Inquiring Minds @ The Sixth Period Sentinel Investigate
After you've revised and shared your article with me (on the grading sheet), post your article here at the Sixth Period Sentinel. Read the articles written by your classmates and comment on them.
Can science and religion coexist? Even though many say no but maybe it can. Just to start 4 out of 5 people are religious in the world and most religious beliefs go against science.
In the 1800’s Charles Darwin was born and grew up to be famous for the Theory of Evolution, this goes against god in many ways. With many more problems similar, many assume the religion and science will never meet and understanding. With all of these thoughts there are people who are religious and scientists. National Geographic’s writer Stefan Lovgren wrote about James Greene, a scientist who is also religious. James Greene says you can go with be a scientist and religious you only need to use the bible more abstractly than most. you will be able to get the morales but can continue your life as well as your career. If our world was made by god or if god never existed there will be no difference in our universe and so we have to make it to ourselves to be ok with others careers and jobs religious or not.
With all of this nobody can be cut off by their careers due to religious thoughts and ideas. This can help jobs all around the world with now a higher popularity due to more people working in the field religious or not as well to a higher tolerance to jobs non religious. With religion coexisting fewer problems will arise and more people can live in harmony.
The Pledge Imagine you’re sitting in class and the bell rings. Then, the Pledge Of Allegiance comes on, and you recite it as usual, and your day goes on as it normally does. The Pledge of Allegiance is a typical part of your day. Sometimes, you may forget about it. But, the Pledge is very controversial. Our Pledge today says, “I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one Nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” The original Pledge of Allegiance did not include the phrase, “under God,” when written in 1892 by Francis Bellany. It was later added by local groups. Then, officially added in 1954 by President Eisenhower who got a bill passed by Congress that added, “under God” and other words that make up the Pledge we say today. It is mandatory for all public schools to have the Pledge everyday. In the past, students had to stand and recite the pledge. Now, times have changed, and students are not forced to stand or recite the pledge. So, if a student wanted, they could say the pledge, except for the phrase, “under God.” There have been countless court cases on weather, “under God” should be reicted in public schools. Although not everyone believes in God, our Pledge mentions it, and so does our U.S. currency, which says, “In God We Trust.” Generally, teachers lead students in reciting the Pledge in the morning. But, does a teacher have to say it? After some interviewing, it’s been found that at BMS, a teacher is allowed to sit, or not say the Pledge, as long as it does not cause a disruption. In conclusion, although students may find the Pledge to be a typical part of their day, it’s argued about continuously. Some find problems within the Pledge. Do you see a problem? Weather there is one or not, I don’t think there is a simple solution.
Do you think listening to music helps you focus or distract you more? When I was taking the STAR test while listening to music, I did the best I could have possibly done. The score was better than anytime when I wasn’t listening to music. Neuromusicology is the study of how our nervous systems react to music. Scientists have been studying this for years. Numerous aspects have been observed and the results are shocking. One test that was taken was to see if surgeons performed better when they were listening to music of their choice. They worked more accurately and faster when they were. Another thing studied was to see how music or the type of music affects someone's health. For example, music has been linked to increases levels of immunoglobulin, which is an antibody used to neutralize bacteria and viruses. Also, the genre of music someone listens to affects the way their temporal gyrus is formed. Music also plays a big part in education. You may not know, but music is good at helping you retain information. For example, students were learning a new language and learned about 1,000 words in 1 day. They were listening to music and their retention rate was 92%. Also, listening to classical or rock music helped participants identify and sort numbers quicker. Obviously, as you can see, music has numerous benefits and you should try listening to music the next time you are studying or trying to focus.
One night Emma dreamed that her dad, Jim, was using the shock collar for their dog for no apparent reason and ended up shocking himself. The next morning, Jim was having trouble getting the shock collar to work so he turned it up to the highest setting and shocked himself. This story illustrates that Emma’s dream was preparing her for an event in her life. Suggesting that not only is sleep good for you, but that dreams that come during sleep can help you during your waking hours. Most dreams occur during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep when your brain is most active. But you may be surprised to know that you are always dreaming while you sleep, but you only remember the ones that occured in REM sleep. Some experts say that most people dream at least 4-6 times per night. The vast majority of people dream in color, only a few in black and white. According to experts, one of the very few ways to ensure you hold onto memories is by dreaming in REM sleep. Memory consolidation lies within our dreams. Also, dreams can help you to process events that you have experienced during your waking hours, that’s why most dreams incorporate events and occurrences from your real life. Similarly, some scientists believe we dream to reaxime events to help reduce stress and pent up emotions. It’s interesting to note that REM sleep is the only time your brain completely blocks out anxiety. Anxiety is blocked because during REM sleep you don’t have a key stress chemical. The lack of this chemical allows you to re-approach and reexamine a situation more calmly. Sometimes before bed a certain situation seems like a big deal, but when you wake up in the morning, its seems totally manageable. Dreams may contribute to this change in mindset. We all feel better after a long and restful sleep, but knowing the importance of dreaming means that it is even more important to get a good night’s sleep. Specifically, to enter REM sleep. To help ensure the best sleep conditions possible, experts have some easy to follow suggestions. First, follow a sleep schedule, go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. Second, avoid eating huge meals for bed as food gives you more energy and causes you to be more restless. Third, don’t expose yourself to too much blue light before going to bed because it causes you to produce less melatonin. Next time you think it’s a good idea to pull an all nighter, THINK AGAIN!
It was a gloomy night in Jacksonville, Florida in July 2013. James Rhode entered a Metro PCS Cellphone store, whom was currently being operated by Shelby Farrah. Rhode entered the store and pointed a weapon at Farrah. He stole money from the cash register, and then shot and killed Farrah. Fortunately, he was arrested.
It turns out that this was not an isolated incident. Rhode had previously been arrested for petty theft and jumping and robbing a man. Rhode pleaded guilty in exchange for life without parole. However, the state sentenced him to death.
It turns out that this story is one shared by many. There are multiple arguments for and against the use of the death penalty. You may be surprised to find that more than 60% of Americans favor the death penalty.
Interestingly enough, the death penalty was suspended on June 29th, 1972 at the Furman v. Georgia court case after the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty broke the Eighth Amendment for “cruel and unusual punishment.” It was reinstated in 1976.
According to multiple studies, the use of the death penalty has helped reduce crime rate because potential criminals see the consequences of committing a crime. Despite that, the death penalty is only legal in 31 states. Curiously enough, of these 31 states, only 15 counties had sentenced more than five people to death since 2010.
Brandon Garrett, a law professor at Harvard has determined that those sentenced to death within the aforementioned counties often have “overaggressive prosecutors” as well as “poor defensive lawyers”.
As for whether or not the death penalty should stay legalized, Anne Marie Schubert, the Sacramento District Attorney, has argued that “the use of the death penalty helps give family and friends of the victim closure.” This would be because the person responsible for the family member or friend’s death has been met with appropriate punishment. So should the death penalty stay legal?
Experts agree that the death penalty should remain legal, but that there should be a better definition for who should die. For example, most would agree that terrorists, mass murderers, and serial killers deserve to die because they have committed terrible, heinous crimes. Theft and home invasion are examples of crimes that should not warrant the death penalty. In short, only the worst crimes committed should result in the use of the death penalty.
Whether we punish the worst of the worst with death, or life without parole, it is clear that these criminals should be removed from society.
Celia the goat died in 2000. She was the last of her species, and her death marked the extinction of the bucardo, or Pyrenean ibex.
It was lucky that scientists had saved preserved cells from her. With these cells, scientists were able to get a Celia clone. This was the first time a species had been brought back from extinction.
And then when the clone died, it was the first time a species had gone extinct twice.
De-extinction was first introduced to the public in Michael Crichton’s 'Jurassic Park'. Ever since then people have been wondering whether or not we could bring back dodo birds, wooly mammoths, and even dinosaurs. And while bringing back dinosaurs wouldn’t be able to happen the way Jurassic Park pictured it, there are other ways.
Extracting DNA from the blood a mosquito sucked sounds like a good plan, but the fact is DNA would of deteriorated by now, millions of years after dinosaurs went extinct. But it doesn’t mean that cloning a dinosaur is impossible.
Another unlikely theory is getting DNA from fossils. It wouldn’t be possible with any regular fossils, but fairly recently a Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil had been found that was pregnant at the time of its death. Since the dinosaur was carrying a baby, it greatly changes what scientists could learn from the bones.
Wooly mammoths as of now are a more realistic goal, since tissue of the elephant like creature has actually been found. If they could get an elephant surrogate to carry the wooly mammoths, the creature might be seen much sooner than thought.
Already, bringing back an animal from extinction makes scientists very hopeful. And, with cloning wooly mammoths seemingly on the horizon, scientists believe that one day, probably generations in the future, kids will be heading to zoos with prehistoric creatures.
But the main next steps to bringing back a dinosaur, is back-breeding. Flightless birds already seem to obviously be similar to dinosaur’s in structure, and already experiments done have caused tampered bird eggs to develop dinosaur like faces, or dinosaur like legs. And while it’s a long way off from actually cloning dinosaurs, at least scientist’s are on the path to them.
