Week 5 Blog #3

In the article “Why egg prices are a shell game,” by Anthony Mirhaydari, it is brought to attention that there is a rise in egg prices. It says how if there is such an increase in price there has to be an increase in supply and demand. This is great news for the farmers, with a greater demand for eggs they won’t have so much trouble selling there eggs for whatever price they want. Although the negative part is that the egg producers have lowered there flocks and made this demand possible by making a shortage of eggs. This makes it possible to raise the prices for them since the demand for them was small, they tricked the market into believing that the demand was higher because less eggs were being produced. To protect the consumers from what the egg producers are doing, the egg producers are being forced to make bigger cages with less birds in them. I believe that what the egg producers are doing is ridiculous but smart on their part. They are teaming up to control the economy for the eggs and are being able to force consumers to pay for overpriced eggs. They are still smart in doing this because they have found a way to make more money in a falling demand for eggs. They have found a way to no lose money and how to stay afloat in our overpriced economy. The author of this article believes that the “naughty” egg producers will get caught and be forced to have to lower their prices, and in the end will get in trouble and ruin ties with egg sellers. He believes that as time goes on and they keep taking advantage of the prices, they will start getting in trouble and not have a good name in the egg producing industry. The buyers of the eggs who distribute them out to stores will also not want to buy from them because they won’t want to get in trouble with the government.

Article used: http://blogs.moneycentral.msn.com/topstocks/archive/2008/09/25/evidence-points-to-manipulated-egg-prices.aspx?emc=el&m=1596843&l=9&v=e3f55dfac8

Week 5 Blog #2

Thesis Statements on the Effects of Terrorism
1. In our world today terrorism has been negatively effecting people; with its use of violence to intimidate and threaten people it has caused mental, economic, cultural and physical damage.
2. Throughout history and up to today terrorism has negatively effected societies mentally, economically, culturally and physically.
3. Although some people view terrorism as only an act of patriotism, it has very negatively effected societies in our world today.
4. Terrorism has negatively effected the world for many years, whether it be with economic depression or mental damage, it is still occuring and harmfully taking its toll on societies.
5. Despite most societies efforts to get rid of terrorism, it is still occuring and negatively effecting everyone and everything it comes into contact with.

Week 5 Blog #1

In deciding a topic with my group members for paper 2, we had to use invention techniques. The main technique we used was listing. Before we started the list we decided that we wanted to write the paper on a controversial topic. This would make the paper automatically have two sides, and a variety of information. We also had to decide on a topic that all of us had at least a tiny bit of knowledge on. This would help to make sure that we all aren’t blindly writing about something we don’t know at all. After agreeing to write about a controversial topic we started listing off what topic could be controversal. As the list began many of the topics were way too broad to write about. Then we started to have to specify and narrow the topics down. Once we started narrowing them down though, we decided that the majority of them wouldn’t have that many sources to go to or use. Finally after listing off a bunch of topics we decided on the negative effects of terrorism. This is a very controversal subject and has a lot of works published about it.

Week 4 Blog #3

In the article “Wisconsin Milk Production Could Exceed Plant Capacity,” by Laurie Fischer, she discussed the issues of milk production in Wisconsin. We all know that Wisconsin is famous for it’s cheese. The cheese factories use an extreme amount of milk, and therefore milk is in high demand there. In the past there was a large deficit in milk and they had to truck milk in from other states. Luckily, the dairys are now producing a surplus amount of milk, which is exceeding the plant capacity. Now the cheese plants in Wisconsin are either building new ones for the milk to go, or adding on to their existing factories to put more milk. This is a huge boost in profits for the dairys and cheese factories, and now that the milk is mostly all coming from Wisconsin the factories get fresh milk to make the cheese with.

I believe that it is great that the Wisconsin cheese factories are building new places to put the milk that the dairys are now overproducing. I believe that this is great for the economy and for farmers. The surplus production of milk shows a lot of improvement from the later years when there was a large deficit in milk and they had to truck it in and not even use fresh milk. I also believe that with this sudden surplus in milk, hopefully the costs per gallon will go down too. After reading the article I believe that the author’s opinion is very similar to mine. She doesn’t say a single negative thing about this subject. At the end she states how the DBA supports all the dairys and tries to make a positive environment for them. The question that I would like to explore after reading this article is what will happen as the amount of milk keeps on rising? Will there be such a big surplus that milk will stop selling?

