Into The Wild By Jon Krakauer - 1128 Words

Into the Wild Jon Krakauer’s compelling novel, â€Å"Into the Wild† is a true story about Christopher McCandless’ search for identity. McCandless was enamored in the idea of escaping a life that revolves around material possessions. The non-fiction treatment of this young life illustrates through the rebuilding of events in McCandless’ life the idea that McCandless seemed obsessed with how people appeared blind to the fact that they were living unhappy lives yet were terrified of giving up that life because it was safe, provided security and stability. However, for McCandless, nothing was more dangerous to the free spirit within him than that safe secure future. Krakauer with an eye to journalistic detail describes McCandless’ journey using†¦show more content†¦For example, a few months before he embarked on his journey his parents offered him a new car. McCandless not only refused the car but was furious that his parents had even offered to give something like this to him in the first place because he already had a car that ran like a champ, which was a yellow 1982 Datsun B210 with over two hundred thousand miles on it, and anything more luxurious than that would be an unnecessary material item or as he called it, just a thing, it was a good thing he refused that new car because that Datsun without a doubt aided him on his search for identity. Most people have a search for self-identity and the meaning of life but McCandless took it to the extreme. He was so wrapped up in finding himself and his identity that he felt the only way to do just that was to burn all of his money, leave his car in the dessert, and travel all around the country in search of a better place, where the people didn’t place all of their value in material possessions and statuses. Chris even created a fake identity for himself while on his search to find his real one, everyone he met on his journey knew him as Alexander Supertramp as th is is the name he chose for himself on his â€Å"great Alaskan adventure†. He traveled all over the US and even ended up in Mexico for a couple months but he knew all along that the ultimate destination was the Alaskan wilderness where there was no one because he knew that he

Essay about The Ingredients of the Great Depression

The Great Depression originated in the United States with the stock market crash on October 29, 1929. The depression was the biggest economic fall in American’s history. This crash stretched throughout the globe and affected the rich as well as the poor. There were many causes that assisted in bringing the depression into existence. However one of the main causes was the disproportionate riches during the nineteen-twenties. The gap between the rich and the working class people was the enlarged industrialize production during this period. Also in this period production cost fell quickly, wages rose slowly and prices remained steady. The government contributed to this gap. The federal income taxes were reduced dramatically by the Revenue†¦show more content†¦This growing inequality of the wealth between the wealthy and poor made the United States economy unstable. Many people believe the Stock Market crash and the Great Depression are one in the same. In the nineteen twenties the Dow Jones went from sixty to four hundred. People became instant millionaires. Trading became America’s favorite pastime and a quick way to get rich. There were Americans mortgaging their home and investing their life savings in stock such as ford. However, there were many fake companies that formed to deceive the inexperience investors. Many investors did not believe that a crash was possible; they all thought the market would always go up. With the stock market declining, the banks began to see decrease. Bank deposits were uninsured and as banks failed people simply lost their savings. Being unsure of the economic situation and how they would survive themselves was unwilling to give new loans. These situations lead to less spending. When the stock market crashed and the worries regarding more economic decline, people from all classes stopped purchasing consumer products. Which lead to reduction in consumer products being made, this caused a reduction in the workforce. As people lost their jobs they were unable to pay for the items that were bought on credit. The unemployment rate rose and cause even less spending to assist to lesson the economic situation. American business started failing. The government tried to helpShow MoreRelatedFast Food Vs Healthy Food Essay1120 Words   |  5 Pagessomething about fast food, I have just been so passionate about it, and have always wondered what’s in fast food and why is it so inexpensive. I feel like fast food ingredients and prices should be expressed to the public, in which why fast food products are sold for so cheap. Addressing the products ingredients, and why their ingredients are so heavily processed is most definitely important for people’s health. 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Critique Essay on- Why we Believe in Unbelievable

