Category: general news

Stuff having to do with the news in general.

to be human

progstenLeave a comment

A question is as old as time

What does it mean to be Human?

How can a question look so simple but be so difficult to answer? To be human, of course, is to be a part of a certain species, the homo sapiens, and to be a part of the genus homo, then the family Hominidae and so on and so on. But this doesn’t quite answer the question people have been looking for, and frankly, I won’t be able to give you an answer in this blog, but I will give you my best guess.

But still, we are left with the question of what it means to be human. Is it because we, as a human race, have consciousness and can develop thoughts that not only allow us to think about what’s happening now but project our thoughts into both the future and the past? Is it the ability to think of things that haven’t even happened or will ever happen? Is that it? Is it the creative minds of us humans that make us who we are? If that’s the case, then what about A.I., which has an equal ability to make up new scenarios and imagine things that don’t exist? Well, I guess we have the living part going for us, but still, it doesn’t quite work cause what happens when a gorilla gains the ability to think(Ishmael reference)? Then, we have lost the thing that makes us who we are.

One theory I liked was that as humans evolved, we lost some functions that other animals have in order to gain language. (This was seen in many tests with chimps, who have very fast reflexes and high-functioning short-term memory compared to us slow humans.) However, in return for giving up some of the basic survival functions, we gain the ability to speak and have language.

So why did we develop language? It was to share.

We developed language to share information. We shared information on the best places to get food, hunting tactics to use, the least dangerous place to stay for the night, and more. We share in order to survive, and that is what makes us human. While this is a nice way of thinking about it, once I thought for a little while more, I remembered that Homo sapiens aren’t the only species that share and work together to survive. If this was the requirement for being human, things like ants would be right there alongside us.

So, after watching a few YouTube videos on the idea, one stuck out to me that I liked the most. This idea was

“the thing that makes us human is the acknowledgment of being human”

this is not a direct quote, but I still have the idea, so I’m putting it in quotes. Essentially, the only thing that makes us human is acknowledging others’ humanity and your own. I believe that this is the truest answer I have come across, or at least the one I agree with most. If you recognize yourself as a human, that is what makes you human. However, throughout history and today, people are seen as lesser. whether it be in slavery throughout the history of the world or it is if your friend got a lower score than you did on a test, we all view others as lower. We all view ourselves as human; no matter how you put it, we are all people.

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FruitFruitFruit

justthatonegirllLeave a comment

I love fruit so much. I love that after a dip in the pool on a hot summer day, I get to take a bite of the freshest ice, cold piece of fruit. Fruit is just like amazing. You can make fruit into anything basically. You could make fruit a snack, a dessert, a drink, and literally so much more. I don’t think people understand the perfection that comes from one fruit. Fruit is honestly the food of happiness, think, fruit is colorful and juicy with a great taste. The only thing I cant decide on is what kind of fruit is my favorite. I really love watermelon, but then I think about a strawberry, and like OMG mangos at the perfect ripeness is like the best gift a person could ask for. I remember this one time when I was in Mexico, on a vacation, I would eat at least 8 mangos a day. The fact of the matter is fruit is the best and everyone should love it! Also fruit is so healthy for you!

PC:Me

debt blog

poofypuffyLeave a comment

I am going to be in so much debt after college. I’ve gotten a good chunk of institutional aid, and I am still waiting on federal and state aid, but the way things are shaping up currently, I will likely be in six-figure debt at the end of my education. 

That’s pretty crazy. I don’t pretend to be any kind of expert in finances or anything, but I’m pretty sure 100k is a pretty unfavorable number of anything to owe.

Do I have it better than someone else? Of course. I know there are people out there paying the full sticker price of college or going to a school that charges a lot more in tuition. I’m grateful I am in the circumstances I am in. However, I’m still going to be in a lot of debt.

How did it get to this point? 

Yes, I chose to go to this school, being fairly aware of the cost. 

But I mean on a larger scale. In a news report, they said that in the past, a college education had a pretty big percent chance (I don’t remember what, but it was probably 80-90 percent) of helping the graduate make more in the future. However, today, college graduates have about a 50 percent chance of doing better, just because the cost of college is so high that the debt cancels out the benefit in the job market. Isn’t that crazy? You flip a coin. If it’s heads, your college education helped you in the long run. If it’s tails, you just shot yourself in the foot (financially).

Picture Credit: The Public Purpose

NYC, Fifth Avenue, Sunday 2:00 PM

baka228Leave a comment

I have been to many Broadway musicals, but until today, I had never seen Moulin Rouge. To be honest, I can confidently say that this performance is one of the most vivid memories of my life.

The softly dimming lights turned into complete darkness. When the lights go out in the auditorium, the audience’s hearts usually flutter in anticipation of the show. People in the audience cough or open their snacks. This time, there was a crushing silence in the room. The moment the lights went out, the world froze, and the dense walls of the theater cut off the audience from the ceaselessly noisy NYC, immersing them into a new world—a world of love, secret meetings, power struggles, and unrestrained and non-stop performance.

