After months of disagreement, confusion, protest, and more disagreement, the Health Care Reform was finally signed by President Barack Obama last Monday, promising health coverage to everyone by 2014.  I personally do not like the fact it was a partisan bill because it separates our nation’s two parties even more when they should be working together.  I also agree with the speculation of unemployed workers, mainly from the lower class, taking advantage of such a system by taking unnecessary visits to the hospital or trying less to actually find a job with coverage.  This concept already exists today with unemployed workers relying on welfare.

However, it is time for America to finally progress with the rest of the industrialized nations of the world.  The United States, up until the passing Bill, was the only industrialized country without a universal health care system.  How can the most developed nation in the world not be able to protect its own?  How can it not better its citizens back home to the level it strives for in foreign disputes?  Often considered as the “global police,” the United States takes a sense of pride in attempting to regulate peace and maintain justice around the world, but that should come after its issues at home are taken care of.  The bottom line is 30 million more Americans will now be covered, a fact hard to complain about. 

Physicals, prescriptions, different types of therapy, surgery, and others are now available to anyone who was previously denied healthcare because they were considered a risk to the insurer.  Pre-existing conditions like high blood pressure and AIDS are not the patients fault, and in most cases, these are the people who probably need medical insurance more than anyone, but with the free market of American businesses, chances of these people receiving coverage was rather unlikely.  Also, Americans will still be covered after they retire, and since insurers can’t cap your coverage anymore, racking up debt in medical costs will no longer be an issue. 

Since Health Care will be a government program, they will now be able to regulate rates similar to other insurance types such as car and home insurance.  The competition between insurers will rise with such an increased market, helping keep rates down as well.  Even with these changes, it will cost more for the future generations, but a healthier nation means more workers having longer careers, and more consumers buying products over a longer period of time, helping our economy grow. 

The main protest of the bill is related to the cost, and the decision to take more from the upper class to pay for those who cannot afford healthcare alone.  This raises a problem that has grown over time in our country.  The distribution and taxation of incomes help the rich become richer and the poor to never crawl out of the darkness of poverty.  We’re leaving the lower class behind as the middle and upper classes develop financially and increase their savings, when we should be helping out our fellow citizens.  There are cases where lower class citizens depend on this help however, instead of earning their income on their own, but with so many citizens in our country, there are always going to be loopholes in any system of such size.  Our country is weakened by such a gap in not only health status, but also economic status.  Instead of dragging the poor to keep up and letting poverty hold our nation back, bumping up the national level of health and re-establishing a higher status quo will help strengthen America against up and coming power-nations like those in Asia.  After all, you’re only as strong as your weakest link.

Photo Credit: crafty

The topic of health care around the country is a sticky one to say the least. Depending on what political party you put your faith in or what point of view you examine the situation with, the main thought that should come to one’s mind is this, morality.
How is it that the self proclaimed powerhouse of the world, the most industrialized society, doesn’t have a universal health policy for protecting its citizens. How is it that health insurance companies can deny possible patients because they have too may jobs and are seen as a liability? The simple fact that one can be consider ‘working too much’ is appalling. How is that the very principles the country were built on, that hard work will get you somewhere in this country, is now being seen as a liability to health insurance everywhere.
The United States government is telling its citizens that the well being of the insurance agencies and the stability of the economy is more important than the health of the citizens. What the government is not telling the people is that the new health care bill would not only benefit them, but make the treatment more affordable. As mentioned in an article seen here, the addition of the uninsured to health insurances will dramatically cut the amount of uninsured. A woman with a $12,000 operation who is uninsured would now pay $5,000 for the same operation under the new health care bill. Numbers and instances like this across the country will only benefit the American people over time. On top of this, the American citizens who are born with a pre-existing disease that they can not control, will now be guaranteed coverage by health insurances.
I am not here to hammer away at the Republican Party or the doubters of the bill, I am simply stating that people need to stop looking at the numbers of the bill and focus on the key point at hand. The bill promises stability and peace of mind to citizens across the country, not just the old and fragile, but the young who were born into less than average circumstances or an individual with a pre-existing condition. The nay sayers who claim the bill is supporting those who are lazy and don’t work, need to take a look around and research how the business works. The overall health insurance market is an over priced scam and it is time for a change. I think people need to give the bill a chance and rather than bashing it, congratulate the president for finally making a change the people voted for.\

