"Can Technology Save the Military From a Data Deluge"

     I read the article "Can Technology Save the Military From a Data Deluge" by Clay Dillow.  This article was published in Popular Science.  It discusses how the military is being bombarded with data and other information and their systems are being overloaded.  It discusses how the military are trying to adapt to the increase in data.  They are trying to teach computers to take in this information without having to have a human operator analyze every piece of data that comes in.  This article follows scientific writing.  It uses scientific data, complex words, and other pieces of information about the military that is more specific to a more specific audience.  The author uses the names of specific technology and other military equipment.  This shows that the author is writing for a specific audience but he is not writing for a very educated person.  He does spend time explaining his points and backing his information.  He takes the time to explain why some of his points will not work.  He takes the time to explain to the reader why.  This helps a reader that is not educated in this field understand what he is talking about. Overall I think the way he wrote his article is very informative and any level of reader would be able to understand the article.

"No Impact Man" by Colin Beavan

     I enjoyed reading Colin Beavan's No Impact Man.  I think he had a very interesting style of writing.  I like the way he approached his subjects.  I think the way he brought in science into his book was very smart.  I think it helped show how much the Earth is in need.  Some scientists will say that he trivialized the things that are going on in the world , but to tell you the truth I for one had no idea it was this bad.  I think him explaining with science helped.  I also think Beavan got a little sidetracked at times while writing.  I think he at times went a little too far off into left field on some of the subjects he talked about.  He gave some great background on a lot of different subjects; I was not real sure where it fit in to the book.  I really enjoyed when he actually spoke about the project itself, and what he did with it and how he changed himself and his life.  I also liked how he explained how the cycle of life into his project.  This helped me comprehend a little more.  I really liked the part about him visiting the farm with the cows.  This is how I wish all animals were treated.  He describes how other farms treat cows and it can be an absolutely horrific thing.  I like that his visit shows how there are still farms that care about their animals.  I really did enjoy this book.  I look forward to seeing him speak.  I would like to know what changes he has kept in his life from the project.  I would also like to know how he travels now that he is doing this book and No Impact Project tour. 

Future Writing

     I still have not completely decided if I am going to change my line of work or not, so I am not sure if my style of writing is going to change.  By that statement I mean I came back to college to change careers.  I had decided that I was going to get out of Law Enforcement all together.  I am now not sure that I want out.  So with that being said, I am very likely to use memorandum to administrators, one day letters to the public, press releases, and maybe even one day memorandum to subordinates or employees.  Those options are all if I stay in the line of work that I am in now.  If I change the line of work I am in now to Social Work then I will most likely have memorandum to administrators, letters to clients, letters to judges, letters among colleagues, letters of support, and letters to public and legal officials.  I think this course has helped me figure out how to approach different types of scientific writing.  It helps me figure out my audience and how to approach them.

"Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin"

     I am not real sure what to think of Clouds' paper.  My whole life you hear that you need to exercise to help lose weight and get in shape. Now he is trying to convince me that working out is just going to make me fatter?  I'm not sure I believe this.  I have seen differences in myself and in other people when they work out and begin to lose weight.  I am not sure that he backs up his theories either.  He gives you different papers to read or videos to watch to try and back up his claims, but it doesn't ever say if these are reliable sources.  I have always been told that muscle weighs more than fat and I agree with that so I understand the more muscle a person builds the more it looks like you are not losing or even possibly gaining weight.  I don't think he even approaches this topic at all.  He talks about fat turning into muscle and the calories it takes to do this process, but he never approaches the topic of muscle weight.  I am not convinced by his argument.  I think he puts up a very good argument, and he tries to back it up.  I am just not totally convinced that I agree with him.  In my opinion, I believe that exercise works to help lose access weight.  I do agree with his idea that people are more hungry when they do work out and are more likely to choose the wrong foods to eat when they do go to eat.  I think he has an interesting argument; I just don't agree with it.

"Delusions of Gender" by Cordelia Fine

     To me this was a very interesting article.  I was very drawn in by it the minute I began reading it.  Most scientific articles are difficult to read and I have a hard time understanding them.  This article was easier for me to understand.  She still had lots of information in her research and she cited a lot of different studies, but it seemed like she tried to speak on a level where more people could understand her.  She makes some very interesting arguments throughout the article and backs her arguments with very good reasoning.  I really enjoyed reading the part where she is talking about equality in men and women.  She was quoting Alice Silverberg on the generation gap and equality.  It was a very true statement.  It is not something that you think about much until someone points it out to you.  Another portion that really caught my attention is in the chapter "Darkness in the Womb" she talks about testosterone levels in fetuses.  She was describing measuring the length of the child's index and ring finger to decide if the child was more masculine or feminine.  I caught myself looking at my own hands to see which one of my fingers was longer. Her style of writing was very engaging.  Even though she cites all of these different studies and different scientists and researchers she is very cautious not to talk above your head.  It makes this article a very interesting article to read and I really enjoyed reading it.  I think when I go to work tonight I am probably going to check out my coworkers hands.

