Homework for 11/24

In response to both Birkert’s and Kelly’s arguments, I believe that we as humans should be less dependent on computers as a means to solve problems. This dependence on computers and machines makes humanity vulnerable to losing its humanity. Computers and machines are great for what they are but the supplementation of these “things’ for humanity tends to make people more readily isolate themselves. For example, people may think that they don’t need to leave the house for anything: grocery shopping, work, and even simple human reaction. Usefulness and efficiency have taken the place of a human co-dependence. What makes us human is the way in which we react to certain things in life and how we show emotion in everything that we do. A dependency on computers or machines would make us much like certain animals that just sit there and show no emotion. For example, a squirrel sitting on a branch doesn’t laugh or smile in the way that a human being does. The squirrel is programmed to carry out the tasks that it needs to survive. And in a similar essence so too is the human being programmed to carry out these tasks, but  we as humans carry them out with emotions and interaction with fellow members of our species that are dissimilar to that of say the squirrel. And if we were to rely too much on machines then we would in fact this this facet of us that makes us so unique. Everything would become so simple to the point that we wouldn’t have to think anymore. We would then sit there like the squirrel and eat our processed food and maybe not even really know what we ourselves are doing.

This dependency on machines (even simple) would be humanities own undoing. For example, it is ever evident that when we lose power, how drastically the local populace of Houston is affected. People revert back to a primitive state. What if there were some sort of crisis and humanity couldn’t avoid or even cope with this crisis? We would be so dependent on machines that we would cease to function. The life that we live now is very plush, but in the same sense it is almost mechanical. What do we do? We wake up everyday and either go to work or school (the majority at any rate). We are slaves to money and many people wouldn’t be able to function if we were forced to live without such machines that make life now as we know it. Everything would become so simple to the point that we wouldn’t have to think anymore. I mean, how many people can reverse engineer a distributor and actually fabricate the parts if one were to break? These little machines and micro-machines take us away from ourselves and it really is depressing at times. Human beings are supposed to live with the surroundings but instead, we use all of these little machines to shape and even destroy the earth to our liking or disliking. But many people don’t realize what is at stake, caught up in their Calvin Klein Jeans and Gucci bags.  The last time that I stood atop a mountain in the Alps, I asked myself, “why do we give up this for any of these material things?” People are so concentrated on what they have and even more so in the USA that they don’t understand that things are thingsm, everything serves a purpose, and that is it. When we die, we take nothing with us but our experience, memories, and how we were as a people.

Homework for Tues 09/15/09

The show, “Glee”, does not break new ground in that it sticks to the same old stereotypical characters within the high school setting. The show itself represents a tired excuse for a drawn out topic that has been desensitized by the media and movie producers for the American public. The topic of high school and hierarchy has been touched upon so much recently that no one really takes the problems within this social experience for real; and in the end, much of what we remember or think of as high school is or was from a television show or film. For example, the show is based around various divisions and subdivisions that have always been apparent: jocks, nerds, artsy kids, excessive compulsive teachers, etc. In the show, “Glee”, hierarchical divisions within the student body conflict with the thought process of various individuals. For example, in the show, “Glee”, the quarterback of the football team realizes that he likes the performing arts or the glee club (after being forced into it) and must admit to his fellow “American footballers” that this is in fact the case.  After he is shot with paintball guns by approximately ten people, he confronts most of his team after a practice and tells them (his football buddies) that, “he is (himself) a loser and that everyone in the town is a loser (after helping the victim of a proposed act of hazing)”. The quarterback then resumes his role as a star of the “glee club”. This culmination of this setting and characters is nothing new in that it has been done various times before. For example in the movie, “American Pie”, we are introduced to a wide array of high school characters that are in some way intertwined, most notably Steve Stifler or the epitome of the high school jock. In the movie, “America Pie”, Finch is always picked on as being the nerdy kid that tries to be cool and is made aware that he is not cool through various tactics of hazing. Finch could be respectively compared to the nerdy kid in the wheel chair from the show, “Glee”.  Another example of this overly done theme would be the movie, “High School Musical”. In the movie, “High School Musical”, the two main characters meet via a karaoke contest and realize that they love singing, but the fact that they love to sing interferes a little bit with their individual social standing. For example, the male star is East High School’s basketball star and the female star is a “math geek”. In spite of these differences, they both audition for the school musical.

homework Tues 22nd of September

homework for tues 22nd of September

homework 11/12

Topic List

1. global poverty

2. nuclear energy

3. global warming

4. economic recession

5. Iran elections/government

6. North Korean missile crisis

7. universal healthcare

8. release of the lockerbie bomber

9. iraq and afghanistan war

10. hiv/aids cure

11. genocide in south africa

Homework 11/03/2009 revision

Audience Analysis proposal essay

 

Instead of building more highways, we could follow in the steps of Dallas’ DART by building more light rail and or possibly in Chicago’s steps with similar monorail systems while adding additional bus routes to link the gap in the rail system. According to The San Antonio Express Newspaper, Dallas has seen enormous success with its mass transit system and has become the “national poster child for light rail”. “DART is performing beyond expectations – and even beyond some of its planners’ wildest dreams” (Dallas Light…). Initially Dallas had received mostly criticism for its want to build a rail system but now many citizens of the Dallas-Metroplex area are much in favor of rapid expansion “82 percent of those polled last fall backed long-term debt so DART could expand more quickly” (Dallas Light…). If Texans and more importantly Americans could be convinced that riding rail and bus is fun and efficient, we would see a booming/budding public transportation industry. I believe that more people would support light rail if they had ever ridden it. Initially, production of these light rail lines would probably be painstakingly slow so that is again where we look to the DART system “back[ing] long-term debt so [we] could expand more quickly” (Dallas Light…).

