If pro is the opposite of con than what is the opposite of "progress"?
-and-
Why isn't the word "phonetic" spelled the way it sounds?
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Vanity
So I was walking though Barnes and Nobles today (briefly, although I wish it was for a longer period of time) and something came to my mind. As I was looking through the magazines it occurred to me that 70% of what I was looking through was fake. I know many teen magazines say to "be yourself" and "don't let anyone tell you that you aren't beautiful" and so on... But what's ironic is that the media takes the pictures that they put in magazines and change eye color, skin complexion, and even bone structure and body shape. Hypocritical much? And while I can't say that I don't do things sometimes that are/can be considered vain, I try not to let it rule my life and make it's way up to the top of my priority list. So while the media might be saying of all the "right things" about keeping a good self-image and staying true to who you are, they aren't showing that through example. Actions speak much louder than words. In fact, celebrities are ridiculed for not wearing makeup out in public because they look "tired" and "old" and a lot of other words/phrases that I'm not going into. So what is that telling the world?
And as a side note - I can't speak from a guy's perspective.. But it seems to me that the opposite gender tends to be more attracted to girls that aren't caking on the makeup and constantly worrying about gossip and how they look.. Or at least the guys that will like the girl for who she is.
So I guess my over-all point is (and I know that hashtags are for twitter, but I'm breaking the rules)
#beYOUtiful
And as a side note - I can't speak from a guy's perspective.. But it seems to me that the opposite gender tends to be more attracted to girls that aren't caking on the makeup and constantly worrying about gossip and how they look.. Or at least the guys that will like the girl for who she is.
So I guess my over-all point is (and I know that hashtags are for twitter, but I'm breaking the rules)
#beYOUtiful
Monday, January 23, 2012
Oh yeah, and one more thing.
Just to add to that last statement about procrastination - I find that it is A LOT easier AFTER you are already working on whatever it is that needs to be accomplished. The trick is putting away the distractions and actually getting started in the first place..
The pain of regret and the pain of discipline.
This one is going to be a little short (lots of stuff goin' on). Hopefully it will be longer tomorrow.
So take the words "regret" and "discipline". When in contrast, which one seems like the better "pain"? It seems to me that, in this context, regret refers to the results of procrastination (the bane of a high schooler's existence) and discipline is talking about the exact opposite. I think that understanding this idea helps tremendously in building a great work ethic. I always find that at the end of the day, I feel better knowing that I accomplished what I needed to and don't have to worry about procrastination catching up with me. I would rather experience that than go to bed knowing that I have a ton to do the next day that I could have done while I was watching YouTube videos or checking updates on Facebook/Twitter that will still all be there when I am done with my work. But that's just me. ;)
So take the words "regret" and "discipline". When in contrast, which one seems like the better "pain"? It seems to me that, in this context, regret refers to the results of procrastination (the bane of a high schooler's existence) and discipline is talking about the exact opposite. I think that understanding this idea helps tremendously in building a great work ethic. I always find that at the end of the day, I feel better knowing that I accomplished what I needed to and don't have to worry about procrastination catching up with me. I would rather experience that than go to bed knowing that I have a ton to do the next day that I could have done while I was watching YouTube videos or checking updates on Facebook/Twitter that will still all be there when I am done with my work. But that's just me. ;)
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Fact vs. Opinion
Okay so here's a little dip into some psychology. What constitutes as fact and what constitutes as opinion? Let's start with fact.
FACT - noun: meaning a verifiable truth or reality.
So many places to start... Lets start with the phrase "a verifiable truth". Verifiable can mean a hundred different things and it can also greatly depend on the situation. Take gravity for example: we are unafraid to jump because we believe that we will come down due to the earth's gravitational pull. However how can we be 100% positive that this law will always be in-tact? We can't be. But we trust that science is correct because in our own personal reality we experience that it is an accurate "fact" every day. So let's assume for now that "verifiable" simply means information or knowledge that has been tested multiple times with the same outcome, thus becoming a commonly known "fact".
Seems rather straight-forward on the surface right? Well here comes the word that contradicts the entire meaning of the word "fact".
OPINION - noun: belief.
....Wow. How incredibly vivid of you, Dictionary.com.... But this word does describe the essence of what an opinion is incredibly well. An opinion is, essentially, a belief held by an individual based on their own personal reality. But here's the thing: how can one person's personal reality be exactly the same as another's? It's virtually impossible. This is what differing opinions stem from. It seems that the whole idea of what an opinion is contradicts the idea of what fact is completely. Consider the picture below. One may see the profiles of two figures looking at each other while another may see a vase. And who knows - someone else may see something different than either of those. But is one statement more correct than the other? Are both facts? One may say that they are because the majority of people that see this photo see either two profiles or a vase. But of course, that is their own personal reality. So it cannot possibly apply to every single human that sees this image. Is it still fact?
There is so much to be said about why fact and opinion are a mystery. At the end of the day I think that facts are all, by this logic, an opinion in their own way. Personal reality determines one's perception about the world and everything in it/about it. What is fact to one human may be opinion for another and vice-versa. But of course, that's just my personal opinion. ;)
FACT - noun: meaning a verifiable truth or reality.
So many places to start... Lets start with the phrase "a verifiable truth". Verifiable can mean a hundred different things and it can also greatly depend on the situation. Take gravity for example: we are unafraid to jump because we believe that we will come down due to the earth's gravitational pull. However how can we be 100% positive that this law will always be in-tact? We can't be. But we trust that science is correct because in our own personal reality we experience that it is an accurate "fact" every day. So let's assume for now that "verifiable" simply means information or knowledge that has been tested multiple times with the same outcome, thus becoming a commonly known "fact".
