On January 19th, 2012 Canadian, freestyle skier Sarah Burke was pronounced dead in the University of Utah hospital in Salt Lake City. She had suffered major damage to the vertebral artery that provided the flow of blood to her brain. On January 10th while practicing a routine trick she fell on her head. Even though she landed with her skis all right she fell after landing the trick. By-standers said that the fall did not look too severe however, moments later Sarah went into cardiac arrest on the ski hill. Now going into cardiac arrest your chances of survival can range but when you are in the cold weather in the middle of the ski hill your chances of survival drop drastically. She was airlifted to the hospital. Once there doctors put her into an induced coma. They put her body into a therapeutic hypothermia to try to preserve her brain and its functions. The following day she was rushed to surgery to repair the severed artery. They were successful in repairing the damage and were to wait for when she woke up but after running further tests they realized that the damage was more severe then they thought; the severed artery had been filling up the brain with blood. The doctors determined that she was officially brain dead; they guessed that after she went into cardiac arrest on the ski hill was when her brain was no longer functioning. Based on Harvard Death Standards a person cannot be officially dead if there body is hypothermic, so before she could be pronounced dead her body could no longer hypothermic. When it was clear she was no longer hypothermic there was still no brain activity. Doctors believed that the reason she became brain dead because of lack of oxygen and blood flow to the brain. She was pronounced dead to family, friends and the rest of the world on January 19^th, 2012 Even though her brain was no longer functioning her organs were and because of Sarah’s prior wishes they donated her organs to people who needed

them. Sarah Burkes was someone girls looked up to for inspiration. She will forever be remembered by the hearts of her friends, family and her fans. Rest in Peace Sarah.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/skiing/story/2012/01/19/sp-sarah-burke-obit.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nci9xofsqR8

Somalian Pirates

Piracy: The practice of attacking and robbing ships at sea.

A lone freight ship chugs through the tropical waters of the Gulf of Aden. The captain sits in the bridge over seeing everything around him. Spontaneously, two grappling hooks appear over the side of the ship. The lines grow taught as their owners clamber up. Ten Somalians present themselves, bearing kalishnikovs. Rounds are fired in the air and the freight crew is at the mercy of these savage, desperate Somalians.

Unfortunately in the gulf of Aden alone thousands of hostages have been taken by the pirates. In 2o1o there were 1181 hostages taken and millions of dollars had to be paid to their captors for their release. An oil super tanker can be held for a ransom fee of up to twenty five million dollars. In the past, pirates have captured grenade launchers, piles of ammunition, and war tanks; these were ransomed for an astonishing thirty million dollars (click here).

These pirates have costed governments and businesses millions of dollars and countless human lives. The United States Navy has been very prominent in the gulf of Aden. Recently foreign aid workers were captured by pirates and held hostage. They have been imprisoned for three months and the US Navy Seals seeing a window of opportunity chose to take the Dane and the American back to safety. The full high octane story can be read here.

The Somalian government would like to stop these pirates but it has enough problems without the pirates. Government is something that Somalia isn't used to and order is barely enforced in it's capital city of Mogadishu. These pirates are desperate and unstoppable. The US army may stop a few pirates but there are always going to be new ones to take their place.

Legal at 18 or 19?

The legal drinking age in Alberta has been 18 since 1972, and there has been the constant question of whether or not the drinking age should be raised from 18 to 19. Some would argue that since 18 year olds are entrusted with the right to vote, go to war, and drive, then it is obvious that they should be entrusted with drinking responsibly. Why should it be that a person turning 18 would be allowed to vote, and thereby influence the government, as well as participate in armed combat, and be allowed to use a firearm, but would not be old enough to drink alcohol? If a person, by the age of 18, is allowed to join the military or vote in the government, that person should also be allowed to drink.

Due to the excessively high legal drinking age in America, teenagers become more prone to binge drinking and out-of-control partying. They are legally blockaded from the alcohol, but they can get it anyway by getting a legal adult to “boot,” or buy the alcohol for them. Therefore, the age should remain at 18, because it is an ideal legal drinking age, where it is not too high that it causes devious behavior, but it is also not too low that the person is not mature enough to handle the responsibility. It is clearly visible that in the U.S with the legal drinking age of 21, the desirable drinking age is 18. In an online petition they argue that colleges and universities would be more successful in trying to regulate the consumption of alcohol rather then trying to prohibit it. When drinking is legal for the students, it will happen out in the open where police officers or health care professionals are present, rather then in basements where students hide their drinking activities. This would lower the amount of alcohol related deaths on campuses.

