Thursday, December 4, 2008

Practice Argumentative Essay

Internet Shopping

What can you do if you need to buy a computer and you don’t have enough time to go to the store? What can you do if you need to buy a pair of shoes and is too late? Would you buy by Internet? Every year Internet shopping is more popular. Since the foundation of the websites Ebay and Amazon the revolution of the Internet shopping has been increased. But a lot of fraud happens every day. “According to U.S. Federal Trade Commission there were over 205,000 complaints of Internet commerce- related fraud reported in 2004” (Robertson, 2006, para. 2). A lot of people have been robbed because they gave their credit card number through Internet to fictitious companies that start to charge big quantities of money. However Internet shopping has a lot of advantages because it is cheaper, quick and you can do it at home.

Internet shopping could be safe if you pay attention to some information and if you follow some steps. First you have to use the credit card with the lowest limit. Second you should buy just in a recognized website, and third, you must do it just in your personal computer.
When you buy by Internet you have to use the lowest limit credit card that you have, because you are giving your personal information to people that you really do not know. Also you are giving to them your limited money. If you use your lowest limit of credit card you will be more protected. Even though according to Murlrean’s article “Protect Yourself” NCL states that credit card is the best way to buy on the Internet. This is because credit cards have a lot of technology behind them and when they start to detect strange transactions, they are blocked by themselves.

You should buy just in recognized websites where you know that other people buy and they recommend it. Do not use websites found in Google to buy an article. It is better if you buy directly from websites like Amazon. Use websites that have backing companies like Pay Pal, because they can be responsible for your transaction. Also websites like Ebay protect the transaction between two or more people. “Internet is like a central shopping mall, where you can find just about everything you need, from groceries and clothing to collectibles and hard-to-find replacement parts” (Robertson, 2006, para. 2). You just have to go to the correct website.

You must buy just in your personal computer because the computers can save the information of your credit card; even if you say don’t save anything, the computer is always doing a background of the information. This information could be found for others to use it. However according to Epinions.com (2008), in the article Five tips for safe online shopping, you can be checking your credit card balance by internet to know if something different is happening with your money. However if you are in your own computer, you can be registered with your IP address in websites for shopping, and this could make the shopping more safe for you, because just you can buy in a website from your computer.

Finally Internet shopping is a good alternative to buy, and you can, so it is safe if you follow some advice. You should buy with the credit card with fewer limits; you should buy from recognized websites and you should buy from your own computer, because Internet shopping makes your life easier.

references:
http://www.epinions.com/finc-review-2A3E-12E6A23-39F00E0A-prod1

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Savinganddebt/Finddealsonline/P36487.asp

www.majon.com/articles/Shopping_-_General/Shopping_online_126.html

Research Paper

Save Pelicans to save life on Earth

Do you know that some species are dying for the fault of human activities? Do you know that the pollution that we make can affect some animals? Animals are suffering by cause of human activity. Humans are only worried about themselves, but they have to think about other species. Brown pelican is among the animals that are not happy in their habitat. This bird used to be related with Louisiana State, but now they are leaving from that state to places that are cleaner or colder. This bird has started to have troubles. According to Rekstad’s article, brown pelican is a victim of global warming. They were a bird always related with southern weather, but they began to migrate to northern places because they are colder. However the author said, “the pelicans have not flown south for the winter and are again freezing to death in north places” (Rekstad, 2008, para. 1). Another problem that pelicans have right now is that some humans in Florida have started to feed them and the bird has forgotten it’s migration route. “According to the FWC, feeding pelicans can be dangerous in a few ways. It can cause the bird to be reliant on the handouts, which means they don’t migrate south during the winter” (Page, 2008, para. 2). Finally, people have to take care of the pelicans because in 1950 the population of this bird decreased because of the use of DDT pesticide that killed a lot of them, because the food of the pelicans was contaminated with the chemical. If people don’t take care of this bird, they can start to be an endangered species.

People have to save pelicans, because we have to conserve the life on the Earth. Humans have to be careful about their activities to not lose any species in the world. Pelicans are not happy in the Earth. They cannot find a good place to live and they have started to die. People have to be prepared to save this species because they are part of the ecosystem and they help to maintain the balance in the ocean. First we have to create an organization specialized in saving pelicans, because not too many people are interested in saving pelicans. Second we can build a refuge where the pelicans can live happily. Third, we have to design a program that helps pelicans to migrate in winter, and finally, we have to study more about pelicans to know if humans are causing some damage to this species.