Question: Discuss about Critique essay on Why we believe in unbelievable? Answer: The essay Why we believe in unbelievable written by Michael Shermer will prove an excellent writing for those who believe in superstitions and enjoy dipping into the issues and ideas of creationism, dualism, essentialism and strongly believe in institutions. After reading the essay, the most enjoyable and the new thing we can find is the look at repugnance and hatred and why few people find such particular incidents or things like accident of Princess Diana and 9/11 attack abhorrent and why other people do not find them objectionable. Also in the authors text the same concept has been contradicted in the conclusion through which we can develop the meaning of super sense as a way of bringing together the whole world in some kind of a order. It is very unlikely that we can get rid from all this beliefs, it exits in our society and will be there in the future too. The main reason of its existence it that it is a key for our functioning as a social animal. After reading the authors writing I feel that the history of the modern civilization can be better described in a slow and steady carving of supernatural beliefs. In todays time we do not worship most of the Gods which we and our ancestors were worshipping. Gone are those days when we use to believe in astrology, numerology, witches, ghosts which people claimed to be psychics. Today is the time of modern thoughts where we are favouring women to work, to vote, and pursue professional careers and also promoting inter racial marriages. Above all the advancement in our thoughts have reach to such a peak where we are accepting homosexuals and sooner will accept it as a norm. There was a time when all these things were considered wrong and was a hatred topic to be discussed and such repugnance is posted as super sense by the author in his writings. But such claims begs a question for me, that if we are able to defeat or conquer such irrational and irrelevant symptoms of super senses then w hy we should not expect ourselves to overcome other things from which we are repulsed without any good reason. For eg like stem cell, genetically modified organisms and science of human genetic engineering are scientific researches which have a valid proof and we should accept such inventions instead of considering them as super senses. As per the 2009 poll, Americans have accepted that they still believe in Angels and devils instead of believing in science of evolution. Through the text Shermer tries to look for answers why do people believe in those things which the scientists consider to be unbelievable. Skepticmagazine founding publisher Shermer (The Mind of the Market: Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans, and Other Tales from Evolutionary Economics, 2007, etc.) writes entertainingly about the scientific basis of belief. There are times where scientists do believe in few unproven things like origin of universe, big bang theory to which scientists are trying hard to prove the results of experiments against the null hypothesis (Collins Harper). Through the essay the Shermer throws light on conspiracy theories of 9/11 attack which brought down the twin towers and believe in extra sensory perceptions which are replicated by the magicians. Above all the author has fully tried to make us believe in our lives. To an y situation when we jump to make false conclusions is like a recognition pattern made by our mind that has been evolved from our ancestors. Even the animals and birds can anticipate the danger and fast respond to their environment. A quote written by the author explains that we as humans have an emotional leap of faith which is required beyond any reason. When we are rushing to the airport and suddenly the road gets blocked due to land slide making us to miss the flight. After an hour we get to know that the particular flight got crashed and all passengers died on spot. Grefter Amanda argues that Reality is Relative: Our quest for an objective view of the world is thwarted by our personal beliefs. Amanda clearly states that this is our personal beliefs that God saved our life. If we are religious, then we will definitely presume the falling of tree as a miracle and the proof that God is with us and he saved our life. But if we are not practical then we will definitely consider this situation as an incredible fortunate fluke. Thus these two interpretations of ours on the same event has been exemplified by Amanda that our belief comes first followed by our explanations. So the next question comes from where does our beliefs come from, according to Shermer they comes from our ability to see patterns in noise, real or imaginary world and our tendency to relate our mind and intentions to such patterns. Such skills of patternicity are evolved from ancestors which makes us to believe in angels, devils, ghosts and God. According to the neuroimaging studies, our belief into angels and devils is almost equal to our belief in one plus one is two. Therefore Shermer explains that we cannot eliminate our superstitious learning because people believe weird things because of our evolved needs to believe non-weird things. Shermer has oddly organized his writing. His cognitive biases will surely make the rational readers to think again and will feel to recognize the flaws in their thinking and will definitely start evaluating their beliefs. Shermer has showed his awareness and concern that he is too a part of such flawed thinking and by sharing such personal belief has made Shermer a forever trustworthy guide. After reading the text our quest for objective reality comes on peak on which Shermer answers that science is our immense hope which gives answers to all our beliefs and dis-beliefs. By reading Shermer text and his book The Believing Brain it is clear that there are superstitious beliefs prevailing in our culture, ages and society. Shermer says that it is the only way through which we can gather knowledge and can move ahead keeping our individual lenses of belief behind. I would recommend this essay of Shermer to those who are sick of identifying in politely settling of garrulous distractions of life. Work Cited Grefter Amanda. Reality is Relative: Our quest for an objective view of the world is thwarted by our personal beliefs. (2011). Web March 3, 2016. Collin Harpers. Super sense: why we believe in the unbelievable The Skeptics dictionary. Web March 4, 2016. Shermer Michael. Conspiracy theories: Why we believe in unbelievable. Web Nov 16, 2013. Shermer Michael, Stephen Jay Gould. Why people believe in Wierd things: Pseudoscience, superstition, and other confusion of our time. (2002). Web March 4, 2016. Bruce Hood. Why we believe in the unbelievable. (2009). Web March 4, 2016.

Stretching and Activity free essay sample

Copy and answer the following questions in a word processing document. * Be sure to save the assignment document to your Personal Fitness folder. * Be sure to save your work as 2_04. rtf. Assignment Questions Part I: Beginning the Activity 1. Choose an activity such as walking, running, aerobics, soccer, basketball, or rollerblading. What exercise activity will you participate in? Running 2. Why is the warm-up phase of your training program important? It will stretch each major muscle group which will be worked during the activity you are preparing for. Why is the cool-down phase of your training program important? Stretch all major muscles; focus on those that will have a large demand placed on them. 4. Identify areas of your body in which you have experienced muscle soreness due to vigorous activity. Legs and arms. Part II: Design a Warm-up for Your Personal Needs For each of the following, describe what you will do to prepare your body for the activity that you selected in Part 1, #1. We will write a custom essay sample on Stretching and Activity or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Aerobic exercise: Light jog, slow cycling, easy jump roping, side shuffles (running sideways without crossing your feet), skipping, and jogging backwards. Stretching (stretch all the major muscle groups used): ? Will involve static (still) stretches and/or dynamic (moving) stretches. * Static stretches involve stretching a muscle group as far as you can, without causing pain. Static stretches should be held thirty seconds for maximum effectiveness. * Dynamic stretches, another safe form of stretching, involves slow movements which stretch the muscle groups. Sport-specific exercise: Activities should mimic the movements you will do in the vigorous activity you are preparing for but are done at a lower level of intensity. Design a Cool-down for Your Personal Needs For each of the following, describe what you will do for your cool-down for the activity that you have selected. Aerobic activity: A slow jog around a field or court is one of the best ways to cool down. Stretching: Static stretch for 10 minutes after the light jogging, cycling, or walk. Recovery: Use the R. I. C. E. D. procedure to treat any sprains, bruises, or strains. Part IV: Practice What You Designed 1. Practice the warm-up you have designed. 2. Consider how the warm-up/cool-down made you feel. Did it help prepare you for the workout? What changes would you consider making for the next workout? Be prepared to discuss this information with your instructor in your Discussion-Based Assessment. It helped me prepare. I would change nothing. What I already I changed was great enough because of how well it made me feel. Part V: Skills and Performance 1. Think about an activity you participate in and explain how each of the skill-related components of balance, reaction time, agility, coordination, power, and speed can enhance your performance levels in that activity. If all the components are combined then you will get stronger, faster, and healthier.