“ Houstonians are fanatically attached to their automobiles. If we had an expansive light rail system, we could get some people off of the road that either don’t want to be driving or shouldn’t be driving aka there are just too many one car- one driver vehicles on the highways in Houston. According to The Texas Department of Transportation, Houstonians absorb around 20 percent of the total state expenditure in federal funding for highway construction and maintenance or 615,579,507 Dollars. Instead of spending this ridiculous amount of money solely on highways, why not pour some of it into funding new light rail ideas? The development of light rail, coupled with some sort of incentive for riders, would greatly alleviate traffic congestion in Houston as well as the “one person rider”. With more Bus routes (where there weren’t rail connections), waiting times would be almost nothing and people would feel satisfied with public transportation in Houston “

Homework for 11/03/09 1st Draft

Audience Analysis proposal essay 1

 

Instead of building more highways, we could follow in the steps of Dallas’ DART by building more light rail and or possibly in Chicago’s steps with similar monorail systems while adding additional bus routes to link the gap in the rail system. According to The San Antonio Express Newspaper, Dallas has seen enormous success with its mass transit system and has become the “national poster child for light rail”. “DART is performing beyond expectations – and even beyond some of its planners’ wildest dreams” (The San Antonio…). Houstonians are fanatically attached to their automobiles but plainly, there are just too many one car- one driver vehicles on the highways here. According to The Texas Department of Transportation, Houstonians absorb around 20 percent of the total state expenditure in federal funding for highway construction and maintenance. Texas is geared too much towards oil, but that is mainly due to the connection with the economy, being that our economy is oil based. According to popular belief, Houston’s politicians think that if they promoting construction and widening of highways in the Houston area then this will alleviate the problems with traffic and congestion “the federal government gives substantially more financial support to roads than to transit (…) US rail transit projects – such as Seattle’s Link light rail transit project [ ] – have typically been allotted well under 50% federal funding” (Tipping the…). The helpful effects of constructing additional highways are only short term and this doesn’t really help with congestion or commuting times. I commute to the University of Houston from quite a distance away and it still takes me approximately one hour if not more to get to school. And after I arrive, I still have to find parking and that may take an additional 30 minutes. For me, driving has just become more of a burden than a privilege. Dallas has had great success with its public transportation infrastructure despite much animosity during the planning of the light rail system there “

 

Homework for 10/22/09

1. Houston Chronicle

2. There were four stories in particular that grasped my attention:  Police find 3,000lbs of pot, shelling in somalia, Eu prepares to place sanctions on Guinea, and Taser warning. These stories were interesting to me, because I am quite interested in both local and international news (mainly international). More importantly, I am quite intrigued with how taboo drugs are in the USA as current and past US regimes try to find any excuse to crack down on drugs and drug money which is then used to fund the government. I believe that this is a very interesting double standard. The taser story is interesting as one always hears about police brutality in the USA. I have been harassed in the USA for very minor infractions (license plate mounted on dash as hardware on bumper was broken) and was man handled, put into a police car, and then told that I was a bad person , zusammengeschissen, as I was in handcuffs (in the cop car for 45 minutes) for the location of the license plate, which as I have noticed many people have their license plate in a similar location. I was then asked what I was doing in the country etc, etc. I had considered leaving the country as such a thing would NEVER have happened in Europe. The international stories were of interest as I am always trying to stay informed with what is going on internationally. More importantly, I noticed how short these stories were in comparison to local stories. This in my eyes further supports the continued lack of interest for international news in the Houston area.

3. I believe that it would be difficult for me to choose one of these stories, but if I had to choose then I would choose the taser story. My research question would be, “What action can be taken against the usage of tasers by law enforcement”? I would have to research the types of stun guns in use today by HPD, etc. I would have to research when the stun gun was introduced for usage by law enforcement, and who the manufacturer is. I could then probably set up an interview with the manufacturer and ask about testing and various test results. I then would interview police officers that tased people as well as people that had been tased. I would look online for areas around Texas where tazings have been reported in the paper and note statistics view online journals and papers.

