UPSET ALERT: Florida Takes on Number Two Ranked Florida State University

Posted on November 30, 2013 by andreat

Today the number two ranked team in the nation Florida State takes on the Florida Gators.  The Gators have had a terrible season.  They are 4-7 overall and have lost six games in a row.  Including a loss to the Division two school Georgia Southern.  The Seminoles on the other hand have had the complete opposite.  They probably have the best team in the nation.  They are 11-0 and have an offense that no one can seem to stop.

Even with the Gators being as bad as they have been this year, there is still a slim chance they might pull out a major upset.  This rivalry is known for tough physical games and games that go down to the wire.  Do I think they are going to win?  I am going to be honest and say… No.  I don’t think that they are going to win.  But I think that they can hang in there.  FSU just has way to much firepower.  They have the QB in Winston who has taken the NCAA by storm this season, only being a red shirt Freshman.

I think the Gators can hang in there for a little while.  They need to generate some sort of offense (which they have been unable to do this season) if they want to win this game.  There offense has been absolutely horrible this year.  I mean horrible.  They miss field goals, they don’t score touchdowns and they can’t move the ball.  Not exactly the recipe for a successful offense.  We will see how it turns out.  They can be the culprit of probably the biggest upset of the season if they just figure out a way to score some points.  It should be interesting and I can’t wait to watch how it turns out.

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Findings in West Africa May Prove Beneficial in Aiding Against Global Warming.

Posted on November 30, 2013 by jsjones

There have been extraordinary findings off the coast of West Africa that will undoubtedly prove to be extremely beneficial in the fight against global warming.

After much research, it has been announced by the United Nations that the African Iroko trees, also referred to as Nigerian teak, are supremely effective long-term carbon sinks. A carbon sink is something that actually takes in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through a process known as carbon sequestration. What makes the Iroko tress such an essential component in aiding against climate change is that they are actually capable of turning the carbon dioxide that they take in into limestone. The resulting limestone is enriching for the surrounding soil, making it desirable for agricultural needs.

What makes the find even more spectacular is the limited number of tree species that are capable of such a conversion. Ordinarily, a tree converts the carbon dioxide it takes in into sugar which it then consumes. The fact that some trees have the ability to turn the gases into something useful for the surrounding lands has caused many scientists to push for the preservation of such forests.

The only other area which has been found to house such species of trees capable of creating limestone have been found in the Amazon rainforest. Sadly, the Amazon has also been prone to deforestation at the hands of humans which has caused numerous conservation efforts by environmentalists.

All in all, the wondrous find of the Iroko trees is even more proof that humans need to work in conjunction with nature so that the Earth can sustain such populous areas for many years to come.

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Family Guy Kills Off Family Dog, Brian Griffin

Posted on November 30, 2013 by xchellz

This past Sunday, a new episode of Family Guy aired on television. The following week, Family Guy commercials kept revealing that a major character might finally meet their death in the coming episode.

Sunday’s episode shows the friendship between Stewie and Brian Griffin and how close they are. Stewie, the “evil” baby, is known for his genius ideas and inventions. Over the past few seasons, we as the audience have known that Stewie built a time traveling remote and machine. As the episode begins, we see Stewie and Brian in the middle of time traveling and trying to get things back to normal being that they messed up the world. They later fix everything and Stewie decides that it is time that he destroys the time machine and the remote so that they can have normal fun together without altering the world as they know it. They then go out into the street to play a game of street hockey and as Stewie walks inside of the house to get his gear, Brian gets hit by a car. He is rushed to the hospital and the doctor tells the family that he is not going to make it. Stewie cannot go back in time now because he destroyed his device and Brian is officially dead.

This angered the millions of people that have been watching Family Guy over the past 11 seasons. Brian is the beloved and hilarious dog of the family so taking him out is what every fan is livid about. I can also say that they are even more upset that he was replaced with another Italian dog in the same episode. There is no telling whether Seth MacFarlane will listen to his audience or if Brian is gone for good with this latest episode of the popular show Family Guy.

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Kanye West Flips Out During Radio Interview with Sway Calloway

Posted on November 29, 2013 by ash6128ucf

Back in 2009, Kanye West went off when Taylor Swift won an award that he thought Beyonce should have won.

During an interview on SiriusXM station Shade 45 with reporter Sway Calloway Kanye West went off on the reporter. Sway asked Kanye West a question about his past attempts to break into the fashion world.

Kanye West starts to scream “How, Sway? You ain’t got the answers, man!” Sway and Kanye had a dispute about the similar roadblocks with starting their own clothing line. West takes unnecessary jabs Sway by saying “What’s the name of your clothing line? We don’t know“, his frustration seems very reasonable because he lost nearly $13 million of his own money trying to empower himself.

