...Clay Smith Dr. Lynn Tullis Writing 121 01 April 2016 Exercise 1.1 This I Believe (And This I Don’t) My early childhood was filled with books of all kinds from Dr. Seuss to Catch 22. I soaked in every one of them I could even though most of them were far over my head and I spent many years after that saying, “Oh that’s what they were talking about” or “Oh that’s what that means” as I gradually decoded what I had read through life knowledge and eavesdropping on adults. It wasn’t until I had gotten a better grasp on what the meaning was behind the words I had read that I was able to effectively construct my own words, sentences, and paragraphs into an effective message to convey to others that reflected what I truly wanted to say. Gradually I learned that words are like magic and you can bend and shape them into spells like a wizard when you are adept enough. That’s when forming letters into words becomes spell-ing. It is because of this that I believe very strongly that the best way to develop as a writer is to develop good reading skills. Conversely, yet due to my belief that good writing is honed from understanding the words you use and what context they are used in that develops good writing skills, I find it very difficult to believe that anyone is born into writing skills. I firmly believe through dedication to comprehension of meaning in addition to divining diversity in the use and structure of words that just about anyone can learn to be...
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...Remarks by the President at the Human Rights Campaign's Annual National Dinner Washington Convention Center Washington, D.C. 7:26 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Thank you so much. It is great to be back. (Applause.) I see a lot of friends in the house. I appreciate the chance to join you tonight. I also took a trip out to California last week, where I held some productive bilateral talks with your leader, Lady Gaga. (Laughter.) She was wearing 16-inch heels. (Laughter.) She was eight feet tall. (Laughter.) It was a little intimidating. Now, I don’t want to give a long speech. Cyndi Lauper is in the house. I can’t compete with that. (Applause.) But I wanted to come here tonight, first of all, to personally thank Joe for his outstanding years of leadership at HRC. (Applause.) What he has accomplished at the helm of this organization has been remarkable, and I want to thank all of you for the support that you’ve shown this organization and for your commitment to a simple idea: Every single American -- gay, straight, lesbian, bisexual, transgender -- every single American deserves to be treated equally in the eyes of the law and in the eyes of our society. It’s a pretty simple proposition. (Applause.) Now, I don’t have to tell you that we have a ways to go in that struggle. I don’t have to tell you how many are still denied their basic rights -- Americans who are still made to feel like second-class citizens, who have to live a lie to keep their jobs, or who are afraid to walk the street...
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...Station? The only thing I knew to do was pray that God would provide me the wisdom of who I should interview. Thirty minutes later, I received a text message from a good friend of mine that I hadn’t talked to in a couple months. A couple minutes later I received another text message from a different friend as well. Both were non-believers. Automatically, I looked up and thought, “Thank you Lord but can you work that fast all the time? I would really appreciate it.” Both of these friends are non-believers. Laura, the first to contact me, is someone I have known for around 2 years. Logan, is someone that I used to be best friends with but grew apart when I started to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. I was so torn of who to interview. I knew God brought me both of them for a reason. As I sat there weighing to see who I should choose, I decided to interview both. For you to understand both of them a little more, let me give you a brief summary of who they each are. Laura is an Oil and Gas lawyer in downtown Houston. I met her at a bible study Christmas party 2 years ago. She was and still is an atheist. Nevertheless, we hit off instantly and have been friends ever since. Logan is someone, like I stated earlier, who I used to best friends, but with unfortunately we grew apart. Logan is a 22-year-old male student at University of Houston majoring in Architecture. He wanted to be made clear that he’s a “gay male living in Houston.” I must confess that I did feel more comfortable...
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...Social Science Perspectives 1/20/12 Do We Run the World or do the Gods? In the book Ishmael by Daniel Quinn I think that there could be multiple thesi and it all depends on how you see or take in what Quinn is saying. The thesis that I believe Quinn develops in this novel is that there are two types of people or living beings in the world there are those who think they run the world and there are those who think the gods run the world. Quinn states that there are two types of people or living beings there are takers and there are leavers. Leavers are a being that believe that the gods run the world. They believe that if they are hungry the gods will give them what they need either by sending wild game or by sprouting vegetation. The takers are a being that believe that they run the world and that they were created to run the world. They don’t want to put the fate of their lives into the god’s hands; they want to be in control. So let’s say that the takers are hungry instead of putting their fate into the gods supplying them with food like the leavers, the takers will grow their own food so that they can have what they want, as much as they want and save as much as they want and don’t have to rely on the gods. He constructs this thesis by looking back at the past history of the world and some of the events that took place and are still taking place. He starts by talking about how for centuries there have been stories of how the takers have been fighting the leavers, Cain...