So while cloning dinosaurs doesn’t seem like a task that’s going to happen anytime soon, many are praying that one day their grandchildren, or their great grandchildren won’t be staring at a pack of lions in the zoo, instead staring at a pack of velociraptors, like in Jurassic Park. Let’s just hope we don’t make the same mistakes as the book.
The question of whether to legalize marijuana or not is very controversial. One day, a student in college was having an anxiety attack, so what does he do? At that moment he pulls out a bag of marijuana to decrease his anxiety with only a small blow, and suddenly he stops stressing out and his mood get better. This is one of thousands of stories of how marijuana has helped you succeed. This leaves us with one question though. Should marijuana be legalized everywhere in our country?
Whether you call it hemp, hash, pot, Mary Jane, giggle-smoke, or weed, it is still Cannabis Sativa. According to ABC news, marijuana is legalized in 29 states and the District of Columbia(DC), this makes marijuana “very popular among its people and has many newcomers because of this law,” says Maxine McKew a journalist at ABC who studies current population at the corporate headquarters in New York City. If your state legalized this, more people would possibly move to your state.
Legalizing it would also, save the U.S around 13.7 billion dollars for ending the prohibition. That’s as much as 4.5 Donald Trumps. A poll survey taken by the Weed Science Society of America says that people in Washington who made marijuana legalized outnumbered them 72% to 28%. Is this poll saying that marijuana is popular among voters?
Also, since marijuana has been used for thousands of years as an herbal medicine, it must be fine, except for the fact that it is banned in 21 other states. According to the Business Insider, it decreases anxiety, helps epileptic seizures control, an stop cancer from spreading because of a chemical found in the plant, and it eases the pain of multiple sclerosis. “All of these can be slightly eased,” says expert Jessica Longrich at Business Insider in the weed capital city of the world, Los Angeles, California.
After interviewing someone who lives with epilepsy, but lives in legalized marijuana state Washington. She says that the medical marijuana helps her ease the control of the seizures, and that her seizure counts have decreased by over 55%. Legalizing this drug can help so many, but why not in some states?
Some people think that marijuana should be banned, but with all of these benefits, marijuana has saved many lives. With saving some of the economy’s GDP, marijuana’s health benefits, and the black market can be shut down for good.
If marijuana does get legalized, i’ve heard that pot brownies make delicious treats.
At the Flying Ace Hospital medical students can practice surgeries and other medical procedures without actually doing them. They do this with VR or Virtual Reality. VR is just one of the aspects of modern technology that can help students learn their best.
According to many sources, technology in school has many different benefits. Some benefits of it are; technology can help students be more engaged, it can make there be less need for large amounts of paper, and using technology in school can help prepare students for future jobs where technology is used.
Furthermore, with modern technology students can talk to people and other classes all around the world.
To continue, technology can help students be more involved in the lesson and give students interactive learning resources. You may be surprised to learn, however, that when a group of 250 teachers were surveyed by the thejournal.com, 78% of them said they hadn’t received sufficient training to effectively use technology in their classrooms. This shows that there may be better ways to use technology than the ways it is being used in most classes at this time.
There are steps you can take to use technology most effectively. First, technology is very often used for things other than schoolwork during class time, that is,if you make sure to always use technology for schoolwork in school. This will save you valuable time and get much better use out of technology.
Finally, teachers don't always take into consideration how students learn best. If teachers ak students how they think technology helps them learn best could also make technology more effective.
Take notice of how technology is used in your school. Try to convince your friends to use it for work and not for games. Doing this will go a long way towards make our world a better educated place.
Multiple Myeloma Elise Renner’s 2011 was going great. Even when her dad decided to go to the hospital due to short and random pain in his bones. But it still wasn’t all that terrible when her parents received a call from the doctor saying that there was an unknown infiltration in every one of his bones in the scan the day they were scheduled to leave for Europe. It wasn’t completely great but it didn’t suck because after confirming that nothing could be done right away they continued with the plans to go on the trip. But things started going down hill when they had to pack up and leave Europe three days after arriving because of an incapitated Mr. Renner. And even worse was when he was diagnosed with agressive multiple myeloma. And still worse was when her father died after various different treatments. But even though her dad had died, his story didn’t end. Sure Elise still participates in in wearing the maroon ribbons and clothing during March she uses a more effective way to raise awareness for multiple myeloma. She tells her story. If you may or may not already know multiple myeloma is one of the many types of blood cancers among the various different kinds of cancers. This blood cancer occurs when plasma cells start to multiply unusually and don’t stop multiplying like they are supposed too. It also currently does not have a complete cure although it may be held off for years and years at a time. Symptoms for it are usually bone pains, weakness, fatuigue, and weight loss. In rare cases plasma cells can form purplish lumps that are visible underneath the skin (extramedullary plasmactytomas). Although multiple myeloma has no cure and is a decently rare type of cancer there isn’t much to worry about for a while. As long as you catch it early. Which would usually be helpful if you actually know what it is. And if you have a story of a loved one or friend that has discovered that they are hosting this disease, don’t hesitate in sharing it. Although it may be best if you were to ask for their permission first but once you have the okay shout their sory from the rooftops. Spread it down the streets. Let people know that people have and are suffering from this disease and don’t stop until everyone knows. Now instead of just wearing your purple, orange, or maroon t-shirts you could share your stories and raise the awareness of these multiple diseases.
The dedicated athlete carries a gallon of milk with him to the gym every day.
Milk, out of all things. After every rep of lifting she unscrews the gallon of milk and dumps as much as he can into his mouth.
Why, you might be asking is a very hard yet simple question to answer. According to Men’s Health. A major magazine company, milk is actually the best thing to drink due to the amount of nutrients and calories. Most people are wary about drinking a gallon of milk a day due to calories and nutrients while athletes favor these two things. The reason why athletes like the amount of nutrients and calories is due to when athletes exercise calories and nutrients burn off a form muscles. If athletes don’t replenish these they will start to lose muscle.
This makes it seem not so uprising for why people who aren't as active have this much milk. Picture this, someone who already gets enough calories a day forand equal meal begins to have a gallon of milk a day. That would jurassic change the amount of fat in your body.
The amount of fat in your body can be very dangerous. Imagine this, you're organs start get coated in fat. This can lead to many things such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, and more. It can not only give you these infections but also a harder time for you body to digest.
Some ways to fix this is to exercise more just like bodybuilders. You may be thinking that you can’t make it to the gym to help. Well, there's another option. You can simply jog and/or run almost daily to fix this. So the next time you see an elevator… use the stairs.
Are tax cuts beneficial? Ady Barkan was on the frontlines of law, fighting for wages & right for the group he represented. Unfortunately, the fight soon came to him as he was diagnosed with ALS, and recent cuts to Medicare threaten his survival. Now this leaves the question, how beneficial are tax cuts?
Tax cuts have always been an important part of American politics. It all started when we fought for our independence mainly because of British taxes, and the republican party gets lots of votes each year just by promising tax cuts. There must be an obvious reason to have to cuts then, right? Well there is, and it’s pretty simple. Tax cut boost the economy, and people just want to have more money. With more money, Americans can enjoy to spend more therefore increasing the strength of the economy. As with everything, there are downsides too. With less money to the government, parts of branches have to be cut. The government chooses which branches to cut funded and it can lead to a lack of funding in departments. There is another fundamental problem with tax cuts. Wealthy people generally profit more from tax cuts, and they often get many when the republican party is in power. When the tax cuts for the wealthy become too much however, they can directly lead to economic failure. This is because there is simply less money going into the economy as the wealthy just accumulate more and more of it. In both the Great Depression and in 2008, the republicans had given tax cuts to the hyper rich and both times the economy crashed, but it was way worse in the Great Depression. To go along with this, Pew Research shows that 61% of Americans agree a lot that wealthy people don’t pay their fair share. However this ironic as still wealthy people get most of the tax cuts. According to Lawrence H Summers who was Bill Clinton’s Treasury secretary from the article A Tax Cut That Lifts the Economy? Opinions are Split says,“Most of the benefits as best I can tell will go to wealthy people. The idea that you’re going to get a huge spur to growth is delusional.”Another problem with tax cuts is many people depend on welfare agencies and other government departments. With a bad tax cut one year, many could have worse quality of life.
A simple way to sum up the situation on taxes is the tragedy of the commons. This is a century old tale that teaches a good lesson. Picture this, there is a town that opens up a commons, so people may graze some of their cattle on it for free. However most people are blinded by greed to see that if they shared more with the others they would save more money overall. Instead everyone tries grazing all of their cattle on the commons, and as more of the grass disappears everyone fights harder to get the last of it. In the end, the commons is destroyed and no one can graze any of their cattle on it, so everyone loses out on all that money they could of saved by working together. This story shows that if we work together can benefit less in the short term, we can all prosper. Instead of the commons, you have the government's ability to give tax cuts. If everyone had their fair share of tax cuts they would all be prosper. Instead, everyone is greedy and tries to get all the tax cuts they can. Which leads to the governments funds drying up, and basic governmental needs are not meet.
All in all, tax cuts are a very complex issue, and you the reader should do more research about it. We should just jump into tax cuts head on without knowing the pros and cons. Just like in the tragedy of the commons, don’t be blinded by greed, and do what is best for the most people.
