The Hive

What is the first website that appears to you when you search for something in Google, for instance? Most probably, the answer is Wikipedia. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that allows anyone to write about anything instead of relying on other experts to write articles according to their expertise. What is good about Wikipedia is that it provides anyone with the ability to add, change, and delete any entry he wants. The problem is that some people use these advantages inappropriately, and they add whatever information to any article even if it is incorrect. This inappropriate use of Wikipedia makes it unreliable source of information. Another advantage of Wikipedia is that it has the potential to be the greatest effort in collaborative knowledge gathering the world has ever known, and this makes it the most visited Web site in the world. In The Hive, Marshall Poe wonders if thousands of Wikipedians can be wrong. Personally, even if the information in Wikipedia seems to be logical and correct, my subconscious prevents me from believing whatever is written in this Web site for 100%. This is mainly because there is always a great possibility that the information might be wrongly edited by anyone!! This is so bad, isn’t it ??

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

            “GOOGLE,” this extraordinary website was created few years ago; even though, it has triggered a revolution in the world of the virtual life.  Actually, what makes Google a very special and preferable search engine, is that it provides the majority of searchers with what exactly they are looking for.  “Is Google Making Us Stupid” is an argumentative article that makes us deeply think about our over independence on Google, not only as a search engine, but also as social network.  However, what is the secret behind the websites that appear in the first raw immediately after clicking the searching option?  The answer of this question is extremely easy and obvious, because the results depend on the country from where you are searching.  Although Google has a great ability to provide us with whatever information we are searching for efficiently and immediately, it works as an obstacle between us, as learners, and between books.  Many people stopped to enjoy reading books at any length, and they have lost even the interest to touch or smell the unique odor of the rough papers of books.  Personally, I am completely against the claim that says Google makes us stupid. This is mainly because without Google, people would spend days and days reading books just for the sake of finding a single piece of information. On the hand, Google provides us with millions of information immediately after clicking the search option. Therefore, we conclude that Google helps us to use our time more efficiently, and it has nothing to do with stupidity of intelligence.

Explanatory Essay

Meryem Benslimane          

Dr. Abderrahim Agnaou

Eng1301, section 12

12 March 2012

Why Earth Is Becoming Warmer?

As we all noticed recently, the temperature of our planet is getting higher and higher, which makes our lives harder to handle economically and socially. However, what is the main cause behind this significant change in temperature? Global warming is a major problem that started to threaten every creature on earth starting from the ones in the deep oceans up to us as human beings living on the surface. The points that I will focus on during explaining this phenomenon are the definition of global warming, the harmful effects of this phenomenon, and the solutions that can lower these effects.  

            Global warming is a phenomenon that can briefly be defined as a significant increase in temperature in the atmosphere around the earth. This increase is occurred under some specific conditions; for example, the burning of fossil fuels in cars is a main cause of global warming. This is due to the huge amounts of carbon dioxide CO₂ released from this procedure. The carbon dioxide travels through the layers of atmosphere until it reaches the ozone layer, which in turn contains a high concentration of ozone O_3. The role of this layer is to absorb the harmful lights coming from the sun and prevent it from reaching the organisms. However, the high release of CO₂ results in an increase in the concentration of it in the atmosphere. This increase of CO₂ affects the ozone layer negatively and causes what we call the ozone hole. As mentioned earlier, the main role that the ozone layer plays is absorbing the harmful light coming from the sun, but what if there is a hole in this layer? The ozone hole permits these lights to infiltrate to the earth but prevent them from returning to the outer space. The greenhouse gases in the atmosphere absorb some of the long wave lights, which causes the warmth of the atmosphere. Therefore, these harmful lights and other gases are locked up in the domestic air layers of the earth and are reflected to cause global warming.

            The harmful effects of global warming are numerous, and most of them are taking place in our daily lives. Initially, let’s talk about the effects of this phenomenon on the oceans. The rise of temperature leads to the melting of ice in the Arctic and the Antarctic. This melting leads, in turn, to the rise of the sea level and causes floods, in addition to droughts and some other damages. Moreover, global warming usually affects the hydrological cycle of evaporation and causes precipitation, and this latter is represented in many forms. Acid rain is a common form of precipitation, and the occurrence of this natural disaster is usually attributed to the release of carbon dioxide and some other gases, which react with water particles and cause the fall of acidic rain. To be more specific, as the concentration of carbon dioxide increases, the chance of having acid synthesis reaction increases too. The consequences of this problem appear in the harm it causes to the plants and the animals, especially the aquatic ones. The soil is damaged because the acidic rain causes the killing of many microbes and organisms living in the soil and helping the growth of plants; therefore, plants are extremely damaged, economically speaking, agricultural crops are negatively affected. On the other extreme, the harm that is related to the aquatic animals is attributed to the increase in the concentration of aluminum and the decrease of the pH scale in the water surface.

