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Anjan Narain

Essay on Euthanasia in America - 0 views

www.echeat.com/essay.php

Essay on Euthanasia in the US

shared by Anjan Narain on 14 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • Euthanasia is a choice everyone should have, but like all rights, it should not be taken advantage of. By legalizing euthanasia the practice of assisted suicide would be an available choice as well as regulated to see that it does not get abused and used for the wrong reasons.
  • My four primary arguments for legalizing euthanasia are as follows: The mercy argument, which states that the immense pain and indignity of prolonged suffering, cannot be ignored. We are being inhumane to force people to continue suffering this way. The patients right to self-determination.
  • The reality argument. "Let's face it people are already doing it".
  • ...12 more annotations...
  • Some terminally ill patients who have been denied assistance in dying, have attempted to terminate they're suffering by ending their lives themselves or with the help of loved ones, who are not trained in medicine. Some patients have botched their suicides and brought further suffering to themselves and those around them. Patients should not have to resort to suicide to end their suffering. It is their life, their pain. They should be able to get the treatment they want.
  • " if we so choose, the end of life need not be preceded by intolerable pain, or by senility and loss of bodily functions.” Death with dignity is the right of every person who faces an incurable, painful or degrading future.
  • Caring for terminally ill patients requires a vast amount of money. In 1997, shortly after the senate voted to overturn the Northern Territory's euthanasia law, doctors from both sides of the euthanasia lobby united in calling for more funds for palliative care. There is a requirement for several hundred million dollars extra to really adequately provide for the needs of the dying, particularly in country areas.
  • Why does the government choose to outlaw euthanasia when it is done anyway? Legalizing it would mean that patients would be able to consult doctors, and not resort to taking it into their own hands, making it safer and better. There would be no need for suicide attempts; consequently there would be less tragedies
  • Passive euthanasia is defined as allowing a patient to die by withholding treatment, while active euthanasia is defined as taking measures that directly cause a patient's death
  • Those who argue against active euthanasia understand that there is a demand for active euthanasia as a response "to the fear of entrapment in a technologically sophisticated, seemingly uncaring world of medicine
  • offers several arguments in favor of the moral permissibility of active euthanasia, one of which is an argument from mercy. He begins by describing a classic case where a person named Jack is terminally ill and in unbearable pain and states that Jack's condition alone is a compelling reason for the permissibility of active mercy killing.
  • active euthanasia is morally permissible since it produces the greatest happiness
  • . The categorical imperative supports active euthanasia since no one would willfully universalize a rule, which condemns people to unbearable pain before death. It is also reasoned that it is considered bad to be the cause of someone's death and that death is regarded as a great evil. However, if it has been decided that active or passive euthanasia is desirable in a given case, it has also been decided that in this instance death is no greater an evil than the patient's continued existence
  • A good point is raised here, because death is supposedly inevitable in either case, so according to Rachel, if a doctor allows a patient to die or gives him a lethal injection, then the motives and ends are essentially the same.
  • In conclusion, denying patients the right to die with dignity and lucidity is unfair and cruel. If physician assisted suicide means giving a patient the right to choose between a life without dignity and hope, or ending their pain and suffering with an honorable closure on life, than it should be permitted.
  • When a patient has no desire to go on living and wants to die before their condition gets worse, they should be allowed to decide how their life ends and why. Assisted suicide is known to have been going on without fanfare and without legal support for many years. It is time to give physician-assisted suicide the legal justification that it deserves.
Ben Walters

Were video games to blame for massacre? - Technology & science - Games - msnbc.com - 0 views

www.msnbc.msn.com/18220228

Entertainment Brain Games Society Psychology Violence Aggression Jack Thompson

shared by Ben Walters on 14 Nov 10 - Cached
  • The shooting on the Virginia Tech campus was only hours old, police hadn't even identified the gunman, and yet already the perpetrator had been fingered and was in the midst of being skewered in the media.
  • Video games. They were to blame for the dozens dead and wounded. They were behind the bloodiest massacre in U.S. history. Or so Jack Thompson told Fox News and, in the days that followed, would continue to tell anyone who'd listen.
  • But whether Seung-Hui Cho, the student who opened fire Monday, was an avid player of video games and whether he was a fan of "Counter-Strike" in particular remains, even now, uncertain at best.
  • ...31 more annotations...
  • Meanwhile, in the aftermath of the school shootings and the finger-pointing that followed, game players and industry advocates say they're outraged that the brutal acts of a deeply disturbed and depressed loner with a history of mental illness would be blamed so quickly on video and computer games. They say this is perhaps the most flagrant case of anti-game crusaders using a tragedy to promote their own personal causes.
  • "It's so sad. These massacre chasers — they're worse than ambulance chasers — they're waiting for these things to happen so they can jump on their soapbox," said Jason Della Rocca,
    • Ben Walters
      Ben Walters on 14 Nov 10
       
