Thankfully Group 1 is set to write the proposal. The brainstorming phase was a success and we have our topic. Now is just matter of putting our intellects to work and came up with some solid paragraphs.

When I started reading the article, “The Checklist,” I did not know what was waiting for me and by the time I finished it, I could do nothing more than admire the skill that Atul Gawande has to captivate the reader. Just by saying that a fifteen-page reading felt very short to me because it was so entertaining and well written. However, I must admit that when Gawande described the things that take place in the I.C.U., specifically the stories of the Australian girl who fell into the icy fishpond and the one about Anthony DeFilippo, I was literally cringing at my desk.

Moreover, it is incredible that with an insignificant checklist multiple lives and millions of dollars can be saved, however, it is even more impressive that by the arrogance of some doctors this initiative has not been implemented at national level. Now, as the author says, one cannot be naive and think that a checklist is going to save lives and money by itself. The truth is that we need qualified people, people who like to run the extra mile, and people who do not settle for mediocre degrees and seek excellence. I think it’s time to end the ideology of entitlement.

After hours of reading, writing, and editing I think I have a solid essay, however, I can definitely improve it. I just came across a very interesting article that talks about how my term has been romanticized in different literature works. I would love to include a paragraph or two about it. This shows me one thing, I need to start working on the assignments as soon as possible.

Since I transferred to New York City College of Technology, I had never visited the library web site to do any research. This was the first time I had the chance to do it and I was so indecisive about which article to pick since the amount of sources is massive. I wanted something entertaining but meaningful, and I definitely wanted to get an “A” on this assignment. The summary process was excruciating, I never knew that a summary could be so painful and the limitation of using only 500 words was definitely a challenge for me.

So, after countless hours of doing my Scientific Article Summary I believed that I had everything right, however, when I got my grade back I realized the many mistakes that I made. For example, I did not use the MLA format and in many instances I did not clarify to my reader what were the authors’ comments or the facts on their research.  In other words, there were parts in my summary that were ambiguous, the reader could not know if the line was coming from the article or if was my opinion.

After reading Steve’s notes, I revised my paper following all the indications in an attempt to improve my grade. I am learning and assimilating my second language, English, and these exercises are definitely a great way to do it. I am a work in progress and there is a lot of room for improvement.

From the myriad of Electrical Engineering terminology, I made my research on generators. The reason for this is that this semester I am taking the EET 2251 Electrical Machines Laboratory and I strongly believe that I will benefit from expanding the generator definition and learning about them in the process.

I am hoping to find the proper information for this assignment in the following articles.

http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=92de3bf2-c0e9-4f07-9c5e-74b0d2bc285f%40sessionmgr4010&vid=5&hid=4109

http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0378475403000880/1-s2.0-S0378475403000880-main.pdf?_tid=95811218-003f-11e7-b527-00000aab0f6b&acdnat=1488566055_a444f4d02ab6fb5303621e52177f17a1

http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=92de3bf2-c0e9-4f07-9c5e-74b0d2bc285f%40sessionmgr4010&vid=40&hid=4109

This article or book review, was very intriguing for me. I found it fascinating because it touches on a very interesting topic that has raised much controversy in today’s society. That is, the reason why it is almost impossible to change the mind of someone that is already set in his or her way of thinking. The author, Elizabeth Kolbert, analyzes three books with different authors that nevertheless have much in common. Each author presents very valid views, for example, Mercier and Sperber mention the behavior they have labeled as “Confirmation bias.” They explain it as the tendency to follow and defend information that agrees with the way we think and to reject all that information that is against our convictions. Personally, I can say that I am guilty of following this behavior. Usually, I read complete articles that support my points of view or I watch entire videos with the same characteristics, however, I simply skim through or fast forward content that I disagree with. It is just recently that I am trying to be mindful of the information that doesn’t agree with my beliefs. I am trying to be objective, however, it is so hard not to judge with the millions of delusional people out there.

This week two articles were definitely interesting. The John Arnold article was a confirmation to me that unfortunately in American society almost everything has a capitalism purpose. For instance, the article mentions a cancer research that was fraudulent, pharmaceutical business without ethics, and nutritional studies that are false. It is simply incredible that our leaders allow this to happen. On the other hand, the short article about artificial intelligence, brought to my attention the fact that the disappearance of the middle class and lack of jobs is not immigration or offshoring, but rather technology.

I really enjoyed both short stories, the first one I read was A Sound of Thunder. I really like the setting of the story and I definitely loved the ending. I am a fan of the protagonist dying in the plot, I believe this adds to the credibility of the story. I mean, how many times we have seen the protagonist of a Hollywood movie perform crazy stunts and survive? To me that kills the story. The second story All You Zombies simply was a mind blowing piece. It took me a while to understand what was happening, I had to read it many times to discover that the protagonist was every single character in the story. I shared the story with my family and we had a great discussion about it.

A.M.Z.

Hello everyone! My name is Adrian Martinez Zuniga, my major is Electrical Engineering. I am one class away to complete my second Associate degree and I am already taking classes for my Bachelors; this is one of them. I am looking forward to learn, share, and have fun.