http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2004/Palo-Verde-Aging11apr04.htm
Audience: Although this article is posted on a "politically informative" website which denounces liberals and conservatives, the piece was originally written in a Phoenix newspaper. Therefore, the audience would initially be the Phoenix residents who are most directly affected by Palo Verde.
Enthymeme: The plant is aging, and the employees' culture of safety is diminishing, thus increasing safety concerns and risks.
Implicit assumption: Whatever compromises the security and safety of the Palo Verde Plant will negatively affect the environment and residents in the Phoenix area.
Ethos/logos/pathos: The article cites a lot of history, like the building of nuclear power plants in the United States. Almost immediately the writer recalls the history of the Three Mile Island which suffered a major safety breach in 1979, though not many people were affected in the end. This tactic appeals to the reader's fear, that is, fear of a greater nuclear incident in a populous area. The writer also talks about "broken relationships" between the employees and their bosses. This also appeals to the reader, as he/she is most likely an employee of some company and may have seen the negative results of sour employee-employer relations.
He cites the example of the Davis-Bessie plant, how employee sentiment dropped there and resulted in reduced protection and safety. I do not know anything about this incident, so I should probably do more reading.
He sounds scholarly enough, acting as a warning voice of sorts for the curious and concerned reader. However, he does not quote many solid facts or give actual examples of "broken relationships" or what happened at Davis-Bessie. This lack of supporting information results in a weak argument.
S- This is not a sufficient argument. It gives few direct quotes from any authoritative voice. It lacks all published references. While the reader does bring up interesting points which seem logical regarding an aging nuclear facility, with no conspicuous factual background, the argument lacks.
T- The argument seems typical enough. It is natural for something that ages to start losing its efficacy and safety, especially in the realm of power and energy.
A- I have no basis from the actual article to decide if it is accurate. If he linked some sources to the claims, they would be more than credible. Therefore, although the facts may be accurate in and of themselves, the website does not present them in an organized, empirical, testable manner.
R- For the aforementioned reasons, I do not completely consider this work reliable. The website does appeal to the "third part voter" or the citizens who do not like Democrat or Republican agendas.
Effective: I do not think this article is effective at this time. While some may be considering shutting down the plant or completely revamping the entire system, the information to back those claims up is not present.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Energy WATCO
WATCO constructing more nuclear power plants cooled by treated sewage ON the environment and the US economy?
Nuclear power plants cooled by treated sewage will improve the state of the environment and the US economy B/C minimal carcinogens will be released into the air, billions of gallons of water will be recycled annually, and dependence on petroleum will be reduced.
Anything that will improve air quality, recycle millions of tons of non-consumable waste, and reduce the use of petroleum will benefit the environment and the US economy.
-So, the Palo Verde Plant outside of Phoenix relies on treated sewage from nearby municipalities. Billions of gallons are recycled each year in this effort. By that virtue, nuclear power could be spread to many inland locations around the country, while now nuclear power plants must be adjacent to large bodies of water for cooling purposes.
Nuclear power plants cooled by treated sewage will improve the state of the environment and the US economy B/C minimal carcinogens will be released into the air, billions of gallons of water will be recycled annually, and dependence on petroleum will be reduced.
Anything that will improve air quality, recycle millions of tons of non-consumable waste, and reduce the use of petroleum will benefit the environment and the US economy.
-So, the Palo Verde Plant outside of Phoenix relies on treated sewage from nearby municipalities. Billions of gallons are recycled each year in this effort. By that virtue, nuclear power could be spread to many inland locations around the country, while now nuclear power plants must be adjacent to large bodies of water for cooling purposes.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
RA: Energy
Now, understand that I do not support Barack Obama, but I decided to analyze his stand on energy and renewable resources.
Taken from http://www.barackobama.com/2007/10/08/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_28.php
WATCO of expanding and modernizing non-petroleum energy sources ON the future of America?
Enthymeme: As non-petroleum energy sources are expanded and modernized, and as petroleum use is greatly reduced, America will reduce the pollution and financial detriment caused by our current energy sources and consumption and become an example to all other nations.