            Based on all what was mentioned about the causes and the effects of the global warming, we can conclude that the main reasons behind this phenomenon are the human activities. Thus, people should stop being selfish, start thinking about the social interest, and try to find some effective solutions to diminish the damages caused by the change in the climate. Using other natural resources of energy is an aspect, or solution, that government started to apply recently. For instance, using biofuel and nuclear power instead of fossil fuel is already a good start toward a cleaner and a healthier future. In addition, using new technology to filter the gases generated from the combustion of fossil fuel and recycling the factory waste will be a great step to decrease the emission of CO₂ and many other harmful gases.

           Finally, and according to Barack Obama:

All across the world, in every kind of environment and region known to man, increasingly dangerous weather patterns and devastating storms are abruptly putting an end to the long-running debate over whether or not climate change is real. Not only is it real, it's here, and its effects are giving rise to a frighteningly new global phenomenon: the man-made natural disaster. (“Notable Quotes”)

Global warming, as a phenomenon that indicates an increase in the temperature of the atmosphere around the earth, has started to reach paroxysm. Its harmful effects were not satisfied by only damaging the environment, but they are also willing to destroy the health of all the organisms. The solutions are in our hands, and as we caused the existence of this phenomenon by our activities, we have to be responsible to apply these solutions effectively and to do our best to protect ourselves from ourselves.  

Work Cited

Venkataramanan, M. "Causes And Effects Of Global Warming." Indian Journal Of Science &  Technology 4.3 (2011): 226-229. Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 Mar. 2012.

National Geographic. N.p. 1996-2012. Web.7 Mar 2012.

Obama, Barack. “Quotes On Global Warming”. Notable Quotes. 3 Apr 2006.

             Web.11 Mar 2012. 

Stream Of Illusion

         Stream Of Illusion is a text that talks about awareness and consciousness. Rita Carter, the author wants to show us how weak is our ability to get all what we have in our surrounding. When we focus on something, we do not really pay attention to what is going on in the outside of this thing that is, we know what we aim to know.

          There is also another part, which essentially deals with the ability of our senses to mislead us. We can in fact be misled quite easily. The author also discusses how our brain captures an image of our surrounding and uses this image to identify what is happening around. The example given in the text by the author is that while reading a book, you might think you are aware of what is happening around you. If something moves in the left of your vision interval, and you are focusing on the text, you will probably miss this event since you only have a brain image of your surroundings, which means your brain needs to update somehow the image it has in order to be aware of the motion. There is also a part where the author talks about an experiment conducted in Harvard University, where the participants have to read carefully a paper given, and give it back after a certain period. The experiment is to prove how accurate is our perception of tiny but significant changes. The participant were actually faced to two different people, one that gives the paper, and the other that collects it just after the period is completed. Only few participants noticed that there was somebody else that collected the paper that has different characteristics (hair, eyes…). The others, when asked, were not able to say something about that and were still thinking that it was the same person that gave the paper, that collected it afterwards.

Brainstorming for Reportorial Essay

Reportorial Essay

Meryem Benslimane

Dr. Abderrahim Agnaou

English Composition I ( ENG 1301)

19 February 2012

Prostitution in the United Arab Emirates 

and 

Its Influence on Morocco’s Reputation

Last August, I turned eighteen, which means that I reached the age of puberty, and my awareness of the environment that I used to live in has increased. Previously, I had never understood why people in the United Arab Emirates treated me differently when they recognize my Moroccan nationality, but after a while, I discovered the shocking truth. The high rate of prostitution among the Moroccan girls in the Gulf countries represents a real face-threatening issue for Morocco as a country and indignation for me and the other Moroccans as guiltless immigrants. My goals behind choosing this sensitive topic are to provide the reader with more information about the main motives behind what makes Moroccan girls indulge prostitution as a profession in the UAE, to highlight why the Emiratis are also responsible of encouraging prostitution and to shed light on what effects this issue has on Morocco’s reputation.

