Articles

  • What’s the deal with the Facebook messenger app?

    What’s the deal with the Facebook messenger app?

    A lot of people are worried about the new Facebook messenger app. They are wondering if they should bother with installing it or just ignoring it. Well, pretty soon you won’t have the option. They’re slowly rolling it out so that you have to use it. My version of the app has already switched. So,…

  • Untruth: Wendy Davis Supports Open Carry

    Untruth: Wendy Davis Supports Open Carry

    The winds of the Internet blow hard and fast, so people don’t have time to read an entire article before they are emotionally invested in it. They mostly just rely on the headline and/or the source to sum things up for them. So, when people started seeing headlines like Wendy Davis supports open carry gun…

  • Something Must Change in Syria

    Something Must Change in Syria

    International laws have been broken in Syria. Atrocities have been committed. And more importantly, many more will be committed if we do not act.

  • Don’t Feed the Trolls

    Don’t Feed the Trolls

    The trick to dealing with trolls is learning to recognize them when you see them so you can learn to avoid playing their game.

  • Why You’re Wrong about Obama and Unemployment

    Why You’re Wrong about Obama and Unemployment

    The article was originally written at the tail end of the 2012 presidential race, and I have kept it up to date every few months over the past eight years.

  • I’m tired of talking about Chick-fil-A.

    I’m tired of talking about Chick-fil-A.

    It’s your choice whether you want to join in the discussion or let us do the thinking for you.

  • Interaction vs. Communication

    Interaction vs. Communication

    We interact with our co-workers, our family members, and people randomly in public, but we don’t really have to do much communication.

  • Obama’s Peace Prize: The Olive Branch

    Obama’s Peace Prize: The Olive Branch

    I think it’s far more important that the international community start recognizing America as one of the leading voices for peace than waiting for Obama to, for example, solve the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

  • In Support of Obama’s Worldview

    In Support of Obama’s Worldview

    America’s behavior affects almost every corner of the world. As the self-proclaimed greatest nation on Earth, it’s our duty to act like it.

  • The Climate Is Changing

    The Climate Is Changing

    Just take a look at Venus and Mars. We can literally point to our sister planets and say, “See that? That could happen to us!”

  • Agnostic Atheism

    Agnostic Atheism

    Having personally gone through theism and agnosticism, I fully understand why people would want to call themselves agnostic atheists.

  • Why I Am Atheist

    Why I Am Atheist

    I’m not an atheist because I have yet to see evidence that God exists; I’m an atheist because I understand the biological explanation for it.

  • VIRAL ALERT: Flu Vaccine Propaganda Pandemic

    VIRAL ALERT: Flu Vaccine Propaganda Pandemic

    In case you haven’t heard, 26-year-old Desiree Jennings (who was training to be an NFL cheerleader) was allegedly diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder called Dystonia. Her case is so rare that even target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>specialists have been heard saying they’ve never encountered it. However, because it happened to her ten days after getting a flu…

  • Indict Dick Cheney

    Indict Dick Cheney

    The next time you hear Cheney say that America wasn’t attacked after 9/11, ask an Iraq War veteran about roadside bombs.

  • Opinions and Beliefs

    Opinions and Beliefs

    Everyone has the right to their opinions and no one can have a wrong opinion, but anyone can have beliefs that are simply wrong.

  • The Hypocrisy of Hope

    The Hypocrisy of Hope

    In 2004 we forgot our about our hopes, wants, and dreams and cowered to our fears, needs, and nightmares.

  • You Can’t Waste a Worthless Vote

    I know how this is going to make me look to some people, but I just stop reading certain emails when I realize it’s their attempt to convince me that voting for Stephen Colbert is a waste of my vote. Is it because I’m intellectually lazy or obstinate? No. I just know from their opening…

  • A “Cool Heads” Global Warming Discussion

    Or, lets say that we are NOT the cause of global warming. Then that frees us of the burden of having to correct it, right? Wrong. Even if we’re not the cause of it, it’s happening anyway. So, doesn’t it seem like a good idea to plan for the future?

  • Global Temperatures and Human Activity

    Global Temperatures and Human Activity

    I recently got into another discussion about global warming, and the person I was talking to said they weren’t convinced that humans were the cause of it. Though it’s just foolish to think that the temperature isn’t rising, there is (admittedly) room for debate on how much our presence and actions are affecting the environment.…

  • Everyone Wants to Be Johnny Carson

    Everyone Wants to Be Johnny Carson

    All late night talk shows (aside from the Daily Show and the Colbert Report) are lame and practically worthless. They’re formulaic, unoriginal, and pander to the widest audience possible. Half of the population has a below-average IQ, so their content has pretty much the same level of complexity. At least the Daily Show and the…

  • When It Rains, It Deluges

    Rainfall has historically been something to look forward to, but India recently has learned firsthand the lesson about having too much of a good thing. As the death toll continues to rise, the rain continues to fall, and the pressures it puts on the people of the region create several social problems. This natural disaster…

  • The Envelope, Please: Texas Education Report

    The Texas Education Agency is going to release its findings on the academic performance of Texas public schools today, and the labels that they assign to each school could greatly influence many districts. The ratings given to each school affect the students, the faculty, the funding, and even the property value of the area around…

  • Tonowi Is to Buymi

    Tonowi Is to Buymi

    It is interesting to find two political systems that are so distinctly different from one another while certain aspects of these systems are so incredibly alike. The tonowi of the Kapauku from western New Guinea is the title given to a political leader. He has considerable power and influence over the people, and though it…