      'common sense tells me'
  • When Jack Thompson gets worked up, he refers to gamers as "knuckleheads." He calls video games "mental masturbation." When he's talking about himself and his crusade against violent games, he calls himself an "educator." He likes to use the word "pioneer."
  • On those rare occasions when a student opens fire on a school campus, Thompson is frequently the first and the loudest to declare games responsible. In recent years he's blamed games such as "Counter-Strike," "Doom" and "Grand Theft Auto III" for school shootings in Littleton, Colo., Red Lake, Minn. and Paducah, Ky.
  • He's blamed them for shootings beyond school grounds as well. In an attempt to hold game developers and publishers responsible for these spasms of violence, Thompson has launched several unsuccessful lawsuits.
  • "It disgusts me," said Isaiah Triforce Johnson, a longtime gamer and founder of a New York-based gaming advocacy group that, in response to the accusations, is now planning what is the first ever gamer-driven peace rally. 
  • Microsoft did not create "Counter Strike" but did publish a version of it for the Xbox.
  • authorities released a search warrant listing the items found in Cho's dorm room. Not a single video game, console or gaming gadget was on the list, though a computer was confiscated. And in an interview with Chris Matthews of "Hardball," Cho's university suite-mate said he had never seen Cho play video games.
  • "This is not rocket science. When a kid who has never killed anyone in his life goes on a rampage and looks like the Terminator, he's a video gamer,"
  • And in a letter sent to Bill Gates Wednesday, he wrote: "Mr. Gates, your company is potentially legally liable (for) the harm done at Virginia Tech. Your game, a killing simulator, according to the news that used to be in the Post, trained him to enjoy killing and how to kill."
    • Ben Walters
      Ben Walters on 14 Nov 10
       
      See how bad his research is, the only possibility of him ever playing a game was on his computer, yet he blames Microsoft, who created a game for the Xbox (which would be incompatible for a PC) for directly and massively influencing these events.
    • Ben Walters
      Ben Walters on 14 Nov 10
       
      Counter Strike, the game he blamed for these killings, has two objectives. Protect an objective from a bomb that the team of terrorists are going to try to plant, or to plant this bomb. Neither of these objectives have to include murder, or solo missions.
  • Fed up with the scapegoating and lack of understanding, gamer groups have begun to get increasingly organized in their attempts to change public perception of their favorite hobby.
  • While Thompson concedes that there are many elements that must have driven Cho to commit such a brutal act, he insists that without video games Cho wouldn't have had the skills to do what he did. "He might have killed somebody but he wouldn't have killed 32 if he hadn't rehearsed it and trained himself like a warrior on virtual reality. It can't be done. It just doesn't happen."
  • Dr. Karen Sternheimer, a sociologist at the University of Southern Calfornia and author of the book " Kids These Days: Facts and Fictions About Today's Youth," disagrees. She believes that it didn't require much skill for Cho to shoot as many people as he did. After all, eye witness accounts indicate many of the victims were shot at point-blank range.
  • And for all of Thompson's claims that violent video games are the cause of school shootings, Sternheimer points out that before this week's Virginia Tech massacre, the most deadly school shooting in history took place at the University of Texas in Austin… in 1966. Not even "Pong" had been invented at that time.
  • Sternheimer says the rush to blame video games in these situations is disingenuous for yet another reason. Although it remains unclear whether Cho played games, it seems nobody will be surprised if it turns out he did. After all, what 23-year-old man living in America hasn't played video games?
  • "Especially if you're talking about young males, the odds are pretty good that any young male in any context will have played video games at some point,"
  • "I think in our search to find some kind of answer as to why this happened, the video game explanation seems easy," she says. "It seems like there's an easy answer to preventing this from happening again and that feels good on some level."
  • The blame game
  • Jason Della Rocca agrees. "Everyone wants a simple solution for a massively complex problem. We want to get on with our lives."
  • As the leader of an organization that represents video game creators from all over the world, Della Rocca knows the routine all too well.
  • Someone opens fire on a school campus. Someone blames video games. His phone starts ringing. People start asking him questions like, "So how bad are these games anyway?"
  • Of course, he also knows that this is far from the first time in history that a young form of pop culture has been blamed for any number of society's ills. Rock and roll was the bad guy in the 1950s. Jazz was the bad guy in the 1930s. Movies, paintings, comic books, works of literature…they've all been there.
  • Still, Della Rocca believes that people like Thompson are "essentially feeding off the fears of those who don't understand games."
  • For those who didn't grow up playing video games, the appeal of a game like "Counter-Strike" can be hard to comprehend. It can be difficult to understand that the game promotes communication and team work. It can be hard fathom how players who love to run around gunning down their virtual enemies do not have even the slightest desire to shoot a person in real life.
  • "It's the thing they don't understand," Della Rocca says. "It's a thing that's scary."
  • "You cannot tell me — common sense tells you that if these kids are playing video games, where they're on a mass killing spree in a video game, it's glamorized on the big screen, it's become part of the fiber of our society. You take that and mix it with a psychopath, a sociopath or someone suffering from mental illness and add in a dose of rage, the suggestibility is too high. And we're going to have to start dealing with that."
  • the members of Empire Arcadia — a grassroots group dedicated to supporting the gaming community and culture — have been so incensed by the recent attempts to blame video games for the Virginia Tech shootings that they've begun planning a rally in New York City with the assistance of the ECA.
  • "There we will protest, mourn and show how real gamers play video games peacefully and responsibly," organizer Johnson wrote on the group's Web site. "This demonstration is to show that gamers will not take the blame of this tragic matter but we will do what we can to help put an end to terrible events like this." Johnson says that, ultimately, he hopes the rally — scheduled for May 5 — will help people better understand video game enthusiasts like him. "We are normal people," he says. "We just play games."
Ben Walters