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...caught my attention as I thought it could challenge me and the way I think about the world. This book also had very good reviews. Personally I didn’t believe in one religion, I believed each religion has very good views. And they aren’t all that much different. While reading the first chapter I enjoyed the detail they went into when analysing the paintings. I would never have look so deeply into the paints and opened my mind into the small feature with such a big point and meaning behind them. I enjoyed reading Aristotle’s views on god. I liked the fact that Aristotle and Plato both have different views and both of which have good points. After learning they both had different views it made me think of all the people in the world and how many people can have different views and beliefs from each other. Although they had different view they still got on… where as in the world to do we have wars for different views. In the second chapter they tell us of the first believing God(s) living in woods, trees, rivers and the earth, fire, water and air; this is something I partly believe in – mostly them living in the highest mountains and the sky… I believe in the gods (like in the film Hercules) I enjoy that the book calls out the view of biologist- the fact they believe god an old man with white bread being worshiped by millions of people across the globe. And the fact the y mocked people when “their understanding is limited, not the concept of God. I enjoyed that the book...
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...Managing Diversity with Organizational Behavior Managing Diversity with Organizational Behavior I believe the president of the United States Barack Obama and many of the 2010 Congressmen and Senators could have learned a lot from this Organizational Behavior class. I believe that their lack of managing diversity training is the root cause of some major turmoil both in and out of the military, and will continue to be for many years to come. In this analysis I would like to focus on some issues with the legislations repeal act of president Bill Clinton and his 1993 legislation’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and discuss how the 2010 legislation could have managed diversity with less complications. The following analysis is not meant to voice the military nor my personal opinion of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy nor its repeal. This analysis will focus purely on how the 2010 legislation could have managed diversity with less complications (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2010, p. 35) in regards to: the repeal act of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy (Wikipedia, 2012), the Defense of Marriage Act (Beutler, 2011), and the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) Article 125: Sodomy (SLDN, 2012), and how these policies are currently not working well together (Beutler, 2011). Diversity represents the multitude of individual differences and similarities that exist among people. Diversity is not an issue of age, race, or gender. Diversity is not an issue of being heterosexual, gay...
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...of Owosso Introduction In this assignment, I will talk about some causes I believe in, and I will discuss some companies or organizations that support those similar beliefs. I will discuss if and why I feel inclined to do business with such organizations, and what factors influence my loyalty to them. I will also talk about some organizations that I try to avoid, due to some of the policies that guide them, and what if anything they could do to win my business back as a customer. Body While there are some causes I believe in, I cannot sit here and tell you that I follow a conscious routine of buying products that are natural, organic, or green friendly. I will say that I am really never in the position of buying any of the products (food, cleaning, or otherwise) that we use in our household, because my significant other won’t even let me go shopping with her, in fear that I will spend too much on things that we don’t really need. In talking with her on this subject, she acknowledged that she is not a conscious shopper in these areas as well. With today’s economy and most living on a limited income makes it hard for many to part with the added costs of organic foods. We do believe in natural products, but that is probably based along the lines of supporting the local farmers, more than anything. While natural products like fruits and vegetables are more along the lines of being produced from nature, and don’t necessarily mean that the products from the local...
