The Choice

I use the Internet almost daily.  I think it's a wonderful thing and has opened many resources for us.  Like my last post, I don't necessarily surf the web or check my emails everyday, but I mostly use it for school.  I have to have a full-time schedule in order for me to get all my GI Bill benefits and with online classes that SEMO offers, I can do that while working full-time. 

In some ways, I think the Internet is great, but there are ways that it can be bad.  For instance, you can pretty much find anything you want to online.  You can type in a math problem that you are having trouble figuring out, or don't want to spend the time trying to figure it out, and more than likely someone else has posted something about it.  I don't feel like that's really learning, because you may find the answer for that problem, but will you remember how to do it on a test. 

What I do like it for, is if someone can sing just a little bit of a song, you can type that in, and it will tell you name of that song.  If you can name some characters in a movie, but can't remember the movie, just type in that character's name and it will tell you all of their movies. 

I haven't really seen any changes in the way I think or my behavior when it comes to technology.  I have an Iphone and I love it.  It allows me to keep in touch with whoever I want to keep in touch with.  Facebook allows me to see how my old friends are doing, or family members that live far away. 

I don't let the Internet control my life, and if you do, well that's ok to, I don't see anything wrong with it.  Some people can sit on the computer all day long, and have a great time.  Me, I'm just an outdoorsman. 

 

This picture doesn't reflect how I feel about technology, just made me laugh.

Just a Country Boy

I use my laptop/Iphone for a lot of my school work.  Rather it be online classes, can't remember the name of a movie that someone is describing, or just general information, I'll look it up on my phone or on the computer. 

As far as the "Alone Together" goes, I live out in the country and I'm outdoors most of the time.  When I wake up in the mornings, I'm not thinking about who posted on Facebook or did I get an email from someone?  None of those things are really important to me, but I'm not saying I don't look at Facebook or check my email, I'm just saying it's not a priority to me.  Now, I have been at a retaurant and see an entire family ( mom, dad, brother, sister) on their smart phones.  My wife and I make it a point to leave our phones in our pocket/purse and actually talk, and I'm not saying that anything is wrong with doing that, we do it because, in a way, my wife and I are a bit old fashioned. 

The Filter Bubble and the Trackers, now that is a different story.  The filter bubbles, I have noticed, I can check out Google on my laptop and search the exact same thing on my Iphone (not logged in) and find two completely different results.  I didn't know it had a name for it, but I noticed it, and even showed my wife a couple times just thinking it was "weird", but thought nothing of it.  The trackers freak me out.  I had no idea that so many web-based sites can get my information just by going to one site.  After I watched that video, I showed my wife and we just looked at each other like a deer in headlights, mouths wide opened. 

I'm pretty knowledgeable when it comes to technology, so I thought.  We don't buy stuff online or do online banking because we have both heard too many stories, and I watch a lot of television.  I have found some other "ways" to block this from happening because of my computer buddies advice. 

Let The Research Begin

All that is on my mind at the moment is the filter bubbles and trackers.  I have been an internet user since dial-up and I had no idea that this stuff was happening.  The filter bubbles, I spotted, I didn't know there was a name for them, but I could tell that my google searches were different.  The trackers, well that's another story.  My goodness, I had no idea.

As for Essay 3, I believe the videos were a demonstration, an example in a way.  The videos were a speech and obviously, ours will be written.  The two speakers found a topic, did their research, and then informed their audience of what they found.  I can only hope that mine will be as good as theirs but I feel like I get the picture.

We will "synthesize" a topic by taking different things and combining them into our own informative paper.  As usual, we will be thinking of our audience when we write the paper.  The reader should easily understand our topic without doing the research that we did.  Basically, we do the hard work, they get to sit back and relax.  In all seriousness though, it's always about the reader.

SearchPath...check

I recently did the SearchPath tutorial for my UI100 class, but I honestly did it just to get the credit.  I passed the quiz at the end but I forgot about it as soon as I was done with it.  Now that I've related it to my English class, it has become very useful.  It was more of a refresher for me personally. 

When I first visited the Kent Library website, I tried using it like I would Google, just typing in a broad subject and expecting thousands of results to pop up and look on the first page and see if anything stood out at me.  In my blog about using the Internet and using Kent Library, I found the Internet to be more useful.  When I read the comments from my peers, I learned that I did need to be more specific while doing my search on the Kent Library website. 