'FarmVille' power user: 'I'm not obsessed' - Technology & science - Games - msnbc.com - 0 views

www.msnbc.msn.com/35825112

Gaming Games Facebook Farmville Applications Obsession Addiction

shared by Ben Walters on 14 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • Cathy Hinz is really into “FarmVille.” But she swears she’s not obsessed.  “I can, you know, walk away and say, ‘I’m not going to worry about it.’ I don’t worry about it, but I will plan my farm around my life,” she says.
  • she has time to be online, fiddling with the farm simulation game as much as she wants. And she’s far from the only one.
  • Since its launch in June 2009, “FarmVille” has grown like an invasive weed, with 80 million players
  • ...13 more annotations...
  • It’s absurdly easy to get started:
  • It’s no “World of Warcraft,” but for non-gamers like Hinz, that’s exactly the point.
  • They were either too violent or too complicated or too ‘childish,’” she says.
  • She’s online a lot — spending two to three hours a day on “FarmVille,“ but usually not all at one time. Most of her family plays the game, including her eldest daughter (hooked), her three grandkids (hooked) and her husband, a hard-core gamer who reluctantly allowed his wife to rope him into virtual horticulture. Now, she says, he’s really concerned about his crops.
  • Hinz loves “FarmVille” because it’s something she can control.
  • Hinz loves tweaking her virtual plot of land, and her schedule affords her plenty of time to do that.
  • Some of the “FarmVille” updates are free, and some you have to pay for, but Hinz says the cost is negligible. “I would spend more than $10 to see a movie, and I’d get to sit there for two hours and that would be it. Whereas 10 bucks on this, I can get enjoyment out of it every day.”
  • She likes leveling up, and the competitive nature of the game. But Hinz also really likes the interaction on “FarmVille.”
  • “When I started my Facebook account, I had two friends — my daughters. At one point, while playing “FarmVille,” I had over 200 friends on Facebook,” she says.
  • Zynga dangled a Hot Rod Tractor for “FarmVille” players
  • play “Mafia Wars,” another Zynga game, to level 10.
  • At first, Hinz was indignant. “I’m 50 years old, and I’m not going to do something where you ‘ice’ people, or you rob banks or stuff like that, where that’s the objective.” But then she got to thinking. The Hot Rod Tractor can plow nine plots simultaneously. It’s got flames on it. “I figured, what the hell, I’ll just get to level 10 and do it. And now I’m a level 40 in ‘Mafia Wars’ as well,” she laughs. “It’s a lot funner than I thought it would be. It’s something I can do while I’m waiting for things to harvest.”
  • Still, Hinz says she’s got the games under control, and that they’re not controlling her. “If I started putting things off in order to do ‘FarmVille,’ if it becomes a priority over work, or spending time with my family, that would be an addiction.” Is she there yet? “No. I do it because I can.”
Bhavya Puri

Shark Fin Soup - 0 views

www.stopsharkfinning.net/shark-fin-soup.htm

finning shark soup fin

shared by Bhavya Puri on 15 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • It has a very high level of mercury and the United States Environmental protection agency advises women and young children to stay clear of it. Click here to see the levels of mercury found in shark compared to other fish.
  • A survey in 2006 by Wild Aid and the Chinese Wildlife Association showed that 35% of participants had consumed shark fin soup in the previous year. This equates to an immense number of sharks being taken from the ocean.
  • harks take anything from 7 to over 20 years to reach maturity, meaning that it takes populations a long time to recover; the current demand for their fins makes it impossible for populations to return to previous levels.
  • Bhavya Puri on 15 Nov 10
     
    It has a very high level of mercury and the United States Environmental protection agency advises women and young children to stay clear of it.
Shumona Raha

Euthanasia: Should it be made legal? Why? - 0 views

www.chillibreeze.com/...debate-over-euthanasia.asp

euthanasia debate

shared by Shumona Raha on 11 Nov 10 - No Cached
Shumona Raha liked it
  • The difference is, in euthanasia, the person who is dying performs the last act while in assisted death another person performs the act. For example a physician can help in the process by giving lethal medications through the oral or intravenous routes. If the physician himself administers it then it is physician-assisted suicide, but, if he sets up the injection apparatus and the person who wants to die presses the button then it translates into euthanasia.
  • On one side it has been argued that for people on life support systems and people with long standing diseases causing much pain and distress, euthanasia is a better choice
  • it is much more practical and humane to grant the person his/her wish to end his/her own life in a relatively painless and merciful way
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • In 1997, Oregon was the first to enact the physician-assisted suicide law in the United States.
  • It will lead to a person having an option to consult his/her medical practitioner and choosing the right time and right way to end his/her life.
  • But at the same time laws should be in place to make sure that there are proper standards in place to avoid unnecessary deaths in our present day stress filled lives.
Mihikaa Naik

