General information about Penn State recycling:
http://www.opp.psu.edu/about-opp/recycling
Ive also found a number to contact for a personal interview about the recycling:
(814) 863-2340
Here are other miscellaneous sources:
http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/rrr/rogo/documents/beaver.pdf
http://live.psu.edu/story/26336
Monday, April 18, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Bonding over a Mascot
I think that the potential research question that the author started with before his research is if using tribe names or figures as mascots is ok or is somewhat taken as a mockery. This is a great research question because I know there has been a lot of debate over this subject with various sports teams including some NFL teams. I feel that the purpose of this article is to inform people on the topic as well as to show them the facts saying that some Tribes, such as the Seminoles, don’t mind this, they are in a way honored to have teams named after them. The author does a great job with the research here supporting his proposed question. He uses different interviews and quotes from people from tribes to show the people reading this and concerned with mascots that this was approved by the tribes and not used as a joke. One particular quote that I feel wraps up the argument very well is in the last line; “People who were genuinely concerned with the circumstances of Indians should concentrate less on sports iconography and more on alcoholism, suicide, teen pregnancy and high school dropout rates.” There are bigger things to worry about and naming a school or sports team after a tribe out of respect and honor is not one of them.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Is The Internet Making Us Stupid?
Nicholas Carr makes some very interesting arguments here that have me pulling in two directions. In a way I feel that this internet is making us more uneducated and in another way I feel that the internet is opening our minds to whole new dimensions that we would have never thought to look at before. In my first thought I feel that the internet is giving us a way to obtain information without much effort and no need to read through chapters and chapters of a chemistry or biology book to obtain the answers we need. Like Carr says “Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.” I completely agree with this statement that he makes. I don’t know how many times I have just browsed through an internet page not understand words or sentences and just looking for that key word or answer at the end of the article. On my second thought I feel that the internet can make us way more brilliant than ever before if we use it the right way. The vast amounts of material and data that can be found on the internet always leaves me curious and wanting to read more. I have found myself numerous times 15 or 20 minutes into reading an article that has nothing to do with what I was looking for in the first. I simply read the article because it fascinated and left me wanting more and more information about the topic. I believe that the internet can be a brilliant or disastrous tool, it just depends on the way you use it.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Bill Joy - Why the future doesn't need us
I would say that Bill Joy’s main concern in this article has to do with the rapid growth in technology and technological advancements. He is extremely concerned that humans in the near future are going to become obsolete and robots are going to take over. He is concerned that this can happen in a series of different ways. He says that it is going to come down to a decision that the robots can make their own decisions and there will be no way of stopping them or that the robots will be controlled by humans and we will eventually live in peace with the robots. Joy is mainly concerned with the first idea that the robots can make their own decisions. He feels that if this happens they will take over the world and eventually wipe out the human race like the marsupials of South America in the past.
Some of the techniques that Joy uses are sections and quotes from books that he has read on robot technology and hope for the future of mankind. Joy uses these books to make this concern more of a reality for the people reading his article in the hope that they see where he is coming from. I think the most effective techniques that he uses are sections from these books such as “The Short Run” by Hans Moravec and “The New Luddite Challenge” by Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber. The first article makes a comparison between robots and North American placentals in the past. He specifically says that robots would take over the world like the North American placentals did to the southern marsupials. I feel that these articles help the reader better understand where Joy is coming from and to also backup and support his point that robots could be a threat to human society.
Even though that this article was published eleven years ago I think that the problem is only getting worse today. Every year new breakthroughs in technology are happening left and right and growing more rapidly than ever before. I feel that as the years go on this problem is only closer to reality. We are more advanced now more than ever and a lot of humans are looking for the easy way out, such a having a robot to everything for you. I feel that eleven years from now robots will be available to mostly the rich and eventually be able to be used to middle to lower class people. As the years go on, this is something that can only become more real and take us one step closer to what Joy is afraid of, extinction of the human race and robot dominance.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Recent news articles
Problem: Britain and France proposed a no fly zone over Libya on Friday. They began sending war planes to the Mediterranean.
Exigence: This is important because this calls in the question of if we want to support big government or simply rights. It seems as though Britain and France did this spontaneously with no real important cause in the matter.
Problem: A Japan nuclear plant is on the verge of a very serious meltdown that could affect thousands and thousands of people.
Exigence: This meltdown could have enormous effects on the Japanese cities and the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Workers are working around the clock to contain this disaster, being named the worst disaster since Chernobyl.
Problem: Were the changes to the constitution in Egypt necessary and do the all the voters approve of this change? Was this change to the constitution placed at an inopportune time with the elections within a few months.
Exigence: This could be a very serious problem for the economy of Egypt with the elections within a few months. People believe that this could “boost the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood and members of the former ruling party.”
Problem: Some people feel that Barrack Obama should not be getting involved in Brazilian affairs with our already on-going involvement in others nation’s politics. People also feel that this could help our somewhat strained ties with South America.
Exigence: This is important because maybe President Obama should be focusing on our affairs in matters such as Japan, Africa, etc. What he decides to do in Brazil could have an affect on the outcome of the other involvements.
Problem: The Conservative government in Canada lied about a deal in an effort to try to remain in power. A deal that could help it survive a number of nonconfidence votes in the weeks to come.
Exigence: This is a major problem right now dealing with corrupt government. This has to make the people of Canada nervous knowing that their government is corrupt and could lead to a possible 4th election within seven years. This is important for the future economy and government of Canada.
Problem: The U.S.-backed president of Yemen suffered a political blow when his own powerful tribe demanded his resignation.
Exigence: This is very important in Yemen because the people are trying to get him out of his three decades in power. People were killed in the protest throughout the streets when President Saleh’s security opened fire on the protesters.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Modest Proposal Blog Entry
Jonathan Swift hits on some pretty big issues that are going on in Ireland around this time period. He talks poorly on Ireland's politicians, the hypocrisy of the wealthy, the tyranny of the English, abortion, etc. He feels very strongly about these subjects and also talks about the condition that a lot of Irish people are living in. I really like the way that Swift constructs this essay. Although Swift took the path of showing people the harsh truth, I think this helps the reader step back and really think about what is actually happening. Swift gives sarcastic remarks saying the children are useless and a burden and contributes nothing to society even though he himself was a child at one point. I feel that this way of presenting information speaks louder to the audience then would a normal lecture type essay telling the people what is going wrong. I think the purpose of this piece is to make a point to the people of Ireland. I believe Swift is trying to make the people of Ireland think about their children and how much they can actually offer to society if given the right tools. Swift wants everyone to realize what is wrong and then hints towards the end what are the actual real life solutions to Ireland’s said problems.
We as Americans feel that we are not paying for overpriced goods and services enough so I have a new proposition for you. How about we take those current gasoline prices of $3.50 and raise the price to $10.00! With this new phenomenal price in gasoline and the extremely low price of cars on the market today, Americans across the United States will be able to live like rockstars wasting their money on useless items. These new prices will help people like you and I be able to afford every other low priced electronic “necessity” used by every American. Gasoline at its new high price will not only make travel more convenient but also help improve the amount of other things families must buy such as food and clothing. Kids are now having more opportunities to get jobs more than ever and travel to and from work is now worker friendly. Propositions are reducing the cost of said goods and services is simply a foolish idea and has no way of ever working. Low prices are in no way beneficial to any member of society and would clearly have a negative impact on a families source of food and clothing. My idea is to simply forget the idea about lowering prices and embrace outrageous prices; after all, society is succeeding more now than ever, right?
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