The essay I did my rhetorical analysis on was about Quality Deer Management, a pretty common topic, especially in Southeast Missouri.  It wasn't hard to find information about the history, success and fail stories, and any other general information that I was curious about.  What I did find out was that the essay I was analyzing was not too far off, but there were some discrepancies that I needed to work out.  The Kent Library website, along with some .edu websites, put me on the right track.

To Believe, Or Not To Believe....That is the Question

While doing the rhetorical analysis of my essay, I found some numbers that seemed shocking to me.  My essay states that before settlers arrived, the white-tail deer population was approximately 30 million.  By 1900, the population had decline to 400,000.  That's a heck of a lot of deer that were killed.  This was before hunting regulations, but to me, that's just an insane amount of deer. 

After reading an article (31 pages) by Thomas E. Almendinger, he believes that most of the white-tail deer population was "taken out" by harsh winters, wolves, mountain lions, and the several million indigenous people that used deer for sustenance.  The second stage of white-tail deer loss was when European settlers arrived.  Large-scale forest clearing by the logging industry caused drastic habitat alterations driving wildlife away from civilized areas.  The numbers were slightly different but for the most part, was in the vicinity of what the essay stated. 

I've got to be honest, I didn't find much from Kent library.  There were some articles on white-tail deer habitat, but as far as the 1700's to early 1900's, I didn't find very useful information.  It could be me, not ruling that out. 

I'd have to say that the article by Thomas E. Almendinger, was more useful.  I'm not saying that it is all true, because let's be honest, you can't believe everything you see on the internet.  It seemed to be pretty in depth on the history of white-tail deer.  Thomas E. Almendinger is the Senior Ecologist at Rutgers University-School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, needless to say I half-way trust his article.

Quality Deer Management Analysis

I will be doing my rhetorical analysis on an essay titled: Quality Deer Management.  As a landowner, I am in the process of introducing more deer to my land.  This essay really caught my attention and I am generally excited about doing an analysis on it.

Before settlers arrived, an estimated 30 million whitetail deer inhabited the United States.  By 1900, only 400,000 whitetails remained.  A massive effort made by hunters and wildlife managers began to improve wildlife habitats.  These efforts increased the whitetail population to around 20 million.  To maintain buck (male) to doe (female) ratio, quality deer management must be practiced.  Three things needed in order for Quality Deer Management to work is a quality deer habitat, quality deer hunting, and quality deer hunters.  Brian Murphy, executive director of the Quality Deer Management Association, uses this definition," Quality Deer Management can be defined as a management philosophy/practice that unites landowners, hunters, and biologists in the common goal of producing biologically and socially balanced deer herds within existing environmental, social, and legal constraints."

I will analyze this essay by basically, remembering everything we've learned so far.  I will use the resources from the Writing book, online, and tips from the professor.  Essentially, I'm going to try and persuade my audience that Quality Deer Management is cooler than the other side of the pillow.

 MLA Citing:  EssayMania.com. Retrieved on 04 Oct, 2013 from
                      <http://essaymania.com/78990/quality-deer-management>
 

Fix This Sentence....Stat!

The Paramedic Method is quite the tool to have in a writer's arsenal.  Ultimately, using this method will make sentences easier to read.  Sentences that are easier to read will be more persuasive.  Most of the research that I have done recommends seven steps to improve one's sentences.  The first step is to circle the prepositions (of, in, about, for, into, unto.)  Next, draw a box around the "is" verbs forms.  Ask, "Where's the action?"  The fourth step is to change the "action" into a simple verb.  Fifth, move the doer into the subject ( Who's kicking who.)  The sixth step is to eliminate any unnecessary slow wind-ups.  The final step is to eliminate redundancies. 

I've found some very long sentences ranging from 100 words to an impressive 40,000 word sentence.  By impressive, I mean why is there a 40,000 word sentence?  I choose one that was long but not too long.

The point I wish to make is that perception is the process of extracting information from stimulation emanating from the objects, places, and events in the world around us. 

The revised sentence using the Paramedic Method:  Perception extracts information from objects, places, and events.

Excessive writing can be good for getting ideas out and for rough drafts, but for the final paper, I will be using the Paramedic Method.  I feel that I have a decent idea of how to write using this method.