Letter of Intent

I am going to research our Coral Reefs and what is killing them all around the world. Coral Reefs all around the world are dying. I plan to read about what other Biologist are finding in their Coral Reefs and to look at all the data they collect. I want to narrow down my research by what is the leading cause. There could be many things that contribute to what kills them but I want to narrow it all down to the leading most cause.

I have wanted to be a Marine Biologist since I was 3, and I read about how Coral Reefs are dying at an alarming rate all around the world. I hope to learn what the underlying cause is, and what we can do about it. If there IS anything we can do about it. I watch documentaries and educational videos as often as I can, so I like to think I have a pretty good knowledge of Coral Reefs. I hope this can give me a new way to think about conservations and how I can help change the future of our oceans. I also hope to gain more knowledge on our Coral Reefs.

I think the questions I chose are good because they are questions mostly about what they think will happen if nothing changes. If anything can be done right now. I think it will make the readers more inclined to get involved. The questions I began with when I started, was what was killing them? I was alarmed that they said Coral Reefs all around the world are showing the same signs. I hope to find out if anything can be done now to help. I also hope to educate and get readers involved. My current perspective on this topic is dismal. I am so saddened by what is happening to our Coral Reefs. I think they are one of the most beautiful things on our earth. I want to do my part to help save our Coral Reefs.

Interview Questions

Q. What do you think will happen to the overall health of our ocean if Coral Reefs eventually disappear?

A. "Over all health of the oceans will decline due to the loss of biodiversity and necessary habitat. This would have a negative impact on economies and food supplies due to lack of fish harvest. Also, reduced protection of coastal areas for which the reef may act as a natural buffer." Sarah Benedict

Q. Is there anything we can do to reverse what is killing our Coral Reefs?

A. "Stop pollution (direct and indirect, lots of different kinds), overfishing, coral mining and global warming." Sarah Benedict


Q. How long do you think our Coral Reefs will last if nothing is changed?

A. "That is really hard to say and probably depends upon local as well as global conditions." Sarah Benedict

Q. What can we do to help improve the health of our Coral Reefs?

A. "Educate ourselves and others, institute policy and law that protects reefs, encourage sustainable tourism, reverse/slow climate change." Sarah Benedict

Coral Reef Research

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This site has good information on reefs around the U.S. and around the world. Good site for reasons why reefs are dying and what is killing them. Has too much info for my paper. Goes into detail on what could be done but isn't. This information might make my paper too long. Will have to wait and see how much info I need.

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This site give good personally experiences from scientists and what they have seen. Good background information on what has threatened coral reefs in the past. This site talks about why coral reefs are useful to us as a means of medicine. How they are protect or coastlines.

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This site gives good information about bleaching. How it was once viewed as a minor problem and how it has grown. How it started to raise concern in the past. How coral can recover from algae leaving coral and possibly return. This site talks about how important coral reefs are and why the are a key stone species for our oceans.

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This site is a good source for how the coral dying affects the fish species. How he personally saw what this reef use to look like and how it looks now. Talks about how coral reefs are oldest living structures on earth.

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This site give good information on what needs to be done to maintain fish diversity with coral reefs that are damaged. Don't know how long my paper will be. This good be a good add in for more information. Good for reader to see what it takes to maintain a coral reef and how fragile they are.

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This is a site where 3 different damaged coral reefs were rehabilitated and how each of them fared over the 14 years study. What affected them and how they each of their health increased or decreased due to variations in weather, location, etc..

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This site describes what happens to our coral reefs after a massive earthquake or tsunami. How it affects fish and coral reefs.

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This site focuses on what helps sustain coral reefs in the Caribbean. What it is that helps and how it works. I'm giving a lot of info on what naturally kills coral reefs and having some information on what in nature naturally occurs and helps protect our coral reefs make my paper more balanced.

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This site shows what U.S. plans to do about our coral reefs and what measures they are taking to preserver them. Talks about mapping coral reefs and trying to maintain coral reefs health.

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This site is good information on what coral reefs are. How they aren't just rocks but animals. How they are formed and what gives them their color. Talks about the different species of fish and how they all work together. What one benefits from the other, the other benefit from the one.

Examples of Logical Fallacies

http://jazzroc.wordpress.com/2008/11/05/17-established/
This picture depicks a, 'Personal Attack Fallacy.' This attack is used to make the other person look bad, or not good enough for the job. A lot of politicans use when on campaign, when they are questioned and do not know how to give a good responses. They also use this to make the other person they are running against look bad, doing this makes them seem like the better or logical choice of the two. The picture shows a larger shrimp talking down a smaller shrimp. His size makes him seem like the better shrimp and if this were an issue of which one a female shrimp should choose, then the larger shrimp would be the logical choice. But if this was applied to our goverment this ia not true. A persons size does not make them better or smarter. A persons actions and how they solve a problem is what matters.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/markklotz/4603295958/

The Red Herring Fallacy is being used here. One duck states he is convinced that the, 'Flying Spaghetti Monster', exsists. When the duck is asked to produce evidence that this monster exists, he states how there is plenty of evidence but doesnt produce a single one and further deflects the attention from himself to him standing on one leg. The duck clearly has no evidence to support his claim and tries to deflect the other ducks attention from the topic at hand to his ability to stand on one leg. A lot of people in our goverment do this. When Obama is asked what happened to how he was gonna "change" our future when he just made things worse, he points out what he HAS done to avoid the question. I thought this one was hilarious and cute. I just had to post it.


http://toyotat.wordpress.com/

The logical fallacy being used here is that if you use this product, you too can look like Marilyn Monroe.
This fallacy is so commonly used, it is just about in every advertisment to look at. From beauty all the way to business. Every one of them tells you how they are the best and something like the picture above is your result.

Reasearch Topics

1. Whats happening to our water?
2. Why we need a healthy ocean
3. Over population
4. Golbal Warming and our Coral Reefs
5. Global Warming
6. Overfishing
7. Our Ozone layer
8. Ways to protect our environment

5 Topics

~Water as a Resource

1. Where do we get our water?
2. How are our resources recharged?
3. How is our water be affected?
4. Where this is happening and what is the outcome?

~Over population

1. Resources we all need to survive.
2. How numbers affect these resources
3. How the population has grown over the years
4. What the possible outcomes could be

~Global Warming and Coral Reefs

1. What is a Coral Reef and how it survives
2. Why Coral Reefs are important
3. Effects of Gobal Warming
4. Where this is happening and possible outcomes

~Overfishing

1. Why we need a healthy ocean
2. How do people depend on our ocean
3. How has fish numbers decreased overtime
4. Why is overfishing bad?

~Ways to protect our enviorment

1. How has the enviroment changed over the last 200 years?
2. What have humans done to influence this?
3. How will the earth look if nothing is done?
4. Ways we cant help pur enviorment and what the world is doing to change.

Logical Fallacies

In the clip, there are a lot of logical fallacies. The chart depicting how the rate of leprosy has increase and will continue to increase till 2015 is a good example of a logical fallacy. They chart is depicting that all of human kind will one day have leprosy and your fingers will fall off. I think its just a comical way to scare people. Like they did with the bird flu, or the swine flu. The magazine companies want you to pick up and buy their magazine, so they put scary headlines on the front to catch your attention. They try to make you believe that what they are saying is true through logical fallacies. Another logical fallacy in the video is that, immigrants are the reason for the return of leprosy and other diseases in the United States. Why this is a fallacy is, because they are comically portraying, that because one of a few cases have been documented among immigrants of leprosy, that they were the ones to bring it in. It seems to me like America just wants someone to point the finger at. The clip even stated how and why this information is irrelevant with them stating, that leprosy has been in the U.S. for 30 years with over 7,000 cases. Another fallacy they make is that illegal immigrants are bring guns, and gangs into our country. Guns and gangs were in our country long before illegal Mexican immigrants came into our country. It has been a huge problem for years and years. I found the clip very funny and very accurate on how our government like to "point the finger" at anyone else but themselves.