CNN - Georgia program bringing classics to newborns - June 24, 1998 - 0 views

edition.cnn.com/...index.html

mozart effect how it started

shared by Mihikaa Naik on 15 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • The governor's initiative comes on the heels of new research showing a link between listening to classical music and enhanced brain development in infants.
  • "We know that it improves the quality of life. We know that it improves the quality of life from an aesthetic standpoint. And we're at the place we can say it helps intelligence, we know it helps health, and it can help us orchestrate a better mind and body," he said.
Simran Fabiani

The Media and Eating Disorders - 0 views

www.disordered-eating.co.uk/...edia-and-eating-disorders.html

media disorder

shared by Simran Fabiani on 19 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • The media is constantly bombarding us with images of celebrities who have slim, and sometimes very thin, bodies.
  • often appear in magazines and on television looking thin, and sometimes even verging on emaciated.
  • Celebrities are scrutinised when they put on a few pounds as well as when they lose them.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • it is interesting to watch those who appear to 'have it all' put on weight and see how long it takes for them to lose it.
  • After a celebrity gives birth, the paparazzi usually follows her everywhere ready to snap her, so the whole world (which appears to be waiting with baited breath) can see how long it takes for her to lose her baby weight
  • Personal chefs, trainers, assistants, plastic surgery, beauty treatments, you name it; they have everything they need at their disposal to whip them into their desired size and shape
  • The resulting image of physical perfection that celebrities project is unobtainable for the majority of people
  • Dieting is one of the contributory factors in the onset of eating disorders.
Ben Walters

Stress over teen's 'addiction' | Perth Now - 0 views

www.perthnow.com.au/...story-e6frg13u-1111113958526

Stress Games Addiction Teens Entertainment Psychology Runescape

shared by Ben Walters on 14 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • THE father of a 15-year-old Perth computer-game addict has described the family's extraordinary nightmare - comparing it to heroin addiction.
  • his son's life had spiralled out of control in the past 14 months.
  • The Year 11 Ballajura Community College student has not attended classes for two months. He spends his time alone in a dark room playing the RuneScape game for up to 16 hours a day.
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • The son used to dress in his school uniform each morning, but after his mother left for work he would change out of the uniform and spend the day playing the interactive game.
  • She would return home each night none the wiser.
  • The family is struggling to find help for him, and a succession of psychologists and counsellors have not yet made any progress with him.
  • The boy's parents are divorced, and he lives with his mother. His sister moved out because she couldn't cope with his bizarre addiction.
  • His son had been transformed from a typically bright, sports-mad teenager to being reclusive and aggressive.
  • "It just got worse and worse,'' he said. ``He just wouldn't come off it at night. He'd play until two or three o'clock in the morning.
  • "If his mother tried to shut it off or whatever, he'd become violent.
  • "He displayed the characteristics of a heroin addict. You haven't got someone putting a needle in their arm and having a high, but you've got all the telltale collateral damage of a heroin addict _ withdrawal from his family, withdrawal from his friends, lies to cover his addiction. He'll do anything.
  • "He was an outdoor kid. Every sport you could name, he was playing. Now he's white, doesn't go outside. He was very bright, he was going to be a forensic scientist.
  • "Recently he has admitted it, before he was in denial. He wants to get back to what he was like. He wants to get better. He wants to go to school. He can't -- it won't let him. It's like any addiction.''
Dillon Patel

NASA - Global Warming - 0 views

www.nasa.gov/...global_warming_worldbook.html

helpful details global warming causes human

shared by Dillon Patel on 14 Nov 10 - Cached
  • Global Warming
  • Causes of global warming
  • the late 1800's. A majority of climatologists have concluded that human activities are responsible for most of the warming. Human activities contribute to global warming by enhancing Earth's natural greenhouse effect.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • The greenhouse effect warms Earth's surface through a complex process involving sunlight, gases, and particles in the atmosphere. Gases that trap heat in the atmosphere are known as greenhouse gases.
  • Climatologists (scientists who study climate) have analyzed the global warming that has occurred since
  • human activities that contribute to global warming
  • burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas)
  • clearing of land.
  • reates carbon dioxide, whose chemical formula is CO2. CO2 is a greenhouse gas that slows the escape of heat into space. Trees and other plants remove CO2 from the air during photosynthesis, the process they use to produce food.
  • Dillon Patel on 14 Nov 10
     
    VERY RELIABLE SOURCE Talks about Global Warming in General, the impact of it, the causes of it, it mentions my argument, how Humans are mainly responsible, and other very important details.
Yasmin Tandon

