Nicholas Schweers

Maj McDonald

09/29/16

Portfolio entry

 

Phaedrus

In today’s sections of the dialogue between Phaedrus and Socrates, Socrates continues to dominate the conversation through his long winded, verbose statements. While Phaedrus is only armed with one or two lines per statement, Socrates takes whole paragraphs to disseminate the same amount of information. Therefore, unlike a true debate or discussion, Socrates is merely leading Phaedrus to his desired points. The points today mainly revolve the central point of Socrates’ argument. His main point is to prove that Rhetoric is not an art, but is merely when someone who knows the actual truth tries to persuade another of the truth. Phaedrus, being drug along by this point, only asks questions to further understand Socrates’ points. Overall, Socrates tells Phaedrus that rhetoric is not an art, that dialectic (logically breaking down statements to provide the actual, undeniable truth) that is spoken by “dialecticians” is truly the only way to persuade people and change people’s minds.

Nicholas Schweers

Maj Hodde

9/22/16

Contrasting Descriptions

Description 1: General Audience

The Mosin Nagant is a Russian rifle that was designed before World War One. They are still being sold, and that is largely due to their reliability and easy to use design. This reliability comes from the fact that the Nagant can take a beating, it very rarely malfunctions, and it is easy to clean. In fact, when used in World War Two, Russians would urinate down the barrel to clean it and cool it off in combat. While this may have worked in combat, it is better to properly clean the rifle. To basically clean the Mosin Nagant, follow these steps:

1. Make sure the rifle is cleared
   1. Put the rifle on a flat surface with the sights facing up. Grab the bolt from the bottom with your right hand. Flip it up and pull it back as far as possible.
   2. Look through the receiver and down into the magazine, making sure that there are no rounds or brass.
2. Take out the bolt
   1. Push the bolt forward halfway into the receiver.
   2. With your other hand, pull the trigger.
   3. Pull the bolt directly back, lifting it and putting it in a container filled with Windex (With Ammonia).
3. Take out the cleaning rod and the stock.
   1. Put the butt of the rifle on the ground, the barrel pointing straight up.
   2. Grab the cleaning rod (the small rod held in place in front of the rifle)
   3. Twist the rod left until it is loose, then pull it out.
   4. Take a screw driver or the triangular disassembly tool and pry the clips up towards the front of the barrel.
   5. When the top section of the stock is free, take it off.
4. Take out the magazine and the stock
   1. Take a flat head screw driver and unscrew the 2 screws on the bottom of the magazine, and the one screw on the top of the rifle’s receiver.
   2. Place these in the Windex filled container.
   3. Wrap a finger or two around the trigger guard, and pull it from the rifle.
   4. Lift the barrel and receiver away from the stock.
5. Clean the barrel
   1. Take the cleaning rod, and the small stick that was supplied in your cleaning kit, and put the stick in the small hole at the top. Hold the rod there.
   2. Put the “rifled” section from your cleaning kit on the end of the rod.
   3. Put a .308/7.62X54R cleaning cloth on the rifled end.
   4. Apply bore oil (gun cleaning oil of your preference) on the cloth and ram the rod back and forth through the barrel.
      1. Do so until you can look down the barrel and see no marks or bumps.
   5. Wipe down all pieces with bore and or lubricating oils
6. Dry off all parts
7. If there is an excessive amount of oil on any part, gently dry some of it off with a rag or towel.
   1. Dry off the pieces that were soaking in Windex.
8. Re-assemble the rifle.
   1. Reverse the process of disassembly.

Description 2: Familiar Audience

The Mosin Nagant, a classical firearm that dates back to before World War One, is known for its lethality, its reliability, and its convenience. Being chambered in 7.62 X 54 R, the Mosin can be used for any number of reasons. It is lethal and accurate for hundreds of meters, and has the ability to punch through walls or to bring an animal down in one shot. Its simple design, with so few moving parts lead to it being famously reliable. The fact that one only has to urinate down the barrel to prevent it from jamming lends itself to being very useful and convenient in combat or survival situations. While it is possible to “clean” the rifle by just pouring ammonia filled liquid down the barrel, the Nagant should be respected and cleaned as any other rifle. To give the Mosin a basic cleaning, follow these steps:

1. Clear the rifle
   1. There is no safety, so keep your finger off of the trigger at first.
   2. Pull the bolt back and make sure no rounds are stuck in the Magazine or the barrel.
2. Take out the bolt
   1. When cleared, push the bolt forward about halfway, hold down the trigger and pull the bolt out of the rifle.
   2. Place the bolt in fluid containing Ammonia such as Windex.
3. Remove the stock and Magazine from the barrel and receiver
   1. Remove the cleaning rod, which is found held into the stock on the underside of the rifle.
   2. Take a solid or flat tool to pry the clips that hold the stock together.
   3. Move the clips to the top of the rifle.
   4. Remove the smaller part of the stock and put the rifle with the sights facing down.
   5. Unscrew the two screws on the bottom. Flip the rifle over and unscrew the screw on the back of the receiver.
   6. Pull the magazine out of the stock, then remove the stock from the barrel and receiver.
   7. Put the magazine and screws in the Windex filled container.
4. Clean the barrel and receiver.
   1. Use the cleaning rod or your own cleaning rod or bore snake to clean the barrel.
   2. Take the small rods from your cleaning kit and put together the rod.
   3. Put a cloth with bore oil on the barreled edge of cleaning rod and run it through the barrel until no powder marks or mounds remain.
   4. Lubricate and clean the remaining parts
   5. Dry off the bolt, screws, and the magazine.
5. Put lubricating oil on any parts that will move, such as hinges or any cuts in the bolt.
   1. Dry off excess oil.
6. Re-Assemble the rifle
   1. Reverse the process of disassembly
7. Check that rifle is functioning.
   1. When the rifle is fully assembled, cock the rifle and then pull the trigger.

