Animal Cruelty- Blog Post #2

         Hi, my name is Jasmine Nieves incase you didn’t know. In case you didn’t know, I have a project called you in the World and I was focusing on animal cruelty. This topic is still a major importance to me because I can’t resist thinking of the lives these animals are having. It breaks our hearts and especially my heart to find these animals still like this. We need to make a change for these animals.

      Basic information you need to know on my recent blog post is that I’ve found some recent information. The new information that was found was that everybody now is committed to prohibiting animal cruelty from happening. 41 states have been found with these felonies of animals. They would even kill animals for fur. Tragedies like this are the reasons why animals get killed. Fifteen million animals that are warm blooded are used in research laboratories. Click Here for more info on animal cruelty.

      What I’ve done to research more of this topic was using the same process as my last post.  I just kept searching and searching until I found something interesting about animal cruelty to talk about. Videos such as this one are very sad, but videos like this one will show how much animal cruelty means to me and I want it to stop. When I said on my last post, that there should be a public awareness for these animals, I really meant it from the bottom of my heart. From just looking at the videos, I just want to cry and I know you do too. To make a change, I will have a presentation at my school advisory and we are going to help each other sell cupcakes to end it.

      I have compared my latest research to my previous research. It has shown that animal cruelty was starting to wear away. When I saw that this was happening, I felt relieved. My heart was starting to fill back into place, but I still want to make and awareness in my advisory that should help the situation.  Soon afterwards, I hope my advisor will help me tell the principal of the school to help us spread out the word. This would be a big change for me and for the animals.

      This adds to my understanding of this issue by just simplying saying JUST END ANIMAL CRUELTY!!! This is an important message to spread out because they would see how much animals and pets are like taking care of babies and how it’s so important to take care of them. I hope people can see the way I feeling on the inside. Hopefully, this word would spread more around the world. This is a big change for me to handle but it’s for my own good. That’s all I have to say.

      My personal opinions on this issue are the it is wrong. It is wrong because these animals have feelings but some people don’t see them. The animals are both hurt on the inside and the outside. People in their right mind would know not to do this. This is a very empowering situation to fix. We all have our fears and it all comes to this, animal cruelty. These animals are feeling alone. When these two different worlds collide, they would be able to survive. They had dreams and their dreams are to be saved. They need to find a find a home and a new love for them.

      Something’s I’m still wondering about will people have the faith to help them. I am still wondering if the people who did cruelty to them will see my point that I’m trying to make. It would probably break their hearts if they found out. I hear this almost all the time while doing the project and it also. When days are low for them will this cruelty happen again and break the Laws of Endangerment for Animals. Just remember they can’t think for themselves and that they don’t have their own voices. We have to do it for them.

Click Here to see my Bibliography.

Click Here for video

Click Here for interview



















Public Education in the US: What is the problem?


The United States continues to drop globally in education, this was established in my last blog post. But why?

Some would argue that its spending, that the US doesn't spend enough on education. This is simply not true. The US ranks among the highest in spending, yet among the lowest in achievement. This chart illustrates that countries that spent moderate amounts of money on education score the highest. This shows that the problem is not something easy, like not enough spending, but something bigger.

That something bigger is the entire system itself. The model used in most classrooms today is based on Horace Mann's philosophy on education. Mann believed in a primary education for all. His education philosophy was that students of different ages should be separated by age. Each grade had certain requirements, and those who didn't meet those requirements were not promoted to the next grade. Students were also to have summers off, mostly due to how hot it would be in the school year. Mann believed that education should be decided federally, rather then locally. Most classes were taught using lecture.

One problem with this is that Manns education system is mainly fact based. Mann emphasized the memorization of facts. Now that we have the internet, memorizing Abraham Lincolns birthday or the location of the Czech Republic is not very important. What schools should be teaching instead is how to apply these facts to the real world. Memorizing facts and spitting them back out does not require any form or original thought. What should be emphasized more in schools is critical thinking.

Another problem with this is that curricula are set by the state rather then locally. If teachers had more freedom to write their curricula, then they could tailor them to the needs of individual students and incorporate all learning styles.

Our education system is incredibly outdated. It was designed during the industrial revolution to give as many students the most uniform education as possible. But education is not "one size fits all". It needs to be tailored to the individual student to fit his or her needs, and our system does basically the opposite of that. To improve how public education in the US works, we need to scrap the old system and design a new one.



Here is an interesting TED Talk by Ken Robinson, an education activist. 


Sources
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La Tomatina- Blog 4

I wish to speak to someone about La Tomatina. Mostly everyone I talk to is from Spain, so I want to ask someone about this.


Mis preguntas son 

¿Tú sabes sobre "la tomatina"?

¿Qué tipo la gente assiste?

¿Tú pagas asistir?


I think La Tomatina sounds so amazing so I'm excited to hear about it from natives. 


I'm not really nervous about anything, the people are not intimidating.


I chose to speak with Jeff who is from Spain and is 20 years old. This was the first time I had spoken with him.


This interaction helped me toward my personal goals because I really just want to feel comfortable conversationally speaking and a topic about something they experience falls within that. 


I spoke with Jeff for a long time, but I include the best piece of our conversation

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Screen Shot 2012-05-16 at 11.04.32 AM

Testing on animals, Post #2

Hello readers! My name is Amy Farrell and this is my second blog post about an issue I care very deeply about, testing on animals. If you wish to read my first post, click here

Since my last post, I have found several new websites with useful information on them. Also, I have found things you could replace animal testing with. Before, when a woman had a pregnancy test done, the laboratory procedure involved killing a rabbit. Now, you can buy a home pregnancy test over the counter with no harm to animals. Instead of dissecting real frogs or animals for a science classroom, there are many online  alternatives such as this. For some skin tests, scientists have developed a synthetic skin that can be used in place of animal skin. If the test is not that dangerous, they will do it on human volunteers under serious supervision. Some people argue that these methods cost more, but in reality they cost less. The scientists do not have to keep buying and breeding and cleaning up after animals anymore. The question is, why don’t they just stick to alternative methods? 

