Fallacious vs Cogent #4
                                                 Do we Need the Lake Powell Pipeline?

The question was raised; do we need the lake Powell Pipeline?  Dallas Hyland wrote a very opinionated article about this and made some good points. However I feel that his argument is both Fallacious and Cogent on the grounds that his argument is laced with sarcasm, strong opinion, and some facts. He makes the pipeline seem absolutely absurd and clearly pokes fun at many if not all of the pipelines supporters but doesn't purpose a clear cut action plan on another way to retain and conserve water here in Southern Utah. 
His argument is Cogent for the following reasons.
-The pipeline is estimated to cost over 2 Billion dollars. (aka to much)
-The Washington County Water Conservancy District is paying an analyst/pipeline supporter Jeremy Aguero (a lot of money).
-He also had facts showing inflated projections dating back to 1993.

His argument is Fallacious for these following reasons.
-He never mentioned where he came up with the 2 billion dollars estimated cost of the pipeline.
-I would like to know the exact amount that the County paid Mr. Aguero.  Not just (A lot of Money)

I for one do not think that we need the pipeline for the following reasons.
-More water only brings more people to the County and surrounding area's. 
-Higher populations bring more crime into Southern Utah. 
-Southern Utah has a lot of water that it could tap into if they wanted to. 
-The entire Washington fields sits over a gigantic aquifer.
-Why not spend some of that 2 billion on creative and clean ways to tap into the aquifer?
-We could also look for more effective ways to trap our rain water especially when we get these occasional torrential downpours. 

Over all I feel that the pipeline would eventually benefit the county but at what cost? I know that we could spend that money on other things and maybe control the already out of control growth here in Southern Utah.

                                                        Fallacious vs Cogent #3

I just read an article written by Bryan Hyde. The article talks about how we are conditioned to respect almost blindly people in civic uniforms or those that might have  status or position above us. There was a quote by W.K. Clifford that I liked.  It reads; "There is one thing in the world more wicked than the desire to command, and that is the will to obey".  Ask yourself, do you find yourself obeying someone just because they are a ranking official?  Maybe its someone that is your superior at work. Or maybe its one or both of your parents. Have you found yourself doing something that may not be ethical just because your boss told you to? I have been told at work before; "this is what you are supposed to do but this is what we do" and I have sadly gone right along with it. Am I conditioned to do so?  Something to think about. I know that even now I am prone to listen to my mothers advice rather than something that my wife wants me to do. I find myself doing this a lot especially when it comes to how to parent/discipline my kids.  I in a weird way want to please my mother and have gone against my wife's wishes when dealing with parenting issues in the past. The article mentioned that we are conditioned from childhood to defer to symbols of authority. I think that it is true. I feel that we do this with a lot of the things that go on in our daily lives.  From our political view, to our religious affiliations.  I think that Mr. Hydes argument was cogent and it lead me to evaluate when and where I do this in my associations with my friends, family and co-workers.

                        Fallacious and Cogent reasoning #2
                         Gay Marriage ruling overturned in Utah

Just read a post on St  George News.  I must say that I have mixed emotions about the subject.  I'm not against Gay Marriage; if two people want to get married because they love one another then so be it. This concept is fine and again I don't really care if gay or lesbians are allowed civil unions.  However some of the claims from the people attending the rally at Vernon Worthin Park on Monday in my opinion made fallacious claims.  A man by the name of George Stoddard spoke in support of his granddaughter in law who is openly gay.  His granddaughter in law and her partner have adopted two children and he was quoted to say that this was good for the two adopted grandchildren.  My question is; in what way is this good for the children?  I think that in these same sex homes the adopted children will have a stronger chance of being gender confused or be persuaded to themselves live the gay or lesbian life style.  They will certainly grow up in a non discriminatory environment.  I don't doubt that the kids will not be loved or well taken care of.  In fact most gay or lesbian couples are very educated, successful, and make good money.  However I do have reservations about gay and lesbian couples adopting.   Just wanted to get the conversation going and see what everyone else thinks.   Thoughts?

