Demonstration Speech Evaluation

Overall, I think my demonstration speech went pretty well. It took me a while to come up with a somewhat decent topic but after I found my topic, it was easy to perform in front of the class. It was a spur-of-the-moment topic and was something I enjoyed learning how to do.  Hopefully it really does help me save money.

There were some good and not-so-good parts of my speech.  I got caught up on my words at times and some of my explanations were confusing.  For the most part, it went pretty smooth. My voice, personally, sounds weird, but that goes for a lot of people.  It was a good volume and most of my words were clear. The speech could have been shorter because it barely fell between the 5-6 minute limit.  Visual aids were provided for everybody in the class so they could follow along with what I was showing them; doing that kept more people interested and listening.

I am happy with my performance.  I wasn’t nervous at all and thought I handled myself pretty well.  I am used to giving speeches because when I was the captain of my gymnastics team, I helped fundraise by talking to large groups of people. I am eager to start my persuasive paper. 

Response to Jacob Ninneman's post - My technborati search...

In response to Jacobs post http://jninnemanlsc100f10.blogspot.com/

The blog, “Optimal health resource blog,” is very long and consists of many articles written by John Phillips.  It is mainly about nutrition and could be very helpful in maintaining a healthy diet.  The topics range from magnesium deficiency, to understanding the genetic link to weight loss, to the top strategies to preventing diabetes; one article even talks about how important it is to get a good night’s sleep.  In our athletic course, counseling psychology 115: life skills academy, we were taught that sugar is very unhealthy and mainly just produces fat in your body.  This article explains why sugar is bad and what exactly sugar does to your body. 

I thought the post on fish nutrition was very interesting.  I never knew that fish could help protect us from developing chronic diseases.  The post also talks about insulin and diabetes.  Several experiments were performed to help explore two omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil.  I think Jacob’s informative paper about athletic nutrition would be interesting to read. 

Being completely unrelated to sports nutrition, I was very bothered by the fact that the fish study experiments used animal testing.  I am against animal testing and think that it is morally wrong.  Even though the DHA protected the animals, they should not be tested on.  They were not put on this earth for that reason.   

The articles discussed are as follows:

http://optimalhealthresource.wordpress.com/ 

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-10/usdo-gfn100810.php 

Ethics and Medicine

Birth control pills… Are they a good idea? Or should pharmacists have the right to deny any woman birth control? Many people are against the birth control pill because they think it is going against Mother Nature and that it is equivalent to receiving an abortion.  Others think it is widely needed to prevent many teenagers and young couples from getting pregnant.   The upcoming election between Tom Barrett and Scott Walker could affect whether birth control pills are allowed.  I was doing research on these candidates for our future governor of Wisconsin, and the birth control pill was one of the discussion topics.  Walker supports a bill that makes it okay for any pharmacist to deny a woman access to birth control.  Do we want this? I think it is very important to keep the pill as an option of contraceptive.  It is one of the most effective birth controls and is used by over 80% of woman (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center).  If the birth control pill was outlawed, more people would become pregnant, which could possibly result in more abortions.  Abortions are a completely different topic with a lot more controversy, but personally, I think birth control pills need to stay. 

http://www.trosch.org/rwd/brthcntl.htm

The above link is against the birth control pill.  It states that many people are not informed on how birth control works.  It argues that the birth control pill is a form of abortion.  The link below is a blog written by Jenifer Scharpen who is for the birth control pill.  The question she ponders is, “how can birth control lead to more abortions?” 

http://www.parentdish.com/2006/10/01/the-push-to-outlaw-birth-control/

The first link presents the most compelling argument.  It gives us factual information on how it works and nobody can argue with that, however, it doesn’t persuade me to be against the birth control pill. 

Response to Nicole Vike's post - The Marketing of Organs

In response to Nicole Vike’s post…. (http://nvikelsc100f10.blogspot.com/)

I, 100 percent, agree with Nicole’s views.  It makes no sense, what-so-ever, to have to sell an organ for profit.  Like Nicole said, people would just sell their extra kidney, instead of putting hours in at their job.  This is not something we need happening to our economy.  I never thought of it that way.  I also agree with the fact that the world would be mad… Everybody would be going out and selling their organs.  I know there are a lot of people out there that are in desperate need of an organ, and there aren’t as many donors as there are transplant receivers, but selling organs is not the answer. 

Also, with the fact that the whole procedure is very expensive, why would we throw in another expense for the receiver? Nicole said, “People who need organs the most might get outweighed by people who have the most money.” This is so true because with how expensive this whole process is, it would limit the amount of people able to receive a transplant; only the rich would be able to afford this.  I agree that this would be completely unethical. 

Lastly, I also disagree with the quote by the author saying we can do what we want with our bodies because we are in charge of them.    Yes, they’re our bodies, but why make a profit off of them? Wouldn’t it be nice if people could have the heart to just donate organs? There are definitely more disadvantages than there are advantages. It would hurt more than it would help, only because people would be putting themselves in danger for something that may not work or could be rejected. 

Nicole’s post is very convincing and persuading. After reading it, if anything, I am more against the idea of selling organs than I was before.

Selling Organs?

Should an individual have the right to sell his or her organs?  I do not think people should be allowed to sell their organs.  Could you imagine walking into a store, where aisles consist of lungs, hearts and livers? Let’s go to the kidney aisle because I need a new one… This does not sound right to me, AT all.  Selling parts of your body, dead or alive, is wrong and is ill-mannered. It is selfish, period.  Once a person has passed away, who would take the money for those organs anyway?  I also believe that transplants aren’t a cure; they just postpone one’s life.  Transplant patients have to take injections for the rest of their lives, so in a way they are just trading a terminal disease for a chronic one (2010, Arthur L. Caplan).  Selling organs, to me, makes it seem like you are taking advantage of yourself.  There are certain circumstances, however, where I think organs should be donated.  If someone was willing to donate their organ while still alive, I believe that should be allowed, because it’s their body.   After someone dies, it also only makes sense to recycle the parts to save other people, with their consent of course. Our technology these days has improved so much, and being able to perform a procedure like a heart transplant is a miracle. Why should we let those skills and knowledge go to waste? Overall, people should not be able to sell their organs; they should simply donate them.

I agree with Martin Wilkinson in the fact that there are a lot of people in need of organs, but I think there are enough donors out there who would be willing to give up their organs after they die.  This article did change my mind a little.  I’m not for it, or against it.  If the law does change, and selling an organ is no longer a criminal offense, it would just give the wrong impression.

The article can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10786211