We can create an organization specialized in saving pelicans. The organization can get some help from governments that are worried about pelicans, like the Louisiana government. They created in 1968 “a joint effort between the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries…the program called for the transport of fledglings from Florida’s peninsula to three release sites in southeastern Louisiana” (USGS, 2008, para. 12). The organization can be helped by the International Bird Rescue Research Center in San Pedro, because according to Sahagun (2008), they admitted some pelicans that were hurt for special care. The organization has to be worried about the situations of the pelicans in the world, because they have to save this species of birds. The organization has to be in charge just of pelicans, because the problem with other organizations is that they have a lot of work and they can’t pay attention to the problems that one species has.

The organization to save pelicans can build a refuge to save this species. This refuge has to be built in a place near the sea. One good place could be a desert island. In Venezuela there exists a place called “Isla de Aves”, or Island of Birds; this is a refuge for birds and sea life. This is a natural reserve of the world. This does not mean that if Venezuela has a natural refuge, the United States has to have one. This means that the United States have to do something to help the pelicans. Pelicans are important to maintain the balance of the environment; also, they can be part of the entertainment of people. This refuge can be like a national reserve or like a national park, because those are examples where the life of endangered animals has been maintained. The refuge can find financial aid from visitors because the refuge can be open for some people to study the species, or people that want just to visit for fun. But the people who want to go there have to be supervised to not disturb the pelicans. Also not too many people can be there because people always bring pollution and that is one of the reasons that pelicans are disappearing.

The refuge for pelicans can be built with the help of some governments and people who give profit to save the birds. Some people in Louisiana are worried because they haven’t seen the pelicans anymore, according to Fahrenthold’s (2008) article. This kind of people can help with the organization. The island has to be provided with food for pelicans, but it is better to provide natural food, which means fish that they need to find in the water. Also the island has to be clean and provide good weather for pelicans to live. The island needs good populations of pelicans of both sexes to increase the population and not permit the extinctions of the animal. In the United States we are used to hearing that some actors and actress buy a private island to vacation; one of these islands could be good to build a refuge for pelicans. Pelicans do not need too much to live in the Earth, because they eat fish from the ocean; they just need a clean environment where they can find good food and where the ocean is not contaminated. If the ocean is a not contaminated pelican can fish good for food.

However, if we build a refuge for pelicans, they need to migrate, and we have to design a program that teaches pelicans where they can migrate to be safe in the winter. Pelicans could be too happy in the refuge, and they can forget that they have to migrate in winter. Also they need to migrate to find more food and to run away from the rain. The organization can teach pelicans by putting some food in the route that the pelicans have to use to migrate to another refuge. Volunteers around the coast that pelicans pass through to migrate can do this. Also the organization has to study more about pelican’s migration route and habitat to save the species.

The organization has to study more too about why the pelicans are not happy in Louisiana to know what can make this species happy and save them. The United States has a very long land, and they have some parts of the land that are empty; they can increase the natural parks to help pelicans to find a route to migrate from north to south, and help to save this species of animals that were popular in so many states of this country and now are not often seen them in the sky.

According to Miller, Jr. (1994), some economists think that we don’t have to be worried about the Earth, because we have the technology that can help us to save the species. This is not true, because if this were true we wouldn’t have species that were endangered. We have to save every species in the planet because we are not the only inhabitants in the Earth. Brown pelicans have to be saved because they are dying because of the human damage to the environment. Technology can help us to save some species, but if all of the pelicans die, technology cannot do anything to help us. Technology can help us to save the pelicans when they are not disappeared but technology cannot help us to bring to life species that are already disappeared.

Some people can wonder why we have to be worried about the extinction of the pelicans if a long time ago a lot of species had disappeared from the Earth even when humans were not living on the Earth. It is true that the extinction of some species is part of the process of life, but that happened through years, and years and the species are going to adapt to new types of life, that are part of the evolution. But pelicans are not disappearing because of the process of evolution; they are dying because of the human activities like what happened with DDT. That is the reason that we are losing our species and we are not progressing.

We have to save pelicans because they a part of the Earth’s life and they are dying because of human activities. To save pelicans we can create an organization specialized in saving pelicans. This organization can build a refuge for pelicans and can teach the pelicans to migrate in winter. Also the organization can study more about pelicans to save the species. Pelicans are important for the Earth and humans have to learn how to live taking care of the environment. If humans don’t do this, no life in the Earth can survive.

References:

http://www.lacoast.gov/articles.bps/1/index.htm.  

