricane Sandy after it swept through the Northeast. She provided statistics and a quote from the Brooklyn City Councilman Stephen Levin to support her arguments with credible information. In addition, the author's tone could be best described as serious and informative because she does not add any humor to the article, but rather explains the conditions in different places like Rockaways, Queens, Lower East Side, Chinatown in Manhattan, and others. Her article was effective in the way that her descriptions of places made the reader both shocked and concerned.

17. Palm Reading

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/11/technology/biometric-data-gathering-sets-off-a-privacy-debate.html?hpw&_r=0

              Natasha Singer, the author of "When a Palm Reader Knows More than Your Life Line," discusses a very interesting topic. The author starts out by sharing one of his personal experiences in a hospital in New York where she was asked to put her hand in a palm scanner so that they could gather data from her veins and then create a patient identification profile which would help against identification theft and eventually make medical care much more efficient. The author retells this experience as if sharing a simple story of someone who went to the hospital and was hesitant and reluctant to expose her privacy so deeply. In general, the author talks about how there are so many "conveniences" which require people's identity and privacy to be exposed and may seem to be convenient but are actually pretty harmful.
             The author uses several strategies to achieve her purpose of informing and persuading the reader to rethink about how they are exposing their privacy. The author starts with first person personal experience to retell her story in a hospital; she was reluctant to scan her palm for patient identification. She then proceeds to talk about Facebook and how some apps use face recognition for sharing photos and tagging photos. She also mentions Apple's Siri, and how it uses voice recognition and how many schools in the United States are using palm recognition for E-Z pass; in other words, biometric data is being used extensively but consumers pay that with their own privacy. The author takes a critical stance on the idea of privacy being lost because of apparent "convenience."

16. Why I Can't Say I Voted

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/11/why-you-cant-say-i-voted-in-chinese-at-least-in-china/265059/

            James Fallows is the author of the article "Why You Can't Say 'I Voted' in Chinese - at Least in China." The author tries to show in his writing the reasons why anyone cannot say they voted in China in Chinese. The author starts out his article with the cause: he showed a piquet sticker with the message "I voted" in multiple languages and how that was prohibited in mainland China but okay in America. The author then proceeds to show a whole letter written by a Chinese stating the problem and possible reasons. The main reason seems to be that the words I Voted seem to portray much democratic elections and therefore contradicts the standards of Chinese socialism/communism.
            Fallows uses several techniques to achieve his purpose. The purpose seems to be informative; it tries to explain the reasons behind why the words I Voted are not very welcome in China. The author states the problem in the first paragraph and right after he transcribes the whole letter written by a Chinese person. The author uses first person to show much of his personal experience with the contradiction. He also uses subjective phrases and opinions to support his thinking: "Everyone knows that Americans get to vote, but there's something truly poignant about seeing the words in chinese...the dream is still alive, and one day, we will all have a voice; we will all have the right to choose how we are governed."The author seems to take a stance and critical view on the Chinese government.

16. Hurricane Sandy: After Landfall

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/10/hurricane-sandy-after-landfall/100396/

In the website www.theatlantic.com, there is a section called "In Focus with Alan Taylor", where Alan Taylor posted an article which showed the disaster hurricane Sandy left in upper south of US. He starts by saying informations about the disaster, such as its speed, where it passed, and the casualties. He also post many photos of the disasters the hurricane left. It shows how New York is out of power and many places are flooded. Many citizens lost their home and their belongings too, such as their cars. Taylor writes, " These fatalities, when added to the previous toll in the Caribbean, leave Sandy responsible for more taking more than 80 lives to date. " He states that Sandy has caused many fatalities and he posts 52 photos with captions which explains each picture and what is happening in them. 

The author's purpose for writing this article with numerous pictures of Sandy with the captions. The audience which the author wanted to read is everyone, since Taylor wants to show not only to Americans, but other people too. He wants to inform people and keep them up with the news. Taylor wishes to inform the readers about the casualties and images which prove the facts he is writing about.  

