#swamptechwriting

[megstechwritingblog]

Dr. Dolittle - Veterinarian

Sent: July 17, 2001 To: [email protected] Subject: Logging Negotiations

Dear Mr. Potter,

I am writing this email to discuss your plans to cut down the forest. I know you and I have had our differences, but I really need you to hear me out. This forest is important for many different species of animals. If you cut it down, they will not have a place to live. As you know, one of these species is the endangered Pacific Western bear.  Now, if you read the Endangered Species Act, you would know that it is illegal to destroy the habitat of an endangered species.  Not only is it illegal, but it is also unethical.  Once that species is gone, we cannot bring it back, so it is important that we protect it. Currently, I am working on getting two of the resident bears to breed in order to help save their species. If you just give me the time, I can guarantee you I will get it done.   There are plenty of other ways to make money for your logging companies. In fact, my hospitals and I are willing to pay you if you agree to leave the forest completely alone. If you still want to cut down the forest, then we can negotiate how much land you can take. Hopefully you will understand that these animals have feelings too and we can come to an agreement. You can contact me at [phone] or reply to this email at [email protected].

John Dolittle, Veterinarian Dolittle Animal Hospital [email protected] [phone]

The character I chose is Dr. John Dolittle, a man who works as both a human doctor and a veterinarian.  He also has the ability to talk to animals. I chose him because I plan on becoming a veterinarian in the future and he values saving forests from being cut down. I am engaging with the course themes by writing a persuasive email to the owner of two logging companies.  Persuasive writing was one of the topics in our textbook and we also went over writing emails in class.

[gittastuff-blog]

MRIs Scamming the Not-so Sick

How many times have you been referred to receive an MRI in your life? You may have been in a mild car accident once and went to the doctor for some slight neck pain and they immediately tell you to get an MRI scan, even though you most likely just have slight ship lash. Though the invention of the MRI has saved thousands of lives, it has also filled the pockets of doctors who prescribe their patients to use it. This can easily lead to a bias in doctors who want to make a little cash with patients that have nothing wrong with them. 

 Back in 1990, the Government Accountability Office found that Florida doctors ordered 3x as many MRIs, 2x as many CTs and 5x as many ultrasounds if they owed a piece of imaging service. Even though Congress has been attempting to cut down on these self-refferals, claiming they promote doctors to order unnecessary test and inflate health care costs, yet there are loopholes. Doctors are still able to refer patients to scanners/MRIs in their own building, and since time-shares are allowed, doctors are able to send patients during hours they own the machine.

 Looking at doctors who do not have any skin in the game, patients who they prescribe for an MRI only have 23% outcomes with no abnormalities compared to doctors who do receive profit have 42% patients with no abnormalities. This is an issues that must be made aware to the public as these costs are driving up the cost of healthcare and the bills of patients who may not

[barco96-blog]

UF IFAS Solutions

The social media platform I decided to observe was the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Facebook page (@UFIFASNews). The purpose of UF/IFAS is develop knowledge in agricultural, human and natural resources so that knowledge is available to enhance the quality of human life.  I chose this because without the ability of the development of agricultural there would be no human life.

The UF/IFAS Facebook page constantly posts daily about important news that relates to their purpose of enhancing knowledge in agricultural. Such as scholarships available, articles about new diseases, and opportunities available for students such as summer camps in IFAS Extensions. The Facebook page is a great tool to keep students in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences up to date with news that pertains to them. It also posts articles that students might find interesting about new studies like Gene editing to improve crops and new species of fruit flies. These articles will give students motivation to learn more about these topics and further their education in enhancing quality of human life.

The UF/IFAS Facebook page is easily accessible by the push of the like button. Once you are a follower of the page you will be able to navigate through their home page because of how good they balanced the weight of the page. In the middle of the page they have all their posts, on the right they have contact information, and on the left they have tabs to other social media sites such as Twitter, Instagram, and gallery of photos and videos. The contrast of the page makes everything so easy to use because they break up sections by grouping and keep the layout consistent.

Inconclusion the UF/IFAS Facebook page is a great social media tool to keep students updated on upcoming events, opportunities, and news. They displayed all five principle of design on their home page which makes it very easy to navigate and find information.

[chintyleruf-blog]

Mouthwash

In the dental industry, there are not really many things to advertise about other than oral hygiene products. Oral hygiene product commercials are always on TV, but I am never really bothered by any of them except for mouthwash commercials.

Mouthwash commercials are very good about placing a high importance on the use of mouthwash. Most of the mouthwash commercials do a great job describing the benefits of using their product, such as enhanced teeth cleaning, removal of bad breath, enamel preservation, protecting against gum disease, and more. All of these benefits of using mouthwash are excellent and should make you want to go out and buy it, but the way in which they describe the enhanced cleaning ability of mouthwash leaves a bad taste in my mouth ;). Many of these commercials say their product is able to remove upwards of 99% of bacteria from your mouth that you missed while brushing. The commercials always make it seem like brushing your teeth is never enough to have good oral hygiene. In some commercials, the companies even go on to say that brushing your teeth only reaches  25% of your mouth and that by using their mouthwash you will be able to clean almost 100% of your mouth. Some commercials do mention the benefits of using mouthwash as a pairing with brushing your teeth rather than brushing alone, but a lot of the commercials just talk about how much better their mouthwash is at cleaning your mouth than brushing.

