History of Graduation

The first Baccalaureate Ceremony commenced at Oxford University in 1432. At that time each student was required to deliver a sermon in Latin as part of his academic applications. The term of Graduation dates back to 1909 when Arnold van Gennep called it the "Rite of Passage". Gennep said that there had to be three things for the rite of passage to include. 1. Separation from Society 2. Inculcation Transformation 3. Return to Society in a New Status.

The elements like caps, gowns, and speeches in a graduation came from other culture traditions to signify a sort of higher importance and status in ones community. The Caps that are worn in a graduation signify the student's academic institution and degree. This custom is said to derive from Celtic groups who's Druid priest wore hoods to signify their superiority and intelligence. The tassel that is attached signifies the student's academic achievement. The color of the graduation gown prior to the 1950's was gray in the U.S., but in European countries color gowns were used back in the 1800s to signify the area of study. In the U.S. around the 1950's students began to ask for cap and gowns that represented their school colors which is now a custom in graduations these days. Speeches are usually given by a guest speaker who gives a few words to inspire the students to the "real world" and to remember what they have been taught in their education at the institution.

Graduation is used to symbolize the culmination of many years of hard work. It is a time for you, your family and friends to recognize and celebrate your success. This is a sense of reward for those who have spent many hours towards there studies and are now complete and are qualified in there area of study.

http://www.jacirae.com/graduation_day_celebration.html

Other Forms of Torture

http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2003/030403-interrogation01.htm

With many torture techniques being used in prisons like in Guantanamo Bay there is the big question what other ways are possible to get people who are thought to have information on a particular subject to tell authorities. In this article it says that the most simplest form of interrogation is the most effective method interrogators use is often the simplest, which is direct questioning. This is especially effective against prisoners that are taken captive at gunpoint and given shouted orders, often in a language they cannot understand, to submit to searching and confinement by an enemy they have been taught to fear, he said in the article. David Robinson a former instructor at Fort Huachuca said that torture does not give you information. torture gives you whatever people need to make the pain stop. This probably means that people who are tortured probably lie just to get out of what is being done to them as compare to a direct question interrogation method which gives you a better chance of getting more accurate information and prevents the use of torture

Margaret McDonald

Margaret McDonald was born in 1815and lived in Port Glasgow, Scotland during the beginning years of the Dispensationalist movement under John Nelson Darby. McDonald was fifteen years old in 1830 when she claimed to be a prophetess. She then not long after her revelation wrote down her account of everything and sent hand-written copies of it to a number of Christian leaders. Her writings were considered to be worng and was blamed for inventing the pre-tribulation rapture of the Church. Others said that she was amongst the company of false prophets who were causing disturbances in Edward Irving's church at the time. Some people wrote that Margaret and other so called prophets and visionaries spoke under the direction of a demonic power. She is very similar to Nostradamus.

http://intotruth.org/misc/rapture.html

The Jersey Devil

The Jersey Devil, the supposed mythical creature of the New Jersey Pinelands, has haunted New Jersey and the surrounding areas for the past 260 years. This entity has been seen by over 2,000 witnesses over this period. It has terrorized towns and caused factories and schools to close down, yet many people believe that the Jersey Devil is a legend. One of the most popular legends says a Mrs. Shrouds of Leeds Point, NJ made a wish that if she ever had another child, she want it to be a devil. Her next child who was born was misshapen and deformed. She sheltered it in the house, so the curious couldn't see him. On stormy night, the child flapped it's arms, which turned into wings, and escaped out the chimney and was never seen by the family again. The description of the Jersey Devil is that it was about three and a half feet tall, with a head like a dog and a face like a horse. It had a long neck, wings about two feet long, and its back legs were like those of a crane, and it had horse's hooves. It walked on its back legs and held up two short front legs with paws on them. It seems the devil is immortal and still lurking around the New Jersey Pinelands.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Devil