Audience: Voters in Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Implicit assumption: Whatever will help America to improve the state of the environment will improve the nation and the world.
Ethos/pathos/logos: Obama refers to his participation in and support of past bilateral energy reform bills. He places of emphasis on these pieces of legislation to make himself appear a viable, credible, experienced politician. He also places a lot of emphasis on the capability America has to better air quality and energy consumption and appeals to the listeners' national pride. The argument is of vital importance in the current political scene as candidates try to push their prescribed energy reforms on voters. There is pollution caused by dirty coal factories, and the country relies heavily on imported oil, so many feel that change is necessary to remedy the problems caused by such dependencies.
S- His argument does cover a lot of ground and seems sufficient enough, yet nobody knows how much success he will have trying to pass this legislation as President. It is not clear whether he is pandering to voters now in an effort to attain office, or if these are his sincere plans and motives.
T- His speech was typical of current presidential candidates and runs on par with one whom you would expect to preach "change."
A- I have not done enough research to know the veracity and credibility of his claims. He presents the information as hard-proven fact, though there are no direct citations to any scientific studies. It is true, though, that the point of the argument is not to recite a litany of environmental studies, rather attempt to show that he recognizes the need for improvement.
R- The argument is, in my opinion, relevant to today's issues. As I said before, I do not know how many of his claims are really proven and accepted in the scientific community (though Professor Al Gore would agree with him). I do not know exactly how much improvement is needed, but I do know that we rely too heavily on foreign oil and will continue to pay out the ear for it.
Taken from http://www.barackobama.com/2007/10/08/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_28.php
WATCO of expanding and modernizing non-petroleum energy sources ON the future of America?
Enthymeme: As non-petroleum energy sources are expanded and modernized, and as petroleum use is greatly reduced, America will reduce the pollution and financial detriment caused by our current energy sources and consumption and become an example to all other nations.
Audience: Voters in Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Implicit assumption: Whatever will help America to improve the state of the environment will improve the nation and the world.
Ethos/pathos/logos: Obama refers to his participation in and support of past bilateral energy reform bills. He places of emphasis on these pieces of legislation to make himself appear a viable, credible, experienced politician. He also places a lot of emphasis on the capability America has to better air quality and energy consumption and appeals to the listeners' national pride. The argument is of vital importance in the current political scene as candidates try to push their prescribed energy reforms on voters. There is pollution caused by dirty coal factories, and the country relies heavily on imported oil, so many feel that change is necessary to remedy the problems caused by such dependencies.
S- His argument does cover a lot of ground and seems sufficient enough, yet nobody knows how much success he will have trying to pass this legislation as President. It is not clear whether he is pandering to voters now in an effort to attain office, or if these are his sincere plans and motives.
T- His speech was typical of current presidential candidates and runs on par with one whom you would expect to preach "change."
A- I have not done enough research to know the veracity and credibility of his claims. He presents the information as hard-proven fact, though there are no direct citations to any scientific studies. It is true, though, that the point of the argument is not to recite a litany of environmental studies, rather attempt to show that he recognizes the need for improvement.
R- The argument is, in my opinion, relevant to today's issues. As I said before, I do not know how many of his claims are really proven and accepted in the scientific community (though Professor Al Gore would agree with him). I do not know exactly how much improvement is needed, but I do know that we rely too heavily on foreign oil and will continue to pay out the ear for it.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
I am really having a hard time trying to come up with something to write. I wasn't in class on Tuesday, so I don't know what the topics are aside from energy (see last post). I know it can be annoying to have these stupid "I don't know what to write" intro paragraphs on many of my entries. However, they do help my mind get into gear to write something.
I won't go too deep into the fact that I believe I finally completed my five-generation family tree yesterday. The search for this ancestor really began twenty years ago with my parents and a couple conversations they had with older family members, and I found the name yesterday when I had a few minutes between classes. You have to understand that I tried so hard for such a long time to find this info, and it finally kind of popped up in front of me yesterday. It's a miracle, if you ask me. The only way I thought I could find it was having an angel come down and bop me on the head with the right info. That's basically what happened yesterday as I was in the Wilk.