Food Allergies: Is there a cure? A birthday party? Sounds fun to most kids, but not to Tessa, a young girl with many food allergies. She grew up with them and her loving mom who hardly ever left her side in fear of her daughter’s safety.Tessa had two traumatic experiences and worked through them before a cure for food allergies started being tested. That cure called immunotherapy desensitized Tessa and helped her live a normal, worry free life. This story is one out of many for people with food allergies. In a recent survey doctors found around 200 people per year die of food allergies. Oral immunotherapy has helped many people. In a recent study, scientists found a good way to desensitize kids with food allergies. They took a random group of people with allergies and started tests. The group started by getting either omalizumab or placebo. Then they did oral immunotherapy along with either placebo or omalizumab. The ones with oral immunotherapy and omalizumab showed improvement, while the ones with placebo showed very little if any. About 83% of the first group was desensitized to part of their allergies. They also had less breathing and digestive problems. While that all may seem complicated, this reporter found the main factor of the treatment is just giving the patient small doses of proteins from their allergens. The proteins are then combined with an asthma drug and the body doesn’t react as bad, or as much to the allergen. This recent study showed safety improvements in people with food allergies and it has been proven that kids with allergies are less worried and less stressed after the treatment. Though the treatment is riskier for people with more allergies, it is being used to help people as well as animals. This study and treatment has helped many people live life how they want. To make certain this is all truly helping people, this reporter found an expert opinion. In the article Omalizumab May Help Desensitization for Multiple Food Allergies, by Veronica Hackethal, Kari Nadeau, MD, PhD, director of the Parker Center and professor of medicine stated “The study showed significant efficacy and safety improvements in muli-allergic patient treated with omalizumab and food immunotherapy. Multi-allergic patients are at a much higher risk for anaphylactic reactions since they are allergic to more foods, and omalizumab can help change the course of therapy by making it safer and faster.” Experts are helping people with food allergies by desensitizing them and researching a cure, but what may I ask, should you do? You could donate money towards research and be more careful about food at parties, schools, hospitals, or anywhere. Those things would help people with food allergies as much as scientists and doctors are. A lot of people have some sort of allergies, some more life threatening and some not so much, but what are you doing to help those people life life normally and to the fullest.
James Black was diagnosed with Alzheimer's a few years after he was diagnosed with hyposmia or extreme difficulty smelling. A man with PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has flashbacks whenever he smells diesel. What do these people have in common? Smell. Smell is the most important sense. It can detect so many things. Most of the time you are actually smelling. It is just subconscious. When you are by people it can even sense their genes, diseases they are susceptible to, and their emotional state. One thing smell can do is show if you have neurodegenerative diseases. There was a study done with a small group of people who took an olfactory test or a smell test. The people conducting the test followed up on the people and interviewed them. People who were not able to identify 4 out of 5 smells had a neurodegenerative disease like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. This was not an isolated incident. Another study shows people who experience smell loss many times will later have memory loss, bipolar disorder, and even depression. But, they said there was one flaw. The disease may have already started destroying the brain with the people who couldn’t identify 4 of 5 smells. Another thing smell can do is evoke memories. Smell is one of the main parts of a memory. When you smell a certain sent it goes through the emotion and memory sections of your brain. Then it activates your hippocampus and brings back memories that you may not have in you conscious. For people with PTSD this is exactly what happens. Many people with this disease go through traumatic situations, and they remember a certain thing from that time. Most of the time it is a smell that was in the air. When they smell that sent again(it may even be decades later) it brings back those horrible memories they have of a certain event. There are steps you can take, to help your sense of smell. It is so important and can detect so many things including mental diseases. A simple olfactory test can tell so much about your overall health and if you have any diseases. Also being cautious about what you smell can help. Artificial smells can contain neurotoxins that are carried from your nose to your brain. Which can cause extensive damage. It is best to stay away from these. Smell. An extremely overlooked sense. It is so important in so many ways. If we take care of it and study it we can learn so much.
Homeschooling Has Grown In The Last Few Decades By: Ella Briggs A photographer by the name of Rachel Papo found out about the existence of homeschool from a surprising source. Papo moved to Woodstock, NY in 2010. There she found a cafe and met a waitress. She also met the waitress’s 5 year old daughter True. After meeting True, Papo learned that True was, in fact, homeschooled. Papo claimed, “I didn’t even know it existed,” and she thought homeschooling was weird, until she took a visit to True’s house.
Papo thought of True’s house as big batch of photography opportunities. She described her house as “...a whole world there for me to photograph.” Papo considered homeschooling for her children, but didn’t think she could make it work, but she will always have her experience with True to remind her about how homeschooling was like a whole different world for her to see.
Picture this, 850,000 students in school in America. Now picture those 850,000 students in homeschool. Finally, stop picturing it because in the year 1999, this was the amount of students in America enrolled in homeschool. It all started when a group evangelical Christians led the fights to make homeschooling an official method of school, and they won.
In the 1980s, homeschool was officially legal in 20 states, but the journey for homeschool in America was just beginning. Now it is legal in all 50 states.
According to a source, in the year 2012, 1.8 million students were enrolled in homeschool. Compared to the amount of students in 1999, homeschool enrollment boomed in 2012.
In the article Here’s How Homeschool Is Changing America, Kyle Greenwalt, an associate professor at Michigan State University, stated, “...the homeschool population does not significantly differ from the general U.S population.” That testimony reinforces the idea that homeschool students and public school students are both still students. Whether it be in a building or in their own home.
You may be surprised to find out that lots of families in America are choosing homeschool as the way of educating their children.
There are claims that children in homeschool seem to miss out on the experience of socializing with other peers, but there are homeschool programs that actually give the students a chance to talk to and communicate with their peers and to their teachers as well. An online school program called eAchieve Academy, actually uses a system that allows students to ask and answer questions and to talk to their peers and teachers. They even have a chance to speak verbally to their peers and teachers.
According to my research, I found out from the article Here Is How Homeschooling Is Changing America, that the homeschool community is very diverse. From this article, Kyle Greenwalt also claims that the diversity “Challenges any simplistic understanding of what homeschooling is.” Homeschool is an education option chosen by many families and seems to be a very diverse community of people as well.
Take notice of all the families that homeschool. Think about all the good that homeschooling has to offer. Spread the word about how homeschooling is impacting the education system. It will go a long way towards making homeschool students feel like students just like everyone else that is in public school.
The Deep Web’s Deep Secrets The deep web has many things we don’t know about… and probably don’t want to know about. And we question things about it, like: isn’t it illegal? Why hasn’t it been shut down? What even is it? Most people when asked about the deep web, don’t even know what it is. The deep web is any website not accessible by sources like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. It’s accessed by sources like Tor. Tor stands for The Onion Router, which is really just a weird way to say that you can use it to access the internet anonymously. It was created because the government needed a way to access websites anonymously, but since only they used it, people knew it was them when a Tor connection was made, making it not- so- anonymous. So, they opened it for public use. The deep web is completely legal. What’s not is the dark web. The dark web is a portion of the deep web that uses the anonymity to do illegal, disturbing things. Things like drug dealing, child pornography, and the recording and buying of doxing information. But the government can’t, or, won’t, shut it down because they still need it. The deep web isn’t bad. Nathan McAlone did research to find that one user played a game called “No Love Deep Web”, an alternate reality game, which required the use of Tor to play the game. The user that he interviewed said that the game had him answer a pay phone in New York City at three in the morning. But, like I said, while the deep web isn’t bad, the dark web is. One site that was on the dark web was called Silk Road. It was founded by Ross Ulbricht, because he wanted to make an “everything store”, as Nick Bilton found, and another source discovered he once said he made it because he “wanted to create a website where people could buy anything anonymously, with no trail whatsoever that could lead back to them.” Well, Ross is now in prison, but he introduced the bitcoin to the dark web. The bitcoin is used to buy cannabis (the most traded drug on the dark web), hitmen, and sometimes even doxing information, which is widely available on the dark web. Doxing information is an individual’s personal information, information like their birthday, address, email, and phone number. There really are valid reasons to use the deep web. For one, an estimated four percent of the web is visible to Google, Yahoo, and Bing users, while 96 percent is visible to Tor users. So the deep web is fine, as long as you know your sites and how to stay safe while using it. David Nield, a journalist who has been writing about technology since 2002, gave a few tips on how to stay safe while using the deep web. He said that an installment for your computer called Tails OS gives extra security while using the deep web. It also comes with built- in Tor, so you can still stay anonymous and use websites that require Tor to access it. He also advised to be very careful and use common sense when giving away personal information on the deep web, because “nothing is ever 100 percent anonymous”, so email addresses, personal dates, etc. should be given with caution.
It all started when Michelle Shusky, an ER nurse being interviewed by The New York Times was working on a full-moon night. Upon starting her shift she never would have imagined spending the night treating a busload of kids with food poisoning Another nurse shared that on the same night a rare delivery of a caul baby had happened. A caul baby is an infant that was born still inside its amniotic sac. While these might just be coincidences, they might be The Lunar Lunacy at work.
While the moon can’t turn humans into werewolves, it might be able to influence human behavior. This often referred to as The Lunar Lunacy Effect. It is said that the moon affects the frequency of the mind that controls our feelings, emotions, and desires.The Moon is the reason we had two different tides. Since the moon disturbs water and the human body is made up of 70 percent water it very well could influence our behavior. Greek philosopher Aristotle said that the brain of all organs was most susceptible to influences of the moon.
