Sea World's Last Generation of Orcas

Despite the side you personally stand on, everyone knows about the controversial topic of the treatment of orca whales at Sea World and their refusal to release their orcas from captivity. However, Sea World recently released a statement regarding their orca whales claiming that the whales currently in captivity will be the last generation of Sea World orcas. According to their website, the current population of orcas at Sea World will live out their lives at the park where they will continue to receive care from the park staff. Despite their claims of having leading veterinary and scientific experts on staff at the park to guide them in their care of these animals, all evidence points toward a natural and unconfined environment is what is best for animals as opposed to being captured and living their lives out in a park such as Sea World. While Sea World has stayed firm in their claims of safe and humane handling and care of these animals, the news that they will no longer be stealing any more orcas from their natural habitat is a huge step forward in the right direction ; that being conserving and saving our Earth and the natural environments and animals that we share our planet with.  We can only hope that with this first step forward many more will follow regarding parks like Sea World discontinuing the cycle of inhumane relocation of animals from their natural homes to enclosed spaces in which they suffer.

https://seaworldcares.com/en/future/last-generation/

Technology

After watching this video on Facebook, it made me think about the amount of time I spent on my phone and computer. The first and last thing I do every day is check my phone to see what's new on social media. It's crazy to think that people can't live without them and have to be around it every second of their day. Just today my friend was telling that she had lost her phone somewhere around her house and had to come to school without it and that she felt lost without. People are too dependent on their phone, it's like their whole life is on little piece of device and if they don't have it then they might go crazy. Sometimes I can't even have a normal conversation with people because they stop paying attention to me and go see what notification they just received. I did more research because I wanted to the average time people spend on social media and after looking at this link I found that on average they spend at least 4.7 hours and has an average of 5 social medias. In my opinion I think that we need to stop spending time on our devices and start paying attention to the atmosphere and people surrounding us.

Challenger Baseball

Earlier this year our baseball team volunteered to help special need children learn how to play baseball.  It was very interesting for me because I grew up playing baseball and from as long as I can remember baseball came really natural for me.  For these kids it did not come natural to them at all, because of their conditions.  It did not stop them from loving the game as much as any person with all the abilities in the world does.  This is something that really stood out to me.  It gave me a different perspective about things and really made me cherish everything that I have.  Now when I strike out or mess up I do not get as mad as I used to because I understand that the game is truly a privilege and something that not everyone is given the opportunity to play.  When I heard Caden's topic it really interested me because I spent a lot of time with the kids at Challenger Baseball and a lot of them are integrated into the schools just like everyone else and I found it interesting to hear how they act in a school environment.  Some excel, but others do not do great in the same environment as everyone else.  So I do not know if integration is the right answer for some, but for others I certainly think it is great for them.

The Science in Psychedelics

Recently, scientists have been experimenting with using psychedelic drugs to treat depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses. So far, their findings have all been promising for the movement to lift prohibitive regulations on research into recreational drugs and their potential benefits. In an article I read by The Guardian, scientists were testing the use of LSD to treat depression and early results from the trial involving 20 people are said to be "very promising" and "add to existing evidence that psychoactive drugs could help reverse entrenched patterns of addictive or negative thinking". With the still fairly recent legalization of the recreational use of marijuana in many states in the US, I think it is interesting to see the studies being conducted on other kinds of recreational and psychoactive drugs. In the article, Prof David Nutt who led the study was quoted saying "These drugs offer the greatest opportunity we have in mental health...there's little else on the horizon". With so many new studies coming out on how these types of drugs can be used to treat mental health patients, perhaps new treatments and legislation are waiting on the horizon.

Article mentioned: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/mar/05/psychedelic-drugs-like-lsd-could-be-used-to-treat-depression-study-suggests

Senior Projects

All of the senior projects have been great so far.  I think it really great to see how much time and effort everyone put in to come out with a great final product.  Everyone is using aspects of something we have learned from this class and applying it to their project.  I also find it interesting how people can have similar topics but go in completely different ways to go about it.  I think that Sammi's and Carina's projects are a perfect example of how two projects can have similar topics, but are both completely different and awesome in their own ways.  Carina and Sammi both talked about abortion and Carina was even in Sammi's project talking about how she is pro-life, but in her project she talks about why people get abortions.  I think that this project has really gone past my expectations and everyone is using components of what we have learned and applied them to their projects.

Haley's Senior Project

I thought that Haley's senior project topic was awesome.  I really liked how it is something totally different, but it is something super important.  I think that animals can really help kids and adults feel more comfortable in a lot of different settings.  Haley talked about it in a sense with kids that have special needs and how much the animals helped the kids.  I also think that animals help people in therapy situations much like Jenice was talking about in her project.  I was going to therapy in middle school after my parent's divorce and the therapist had her dog there to help people feel more comfortable sharing whatever they were talking about.  I just feel that dogs and other animals can make people feel more comfortable and can take some of the pressure and focus off of the person and can create a much more helpful enviornment.

Warriors

The Golden State Warriors just had the best regular season in NBA history and broke multiple records through the year, both personally and as a team.  The Bay Area was electric with support and excitement for the Warriors.  I have been a big fan growing up, back when they were awful, watching with my brother and hoping one day we could see them actually make a legit playoff run.  It is amazing watching a team develop over time and become great.  In order to become great, a lot of additions were made, just like fans.  Do you feel the Bay Area is bandwagon fans for their teams or are they loyal and faithful?