Photo Credit: N/A

Here is where the story starts to go off course and get me aggravated. Tiger Woods was unseen and unheard from for the first week following the incident, and the media and public started to harass his motives and question what he had to hide. When was the last time you made a mistake, small or large scale, and the news and hundreds of people were sitting outside your house awaiting a response from you? I’m going to say probably never. This is the exact reason Tiger Wood’s was not in the wrong in his actions following the affair, and the same reason why Tiger needs to be given time to figure out his horrible situation. Sure Tiger is a multi-million dollar mogul, seen daily on the news and commercials, but that alone isn’t a cop out for the media to invade his personal space.

In a recent census taken, the United States government states that 53% of all marriages end in divorce, and 60% of those divorces stem from affairs. So of these staggering amounts of affairs, how often do you hear of them? Never. Tiger Woods is a human being just like you and me, and he should be treated as one. Tiger should be judged not for his off the field actions, but by his on the field actions. If a student gets strait A’s but goes home and beats some one up, is that person a bad student? The point I’m trying to make is Tiger is a golfer, not a role model for marriages across the country. The public and media should let Tiger and his family attempt to work out their differences, which will in turn allow Wood’s to return to the course on a speedier time table. Tiger Woods will go down as one of the, if not the best, golfers of all time. One incident should not impede the public’s image of him, rather they should support him until he is back on the course, back where we love him, on our televisions every Sunday in his vintage Tiger red shirt going for the Master’s.

Photo Credit: Keith Allison

“The King of Pop” has sold more than 300 million copies to date, is the first artist to chart seven singles in the top 10 from one album, and the only artist to have an album (Thriller) sell more copies than any other in two separate years. He has been described as “biggest-selling artist of all time,” “the single most awarded entertainer the world has ever known,” and “the most popular artist in the history of show business.”

Leading up to his death, however, his personal struggles grew to a tabloid-filled “freak” show, and began to overshadow his iconic accomplishments. Beginning with rumors of him purchasing the bones of John Merrick, the Elephant Man, and sleeping in a hyperbolic chamber to decrease aging, the “King of Pop” became better known as “Wacko Jacko.” Further accusations of child molesting and bizarre physical changes did not help his image either, but these pieces of the Jackson puzzle do not tell the whole story.

Living under the celebrity spotlight since he was five years old, he never had the traditional childhood, telling Oprah Winfrey in an interview he “had no friends as a child, [his] brothers were his only friends.” Virtually skipping the developing years of his childhood, Jackson grew up under extreme pressure from the media, his brothers, and his record company, not to mention the frequent beatings he received from his father. His troubled past became more public through interviews like Oprah’s, however sympathy for him did not. Growing up with such an external demand for maturity and music success, the physiological effects he endured are difficult to compare because of his super-stardom. In the interview, he said:

“I would do my schooling which was three hours with a tutor and right after that I would go to the recording studio and record, and I’d record for hours and hours until it’s time to go to sleep. And I remember going to the record studio and there was a park across the street and I’d see all the children playing and I would cry because it would make me sad that I would have to work instead.”

With no childhood, a violent father, an insecure self-image, and coming out of a dysfunctional group of brothers, Jackson became addicted to painkillers and excessive plastic surgery operations to help cope with such a unique life-style. Even through all of this, the contributions he made to various foundations and charities show his strong humanitarian beliefs.

As listed in the 2000 Guinness Book of World Records, Jackson held the record for “Most Charities Supported By a Pop Star”. When touring, he would take time to visit sick children in hospitals. His Neverland home has special rooms for sick and terminally-ill children, and has helped set up the Heal the World Foundation, and supported 39 charity organizations either through donations or sponsorships, and has donated an estimated $500 million to such groups. His devotion to children is said to be the most important thing in his life, which usually goes unnoticed to the “Wacko Jacko” headlines that we always hear about instead.

So who are we to judge the greatest entertainer of all time, if no one can in fact compare their lives with his? None of us went through the struggles he faced with his family, or the constant limelight he lived nearly his entire life under, or the on-going medical attention he faced by his doctors. To expect someone living under these circumstances to turn out like you and me is unreasonable and unrealistic. Perhaps his greatest skill was also his biggest enemy, and his overwhelming success was not worth the depression he lived with for much of his life. What should be taken from his life now that he has passed away is his successful music career and devotion to bettering the world, and maybe “Wacko Jacko” will once again be better known as “The King of Pop.”

Photo Credit: Mr. Fotoshop

This fall, Worcester Academy joined countless schools across the nation in celebration of Teen Read Week 2009 (October 18-24)! Teen Read Week is an initiative by the Young Adult Library Service Association (YALSA) that was started in 1998 to remind teens to spend time reading for pleasure.

The WA English Department took advantage of an Interactive Reading Project spearheaded by Mr. Joseph Pye whose mission was to “inspire students to interpret literature in new and innovative ways.” This undertaking entailed creating a Scratch video inspired by a work read in an English class. Scratch software allows users to design animations, games and art to be shared on the Internet.

A total of 8 eager learners accepted the challenge and each created interactive stories inspired by: Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” and Marie de France’s “Guigemar,” “Laustic” and “Les Deux Amanz.”

Follow the link below to see the original animations of: Adrienne Anderson, Julien Angel, Cameron Borriello, Chester Caswell, Sarah Dunn, Geetha Mahendran, Elena Stamatakos, and Surya Viswanathan!

http://scratch.mit.edu/galleries/view/61659

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If we go back far enough, ancient people would probably define life as being spiritual, having a “soul,” and this definition makes sense, even for modern society. However, the modern scientist finds it quite inadequate to define things in such a vague way, they decide that the definition for living as “anything that has metabolism.” This notion was accepted wildly until a “unpleasant” finding in our living world.

The controversy starts with the finding of virus. Viruses were generally considered alive, but some biologists don’t agree, because a virus doesn’t fit the definition of “having a metabolism.” Indeed, a Virus replicates by using materials and even proteins from a host cell. It doesn’t grow, it’s just some DNA’s enveloped in a protein coat. However, many people consider it “alive” because it has the ability of replicating itself. So self replication seems to be very closely related with living, but where did this correlation start?

When the life on earth first started (The Origin of life), the first “living” things were just like viruses DNA coated by protein, and they have the ability to replicate and evolve, and they did, and this is where all the living organisms on earth originate, from these self replicators. If we want to consider ourselves alive, we better consider our ancestors alive as well, and this is why the metabolism definition gets so controversial. The metabolism seems to be a property of all living organisms before we encountered virus, and this finding of virus reshaped people’s view on living things.

If the ability of self-replication is the key to the definition of “living”, then why isn’t the definition of living as “having the ability to replicate?” Because this definition has it own controversy as well. If we apply this definition, then social thoughts (or memes), computer virus and other concrete or abstract things along with virus would be considered alive all at the same time! This definition could be potentially adapted only if people have such an open mind that they will consider the possibility for a computer virus to be called “alive.”

Such adaptation is too advanced for our society at its current state, and there for the controversy lies in the field of Biology almost untouched. In fact, there are divided definitions for “living”. After all, it’s just a definition and people are allowed to define anything in anyway based on what they want to achieve. However, the controversy still exists in this relatively new field of subject in science.

Photo Credits:  Don Hankins, groovelock, quinn.anya

Many studies have shown that when on a cell phone, you’re reaction time is 18% slower to react to break. Clemson University conducted a study that showed when texting or using your mp3 player you are 10% more apt to swerve into another lane, putting many in danger. University of Utah showed that it is as dangerous to use your cell phone as it is to drive drunk. That study enough should show us how severe this problem is. Although it is hard to prove that when accidents happen it is due to the cell phone, the facts are still out there. Even if all states make it illegal to talk on the phone, it will be hard to enforce it with everyone. We all just need to make it a rule that in order to help ourselves and the drivers around us, we can not talk on the cell phone. Many may not agree with what I have put forward, but I believe that the statistics speak for themselves. In the end the big question is, is a phone call more important than life? We are living in a world where we always need to be connected but if always been connected means risking lives, where can we draw the line?

Photo Credit:

Pink Sherbet Photography

This is another official update to the original “Shift Happens” video. This completely new Fall 2009 version includes facts and stats focusing on the changing media landscape, including convergence and technology, and was developed in partnership with The Economist. For more information, or to join the conversation, please visit http://mediaconvergence.economist.com/ and http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com/.

Content by XPLANE, The Economist, Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod and Laura Bestler. Design and development by XPLANE, http://www.xplane.com/