Many people who work within the legal system had reported to believe in this unusual effect as well. University of Washington had done a study and found out that out of 11,613 aggravated assault cases within a 5 year period, most happened of nights closer to or on full-moon nights. Even the rates of murder and suicide rise and drop depending on the phase of the moon. Yet some attorneys think that this could just be used as another defense in court.
It is a proven fact that the phases of the moon disrupt human sleep patterns. More humans are prone to insomnia during full-moon nights. So is it possible that the moon could influence humans, or is The Lunar Lunacy Effect just another thing to blame for wacky coincidences?
Pt. 1 The Inter-Woven Webs Brittany was thinking about how amazing getting enough sleep sounded. Oh, but what about that picture she wanted to post? Wait, her friend just posted a picture, shouldn't she like it? Now she is just sitting there scrolling through social media. She only gets a few hours of sleep and is really starting to regret her decisions. This kind of thing happens to a lot of social media users, along with many other things including getting distracted from homework/work. Many people have their phone sitting right next to them as they work. The whole time it’s just sitting there, waiting. Tempting isn’t it? They glance at it. Then, before you know it, instead of doing what they need to they are on social media, looking at their instagram or facebook page. The same thing happens when they are trying to exercise. They get all pumped up and turn on their phone to find some exercising music, they come across a couple notifications. They think to themselves “I’ll just check this one. Then I’ll get started.” Then that one thing turns into everything and they no longer have time to exercise. Nowadays, most people, like Brittany, carry around cell phones in their pockets, and that doesn’t help the issue of social media addiction. Social media and the internet take away from your energy/will for doing things like, work, keeping up your physical health and your offline relationships. About 75% of younger generations are/feel addicted to social media and about 44% of older generations are/feel addicted to social media. A few side effects of addiction are, eye strain, social withdrawal and/or lack of sleep/fatigue. Addiction occurs when you misuse or overuse social media/the internet. Oh, internet friends, what’s the point of actual friends, right? No, offline relationships are important for people especially as the brain is growing and developing. If it’s hard to make friends in real life and making friends on the internet seems like a piece of cake, it’s because you aren’t actually interacting face to face. The human interaction is what makes it hard for many people to actually make friends that aren’t behind a screen. Sometimes this kind of thing is also what makes cyberbullying so easy and harmful. The cyberbully can just hide behind a screen without showing their face. That makes it easier for them to be mean because it “doesn’t really count.” Many cyberbullies would rather not confront the person face to face so they harass the victim without seeing their facial reaction. If they don’t see how it emotionally affects the person then it’s easier for them to not feel as bad. Brittany learned this the hard way when she had a “friend” cyberbullying her on instagram. She made sure to show her mom who helped her take care of the situation early on before it became something serious. This can also cause the person being bullied to feel somewhat worse. In real life bullying is less effective because less people see or know about it and join in. On the internet almost anyone can see the bullying and possibly join in on it. With everyone teaming up against the person being bullied, and the bullies not actually having to confront them, it makes it worse for them to experience the cyberbullying. That also ties into how it affects your mental and physical health. Being bullied or having negative connections with people online can lead to depression or stress in everyday life. Arguing or saying/receiving negativity can make you stressed out about those things. If you are the one receiving the negativity then it could push you into depression. Saying negative things online could do this to other people.
Pt. 2 Social isolation is something many people do. They think that since they are talking to people on the internet that they don’t actually have to talk to people in real life. While, talking to people on social media and the internet is interaction, it is not beneficial enough as opposed to actual human interaction. Social isolation is associated with a shorter life span and a diminished quality of life. Having positive connections with people online makes your mindset and your physical well being much stronger and healthier. There is a lot of information and advice online these days. Not all of it is reliable though. Taking random advice online could lead to something worse that what might actually be going on. Quite a few people follow doctors and professionals online on facebook or instagram. Those people they are following are either famous experts in their field, or someone they know in person. Social media/the internet isn’t something you should be using to help you with medical problems. If you have something that you don’t know about, then you should go see a doctor so they can actually look at it and give you an accurate diagnosis. Social media should always just be the first step with figuring out your medical problems. If the information you find on the internet or social media worries you then you should see a doctor to help calm your nerves. The internet/social media can help people who have family members and friends living around the world or in the military. Without having the access to the internet/social media and being able to use it many people wouldn’t even be able to talk to those loved ones of theirs. Even a lot of the school textbooks are online these days. A lot of the classes require a textbook for doing homework or classwork, and they only provide an online textbook account. Staying safe and happy online is the healthiest thing you can do for yourself while using the internet/social media. For example checking your social media notifications while you are driving could cause you to get into an accident. 21% of teen drivers that got into fatal accidents were using their phone while driving. 94% of teens are aware that using their phone while driving is dangerous, but 35% of them still admitted to doing it. Disconnecting from the internet or social media can be very hard or frustrating for some people. Brittany had struggled with this as well, she used productivity apps to limit her access to certain sites that she was having difficulty disconnecting from. If this doesn’t work for you, as it doesn’t with many people, there is always the option of getting professional help. Sometimes just distancing yourself from the internet/social media or even your phone can help you ease out of addiction or just help you to stop using the cites as often. As long as you use social media/the internet in good moderations, then you shouldn’t have or end up with any of these problems. You will just stay close and connected to your friends and family online.
A group of student were gathered at Stanford. Half of them were pro-capital punishment, half of them were against it. Researchers had made two fake studies on the topic. They were both equally convincing, but for opposite sides of the argument. The students were asked to respond to the two studies. Students who supported capital punishment found the pro capital punishment study highly credible, and the anti- capital punishment study unconvincing. The students who were against capital punishment found the opposite. At the end, they all believed even more strongly that they were correct. That study, done by Stanford researchers, is an example of confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is when you unconsciously only look for or consider information that supports your existing beliefs. When you are affected by confirmation bias, you ignore or don’t trust evidence that goes against your initial idea. This can affect our decisions because if we are already have an opinion, or first impression, it’s hard to be open to other opinions/ideas. So, we often make decisions based on inaccurate, little, or no information. However, this happens without us thinking about it, which means it happens without us knowing we’re being bias. There are many ways to avoid this form of bias. Julie, like everybody, uses confirmation bias in her daily life. “I find myself reading articles that support my opinions, and I have to remind myself to read about other opinions,” she said, “I try to avoid it by consciously making myself open to other ideas that may be contrary to my first impressions.” It is also important to consider information from multiple perspectives. This can help you to think about other sides of an argument, without doubting their credibility. So next time you are going to make a decision, make sure you truly consider multiple perspectives, rather than just your initial idea.
Picture this. It’s June 30, 2016 Jody Ray Thompson killed three people in a South Carolina nightclub. But all the other people in the club were lucky. A man with a conceal and carry permit stopped him by wounding his leg. He stopped a massacre.
Gun control is a big issue today in our government. People don’t know if guns should stay the same or be banned altogether. When talking about gun control people can get into big arguments. Some people who are against gun control think that guns should stay the same but some people who are for gun control want guns to be banned. According to a survey on the internet it found that 60% of gun owners have a gun for protection, 36% own one for hunting, and 21% own one for recreation. In the article Experts and the public agree on how to stop gun violence. Politicians don’t by Christopher Ingram, Steven V. Miller, an expert at Clemson university in political science stated, “public opinion tends to follow elite opinion, “our mass public opinion is gradually conforming to the polarization of opinion at the elite-level.” There are steps we can take to agreeing.
One way both sides of the argument can agree is to support the Murphy-Cornyn bill. The bill is trying to make all gun sales have a background check including internet sales and gun show sales. Not just gun store sales. The bill does not want to get rid of guns altogether. This is a way that gun control rivals may be able to agree on something.
We may be a long ways away from total agreement on guns, but with the Murphy-Cornyn bill we can be one step closer.
In August of 2017, a newly married couple was on their honeymoon in Honolulu, watching the sunset from their villa. Just as the sun was setting over the horizon, the new bride, Kennedy yelled in excitement that she had seen the green flash. But her husband Brad, who had been watching the sunset, also, disagreed with her and claimed that the green flash was only a myth. This was the beginning of their first fight as a married couple.
What Kennedy could have explained to her husband is that there is science behind her observation. Blue and green wavelengths, which make a green flash, are bent most upward so they appear first at sunrise and last at sunset. The full spectrum of colors in sunlight is not fully visible at all times of the daylight which is why the green flash is only visible at sunrise and sunset. Blue and green rays can only be seen after red rays have gone over the horizon. Green flashes are only visible when there are clear skies and good visibility and because of its rarity some people believe that it is only a myth.
While the green flash is rare to see, science has proven it to be possible in many ways. Do you agree with it?
Can Science & Religion Coexist
ReplyDeleteCan science and religion coexist? Even though many say no but maybe it can. Just to start 4 out of 5 people are religious in the world and most religious beliefs go against science.