I chose to use this meme because it is typically used to describe the way in which something should be done and it is easy to understand. I thought this meme was funny because it puts the mouthwash commercials into perspective because the commercials are painting the image that it is impossible to have good oral hygiene without the use of mouthwash.

[gr00k-blog]

Sports Casting in Brockmire

Brockmire is a drama comedy that follows the fall and then attempted rise of Jim Brockmire a Major League Baseball sports announcer who has a major breakdown live on air after his wife commits adultery all while keeping track of and reporting the game (link above). This can help show some of ethics that doing such a job and the mental aspects and hardships that creating, portraying, and maintaing a persona can entail.

As someone who wants to peruse sports casting as a career and a radio DJ I understand and can relate to the pressures that are portrayed within the show. The first thing I was told when I became a DJ is that "no matter how bad your day is; be happy. I don't care if your dog died just be happy and energetic for your listeners." This can help explain as an example to the pressures that are standard in the industry and how you are expected to perform and be a friend to those who listen to you no matter what you're going through, which in my opinion Brockmire shows in detail and well.

Brockmire is reinforcing the mental stereotypes and the gray area of ethics that the teams, businesses, and cooperation’s place on announcers and casters. Brockmire may have reinforced the ethics and stereotypes but by bringing it forward to the public in relatable or understandable ways it is shedding light on an issue that may have been left in the dark. This allows for the public to see and understand the mind and lives of casters which helps redefine them as humans and not a robotic play by play machine.

In closing Brockmire reinforces the ethics and stereotypes of the Casting world but by doing so may help them to be destroyed as more and more people see and can call out these possibly unethical standards.

[megstechwritingblog]

Earth’s Ethics Podcast

Soundcloud link: Earth’s Ethics

@alianasblogposts @sundrysanvidge

[gittastuff-blog]

Memez

For newly fitness guru’s or athletes who are not very knowledgable in the world of nutrition and fitness, it it very easy to believe and follow many of the advertisements from major companies telling you what’s healthy. In hopes of losing weight, many newly accustomed fitness people look for ideas and information in places that are not very scholarly. Today, instagram fitness models are followed by thousands and are paid a lot of money to advertise products not backed up by science. Ranging from waist trainers to hunger suppressing lollipops, many of these products are not very helpful towards attaining any suspected goals. Yet, sadly due to the lack of a drive to research scientifically-backed information or tips many customers are unaware that these “magical” products don’t actually help. I created this meme in order to symbolize the mockery of “organic” and “non-GMO” protein powder since many of these companies will slap on these empty titles that don’t really mean much in order to catch the attention of customers who have been drilled with the fact that organic is better. This is also a mockery of the customers have little knowledge of the industry and believe things like gluten free, organic and vegan are much better for you and will automatically make you lose weight. More experienced fitness people understand just because something says low fat or a diet says you should cut out carbs, doesn’t necessarily means it true or you should follow it. In order to know what’s right from you, visiting a nutritionist, a professional training or even a doctor could put you on the right path to achieving you goal.

[barco96-blog]

Florida Panther Population Misreported

For years now people still believe that the Florida panther population is still an endangered species. When people think of the Florida Panther they think of this beautiful puma because it is has been our state animal since 1981. The fact is, that this large cat is becoming a problem to Southwest Florida as the population keeps rising. Just last week on June 5th, a panther was caught on a security camera killing a family’s pet cat from Naples, Florida where I am from. This could have been someone’s child being mauled by this beast. Now neighbors are terrified and on the alert because of their kids and pets that play outside. Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission needs to do a better job of controlling the panther population to designated wildlife areas such as Big Cypress National Preserve or Everglades National Park.

If FWC wants to save the panther population they need to keep track of the panthers to make sure they stay away from rural areas that cause fatalities to cats by vehicles hitting them. Last year in 2017, twenty-eight panthers died while 23 where by road kill and in 2016 the record was set with 42 overall deaths with 34 being vehicle kills. These deaths just prove that the panther population is thriving and eventually will get out of control because the Florida Panther has no predator to control its population. Panther crossings could also benefit the panther population and the problem of the interaction with people and their pets. Designated wildlife crossings could save panthers from being hit by cars and family pets being killed. I myself have seen two panthers in one day on my friends farm in Labelle, Florida.

The Florida Panther is thriving and needs to be controlled to wildlife conservation areas. Panthers also attack farmers livestock such as baby calves which is how most farmers make their living by raising cattle. Panthers are not endangered and if you’re from South Florida you can see the significance drop in population to other wildlife such as hogs and deer. I myself have seen two adult panthers in one day on the farm.