EU law says that asylum-seekers should seek asylum in the country in which they land first. The result of this law is an overwhelming number of people streaming into Italy, sailing from ports in North Africa and Southwest Asia. The word “sailing” perhaps does not encapsulate the horrid conditions to which he immigrants are subjecting themselves—often the tales that we hear … [Read more...] about Invasion Upon Our Shores: Italy, the Promised Land
Archives for February 2015
Something Old, Something New: Spin-offs and Sequels
With the premier of Better Call Saul earlier this week, I started to think about spin-offs and sequels. Whether or not they can be considered “original” could turn some people off. Some also think there is a fine line between “selling out” and providing viewers what they want. (The audience does matter, after all.) These shouldn’t be issues, however, because spin-offs are more … [Read more...] about Something Old, Something New: Spin-offs and Sequels
Modern Revenge
The issue of “revenge porn” has been around since the dawn of the Internet and the ability to send images over the web or on a cellular device. In fact, “revenge porn” has been around long before it was even acknowledged with a name. Students across America are using laptops at younger ages in the classroom and are receiving cellphones at younger ages as well. These … [Read more...] about Modern Revenge
Psychological Phenomena: Human Spatial Representation: A Narrative on How My Misfortune Led Me Home
The following parable demonstrates my feeble and naïve, but ultimately successful attempt to make it back home amidst the anxiety of being a relatively new driver. Human navigation has been touted as an intrinsic ability: we depend on internalized versions of ‘cognitive maps’ and ‘snapshots’, which capture diverse information about the environment around us and aid us in … [Read more...] about Psychological Phenomena: Human Spatial Representation: A Narrative on How My Misfortune Led Me Home
Trust Me, I’m Premed: Partners in Evolution
In a previous blog post, I discussed aspects of the human microbiome – primarily bacterial roles in our digestion and a few comments on interactions between bacteria and our immune system development. To build upon that, I would like to go further into details that indicate a coevolution between us and our bacterial friends. Studies indicate that disruption of the … [Read more...] about Trust Me, I’m Premed: Partners in Evolution