In the 1800’s Charles Darwin was born and grew up to be famous for the Theory of Evolution, this goes against god in many ways. With many more problems similar, many assume the religion and science will never meet and understanding. With all of these thoughts there are people who are religious and scientists. National Geographic’s writer Stefan Lovgren wrote about James Greene, a scientist who is also religious. James Greene says you can go with be a scientist and religious you only need to use the bible more abstractly than most. you will be able to get the morales but can continue your life as well as your career. If our world was made by god or if god never existed there will be no difference in our universe and so we have to make it to ourselves to be ok with others careers and jobs religious or not.
With all of this nobody can be cut off by their careers due to religious thoughts and ideas. This can help jobs all around the world with now a higher popularity due to more people working in the field religious or not as well to a higher tolerance to jobs non religious. With religion coexisting fewer problems will arise and more people can live in harmony.
All in all religion and science can coexist.
The Pledge
ReplyDeleteImagine you’re sitting in class and the bell rings. Then, the Pledge Of Allegiance comes on, and you recite it as usual, and your day goes on as it normally does. The Pledge of Allegiance is a typical part of your day. Sometimes, you may forget about it. But, the Pledge is very controversial.
Our Pledge today says, “I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one Nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” The original Pledge of Allegiance did not include the phrase, “under God,” when written in 1892 by Francis Bellany. It was later added by local groups. Then, officially added in 1954 by President Eisenhower who got a bill passed by Congress that added, “under God” and other words that make up the Pledge we say today. It is mandatory for all public schools to have the Pledge everyday. In the past, students had to stand and recite the pledge. Now, times have changed, and students are not forced to stand or recite the pledge. So, if a student wanted, they could say the pledge, except for the phrase, “under God.”
There have been countless court cases on weather, “under God” should be reicted in public schools. Although not everyone believes in God, our Pledge mentions it, and so does our U.S. currency, which says, “In God We Trust.”
Generally, teachers lead students in reciting the Pledge in the morning. But, does a teacher have to say it? After some interviewing, it’s been found that at BMS, a teacher is allowed to sit, or not say the Pledge, as long as it does not cause a disruption.
In conclusion, although students may find the Pledge to be a typical part of their day, it’s argued about continuously. Some find problems within the Pledge. Do you see a problem? Weather there is one or not, I don’t think there is a simple solution.
How music affects your mind
ReplyDeleteDo you think listening to music helps you focus or distract you more? When I was taking the STAR test while listening to music, I did the best I could have possibly done. The score was better than anytime when I wasn’t listening to music.
Neuromusicology is the study of how our nervous systems react to music. Scientists have been studying this for years. Numerous aspects have been observed and the results are shocking. One test that was taken was to see if surgeons performed better when they were listening to music of their choice. They worked more accurately and faster when they were. Another thing studied was to see how music or the type of music affects someone's health. For example, music has been linked to increases levels of immunoglobulin, which is an antibody used to neutralize bacteria and viruses. Also, the genre of music someone listens to affects the way their temporal gyrus is formed.
Music also plays a big part in education. You may not know, but music is good at helping you retain information. For example, students were learning a new language and learned about 1,000 words in 1 day. They were listening to music and their retention rate was 92%. Also, listening to classical or rock music helped participants identify and sort numbers quicker.
Obviously, as you can see, music has numerous benefits and you should try listening to music the next time you are studying or trying to focus.
One night Emma dreamed that her dad, Jim, was using the shock collar for their dog for no apparent reason and ended up shocking himself. The next morning, Jim was having trouble getting the shock collar to work so he turned it up to the highest setting and shocked himself. This story illustrates that Emma’s dream was preparing her for an event in her life. Suggesting that not only is sleep good for you, but that dreams that come during sleep can help you during your waking hours.
ReplyDeleteMost dreams occur during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep when your brain is most active. But you may be surprised to know that you are always dreaming while you sleep, but you only remember the ones that occured in REM sleep. Some experts say that most people dream at least 4-6 times per night. The vast majority of people dream in color, only a few in black and white.
According to experts, one of the very few ways to ensure you hold onto memories is by dreaming in REM sleep. Memory consolidation lies within our dreams. Also, dreams can help you to process events that you have experienced during your waking hours, that’s why most dreams incorporate events and occurrences from your real life. Similarly, some scientists believe we dream to reaxime events to help reduce stress and pent up emotions.
It’s interesting to note that REM sleep is the only time your brain completely blocks out anxiety. Anxiety is blocked because during REM sleep you don’t have a key stress chemical. The lack of this chemical allows you to re-approach and reexamine a situation more calmly. Sometimes before bed a certain situation seems like a big deal, but when you wake up in the morning, its seems totally manageable. Dreams may contribute to this change in mindset.
We all feel better after a long and restful sleep, but knowing the importance of dreaming means that it is even more important to get a good night’s sleep. Specifically, to enter REM sleep. To help ensure the best sleep conditions possible, experts have some easy to follow suggestions. First, follow a sleep schedule, go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. Second, avoid eating huge meals for bed as food gives you more energy and causes you to be more restless. Third, don’t expose yourself to too much blue light before going to bed because it causes you to produce less melatonin.
Next time you think it’s a good idea to pull an all nighter, THINK AGAIN!
Should the Death Penalty stay Legalized?
ReplyDeleteIt was a gloomy night in Jacksonville, Florida in July 2013. James Rhode entered a Metro PCS Cellphone store, whom was currently being operated by Shelby Farrah. Rhode entered the store and pointed a weapon at Farrah. He stole money from the cash register, and then shot and killed Farrah. Fortunately, he was arrested.
It turns out that this was not an isolated incident. Rhode had previously been arrested for petty theft and jumping and robbing a man. Rhode pleaded guilty in exchange for life without parole. However, the state sentenced him to death.
It turns out that this story is one shared by many. There are multiple arguments for and against the use of the death penalty. You may be surprised to find that more than 60% of Americans favor the death penalty.
Interestingly enough, the death penalty was suspended on June 29th, 1972 at the Furman v. Georgia court case after the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty broke the Eighth Amendment for “cruel and unusual punishment.” It was reinstated in 1976.
According to multiple studies, the use of the death penalty has helped reduce crime rate because potential criminals see the consequences of committing a crime. Despite that, the death penalty is only legal in 31 states. Curiously enough, of these 31 states, only 15 counties had sentenced more than five people to death since 2010.
Brandon Garrett, a law professor at Harvard has determined that those sentenced to death within the aforementioned counties often have “overaggressive prosecutors” as well as “poor defensive lawyers”.
As for whether or not the death penalty should stay legalized, Anne Marie Schubert, the Sacramento District Attorney, has argued that “the use of the death penalty helps give family and friends of the victim closure.” This would be because the person responsible for the family member or friend’s death has been met with appropriate punishment. So should the death penalty stay legal?
Experts agree that the death penalty should remain legal, but that there should be a better definition for who should die. For example, most would agree that terrorists, mass murderers, and serial killers deserve to die because they have committed terrible, heinous crimes. Theft and home invasion are examples of crimes that should not warrant the death penalty. In short, only the worst crimes committed should result in the use of the death penalty.
Whether we punish the worst of the worst with death, or life without parole, it is clear that these criminals should be removed from society.
Celia the goat died in 2000. She was the last of her species, and her death marked the extinction of the bucardo, or Pyrenean ibex.
ReplyDeleteIt was lucky that scientists had saved preserved cells from her. With these cells, scientists were able to get a Celia clone. This was the first time a species had been brought back from extinction.
And then when the clone died, it was the first time a species had gone extinct twice.
De-extinction was first introduced to the public in Michael Crichton’s 'Jurassic Park'. Ever since then people have been wondering whether or not we could bring back dodo birds, wooly mammoths, and even dinosaurs. And while bringing back dinosaurs wouldn’t be able to happen the way Jurassic Park pictured it, there are other ways.
Extracting DNA from the blood a mosquito sucked sounds like a good plan, but the fact is DNA would of deteriorated by now, millions of years after dinosaurs went extinct. But it doesn’t mean that cloning a dinosaur is impossible.
Another unlikely theory is getting DNA from fossils. It wouldn’t be possible with any regular fossils, but fairly recently a Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil had been found that was pregnant at the time of its death. Since the dinosaur was carrying a baby, it greatly changes what scientists could learn from the bones.
Wooly mammoths as of now are a more realistic goal, since tissue of the elephant like creature has actually been found. If they could get an elephant surrogate to carry the wooly mammoths, the creature might be seen much sooner than thought.
Already, bringing back an animal from extinction makes scientists very hopeful. And, with cloning wooly mammoths seemingly on the horizon, scientists believe that one day, probably generations in the future, kids will be heading to zoos with prehistoric creatures.
But the main next steps to bringing back a dinosaur, is back-breeding. Flightless birds already seem to obviously be similar to dinosaur’s in structure, and already experiments done have caused tampered bird eggs to develop dinosaur like faces, or dinosaur like legs. And while it’s a long way off from actually cloning dinosaurs, at least scientist’s are on the path to them.
So while cloning dinosaurs doesn’t seem like a task that’s going to happen anytime soon, many are praying that one day their grandchildren, or their great grandchildren won’t be staring at a pack of lions in the zoo, instead staring at a pack of velociraptors, like in Jurassic Park. Let’s just hope we don’t make the same mistakes as the book.