Foreign Aid for Development Assistance - Global Issues - 0 views

www.globalissues.org/...ign-aid-development-assistance

Foreign Aid America economy

shared by Yasmin Tandon on 11 Nov 10 - Cached
  • both the quantity and quality of aid have been poor and donor nations have not been held to account.
  • 1970,
  • world’s rich countries agreed to give 0.7% of their gross national income as official international development aid, annually
  • ...15 more annotations...
  • Furthermore, aid has often come with a price of its own for the developing nations:Aid is often wasted on conditions that the recipient must use overpriced goods and services from donor countriesMost aid does not actually go to the poorest who would need it the mostAid amounts are dwarfed by rich country protectionism that denies market access for poor country products, while rich nations use aid as a lever to open poor country markets to their productsLarge projects or massive grand strategies often fail to help the vulnerable; money can often be embezzled away.
  • This web page has the following sub-sections:
  • “Trade, not aid”
  • excuse for rich countries to cut back aid that has been agreed and promised at the United Nations.
  • This target was codified in a United Nations General Assembly Resolution, and a key paragraph says:
  • The donor governments promised to spend 0.7% of GNP on ODA (Official Development Assistance) at the UN General Assembly in 1970—some 40 years ago
  • developed countries will rapidly and progressively take what measures they can … to reduce the extent of tying of assistance and to mitigate any harmful effects
  • make loans tied
  • Developed countries will provide, to the greatest extent possible, an increased flow of aid on a long-term and continuing basis.
  • almost all rich nations have constantly failed to reach their agreed obligations of the 0.7% target. Instead of 0.7%, the amount of aid has been around 0.2 to 0.4%, some $100 billion short.
  • the quality of the aid has been poor.
  • USA’s aid, in terms of percentage of their GNP has almost always been lower than any other industrialized nation in the world, though paradoxically since 2000, their dollar amount has been the highest.Between 1992 and 2000, Japan had been the largest donor of aid, in terms of raw dollars. From 2001 the United States claimed that position, a year that also saw Japan’s amount of aid drop by nearly 4 billion dollars.
  • Aid beginning to increase but still way below obligations
  • In 2009, the OCED and many others feared official aid would decline due to the global financial crisis. They urged donor nations to make aid “countercyclical”; not to reduce it when it is needed most, but those who didn’t cause the crisis.
  • And indeed, for 2009, aid did increase as official stats from the OECD shows. It rose 0.7% from just under $123 bn in 2008 to just over $123 bn in 2009 (at constant 2008 prices).
Shaakya Vembar

You Say Potato, I Say Cassava: Language, Culture and Perception: Scientific American Po... - 0 views

www.scientificamerican.com/...episode.cfm

shared by Shaakya Vembar on 15 Nov 10 - Cached
  • "Do you think its just a coincidence that the same culture that uses this kind of indeterminate word is the culture that came up with the uncertainty principle
  • we are obsessed with time, we talk about time all the time and in fact time is the number one noun in terms of usage according to the Oxford [English] Dictionary.
  • So we are talking about time all the time, but if you actually ask someone to define what time is, [they] really can't do it.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • So how do we talk about time? We talk about it metaphorically, and for the most part and this not just in English, but across the world in many different languages.
  • So the metaphors we have like time being a landscape that we are moving across; so we talk about "coming up to Thanksgiving," as though Thanksgiving is a location that we are moving towards, but we also sometimes talk about time as something that's moving while we are static.
  • Kuuk Thaayorre, the language of Pormpuraaw, is that time moves for them from east to west, so they don't talk about it as moving from east to west, but in terms of nonlinguistic cognition—we've tested this in various ways—they seem to depict it as moving from east to west
golan elzur

Animal Testing on Cosmetics - About Animal Testing (UK) - 1 views

www.aboutanimaltesting.co.uk/animal-testing-cosmetics.html

cosmetics animals testing

shared by golan elzur on 15 Nov 10 - Cached
  • Animal testing on cosmetics is arguably one of the most - if not the most - controversial areas of animal testing. Although it was banned in the United Kingdom (UK) in 1998, it does still occur in other areas of the world. The European Union (EU), however, is poised for an almost full ban by 2009 on the sales of cosmetics tested by animals. Currently, the Netherlands and Belgium have banned the sales of such cosmetics, similar to the UK.
  • Cosmetics testing on animals relates to many aspects of the manufacturing process. Animal testing may occur on the full, finished product or it may occur on individual ingredients within a formulation. Another country may even be contracted to conduct the testing within the cosmetic company's homeland or it may be contracted out to a country where animal testing is not currently banned.
  • Cosmetics testing is usually focused on ensuring that a product does not harm a person's eyes and skin
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • While many companies are now citing 'no testing on animals' in terms of their ethical stance on cosmetics, it is clear that this is an excellent marketing strategy given the widespread public disapproval of the practice. Ironically, those companies who do not test cosmetics on animals are still benefiting from previous data that was conducted on animals.
Shumona Raha

Euthanasia and Human Rights - 0 views

www.legalserviceindia.com/...thanasia-and-Human-Rights.html

euthanasia killing? mercy shumona

shared by Shumona Raha on 15 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • Euthanasia literally means “good death”. It is basically to bring about the death of a terminally ill patient or a disabled. It is resorted to so that the last days of a patient who has been suffering from such an illness which is terminal in nature or which has disabled him can peacefully end up his life and which can also prove to be less painful for him.
  • Active euthanasia means putting an end to the life of an individual for merciful reason by a medical practitioner by giving a lethal dose of medication to the patient. Passive euthanasia takes place where methods such as removing artificial life support systems such as ventilators, hydration, etc are resorted to.
  • On the other hand voluntary euthanasia means where a patient who is suffering a lot asks a medical practitioner to end his life whereas involuntary euthanasia is just the opposite of voluntary euthanasia that is where there is no consent of the patient but for it there can be many reasons such as if he is not mentally competent to give his consent and other such reasons.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • A person has a right to live a life with at least minimum dignity and if that standard is falling below that minimum level then a person should be given a right to end his life.
  • Supporters of euthanasia also point out to the fact that as passive euthanasia has been allowed, similarly active euthanasia must also be allowed.
  • A patient will wish to end his life only in cases of excessive agony and would prefer to die a painless death rather than living a miserable life with that agony and suffering.
  • According to them its not granting ‘right to die’ rather it should be called ‘right to kill’.
  • Opponents also point out that when suicide is not allowed then euthanasia should also not be allowed.
Dominick Wong

