Reverse Discrimination.

I recently watched a video on youtube that discussed something that the poster referred to as “Reverse Discrimination.”  The vlogger went into detail about all of the perks and benefits that come from being discriminated against.  He claimed that specifically women and minorities get extra perks.  He goes along to cite certain instances where “the discriminated” have an upper hand.  One of the major points he talks about is affirmative action.  He highlighted specific instances where people did not get a job or a scholarship because they weren’t a minority.  This is what the user claimed to be reverse discrimination.  This to me seemed a little dramatic at first, but after quite a bit of thought, I considered both sides of the argument.  The opposition would say that because these “minorities” were discriminated against, that made them less than equal in the “real world.”  In the past, I could see how this would be helpful, but as time progresses, I think that practices such as this could be slowly dissolved.  Originally, it was meant to level the playing field, but now it seems that more and more, it may not be needed.  This is fantastic, if everyone is more equal, that means that discrimination is being less and less dominant.  This video actually wasn’t very well explained, and did require quite a bit of thought to actually get the point that the user was attempting to make.  Overall, it was rather thought provoking, and I tend to enjoy videos like this.

Florida's Darwinian Interlude

This article, written by Ben Stein, is about a new proposed law that would take effect in Florida. Basically this proposed law ban that teachers or students from teaching or discussing any theory of creation other than Darwinism.  Stein starts off with a series of questions that draws your attention to the fact that it is not easy to prove Darwinism. He claims that you can assume one theory, but that there is next to no proof for either.  He continues to say that if something is not verifiable, that we or our government should not impose limitations on other theories.  Stein even uses analogies by comparing our government to “worse than Stalin-ism”.  He does this to help him prove that even Stalin respected knowledge, and only limited other rights.  He continues to say that this law is a direct attack against our ability to learn, and therefore violates the first amendment.  This analogy does prove a point to his audience.  It may be slightly exaggerated, but doing this actually furthers his point.  It shows how much he is against this proposed law and that he doesn’t want to accept it. Stein admits that he is not an expert on this, but still manages to dispute the proposed law by using a logical order of thought. You can tell that he spent the time on this and really thought out what he was going to say before he actually did anything.    This achieves its purpose and resonates well with Steins intended audience.

Google

Google has become a pivotal part of our society.  It pops up in conversations; “If you don’t believe me then you can Google it”.  Overall, it was just one of the oddities of the internet that made it big. Its ability to help users pull information has made it debatably the most dominant search engine in the industry.  If you were to take a look at Google as a whole you see an innovative adaptive company.  As time and technology has advanced they chose to advance alongside of it.  Several years back, Google developed a system that started a revolution for cell phones.  They developed the concept of the smartphone, and along with Motorola, they invented the first “smartphone”.  Now the Android is one of the most popular and best-selling operating systems of all time. The only one who can come close to comparing to their achievements in the arena of phones is Apple. But time moved on, over the past years, Google continued to adapt, more recently they started their own social networking site. Their Google + site initiated a mixture between grouping friends as well as following celebrities and other interests with ease. Google has gone even further to start their own internet browser, Google Chrome.  It has easily become one of the most popular internet browsers of all time mainly due to its simplicity.  So now users can get on their phones their e-mails, their social networking , and even their browser all bundled into one bundle.  Overall Google advanced from a dinky search engine into being referred to the titans of technology.

Society Is Dead: We Have Retreated into the iWorld

In this article the author tells about the ins and outs of the “iGeneration”.  He starts his tale off with some personal experiences he encountered on a recent trip to New York.  He claims that people nowadays tend to be less socially intact and connected with the outside world.  This he points out is partially due to iPods. He does acknowledge that he also tends to listen to music himself and even mildly criticize himself.  The point is made that iPods are extremely useful to have, but at the same time he questions whether you have to have “those white wires” hanging from your ears at all time.  This is not simply a problem just with iPods, it is also prominent in social media, blogs, and even news.  The average person phases out what they really don’t want to hear.  The author challenges his readers to try to go without the music for a while reasoning that if you do you will soon pick up the subtle social queues that you have been missing while “plugged in”.  Overall the author does a good job on showing the popularity and “evils” of iPods.  He accents these by using his own personal experiences.  The point is furthered by addressing and refuting possible counterpoints.  The author recognizes that as a whole iPods are good, but the main point being made here is that when you are jamming out you are actually missing out.  This all goes into his final point:  As technology advances, you will see an equal decline in the quality of our society.

Procrastination

Recently, I have had many hypothetical people come up to me and ask, “Tyler, how do you procrastinate so well.”  Well, it’s not easy by any means; it’s a lifestyle choice that is most difficult to master.  If you have the dedication and the endurance then I can show you some tips and tricks that will change your life forever.  The first and possibly most important key to being a successful procrastinator is distractions. Whether it be in your mind or in the outside world, always make sure there is some form of issue to help you take your mind off of the current task you should be doing.  My personal favorite distraction is television.  I can turn if of and watch the hours tick away.  Another helpful tool is the internet!  Most people know how to kill an hour on facebook or playing games, but many procrastinators don’t realize the true potential the internet holds.  With many sites such as youtube you can kill an hour or two just for look at videos of talking dogs.  Also, it helps if you choose to do your tasks in the middle of the day.  At this point in the day, most of us are wide awake and ready to do something. These are perfect conditions for a professional procrastinator.  My final tip is to not plan ahead.  Planning is the downfall of many procrastinators.  Having a plan and being prepared stops you from getting up and getting things or stopping to think about what you want to do next, which are the staples to a good procrastination session.  Now, there are other methods for procrastination, but I think I’ll keep those to myself.  What would I do if I gave away all of my secrets?   Anyways if you follow these tips, you be going nowhere at the speed of light.