Marijuana Legalization
ReplyDeleteThe question of whether to legalize marijuana or not is very controversial. One day, a student in college was having an anxiety attack, so what does he do? At that moment he pulls out a bag of marijuana to decrease his anxiety with only a small blow, and suddenly he stops stressing out and his mood get better. This is one of thousands of stories of how marijuana has helped you succeed. This leaves us with one question though. Should marijuana be legalized everywhere in our country?
Whether you call it hemp, hash, pot, Mary Jane, giggle-smoke, or weed, it is still Cannabis Sativa. According to ABC news, marijuana is legalized in 29 states and the District of Columbia(DC), this makes marijuana “very popular among its people and has many newcomers because of this law,” says Maxine McKew a journalist at ABC who studies current population at the corporate headquarters in New York City. If your state legalized this, more people would possibly move to your state.
Legalizing it would also, save the U.S around 13.7 billion dollars for ending the prohibition. That’s as much as 4.5 Donald Trumps. A poll survey taken by the Weed Science Society of America says that people in Washington who made marijuana legalized outnumbered them 72% to 28%. Is this poll saying that marijuana is popular among voters?
Also, since marijuana has been used for thousands of years as an herbal medicine, it must be fine, except for the fact that it is banned in 21 other states. According to the Business Insider, it decreases anxiety, helps epileptic seizures control, an stop cancer from spreading because of a chemical found in the plant, and it eases the pain of multiple sclerosis. “All of these can be slightly eased,” says expert Jessica Longrich at Business Insider in the weed capital city of the world, Los Angeles, California.
After interviewing someone who lives with epilepsy, but lives in legalized marijuana state Washington. She says that the medical marijuana helps her ease the control of the seizures, and that her seizure counts have decreased by over 55%. Legalizing this drug can help so many, but why not in some states?
Some people think that marijuana should be banned, but with all of these benefits, marijuana has saved many lives. With saving some of the economy’s GDP, marijuana’s health benefits, and the black market can be shut down for good.
If marijuana does get legalized, i’ve heard that pot brownies make delicious treats.
Technology's Effect on Learning in School
ReplyDeleteAt the Flying Ace Hospital medical students can practice surgeries and other medical procedures without actually doing them. They do this with VR or Virtual Reality. VR is just one of the aspects of modern technology that can help students learn their best.
According to many sources, technology in school has many different benefits. Some benefits of it are; technology can help students be more engaged, it can make there be less need for large amounts of paper, and using technology in school can help prepare students for future jobs where technology is used.
Furthermore, with modern technology students can talk to people and other classes all around the world.
To continue, technology can help students be more involved in the lesson and give students interactive learning resources. You may be surprised to learn, however, that when a group of 250 teachers were surveyed by the thejournal.com, 78% of them said they hadn’t received sufficient training to effectively use technology in their classrooms. This shows that there may be better ways to use technology than the ways it is being used in most classes at this time.
There are steps you can take to use technology most effectively. First, technology is very often used for things other than schoolwork during class time, that is,if you make sure to always use technology for schoolwork in school. This will save you valuable time and get much better use out of technology.
Finally, teachers don't always take into consideration how students learn best. If teachers ak students how they think technology helps them learn best could also make technology more effective.
Take notice of how technology is used in your school. Try to convince your friends to use it for work and not for games. Doing this will go a long way towards make our world a better educated place.
Multiple Myeloma
ReplyDeleteElise Renner’s 2011 was going great. Even when her dad decided to go to the hospital due to short and random pain in his bones. But it still wasn’t all that terrible when her parents received a call from the doctor saying that there was an unknown infiltration in every one of his bones in the scan the day they were scheduled to leave for Europe. It wasn’t completely great but it didn’t suck because after confirming that nothing could be done right away they continued with the plans to go on the trip. But things started going down hill when they had to pack up and leave Europe three days after arriving because of an incapitated Mr. Renner. And even worse was when he was diagnosed with agressive multiple myeloma. And still worse was when her father died after various different treatments. But even though her dad had died, his story didn’t end. Sure Elise still participates in in wearing the maroon ribbons and clothing during March she uses a more effective way to raise awareness for multiple myeloma. She tells her story.
If you may or may not already know multiple myeloma is one of the many types of blood cancers among the various different kinds of cancers. This blood cancer occurs when plasma cells start to multiply unusually and don’t stop multiplying like they are supposed too. It also currently does not have a complete cure although it may be held off for years and years at a time. Symptoms for it are usually bone pains, weakness, fatuigue, and weight loss. In rare cases plasma cells can form purplish lumps that are visible underneath the skin (extramedullary plasmactytomas).
Although multiple myeloma has no cure and is a decently rare type of cancer there isn’t much to worry about for a while. As long as you catch it early. Which would usually be helpful if you actually know what it is. And if you have a story of a loved one or friend that has discovered that they are hosting this disease, don’t hesitate in sharing it. Although it may be best if you were to ask for their permission first but once you have the okay shout their sory from the rooftops. Spread it down the streets. Let people know that people have and are suffering from this disease and don’t stop until everyone knows.
Now instead of just wearing your purple, orange, or maroon t-shirts you could share your stories and raise the awareness of these multiple diseases.
The dedicated athlete carries a gallon of milk with him to the gym every day.
ReplyDeleteMilk, out of all things. After every rep of lifting she unscrews the gallon of milk and dumps as much as he can into his mouth.
Why, you might be asking is a very hard yet simple question to answer. According to Men’s Health. A major magazine company, milk is actually the best thing to drink due to the amount of nutrients and calories. Most people are wary about drinking a gallon of milk a day due to calories and nutrients while athletes favor these two things. The reason why athletes like the amount of nutrients and calories is due to when athletes exercise calories and nutrients burn off a form muscles. If athletes don’t replenish these they will start to lose muscle.
This makes it seem not so uprising for why people who aren't as active have this much milk. Picture this, someone who already gets enough calories a day forand equal meal begins to have a gallon of milk a day. That would jurassic change the amount of fat in your body.
The amount of fat in your body can be very dangerous. Imagine this, you're organs start get coated in fat. This can lead to many things such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, and more. It can not only give you these infections but also a harder time for you body to digest.
Some ways to fix this is to exercise more just like bodybuilders. You may be thinking that you can’t make it to the gym to help. Well, there's another option. You can simply jog and/or run almost daily to fix this. So the next time you see an elevator… use the stairs.
Are tax cuts beneficial?
ReplyDeleteAdy Barkan was on the frontlines of law, fighting for wages & right for the group he represented. Unfortunately, the fight soon came to him as he was diagnosed with ALS, and recent cuts to Medicare threaten his survival. Now this leaves the question, how beneficial are tax cuts?
Tax cuts have always been an important part of American politics. It all started when we fought for our independence mainly because of British taxes, and the republican party gets lots of votes each year just by promising tax cuts. There must be an obvious reason to have to cuts then, right? Well there is, and it’s pretty simple. Tax cut boost the economy, and people just want to have more money. With more money, Americans can enjoy to spend more therefore increasing the strength of the economy. As with everything, there are downsides too. With less money to the government, parts of branches have to be cut. The government chooses which branches to cut funded and it can lead to a lack of funding in departments. There is another fundamental problem with tax cuts. Wealthy people generally profit more from tax cuts, and they often get many when the republican party is in power. When the tax cuts for the wealthy become too much however, they can directly lead to economic failure. This is because there is simply less money going into the economy as the wealthy just accumulate more and more of it. In both the Great Depression and in 2008, the republicans had given tax cuts to the hyper rich and both times the economy crashed, but it was way worse in the Great Depression. To go along with this, Pew Research shows that 61% of Americans agree a lot that wealthy people don’t pay their fair share. However this ironic as still wealthy people get most of the tax cuts. According to Lawrence H Summers who was Bill Clinton’s Treasury secretary from the article A Tax Cut That Lifts the Economy? Opinions are Split says,“Most of the benefits as best I can tell will go to wealthy people. The idea that you’re going to get a huge spur to growth is delusional.”Another problem with tax cuts is many people depend on welfare agencies and other government departments. With a bad tax cut one year, many could have worse quality of life.
A simple way to sum up the situation on taxes is the tragedy of the commons. This is a century old tale that teaches a good lesson. Picture this, there is a town that opens up a commons, so people may graze some of their cattle on it for free. However most people are blinded by greed to see that if they shared more with the others they would save more money overall. Instead everyone tries grazing all of their cattle on the commons, and as more of the grass disappears everyone fights harder to get the last of it. In the end, the commons is destroyed and no one can graze any of their cattle on it, so everyone loses out on all that money they could of saved by working together. This story shows that if we work together can benefit less in the short term, we can all prosper. Instead of the commons, you have the government's ability to give tax cuts. If everyone had their fair share of tax cuts they would all be prosper. Instead, everyone is greedy and tries to get all the tax cuts they can. Which leads to the governments funds drying up, and basic governmental needs are not meet.
All in all, tax cuts are a very complex issue, and you the reader should do more research about it. We should just jump into tax cuts head on without knowing the pros and cons. Just like in the tragedy of the commons, don’t be blinded by greed, and do what is best for the most people.
Food Allergies: Is there a cure?