LabRatChina-580x388
LabRatChina-580x388

I believe they don’t use the alternates  because they are afraid. If the test goes wrong they could get into a lot of trouble. What many people don’t realize, is that a little less than half of the tests that are conducted are inaccurate. For example, some companies test mascara on rabbits. One brand caused the rabbit to go blind, but they still sold it to customers anyway. 


freedom_animals_1
freedom_animals_1

By doing this project, I have discovered the many sides of animal testing. Some feel it is the worst possible thing that could happen, while others feel that it’s the only option they have. I hope that by reading my blog posts, it will help everyone become more educated and learn more about this topic.



PETA is an organization for the protection of all animals. They try to spread awareness of what's really happening to animals that the public do not know about. Through their work, thousands of animals are saved every year. To learn more about PETA, click here


Click here for my bibliography

Blog # 2 You and the World

   I hope you enjoyed the 1st Blog and you informed others about the change we want to do. It really makes a difference when people know what the problem is. There are many things I want to talk about, but lets start off with this question. Who is to blame? When I asked myself this question believe it or not was that it was the countries fault. The location of these countries has huge drought rates. Their government was financially stable to take care of the people that lived there. 

I was so ignorant about a lot of things before I considered this. I soon figured I was wrong when I learned many of these countries need aid in all types of ways. When I traveled to West Africa last year, I saw so many different things like deserted beaches, filthy waterways, and empty rivers. There was also other things that were unusual in American communities. The most interesting thing I saw was how their water looked. It was in a bag! Yes I know a bag really, I was so upset and angry to see that people in America  thrive with water. While they need to drink water from a plastic bag.


Something needs to change. 

Recent research that I found was much more broder this time around. I couldn't believe that this was happening. On the NyTimes  it was giving a much important quote that really opened my eyes to what is to come. "Many of the wars in this century were about oil, but wars of the next century will be over water". This quote was said by Ismail Seragaldin, the World's bank vice president. This really shocked me because, I feel as though water is a God Giving substance. 




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imgres
In this Picture above it showed the water in a bag.


While researching a came across this movie about water crisis all across the world. The trailer was interesting it as talking about a major group called FLOW. Flow is this international program that helps people all across the world come to terms that we have reached an international water crisis. I feel this is a important topic because it allowed me to realize the most important things in life are each other. We need each other.

If you missed my 1st Blog here you go.

For my  Bibliography  

Bullying- Blog #2

Hi, if you have not read my first blog post, my name is Lisa Kang and I’m doing a project on bullying. If you want to find out more about the project in general and want to see my first blog post then click here. In this blog post, I will be talking about some more information that I found out after posting the first blog and it will explain what research I’m planning on doing by myself so that I can compare and contrast it to actual results that other people got.

In my first blog post I mainly talked about the victim of bullying and now I will explain more on the effects it has on other people. When someone thinks about people who are involved in bullying, they usually think about the bully and the person being bullied but it can also have an effect on parents. Some parents of the students are not aware of what is happening to their childs in school. I think that if parents step up and try to check up on how their children are doing in school then more of them would be aware. Also I learned that children act a certain way because of their parents. For example sometimes, parents are also bullying their children but they are not aware of what they are doing because they might think that pushing their children that way will make them do better in school. I think that there are better ways for parents to approach the way they treat and talk to the kids.

After researching more about bullying, I decided to do my own research so that I can see what people around me think about this issue. For my own research, I decided to make a survey and let people fill it out. In this survey there are a few questions, some are multiple choice and some that allow people to explain their thoughts. If you would like to fill out the survey, please click here. You will remain anonymous, and so please just take a minute or two to answer these questions. It would be great if I had a different range of age so that I can see how different people thinks. The final results of my findings will be in the next blog post.


This helps me have a better understanding on bullying because it shows that all the people who took the survey thought that bullying was wrong. Also in the survey, there were a few response who clearly showed that they did not take it seriously because even though they said that bullying was wrong, I could tell that they lied about their age and that showed that they thought it was a joke. Overall, I’m waiting for more results and I would like to see how different people of different ages think about it.


This is the link to my sources.
This is my results so far for my survey.
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Screen Shot 2012-05-18 at 2.52.08 PM
This is a picture of an actual chart on bullying in different grades.
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This is a poem on bullying.
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Screen Shot 2012-05-18 at 2.35.30 PM

Unemplyment Blog#2

      Hi are you sitting at home wondering what you want to do for the rest of your life? Just graduated college and don’t know what you want to do next? Well I definitely know how you feel. Hi my name is Jordyn Randall and Im in the 9th grade. I’ve been thinking a lot about what job I would want to have now, my future and what I want to do after high school and even college. But I found out that its not easy to find a job and that there are 13.9 million people unemployed.

 

       In The major worker groups, the unemployment for adult men ( 7.5%), adult women ( 7.4%), teenagers ( 24.9%), whites ( 7.4%), and Hispanics ( 10.3%) showed hardly any change in April, although the rate for blacks ( 13.0%) declined over a month. The unemployment rate for Asians was 5.2% in April. This information hasn’t been shocking but considering that my race is the highest unemployed is disappointing but makes me want to strive to not be in this category.

 

I believe that some of this unemployment has something to do with taxation. Businesses pay more taxes in the U.S. than any where in the world. Many businesses are being truly crushed by this, which is also chasing businesses out of the country. Barack Obama has just proposed  a boost in unemployment taxes. I feel that this is going to make businesses not want to hire more employees.

There is a such thing as unemployment benefits though. Unemployment benefits are payments made by the state to unemployed people. Depending on the authority and the status of the person. The amount of money may be small, covering only central needs, also known as welfare. In some countries a proportion of unemployment benefits are divided by labor unions.




 After doing all this research I feel copying more money will get rid of all our problems because if people have more money they will buy more things and businesses will have more money. I also feel that we should just keep the prices of everything the same instead of raising the prices of things every year. I don’t think we should do both because that wouldn’t be to good for businesses.

 

 

 

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Screen Shot 2012-05-17 at 9.15.03 PM
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Screen Shot 2012-05-17 at 9.16.03 PM
​This is a graph of the unemployment race by ethnicity and gender in March 2011.
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​This is a picture of one of the Child Welfare Services.
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Screen Shot 2012-05-17 at 9.19.56 PM
Click here to see my first blog 

Click here to see my bibliogrphy

Animal Abuse pt.2


   Did you know every 10 seconds of the day an animal is abused or tormented? Most of the domestic animals (cats and dogs) that are abused usually die because they don’t have the strength to live. Others that are abused are most of the times put out on the streets. To me this is just wrong. I’m not saying its right to abuse animals but if you do you should at least have the common courtesy to bring them too the Aspca (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.) Henry Bergh founded the ASPCA. His purpose of this organization was to and I state “to provide effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the United States.” I believe in his cause of preventing animal cruelty along the Unites States but he should have had bigger plans to expand the organization across the world.

    Studies by the AMERICAN HUMANE ASSOCIATION recognized that most of animal abuse cases aren’t intentional but were just incidence that were caught in between a human fight. They also found out that 71% of Women entering shelters with injured animals were the cause of their injuries. They beat the animal out of anger and frustration and they pass this behavior off to their children. Also, 70% of the animal abusers had past records of crime. Animal cruelty doesn’t just have to be beating animals but abuse can be animals living in bad conditions.  The SPCA investigates most of animal cruelty cases. Adoption services for animals need to do a better job and a background check before they give these beautiful animals away.

    These animals need your help! Go save an animal life today and spread the word. Go volunteer at your local Spca and give an animal a second chance at life.



 ​http://scienceleadership.org/blog/Animal_Abuse:3 <---Link to Blog 1

Bibliography


aspcaposter
aspcaposter
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These are ADS from the Aspca to adopt animal.
PLEASE SAVE A LIFE.

You in the world- Homelessness_Blog 2

This is the you in the world project, and it is to help put a dent in homelessness. It is blog two, and is about opinions and more research. The research I did really helped me understand homelessness, and how it can affect anyone. Homelessness is defined as not having a set place to sleep in the nighttime. When I think of homelessness, I think of sleeping on the streets, and under overpasses. That is exactly what homelessness is. 

     Homelessness is in all parts of the city, and all neighborhoods. There were volunteers that went out yesterday, May 17 and counted 583 people in the nighttime were homeless. There were 50 volunteers, and they counted the homeless. That was just yesterday, but on any given day people can become homeless. I feel as though the citizens of Philadelphia could help the shelters, so that we can prevent some people from being homeless or becoming homeless. 

     My opinion on homelessness is that it can be prevented, or that the city can help some of these people. The only people or organizations that are helping the homeless are groups like Project HOME, SREHUP, the Office of Supportive Housing, and all homeless shelters. There are people who give the homeless food, and I applaud that, but the homeless need safe places to rest at night. I feel that all these abandoned building that are big enough can be turned into shelters, and places that are affordable for homeless people. 

     One thing that I didn’t like was the ban against feeding the homeless. Mayor Nutter was wrong for doing that, because everyone has the right to eat wherever they want. I am not homeless, but I can eat in public. So why is it that if you are homeless you only can get food from a shelter. That makes no sense to me. I feel that people should be able to share with anyone, even if they don’t have a home of their own. The reason there are so many homeless people alive, is because how generous other people are. So why would the Mayor make people, not help out others in need.

     Homelessness can affect anyone, men, women, children, and families. It doesn’t just happen to the lower class, it can happen to anyone. Now people can complain about homelessness, or the citizens can take action. Me personally, I am going to take action. I am going to help people in need not because it is the right thing to do, but because I would want someone to do the same for me. Homelessness is defined as not having a set place to sleep in the nighttime.

Click here for my bibliography. 

 

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01-homeless-copy
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shelter

Intimidator Difficulty Part 2


Welcome back! In the previous blog, I talked about all different kinds of bullying and how it can affect other people. If you didn’t read my first blog, click here. You wonder why you are reading the next set of the blog. Well in this blog, it will launch into a new journey. In this journey of blog 2, there will be more information, my perspective on bullying, and the understanding of the issue. Don’t hesitate and prepare yourself for the next adventure of massive bullying.

After all the researching of bullying, it had struck me because many students were criticized from all types of bullying. Many people don’t take things seriously, but it can cause other people into a serious problems. Dealing with bullying, there is no ending to what will happen next when hate is building up because the bully is hard when children and adults are being foolishness.

Gathering all new information about bullying, children who had been bullied change their personalities. The victims usually;

: Shy and quiet
: Will lose relationship with friends
: Bring weapons to school for vengeance
: Commit suicide

They rather end the anguish of being tortured everyday at school where they think it is easier for them to rest in peace.

