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Msanders OP-ed

Posted by Michael Sanders on

Stem Cell research OP-ED.


Question: Is researching Stem Cells beneficial? Is it worth researching these cells?


Should scientist continue to work on the Stem Cell Research?


This is a debate that has been argued around in recent history. Stem cells are cells that help with the development in human organisms. These cells have the potential to create specific cells, such as blood, brain, muscle-cells and tissues. The research is  used for the  investigation of basic cells. There’s a side that believes that Stem cell research should be stopped in it’s entirety. There are people who believe that doing stem cell research is like  playing with the life and acting like God , meaning we mess with death. But is that the only reason why scientist shouldn’t continue to do stem cell research? That alone should not be the reason scientist should completely blow the project.


First of all there is a common myth that all stem cells come from  abortion. Fetal, umbilical and adult stem cells do not come from the embryos. Only the embryonic stem cells come from the affects of a abortion. One thing that should be clear is that embryonic stem cells are not human. But they are living organisms that have potential for life. The key word though is potential. Science Leadership Teacher Stephanie Dunda quoted “For it is up to the woman to decide if she wants her cells to be used for science. Theres no reason though why these cells should become a waste.”


Even with religions reasons one should not be against abortion should or hostile towards stem cell research completely. There are now new cells being used for research like Induce Pluripotent Stem Cells (IPS). They are the artificially made stem cells that do not come from the embryos like the adult stem cells. These cells must be used for advancement for fighting off life threatening diseases. 


In the Documentary Stem Cells Early Research by Nova, 13 year old Lauren Stanford suffers from type 1 diabetes. She can possibly have kidney failure and become blind in the next 15 -25 years.  The  scientists are trying to use the stem cell research to help fight off life threatening disease like diabetes,  Alzheimer’s disease and heart failure. With the development it will become possible to repair or replace damage organs completely.


In order to achieve the goals set by scientist, they are creating stem cells to fight off diseases. Although this will lead people to believe that humans will start cloning an embryonic cell or a human baby. No evidence though states that man wants to start cloning whole humans. They are only cloning stem cells that will lead to fighting off the diseases. As far as scientist know, they are not on the verge of cloning.


The stem cell research has become an interesting topic for years. But the right decision should be what’s beneficial for the future of man kind and that decision is continue to research on stem cells. It is not in-human to continue with stem cell research.


Slide

Posted by Soledad Alfaro-Allah in Technology- Freshmen - Hull on
​Hello my name is Soledad Alfaro-Allah For tech class we have been required to make one single slide about ourselves. We try to minimize the amount of content that is in the slide while we talk about ourselves and who we are according to that slide. My slide is a picture from the movie by George Melies. I chose this slide because it represented who I am as a person. I am very imaginative and thats what was neccesary for this kind of production

My new slide is completely different. I wanted to create a comfortable look for the viewer and also leave it to me to explain what it going on. I decided to put the target in the corner and let it bleed off of the slide to accent the dart more. I made my name red to compliment the red of the dart and center of the target. I made the background white of all colors to make the target pop. I am proud of this slide, because it is a lot more comfortable to look at and represent me much better. The reason I chose a target because I like to be spot on. 
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Screen Shot 2012-12-18 at 10.13.01 AM
Tech Slide

Brand Names Written by Slaves

Posted by Anna Sugrue in African American History - Sanchez on

What companies one encounters in everyday life have a foreign slave influenced work force?

Rosalie, Jesse, Alejandro and I made a colorful representation of a world map. We then did research on different common brand names that are supported by slaves labor or low wage work in factories in third world countries around the world. For example, the clothing brand American Eagle is not made in America at all, but rather by young people in sweat shops in China.  Each brand name is pinned to the specific location it is associated with on the map and brief snippet of information about the work force there is included under the flap. Will you stop giving money to these companies? How do you avoid supporting slavery in everyday life? What are you willing to sacrifice?

Look for our map in the back of the class. Feel free to interact with the different flaps. Enjoy!

http://www.free2work.org/trends/apparel/ - Here is a link to a website and presentation about child and forced labor in manufacturing around the world.
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Photo on 12-18-12 at 9.56 AM
Photo on 12-18-12 at 9.56 AM

The Pharaoh's Slave

Posted by Lauren Thomas in African American History - Sanchez on
A children story based off of Egyptian Slavery. Project completed by Lauren Thomas, Dillon Hershey, Lindsey Jones and Sydne Hopkins-Baker. 

Instead of a hard-cover book, we created a pyramid with the story's scene depicted. 
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We then concluded our presentation with a game for the class based on our topic of Egyptian Slavery. 

Here is a link to our story if you wish to read it. 