I believe that if we can educate teens about drinking responsibly much earlier that there would be a higher chance of preventing lethal activities such as drunk driving and alcohol poisoning. Since 1980 when the association M.A.D.D was founded, alcohol-related traffic fatalities have decreased by 44%. This shows that by educating people on the effects of alcohol will reduce the amount of deaths that result from drinking too much.

While there are positive effects of a legal drinking age of 18, there are still positive sides to having a legal drinking age of 19. Alcohol is a depressant, which means that it is a chemical that slows the central nervous system which is detrimental to developing brains. The brains of girls and boys are still considered to be developing at the age of 18, so permitting the consumption of alcohol at this age could end up preventing development of the brain. Mr. Neufeld kindly painted a picture of this effect in class by saying drinking to an extent at an early age would have the same effects as if construction workers were to work on a house while intoxicated. Some would ask how much a single year could impact the choices made with responsible drinking. According to Calgary police chief, Doug Hansen, on Alberta Primetime the year between 18 and 19 is when kids do the most maturing. It is inevitable that teens will experiment with alcohol well before the age of 19 or 18, and adding a year might prevent teens from seeing it as acceptable until later years. While under the influence of alcohol girls are much more susceptible to predators in bars, so a 19 year old woman would probably be more informed of the dangers of being taken advantage of rather then an 18 year old girl out of high school.

There are several pros and cons to different legal drinking ages, but our choices are to either educate teens in hopes to teach responsible drinking, or to prohibit drinking for another year in order for them to gain a little maturity. But the truth is obvious; we find ways of drinking regardless of the age limits, therefore adding or subtracting a year is redundant.

A Life Changer?

When it comes to health and wellness a person will do just about anything. In recent years this has included fad diets, exercise gimmicks, and infomercials claiming to change an individuals life in mere minutes. One in particular that has no scie

ntific evidence proving its effectiveness is called the ‘Energy Armor’ bracelet.

This bracelet boasts improved balance, flexibility, serenity, sleep, and focus instantaneously. Many people including doctors, professional athletes, and the general public who wear the bracelet believe that it works, however this may be due to the placebo effect. Supposedly these bracelets are said to repel negative energy by using negatively charged ions, volcanic ash, titanium-mylar and rare gemstones, ultimately protecting the body. But where is the evidence?

There have been studies conducted on the power of the bracelet to determine its effectiveness. Rob Ascough, one of the owners of company agrees that there h

ave never been any scientific studies to back up the bracelets theories, and the few that have been con

ducted have never seen the light of day. So are these testimonials and claims from people all a lie? On Energy Armor’s website they explain “Scientists have studied Negative Ions and their effect on human health for more than 100 years. Some scientific studies around the world have suggested that exposure to Negative Ions may support your overall health,” yet there is no mentioning of there own tests?

This video elaborates more on situation at hand; going over the finer points. Surprisingly these bracelets cost upwards of $30 a piece, and could very well be replaced with a rubber gasket. But if you believe in the powers of this product it could be just the thing you need. They may be worth it, but only if you thinks so.

Let's Play God

The debate about Stem Cell Research has been going on for as long as the technology has been available. Should we destroy embryos that might one day become humans for research for common, life-shattering diseases or should we let the diseases continue and the embryos grow into people. Utilitarian or Deontologist? The utilitarians think that it is worth destroying a few small cells if we can find a cure for diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's and help birth defects, and repair major organ damage. If we can do this then the ends will ultimately justify the means and it will be the best for everyone once we find a cure. The deontologists however believe the opposite. They think that we should be focusing on the fact that these embryos will turn into humans and that it is unethical to take a life away for the main purpose of research. Some say that "We should not mess with human life" and that " human's should not try and play god."

Of course there are other sources of Stem cells, such as bone marrow, but embryonic is said to be better because it is pluripotent, meaning it can grow into almost any kind of other cell, whereas adult stem cells are tissue specific.

And so the debate continues, single human life, or possibly many lives? Consequences of actions, or ends justify the means? Nobody can tell, but one thing is for sure: we won't be figuring the answer out any time soon.

THE WAY OUT

Sometimes we think about the moment we leave this world and how that moment will be. Will we leave it in peace? Or will the moment we leave be extremely agonizing?

Everyone has a different idea of what that moment would be like. Some may want to just die in their sleep. It’s nice easy and quick, so why not? Others may think that they deserve a more painful ending (due to a sinful life or something like that) and would prefer to be lit on fire and burn to death, while listening to the sound of their skin as it bubbles up and begins oozing with pus until it bursts (but then again who wouldn’t want to go that way?).