Rochester Paranormal

The Rochester Paranormal research group perform their activities in western New York. These people research everything from aliens to big foot. In the website they show examples of each topic with pictures and audio feed to support their research. The website says that they take interest into their investigations of the paranormal and supernatural seriously which has lead to their members into some very interesting encounters with the unknown. The website gives a contact portion of the website in which people can type in their email and send a email to the director of the website to tell them of your discoveries or if you see or think something paranormal is going around you. There is a phone number given which gives you the ability to talk directly with a representative about any questions you may have. The number for the Rochester Paranormal is (585) 385-6396. The website is offering a Psychic development class starting November 7th for five weeks from 7pm to 9pm. The class apparently covers Mediumship, Pendulums, Tarot, various forms of Divination, Auras, and Chakras. The cost for the course is $50.

http://supernaturalparanormal.com/

The Cardiff Giant

In October 16, 1869 a ten foot giant stone man appeared out of the ground when some workers were digging a well behind the barn of William C. “Stub” Newell in Cardiff, New York. The news spread through out the country and many people traveled far distances to take a look at the giant stone man. The farm owner Stub Newell noticed the wide spread popularity of his discovery that he started charging people 50 cent to view the giant. The hoax of the stone man reached to great extent when a group of business men decided to buy move the stone man for 37,000 dollars to be examined in Syracuse. The examination lead to the scientist concluding that it was a fake statue because the chisel marks were still present and if it had spent adequate amount of time in the ground those marks would have gone away. The truth then came out that the statue was actually the creation of an enterprising New York tobacconist named George Hull. The idea of burying a stone giant in the ground occurred to him after he got into an argument with a Methodist Reverend about whether the Bible should be taken literally. Hull, an atheist, didn’t think it should. But the Reverend disagreed. The Reverend insisted that even the passage where it says ‘there were giants in the earth in those days’ should be read as a literal fact. According to Hull, after this discussion he immediately “thought of making a stone, and passing it off as a petrified man.” He figured he could not only use the fake giant to poke fun at Biblical literalists, but also make some money. This is considered to be one of the greatest hoaxes ever.

http://skepdic.com/cardiff.html

Mccarthyism

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAmccarthyism.htm

In June 29th 1940, an alien registration act was enforced in America. This act stated that it was illegal for anyone in the United States to teach the desirability of overthrowing the government. The main purpose of this bill was to prevent the American Communist party from gaining any support in or have their ideology spread in the US government. The hysteria of America being over thrown by communist caused a major hysteria in the country. Everyone was accusing other people of being a communist even though it was more than likely not true. The problem got out of hand when a committee named the House of Un-American Activities was made. They questioned 41 people from Hollywood who were accused of following the communist ways. 10 of the people questioned used the first amendment to not say anything and were found guilt and thrown into jail for months. The general public saw that the committee apparently did find communist, and caused people to be on the look out to see if they knew any communist in their communities. The committee's setup and the acts enforced by Joseph McCarthy, was the beginning of America's anti- communist hysteria.

Disney Aladdin's Secret Message

http://www.snopes.com/disney/films/aladdin.asp

This article talks about Walt Disney’s movie Aladdin. The article talks about how in the movie there is a part when Aladdin comes to Jasmine and steps on her balcony when Rajah (Jasmine’s tiger) tries to push him away pushing Aladdin up against the railing. When Aladdin tries to make Rajah move away a quick phrase is said, “Good teenagers take off your clothes.” Disney said that it is suppose to say, “C’mon….Good kitty. Take off and go.” But the subtitles say, “C’mon good kitty. Take off.” The website provides a audio clip of the saying as well and shows the part where a second voice in the back whispers take off your clothes. The audio evidence has made people conclude that in Disney movies there are dirty messages being sent secretly.

I believe that after listening and reviewing the audio clip that there is in fact a second voice in the background of the audio clip. The voice is very distinct from any of the characters and can easily be noticed if slowed down and reviewed. The fact that the dirty message is in the movie is quite surprising due to the fact it is child’s Disney movie. I can see though how it made past editing of the movie, because when watching the movie it is not noticeable. Though there is humor in the fact that someone would actually do such a thing, I don’t see the point of doing it.

Cure for Cancer

http://www.organicconsumers.org/foodsafety/cancercure050405.cfm

This website article is about the disease Cancer and how there is already a cure for the disease. The reason the article says we don’t know about this cure is that the FDA doesn’t want people to know since there is a lot of money in support of finding a cure to the disease. The article says that the cure for cancer is in every person in the world today. People defeat cancer every day and the way people do this is quite simple wit our immune system. It is stated that Cancer is diagnosed when the immune system is unable to do the job that it already knows how to do. And that the way that that our immune system fails is that we don’t provide our bodies with the nutrients that we need.