People have always strived to feel alive. In ancient times, in pursuit of this feeling, thrill-seekers resorted to death fights. Some found it thrilling to watch others die, for watching someone else’s death makes the observer’s blood run faster, adrenaline intoxicates, and sharpens the sense of life in vivid colors. A prime example of humanity’s love for bloody entertainment is the mega-popular gladiator fights. Both commoners and the elite always sought out such spectacles.

Like many, I chase the feeling of pure consciousness and the sharpness and reality of life. In search of this feeling, many resort to drugs, clubs, etc. These are destructive methods of experiencing the sensation of life, yet they work just as well as gladiator fights did.

I found myself in a feeling of absolute reality during the performance. Intense emotions, from tears to laughter, made me feel alive. I had not felt this sensation for a long time, and I was glad to experience it again.

pc: me

Do grades matter

progstenLeave a comment

This is a question that I ask myself almost daily. Personally, I have been in an environment for most of my life that deems grades to be an important and necessary part of my life. I want to be successful in my life and future career. So, I have mostly believed that no matter what, as long as I get good grades, I will be fine in whatever is thrown at me in my life. However, I have never been able to get “good grades” from the school I go to standards. So, for a while, I believed that I was going to struggle in my life once I got to college and once I got into the “real world,” but I have started to change my views over these past few years. Is the reason I have started changing my views due to the fact that my grades never got up to what I see as good? There’s a chance of that, but mainly, it is because whenever I focus on school and grades, I see a trend in my overall life going in a downward trajectory, which is not the way you want it to go. I did some light research ( a Google search) and found that only half the people who get degrees were able to secure a full-time job in the field they studied, and 16 percent were unable to secure a job. The rest are all into somewhere in between either getting a part-time or switching fields fully cause they couldn’t find a job. So, back to the original question on hand: do grades matter? Well, I am going to say It depends. I know that this is the easy way out when it comes to the answer, but it all really depends on what you want to do. If I were to ask a doctor or someone aspiring to be one from their perspective, I’m sure grades impacted a large part of their life because it allowed them to pressure their passion, but if I were to ask this same question to someone who plans to do a trade, start their own business, become a pro athlete, or a job that doesn’t a full degree, then they might answer differently. Ultimately, this is about whoever is reading this perspective, and in my case, I’m the one reading, so I personally don’t believe in grades as I think it’s more important to enjoy life, and if the pursuit of grades is taken away from that, don’t pressure them.

MORE WOULD YOU RATHER!!!!

progstenLeave a comment

I am running out of ideas to write about somehow, so I’m going to the old reliable of would you rather but this time, I am looking up some and then giving my answer for them, so here we go.

1. Would you rather have the ability to see 10 minutes into the future or 150 years into the future?

This is a pretty good one, but out of these two, I have to go with the ten-minute one because it’s more helpful in my life, and 150 years might be way longer than I will live, but it’s not long enough where I’m super interested in what’s going on. I would love to see the things of the future, but maybe it would be better if it was like 1000 rather than 150.

3. Would you rather team up with Wonder Woman or Captain Marvel?

It literally does not matter at all because I am a completely normal human, and both of them have superpowers, so I would not be helpful in fighting at all.

5. Would you rather find true love today or win the lottery next year?

Definitely the lottery because true love is not what I need at this stage in my life. It would be cool and all, but I would much rather have millions of dollars. Although if you asked me this question many years ago, I’m relatively sure that I would pick true love; however, if I am broke in the future, then I would still pick the money.

6. Would you rather be in jail for five years or be in a coma for a decade?

Defiantly in jail almost without question. I would hate to just not be able to do anything for years and have my body and all the work I have put into it just go away. plus, while in jail, I would probably get the crazy shredded since that’s the only thing I really could do. Also, I could read and just try to better myself for those five years. It would suck if it went on my record that I went to jail for five years since getting a job and stuff would suck, but being in a coma and not being able to move and just waking up one day and then everyone you know has changed so much after ten years. honestly, if I was homeless, I think I would try to get into jail with the least serious crime so I could get free living and food.

9. Would you rather have everyone you know be able to read your thoughts or for everyone you know to have access to your Internet history?

Definitely let everyone have access to my internet history because all you will find are super random questions like “How many crab species are there?” or something like that, but with thoughts, you really control them sometimes, although it would be funny to talk to everyone and force people to listen to what I have to say. At least that way all school accouncements will be easier for me. But also, there are so many crazy thoughts that I have and that everyone has so much knowledge of internet history.

10. Would you rather lose your sight or your memories?

This is a pretty good one because, on the one hand, if you lose your memory, you can still do everything, just all your memory would be gone, which is so so so so so so horrible, like maybe the worst thing ever, but you could re-learn who you are and what you love to do even If it would be different however if you lose you sight then everything you do in your life is going to change. For those who play sports, you can’t do that; for those who draw and do art, you can’t do that. You can’t drive or see amazing views. but if I absolutely had to pick, it would be memory.

