Parasites in Action at the University of Tulsa!
Listen:https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.spl/775_collegianmeetingwithpublicrelationso.mp3
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Sunday, February 15, 2015
Aldous Huxley
Huxley was obviously best known for writing A Brave New World, but his life was much more complex than that. When Huxley was 16 he underwent keratitis punctata, which left him entirely blind. [1]. He recovered to a certain degree, gaining sight in one of his eyes. However, his condition restricted his life in more ways than he could have imagined, and was part of the reasons he turned to writing. He was originally studying to go into the medical field. [2].
Later in his life Huxley shifted his focus from science fiction to psychedelics. His first noted experience was his mescaline trip in Southern California. [3]. His interest in psychedelics rested in the realm of expanding one's consciousness, rather than experimenting with the medical aspect of them. His non-fiction book The Doors of Perception, which details the trip and discusses the effects, benefits, and potential of the drug upon one's consciousness. [4]. He later tried LSD, which became his choice psychedelic, preferring it to mescaline.
Sources:
1. http://www.online-literature.com/aldous_huxley/
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldous_Huxley
3. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/06/aldous-huxley-psychdelic-los-angeles.html
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Doors_of_Perception
Later in his life Huxley shifted his focus from science fiction to psychedelics. His first noted experience was his mescaline trip in Southern California. [3]. His interest in psychedelics rested in the realm of expanding one's consciousness, rather than experimenting with the medical aspect of them. His non-fiction book The Doors of Perception, which details the trip and discusses the effects, benefits, and potential of the drug upon one's consciousness. [4]. He later tried LSD, which became his choice psychedelic, preferring it to mescaline.
Sources:
1. http://www.online-literature.com/aldous_huxley/
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldous_Huxley
3. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/06/aldous-huxley-psychdelic-los-angeles.html
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Doors_of_Perception
Friday, February 13, 2015
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
INTRODUCING THE FUCK YOU NEWS!
***After a discussion with Dr. Preston I have decided to move the original material of this post, and future material like it, to a second, more personal blog entitled The Fuck You News.***
This was originally a post about an encounter I had with an "authority figure" at Righetti that left me offended. If you'd like to read it, please check this shit out!
http://thefuckyounews.tumblr.com/
This was originally a post about an encounter I had with an "authority figure" at Righetti that left me offended. If you'd like to read it, please check this shit out!
http://thefuckyounews.tumblr.com/
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Want to embed music on your blog? This site makes that shit basic.
The website http://scmplayer.net/ allows you to create a playlist of your choosing through MP3 files, Soundcloud or YouTube URLs. Checkout the site and edit a playlist of your own. All you have to do is copy and paste the URL or a downloaded MP3 file into the "Edit Playlist" setting. You can then edit the way the playlist looks (they give a list of basic templates). Run through the instructions on the site and it will generate an HTML code that you can use anywhere. Go to the layout of your blog and copy/paste this HTML code into it, either at the top of the screen or the bottom.
The coolest part is that if you know how to code (which I DO NOT) you can further edit the playlist just by messing around with lines of the code. By "just by messing around" I really mean very strictly altering them and I don't know how to do that. But maybe you do know so there you go.
Basically what this site does is generate a code that you can copy and past into your blog. It's very useful and simple, and lets you put pretty much any song or sound you want on your blog. Again, the website I use for this is http://scmplayer.net/.
The coolest part is that if you know how to code (which I DO NOT) you can further edit the playlist just by messing around with lines of the code. By "just by messing around" I really mean very strictly altering them and I don't know how to do that. But maybe you do know so there you go.
Basically what this site does is generate a code that you can copy and past into your blog. It's very useful and simple, and lets you put pretty much any song or sound you want on your blog. Again, the website I use for this is http://scmplayer.net/.
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
A Lesson I Learned in Disrespect
Today I witnessed something I'd like to share with you [SORRY].
The last thing you expect to see is people disrespecting a memorial for someone that meant a lot to an entire community.
