Last. Ethics. Blog. Ever.

Journal 4-7 (I know it's the last one and you're probably tired of grading, but please read all of this journal because the last paragraph is dedicated to you, Mr. Couillard)

Last. Ethics. Blog. Ever.

I. In last week's journal I said I wanted to research some other forms of alternative medicine. After researching I found that there are several alternative medicine categories, which are:
-Mind-body medicine
-Alternative Medical Systems
-Lifestyle and Disease Prevention
-Biologically based therapies
-Manipulative and Body-Based Systems
-Biofield
-Bioelectromagnetics
-resources
Then, each of these categories is broken down into three sub-categories, which are:
-CAM: yoga, internal Qigong, Tai Chi
-Behavioral Medicine: psychotherapy, meditation, imagery, hypnosis, biofeedback, support groups
-Overlapping: art therapy, music therapy, dance therapy, journaling, humor, body psychotherapy
Then, each of those categories can be broken down even farther into various types of alternative medicine therapy. full list on this website:
http://your-doctor.com/patient_info/alternative_remedies/overview_alternrx.html

source:

Types of Alternative Medicine. (n.d.). DoctorsCorner.Com Homepage. Retrieved June 5, 2011, from http://your-doctor.com/patient_info/alternative_remedies/overview_alternrx.html

II. I can't honestly remember anything we did this week except a little bit of HIP, talked about the exam, and then learned Couillard's life story. That being said, I thought it would be more appropriate for me to basically just do a summary of the whole year for my last journal. This class has been incredible. I never would have expected to get this much out of it. We've studied all kinds of interesting topics like: magic, politics, advertising/media techniques, fallacies, documentary-making, propaganda, principles of ethics, philanthropy, social psychology, international relations, technology, and more. We even embarked on a journey to save the world one small step at a time. Through the Heroic Imagination project we learned how to plan effectively, branch out and acquire resources, write a grant proposal, and so much more. This class has taught each and everyone of us so many valuable life lessons that we can take with us wherever we go.

Google Image Result for http://www.webaxes.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/ethics.jpg. (n.d.). Google. Retrieved June 5, 2011, from http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.webaxes.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/ethics.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.webaxes.com/2010/06/workplace-ethics/&usg=__0KSGNEBdDNRxx2ujBq9QKfY4Z0Q=&h=320&w=480&sz=196&hl=en&start=7&zoom=1&itbs=1&tbnid=TsrAT88Cozv

Personally I think this class has been incredibly beneficial. Sometimes it seemed like the units we studied were pointless at first, but they always ended up having a valuable lesson within them. This class, unlike most others, allowed for a lot of creativity. It was mostly an open-discussion type class, which provided us with an opportunity to show our true colors. There wasn't nearly as much structure to this class as there is in core classes like science, math and english. I think that an enthics class should be a requirement for all public school children. It has an unbelievable amount to offer to kids who are growing up in this crazy world. I know that I gained a whole lot this year and I wish it wasn't over already. I plan to take every lesson I learned in this class and use each of them where they apply in my life.

I'm slipping more and more away from the journal rubric with each one of these paragraphs, but I hope it doesn't affect my grade too much (cough cough, Mr. Couillard). I want to take the opportunity to thank you in this last paragraph for being so enthusiastic and teaching this awesome class. I have thoroughly enjoyed it and obviously I wouldn't take the time (and risk of disregarding the rubric) if I didn't mean that honestly. I think that "Couillard's last class" presentation was an incredible ending to the year as well. Unfortunately I didn't get to hear all of it, but from what I did get to hear, I was really impressed. Thanks for taking the time to share your own story with us, in hope that we can gain something from it. I know I did.

source: Google Image Result for http://positivepsychologynews.com/ppnd_wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/thank-you-bodies.jpg. (n.d.). Google. Retrieved June 5, 2011, from http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://positivepsychologynews.com/ppnd_wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/thank-you-bodies.jpg&imgrefurl=http://positivepsychologynews.com/news/aren-cohen/200812121313&usg=__bBSlDHMWoJpGKMW_xnnHZuMp_Mc=&h=288&w=375&sz=41&hl=

More Magic

Journal 4-6

More Magic

I. In my last journal I wanted to know more about the training/schooling that magicians recieve. After doing some research I found that there are both online courses (i.e. MagicianSchool.com) and magic schools (i.e. The Magic College) that can help an aspiring magician achieve a career in the field.

