14 Year Old Arrested for Bringing a Homemade Digital Clock to School.

Posted on September 22, 2015 by khathaway

Fourteen year old high school freshman arrested for bringing a homemade digital clock to school. Texas teenager Ahmed Mohamed build a homemade digital clock with wires and circuit boards (inside a metal case) and took it to school to impress his teachers; however, to Mohamed’s surprise the clock was not received how he was expecting. One of Ahmed’s teachers thought it was a bomb and alerted authorities. The teenager was suspended from MacArthur High School for three days and was arrested.

Some say the teen was profiled and that this event would have never happened if his name was not Ahmed Mohamed. The incident took over social media, quickly becoming a trend with hashtags like #ISTANDWITHAHMED. With all that social media exposure Twitter took notice and invited him to intern with them, Google asked him to go to their science fair, Mark Zuckerberg asked him to visit Facebook, and President Barack Obama tweeted “Cool clock Ahmed, want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It’s what makes America great” just to mention a few.

The minor stated that he was scared and never thought he would end up in jail, but now feels really happy about the support he is receiving all over the world through social media.  Ahmed’s parents are looking for different schools because after such an unfortunate event they do not want their fourteen year old going back to MacArthur High School.  In spite of such a series of unfortunate events Ahmed is happy and says that he will continue to build and invent because it is his passion/hobby.

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Jon Hamm Wins Outstanding Actor At Emmys 2015

Posted on September 21, 2015 by msimon

The long awaited award show the Emmys was on last night, Sunday, September 20th. This was the award shows 67th year on air. There was all sorts of buzz all year about who would win the Outstanding Actor Award.

Jon Hamm was up against some of the greatest actors including Kevin Spacey from House Of Cards and Jeffrey Tambor from Transparent. After a dramatic and long very long sought after victory, Jon Hamm won the award for outstanding lead actor in a drama series for his role as Don Draper on Mad Men. 

Hamm has been nominated a shocking 16 times, eight for lead actor for his role in Mad Men before winning his first Emmy win Sunday night.

Fittingly, the 44 year old actor received a standing ovation as he crawled his way onto the stage. “There’s been a terrible mistake, clearly. It’s impossible to be named with all of those extraordinary gentleman. It’s impossible to be standing up here. It’s impossible to have done this show with this incredible cast.”, Hamm said while accepting the award.

It isn’t all just fun and games though. Hamm has faced a series of personal challenges throughout the year. He recently split up with his wife of 18 years, Jennifer Westfeldt. Hamm also finished rehab this year, and explained to TMZ that “sometimes life throws a lot at you sometimes and you just have to deal with it as much as you can.”

Hopefully this award can help Hamm back on track and into the right mindset. It was very nice to see how this award really made the Jon light up, despite the personal challenges he’s facing right now.

The Emmy’s is always filled with different emotions and I thought this was a great way to end the night and the Emmy’s 67th year.

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Selfie taking has taken over

Posted on September 21, 2015 by gloria vargas

 

Remember back in the old days when in order to see photos that you had taken, you had to drop them off at a photo center and come back days later to pick up your prints? Those days are now long gone. With the technology that we’ve been privileged enough to come in contact with over the past few years we can literally take any photos, anywhere, at any time and have them right at our fingertips. Smart phones and all of the applications that are available to us make photography easy as one, two, and three! In recent times, the art of “selfie-taking” has become increasingly more popular. I came across this article discussing how 24-year-old Bhanu Prakash quit his job as a medical research assistant at a hospital to take on the challenge of breaking the world record of the most selfies taken in an hour. The record is currently set at 1700 actual photos of ones-self done in just 60 minutes. Prakash says that he has been doing multiple hand and wrist exercises to prepare his self-taking taking technique for the ultimate showdown where he will attempt to take 1800 selfies in just one hour. Prakash is from Hyderabad, India and says that his inspiration stemmed from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s record of taking 105 selfies in under 3 minutes. I found this article to be quite amusing as “selfies” are such a brand new concept to our technologically savvy world. I bet 10 years ago we would have never thought this to be something so prevalent in society today! I’m sure it will only get worse and/or more comical from here on out.

