The United States has been called a melting pot many times because of the merging of many cultures, but personally, I think the US is no where near being a melting pot. A melting pot refers to like a structure where many thing blends together and the differences are no longer visible. It seems to be more like a salad bowl. We can easily spot out the different cultures that lie within the United States.
In our everyday life of someone who lives in a city, they can easily walk down the street and hear a wide variety of languages. There are many bilingual people in the United States. Language is a key part of culture and as long as other languages exist in America, then there are also other cultures present. The influx of languages into the United States makes enriches the experience of living in the US.
Unlike past, America is more harmonious in race, culture, and even in languages. They didn’t transform one traditional food to Americanized name and yet even if they have hard time pronouncing it, they call its original name. Some languages are sometimes Romanized into English, but the pronunciation is still off. It is hard to Romanize different languages to one language. Therefore, it is really hard to say American is a melting pot because different cultures in America may not be able to merge into a single culture.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Heroes
In fiction heroes are often portrayed as gallant figures with a strong sense of justice. They often appear to save damsels in distress of to protect a village from a ruthless villains. Often, these heroes are caught breaking the laws to carry out their ideals. The laws are there to keep order and should not be an exception to anyone. Heroes are often seen killing, stealing, and even breaking into other people's property. Is this really a heroic thing to do?
Robin is a folk hero that many people knows about. He is known for stealing money from the rich and giving it to the poor. He lives in the forest with his merry men. This sounds an awful lot like the action of brigands. They live in the wood and sometimes come out to steal. Surely they must have kept some of their stolen loot for themselves. People regard him as a hero even though he breaks into other people's property and steals money from them. His intentions may seem right but his actions are no where near ethical.
The reason why people view him as a hero is because his actions benefits him. The people that are robbed by him sees him as a villain. Robin Hood justifies his action by thinking that the rich people gets their money from the poor so him stealing it back is an okay thing to do. This reasoning is unethical, he is fighting fire with fire meaning he is no better than the rich people.
We today view Robin Hood as a hero because a majority of us are in less than satisfying conditions. We can relate to the poor people of the villages Robin Hood helped. Robin Hood's actions benefited lots of people in need so his title as hero. Robin Hood may be a hero but he is also a thief. No man should be above the law, otherwise, laws are meaningless words that can be broken with good reasons.
Robin is a folk hero that many people knows about. He is known for stealing money from the rich and giving it to the poor. He lives in the forest with his merry men. This sounds an awful lot like the action of brigands. They live in the wood and sometimes come out to steal. Surely they must have kept some of their stolen loot for themselves. People regard him as a hero even though he breaks into other people's property and steals money from them. His intentions may seem right but his actions are no where near ethical.
The reason why people view him as a hero is because his actions benefits him. The people that are robbed by him sees him as a villain. Robin Hood justifies his action by thinking that the rich people gets their money from the poor so him stealing it back is an okay thing to do. This reasoning is unethical, he is fighting fire with fire meaning he is no better than the rich people.
We today view Robin Hood as a hero because a majority of us are in less than satisfying conditions. We can relate to the poor people of the villages Robin Hood helped. Robin Hood's actions benefited lots of people in need so his title as hero. Robin Hood may be a hero but he is also a thief. No man should be above the law, otherwise, laws are meaningless words that can be broken with good reasons.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Celestial life
Can life on other planets exist? Since the dawn of times, our ancestors have looked into the sky with great wonders. As science progress, the dreams of celestial life forms are slowly shattering. Planets that meet the conditions for life are a scarce find in the universe. There are many that believe that the earth is unique. With the ways things are looking, life is impossible to find even if it is existing.
In the past century, technological advances have allowed us to look thousands of mile into space with one glance. With this we are allow to view celestial bodies and study them with ease. With this innovation also came disappointment, as we became more developed in astronomy, we also became more reluctant to believe in celestial life as we find more compelling evidence that proves that supposedly barren planets are actually; barren planets.
Many continue to hold high hopes and believe that these readings are untrue. The speed of light is the fastest anything could travel according to Einstein. The light we receive from our own sun takes days to reach us. This means that it could an image we see in space could be from a few centuries to a few million years late depending on how far away it is.
One light year is 5.8 trillion miles. It takes about 1 year for light to travel one light year. The closest galaxy to the milky galaxy is the Andromeda galaxy which is about 2.2 million light years away. This means anything we view in the Andromeda is 2.2 million years late. This means life could have developed there without our knowing and this also means that we have no hope of finding life in “real time” during our life span.
