Child rearing practices of distant ancestors foster morality, compassion in kids, research says

Reading the article Child rearing practices of distant ancestors foster morality, compassion in kids sent me back to reflect on my childhood and the parenting strategies my mother and father used to raise me. Being a fraternal twin, I have spent the last 20 years living, breathing, enjoying the things in life with someone just like me. I believe that my parents did quite a good job raising two twin boys ( not to mention that I am one of 5 children in my family including another set of twins!).  I was definitely a "mamas" boy and spent a lot of time being cuddled, held, touched, and was the center of attention as much as I could try. I was never a spoiled baby, but was always nurtured and cared for by my mom who has this incredible sense of motherly instincts that bid me well in my early childhood to growing up to be who I am today. When I was first born, both of my parents were working full time in the cities and did not really plan to have two children at that time, so I spent a lot of my time at a day care center with my brother. The day care provider who basically helped raise me and my brother Matt was one that gave her love and passion to the kids and is still close to my family today. So I grew up being around other children, playing outdoors, and being in a positive environment that laid the foundation of my moral sense and well being. The article focuses on the research of parenting strategies of present day parents, to those of our ancestors and how they 'reared' their children. The studies show that children now spend less time being coddled, nurtured, breast feeding, and warm responsive care giving that helps a child develop a moral and individual sense of who they are and how they interact with others. To me, this was surprising to find I guess I didn't realize that the U.S is on a "downward trajectory" and that more infants are spending less time in the arms of their guardians and more time in car seats, strollers, or buggies. Don't get me wrong, I spent quite a lot of time in the bicycle buggy and baby backpack that my parents provided for me and my brother so I see how parents have other things to occupy their time ( work, stress, other children ) so it makes sense. But I thought family sizes in the U.S were decreasing? The article states that kids who spent more time playing by themselves and not playing with other 'multi age' children they suffer from disorders such as ADD and ADHD because their parents wouldn't allow as much free play. The writer also notes that the well being of children is worse than it was 50 years ago, that there is a higher delinquency rate and aggression in younger kids, and that empathy and moral behavior has decreased among college students. This may be true, but this is just one researcher and one individuals research perception on this subject. I can see both sides of this issue, but I can't really argue against it. I could definitely see this becoming a rising problem. Interesting article, made me reflect on my childhood and how I was raised, as well as the things I would need to do when I become a parent to ensure the moral stability and over all well being of my child when they grow up.



On a second note, I would also like to add something. I just wanted to say how infuential and inspiring our speaker was last night (9/28) about Hawaiian culture, language, land, and spirituality regarding the ancient Hawaiian culture and how they prospered on these islands long before europeans came to invade the island.  I just never knew (realized) how connected the ancient Hawaiian people thrived and created a prosperous, deeply spiritual connection with the people and the land. I was just in awe. After the lecture was over, my friends and I who were in the class were all in agreement and we just talked about what was said, the connections we made with the speaker and his information. I have to say he was the best speaker we have been fortunate enough to listen to, and I hope that we will get another chance to meet with him in the future. I could probably go on  and on about this, but my hunger drives me to end this blog.
I will post another shortly!

TimeTree: Time scale of life, What Castro Really Means

I just read the article Grasping the Tree of Life: There is an app for that, too by Robert Stonjek. This was a brief article about the evolution and spread of information through technology, a recent development of an iphone application called TimeTree. This application was developed by Sudhir Kumar,  who is the director of the Biodesign Institute’s Center for Evolutionary Medicine and Informatics at Arizona State University and Blair Hedges, professor of biology at Penn State University. This new development of being able to link together the relationships between different species, bacteria, ect. through two "critical" components which are phylogeny and timescale. This application is able to show you ( on ipad, iphone) to be able to search for a species and get a page filled with knowledgeable information of the interrelationships and diversity of many different living things. I find this new app really cool, and super interesting because now you don't need to attend a science seminar or take a college course to learn the origins and relationships between different species that you would not even think were related to each other millions of years ago. It contains the names and phylogenetic lineages160,000 organisms and is continuing to grow. Being able to have this knowledge in the palm of your hands is incredible, to think that less than 20 years ago we had no idea what a cell phone/computer was or how to use one efficiently. If this type of technological advancement is being produced and used for smartphones (ipad, too) I could only assume its going to become more advanced and the power of knowledge will be at the touch of our fingertips any time of the day, anywhere, for anyone.

To add along with this post, I also read the article What Castro Really Means published by Portside Moderator. It basically talked about how the Castro ruling family, one that has been running a socialist regime on the island of Cuba ever since the early sixties and the fall of the soviet union 20 years ago. There is talk of a new economic program, one that differs from capitalist economy and will rejuvenate the economy of Cuba with newly implemented policies that will create a fresh flowing economic market. The Cubans have started this change with the help of Venezuelan president Huge Chavez, who backs the country up with their oil-rich land and economy. With their help, Cuba will start to open the markets of global trade to increase their money/trade flow not only with other Latin American countries but with the U.S, too. Although it may take some time to see this change, it looks as though the wheels have begun to spin. I'm not sure what the future holds for trade with the U.S and how friendly our relationship between us is, but I do know that Cuba has seen that their old economic plan isn't working too well, and is in need of a change. This could be quite beneficial for other countries as well, (U.S too) but we cannot say for sure. I really enjoyed reading this article and thought it was interesting! I look forward to posting another blog later this week.

Cosmic Clowning: Stephen Hawking's "new" theory of everything is the same old CRAP

     When reading the article Cosmic Clowning: Stephen Hawking's "new" theory of everything is the same old CRAP posted by Robert Karl Stonjek, I had to read over the article twice. The concept of a unifying theory of physics that Hawking and fellow colleagues have been trying to unite quantum mechanics and relativity into a combined "package" and would explain to us why the big bang happened, and why our earth is what it is and not something entirely different. I thought it was kind of funny that Hawking "jokes" around with other scientists and colleagues about how computers are becoming so advanced that they are taking over the need and jobs for physicists. His implications he talks of the advancement of physics and to "circle back to its spiritual roots" as an scientific theory/explanation of not just what our universe and earth are, but why they are what they are and why we are stuck here in this cosmic existence. I found this article to be brief, but quite interesting. Some of the material seems to be a bit over my head, (M-theory) just because of how even the most intelligent individuals,scientists, cosmologists still struggle with this idea. The real question is, could there really be a theory for everything? Who knows. At the end of the article the author talks about when he attended a symposium in Sweden called "The Birth and Early Evolution of Our Universe" and how when the cosmologists visited a Lutheran church afterwards and were awarded with a standing ovation type welcoming. I found this very intriguing. The long historical battle that has been continuous throughout human history of science vs. religion seemed to be put aside in this  particular church with individuals who all shared the same common question: Why are we here? Is our existence a mere coincidence or a scientific miracle? The answer is out there somewhere.. 
I will be reading the other articles and posting another blog shortly. 

First Blog Entry

This is my first blog ever written, and I think it will be a fun and unique experience! I am excited for  this anthropology course to get into the swing of things, I have always been interested and have enjoyed learning about anthropology and human history. I think that this course Culture, Religion, and the Environment will be a great course this semester.  We've only had one class and I already really like the our professor! I will continue to be posting blogs throughout the semester on our reading, class discussions, ect. But for now....that's all~