Category: A01: Purposeful Summaries

Purposeful Summaries- phillygirl20

  1. Silent Minds

It seems counterintuitive that with all of the technology there is, doctor’s still struggle with misdiagnosing patients. Physicians misinterpret any noise a patient makes and things like their behavior as evidence of consciousness. Physicians also misinterpret their patients to being in the vegetative state when research later showed that these patients were “blind or severely visually impaired.” The argument ended with the story of Terri Schiavo, who spent fifteen years in vegetative state. Her death provoked a debate over the rights of severely brain- damaged patients.

http://notdeadyet.org/2007/10/new-yorker-silent-minds-article-on-pvs.html

2. Vancouver

It seems counterintuitive that anyone would try to combat heroin by giving addicts the best heroin. In Vancouver city, there is a safe zone called “insight” where addicts are given the best heroin with proper utensils without getting arrested by the police. This is their way to treat heroin addicts. The author says, “If you give these people doses of heroin every day and keep them comfortable and keep them docile and keep the sort of demons of heroin addiction at bay, then those people are much less likely to end up in an alley, dead with a needle in their arm, or much less likely to sell themselves sexually for money to buy drugs, or much less likely to break into somebody’s car to steal something, or to shoplift or to strong-arm rob or to whatever. So the harm that they can cause to themselves and society is reduced if you simply give them the drug.” In a way this is preventing the rapid death amongst the heroin addicts, but this is not a cure for them.

https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-02-04/vancouver-combats-heroin-giving-its-addicts-best-smack-world

3. Is PTSD Contagious?

It seems counterintuitive that PTSD is being considered being contagious. Research shows that PTSD is rampant amongst returning vets and now it is showing amongst their family as well. PTSD, meaning post traumatic stress disorders that is most of the time found in returning vets who was recently involved in a war. PTSD is a type of anxiety disorder that occurs after experiencing a traumatic event which doesn’t make sense for the family of a vet to feel if they’ve never experienced the traumatic event. I believe the family of a returning vet may experience like symptoms, but not actually be diagnosed with PTSD.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/01/ptsd-epidemic-military-vets-families/

Purposeful Summaries -New Edition Lover

  1. “Anne Frank Novelist ” It seems counter-intuitive , where everyone knows the story of Anne Frank from Amsterdam where she impressively wrote direct accounts in her personal diary which gave us a insight on her young life as the holocaust ended the life of her and many other Jews. The maturity and growth Anne showed in the diary showed how mature sh was at such a young age going through the worst time of her life. The legacy of Anne Frank will continue to live on and her story will always be told.
  2.   “Men Defining Rape : A History” It seems counter-intuitive that men are defining what rape is. Rape has been written in many different way and forms since the begging of times,which rape to me is the assault on rape or even men where you force them to have sexual intercourse. Its also counter intuitive that January of 2012 is when the FBI updated its definition of forcible rape ,which one cant consent or have no physical capacity due to drugs, alcohol or age.
  3. “Do Tom Shoes Really Help People?” It seems -counter intuitive but could be true that Toms may not help people. Founded in 2006 which goes with the line “buy one give one” which donates to all kids around the world in need. But which also may seem counter intuitive is that a piece by Sarika Bansal which she went and met one of their partners from Ethopia where they give shoes to those who already have shoes which is not the idea of it at all. The idea that Toms are not really helping people but in reality competing for sales prices. Toms are very limited from their website and the message they are achieving is not clear due to global issues around the world.

Summeries- pdqlover

Junk Food is 21st Century Imperialism–

1. It seems counterintuitive that billon dollar companies such as McDonalds, Pepsi and other are tasteful and are very assessable but these companies cause many health risk and obesity. Reports show that these companies are now working on healthier ingredient to include into recipes and menus. In Brazil many cultural food places are being replaced with european cultural food places. The European food places are not what the Brazil people are use to and are unhealthy, they feel as the they are bring ripped away from their culture. The European food culture includes things like Coke and Kit-Kit and pudding.

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/03/econundrums-do-vitamin-supplements-work/

2. It seems counterintuitive that some say the $28 billon supplement and vitamin industry the vitamins we are taking have no nutritional value to them at all and no evidence that they make us healthier. We should eat more of green leaf foods, and foods that contain these vitamins in them to receive vitamins, instead of taking a pill supplement.

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/03/walmart-groceries-organic-local-food-deserts/

3. It seems counterintuitive that many items in Walmart’s vegetable section items are listed as organic but may only say grown in the USA as customers read closer into the label. This is misleading to their customers and causes controversy. In 2000 all Walmart’s argued to get produce from local grown farms near by the stores. Very few Walmart’s have started to connect with local farms and is now receiving fresher grown items but many have not done so yet.

