Critiques of Technology

What points, ideas, observations remain fresh in your mind?
Do you agree or disagree with the arguments made by the authors?


The articles read earlier in the week argue that search engines make society stupider and lazier. Another article argues that PowerPoint makes society dumber as well and the last article argues that useful resources such as Wikipedia are only there for our amusement. I agree with some but disagree with the majorities of the articles we read, there isn’t one article I agree with completely.

I agree that search engines such as Google make our society stupider and lazier! The society we live in today doesn’t go out as often to find a good book or do their own quality research. Society today is reliant on the internet and its uses. Google with many other search engines make it easier for us to do our research about anything we desire to know. Here is the defect search engines have on us, well besides making us lazier people; they narrow our minds to shorter readings. Today when we see a longer story or a book we debate if it’s worth the effort reading the story itself. Our attention span has decreased tremendously while our ability to multi-task has increased.



I don’t agree with the article arguing about PowerPoint’s ability to help us. I believe that PowerPoint helps us in so many different ways, especially in the business world. PowerPoint makes long boring presentations short and more efficient. It is simple as this if you don’t like PowerPoint, do not use it and let the other people who like it, enjoy in it.
A useful tool such as a Wiki is very common in a scholar’s life. While one may not depend too much on its reliability, we use it as our backbone or to help us get started with the paper itself. Wikipedia is used quite frequently in my life only because it is so informative, I like using it whenever I can because it is filled with things I don’t know about yet.



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Date: January 27, 2009

Articles on College

Which of the articles did you find compelling? Why? What helped you relate to the writing? What did you find difficult to understand? Where there any terms you did not understand?


I really liked the “Going off to college for less” article; I found that one to be most interesting. I liked all the points the article made such as how European students pay little or no tuition and how Americans pay about what they would as out-of-state students at leading American public universities. I liked how the article made me think on how life would have been if I went back over to Europe again to study pre-med. I honestly don’t know how it would be, I just consider myself lucky to be here in the first place, maybe that why I am not letting my mind wonder too much about it.

The tuition crunch articles were really interesting as well because it pointed out the tuition increase in America. I didn’t realize how rapidly it is growing on us, it doesn’t make sense how the United States is letting that happen while the European Union is covering up their students. But it does make sense; here is an example, take a look at our healthcare system, point made.

The article, “Confessions of a Prep School College Counselor” was really interesting because people today do not realize this at all. This article was stuck in my mind the most because you always see movies where the rich parents always want their kids to go to the same school the parents went to. Big name schools from back in the day are not as powerful as all the schools now.


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Date: February 3, 2009

Understanding Physiology

Writing Prompt:


How would you describe Lance Morrow’s writing style in “Evil: An Essay”? How is it different from say the style of the article on Anne Bernays?
What sort of response did you have to the Morrow essay? Did it remind you of anything else you read?

Lance Morrow’s writing style in “Evil: An Essay” was referring to quotations and historical references over and over again. I must say it was really effective, it caught my attention. I still remember a few examples he used from his historical references such as the holocaust with Elie Wiesel. The thought of Elie Wiesel’s struggle always gets me down no matter in what mood I was a second before because I always think of his novel, Night. It was different from the style of the article on Anne Bernays because that article to me was boring compared the Morrow’s article. This article did not satisfy the needs I crave as a reader such as ongoing examples. I mean I still read it but not by choice, I prefer Morrow’s writing over it.


Morrow’s essay was a really well put essay I would not mind reading over again to someone else. The essay stuck out for me because it connected to me in ways I understood and felt compassion for. The essay made its points from giving great examples such as where there is a person who believes there is no evil in the world and a person who suffered from the holocaust. The idea of that is genius! I loved that, I believe there is evil in the world, big time! I would like to read more of Lance Morrow’s writings in the future.


Date: February 10, 2009

Persuading Someone

When was the last time you had to persuade someone to change their mind? What arguments and standings did you use?


About two weeks ago a couple buddies and I started to plan a trip for our upcoming spring break. One of them wanted to go to Key West, the other on a cruise, third desired to go to Miami and I on the other hand did not want boring, didn’t want to be stuck on a boat and been three times already to Miami this year. I wanted some where I haven’t gone to before, Daytona Beach. Convincing each one of them was difficult because each one of us were stubborn. But it was a little easy because I had to individually talk to each one of them so I wasn’t ganged up on. I showed them that Daytona Beach was a party town when it came to spring break. I used the wonders of YouTube to make that clear. Then I showed them that it wasn’t even a far drive, it would only take us about two and a half hours to get there unlike Miami’s four and Key West’s nine and to get to the cruise we would have to drive to Miami anyways. Then I pointed out the good deals for hotels to rent and with all my facts in their face I convinced them to go to Daytona Beach. Now we have a four day reservation at an ocean view hotel.

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Date: March 3, 2009

Economic Crises

The economy crises have affected me by watching fellow employees at my job disappear and become unemployed. The crises have companies making large budget cuts and I consider myself lucky to still have my job. I work for Walgreens Pharmacy as a pharmacy technician and even though I work only part time I am considered an important key to the pharmacy work flow whenever I step in.
I believe the causes of the economic crises are lack of government force on the economy. I believe there was not enough attention focused on the economy. The economy should have been watched over in more detail and people should have realized what was about to happen to the economy by the year 2009.
I believe I am right because there were no warnings of job cuts, companies going bankrupted, even banks beings cut. There were no warnings of these large crises; we had no warning of a recession. No one figured that we would go through two economic declines in a row; the government officials should have focused more on the economic stability.
Solutions I could think would be best right now is to create me jobs for the people. Creating more jobs in the economy would boost the amount of money people will spend in it and in conclusion would boost our economy back up to normal or better since the recession. More jobs equal more money in people’s pockets which equals money back to the economy because people are willing to spend their money. If I had more time I would create a flow chart that would illustrate this better.

Date: March 10, 2009

Defining Definitions

Define the following:

1. Rhetorical knowledge:
- Is using creative and intricate writing. Clear purpose.
- Refers to the information a writer must have in order to effectively communicate- either in speaking or writing.
- Clear sense of purpose.

2. Critical Thinking Reading/Critical Thinking Writing:
- Is the identification and evaluation of evidence to guide decision making.
- A critical thinker uses broad in-depth analysis of evidence to make decisions and communicate their beliefs clearly and accurately.

3. Composing Processes:
The process through which the writer passes to produce an effective piece of writing varies with the writer and the writing task.

4. Writing Conventions:
The writer should use conventions to enhance the readability of the paper. Spelling, punctuations, etc…

Date: March 24, 2009

Job Hunting

A. What difficulties did you encounter in comprehending the articles on business? What did you do to resolve the difficulties? What was your general impression of the subject pattern?

There were no real difficulties in understanding the articles on business. I understood most of what was going on in the articles but if I heard something on television that caught my attention and look back onto the computer screen to continue I was pretty much lost so therefore I had to stay on focus and turn the television off for this one.

B. What strategies did you use in composing your draft of writing assignment 6? What challenges did you face?

When composing my draft for writing assignment 6 I first did a ton of research. I wanted to make sure that the facts I was going to bring up were true. I had the desire to shock my readers with the facts I brought up in my piece. After research, my goal was to connect with my readers. I listed the unemployment population in America which is 12.5 million.
I would have to say the research and making sure it was valid was my hardest challenge.

Date: March 31, 2009