Nicholas Schweers

Maj McDonald

9/22/16

 

This reading was a rather dense reading. While it would seem, because of its conversational textual format, that merely served to get me more lost. From what I understand, the conversations held between Socrates and others, were about oratory, and whether it was as important as many rhetoricians and Sophists believed. Socrates used lots of verbose and run on sentences to essentially silence his opponents who were saying that oratory was the art of persuasion. His main points were that there were other forms of persuasion than giving speeches, such as arithmetic and other sciences or forms of math. Socrates, while he had paragraphs at a time to rebuttal his opponents, only allowed his opponents to say a word or two. By doing this, he was allowed to shape the argument to where what he wanted to be understood was the only thing that could be shown. Anyone, with enough planning, could form arguments to go their way like this. If Georgias or any of the others could have talked as much, the writing would most likely have been very different.

Nicholas Schweers

9/9/2016

Problem Analysis of “Ecological Impacts of High Deer Densities”

 

Since I was a child, I have been interested in the preservation of what I hold dear to me, so that all future generations and I could live in relative happiness. One way that I mean to guarantee that happiness for future generations is through the conservation of the many beautiful creatures and living things that our environment holds. When one looks into environmental conservation, they often find issues revolving around deer. These issues are taking place because it is believed that deer may be having a detrimental effect on the environment when their population grows too large. These debates spur discussions on how to most effectively control the white tail deer population. The author of this article, “Ecological Impacts of High Deer Densities”, not only details the problems with having too many deer, but also highlights some possible ways to control their numbers. Mrs. Schusler, the author, is writing to college level Ecology students about the causes and effects of deer population, and is leading them to think about all aspects of the situation. She is teaching them all of this material, not just for their growth in knowledge, but to give them a base of information to further research solutions.

The title of the article “Ecological Impacts of High Deer Densities” lends itself to being an article that is purely informative. Much of the article is largely focused on informing the reader about the causes and effects of having high deer densities. Paragraph three focuses on the background of the situation, primarily the causes of the modern high density crisis. The problem started forming in the late 1800’s, when the white tail deer was heavily endangered. When the government realized that such an important animal was endangered, they made hunting and trapping laws to protect them. After years of strictly enforcing hunting and trapping limits (on white tails), deer began to rise back in strength. This was expedited by the fact that hunters also greatly reduced the natural predators of deer (Schusler, 9/9/16, PP 3). These factors combined have led to our new crisis, which is over population. Paragraphs 4 and 5 highlight the effect of deer overpopulation.

Schusler writes that when deer over populate an area, they tend to eat many important plants, to the point where the plants may almost be cleared out from that area. This is not only a concern for plant conservationists but also for animal conservationists. Birds and smaller animals that typically live in the underbrush consumed by deer may be forced into surviving without a natural home. This can lead to large scale death of the effected animals. She then continues to give more examples of how deer negatively affect the environment and humans, such as increasing the number of Lyme disease bearing ticks and causing more traffic accidents.

While Schusler describes the problems associated with high densities of deer for most of the article, she ends it with a curveball. She shows how deer population has been managed before, then goes to point out that maintaining a stable population of deer may be harmful as well. She wrote, “…flux and change are natural phenomena in forest ecosystems. Attempts to maintain a stable population of deer may be incongruent with goals to maintain ecosystem health.” (Schusler, 9/9/16, PP 8). She then finishes by portraying the political and environmental issues of shaping the amount of deer in a given area. At the end, she lets the reader (an ecology student) off to “think critically about the trade-offs between deer management alternatives in a citizen’s argument.” (Schusler 9/9/16 10).

While Schusler made the majority of the article about the issues with having high deer densities, she used all of that information to educate the readers so they could think further into solving these deer related problems. In a short 10 paragraph article, she managed to convey many of the issues caused by deer overpopulation, in a manner that was easily understood. Her professional vocabulary and vast amounts of information in such a small amount of writing show that Schusler not only knows what she is talking about, but also knows how to be concise enough to let her students actually learn from her material.

 

Help received:

 

Schusler, Tania M. “Ecological Impacts of High Deer Densities” Teaching Issues and Experiments in Ecology. Human Resources Committee of the Ecological Society of America, 15 Aug. 2004. Web. 08 Sept. 2016. <http://www.esa.org/tiee/vol/v2/issues/figure_sets/deer/overview.html>.