Once the tension between Sway and Kanye had calmed down, and each was able to apologize to one another. Kanye was able to make Sway understand in more details on why he felt marginalized by companies like Nike despite all his success in his music career and the interest his fashion endeavors have garnered.

West said “The thing that compressed me is time versus money” “Integrity, money and relevance. Because as I work on clothing more, I’m not raping as much … I’m not rapping as much, I’m not having as much finances. I’m losing relevancy. The relevancy is part of my power that allows my brand to be big”.

What we can learn from Kanye West and Sway dispute? Kanye West is always going to be the king of controversy whether it’s good or bad. But will Kanye ever learn that not everything he has to flip out about. Only time will tell with Kanye West.

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Mother Natures’ Wrath Impacts the Holidays

Posted on November 27, 2013 by elizabeth hannigan

Every year millions of people pack up and travel to loved ones to celebrate the holidays.  This year Mother Nature had a surprise for the unsuspecting travellers; a huge snowstorm that some have designated “Gobblegeddon”.

The storm threatens Pennsylvania and western New York, causing havoc for the travellers and could possibly interfere with the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Mother Nature is not just taking out her wrath on the North East though; she has also started wailing down on states as far down as North Carolina.  It is extremely difficult to predict where she will strike next, but one thing’s for sure, this Thanksgiving weekend is not going to be the peaceful weekend that we have experienced in the past.

Though Florida is a bit too far south to experience the blizzard that is afflicting our northern neighbors, Mother Nature didn’t leave us out of her fury.  Heavy rains are forecast for the holiday weekend, which will usher in a cold front.  Since Floridians are used to having weather in the upper 70s around this time of year, we are not prepared for the coming weather.  I, for one, have a very limited wardrobe to last the weekend.  In total I have one heavy jacket (which might not be heavy enough to withstand the 30° nights), two mildly heavy jackets (that suffice for when I think it’s cold, but really its somewhere in the 60s), and two pairs of jeans.  My closet mimics most of the closets in my native South Florida.

There’s a reason we reside in South Florida; we enjoy the tropical weather.  I, personally, despise the cold weather and yet that is exactly what Mother Nature will bless us with this holiday season.

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Fates Hands: Prospers Future or Cruel Destiny

Posted on November 27, 2013 by iweezy

Nintendo has been known to publish and develop a wide range of video game throughout the ages, but none have as perplexing as the Legend of Zelda series that seems to have the reoccurring theme of fate guiding each character in the video game. This year they’ve released the newest iteration in the Zelda series called, “The Legend of Zelda: A Link between Worlds” that takes place short after one of the main games in the series. One thing I find interesting about this series is the how predestined the games characters are as the travel down this predetermined path, meaning an inescapable fate or destiny if you will.

The protagonist always ends up being a small boy named Link with an undiscovered power that must set out on a journey to stop an unimaginable evil-named Ganondorf-from usurping the princess and destroying the land of Hyrule. I’ve owned and played a couple of these games myself and often wondered can we in reality escape certain fates that are destined to happened due to predetermined circumstances? If we can, most people would call that luck when something that wasn’t supposed to happen, ends up happening. But the chances of that are so rare that one might as well call it gambling. Nevertheless, whether or not Link will always seek out the Trifore and Master Sword needed to defeat Ganondorf and save the land of Hyrule is up to debate. But considering that in each game it always works well for Link in the in the end, does it really matter that he doesn’t have free will? I guess we should then change the phrase “fate is a cruel thing” to “fate is a cruel thing to some,” since most things in life are only perceived as bad when that don’t work out in our favor.

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Fun Facts About Turkey Day

Posted on November 27, 2013 by v.king

As children, we all learned the story of the Pilgrims coming to America via the Mayflower and landing on Plymouth rock. There they met friendly Indians who showed them the right food to eat and had a huge dinner. All over colonies celebrated this day called Thanksgiving and it wasn’t until 1863 under President Abraham Lincoln that he issued a ‘Thanksgiving Proclamation and officially set aside the last Thursday of November as the national day for Thanksgiving making it a national holiday. After doing a little research I found a few fun facts that I thought I would share.

1. Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be the national bird of the U.S

2. The annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade tradition began in the 1920’s

3. The first Thanksgiving celebration lasted three days.

This year has given me a lot of things to be thankful for. Good friends, a supportive family, and millions of opportunity. So on this special day with your family or friends, don’t forget to be thankful and have a great Thanksgiving and hopefully you enjoyed the fun facts!

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Airport Security: Does the Protection Outweigh the Right to Privacy

Posted on November 26, 2013 by jlhemingway

As I passed through security on my way to a Thanksgiving vacation, I was stopped for a random screening by the TSA. After they swabbed my hands, I tested positive for explosives residue. Shocker. So after that, I was taken into a private room, my bags foraged through and my body patted down to the point I felt he deserved a tip. Annoying? Yes. Inconvenient? Yes. Necessary? Well I never thought I’d be the one saying this but…yes.