16. How Close Are We to Making Like Salamanders and Regenerating Our Own Organs?

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/11/09/anthony_atala_of_wake_forest_is_working_to_regenerating_and_3_d_printing.html

On November 9^th, Torie Bosch wrote an article about the current progress of regenerative medicine research. Bosch opens her article with a statistic about the number of people waiting for a transplant and gives and speculates on the idea of regenerating our own organs or even printing them. She includes quotes from an interview with Antony Atala, one of the main researchers on the subject. Atala uses a comparison with salamander which can grow some of their own organs by themselves and gives an example of how his team was able to heal burns with a spray of cells to show how his project has been improving to help people. He also gives details about a project “to create rapid treatment for soldiers wounded on the battlefield.” Lastly, Bosch answers her question (“how long until regenerative medicine can make the agonizingly long transplant waiting list a thing of the past?”) by explaining how long is the process to approve new medicine and predicts that it will take more than 15 and a half years to start using regenerative medicine even with the help of Office of Combined Products.

The author’s purpose in writing this article was to show her readers that regenerative medicine has advanced a lot and is closer to being used with the public. However, this process is slow and there is still a long time to approve it. She gives several good examples to show how it has been progressing by starting with relatively simple examples to more complex ones. She uses several questions she answers herself throughout the article. Referencing to a TED talk in 2010 and mentioning some of Anthony Atala’s background as well as companies he is working with, Bosch supports the credibility of the expert she interviews in her article and consequently the information she presents.

15.“Hallucinations”: Seeing what isn’t there

http://www.salon.com/2012/11/05/hallucinations_seeing_what_isnt_there/

On November 5th, Laura Miller writes to 'The Salon' on Oliver Sack's new book "Hallucinations" and its contents. Miller starts the article outlining Sack's profile, briefly analyzing his early years and books, along with his style. She quickly mentions how the use of recrational psychoactive drugs led to his interest in the topic and speficically engages on Sack's new book. The author summarizes in a couple words the first chapters of the book, describing the basic forms of hallucination. Later on, she enters deeply in the books content, where Sack talks about the impressions of hallucinations such as sensory deprivation, epilepsy, parkisonism , fever, or chemical imbalances, transition into/out of sleep, drug use, and the Charles Bonnet syndrome, which he states are not objects of conscious control. Toward the end of the article, Miller states Sack's idea that hallucinations are iusually kept in silence due to the fear of looking psychotic. A little bit more is revealed about hallucinations in general, such as that the majority have no special relevance are non interecative, and a few specific cases of people who had allucinations is presented as examples. The article is closed with Sack's passion for the brain and how it works.

Miller's purpose with the article is simply to inform the reader and expand his knowledge on "kind of unknown" subjects. This is clear throughout the whole article as she explains a bit about hallucinations, their types and some new curiosities about them. She achieves her purpose by using a credbile source, which is a neurological scientist and his lastest work.

15. Why Parenting Is More Important Than Schools

http://ideas.time.com/2012/10/24/the-single-largest-advantage-parents-can-give-their-kids/

There are many debates about education in the U.S. While schools are important, parents are also very important in a child’s education. Decades of research show that “a major part of the academic advantage held by children from affluent families comes from the ‘concerted cultivation of children’ as compared to the more laissez-faire style of parenting common in working-class families.” It is becoming clearer that enrichment classes, digital devices, and test-prep courses do not necessarily help as when a parent is not involved with their children’s education. Children can get lots of experience simply by talking with and discussing things with their parents. A report for the University of Chicago says that,” The content of parents’ conversations with kids matters, too. Children who hear talk about counting and numbers at home start school with much more extensive mathematical knowledge.”

The author Annie Murphy Paul, uses this article to inform people. Parents would probably be most interested in the subject and possibly teachers too. Paul uses many research sources from reports and psychologists in her article.

15. How Disasters Bring Out Our Kindness

http://healthland.time.com/2012/10/31/how-disasters-bring-out-our-kindness/

                Throughout disasters that man has witnessed, people tend to more often lend a helping hand then follow the rules “survival of the fittest”.  This is a bit surprising because during a time of retreat and desertion, one would imagine countless people looting vehicles, houses, and stores.  Looting, though, is shown to have not happened much at all.  During Hurricane Sandy, a couple of reports regarding people looking cars went around, but for the most part, most tales of this disaster are of sacrifice and assistance.  During Hurricane Katrina, a few more stories of looting went around, but the looters were only taking what they needed to survive, for the most part.

