Why did our ancestor fruits look so different? What did they look like? And what made ancient fruits transform into what we see and eat everyday?
When you go to the grocery store and you purchase some fruits for your next meal did you know that it took around 10,000 years of history to make it look like how it looks today? But how?
Selective cultivation has been a method to change our fruits to make them more tasty, colorful, and bigger.
For example, eggplant was named after the appearance of the egg shaped fruit when English speakers first discovered it, and it had more of a bitter flesh. But through selective breeding, it has transformed into a bright purple, less bitter, fleshy fruit.
Did you know around 10,000 years ago in Mexico, people took the very first step to domesticate maize (corn). They did this by choosing which seeds to plant, and some were better than others, so they saved the better seeds for the next season’s harvest, and this is how corn has been selectively bred.
There has been a problem that occurred because fruits have been too sweet. For example, zookeepers have been feeding red-pandas and monkeys a fruit centric based diet to mimic their natural wild diet. But it has been discovered that the fruits were too sugary for their diets. The animals’ diet has been changed to a more healthier diet. But this implies that our fruits have been modified to the point that certain animals cannot eat them as they would damage their health.
“Some fruits, such as plums, have almost double the soluble sugar content than what they would have recorded 20 years ago,” said Ranadheera according to the Weather Channel. Which means that in this period of time fruits have been more modified because of improvements in technologies.
Fruits being modified have been the usual for us humans. It has been dated back to 8,000 BC. Today’s fruit have a very long history of small changes to make them bigger, tastier, and more colorful to satisfy our own pleasure.
As stated by Learn.Genetics, “Minor changes to influential genes can produce rapid evolutionary changes.”
Thanksgiving is a national holiday that takes place on November 23rd, and is celebrated mainly in the United States and Canada to celebrate the blessings of the year. According to Britannica.com, Americans believe that Thanksgiving is celebrated because it represents the 1621 harvest feast that was shared between the Wampanoag people and the English colonists known as pilgrims. It is also celebrated to give honor and show respect to the Wampanoag people for their support. Canadians though, believe that Thanksgiving has been celebrated in their culture since 1578, because of an expedition by Martin Frobisher in which he gave thanks for his safe voyage. In both countries, Thanksgiving is celebrated to share a meal with loved ones and be thankful for each other.
It takes place in the fall and this overall represents how it’s celebrated, mainly with pumpkin flavored things. Family’s decorate their household with pumpkins, leaves, and turkeys, along with colors such as yellow, orange, brown and red. The decorations provided with Thanksgiving make the feel of it a lot more comfy. Thanksgiving is also, for some people, the last day to celebrate fall, since almost a month later is Christmas, which many people love to start celebrating as soon as possible.
On Thanksgiving day, many traditions are celebrated such as the large meal that is shared and gathered with family members. The food provided on Thanksgiving is supposed to represent a feast. Foods such as turkey, pumpkin pie, ham, mashed potatoes, cornbread, vegetables and much more are usually provided, although it varies in each family.
In my household, everything on Thanksgiving is shared, which usually means my grandfather cooks the turkey and my grandmother makes mashed potatoes and pies. This is done in my household because we all provided something for dinner which makes us all more thankful for each other. Along with that, family members that live in other states and countries come to visit to spend time for Thanksgiving.
Not only on Thanksgiving is a meal shared, but family members also gather together to watch football. Usually on Thanksgiving, there’s many football games and especially in America, football is very important. In my family football is always being watched, so on Thanksgiving there’s a tradition to wear jerseys with fall decorations on them. Thanksgiving is special in my family because we love to cook and be together.
There’s many things about Thanksgiving that make it special. Gathering with loved ones to eat favorite and delicious foods, while being thankful for each other creates a special feeling for people. It gives people a moment to relax with family and friends.
Día de los Muertos is a celebration that happens every year on November 2nd. This celebration is most popular amongst the Hispanic community. Día de los Muertos is a celebration and remembrance of the life of loved ones. This tradition originates from Mexico, from the Aztec ancestors.
One of the most popular ways to honor and remember a person is by making them an ‘altar’. An altar is a decorated table with pictures of dead loved ones. These altars are usually decorated with things that the dead once enjoyed; it can consist of foods, books, and drinks.
Another way that people decorate these altars is by putting colorful candy skulls. Another thing you may notice in an altar are non edible skulls also known as catrinas and catrins.
A flower that is very popular in these altars are the golden marigolds. Usually people create small paths with the petals of these flowers to help guide the loved ones to the altar.
