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Scooped by Seth Dixon onto Cultural Geography |
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Discuss the importance of this great Arlo Guthrie tune on the generation and enjoy. I've re-touched the original drawings, combined both parts, and made the ...
This "Happy Thanksgiving" video also doubles as an nice glimpse into the 60s and folk music.
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Seth Dixon's insight:
I'm not posting this to be salacious, but to highlight popular culture's obsession with a superficial, external beauty that is artificial on many different levels. Even the stars aren't 'good enough' in their photo shoots. So I ask, what are the impacts on society if virtually all the 'beautiful people' aren't as beautiful as we think they are? Are we striving to reach some model of perfection that isn't even attainable for models? Does it make us feel uglier and damper our collective self-esteems? Delete the scoop?
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"Native Americans are characterized, marginalized, counted in number books (see Ten Little Rabbits by Virginia Grossman), depicted with incorrect images, and otherwise represented in hurtful, derogatory ways. Growing up in America, we are bombarded with images, toys, and stereotypes."
Seth Dixon's insight:
This article looks at how a Native American family worked within the system to change the school's performance of Peter Pan to be, well, less racist. It was a product of it's time, and looking at older Disney movies from a 21st century lens can be quite eye-opening. Delete the scoop?
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A collection of short, sharp Idioms that will keep you guessing until the end.
Seth Dixon's insight:
To become truly fluent in a language, mastering idioms is often the last and greatest hurdle. In this video is show way understanding idioms are so difficult because they are often stripped of their cultural context. For example, people smuggling contraband that knew their shipments were going to be searched would hide objects in large barrels of beans. So, to reveal a secret is to 'spill the beans.' Today, that cultural context is lost, but idioms can endure far beyond their cultural context. Delete the scoop?
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More often than we care to admit, we feel the absence of foes as strongly as we do their presence. We often create images—especially of other people—that are exaggerated stereotypes of the real thing. And in no respect is that more true than when it comes to the enemy. Delete the scoop?
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Learn how to romance a girl with one semester of spanish put to a catchy song. Download this and other runawaybox mp3s for free at http://www.runawaybox.com/...
Seth Dixon's insight:
This kills me. One semester of any language course does not make someone able to hold a conversation that is natural and flowing. Delete the scoop?
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Ezekiel "Ziggy" Ansah's journey to the NFL, beginning as a walk-on to the Brigham Young University football team from Accra, Ghana, who had never played foot...
Seth Dixon's insight:
Ezekiel's life represents the geography of opportunity. If he had grown up in the United States, a boy with his physical abilities would have been funneled into football leagues at an early age. If he lived his whole life in Africa, he would never become a millionaire (probably not anyway). However, global diffusion of religious ideas brought LDS missionaries to his home in Ghana; enhanced opportunities to migrate took him to Utah and all of these geographic factors (combined with his personal skills and ambition) has him poised on the brink of being a first round pick in the NFL draft. It makes be wonder if the greatest physical talent for a sport always gets the opportunity. I'm sure some kids in tropical countries have the physical tools to be fantastic hockey players, but without access to participation at an early age because of the cultural preferences of the area (although with hockey you could argue it's also climatically determined), they are geographically constrained to a different set of possibilities for their lives. Delete the scoop?
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Seth Dixon's insight:
Our cultural traditions are forged within a technological context; that explains why may traditions continue to evolve since some traditions become antiquated. That transition, isn't always smooth, and while some revel in the fact that social media technologies create greater audiences for April Fools jokes, other's find their ubiquity frustrating. How do you see it? Delete the scoop?
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Your city. Judged.
Seth Dixon's insight:
This set of maps judges cities based on some deomographic information but also stereotypes. How accurate are they? What do they say about these places? What do they say about the mapmaker? Delete the scoop?
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Lego racism? Turks in Austria say Lego's Jabba's Palace set looks like a mosque. And Lego's Star Wars villian Jabba the Hut perpetuates racism and prejudice toward Muslims among children who play with Legos.
Seth Dixon's insight:
While there are certainly culturally insensitive elements in popular culture (especially movies), I think that this one is coincidence. Star Wars has plenty of more overtly offensive caracatures (think the Trade Federation or Jar-Jar Binks), not all similarities are deliberate. Delete the scoop?
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Would you like home-style biscuits or mashed potatoes to go with your yurt?
Seth Dixon's insight:
Globalization has a long reach indeed. Delete the scoop?
