Would We Choose a Fat President?

The presidential race is not merely about how well you will run the presidential seat anymore. It's about how you present yourself, how you fit into society and how you LOOK and of course the money and success factor. I have been reading my book titled "Amusing Ourselves To Death" and it brought up several of these points of really substantial and good information being traded for looks.

Pres. Taft

We, as US citizens pay attention to the media, more than ever before. We look at Glamour magazine or check on the actors or actresses on the movies and compare and contrast and then many people end up practically worshiping them. They then have the ability to influence us in the way they want. We even had Ronald Reagan that came from the show business world into politics and became the president of United States and now Arnald Schwarzenegger is in politics. How do we let this happen? We love them from their movies and how they act and look on the screen that they become our leaders of this country?

Ronald Reagan

Even what we pay attention to and use frequently has to be "pretty." Itunes and apple are a great example;  they are flashy and bright with a great presentation of their products. It is all about the presentation of the information.  What happened to information that was simple and very precise? What happened to a world that wasn't so focused on their image?

One reason I believe that we have drastically changed within the last couple of centuries is because of connectivity. As technology advanced, so did our ability to communicate and see each other and the rest of the world? We were no longer, stuck in our little bubble. When we are very connected to the world and groups we associate, we become very influenced by them.  By doing so, we are influenced by what is "good" by societies standards...(being lean, in shape and beautiful or successful)

It didn't always used to be like this, remember Theodore Roosevelt and Pres. Taft? Taft was 300lbs. With the information rise and the technology advances for connectivity, do you think there are any other reasons why we would not choose a fat president in this day?

Here is another article about history of fat presidents: http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2011/09/28/a-history-of-fat-presidents/

Teachers Are Making Us Stupid.

I recently watched the video that Austin Baughan posted titled "Changing Education Paradigms" If you haven't had the chance to watch it, I highly recommend it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

Within the video, he states that we ruining our capacity and ability to learn by standardizing everything. We go into school at a certain age and we are processed and filtered through the school systems and spit back out and expected to be a genius. Our public education systems are so focused on the one learning style, industry and the money that can be made, that we forget to actually LEARN IT! 


There is no such thing as a custom learning style, there is no accommodations in our present public schools. If you can't learn the material, at a fast pace and generate the specific response that the teacher desires then, I'm sorry you failed and that's just how it works. 

I know we have all grown up with this, and we are obviously are fairly proficient at it, otherwise we wouldn't be at this university, but what I am saying is that we have all been put on a production line and there is no room for creativity or deviation. Why do we have to learn about biology if we are a business major? They will never use it and as soon as they have finished their final exam, everything is wiped from their memory. All that hard work, hitting their heads against a wall and for what? To get a few letters behind their name? Does it really mean they have learned the material?


I don't believe it does. There are many smart people out there that are declined the chance to get an education and why? Because they aren't great at standardized tests? That is just ridiculous. 


It is the way that the public school system works and the teachers influence that learning process. They, aside from our digi civ teachers, have refused our ability to create, refused our ability to connect and WHY? When you can do it yourself, share it with others or teach someone else, it is not just a matter of regurgitation but a definite and factual learning that occurs. 


I have thought about this subject for years and have always wondered, what can we personally do about it? There has to be ways that we can influence the school systems so that our children don't have to be put on the production line. 




What can we do today?

Have Families Gotten Smaller Because of Feminism?

This post is a reply/rebuttal to Alena's Brar post titled "Is Anne Taintor Right?"

I can see where many people have been lead to believe that because of feminism, the size and quality of families have diminished. Many people believe that the decline of families all started with the feminist movement and our eagerness to have a career of our own.

There are however many falsehoods to these thoughts and many other reasons of why there has been a decline of the nuclear family and maybe not as big of a decline after all;

Throughout the 20th century, there were many advances taking place, such as substantially large technological and medical advancements. Furthermore wars and global conflicts were constantly under siege. Whether it was a world war, a depression or a race to space, the conflict and suffering was very prevalent. 

The decline of the nuclear family could be due to the wars. Men were always gone and the supplies and ability to care of the children was not readily available.

With the technology advances, so came the need for more education and learning. Both men and women needed to gain further education to qualify for jobs like never before. This could have very easily brought about less income and made the couple not equipt financially or time-wise for children. In addition, you could say that technology has made us more selfish and more glued to the mouse and TV, then anything else. It could be from the distractions that have increased over the last century. 

Lastly, what about the "baby boom" has no one accounted for this? This was a large expansion of our population during the 1940's to 1960's. There were plenty of people having many children and now we have many of them to thank for the many innovations and inventions that have been brought about by that generation. Therefore it has not been a steady decline of nuclear families since the feminist movement.

There are more reasons to consider why the nuclear family has declined and I would love to hear more if you have some. Simply stated, there is many more variables to the equation then feminism.

Evolution of Modern Medicine and the Decline on Patient Care

Since the beginning of time, humans have had the innate sense to protect their lives and health. The discovery of and foundational concepts of medicine started way back before Christ. Then, they used herbs and plants of the earth to heal their ailments.