Another popular thing in these altars are lighting candles, with some even believe that the candles are a way to communicate with the dead.
Lastly, one of the things that is not often used here in the US but in other countries, music. People play their favorite songs to the dead, some even go to graves and take what is called a “mariachi’ or ‘banda’ to play them live music.
In Mexico, where this is more popular, the altars can stay up for weeks. Here in the US, it is not as common to see the altars up for that long. The longest an altar stays up for the public is only for a week.
This tradition is not only for the Hispanic community but for all. Many around the United States have taken up this tradition in remembrance of their loved ones; this even includes pets! Dia de los Muertos is sometimes confused with something evil, but not to worry, as once again this is only to celebrate and remember the life of ones who have passed.
Founded in 1985, Blockbuster went from being a king in the entertainment industry, and thriving in the era of physical movie rentals, to filing for bankruptcy in 2010.
Blockbuster was widely known for its chain of movie rental stores. They offered a wide variety of different movies and video games that customers could rent, take home, and later return them.
Blockbuster was booming during the 1990s and early 2000s when renting movies meant taking a quick trip to a store. People loved going to Blockbuster, especially on Friday nights. Families and friends would rent movies for the weekend making it a big deal. Blockbuster was also a community that connected all sorts of people with movies. People would talk about new releases and grab copies of popular films during that time, which would be all a part of the experience.
Blockbusters blue and yellow signs were iconic, easily recognizable, and everyone was familiar with it. The best times for Blockbuster was when new movies were released and people would rush to their local Blockbuster for a copy of the movie. Blockbuster however, would not last for very long.
Netflix, at one point, when it was still a small company and still growing, offered to sell their company to Blockbuster for 50 million dollars. The CEO “laughed them out of the room”, rejecting their offer.
Its fall can be attributed to the rapid growth of digital streaming services. Blockbuster had always stayed with having physical stores instead of having to change or create their own online service.
Blockbuster would continue to show its downfall as the digital age for watching movies began to grow and gain more and more popularity. The quick shift to digital streaming services, and the decline of physical movie rentals caused Blockbuster to face major challenges and eventually file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2010. Blockbuster eventually had no choice but to close all of their locations through 2014 which left under 100 stores sitting globally.
Blockbuster, at its peak, had roughly over 9,000 stores worldwide. Today, only one store remains in Bend, Oregon.
Whenever anyone wants to take a picture, they can use their phone to do so, but that hasn’t always been the case.
According to an article from NFI, the camera obscura is probably the first camera made. This camera was just a little room with light coming out of a small hole, and an inverted image from outside was projected on the adjacent wall. This camera didn’t take pictures, light just came through a tiny hole and projected on a surface. Manuscripts of this kind of camera were traced back to China in 400 BC. These records were written by a Chinese scholar of the Han Dynasty, Mozi.
Designs for the handheld handflex reflex camera was proposed by a German author Johann Zahnn in 1686. It wasn’t until 1816 when Joseph Nicéphore Niépce created a prototype of this that people actually started realizing this camera. The images that Niépce made were made on silver chloride-lined paper; the oldest photo he made was in 1826. This image is on display in an exhibit in the University of Texas in Austin.
Louis Daguerre created a more efficient camera. Although his camera could produce better images, the pictures would vanish quickly.
A box camera named the Kodak was marketed by George Eastman in 1888. These cameras came with 100 exposures, and they had to be developed at the Eastman Kodak plant in Rochester, New York. A cheaper version of this camera, Kodak’s Brownie Camera, replaced it in 1901. In the following years, 1905-1913, camera companies would sell 35mm film which people could buy to load their cameras with.
Sasson was the first digital camera and was invented in 1975 by Eastman Kodak American engineer Steve Sasson. This camera was 8 pounds, it required a Kodak’s movie lense, 16 nickel-cadmium batteries, and a digital recorder. It could create black and white pictures in about 23 seconds.
The first DSRL camera was created in 1999, this camera could produce high quality images and many photographers liked using this camera. The DSRL camera allows you to see what you are taking a picture of through the viewfinder, which was considered impressive and convenient at the time. People could now take better pictures.
So, looking back, you can see how the camera has developed over time.
Minnesota which is known as the Land of 10,000 Lakes, is also known for its crazy winters. In the past few years, the state has seen an increase in snowfall, causing lots of snowy winters. Here are some the reasons behind the snowy weather and its impact on the people and environment of Minnesota.
