Refuse or Embrace

This is an age of quickly advancing technology. People choosing to “refuse” technology in these days will find themselves doing a lot of things much more inefficiently than they need to. On the other hand, people that “embrace” the flourishing technological world seem to get things done a lot faster and more simply. The more and more people refuse technology, the more and more they will just fall behind in the future. These days a majority of things can be processed or done electronically; as more and more things become computerized, people have learned and adapted. That is why these days kids grow up from an early age how to use computers and technology. This way they grow up knowing how to use most things with ease. Usually parents learn slower because they did not get to grow up with technology.

I think there is a balance that should be kept. People should not completely emerge themselves only into the world of technology. On the other hand, they should not just completely ignore it either. A good balance could be using technology for things that would be completely tedious or unnecessary to do without technology and also only ignoring technology when it’s being used for complete and utter laziness. As time passes, more and more things are becoming computerized and self animated. This is helpful as long as people do not become completely dependant on it; if they become dependent on it then they will have no other options if something goes wrong.

Also, I do not thing technology will make us dumber. It has the capabilities to make us smarter than ever before as long as it isn’t abused. All these breakthroughs in technology recently have opened a multitude of information. Since there is so much more available, people should be able to learn so much more. For example, the internet has unleashed a nearly endless stream of information; people need to be careful not to abuse it. Networking has ushered in a whole new era of communication. Even though it is not as personal as a real visit, the convenience of contacting people at the push of a button is unbeatable. The balance would be not making too many meaningless acquaintances. These days technology can not be completely embraced or completely refused. Adapting to the changing environment is the ultimate task.

Essay Topics

1.) Stem Cell Research
2.) Freedom of Religion around the world
3.) Change in drinking/smoking age
4.) U.S. Healthcare
5.) Animal Experimentation
6.) Fossil Fuels Alternatives
7.) U.S. Drug Policy
8.) Bad Global Economy
9.) Affirmative Action
10.) Global Warming

Revised

Practical Proposal Paper

No one can know for sure how many innocent people have been wrongfully executed by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The death penalty can be evident in Texas all the way back to the year 1819; executions from 1819 to 1923 were basically all done by hanging criminals. All executions were performed by each county individually, until the state announced that all executions take place in Huntsville in 1923; this was the same year that the use of the electric chair began. The United States Supreme court struck down capital punishment as unconstitutional in 1972, but the changes in the Texas penal code allowed for the resumption of executions by 1974. Since the death penalty was brought back, Texas has had the most number of executions and also one of the largest death row populations. A lot of people these days support the death penalty because they are misinformed about the truth. Some think that executing a criminal is more cost effective than imprisoning them; that is not true. Others think that it will make the murder and crime rates go down; this can also be proven wrong. Also, a court case has made it so that a criminal sentenced to death after a certain time is destined to die; so even if evidence found after this certain time proves that person innocent, the person will still be executed. To keep innocent people from execution, to stop unnecessary executions and to save money, Texas should get rid of the death penalty.

Unrevised

Practical Proposal Paper

No one can know for sure how many innocent people have been wrongfully executed by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The death penalty can be evident in Texas all the way back to the year 1819; executions from 1819 to 1923 were basically all done by hanging criminals. All executions were performed by each county individually, until the state announced that all executions take place in Huntsville in 1923; this was the same year that the use of the electric chair began. The United States Supreme court struck down capital punishment as unconstitutional in 1972, but the changes in the Texas penal code allowed for the resumption of executions by 1974. Since the death penalty was brought back, Texas has had the most number of executions and also one of the largest death row populations. A lot of people these days support the death penalty because they are misinformed about the truth. In reality, each execution these days is costing taxpayers over two million dollars per execution; so it actually costs less to imprison a criminal in maximum security jail for over forty years than to execute them. Also, a court case has made it so that a criminal sentenced to death after a certain time is destined to die; so even if evidence found after this certain time proves that person innocent, the person will still be executed. To keep innocent people from execution, to stop unnecessary executions and to save money, Texas should get rid of the death penalty.