Death to some people is not something to be afraid of but more an event to celebrate a passed life. People plan funerals to be the best they can be which is all done to honor the death of a person. The food, the room decorations they all have to be perfect but mostly the thing that has to be planned the best is the box in which to lay the dead. (A wise teacher once told me never to buy a coffin with a sealed thick rim, the reason was something to do with compressed air and exploding human bits. Great tip huh?). Death is the one-way street way we all have to go. No one really has a choice in the end. We could end up dying from laughter or getting hit by a school bus. Want to know how you are going to die? http://www.gotoquiz.com/how_will_i_die

Stop SOPA

Do you love the Internet? Free music? Global connectivity? A new bill, being called the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, has just been passed in the United States that will have just about everything you love about the World Wide Web taken down. Don’t think for a second that just because you’re not in the U.S.A. that you’re not effected by this; the bill, also known as the Protect IP Act, caused a massive surge of outrage among millions of people. It has the potential to destroy the balance of the Internet. The government will have the ability to sue and completely remove sites for simply linking to or quoting copyrighted material. This is HUGE. Sites like Wikipedia, Twitter, YouTube and Google (powerhouses of the web), could be completely eradicated, because this new law states that the sites themselves are responsible for anything posted or uploaded on them. Think about the millions of posts, videos and images uploaded daily to these sites. If you still don’t see the big deal, think of it this way; remember that link you posted on Facebook to JBieb’s new official video? The one that’s supermega copyrighted, but you posted anyways so all of your friends could hear it? According to SOPA, you can now be hit with a massive fine, thrown in jail, and the host site can be completely taken down. And I mean completely. That’s more than 500 million users effected due to a single post that someone linked to a copyrighted video. The excuse behind the ridiculous bill is to eliminate piracy. It won't work. Instead, it will see the end of freedom of self-expression, the sharing of knowledge and media and the main principles of the Internet. Startup companies and sites will be less and less likely to succeed, videos and images will stop going viral, and global events (i.e. Libya, Occupy Wall Street) will go unpublicized.

On this, the 18^th of January, 2012, Wikipedia, Reddit and several other sites have “blacked out” for 24 hours to protest this bill. This means that for an entire day, they have shut down their sites to show the outward aggression towards SOPA. The bill, unsupported by just about everyone including president Obama, cannot be allowed to be put into effect. According to the Protect IP Act, in the course of this article, I could have been arrested three times and would have been the cause of YouTube, Wikipedia and Reddit being eliminated from the Internet. Protect your online rights; speak up, save the internet. Stop SOPA now.

Human Cloning: Yay or Nay?

So lets say, you want to be in two places at the same time, but you obviously can't shuffle between both like in the movies ( those plans never work out anyway ), since their both far away from each other. Of course, you're not going try to be in both places, since its too much work, energy and money to do that. But...Now that you think of it, a clone at this point would be absolutely perfect!

Now, before we get too ahead of ourselves, lets examine this delicate idea. Cloning, in the most simple of words, is the reproduction of human cells or tissue. This idea has been branched into three different types that have been commonly discussed in terms of ethics. The first, Therapeutic Cloning, is the cloning of cells, for medical purposes (ie. To experiment a vaccine, or effects a certain disease has, on certain types of people). The second, Reproductive Cloning, is the cloning actual humans, and third, Replacement Cloning, is the replacement of extensively damaged failed, or failing body through cloning, followed by a whole or partial brain transplant.

Of course, cloning is a dream of many scientists, and not to mention, the people who actually want to say "I'm beside myself on this one… literally".But you have to admit, cloning would open up many doors for the human population. The most obvious, and arguably the most important advantage, would be the accessibility to bodies use during experimentation through therapeutic cloning. Instead of having to go through a tedious procedure of getting each person to agree to be put on an experiment, or have to lie to patients in experiments, clones, in fact, would be used for experimental purposes. These clones would most likely have the exact same traits, defects and health problems as the original person, thus making him/her/it a positive candidate for a specific experiment, without having to potentially harm anyone. Reproductive Cloning would open the possibilities of a human clone, who would be able to take our part in different places, (i.e. sending clones up in space to explore, and possibly experiment living on the moon or on mars).Lastly, Replacement Cloning, would open up many medical doors to improvements in the human body. Whether it is cancer, a skin defect, kidney failure, infertility, or just a blemish on our skin, this type of cloning would allow us to alter cells in our body to benefit us in many different ways.