Bullying is extremely wrong when the victims are being torture. The ones who bullied the victims are also hurting themselves because it shows how much they care about people. The fact when they don’t think how it can affect other people. I saw my friends, and other students in my school were bullied by verbal. Students talk trash to each other especially girls who gossips a lot about the clothes they wear. Also boys who thinks they are better than each other. It’s crucial for young children to die because family members will be really struck to the story of their child committing suicide. They only want their child to have a wonderful life for fulfilling their dreams in the future. The ones who are friends with the bullied are afraid to stand up for their friend who had been bullied because the next they will get bullied next, but it is important that standing up for themselves or their friends will might stop them from preventing bullying.

I always talked to people why they aren’t friendly. When they don’t listen and continue to threaten you, ignore them. Life is very precious where people can’t just end their life. I always think words can’t hurt me because there is a lot of things I want to experience instead of being depressed what people had said. I don’t care what kind of bully occurs in the show because there is no right where children hurt each other’s feelings for being better than others. Children come to school are being created equally with all respects. No matter what ethnicity, where you come from, the language you speak, personalities, etc, we are all human beings who are like each other’s.

 created a Google doc about bullying. On May17th, 2012 I had amass all the responses with multiple choices with short answers. The results shows how many people had been bullied, and if bully matters in the society.

I'll stand up for the weaker person. I don't care how that makes me look to other people, because at the end of the day I could've saved a life. What happens most of the time is people see it, think it's wrong, but never speak up.” This shows how deeply when people wanted to stand up for someone when he/she feels accomplish of helping the ones who get tease.” - Anonymous, age 15.

Please click on this survey and take couple minutes to respond. Remember, once you submit it will be anonymous. Thank you for your patients.

For more information, there will a website about signs of how people can identify of bullying.

Click here for a commercial  of bullying.  

For my sources, click here!

 

bullyboy
bullyboy
The pictures shows what bully means to people. 
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bullying
Bully can spread instantly. 
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Screen Shot 2012-05-18 at 2.20.31 PM

The diagram shows how many people had been bullied and how bullying is important. There were 71 responds.

Blog 2 Child Sex trafficking

Stephen White Blog 2: 

My opinion on child sex trafficking is that it’s unacceptable. Honestly trafficking anyone is wrong. What joy do you get from taking advantage of a child? As they’re raping a child do they think that someone could be doing the same to theirs? Taking a child or an adult and using them for your own benefit is unjust. I learned that the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) is a federal law that criminalizes the act of human trafficking and was first signed into action in early 2000. In the U.S. the top 10 states that have the most children taken into the industry are: California, Texas, Florida, Illinois, New York, District of Columbia, Ohio, New Jersey, Washington, and Virginia. 

Some new information I found was that an estimated $9.5 billion is generated in annual revenue from trafficking activities. Between 50 and 60 percent of children who are trafficked are under the age of 16. In Thailand it was found that 60 to 70% of child prostitutes are found to be HIV positive. The child sex trade is happening all around the world. The child sex trafficking is mostly in Cambodia, Moldova, Asia, Russia, Middle East, and rural parts of Brazil.

To add to my research I researched child sex trafficking more abroad. In my first blog I mainly focused on the child sex trade in America but in this blog I talked about where it’s mostly happening and my opinion on the subject. I’ve also found more charities that are here to help end the child sex trade that can be found here. Some things I’m still left wondering about is how the government plans on protecting children and adolescents from being traded internationally. I haven’t found the answer yet but I’ve been looking around.

My research has added to the understanding of my issue in many ways. I’ve noticed that people really are trying to stop this growing industry. It caught the attention of the White House and the world. MSNBC Dateline took a trip to Cambodia to find out more about the child sex trade. They found out that some children are born into poverty and their parents sold them into the child sex trade in exchange for money. Children as young as 5 years old are being traded. In Cambodia children as young as 12 years old are considered old in this industry. In Cambodia children are sold because of family struggles. Some are lured and kidnapped. 
If a child’s a virgin they can be worth as much as $600 because they’re pure. You’re allowed to keep the child for up to 3 days.

 

Here is the video of MSNBC Dateline’s trip to Cambodia to uncover the child sex industry.


Here is my the link to my bibliography

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xin_33050209011167131296

Animal Adoption

 

     About 20 to 30 percent of cats and dogs are adopted from shelters and rescues. 26 percent of dogs are bought from breeders. At least one-third of cats are acquired as strays, and more than 20 percent of people who leave dogs in shelters adopted them from a shelter.  There are about 5,000 animal shelter nation wide. Why can’t people understand that instead of going out and buying a dog from a pet store for hundreds to thousands of dollars you can just go to a shelter and adopted a pet that needs a home for only about hundred dollars.

 

   The top 10 reasons people in America get pets are to Teach kids about selflessness, Pets can increase your sense of security — personal, private, and psychological, Personal growth,  Need an excuse to get physical, Preparing for parenthood, Looking for a constant companion, It's a great way to meet people, Getting and giving unconditional love, Take a stand on a humanitarian cause, and the number one reason Pets are a prescription for good health. People don’t understand that you don’t have to go to a pet store and spend a lot of money to get this. You can go right to a shelter and get a dog or cat that can do the same things as if you bought one from a pet store.

 

   When you adopt from a shelter your giving a cat of dog a second chance. There are an estimated 3.7 million unwanted pets wanted pets must be euthanized at animal shelters every year, many because they could not find families to adopt them. Some people choose not to adopt animals because they think the animal they adopt will have bad behavior. This is not the case there are a number of reasons why pets arrive in a shelter, from losing their owner to being abused and rescued.

Read more: 

Bibliography

To see my last blog post chick here
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Genetic Testing: Issues on Privacy and Social Injustice

​ To go to my first blog click here.