II. The schedule recently has been really crazy due to SOLs, and because of that, we havent had very many classes. Therefore, there isnt very much to talk about. We're still in the magic unit and we've watched a lot of interesting videos. Some have been about magicians and some about psychics. We've studied how the two fields of magic and psychology are related. We've uncovered many of the hidden secrets of individuals that claim to possess psychic powers. One man, James Randi, is a scientific skeptic and stage magician who challenges paranormal claims. We watched an interesting film that validates his claims. We also watched a film about alternative medicines.

James Randi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved May 30, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Randi

I think this unit has been a lot of fun. It's been cool to have some of the secrets revealed to us. I think the most interesting part of this unit is the "psychic surgery". I have never seen anything like that before, and it's honestly believable until you see the secrets uncovered. I also thought the film about alternative medicines was extremely intriguing. I wasn't aware that people used bee stings as a form of therapy until now. It's unique how the "doctors" that issue these forms of healing legitimately believe in them. The bee lady was entirely convinced that bee stings were saving her life and the lives of her patients. I personally am not sure if I believe that voodoo and chanting and everything like that is actually effective.

Psychic Development - Mediumship course and Healing in the Philippines. (n.d.). Psychic Surgery Anatomy & Physiology, Body Massage, Oriental Diagnosis, Health supplies Reiki initiations. Retrieved May 30, 2011, from http://www.therapies.com/surgery/medium.htm

One thing that the alternative medicine video didn't ever show is the claims of the "doctors" that actually manipulate people into trusting them. What do those people say to convince their patients that they can heal them? Do they say they're possessed by a spirit? Do they say that they have special supernatural powers? I can't see myself every buying into something like that, so I'm interested to know what those chanters and psychic surgeons have to do to get people to believe them.

What Are The Conditions That Can Be Treated With Bee Venom Therapy?. (n.d.). Alternative Medicine and Alternative Health. Retrieved May 30, 2011, from http://www.altmedicinezone.com/alternative-treatment/what-are-the-conditions-that-can-be-treated-with-bee-venom-therapy/

III. For next week's journal I want to know what are some other forms of alternative medicine. The video presented us with a breif overview but I'm curious to know what some other specific examples are besides bee stings.

MaGiC!

Journal 4-5

MaGiC!

I. In last week's journal I said I wanted to know more about outsourcing. When I was doing research I stumbled upon this video that I found to be extremely interesting. It talks about how individual Ameican employees are beginning to outsource their own jobs to people of developing nations because it allows them to spend more time on their personal desires. It also helps the people of the developing nations to support their families and themselves. Here's the video:

source:

AmericanMale1953. " YouTube - More American Workers Outsourcing Own Jobs Overseas ." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. . N.p., n.d. Web. 17 May 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYaZ57Bn4pQ.

II. Last week we watched the third of our "30 Days" episodes which was on immigration. I wasn't here to see that due to a death in the family but I talked to some classmates to get the general gist of it. It seems like the legal process of obtaining citizenship is rather tedious. The director of the film seemed to believe that illegal immigration was unacceptable because he himself was an immigrant who had to go through the taxing citizenship process himself. Later in the week we started the magic unit. We watched a bunch of short clips from Penn and Teller. Then we watched a TED Talk from a Swedish magician.

" Google Image Result for http://www.jaha.org/edu/discovery_center/push-pull/img/Ellis01.jpg." Google. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 May 2011. <http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.jaha.org/edu/discovery_center/push-pull/img/Ellis01.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.jaha.org/edu/discovery_center/push-pull/index.html&usg=__ON9uXDz2nfPXmu5H_ahnvv6AgF8=&h=407&w=500&sz=96&hl=en&start=8&zoom=1&itbs=1>.

I don't have much of an opinion on the immigration video since I didn't get to see it, but from what I've heard it was pretty interesting. I think I'm in agreement with the director in feeling that there shouldn't be illegal immigration and as tedious as the citizenship process may be, it is entirely necessary. I loved Penn and Teller's magic. I think it's a cool touch that Teller never talks. It adds something interesting to their show. It was also pretty neat to learn that there are seven principles of magic: palm, ditch, steal, load, simulation, misdirection, and switch. I had never heard of these before now.

 

" Google Image Result for http://www.magicbob2000.com/resources/Hocus%20plate%20small0003_edited-5.jpg." Google. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 May 2011. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.magicbob2000.com/resources/Hocus%2520plate%2520small0003_edited-5.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.magicbob2000.com/&usg=__t4R9N_dATjoAePmIr7Q3vHU4ldc=&h=399&w=395&sz=99&hl=en&start=1&zoom=1&itbs=1&tbnid=ONGXMdLxo_Tf.

I have to wonder when we watch all this magic stuff...what kind of training goes into a show like that? I mean, how much time do magicians like Penn and Teller have to spend mastering those tricks? That's seriously some mind blowing stuff. Even when they took the time to explain their tricks, I couldn't even begin to understand how they did it. Even once it's clear that there is logical planning behind each magic trick, it still must take a ton of skill to be able to carry it out. I would love to know how much time is spent training for those things.


III. For next week's blog I want to research magic schools so that I can get a better understanding for the training that comes with magic tricks. There must be some kind of classes the magicians take in order to learn what they know.

"30 Days" Analysis

Journal 4-4


"30 Days" Analysis


I. In the last journal I said that I wanted to know more about B.Z. Goldberg, the director of the film "Promises". After doing some research I found that:
-Was born in Boston but grew up in Israel
-Attended New York University Film School
-Returned to Jerusalem in 1987 when the Intifada broke out to produce TV news
-Starting in 1992 he worked for a number of US based consulting firms
- He is fluent in Hebrew and conversant in Arabic
-Worked for the Israeli army, the Toyota group (Japan) AT&T, MIT, Columbia University, The Interfaith Committee on the Middle East, and Solidarity (Poland).

Source:

The Promises Film Project - The Filmmakers. (n.d.). The Promises Film Project. Retrieved May 8, 2011, from http://www.promisesproject.org/credits.html

 

 

Center for International and Regional Studies - Documentary Film - Promises. (n.d.). Center for International and Regional Studies - Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS). Retrieved May 8, 2011, from http://cirs.georgetown.edu/105461.html

 

 

 

II. This past week in class I can only remember doing one thing, which is watching two different "30 Days" segments. The first one involved a man named Dave living in a Muslim community. He left behind his wife and his home to go to Michigan and live with a host family. He dressed the same way they did, ate the same way they did, and basically mirrored their lives for 30 days. Dave met with various teachers to help him learn Arabic and understand the muslim faith. He found it difficult to conform to the lifestyle, because it conflicted uncomfortably with his own. The second of the "30 Days" episodes involved a man whose name I do not remember. This man had a job that was outsourced to people in India. So, he decided to travel to India in an attempt to get his job back. He is also living with a host family and attempting to conform to their lifestyle. He ended up realizing that the people over there are much more in need of his old job than he was.

