Month: November 2024

One major strength of my TED Talk is my use of the slides. I strived to put a lot of effort into the slides and how they connect into the overall story I was trying to convey, the strongest slide as definitely the first which painted the picture of American being a society so blinded by religion that science was in the background. I showed this through the image of Adam and Eve with a picture of the American flag on top and a scientific picture stuck way in the background barely visible. On top of this, I think my hand motions helped to make it easier for the reader to learn the layers and intricacies of the shift that I was explaining, I come from a Jersey Shore Italian family so these come as second nature for me. As a whole I think my speech was strong but there are always some areas a man can improve upon, for me probably slowing down a little bit.

3 Ideas:

Columbus Day: Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer sailing for Spain who was credited for discovering America even though the Vikings had years prior, and he landed in the Carribean, he eventually enslaved tons of people and led to the demise of all native populations, he is viewed as a hero and Italian Icon.

Abolish change: What is the point of pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters besides to play games on the boardwalk, most people when receiving an odd number of change just tell the cashier to keep it or end up throwing it in a cup holder in their car.

Solar Powered Vehicles: electric cars are becoming ever so popular but why have we not looked to make said cars powered by solar? Probably due to the pushback from big oil companies.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the nephew of assassinated president John F. Kennedy and the new Governmental Head of the Health Department appointed by President Trump. One of RFK Jr’s major ideas to bring to the country is to ban ultra-processed foods and other chemicals, this would have a profound impact on the health of our country in the greatest ways imaginable.

It’s no secret the United States is known as the most obese and unhealthy country, ask anyone European, they always say how giant our portions are compared to their country, and they are right. I had the privilege to travel to eight European nations. I was feeling a little homesick in Amsterdam and decided what’s more American than good ole fashioned McDonalds. Due to laws in the Netherlands, chemicals found in Big Mac’s and Fries are banned there, I found this out when I got my order and instead of being a gross comfort food it tasted like it was fresh and made from an actual barbecue. Not only did it taste better, but you feel much better after.

People who live off the grid must be self-sufficient in their food production which leads to the fact that they have no unnecessary chemicals since its all grown, and hunted right off the land, this does make the food spoil faster which is dangerous in some situations but it makes up for the fact that it won’t ruin every aspect of your body and physique.

Music is something that’s good for the soul no secret about that, personally I average an absurd number of minutes on Spotify and am in the top 0.0001% of Mac DeMarco listeners. Everyone knows music has vibes, beach music is like Bob Marley and other island songs, summer as a whole is more of a country or house music vibe and then winter is Deftones or other grungier tracks btu when you think of a person living off the grid in nature what songs do you think of? Maybe you imagine just the noise of birds and the run of the river which is therapeutic in its own right.

The music I think of is the Grateful Dead, there’s a reason for this. There is the saying that goes “the apple does not fall far from the tree” and I truly believe in that statement for the soul reason that I see my parents in myself. My father lived off the grid, driving his VW Bus across the country to North Dakota where he camped out for some time. What music did he listen to during this time? Well, a lot of stuff but mostly a lot of the Grateful Dead. I grew up not only on this music but on this premonition that this vibe of music is tied to living not just off the grid but free. Personally, I do not think that I am living as free as my father did and I hope one day I can strive for the feeling I crave. My father’s influence on me ties the Grateful Dead to the idea of living freely off the grid, but it also showed me that living off the grid is more than just being self-sufficient in nature, it is being free, responsible for only yourself in your world, and I think that is a feeling we all need.

Yes, you’d be right in saying this Blog was a little all over the place and hard to follow, but that’s the beauty in writing, everyone views it differently, the most important part is how can you stay and eat healthy in college? Well, I try to avoid seed oils, so that means it’s going to be a little more than just eating at Fresco in the dining hall, the best way is buying cheaper meat form target and a bottle of olive oil, you can use spices if you want and do not feel self-conscious cooking in the lobby. Feeling free in college is something that I do not know if I can answer, I truly do not feel free, but I know I need to be here to eventually be granted my wish, do not let others dictate your decisions, be you, that’s the only thing you can do in our society today because some things are just out of your control due to the fallacy that is the dollar bill.

 

References:

RFK Jr.

Health

Farming

Grateful Dead

 

The industrial revolution is something we all look upon as extremely favorable and changing the world in the best way possible but did it really. Theordore Kaczynski is someone who questioned the industrial revolution for its effect on the working-class people, putting aside his intensely radical views and actions (he was the Unabomber) there are some solid ideals found in his manifesto.

The major downfall of the industrial revolution is that it eventually led to the total destruction of personal freedoms, enveloping everyone in what we know of today as the rat race. The more society became dependent on technology, the more it lost the ability to live independently. While pre-industrial societies required people to engage directly with nature (farming, hunting, and labor), the Industrial Revolution created a system that severed these direct connections. People, instead of being masters of their own lives, were forced into roles as mere consumers and workers within complex systems of control and surveillance with people above them barking down orders.

As people flocked to cities in search of work, they became further removed from nature. This urban shift is far from a sign of progress but as a signal of humanity’s descent into an artificial, mechanized existence. Urban centers, create a sterile and suffocating environment where human beings lived in overcrowded, unhealthy conditions, cut off from the rhythms of the natural beautified world.

The relentless pursuit of industrial growth led to the exploitation of natural resources without regard for long-term sustainability. As someone who majors in ERM (Environmental Resource Management) it is abundantly clear to me and others within the field that the raping of our planet needs to halt at once. There is a finite amount of some of the most important things in this world, and we have abused them for too long.

One of critic’s central ideas is the concept of technological determinism, the idea that technology was not just a neutral tool but a force that shaped and directed society. The more technology advanced, the more it shaped the course of human civilization in ways that individuals or even entire societies could not control, moreover, technology has such a deep grasp on us that without it we are completely lost.

Technological progress has become a runaway train, an irreversible process that could not be slowed or reversed by political reforms or social movements. As machines and computers become more advanced, they lead to the automation of more and more aspects of life, leaving fewer and fewer opportunities for people to make meaningful decisions about how they lived. Since the ball ahs started rolling on advancement, any human who says lets stop getting better at this is viewed as crazy because we as a society are so hungry for more knowledge and such.

As college students, how can we implement Kaczynski’s more sound ideals into our lives, for starters, we can develop habitats in which we do not rely on technology. Realize that sometimes it is better to do things on your own, learn to cut wood and start a fire, or learn to make yourself a meal without the use of an online recipe. It may seem simply but seeking human connection and using your instinct to learn something helps defy the reliance on technology that we have formed.

 

Scopes Trial

Theory of Evolution

Charles Darwin

Derivation of the Theory

American Religion

Today, Evolution in American schools

The sourced listed above helped me grasp a broader sense on the shift of the public perception on evolution and the theories regarding it in American society. From prior knowledge (APUSH) I had known a little about the trial of John Scopes, known as the Scopes or Monkey Trial, and how it had a profound impact on aiding to remove religion form school practices. Though, I was unfamiliar with the fact that it also had a profound impact on bringing Darwin’s theories of evolution and natural selection to light in the United States. The sources helped aid my arguments as they bestowed upon me great information about how Darwin’s theories caught on much faster and easier in Europe, and through the long, fight and trial in The United States, the theories were eventually able to assimilate with religion and become commonplace in schools today.