Literacy Blog 10

1) What are the benefits of global warming, according to the author?

Governments are benefiting from it financially, which is allowing people to have the necessary precautions for storms, drought, and disease. 


2) How will increasing wealth enable us to adapt to climate change in the future?

 "Global warming has so far cut heating bills more than it has raised cooling bills. If it resumes after its current 17-year hiatus, and if the energy efficiency of our homes improves, then at some point the cost of cooling probably will exceed the cost of heating — probably from about 2035, Prof Tol estimates."


3) Why should we care if climate change has caused a 1.4% increase in global economic output?

 Because For some people, this means the difference between survival and starvation.


4) Is it possible to compare the costs and benefits of global warming? If so, what does this tell us about what policies we should make? If not, what does this tell us about the policies we should make?

I don't think it's really possible to completely lay our the overall costs and benefits of global warming. 

http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9057151/carry-on-warming/

Literacy Blog 9

I feel that this is pretty crazy, but also very believable because many people in this country are obese and this may be one of the reasons why. Many people no good and well that these kinds of foods, whether they be cakes, crackers, ice cream, candy, etc, are bad for them... but they don't stop eating them. Other people keep away freom them but see them as a reward. If i run 4 miles today, I get five oreos. That would be my grattification for acheiving that goal. Either way, these foods fill a significant place in our brains- a place that creates pleasure. The taste of sugary and fatty foods seem to create a pleasurable feeling neurologically for us. I think its because if its something that we aren't suppose to have, we want it. And the fact that our taste buds react positively to sweet things also goes along with that. This is probably why we find these foods as a reward. I thing it is slightly different from taking drugs, however, because it seems to me that drugs feel like such a need. They have to have it, or that is what their body is telling them. But food is more of a want. Food is more of a comfort thing and drugs are more of a'trip'. Drugs are used to forget pain and reality. But I feel like in extreme cases of food addiction, food can have the same effects as drugs. I know that "Even though we associate significant health hazards in taking drugs like cocaine and morphine, high-fat/high-sugar foods may present even more of a danger because of their accessibility and affordability." The risk of extreme obesity is way higher, because debbie cakes and oreos are a lot cheaper than cocain, or crystal meth. I feel that this is a serious problem.

Literacy Blog 8

http://news.yahoo.com/pills-made-poop-cure-serious-gut-infections-150405405.html#

I personally think these pills were a great idea. It sounds gross, but when you think about it, what other kinds of pills to people take? Fish oil and other things can be a part of a person's pill list. I would much rather take the pills, which I'm sure is tasteless and is a quick and easy process, rather than getting a fecal transplant. The phrase 'fecal transplant' just FEELS painful and nasty. I definitely wouldn't want to undergo something like that. I think it was very clever to design the pill with three layers of the gel like substance so that it wouldn't dissolve until it reached the intestines. This is very important because if the pill dissolved in the stomach, the fecal matter would be in your stomach and can cause further infection, I assume. And also, if you had gas while taking the fecal supplement, your burps would taste pretty much how your farts would smell... in most cases, pretty foul. I think that scientists will definitely be able to "test freezing the stool, which won't kill the bacteria, so it could be stored and shipped anywhere a patient needed it." If they have accomplished this much, they can most likely make these fecal pills shippable.

Literacy Blog 7

Evaluate the current SAT process based on evidence from this article.

Based on this article, how prepared do you feel you are to take (or retake) the SAT’s writing portion? What practice or instruction might you still need?

I feel that this writing essay is a bit unfair. Many people probably don't understand that the accurateness of their information isn't being evaluated. I feel that there should be two different writing parts, one on time and one on accurateness. I feel that testing a student while under pressure in a good thing, so that you can see how they perform under those circumstances. However, I feel that accurate information is important as well. I feel that if dates and names aren’t right, then the student has no idea what they’re saying. The whole essay is basically about improvising. The one quote that grabbed my attention the most was “There’s really no concern about factual accuracy,” says Gere. “In fact, the makers of the SAT have indicated that in scoring it really doesn’t matter if you say that the War of 1812 occurred in 1817. The complete lack of attention to any kind of accuracy of information conveys a very strange notion of what good writing might be.” I just couldn't quite believe that this is how they actually graded the tests. I also couldn't believe that they typically only spend two to three minutes reading and evaluating the essays. I honestly think that these essays may give a false sense of greatness about the students writing them, because someone with a 2.5 GPA may be more persuasive than a 5.0 GPA student. But in that twenty-five minute period, that difference in intelligence level might not be noticed. Overall, I think that the SAT is a good way to evaluate which colleges you can get into, but it may also need to be tweaked a little bit in order to become more positively affective to students and their futures.