The United States Of Europe

T. R. Reid's 2004 non-fiction informs it's readers of Europe's accelerating rise to supremacy over the U. S. Reid begins first by introducing the different ways that America is mocked and portrayed in Great Britain using entertainment as a source of support. There are television shows and plays in Great Britain that are partially funny and at the same time offending and even at times inaccurate. But he is not choosing sides because he then introduces evidence of some of the fairly admirable traits of the U. S. By using quotes from immigrants that have traveled from their home countries and decided to stay in America Reid was capable of showing the good side of America. Not only is Europe pointing out the problems with America but Reid shows that they have also been trying to unify itself into a greater more peaceful union. By adopting the blueprints that the U. S. used to create all 50 states Europe has began to congregate its countries into a more open and team-playing union.


TONE
Satirical/Informal

VOCABULARY

• Masochistic
• Demurely
• Pancontinental
• Predawn
• Consternation
• Ubiquitous
• Deleterious
• Mawkish
• Cosseting
• Paradigm
• Haranguing
• Caricaturist
• Plight
• Jarring

RHETORICAL STRATEGIES

Allusion: "...to receive the adulation of millions celebrating VE-Day, the prime minister..."

Anecdote: "I was offered 200 pounds on the spot for the cowboy boots I was wearing. That was $370, more than twice what I had paid for the boots, new, back home in Colorado."

Satire: " ...the typical American home depicted on "The Lardburgers," a regular segment on a satirical British T. V. show Big Breakfast... Jeff and Stacey don't have jobs, so they spend their free time looking for the lawsuit that will make them rich. Their big hero, other than George W. Bush, is the woman who sued Mc Donalds, and won, because her coffee was too hot."

QUESTION

Is America seeing Europe's uprise as a challenge to their power and if so how are they reacting to make sure they do not drop below the bar of superpower?

Killer Space Rocks

In Kevin Krajik's 2007 article ,for Popular Science, he enlightens the public with information of millions of NEO's (Near-Earth Objects). Krajik lets the public know what exactly it is thats in outer space, who is watching these meteorites, and what they're planning. They have estimated that one meteor is going to hit Earth in 2029. They say the places most likely to be hit are the U.S. and China. NASA's ideas so far are to blow up the meteor, crash into it, or push/pull it but they have continuously found problems with those options. So They are currently working on ways to make sure homo sapiens do not end like the dinosaurs did.

I located this article at: http://www.popsci.com/popsci/aviationspace/b9212179d0074110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html

Tone
Urgent

Question
What type of cosmic trgedy could the Earth not protect itself from even with years of research?

Two authors, a rabbi and an atheist, debate religion and science

Steve Padillo
I viewed this article here:http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-me-beliefs29dec29,1,4742833.story?page=2&cset=true&ctrack=2&coll=la-news-science


Steve Padillo's 2007 Los Angeles Times article highlights the debate between a rabbi and an atheist about religion, science, and how it is incorporated in the daily lives of many. Sam Harris and Rabbi David Wolpe are both known authors who write books on such topics. Padillo notes how Harris brings attention to the violent crimes committed claiming to be in the name of God. Wolbe being a rabbi admits that there are erratic interpretations of religion that result in violent endings but religion is also capable of aiding in the construction of an admirable person. Before an alternating debate about that science was in play. "...the idea that science explains human life is an idea that I think is promoted only by people who are under the misimpression that the place of science in human life is a scientific question, when in fact it's a philosophical or religious question," was one point made. "And you can't explain the place of science in human life in scientific terms. Just like you can't explain what an idea is in scientific terms. It's intangible and philosophical and religious," Wolpe said. The rabbi believes that science doesn't have a purpose of proving a religion wrong rather it answers questions unknown. Padillo continues to show the two differing points of view that the atheist and rabbi have with this quote from Harris. "I would challenge anyone here to think of a question upon which we once had a scientific answer, however inadequate, but for which now the best answer is a religious one. Now, you can think of an uncountable number of questions that run the other way: Where we once had a religious answer and now the authority of religion has been battered and nullified by science and by moral progress and secular progress generally. And I think that's not an accident." The debate truly was insightful but Padillo does not believe it had swayed the views of any religious or non-religious minds.

Tone
Controversial
Question
What can be expected of a society diverse in religous beliefs as oppose to one without?

Bizarre Dinosaurs

One article I was capable of finding was called Bizarre Dinosaurs written by John Updike. The link for this article is: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/2007-12/bizarre-dinosaurs/updike-text.html.

John Updikes 2007 article forces the mind to fabricate different questions about new species of dinosaurs found in places like China and Argentina, where fossil excavation was booming with wonderous results. The grotesque formation of limbs and bone structure brought about critical thinking for these paleontologists leading them down a road of theories. They even began to surmise what a dinosaur would think if there was an encounter with humans. Comparing how we believe their bodies are abnormal to what they would believe when seeing us. Coming into play with their thoughts was the setting of time like the Triassic period, the Cretacious period, and the Mesozoic period. How long they reigned and how much they evolved and adapted to the ever changing Earth was a way of figuring out how they arrivved at such unique designs. How would these creatures odd bodies help them in the game of survival? How did they obtain food? How did they use this limb and that limb? These are the type of inquiries the paleontologists had when discovering new fossils.

Tone
Inqusitive

Application
How well has mankind adapted to the changes they created in the Earth and what advantages, biologically, do we have over other people in different regions?