 

Easybib.com

 

Word Count (In the actual essay): 701

scientific-article-analytic-essay-erh-314-schweers

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=435266

This website is a domain used to create conversations that “fight ignorance”. Somehow, a discussion about “What is so great about the movie ‘Deliverance’?” came upon the site. The majority of the comments in the discussion had to do with either “Ned” being raped, or the beautiful way that the director captured the nature. But several comments seemed to go into more deep material (seemingly the further you went down. There were several people who said they were from the area that “Deliverance” was filmed, and that it all seemed surreal. But they, along with the rest of the people that identify as Appalachian seemed to go against the grain a little bit. They agreed that a large portion of the backwoods Appalachians were uneducated, poor, and unhealthy, that did not mean that they would become rapists and murderers. While some people said that the scenario seemed so real, the Appalachian contesters seemed to be arguing against these misconceptions. As stated before, the rape of Ned seemed to be the largest concern to those who commented. Issues such as “why was it him, not the others” were brought up, and typically answered with the fact that it made “squeal like a pig” work better. So overall, it seems that people looked at this movie more superficially and not with regards to its effect on Appalachian culture or discourse.

After searching google for a good half an hour, I finally came up with a small discussion held on the following website about the movie “Matewan”. http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026044981

Disappointingly, the discussion only talked about some of the plots and characters, and about how great the writers thought the movie was. As stated in the prompt, I looked for any discussions on the discourse of the movie, or the role that the movie may or may not have played in influencing the area, and the people inside of that area. One thing that I did see come up was the honoring of Sid Hatfield, the Sheriff of Matewan that supported the rights of the people in the Union. A picture of his grave was even uploaded into the comments. So in one way, the thread did talk about the meaning of the movie. The sheer fact that a man, who really lived and helped protect his people, was brought to attention of the people means a good bit. He stands as a shining example to many people to stand up, or even to fight for what is right and good in this world. This movie brought him the respect he so deserves from everyone that now has shorter work hours and better pay.

 

1-Which wars were negative for the population and culture of Appalachians? How?

2-Which wars were positive for the population and culture of Appalachians? How?

3- Why did the military seem to take so much interest in making bases in Appalachian regions?

4- What can be done to strengthen the Appalachian economies?

5- Did music play a role in the success of Appalachian regions such as Nashville during times of industrialization?

Donesky calling The Kentucky Cycle (THC) a “drive by shooting” (285) is quite the accurate description of the play, at least to his understanding. He goes on to describe two models of projecting the society of Appalachian peoples. These are the pathological and the structural models. The pathological model, or “the culture of poverty” is where the negative image of Appalachia in literature such as in THC actually can affect the ability of the region to not be in poverty. This belief is held because people see the Appalachians as degenerates and such. It is like the brown eye, blue eye experiment. If a group of people are told that they are dumb, not proficient and so forth, then they will live up purely to their expectations.  Donesky believes that this is the more important model because it has had a disastrous effect, which is creating a culture of poverty stricken people in the Appalachian ranges. The structural model, where people see the lack of success in the region is due to available resources, has had less of an effect on Appalachian people because it doesn’t reflect their ability to succeed, but the ease at which they can succeed. This is important because it highlights the reasons why literature like THC are so important.

Personally, if people believed this was how all people in the Appalachian regions acted, I would be very upset myself. The messages throughout the story are those of uneducated men and women, never advancing, mistreating women, being religious cooks, being tricky and honorless, and being willing to betray their family or friends for their own personal gain. Anyone could be offended, and rightfully so, if they were viewed in such a light. But, as stated, the author was attempting to help those in the region, whether it be by acknowledging the problems in the area, or just bringing attention to the general area. Regardless, The Kentucky Cycle’s final message of unity and family at the end may not have been redeeming enough. The damage caused by this book could be worse than it was intended, and that is because those who read this may fall to the misconception that most Appalachians act that way. When an uninformed society gets their hands on “juicy” material such as this, they can take it and run with it. This has been seen throughout most of History. For example, when people think of hillbilly, they largely think of a toothless, racist fiend. While it may be accurate for some, it is surely not accurate for all, or even a majority of, the people in the Appalachian region.

Key themes in part one of The Kentucky Cycle revolve mainly around the general stereotypes of people who lived in the nineteenth century. Many of these themes come together to promote an image of Appalachian peoples that is very derogatory. These themes include feigned superiority, violence, the abuse of women, and general crudeness. The book starts off with an engagement between some Native Americans and the main character, Michael. In accordance to prevent more violence, Michael finds it fit to trade with the natives. He gave them blankets and pelts in exchange for a large sum of land. The material he gave were contaminated with smallpox, resulting in massive casualties of the natives. He saved one of their women and held her captive “as his wife”. This plays into the theme of sexism and violence when he cuts her Achilles to keep her from running away, and raping her. She then bears a child and the rest of the story is the tale of their family, keeping their land and their values. Feigned superiority is shown by when Michael tricks the natives for their land, and general crudeness is shown throughout the story by Michael and his children’s vulgar thoughts, actions, and language.