I watched some asshole pull on a deflated red balloon hanging from a flag pole at Righetti. When I saw him pull it, watch it snap back, and laugh, I got angry. What made me sick to my stomach/furious/pushed me over the edge however was when he came back to the pole a minute later, ripped the balloon off entirely and dropped it to the floor. I wish I could go back in time and confront that kid- ask him why the fuck he would do something so disrespectful. I didn't have the balls to do so and he walked away- I'll never get to call him out for being a piece of shit. And then I stood there where I usually stand talking with my friends and watched the balloon until a second opportunity to call out some assholes presented itself.
I probably wouldn't have even gone and talked to them if Aaron hadn't started moving first, so thanks for that Aaron. We talked to a second group of douchebags who took the balloon from the ground and played with it, stretching it, taking turns karate-chopping it, and eventually popping it. I assume they were underclassmen, because they weren't seniors and I don't personally know any juniors who would do something like this, though I'm sure they're out there.
The first thing we asked them was if they knew who these balloons were for- what they represented. This was ten feet away from the large memorial- I found it hard to believe that these kids didn't at least have a clue that those balloons signified something, meant something to people.
Still, one of the kids in the balloon-popping circle said he didn't know what the balloon was for. Another one said she was his friend. Why would you watch a group of your friends disrespect the memory of another friend you had just lost? This guy sat there playing guitar the whole time. I totally believe that she was his friend, because she was everyone's friend, which makes him even more of a prick for watching his friends turn a piece of her memorial into a garbage toy.
Their excuse- what they kept telling us- was that it was already on the ground. I know that's true because I saw the other guy rip it off the fucking pole. But that excuse doesn't cover shit. Because they still pulled, stretched, tore, and popped a balloon that was meant to represent a celebration of a human being's life. Righetti's a large school- most of the kids in this group probably didn't know Bree. But they had to have known that she passed away. Announcements, rallies, posters everywhere... They had to have known the significance of the balloons- they just didn't care because they didn't know her (well except for that shit who sat around and said "she was my friend"). How fucked up is that? To destroy, to mock a memorial of someone who passed away is a shitty thing to do, whether you knew the person or not.
The whole situation was extremely insensitive and just fucked up. They were just kids being stupid says part of me, while another part says they are complete pieces of shit. Both of these are true to some degree, but I realized after I had cooled down that the first option (stupid kids) was probably the truest.
I didn't want to write this to talk about our confrontation with these kids- which is why I included only one short quote. I wanted to write this to try in some form to express how disrespectful and shitty human beings are. I was kind of overcome that people would fuck around with balloons obviously placed to signify and celebrate a person's life.
I'm sure this shit goes on all the time- popping balloons, ripping posters, defacing memorials and all that- but to actually see it is offensive and shocking. If you see anyone like this, confront them. You don't have to be a dick about it, just honestly tell them how you feel and why what they did was insensitive. If they don't show any signs of regret after that or if they're just plain assholes about it, that's when you get to be a dick. Be a huge fucking dick: because people like that deserve to be shat on. Basically, I think people need to know how to have some fucking respect.
Regardless, it would still give me an insurmountable amount of pleasure to hunt down the fuckhead who ripped that balloon from the pole and stomp his face in. (But not really though, I'd rather just verbally smash him). That's a thought anyway.
The last thing you expect to see is people disrespecting a memorial for someone that meant a lot to an entire community.
I watched some asshole pull on a deflated red balloon hanging from a flag pole at Righetti. When I saw him pull it, watch it snap back, and laugh, I got angry. What made me sick to my stomach/furious/pushed me over the edge however was when he came back to the pole a minute later, ripped the balloon off entirely and dropped it to the floor. I wish I could go back in time and confront that kid- ask him why the fuck he would do something so disrespectful. I didn't have the balls to do so and he walked away- I'll never get to call him out for being a piece of shit. And then I stood there where I usually stand talking with my friends and watched the balloon until a second opportunity to call out some assholes presented itself.
I probably wouldn't have even gone and talked to them if Aaron hadn't started moving first, so thanks for that Aaron. We talked to a second group of douchebags who took the balloon from the ground and played with it, stretching it, taking turns karate-chopping it, and eventually popping it. I assume they were underclassmen, because they weren't seniors and I don't personally know any juniors who would do something like this, though I'm sure they're out there.