Summaries-alaska

  1. It seems counterintuitive that organ donors are incorrectly announced brain-dead. California has laws that require two physicians come in and declare the condition the patient is in before the doctor handling the patient can take the patient’s organs. In a case study, Foster who was 47 died from a hemorrhage. Foster had two doctors declare him, he was brain dead but his daughter wanted a third opinion. The third doctor’s opinion was said that Fodter was not brain dead and that foster moved and coughed. Foster’s daughter was happy she got a third opinion so that the doctor’s didn’t pull the plug.

http://articles.latimes.com/2007/apr/12/local/me-transplant12

2. It seems counterintuitive that Belgium approves doctors to euthanize children. Belgium will  allow it under certain conditions. Belgium is the first country in the world to lift all age restrictions. There are concerns about abuse under euthanasia. Recent studies are that some assisted deaths aren’t being recorded or are being done without request. The extension of euthanasia to children will result in an increase of euthanasia deaths each year.

http://www.lifenews.com/2013/12/12/belgium-senate-approves-measure-allowing-doctors-to-euthanize-children/

3. It seems counterintuitive that Vancouver has a safe zone that lets heroin addicts “shoot up” under nurse’s supervision without getting arrested. It is ridiculous that the staff at this safe zone provides the instruments for this drug. Giving these addicts the drug and the instruments to use the drug is crazt to think about. The staff is literally helping these people die and not help them become clean.

https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-02-04/vancouver-combats-heroin-giving-its-addicts-best-smack-world

Purposeful Summaries

It seems counterintuitive that such a major source of natural power can be so dangerous. Global warming has been an issue in our world for quite some time now, and alternate ways of creating energy can be hurting the planet more than the burning of fossil fuels. Not only is it dangerous to our environment, but is it also dangerous to us as humans; producing toxic waste that cannot be properly discarded can cause some major health risks, especially when these plants are built in the radiation radius like plants outside of NYC. Not to mention nuclear power plants do not have the best history with incidents such as chernobyl, and the more recent Fukushima.

It seems counterintuitive that some doctors are dying to harvest organs to help others live. This is a bit of an oxymoron, but it has been happening around the world. The national organ shortage has made some doctors make hasty decisions in deciding whether a patient is deceased or not; this causes families to lose a loved one sooner than they may have expected, and sometimes when the patient small had a chance to survive. The families of the patients are contacted more and more by the organ donation groups pressuring them to let them harvest the organs, looking to maybe waste one life to save another.

http://articles.latimes.com/2007/apr/12/local/me-transplant12

It seems counterintuitive to prescribe somebody heroin to help their addiction, especially when the city is giving it to them for free! It is crazy to think that feeding the addiction is thought of as fighting the addiction, but at the safe zone in the city Vancouver they are helping people with heroin addictions, and creating safer situations for them to use in. The center was set up to try and give heroin users a kind of safe haven, where they will be monitored by nurses, and given clean needles to use with. This program has actually been spoken extremely highly of, explaining that by feeding their addiction, they are making heroin users in the city, one of the most dangerous and addictive drugs, the safest users in the city.

https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-02-04/vancouver-combats-heroin-giving-its-addicts-best-smack-world

Summaries- Killroy513

  1. It seems counter intuitive that someone who has not been to war claimed to get PTSD.  PTSD is post traumatic stress disorder and it mostly is found in veterans that return from war time. It is not contagious because it is trauma that occurs to ones self during a specific event. The Spouses of people suffering from PTSD can get symptoms of depression and other problems that can affect their everyday life.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/01/ptsd-epidemic-military-vets-families/

2. It seems counter intuitive that Canada would give drug abusers more of the same drugs they are hooked on to cure them. People that use illegal drugs or abuse drugs are trying to escape from reality because they can not deal with it. Giving them drugs only continues the addiction that they caused to themselves. Once you start abusing drugs there is always a feeling to go back.

https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-02-04/vancouver-combats-heroin-giving-its-addicts-best-smack-world

3. It seems counter intuitive that you would not put armor on the places most shot up by anti air or machines on a plane but put it in other places. The logic behind this is that the places shot up in planes that return safely means that those places are not important. This means that other places that were not exposed are armored to prevent any serious damage to the plane. This study was conducted by a Hungarian mathematician and proves plausible.