The possibility of life is shrouded in a never ending fog. We may never determine if any planets meet the conditions for life. Our path to discovering is blocked by two obstacle, time and space, which are essentially forces which humans cannot hope to take down and control.
In the past century, technological advances have allowed us to look thousands of mile into space with one glance. With this we are allow to view celestial bodies and study them with ease. With this innovation also came disappointment, as we became more developed in astronomy, we also became more reluctant to believe in celestial life as we find more compelling evidence that proves that supposedly barren planets are actually; barren planets.
Many continue to hold high hopes and believe that these readings are untrue. The speed of light is the fastest anything could travel according to Einstein. The light we receive from our own sun takes days to reach us. This means that it could an image we see in space could be from a few centuries to a few million years late depending on how far away it is.
One light year is 5.8 trillion miles. It takes about 1 year for light to travel one light year. The closest galaxy to the milky galaxy is the Andromeda galaxy which is about 2.2 million light years away. This means anything we view in the Andromeda is 2.2 million years late. This means life could have developed there without our knowing and this also means that we have no hope of finding life in “real time” during our life span.
The possibility of life is shrouded in a never ending fog. We may never determine if any planets meet the conditions for life. Our path to discovering is blocked by two obstacle, time and space, which are essentially forces which humans cannot hope to take down and control.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
The Reason for Beauty
Ever since the 1970s, the popularity of cosmetic surgery has risen as new innovations and advancements to cosmetic surgery arose. Because of the media, many people have become more self conscious about themselves and begin to worry more about their body and go through many difficulties in order to improve their physical appearances.
Most of teenagers are easily influenced by the media. They are also in a state of confusion and in order to be popular, they will do anything to look like a figure on TV. They are constantly exposed to the generic beauty that the media promotes and soon they begin to notice flaws that they might have and begin to worry.
Aside from the media, teenagers may also get influenced by their friends and maybe even their family. Friends and peers are often very critical about appearance. On the school yard, it is hard not to see a situation where one student calls another student ugly. Family is no exception on to the "reasons to get cosmetic surgery list." There have been many situations in which a middle-aged mother will encourage their daughters to have plastic surgery in order to accomplish the dreams that they themselves could not accomplish.
Confidence plays a very important role in the success of cosmetic surgery. The human body is naturally not perfect but there are few people who can come to term with this. The media and public has been constantly attacking everyone with the idea that beauty is everything. with phrases like "your lucky your pretty," one can only assume that beautiful people have a high standards in society and it is not rare how some people would take this phrase seriously and try to make it apply to them.
There is an old Chinese saying stating that “our bodies are gifts from out parents.” We should not change our body on a whim just because of others. People are very self conscious and will change their bodies by cosmetic surgery till they satisfied. Self confidence is not something that can be bought with money or received by changing a certain body part. Confidence stems from both mind and body. The lack of confidence is in the mind, it does not only concern physical appearances
Most of teenagers are easily influenced by the media. They are also in a state of confusion and in order to be popular, they will do anything to look like a figure on TV. They are constantly exposed to the generic beauty that the media promotes and soon they begin to notice flaws that they might have and begin to worry.
Aside from the media, teenagers may also get influenced by their friends and maybe even their family. Friends and peers are often very critical about appearance. On the school yard, it is hard not to see a situation where one student calls another student ugly. Family is no exception on to the "reasons to get cosmetic surgery list." There have been many situations in which a middle-aged mother will encourage their daughters to have plastic surgery in order to accomplish the dreams that they themselves could not accomplish.
Confidence plays a very important role in the success of cosmetic surgery. The human body is naturally not perfect but there are few people who can come to term with this. The media and public has been constantly attacking everyone with the idea that beauty is everything. with phrases like "your lucky your pretty," one can only assume that beautiful people have a high standards in society and it is not rare how some people would take this phrase seriously and try to make it apply to them.
There is an old Chinese saying stating that “our bodies are gifts from out parents.” We should not change our body on a whim just because of others. People are very self conscious and will change their bodies by cosmetic surgery till they satisfied. Self confidence is not something that can be bought with money or received by changing a certain body part. Confidence stems from both mind and body. The lack of confidence is in the mind, it does not only concern physical appearances
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