Concorde Aircraft Facts, Dates and History - 0 views

www.flightlevel350.com/Concorde_aircraft_facts.html

shared by Dominick Wong on 14 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • delta wing configuration and an evolution of the afterburner equipped engines originally developed for the Avro Vulcan strategic bomber. It is the first civil airliner to be equipped with an analogue fly-by-wire flight control system.
    • Dominick Wong
      Dominick Wong on 14 Nov 10
       
      Pros &Cons
  • For speed optimization: double-delta (ogive) shaped wings afterburning Roll-Royce/Snecma Olympus turbojets with supercruise capability thrust-by-wire engines, ancestor of today's FADEC controlled engines droop-nose section for good landing visibility
  • ...21 more annotations...
  • Mach 2.04 'sweet spot' for optimum fuel consumption (supersonic drag minimum, while jet engines are more efficient at high speed) mostly aluminium construction for low weight and relatively conventional build full-regime autopilot and autothrottle allowing "hands off" control of the aircraft from climb out to landing fully electrically-controlled, analog fly-by-wire flight controls systems multifunction flight control surfaces high-pressure hydraulic system of 28 MPa (4,000 lbf/in) for lighter hydraulic systems components fully electrically controlled analog brake-by-wire system pitch trim by shifting fuel around the fuselage for center-of-gravity control parts milled from single alloy billet reducing the part number count.
  • unique experience of passing through the sound barrier was less dramatic than would be expected. The moment would be announced by one of the pilots, and could be seen on the cabin display, otherwise the slight surge in acceleration could easily be missed. At twice the normal cruising altitude, turbulence was rare and the view from t he windows clearly showed the curvature of the Earth. During the supersonic cruise, although the outside air temperature was typically -60 C, air friction would heat the external skin at the front of the plane to around +120 C making the windows warm to the touch and producing a noticeable temperature gradient along the length of the cabin. Most remarkably Concorde was the only passenger airliner able to overtake the terminator. On certain early evening transatlantic flights departing from Heathrow or Paris, it was possible to take off at night and catch up with the sun from the cockpit you could see the sun rise in the west.
  • aris crash The Concorde was the safest airliner in the world according to passenger deaths per distance travelled until the 25 July 2000 crash of Air France Flight 4590 in Gonesse, France, although it should be noted that the Boeing 737 fleet acquires more passenger miles and service hours in one week than the Concorde fleet acquired in the course of its entire service career. In any case, all of the people on board the flight perished, as well as four people on the ground. As the plane was on its take-off run, a metal piece punctured the tires which then burst, puncturing the fuel tanks and leading to the loss of the aircraft. The report of the investigation was published on 14 December 2004, attributing the crash to foreign object damage from a titanium strip that fell from another aircraft, a Continental Airlines DC-10 which had taken off four minutes before; the piece had not been approved by the US Federal Aviation Administration.
  • Aerospatiale-BAC Concorde supersonic transport (SST)
  • commercial servic
  • cruise speed of mach 2.04 and a cruise altitude of 60,000 feet
  • In the late 1950s the
  • British, Fr
  • ench, American
  • Soviets
  • developing a supersonic transport
  • ere lar
  • espective governments as a way of gaining some foothold in the aircraft market that was
  • designs called the Type 233 and Super-Caravelle
  • dominated by the United States.
  • prototype construction in the early 1960s, but the cost was so great that the companies (and governments) decided to join forces
  • egotiated as an international treaty between Britain and France
  • draft treaty was signed on November 28, 1962.
  • both companies had been merged into new ones and the Concorde project was thus a part of the British Aircraft Corporation and Aerospatiale.
  • Only 20 Concordes were built, six for development and 14 for commercial service. These were: two prototypes two pre-production aircraft 16 production aircraft
  • Critically, many of the victims of the 9/11 attacks were business executives based within the World Trade Center buildings who were either regular Concorde customers themselves, or authorised others to travel on the aircraft.
Ben Walters

The gaming-violence connection: why society finds it comforting - 0 views

arstechnica.com/...8959.ars

Entertainment Gaming Games America Society Youth Violence Psychology

shared by Ben Walters on 14 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • the attempts to legislate restrictions on violent video games and the ambiguous science that supports those efforts.
  • why these legislative efforts gain so much traction despite their lack of a solid scientific foundation.
  • in the journal Contexts, USC sociology lecturer Karen Sternheimer analyzes these efforts in terms of ongoing societal fears regarding the influence of media on children.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • despite the proliferation of violent, first-person shooters in the wake of Doom, juvenile homicide rates have fallen in the decade since its release. Random school shootings remain incredibly rare; for all forms of homicide, students face a seven in 10 million chance of being a victim.
  • Random school shootings remain so rare, in fact, that Sternheimer reports that the FBI found it impossible to generate a profile of a "typical" shooter.
  • society doesn't really understand its youth. As a result, adults fear their loss of control over the factors that influence childhood development in an increasingly connected world.
  • Far from being a new danger, the Sternheimer report suggests that gaming is simply the latest in a long series of media influences to take the blame. "Over the past century, politicians have complained that cars, radio, movies, rock music, and even comic books caused youth immorality and crime, calling for control and sometimes censorship." She terms the targets of such efforts "folk devils," items branded dangerous and immoral that serve to focus blame and fear.
  • These folk devils can be used for political advancement or financial gain via lawsuits such as those that have targeted game makers. But, based on Sternheimer's description, their primary function appears to be to distract people from identifying the real causes underlying our discomfort with youth culture. It also may distract people from getting to know their kids.
Shumona Raha