Since ancient times, Morocco used to be known for its clinging to religion and its conservative families, but sometimes circumstances, such as poverty and need, push some people to do what ethics prevent them from doing. This is exactly what happens to some poor families, who find themselves compelled to send their girls to other countries to work and help them to overcome the difficulties of life. Although the awareness of these families to what lose they are sending the apple of their eyes, they pretend to be fine with that, and they do their best to suppress their ethics and get rid of the pressures of traditions and religion. Some lucky girls find good job opportunities, especially the highly qualified ones with university degrees, but others do not have any qualifications except their bodies and end up using them as a source of income. Another motive that pushes the Moroccan girls to work in the domain of prostitution is the great profits they get from each night of sex, and of course, these profits cannot be earned by working in any other domain. Additionally, some girls are not controlled by either ethics or family’s observation, so they take up prostitution as a profession just for the matter of pleasure.

The role of the Emiratis in encouraging Moroccan girls to take up prostitution as a profession lies in stimulating them with money and sometime false promises about marriage and stability. Furthermore, the power of these Emiratis is also important in terms of forcing the girls, especially the Moroccans, whom they think are easy to get, to obey and subject their sexual desires. The power used here is not only related to money, but also to the ability of Emiratis to destroy the stability of these Moroccan girls in the whole country, and a small phone call is more than enough to make these poor girls outside the borders of the country.  On the other hand, and to be fair, sometimes the Moroccan girls assume a paramount share of responsibility in stimulating men by using the former’s physical attractions. As I mentioned earlier, these girls are often compelled to do that in order to answer their own and their families’ needs.

The issue that really outrages me and horrifies me is the huge influence of prostitution on Morocco’s reputation. Some people in the United Arab Emirates stopped talking to me when they recognized that I was Moroccan; in addition, others were surprised when they knew that I wear the veil despite my Moroccan nationality. Furthermore, many wives do their best to prevent their husbands from traveling to Morocco, even for business, and this is due to their biased judgment about the widespread prostitution there.  Actually, I cannot say that this reputation emerged out of the blue, but what really hurts is that even good and pious girls are also included and put together within the deviant or “evil” category. The most suitable example for that case can be derived from the story of Marjane Satrapi “The Veil.” When Marji was in Vienna, and she reached the age of puberty, she changed her style of clothes and some of her attitudes, but unfortunately, once she has done that, people called her a prostitute (Satrapi 148).

To sum up, taking up prostitution as a profession in the United Arab Emirates has regrettably become a fashion, and this unethical catastrophe can be attributed to the high revenue girls can get from this profession. However, there are usually many motives and encouragements from Emiratis behind making any girl become a prostitute. The reputation of our country should not be ignored, as the harmful effects of prostitution do tarnish Morocco’s reputation. Actually, after all what I mentioned about how this profession has affected Moroccans negatively, I reached a point where I think ten times before saying my real nationality, and this is because of my worry of being misunderstood or misjudged.

Works Cited

Satrapi, Marjane. "The Veil." Fields of Reading: Motives for Writing. Ed. Comley. Nancy R.,

         et al. New York: St. Martin's, 2010. 148-155. Print.

The Selfless Gene

           

      

        The Selfless Gene is an article that explains a very amazing behavior that distinguishes animals including humankind. This behavior is the altruism, which means an act of extreme self-sacrifice, but what makes it puzzling is that when the animal; for instance, sacrifices mating just to please and help the others to do so. This sacrifice is mostly for relatives, because they have the same genes and belong to the same species. However, what is the relationship between genes and the altruism? Normally, the extreme altruism leaves no descendants, because being occupied with helping the others nurse their children leaves no space for having children; therefore, genes’ inheritance. Hamilton found an effective solution and explication for this problem. He comprehended that the gene of extreme altruism can be promoted and extended if altruism helped close kin; as a result, even if an animal does not intermarry, its genes will keep spreading because of its relatives. There is somehow solidarity between those animals, which appears in the group of peacocks for example, especially when they display to females and do their best to maintain the pride of their brothers.

             

      Here is a video that explains more the evolution of altruism and how do the animals sacrifice their own safity to protect the others: