Site History
This site was set up in July of 2004. Starting a website was something that had been simmering in the back of my mind for sometime. I was unsure what I was going to do with the site and so picked a rather generic name 'neoperspectives' in order to leave all doors open, while grabbing a 'catchy' (or cheesy depending on your opinion) title. Besides the desire to learn web designing and programming, skills I thought could become useful down the road, there were three main reasons why I started this site.
The first was my desire to address the discrepancies between what I was reading and researching independently and what I was hearing and seeing in the mainstream media. The more I learned, the more it bothered me, especially considering that just three years ago my worldview rested about 180 degrees from where it does now, most probably because of my unquestioning acquiescence to this media saturation. I accepted their credibility because I naively assumed they were the 'experts', not realizing that anyone has the capability of being 'expert' in any given field by asking enough pertinent questions and proceeding logically. However, I also had a distrust for the headline grabbing, often knee-jerk reactions of those outside the mainstream media. I didn't trust their conclusions much more then those of the mainstream press. I wanted to document the truth and call it as square and fair as I could. For example, contrast John Kerry's Foreign Policy and Tsunami Tyranny, pieces that are quite critical of Senator Kerry and President Bush respectively. If I had to be stuffed into any ideology it is probably closest to the Libertarian ideology.
The second was that I believed I had some unique ideas, which could be put into words in a way that wasn't being done anywhere else on the Internet (ex: A Theory of God). I thought myself to be a fair writer (albeit sometimes a little shaky grammatically :) ) and that others might learn from and enjoy my investigations.
The third was that I had had been saving and cataloging a large number of articles covering news, politics, and science. I thought it was a shame for them to stagnate on my hard drive without sharing the humor, intrigue, and contradiction that is experienced when contrasting some of them.
The first piece posted was my review of 'Fahrenheit 9/11' in July of 2004. This became surprisingly popular, apparently because my review was one of the first ones to come out. The length of this first paper was a bit unexpected, but this then led me to think that this site could fill the niche for those interested in longer, more in depth analysis of issues. I have generally picked issues that I thought would most clearly illustrate general ideological failings or successes; I am especially interested in African American issues and how best to aid developing countries, especially Africa. When thinking about the big political/economic issues of the day, I focus primarily on their effects on the poorest of the poor. My longest piece has been on welfare in the United States, a 123+ page, 65+ graph/chart, 260+ citation, bloated monstrosity. This paper was interesting because when I started it I had no predetermined conclusion; I just researched and wrote as I went. At the end I did attempt to cut some of the fat out of it and rearranged certain parts to give at least some semblance of 'flow'.
I am also interesting in Education Reform. A Charter School Tale is a fictional story, but backed up with many news articles at the end. Almost all of these 'neoperspectives' are ongoing developments.
In order to provide some sustenance to the short reader and to fulfill my own curiosities, I developed tables of contents for some of these pieces, which help break them up a bit, and also expanded the site and created new areas (must reads, media bias, links) where I posted smaller blog-type ramblings with accompanying news stories. The quotes page was constructed just for my own enjoyment, although the Rumsfeld page has been a surprising hit.
Sometimes I run into trouble during my research and my high hopes for a decisive verdict on an issue are completely dashed. In 'Settling the Small Business Hype', I and in turn a researcher from the Heritage foundation with whom I was in communication with, were unable to find the pertinent statistics to offer any solid proofs besides our own broad range estimates. It was most frustrating as we both have every reason to believe our basic arguments were sound.
Recently I have started posting commentaries in blog type form on the main page. I try to keep these, and indeed everything on this site, as fact based as possible. So, I try to only post these 'bloggings' referencing things I have studied in depth that readers can access in further detail elsewhere on the site. By being as accurate as possible, those that might initially disagree with a post, will be hard pressed to refute all of the facts, charts, citations etc.. that back up an argument. Of course, I am sure that it will be tempting to break this rule on occasion. :)
Archives contains these bloggings, which are grouped together and sometimes stand alone on their own pages.
Posted 11/1/06 (By Travis)
We've had a record month this month here at neoperspectives.com. With 6,217 unique visitors and 88,456 hits during the month of October, we're truckin' ahead at full speed! We have a number of ideas to improve the site we'll be working on and implementing ASAP. There are so many exciting projects we are behind schedule on, it's not even funny. I'm kidding, it is funny. :) As always, we're also looking for contributors of quality content or technical expertise. Thanks to all our readers!
(btw, it's Dobber's birthday today)
(Posted 7/3/05)
I generally try to stay away from 'breaking news' on this site and focus more on building strong foundations on the various issues. We take a news story, analyze it, and then provide links to other posts and relevant research on this site to give a reader a broad understanding of the issue the article is addressing. Breaking news is only extensively pursued if it is indicative of clear ideological failings, ie the Kelo property decision. So this is why I was not in a rush to comment on the recent retirement of SCOTUS Justice, Sandra Day O'Connor.