                The author of this article, Maia Szalavitz, did a good job of presenting her focus.  She used a nice hook and good supporting evidence, including reports and quotes from experts on the subject.  I did, however, notice a few typos in the article, which is a bit discouraging.  Nevertheless, it was a strong and touching article.  It is always good to see a glimmer of light in dark times.

15. Learning a Foreign Language is like learning a sport

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/11/learning-a-foreign-language-is-like-learning-a-sport/264387/

Ta-nehisi Coates describes the process of learning a sport, an instrument or a new language, and claims that all of these involve a similar theatricality  of the body as well as the will to attain the "pleasure that comes from becoming good at something." He starts his article with his opinion on "physical education," that everyone should be encouraged to continue being physically active--whether they are talented or not. He connects this idea with his study of French. Even if one struggles with the difficulty of learning something new, he says, everyone can excel by practice, and "no one has the right to be naturally food at anything." He uses the example of his experience with the djembe as a child to explain that there is great pleasure in becoming "Merely OK" from "Utter Suckage." He asserts that natural talent or "aptitude" doesn't mean much; it is about working toward accomplishing that "Merely OK." Coates continues the connection between sports and learning a new language by describing the "new mouth" necessary to speak the new pronunciations, which is a physical act requiring "reps" for the tongue.

His audience has an understanding of the significance of "Shakespeare" or some experience in learning a new sport or an instrument or a new language. Coates's purpose of this article is to encourage his readers to continue learning new things and to work hard toward it even if they do not seem to be talented in it. He implies that natural talent or "aptitude" does not mean anything if one does not work hard, because no one is born with a perfect ability to do something. Coates argues that it's "true that everyone can't be a great literary critic or playwright," but "that s no excuse to not read Shakespeare." Likewise, he implies that he will continue working hard to being able to speak good French, even if it "could easily take ten" years instead of five.

15. Obama for Pres, Non Americans?

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/project_syndicate/2012/11/campaign_2012_obama_would_be_the_choice_for_non_americans_if_they_could.html

             Joseph E. Stiglitz, the author of the article "It's Obama World," affirms that people outside the United States would vote for Obama. He states the reasons for the hypotheses: the market would be deregulated like in past times with Reagan as president and other countries who eventually followed the  American economic system had an unequal division between poverty and wealthy and had a much weaker middle class. The author also states that Romney's economic plans for the country actually hurt the economy even more. Obama has also proposed a much more efficient health care plan while Romney has nothing to say.
            The author uses several rhetorical strategies to achieve his purpose which is to show how non Americans abroad would prefer Obama as President rather than Romney. The author first uses ab hominum which is a direct criticism of Romney's Presidential plans. The author states that Romney would waste more money in the army with weapons that don't work to fight off enemies which don't exist. That clearly is the use of sarcasm and playful negative criticism. The author then tries to praise the plans of Obama and compare and contrast it with Romney.

15. At a Loss? There’s Always Canada

In this article, the writer John Ortved writes about Canada, which has been a refuge to some Americans. To get reader's attention, in the first paragraph the writer states a common quote by many Americans nowadays: "If _____ is elected president, I'm moving to Canada. Many Americans view Canada with its universal health care and cultural progressiveness, and view it as a liberal refuge. Then writer goes on informing the readers about the reaction of the Canadians toward the Americans that have this view, and are moving to Canada. He says that many Canadians would welcome them, and supports this idea with a quote from a Canadian which states that they are happy to provide a safe haven for next indoor neighbors. Then the writer closes the article by stating some concerns and negative sides that Americans have in moving to Canada. It is that Canada is dominated by Conservative Party, and they are engaged in a program of significant fiscal restraint. And it is also that the margin between Canada and United States is slight, and to solve the problem some Canadians would have to move to US. 