Thank you! 

KONY

Posted by Sergei Mass in African American History - Sanchez on
Joseff, Serge, Jamie, Marcus

Joseph Kony, leader of the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) at one point was the #1 most wanted criminal in the world. Kony is wanted for kidnapping over 2,000,000 children and using them for child sex slaves and childs soldiers in Uganda. Their living conditions were terrible, they were beaten and treated like dogs.  All the awareness on Kony became worldwide in early 2012 when the company Invisible Children uploaded a  video documentary on YouTube entitled KONY 2012, asking for donations throughout the world. 32% on the video’s donations went to stopping Kony, although Invisible Children kept the the other 68%. Where has the money gone? No one knows!  Joseph Kony has not been seen since 2006. Is he still actively kidnapping? No one knows! He could be dead, but we must treat this situation as if he was still alive. It’s a very serious situation; millions of kids lives have been ruined.            
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Human Trafficking by Country - By Miles Cruice-Barnett and Andrew Roberts

Posted by Andrew Roberts in African American History - Sanchez on
We were able to find the 21 worst countries for human trafficking, shown on the map below, through the State Department website, which creates an annual report on it, called the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report.  The ones above are listed as “Tier 3”, or those countries that do not comply with the State Department’s standards under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), which states that:  Governments should prohibit and punish all acts of trafficking, that the punishment for such acts must be equivalent to that of serious crimes, that the punishment must be sufficient to deter others from committing such trafficking crimes, and that the government must make efforts to eliminate trafficking within its borders.  Further information on this can be found at:

http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2011/164236.htm

On reading the individual reports for each of these Tier 3 countries, we found that most were very similar, so we will be reporting it in one general essay, which follows.
The main forms of trafficking in most countries were forced labor and sex trafficking, and most trafficking victims were women and children, women for the prostitution industry, and children because they are weak and often lack the ability to defend themselves.  These people are sometimes promised better lives and richer pockets if they go away to work for someone, only to find that they are working in absolutely horrifying conditions, with no way out.
Most of these 21 countries are both the source and destination of many trafficked persons, both buying and selling individuals.  It has become an economic necessity in these countries, where legitimate workers are expensive, comparatively.  
It is also noted that, especially in Africa, children and young men were trafficked into becoming soldiers for various militant groups, such as the FARDC (the Congolese army), and the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army, the army whose leader the Kony 2012 movement sought to bring to justice).  They are stolen from their homes, often at night, and forced to fight for a cause that they do not enjoy, and cannot leave.
What is even more depressing is that most governments do not make any effort to stamp out these criminals.  They either have no laws prohibiting trafficking (which, thankfully, is not common), have laws with loopholes, such as Yemen, which has a law outlawing the forced movement of humans, but not trafficking in general, laws whose punishments are not severe enough for the crime, and laws that are not enforced at all.
Over all, trafficking has gotten better around the world, but there are still countries like theses that need improved laws and enforcement. This task is really left to the government of each individual country, but the standards stated in the TVPA are a step in the right direction.  
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Red=Does Not Comply with TVPA Standards, Yellow=Complies with Some TVPA Standards, Green=Complies with TVPA standards

Conception of Slavery Mini Project

Posted by Lauren Hummel in African American History - Sanchez on
​Philadelphia Becoming a Hub for Human Trafficking


Part I-Inquiry

Why is human trafficking in Philadelphia and what is being done to combat it?

Part II-Main Presentation

Poem


We live in a city

The city of Brotherly Love,

That I now pity

Because I thought it above.


There is so much traffic

On I-95, 

That the traffic gets graphic

And turns to a hive.


Did I forget to mention

The traffic was of humans?

With all of the tension,

We have been avoiding our fellow man

That receives little pension.

And lives in a pan.


Philly’s becoming a hub

For moving innocent people

And putting them on subs

Away from their steeples.


Shipped off because of location,

Between places like NYC

Around this great nation

And across many seas.


Women and children

Torn from their families

Without any siren

Because of their inabilities

Or without any reason.


These people have problems,

They are poverty-stricken

And have failing immune systems

So they’re just trying to get chicken


The inability to stop it

Is because of the way it’s hidden

And how the people commit

To keep it in layers that are forbidden.


This needs to be stopped

One way or another.

It is not ok for someone to be popped

When they might be somebody's mother

Because they said that out they would opt.


Laws are being made

In order prevent this

But people can be paid only so much

To put human trafficking into the abyss


You can help stop it

In January 2013

Where women and children will benefit

From things that will make them clean

That people will donate for no profit.


Everyone deserves a second chance,

Everyone can become better

And you can help someone to enhance

Their life just by getting them a sweater.