uwrfcraigderousseau-blog

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This is Zion’s highlights from his one year of college basketball at Duke.

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Zion Williamson is the most anticipated player to enter the NBA since LeBron James in 2003. Zion is 6ft 7in, 280 lbs, and has a 45 inch vertical. He is fast, powerful, has a nice handle, has great court vision, has a high basketball IQ, and a motor that doesn’t slow down. Before this years NBA draft lottery, the team with the worst record had a much higher chance of obtaining the number 1 overall pick in next years draft. This year though, Adam Silver, the NBA commissioner, has placed a new policy on lottery odds in hopes to eliminate tanking among teams. The Knicks had an abysmal year winning a lead worst 17 of 82 games. They had high hopes of obtaining the number pick last night at the lottery and ultimately landing the one year Duke phenom. Unfortunately for them they had no such luck as they fell to the 3rd overall pick in this years draft. Although they may not be able to pick Zion, I feel the Knicks are still sitting in a very good position. The 3rd overall pick is projected to be Zion’s college teammate R.J. Barrett. Entering the 2018 collegiate season, Barrett was ranked as the number one player in the nation coming out of high school. Some experts even feel that R.J. is a safer pick than Zion and predict that he will be a perennial all star. The Knicks also have over 70 million dollars in cap space this offseason. Two possible NBA superstars that have expressed interest in joining the Knicks are Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Durant is a 2 time NBA and Finals Champion. For these reasons I disagree with this article and believe the Knicks are sitting pretty for the upcoming NBA season.

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This is Where The Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls. A coworker of mine last summer gave me this book. He said that when he was a 4th grade teacher he would read this book every year to his class. If I am able to teach an English class when I begin my career I would also like to read this book to my class. This book is about a poor boy who loves to spend his time in the woods. His Grandpa was a trapper and hunter back in his day and he inspires his grandson to get some dogs and hunt coons of the Ozark Mountains. He dedicates his working for 3 years to save up money to buy himself a couple of hounds. He and his dogs go out hunting every night hunting coons. They become exceptionally good at hunting and eventually are invited to enter the biggest coon hunting championship in the country... and win. Their is a tragic ending to this book that will rip every last tear from your eyes. This a book many kids can relate to or learn from.

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This is Breaking Bad. The show is about Mr. White, who is a high school chemistry teacher who is recently diagnosed with late stage lung cancer. In an effort to pay for his treatment and support his family in the case that the cancer takes his life, Mr. White teams up with an old student of his and begins cooking and slinging meth. To add to the madness, Mr. White has a brother in law who is the head of the DEA. The show’s template is following unpredictable journey Mr. White endures. They begin cooking in an old RV in the middle of the New Mexico desert. Time after time they find a way to encounter new drug lords and cartels. They usually end up with blood on their hands and narrowly escaping detectives. 

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This Is Prime Time. If there was ever a man with panache this him. Deion Sanders basically had two completely separate personalities. He is one of the very few athletes to play two major sports at the same time. He was drafting out of Florida St by the Atlanta Falcons to play defensive back. At the same time he signed a contract to play baseball for the Atlanta Braves on days not committed to football. He regarding to himself as Deion when he was playing baseball, and turned into Prime Time when he played football or was in the media. Deion isn’t afraid to break out a new style. He wore a perm, had gold necklace, earrings, and teeth. He talked and played with swag. He had his own celebration for scoring touchdowns. He even created a hip hop album. 

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The Onion

I believe “The Onion” articles are primarily to entertain its readers. They may have some intention to inform but the information doesn’t seem to be relevant enough information. They also may try to persuade their audience but it’s usually about topics that are non argumentative. In this article labelled, “Obama Criticized For Living In Lavish Mansion While Most Americans Struggle To Make Ends Meet,” is for entertainment purposes. The Onion discusses Obama’s luxurious lifestyle as if its by his choice and he would not have it any other way. The President does not get to choose if he/(possibly) she decides to live. The Onion pokes fun at of the President’s home, office, plane, and other amenities available to those who reside in the White House.

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The Climate Fixers

Michael Spector ends his article titled, “The Climate Fixers” in an interesting way. He very intensely exclaims that if some country or people wanted to scatter sulfates in the atmosphere to alter the climate they very well could. He belittles society a bit saying that, “we decide to do much worse than this every day, and we decide unilaterally. We are polluting the earth unilaterally. Whether it’s life-taking decisions, like wars, or something like a trade embargo, the world is about people taking action, not agreeing to take action.” I feel it’s almost a warning to the World. Telling us to pay attention, the capability is out there, and history tells us that someone is going to step up. Alternating the weather with geo-engineering technology may be a quick fix, but also may result in worse outcomes.

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This is an interesting twist in the debate about the continued use of plastic bags. This article by National Geographic takes a deeper look in the positives and negatives of a ban of plastic bags. 127 nations have banned or taxed plastic bags, but is the ban working to help the environment. The bags are littered across the World and pose a serious health hazard to humans and wildlife. Kenya has faced some challenges since the new bag ban. The ban could cause 100,000 jobs in the plastics manufacturing industry to be lost. The country has also faced shopping bag cartels who are smuggling plastic bags in and selling them to community members. The last issue they’ve faced is trouble finding the right alternative to replace plastic bags. The reusable bags they felt would replace the plastic bags are also littering the environment and being mistreated.

This is a good article to incorporate in my research paper because it shows a some challenges and set backs to banning single use plastic bags.  