ReplyDeleteA birthday party? Sounds fun to most kids, but not to Tessa, a young girl with many food allergies. She grew up with them and her loving mom who hardly ever left her side in fear of her daughter’s safety.Tessa had two traumatic experiences and worked through them before a cure for food allergies started being tested. That cure called immunotherapy desensitized Tessa and helped her live a normal, worry free life.
This story is one out of many for people with food allergies. In a recent survey doctors found around 200 people per year die of food allergies. Oral immunotherapy has helped many people. In a recent study, scientists found a good way to desensitize kids with food allergies. They took a random group of people with allergies and started tests. The group started by getting either omalizumab or placebo. Then they did oral immunotherapy along with either placebo or omalizumab. The ones with oral immunotherapy and omalizumab showed improvement, while the ones with placebo showed very little if any. About 83% of the first group was desensitized to part of their allergies. They also had less breathing and digestive problems. While that all may seem complicated, this reporter found the main factor of the treatment is just giving the patient small doses of proteins from their allergens. The proteins are then combined with an asthma drug and the body doesn’t react as bad, or as much to the allergen. This recent study showed safety improvements in people with food allergies and it has been proven that kids with allergies are less worried and less stressed after the treatment. Though the treatment is riskier for people with more allergies, it is being used to help people as well as animals. This study and treatment has helped many people live life how they want.
To make certain this is all truly helping people, this reporter found an expert opinion. In the article Omalizumab May Help Desensitization for Multiple Food Allergies, by Veronica Hackethal, Kari Nadeau, MD, PhD, director of the Parker Center and professor of medicine stated “The study showed significant efficacy and safety improvements in muli-allergic patient treated with omalizumab and food immunotherapy. Multi-allergic patients are at a much higher risk for anaphylactic reactions since they are allergic to more foods, and omalizumab can help change the course of therapy by making it safer and faster.” Experts are helping people with food allergies by desensitizing them and researching a cure, but what may I ask, should you do? You could donate money towards research and be more careful about food at parties, schools, hospitals, or anywhere. Those things would help people with food allergies as much as scientists and doctors are.
A lot of people have some sort of allergies, some more life threatening and some not so much, but what are you doing to help those people life life normally and to the fullest.
Smell. Does It Really Do That Much?
ReplyDeleteJames Black was diagnosed with Alzheimer's a few years after he was diagnosed with hyposmia or extreme difficulty smelling. A man with PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has flashbacks whenever he smells diesel. What do these people have in common? Smell.
Smell is the most important sense. It can detect so many things. Most of the time you are actually smelling. It is just subconscious. When you are by people it can even sense their genes, diseases they are susceptible to, and their emotional state. One thing smell can do is show if you have neurodegenerative diseases. There was a study done with a small group of people who took an olfactory test or a smell test. The people conducting the test followed up on the people and interviewed them. People who were not able to identify 4 out of 5 smells had a neurodegenerative disease like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. This was not an isolated incident. Another study shows people who experience smell loss many times will later have memory loss, bipolar disorder, and even depression. But, they said there was one flaw. The disease may have already started destroying the brain with the people who couldn’t identify 4 of 5 smells. Another thing smell can do is evoke memories. Smell is one of the main parts of a memory. When you smell a certain sent it goes through the emotion and memory sections of your brain. Then it activates your hippocampus and brings back memories that you may not have in you conscious. For people with PTSD this is exactly what happens. Many people with this disease go through traumatic situations, and they remember a certain thing from that time. Most of the time it is a smell that was in the air. When they smell that sent again(it may even be decades later) it brings back those horrible memories they have of a certain event.
There are steps you can take, to help your sense of smell. It is so important and can detect so many things including mental diseases. A simple olfactory test can tell so much about your overall health and if you have any diseases. Also being cautious about what you smell can help. Artificial smells can contain neurotoxins that are carried from your nose to your brain. Which can cause extensive damage. It is best to stay away from these.
Smell. An extremely overlooked sense. It is so important in so many ways. If we take care of it and study it we can learn so much.
Homeschooling Has Grown In The Last Few Decades
ReplyDeleteBy: Ella Briggs
A photographer by the name of Rachel Papo found out about the existence of homeschool from a surprising source. Papo moved to Woodstock, NY in 2010. There she found a cafe and met a waitress. She also met the waitress’s 5 year old daughter True. After meeting True, Papo learned that True was, in fact, homeschooled. Papo claimed, “I didn’t even know it existed,” and she thought homeschooling was weird, until she took a visit to True’s house.
Papo thought of True’s house as big batch of photography opportunities. She described her house as “...a whole world there for me to photograph.” Papo considered homeschooling for her children, but didn’t think she could make it work, but she will always have her experience with True to remind her about how homeschooling was like a whole different world for her to see.
Picture this, 850,000 students in school in America. Now picture those 850,000 students in homeschool. Finally, stop picturing it because in the year 1999, this was the amount of students in America enrolled in homeschool. It all started when a group evangelical Christians led the fights to make homeschooling an official method of school, and they won.
In the 1980s, homeschool was officially legal in 20 states, but the journey for homeschool in America was just beginning. Now it is legal in all 50 states.
According to a source, in the year 2012, 1.8 million students were enrolled in homeschool. Compared to the amount of students in 1999, homeschool enrollment boomed in 2012.
In the article Here’s How Homeschool Is Changing America, Kyle Greenwalt, an associate professor at Michigan State University, stated, “...the homeschool population does not significantly differ from the general U.S population.” That testimony reinforces the idea that homeschool students and public school students are both still students. Whether it be in a building or in their own home.
You may be surprised to find out that lots of families in America are choosing homeschool as the way of educating their children.
There are claims that children in homeschool seem to miss out on the experience of socializing with other peers, but there are homeschool programs that actually give the students a chance to talk to and communicate with their peers and to their teachers as well. An online school program called eAchieve Academy, actually uses a system that allows students to ask and answer questions and to talk to their peers and teachers. They even have a chance to speak verbally to their peers and teachers.
According to my research, I found out from the article Here Is How Homeschooling Is Changing America, that the homeschool community is very diverse. From this article, Kyle Greenwalt also claims that the diversity “Challenges any simplistic understanding of what homeschooling is.” Homeschool is an education option chosen by many families and seems to be a very diverse community of people as well.
Take notice of all the families that homeschool. Think about all the good that homeschooling has to offer. Spread the word about how homeschooling is impacting the education system. It will go a long way towards making homeschool students feel like students just like everyone else that is in public school.
The Deep Web’s Deep Secrets
ReplyDeleteThe deep web has many things we don’t know about… and probably don’t want to know about. And we question things about it, like: isn’t it illegal? Why hasn’t it been shut down? What even is it?
Most people when asked about the deep web, don’t even know what it is. The deep web is any website not accessible by sources like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. It’s accessed by sources like Tor. Tor stands for The Onion Router, which is really just a weird way to say that you can use it to access the internet anonymously. It was created because the government needed a way to access websites anonymously, but since only they used it, people knew it was them when a Tor connection was made, making it not- so- anonymous. So, they opened it for public use. The deep web is completely legal. What’s not is the dark web. The dark web is a portion of the deep web that uses the anonymity to do illegal, disturbing things. Things like drug dealing, child pornography, and the recording and buying of doxing information. But the government can’t, or, won’t, shut it down because they still need it.
The deep web isn’t bad. Nathan McAlone did research to find that one user played a game called “No Love Deep Web”, an alternate reality game, which required the use of Tor to play the game. The user that he interviewed said that the game had him answer a pay phone in New York City at three in the morning.
But, like I said, while the deep web isn’t bad, the dark web is. One site that was on the dark web was called Silk Road. It was founded by Ross Ulbricht, because he wanted to make an “everything store”, as Nick Bilton found, and another source discovered he once said he made it because he “wanted to create a website where people could buy anything anonymously, with no trail whatsoever that could lead back to them.” Well, Ross is now in prison, but he introduced the bitcoin to the dark web. The bitcoin is used to buy cannabis (the most traded drug on the dark web), hitmen, and sometimes even doxing information, which is widely available on the dark web. Doxing information is an individual’s personal information, information like their birthday, address, email, and phone number.
There really are valid reasons to use the deep web. For one, an estimated four percent of the web is visible to Google, Yahoo, and Bing users, while 96 percent is visible to Tor users. So the deep web is fine, as long as you know your sites and how to stay safe while using it.
David Nield, a journalist who has been writing about technology since 2002, gave a few tips on how to stay safe while using the deep web. He said that an installment for your computer called Tails OS gives extra security while using the deep web. It also comes with built- in Tor, so you can still stay anonymous and use websites that require Tor to access it. He also advised to be very careful and use common sense when giving away personal information on the deep web, because “nothing is ever 100 percent anonymous”, so email addresses, personal dates, etc. should be given with caution.
Lunar Lunacy Effect
ReplyDeleteIt all started when Michelle Shusky, an ER nurse being interviewed by The New York Times was working on a full-moon night. Upon starting her shift she never would have imagined spending the night treating a busload of kids with food poisoning Another nurse shared that on the same night a rare delivery of a caul baby had happened. A caul baby is an infant that was born still inside its amniotic sac. While these might just be coincidences, they might be The Lunar Lunacy at work.