Do violent video games cause behavior problems?

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1723


This is gonna be a very good site or me to use. This site has a lot of different sections in it, describing where they got their information, and how it is applied to everyday life. They also list a lot of examples, and where a topic they are talking about has happened and what the effects where. Evidence is a good thing to have in a contriversal topic and this web site has plenty of it. They also are an, ".edu" website and state their references. So you know the information you are getting, is more likely to be more reliable.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_controversy


Well this website is on wikipedia, so you can guarantee the information I will be getting from it, is gonna be reliable. This website has a lot of statistics, which are a good way to organize information. Statistics are also a good way describe what you are talking about, and to get your adience interested in what you are talking about. It provided a, real-world example, and is more relatable to the reader. It also has incidents I can use as examples.



http://videogames.procon.org/


This website is going to help me organzie and list what my main points, are gonna be for my paper. I often have a hard time coming up with topics and keeping them organized. So I wanted to find a website that would list the pros and cons of video games. It also has some interesting background information on video games, and some graphs I might use to my benfit!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_and_society


I have found two different websites that support, Why video game are a leading cause of bad behavior in kds. To make this a fair contriversal topic, I also need two websites that support, 'Why video game are not a leading cause in bad behavior in kids. I am not sure how I feel about this topic, so I need to look at not only video games, but how society has changed over the last 100 years. How technology has influenced the world and if there is another huge factor in this topic. This website provides good examples, statistics, and information for this.

How to Tell a True War Story

Tim O'Brien, in this short story, isn't tell a story about war. He is telling about, all the different things that went on during it. How it happened, how it affected people and its a story about courage. How little things from Nam are still with him today. How, you never really think about the begginings of life, till you have reached the end of it. I was completely captivated by it. The way he described Nam, did make parts of it sound beautiful, and terrifying. The colors of the rounds, rockets, and granades. I think war, is a word only someone who has been in a war can understand. I think we all take our everyday life for granted, until you come that close to losing it. Or whats worse, not knowing if you are going to lose your life or not. Not knowing whats gonna happen. I think when you go to war with another person, you bond closely with them. You both experience what people at home can not. You share the day to day struggles, and victories of war. You have faith, that the man next to you is gonna lay down his life for yours, and you trust him and your team with your life. How parts of war even if true, are to true to believe. People don't want to hear, how horrible it was. The truth of it all, is hard to believe. Reading this, gave me just a small glance at what a person thinks while in a war. How it stays with you your whole life, and how you never fully understand it. War shows you who you really are and whats really important in life.

Persuasive Writing Intro

http://www.chron.com/opinion/article/It-s-just-common-sense-to-tax-rich-at-higher-rate-2195728.php
http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/2011/10/11/obamas-new-found-populism-finding-voter-favor/