Practical Proposal Essay Topic

The topic I have chosen for my practical proposal essay is the death penalty in Texas. This interests me because a lot of comments I hear in class make me realize that there are misconceptions about the death penalty in Texas. I gained interest in this topic more after learning more about it in my government class. After some more research I am confident that I can write a very convincing practical proposal essay that proposes to get rid of the death penalty in Texas. The death penalty in Texas is a problem because it is causing the unnecessary death of human beings; also the main reasons for keeping it active are not even really valid when researched. The death penalty is a problem for all the people on death row: the innocent and the guilty. If this problem is not solved soon, several humans will have to end up dying. Some people on death row are innocent people; this means innocent people are being executed by our government.
The Texas state governments have the power to end the death penalty. The state has not done anything against it because of public and political support for it. There are people on both sides of the death penalty argument. Most people do not understand the ineffectiveness of this capital punishment. The problem can be solved if the people and politicians come together and make Texas against the death penalty. The probable benefits of getting rid of the death penalty are saving money, saving human lives, and preventing discrimination. Some people believe the death penalty is just proper justice for certain criminals; the end of the death penalty could mean the end of justice for some people. The financial costs of ending the death penalty could be the cost associated with imprisoning someone for the rest of their life. The taxpayers would bear these costs but the fact is that it costs more to execute someone in Texas than keep them imprisoned for fifty years. The money saved from not executing someone could just be used to keep them in jail.
Texas should get rid of the death penalty because it will save human lives and also because there are a few financial benefits too. The alternative to the death penalty is life in prison without chance of parole. Life in jail without parole would happen if the death penalty in Texas was terminated.

Blog Assignment for Oct. 22

While I was looking through the websites and articles a few of them seemed to pop out and interest me. One of the stories that interested me was about how parking alternatives at the University of Houston had benefits. This was an interesting article for me because this is a topic of frequent discussion on campus. Another article that got my attention was about how kids reviewed cafeteria food. This was interesting because I am curious to see the kind of foods that kids are into these days. One more article I found interesting was an article about the race for the Houston’s next mayor. It interested me because it talked about the vast differences between the different contenders.

My favorite article out of all these would be the one about how kids reviewed the cafeteria food. It talked about all the foods that are and aren’t popular with kids these days. If I used this story as the starting point for my practical proposal paper, my research question would be the following statement. Should kids have better tasting and more nutritional cafeteria food? The information I would need to answer my research question would be nutritional values of the current cafeteria food, the opinions of the kids on the food and an overall review by an adult audience. The main people I could interview for this topic would definitely be kids that eat cafeteria food and the adults that experience it too. Also, I would have to look at healthy nutritional information for growing kids on the internet and medical publications.

Another local issue that I am considering talking about for my practical proposal paper would have to be all the pollution in Houston. This topic interests me because I care about the environment and also because Houston is one of the worst polluted cities in America. Proposing a change could lead to a better environment for Houston’s future. Another issue I am considering writing about would be increasing the number of homeless shelters in order to help the less fortunate. This interests me because I like to help others that are less fortunate than the average citizen. Another possible issue I could write about is traffic in Houston streets. This is an interesting issue for me because I have to endure it every single day. This is a heated topic that people all over Houston tend to discuss routinely.

1st Major Essay Topic

The topic that I have chosen for my first major essay is the globalization of the National Basketball Association. The following statement will be my research question. What has been the major cause of the current globalization of the National Basketball Association and how will it affect its future expansion.

This is a very interesting topic for me because it incorporates my favorite sport. When the basketball season is on the television, I am always watching and keeping track of the teams as the season progresses. Many sports broadcasters talk about the topic of the globalization of the National Basketball Association; hearing their comments gave me ideas and made me interesting in doing this topic.

My original idea for this paper was to talk about the growth in the presence of international players in the National Basketball Association. This growth consequently caused more global demand for the National Basketball Association. A major example I could use is the immense popularity of Yao Ming. His presence in the National Basketball Association literally opens the doors to a market of over one billion people. A prediction for the future can be more and more international scouting for NBA. With more diversity in the NBA, the global demand should just keep increasing.