The purpose of Otved's article is to inform the readers about the fact that Canada is being and is going to be a refuge to many Americans especially the ones that support Obama. As Americans go through problems such as wars, and elections of new presidents, many of them flee to Canada, a country always welcoming them. Not only that, the purpose of the article is also to inform the cause of why the number of Americans in Canada is increasing throughout these years. Through his diction and tone, he does a good job in informing the readers with facility, making them have no problems in understanding. 

15. In Mexico, a Deadly Warning

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/opinion/sunday/in-mexico-a-deadly-warning.html

In Victor Hugo Ornelias' article, "In Mexico, a Deadly Warning, he reveals the several deaths occurring around Mexico. These deaths were all caused by a Mexican terrorist groups which organized more than  60,000 crimes. Ornelias starts his article with a quote which is always on the victim that was killed. The victims are all bound up and before being killed, they are always interrogated and tortured. The criminals always post their killing method and throw the dead body in a public place. Ornelias also states that there are so many deaths occurring, but no one is going to remember how and when every victim was killed. He also said that the motives of the killers is unknown and that the only clue is the quote they leave on the dead body. Ornelias ends his article by saying that the government is preparing a monumental memorial to all the victims of these Mexican organized crimes.

The author's purpose of writing this article is to show and remind people of the murders that are happening. He wants to recall people the deaths. Ornelias also wants to find the motives behind these crimes and tells the public that their only hint is the quote. This article is directed to the public, or all normal citizen which needs to know about the crimes that are happening. They can't ignore them, just like the government should also do their best to find the killers. 

15. What Is the Deadliest Kind of Storm?

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2012/10/what_is_the_deadliest_storm_hurricane_sandy_compared_to_typhoons_cyclones.html

On October 29th, Slate Magazine's staff writer Forrest Wickman wrote an article analyzing the different kinds of storms. He engaged the readers by starting the article with a short, but vivid image of Hurricane Sandy passing by the East Coast, causing a lot of damage and harm to the people. Then, he concluded the first paragraph by introducing the topic of the article through the question "What kind of storm tends to be the most dangerous?" In the next paragraph, Wickman provided an answer to the question above, and gave the differences between a typhoon, hurricane, cyclone. He later analyzed the super typhoons specifically, their intensity, and compared them to other similar storms recorded in history. The next paragraph in contrast, specified different kinds of cyclones (1970 Bhola Cyclone) and hurricanes (Hurricane Katrina), and their deaths and costs. Lastly, Wickman talked about the rare, but deadly kinds of storms - the tornado or firestorm. He explained how these were smaller, but could damage more and kill more people compared to other  storms.

Wickman's purpose in writing this article was to inform people about the differences in the kinds of storms. He used several examples of storms, and with statistics, compared each other regarding the damage costs, intensity, and deaths caused. Specific examples and statistics worked to give the article credibility and made it seem the author researched about and knew his topic well. It is possible to say the article was directed to the public in general because instead of using hard scientific vocabulary, he used simple language, and examples everyone knew to understand his point. The article was effectively organized in a way it was easy to follow and the reader did not get lost in the reading. However, the article did not conclude appropriately buy giving a brief summarization of the points. Instead, it ended abruptly after mentioning the firestorms and how it killed many people.

15. "After Getting Back to Normal, Big Job is Facing New Reality"

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/nyregion/after-getting-back-to-normal-the-big-job-is-to-face-a-new-reality.html?hp&_r=0

On November 3rd, N. R. Kleinfield wrote an article on the effects of Hurricane Sandy. Hurricane Sandy has scared many people and caused many problems. The next big worry is the climate change and extreme weather caused by this. The authorities have been thinking about putting up sea gates around Queen Midtown tunnel in order to protect it more. New Jersey is facing some problems with their Hobroken train. Authorities are even taking into consideration to replace buildings along the coast just to be better prepared for the next nature disaster. Governor Andrew Cuomo has said they need to take bold steps because he is aware of how dangerous these natural disasters are. It is clear that New York needs to protect themselves, but after all of this settles down, the public may still complain about the raise of taxes. They are even considering on building protection for 100,000 year level. New York is even considering on moving electrical cords from basements to higher level areas. Many older building have pump beneath Manhattan, while newer building have them higher up. Mr. Ruden said we are living in a different world. Hurricane Sandy should lead to a massive reordering of priorities as Kleinfield said.