I saw that the US embassy in Belgrade was encompassed with and burned by anti-Kosovo protesters. I don't have extremely warm feelings toward Serbia anyway, so I really wouldn't care that much if the US just let Serbia hang. Of course, His Excellency, Czar Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, would pitch a royal fit. He does have his motives, though. However flawed they may be, they have some reason behind them. Separatist movements like the Abkhazi movement in Georgia, the separatists in Russia (Chechnya) and Azerbaijan are at Russia's doors. I can understand that Kosovo's declaration of independence could be fuel to the fires in these locales.
Going back to my sentiments toward Serbia, I really can't say anything definitive because heck, I've never been there. I really don't know how it feels to have part of your country tell you to go to Hell and then try to declare independence. I was not born yet when my native land, Georgia (Southeast US, not the country), did that from the United States, or at least tried to do that.
I won't go too deep into the fact that I believe I finally completed my five-generation family tree yesterday. The search for this ancestor really began twenty years ago with my parents and a couple conversations they had with older family members, and I found the name yesterday when I had a few minutes between classes. You have to understand that I tried so hard for such a long time to find this info, and it finally kind of popped up in front of me yesterday. It's a miracle, if you ask me. The only way I thought I could find it was having an angel come down and bop me on the head with the right info. That's basically what happened yesterday as I was in the Wilk.
I saw that the US embassy in Belgrade was encompassed with and burned by anti-Kosovo protesters. I don't have extremely warm feelings toward Serbia anyway, so I really wouldn't care that much if the US just let Serbia hang. Of course, His Excellency, Czar Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, would pitch a royal fit. He does have his motives, though. However flawed they may be, they have some reason behind them. Separatist movements like the Abkhazi movement in Georgia, the separatists in Russia (Chechnya) and Azerbaijan are at Russia's doors. I can understand that Kosovo's declaration of independence could be fuel to the fires in these locales.
Going back to my sentiments toward Serbia, I really can't say anything definitive because heck, I've never been there. I really don't know how it feels to have part of your country tell you to go to Hell and then try to declare independence. I was not born yet when my native land, Georgia (Southeast US, not the country), did that from the United States, or at least tried to do that.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Energy
First of all, I think that the best way to run cars would be for someone to hurry up and invent the device shown in Back to the Future II, that is, "Mr. Fusion." A scene from the movie shows Emmit Brown placing garbage into a tube in his time machine (another invention someone needs to go ahead and invent already). Mr. Fusion turned normal household waste into the 1.21 gigowatts of energy needed to travel through time. There was no gasoline used or pollution produced by this machine. If Mr. Fusion can move you thousands of years in a few seconds, imagine how fast you could get to work! How fast could you get to school? The possibilities....
Seriously though, I am not sure what to do for this energy issue. I was very enthusiastic about it in class (more enthusiastic than education, I'll tell you that much), but right now I am not sure where to go. I could write about the feasibility of making more energy-efficient cars as "mandated" by Barack Obama. I could also talk about the need for nuclear energy and why it is shunned like the plague today, despite how clean and safe it actually is. Think about how much smog comes out of a coal plant! Who wants Black Lung Disease? Not me! I don't imagine Al Gore likes it, either, but what do you want to bet he says "no" to nuclear energy? Anyway...
I could also talk about our shameless addiction to foreign oil. I think that the fact that oil prices closed at over 100 bucks a barrel today warrants some sort of treatment of the issue. However, we are deathly afraid of messing up one polar bear's living room by drilling in ANWAR. The actual footprint left by the equipment is really small; almost all of the drilling and stuff is done underground, anyway! We already know that the oil there would really help us out for a long time. We could also invest in drilling off the coast of Florida/in the Gulf of Mexico. However, that would mean we would be taking oil from the same general body of water that Hugo Chavez takes his from! Heaven forbid we should do that and offend poor Huguillo, the reasonable, democratic leader he is. I bet he would get mad at us and say worty dirds about our country. Oh no!