Mercy killing? - 0 views

www.financialexpress.com/...164569

mercy killing? euthanasia

shared by Shumona Raha on 14 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • the issue of euthanasia has no easy answers and has always had its share of controversy whenever its come up here or abroad, ridden as it is by ethical and religious concerns.
  • The Bill had proposed that the patients undergoing acute suffering and given less than six mon-ths to live could seek death if they were of sound mind.
  • One such instance was that of 25-year-old Venkatesh who petitioned the Andhra Pradesh high court in 2004 seeking euthanasia while on life-support in a Hyderabad hospital, his body wracked by a debilitating muscular disorder.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Venkatesh died soon after. But the young man’s case threw up the contentious issues surrounding mercy killing.
  • the Law Commission has recommended that life support be withdrawn if it is in a patient’s “best interest”.
  • And also whether mercy killing can be misused or abused. Now that the Law Commission has set the ball rolling, it is time for the government to minutely examine all aspects concerning euthanasia.
Ben Walters

Six Wonderful Things About Games - 0 views

radoff.com/...x-wonderful-things-about-games

Gaming Wonderful psychology

shared by Ben Walters on 11 Nov 10 - Cached
  • Research is mounting that playing games can make you smarter.
  • At the 2009 MI6 conference, he pointed out that games engage the same brain machinery that’s used when one is learning.
  • Is it a coincidence that “nerds” often possess an interest in computer games, as well as have an aptitude for subjects like maths and science?
  • ...26 more annotations...
  • A huge number of engineers, designers and artists have taken up their careers because of the excitement they gained from their exposure to games. Games challenge the imagination, and designing them is a fun and rewarding experience.
  • Part of this includes challenging kids to design games
  • This hasn’t been lost on the Obama Administration, which is including educational games in a $260mm program
  • It is often said that playing video games improves one’s hand-eye coordination.  This is a very important skill to have outside the realm of video games
  • playing games could help someone become a better surgeon (it does—a lot).
  • games have gotten people excited about learning something new.
  • eople do learn new things they might never have, just by playing these games.
  • Academic research has shown that games can increase the feelings that lead to creativity
  • laying WoW directly intersects with the study of applied mathematics.
  • ophisticated spreadsheets and statistical models to reach their conclusions
  • their first exposure to formal applied mathematics
  • well-researched tables, proofs and statistics.
  • If only my gradeschool teachers had come up with something this engaging to get me interested in in the almost impenetrable world of mathematics!
  • Furthermore, games themselves are becoming an increasingly creative medium
  • video and computer games
  • an be quite influential in fostering creative expression
  • Games even inspire creativity outside of the game
  • games as creative catalysts
  • we’re still at the very beginning of games as a means of artistic and creative expression
  • games provide a venue for expression
  • Furthermore, the study found that teens who are exposed to civics within games (e.g., city-simulators like SimCity, or running a guild/clan in other games) are more likely than other teens to be interested in political and civics activities.
  • players are learning real economics and business skills
  • Such claims have been repeatedly debunked after extensive research,
  • Unlike any other medium, games gets different people from different countries, political views and religions all playing together. Not because they are elite; not because they’re spectators, but because you must work together to solve problems.
  • I’m convinced that the more we play together, the more we’ll learn to live with each other
  • Games are fun, and that’s enough for me. Maybe it isn’t enough for you—or for your friends or for your family. I hope you the information I’ve presented is helpful to you in explaining many of the other positives about games.  Not only are games fun, but they’re also healthy, and can promote positive brain development, career opportunity and social behavior.
Simran Fabiani

Eating Disorders and the Media | Media Influence on Eating Disorders | Anorexia | Bulim... - 0 views