Monday, December 1, 2008

Fluency

American Elections

 The elections in the United States are very important for the entire world. That is the reason that I was interested in who would be the next president of the United States. The president of this country has a lot of power. Who won the election can change the politics in my country. I wanted Obama to win the elections, because I think McCain had stronger politics toward countries like mine. I already knew that Obama would win. For me that was not a surprise. I am happy because I think Obama can change a lot of things that Bush did and were wrong. I am happy too because Obama doesn’t have stronger politics toward countries that have dictatorial presidents. Venezuela lives because the United States buys our oil. If the U.S doesn’t buy our oil we could die. Obama will still buy oil from Venezuela. Furthermore, I think America needs a change and Obama is different from what Americans are used to. He is the first black president of the United States. He is really different in his form of government, and that will be good for the American people. 

Fluency

Vacations

My favorite vacation activity is going to the beach. I love going to the beach in my country or in other countries. In Venezuela we always have the perfect weather. Venezuela is a tropical country in the Caribbean Sea. We have beautiful beaches and every weekend a lot of people go to the beach. Venezuela is a small country and every city has a beach near it. In Caracas the beach is like one hour driving and is really good. I love to go to the beach with friends and family but I enjoy going to the beach just with my husband. When I travel to other countries I always choose countries with beautiful beaches. On my honeymoon I took a cruise that started in Santo Domingo and went to some Caribbean Islands, and then went to Europe and finishED in Italy. That was awesome; I love to watch the sea and the ocean.

Fluency

Food in Venezuela

Venezuela is not a country that is famous for food. We eat every kind of food, like American, Mediterranean, Japanese, Chinese and more. However in Venezuela people take care about the food that they eat. In my country people always try to eat healthy food. In Venezuela people are really worried about their appearance, and that is the reason, because they eat good food. Also a lot of people go to the gym every day. For me, American food is good to eat not too often because it is really unhealthy. Since I arrived here I have gained more that 4 pounds even though I try to eat good food every day. Furthermore I started to suffer gastritis. In my country the food is really healthy; you can find in restaurants a lot of salads, vegetables, fruits, juices of natural fruits and more. The food in Venezuela is not too spicy, even though we use a lot of ingredients to cook the food. Our food is made with real food, for example, food in Trueblood’s catering, here at SIU, is not real food, the meat is kind of processed and for me that is not food.  In Venezuela people cook with vegetables and naturals spices. One of the things that are hard to adapt here in the United States is the food.

SONGS TO REMEMBER

I have something that makes me remember past moments. That thing is song. Songs makes me remember past happy and sad moments. Songs make me transport to times that I already lived. I have a song for every time of my life and it is not that I try to find a song for every moment. It is that some songs are playing when I am living something. For example when I met my husband the song that was playing was “The Reason” of Hoobastank. Later on when I married my husband we dance a song in our wedding and that song make me remember my wedding that song was “Que precio tiene el cielo” of Marc Anthony. I have a song for every moment in my life. I have a song that makes me remember when I was 15 years. Also when I heard an old song I can remember what I was doing when that song was playing. I really enjoy when that happen. Because sometimes we forget some happy moments. One song can make you live one moment in your memory again. I think that happen with everybody because sometimes when I am with my mom and she hear a song she told me “that song is when I was in my school”. I am sure that in a future when I hear a song like “Paper plan” or “Lollypop” I will remember my time here in Carbondale. I will remember in a good way because I have had a really good moments here. I am so sad because I will leave in a few weeks, but I am happy because I enjoyed my time here and I will remember that. 

Monday, November 17, 2008

Time Alone

I don’t know why but Spanish people are always together. We always make jokes about be together. We say for example that if you have to change a light you have to make a party to change the light. I am used to travel and I don’t know why I always meet Spanish speakers. When I was in Canada I had a group of friends and we were more than 20 Spanish speakers. I think we are always together is because we are similar and in our culture we are always having fun. American people is different they have fun but in a different ways. Latin people are always dancing. We are always thinking in what we are going to do to be together. However even friends are important for me is important to have time by myself. I don’t know why but sometime I feel boride about people and I need to be alone. I think people have to learn how to be alone because we don’t have to de dependent of others to be happy. You have to enjoy when you are with people but you have to enjoy the time that you spend alone. Some people feel sad when they are alone and that is so bad because they begging to create dependent relations with others. They start to be obsessive. I love my friends and family but I love to have time for me alone. I think that is because I was always alone when I was a child. My mother was always working and I don’t have brother or sisters. I was alone in my house studying, sleeping or watching television. I think that is one of the reasons because I grow up too early.