Kleinfield did a good job of presenting the situation at hand and giving ways of being more cautious for future natural disasters. He provided many quotes in which showed what New York is thinking about doing to the city so that this will not happen to them again the next time a hurricane comes along. He also had Subtitles in his article which showed the reader where he was beginning to change into a different subject.

15. How Manhattan Powered Through the Blackout

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/11/03/hurricane_sandy_recovery_scenes_from_the_superstorm_s_aftermath_as_power.html

Will Oremus writes an article on November 3rd informing his readers on, how Manhattan has powered through the blackout. He begins his article with a very stunning statement, that is both ironic and true, he begins by saying how "Superstorm Sandy rocked the Rockaways, flattened parts of Staten Island, and brought lower Manhattan to it's knees." In this one frase, Oremus uses, irony, simply and hyperbole. He says a funny but crucial statement that; for those who live in Manhattan, do not find it at all funny. Oremus continues to explain how even though the city has been a couple of day's without electricity, once they get their power back, New York will go back to it's form, as if nothing had ever happened, and everyone had power all along. He ends his article by explaining how many people had placed where they could get electricity, called "jerry-rigged ways…" Some peoples borrowed gas from trucks, installed portable generators, people helping people.

Oremus talks about how Manhattan has overcome the blackout and Hurrican Sandy, in the past few days. He writes and article informing people how the NewYorkers have been able to get things done, despite all the bad thing's that have been going on. In this article he also shows that Manhattan has been able to get though this with, one helping another.

15.After days of pressure, marathon is off

After days of intensifying pressure from runners, politicians and general public called of the New York City Marathon due to the Hurrican Sandy that has been brutally influencing the city of new york and the east coast. The marathon was called off at Friday afternoon. since the year 1970 the marathon has never been canceled, not even once since that year, this is considered historic. The race wasnn't stopped even back in the year 2001 ,  after the terrorist attack during september 11 ,the marathon was still held,showing how important this event is in New York. But critics states that it would be "poor taste " to hold foot race while so many people in the area of the east coast were suffering damages from the hurricane. So they came to a conclusion that everyone should be worried and focus on storm relief rather than a marathon. on the other hand the director of the marathon , Mary Wittenburg stated that the event would provide a morale boost as well as an economic one . Yet the marathon continued to be cancelled because for many, it is clear that it is the best thing for New York at times like these and it is best to move on . This year has been tough for New York  and it has been a very diffucult decision they've ever made which is why they hope everyone understands their decision .

The author gives an important information , something that concerns many people in new York and that has been expecting this marathon. The author gave the persepective of two sides and gives out an pursuasive and encouraging tone on why New York should not hold this event trying to make the authors understand why this event has been cancelled and advising everyone what reality they are facing now and that everyone should be focusing on the storm relief and how to get the city get back to running again

15. Germany Discloses Most of the Spy Tools It's Using—and Other Countries Should, Too

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/10/31/jan_korte_germany_discloses_its_spy_tools_and_other_countries_should_too.html

On October 31st, Ryan Gallagher wrote about how Germany publicly displayed the methods and tools they used to monitor their country. Gallagher opens by saying that “law enforcement agencies refuse to reveal the surveillance technologies they use” because they are afraid it might endanger their country. He then said that a German politician asked the German ministry of home affairs to expose some information and the ministry gave many answers but some things were confidential. Some information they released was the amount of money they used to invest in each monitoring device (such as internet surveillance gear, cellphone-tracking tactic, and facial recognition software) and the companies who sold them. Gallagher said that there has been debate about this issue in other countries saying that surveillance violated civil liberties and privacy and that other nations should consider following Germany’s example by displaying at least some information to the public.

The purpose of the author was to inform the readers that other nations have already released their surveillance methods and tools to the public and maybe to arouse a stronger desire in the readers for the American government to do the same. Gallagher gives plenty of examples and explains what happened in order for that to happen very well, achieving his purpose. He even includes his own ideas that other nations should learn from Germany, but says how he doubts that they would do the same. One problem was that some of the tools he uses as examples are not well described, leaving the reader hanging on that subject without answers.