Ancient Stethoscope

Medicine today has changed dramatically. It has changed the way we diagnose, treat and the care of patients. During the 19^th century, medicine took a big climb. The discovery of bacteria, vaccinations to treat viruses that once wiped out populations. Furthermore, anesthesia was developed for surgeries and certain procedures. Science, such as pathology, physiology, microbiology and further research of anatomy were brought about in this era.

The difference that I thought was most interesting was between medical technology and our ability to treat disease in this era compared to how they approached and treated each patient during the 19^th century and previously.

To preface my point; leading up to the 19^th century, doctors weren’t always looked at with respect or as educated, intelligent humans within their societies, but from what I have read, they all approached their patient’s with the similar methods. They would inquire about past illnesses, current appetite, pulse but then they would go on to look at their eyes, tongue, urine, faeces etc. Importantly they did not go straight into drug interactions but looked at the physical body and the symptoms that are shown.

Many doctors in our society get your past medical records and hear a few of your symptoms and then WACK they give you a drug and send you out the door as quickly as possible because they have a patient in the next room that’s ready to be seen.

I have experienced this personally. I had, had several years of abdominal pain and I went to see one of the so called “top” gastroenterologist (gut doctor) and he listened to half of what I had to say, didn’t look me over one bit and slapped some highly expensive medication on me with lots of side effects and walked out the door. Years down the road I went to see a Functional Medicine doctor (integrative) and he not only listened to what I had to say but then did a very thorough examination, such as my tongue, eyes, skin, physical and emotional problems etc. and recognized right away that I had many allergies to food. I then went ahead and did further allergy testing and abstained from all my allergy foods and my symptoms disappeared.

I believe that understanding the patient’s symptoms and checking all of the most vital parts of the body, where signs of infection, allergies, toxins can appear, is a large part of medicine that seems to go unpracticed. The patient care is declining and is it because of technology and further advances in medicine?

It seems like the more information we receive, the more research conformed, the more likely doctors will just hear a symptom and automatically think that they need “Blank” antibiotic or “blank” medication. They are missing the point. Do you think it is a medication deficiency they have? Absolutely not! I completely understand that with certain viruses and bacteria an antibiotic is needed and there are many, many ways in which the further advances in medicine has saved and changed peoples lives for the better.

My question still states; what has the large amounts of new information truly done to patient care and our health?

What do we want our future to look like?

  With what seems like very little thought and very few opinions heard, laws are made, culture is changed, values alter, invention brought about and our future takes a big hit, some for better and some for worse. 

   Now days, so many things are changing the way we live our lives. For example the smart phone, the internet, money readily available and then there is also the government programs, taxes and business laws that reform what we once knew as our everyday life. Our old life is behind us and we are constantly moving forward and changing, but I believe that we can have some say and take action in what alterations are taking place. 

During the 18th century constant changes were happening all around. Civilly, there were voices everywhere finally able to be heard by the general public of what a free man and society meant. Capitalism was brought up by Adam Smith, moral and human change was at the verge of uprising. There was a huge flood of information coming from all directions, like it never had before. Even art, the beginning of industries, textile development etc. 

Even in those vastly changing times, in the America's, they came together and decided that it was in their hands to make things happen, to put laws in place, to make this country what it is today. They didn't leave it in the hands of the French, they foresaw what the future might hold and voiced their opinions and took action. 

Today there is not enough of us, that will voice our opinions more then to our neighbor or to our closest friend. There are many subjects and government issues that are merely left in the dust without the consideration of what as a whole society thinks about it. And no, I am not just talking about our government representatives, I am talking about, the whole U.S. population. I believe this happens too often because no one thinks their opinion will be heard or it will make any difference. 

The key is participation, and with the ability we have to use the internet our voices can be heard and movements can take place. Our founding fathers, Rousseau's letters on moral and ethical subjects or Adam Smith and his influence and views on economics, each did not do it alone, they used all the participation they could get. They voiced their opinions publicly and people heard them and joined the ranks. They had the support and knowledge of many to create their future, which we live in today. 

I cannot change everything I voice, but I can change and make an impact on my future and further help more people be aware of how powerful their voice's really can be. 

So I say to you, what difference are you making for your future? We are apart of those who laid there lives down for us, we are their future, and must never forget it. 

To everyone out there....what are you doing to voice your opinions and actions?

How Digitally Civilized Am I?

Without much thought, I know what my skills are in the computer world and that is not many. I can get around on the computer screen on my own and can successfully check my facebook and email. Really, it sounds like that I am not that computer savvy but I can handle my own or usually figure it out.

I have two blogs, one is my personal blog, which I haven't kept up in a year and the second is my nutrition blog. Nutrition is my passion and I have always dreamed of creating my own nutrition and cooking blog which others follow. I'm excited for this class to get the interaction, not only with the students in the class, but with fellow web users, to obtain the experience in writing and publishing and to further learn about digital civilization.