Performance-enhancing drugs in sport

"If I could give you a pill that would make you an Olympic champion -- and also kill you in a year -- would you take it?"  (Dr. Gabe Mirkin asked competitive runners that question in advance of a Washington, D.C., road race in 1967. )


No. I wouldn't take the pill because I could just try my best at the Olympics and live for a long time time instead of being the biggest sportswoman in history and die the next year. I want to be able to do other things in life than just be famous for a year and die the next. 


My opinion on performance-enhancing drugs?
- JUST A BIG FAT NO! Athletes are called athletes for a reason, they can do any sport they want and train to be the best so they do NOT need performance-enhancing drugs just so they can win. If they've lost, they've given it their all already so no need for the pills. I think the pills are a form of cheating in a way because it's not you who is doing the work, it's the pill running you. 


Raveena's perspective:
- Well, I think they're a form of cheating. Athletes should definitely not be allowed to use these drugs because it would give them an obvious advantage. If one athlete takes it, the whole purpose of sports is irrelevant. It would become a never ending thing, with each athlete trying to beat the others by taking more and more drugs, which in the end put their own lives at risk.


Jasmine's perspective:
- I think on the aspect of only winning, I do not think that it is a bad way to achieve an athlete's goal. Just as models use Photoshop, enhancing their beauty, isn't it?


Do I think performance-enhancing drugs in sport should be legalised?
- No they should never be leaglised because athletes could get affected and maybe eventually die and plus, they could train to be the best of the best instead of taking something that's going to do them bad. 


What do I think the author means by the 'spirit of sport'?
- I think what the author means by the 'spirit of sport' is the will and ability to to do something instead of using a pill to save it all.


How do I feel performance-enhancing drugs effect the 'spirit of sport'?
- I think performance enhancing drugs affect the 'spirit of sport' because the whole challenge behind it is lost. The whole olympic competition will soon become more about drugs, rather than playing, running and competing against each other.


Who are the victims of performance-enhancing drugs?
- In my opinion, the athletes are the victims. They're the ones most at risk because of taking too many of these drugs.


What do I think on the 'ban for life' on athletes taking performance-enhancing drugs?
- I think it's unfair because if some athletes think it's best for them, then it's their choice to take it. You can't band them from joining the Olympics for doing what they want to do.


Legalizing Performance-Enhancing Drugs 


Genetic engineering could help fair play, by allowing all competitors to create an optimal body type for sport.
I completely disagree with that statement.  Athletes are people too, with families and futures. They should not be treated as guinea pigs. Furthermore, I thought mankind has gone beyond the times of Roman Coliseums, where people are put out to die. But isn't that what we're doing again now, this time with the help of science? We're creating 'gladiators'. 


The audience has an interest in seeing the best performance possible.
I think I agree with this statement because we spectators love to see and watch a good performance. With the money we pay to watch performances, we would like to get something back in return: a brilliant and outstanding show with or without these drugs going around.

Beyond Reasonable Doubt: how much evidence do we need?

Crime Offences

 Offences List:

·      Shoplifting 7 

·      Breaking into a car 1

·      Picking a fight 6

·      Drink driving 4-5

·      Driving under the influence of drugs 5

·      Solvent abuse 5-6

·      Urinating against a wall 7

·      Doing a paper round at the age of 11 (10)

·      Shouting racist abuse 4-5

·      Being sold alcohol in a bar whilst under the age limit 2-4

Which of these are crimes?

- All of them are.

Which of them, if any, are victimless?

- Doing a paper round at the age of 11

What kinds of punishment would you give to these offences?

- 

 

Law & Criminality

Law. What is law? To me, the law is a set of rules made by the government or ministry that people have to obey and follow. Without rules/law, the whole country or in this case the whole world wouldn't be sane, instead they'd be INsane. Think of it. There would be more murders, killers, accidents, car crashes or anything that comes to mind which would make the world more chaotic then it already is. Who? The law involves the government, police, ministry as well as the perpectives of citizens because they're apart of the country too. Why? The law exists so that people are lead in the right way and so that the world is fair(equality). When? Law came around when civilisation existed. Where? Law is everywhere around the world, which country doesn't have any crimes? The crimes are then brought into court. How? For example if you parked somewhere without paying(rule/law) then you might get fined. So, don't do stuff that are wrong.

"Per capita, South Africa has the most assaults, rapes, and murders with firearms"
- I want to know more about this fact because I've been to South Africa and it seemed like such a nice place, like nothing bad has happened there.

Year 11 Group Plans

Group 1(chanda)

Aim -
- to successfully work as a group(think)
- raise awareness(how it affects the whole world)
- spread and educate people about the problem.

