news

Newspaper Reading: Preparation for Group Discussion

Student: LU LIN 

1) Select one magazine or newspaper article to bring to class. This article can also come from an online newspaper such as The New York Times or The Los Angeles Times.

2) Gather three words you did not understand, liked, and/or found interesting in the article you selected, look them up in the dictionary, and complete the table below.

WORD	PART OF SPEECH (Noun, Verb, Adjective, Adverb, etc.)	SYNONYM OR DEFINITION
1. application	n.	the work of applying something.
2. default	n.	an option that is selected automatically unless an alternative is specified.
3. phrase	n.	an expression consisting of one or more words forming a grammatical constituent of a sentence.

3) To help with the context for the words you selected, highlight or underline the sentences that contain the three words you gathered.

4) In one sentence, explain what the article is about. You can use the following sentence starters to help you: “This article is about…” “The main idea in this article is…”

This article is about the 25 worst passwords that people are always use, and this article cautions people to change their password if their password are on the list, and this article shows us how to set a safe password.  


5) Bring this sheet and a hard or digital copy of your article to class. Be prepared to share this information with a group of peers next class.

Questions:

1. What is the main idea of this article?
2. Would this information be useful if you have the same situation?
3. What would happen if your password was stolen?

news

The 25 worst passwords of 2012

By Olivia B. Waxman

updated 4:17 PM EDT, Thu October 25, 2012 | Filed under: Web

(TIME) -- If any of your passwords are on this list, then shame on you -- and go change them now.

SplashData, which makes password management applications, has released its annual "Worst Passwords" list compiled from common passwords that are posted by hackers. The top three -- "password," "123456," and "12345678″ -- have not changed since last year. New ones include "jesus," "ninja," "mustang," "password1," and "welcome." Other passwords have moved up and down on the list.

The most surprising addition is probably "welcome."

"That means people are not even changing default passwords," CEO Morgan Slain told TIME Tech. "It doesn't take that much time to make a new password."

You should have different passwords for all of your accounts. To make it easier to remember them all, Slain suggests thinking about passwords as "passphrases." For instance, use a phrase like "dog eats bone" and add underscores, dashes, hyphens, and other punctuation marks to satisfy the special character requirement: "dog_eats_bone!"

Here's the full list:

1. password

2, 123456

3. 12345678

4. abc123

5. qwerty

6. monkey

7. letmein

8. dragon

9. 111111

10. baseball

11. iloveyou

12. trustno1

13. 1234567

14. sunshine

15. master

16. 123123

17. welcome

18. shadow

19. ashley

20. football

21. jesus

22. michael

23. ninja

24. mustang

25. password1

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

            Password management firm lists year's 25 worst passwords

            Top three on the list: "password," "123456" and "12345678"

            "jesus," "monkey" and "ninja" also made the list

                        Entries came from common passwords posted by hackers

news

Newspaper Reading: Preparation for Group Discussion

Student: LU LIN 

1) Select one magazine or newspaper article to bring to class. This article can also come from an online newspaper such as The New York Times or The Los Angeles Times.

2) Gather three words you did not understand, liked, and/or found interesting in the article you selected, look them up in the dictionary, and complete the table below.

WORD	PART OF SPEECH (Noun, Verb, Adjective, Adverb, etc.)	SYNONYM OR DEFINITION
1. battleground	n.	a region where a battle is being (or has been) fought
2. electoral	adj.	1: of or relating to elections   2: relating to or composed of electors
3. force	n.	one possessing or exercising power or influence or authority

3) To help with the context for the words you selected, highlight or underline the sentences that contain the three words you gathered.

4) In one sentence, explain what the article is about. You can use the following sentence starters to help you: “This article is about…” “The main idea in this article is…”

       This article is about the unemployment rate falls in seven states. In Ohio, the most important reason is because the electoral votes, and the unemployment rate still higher than national average. In Florida, the unemployment rate falls because more people are trying to find jobs, so it is a good signal. The two states both falls their unemployment, but they use different ways.

5) Bring this sheet and a hard or digital copy of your article to class. Be prepared to share this information with a group of peers next class.

news

Unemployment falls in seven swing states

By Annalyn Censky @CNNMoney October 19, 2012: 12:40 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Unemployment declined in 41 states in September, seven of which are key battlegrounds in the election. But falling unemployment rates don't necessarily point to improvement.

Ohio, which has 18 electoral votes up for grabs, saw its unemployment rate decline to 7% in September, down from 7.2% just a month earlier. While hiring has picked up slightly in the state, unemployment is partly falling for the wrong reasons.

Ohio added about 51,000 jobs in the last year, but more than 40,000 people also dropped out of the state's labor force.

Meanwhile in Florida, which has 29 electoral votes, the job market has made more steady progress. But you wouldn't know it from the unemployment rate, which stood at 8.7% in September, higher than the national average of 7.8%.

Florida's labor force is growing, which is an encouraging sign. More people are trying to get jobs in the state, and they're getting them. Over the last year, hiring has not only kept up -- it has grown at a rate five times faster than Florida's expanding labor force.

Over the last year, the state has added 34,000 professional and business service jobs, 21,000 health care and social assistance jobs, and 11,000 retail jobs. That said, as one of the hardest hit states in the housing crisis, it still suffers from a loss of construction jobs.

"These numbers today tell us two things -- we still have more work to do to grow our economy, and we are heading in the right direction.," Florida Gov. Rick Scott said in a statement.