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2010/09/counterintuitive-world/

Summaries–todayistheday

Polio Killings

It seems counterintuitive to assassinate the people dedicated to saving your country from a life-threatening disease.  Polio vaccination workers have been targeted simply for administering a drug to save people. These workers lost their lives trying to save others.  The polio disease is an epidemic in Pakistan, 200 children were paralyzed in 2011 alone. Poliomyelitis is a disease that paralyzes spinal and respiratory functions. These horrific statistics and figures are only growing as the Taliban continue to fight off every attempt health officials make at vaccinating citizens.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-20767138

 

“Buy one, Give one”

It seems counterintuitive to hesitate when offered the opportunity to give to those less fortunate.  Big companies such as, Toms, provide the chance for you to give to someone else while also giving to yourself.  Toms is known for its “buy one, give one” foundation. It seems ridiculous to question the ethics of such a noble cause.  Instead of working with local business and communities in need, they just shower them in shoes.  This act doesn’t help anyone, it is simply a Band-Aid on a broken limb.  Toms “buy one, give one” only serves to make them look good and not do good.   

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/05/toms-shoes-buy-one-give-one/

SeaWorld’s Orcas

It seems counterintuitive to rip down an empire for a handful of mammals.  Since, the release of the documentary, “Blackfish”, SeaWorld has been under fire for their environment and conditions in which their orca whales suffer.  Orcas are captured in their wild habitat and torn away from their family so that they can provide humans entertainment for a few hours.  SeaWorld advocates for the protection of wildlife, although, the captivity of these whales is harmful rather than helpful. No animal’s life should be reduced to the entertainment of humans rather than freedom in their natural environment.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/17/us/seaworld-last-generation-of-orcas/index.html

 

Summaries-Jadden14

  1. A Price Too High

1. It seems counterintuitive that people support nuclear power to counteract global warming, but fail to see the cost in both safety and budget concerns. Nuclear power, as efficient and safe as it is, still arises concerns with it being built close to cities and towns. The massive 9.0 earthquake that happened in Japan, led to a nuclear meltdown in one of its plants. These natural disasters could easily trigger a meltdown in the United States, and have in the past led to plant shutdowns due to safety concerns. The waste product from these plants are not very environmentally friendly either. When plant officials are questioned on how the waste is disposed, they often try to avoid the question. Not to mention the cost to build these plants, as nuclear power plants are quite expensive to build. Not only that, but ratepayers will have to pay for the rediculious cost-overruns, which today totals up to 200 billion dollars from previous plants. As great as reducing CO2 emissions would be, nuclear power might not be the best answer.

2. Polio Vaccination Campaign

2. It seems counterintuitive that Northern Nigeria denied the polio vaccine when its one of the most infected areas in Africa. In 2003, three states in Nigeria boycotted the GPEI immunization campaign to eradicate polio. Due to the political powers in Nigeria at the time, vaccination was abruptly silenced. There reasoning was that the vaccines had contained carcinogenic agents and parents should not let their kids get vaccinated. The Governors even got political figues to get up and speak about how America is corrupt and trying to mess with the vaccines. Some of the reasons Nigeria showed little support for vaccination could be due to its low health care utilization rates. In 2003, their ultilization rate was about 8% in Southern Nigeria. At the time, a majority of control over health care was led by each state government. Northern Nigeria was colonized by Islamic Jihadists, and the South Nigeria was colonized by Britain. The differences between southern government and northern government caused issues, as their attitudes toward medicine were vastly different. The Trovan Trial, a drug in the past the brought up how western health intervention was using unethical means, testing new drugs on patients. This led to people dying due to dangerous means of vaccination. Nigeria had its concerns, and there was nothing that the GPEI could do about it.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1831725/

3. Is Walmart Really Going Organic and Local?

3. It seems counterintuitive that walmart is claiming to go Organic and Local when it can’t even sufficiently supply its stores from local farms. Because walmart is such a large business, going local and organic is hard to do. Walmart makes up about 18% of all grocery sales in the United States. When questioned about which farms walmart gets its local produce from, the response led to other ideas. The three farms, located in North Carolina, Washington, and Arkansas, are non-organic. In order for walmart to become organic, it would have to buy from smaller farms at a higher price, and these farms could’nt fill the demand walmart requires. Walmart is not a charity, it is a business, therefore i’m doubtful it will spend more money and go through the hassle of buying from local farms. Walmart will continue to sell its produce, however they will continue to make a profit. So next time you go to the store and look for organic food, you might not be getting exactly what you asked for.

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/03/walmart-groceries-organic-local-food-deserts/

Summaries–rainbow987

1: Give Heroin Addicts Heroin
https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-02-04/vancouver-combats-heroin-giving-its-addicts-best-smack-world

It seems counterintuitive that the prescribed treatment method for heroin addicts is to give them heroin. However, this act is being done for the severest of drug addicts in the Vancouver area. Since Vancouver is a port city, there are high numbers of drugs, including heroin, arriving by ship on a regular basis. To combat crime and other related acts committed in desperation as addicts attempt to find their next fix, the city has established a program that gives addicts free heroin. The program allows addicts to use heroin without the risk of getting into trouble. They are monitored by healthcare professionals and always given sterile materials. The program is only available to 26 people in Vancouver. These addicts have unsuccessfully attempted to get off of the drug many times in a variety of ways, including the use of methadone. This program is intended to be a last resort option.

