To Snope or not to Snope

Before today, I had never even heard of the cite Snopes.com. Websites like this are always easy to believe. The first story that popped up when i opened the website was a post on "Mass Shooting Under Obama". This was especially interesting to me after reading all articles posted about Obama in the past 4 months. The interesting thing for me was to see that all of the questionable or false information was marked with an X and/or in red. My problem with this is that every website including this one has biased information, especially when it comes to political topics. I saw some biased information about the Isis attacks when looking through the website as well as attacks against Obama and his party. Another great thing that they used was a section of the website called "fact check" where you are able to go read about different things you have seen or heard about and check if it is "true" or not. Another thing that i appreciated about this website was that it covered everything from the small stories to the white whales of every news department. while most people do not see this as a biased website, i myself know that whether people can admit it or not that they are biased in some way. I would however call this a creditable source and good for certain information.

The Sentinel

As I looked at the KSU Sentinel, I found myself drawn in by the sports pieces of the website.  I read into the articles about the Owls football team and their amazing season full of ups and downs. The story that best caught my attention was the article “Growing Pains Surface in Final Home Game”. This article dove into season that the owls football team was having. In the aricle written by Mason Wittner, Wittner talks about the amazing season that the team has mustarded together.  Going 2-1 in conference play and stunning their region has been a hot topic of the student body. But some concerns about the team have recently surfaced. First and foremost, the attendance at the games from students and families has been minimal.  Another thing that has deterred an audience is the fact that towards the end of their season, many of the owls were riddled with injuries. One of the injuries that shocked everyone however was the injury to starting quarterback Trey White. In that game we saw the Big South’s best rushing attack vs. the nations best defense. Soon after the first play that went in for the touchdown, the owls went into a 3 quarter rut that lasted till the last ten minutes of the game. Wittner also go to talk with head coach Bohannon after the game. He said that we as a student body and fan base have to look at the bigger picture and still keep our faith in the team.

So Close! Yet So Far!

Original post: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/opinion/legalizing-marijuana.html
Statistics from: http://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/prescription/abuse-international-statistics.html
Welcome back readers,

    Today i will be touching on a letter to the editor that just didn't match what the article was truly speaking of. In an article by the New York Times magazine, they touched on how drugs are one of the main causes of death for teenagers across the country. In the article, it talks about a growing problem that is not helped by the push for the use of medical marijuana that is making its push in the house as well. 70% of voters are behind the idea of making medical marijuana legal in every state. This is a growing problem that The United States has had to battle on their own soil. No matter how much they try, the ability to get drugs is getting easier and easier for children 12-17 years of age. The article tells us that this is a problem that even may soon be neutralized if marijuana is finally legalized across all 50 states under a uniform process as well as the added stipulations such as alcohol, we could see a significant drop in the amount of children using. The letter to the editor touched on the other views of marijuana. While almost everyone agrees that is the lesser of two evils, it is still a hard sell for the population that are very religious and the amount of people from older generations who despise the thought of it becoming legal. They see this as a gate way to more drugs being legalized as well as teaching kids to get into another drug to start off and turning pot into today's cigarettes. It will lose its thrill of getting away with trouble and convince kids to get into worse things like meth and cocaine. This is something that is completely off beat because it is going into the effects of recreational weed being legal before medical the idea of a new problem coming without any proof. There is also a large amount of personal opinion that goes into both of these articles due to when someone was born and how they were raised. The article also touches on how weed can turn into todays alcohol and how we will see a higher amount of DUI's to come about due to people not being able to tell how bad they truly are. This article tackles more then the topic of medical marijuana, it takes on the whole process of opening up marijuana to the public at large which we have no evidence to prove this will be good or bad. So what we can take from both of these writings is that whether you are Pro-marijuana or against it, there is no proof to back up anyones statements.

Thank you for visiting and see you next time,
Hunter Allen

How High School trained me

In high school, during senior year I had to write a lot on our class literature. My teacher senior year had us keep a journal and every 2-3 chapter while we read "The Book Theif" and we had to write a 350 word analysis instead of just writing a paper at the end of the book. For myself, this way was the best way. This way works best for me because you really had to look at each chapter closely making you understand the literature better as a whole. For me going through school, I always hated doing writing on literature because it turned reading into a job. Literature also became very boring to me, because most of the stories we read for literature class in high school were written in a way that was always hard to read. The one story that stood out to me through high school was "The Book Thief . "The Book Thief" stood out to me because of how interesting it was, and how popular of a story still is and how much it relates to history. "The Book Thief" was also complicated to write about, because of how the characters were forever changing in the story. There is a lot going on within the story, which keeps you on your toes, but it also kept me wanting to come back and read more. Another thing that I enjoyed from high school was that we watched the movie for every story that we read in high school. This was another thing that helped me to be able to understand it a little better even when it is not in modern day english. Hopefully as this semester progresses, we will dive into more stories that will be interesting to read and more importantly, stories that are easy to write on.