Rationale -

Process/Tips -
- cross collaboration
- gather perspectives from diff countries
- put info in tables so it doesn't affect the word count?
- put roles
- survey


Outcome -
- work towards you aim

Group 2(wen wen)

Aim -
- raise awareness
- introduce renewable energy

Rationale -
- why do you want to do that
- 

Process -
- you don't have to do the outcome you just have to plan it.
- why didn't you complete your outcome? (exam boards)
- word limit
- maybe do a vlog(that way you are not constrained by a word limit)
- appendix
- gantt chart to help with time(they had to do 2 projects)
- contacted schools(cross collaboration)
- maybe do it with people you know as they would maybe reply back, people you know from different countries.(cross collaboration)

Outcome -
- should try and link back to your aim
- achieve it.
- to make a proposal

Group 3 

Aim -
- a few aimes
- to explain
- to show and raise awareness
- how it effects the social society

Rationale -
one group rationale and individual rationals

Process -
- gantt chart(write does all the topics)
-  you cant depend on lesson time
- work outside of class(work at home, skype group, facebook group)
- metting deadline are a problem, so meet them so you can proceed to other work.
- cross collaboration(e-mail, answer surveys)

Outcome -
- its not the most important thing

Group 4

Aim -
-  the basis of what you want
- documentary

Rationale -

Process -
- mindnode
- gantt chart(to know how much time to do the entire project)
- writing down the process
- cross collaboration(e-mails, friends from other countries)

Outcome -
-  its not important(but better if you reach it)

Group 5 

Aim -
- let people know 

Rationale -
- to help people learn english as a second language

Process -
- make a report

Outcome -
- make a video
- advertise

Group 6(33%)

Aim
- raise awareness
- educate the public
- find out the global, national view about the project

Rationale
- went to the strets and interviewed people
- asked other international schools
- wrote a letter

Process
- over researching

Outcome
- graffiti
- do not over research
- include different perspectives
- make a gantt chart
- Cross collaboration(help from teachers)

Group 7

Aim
- persuade people
-
Rationale
- they try to fundraise

Process
- without roles and responsibilities they didn't know what to do.
- allocated roles
- if there are too many people working together on the same thing it gets complicated


Outcome
- 2000 word limit

Designer Babies.

The 6 thinking caps:

What we feel: It’s wrong. It’s unhealthy to plan an individuals future. Why not let the child just choose who he/she wants to be?

Positive: You can cure diseases by changing the genes of the child, to ensure that the next generation is healthier and free of genetic disorders.

Negative: What if something goes wrong and the baby turns out what you didn’t expect it to be? You cant return your own child. It creates a perfect world. Who would want to live in a world full of people who are exactly the same? It’s discrimination because only the rich would be able to afford the surgery and create the ‘perfect’ individual, but the poor would stay the same forever. This creates inequality between people, because some would possess more skills than the other.

Information: We have to research more on the type of things people can do now, before we jump to assumptions. Right now, doctors can only alter the babies genetics by changing its hair colour, eye colour or gender. However, it is reported that in a few years, people would be able to choose the child’s physical and mental qualities, such as his intellect or ability to excel sports.

Creative/ Alternatives: There are a lot of ways to get those things on the surface: appearance. Nowadays, there are surgeries, coloured contact lenses, and funky hair dyes. Allow the babies to make their own choice when they grow up, don’t decide for them. In addition, no pain no gain, if babies are genetically engineered to become talented, they will not be able to understand how important efforts are to success.

What’s next: more research has to be done. Debates should be held to prove that this is a very controversial issue, and has to be thought thoroughly. It would definitely bring major impacts on our society. Science is given to us to make our daily lives more convenient, not perfecting it. 

Perspectives: 

Personal Perspective:
; What do I think? What do my family and friends think?

In my opinion, I think it’s wrong to design a baby. But I agree to this issue, regarding a baby’s health conditions. Maybe if the mother/carrier has aids or some rare disease, the doctors can just take that disease out of the embryo, therefore the baby isn’t effected.
This is not fair to the child, because we can choose the gender of the baby. Why not let the child just choose who he/she wants to be?
In my group, my group’s member disagree what they do for the child, and they said that it’s unhealthy to plan an individuals future.

National Perspective:
; How does this affect Malaysia?

According to our research, the Malaysian government has forbidden parents from any form of baby designing. “To choose a baby based on its gender, the colour of its eyes or hair will not be allowed,” said the health minister of Malaysia, Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek. This affects Malaysia because if designing babies are allowed, there will be a gender imbanace and inequality in the country.