<SNIP>
Posted 7/9/05
Today is the one year anniversary of the founding of Neoperspectives.com! This April we attained our highest monthly traffic with an average of 2973 hits a day. Our highest daily traffic was attained on May 9th, where we had 6055 hits in one day! I'm grateful to all my readers and supporters, especially for the comments on this site and the personal emails. I also appreciate those that have linked to this site all across the Internet, or posted links in forums. For new readers; About and History of the site. I have enjoyed sharing my thoughts and findings and intend to keep going strong. I am also looking for contributors and perhaps a fellow blogger or two to join forces and increase the output of the research and postings on this site. Please contact me if you're interested in this. I expect you to be familiar with the content of this site, although you don't necessarily have to agree with all of it. :)
Think about the difference you can make. By doing thorough and good research and careful analysis and wrapping it in an entertaining and flowing format, we can attract even more readers. But, most importantly, these aren't ordinary readers. The people that regularly read this and other similar sites are highly intelligent, educated, creating, thinking, freedom loving people, that are, or in the future will be, accomplishing great things. They care about the world they live in and want to understand and change it for the better. They recognize quality when they see it and we say this without a hint of arrogance, but rather as a compliment to our readers.
Posted 8/6/05
I try to shy away from personal anecdotes, but hopefully you'll indulge me a brief transgression for the benefit of friends, family, and acquaintances.
After a 3 day journey across interstate 40 (enjoying the exceptional company of a wonderful companion :)), I have arrived in Henderson Nevada to attend Medical School at Touro University. Henderson is 10 minutes from downtown Las Vegas. There is still a chance that I will get pulled off the waitlist at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine (thus saving over $100,000! - UNC is a public school, so North Carolina rips off its citizens to subsidize the medical education of doctors that don't even have to stay in the state after the completion of their medical education...), but at his point it seems probable that I'll be here in Henderson for at least the next 4 years.
Touro University is a new medical school that opened just last year! It will be exciting to play a role in what this University will become. From the Henderson Business Brochure: In 2003, Touro University Osteopathic School of Medicine opened its doors in Henderson and accepted its first class of 78 students – out of 1,000 applicants from around the nation. According to school officials, 125 students will be accepted annually by the year 2006.
Touro University is an Osteopathic medical school, which differ slightly from Allopathic medical schools. Osteopathic schools view medicine more holistically, and tend to have greater emphasis on whole body treatment. So, it is not surprising that 18% of all family physicians are D.O. (Doctor of Osteopathy) and 6% of total doctors are D.O.s, as opposed to the more recognizable M.D.s (Medical Doctor).
It is probably fair to say that Osteopathic schools cover broader ground than Allopathic schools, teaching OMM (Osteopathic Manipulation Technique - involves twisting and cracking the musculoskeletal system), overall wellness, and exploring other alternative treatments, but Allopathic schools go deeper into the 'nuts and bolts' of medicine and explore traditional medicine in more depth. However, here at Touro U we will still have access to cutting edge technique:
In addition, Touro has joined with an exciting new partner to build an 18,000-square-foot research and teaching facility that will be the first of its kind for Southern Nevada. The MERIN, or Medical Education and Research Institute of Nevada, will be a state-of-the-art facility located inside Touro, which will train surgeons and physicians from across the country and around the world on the latest surgical equipment and techniques.
The facility will house a surgical amphitheater, actual surgical suites and lecture facilities for educational presentations. This is a tremendously exciting partnership that will bring in thousands of orthopedic surgeons, neurosurgeons and other physicians every year. They will come to Henderson to be trained in a world class setting on the newest techniques for procedures like hip replacements, knee replacements, critical joint, spinal and other major surgeries.
D.O.s are licensed to do all of the same things as M.D.s, and there are D.O.s practicing in the most specialized and advanced fields of medicine. However, a smaller percentage of D.O.s choose to undertake highly specialized residencies (like Neurosurgery) due to the nature of the D.O. training focus, or perhaps because D.O. schools are easier to get into than Allopathic schools and these residencies are often very competitive.
I am excited about the Osteopathic approach for a variety of reasons. I think the field of medicine, both scientifically and popularly, is heading towards an embracement of healthy living and whole body healing. Sometimes an underlying cause will manifest itself as a variety of symptoms and curing each successive symptom results in only a temporary and unsatisfactory solution. My interest and experimentations in Meditation and Neurofeedback (more posts and links coming on these) and general philosophy, as well as my attraction to the field of Psychiatry, more closely relate to the Osteopathic approach. (For those interested, here is my profile on MDapplicants.com, a website for premeds)