first full paper response #6 The NuCLEAR Future

The Nuclear Future

By: Jonathan D Livers

Eng 102: Michael D Benton

Roughly ninety-two percent of Kentucky is powered by coal energy; the other eight percent is a combination of natural gas and hydro power sources. Kentucky is one of the 19 states out of 50 that don’t have nuclear power. Of those 31 states that do have nuclear power, they are home to 104 power plants. One of these nuclear power plants could eliminate at least 3 of the 20 coal power plants in the state of Kentucky, so why haven’t we chosen the smaller route? What at the dangers of nuclear power plants? Would the benefits outweigh the cons? These are all question that should be asked; answered.

I’m all for nuclear power, but people take glimpse of our past encounters with this outrageous energy source and think that it’s a disaster. No one takes in consideration the development of resources which the human mind has come up with in the past couple decades. Such key event as Three Mile Island and Chernobyl were small flaws that put the last few twist to lock on the cabinet of nuclear power. 

In the time that nuclear power was put on hold, petroleum consumption increased exponentially, almost doubling the use. During the early 90’s “new energy source” was all the rage, but fell off shortly due to the lack to resources, but nearly two decades later, here we are again, the same question in mind, how can we save our planet?

Almost every way we make electricity today, except for the emerging renewables and nuclear, puts out CO2. And so, what we're going to have to do at a global scale, is create a new system. And so, we need energy miracles.

-Bill Gates

It’s about time for us to come of the conclusion that we have been too dependent on oil and coal for energy, both which are harmful to our environment. Not saying that nuclear is the safest alternative, but it’s a worthy competitor, and it has the potential to being the future of our power sources. Just a few ounces of uranium (the main material in nuclear power) can replace tons of coal emissions. Waste will not be a problem compared to how much we save by stopping coal consumption. Prices of energy cost would diminish, CO2 emissions would slow down, and we would be one step closer to finding a substitute fuel. Of course I feel that petroleum is a very important part of the United States’ industrial world, but at least we can try, try to find the power source in which doesn’t include the US having to purchases billions of dollars of fuel each year from across seas. Maybe we could start saving money and worrying about the problem we have on our own soil, one being our national debt, stop stripping the land of so many of its resources, and give America something to look forward to beside all the bad news we always hear about. Nuclear power can be a start to solving our problems, it may not be the complete answer, but it’s a start.

Citation Page

Huber, Peter W. "Why the U.S. Needs More Nuclear Power." City Journal. Winter 2005: 1. Print. <http://www.city-journal.org/html/15_1_nuclear_power.html>.

in text: (Huber 1)

Exner, Rich. "104 nuclear power reactors in 31 states: Sunday's numbers." Cleveland.com. March 20, 2011: 1. Print. <http://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/index.ssf/2011/03/104_nuclear_power_reactors_in.html>.

In text: (Exner 1)

Paper’s Sources

Huber, Peter W. "Why the U.S. Needs More Nuclear Power." City Journal. Winter 2005: 1. Print. <http://www.city-journal.org/html/15_1_nuclear_power.html>.

Freind, Chris. "America Needs More Nuclear Power." NewsMax: NewsMax. 2011. 1. Print. <http://www.newsmax.com/Freind/nuclear-power-threemileisland-chernobyl/2011/03/15/id/389541>.

books

Herbst, Allan M. Nuclear Energy Now. 1. 1. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2007. 1-199. Print. <http://books.google.com/books?id=XR9b-4PiT4sC&printsec=frontcover&dq=us+needs+more+nuclear+power&hl=en&ei=MNJwTuG1OsTj0QGWsqHqCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CEAQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=us%20needs%20more%20nuclear%20power&f=false>.

Shapiro, Irving S. We need more nuclear power. 1. 1. Dupont: Dupont, Public Affairs Department, 1980, 1980. 1-16. Print. <http://books.google.com/books?id=xCoFPwAACAAJ&dq=need+more+nuclear+power&hl=en&ei=p9JwToOPBcnv0gGr3bWFBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&sqi=2&ved=0CEsQ6AEwBg>.

Response # 5 Corporate Heavy Weights Forcing Education on the Little Man

Corporate Heavy Weights Forcing Education on the Little Man

By: Jonathan Livers

English 102: Michael D. Benton

The education system has developed over the years to accommodate the newer century, just as it always has. But is there to a point where we need to stop moving forward with progress and stop? During the industrial revolution, when companies were becoming empires of business, they took reins of the education system to better suit their needs for employees. Soon after came the cooperate era, which sought after bright intellectuals to take over their companies; later requiring all employment with a prerequisite of education, which would make them even more profit. But this nation can only learn so much before we have to ask our self’s, do I need a college education to run an assembly line? Workers in their positions retain within their own ranks the knowledge of how the work is done, and therefore exercised a considerable degree of control over the labor process. Therefore, control of the labor process by owners and managers was often more formal than real. (Foster)

                How much do we learn in school about a factory job? Basically nothing, a little of addition and multiplication may come into play with a machines diagnostics, but nothing of a large magnitude of intensity. Now we take the comparison of what we’ve been taught in high school and compare it to college learning. I’ve had a similar class, Algebra, 4 years out of the last 6 I’ve been in school. First being taught in high school teachers drilled into my head that I darn forgot this information, for it will hold the key to the future of my learning, and as I progressed through the years, taking it in college now, I’ve been told countless times that the systems of equations I’ve been learning will rarely ever been using unless I’m a specific field of study. Giving us the notion which we need to view the sustainability of education needs to be viewed in multiple perspectives, not by just wanting the most intelligent country. (Wheeler 1) Sustaining the education we have now is nearly killing the students which try to accomplish something many of them can’t, a higher education.  Forcing them to move back home, work factory jobs part time, pay back their student loans, and hope every night that they get hired on full time the next day.

