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Critical
Thinking Essay

Almost everything around us has some decision-making mechanisms. Mammals use their brains collect information, save it in their memory and use it to choose a way of action.

Human beings are unique in this matter. Like many other animals, we also can collect, store and use information for our needs. However, one of the main things that make us exceptional is the ability to evaluate data, to define it clearly and rationally and to combine it with other information to create a new perception or idea.

Critical thinking is the most important tool we have to think beyond our instincts and feelings, to ask questions, to find reasons for something we see and to develop rational opinions about it, most importantly on the basis of evidences, experience or knowledge from other fields. Read the rest of this entry »

The
Truth about Genetically Modified Food
“All flesh is grass” – quote from Bible. Even at that time people were aware that foods we eat affect our own bodies. The foods they ate were designed by nature, but today many foods are genetically engineered to increase the nutritional benefit. This alteration affects plants, earth and us of course. Whether this influence is positive or negative is not known yet. According to the recent survey, most Americans believe that this influence is positive.

Genetically modified food (GM food) is consumed by most people in the world today, although these people may not be aware of this. Kraft Foods company uses GM food in hundreds of products such as Post cereals and Boca burgers. There is no telling that consequences of using these products with genetically modified food resulted in health decline.

The world’s population is growing very quickly and there is a need to produce inexpensive, but safe and nutritious food. Genetically modified food is the solution to this problem. These crops are potentially better for the environment: they are resistant to pests and diseases and no large amounts of chemicals need to be used to surrounding environment.

It is an interesting fact that in 2003 about 160 million (!!!) acres were planted by transgenic crops (7 million farmers in 18 countries). Arguments pro and cons GM food are not decreasing while this new technology is already in action in the world. Among plants grown are sweet potato which is resistant to a virus which is decimating African harvest, rice with increased amount of iron and vitamins in it – to lessen malnutrition in Asia. It is clearly seen that GM plants are created to make life of other people healthier. Read the rest of this entry »

Divorce:
Causes and Consequences

Introduction
Divorce is a serious problem in many countries with divorce rates increasing from year to year. This paper focuses on divorce, its definition, problems associated with divorce, its causes and consequences, concentrating specifically on divorced women. The paper also offers a list of possible solutions the government may find in order to help divorced women to cope with post-divorce problems.

1. What is divorce?
All definitions of divorce take into account the legal aspect of this phenomenon. Emerys.com defines divorce as “the legal ending of a Marriage so that the husband and wife are free to re-marry” (emerys.com).

US divorce statistics have shown a dramatic increase in the rates of divorce in the past years. In 1920 only one marriage in seven broke up, in 1960 this number was up to one in four, and in 1974 it was approaching one in three. Since then, the number has been growing and now threatens to hit one in two, meaning that approximately every second marriage in the US will be dissolved sooner or later (Gutierrez 1988). Read the rest of this entry »

The
background of a person can have an affect on the choices they make and the way they lead their life. In the cases of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Alexander Solzhenitsyn, their background affected the narrative techniques used in their novels. Each used very different narrative techniques, but each produced a novel that reached the public. In Marquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold, the structure of the novel was written as if it was a newspaper article, to give information of a specific event. In Solzhenitsyn’s One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich, the structure of the novel was written to clarify people, and let the public know about a specific time in history. Although both novels were written to help clarify a certain incident, the final result of both novels did not have the same affect because of the different narrative techniques used by the authors. However, this is what the authors intentions were when they wrote their novels. Each author, having a completely different background from the other, wrote their novel based on experiences in their lives.. Although both novel were fiction, the background of each author played a major role in each novel, and had a great affect on the narrative techniques used in the novels written by Marquez and Solzhenitsyn.
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Since
the appearance of the Olmec culture, ceramics took an important place in the lives of Mexican people. The vessels, figures, and various types of utensils found in archaeological ruins of ancient cites, suggests the techniques used in their ceramics: the use of clay, knowledge of fire in their work, and some knowledge of coloring and painting designs.

The Olmecs (1500 B.C. – 800 A.D.) Transcended their era and left behind their knowledge to the cultures that came after them.

