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Essay #3 Body #2, Andres Boquiren

Now it could be said that a degree is a necessary and essential sacrifice that needs to be made in order to move forward socioeconomically. If an individual is able to put forth the money needed to fund their education that it’ll be compensated in a way by the opportunities and doors that are opened to those who take the time to earn a degree. This is assuming however that any and all individuals have the luxury of being able to afford a post secondary education, and that may no longer be the case. In a study conducted by the Pew Research Center titled Americas Shrinking Middle Class: A Close Look at Changes Within Metropolitan Areas, the study focused on 229 metropolitan areas in the U.S. between the years 2000-2014. Of those 229 areas 203 saw a decrease in the share of the population that was considered middle class. Meanwhile, in 160 areas saw an increase in lower income populations and 172 also saw an increase in upper class populations. (Pew 1). This information demonstrates a divide within the U.S. economy which incidentally favors one portion of the population and disregards the rest. It puts individuals in a position where receiving a degree is only feasible to those who can afford to pay for one. The American Dream is based around the concept that if you work hard enough and “Pull yourself up by your bootstraps” you will be able to succeed. This however demonstrates a different scenario, in which success is only achieved through hard work and a hefty bank account. In a study conducted by College Board.com titled Average Rates of Published Charges by Decade it demonstrated a steady increase of cost across aspects such as tuition, fees, room, and board for every year since 1988. Each year seeing an increase of anywhere between 1.3%-4.2%. The farther time goes on the less accessible an education becomes.

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Evan Green, Essay 3, Paragraph 2

Gluten free diets for those without Celiac disease not only have a lack of supporting science, but a wealth of science to the contrary. Celebrity influence has had such an enormous impact on consumers that despite scientific findings, people without health conditions still buy gluten free products. Celebrities who post their opinions on these diets typically have little to no medical knowledge, yet their influence reaches far beyond that of nutritionists and scientists who have done research on the topic. An example of this was a tweet in 2012 by Miley Cyrus which racked up over 7,000 retweets, “It’s not about weight it’s about health. Gluten is crapppp anyway!”. Although science does not stand with what she is saying, many fans might remember this and take action without doing their own research. Another example of a celebrity promoting gluten free was Kourtney Kardashian on her app, “I have noticed a great positive change in behavior with my children when we stick to a gluten-free and dairy-free diet. I don’t think everyone needs to eat this way but we had muscle testing done, which showed we all have sensitivities to corn, gluten and dairy”. The celebrity not only suggests that gluten sensitivity is a real condition but also that removing it from your diet in addition to dairy can result in a positive change in mood.

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Makenna 2nd Para. Post for Essay #3

Humans have been aware of the fact that the Earth is round for thousands of years based on many points that basic science proves. Three central reasons that this theory would not work is that gravity would not exist, many solar problems that would exist, and the planet’s magnetic field would not exist. According to Phys.Org, if the Earth was truly flat there would be some “strange impacts, like sucking all the water toward the center of the world, and making trees and plants grow diagonally, since they develop in the opposite direction of gravity's pull”. Basically, people who believe in this theory believe that gravity would pull straight down while scientific evidence proves that this is simply not the case. As for the solar problems, “In the scientifically supported model of the solar system, the Earth revolves around the sun because the latter is much more massive and has more gravity”. The theory that the sun and moon circle around the sun does not make sense when shown the science behind it. The sun has been proven to be over 100 times the diameter of Earth which is why the idea that it just circles above the Earth would make no sense. It also only explains day and night effects leaving out how weather conditions are caused. The Earth’s magnetic field would not be present in a flat Earthers’ theory because the Earth’s core is what generates this magnetic field. If the Earth was flat, there would be no core. Without a magnetic field, “charged particles from the sun would fry the planet”.