                How does this system of education come from our economy and work force? Mainly because our structure of education is based widely on a capitalistic course set mainly due to Cooperate heavy weights. A huge tree which passes down information based on knowledge and rank, Just as the Department of Education would tell a state who would determine the core content, which would be passed down to board of education, which henceforth be giving to teachers which would carry out the lessons teaching the children which would perform the prompted work. How does the government come to the conclusion of what the students need to learn, they have no idea how that specific community works. I compare my home town, an Alcohol producing community, to Pikeville, KY, a coal mining village, to New York City, New York, a Cooperate slaughterhouse of businessmen. Do we truly need to be all taught the same advanced information?

                I’m all for a change in the paradigm of education, but we need to take time to research the right steps into which we need to take action. Not just making the amount of standardized testing more, or raising educational standards. We need to take into consideration in which this economy needs to get back onto its feet.

Citation Page

Foster, John Bellamy. "Education and the Structural Crisis of Capital ." The U.S. Case . The Monthly Review, July-August 2011. Web. 7 Sep. 2011. <http://monthlyreview.org/2011/07/01/education-and-the-structural-crisis-of-capital>.

Wheeler, Keith A. Education for a sustainable future: a paradigm of hope for the 21st century. 1st. 1. New York City: Kluwer Acedemic/Plenum, 2000. 1. Print. <http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=_Po4f9HCioUC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=changing+education+paradigm&ots=Kai4cl_47k&sig=0tgj-4aYl_D9DjrQaUz1i-aMkdc#v=onepage&q&f=false>.

UK's season opener tonight vs. WKU at LP field.

5 years in a row we've made it to bowl games, 46 returning players, 11 being top defensive, and names like LaRod King, Morgan Newton, and Danny Trevathan are sure to put the fear in the the TOPS tonight in the season opener. It doesn't look as it's going to be a sold out stadium on LP field in Nashville, but i exspect to see a lot of blue in TN tonight. Good luck CATS, let's compete with that 6-7 record from last year. OHHHH C-A-T-S CATS CATS CATS!

Season's about open! Sept. 4 Get your strings waxed up!

http://fw.ky.gov/pdf/1011huntingseasons.pdf

The season is among us, the night air is starting to get a bit more crisp, and the mornings are beginning to dew. Only means one thing, deer hunting season. Get your feeders ready, I've been doing mine for about a month now, and i know there are a few big ones up there. The best of luck to you all!

Response # 4 Children Mature on their own through Media

Children Mature On Their Own Through Media

By: Jonathan D. Livers

Eng. 102 Michael D. Benton

A new upraise in the foundation of education is media interaction. It’s been on a course in the past decade to revolutionizing the way we learn, interact, and find our individual images.  Media can be used to face talk with someone on the go, learn a new language, and even create a whole new world. Some people on the other hand feel that media is a distraction from the “real” learning which monotone teachers provide; these people feel that the media is corrupting the minds of our youth. In fact, it’s progressing the knowledge of their surrounds, teaching them how to interact with one another, behave, and manors.

                Media that we as the youth all know and love, the television, the dreaded devise our parents warned us about that if you sit too close to it, your eyes will pop out of your head. Well, not so much. Many of the classes I’ve taken have involved visual media, such as documentaries, and movies.  Imagine the movies you watched at a young age, what did you learn from them? A favorite of mine was the Ninja turtle series, KOWABUNGA! What is there to learn from a bunch of pizza eating ninja fighting turtles? I learned the difference between right and wrong, the value of teammates, and that pepperoni is the best type of pizza. I was a kid! Of course after I got done I would act out all the flip kicks, and I even made my own nun chucks out of two pieces of wood and  an old pair of Nike shoe strings. Did me being an interactive kid mean the movie made me an animal, no, I was maturing on my own pace.

                Other media tools such as computers, tablets, and Smartphone’s are another reason that learning has evolved. Computers run our whole security network now, they run most of our factories, and it’s the most used tool in the education field by far. Tablets do everything a computer can, but much more portable, and Smartphone’s are progressing to take over the tablet world, all in a matter of 10 years. A computer that can fit in your pocket, who would have seen that coming 20 years ago? The world has changed, and our system of operation should as well. Business have already reformed, now it’s time for the education department.