Future Perspective:
; What may happen in the future? Offer possible solution/possibilities for the future.
In the future, it will become possible for this technology to develop more advanced. Governments should be aware of scientists studying on this technology, since it has the potential to destruct or worsen the balance of gender ratio in this world. It may also create inequality because some individuals would have better, more advanced skills than the other. It would create a ‘perfect’ world. Perhaps they could decide to only use designing babies for helping children who have been diagnosed with devastating diseases even before they are born or curing a child with a long family history of a disease.

Global Perspective:

Countless debates have been held to argue on whether it is right or wrong to design babies. This is a very controversial issue, it could either destruct our society, or benefit it. 



Websites:
Is it alright to design babies to avoid diseases?
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/ReproductiveHealth/scientists-engineer-embryos-free-mitochondrial-disease/story?id=10389170

What is a designer baby?
www.bionetonline.com  

Designer babies to help cure sick brothers or sisters.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4050989.stm

Can we choose a baby’s gender?
http://www.bionetonline.org/english/content/db_cont2.htm

Group Evaluation and Individual Evaluation of the article.

The Project

Group Evaluation

1.     What area of study did you choose?  Why?

We chose the extinction of animals, because we assigned to us. We chose to do our project on the extinction of Ivory Billed Woodpeckers, because we all agreed that they were unique animals and that they needed more exposure.

2.     What did your group hope to achieve?  What was your proposed outcome?

We hoped to aware people of the fact that they Ivory Billed Woodpeckers are facing extinction, by using the outcome of a newspaper article.

3.     How could you critically evaluate the success of your outcome?

We compared them to other newspaper articles to see that if we had all the necessary facts.

4.     What were your specific group roles and responsibilities?  How did you organize them?  Was the allocation effective?

We began our assignment by opening a Google document. Nabilah researched the web sites while citing them down. Raveena organized all information and Jasmine put the information into the essay. We all helped with editing the final outcome, so that all our opinions and ideas were included. The allocation was very effective, because we saved time by dividing the roles and it also helped us work together.

5.     Did your project have enough scope for every group member to play an active, full time part in the group work?  How could you improve this?

Yes, it did. We did a lot of research individually and also as a group, which is why we had a lot of efficiency while completing our daily agenda and we were ahead of most of the other groups. We could have improved by setting clearer roles for one another, because at certain times, all three of us were concentrating on the same thing.

6.    Was the workload manageable in the time frame?

Yes, it was. We managed to finish our newspaper article ahead of time, because we used our time wisely. We spent most of our time researching information to put into our article. The article itself did not take very long to write because we made important notes before. All we had to do was put them together and edit some areas.

7.     How effective were your minutes and agendas at keeping the task on focus?  How did they help you?  How could they improve them?

Our daily agenda was very effective because it pressures us to get a certain task done before the deadline. It also helped us use our time wisely to avoid delaying any aspects of our project. We could have improved by challenging ourselves more, instead of just sticking with mediocre since we were ahead of time.

  

Individual Evaluation

The Group Work 

What have I contributed to the group project?
- I have contributed my researching skills and my other job parts in helping my other team members with the whole outcome.
What would I do differently next time?  Why?
- I would have
What have I learnt about working together?
- that I can get work done efficiently if we work as a fully cooperated group with no one not doing anything or too lazy to do something.
What has been good/challenging about working as part of a group?
- I always have to keep track on what my other team members are doing so we’re on the same track and the same pace to get the work finished on time and in good quality.
  
What have I learnt doing the project?
 
What have I learnt about;
a) Deciding on and planning a project?
- that creating an agenda on a Google Doc is very useful in recording what you have done each time and to save time.
b) Planning and producing research?
- I have learnt that when I am on a certain website or any website I have to always check its reliability so that it’s not just randomly put there incase the information given is not true. And when I’m planning my research I have learnt to only take the important information so that the article won’t be a whole book of me writing about unimportant stuff.
c) Reading and presenting my ideas?
-  
d) time management?
- I have learnt that to manage my time properly, I have to divide the work between my group so that one of us is not left out doing nothing. I would also do how much I can in a lesson and if I haven’t finished I would do it as homework and not wait for the next lesson because that would definately waste time.
What would you do differently to develop these skills?
 
How did I approach my individual contribution?
I approached it well because I think I have succeeded in doing all of my parts as a team member
 
What are the most valuable points I have learnt?  Why?
 
 

Ivory-Billed Woodpecker Newspaper Article

In this issue, we are going to zoom in on a tragedy of mother nature: the extinction of animals. We will be introducing you fellow readers to the Ivory-Billed Woodpeckers, also known as the Lord God Bird.

Tracks of Ivory-Billed Woodpeckers can be found in humid swampy forests. They are most located in the Southern United States and Cuba, where lots of hardwood forests are found. They prefer thick hardwood swamps or pine forests, with dead and decaying trees. Like any other living creature, they need clean water and food. Most importantly, they need a safe place to live in, which is what they currently don’t have, since people are rapidly destroying their homes for economical use. (after civil war their land was destructed for the timber industry.)