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Essay 3, Body paragraph

Over the years, vampires have been viewed as the bloodsucking demons who exist only in fiction. Gordon however, uses description and imagery throughout his book, “The Vampire in Folklore, History, Literature, Film, and Television” to talk about the “modern” day vampires who live amongst us. They look like us and talk like us but their main source of food is the human blood. Again, there has been no evidence to support this claim. Gordon acknowledges that vampires have not been actually found in reality to prove that these claims are true. According to him, all of these depend simply on the human perception about vampires and vampirism. There have been several incidents in different cultures over the years that have been labelled as vampire mythology. For instance, the “Lamiai” in the myth of ancient Greek vampires has had several problems surrounding childbirth. This Lamiai attacked babies. In the vampire mythology, there have been instances where the death of a mother giving birth has been tied to vampires. Thus, making the Lamiai the closest thing that came to vampires in Greek mythology. This was also seen in the Indonesian langsuyar and the Jewish Lilith. Hence, we see how different cultures have different myths surrounding vampirism. These myths soon became very popular among the people and there was an emergence of vampires in literature and fiction. Gordon says, “In the movement to the stage and screen. the vampire was further transformed.” It was seen that these demonic vampires soon had human feelings. One such example is Bela Lugosi who gained a large fan following after his role in “Dracula”. This has also been seen in the modern day TV show “The Vampire Diaries.” The two vampires- Stefan Salvatore and Damon Salvatore became extremely famous for the roles they played and gained a huge fan following. They were transformed from being the demonic bloodsucking vampires to the heroes of the show who protected their friends by using their own supernatural power. Thus, we see how the myth of vampirism has been evolving over the years and has become so popular that there have been several books, movies, and TV shows on them. Even though several incidents in different cultures tied to the facts about the vampire mythology no concrete scientific evidence was found to prove that vampires existed amongst us.

Sanya Shah, Blog number 10. 

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Christian Hurst, Essay #3, para. 2

Why does Mattress Firm need so many locations? Money Laundering. According to Webster’s Dictionary, “Money laundering is the concealment of the origins of illegally obtained money, typically by means of transfers involving foreign banks or legitimate businesses.” Interesting bit there about ‘legitimate businesses’. I believe that the reason Mattress Firm bought out so many companies and kept all of their locations open was to use them as a front for a crime organization. By having multiple stores all in one area, Mattress Firm is able to right off any money they make through crime as mattress sales. They could easily be hiding guns, ammunition, drugs, and more inside their mattresses and transporting them throughout the United States. The more stores you have in a certain city, the more money you can launder through your extra stores. It’s the perfect crime and they could still get away with it if there is not an investigation done. Someone needs to get to the bottom of this myth. That person is me.

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Will Falkenborg Essay 3 p 2

To understand how this Ketogenic diet conforms to the popular diet myth, one must understand the logic and reasoning behind this diet. According to Pricilla Torres from Readers Digest, the whole initial reasoning behind the Keto diet is the question of what raises blood sugar. She explains that since carbohydrates are what raise blood sugar in the body, people who follow this diet simply cut it out or decrease it to extremely low levels. (Torres, 1). When considering the Ketogenic, one must “begin an induction phase that eliminates nearly every source of carbohydrate… you’ll consume as few as 20 grams of carbohydrate a day” (Torres, 1). By eliminating the cause of increase in blood sugar, you eliminate an entire macronutrient that health specialists recommend that we should intake “between 45 and 65 percent of our calories” from. Many of the fad diets over time like the low-fat diet and now the ketogenic diet seems to find something extremely wrong with one of the food groups and advocate elimination of it or very low intake. The problem with these low carb diets is that after “carbohydrate consumption falls below 100 grams; the body usually responds by burning muscle tissue for the glycogen it contains” (Torres 1). The body only starts burning fat after the glycogen stress run out which is severely inefficient when it comes to the production of blood sugar. Since your body does not have enough carbohydrates, this initial burning of muscle mass is incredibly undesirable. After muscle is burned, there will be an impact on your metabolism and eventually you would just gain the weight back.   