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...the world, I believe that Islam is difficult to understand. People have their opinions about Islam and its followers. Especially, after September 11, 2001, many Americans became either fearful or angry towards Muslims and assumed that the Islamic religion and entire community was to blame. It’s a bit like the discrimination that Japanese Americans felt after Pearl Harbor but there wasn’t really blame on their religious views and morals. Well, before I actually had Muslim friends and acquaintances, I didn’t know much about the religion either. The good thing is that I wasn’t raised to be stereotypical but I did have a few ideas of the Islamic faith but I didn’t have any type of proof or reason behind it. One of the biggest misconceptions I had was that Muslims were against the belief of Jesus. Another big misconception I had with Islam was that all believers were Arab and was really only practiced in the Middle East. I also believed all Muslim women must stay covered up while in public and are believed to be beneath the men in their lives. Besides, women having limitations, I felt that it was a very strict religion in which the followers can’t drink, smoke, or partake in any type of promiscuous activities. As an outsider trying to catch a peek inside, I honestly had plenty of misconceptions of this religion, like everyone else. As I said earlier, I wasn’t raised at all to look down on anyone else, and with myself being only eleven years old when Sept. 11 occurred, I didn’t understand...
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...Philosophy 202 Ethics Class July 25, 2013 Helping Others One day on the way home from work, I was driving on the freeway. I passed a car that had broken down and was sitting on the side of the road. There was a lady and her two little children that were stranded. It was hot outside and I stopped to see if I could help. I gave them a ride to their house, made sure that they would be ok and then I left. I never saw them again. I didn’t know this family; I didn’t stop because I thought that I may win an award or get famous because of it. I stopped because I have been in that position before and know how it feels to be stranded with your children. Why would someone help another person whom they don’t even know? There have been some controversial theories on the helping of others. One theory is from the egoists. A major believer in the egoism theory is the famous author, Ayn Rand. She believes that a person should only help another person if they hold value to them, or if in helping them they will receive something in return, which is all supposed to relate to one’s own happiness. Egoism claims that each person has but one ultimate goal: his or her own welfare. This theory also implies that not everyone can be an egoist. It relies on other people being altruistic. Most altruists believe that each person has an obligation to give pleasure and take away the pains of other people. Altruism involves the unselfish concern for others. It entails doing things only out of a desire...
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...sides of the spectrum. The definition of reality is “the state or quality of having existence or substance.” If something is real to me then that’s my reality and same goes for someone else, so who’s to say that there isn’t more than one reality and why is humanity so interested in reality? I believe that humanity is so interested in reality because we are naturally curious. They say curiosity killed the cat and I believe that saying is very true. We as humans always want our questions answered be it a simple question like two plus two or a complex question like what is reality with no real answer yet. This curiosity is just part of our nature and it can lead to obsessions. Some people are so obsessed with finding the answer to questions that they devote their whole life to it and this obsession consumes them. Even if we found the answer to reality, how much would it change our everyday lives? The question that we so longed for the answer to wouldn’t even make a mark on how we live our lives and the person who found this answer would have committed his entire life to find this now insignificant answer. I’m not saying that I’m not curious about the answer because I am but I know that this curiosity is much more...
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...“if you believe in karma and reincarnation, you have more morals than believing in nothing” Personally, I agree with this statement, this is because believing in karma and reincarnation makes a person think in a long term perspective, this means they will think about their actions and positivity and how it may affect them later on or even in another life. The basic idea of karma seems to pop up in a lot of places, for example it doesn’t matter how religious you are or even if you’re not a hindu, it’s the fascinating idea itself . Reincarnation is also a very captivating idea, “You were. You will be” the initiative of the natural process of recycling human energy through birth, growth, decay and death. Reasons for view: People may agree with my belief because if we chose to ignore the workings of karma, we tend to create many problems for ourselves. For example, if we like to have something expensive, but we cannot afford it, it becomes very tempting to steal. If we are smart enough, we may never be caught stealing. However, by stealing, (according to the law of karma) we create problematic situations for ourselves in the future, like poverty, or being the victim of robbers. Therefore, if we chose to ignore karma, the results of our actions will still haunt us. Another reason why I agree with karma is the idea of ultimate justice as everyone will harvest the results of their actions and even if karma would not exist, as long as I try to avoid negative actions, the world...