Paper 2

     This paper I found was more difficult for me to write.  I am not sure why I had such a hard time with this paper but it seemed I had a harder time trying to express my point.  The first paper seemed to flow really easily and seemed to just write itself almost.  I had to keep going back and reading what I had already pointed out and try to figure out what points I was trying to make.  I am still not sure why it was so hard for me.  It could have been everything I had going on at that point in time with work and everything else, but I am always busy.  Bikes, Blues, and BBQ took a lot out of me because of all of the overtime and different thing we had going on at the department.  I do believe that being about to talk to you the short time I did about my paper did help me.  I was having a lot of trouble with my introduction paragraph.  It was way to long and I could not figure out what to take out and where to cut it down.  After talking with you in class it really helped me focus on what needed to be in that paragraph.  Once I got the introduction narrowed down it made it a lot easier to construct my paper.  I still wish I could have been in class for the rest of the peer revision workshop.  I really was looking forward to it.  It seems like every time we have one of these in class something happens at work and I end up working something like 14 hours that day.  So in the future I plan on making it if at all possible to any type of revision workshop.

Summary of "Reasonable Suspicion of Child Abuse: Finding a Common Language" and "Retinal Haemorrhages in Premature Infants: A Pathogenetic Alternative Diagnosis to Child Abuse"

     In the article "Reasonable Suspicion of Child Abuse: Finding a Common Language" Benjamin H. Levi and Sharon G. Portwood talk about how to tell when it as appropriate to report child abuse or not.  The article starts out with a very short story about a father bringing his daughter into a doctors office with a bruised nose.  How do you know if this is child abuse or if the story that the father is telling is true?  This article goes on to discuss how there are many different professions that are entitled to report child abuse when it is seen.  They discuss the terms used in these professions like belief, reason to believe, suspect, reasonable suspicion, etc (64).  They go into detail about what if you report and have "false negatives" or don't report and leave a child in a horrible situation.  Everyone is trying to find a common denominator about where to go, but the lines are fuzzy. Some of the states have a 20% surety report rate and some states are much higher.  This article explores these problems.
    In "Retinal Haemorrhages in Premature Infants: A Pathogenic Alternative Diagnosis to Child Abuse" by Hans C. Fledelius focuses on the retinal bleeds in an infants eyes.  He describes the different types of bleeds that he had seen in 11 different cases and compared them to Shaken Baby Syndrome.  He tries to describe that most retinal bleeds in infants happen before a child leaves the mothers body. He goes on to describe what each on looks like and keeps track of each child as they age.  Shaken Baby Syndrome has a different affect on the child's eyes.  He describes this type of abuse in his article.

Outline:
I. Introduction:
Thesis: The different papers show the different types of articles by the audiences they approach.  The first article has a more general audience with a simpler language.  The second article has a much more complex language where he cites other studies and medical terms.

II. Body
  A. Language
      1. General Terms vs. Medical Terms
      2. Purpose of the Audience
  B. Visual Aids

III. Conclusion

Paper 1

      I am not very happy with my first paper.  I feel that I did not get to put all of my resources to use because of me not being able to come to class.  This is not anybodys fault but my own to a certain extent, but I still wish that I could have been able to use the peer revisions and things like that.  I feel that I did not get to use my time as well as I probably should have.  I know that I spent too much time at work that week and did not give enough time to my paper.  I think things would have been a little bit different if my schedule at work had not changed and I would not have had to work instead of coming to class but these things happen.  I let myself push it off further and further.  I did not wait until the complete last minute to do it, but it was still not what I should have put into it.  I will do everything I can to be at all of the peer revisions for the next paper.  I know I have to work, and I know that school is a secondary thing for me because work pays for my schooling.  I have to go to work to be able to survive.  Anyway, I know this blog posting is late and I am not expecting to get credit for it.  It just makes me feel better to have it posted.

Genres

     I am using two new sources for my next paper.  I have decided to return to a subject that I am a little more comfortable with to write about.  I think these sources are very different in their content because of the language each piece uses.  Each piece of writing in general is about the same topic.  Each one has the same content to a certain extent.  The genres are the same in these articles.  They both talk largely about child abuse and the signs of it.  One article closes in on finding a common language for everyone to use, which means everyone in every profession would be able to say one thing and it mean the exact same thing to every person.  When dealing with a situation like child abuse, there are very fine lines and most people don't know where to begin. When do you say yes that is child abuse or to turn away and not say anything at all?  The second source that I have chosen is more of a professional article.  It focuses on child abuse, but it leans toward the medical side of it.  This article has a much more targeted audience than the first article.  It does more research toward the Shaken Baby Syndrome and the medical signs of child abuse that can occur when these kinds of child abuse occur.  I believe it will be much easier for me to write about these article because it is more along the lines of science that I am used to working with.

Outline for Paper 1

Brown, Alan S. "Fishing for Robots." Mechanical Engineering 132.10 (2010): 32-5. Print.