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Para 3 body 2, khalid hassan

Playing Video games doesn't cause violent behavior. While there are violent video games out there they have some very graphic contents, a study conducted by psychologist shows the amount of sales violent video games get: ““A recent survey found that 92 percent of U.S. kids--ages 2 to 17--play video games, and their parents bought 225 million of them last year to the tune of $6.4 billion.” (Sider 79).” While these numbers do seem like alot there is however a clear barrier between a video games and reality. If individuals can’t realize the difference between the two then video games shouldn't be the reason for violent behavior. A study done by Andrew Przybylski and Netta Weinstein  involved surveying approximately 1,000 teens and their parents in Great Britain and what they learned from them: “They reported that neither the teens nor their parents noticed any increase of aggressive behavior that could be tied to violent video games. They also found no change in antisocial behavior. They note that game playing did on occasion result in angry outbursts, sometimes by teens playing alone, and sometimes between two teens playing against one another (or by online participants)—but the researchers chalked it up to normal behavior that arises during competitive play”( Przybylski and Netta Weinstein). This shows that out of one thousand teens they only showed mild outburst of behavioral changes in the moment and not outside of their video game activities. Which everyone has experienced short mood changes while playing videos games. However that still doesn't change the fact that it is just a temporary behavioral change and doesn't continue into reality. Given this study it shows that not only show video games doesn't result in major behavior changes but it also ties back to the myth of video games causing people to act out violent behaviors.

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Essay 3 Body paragraph 2

Another major criticism of nutritional sciences is the relationship between the researchers and industries. On October 16, 2018 science journalist Ingfei Chen wrote an article in Undark Magazine entitled “Is it Ethical for Nutrition Scientists to Accept Industry Money?” In nutrition science, “career advancement hinges on winning grant money to do research,” claims Chen, yet the lack of federal funds leads to “food, beverage, and supplement companies,” becoming a “tempting alternative source of grants” (Chen, first paragraph). This is a clear conflict on interest, and has been the source of much controversy. It provides a clear incentive for the research to promote the interests of the food industry that paid for the study. However, while many people accept food industries to be a biased actor when it comes to food science, many people tend to think of the government as impartial. As noted in the previous paragraph, the government has its own interests in nutrition science, which it seeked to promote. Even when accepting money from the government,  Doctor George V Mann noted in his September 12,1977 article in the New England Journal of Medicine, “to be a dissenter was to be unfunded” (Mann). This highly encourages the researchers to have a vested interest in the results of a study. Often nutrition scientists would even go as far as to bill their proposed studies as studies to confirm a particular ideology, rather than to question a hypothesis. When the 1950 Framington Heart Study results did not support Ancel Keys saturated fat- heart disease hypothesis, the National Institutes of Health, who funded the study, refused to publish the results.

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Jack Vester Essay 3 paragraph

A myth is a traditional story or widely held belief, usually applying to early historical events. There is a very popular myth that is fantasized by modern culture today that may be less myth than we know it to be. This myth is, the lost city of Atlantis. This myth popularized by modern pop culture and movies, ranging from all different types of books and movies. The original telling of the story of Atlantis comes from the Athenian philosopher, Plato. Plato writes about the city of Atlantis in two of his manuscripts and speaks of them as a historical fact. I will use is Plato’s manuscripts to Timaeus to introduce and cover all essential parts of the story. Plato’s descriptive telling of the story gives the reader a good visualization of the event. Briefly, it is told that Atlantis was an advanced civilization with great power and technology. This great power and technology ended up being the demises of this great society as it is told that corruption began to infiltrate the culture. The gods grew angry and decided to destroy the city, wiping it away with great floods, earthquakes, and storms. When asked Plato claims the society existed 9000 years ago, which in context to when it was told equates to about 11,600 years ago from today. Atlantis has fired people’s imagination for centuries. This has lead many people to the search for Atlantis, but still there is no hard evidence that indicates to where the island was located. Based on this and archeological findings archeologist have created a timeline of history. Referred to as the House of History, the timeline shows a slow steady evolution of progress that is used to argue there is no room in the past for an advanced prehistoric civilization.  Considered as fantasy and no archeological findings of the actually site, scientist conclude that the story of Atlantis was a philosophical tail made up by Plato as a rhetorical device to teach a lesson about the advancement of culture. This conclusion is drawn based off other stories told by Plato that were only made up to teach a philosophical lesson. I am going to explore and investigate all sides of the story of Atlantis. I will take a deeper look at the preconceived notions of the myth through using Plato and his other works to show similarities and differences between them, present evidence of archeological findings opposing the existence of Atlantis, and explore the possibility of a real Atlantis wiped away by an earthly cataclysm through evidence laid out by Graham Hancock.

