Literacy Blog #10

If you aggregate all the studies about global warming, the overall effect is positive today — and likely to stay positive until around 2080. That was the conclusion of Professor Richard Tol of Sussex University after he reviewed 14 different studies of the effects of future climate trends. I personally think this is crazy because if we know the affects will stop being positive in just 67 years then why are many people ignoring the problems now. If we start changing now we can keep those positive affect way into the future instead of just 67 years. Yeah I agree that a warmer climate might help now but when the Earth is so hot it “bursts in a ball of flames”(Eminem) we’ll then have problems. Even though I make jokes now in the future if we continue to do our bad habits the global temperatures will rise which in return will melt the glaciers covering the world in water. Now this may be a good idea if you have always wanted to live on the beach because it will eventually come to you or if you ever wanted to live on a houseboat you just better hope your house floats. The author talks about how more people die in winter than in summer, lower energy costs, probably fewer droughts, maybe richer biodiversity. I don’t know if it’s just me but probably and maybe doesn’t seem to legit. It says that if wealth increases it will be easier for people to cope with a different lifestyle in 2080 when the world has to become environmentally conscious. A 1.4% increase in the economy is no price to pay for killing the Earth that we all live on. Global warming is a bad thing yes they might be some good now but it will eventually become nothing but bad. If people way to take action when stuff is at it’s worse it will take even longer to correct such issues.

Weekly Blog #9

I think it’s ridiculous to compare Oreo's to drugs. They’re nothing more than a sugary treat. People say they’re addicting because they lack the wheel power to put them down. I know this because I use to eat nothing but junk food and sweets. Now you would be lucky to ever see me eat anything sweet. I prefer being fit over stuffing my face with sweets. They might have did test on rats but that’s far from humans. The last time I checked we don’t have four legs and a tail. It makes sense that they would go for the center of the Oreo because it’s much easier for the rat to consume than the hard cookie. The reason I so highly doubt they’re just as addictive as cocaine is because they’re saying it’s easier to stop cocaine then Oreo’s. If that’s true how did I one day just say I’m going to live healthy and stop eating sweets altogether. That’s the problem with so many Americans now they think they’re addicted to junk food but really they just have a problem. Overall what I’m saying is it’s no ones choice but yours whether or not you want to live a healthy life and put down the junk food or live an unhealthy life and continue to kill yourself with junk food. You’re not addicted people that eat junk food are just as capable to give it up as someone that lives a healthy life.

Literacy Blog #7

I find it crazy that several hundred thousand college students took the SAT not even a week ago. I think that the registration fee should be a little cheaper than the fifty-one dollars that it is now because some people may not have the money to take it or retake it they don’t pass the first time around. I also believe an eighty-seven year old test can’t still be the most accurate representation of a students knowledge because as times have changed the schools demand more of their students which means the work for students change every year. Why are the SAT test any different?

I don’t think that an essay is the greatest representation of a students knowledge. Some people just aren't strong writers which doesn't mean they're stupid by any means. I personally know quite a few people that are not strong writers but are very smart. I wouldn't completely remove the essay from the SAT but I would reduce the percentage in which it is counted towards the final score.

I find it appalling that Les Perelman actually tells people “ just make stuff up” on a test that makes or breaks you getting into the college you’re wanting to go to. He also says that, “trying to be true will only hold you back.” It seems like it would be the other way around. It seems like that being true will make the graders of the SAT choose your essay over others because yours is actually true but it’s actually the total opposite. The SAT graders don’t even read the whole essay yeah that’s right they don’t read the essay you put your hardest into to make every little thing right. They skim over your essay looking for things like quotes and your use of words. Another thing is that you could completely make up a word and not get penalized for it at all because no one looks up the word that you use on the essay. This is because each grader looks at your essay for 3 minutes or less. If they look at it for any longer they will get kicked off the position of grader because they are too slow. The graders get a bonus if they grade thirty papers in an hour which is ridiculous to reward people for half reading and grading the stuff you worked so hard on. Who’s to say that they grade every other paper and just put a grade down for the other ones so that they can get thirty papers graded in one hour to get that bonus.

I think that if I took the SAT right now I probably wouldn't do so well because I’m one of those people that don’t find writing easy. I have to work really hard to make my writing worth reading. I find that it’s hard to overcome your weaknesses in writing because there's so many parts in writing, content, punctuation, etc. Strong writer or not I feel that everybody should be entitled to a legit grading of their work not the nonsense grading that occurs now.