Summary:
     In "Fishing for Robots," Alan S. Brown explores the concept of "robot" drones acting like a school of fish.  Naomi Ehrich Leonard and her team have built a type of drone or glider that can explore the depths of the ocean and bring back scientific readings.  The first drone that her team made was easily influenced by the tides and the currents, but could stay at sea for weeks.  They continued their work on these drones and came up with a better design.  In 2002, Leonard received a grant to continue her work and for her to research collective behavior.  She began off of the shore of Monetary Bay.  She soon figured out that her drones would stay in a formation much like a school of fish would.  When continuing her research she set another group of drones out to try a different pattern of searching.  She figured out that if they could keep to a tighter formation then she could get better feedback from them.  This research has brought up many questions about how does a school of fish or a herd of animals move without an individual leader.  She has come to believe that the "neighbors" only follow their immediate neighbors and not every person in the group.  "If everyone is only sensing their next-door neighbors on either side, moving uniformly around in a circle is a stable solution.  As soon as everyone starts sensing everyone else, the only stable solution is the whole group moving in a straight line direction."(35)


Paper Outline:
I. Introduction
Thesis: This article was written for a more educated person.  This person is more science minded than the average person.  It is not necessarily for a scientist or a professional but someone in the science field.


II. Body
     A. Language
          1. Style
     B. Visual Elements


III. Conclusion

Can Young Blood Make You Feel Younger?

     I read an article in Popular Science where they were experimenting with mice.  With this experiment they had taken an older mouse and injected blood from a younger mouse.  They found that once they did this the mouse started acting younger.  Scientists reported the younger blood caused the older mouse to start producing new neurons and decreased inflammation.  The exact opposite happened when a younger mouse was injected with an older mouse's blood.  He started acting more like and older mouse because it stopped producing neurons and increased inflammation.

     Think about the possibilities that could happen if this became something that we could do to humans. If we could keeps neurons being produced in the human brain when someone becomes elderly then the effects of aging would not be as bad.  I don't think that this would ever prolong life but I believe that it could help the quality of life.  In the article it mentions that when neurons stop being produced is when a person starts forgetting the little things like where they parked the car or where they put the keys.  If this actually did work it could mean really great things.  It would help elderly people feel better about themselves mentally and physically.  Mentally it could help them not feel like they were literally losing their minds.  Physically it could help with the inflammation and aches and pains.  I am not usually one for this type of testing, but I think this one could really help.

Here is the link:http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-09/study-finds-injecting-old-mice-young-mouse-blood-has-rejuvenation-effect

A Truckful of Baloney

     I think this article was a very well written article.  I also found it every entertaining.  I think the way he approaches his topics is different.  I am not sure that I have read anything written in this manner before.  When he began his comparison of age recommendations between different studies on mammograms, this is something that I have heard differences on before.  I have been told before that you need to start being checked at age 40 then the next time a study comes out the age changes.  This is a topic that I try to pay attention to because of the dangers of Brest Cancer.  It seems that someone is always changing the "recommended" age to start preventative checks.  Some studies say that it is okay to get checked out as early as 25 or 30 while others are saying to wait until you are 40 or 50.  I like that he questions when does risk out way false positives.

     I also enjoyed the portion about the beer for lunch.  Science has proven that alcohol can be good for a person in moderation.  I also believe that when people see this they take it to the extreme saying they are drinking because it is good for you.  People see what they want to see in a study like this.  They see a drink a day is healthy for you so they take it up a notch and drink three.  This is where the science gets blown out of proportion.

     I didn't understand exactly what the whole point of this article was for.  I understand he was asked to write about science claims he heard on a typical day, but why?  He also covered some topics very thoroughly and some of them he barely touched on leaving me a little confused.  He would point out a claim like the ban on silicone breast implants and then said that the statement was true but not much else.  For the most part I did enjoy reading this article. 

Goals for Class

     I am not very comfortable with writing.  I have written reports and legal documents for the last approximately 9 years.  It is very hard for me to stop and think about who I am writing for.  I get into what I am saying and forget my audience.  I am hoping this course will help me figure out a way to overcome these issues.  At times, I have a very hard time expanding my thoughts past the exact facts of what needs to be in a piece.  The reports I have written over the last years don't want extra information in it.  They don't want you to explain any more than you have to.  You are supposed to be exact and to the point, and not put too much or too little information in the piece.  It is going to be very hard for me to break this habit because I am not used to elaborating and going into more detail.  I have not used an opinion in a writing in a very long time so I am excited about being able to elaborate in more detail.  I am really kind of nervous about using a blog.  I have never written on a blog before, or even published any of my writings for anybody to read.  I am not a very open person when it come to things like this.  I have followed a couple of different blogs in the past, but have never even considered writing one.  I am interested in hearing other peoples opinions about the same pieces that I will be reading.  In a lot of other classes you never really know what other people are thinking because a lot of other people don't really speak out in class.  I think that will be a good thing.  I am excited about this class because I am not one for writing papers on literature.