Friday, October 29, 2010

AAUP News Story

My news story made it to page 3 of the Oracle this week! It's my second story that made it to the paper (out of 3 that I've turned in). I have two more stories to write this semester. Let's hope my luck keeps up!

Here's the link:
http://media.www.tntechoracle.com/media/storage/paper1408/news/2010/10/29/News/Guest.Speakers.Encourage.Tech.To.take.This.Job.And.Love.It-3951648.shtml

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

My Talent

Today I turned in my third new story for this semester. As you know if you've been reading my blog, my second story made it into the school paper in September. Well i sat up all night trying to write this story and I couldn't come up with anything... not more than one sentence. So I slept on it.

When I woke up this morning I gathered up all my information and set to work. Well I did it!! I took it to my journalism teacher around 3pm, an hour before it was due, and she loved it! She said it was very well written and that I have a real talent for doing this! I couldn't believe she said that! It really made my day.

So I wanted to share with you the story. In no way is the information exciting... But I am proud of it. I'm pretty sure I will make it into the paper again, and maybe this time on the front page! ;)

~~


AAUP Invites Union Members to Speak for Improving Campus Working Conditions
10/26/2010
BY: DUSTIN SMITH
      The American Association of University Professors has invited two United Campus Worker organizers from Middle Tennessee State University to speak at Tech this Monday.
      The presentation is entitled “Take this Job and Love It.”  Karly Safar, United Campus Workers organizer at the University of Tennessee, will present a brief history of the UCW, a union of close to 1,200 employees in public higher education across the state of Tennessee, highlight some of the victories the union has won, and also discuss what difficulties they will face in Summer 2011 when the stimulus funding runs out and the unions campaign goals for the upcoming year.
      “For the past year I have been working full-time for the union.” said Safar. “We first got started at UT-Knoxville 10 years ago when campus workers, students, and community members organized to fight for a living wage, an hourly wage that allows one to live decently and take care of a family while working full-time.”
      The living wage is calculated based on the actual cost of living factors in one’s particular city. From this campaign a union was formed, and has since spread to other campuses across Tennessee. UCW ensures that workers are paid decent wages and are guaranteed basic rights and respect at work.
“A focus of our work over the past two years of the economic recession has been to fight for funding for higher education to prevent layoffs and severe budget cuts that would hurt not only students and employees, but also the greater community and the state’s economy as a whole.” said Safar.
Rachel Kirk, MTSU UCW legislative committee chair, AAUP member, and MTSU librarian, will be addressing why it is important to engage in the political process, UCW’s support for and endorsement of pro-worker and pro-education candidates running for state house and senate seats, and some about their past fights and campaigns.
      “We are inviting faculty, staff, and students because the event addresses changes in higher education being made by the state legislature that increasingly affects us all with little consideration being given to us,” said Josephine McQuail, professor of English and Tech chapter AAUP president. “Basically it is important for the campus community – all members of the campus community - to come together and develop a collective voice to have input in these decisions which affect us all. We need to be proactive not reactive!”
      AAUP’s purpose, according to their website (www.aaup.org), is to advance academic freedom and shared governance, to define fundamental professional values and standards for higher education, and to ensure higher education’s contribution to the common good. “The AAUP is concerned particularly in today’s climate to preserve tenure,” said McQuail.
      “Take This Job and Love It” will take place in Henderson Hall 205 from 3 to 5:50 p.m. and is sponsored by the Tech chapter of the AAUP, the sociology and political science department, and the journalism department.


 Karly Safar is pictured second from the right protesting budget cuts in 2009.

 ~~ 

I don't know why the last paragraph came out all funny like that. I can't figure out how to change it so it will just have to do. Anyway there is my story. If it's in the paper on Friday I will post a link. 

Adios!!
-Mr. Smtih

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Ferrets are into ps3

funny video game photos - Ferrets Love Only The Finest
see more Bob's House of Video Games

I have ferrets so this makes me laugh. Glad that's not my ps3, though.Haha

Cruel Neighbors.



I've got to say... what a complete bitch!! How could anyone treat a poor little girl and her family that way! There's a big difference between celebrating Halloween and taunting a poor little girl who might not be living much longer. The decorations and the coffin are one thing but I just can not believe that woman put those things on facebook!! This just blows my mind that someone can be so cruel... I don't even know what else to say.... poor girl.

-Mr. Smith

Friday, October 22, 2010

Horror Movie Night!!!

Tonight I am treating myself to a Horror Movie Marathon!!!! Let's take a look at the list and have a little movie review time shall we?


 2 out of 5 stars 
One of the 8 Movies to Die For, which gave me hope for this movie. But I was disappointed. It was nice and bloody (which is the way I like um!) but it was very boring. The story is about three buddies from Texas who decide to go to Mexico where they can be free to do whatever the hell they want. I should have known right then that it was going to be bad. There they get mixed up with some kind of cult where people are sacrificed to some god. It never explained what the cult is about exactly, and the story was kinda choppy. Overall it sucked. I didn't even finish it. Next!