The Teotihuac’s (100 B.C.-800 A.D.) prepared the majority of their vessels with clay and decorated them with a variety of techniques: mainly stucco, painting and smoothing.
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Martin
Luther and John Calvin have a belief that God chose us, or selected us as Christians before our birth and created the rest for damnation in hell. They base this theory upon the word predestination. It is obvious that the word predestination is BiblicalA, but the question is what does it mean? If Calvin and Luther were correct this means that humans did not choose God, but God chose them. The problem with this theory is that saying humans did not choose God makes the Bible to appear false. There are plenty of Bible verses that proclaim that you should choose Christ or claim that certain individuals have chosen Christ, or state that certain people out and out chose to not accept Christ .

On the other hand though, there are plenty of scriptures stating that God chose his people . So which is it? Did God choose us or did we choose God? I have often struggled with this question because there is evidence to support both sides. To choose one way over the other makes many verses of the Bible false. Since we know the Bible to be the truth, what answer would make all of these verses accurate? The answer to this question is simply both- God chose us, and we chose him.
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The
most interesting country I know is India. I still remember the day. when my family decided to go to India on our summer vacation. I was not happy with the decision that my family made because I wanted to enjoy my summer with my friends, but India turned out to be an interesting country. I got to learn a lot of interesting things about India such as the culture of the country, the interesting places, and the Indian movie industry.

The culture of India is very hard to describe because there were so many things I got to experience while I was there. The religion is the most important aspect of India’s culture. Hindus, and Muslims are the most prominent religious groups and are an essential part of Indian society. Hindus worship Shiva, Ram, or Krishna or some other Goddess, and Muslims worship Allah. India’s official language is Hindi. My family and I speak Gujrati, which is also known as one of the language of India. However, English also has an important role in India because it’s the official working language in India. The dressing style of India are best known to me, because it has a great amount of color, texture, and styles in garments worn by the Indians. The Indian Saris, cholis, colorful lehanges and traditional salwar kamez, which have been worn in India over the centuries. The style of cooking was one of the best experiences of my time, because what I ate in America at my home was so totally different then what I ate in India. The spices and the basic flavors made it too good, and desserts were just to far out awesome such as rasagulla, sandesh, rasamalai, and gulab-jamuns. Read the rest of this entry »

Mormons.
Everyone’s heard of the stereotypes of them as the people who have ten wives, lots of kids, and that they’re racist. This religion is one of the most well known, and one of the most pursecuted of religions, well, unless you count the dirty Catholic priests. This unfair discrimination has gone on since this religion was founded and is becoming a wiespread problem.

Joseph E. Smith who was born in Palmyra, Vermont founded the Mormon religion known formally as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 1830. Throughout the first years of the founding of this religion, they faced mob attacks, and conflicts that broke up communities that took hard work to form. In 1838 the Mormons found a place in Missouri, but they couldn’t get too comfortable because they were attacked by mobs, and there was even a massacre at a place called Haun’s Mill where 17 members died. After that attack, Smith was arrested and they were driven out of Missouri. Read the rest of this entry »

When
I think of myself as a writer I think of air: no matter who or what someone is, one needs it, but it’s not usually the best quality. If the truth be told, my report writing is not first-rate material. Sure, I would like to improve on it, but I have been trying to achieve this goal for years. Although, when I write just for fun, I am able to write creatively and my words seem to be able to flow easier. In the sixth grade, I remember writing a story about biological and chemical warfare that shocked my mom and my teacher (except for the quirky name of the main character, Ken Knee). That particular paper gave me an increased amount of confidence in my writing ability but, over the last few years, it has steadily dropped. I would like to regain my confidence and write more fluently in all forms of writing. Read the rest of this entry »

Knights
were a important part in medieval times. They were used as protection on the manors to stop invading enemies. The worst hated were the Vikings. Knights did more than just sit around and wait for someone to attack them. The trained for when there was going to be a battle and also taught soon to be knights. They also had tournaments for practice and entertainment. Probably the most common tournament known today is jousting. Jousting is where two opponents are on horses going as fast as they can with very big and long poles and try to hit there opponent off of their horse which is also moving and the opponent also has a pole. In the tournaments they first used very sharp and pointy jousting sticks but too many people were getting hurt and no one thought it would be fun to enter a tournament where you get hurt so then everyone agreed to use blunt jousting sticks instead of using sharp pointy jousting sticks so that people wouldn’t get hurt as bad.
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