What is “junk thought”? Is it thinking that is worthless? What is that, exactly? What examples can you find in your experience? In your opinion, how does it influence people? Please end your blog with at least one good critical question.  

Junk thought is defined as "the act of counter-defining science using "anti-rationalism" to explain certain phenomena." In terms of whether or not it is worthless, it usually it depends on what it is. There is some useless information out there and there is some that still deserves to not be discarded. But nonetheless, people have the right to believe what they want. I have had a lot of experience with this sort of thing. For example I have seen ghosts and other sorts of spirits before and so have a lot of my friends. My mother has seen them and so have a lot of her friends. On the other hand I know a lot of people who haven't seen them and think the thought of them actually existing is absurd. My brother and father are prime examples of this. Nonetheless,  lots of people have seen them, yet when people claim feel like they are being haunted by ghosts, they are looked down on as crazy. This is mostly because the people they are telling it to have never shared the same experience.  Paranormal scientists claiming they can detect the existence of ghosts by using heat and electromagnet devices to detect disturbances. Many people see this as potential proof because it is able to be documented on equipment. I really think they should take a step further and come up with a way that might get the science community interested. Perhaps the thought of there being scientific evidence that there is such thing as ghosts scares people. But just because there is evidence does not mean that everyone will get to see them. 

From a scientific view, what would proving the existence of ghosts mean? 

Popular Culture

How do you perceive your popular culture? What does popular culture consist of in your world? Music? TV? The Web? Fashion? What attracted you to this particular section of popular culture? Why do you like it? How do you understand its history? Please end your blog with at least one good critical question.

These days, most popular culture in music relates closely to sex and love. Depending on the genre of music, however, it is sometimes more derogatory. The TV is mainly bombarding people with ways to lose weight or how to tone up your body Most of the time, these ads often include Diet Pills- most of which never work. Other items that are being sold include things like ProActive, which are usually advertised by Celebrities like Jessica Simpson, who advocates it. One of the most popular things on the Web right now is Facebook and Twitter. Both of these websites allow you to join groups that allow you to communitcate with Celebrities. However, for me, I like face book because it is a way for me to talk to my friends who are far away. 

Why do people want dream about being a celebrity when a majority of this country is overweight?

Part One 

How do you define critical thinking? Describe a situation in which you thought through something critically. Describe a situation in which you did not think through something critically.

Critical thinking requires going beyond the obvious. Humans were made to think, however, critical thinking requires a much greater degree intelligence. It requires using logistics, analyzation, rational thinking and the ability to raise questions that relate to the matter in question. One time in college, I was at Walmart with my friends. They all had money to spend. I did too. So I thought hey maybe I'll splurge as well. I walked down the frozen foods isle and came to the ice cream section. I love ice cream. It is my comfort food, but seeing how the price was expensive, I decided to think a little before. In my mind I thought, "Hey, wow this is really high! Do I really need this right now? I mean I'm in College. I'm supposed to be poor and living off Top Ramen. But then again I am going to a private women's college that has an amazing cafeteria. It is not like I am going to starve if I buy this ice cream. Maybe there is a cheaper kind of ice cream in here. Yep, there is but it is not the kind I like. Well, I need to go get laundry detergent so maybe if I don't see anything I'll come back." I got what I needed but in the end I decided to get a can of Tomato soup, which is a lot healthier. I was surprised that I was able to think through the problem because I used to be what my mother called an ice cream addict. I think critically thinking about whether or not it was smart to buy ice cream when I had a limited amount of money was really helpful because it saved me from spending too much and eating an entire tub of ice cream. 

Another time in college, my friends asked me if I wanted to go shopping in Kansas City one sunday afternoon. I had been studying all day for an anatomy test that was the following Monday, as well as working on a story for Creative writing. I thought sure, why not? Before asking them what time we were going to be back, where exactly we were going and what I needed to bring, they dragged me off to the bathroom and started straightening my hair. Instead of asking questions. I just went along with it because I really needed a break. When they were finished, they told me to go change into something cute. I shrugged and skipped mindlessly to my room, excited to finally get off Campus. We did not end up going shopping. We went to a strip club. I have never been to one in my life so I was shocked. I didn't  drink any alcohol but my friends did. We ended up staying there all night and I missed my anatomy test. I was foolish too think I could go out on a sunday night before an Anatomy test. If I had analyzed the situation, I would have said no. 

Part Two
"We often long for surefire, step-by-step procedures [to help us solve problems] and the more personally threatening a situation is, the more we want foolproof rules. But there are no rules that guarantee our thinking will be correct . . . The only way we can decide whether to follow certain rules is if we use our best reasoning to determine that those rules are reasonable, that they lead to reasonable results when followed." – Gerald Nosich, Learning to Think Things Through

Describe what you think of when you think of “intellectualism”. Does this word have positive connotations or negative connotations for you? Why? Describe what you think of when you think of “logic” and “reason.” Do these have positive connotations or negative connotations? Why?

I think intellectualism is the idea of intellect at the expanse of the emotions. It has a positive connotation for me because deals with intellect. Logic reminds me of those proofs we had to do in Geometry. It was very hard for me at first because I had never done it before. But once I exercised that part of my brain, it came to me easily. I even found them fun. Reason is an explanation for something. It reminds me of my mother and when asked me, "Tell me the reason why you did this."

So far college has been an amazing experience for me. I have learned things that have change the way I view the world. I have met people that have changed my life. I originally started college at a Women's College in Missouri. Upon arriving, I was shocked at how different it was from California. There were little or no trees and it was as flat as a pancake. My fellow class mates were from all over the country and even the world. I befriended several people from Zimbabwe, Ghana, Japan, France, and Sweden. The classes I took were quite challenging but I managed to pull off decent grades. My second semester was extremely rigorous and I struggled a little. Over the summer, I decided to take four classes at Sierra College during the summer so I could stay busy. It was rather difficult to balance all four classes, with one of them being an on-line health course for only seven weeks. However, somehow I managed to do it. I went back to Missouri once I completed the summer courses. It ended up being a fun semester but I decided that going there was much too expensive. Even though I had a couple scholarships I decided to save my college funds for when I transfer to the University of Hawai'i Kona next fall. So now I am taking a couple on line courses. I am living in Chicago with my mother's friend and managing my part time job.

I view education as a gift. It expands our minds on many different levels. However, you cannot learn simply by observing a closed book. You must take the effort to open it and feed the text to you brian, understand it and master it. I have always heard that the human brain craves knowledge. Thus, I reckon that knowledge is like brain food. So aside from focusing on psychology, which I plan to major in, I hope to gain knowledge, which is one of the bests gifts in the world. To me, getting a good grade on an exam or essay is better than any material possession.

High school was interesting and very stressful at first. But that is understandable as I was attending a huge high school. Once I adapted, things fell into place. It was in High school that I discovered my natural gift of speaking French, which eventually led me to meet my French exchange student. I was even able to visit her in France one summer. I originally went to Union Hill back in middle school and then transferred to Seven Hills for Junior High. I knew alot of kids and it was very interesting to see how everyone seemed to change. Overall, I did very well on my classes and have some memories that will be with me for the rest of my life.

Critical Question: How do the main factors that are relied upon to stay healthy reflect, effect determine one another?

Rationalism: the theory that reason is the foundation of certainty in knowledge

Anti-Rationalism: against the theory that reason is the foundation of certainty in knowledge

Fundalmentalism: strict maintenence of tradtional orthodox religious beliefs such as the literal truth of the bible