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By the title you could make a good guess what this article is about. It explain 20 reasons why we should ban the use of plastic bags. They pollute both our land and our water bodies. They are non-degradable, and are harmful to wildlife, marine life, and human health. There are plenty of other reasons as well as to why it’s a good idea to ban plastic bags.

This is exactly the topic I would like to do my research paper on. It doesn’t solve the issue of plastic pollution, but it is an attainable effort to work to better the planet. 46,000-1,000,000 plastic fragments are floating within every square mile of the globes oceans (Conserve-energy-future.com). We should work to ban all single-use plastics like straws, silverware, and plastic bags.

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The Majestic Plastic Bag - A Mockumentary

This a very short “mockumentary” about the plastic bag. It’s a nature film similar to one you would watch on the discovery channel about sea turtles, but it’s about the plastic bag and it’s journey across the nation to its home in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It’s a humorous clip that raises awareness about a serious issue.

Plastic bags are environmental hazards. They are over used by the World and almost always mishandled after being used. 5% of plastic bags are returned for recycling. That means the other 95% is in our landfills leaking dangerous chemicals into our groundwater or making its way to our oceans where they can pollute marine life.

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Andrew Solomon Credablity

After reading Andrew Solomon’s “The Autism Rights Movement,” and looking into the background of Solomon, I feel Solomon shows a good deal of credibility in his article. He is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at Columbia University Medical Center. He is an activist for mental health and and multiple other rights movement organizations. He interviewed people who live and breathe the debate about autism or are on the spectrum themselves in some shape or form. He also references people like Steven Hyman, the former head of the National Institute of Mental Health in his article. I believe his purpose is to raise awareness to the complexity of the disability. He explains that the cause of autism is highly controversial, and that each case of autism is different in some way. 

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Research Topics

A research topic that I am interested in for essay 3 is plastic pollution. Plastic pollution is a major environment issue that the people of the World have caused. It endangers many marine life from the plastic pollution that is on our oceans. I’ve seen a lot of articles come up lately about whales washing up on shores with stomachs full of plastic. 

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Democratic Debate

After reading the article, and having our discussion in class, I’m left saying that Twitter is both a positive, and destructive force. When people post, they should realize that it’s on the internet for anyone to see. So when Sacco posting those tweets on her travel to Africa, even though she was most likely joking, she should be aware of the possible consequences of her boss, or whoever else, seeing it. I disliked how violent the rage pilled on Sacco. Wishing for someone to lose their job or possible death threats is something I myself would not participate in.

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Brooks Winchell  Successful Plagiarism 101

Brooks purpose of this article is to inform mostly. He also throws in some sarcastic remarks for our entertainment. His main idea seems to be mockingly warn students that there efforts to successfully plagiarize a paper will ultimately be unsuccessful. He explains how horribly obvious it is to him when his students plagiarize a paper. He states, “As an educator, I knew there was no earthly way this student could produce a genuine five-page research essay (by tomorrow) with her current skill set.” This is just one example of how he feels about students attempts to plagiarize. He also admits to feeling sorry for his students who were  passed along without being taught and prepared to read and write at the next level of education. He talked about a situation where he went out of his way to lend a hand to a student struggling to find her own words for a paper. Going as far as telling her the “correct” way or successful way to plagiarize papers. He ends his spiel saying that at the end of all my help, the student was left with one choice. Find a student who took the course last year with a different professor and pay them for their paper. This is how the article ends. A sarcastic remark leaving his reading with the daunting truth that there is no way you’ll get away with plagiarizing a paper. 

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Peer Reviewed Article Test Run

dMiech, R., Johnston, L., O’Malley, P., Bachman, J., & Patrick, M. (2019). Adolescent Vaping and Nicotine Use in 2017–2018 — U.S. National Estimates. The New England Journal of Medicine,380(2), 192-193.

In 2017, vaping was the most commonly used tobacco-like product among adolescents. The device is such as an electronic cigarette to inhale a heated aerosol, which typically contains nicotine. When vape was introduced in 2011 there was a near-zero prevalence in high schools. They estimate approximately 16 million youths in grades 9 through 12 are using the product. The product is usually no longer nicotine free. You can still purchase nicotine free, but most vapes smoked contain as much nicotine as a pack of cigarettes.  The rapid entry of new vaping devices on the market, the latest example of which is the Juul, will require continual updates and modification of strategies to keep adolescents from vaping and its associated negative health effects.

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Courtship

The End of Courtship” (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/fashion/the-end-of-courtship.html)

Because the stakes of dating women in today’s age are higher, men are dodging old-school dating in trade for low risk hook-ups. College hookups are leading to young adults not knowing how to build adult level relationships. With college students spending thousands on schooling, it leaves men with a choice on how to spend their precious cash. Young males in their 20′s don’t believe spending money on traditional dates (i.e. movies and dinner) worth their dollars. With so many men and woman available to each other at college they take a speed dating approach. Men can’t spend money on every girl they want to get to know or they’ll be broke. Men want to meet women at their convenience and with low risk. 

I prefer this article because it puts some blame on both men and women. Other articles are putting sole blame on men for ruining courtship of the past time. Often though, if a man does put in effort on courting a women in college she isn’t looking to actual date the guy either. The article is giving reasons why guys communicate with women with little effort. Almost all college students are poor and don’t want to spend money on someone that they aren’t sure they see a future with. The trend is to not be in a relationship in college.