Blog#11 Jack Vester

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Essay 3 Body Paragraph 2-Kim Fraser

Historically, marijuana was not cultivated for a high, but instead for medical purposes. It originated around 2700 B.C. in China where it was used for medical purposes as documented by the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung. It was soon spread throughout the Asian content where it was used in India to relieve anxiety. Ancient Greeks and Romans also found the medical benefits from the crop such as to relieving earaches, edema, and inflammation. During the Dark and Middle ages, Cannabis was again typically used for medical purposes and was a “central to any herbalist's medicine cabinet”. In 1621, a popular mental health book titled, The Anatomy of Melancholy an English Clergyman and scholar recommends Marijuana as a treatment for depression. Interestingly, George Washington noted in his journal of his attempts to grow hemp with a high THC content (the compound which causes psychoactive effects). By approximately 1890, cotton had replaced hemp as a major cash crop in the United States.  

Benefits

Many people’s negative view on Marijuana cause them to overlook many medicinal benefits of the plant. In order to understand these benefits of Cannabis one must understand the chemical makeup of the plant. The Cannabis plant contains two major compounds: Cannabidiol (CBD) and Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), these properties are both cannabinoids which means that they react with the Endocannabinoid System in our brains causing them to react with our body in different ways. The THC compound binds with the receptor in our brain called Cannabinoid 1 (CB1), causing a ‘high’ feeling. CBD does not bind with these receptors which is why it is typically more commonly used for medical purposes today. Numerous research conducted by The United States Government along with other private labs has determined that CBD has “potent anti-tumoral, antioxidant, anti-anxiety, anti-psychotic, anti-convulsive, and neuroprotective properties”. Although THC contains psychoactive properties, causing the sensation of being high, it too has many medicinal benefits such as the ability to reduce pain, glaucoma, low appetite and nausea. Many medical professionals and scientists support the medical use of the plant as Dr. Sanjay Gupta recently stated that, “Not only can cannabiswork for a variety of conditions such as epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and pain, sometimes, it is the only thing that works,”. According to Dr. Peter Grinspoon Cannabis is also “a very effective substitute for the highly addictive opiates and for many other drugs like Advil that are used for pain relief”.

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Antonio Padilla: Essay 3 Body Paragraph 2

The simulation hypothesis first gained popularity in 2001 when philosophy professor Nick Bostrom argues for it in his paper Are You Living in a Computer Simulation? Being a philosopher at Oxford University, Bostrom is well credited to argue what reality is or is not. In this paper, he argues that “Posthuman civilizations would have enough computing power to run hugely many ancestor-simulations” (Bostrom 6). In this context, ancestor-simulations are the simulations of the entire mental history of humankind. For such simulations to exist, however, the posthuman species must fulfil two very important requirements. First, it must be possible for a civilization to either master quantum computing or be capable of constructing computers large enough to be able to process the consciousness of an entire species’ history. Such a computer is possible with the construction of the theorized Dyson sphere. A Dyson sphere is a massive construct which surrounds a star and harnesses the power it radiates. Think of it as a giant solar panel that surrounds the Sun. Using this technology to power a supercomputer the size of the Dyson sphere is far more than sufficient computing power to run countless of these simulations every second. Secondly, a posthuman civilization must have the desire to run such simulations. Perhaps their society would not want to put such a massive effort to construct this structure just for the purpose of running simulations. However, if both these criteria are met, the chances that our reality is but a simulated one are almost certain.