However, everything has two sides to it. One of the reasons why cloning has been such a hotly debated topics in ethics, and is extremely controversial, is the number of problems and disadvantages we bump into while on our way towards this new age in Science. Experimenting with human cloning would be extremely dangerous, since it would first be hard to get people to volunteer for such a dangerous and risky experiment, and not only that, experiments could also potentially go wrong and create bad copies (or, as some might say 'evil' clones), which could potentially affect the original person and his/her life, or maybe even the world (in some cases). A sudden influx of clones would affect the world population, which would also lead to us having that ever-frustrating idea of figuring out which one was the actual person. Also, getting rid of clones might be difficult, due the clone's will to live, that has been copied from the original human.

Bringing clones into the world, is basically bringing a new race of intelligent life onto Earth… It changes everything. Questions like: "Are clones considered humans?" "How are clones treated, would they be treated the same as humans, or be treated more like animals or pets?" or "How would we differentiate between clones and humans?" would arise. This calls for a completely new set of rules and regulations pertaining to clones, which would take many years to get established. Because of that, the years between the invention and having a reasonable set of laws in this certain situation, would definitely be a rocky road, and could, potentially change some important things in the world.

Nevertheless, as humans, we always work things out, and I believe that one day, if done with a tremendous amount of meticulous planning and care, the human race will be able to welcome clones to our world, in a way that is safe and effective. But until then, this is what I leave you with, and hopefully, this may have gotten you inspired to start taking action in the study of human cloning!

Rex

The Holocaust

I am German.
I have blond hair and blue eyes.
I do not believe in Hitler.
I do not hate Jewish people.
I am not a Natzi.


Nationalism: patriotic feelings, principals or efforts In other words: a sense of identity and belonging, usually feelings associated with a country where people share similar values, customs, and beliefs.

(And yes nationalism is more than cheering for your country at the world cup soccer finals.)


People are supposed to be proud of the places they come from and what their culture represents.

But how can Germans when they are associated with concentration camps, unethical human experimentation and the stiff, straight, brown mustache of a man who ended the lives of so many innocent people?

Simple: I recognize the fact that I am not responsible for the events of the past.

But the problem is that other people have not recognized that fact yet. People continue to hold Germans accountable for the horrible events of the past, despite the fact that there were only a few people directly responsible. The fact is that most Germans themselves are horrified with the events that took place and are ashamed to be associated with them, as anyone would. Yet still people continue to blame the events of the past on the people who had nothing to do with it.

So why are people so intent on having someone to blame for their problems?

People continue to search for justification until they find a solution. For some people it is the only way to put a topic at rest in their minds. Because having someone to blame is easier than maybe not knowing all the answers or maybe even forgiving and forgetting.

Why do people focus on Germany, and ignore the mistakes of all the other countries?


I know this question may seem hypocritical since on one hand I am asking you to forget the events of the past and am at the same time asking you to think of the other atrocious that have taken place in other countries. However there are a lot of people who are angry because the events in concentration camps stole the spot light away from many equally horrific events, the Armenian Genocide for example. Because the events were over shadowed they were never able to gain a sense of justice.

Final Word: So remember, every single time you make a comment about Germans or Jews or Hitler you are fighting someone else's battle. One that should have ended years ago, because the reality is, history is history, there is nothing anyone can do to change the past so we might as well just move on. And control the only thing we have power over: the future, to ensure that history does not repeat it’s self.

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005143

Sex Can Make You Brain Dead?

Indeed it can. In 1494, when the deadly STI was discovered little less than a thousand people had been infected. Now in 2012, over 12 million people have contracted it. If you haven’t guessed yet, I’m talking about one of the worst sexually transmitted diseases known to mankind. Syphilis.

Syphilis is one of the only STI’s that can have a direct harm on your thinking capacity and your overall mobility. It consists of four painful stages, which, depending on the person can cause harm to the brain, nerves, eyes, heart, blood vessels, liver, bones, and joints. In fewer cases it can cause difficulty managing muscles, paralysis, numbness, gradual blindness, mental illness, and even death.

There is not yet a cure for Syphilis, yet an antibiotic to help one’s immune system fight off the virus. Many of the people who have Syphilis are unable to afford the expensive medication, and can have serious health risks in the future.

One must think before they act, especially when it comes to sexual relations. Who would want to have a proxy make their decisions, to wear a diaper constantly and to force loved ones into tough decisions regarding your life. Nobody in the right mind would.

So the big picture here is, that hot boy or fine looking lady isn’t worth a life without hobbies or competence. Don’t be Condumb, use one.

For more information on the effects or symptoms of Syphilis, take a look here:

http://www.nakedtruth.idaho.gov/syphilis.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syphilis

http://herpes-coldsores.com/std/syphilis.htm