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Destroy the Palm Trees - Five Reasons Why Palm Trees Need To Go Away

This article is selected for 123ish 3D Gold Coin Art Collection NFT      I'm here to tell you about a vegetable menace that is the AIDS of the plant world. If you live in most parts of North America, these plants have you surrounded.  They're butt-ugly brown sticks thrusting phallically into the sky in unnatural rows, crowned by a spidery fright-wig of spikes. They look like a raspberry on a stick.        I'm talking, of course, about the omnipresent palm tree, found everywhere in your city. It doesn't matter…
Score: 3.19

Jackie Chan may be more unpopular than you think

by Dominus

Jackie Chan is an internationally recognized actor. He has one of the most impressive careers in terms of the number of movies he starred in. He is almost universally loved around the world because he used to portray the capable but clumsy type that has to fight his way out of a predicament, usually with hilarious and spectacular results. The man is a perfectionist and over the years he has developed his own style of shooting a movie that has yet to be matched by his contemporaries. He is known…
Score: 3.1

The Freedom of Religion and Kirishitan (Christian) Faith in Japan

by Makio

The Persecution of the Kirishitan (Christian) Faith in Japan  In Japan, for 250 years, there were people who hid their Christian faith for more than seven, eight, or nine generations, without being noticed even by their neighbors or the local government.Those who used to be called as Kakure (Hidden) Kirishitan (Christian in old Japanese), are now called Senpuku Kirishitan (潜伏キリシタン), Underground Christian.  I first heard the name during a junior high history class about 30 years ago. At that time, I…
Score: 2.05

Music Ratings

What Counts as a Platinum Album in the Age of Digital Downloads?

  It’s More Complex Than You Think. And it gets interesting. Traditionally, albums achieve platinum when they sell a million records. But few people buy albums today. Few people buy music in general.    With digital downloads ubiquitous today, what meaning do platinum and gold have? And do they still have a purpose in today’s music world?    Well, it turns out that these questions are more complicated than they seem.     RIAA and the Expanding History of Music Certifications    What is the RIAA?    It’s the Recording…
Score: 1.2

The 10 Most Underrated Overlooked Hip-Hop Rap Albums of the 2010s

In a landscape where hip-hop has been under the shadow of Drake, Kendrick, Migos, and Kanye, it is very easy to forget the hundreds of talented acts that left a mark on the genre and culture.   Many of the artists on this list also run around the lines of sex, guns, and drugs but it's in the way they deliver it that set them apart from the mumble rappers of the 2010s. Likewise, some of the albums also include artists who fit that "woke" label that feel more genuine than their mainstream…
Score: 1.05
Social Communities

Seeking Online Eden : The Quest For An Intelligent Discussion Community

    This is Diogenes the Cynic. He is known for having roamed the world, lantern aloft, on a lifelong quest for just one honest man. (Spoilers: He never did find one by his definition.) Besides that, he was one of those classical philosophers and public intellectuals whose standard delivery represented our modern concept of "performance art" or "stand-up comedy." He was a tart social critic and overall sourpuss. He is, however, credited with helping to found the seeds of stoicism, one of the most…
Score: 1.48
Birth Control

8 Things To Know About The Birth Control Shot

Most people are familiar with the birth control pill, but there are also other birth control options like implants and intrauterine devices. There is also a birth control shot. The shot uses Depo-Provera which is the brand name for medroxyprogesterone. It must be given once every three months. It prevents pregnancy by preventing ovulation. It also causes your cervical mucus to thicken which helps keep sperm from reaching an egg. Here are some things you might need to know about this shot if…
Score: 1.36
Scotland

How Dr. John Hunter Influenced Modern Medicine

With all the amazing medical technology and knowledge we have today, it's probably hard to believe that much of modern medicine got its start from a single man, who was born in Scotland in 1728. This man was John Hunter, a surgeon who is regarded as one of the most distinguished surgeons and scientists of his time.   It's interesting to note that Hunter didn't start out wanting to become a surgeon or even a scientist. In fact, he did very poorly in school and by the time he was seventeen he worked…
Score: 1.44
Alternative Religions