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Essay 3 Paragraph 2 (Justin Nguyen)

Another reason why the flat earth theory is a myth because of the amount of people who believe in the flat earth theory. One common trend between myths is the amount of people speculating on a topic that is not easy to explain, as there are people who believe who, “I suspect there are more people open to the idea of flat Earth then we think,...We had a multitude of engineers attend our meeting … who just would rather have a peaceful life with full employment than join the battle” (David 4). When you have a large amount of people who share the amount of belief as the next person, then they start to form a community that would be dedicated to not only defend their belief, but spread it to reaffirm their belief as an apparent fact. As more people talk about this widespread belief, it becomes a phenomenon where people start to form opinions when about the flat earth theory. Regardless of how good or bad the argument turns out to be, the flat earth theory is a myth because of the discussions that occurred in places you don’t expect. Whether you hear this myth in educational school clubs, science conventions, or in the political realm; you have these believers of the flat earth, starting discussions on social media forms, as well as having conventions dedicated to their belief. The flat earth theory is a unique case where regardless of how this idea is disproven by science and factual evidence, we have people talking about this belief to this very day. Overall, this belief of the flat earth is also not going away, as this topic is growing exponentially where people continue to spread the discussion around, becoming a myth that may be worth talking about. Not only is this myth the reason came to be because of the talking points in today’s society, but there are other factors the flat earth theory became a myth as well.

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Essay #3 2nd Paragraph

(Intro)

Procrastination is commonly seen as something negative and is something that is discouraged in school and everyday life. Although, some sympathize with procrastination and claim that it is just a normal habit and may even be helpful to people. They may also say that it “doesn’t matter when a task gets done, so long as it’s eventually finished,” and that some people do better under pressure (Jaffe). “Why Wait? The Science Behind Procrastination” is an academic article written by Eric Jaffe who is a writer active in covering articles about behavioral science for several companies like Psychology Today, Los Angeles Times, and Science News. His article’s purpose aims to combat procrastination supporters with plentiful evidence from psychologists and university researchers. “The Psychology Behind Why We Wait Until the Last Minute to Do Things” is an article written by Kendra Cherry who is an author, consultant, and a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist. The article expands Jaffe’s article because its goal is to highlight the potential causes of procrastination and its negative effects. Adam Grant, a psychologist, author, and university professor, wrote an article, "The Perks of Procrastination," based on his ted talk that summarizes his research and findings of procrastination. His purpose is to counter the portrayed negativity introduce the benefits of procrastination. All three articles serve in the context of procrastination in work-related subjects and target people interested in the science of procrastination. By using multiple sources to analyze the myth that procrastination can be beneficial for people who excel under pressure, I will deconstruct the myth’s truths and faults while implementing my own views and ideas for a middle ground.  

- Emily Phu

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Essay 3, 2nd paragraph

As years went on, people began commenting on Broome’s website, and began reporting other memories that they recall differently than what is on the news. As people were noticing these differences, they were not actually taking themselves seriously. On the contrary, in 2015 the “Berenstein” versus “Berenstain” debate controlled the conversations on social media. A person posted a picture of an old VHS tape, where it said “Berenstein” and “Berenstain.” After this, the discussions about the Mandela Effect were booming. Because this topic is so controversial, it can be classified as a modern myth. The Mandela Effect discusses a supernatural event, and it is a widely held but false belief. There are the people who truly believe in the Mandela Effect, and there are people who see right through it because of science, such as parapsychology researchers, Neil Dagnall and Ken Drinkwater, and Staff Writer of the Tystenac, Brandon Utley.