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...Rant I absolutely cannot STAND when some so called Christian looks down on me or claim that I’m going to hell because I don’t believe in what they believe in. “What? You don’t believe in God? You’re an atheist! You’re going to hell!” SHUT THE FUCK UP. I’m not some fucking serial killer alright? I’m not fucking evil. Look, even if you believe that I won’t make it to your glorious heaven, which may or may not exist, that doesn’t mean you have to throw it in my face every, FUCKING, day. I don’t need your fucking sideways glances and shit. Okay, we have already established I don’t believe. Do we really have to go over this shit again? Seriously? And what’s with you mother fuckers preaching this God shit to me every day? I already established that I do not believe in God and I will not change my fucking mind, no matter how many fucking scriptures you read to me. No I am not going to go home and waste my fucking time reading the bible. No I am not wasting my Sunday going to a fucking church. So you can take your bull shit pamphlets and shove them up your “holy” ass. And to you mother fuckers who tell me not to curse in front of church; fuck you and that church. Talking about its disrespectful to the “House of the Lord”. If the “lord” had a house, I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be this beat up ass trash can of a building. And if that’s the case, the “Lord” has a lot of fucking houses. I refuse to pray to some fairy tale character every fucking night. I refuse to thank God for everything...
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...(Strobel, Pg 9). I start with this quote because I feel it describes how I feel about my worldview. I feel that I’m Christian, but I am always questioning my religion. Whether or not to believe everything that is told to me. I do believe that God is real and that there is a heaven, but I have this feeling that there is more to it. I believe that I am Christian, because I was raised Christian by my parents. It was the right thing to do, follow my parents’ beliefs. I feel that my worldview is what defines a person and where they stand in life and religion. I believe God is our creator and is our spiritual being. He is the man we pray to; he is the one that created us in his image. I also believe that as a human we will all die at some point, and once we die we would go to heaven. The path to heaven is not easy but with the help of your church and your faith with God we can all get there. I believe that everything that was created in our universe is real and materialist, it was done by God. He made everything real so we could live off the land. I also believe that the nature of it all is real and not an illusion or a dream. I believe all of this is true, because everything I have been taught; has also been backed up with legitimate facts to prove it to be true. My parents as well believe that this is true, and I believe and trust them. I was taught to have open eyes, and what I have learned is that religion and science are pretty similar. They both have to believe in there 'theories';...
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...experience. Scientific American, 226(2), 22-29 Purpose of the Study: The purpose of this study was to see if certain stimulating experiences cause certain physical and chemical changes in the brain. The main goal was to see if “enriched” environments cause greater stimulation and growth in the brain as opposed to “impoverished environments. Mark Rosenzweig, Edward Bennett, and Marian Diamond were able to test these questions and it gave us more insight as to how the brain responds to certain situations. Methodology: This study was conducted on a set of 12 rats in each of three conditions for 16 experiments. The first condition was a standard colony cage with a few rats in a typical space with food and water always available. The second was the impoverished rat, which had just one rat in a standard cage with nothing inside besides food and water. And finally there were the rats in the enriched environment. There were six to eight rats in this extra-large cage with many objects for the rats to play with. The rats were allowed to live in these environments for a period of 4 to 10 weeks. The rats were then examined to see if any differences had taken place. To be sure that no bias had taken place the rats were examined at random order with code numbers to make sure the person doing the autopsy didn’t know which rodent they were observing. There were definitely limits, as this study could never possibly be put on humans and it is difficult to relate the rats to the...
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...Legalizing Marijuana I really don’t see nothing wrong with marijuana. They are some pros and cons on legalizing marijuana in this world. I will get to that later on this paper. I feel like for you to talk about this type of situation you have to go through it. I first smoke marijuana when I was twenty-six or twenty-seven. But I started drinking when I was fifteen or sixteen. I tried smoking cigarettes but my body didn’t agree with that. I even tried cocaine two or three times in my life time. I definitely didn’t like that. I even tried ectasy for a while until I find out what it do to the brain cells. Out of all these drugs ectasy is the most deadliest drug that kill the most brain cell. They put all kinds of stuff in that pill, which is very scary. Out of all those that I tried, the only thing that I agree with is marijuana. Yes, I did started drinking before I did any of these things. But who didn’t, alcohol is the gateway drug. I don’t even like taking pills for headaches or colds, when my body aches. The only pills I take is for my high blood pressure. When I smoke I feel so relax and for some reason I can feel everybody vibe. It sounds weird but I do. It lets me know on what I need to do and things not to do. The only thing frightens me, when I smoke. My heart rate goes up when I have high blood pressure. After like thirty minutes after smoking, I’m cool. I have my composure, and I am back focus. I think the reason my heart rate race like that is because I have a lot of things...
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