 

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US Accepting 100,000 Worldwide Migrants in 2017

Posted on September 20, 2015 by bri yost

US Secretary of State John Kerry announced Sunday that the country will be accepting more worldwide migrants in over the next two years. The announcement is a clear response to the number of Syrian refugees that are fleeing their country but it is not limited to them only. The White House had already recently announced that the United States would take in an additional 10,000 Syrian refugees over the next year. Now, the US will accept 85,000 refugees from the world in 2016 and increase that number to 100,000 in 2017.

When asked why the government had not allowed for more refugees to be let in, Kerry replied saying “We’re doing what we know we can manage immediately,” he said, adding that the U.S. cannot take shortcuts on security checks.

This issue brings attention to the possibility of terrorist organizations using the refugee crisis to infiltrate the United States.

“The administration has essentially given the American people a ‘trust me.’ That isn’t good enough,” says the head lawmakers of the congressional judiciary committees.

Further speculation has risen in regards to the fact that the Obama administration does not require congressional approval but Kerry has stated that congress would have to appropriate money to pay for the additional effort. This concerns Republicans.

There is much fear that has been expressed but the number of refugees being excepted pales in comparison to the amount Germany is letting in to their country. Same goes for the allowing of 800,000 refugees after the Vietnam War.

Kerry has stated that they believe the migrant crisis must ultimately be solved by replacing President Bashar Assad. Until then the government officials will be working hard to ensure the safety of the American people whilst providing security to the refugees.

 

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Ben Foster took Performance Enhancing Drugs in Preparation for Lance Armstrong Role.

Posted on September 20, 2015 by andrewray

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, the british actor Ben Foster discussed his preparation for the portrayal of the seven-time Tour de France winner, Lance Armstrong. This performance demanded Foster to go through a cosmetic, psychological, and in his own words, a “cellular” transformation.

The Program, a film directed by Stephen Frears, tells the story about the Irish sports journalist, portrayed by Chris O’Dowd, who begins hunting for evidence in order to expose Armstrong on his usage of performance enhancing drugs.

Foster admitted on the interview with EW that he knew very little about Armstrong story when he met with director Frears for the first time. “The more that I researched, the more that I explored in this subject, the more I wanted to know. It’s such a complex story, it’s such a complex world”, says Foster.

Foster began a condense program of doping during the production of the movie during which he was supervised by doctors and nutritionists. “I took a calculated risk, with a doctor supervising, and what I came away with is that drugs work — they work,” Foster said.

“You can just keep going. Coming off those drugs is the difficult part. That’s where your health concerns will come in. And it took a while for me to right myself. But that was a calculated risk and part of the joy of the job, I suppose.”

In addition, neither his co-stars or the director Stephen Frears knew about this until two days before the premier of the film at the Toronto Film Festival. Frears stated on a red carpet interview the following: “I’m not interested in the process by which people arrive at their performances. I just expect them to turn up on the first day and be brilliant.”

The Program is set to be released in the US at the beginning of 2016.

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College students can become better persons when they spend 5 years in college versus the traditional 4 years.

Posted on September 20, 2015 by jmcmurray1

It’s your senior year in college and all the excitement of graduation and accomplishment has consumed you, as it should. Until suddenly you realize it’s been five years. Five years since you got your acceptance letter to attend your graduating college. Five years since you’ve been dreaming of this day, to walk across stage with your bachelors. College says your degree is four years. Four years to complete countless hours of studying, protects and internships. Four years of college life. Why? They measure the time it takes to graduate with credit hours and not considering the reality of life’s obstacles that come with college life. As a full time student for four years, a student could graduate “on time”. That’s if all financial needs are covered in order to pay for those classes, the student has time to be a full time student and still be financial stable with good grades. Along with this is college life, being social, going out, football games, traveling, experiencing life, falling in love and starting a life. The only thing that can be realistically done for the majority of students, if they wanted to finish in four years is to only focus on classes (which students should). That however, limits them from work. So ideally the only student who finish in four years are those who are already financial stable. Most of the time their parents being there to help along the way. In the economy and the cost of schooling in 2015 that is hard to come by. Most students are paying their way with finical aid (which based off their parents income) and student loans. Both which are not enough to support a full time student to graduate on time. Students’ parents don’t spend all their pay check on their child to go to college, some even spend none and leave it up to the student to find a way to fund the rest. This situation is more common than people seem to understand. Even when the government does send enough to pay for tuition or even books that student still may have bills of their own in order to attend that college.