I believe that there is no cure for cancer. I think it would be to cold hearted to have a cure for cancer and not let people know just to make money. I think that if there was a cure for cancer that it would be immediately told to the public to prevent the growing amount of deaths the disease causes. The cure stated in the article seems
unreasonable in that once your immune system fails how come you can’t take some medicine to make the immune system come back into control of the body. This clearly shows that it is a disease that once it can’t be controlled, that by popping in your body some healthy fruits to make it stable again won’t cure you from the disease, but the fact that it continues till death.

The Holocaust a Myth?

http://www.zundelsite.org/english/101/english1011.html

This article is on the dilemma that the Holocaust, which killed many Jewish people, was a postwar propaganda by the Allies to use against Hitler. The article outlines how the Allied the governments needed something to produce money and support from the public against Hitler Germany. The saying of how the Nazi’s gas and killed many Jewish families is said to be false due to the fact that there is no evidence of gassing going on in through the facts that came out of the Holocaust. They said that the media has shown an image of the Holocaust to the gullible general pubic but the media has a lack of evidence to support what they show. Then the last big argument is that the amount of people that were estimated to be killed in the Holocaust is exaggerated.

I personally believe that the Holocaust was a Historical event. I can’t see how such a huge phenomenon can take place and for it to be considered a conspiracy theory. I do believe that maybe the extent of the events that took place may have been exaggerated but for the most part I personally think that Jewish people in Nazi Germany were brutally killed. The link questions the letters of countries that showed that they were using the Holocaust as propaganda to prevent Nazi Germany from taking over Europe by the rest of the countries to form an Alliance against Germany’s government. Though this could be true I don’t think that some group can make up events like the killing of over a million people without it actually happening, but I can see that the extent of the damage taken place on the Jewish people could have been exaggerated, which I think is besides the fact of what the Nazi’s even thought of doing to a group of people with a different religion which I believe people should be more concerned about.

Unidentified Objects

http://ufo.whipnet.org/xdocs/abductions/abduction.real.html

This website I found online by Steve Nance talks about UFO’s( Unidentified Flying Objects) and there existence in the world today. The website talks of the ways to see a UFO and describes to the public what exactly a UFO is and of the way that one can conclude that their actually is UFO’s.

The articles gives the history of how the theory of UFO’s came to existence when a man named Kenneth Arnold was flying in his private airplane when he saw several crescent shaped objects flying in formation in Washington. He radioed the report in and when he landed he was questioned to see what he saw and he described of these objects that flew threw the sky in a jerky motion. Ever since then people began speculating that there are UFO’s. A quote from the website says, “UFOs are real. There have been too many credible reports filed and documented by credible sources to discount, deny or ignore the possibilities of UFO existence.”.

I can’t say that I don’t believe that there are extracurricular life forms but I don’t believe that some people’s apparent UFO sightings are true. From apparent UFO clips that I have seen I don’t think that they are legitimate or apparent enough footage to consider the objects a UFO. I highly doubt that aliens would come to earth or have technology so superior to us that it can make ships in the way that people have described their ships to be like, and that not one alien has been seen or communicated with on earth but only footage of their ships have been recorded. To me that shows that there is not efficient evidence of aliens flying or even coming to earth and that pictures of corn fields or apparent flying saucers are most likely false.

Dazed and Confused

I once had a neighbor in the Cayman Islands who had a very weird belief. He believed that Bob Marley was a prophet from god and that weed is a necessity of life just like water or oxygen. This really confused me because I had never thought a man with dreads who sang about many issues including singing about smoking weed all day could be a prophet. Also how could a substance that causes a person to loose their sense of ability to think be a necessity to life. I was about 11 years old and never tried weed so I asked my mom of what she thought on the matter. She was astonished but what I had asked her and she told me to never talk to that man again. About a week later his views on life got him in trouble when the local police raided his apartment and took pounds of weed from his place taking him off to jail.

Wats up

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