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What do the latest US crime figures tell us about gun crime in America? Which states have the most firearms murders, robberies and assaults? 
Heather Ramsey's curator insight,
February 5, 12:48 PM
This goes along very well with our thematic mapping assignment (in fact, the data we use came from the same source). You can look at data in several different ways on the map, and it shows that the way we present data can change the message of a map. Delete the scoop?
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Seth Dixon's insight:
This kills me. Many times we are quick to see foreign and exotic in others but fail to see it in ourselves. Delete the scoop?
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Days of rioting have left Sweden searching for answers, wondering what went wrong in a nation welcoming of foreigners and proud of its tradition of tolerance and social equality. It has also spurred a debate about the underlying causes, with some Swedes blaming the perpetrators for failing to integrate and other residents of these suburbs complaining they have been forgotten by mainstream society. Delete the scoop?
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Seth Dixon's insight:
This ESPN article feels as if it is describing more than just a different time, but a different world. Cultures, values, norms and societies are constantly being reshaped. Sports culture might be one of the most hyper-masculine, heteronormative arenas in mainstream society, but even the locker room is not impervious to change. But the world is far from perfect in terms on simply being nice to everyone as this map of tweets with hate speech demonstrates. Delete the scoop?
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Cleveland police said missing teens Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and a third woman were found in a west side house on Monday. Hundreds of people gathered in th...
Seth Dixon's insight:
This man has gone viral, in part because of his heroic acts, but also because of his refreshing candor mixed with humor on issues of race and class. As a friend stated online, "Charles Ramsey's account of his rescue of Amanda Berry is astonishing on so many levels, from his willingness to run to help a screaming woman and break open the door to save her, to his observation about race relations at the end of the interview." This is a compelling news story, but it makes us ask many questions. Delete the scoop?
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The risk of Icelanders accidentally sleeping with a relative is apparently high enough to justify the creation of a smartphone app to help prevent it. Iceland isn't a big country. Delete the scoop?
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Lawmakers in Vermont are looking to regulate food labels so customers can know which products are made from genetically modified crops, but agricultural giants Monsanto say they will sue if the state follows through. 
Seth Dixon's curator insight,
April 4, 1:14 PM
Questions to ponder: Why is Vermont the first state to make some headway in producing this type of legislation? Will other states follow suit? What would the economic impacts be if all places required labels on products that contain genetically modified organisms? How would that change the agricultural industry?
Tags: GMOs, food, agriculture, agribusiness. 
Mary Burke's comment,
April 12, 4:21 PM
If this labeling ever gets passed, it might make people think a little more about what they're eating. They might not want to eat genetically modified organisms. That would mean the agrigiant might lose some control over the industry. I don't have much hope of this happening. I try to buy my food from vendors that say they don't use gmo's. I try to grow some veggies in the summer. I know this isn't a guarantee that I'm not eating gmo's but I realize there are some over which we have no control.
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The Indian capital had eased its rhesus monkey problems with the help of bigger langur monkeys. Now an animal rights activist argues the solution is illegal. Delete the scoop?
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Over the next few weeks, as Baylor star Brittney Griner tries to cap her record-setting college career by winning a second straight national title, it's a pretty good bet that whatever praise she receives will also come with a side of scorn --...
Seth Dixon's insight:
This article on ESPN was an insightful cultural critique. Women's athletics are frequently dismissed for not being 'as athletic as the men' while some of the most athletic are treated derisively for not being sufficiently feminine. Brittney Griner, and how the people react to her, is an curious mirror into our own gendered norms within society. Delete the scoop?
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chris tobin's comment,
March 12, 6:01 PM
Just goes to show the long term effects of colonialism on the people and the changes in the government. I was not aware of the Trujillo dictatorship practices or skin tone on ID cards-Thanks
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TED Talks Cameron Russell admits she won “a genetic lottery”: she's tall, pretty and an underwear model. But don't judge her by her looks.
Seth Dixon's insight:
Cultural and historical factors have shaped our concept what is beautiful. This isn't a simple superficial fact, but has some profound impacts on our society cutting across race, class and gender. Delete the scoop?
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Blaer Bjarkardottir is known officially as “Stulka” – meaning “girl” in Icelandic – because her given name, which translates to “light breeze,” is not on the government’s approved list of 1,853...
Seth Dixon's insight:
Icelandic naming conventions are steeped in traditions that doesn't mesh well with 'creative' names or names that are not Icelandic in origin. What to you think about this issue in terms of culture? Politics? Delete the scoop?
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