Fallacious and Cogent Reasoning #1

I was reading some of the post on fallacious and cogent reasoning and I came across Taylor Stouts post.  I to read the article the other day about the Electric theater project.  When I read it I got excited because every time that I drive by I say to myself when is someone going to buy and restore the old theater?  I used to go to show there when I was in college and was also in a band from 2003 – 2009.  We played at the Electric Theater many times with a lot of great popular bands and had some great times there.  We had the privilege of playing with the likes of Making April, a band out of New York City twice and another band called Lydia out of Phoenix.  I have also seen a lot of other great bands there over the years.  The electric theater gave you a great sound and the set up on the dance floor was amazing.  I was sad to see that it shut down or was sold off.  I still remember going to movies there as a kid as well.  Karl Malone was in a movie about Porter Rockwell one of my childhood heroes.  I still remember seeing that film in the old Electric Theater.  I’m sure it has a lot more sentimental value for the older people from St. George.  For a long time it was the only Theater here.  It has a soft spot in my heart for sure and I think that the city is justified in sending the 3 million on the project especially if the “majority of the funds budgeted for the project have come from the sale of city property” Like Gary Esplin stated in the article.  I lived on 300 south and 54 East down town for years.  During the summer months in the past there have been concerts played in the Sun bowl.  Those concerts can be heard all over the down town area and I have often wished that they had another place to have these shows. Now I went to some of those show in the Sun Bowl and they were great but there was a lot of noise pollution that could be heard for the residents in the downtown area. 

I think that the restored Electric Theater will be a great alternative for some of these things.  It may not be able to seat a ton of people but it would keep the noise pollution down for sure.  I also may be a little bias to it all have had the opportunity to play there on several occasions as well.  I feel that the cities argument is cogent and they are justified in the restoration project.  

Why I think that Satellite radio is more effective than Terrestrial radio

Satellite Radio…It’s just better

Satellite radio and other online stations are better than traditional or terrestrial radio.  It allows you to access more information.  You can listen to any genre, at anytime, anywhere.  Satellite radio doesn’t drop out like terrestrial radio does.  It also has less commercials.  This gives the listener more uninterrupted music options.  Some forms of satellite radio, like iTunes radio, allow you to listen to a song and if you like it then you can buy it right on the spot. 

Here are a few reasons why satellite radio is better and more effective than terrestrial radio. 

Access to More Avenues of Radio:

Satellite radio allows the listener access to multiple types of radio ranging from different music styles, to sports radio, and even talk radio. Wikipedia reported that “satellite signal footprint covers millions of kilometers” whereas AM/FM radio relies heavily on antennas set on tall buildings and mountaintops.  Terrestrial radio also relies on miles and miles of ground cable which can be expensive.  SiriusXM radio boast that they have over 150 stations and channels. Kevin Levine, in a post called “Terrestrial radio Sucks”, reported that iTunes radio alone has 543 stations that one can choose to stream.  If you’re lucky you’ll get 4-8 stations available to you in most of your cities and towns (like St. George).  In big cities like Las Vegas and Salt Lake City you will have access to more radio stations; however it will not come close to the number offered by satellite radio. 

Doesn’t Cut Out or Get Fuzzy:

Satellite radio doesn’t cut out or get fuzzy like traditional or terrestrial radio stations.  This is because it does not rely on antennas like terrestrial radio. Depending on where you live, you may not get clear radio signals.  For example, Valley View and Dixie Drive in St George are blocked by a mountain that causes most stations to be unclear. 

Fewer Commercials:

Satellite radio has few or no commercials based on a customer’s subscription.  It costs approximately $10-20 for a monthly satellite radio subscription.  iTunes radio does have commercials like terrestrial radio, however, you can listen to any style of music you want, regardless of where you are, and with less advertising. Again, this gives the listener or consumer infinitely more options than that of terrestrial radio. 

Capability to Download Individual Songs:

Growing up, I only had access to AM/FM radio.  My brother and I used to listen to the radio, anxiously awaiting our favorite song (Snoop Dogg, Rage Against the Machine, etc…).  Like most kids, we relied on the local radio station to deliver our favorite songs to our ears.  This was all before the digital download era.

When we were kids you couldn’t download or buy individual songs.  In order to own our favorite songs, we were forced to purchase an entire cassette or CD, which wasn’t an option for kids with limited resources.  We were left with the only option possible: record songs off of the radio-and potentially miss our favorite song.  My brother and I would sit around and waste hours of time hoping to catch our favorite song on the radio in order to record it.  However, most times we would miss the first few words or lines of the song, defeating our purpose.

In closing, the items mentioned above show that satellite and other avenues of radio are the future, and terrestrial radio is on the road to extinction. 

Check This guy out! Can we auto correct humanity?

