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Culture |
The world we live in: Discuss.
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10,001 Chalmatians (Culture)
By localroger Sat Nov 19th, 2005 at 09:58:40 AM EST
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I find it a convenient shorthand to tell people I live in New Orleans,
but since 1992 I've actually lived in the nearby bedroom community of
Mandeville. As many people who actually do live in New Orleans will
tell you, though, Mandeville isn't New Orleans. It isn't even close,
no matter how easy it is to drive here from there.
The movies would have you think the culture of New Orleans is Cajun
French, but that's not so. Cajun culture is centered almost 150
miles from here, in the Acadian parishes surrounding the city of
Lafayette. If you want a culture that belongs uniquely to New Orleans,
you'd find it in Chalmette and the Ninth Ward, where the
language, food, and customs are like no place else on Earth.
Full Story (123 comments, 3291 words in story)
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My North of the Desolate Sea: Travels in Eastern Greenland and Svalbard (Culture)
By oceanbourne Wed Nov 9th, 2005 at 09:43:40 AM EST
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While visiting my native land--the Faroe Islands--this summer, I became bored and looked for somewhere even more remote and isolated to venture to: somewhere in the Arctic I'd never visited. Having seen most of Scandinavia and much of northern Russia, my choices were limited but had to be apt. I ended up going to Scoresbysund, Greenland and then to Longyearbyen, Svalbard. These are some of the most remote parts of the world and their isolation and insular situation both makes them spellbinding places to visit and also reflections of broader Nordic culture.
This is the story of my journey.
Full Story (83 comments, 5135 words in story)
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Denver Legalizes the Reefer (Culture)
By mtrisk Sun Nov 6th, 2005 at 07:12:29 PM EST
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On November 2, the residents of Denver, Colorado passed the Alcohol-Marijuana Equalization Initiative. With 100% of precincts reporting, the final tally for the vote was 56,001 YES votes to 48,632 NO votes, approximately 54% - 46%. The measure changed city law to allow for possession of up to an ounce of marijuana for adults 21 and over. The act is largely symbolic, though, as state and federal laws supersede local law, and authorities have already stated that state possession laws would be applied. However hope remains, for the passage of the initiative marks Denver as the first area in the nation to legalize private use of marijuana, for recreational as well as medical use. Is the legalization of marijuana at the federal level now within our reach?
Full Story (351 comments, 745 words in story)
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Modern Day Ghouls: The Estate Sale (Culture)
By LilDebbie Fri Nov 4th, 2005 at 03:39:01 PM EST
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The phone is ringing. It's still dark out. Who the hell calls at this hour? What hour is it anyway?
Waking up is never easy. Waking up at 0620 on a Saturday is especially difficult. The confusion dissipates as I recognize the number on the phone. It's my mom, calling to wake me for the estate sale.
So that's why I slept in my clothes.
Full Story (98 comments, 1295 words in story)
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Lessons from the Hive (Culture)
By xC0000005 Fri Oct 28th, 2005 at 07:37:19 AM EST
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Life, I've been told, is a school. I've always thought that it was more like a college, where your participation determines what you get out of it. I never made it through college, but I've learned a lot in life, and over the past year, I've been engaged in a sort of group learning experience - one of me, thousands of them. They are honeybees, and they teach the lessons of the hive.
Full Story (92 comments, 1697 words in story)
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The Meaning of Punk: A Memoir (Culture)
By Psycho Dave Wed Oct 26th, 2005 at 08:18:40 AM EST
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During the spring semester of my sophomore year at the University of Colorado Boulder, I took an entry-level sociology class called Deviance in Society. I registered for the course after a long pot smoking session with this sociology major named Ruthie who'd taken it her freshman year.
"Is that class really as cool as it sounds?" I said, passing the green plastic bong down to where she was sitting barefoot on the rug. I'd been burned before on courses that had cool sounding names, like the Chaos Theory and Non Linear-Systems class that actually expected you to do some pretty intense math.
"Hell yeah," Ruthie said before taking a hit. I watched the brown bong-water bubble at the bottom and realized I really needed to change it. "I loved that class. You learn a lot of neat stuff," she said as she exhaled.
Full Story (115 comments, 6770 words in story)
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Which is the Better Classroom? (Culture)
By uriah923 Sun Oct 9th, 2005 at 11:44:52 AM EST
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Homeschooling came into focus in the late 20th century but is still a relatively seldom used method of educating children. As of 2003, 1.1 million children in the United States are were homeschooled (2.2% of the school age population), up from approximately 850,000 in 1999 (only 1.7% of the school-age population). Those who have been through the homeschooling experience, however, are usually firm defenders of its educational merits and sometimes even have the documentation to back it up. There are those who oppose the homeschool movement, though. Some argue that a responsible citizen should participate in the improvement of the public school system instead of "taking the easy way out" and abandoning it, while others emphasize the professional qualifications of public school instructors.
As both the public/private and homeschool environments implement more of today's technology, which classroom has the upper hand?
Full Story (141 comments, 706 words in story)
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Free software art (Culture)
By yaxu Wed Oct 5th, 2005 at 08:59:14 PM EST
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Many artists are finding their place within
contemporary F/OSS (Free/Open Source Software) communities.
This is a chance for creativity to flourish unbound by the entrenched
commercial software model. Here I use the term 'artist'
fairly broadly, including visual artists, experimental musicians and
those making software-based installations among others.
Full Story (44 comments, 1035 words in story)
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Best Buy or Best Lie? (Culture)
By MoJoPokeyBlue Wed Oct 5th, 2005 at 04:46:31 PM EST
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When entering a Best Buy store, I'm now `greeted' by a guy in a blue shirt. (Lately they've been changing their shirt color to a Best-Buy yellow, but that doesn't matter.) In addition to loudly bellowing out "Hello!" he also mumbles "...howyoudoing?"
I've never met this guy before in my life and he knows absolutely nothing about me. I find it strange and somewhat intrusive that he is suddenly concerned about my well-being.
Well...almost concerned.
Full Story (285 comments, 939 words in story)
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