Visual arguements assignment

Picture not from internet.

Glee

After watching glee I think they just rehashed old stereotypes and stock characters. There were many similarities between this show and a few other high school shows I have seen. The common stereotypes of popular jocks, cheerleaders and nerds have been over used in recent shows about high school. Also, the idea of a new coach or instructor that comes and changes a bad situation for kids has been used over and over again. The only thing that I think that this show does that is original is bringing back the musical style within the show. This episode contained several musical performances.
A common stereotype this show portrayed was the popular jocks picking on the losers that did not fit in with everyone else. When the football players picked on the loser in the show, it reminded me of exactly when Malcolm and his friends, in the show “Malcolm in the middle”, got picked on by the jocks. Also, just like in every television high school situation, the cool football player goes out with hot cheer leader. These stereotypes and stock characters are so common that they can even be found in modern cartoons. For example, “Family Guy” uses all of the same stereotypes when they have high school scenes in certain episodes. Even the cheer leader coach in the “Glee” episode talked about the social line in between the groups.
In “Glee” the teacher comes in a struggling situation and makes the club into winners. He changes the mentality of the students and makes them very good. In turn, this makes more people care about the glee club. This situation is seen in a lot of sports movies these days. An example could be “The Mighty ducks.” In this movie a coach comes into a bad situation and turns it around by changing the way the team plays. In the end, they become very good and everything is turned around. This is seen in several other movies like “Rebound.” Overall, this is pretty much what happens in the “Glee” episode.
The only unique thing about this episode was that it used a lot more music than normal shows these days. In my opinion, everything else about this show was the same as all the other shows of this time. The evidence above supports my reasoning and provides example of how “Glee” has pretty much rehashed old stereotypes and used stock characters.

Believing/Doubting

Believing



William McGurn's article "Labor day and the American Dream" has an overall message. This message is telling the audience that college is not for everyone. I agree with this message because, as the article states, there are an abundance of alternative ways to make a living. Some examples could be community college, on the job training, and certification programs. I believe that everyone is different and this articles supports the claim that everyone should do what is best for them; that could mean going to college or that could mean starting a business straight out of high school. Since there are so many alternatives, college should not be so highly stressed these days. The use of Mike Rowe in the beginning of the article was a good example of the message the author was trying to illustrate. As long as people have the ability to learn new things and the will to work hard, they will be successful. Even if people get a four year college degree, they are not always guaranteed a good job right away.



Doubting



William McGurn's article "Labor day and the American Dream is sending its audience a wrong message. It is basically telling the audience that it is alright to underachieve. It is persuading people to not get a four year college degree. With just a four year degree, so much more can be done than with just a high school education. Without training and expanding people's knowledge, people can not really reach their full potential. Struggle and determination build character; this is exactly what you use when enduring in college. Even though alternatives to college are available, none offer as much security in the future than an actual degree. After just getting that extra four years of school, people's earning power increase exponentially. This means that people with college degrees will earn much more in their lifetime than people that skipped out on it. People need to be pushed in order to achieve, otherwise some might never make it. By making a society where it is normal to skip college, alot of people will skip out on an oppurtunity to expand their minds.

Orientation assignment

I think that some of the issues the story "Orientation" by daniel orozco deals with is lack of privacy, overregulation and routiness. I beleive that there are several examples of implicit arguements found throughtout the text. An example could be when the author says "these things never happen" when he is talking about hazards

In my opinion, some claims the story seems to be making are that people these days seem to know too much about people that work with them. This is shown by when the author talks about the serial killer in the story. Another claim that i think this story makes is that people these days follow a life that is much too routine. The whole entire story just seemed like kind of a routine. Finally, i think that overregulation is another claim made in this story. Most of this story was just a list of regulations and rules. If some were not followed, then job loss was possible.

This story works on the emotions and reasonings of its readers by using sarcasm and vivid examples. The implicit arguements where not very easy to understand, but rather with deeper meanings.