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first drive lesson

poofypuffyLeave a comment

I had my first driving lesson and it was kind of discouraging. I feel like I just can’t drive. All I did was drive around a neighborhood for like an hour and a half and park a couple of times. I always feel like the car is in a different place than it actually is, which makes it hard to drive it where I want it because I never know where it really is. And I can’t remember anything about the road rules or anything from driver’s ed except not to park on a crosswalk and to stop at stop signs. I just kind of freeze up behind the wheel and can’t think straight. But actually when I drove on my own with my dad in a parking lot before the lesson I felt fine, so maybe it was just the instructor’s constant stream of passive-aggressive comments throughout the lesson that’s getting me all nervous.

picture credit:https://www.mysafetysign.com/student-driver-osha-caution-sign/sku-s-1249

How is my sleep schedule so bad?

progstenLeave a comment

It is something that everyone needs in their life; however, it’s something that I lack. To be healthy, you probably need around 8 hours of sleep, depending on how old you are, but that’s the general recommendation. There are 24 hours in each day, and there are things I want to do every day that take up this time. Firstly, school each day goes from 8:10-3:40, so that takes up around 7 hours and 30 minutes of my day!! That’s a lot, but not to worry, I have roughly 17 hours left in the day. Ok, so no biggie. I can just do everything I need at this time, right? Well, you can’t forget about sleep, right? So that’s, let’s say, another 8 hours if you’re getting the right amount. So now we are down to a whole 11 hours in the day left for me to do whatever I want, well, besides homework, which might take 30 minutes to an hour, so let’s just say I have 10 hours left. So, ten hours in the day to do what I need, which seems like enough time, right ?? I honestly have no idea how I don’t get everything I want to do done, like what takes up so much of my time ?? I can’t figure it out at all. If I go to the gym, that takes about 3 hours ( I know it’s not great time management on my part), but that still leaves me with 7 hours to do whatever I want. Am I really on my phone for that whole time?? I don’t think I am because my screen time doesn’t say it’s that much, so I really don’t know. But all this leads to me going to the gym at 10 o’clock or nine if I’m early and then leaving the gym at 1 am and then getting to sleep at 1:30 or two, which is horrible, then waking up at 7 in the morning. So I’m really not sure what to do. Maybe I should make a schedule of my day or something to help. But honestly, I just don’t know. Let me know if you have any suggestions because I’m at a loss. This ended up just being a rant, but most of my blogs are.

Junior-itis

progstenLeave a comment

Sadly, junior year is the most important time of my high school career and the time when I need to get my best grades and have my best academic performance; however, that is extremely difficult.

I’m definitely done with school and everything that comes with it. It is kinda expected that during your hardest time, you get your best grades, but honesty, that has just not happened even with me putting more effort into school than in previous years. I have not been able to get straight As any time in my life, and now that I have the most things going on in my life, I’m expected to get them. Like, come on, that’s not gonna happen.

On top of school, I still have things outside my current life that have a higher priority. However, when I prioritize those other things, my grades start to slip. So I’m not too sure what to do.

I can put my school life ahead of my other life, but that will hinder my mental health. Plus, school just isn’t as important to me as other things, but it’s important for my future (maybe?).

But anyway, back to the topic of the post, I definitely have the junior form of senior-itis, which is slightly different from senior-itis but I just know that my college is riding on this year, so I’m still putting in some work but trying my hardest to put in the least amount of effort and get maximum outcome.

Another way it’s similar to senior itis is that I am very ready to leave OVS. No offense to the school; I just believe I have served my time here and am ready for a little change of pace.

And watching the seniors all get ready to leave to go to college or wherever they plan on going makes it way worse. I feel like I’m picking up their readiness to leave when, in fact, I’m not close to leaving yet.

Although it is all about perspective, because it is unbelievable that I’m already nearing the end of my junior year when I was a freshman not too long ago, so maybe looking at it from another way will help out.

This isn’t something new that people haven’t heard im pretty sure everyone is feeling this. I just needed to write this down somewhere.

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Instagrams reels

progstenLeave a comment

The place where people go when they finally delete TikTok to try to make an effort to bring their screen time down. However, in semi-recent times, Instagram reels have become a place of true terror and horror. Now, I personally believe that TikTok is much more addicting than Instagram reels because their algorithm is better; however, I am not too sure if Instagram is better, honestly. While TikTok might make you spend 5 hours looking at stuff that you won’t remember or care about the moment you turn it off, Instagram reels will show you things that you will remember, but you don’t wish you did. Instagram has a pretty horrible filter that stops people from seeing horrible things on there. On Instagram reels, there is an absurd amount of people dying or getting attacked, mainly shown in car crash videos along with other videos that should not be shown, such as racist ideas/jokes. The reason why these videos don’t get taken down is that you are only seeing the car get crushed or the person fly out the window but not the person actually dying, and the racist jokes don’t get taken down because the algorithm can’t really tell what is racist and what isn’t so it relies on the judgment of the people watching the reels to report the things they see. However, because these videos have become so commonplace they often time they never get reported, but they get likes and shares because people have come to find these videos normal and funny. The main issue with all this is that these ideas and videos are becoming commonplace which reflects on the people. Even if they are jokes, they instill these views into people, which is obviously a horrible thing. Now, I’m not free of these videos, but it’s because I’ve seen so many that I know how big of an issue it is. If you go onto Instagram and read the comments of videos you will find some pretty horrible things.

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