  • The Politics of Womanhood

    Perhaps not surprisingly, our male-dominated world has often marginalized women when it came to positions of power. The reasons for this are almost always based in our cultural expectations of women, which has been tolerant at best and despicable more often than not. Women have been forced to be resourceful, and it has been proven…

  • Pesticides Intended for Non-Human Pests

    A recently published study by the American Medical Association has pointed out serious concerns about the poisoning of schoolchildren from local pesticides (5). Some people are quick to point out that, of the incidences reported, most of the cases were mild. But many of these chemicals created serious illnesses for some children and employees of…

  • Nuclear Family Meltdown

    For the past half century or more, the ideal of a family in the United States was the nuclear family. Though the definition has changed somewhat to be more inclusive, it has not changed the fundamental nature of it. Ideal though it may seem, there are drawbacks to this type of family, which has likely led…

  • Married to the Mob: Same-Sex Marriage’s Fight

    The issue of same-sex marriages has been a hot topic for many years, but not nearly as hot as it has been the past few. The most recent nation to legalize same-sex marriage is one that is very close to us, both physically and politically. On the 20th of July, Canada became the fourth nation…

  • How to Write a Good (Basic) Essay

    1. Write a five-sentence summary about the whole paper, and try to make it mimic what your paper will look like when you’re done. The first sentence, like the first paragraph, is your introduction. The next three (or two, or four, or thirty, or whatever) sentences should be your “body” sentences, like the body paragraphs…

  • Romantic Influence on Us All

    Since we are very young we are bombarded with images and ideas of romance. It is an important factor in our society that affects and reinforces specific ideas about how relationships are supposed to form. There are problems inherent in this method of choosing mates, however, and they go beyond the purely superficial. It could…

  • Trumping the Race Card

    Racial inequality has plagued our nation so long that even in today’s relatively enlightened culture we find various forms of prejudice and discrimination. In a predominantly white nation, the darker ones skin tone, the more likely you are to suffer from racial inequality. This separation creates less opportunity for social advancements such as political influence,…

  • Aggressive by Nature?

    It was generally held for a long time that hunting, the act of stalking live prey and then killing it, contributed a great deal to our natural aggressive tendencies. After all, it seems perfectly natural to imagine how this ruthless ability to assault another living creature would serve our ancestors capture much-needed food. The problem…

  • G-8 is Enough

    The G-8 was created out of the eight richest countries in the world in order to fight poverty in Africa. Poverty affects more people throughout the world than all of the citizens represented by their leaders in the G-8 conference. But poverty happens even in these countries, including the United States. It is not a…

  • Out of Africa, Too

    There are three pervading hypotheses about the emergence of modern humans. While I was reading the summaries of the three hypotheses, I began to I favor the so-called multiregional hypothesis, which states that our species evolved relatively simultaneously in several parts of the Old World. I understood the logic behind the “Eve” hypothesis, which supports…

  • Red Oil Scare

    China has made an unsolicited offer to acquire one of the largest United States-based oil company, which would essentially double its oil and gas output (2). The organization that is making the offer, the Chinese National Offshore Oil Company, is a state-run organization of the Chinese government. Because of the cultural differences between the capitalist…

  • Why Evolution Is Scientific and Creationism Is Not

    Why Evolution Is Scientific and Creationism Is Not

    Evolution is a product of the scientific process. It is often touted by critics as being “only a theory.” The irony is that if they truly understood the word theory they would not be so quick to call it that. Our text describes the word as “an explanation of natural phenomena, supported by a reliable…

  • Terrorism at Home, Even When Abroad

    The recent terrorist attacks in London remind us that people are still willing to use the most extreme measures to make their voices heard. It seems now that more people condemn terrorism than ever before, and yet it continues even in one of the world’s safest nations. It is a difficult task to overcome terrorism,…

  • You Are Not Agnostic

    You Are Not Agnostic

    This is an old paper I wrote for a religion class, and I’m only leaving it here for posterity. I may replace it with a more concise version (because this one is too academic) once I feel the motivation. This version does not fully represent what I believe now. Agnosticism is the belief that it…

  • There Is No Spoon

    There Is No Spoon

    There is a scene in the movie “The Matrix” where the main character, Neo, is visiting a so-called oracle. As he waits to see her, he looks at the other “potentials” that stay with her. These potentials, all children, are able to manipulate objects using what appears to be telekinesis. At one point, Neo leans…

  • The Evolution of the Signal

    The Evolution of the Signal

    We are able to consume a lot of information, and there is a lot to be consumed, so those who present it must be aware of how it is organized.

  • My Statement of Aesthetics

    My Statement of Aesthetics

    Initially, I took my first poetry class because I thought that poetry and prose were two completely different things, and I needed to explore my poetic side. But as the semester progressed I quickly discovered that they are imperatively inseparable. Poetry keeps prose fresh, healthy, and beautiful. I have compared some of my prose from…

  • KTXT: Lubbock’s Only Propaganda Alternative

    I grew up in this area, so I was around when KTXT became “Lubbock’s only alternative.” And, I’m old enough to remember the “this is your brain on drugs” commercials on TV. I agree that there are bad drugs out there that can harm people, but I also believe there are good drugs that can…

  • Nature vs. Nurture

    To make it perfectly clear, this is an analogy, as I do not have enough evidence to prove otherwise. We are born, and according to our DNA, in there is how we would respond to every question that could ever be asked or every event that could come before us. Whether or not it is…