Our society has become expected to attend college but doesn’t get the support to do so realistically. We live in a time were prisons have a bigger budget then education and the government still wonders why there is so much unemployment. Instead they should be investing in education. It is proven societies with higher education are better off. Yet, somehow our government seems to ignore that. Then when it comes time to graduate we are looked at in almost shame as to why it took us so long to graduate. Why, am I rushing to a work force where my odds of being employed are against me? Why, am I forced to choose education over life experiences, travel and love? These are equally as important when becoming educated and a well-rounded person. Unfortunately, the system we have implemented in our society doesn’t let us practice that easily. We are expected to go four years with books and studies, oh and our credit hours. Somehow, with that they think they will get the best person to employ. I strongly disagree.

I am a proud five year senior. I have traveled to many countries and learn about different cultures. I’ve learned about these cultures through my own experiences not books or assignments. I’ve learned how to conduct myself in a work place. I’ve been able to learn at my own pace and enjoy life while investing in my future with the education I have received. I am a proud five year senior because I have paid America’s overly priced tuition out of my own pockets. A five year senior like me has parents who help support them but is also aware they have expenses of their own, some how the government forgets that and doesn’t help to aid me. I’m a proud five year senior because I have switched my major, I have messed up. With all of that why does society look at me weird when I complete my education but it has taken me longer than the degree was designed? A bachelors shouldn’t be known as or expect to be completed in only four years. It should be encourage and accepted no matter how long it takes a student. We all have a different journeys. When we make tracks like education so cookie cutter we don’t allow individuals to fully take advantage of the education they have available nor life’s opportunities that surround them at the same time.

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#Day1 program pushes to stop cyberbullying before it starts

Posted on September 20, 2015 by paul carrington

In a society where social media creates a larger opportunity for bullying, a new campaign is making an effort to prevent bullying from taking place on the internet. Statistics state that more than 3.2 million students identify with being victims of bullying each year. Harassment and bullying amongst kids and teens have increased rapidly, simply due to the fact that there are so many outlets where bullying can be cultivated. The Tyler Clementi foundation was started in 2010 to commemorate Tyler’s suicide after being bullied online. The foundation has started many campaigns to promote the awareness of bullying and preventative measures to put an end to this heinous crime! The Tyler Clementi Foundation is not only highlighting the prevalence of bullying, it has launched an innovative program, called #Day1, that is based on prevention and action. They are asking students, teachers, sororities, and fraternities to take the Upstander Pledge, which is a commitment to stand against any kind of cruelty towards the people in their communities.

This campaign is hoping to approach the issue in a different way by encouraging people in authority to prohibit bullying in the settings that they are in. Among organizations supporting  #Day1 are Columbia and Rutgers, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association, and Rock the Vote. Celebrities like Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, Megan Mullally, Susan Sarandon, and Caitlyn Jenner have also backed the campaign. Are you going to take the stand against bullying? You, too, can take the pledge, by visiting the Tyler Clementi Foundation’s homepage. The foundation is nearing 1,00o signatures, so be sure to take the pledge today!

 

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Shooting at Oasis Tabernacle Church in Texas

Posted on September 20, 2015 by theblacklink

Early Sunday morning there was a shooting during a church service at Oasis Tabernacle Church in East Selma, Texas. The man suspected of the shooting is twenty six year old James Junior Minter.

James Minter is the suspect of shooting 3 people in response to what is to be believed  a recent break up with his girlfriend, and visitation issues with his infant son. The three people James Minter shot were identified as James Minters girlfriend, Minters 1 month old baby boy, and Oasis Tabernacle pastor Earl Carswell.