Goes along perfectly.  This supports my argument.  I wish that I could have this guy speak for me!  Please check this out its pretty creative.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRl8EIhrQjQ&feature=share

Dangers of Technology

The Dangers of Technology and our lack of Personal Interaction

Smartphones and other hand held devices are taking over our lives. These types of technology are making it increasingly easy to neglect those that are closest to us.  Be honest. Have you in the last month been in a room with family, on a date with our spouse or significant other, or even out by yourself where you have completely ignored the person right there with you or those around you?  I have, and I think that I may have a problem.  My fear is that I am not alone.  We have all seen the memes on Instagram and Facebook or television commercials where the person walks into a door or falls into a fountain because they have their nose in a technological device. Einstein was quoted to have said something like this.  “I fear the day when technology will surpass our human interaction.  The world will become a generation of idiots.”  In my opinion we could be in danger of becoming social idiots.  (quoteinvestigation.com) 

These devises allow us to do so much yet can be a huge hindrance in our daily interaction with those that are most important to us.  They allow us to stay connected with people that we haven’t seen in a long time, i.e. Facebook.  Or help us to get last minute work done by sending an important email.  Things can be sent to love ones across the world in an instant, and we all love to post duck face selfies right?  Who doesn’t love to LMFAO or LOL at something that they have seen or read?  Again, I’m guilty.  But can these things be harming our relationships with everyone?   Jack Cafferty in his blog on cnn.com at caffertyfile.blog.cnn.com explained this point 3 years ago when this idea was originally thought to be a potential risks.  The title of his post was “The day we stopped talking to one another."  His data in 2011 explained the following.   “It's estimated that 93% of Americans now use cell phones or wireless devices. And one-third of those people are using so-called smartphones, which means the users can browse the Web and check e-mail on their phones."  Again this was in 2011.  How much better faster, accessible, and easier to use are all of these devices?  A more recent study showed the following. (www.telegraph.co.uk) Young adults, aged 18 to 29, send on average 109.5 texts a day, or approximately 3,200 messages a month. They receive an additional 113 texts and check their phones 60 times in a typical day and students spend about seven hours a day interacting with information and communication technology. This study alone was just dealing with text messages and doesn’t mention all of the other functions and apps that we can get readily lost in.

I have eight brothers and sisters. Everyone in my family is married accept one of my sisters and most us are still living in the area.  Every Sunday we get the family together for dinner.  We all have our own assignments to bring different sides to make up the meal.  This is one thing every week that I look forward to.  We have a very close family and I cherish those relationships.  After dinner we sit in my parent’s living room and visit with one another while the kids play outside and have fun together.  This used to be a time when we would talk about anything and everything.  From current events, gospel topics, and what was going on in each of our families lives. But recently I have noticed that some of us and I can be guilty of it as well; don’t participate in our discussions as often. This is because they can’t put their phone down long enough to pitch in and give their opinion on the current topic that is being discussed.  I texted all of my siblings and their spouses and asked them to weigh in on this topic.  I received responses immediately and some read like this.  My brother Matt one of the most opinionated in the family said “We spend too much damn time on our phones”.  My sister Cari is one of the most analyticall in the family and always has something of merit to say said this.  “I think that we miss many opportunities to really connect with each other when our energy and attention is divided by something like this”.  We collectively agreed that we do spend too much time lost in our phones.  Starting this coming Sunday we committed to one another to check our phones in at the front door and see how it goes without the distraction. 

My personal experience since I convinced my wife to get iPhones is this.  We very seldom go to bed together with each other.  We have become content with browsing Instagram or Facebook instead of hitting the sack for some much needed intimacy.  Sometimes we will sit in our living room on our nice comfortable couches and look at our phones for an hour or two and hardly say anything to each other.  This leaves very little time to talk about our day or share our concerns with one another.  It is a little scary to me that we have become so comfortable in doing this.  How can we talk about things that we are passionate about or concerns about our kids when this is our routine.  Now do I love my wife and are we happily married? Yes.  I love her dearly but I have recognized that if we continue with this practice then it could be a potential problem.  I saw a picture on Facebook the other day.  It was a picture of a restaurant sign that said.  “No, we don’t have Wi-Fi; talk to each other."

So is the world really going to hell in a hand basket because there are (myself included) people that think that we need to put our phones down more often?  Maybe not.  Are we truly a generation of idiots?  I would submit that we aren't, but I do believe that we are idiots if we don’t recognize these things for what they are and use them with a little self-control and moderation. 

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My first post for COMM1270