This newly established program is an attempt to lower crime rates related to drug abuse. However, many argue that it is extremely inhumane. By giving drug addicts heroin, they are slowly dying. As soon as they are not able to have the drug, he or she will be in a detrimental situation and crime will most likely resume. Many argue against the program by saying that it does not provide any sort of rehabilitation. Either way, by giving an addict heroin, he or she is a ticking time bomb waiting to explode.

2: Is Walmart going “organic and local?”
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/03/walmart-groceries-organic-local-food-deserts/

It seems counterintuitive to say that Walmart is going “organic and local” when approximately only two percent of their produce is organic and nine percent is local. Walmart’s intentions are not to provide healthier options for the benefit of society. It’s intentions are to make sales. Therefore, it makes sense that the company tries to purchase produce “locally” to save money on transportation and lessen the rotting of products. However, the term locally is used loosely. Walmart considers local to be within the state. In addition, Walmart’s expansion of organic products is not focused on produce. It is primarily aimed at other products such as milk and baby food. Advertising for having produce that is organic and grown locally is rather deceptive and not an accurate representation of the majority of Walmart’s products.

It does seem counterintuitive to advertise produce in such a way at Walmart stores. However, it is an effective advertising technique to draw in customers. With many other health food stores opening, it is not likely that the average Walmart shopper will be extremely concerned about his or her food being grown organically and/or locally. Therefore, the words “organic and local” serve as a way to get someone to enter the building and spend money, even if they are not an accurate portrayal of the produce.

3: Figure Skating Bias
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/figure-skating-judges-get-10-duplicity

It seems counterintuitive that the instatement of a rule to prevent bias in judging would cause favoring and bias to increase. However, the judging for the Olympic figure skating competition did just that after a rule was established in 2002 to keep judges scores anonymous. The rule was created in result of a scandal at the 2002 Winter Olympics, in which judges traded votes to ensure that competitors from each of their countries placed highest. Keeping the judge’s scores anonymous, although meant to prevent vote trading, caused potential bias to increase by twenty percent. It was estimated that if a judge serving on a panel was from the same country as a competitor, that competitor would score two places higher than if the two did not share a country origin. The anonymity of the vote allowed the judge to vote as they please, with no one being able to accuse of bias since their vote was not revealed to the public.

Although counterintuitive that after a rule put in place to prevent bias was instated, bias rose, the rule itself does not seem effective. The rule to keep the judges votes anonymous to prevent bias through vote trading does not seem like it would work because there is no accountability involved. Therefore, it makes sense that bias would increase.

Summaries – thebeard

1. Serious Psychological Disorders in College Students

It seems counterintuitive that college students deal with so many mental issues while at school. Many university administrators and mental health professionals have increased their awareness of these mental problems students go through. Despite different kinds of efforts from college staff, it doesn’t really lower the thought of suicide in the students during the school year. Each year more and more students start to deal many of the disorders and never want to get help. Most of the time when a student does try and get help it they are forced to leave school to try and get better or take medicine they do not want to. Sometimes this even discourages other students from coming forward and saying they don’t need help because they may not want to leave school and get better. Also many students believe that they will just get better with time, which usually does not happen.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-campus/201111/serious-psychological-disorders-in-college-students

2. Close call in death ruling of potential organ donor

It seems counterintuitive that the doctors that save lives could simply declare someone brain-dead who is nowhere close. Doctors would rather take one persons organs to donate to another than try and save the first persons life. It is very rarely a patient is wrongfully declared brain-dead; this happening could sour the public and even the ones who many depend on for organ donation. If someone in my family, that was an organ donor, was close to death but could be saved I would want the doctors to do everything in their power to save them. Doctors should not be worried about the organs that might help someone else out but worry about the person whose organs they are in the first place.

http://articles.latimes.com/2007/apr/12/local/me-transplant12

3. Where can you choose to end your life?

It seems counterintuitive that we have to give people the right to end their own life; it is terrible if someone wants to do so but it should be for a good reason. It makes more sense if someone wants to end their life if they are already dying and want to end the suffering. What if someone is going through a rough part in their life and don’t want to continue anymore? They should still be able to choose whether they want to live or die, it would be ashamed if they did end their life because of the people they would hurt by doing this, but it should be their choice. In many countries, such as the Netherlands, they have been helping people choose a way to end their life. The Netherlands is said to possibly be the best-know place to end their life in an assisted way. In the United States only some states allow assistance in death but it is only if the patient has terminally ill criteria. In most places this a choice for people, whether you take it or not it is still an option till the end.

https://theconversation.com/where-can-you-choose-to-end-your-life-56246