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The Race Illusion : There Is Actually No Such Thing As Race

    It's the year 2021. Why are people still racist?  We have occasion, over and over, to keep wondering. The Washington Post pondered the question during the Trump administration, when the 2017 Charlottesville uprising showed us that America's ugly KKK roots are still alive and well. Of course, the WaPo arrive at no answer, only a bald examination of the puzzle.  Racism, and all forms of bigotry, make no sense, and yet they seem to be hard-wired into our brains. In fact, recent years show that we…
Score: 1.9

America's Two-Party Left-Right System Can't Last

    Where do you start talking about American politics?Where do you end?  You can enter and exit at any point in the vacuum of the space-time continuum like a neutrino, heard by nobody and affecting nothing.  The great wasteland of American politics in the 21st century is that way because of the polarized division of everything into two opposite parties. It is an extreme polarization because both parties and all of the politicians in them keep discovering that they can say and do anything and…
Score: 1.79

Study Abroad

Nontraditional Student in Japan

  Introduction  Have you ever felt that the world is outside of your grasp?  Things happen to everyone else, why would they happen to you?  That dream job you’ve always wanted, but resigned yourself to never being good enough for it?  This was what I felt even as I started at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. My life was surrounded my dead-end retail jobs and wasn’t going anywhere. After five years of this, however, I reevaluated my life.   Why did I believe that I couldn’t do more? It was time for a…
Score: 1.14
100% Worldwide Renewable Energy Now

If Anybody Cared About Climate Change, We Could Have Solved It By Now

    Once upon a time, there was a caveman who wanted to make energy.  Maybe he wanted to stay warm at night, or he wanted to cook food, but that's not the point. The point is, his first idea to generate energy was to gather up wood, rub some flint and steel together, and make a fire.  Setting things on fire proved out to be a handy way to generate energy. This method was the preferred way to make energy until after millenniums of progress, through the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages, into the Renaissance…
Score: 1.18
Sexual Practices

Sex toys are very good for the relationship

by Dominus

While the use of sex toys has seen an increase in public acceptance in the last years, they still have a stigma attached to them, which has to do with the older generations’ mentality that a man and a woman don’t need anything else in bed but each other. I agree, but throw a couple of sex toys in there as well and you got yourself a party.   Sex toys have been used since forever. This is nothing new, but as I was growing up the idea of people using such “vile contraptions” in bed was unthinkable…
Score: 1.35
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: 1.14
Editorial

College is NOT for everyone; Don't Force it!

When I was in high school, I had one goal. Get into a good college so that I can get a good job and support myself in the future. But now as I have finished my bachelor’s degree I am looking back on what decisions led me to decide to go to a traditional university; however, that’s the weird bit.  I don’t remember making any decisions about my future…. Almost as if going to college was the only option and was what was expected. But was it the best option? And have other people in my life had the…
Score: 1.11
Netflix

Review Of Altered Carbon

I've been watching a new show on Netflix called Altered Carbon. It's based on a book by Richard K. Morgan and takes place in a futuristic society where rich people can live for hundreds of years (or possibly forever). A new technology has allowed people to be implanted with a disk called a "stack" in the back of their neck which stores their personality and memories. When your body dies, as long as your stack is still intact, it can be put into another body. When someone is put in prison, their…
Score: 1.33
U.S. Office of the President

Trump vs. Who Exactly?

The more days past, the farther Donald Trump seems to drift from his party. Though he ran on the Republican ticket, many were confused at his choice as in years past he had identified almost strictly as a democrat. Though he has made decisions that aligns him with both sides of the political spectrum. One day he is on board with the democrats, asking republicans to bend the knee; the next he is praising republicans and condemning democrats.  However, recent developments in the Immigration debate…
Score: 1.16
Smart Phones

SHOULD PARENTS RESTRICT THE USE OF MOBILE PHONES?

   SHOULD PARENTS RESTRICT THE USE OF MOBILE PHONES?       A sea of young heads slouches forward lazily, as their eyes fervently remained glued to the screens of their mobile phones, while others take selfies of themselves and/or their friends for posting on various social media. Others are busy texting away and are emotionally and mentally detached from their friends and appear to be oblivious to what is happening around them. And that fact is made evident by the cord of the earpiece that is firmly…
Score: 2.17
Singing

Hitting That High Note: A Guide To Finding Your Singing Voice

            Do cats shriek and run and hide when you sing? Does it sound like nails on a chalkboard when you use your voice? Or do your notes roll smoothly like vocal poetry? Whether you are a new singer or can read music effortlessly, I am going to help you to find your singing voice and teach you about musical notes.    Musical Notes             The way to look at music is just imagining it like words from a book. The only difference is the symbols represent the pitch, the speed, and the rhythm of…
Score: 2.15
Outdoor hobby

Spooked: Elk Hunting in the Pacific Northwest

by ChefPerry

    Spooked: Elk Hunting in the Pacific Northwest Perry P. Perkins          The woods were still and silent in the predawn darkness, every twig that broke under our boots, or brushed our shoulders seemed deafening.  With each snap and crackle, we would freeze, my lips forming silent curses as we waited for the telltale thunder of a bull elk crashing down the canyon wall to cross the river and leave us far behind. A moment would pass, then two, and all would remain calm.  Taking a deep breath, we would…
Score: 1.36

Fly Fishing the Deschutes on Slow Days

by ChefPerry

  Obsession, it would seem, can do as much for one's reputation as talent.  When a friend approached me to say that her cousin was flying in from Oklahoma the next weekend, loved to fly fish, and needed someone to show him the local scene, I wasn't all that surprised, nervous yes, but not surprised.    Fly Fishing in OregonHere in Oregon, we have an amazing variety and selection of water. With several blue-ribbon rivers flowing through the state, the Deschutes, McKenzie, and Metolius just to name three…
Score: 1.15

Airsoft-Dangerous war simulation or harmless fun

     You might have heard about this sport that is taking in proportion every year.    Airsoft has been steadily moving toward the mainstream and can now be found in most countries. I have taken an interest in it and while I was explaining what it was to my friends, I realized that people have very different opinions on it. Some thought it was cool, others wondered why I would be foolish enough to spend the money on expensive toys, some feared the effect that shooting humans would have on me, while…
Score: 1.06