Blog Number 10, Malia Villegas

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Blog Number 10, Samuel Hitomi third essay 2nd paragraph

One of the main reasons why these unrealistic myths about romance continue to exist is because we see them all the time in the media we consume. As with many myths it is uncertain where or when these false conceptions of romance originated. However, it is easy to see why these myths have persisted into present day when you spend just a few minutes watching TV. Romantic films and advertisements featuring images of perfect couples are everywhere. We love the idea of love and companies know this and that is why so many movies have a happy ending. People don’t want complex and realistic endings to the movies they watch. Instead, they want to see someone save the day, find love, and live happily ever after. Disney, one of the largest movie companies, has spent years making famous films with this recurring premise. Almost all of their biggest hits feature a princess in trouble that eventually falls in love with the man who saved her. One example of this is The Little Mermaid. A movie in which a young princess trades away her voice for a pair of legs and a three day time limit to kiss a man she just met. At the end of the movie, Prince Eric and Princess Ariel get married and ride off into the sunset. Many people enjoy watching this type of movie without realizing that it is subtly perpetuating the myths of love at first sight and eternal passionate love. This can lead people to confuse lust at first sight for love and cause relationships to end the moment things start to get difficult. In reality, love takes time and it changes as people grow and develop. Passion can begin to fade but that does not mean the love is gone. Given time, this desire can mature into a deeper and more caring relationship.

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alexa caruso 3rd essay 2nd paragraph

In recent years, fraternities have been exposed for sexual assault, alcoholism, drug use and even death. Alongside this, social media has also blossomed in modern day. Therefore, the the myth of ‘chival’ fraternity brothers is being deconstructed by social media. Hazing has been going on for decades but back in the day, no one had a camera phone on them 24/7. Consequently, it was more simple to protect their rituals. Nowadays, where social media is heavily present, it is confusing why universities do not intervene more. The very extreme cases that slip through the coveted secrecy sometimes hit the media, yet, abuse and alcohol poisoning occurs very often and media will only get word of a fraction of these instances. Exactly why do universities not do more to prevent students from being exposed to these situations? To attempt to answer this question, David Harnch states, “ Sure, lots of frats get suspended, but usually only under two situations: someone died or the offense went viral….In these (extreme) cases, the school is backed into a corner and forced to take action to satiate the public” (The tab,2018). Although underage intoxication is a norm at fraternity houses, this minimal infraction will go under both the school and media’s radar. Understandably, people give the most attention when someone passes away. However, when the person is already gone, it is too late. Even though schools try to be involved with frats as little as possible, they must protect the university image by punishing the fraternity when the public is upset. By universities not releasing minor fraternity situations to the public, they are able to create a divide between the university name and the fraternity name. Other than protecting the university image, staying away from fraternities also protects university money. To add on to Harnch’s argument, Eric Kelderman explains another reason why schools keep their distance from greek life; “The greater control you set up for Greek life, the more liability you assume” (The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2015). Understandably, colleges do not want to risk their wealth for partying students. To conclude, social media aids in the exposure of fraternity wrongdoings and schools only take action when the exposure is too wide or they absolutely must punish the extreme cases.

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Essay 3 Body Paragraph Jordyn Freedman

Diet culture is a myth because healthy eating is a lifestyle and not a phase.  The article, “Healthy Lifestyle Tips” defines a healthy lifestyle as one in “which helps to keep and improve your health and well-being.”  This definition is followed by advice to living a healthy lifestyle, including an emphasis on the importance of healthy eating.  Since healthy eating is part of a healthy lifestyle, a diet cannot be considered an element of a healthy lifestyle because it is only temporary.  It is ironic that in society, people are often praised for going on diets to get healthy because in reality, these “diets” cause various health risks.  It is impossible for extreme diets to be considered part of a healthy lifestyle when they only result in temporary weight loss and health issues. When a person goes on a diet, they may lose weight and feel healthy, but as soon as they go back to their original eating habits, they simply gain back the weight and must go on another diet.  The only way a person can end this diet pattern and achieve overall good health is by making the lifestyle choice to eat healthy instead of making the mistake of following a fad diet. The myth of diet culture is challenged by many popular diets that claim to be a healthy way to lose weight fast.