 

I think that the concept Morgan Spurlock has come up with here is really cool. There's no better way to understand something "different" than to actually experience it in person. By taking on the challenge of exploring a lifestyle other than their own, these people are setting themselves up for new horizons. I think that Dave was rather stubborn and wasn't as open to the Muslim way of life as he should have been. He was opinionated and argumentative throughout his entire stay in the Michigan Muslim community. The other guy, however, was very open-minded and understanding of the unique way of life in India.The other guy ended up gaining a whole lot more because of his willingness to cooperate. I think it's really powerful that he was made aware of how difficult life is for many of the people in India. He was almost grateful that his job was outsourced by the end of the film. I think that is a really great thing for Americans who watch the "30 Days" segment to be made aware of.

 

 

Oleander - - الدفلة: 30 Days, as a Muslim in America. (n.d.). Oleander - - الدفلة. Retrieved May 8, 2011, from http://oleander.blogspot.com/2005/07/30-days-as-muslim-in-america.html

 

 

I think a valuable point to be made is that Americans are closed-minded in the way we see things. Like I just said, the guy who was willing to cooperate in an unfamiliar setting had a much better experience than the guy who was stubborn and unwilling to adapt. The stubborn guy (Dave) kinf of represents typical Americans I think. We think we know everything there is to know. It doesn't matter if we've never seen it, heard it, witnessed it, lived it...we just believe what we want and that's what we preach. Perhaps if we were all presented with an opportunity like that of the men in the "30 Days" episodes, we'd be much more understanding and cooperative with the rest of the world. We tend to be spoiled and conceited and look down upon other countries. We don't bother to try and understand how they work, we just see what we want to see and make judgements.

 

 

III. For next week's journal I would like to know some statistics for outsourcing. I'm aware that it is a reality, but I don't honestly know too much about it. Which kinds of jobs are being outsourced? How many? What are the biggest effects of it?

Lost track of everything over spring break...

Journal 4-3

Lost track of everything over spring break...

I. In last week's journal I asked some questions about the grant proposal. I wanted to know what we're supposed to do with the money (if we recieve it) if we don't plan to continue on with our project once school gets out. Due to the fact that we have not met with our HIP groups since the last journal...I have absolutely no idea what the answer to this question is. I do remember the "grant guru" saying that the grant is good for a year and is basically non-binding. The question is still open for discussion though.

II. I have pretty much completely forgotten what we did in class the week before spring break. Honestly I'm not even sure if this journal is supposed to include that. None of the class was present (with exception to Gregory) on the last Friday before spring break. Therefore that was a four day week. I know that we got to take a look at what HIP part 4 looks like. It includes: expert reflections, marketing your project, and your edited grant proposal. We also watched more of the film called "Promises", a documentary featuring seven children who lived through the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We finished watching that film this week. Also this week we talked about the guy whose magic show Kaila and Adrienne went to. The last thing that happened this week was we recieved a handout about the World Community Grid. This is some program started by IBM to use technology to solve problems.

"Promises." World Religions Documentary Films - Hartley Film Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. http://hartleyfoundation.org/en/promises.

I don't remember much of last week's class, as I already said. Therefore I can not accurately give any feedback. I've enjoyed the film "Promises" for the most part. I think it was very interesting that it was taken from the viewpoint of children. Although you would expect children to be innocent and not take sides, that wasn't the case here. We found that the children who had extremely religious families tended to be more extremist toward their side. The twins, however, came from a less religious family, and they weren't overly obsessed with their side of the conflict.  I thought that talking about the magician (David, I think his name was) was pretty cool. I wish I could have been there for that. I also think the World Community Grid is a pretty incredible thing. If i ever get my laptop fixed, I plan to go register it for that program.

"Today's Fast Company Assignment: Do Cancer Research in Your Sleep | Fast Company." FastCompany.com - Where ideas and people meet | Fast Company. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. <http://www.fastcompany.com/1632122/today-s-fast-company-assignment-do-cancer-research-in-your-sleep>.