Seems rather straight-forward on the surface right? Well here comes the word that contradicts the entire meaning of the word "fact".
OPINION - noun: belief.
....Wow. How incredibly vivid of you, Dictionary.com.... But this word does describe the essence of what an opinion is incredibly well. An opinion is, essentially, a belief held by an individual based on their own personal reality. But here's the thing: how can one person's personal reality be exactly the same as another's? It's virtually impossible. This is what differing opinions stem from. It seems that the whole idea of what an opinion is contradicts the idea of what fact is completely. Consider the picture below. One may see the profiles of two figures looking at each other while another may see a vase. And who knows - someone else may see something different than either of those. But is one statement more correct than the other? Are both facts? One may say that they are because the majority of people that see this photo see either two profiles or a vase. But of course, that is their own personal reality. So it cannot possibly apply to every single human that sees this image. Is it still fact?
There is so much to be said about why fact and opinion are a mystery. At the end of the day I think that facts are all, by this logic, an opinion in their own way. Personal reality determines one's perception about the world and everything in it/about it. What is fact to one human may be opinion for another and vice-versa. But of course, that's just my personal opinion. ;)
Here we go.
Okay so first post (not that anyone would be reading this anyway). This is more of a personal project seeing as this blog is one in a million that very few people actually view. But I'm going to start posting (hopefully) every day. So here goes nothin'.
My first topic correlates with the actual title of the blog. Curiosity. (And I'm about to get up on my soap box here so bear with me.) Apparently society now-a-days is under the impression that by spending hours in front of the TV, going to websites that solve your math problems for you and using SparkNotes for every english assignment is going to be the most beneficial path to take (?). Personally, I couldn't disagree more. But I have a feeling that there is a specific reason that they feel this way.
I'll present this through example: when I was still in public school, one of our units was Shakespeare. Needless to say when the teacher told the class we were studying this, it was not well recieved by the rest of the class. It's sad and almost frightening that the teenagers in this class had no desire or drive whatsoever. If anything the drive I saw in most of them was powered by the desire to simply pass the class so that they could get a good grade/get into college. Now, it is no secret that students use SparkNotes and No Fear Shakespeare during these units. In fact, it is encouraged by the teachers to do so (seeing as reading through translations or summaries can significantly help in the process of understanding the script). Here's the catch: the teachers encourage students to do this AFTER they read the assigned chapters/scenes. Because it is considered "homework" students don't have the desire to actually read it (they skip straight to SparkNotes and No Fear). But they are stuck in a school for eight hours every day doing busy work so why should they? Honestly, after school all I wanted to do was relax and do what I wanted to do. As much as I love learning about new things, eight hours a day of monotonous work over each topic gets to be a little much. And then on top of that students are expected to go home and do three more hours of this? Your brain is fried by the end of a school day. Unfortunately, public school has a tendency to present topics in a monotonous way that leaves the students uninterested and does not allow their minds that intellectual freedom that we crave as human beings. In other words, curiosity is put on the back-burner for a while and teenagers get used to this a little too quickly.
This is only one of the many tangents about curiosity that I could go on and on about so I will probably post about this again and address a different aspect of it. But the basic point is that public school does not take it away but makes it incredibly hard for one to be curious. Even with the most interesting topics, all of the monotonous work and the lectures make it so it is difficult to have the desire to seek out more information on said topic.
Ok... I'm getting off my soap box now. ;)
My first topic correlates with the actual title of the blog. Curiosity. (And I'm about to get up on my soap box here so bear with me.) Apparently society now-a-days is under the impression that by spending hours in front of the TV, going to websites that solve your math problems for you and using SparkNotes for every english assignment is going to be the most beneficial path to take (?). Personally, I couldn't disagree more. But I have a feeling that there is a specific reason that they feel this way.
I'll present this through example: when I was still in public school, one of our units was Shakespeare. Needless to say when the teacher told the class we were studying this, it was not well recieved by the rest of the class. It's sad and almost frightening that the teenagers in this class had no desire or drive whatsoever. If anything the drive I saw in most of them was powered by the desire to simply pass the class so that they could get a good grade/get into college. Now, it is no secret that students use SparkNotes and No Fear Shakespeare during these units. In fact, it is encouraged by the teachers to do so (seeing as reading through translations or summaries can significantly help in the process of understanding the script). Here's the catch: the teachers encourage students to do this AFTER they read the assigned chapters/scenes. Because it is considered "homework" students don't have the desire to actually read it (they skip straight to SparkNotes and No Fear). But they are stuck in a school for eight hours every day doing busy work so why should they? Honestly, after school all I wanted to do was relax and do what I wanted to do. As much as I love learning about new things, eight hours a day of monotonous work over each topic gets to be a little much. And then on top of that students are expected to go home and do three more hours of this? Your brain is fried by the end of a school day. Unfortunately, public school has a tendency to present topics in a monotonous way that leaves the students uninterested and does not allow their minds that intellectual freedom that we crave as human beings. In other words, curiosity is put on the back-burner for a while and teenagers get used to this a little too quickly.
This is only one of the many tangents about curiosity that I could go on and on about so I will probably post about this again and address a different aspect of it. But the basic point is that public school does not take it away but makes it incredibly hard for one to be curious. Even with the most interesting topics, all of the monotonous work and the lectures make it so it is difficult to have the desire to seek out more information on said topic.
Ok... I'm getting off my soap box now. ;)
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