     A new age of genetic improvement allow us to decode our own human genome with less than a thousand dollars. It solves the problem for new efficient medicine that could cure rare illnesses and sometimes cancer. Biotech companies like 23andMe developed an odds calculator to track down an individual’s possibility to contact a certain disease. Tracing your ancestors could be just as easy. But, as this growing industry took a bigger step into the world, questions started to rise about the reliability and the privacy of personal DNA results. 

Recent discovery: 

Do you know that now scientists could eliminate some of the mutations in an embryo’s DNA? Don’t be anxious or boisterous about this news. We’re no in the stage to increase the intelligence, height, or the body structure of the baby prior from birth. But, will it happen in the distant future?   


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Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 9.39.41 PM
​Figure 1: A scientist was extracting a portion of the embryo to remove a part of the mutation.

Personalized medicine?

Thesis: The price of personalized medicine is expensive and is most likely to be used within the upper society. It is not realistic for the lower class to be able to afford it daily and it is only available for people who have a mutation in an actionable gene. 

     The value to develop personalized medicine is a new breakthrough in inventing new ways to cure. But, the current price for these medicine is too expensive and could most likely be used in the upper society rather than the lower class who could not afford about $294,000 per year (about $800 per day). Then, it will evolve into a social injustice that was primarily made to help the whole society. Even if the price goes down in the future because of the invention of new advance technologies, personalized medicine are only available to patients who have an actionable gene. Unlike all prescriptions from clinics that could treat people of all classes and almost all people, personalized medicine’s medical power could only be delivered to a selected group.  

Trustworthy results?

Thesis: The results of personal health risks should not varies from different companies, the results should be definite in order to prevent confusion and panic from testers. 

Different biotech companies have different methods in collecting DNA samples. Some companies, like 23andMe use saliva samples while deCode Me use cheek cell samples to sequence an individual’s DNA. But, all of these variety of different samples leads to results that varies from company to company. If the results depended on only a part of the whole DNA then the odds calculator will prevent the tester from contacting a certain disease but it could also create unnecessary panic and bewilderment of the testers if the company did not explain how to read the statistics in the right way. 


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​Figure 2: Biotech companies show their testers some of their genes based on their blood or saliva sample. 
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​Figure 3: Based on genes provided by the DNA sample of an individual, the odds calculator can show the possibility of an individual to contact a certain disease. 

The odds calculator is a great tool to help prevent and decrease illness. But, the biotech company also need to give the testers both the possibility and the definite facts about their health. Also, these biotech companies need to create a manuel to guide their testers to read their results properly so they will not mistakenly believed that all of the results shown on the odds calculator is true. Personalized medicine need to be created so it could target both the patients with actionable and non-actionable mutation genes or the cost needs to be lower so it would be affordable to all groups of people.

Personal Research: (Personalized medicine/genetic testing)

Based on the survey that I had conducted, 25% of the people said that personalized medicines are necessary in our society based on their expensive cost the rate of cure for all groups of people. 75% of the people said that the society need personalized medicine but it is not ready to be accepted as a major type of medicine in our society, yet. 

Also, 25% of the people are not interested in taking genetic tests, 25% of the people are interested in taking the tests and 50% of the people hesitated to crack their DNA.   

Click here to fill out a survey! 

For bibliography click here.

You and The World: Teenage Obesity Blog Post #2

Hey guys! Welcome to my second blog post about teenage obesity! I have been finding new information about this topic. I have also been thinking of ways to spread the word about this issue.

There is a rapid growth in the percentage of teenage obesity. 12% of parents feel that their children are obese. 78% of parents feel that Physical Education in school should not be removed. 27% of parents feel that their teenagers do not eat nutritionally. Also, 24% of parents feel that teenagers get less exercise more and more.

Based on these numbers, there needs to be a stop put to teenage obesity. Before I can prevent this issue, I wanted to focus on grabbing people’s attention about it.

Teenage obesity is becoming a bigger issue than any of us can handle. Clearly it's taking over, because it's affecting more teenagers each and every day. I get very heartfelt about this topic because I don’t like seeing people unhealthy or in bad shape. Not only is this an issue for physical reasons, but I also consider how a teenage obese person might be feeling on the inside. People are judged because of their appearances every day. So imagine how you would feel if you knew that everyone was staring at you because of your weight?  

I created a survey to collect some data. I want to see how many people have strong or weak opinions about teenage obesity; and their perspectives on the issue. I wanted to gain some opinions. I'm interested in seeing if anyone feels the way I feel about teenage obesity. Also, the responses from my survey will give me great inspiration to create a way to prevent teenage obesity from continuing. 

You should take my survey and help me out! It only takes a minute.  

Be prepared to see the results of my survey, and a way that I can prevent teenage obesity in my upcoming post! 

Click to this link if you want to read my bibliography and more updated information on how important teenage obesity really is!               

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​This is a simple structure to follow by for healthy eating! More people need to remind themselves that they don't have to starve themselves or do crazy workouts to prevent themselves from being obese.

Just remind, if you refer to the food pyramid and incorporate some exercises into your life.. You'll be living healthy and obesity will be the last of your problems! 

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This is a collage I made to show teenages what foods they should stay away from! They might taste good now, but it won't be worth it in the long run. 

Keep reading! 

School Closing #2

   Hello, welcome back. I’m just going to give a brief review over what I talked about in my last blog. (Click here to review Blog #1)

   In the last blog I talked about my You and the World project and what current event I was going to talk about, Closing of Schools in Philadelphia. I talked about how many schools would be closed by 2017 and what was the reason for the closing. I also told you a little bit of my opinion and I showed you two news reports on schools closing.