Something that was breifly mentioned in class that I wanted to talk more about is the portion of the documentary where Faraj was crying because he was going to have to separate from the twins. He feared that as soon as B.Z. left, he would lose all communication with the twins. This basically ended up being the case. I thought it was really moving to see the true feelings Faraj had developed for his friends from "the other side". He was really passionate about their new friendship. I think that says a lot about the innocence of children. We're raised believing whatever our parents tell us to, for the most part. The children on both sides grow up knowing that they shouldn't associate with "the other side", so they miss out on valuable relationships. I upset me that when the filmmaker interviewed the kids two years later, we found out that Faraj and the twins failed to keep in touch.

"Main Negotiation Points between Israel and the Palestinian Authority for Sept. 2 Meeting in Washington | IsraelSeen.com." Israel Seen Radio | English podcasts and blogs from Israel | Israel Seen News | Steve Ornstein Israel | Israeli News | Israeli culture | Israel Scene | Israel Entertainment | Israeli Travel | Israel Information | Israel Tours | Israel Newspapers | Israel . N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. <http://israelseen.com/2010/08/31/main-negotiation-points-between-israel-and-the-palestinian-authority-for-sept-2-meeting-in-washington/>.

III. For next week's journal I want to get some more information on B.Z. I didn't come up with very much when we did the background information so I want to research his life a little bit more.

HIP takes off...

Journal 4-2

HIP takes off...

I. In last week's blog I asked the question: how much do cochlear implants cost? After doing research on the question, I found the answer to be...
-The total cost, including the implant, the surgical proceedure, and the post-operative rehabilitation, exceeds $40,000.

Source:

Cochlear Implants Fact Sheet. (n.d.). American Speech-Language-Hearing Association | ASHA. Retrieved April 9, 2011, from http://www.asha.org/about/news/tipsheets/cochlear_facts.htm

 

 

II. This week in class, we started talking about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After doing some background information, I found that this conflict is between the Arab and Jewish populations living in Palestine under Ottoman/British rule. The key issues are: mutual recognition, borders, security, water rights, control of jerusalem, and legalities concerning refugees. Then we began watching a film called "Promises". It examines the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the perspectives of seven children living in Palestinian communities and Israeli Jerusalem. The maker of the film is a man named B.Z. Goldberg, who grew up in Israel and became interested in the conflicts there. Finally, at the end of the week we focused a lot on the Heroic Imagination Project, which is now taking off full force. On Friday we had a woman come talk to us about how to effectively write a grant, so that we can edit our rough drafts before we send them off.

 

FRONTLINE/WORLD . Israel - The Unexpected Candidate . Additional Resource . PBS. (n.d.). PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved April 9, 2011, from http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/israel502/additional.html

 

 

 

To be honest, I don't remember much about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from previous history or leadership classes so I am looking forward to our studies on the issue. I think this is going to be a really cool film, seeing as it comes from the perspective of little children who are living in the midst of conflict. I remember seeing the kids on the bus saying "we never know when a bomb might go off" or "we have to watch for suspicious people". That's highly upsetting that that's how they had to grow up. As for the Heroic Imagination Project, i'm officially very scared of it. The whole grant writing process is very complex and confusing, as well as building a social network. My group effectively split up the work so we got it done in a timely fashion, but there is still a lot to be done. We have a lot of editing to do and corrections to be made. I really enjoyed having the "grant guru" come talk to us though. That was a cool experience.

 

 

ISFD hosts grant writing workshop Jan. 21-23 > UTSA Today > University of Texas at San Antonio. (n.d.). Welcome to The University of Texas at San Antonio | UTSA. Retrieved April 9, 2011, from http://utsa.edu/today/2009/01/grantworkshop.cfm

 

 

 

I think one of the interesting points that was brought up in class was Michael Trentham's question: "So what do we do with the money from the grant if we're not going to recieve it until summer?" This question didn't seem to be taken particularly seriously and was kind of brushed off as being unimportant. I think this is a very valid point, however, because what if we choose not to continue our project past this class? I'm not saying my group necessarily plans on abandoning our project as soon as we leave ethics class...but what if we do? What do we do with the grant if we don't want to continue with the project? I know the "grant guru" commented on this, saying that the grant is good for a year and is basically non-binding. However, I still don't really understand what we will do with it if we actually recieve it and don't need it anymore at that point. I think we should seriously talk about this a little more in class before we send off these grants. That is just my honest opinion/concern.