One of the main reasons to the snowy winters in Minnesota is the increase in dampness and water in the atmosphere. As global climate changes, Minnesota will/has been affected by more intense winter storms. These storms bring a lot of snowfall, covering the state in a world of snow.
The snow also leads to colder temperatures, with the snowy conditions. Continuing, the location of Minnesota adds to its snowy winters. With it being placed in the northern part of the United States, the state is near the cold weather coming from Canada. The frosty air adds to the moisture, resulting in a lot of snowfall. The combination of cold air and moisture creates perfect conditions for heavy snowfall within the winter season.
The snowy winters in Minnesota have both positive and negative impacts on the people and environment. Positive impacts include the snow has opportunities for a lot of winter fun like skiing, snowboarding, and ice fishing. These activities add to the local economy and provide a lot of options for residents and tourists.
However, the heavy snowfall also has bad things, transportation slows down, energy is being used more for heating, and there are some risks to public safety like slippery driving conditions and dangerously cold weather that can lead to frostbite.
Minnesota has had noticeable gain in snowy winters over the past few years and and this will continue in the upcoming years. Things like climate change and location add to this. While the snowy weather offers opportunities, it also bring bad to the people and the environment of Minnesota. Adapting to these changing weather patterns will be needed to deal with the state’s winter and cold.
Antisemitism is a reality in the world and has been progressively getting worse in the United States. Antisemitism is defined as prejudice against Jews, and according to Vanessa Romo, on NPR news, antisemitic incidents in the US worsened by 26% in 2022 alone. This article revealed that in 2022, there were 3,697 acts of harassment, vandalism, and/or assault to Jews and Jewish communities in the US which has been the highest recorded number since they started in 1997.
Targeted shootings, bomb threats, and vandalism have become far too regular leading to synagogues and Jewish communities being forced into hiring police officers for events in order to increase safety.
Antisemitism may be very present today but it is not new. The Holocaust is the most well known and largest act of antisemitism. It took place in the 1930s into the 40s with the result of over 6 million Jews murdered.
Not only is antisemitism a physical act but can also be shown through Jewish stereotypes and “nicknames”. Many Jewish people are working to fight these stereotypes and to educate society on Judaism and the wrongs that are being consciously and unconsciously committed.
An evolving nonprofit organization called “JewBelong” is stepping up to fight antisemitism, to open American society’s eyes, and to help Jewish people in their everyday lives. The leaders of JewBelong are a group of Jewish people who originally started and became registered in Montclair, New Jersey, during the year of 2017. They have since spread across the US. Their current fight is to place vibrant pink billboards around the US with short sayings intending to make one stop, think, and feel. Their boards speak of harsh, true subjects. One says, “Can a billboard end antisemitism? No. But you’re not a billboard.” Another says, “We’re just 78 years since the gas chambers. So no, a billboard calling out Jew hate isn’t an overreaction.” These are just two examples out of many more.
JewBelong has recently come to the Twin Cities too. On University Avenue, the pink billboard has made an appearance. This one states, “Judaism: Come for the girlfriend. Stay for the lack of Hell.” This billboard is extremely hard to miss with that exact goal in mind.
JewBelong’s website: https://www.jewbelong.com/ has the same intentions. It’s pink, vibrant, and uses words going straight to the point. Their website offers guidance on how to celebrate Jewish holidays, weddings, Bris’s, and B’nai Mitzvah. They have links to news articles on their billboards, an educational page, a team page, and so much more. On their team page, they use pictures of themselves, but as children, again with the purpose of making the viewer feel.
JewBelong has the goal of educating people about antisemitism and to ensure that no act is forgotten, including the Holocaust. It is very common for people to forget the worries of the past, but the murder of over 6 million Jews is not something to forget. JewBelong fights to never let this history repeat itself again. So, if you see the vibrant pink billboard, take a look. Pause, think, feel, and educate yourself on the message being shown to you.
Right off the bat, we want to say that these two are not the same. In the past, ANYTHING other than Christianity was labeled as satanic or evil. Today however, we’re able to differentiate between the two with an open mind.
Now, most people associate the pentagram or pentacle (it goes by a couple names) with the devil and the occult. But if one were to look into its past, they’d discover that it has an entirely different meaning: it symbolizes a deeper connection between spiritual levels of oneself and/ or with nature. Satan’s cross is actually entirely different (it’s also not just an upside-down cross; the movies lied to you). Look it up once and there’s definitely a difference.