Taxes. A word everybody hates. Is there a reason for them? Yes. Does that mean we have to like them? No. Obama had recentley proposted taxing the rich, an extra 15 percent, based on what they make a year.
Jay Bookman, has good points in his post, about how Democrates are for Obamas tax-hike, but what to lower the rate to 5 percent. Saying it would fund everything Obama plans to do with the "job package."
He went on in saying, how a lot of Americans are for the tax-hike and support him. I also find a part of myself agreeing with Obama. The 1 percent of Americans that are rich, SHOULD in my mind pay extra. They have the means, and the wealth to do so. But should that mean, we have to rely on the rich to get the U.S. out of debt? Was it their fault in the first place? Did the rich cause this? Corpret Greed to my knowledge is to blame for part, but wealthy americans? No.
Yes the money would raise jobs, but is that going to solve the problem? Is it even the rich's problem to solve? I agree that I would love to see the rich taxed extra. But how much is too much. A 5 percent tax I could see as being fair, they have to money to afford it. E. J. Dionne Jr. also made a good point on how congress isnt taxed extra. With the money they make, why aren't they jumping up to help out? This to me, is just another example of Corpret Greed. So willing to point the finger at someone else.
Do I feel the rich should be taxed? Yes I do. They are the lucky ones who still have a job, money, and hope. I think they should want to help. Do I feel they are the ones who need to fix our economy? No. It wouldnt fix it anyway. The U.S. Is 14 Trillion dollars in debt. No amount of taxing, is going to change that.
Both authors agreeded that somthing must be done. E.J. Dionne Jr. also made a good point, that congress are so willing to tax wealthy Americans, but what about them? Wealthy congress men should be taxed as well. It is sad to think the rich are getting taxed, but I personally think they should be taxed a little more. They can afford it.

Show Don't Tell

It looked like a haunted house.

"Sammy!", Athena cried as her yellow lab Sammy ran after a stray tabby cat. She started after him, and follwed him down the street. She sprinted after him, starining to keep up. As Sammy ran ater the cat, he became less and less visable.
"Sammy,come back!", Athena shouted,as a last effort before she had to stop and catch her breath. Athena panted, out of breath and started to worry if she would be able to find Sammy. After catching her breath, Athena started jogging in the direction she last saw Sammy. It took her down a dark street, where she could faintly see a, "Dead End" sign at the end o the road. At the very end of the road was a omnious looking house with boards of woods nailed over the windows. She glanced around her, thinking Sammy might have gone another direction when she heard a dog bark.
"Sammy?", she hollard. She looked in the direction of the sound and was staring back at the house. Only then did she notice the front door of the house was open.
A cold shiever ran up her spine as she heard Sammy bark again. He was in that house. The house almost seemed to look back at her as she stood staring at it. The paint was chipped, and the front-yard was un-kept giving the house an even creepier look.

Dialogue Practice

Jenny felt her stomach ache from hunger as she and Bruce walked down the sidewalk. The dark clouds made the morning seem dark and dismal. She glanced up at Bruce, who’s eyes were transfixed in- front of him.

“Let us go out for some breakfast,” she stated trying to lighten the mood, “how much money do you have?”

“Let me look.” Bruce stopped and shuffled around in his pockets looking for some spare change. He looked down at his hand and frowned at the small amount he pulled out, “I have got about, thirty-five cents.”

“Thirty-five cents?,” Jenny shot him a quizzical look, “that is all the money you have on you?”

Feeling embarrassed, Bruce shuffled his feet and lowered his head, “Well I thought we were just gonna go for a walk.” He looked back up at Jenny, waiting for her respond.

Jenny laughed aloud and grabbed his hand, “Ok, I will buy this time and you can buy next time!”

Google Docs Response

I think Google Docs does an amazing job of making peoples lives easier, and it keeps your files more organized. I will definately use Google Docs for any kind of writing assignment in this class or in the future. I can also see myself using it for just everyday life.

Have you ever been in 27 of the 50 U.S. states?

I have a rather large family. Not only is my family large but, so is the space between them. My mothers half lives on the East coast, from Florida all the way up to New Jersey. My fathers side is on the West Coast, from Washington to California. My parent use to take me and my sister from one coast to the other for holidays or for visits and we even took a lot of family vacations all around the U.S.
My grandparents lived in Tampa Bay, Florida and we use to spend a lot of time visiting them there. I remember it was one of the funniest place as a kid. I loved how lizards are everywhere over there and I would spend hours catching them, the communtiy pools in Tampa Bay were huge and it was by far my favorite thing to do while we were in Florida.
We would travel from Florida to New Jersey were my mothers mom is and me and my sister would get to visit our cousins and have huge BBQ's. We got to go to New York and I got to see the twin towers. When we returned on our way back home we often took little road trips to the others states on our way home. I remember stopping and going to museums and going to Las Vegas.
On the West coasts we would visit my fathers side of the family specially during holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. We stayed in my Uncles huge mansion of a house and were allowed to be crazy wild kids.
My mom and dad liked to take road trips a lot growing up and I have gotten to see a lot, more then some people my age. And I think its because of the amazing places I have been that I have such a love for travel. I hope to see the remaining 23 states(mostly the Northern states) and travel all over the globe.

