Joyas Voladoras

In this insightful, well written article the life of hummingbirds are discussed at length. Particularly, hummingbird hearts. The article tells about their enormous ferocious metabolisms, and their race car heart rates. The article explains the volatile life of the bird when they stop to take a rest. If they rest for too long or go too long without eating, they could die. It makes me think about human life and how volatile our lives could really be if were not properly treated. The point the author made about the length of an organism's life compared to its heart rate really stood out to me. "Every creature on earth has approximately two billion heartbeats to spend in a lifetime. You can spend them slowly, like a tortoise, and live to be two hundred years old, or you can spend them fast, like a hummingbird, and live to be two years old". It also made me reflect on human life, about how long we live, and how people in shape live longer that those who don't. Then I was lead to the conclusion that every organism is alike in the sense that our hearts are somewhat the same. So the answer to what does it mean to be human isn't really about a physical aspect. Our bodies are very similar to animals, besides our superior opposable thumbs. So the distinguishable factor between humans and animals must be in our personality and mindset. Could it be our feelings and emotions? Doyle states that So much held in a heart in a lifetime. So much held in a heart in a day, an hour, a moment". Which suggests to me that what makes us human are our memories. The things in our heart are what make us who we are. They distinguish us from other organisms that cant express personality or their feelings.

What does it mean to be human?

Different people have different viewpoints on what it means to be human. I believe that to be human means to have certain characteristics. Humans should be self functioning living organisms, with the ability to do as they please and express their feelings. They are intelligent with the ability to shape their world.

Second 20% project

In this project, I will try and explore more topics of sailing. More specifically, sail aerodynamics and shape, hull shape, and racing tactics/ advanced boat handiling. I want to find the optimal sail shape and the advantage of different types of sails and materials. Finding different racing tactics will help me this summer and show me what I can do to be better. I can consult Clay Johnson and Rob Seidelman, they are both excellent sailors, they own the local sailing stores. Clay Johnson has a very impressive record, and was one point away from being on the U.S Olympic sailing team for the summer 2012 olympics.

Terri Schiavo Case Study

I believe the decision to disconnect Terri Schiavo from life-support was justified. She had been on life support for seven years with little to no improvement. Nothing was working to get her out of the persistent vegetative state she was in. 

Question 1: 

Terri is in a persistent vegetative state. Which is a state where the subject has suffered brain damage  and is in a state of partial arousal rather than true awareness.  Terri was still alive and was able to say few words and move. She was able to identify her mother and say a few words to her, she was also able to hug her. To me the difference between life and death is during life you have a living breathing, self-functioning body, and when you are dead you are not living at all. 



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistent_vegetative_state
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terri_Schiavo_case

Want to know my future?

In class we read a time magazine article about DNA testing. It's main topic was about a new jersey school teacher who had kids missing chromosomes which lead to other serious disorders. DNA testing has greatly evolved and can tell us everyone about our present and future self. This teacher had a DNA test done on her daughter. To find out what was causing her illness. They found missing chromosomes that could cause more problems in her body. I think this new testing is incredible. You can find out anything about your self and the diseases that you can contract in a simple test. The testing is also reasonably affordable for the general public. If I got a DNA test done I probably would not want to know the results unless it's something serious or something that I can get symptoms of in the next few years.

As a doctor I wouldn't tell the patient everything unless they specifically ask. There are a lot of things a DNA test can reveal, but as a doctor we know that at the moment there is no cure or treatment. I wouldn't want my patient to be scared by an untreatable disease. As a parent, I would want to know what's wrong with my child, but I wouldn't tell them because there not old enough to understand and or I wouldn't want them thinking about a serious disease in their childhood.  As a child, I would not want to know what's wrong with me. I would not want to grow up knowing that I might have a short life or I might contract a disease early on.

New years revolutions

In 2012 I learned that intellogence isn't everything. You need many other skills in life to succeed like common sence, perseverance, and skill. You can't necessarily accomplish a task with only one skill. It takes many of them put together to accomplish something.

I am totally against new years revolutions. They generally only last about a day. Many of the resolutions I could make for myself would never happen. I try to accomplish them but I eventually forget about what I was trying to do, or I give up because it's too hard.

Your web life after your death

What do do with your online profile is a very controversial topic. Personally I think that the decision should be left upto the victim. Already there are products and services that manage your profile when you die. They can hold passwords, credentials, and the links to your online profiles. There are options to "incinerate" the page when you die, if you do not want it sticking around. This is a solution to family members not being able to obtain your password.

I think that your life can live on online. I don't see a big problem with that. I personally think that people just posting on a persons account when they are dead is creepy to me. I understand the "I'm dead" message, but some people just post status update for dead people. I think that Adam Ostrow's Idea (Guy from the ted talk) of bringing the dead back to life would be fine. There was a proposed idea that in the future they could make a robot that had the personality of those who passed away by using their online life.

After we die I think that our online lives should be memorialized. It should be a place to remember the dead. I don't think that families should control identities. I think that this should be something written in their will. The passed might not want people to remember them by their online life. But some might treasure their life online and want to keep it how it is now.