Seriously though, I am not sure what to do for this energy issue. I was very enthusiastic about it in class (more enthusiastic than education, I'll tell you that much), but right now I am not sure where to go. I could write about the feasibility of making more energy-efficient cars as "mandated" by Barack Obama. I could also talk about the need for nuclear energy and why it is shunned like the plague today, despite how clean and safe it actually is. Think about how much smog comes out of a coal plant! Who wants Black Lung Disease? Not me! I don't imagine Al Gore likes it, either, but what do you want to bet he says "no" to nuclear energy? Anyway...
I could also talk about our shameless addiction to foreign oil. I think that the fact that oil prices closed at over 100 bucks a barrel today warrants some sort of treatment of the issue. However, we are deathly afraid of messing up one polar bear's living room by drilling in ANWAR. The actual footprint left by the equipment is really small; almost all of the drilling and stuff is done underground, anyway! We already know that the oil there would really help us out for a long time. We could also invest in drilling off the coast of Florida/in the Gulf of Mexico. However, that would mean we would be taking oil from the same general body of water that Hugo Chavez takes his from! Heaven forbid we should do that and offend poor Huguillo, the reasonable, democratic leader he is. I bet he would get mad at us and say worty dirds about our country. Oh no!
Thursday, February 14, 2008
TA: Sudden change!
I just had a minor epiphany, I guess you could term it. Instead of trying to reform high school foreign language education programs, I am now thinking about starting from the bottom, as it were. I want to write about second language education starting in elementary schools. I base this partially on my experience as a Kindergartener. In Atlanta (Metropolitan Atlanta, that is) I began speaking Spanish at a very young age. In Kindergarten I had a Spanish class every single day with this woman from Puerto Rico. Because of that continual exposure, as well as the presence of Hispanic children around me, I was able to learn the Spanish language. I am fluent in it now today largely due to that early experience. (Of course, my Spanish accent is all over the place, since I started with Puerto Rican Spanish and then got exposed to Guatemalan, Spaniard, Venezuelan, Dominican, and Mexican dialects over the years and married into a Mexican-American family :)
Annnyway, as I was saying, the school district to whom I want to write this paper is:
The Gwinnett County (Georgia) School System
The point I want to get across is that implementing second language education from Kindergarten to high school graduation will improve children's test scores, and enable to them to communicate with a much broader base of people.
Now, I won't go into everything right here and now on this blog, but I do want to go over a source I wish to use. There was this project that was tried on the Lincoln Public Schools District by the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Reviewing the entirety of the article at this point is not feasible, but the article explains the methodology for teaching the students at first. The teachers would begin on a broader scale and narrow down the conversations and lessons into a narrower, more developed vein. The beginners had no text books, as text books are useless for Kindergarteners. The teachers would only introduce broad topics and introduce simple concepts. As the children progressed, the teachers would make the conversations more specific and applicable to a certain aspect of life, and then textbooks would start to be introduced. Those teachers who were not native speakers and/or needed further training to teach higher levels, took classes given by the school district to better qualify them to teach older kids.
Now, I know that there is a lot of subjective wording here. I also know that there are those who will say, "Well yeah, it might be possible in some places, but in GEORGIA? Georgia only has whites and blacks!" That assumption is wrong. Gwinnett is the perfect place to implement foreign language education from Kindergarten. Gwinnett is a hodgepodge of everything under the sun, especially Hispanic immigrants. There are plenty of chances to use basically any major foreign language you have under your belt. The Board will know that, and I will show them the benefits and feasibility of second language education from Kindergarten.
Annnyway, as I was saying, the school district to whom I want to write this paper is:
The Gwinnett County (Georgia) School System
The point I want to get across is that implementing second language education from Kindergarten to high school graduation will improve children's test scores, and enable to them to communicate with a much broader base of people.