                I’m from a small country town, growing up I never had all the amenities of a game system, I didn’t get my first computer until I was a junior in high school, and a Smartphone, didn’t even know what that was. I’ve done good to teach myself these things, but it’s important that we introduce media to our youth as soon as possible. My old high school just used government funded money to purchase all iPods and Ipads for the library instead of new books. Many of the people thought the school was taking away from their Childs education, but ironically children started loving to go to school on library day. None of the iPods or Ipads has any games, most of the downloaded content is books and other educational tools, but it’s a different way of learning for them. It’s not three 15LB books they have to lug around and cramp in their lockers.

The point being, media is a great new way for you to learn. Don’t allow your parents to undermine the use of technology in your life. It’s a great way to experience life, because I feel that media is the face of a whole new generation of learning which will be passed down for generations, or until they can find how to zap the information into our heads.

Citation Page

"Changing Paradigms."http://sirkenrobinson.com/skr/watch. Web. 31 Aug 2011. <

Williamson, Ben. "On Parenting, Media, Education and Phobias ." DMLcentral (2011): 1. Web. 31 Aug 2011. <http://dmlcentral.net/blog/ben-williamson/parenting-media-education-and-phobias>.

Wayne's Carter IV built the hype but didn't deliver...

              What did we really expect from Lil' Wayne's new album? We got too much of a good thing with his last album and took our past emotional connection to the Carter 3 and let it get the best of us. Wayne's skills are none the less on a level that some artist may never experiences, but he talked this album up to be something of gold, which he could retire on, my suggestion is not to quit your day job Wayne.
              We'll see how the album sells, which I'm sure will be out the roof before the day of release is up, but can he compete with his masterpieces like "A Milli" "Build the Beat" and "Got Money". Maybe the time in prison did slow down him a bit on the release of a new album, but artist like T.I. let the prison life give them a new inspiration, i feel that the easy life of prison spoiled Wayne and made him think that life is too easy for him and he doesn't have to try any more. Well wake up Wayne, never stop impressing, or you won't be too impressive very long.
                Tracks like "6 foot 7 foot" made this album appear to be everything and more that Dr. Carter promised, but sounds can be deceiving just as looks can be. The Carter IV is not a appointment's, it has some good tracks, but nothing that was produced in the 2008 album. It was possibly the peak of his career, but i look forward to any other works that he comes with because i still feel that he is gifted artist which has a lot of potential. We'll just have to see what the future holds for this young rapper.

Response#3 Homeless are the Lazy

Homeless are the Lazy

By: Jonathan D. Livers

English 102: Michael D. Benton

                What do you imagine when the subject of the homeless comes up?  I’m sure you’re just like the rest of the middle/upper class, thinking they are worthless drug/alcohol addicted peasants. We feel as if we are the better halves. But some of those homeless are the reason we are the land of the free and home of the brave, some used to be our pharmacist, bankers, and our neighbors.

                We look at the homeless from the outside, never taking in consideration how they became homeless. What if we took a peep into the life’s of the homeless like “Someplace like America” does? After spending time with the homeless, would we still have the same mind set as we do now? After knowing that they could possibly be a mirror to our future would we still treat them with the same disrespect as we do now?

                Crazy red, a Vietnam veteran was one of the homeless that the authors’ opened and viewed the pages of his life. He had very well grown to the life of a homeless civilian, knowing all the tricks and traits. Knew were to sleep, what was the best ways to sleep, were to gather foods, he lived life as if he had been homeless forever. But he wasn’t. He was a proud veteran of the war, one of this nation’s heroes. This the way we treat our once idols?

                Yes, this had become of the life in Santa Barbara, CA. The author’s experienced it first hand for themselves. At first it was a great understanding, meeting new interesting people, figuring out their life’s’ stories. But living as the homeless they must familiarize the bad side. One night, in a flutter of commotion, they were scattered off by the shouts and screams of a police invasion. One reporter asking, “how can they do this!? This isn’t right!”  It may not have been right, but it’s our ignorance that brings us to the concept that all homeless are bad, so the police officers didn’t do it out of hatred; they performed their act out of stupidity. (Maharide 1-10)

                The most amazing part of the homeless life is how people had got to this point in their life. Yes, there are your drug addicts who need help because they have wasted every moment of the life and money on the consumption of harsh remedies, but some are not so thick headed.  Many of the homeless were quite intelligent, some even with a close past of being employed and with a home. It brings up the question, how close is my community of going through the same? What’s stopping the factory that I work at shut down tomorrow with no hope of finding another job? Bills must be paid or we’ll have to go without; Food must be bought or we’ll have to scavenge. These haunting questions trouble even me, a college student because what if the degree I’m acquiring doesn’t have any demand by the time I graduate? I’d be too far in debt to go back to school.

                I’m just like any other man, I fear my future, but I look towards it with my chin held high, but stories like this do make me wonder how far away is our society to complete failure? And if failure is inevitable, will I be treated with the same lack of respect as the people in Santa Barbra? Think twice next time a swaddle of dirty torn rags on the side of the street holds up an empty can of last night’s supper and ask you for a small amount of change, coins that you’re probably going to lose anyways.

Citation Page

Maharide, Dale. Someplace Like America. 1st. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2011. 1-10. Print.