My Major

Hello again reader,

Today i wanted to write about why I'm am an Mechanical Engineering major. Like many people, i came into college looking to better my education and earn myself a degree. I did not always want to be a mechanical engineer, nor did i even know how to properly spell it on paper till my senior year in high school. That's pretty funny right? how could someone not know how to spell something as simple as engineering? Well to be honest, i didn't even know about the kinds of jobs you could get with such a degree? My father at this point had only been in oil and gas for 2 years. One day i got to go to work with my father where his boss actually flew me and him to Rome Italy for a meeting. They showed me everything about being a QCI and all the perks that come with the job. Great pay, world travel, great opportunity to move up, and never a dull day on the job. Then i was told by Wesley E. Lohec and Joseph C. Geagea who are VP's of Chevron that this life could be mine if I put in the work in the class room. From then on, I went into college with a plan and a purpose. My brother and my father have both only been in the business for 9 years combined and have established a great name for my family. Neither one of them have a Engineering degree, but both still clear 6 figures easy and say that those with a mechanical engineering degree gross 50,000 to 150,000 more a year just for having the title. But like most of us know, the oil industry will not be around forever. I also researched the other possible jobs that i can get with my degree. The honest reality, I can get almost any job with my degree due to its difficulty to obtain. The best way to find information on this is to look into jobs that are in the engineering field then look at the degree they require. Then after all your job searching is done, talk to professors about the industry they came out of or the places they have worked. Another way that is less often used is the classic email or letter to a person of higher authority in the company you want to work for an how you can get an edge on your competition. But now most of you may be wonder, Why would I choose Kennesaw state? Why not Georgia Tech, Emory Riddle, or somewhere else? I have lived in Kennesaw for the past 10 years and it made perfect sense to stay in state till my undergrad was finished before making my switch to Texas A&M at college station. The education here is great and the staff is amazing at what they do as well as the option for smaller classes. This is just a little insight as to why i wanna be an Engineering major. I didn't alway know this was what i wanted to do with my life, but i do know this is the right direction to go.

Thank you again for reading guys!
Hunter Allen

A day in my internet life

It is hard for some people to truly understand how much we use technology in our every day lives. All of our lives tend to be based on something at our finger tips. Majority of our work today whether it be a career or college and some people take it for granted. When i saw this assignment, it really put my life with electronics in perspective.

I tend to start every day the same way. When I wake up every morning at 7:15 a.m., I go straight to my phone and check my text messages. Unlike most people, I have to sleep with my phone on silent due to all of my family and friends overseas. After going through the text messages i turn on some type of news. Then I go right to weather.com to see what i need to wear and what to expect that day.

Then i get up and head straight to my laptop to start any last minute work that i may have missed the night before. After an hour of sitting around studying and playing on Instagram i head to class. Due to the fact that i just moved back to Kennesaw, I find myself using the map app all the time on my phone.

Instagram and Snapchat are my choice of social media that I use to connect with friends and family. I find myself using these apps on my phone throughout the day. I tend to scroll through my Timeline on Instagram and check peoples stories on snapchat to see how they are doing and what they are up to. The best part of these apps is that i actually get to see my friends not just what they type and sometime their post are hilarious.

I must say that my favorite part of this whole assignment is looking into some of my class mates having the same struggles. The one that sticks out best to me was touched on one of my other classmates. Much like other men in this world, i do not ever believe that i am lost and will never ask for directions. Over the last weekend, my girlfriend and myself went to Bogart, Ga to get our new puppy. On the way to the breeders house, I let my phone fall on its side and lost signal. With iPhones, this tends to mess up the GPS app. I got to spend the next hour and a half driving around looking for a back road farm while my girlfriend laughed at me. needless to say, without internet, travel can be very stressful.

The biggest thing that i use during this forty eight hours was our D2L site. Over 75% of college work has progressed to internet based learning. There are even classes like this one that are based around 100% use of the internet. The world has progressed so fast and its hard to imagine that now when you are looking for a scholarly article you just have to look through things like Galileo and google scholar. I am not a big person on online shopping so i tend to just drive to the store for what i want.

Looking over the last 42 hours has been just astounding to me. I honestly had no clue how much i was dependent on the internet and technology. It has so many uses that we take for granted. Without the internet, our generation would have no idea how to do anything. The apps that allow us to travel past just down the road, the sources that help us write, the sources of entertainment that keep us busy on the run, and even the things that prepare us for what the day may bring. my new aim for my life is to keep my head in to other things like actual books and physical conversation rather then letting my mind travel through cyberspace.

Continuing the discussion

One of the companies that does the best with using rhetoric elements is Mercedes Benz. When you see the name Mercedes and their trademark emblem, you know you're about see a great quality product. When Mercedes puts one of their vehicles in a commercial, they show you all of the top qualities that the vehicle has to offer. They always do a better job of showing you what you get apposed to Nissan or Kia. While companies like Nissan and Kia are highly rated in safety but lack in quality. Mercedes is the peak of performance and top line technology. When you sit in one of these great vehicles, you know your sitting in a top line product. Mercedes is said to be able to stop you from hitting someone, keep you from drifting, and even be able to drive itself. No other product on the market can make that claim but them and for that reason they have a deep grasp on the minds of their consumers which plays into the Pathos and Ethos aspects. Mercedes features make you feel safe and in more control where as other vehicles have just a better feeling about being hit. Almost every single car manufacture is missing the logos element because there are only facts about what happens in the majority of crashes, not all crashes. When you look at the emotional side of things, most people can decide whether the more expensive car is worth it or not. Most people actually but due to the ethos element, the brand is trusted by most so it should be perfect for them. This is a terrible way to buy because the cheaper option might be just what they wanted and for a better price. So in my opinion, there is no such thing as a perfect car company when it comes to proper use of the rhetoric triangle. There is to much use of only 2 and not a equal amount of all 3 seeing as every vehicle is made the same but of a different piece then the other cars.