Best Devotional Items For Alternative Religions

    > "Man is certainly crazy. He could not make a mite, and he makes gods by the dozen." -- Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, Lord of Montaigne  What a strange topic for a product recommendation list, and yet what strange creatures we are. We do indeed invent gods by the dozen, so let's pour one out for Montaigne, arguably history's first "blogger." Not only do we invent gods and ways to worship them, we even do it for a goof, just to be silly. Even the joke deities tend to get taken seriously over time…
Score: 1.4
Societal Pressures

On the Subject of Empowerment

  I recall the first time a guy thought he had some unspoken right to my body, as he tried to force me into bed with him. I was able to get out of the situation before it escalated, but that moment haunted me for years. I was angry with him, but my anger did not come close to the shame I felt. I blamed myself, though the situation was entirely out of my control. I did not tell anyone about it for almost eight years   Instead, I let the shadows of shame creep in and set up residence. I began to have…
Score: 1.16

Why I'm Not Getting Married

The year is 2018, but for some reason I still feel as if I’m trapped in 1918. I am a woman working three jobs and pursuing my master’s degree on a track towards my Ph.D.; and yet for my family, somehow that still isn’t good enough. When I go home I am hit with a barrage of questions:   “When are you going to stop and settle down? Men don’t like it if you are too smart, you know.”  “You are not going to be able to have children forever you know, the clock is ticking!”   “Aren’t you dating? I know some…
Score: 1.11
Internet & the web

How to Avoid Copyright Strike On YouTube in 2018

by Kami

You need to avoid copyright strike on your videos on YouTube in order to generate revenue. It may seem impossible to avoid copyright strike on YouTube.      You will get a copyright strike, if your video contains audio from another YouTube video. If this audio plays on your video for more than 5 seconds, your video is taken down      The general method to deal with audio copyright strike is: Change the pitch, bass and intensity of the audio. Prepare a remix. Modify the audio voice by mixing another tone…
Score: 1.47

5 ways to overcome phone addiction

In this time and age, it is very hard not to become addicted to one thing or the other. The addiction that is gradually sweeping the millennial generation like a widespread virus is that of addiction to the phone. Addiction can be substantially or drug-related. In the case of that of a phone, it is behavioral related. The funny thing about this is that a lot of people are not aware of their addiction status when it comes to the use of the phone. People don’t plan to be addicted; they just become…
Score: 1.16
Modern History

We Should Be Looking At The Robber Barons of Yesterday to Protect Against The Tech Barons of Today

The six largest companies on the planet are now technology-based. Like the industrialist of the late 19th century, they disrupted their industries and changed the way they worked. In the process, they repeated the same destructive decisions from the past.       Businessmen or Swindlers?   While it wasn’t a new term — it dates back to the Middle Ages and used to describe feudal warlords — the name stuck on business tycoons in the 19th century. Originally, they were portrayed as positive self-made men…
Score: 1.28
Interview Tips

8 Great Job Interview Tips

  Going for a job interview can really make you nervous but being prepared is a great way to stay calm and nail the interview. Here is a list of some great tips to remember for your next job interview.    1. Schedule the interview for around 10:30 a.m.  People are usually at their best at this time. It means they haven't just arrived at the office and they haven't been there so long that they're tired and in a bad mood. Tuesday is the best time of day because that's the day of the week people are…
Score: 1.36
Trends in contemporary media

The media are the one true global religion

by Dominus

All-knowing, all-encompassing and ever-expanding, the media has managed to infiltrate in every aspect of our lives over the last 15 years or so. What started as a recreational and informational activity that hard-working people used for unwinding after a long day of work, has gradually transformed into an unconscious consuming obsession that eats away countless hours of our lives and offers little in return, except the occasional “like,” “poke,” “thumbs up,” or the number of virtual friends or…
Score: 1.03