The first thing we asked them was if they knew who these balloons were for- what they represented. This was ten feet away from the large memorial- I found it hard to believe that these kids didn't at least have a clue that those balloons signified something, meant something to people.
Still, one of the kids in the balloon-popping circle said he didn't know what the balloon was for. Another one said she was his friend. Why would you watch a group of your friends disrespect the memory of another friend you had just lost? This guy sat there playing guitar the whole time. I totally believe that she was his friend, because she was everyone's friend, which makes him even more of a prick for watching his friends turn a piece of her memorial into a garbage toy.
Their excuse- what they kept telling us- was that it was already on the ground. I know that's true because I saw the other guy rip it off the fucking pole. But that excuse doesn't cover shit. Because they still pulled, stretched, tore, and popped a balloon that was meant to represent a celebration of a human being's life. Righetti's a large school- most of the kids in this group probably didn't know Bree. But they had to have known that she passed away. Announcements, rallies, posters everywhere... They had to have known the significance of the balloons- they just didn't care because they didn't know her (well except for that shit who sat around and said "she was my friend"). How fucked up is that? To destroy, to mock a memorial of someone who passed away is a shitty thing to do, whether you knew the person or not.
The whole situation was extremely insensitive and just fucked up. They were just kids being stupid says part of me, while another part says they are complete pieces of shit. Both of these are true to some degree, but I realized after I had cooled down that the first option (stupid kids) was probably the truest.
I didn't want to write this to talk about our confrontation with these kids- which is why I included only one short quote. I wanted to write this to try in some form to express how disrespectful and shitty human beings are. I was kind of overcome that people would fuck around with balloons obviously placed to signify and celebrate a person's life.
I'm sure this shit goes on all the time- popping balloons, ripping posters, defacing memorials and all that- but to actually see it is offensive and shocking. If you see anyone like this, confront them. You don't have to be a dick about it, just honestly tell them how you feel and why what they did was insensitive. If they don't show any signs of regret after that or if they're just plain assholes about it, that's when you get to be a dick. Be a huge fucking dick: because people like that deserve to be shat on. Basically, I think people need to know how to have some fucking respect.
Regardless, it would still give me an insurmountable amount of pleasure to hunt down the fuckhead who ripped that balloon from the pole and stomp his face in. (But not really though, I'd rather just verbally smash him). That's a thought anyway.
Monday, February 2, 2015
A Brief Conversation on a Shitty Thursday
Last Thursday Aaron McFarland and I went into Preston's classroom at lunch to discuss creating a philosophy-type club. We were going to meet a couple of other people interested, but they never showed, so we just stayed in the class and talked until lunch ended. Breanna Rodriguez had just held a meeting for a Yosemite trip she was planning and immediately came over and asked us if we were there for the meeting. We told her no, and she said something like, "Good, because you just missed it." And then she sat down with us and we just had a conversation. It was this conversation that compelled me to write this. Just me, Bree, and Aaron sat and talked about life- not even academics or anything- just a real human conversation. We weren't close friends, just people who knew each other, but she still wanted to talk to us. She was one of the happiest and most genuine people on Righetti's soul-sucking campus- and she actually cared about other humans.
I walked away from that conversation remembering (from time spent in our group in Mrs. Byrne's English, sophomore year) what a great human being she was. I hadn't had a conversation with her since that sophomore English class, and this is part of the reason that the news that she passed away just a day after talking to her again had such an impact on me. Not because I was a close friend with her, but because she could form a bond with people in fifteen minutes. She had such an upbeat attitude about life that she was able to make people happier just by being around. I don't understand how a human being could be as positive as Bree was: even if the people she was around were negative pieces of shit, she'd still stay positive.
If anyone deserves to die young, it's the people who just sit around and exist like I do; who don't really care about the community they live in or participating in it. Not the people like her who were out there actually trying to make a difference. Not people who have futures- promising, meaningful futures. She was going to make an impact on the world
I'm typically not a very social person, which is why Bree coming up and talking to Aaron and me out of nowhere surprised me; she just liked being nice to people.