   I didn’t get as much information as I wanted but here’s what I learned:

·      Public school’s had lost 50,00 student because they all went to charter schools

·      The Philadelphia School District held community hearings around Philadelphia discussing weather to shut down the nine schools (Drew, FitzSimons, Harrison, Levering, Pepper, High School for Business, Sheppard, Sheridan West, and E.M. Stanton).

·      Their reason for closing Stanton & Sheppard is they are small, they educate on low in – come, and they’re both old buildings (the schools will need a lot of repairing to do)


   The only thing I have to say about this is, how is the future going to be for the next generation that come up and schools getting shut down?

   As you read this I bet you wondered, so how can we prevent this from happening? I only have one word to tell you. Protest. We could discuss with the school district how this would be a negative effect towards children (this is in the first blog). 

I also found a picture of how they are closing nine schools:

 

SPEAK UP! DON’T HOLD BACK!!!

Click here for my bibliography.

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CSheridan;Blog Post #5

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Conversation Question: What type of music do you enjoy listening to?


Pre-Conversation:


•  What will be your topic of conversation be?

I will be asking general questions about the different genres of music in their country. I want to know some good songs to listen to and any popular bands/singers.

•  What are 5 questions related to your conversation goal that you can think of ahead of time to ask your partner?

1. What type of music do you listen to?

2. What is your favorite song?

3. When do you most frequently listen to music?

4. What is your favorite artist?

5. Is music an essential component in your life?

•  What are you looking forward to about this conversation?

I am looking forward to getting to know the person I am speaking with. I want to learn about their every day life and some of the challenges they face. I would like to possible create a friendship.

•  What are you nervous about?

I am just nervous about my grammar structure with spanish and making sure that I correctly conjugate verbs so that the person I am speaking with does not judge my spanish speaking abilities.

Colony Collapse Disorder Blog #2

As I said before, Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) can affect humans in a major way.  I never realized how many plants bees pollinate! I eat like, more than half of this stuff! These are your average every day foods! You will be shocked at how many of these foods that you eat are pollinated by bees. With out pollination from bees:

-The US will lose a little more than 15 billions of dollars in crops.

-It will take a huge toll on your diet 

-Food for the animals that we eat won't be available

-The balance in nature will definitely be off

- Once one major help (bees) die, other things begin to die, which will lead to us and starvation.
 
After doing some more research I had to sit down and realize that this is real. I didn't have to do anymore research to know that. This is very important to me because I love gardens and bees and nature life. I've experience what it's like without bees and it's pretty dead.  In my back yard, well my grandfather's back yard, he had a garden. It was beautiful. And I mean beautiful. Every time it would rain I would just sit outside and stare at it. At all the wonderful colors. God didn't mess up when he made nature. Before our neighbors moved in we had more space and we grew sunflowers. I usually would be scared to go outside because there were so many bees! As a young girl I never knew it was because of them that I have juicy peaches, delicious grapes, sweet melons and more! And then as the years went by, people started moving in, the garden wasn't being taken care of and the flowers were cut down (for the portion of my new neighbors back yard). A bee barely passes by anymore and all my grandfather's garden is, is a space full of leaves. 



Often I wonder, how can I save them. Because right now they matter more than anything. Because of them we have all these wonderful crops and we just slave them around. I wonder how I can help and how I as one person can make a difference. I don't think its fair to put bees through so much just because we need the food. By putting them through this we are actually killing them more. But it's all about the money and I want to change that. 


Here is my bibliography 


Here is a picture of an unpollinated garden 

Here is a picture of a pollinated garden

Here is my first blog 

The Pro-Choice Movement's Involvement In Politics: Part Two

This is my second blog post regarding the topic of the Pro-Choice Movement’s involvement in politics. First off, I would like to state that the point of this blog entry is “opinion.” If I happen to offend anyone, I am deeply sorry. I have done more research on this topic and I have found many interesting tidbits of information. 


In my opinion abortion and contraception should not be made illegal. There are things that are illegal that people still manage to do (i.e. Drugs, dog fights, jaywalking, etc) but because they are illegal, they do these things in an unsafe manner. If abortion were criminalized, people would still get them because they are necessary in most cases. I learned that 13% of pregnancy-related deaths worldwide are related to complications in unsafe abortions. According to Planned Parenthood, 1 in 3 women in the U.S. Have had an abortion by the age of 45.


abortion


Some people believe abortion and contraception is a mortal sin because of their religion. In 1930 the Roman Catholic Church banned all “artificial” means of contraception like condoms, diaphragms, and cervical caps. According to the Church, tampering with the "male seed" was equivalent to murder. Not all people that are Pro-Life have had those opinions their whole life. In my research the most notable change of opinion was that of former senator Rick Santorum. In a statement made in a 1995 interview Santorum says, "I was basically pro-choice all my life, until I ran for Congress... But it had never been something I thought about." Santorum is now one of the strongest opposers of abortion and contraception. “Santorum is a product of the polarization of our politics," said Pat Ewing, the former campaign manager for Senator Harris Wofford, whom Santorum defeated in the 1994 election. "He has taken advantage of it. He understands it. And he will take a position to benefit himself to get a small group of people to love him adamantly. His personality hasn't evolved, his politics has."


People can change their opinions if they think it’ll make them more popular. Not just about their views on abortion and contraception. Anything. 


In my opinion, saying “Pro-Choice” is kind of pretentious. It may sound harsh but at the end of the day the reality of it is that you are “pro-abortion.” This doesn’t mean that you want to abort every child that is conceived. It just means that you support women's right to choose what they want to do with their body. In many cases, abortions happen because of rape or incest. If it is your opinion that abortion and contraception shouldn’t even be used in these situations then I guess our beliefs conflict. 