Bloomsday Race

Have you ever ran 7.5 miles along with over 50,000 other people running it with you?

My boyfriend introduced me to the Bloomsday Race in Spokane WA 2 years ago, he has been running this race since he was 5 years old. To date he has ran the race 23 times! I have personally only ran it twice but it has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life. The race starts at 8am and you stand for about an hour while over 50,000 other people file in next to you. You see some crazy things while you wait for the race to begin. People will run in costumes, and people of all ages run thing race! I remember one year i saw 3 men running in grass skirts and coconut bras, I saw a woman run in a Raggedy Ann costume, I saw a guy running in a huge bannana suit, I even saw a guy running in a speedo, bare foot!
Right before the race starts the excitment in the air and the overall mood is positive. Everone there is so nice and it was just an amazing thing to be standing next to 50,000 other people from all around the globe with different backgrounds and ethnicities all standing side by side doing this all together...to me it was amazing. The course is 7.5 miles long and you run past a lot of houses in a part of the race and the edges of the entire race are lined with people all cheering you on. I mean these people were really cheering for you! I saw some amazing people running the race too, one girl had a shirt on that said " I use to weight over 250lbs". I saw a lot of shirts with sayings like "This ones for you mom/dad". It was amzing to see the reasons on why so many people come to this race every year. It gives me hope that maybe one day we will all live in a world free of judgment, be it the color of your skin, religion, race, or sexualality. I am proud that I can say I have ran this race and I plan on running it every year till the day I die!

Free Write

Have you ever gone to Cancun Mexico?

When I graduated in 2007, I was in the Spanish Club and I signed up for the E.F. Tours trip to Cancun Mexico. Going to Mexico really had a big impact on me, the culture, the people, the country, everything. We stayed there for 11days in a group of about 10 of us. We got to see some amazing things...and some terrible things.
Mexico by far is the most gorgeous place I have personally ever seen! We went to see the ancient Mayan temples like Chichen itza and we learned about the rituals that use to happen there and how the Mayan invented there own form of basket ball. Have you ever seen the Dream works movies called The road to El Darado? Well in the movie the two main characters played this game known as; Pok-A-Tok and i this game there is a arena with two hoops on each side of the walls but unlike basketball the hoops are sideways on the wall.....and very high. The goal of the game was to get the ball in the hoop using your head, hips, or sholders. The most crucial rule of the game was....loser dies!!
The forests were amazing, when you stood on top of one of the temples we went to you could see nothing but trees as far as the eye could see. We got to go scuba diving and saw the abundance of wild life there it was the most beautiful place I have ever seen. But there was also a lot of poverty there. I saw kids living on the streets in building that were nothing but ruble. Kids working along side there parents everyday just trying to get by. It impacted me heavily, I knew stuff like that was out there but once you see it, its forever in your thoughts.

10 List

1. Have you ever been to Cancun Mexico?
2. Have you ever rode on an elephant?
3. Have you ever ran 7.5 miles next to over 50,000 other people running it with u?
4. Have you ever been in 27 of the 50 U.S. states?
5. Have you ever had your life saved?
6. Have you ever had a guy try to kidnapp you?
7. Have you ever laughed so hard you have cried?
8. Have you ever got stung by a jellyfish?
9. Have you ever traveled more than 140 mph?
10. Have you ever been to more than 10 schools?