Eye witnesses who were in the church at the time of the shooting said that James Minter came into the church and sat down in the same row as his girlfriend in between her and his son. They then say he pulled out his gun and started shooting. When Minters girlfriend fell to the ground he shot her twice. Once in the jaw, and once in the shoulder. He then shot his one month old in the hand. The pastor then tried to wrestle the gun away from James Minter, but was unsuccessful and ended up getting shot in the leg. Minter then had his gun wrestled away again, but this time members of the congregation managed to get it fully away from him, and he then ran out of the church.

James Minter was captured less than a mile away from the church after he fled. In a police statement it was said that Minters vehicle was left at the scene and the gun was recovered at the church. Since his arrest, Minter is being held at the Dallas County Jail and has been charged with three counts of attempted murder with the possibility of other charges soon to come.

This is not the first time Minter has been arrested, but details were not immediately available. But the authorities are investigating whether Minter violated a protective order or not.

The pastor of the church was taken to an emergency room for treatment, and the girlfriend and baby were taken to a hospital in Birmingham where everyone remains stable.

 

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Take Advantage of UCF Library Resources

Posted on September 20, 2015 by stephanie wooster

So this blog post is not going to be as fun but it’s SUPER USEFUL with some insightful tips.

I’ll start it off by saying I spent my whole weekend at the library, so that’s why I decided to write about it.

I don’t have a laptop of my own (sad… I know) so I use UCF laptops/take home tablets. On the 3rd floor of the library, they have a huge desk right in the middle called LibTech. You can take Dell Venues (small laptops, kind of like Ipads) home for 24 hours!

This is amazing for me because sometimes I just want to be at home or maybe outside doing homework. You can even rent out the Dell Venue for a few days. I’ve never been that lucky to get it for a few days because someones already checked it out, but they usually have it for 24 hours!

You can also rent laptops, Ipads, Blue Ray Players, DVD players, Calculators, Chargers, Headphones, Headsets with Mics, Projecters, Webcams & Sony Video Cameras!!

The calculators are awesome because if you’re taking Stats or anything along the lines of buying that expensive calculator that you’re only going to use for that one semester, renting it out at LibTech is a lifesaver!

The people at the desk are always really friendly. When you get to the desk they have a TV screen that shows everything you can rent out OR there’s a piece of paper at the desk that explains it OR you can just have crazy awesome memory & remember this post lol.

When you check out anything from LibTech, you DO NEED your UCF ID… so make sure to bring it.

So if you ever don’t have something you DESPERATELY need, take advantage of LibTech. You won’t regret it (:

Til next time!

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What Makes A “Cine” Lens More Than Just A “Stills” Lens?

Posted on September 20, 2015 by britterler511

So what makes a “Cine” Lens more than just a “Stills” lens? The difference is not so much the lens as a whole, but more the body of the lens. In reality, cine lens manufactures will often take the optics from stills lenses made by companies like Canon, Nikon, Sigma, and Tokina and install them into custom made housings. These custom housings are made from metal instead of the plastic housings that stills lenses are normally made out of. These metal housings not only provide more protection in the harsh environments of Film and TV productions, but also provide tools to aid the camera operators and camera assistants. These metal housings will have gears build into the Zoom (if it’s a zoom lens),  Focus, and aperture rings. This allows assistants to attach a follow focus, or wireless focus motors to help them operate the lens. Also the number markings on the lens will be bigger and much more clear so the operator and the assists can easily see what focal length, focus distance, and t-stop the lens is set too.

And that is about it, image quality wise they are going to be more or less the same. 4k in the video world is about 8 megapixels in the stills world, and that isn’t even close to a challenge for most stills lenses. There are stills cameras out there that are shooting 50 megapixels, which would be the video equivalent of 10K. So any decent stills lens is can easily handle 4k. Actually, in some cases, having a super sharp lens isn’t necessarily a ideal for film and tv. In fact, some cinematographer will purposely choose lenses that are slightly softer and have almost a milky look because it looks more cinematic. It also helps to hide defects in makeup (for both male and female) and in the set itself.

 

 

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