3 out of 5 stars
A classic horror movie. I've known about this movie for a long time and have heard the legend about saying Candyman in the mirror five times, but never got the chance to watch it. I remember trying to gather up the guts to say it myself in the bathroom. I think I did it once, and I'm still alive today! Or maybe that was Bloody Mary...anyway. Candyman is a different kind of supernatural killer. Instead he uses the main character, Helen to kill his victims. This of course gets Helen in quite a bit of trouble. The story is good, though I didn't understand some elements of it. Also, it never explains how Candyman got his name, or why he appears after saying his name 5 times in the mirror. The movie had a few holes in it but it wasn't bad overall. 

4 out of 5 stars
This one was very interesting. The story revolved around Heather who, in the movie, played Nancy in the original Nightmare on Elm street. Freddy comes alive through the movies which aren't really movies but Heather's life? I dunno. The whole movie/real life thing confused me. Otherwise the movie was pretty good. It wasn't too cheesy and it had good suspenseful moments. The only thing I really didn't like was Freddy's makeup. It looked totally fake and plastic. I don't know why they changed it from the original. Maybe because this is a different Freddy. The real Freddy? I don't know! The only other Freddy movies I have seen are the original and the newest 2010 version. Maybe if I had seen the others in between I would understand more.

That's the end of my horror movie night. It's late and bed time for me! 
Adios friends!
-Mr. Smith.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Comments! I need Comments!! + A Tutorial

Hey everyone,

I know that people are reading my blog (slowly but surely) because my counter keeps going up. But there are next to NO COMMENTS  on my posts. In order for this blog to be successful for me I NEED MY READERS' INPUT! Please comment on my posts if you think it's funny, think it sucks, want to tell me to shut the fuck up. I don't care what you say but I need responses for this blog to become noticed. If some random internet surfer comes across my blog, he/she is most likely going to glance through the first few posts, notice that no one commented on anything, assume the blog sucks and that no one is reading it, then surf on his merry way. I really don't want that to happen :(

So I think one of the reasons no one is commenting is because you are unfamiliar with this site and don't know how to work it. Well I am here to fix that! I will give you a short tutorial of what everything is and how to comment.

If you look at the top of the page you will see the title of my wonderful blog "The Infamous Mr. Smith," that's me! If at any time you want to return to the main page of the blog click on the blog title and it will you bring you right back. Below the title is a description of the blog, then the blog Logo, which I made myself  ^_^ (please hold your applause)

Now please turn your attention to the right of the page. Hey! There's my face! If you click there it will take you to my profile where you will learn a few things about me... but just a few. ;) Below that is the counter, here you can see how many visits I have accumulated. Every time someone is directed to the front page, the counter goes up by one. WOOPEE! That's good! Next is My Reading Material. These are the blogs that I keep up with and read. They are all very good and some of them are written by people I know so check them out as well =D. Going down you will see everyone that follows my blog (hopefully this list will start growing soon with your help) , the search bar if you want to search for anything I have blogged about, then my blog archive which keeps all my blogs nice and orderly for your convenience. :) Also you can go through the posts in order by clicking the "older Posts" link at the bottom of each page

Now comes the FUN PART!!! If you look below this post you will see a few different ways to give input on my posts. First is the time the post was published, and how many comments it has. This is where you come in. If you click on the comments, YOU CAN EVEN LEAVE A COMMENT YOURSELF! COOL! And the best part about this is you don't have to have a blogger account to comment!! Anyone with these types of accounts can comment: Google (gmail), LiveJournal, WordPress, TypePad, AIM, and OpenID. I think you can even comment with a twitter account. Of all these different accounts you guys have to have at least one of these. So please use them and talk to me! This blog depends on you just as much as me! Without me there would be no blog, but without YOU my words are absolutely worthless.

Now back to business. Beside the comments link is a picture of an envelope with an arrow. With this you can email any post to your friends! If you like one of my posts, please send it to your friends. Spread the word! I need as much publicity as possible. Last but not least is the reaction below that. Here you can tick which ever reaction you have to the post. you do not even have to have an account to use these. Anyone who looks at my blog can tick these, and you can tick them in any combination you wish.

Ok, there is your lesson for today kiddos. I appreciate any and everything you guys do for me and this blog. I am very proud of it and I want it to succeed. In the long run it's going to help me with my career in Journalism, but not without your help!!

That's it for now loyal readers! I love each and every one of you! Especially so if you leave me comments ;) jk! ADIOS!

-Mr. Smith

Wow! Space Balloon!

This is absolutely the coolest thing I have ever seen. Screw model rockets, I want to send a balloon to space!

Hehe

 This is 17 pages long!!! Wow Stoner Achievements List                                                            

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Your Weapon of Choice

Playing Music

This is totally me



My Hero

I aspire to be like Apostrophe Man one day.... we all have dreams.

New Blog Pic

I changed the blog picture at the top of the page. I hope it attracts some attention. I made it myself. I found This Site using Stumbleupon that lets you create cool pictures like this. Mine's simple, looks like you can get way more creative with it.