Ivory-billed woodpeckers eat beetle larvae, berries, nuts, and insects. Their predators are dependant on the sizes of the woodpeckers. Smaller woodpeckers’ predators are often birds in larger sizes, like hawks or eagles. For larger woodpeckers, predators include owls or foxes. In addition, snakes and squirrels often target the eggs of these woodpeckers too. The destruction of their homes caused them to lose their food source, and they are no longer capable of hiding from predators, since trees are cut down, making woodpeckers an easy target for their arch enemies.

             Since they have been ‘extinct’ for a short period of time and found again, organisations have been set up to help this beautiful species. ‘Woods Conservation Partnership’, led by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology at Cornell University and The Nature Conservancy are industriously that are studying and tracking these ivory-billed woodpeckers are a couple of the organisations helping the endangered bird as well as some organisations in Florida.
 
            Each country has their own national animal to save from extinction, so why would they want any animal to be gone forever? That’s why organisations are constantly established, so people would be more alert of the fact that unfortunately we all played a role in making this species endangered, and that everyone is responsible of the situation happening today.

Let’s take a look on our own nation. In Malaysia, there are several species facing the crisis of extinction too. Widely known examples are Leather-back Sea Turtles and Orangutans. A big similarity between the extinction of Orangutans and Ivory-Billed Woodpeckers is that the reason behind them facing extinct is because humans are using the natural resources inappropriately. They have been overly burning and chopping down forests where Orangutans and woodpeckers live in. However, comparing to America, Malaysia has done little effort in protecting these valuable species.

We should protect definitely give in our best to save the Ivory-Billed Woodpeckers because we have already lost them once, and can’t afford to lose them again. In fact, any species facing extinction should be saved. You cannot recover them once they are gone forever. We can do this by preserving forests for them and using less paper, so that the number of trees being cut down will be lessened. It is not an impossible task to do in today’s world, as long as those timber companies are not anymore blinded by wealth and profits.

We believe that our next generation should be given the chance to appreciate the beauty of such unique animals. Second chances are extremely rare, so why waste this one? Make the right choice, and helping hand to these innocent creatures who are paying the price for our selfish acts.

Bibliography:

IBW foundation http://ibwfound.org/foundation.cfm
BBC news http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sci/tech/4493825.stm
About
http://birding.about.com/od/birdprofiles/p/Ivory-Billed-Woodpecker.htm
Ivory Billed Woodpecker http://www.ivorybill.org/
http://ecos.fws.gov/speciesProfile/profile/speciesProfile.action?spcode=B03Q
Cornell Lab of Ornithology http://www.birds.cornell.edu/ivory/

Humans and other species: The human causes of extinction (documentary)

1. Why are our planets untouched natural environments shrinking? - because of pressures from human population      2. How many species could be gone in 100 years?         Why? -  half the species could be gone in 100 years because of the effects of human degradation of the biosphere.       3. What are the consequences of humans ‘high quality’ lifestyle? - it leads to a poorer and untenable life by most of the creatures we share the planet with. Its states that the current human consumption of the planets natural resources puts any animal walking on the ground, hanging in the tree or swimming in water at risk of extinction.        4. What does the Living Planet Index measure? -    populations of terrestrial and marine species dropped by 30 % while fresh water population went down by 50%. It tracks trends in population in more than a thousand species and also examines the consequences of human consumption ranging from fishing in Hungary to polluted rivers in Kenya -    uses ecological foot print as a benchmark to compare current level of human consumption with past findings.       5. What does the Living Planet Index blame loss of species on? - increasing human demand of food, fibre, energy and water.     6. How is South East Asia threatening species diversity? -    If logging continues at its current rate these forest will be gone in less than 5 years. -    In Indonesia and Malaysia, forests are being burnt down and will be replaced by oil palm plantations. Your PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE: Are other species important? Explain  your opinion? Summarise the key points… This video is talking about the extinction of animals because of the human consumptions. It is said that half the world’s species will be gone in 100 years. Moreover, people are deforesting by logging or burning the whole forest down to either make money on logs or to plant oil palms. If this continues, the forests will be gone in 5 years. Another thing people even do, is illegal trading of animals because they no longer have a home as it is either being cut down or burnt and this happens in Bangkok, Thailand. They also mentioned that in India, the offcicials estimate that there are about 3700 tigers but the wildlife experts estimated that the amount of tigers are nearing 2000.  How reliable is this information? (Source reliability) ·      Who wrote this article? - 5min.com ·      Who is their audience? - The public; scientists, wild life researchers and students. ·      Is this a reliable source?  Why or why not? -