www.something-fishy.org/...themedia.php

media tv magazines

shared by Simran Fabiani on 11 Nov 10 - Cached
  • Okay, so we all want to hear how Calvin Klein is the culprit and that the emaciated waif look has caused women to tale-spin into the world of Eating Disorders. While the images of child-like women has obviously contributed to an increased obsession to be thin, and we can't deny the media influence on eating disorders, there's a lot more to it than that.
  • Images on T.V. spend countless hours telling us to lose weight, be thin and beautiful, buy more stuff because people will like us and we'll be better people for it. Programming on the tube rarely depicts men and women with "average" body-types or crappy clothes, ingraining in the back of all our minds that this is the type of life we want. O
  • characters are typically portrayed as lazy
  • ...20 more annotations...
  • while thin women and pumped-up men are the successful, popular, sexy and powerful ones. How can we tell our children that it's what's inside that counts, when the media continuously contradicts this message?
  • Super models in all the popular magazines have continued to get thinner and thinner.
  • Modeling agencies have been reported to actively pursue Anorexic models.
  • he average woman model weighs up to 25% less
  • han the typical woman and maintains a weight at about 15 to 20 percent below what is considered healthy for her age and height.
  • By far, these body types and images are not the norm and unobtainable
  • Diet advertisements are another problem.
  • hese images are fake.
  • the ideal body" combined with the diet industry's drive to make more money, creates a never-ending cycle of ad upon ad that try to convince us
  • Pop-culture's imposed definition of
  • Barbie-type dolls have often been blamed on playing a role in the development of body-image problems and Eating Disorders.
  • Not only do these dolls have fictionally proportioned, small body sizes, but they lean towards escalating the belief that materialistic possessions, beauty and thinness equate happiness.
  • Barbie has more accessories available to purchase than can be believed, including Ken, her attractive boyfriend.
  • personally do NOT believe every girl that has a Barbie-type doll is at risk of disordered eating,
  • We need to remind ourselves and each other constantly (especially children) that
  • With an increased population of children who spend a lot of time in front of television, there are more of them coming up with a superficial sense of who they are.
  • we are continually exposed to the notion that losing weight will make us happier and it will be through "THIS diet plan".
  • if you lose weight, your life will be good."
  • These images may not help, and for those already open to the possibility of negative coping mechanisms and/or mental illness, the media may play a small contributing role -- but ultimately, if a young man or woman's life situation, environment, and/or genetics leave them open to an Eating Disorder (or alcoholism, drug abuse, depression, OCD, etc.), they will still end up in the same place regardless of television or magazines.
  • it helps to perpetuate an ideal of materialism, beauty, and being thin as important elements to happiness in one's life.
Bhavya Puri

Shark fin soup alters an ecosystem - Page 2 - CNN - 0 views

articles.cnn.com/...2

ecosystem soup fin shark finning

shared by Bhavya Puri on 15 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • Shark finning is not illegal. Taiwan has no law against fins taken from international waters coming into its ports. However, Taiwan does have what it calls a "plan of action" that requires the bodies of the sharks the fins came from to be accounted for and not dumped into the sea.
  • but identifying them and monitoring them and having a regulated fishery is virtually impossible."
  • Taiwan is not alone. Shark finning thrives off weak regulations around the world and only a few countries demand that sharks arrive in port with fins attached.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • The fin is one of the most expensive pound-for-pound item from the sea. And the beauty about the fin is that it's very compact ... it doesn't take up your hull and you can make a lot of money from it,"
  • ins can sell for $500 per pound, according to WildAid, which is campaigning for a global ban on shark finning.In recent years, Cocos Island has become another battleground in the fight to save the shark. Ads by GoogleShark Breaching and DivesGreat White Shark Breaching and Cage Diving Trips Gansbaai www.sharkdivingunlimited.com<<<123>>> We recommend You might like: Push begins to halt Pacific shark finning - CNN CNN.comSharks endangered by a bowl of soup CNN OpinionShark researchers study oil impact CNN USMan saves Australian woman during shark attack CNN World onmousedo
Ben Walters

Video-game sales overtaking music - MSN Money - 0 views

articles.moneycentral.msn.com/...oGameSalesOvertakingMusic.aspx

Economy Games Money Sales Music Growth

shared by Ben Walters on 15 Nov 10 - Cached
  • 6/26/2007
  • video-game sector will remain one of the above-average growth segments of the global entertainment industries through 2011, with global games spending set to exceed music spending this year
  • Key growth engines will include online and wireless games, new-generation consoles and the burgeoning in-game advertising business.
  • ...13 more annotations...
  • 2011, the worldwide gaming market will be worth $48.9 billion at a compound annual growth rate of 9.1%
  • ith gains slowing every year because of the maturation of the current generation of consoles,
  • exceed the 6.4% advance that PwC foresees for the overall entertainment economy during the period.
  • Its data include consumer spending on games, but exclude spending on hardware and accessories.
  • For the U.S. gaming business, PwC projects 6.7% compound annual gains for the five-year period, to $12.5 billion. Asia-Pacific should remain the region with the highest overall spending on gaming during the period and reach $18.8 billion in 2011, PwC forecasts.
  • Despite its leading size, its 10% average annual gains will only be exceeded by the combined region of Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), which is pegged for a 10.2% compound annual gain and is set to remain at No. 2 in terms of worldwide gaming.
  • In the U.S., online and wireless games should see the biggest gains through 2011
  • online will expand from an estimated $1.1 billion market last year to $2.7 billion in 2011
  • Consumer spending on console and hand-held games will go from $6.5 billion in 2006 to $7.9 billion in 2011
  • However, the U.S. PC games market will continue its decline, with PwC eyeing a contraction from an estimated $969 million in 2006 to $840 million in 2011.
  • growing from an estimated $80 million last year to $950 million in 2011
  • this estimate could prove conservative as "advertisers like to reach the younger males" that many games tend to attract.
  • He also said that the overall gaming audience continues to expand and become somewhat more female and older than in the past thanks to casual games and the arrival as games as an "important part of culture."
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