Looking more specifically at paganism, the practice has evolved over time, although its base values remain the same: it is a practice rooted in nature and the natural world. In the past, it was more commonly practiced as Wicca. The two separated a little more over the years, with Wicca now recognized as an official religion. It’s a practice that is heavily influenced by nature and especially apothecary, whereas paganism is more about the mind and finding yourself.
Moving back to the idea of satanism’s relationship to paganism, there is none.
Yes, paganism can involve “witchcraft”, but not always. That stereotype is what links the practice to satanism, and it’s entirely unfair. Many pagans do practice some version of the craft, but it is primarily about finding yourself and achieving a higher state of being.
And the thing about paganism is that it’s so moldeable. You can believe in whichever gods you want to (as well as however many you want to), or you can not believe in any gods. Many people believe in mother nature as a force of guidance, and some believe in the universe as a conscious entity. Some believe both. Others don’t believe in either. It’s a practice that you can truly personalize to fit your needs and beliefs, and overall is just another way of finding yourself.
Even then, satanism is less of worshiping Satan over the Christian God, but more of a symbolization of individualism.
The biggest problem we have today as a society of free religion, is that some practices have become trendy or considered cool and fashionable. Some treat them simply as aesthetics and publicly present only the superficial information they consider interesting. This leads to a lot of misconceptions and misinterpretations of religions that many people practice seriously. It can also disrespect religions and surround them with new stigmas or stereotypes, which help no one at all.
Satanism is the renegade Christian’s acceptance of the religion’s duality of good and evil. They choose to worship the anti-God, representing evil in the world, but still take on Christian worldviews.
Neo-paganism is the modern version and revival of the past pagan practices, which don’t exactly see the world in black and white, or as good and evil. The religion is more centered on the sacredness of all living thing as well as nature, as was mentioned previously.
Another branch off of paganism and related practices is Shamanism, commonly known as witch doctors or simply witches and warlocks. They’re similar to Wiccan practices as they focus their energies on learning to heal themselves and others through the powers of nature, herbal medicine, midwifery, spell casting, etc. They were most often (although not exclusively) women, leading to the portrayal of witches as old hags.
The way people were “proven” guilty of witchcraft back during England’s witch hunts was frankly very unfair and somewhat paradoxical. Aka: you couldn’t survive either way.
When someone (almost always a woman) was accused of witchcraft and worshiping the Devil, they would be bound at the wrists and ankles and tossed into a deep body of water. If they sank (which inevitably they would. Most women of the time were in fact incapable of swimming while tied up), then they were innocent. But then they’d drown, so it was never of any use to them. If they somehow managed to stay afloat (perhaps by holding their breath), then they were proclaimed a witch and burned at the stake.
The point of this information is to help others realize you can’t just accept the dominant narrative of any religion (or any other aspect of life) without having some part left out. Do your research, and learn to question everything around you.
Frankie Macdonald is a Canadian weatherman born on April 24, 1984. He is from Whitney Pier, an area in Sydney, Nova Scotia. He is also known for his humorous videos as a comedian. He makes online weather forecasts and meteorologist reports. He often posts them on YouTube, but he is also known for TikTok and Instagram. His YouTube channel handle is: dogsandwolves.
He is pretty popular and has received more than 32 million views on YouTube. He has been a popular creator since 2007 on YouTube. His father, Finneas Macdonald was also a weather reporter in Canada in his time, reporting on well known Canadian weather events such as Winnipeg’s “Snowstorm of the Century”, “Greatest Rainfall in One Day”, and “Hurricane Beth terrorizing Nova Scotia”. Hurricane Beth was widely reported by Finneas MacDonald at the start of his career, due to the fact that he inhabited Sydney, Nova Scotia.
Frankie has said in his videos that his father was the one who got him involved in weather reporting and content creation. Ever since Frankie was younger, he said, he has wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps of weather reporting. Along with this career as a weather reporter, Frankie Macdonald owns a bakery in his hometown of Sydney, Nova Scotia called “McKayla Smiths.” This bakery was run by a friend of his in Sydney, but has been turned over to him. He has decided to keep the name of the bakery the same in order to keep the original charm of the bakery.
In one of Frankie’s videos, he goes through his favorite activities to do in Sydney, Nova Scotia, including taking a visit to “Mckayla Smiths.” He also discusses his other favorite things to do in the area of Sydney. He mentions that you can visit the “Largest Ceilidh Fiddle in the World” at the Sydney waterfront. There are many boardwalks and waterfront stores along the cape.