 

 

III. For next week's class I want to know the answer to my questions in the above paragraph. I want to find out what exactly should be done with a grant if we recieve it and decide we don't need it. Hopefully I can get this question answered somehow.

Completely forgot what we did in class...

Journal 4-1

Completely forgot what we did in class...

I. In last week's blog I said that I wanted to do some research on deaf statistics in the United States. Here's what I found:
-1 in 20 Americans are currently deaf or hard of hearing
-10,000,000 persons are hard of hearing
-1,000,000 persons are functionally deaf

source: How Many Deaf People Are There in the United States? Estimates From the Survey of Income and Program Participation . (n.d.). Oxford Journals | Medicine | Jnl. of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education. Retrieved April 3, 2011, from http://jdsde.oxfordjournals.org/content

There are deaf communities in all of the following areas:
-Houston, Texas
-Los Angeles, California
-Michigan
-Nashville, Tennessee
-New York City
-Philadelphia
-Rochester, New York
-Washington DC
-Wyoming
(There are probably more, but this is a small list found on the following site)

source: Category. (n.d.). American Deaf Communities. Deafness and Hard of Hearing - Deaf - Sign Language - Hearing Aids - Hearing Loss - Cochlear Implants - Ear Wax. Retrieved April 3, 2011, from http://deafness.about.com/od/americandeafcommunities

II. This week was only a four day week, and to be completely honest, the only thing I remember doing in class was talking about Sound and Fury. Mrs. Mansfield came in a few times to collect money for the field trip that we're going on. We also watched a part 2 of the Sound and Fury documentary, which showed the family years later. We did some post discussion questions for the documentary, which included questions about the conflicting issues within the film, merits and drawbacks of cochlear implants, considerations to make before surgery, the role that family plays in the decision making, the role that the deaf community plays, and whether or not the circumstances would be different if the issue was something other than hearing. Our Heroic Imagination Stage 3 is due soon...and my group needs to get working on that. I also still need to turn in my Wikipages permission sheet.

disTHIS! - January 2008. (n.d.). April2010. Retrieved April 3, 2011, from http://www.disthis.org/January2008.htm

I really enjoyed the Sound and Fury documentary. Infact, I enjoyed it so much that I offered to go over to Adrienne's house and watch it with her because she hasn't seen all of it yet. I thought Heather's dad was a pretty funny guy, and Matt James and I believe that he will lead a deaf revolution. After watching part 2 of Sound and Fury, I was glad that they decided to let Heather get the cochlear implant. She seems a lot happier with her life now. I think it's awesome that the family has five of its members all successfully implanted with hearing aids. They're being offered a blessing that they lacked for the first few years of their lives. I also didn't expect Heather's mother to get implanted, so that came as a surprise to me.

TerpTopics: HEARING AIDS & ALDs: Introduction to ASL and SignLanguage Interpreting . (n.d.). TerpTopics: WELCOME - Introduction to ASL and Sign Language Interpreting . Retrieved April 3, 2011, from http://www.terptopics.com/HearingAids.htm

One thing that was brought up in class but not discussed is the question about how one family pays for that many cochlear implants. They put five kids and one adult through the surgery, which must be incredibly expensive. I think Lainey shared with the class the price of each implant, which was a whole lot of money. I don't understand how they afforded that, plus the hearing tutor and what not. I guess it was worth every cent though. Giving a person his or her hearing back is a pretty incredible thing. I assume they found a way to pay for it because it was worth it.

III. What exactly is the cost of a cochlear implant? Lainey did say something about it but I don't remember what it was and I would like the know.