Actually connecting with someone you haven't talked to in over a year and then hearing that they passed away the next day just made me feel sick.
I learned what kind of person she was in Mrs. Byrne's class two years ago, and this conversation just brought all of those memories back.
This world is ninety-percent asshole; she was in the ten percent that cared and mattered. I could never be a fraction of the person she was, nor could most of the students at Righetti. We didn't just lose a person- we lost a piece of the future.
If anyone deserves to die young, it's the people who just sit around and exist like I do; who don't really care about the community they live in or participating in it. Not the people like her who were out there actually trying to make a difference. Not people who have futures- promising, meaningful futures. She was going to make an impact on the world; she was going to do things that were beneficial to humanity. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who knew her at all who would disagree with that.
Though I didn't know her as long, this hits me even harder than Mark Bae's death back in August. Mark was suffering, and he made a choice that I can personally understand. Bree wanted to live and should have for at least sixty more years.
That's what makes this so fucked up: she was going places, she had plans. Hundreds of Righetti students (probably upwards of a thousand) like me don't. Usually I just see a bunch of assholes every which way I glance and think "fuck America" or "fuck this planet," but people like her gave me hope for the future.
So many people have written so much about this awesome and inspirational person, that I know this probably seems like I'm just jumping on the RIP bandwagon. You know, joining those people who haven't even met someone in their community and still post some long-worded message or some half-hearted "praying for the family" post for the Facebook likes and shit?
I've contemplated whether or not I should post this because of that, but then realized it doesn't matter if people think that's what I'm doing. What matters is letting people know that she was one of the kindest and most innately "good" people I have ever known, no matter how many other people have said the same thing.
I walked away from that conversation remembering (from time spent in our group in Mrs. Byrne's English, sophomore year) what a great human being she was. I hadn't had a conversation with her since that sophomore English class, and this is part of the reason that the news that she passed away just a day after talking to her again had such an impact on me. Not because I was a close friend with her, but because she could form a bond with people in fifteen minutes. She had such an upbeat attitude about life that she was able to make people happier just by being around. I don't understand how a human being could be as positive as Bree was: even if the people she was around were negative pieces of shit, she'd still stay positive.
If anyone deserves to die young, it's the people who just sit around and exist like I do; who don't really care about the community they live in or participating in it. Not the people like her who were out there actually trying to make a difference. Not people who have futures- promising, meaningful futures. She was going to make an impact on the world
I'm typically not a very social person, which is why Bree coming up and talking to Aaron and me out of nowhere surprised me; she just liked being nice to people.
Actually connecting with someone you haven't talked to in over a year and then hearing that they passed away the next day just made me feel sick.
I learned what kind of person she was in Mrs. Byrne's class two years ago, and this conversation just brought all of those memories back.
This world is ninety-percent asshole; she was in the ten percent that cared and mattered. I could never be a fraction of the person she was, nor could most of the students at Righetti. We didn't just lose a person- we lost a piece of the future.
If anyone deserves to die young, it's the people who just sit around and exist like I do; who don't really care about the community they live in or participating in it. Not the people like her who were out there actually trying to make a difference. Not people who have futures- promising, meaningful futures. She was going to make an impact on the world; she was going to do things that were beneficial to humanity. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who knew her at all who would disagree with that.
Though I didn't know her as long, this hits me even harder than Mark Bae's death back in August. Mark was suffering, and he made a choice that I can personally understand. Bree wanted to live and should have for at least sixty more years.
That's what makes this so fucked up: she was going places, she had plans. Hundreds of Righetti students (probably upwards of a thousand) like me don't. Usually I just see a bunch of assholes every which way I glance and think "fuck America" or "fuck this planet," but people like her gave me hope for the future.
So many people have written so much about this awesome and inspirational person, that I know this probably seems like I'm just jumping on the RIP bandwagon. You know, joining those people who haven't even met someone in their community and still post some long-worded message or some half-hearted "praying for the family" post for the Facebook likes and shit?
I've contemplated whether or not I should post this because of that, but then realized it doesn't matter if people think that's what I'm doing. What matters is letting people know that she was one of the kindest and most innately "good" people I have ever known, no matter how many other people have said the same thing.
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