Article used: http://www.widba.com/pdfs/news/WisconsinMilkProductionCouldExceedPlantCapacity-2.pdf

Week 4 Blog #2

In Part 1 of the book “They Say I Say,” by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein, a lot was discussed about how to best write what others say. It was discussed how to best intoduce what “they say” and how to do it formally and respectfully. There were guides on how to say what “they say” without exactly copying it. A lot of the templates had to do with introducing thoughts, views, and ideas. The templates helped with teaching how to introduce views that one does not agree with, and how to make it respectful and considerate. It also discussed about how to summarize others writings. In summarizing one needs to have a clear thought on the direction they are going, and understand where the writer is coming from. One needs to use the correct kind of wording so the summary isn’t bland, or so that it’s not a play by play. There is also a section on how to quote in one’s writing. It shows how to make quotes relevant, how to include them in the paper correctly, and how to not add quotations. This section was very helpful in teaching how to focus on what “they say.”

Week 4 Blog #1

In the article “For Buyers, Many Roadblocks,” by Christine Haughney, there is a lot of tex that quotes people’s exact words as evidence of something that “they say.” The writer has integrated the quotes into her article by bringing up the issues facing the real estate industry today, and quoting people who have experienced it first hand. The people who have experienced these issues are quoted saying the main points of the problems they have faced. They reveal the “tricks” that companies play on them and the catches to the deals they make. The writer brings up the quotes by writing a little summary about the person she is about to quote. She says what kind of position they are at the present time, and then puts in the quote. The writer ties the quotes into her text very professionally and makes each quote relevant. Therefore, I don’t have any suggestions for this article based on what I have read in this chapter.

Article used: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/realestate/21cov.html

Blog #3 Week 3

In the news article “Turning Horse Owners Into Illegal Traffickers,” by Steve Dittmer, it is stated that the U.S. House of Representatives are looking over a new law. This law outlaws the known “possession, sale, delivery or transport of horses for slaughter for human consumption.” This means that the original owner of a horse is responsible and eligible to be arrested if their horse somehow ends up going to slaughter, whether they still own it or not. I believe that this law does have good intentions, but is laid out completely wrong. The buyer who takes the horse to slaughter should be arrested, not the old owner. Although, if the old owner knowingly sent there horse to slaugher, they should get arrested. The reason why I believe that the owner who unknowingly sells their horse to someone who is going to take it to slaughter is because I have had second hand experience with this.

My friend encountered a man who comes by her stable every once in a while to try and sell horses. This time he brought a paint mare who he said that unless someone bought her, he would take her to slaughter. My friend bought her to save her life, and once the mare was rehabilitated and healthy again, she tried to sell her to a good home. The old owner, who owned the mare before the man had a hold of her, contacted my friend and said that that was her horse. She said that she had given the mare to this man because he said that he would take her up to his ranch for the following year and turn her out with his horses. If this law had been passed the woman who owned the horse would have gotten arrested because in the police’s eyes she had sent her horse off to slaughter. The author believes that this law will make horse owners look like drug dealers, it will also make it a lot harder to sell a horse, and owners will shoot their horses instead of trying to pay for them or trying to sell them. A question about this article that I would like to explore is how will the cops enforce this law? When the transporter of the horses has them all in a stock trailer, he doesn’t have any papers on the old owner or any documentation on the horses besides the proof that he owns it. How will the cops catch the old owners?

Article: http://www.agribusinessfreedom.org/mambo/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=208&Itemid=49

Blog #2 Week 3

There are large differences of opinions throughout the U.S. about horse slaughter. The majority of the population is against it, as a result horse slaughter is illegal in the U.S., but others are for it. The people who are against it want it outlawed all over the world; this is because it is seen as cruel, abusive, and inhumane. The people who are for it see horse slaughter as population control, place to dump their horse when it’s old or crazy, and as a way of making money.

I believe that horse slaughter she be legalized in the U.S. The problem with outlawing it is that then horses are smuggled to other countries and slaughtered a lot more inhumanely then they would be in the U.S. This is because in the U.S. we have laws that state in the slaughtering of animals they must have the correct care up to the time they are slaughtered. In other countries the animals are abused and neglected up until their slaughter. This is why I believe horse slaughter is better to be legal in the U.S., so that the animals don’t get abused even worse in other countries.

Blog #1 Week 3

I adopted many strategies from A Writer’s Resource to use in the writing of my autobiography. One of the strategies I used in the writing of my paper is by revealing my opinion about writing and how I got to the skill level I am today. Doing this in the paper may have helped me make connections with my readers. By sharing my personal experiences it made the paper more interesting and fun to read. Another strategy I used in my paper was writing it in chronological order. I believe that this helps the reader follow along with the story and helps lead up to the conclusion. It also makes the paper a lot more organized and easier to read. It makes the paper easier to write too in the sense that I could go through my life and not randomly list subtopics off. I used the present tense strategy in the last paragraph. This is because it was my immediate hope my English 101 class and what my present expectations are. I used all of these strategies in my paper to help with its overall appearance and content.