While the moon can’t turn humans into werewolves, it might be able to influence human behavior. This often referred to as The Lunar Lunacy Effect. It is said that the moon affects the frequency of the mind that controls our feelings, emotions, and desires.The Moon is the reason we had two different tides. Since the moon disturbs water and the human body is made up of 70 percent water it very well could influence our behavior. Greek philosopher Aristotle said that the brain of all organs was most susceptible to influences of the moon.
Many people who work within the legal system had reported to believe in this unusual effect as well. University of Washington had done a study and found out that out of 11,613 aggravated assault cases within a 5 year period, most happened of nights closer to or on full-moon nights. Even the rates of murder and suicide rise and drop depending on the phase of the moon. Yet some attorneys think that this could just be used as another defense in court.
It is a proven fact that the phases of the moon disrupt human sleep patterns. More humans are prone to insomnia during full-moon nights. So is it possible that the moon could influence humans, or is The Lunar Lunacy Effect just another thing to blame for wacky coincidences?
Pt. 1
ReplyDeleteThe Inter-Woven Webs
Brittany was thinking about how amazing getting enough sleep sounded. Oh, but what about that picture she wanted to post? Wait, her friend just posted a picture, shouldn't she like it? Now she is just sitting there scrolling through social media. She only gets a few hours of sleep and is really starting to regret her decisions.
This kind of thing happens to a lot of social media users, along with many other things including getting distracted from homework/work. Many people have their phone sitting right next to them as they work. The whole time it’s just sitting there, waiting. Tempting isn’t it? They glance at it. Then, before you know it, instead of doing what they need to they are on social media, looking at their instagram or facebook page.
The same thing happens when they are trying to exercise. They get all pumped up and turn on their phone to find some exercising music, they come across a couple notifications. They think to themselves “I’ll just check this one. Then I’ll get started.” Then that one thing turns into everything and they no longer have time to exercise.
Nowadays, most people, like Brittany, carry around cell phones in their pockets, and that doesn’t help the issue of social media addiction. Social media and the internet take away from your energy/will for doing things like, work, keeping up your physical health and your offline relationships.
About 75% of younger generations are/feel addicted to social media and about 44% of older generations are/feel addicted to social media. A few side effects of addiction are, eye strain, social withdrawal and/or lack of sleep/fatigue. Addiction occurs when you misuse or overuse social media/the internet.
Oh, internet friends, what’s the point of actual friends, right? No, offline relationships are important for people especially as the brain is growing and developing. If it’s hard to make friends in real life and making friends on the internet seems like a piece of cake, it’s because you aren’t actually interacting face to face. The human interaction is what makes it hard for many people to actually make friends that aren’t behind a screen. Sometimes this kind of thing is also what makes cyberbullying so easy and harmful.
The cyberbully can just hide behind a screen without showing their face. That makes it easier for them to be mean because it “doesn’t really count.” Many cyberbullies would rather not confront the person face to face so they harass the victim without seeing their facial reaction. If they don’t see how it emotionally affects the person then it’s easier for them to not feel as bad. Brittany learned this the hard way when she had a “friend” cyberbullying her on instagram. She made sure to show her mom who helped her take care of the situation early on before it became something serious.
This can also cause the person being bullied to feel somewhat worse. In real life bullying is less effective because less people see or know about it and join in. On the internet almost anyone can see the bullying and possibly join in on it. With everyone teaming up against the person being bullied, and the bullies not actually having to confront them, it makes it worse for them to experience the cyberbullying.
That also ties into how it affects your mental and physical health. Being bullied or having negative connections with people online can lead to depression or stress in everyday life. Arguing or saying/receiving negativity can make you stressed out about those things. If you are the one receiving the negativity then it could push you into depression. Saying negative things online could do this to other people.
Pt. 2
ReplyDeleteSocial isolation is something many people do. They think that since they are talking to people on the internet that they don’t actually have to talk to people in real life. While, talking to people on social media and the internet is interaction, it is not beneficial enough as opposed to actual human interaction. Social isolation is associated with a shorter life span and a diminished quality of life. Having positive connections with people online makes your mindset and your physical well being much stronger and healthier.
There is a lot of information and advice online these days. Not all of it is reliable though. Taking random advice online could lead to something worse that what might actually be going on. Quite a few people follow doctors and professionals online on facebook or instagram. Those people they are following are either famous experts in their field, or someone they know in person.
Social media/the internet isn’t something you should be using to help you with medical problems. If you have something that you don’t know about, then you should go see a doctor so they can actually look at it and give you an accurate diagnosis. Social media should always just be the first step with figuring out your medical problems. If the information you find on the internet or social media worries you then you should see a doctor to help calm your nerves.
The internet/social media can help people who have family members and friends living around the world or in the military. Without having the access to the internet/social media and being able to use it many people wouldn’t even be able to talk to those loved ones of theirs.
Even a lot of the school textbooks are online these days. A lot of the classes require a textbook for doing homework or classwork, and they only provide an online textbook account.
Staying safe and happy online is the healthiest thing you can do for yourself while using the internet/social media. For example checking your social media notifications while you are driving could cause you to get into an accident. 21% of teen drivers that got into fatal accidents were using their phone while driving. 94% of teens are aware that using their phone while driving is dangerous, but 35% of them still admitted to doing it.
Disconnecting from the internet or social media can be very hard or frustrating for some people. Brittany had struggled with this as well, she used productivity apps to limit her access to certain sites that she was having difficulty disconnecting from. If this doesn’t work for you, as it doesn’t with many people, there is always the option of getting professional help.
Sometimes just distancing yourself from the internet/social media or even your phone can help you ease out of addiction or just help you to stop using the cites as often.
As long as you use social media/the internet in good moderations, then you shouldn’t have or end up with any of these problems. You will just stay close and connected to your friends and family online.
How Confirmation Bias Affects Our Decisions
ReplyDeleteA group of student were gathered at Stanford. Half of them were pro-capital punishment, half of them were against it. Researchers had made two fake studies on the topic. They were both equally convincing, but for opposite sides of the argument. The students were asked to respond to the two studies. Students who supported capital punishment found the pro capital punishment study highly credible, and the anti- capital punishment study unconvincing. The students who were against capital punishment found the opposite. At the end, they all believed even more strongly that they were correct.
That study, done by Stanford researchers, is an example of confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is when you unconsciously only look for or consider information that supports your existing beliefs. When you are affected by confirmation bias, you ignore or don’t trust evidence that goes against your initial idea.
This can affect our decisions because if we are already have an opinion, or first impression, it’s hard to be open to other opinions/ideas. So, we often make decisions based on inaccurate, little, or no information. However, this happens without us thinking about it, which means it happens without us knowing we’re being bias.
There are many ways to avoid this form of bias. Julie, like everybody, uses confirmation bias in her daily life. “I find myself reading articles that support my opinions, and I have to remind myself to read about other opinions,” she said, “I try to avoid it by consciously making myself open to other ideas that may be contrary to my first impressions.”
It is also important to consider information from multiple perspectives. This can help you to think about other sides of an argument, without doubting their credibility.
So next time you are going to make a decision, make sure you truly consider multiple perspectives, rather than just your initial idea.
How To Agree On Gun Control
ReplyDeletePicture this. It’s June 30, 2016 Jody Ray Thompson killed three people in a South Carolina nightclub. But all the other people in the club were lucky. A man with a conceal and carry permit stopped him by wounding his leg. He stopped a massacre.
Gun control is a big issue today in our government. People don’t know if guns should stay the same or be banned altogether. When talking about gun control people can get into big arguments. Some people who are against gun control think that guns should stay the same but some people who are for gun control want guns to be banned. According to a survey on the internet it found that 60% of gun owners have a gun for protection, 36% own one for hunting, and 21% own one for recreation. In the article Experts and the public agree on how to stop gun violence. Politicians don’t by Christopher Ingram, Steven V. Miller, an expert at Clemson university in political science stated, “public opinion tends to follow elite opinion, “our mass public opinion is gradually conforming to the polarization of opinion at the elite-level.” There are steps we can take to agreeing.
One way both sides of the argument can agree is to support the Murphy-Cornyn bill. The bill is trying to make all gun sales have a background check including internet sales and gun show sales. Not just gun store sales. The bill does not want to get rid of guns altogether. This is a way that gun control rivals may be able to agree on something.
We may be a long ways away from total agreement on guns, but with the Murphy-Cornyn bill we can be one step closer.
The Green Flash
ReplyDeleteIn August of 2017, a newly married couple was on their honeymoon in Honolulu, watching the sunset from their villa. Just as the sun was setting over the horizon, the new bride, Kennedy yelled in excitement that she had seen the green flash. But her husband Brad, who had been watching the sunset, also, disagreed with her and claimed that the green flash was only a myth. This was the beginning of their first fight as a married couple.
What Kennedy could have explained to her husband is that there is science behind her observation. Blue and green wavelengths, which make a green flash, are bent most upward so they appear first at sunrise and last at sunset. The full spectrum of colors in sunlight is not fully visible at all times of the daylight which is why the green flash is only visible at sunrise and sunset. Blue and green rays can only be seen after red rays have gone over the horizon.
Green flashes are only visible when there are clear skies and good visibility and because of its rarity some people believe that it is only a myth.
While the green flash is rare to see, science has proven it to be possible in many ways. Do you agree with it?