2 NATO Troops Killed in Afghanistan

http://afghanistan.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/26/2-nato-troops-killed-in-afghanistan/

http://www.fox33.com/category/story/?id=256693

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39364577/

These three stories were about 2 NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) who were killed Sunday morning by an improvised bomb. NATO is not releasing any details yet, but major news channels are still trying to cover the story.  It appears to me that the info from CNNthat they wanted to get the general story to the public with little to no detail. Fox did the same as CNN, except they added that this year has already been the deadliest year, with more than 530 international forces killed. MSNBC actually goes into the most detail with statistics about how many deaths there have been this year, and how many international soldiers are in Afghanistan.  I feel like this is a story the general public should hear about because soldiers who are dying overseas is a very important subject.  If they die in the line of duty, then they should have the honor and respect to be known about nationally.

Terror Groups Using New Attack Strategy

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39310466/ns/us_news-security/

This article talks about al-Qaida groups and how they are focusing on smaller-scale attacks, rather than huge attacks such as 9/11.  FBI Director Mueller says, "terror groups understand that launching a larger attack, perhaps a more devastating attack, is not worth the additional effort when you can get substantial coverage and impact with smaller attacks." It sounds like terror groups are completely changing their strategy, which is still just as scary because smaller attacks can happen more frequently.  Mueller also talks about how the internet is making it much easier for Islamic extremists to find people already in the U.S. who can be radicalized and persuaded to undergo training and carry out attacks here.  The internet, in a way, is helping terrorism become easier and more wide spread.  This is a detrimental impact that internet is causing on America. At the same time, Mueller states that Muslim communities in the US are becoming more willing to report any suspicious behavior or give tips. It is scary to me that terrorists are using the same internet that i use to help them in their fight against America

Houston Serial Killer

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/18/us/houston-jury-weighing-fate-of-serial-killer.html

This NYtimes article is abotu a serial killer who was caught in 2000 when he broke into a woman's house, raped and stabbed/bludgeoned her to death. This death was linked to 8 other deaths in the area, all near railroad tracks.  The article focuses more on the case, rather than the serial killer himself.  The article talks about how the serial killer is sane, but has some extremely strange beliefs.  One belief is that his killings are for god, and that he is half-man, half-angel.  There are no facts about other serial killers in the article, mainly about the case.  No law enforcement was mentioned, but prosecutors were mentioned.  The article lists the name of the woman, a Dr. Benton, and briefly explains what he did to her.  It doesn't really talk about Houston that much, like I said before just mainly about the case.  I personally am disgusted when I read articles like this.  I don't know how anybody could do that to a human, its disgusting.

Discovery Building Gunman

The three stories I chose were about the gunman who went into the discovery building and held three people hostage.  The three sources I used were from aolnews, msnbc, and news.yahoo. The three stories are fairly similar, some were more discriptive than others, but basically a man by the name of James J. Lee walked into the Discovery building in Silver Springs, MD and holds two employees and one security guard hostage. Aolnews goes into the most detail about the event, giving testimonies and police calls about the incident.  Msnbc and yahoo go into brief detail, and only giving major facts. The differences are not extreme, but like I said, some go into more description than others. For instance, yahoo said that he had "propane tanks" strapped to his legs, but msnbc and aolnews explains that he had IED's that were remote detonatable, so the yahoo news distorted the story a tiny bit.  But for the most part, the facts were the same.  The common link between all of them is the operator of the building calling 911 and saying, "you're going to need a sniper", and the shooting/death of Lee.

Deviant Website

http://www.dontevenreply.com/

This website is absolutely hilarious and one of my favorites.  This guy goes on to Craigslist and emails people back when they want something, but he messes with them so badly that they get so angry that they usually end up cussing him out. The deviance that this site is about is the fact that this guy messes and jokes with people who are trying to buy/sell something. These are all good people, but he is a complete jerk, but in my opinion hysterical.  The purpose of this site is for pure enjoyment, if you're in to this type of humor.  There are some advertisements on the site, and also a list of other people on Craigslist that he has played pranks on.  In my opinion, this activty should be labeled deviant because he is playing pranks on people for so long to the point where they start threatening him. But at the same time, he isn't doing any harm or anything illegal. Like I said before, if you have this type of humor, then this website is for you.

Media Criticism

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1067

This is an article by Seth Ackerman called The Most Biased Name in the News, Fox News Channel's Extraordinary Right-Wing Tilt. It talks about how Fox News has a right-wing tilt, or biased towards conservatives.  It begins the article with saying that conservatives have to pick apart most liberal-biased news, but now most conservatives "praise" Fox News because of its conservative tilt.  Fox News has slogans like, "Fair and Balanced", and "We report, you decide" to help sway the image of being a conservative news network, but the public and most conservatives seem to agree that Fox News is a right-winged news network.  The reason there is so much criticism in this article is because as much as Fox denies being conservative, there is so much evidence against them.  Ackerman lists a number of conservative editors, including Fox's Vice President, and gives the certain jobs they have for Fox; usually anchors.  In my opinion this is a good critique because Ackerman lists several people who work for Fox who were big named right-winged politicians/editors.  The facts support the accusation of Fox being right-winged.  Ackerman does not list any suggestions for improvement, he is just proving the fact that Fox is a mostly conservative network, even though they deny it frequently.

Times

I cheated a bit with my phone, its kind of hard when you have to talk to parents or people to meet up with. I would say I would go 20-30 minutes without using media, but would find myself using it. I would almost get bored. I checked my emails and got on facebook, not going to lie. I was able to do it for a whole day, but would find myself cheating every 20 minutes or so. My name is Dillon, and I have a problem. I cant go without technology

Media Fasting

I gave up my phone, computer, and tv and chose to read a book and catch up on some homework. I also spent time with my girlfriend instead of using the media. It was nice reading a book because I want to, not because I am reading for a class. It was really hard giving up some of my media. It felt like something was missing. It made me realize how dependent I actually am on media devices and electronics. Kind of an eye opener