Through out my research I’ve been asking myself, “why would people be against this?” I totally understand the religious aspect but if you oppose abortion and contraception for a reason other than that, I’m left confused. In my next blog post I have to talk about change. I plan on looking into people’s opinions on this topic to enrich my knowledge. 


Sources

First Post

abortion
abortion

STDs of STIs: The New Crisis Of Today's Teens Blog Post#2

In continuation of the topic of STDs or STIs it was discovered that there are about 10 million different cases of STDs every year in the U.S. Now if you plan on having any kids note that an STD or STI can easily be passed down to your unborn child and not only that it can affect the development and growth of your child while it is in the womb in the process of such. Not only that in this website it states that “some of the various other health effects that can be caused by an STD during pregnancy include brain damage, blindness, deafness, chronic liver disease, pneumonia and even reoccurring pink eye.” Please be mindful on the great risk and consequences that having an STD can do. It will not just cause you the person carrying it great pain but it will somewhat damage the people that you know and love.  

Doctors can try and fix or at least ease the physically suffering it contains but not the emotional and mental anguish it later brings. That you’ll have to deal with yourself. Using condoms are not completely ‘bulletproof’ from having an STD but use it any but before even thinking about having sex make sure that you are ready. As in physically, mentally, and especially emotionally and (if you are a teen) talk to your parents about this for one second can change the entire course of your life that you had planned. Then absolutely consider getting tested as soon as possible! Same for the partner.I don't personally know anyone dear to my heart that has such a disease but I have a big family and I'm not even completely know to half of them but learning about this came to my heart that any growing child/teen would have to deal with this. My personal thoughts on this are that parents should inform their kids about this massive issue. Even if it seems that they don't want to listen try and try again to tell them for they need to know. Wouldn't you rather them keep at least a piece of what you said rather than nothing?

The most common STDs among young teens is Chlamydia. Chlamydia the most fastest spreading STD among teens ages 14-19 in Philadelphia. It can really mess up the private organs of a women and other health problems. It can lead to a women not being able to have any children that how serious it is. The tricky thing about chlamydia is that you can have it and not even know because it has no symtoms whatsoever. This why so many urge for many youths to get tested! Good thing that Chlamydia can be cured and treated with antibiotics, but do you really want to go through all of that? Is encountering an infectious disease a part of your plan in life?







For more information on my resources please click here.


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This is a picture of what chlamydia would look like on your tongue if you'd have had it.
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This is from 2005 think about the rate of female teens having it now... Also of the the pain that they have to dealt with.

Rape In Africa Blog post #2



Hello again readers! If you have forgotten who i am, my name is Sophia DeOliveira.What my research has been identifying is the topic Rape in Africa. Now, i have definitely looked more information about this issue and i just wanted to share my updated study of this issue.



Also, if you have not gotten a chance to view my first blog click here

I have gone deeper into the topic, and found out that A Medical Research Council study found that 28 percent of men in South Africa reported having perpetrated rape; three-quarters of first-time rapists are like Rebombo - under the age of 20."This violence, there is violence elsewhere in the world, but you don't see the staggering numbers of rapes that are seen here in South Africa," Rebombo says.


Now lets talk about mainly this particular scene in which Rebombo was in.After Rebombo had done what he did,he eventually left his village and joined first a religious organization and later an aid agency. He learned about respecting others, but oddly enough he did not even think twice of raping that girl.As time went on, he told others about his emotional stages and then he thought of the girl.As i had mentioned before, he apolgized many years after, and the girl swelled up in tears.Not only did he want forgiveness, but the anger inside of him just was to much...So he did what he felt like he must do, inorder to have a clean conscience.He made time to for change.He went into more detail of his life with many, and he joined more organization in the topic he focuses on.Everyone wants to do something, or atleast spread the word of this grand circumstance.


A woman is raped every 26 seconds in South Africa, according to People Opposing Women Abuse, a nonprofit group for the eradication of gender violence.The sexual violence is strong because of what some have said repeatidly.Some say it is the country's strong culture of violence.It may also be the fact that men do not realize the rights of woman, of not recognizing them necessarily as being full human beings compared to men themselves.There are many cases of multi aged- rape. There have been many news stories of 70 year-olds raping 3 year-olds, as odd as that may be.


There are many organizations trying to stop this horrible,rapid-spreading tragedy that goes on in not only africa, but also where i live too.Sexual assult, or also known as rape can be anywhere, infact all over the globe.We have for example, Rombombo,working with the "One Man Can," a project to promote healthy relationships between men and women. As such, he is out to change the national mind-set so that men will no longer think it cool to disrespect women. Violent acts must stop, he says. So must the silence of men who witness such acts.We have family service centers that are known as “havens”.There is not much that i can do to stop people from abusing others, but i can do the small things that mean a big part in my project.What i can do is increase the self-awareness about this issue.Wait for my next blog for more information !
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You and the World Blog Post #2

Throughout my first blog post, I addressed the issue of gay marriage. This blog will go further in depth on the new research conducted.

Many different factors play roles in the debate over gay marriage, such as religion, beliefs, the Government, pride.

Some religions view homosexuality as a sin. Some go so far as to protest the funerals of gays with signs that read, “God Hates Fags”.

On political terms, recently Vice President Joe Biden came out in strong favor of gay marriage.

President Obama soon also came out in favor, stating that his view on gay marriage has been evolving.

Reports say that Biden apologized to Obama for the timing of his statements.

Now that I have talked about political and religious standpoints, let’s talk social standpoints.

I created a Google Forum asking four questions; two were multiple choice, and two were text response questions.

