Thursday, February 10, 2011

More Than Just a Tattoo

One by one, Sterling students lined up to be tattooed by a guy they’d never met before, a guy who beknownst to them had only a few needles with him. There was no way to properly sanitize these needles that penetrated many people’s skin causing a lot of bleeding. The man promised them masterpieces for a small price but what they got was more than they asked for.
Tattoos, almost everybody has them and nearly everybody wants one, so much so that people are disregarding the age restrictions at the risk of their health. 
Tattoo parties are a common occurrence for students everywhere. They take place in homes, basements, old warehouses, abandoned houses, parks and in the woods after curfew. And undeniably, the curfew law is not the only law broken at these parties.
In January, over Christmas break, one of these parties occurred in the basement of Joe’s home. There, over fifty kids pilled into the dark, damp room with loud music, hard dancing, “side activities” and a bathroom big enough for two. In that bathroom sat an unknown man with a tattoo gun.
 “These parties,” said one student, “are all the rage. Laws we break can’t be proved and we get a tattoo out of it. Sometimes you pay for them and other times you do something else for them. Everybody wins and we all have a good time.” But now that same student’s views have been changed. Jane now realizes that the ‘good time’ she was talking about caused her judgment to be impaired this last time when getting tattooed.
“Everybody said that [the tattoo artist] was Joe’s friend so I trusted them and went against my better judgment” she said. “I had a feeling about him that just wasn’t right and I wish I would’ve listened to that voice in my head.” 
Three students contracted infections, two developed puss build-up and four student’s tattoos are utterly unrecognizable. Jane was one of these students. She contracted a simple infection but it required hospital attention. Now her new ‘tattoo’ is a painful crater on her back.
 “Kids today” said one person’s father, “they blatantly disregard their own health. There’s reason’s why there’s an age restriction on this type of thing. You’re supposed to go to a reputable [tattoo] parlor with licensed professionals. They are required to have proper sanitation guidelines so infections and diseases do not occur.” But even with the catastrophe that happened that night, students are already planning the next party.
“He was just the wrong guy to bring to the party” said Joe. “Now we’ll find someone else and hopefully he’ll be better.” It’s comments like these that prove kids have no real regard for their well being; they just want have what they think is the cool thing.
But even with the upcoming party, some students have realized that the guy they got tattooed by could’ve caused more damage than he did. Ignorance ran their lives in a painful way but now some students are healing in a smart way. Those students say they will not go to these parties again. They’ve decided to wait until they are legal to get a tattoo from a professional.
But why would students put their lives at risk for a tattoo? What possible benefits arise from them and how can they be so ignorant to the hazards? Some say teenage rebellion but it’s more along the lines of irresponsibility. They think they’re young and indestructible and nothing can stop them but they’re wrong. The only way they’ll learn is when something bad befalls them… and by then, it could be something worse than an infectious tattoo.
*all names were changed to protect the identities and reputations of those involved*


Exoskeletons Walking Their Way to Mainstream Medicine

Pictures courtesy of Argo Medical Technologies Ltd.
A new device called ReWalk can help paraplegics stand and walk is scheduled for release in late January of 2011. The device works when people lean forward and move their upper body in different ways.
Commercialized by Argo Medical Technologies Ltd the ReWalk was invented by Israeli entrepreneur Amit Goffer who was himself paralyzed in a car crash in 1997.
The device, 35-pounds, is worn outside of clothing and consists of leg braces. It is outfitted with motion sensors and motorized joints that respond to the changes in upper-body movement. There’s a harness around the patient's waist and shoulders that keep the suit in place. On the device is a backpack that holds the computer mainframe and a rechargeable 3 1/2-hour battery.
ReWalk, which costs about $100,000, is making it’s début around the same time competitor companies are releasing their exoskeletons. Though it will have stiff competition, ReWalk is expected to break thorough and out shine them all.  This product is said to prevent the costly complications that often arise in people who can't walk, including pressure sores, urinary, digestive, circulatory, and cardiovascular problems.
Those who have tested it say the benefit is more than physical. And after several years of clinical trials in Israel and the United States, units go on sale in January.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Writting an explication

Explication of Mélange Review done by J. Capuzzo
Mélange of Haddonfield is quickly becoming the next best five star restaurant. In her review, J. Capuzzo, gives this five star restaurant the five star treatment. She praises the head Chef’s cooking and states how great it is that"His neighbors’ meals may have made an impression on him, but it was Brown’s mother, born in Tennessee, who had the biggest impact…" She says that Chef Brown is an amazing chef because of his background and the place in which he grew up. Capuzzo gives a brief description of the menu items but maybe conveniently leaves out the prices.

Capuzzo implies that even for the chef’s background, the restaurant has a wide variety of food, and a taste for every mood. She states that the restaurant has award winning appetizers that include a very southern approach. Unfortunately the review tells of extremely spicy food, Capuzzo says "The staff refers to these Cajun-inspired dishes as "aggressively seasoned" rather than "spicy,". Luckily for the customers there is a rather understanding and customer-pleasing chef who says, "Anything can be adjusted to individual tastes." Capuzzo also redeems the restaurant by adding a piece about the amazing deserts and how there is enough provided to count as a meal.
She also provides decent imagery for what the restaurant internally looks like. So while you’re reading about eating you can almost imagine that you’re actually there. She tells of the waiters and how helpful they are and even states how Chef Brown is "a very hands-on person and will greet you and seat you and make sure you’re being properly taken care of".

Though J. Capuzzo provides a proper review and depicts everything properly, she should of written things differently. First off, the review was just a titch too long and really makes the readers loose interest. Also, though she recounts some of the food the restaurant has to offer she does not give and average price range and repeats herself a lot. There’s only a certain amount of times you need to hear about the spicy food and the southern approach; we can come to the conclusion that the food is spicy without it being stated repeatedly.

Capuzzo also takes too much time going into the background of the Chef and his cooking styles. The review was kind of centered on the cook and not really enough around the food and atmosphere, which is the main reason why people read reviews of restaurants.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Favorite Online Magazine

My favorite online magazine is AMP- American Music Press- and is based on all the new and awesome bands that have hit some stage somewhere. The intended viewing audience is anywhere from the teen years to about the 'mid-life' crisis age. The website's layout is basic with a simple white background and black text. There are many photos and interviews plastered about the homepage. The website has a photo loop that introduces the weeks' best new artists. It has alot going on though and can take a while to load.

If the website was less up to date with the whole Facebook/ Twitter phenomenon it wouldn't need to have the moving linkbar and would prove to be beneficial to the websites purpose. The link bar is a distraction and has many people linking almost everything to their social network accounts. It really just takes away from the website.


It is great website though and provides accurate information and is a must read for all music fans of any genre.


To see for yourself try the link below.
http://www.ampmagazine.com/