Even though it is completely a breech of privacy, I do believe this is one matter that I’m willing to let pass. I mean, what harm is a few minutes of discomfort when it could theoretically reduce the risk of lives being lost by some malicious person hell-bent on taking down a plane. It’s impossible to say the complete impact these security regulations have had but I can bet that it has changed the mind of a few, would-be criminals from even thinking about completing their plan.

The famous quote by Benjamin Franklin regarding liberty and safety has held a special spot in my mind since first reading it. I agree that it’s wrong to keep track of everyone’s online activity but for something as simple as random screenings at an airport, I can live with that.

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Is Corporate America’s Involvement in EDM a Good or Bad Thing?

Posted on November 25, 2013 by akilah.fields

Electronic Dance Music has emerged over the last several years to become one of the most popular genres of music in the world, if not the most popular, among young adults in particular. According to the International Music Summer Consumer Report, the entire Electronic Dance Music (EDM) industry is worth $4 billion per year. The industry recently made its way into the stock market under the name, SFX Entertainment. Shares offered are around 17 million with a total offer amount at approximately 250 million. This is a huge deal for EDM enthusiasts, myself included, but the repercussions will undoubtedly be both good and bad.

Although this seems like great news for the scene at first glance, listeners of the music have mixed feelings about money getting involved in the music. This past year alone, several DJs earned over $20 million for performing live events which showcased what many people believe to be “recycled tracks.” Essentially what this means is that some of the biggest names in the scene, including Tiesto, Calvin Harris, and Steve Aoki play the same songs heard on popular EDM radio stations, without much variation in their sets. This has sparked a huge debate among DJs, both well known and small, about how much “performing” the performers are actually doing. It is a well-known fact that the role of the DJ is not to create songs on the fly or have a completely “live” show with current technology. DJs play tracks they have produced themselves in the studio or tracks produced by others. The art is in the mixing between songs and the crowd interaction.

However, the question must be asked, “is the act of investing more money into this scene a good or bad thing for listeners?” The fact is that, with more money in the industry, big name DJs will now earn even more than they currently do, potentially making them less inclined to go above and beyond in their performances and studio work which is already seeming to be the case for many. As the scene becomes flooded with corporations, advertisements, and commercial America in general, it is likely that ticket prices for events will continue to rise steadily, as there will be a bigger market for them. In addition, a scene which once had the allure of being an underground scene only, is now on center stage of the entertainment industry simply because money got involved, which angers many old schoolers. As for the music quality itself, there are luckily some promising young talents in the industry such as Disclosure and Mat Zo to name a few, bringing fresh, new, and eclectic sounds to what was quickly becoming an overly saturated genre. As for the scene as a whole, however, it may only be a few years before people begin to grow tired of corporate America getting involved and jacking up the prices for a lower quality “product” than what we saw fifteen, ten, even five years ago. The question is, will this love of EDM by the masses last, or will it quickly fade back into the underground, where it once was.

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NFL: Jacksonville Jaguars Win on the Road Against the Texans

Posted on November 25, 2013 by shannonadams

The Jacksonville Jaguars traveled to Houston, Texas to take on the Texans on Sunday Afternoon. Texans fans haven’t had the best of luck this season, losing both their starting Quarterback and Running Back to season-ending injuries. However, Texans fans still expected a victory against a Jaguars team that only had one win for the season to this point.

The Jaguars got off to a quick start, ending the first quarter with a 7-0 lead over Houston. The touchdown was made by Jaguars’ Running back Maurice Jones-Drew who ran it up the middle for a one yard gain on the goal line. The lead was increased to 10-0 in the second quarter when the Jaguars drove down the field, ending the drive with a field goal by Kicker Josh Scobee. The Texans’ managed to drive down the field and kick a field goal just before the second quarter ended, making the score 10-3 at halftime.

Once the second half started, the Texans cut the lead down to 4 by kicking another field goal in the third quarter. The lead was soon extended back to seven for the Jaguars by another clutch field goal by Josh Scobee. With the score 13-6 and less than two minutes left in the game, It was up to Texans’ backup Quarterback Case Keenum to drive down the field and get a touchdown to tie the game up and send it into overtime. Unfortunately, Keenum was unable to do this as the ball was intercepted by the Jaguars off of a tipped pass, securing the victory for Jacksonville. Both teams are now 2-9 on the season, giving the Jaguars a slight lead over Houston in the AFC South. Since they won the head-to-head match-up, the Jaguars are in third place in the division while the Texans are in last place. Playoff hopes for both of these teams are almost completely gone, unless multiple improbable events take place.

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