Now, I won't go into everything right here and now on this blog, but I do want to go over a source I wish to use. There was this project that was tried on the Lincoln Public Schools District by the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Reviewing the entirety of the article at this point is not feasible, but the article explains the methodology for teaching the students at first. The teachers would begin on a broader scale and narrow down the conversations and lessons into a narrower, more developed vein. The beginners had no text books, as text books are useless for Kindergarteners. The teachers would only introduce broad topics and introduce simple concepts. As the children progressed, the teachers would make the conversations more specific and applicable to a certain aspect of life, and then textbooks would start to be introduced. Those teachers who were not native speakers and/or needed further training to teach higher levels, took classes given by the school district to better qualify them to teach older kids.
Now, I know that there is a lot of subjective wording here. I also know that there are those who will say, "Well yeah, it might be possible in some places, but in GEORGIA? Georgia only has whites and blacks!" That assumption is wrong. Gwinnett is the perfect place to implement foreign language education from Kindergarten. Gwinnett is a hodgepodge of everything under the sun, especially Hispanic immigrants. There are plenty of chances to use basically any major foreign language you have under your belt. The Board will know that, and I will show them the benefits and feasibility of second language education from Kindergarten.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
I am in the process of analyzing my sources and preparing the findings for reporting, and I am still waiting on interviewing some people. Therefore, I am not going to analyze any sources right now.
Annnnnyway, I made a "huge" discovery for my family history on Friday when I had just a few minutes to troll around the internet. I am an addict of Ancestry.com, I must admit. You get it free on campus with BYU's internet service, since BYU, or at least the BYU Family History Library, has some sort of deal with Ancestry.com. Normally a subscription would cost like $150.00 a year, so I'm very grateful. Anyway, there are all kinds of census, military, immigration, and other records. My dad is half Lithuanian and half Irish, and he is the only "Mormon" in his family. Therefore, there is tons of work to be done on his side of the family. I always had some mild interest in genealogy, but I have really been working hard since about May last year. I have found several records since then which have helped me, but I had always been troubled by the fact that I could not find the passenger manifest/shiplist of the boat my great-grandfather took to come to the US. He and his wife were from Lithuania, but they took different ships to get here. I knew what boat he took and when it arrived from his personal account, but I never found the actual list. I found it, finally, and it has very valuable info on it, like his closest contact in the old country, the address and name of the person he was going to stay with in the US, and other stuff. I was very excited, to say the least. He listed the name of his brother-in-law on the document and his address. I can use that to find the family on the census record for the following year, and thence I will find the name of my long-lost great-great aunt, his sister, (whose name I do not know) and maybe her children, if she had any. This is great, because for over twenty years (when my parents dabbled in family history and tried to get info with moderate success) we have been at a literal standstill in regards to my great-grandfather's family.
Annnnnyway, I made a "huge" discovery for my family history on Friday when I had just a few minutes to troll around the internet. I am an addict of Ancestry.com, I must admit. You get it free on campus with BYU's internet service, since BYU, or at least the BYU Family History Library, has some sort of deal with Ancestry.com. Normally a subscription would cost like $150.00 a year, so I'm very grateful. Anyway, there are all kinds of census, military, immigration, and other records. My dad is half Lithuanian and half Irish, and he is the only "Mormon" in his family. Therefore, there is tons of work to be done on his side of the family. I always had some mild interest in genealogy, but I have really been working hard since about May last year. I have found several records since then which have helped me, but I had always been troubled by the fact that I could not find the passenger manifest/shiplist of the boat my great-grandfather took to come to the US. He and his wife were from Lithuania, but they took different ships to get here. I knew what boat he took and when it arrived from his personal account, but I never found the actual list. I found it, finally, and it has very valuable info on it, like his closest contact in the old country, the address and name of the person he was going to stay with in the US, and other stuff. I was very excited, to say the least. He listed the name of his brother-in-law on the document and his address. I can use that to find the family on the census record for the following year, and thence I will find the name of my long-lost great-great aunt, his sister, (whose name I do not know) and maybe her children, if she had any. This is great, because for over twenty years (when my parents dabbled in family history and tried to get info with moderate success) we have been at a literal standstill in regards to my great-grandfather's family.
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