A total of 60 legitimate responses were given over a two day span. Here are the results:



As shown above, the mass majority of those who participated in the survey are those who are in favor of gay marriage and homosexuality in general.




Of those who took the survey, the majority of them are teenagers. The majority of the teenagers in today's society favor homosexuality and unions between gay couples.


A survey on homosexuality from an online quiz website shows that the majority of those who took the survey favor gay marriage, and are teenagers.




As shown in the screenshot above, over 80% of the participants in the
survey favor gay marriage.






As shown in the screenshot above, 54% of the participants are ages 14-16, and 23% are ages 11-13.


The information and data presented thus far has a great effect on someone’s opinion on the topic, and this has happened with me.

As I said in my first blog post, I fully support gay rights, gay marriage, and all forms of unions between same sex couples, because I think every human being should be able to be happy without other people's beliefs getting in the way.

As I delved deeper into the topic of gay marriage and gay rights, I noticed that the debate over whether to legalize gay marriage is very similar to the debate over whether to legalize rights Civil Rights.

Both topics have similarities:

  • When Civil Rights among African Americans were finally acknowledged and respected, it had a huge impact on America, both positive and negative. It is better known for its positive impact. Gay marriage is argued to have a huge negative impact on America, but many believe gay marriage being legalized we would become an overall more accepting country.

  • America became more of an accepting country once Civil Rights were legalized. Gay marriage being legalized would likely result in the same.

  • I believe that the worst things that would come from the legalization of gay marriage are merely some tax increases and tension. This is similar to what happened when Civil Rights were legalized.

  • Both issues violate our human rights.

The religious aspect of hatred among homosexuals confuses me. Sure, someone has the right to have an opinion, but why must that opinion interfere with those being judged?

Yes, those who believe in that are entitled to their beliefs, but should they have say in the beliefs and decisions of those who think and feel differently?


The answer is no. To elaborate, here’s a quote I found on the internet.

“Claiming that someone else’s marriage is against your religion is like being angry at someone for eating a donut because you’re on a diet.” - Anonymous

Thank you so much for reading. Feel free to take a look at where I got all of my information for the first blog post and this one here.

Stay tuned for my third and final blog post, this time on how we can start to make a change. Thanks!

Ybrownlee blog post 4

This blog post is a bit short since i was not able to talk to my person after it disconnected. But my goal fo this week was to find out how to ask about college and what someone wanted to do in their future it turned out quite well and i learned a bunch of new stuff. (It won't let me upload a screenshot just yet though..)

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Take Two - The World As I See It: Technology

In my first post I spoke about robots existing as their own entities. 
However, what happens when we begin to incorporate inorganic, manmade, and (dare I say it?) super high-tech objects into our body systems? Right now, for example, there is a lot of hope riding on a new model of artificial heart. It doesn't pump which means the patient has no pulse - the pulse usually being the first vital sign checked - and looks nothing like a real heart. 
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Would you want a heart that looks like this? 
It's not just organic hearts being booted. A plethora of other organs are having mechanized versions of themselves made to take their place. Body parts such as eyes, legs, arms, and even ears have been remade with plastic and metal. Actually, I think this is great. So far people have only received these transplants if their lives or livelihoods depended on it. 
   
Society is riddled with new health problems that a greater number of people are developing, it is possible that these robotic organs will become conventional. At that point, what is to stop someone from going out and getting a body part removed and replaced for kicks

I think that the moment something that was originally for medical purposes suddenly becomes an item of vanity, a fault in the community has developed. As an example think of plastic surgery. Yes it is used for reconstructive purposes after an accident, but it is more well known as something cosmetic. It creates a fractured body image in people without, and it is very possible that people getting their surgeries can take it too far. 

  

Cyborg
Cyborg
Mixing man and machine has become a common place occurrence in society - fictional society, at least.  
Making new arms and hearts is fine and a good thing (snazzy, even) but what can be said when the basis of a being is tampered with - the brain? 

In a rat whose brain was damaged, scientists implanted a computer chip that restored motor function. It takes information from the spinal cord and successfully relays it to the rest of the brain. On the opposite end, rat brain cells were grown and stimulated enough that they could move primitive machinery. These two experiments have the potential to make life better for a good deal of people; people with paralysis, or those thought to be catatonic or comatose. Already there are plans for computer chips that can be inserted in human brains. There is a chip designed for the part of the brain that controls learning and memory, likely to be used for people with damage or delayed growth in that area. 

If that technology is perfected, what is to stop people from having their learning capabilities enhanced? It definitely doesn't sound legal since it's a little like steroids for your brain, but even worse is how it will affect business and education. It's possible that people won't be hired if they can't get a brain chip, or kids won't be allowed the same opportunities.




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I'LL BE BACK. 
There is a genuine part of me that would love being a cyborg... but shouldn't we put certain parameters and boundaries in place before there is even a possibility of these enhancements getting out of hand?
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Alaina Silverman, Martian Dictator extraordinaire
​For further reading my sources can be found HERE.
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For those interested, please feel free to fill out this survey. The results will be posted in the third and final blog, as well as my funincredibly distorted, and Martian view on what it could mean. 

SLA Students in the Art in the Open Festival!!

​For the fourth year in a row SLA students are collaborating with the Leah Stein Dance Company to create site specific performance pieces. The pieces are part of the Art in the Open Festival and will be performed on Friday, May 18th between 1:00-3:00.  All performance sites are within four blocks of the school. As always, the process has been stunning to watch...

Click here for a printable performance schedule. (This will also be at the front door of the school on May 18th.)

Enormous thanks to all our collaborators and for all of the wonderful collaborative energy everyone is bring to the project!

Hidden City Festival 2009

AiO Publicity Video (can you spot the SLA student?)
Armory
Armory