4. I am considering Gun laws/gun control, Illegal immigration, and public transportation. Gun laws are interesting to me as many people in Texas seem to still have a “wild west mentality”. It seems that most people can not solve a problem without trying to bring a gun into the equation which one would think would call on stricter gun laws based on statistics. I admire guns as I used to target shoot, but at the same time I fear them as many people are just out of their minds and there needs to be some sort of cap that controls the allocation of guns. Illegal immigration is an important subject to me as many Mexicans think that they should be give amnesty and that it is their right/entitlement to be in the USA. My father still has his Green Card and during his interview process was asked, if he was a terrorist? I strongly believe that illegal immigration should be highly regulated with more effort by the government to impede the flow of such persons. Public transportation is also very interesting to me in a city with almost 6 million people vs Berlin with a population of around 5 million. Houston is the 6th largest city in the United States with probably the worst public transportation system in the world…need I say more?

HW Tues Sep. 08 Believing and Doubting

Believing

In the article, “Labor Day and the American Dream”, William McGurn  explains that as a society we have become accustomed to one system of learning (1). Mr. McGurn points out that we the populace have generalized in how we think about jobs and consider college and a degree to be the only path to a true line of work (1). He attributes recent changes in the nature of our economy as well as a shift in the era that we live in to this current trend in mainstream thinking “among the masses and or maturing youth of America “. McGurn states that, “(…) the likeliest path to upward mobility runs through the college quad.” Although McGurn agrees with the prospect of a college career he also admits that, “many people do not like to sit in a classroom (2).” He expands on this saying that, “jobseekers should have more than one way to acquire the skills that they need for a good job”(1). McGurn refers to two economists, Robert Lerman from America University and Georgetown’s Harry Holzer, “saying that both of these economists  agree that there are plenty of jobs that do not require degrees but rather that further job training or community college coursework would be required to attain these jobs (referring to an alternative route to a better line of work outside of college)”.

Doubting

In the article, “Labor Day and the American Dream”, William McGurn  explains that as a society we have become accustomed to one system of learning but fails to truly go into detail about the failures of our current system of education. For example, McGurn states that, “there are many jobs available to those without a college degree”; but he fails to mention that even with additional training, these jobs that are above the national average (power plant operator or physical therapists) are in limited supply(1). They are in limited supply, because many people can not afford college and are therefore seeking this alternative route. In essence, someone in this line of work would find themself working from the bottom of the barrel and not necessarily receiving a guaranteed raise; but rather that most of these jobs are “dead end jobs”. McGurn also fails to mention that most of these  degreeless jobs are manual labor and generally take a lifetime to get to the point where one makes above the national average. McGurn continues to say that, “(…)we need a larger portfolio of options”, but again fails to mention that, that would require a change to the current system of education aka most likely more taxation. McGurn’s argument is interesting, but most likely, a larger portfolio of options will not be available anytime soon as the system of education is set up so that most people have to go to college to do anything with themselves. The sad thing is that colleges are set up like businesses, where they are generally only interested in making money. So, once the money runs out then that is just too bad for the student that wanted to achieve!

Homework for Tuesday 09/01/09

• What is one of the issues this short story deals with?  That is, what kind of argument process (discourse) is it taking part in?
• What is one of the claims or comments this story seems to be making?
• How does the short story go about working on the emotions and reasoning of its reader?

This short story deals mainly with process of truth seeking and persuasion. A new employee is recently hired on, and is given “an office tour” by an employee that has been with the company for some time already. During the tour, the senior employee begins to label fellow employees that are less liked, because of their differences, or potentially to make office life more interesting. The new hire is told to ask questions but asking too many will result in termination, ” Feel free to ask questions. Ask too many questions, however and you may be let go.” The senior employee continues to slander fellow employees in an attempt to explain and invent circumstances as to why they are overweight, overly cheery, or undertake in presumably odd behavior,etc, “Russell Nash has put on forty pounds, and grows fatter with each passing month, nibbling on chips and cookies while peeking glumly over the partitions at Amanda Pierce, and gorging himself at home on cold pizza and ice cream while watching adult videos on TV: last year, while reviewing quarterly reports in a meeting with Barry Hacker, Anika Bloom’s left palm began to bleed. She fell into a trance, stared into her hand, and told Barry Hacker when and how his wife would die. We laughed it off. She was, after all, a new employee. But Barry Hacker’s wife is dead. So unless you want to know exactly when and how you’ll die, never talk to Anika Bloom.” The new hire is constantly reminded to not ask people (personal) questions and is left to believe that asking questions will result in death or termination. “The new hire is also told that Colin Heavy spoke with Anika Bloom and he was never the same again.”

The story plays on the emotions of the reader through the constant labeling of the employees as well as some of the inhuman statements in relation to tragedy, “Larry Bagdikian, who sits over there, has six daughters. If anything were to happen to any of his girls, or to all of them, if all six were to simultaneously fall victim to illness or injury – stricken with hideous degenerative muscle disease or some rare toxic blood disorder, sprayed with semiautomatic gunfire while on a class field trip, or attacked in their bunk beds by some prowling nocturnal lunatic – if any of this were to pass, Larry’s girls would all be taken care of. Larry Bagdikian would not have to pay one dime. He would have nothing to worry about.” Furthermore, I believe that the author wrote a short story representative of the age old adage, “don’t judge a book by its cover.”

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