The “Celtic Colors Festival” according to Frankie MacDonald, takes place every October at the cape, with some concerts performing in Sydney.
Though Frankie is living his best life now he comes with a troubling past. Before fame he was heavy into drugs and the world of prostitution which he is very open about on his platforms. He shares his story to empower others to pursue recovery and that a future is possible after the streets. His podcast “Meth to Mr. Mac D” offers a lot of self help advice to those struggling, and he features guests frequently to get other stories shared.
Frankie is a very versatile influencer sharing everything from books to video content to owning a bakery. How does he manage all of this you may ask? The answer is his family and friends. You can see them frequently featured on the YouTube channel as they vlog their lives managing all of Frankie’s successful businesses. His cousin Bobby plays a big role in the YouTube side of things and even collaborates with him and Frankie’s channel together to put out gaming content along with the vlogs. This just further diversifies the Macdonald family industry.
Frankie has a line of merchandise available for his fans for any of his many businesses. Anything from bobble heads to Nike tracksuits; he has it all. He recently has worked on a collaboration with famous influencer Irissa Darizz. Their merch line sold out instantly but is getting restocked Summer 2023. Fans will be waiting patiently to get their hands on one of their limited edition Nike techs.
Frankie Macdonald is certainly an entrepreneurial prodigy and his success is nothing to be looked over. We hope you will check his content out and enjoy it with the world. As Frankie would say from his signature YouTube videos, see you later Senkies!
Social media has become a huge part of everyone’s current life since the beginning of the 2000s. It is a way to connect and contact people all over the world through the power of the internet. The effects of social media is a debatable topic, but today we will talk about how it has evolved over the past 20+ years.
1997- Six Degrees
One of the very first social media platforms was released in the late 90s. Six Degrees was made to allow people to connect with friends and family by creating accounts attached to their personal emails. The name Six Degrees comes from the “six degrees of separation” theory that says that everybody is somehow connected by no more than six degrees. The number of users on this platform reached around 3.5 million people over its 4-year running period. The company was eventually bought for $125 million by YouthStream Media Networks, and was shut down in 2001.
2002- Friendster
After Six Degrees was no longer operating, a new site called Friendster rose to take its spot. Similar to Six Degrees, this site also had its users make accounts through their emails, allowing them to make friends and add them to a personal network. One of the main differences between Six Degrees and Friendster is that on Friendster you were able to share messages, photos and videos with others if you were on each other’s networks. This site grew by a lot very rapidly with 3 million users after a couple of months, and eventually reached more than one hundred million users. Friendster remained very popular for many years, but was eventually shut down in 2019.
2002- LinkedIn
LinkedIn was also one of the very first social media networks, but it had a different purpose than some of the others. LinkedIn was created to allow people to connect with business contacts, along with finding job opportunities. It is different today because unlike Facebook and Instagram, users on LinkedIn usually only connect with other people they already know. People still use it today, and it is the most used professional network available today.
2004- Facebook
In 2004 the world’s most used social site was founded by Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes. These were students who were attending Harvard University at the time. Just like the other sites, Facebook was made for another way to connect with friends. Facebook was just about the social side, by letting users find friends, users could connect with old friends all thanks to the mutual friend feature. Facebook has become so large in the almost 20 years it has been around that it has bought other social media platforms like Instagram. However, there has been some controversy over this because now many sites lack originality and promote the same toxicity which completely defeats the whole purpose of social media, now mainly focusing on the money aspect rather than the actual connection.
2005- Youtube
In 2005 Youtube was created as a video- sharing platform. Most of the early videos posted were tutorials on a variety of things and subjects, or funny random videos simply posted for entertainment and to make people laugh. Youtube was actually founded as a dating service, but quickly grew and changed as a place for people to share videos with their friends. This platform helped people reach out to others and become friends.
Fast forward a few years and five more very popular social media apps were created. Between the years of 2006 and 2016 Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok were made. They all started with the same mission as the other platforms, which was to connect people to others through whatever the app was specialized to do. At first, they were all unique in their own way, for example on Snapchat people would connect by sending photos or videos to each other, while Instagram was about posting photos of yourself or things you are doing so your followers could keep up and in touch with you.
Although social media has changed a lot throughout the years, and sometimes for the worst, we can appreciate how it has brought us to connect with others around the country and world, and sometimes meeting new people or reconnecting with old friends. Social media will continue to evolve with time to keep up with trends and what is most popular, and we are interested to see what social media will bring in the future.
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