Does being cold give you a cold?

The age old conception that being outside in cold weather will give you a cold is completely false. Even though it used to be a commonly held idea, colds are not caused in any way by temperature. 

Here are a few reasons for the misconceptions and why they are false:

1. Colds are caused by viruses which are not living and circulate equally well in warm and cold weather equally.

2.  Colds are more common in the winter because people spend more time indoors and are in closer contact which increases virus transmission.

3. Cold weather stimulates the body's immune system by stimulating the increase of norepinephrine which is a hormone that acts as a natural decongestant.

4. Being outside will generally lower your contact with other humans, thereby decreasing your chances of receiving a virus by contact with someone else.

While being in severe cold for long periods of time can cause hypothermia, being cold does not in any way give you a cold. The next time your grandmother tells you to put your coat on before you go outside so that you don't catch a cold, you can tell her that you are preventing a cold by not wearing your jacket.

Animal Rights?

What rights should animals be given? Where do we draw the line between abuse, caring, pampering, and neglect? This question is ongoing and has been answered in many different ways throughout history. 

In Peter Singer's point of view....

Animal Mistreatment = Slavery

Animal Rights = Human Rights

Human Rights = Equal opportunity + No cruel or unusual punishment + Care and Attention

Human Suffering = Animal Suffering

Proper Animal Treatment = No Unnecessary Suffering

Therefore....

Animals = Humans 

Eating Animals = Eating Humans

Eating Animals = Wrong = Eating Humans

Vegetarianism = Good

Animal Testing = Human Testing

Animal Pets = Human Pets

Euthanasia  = Capital Punishment

Humans eating animals = Animals eating humans

Human progress = Evil

In Vicki Hearne's point of view....

Relationship = Mutual Trust

Animal  + Human = Relationship

Happiness = Good

Relationship = Good

Suffering = Not Important

Therefore....

Pets = Good

Humans Treat Animals = Animals Treat Humans

Relationship = Happiness

Human Happiness = Animal Happiness

Different Relationship = Different Rights

Different Animal = Different Relationship

Animal Rights = ?

Both Author's ideas of animal rights are very odd. Singer's view is extreme and very impractical but Hearne's is very ambiguous and not very relevant when it comes to the rights of animals. 

In my opinion, animals have rights but they are very different than the rights of humans. Humans should be able to consume animals as much as they like, but our methods of raising animals should be more natural and less manipulative. Also, animal testing should be allowed because if we weren't to test on animals, who would we test on, humans? Even though animals may suffer in the process, it is our nature as humans to protect our own species. In the wild animals generally protect and foster the growth of their own species without nearly as much regard to others, so who is to say humans shouldn't be the same way? Our first responsibility is to ourselves, but when it comes to animal treatment, we should be a little more conscious of our actions and reduce suffering as much as possible and use as few animals as possible.

Why Mental Pictures SHOULD Sway Your Moral Judgement

I thought the NPR segement "Why Mental Pictures Can Sway Your Moral Judgement" was very interesting and very true. They spoke about the two main ways that we make decisions in our lives. Either we use moral judgement and decide logically, or our emotions take over and control our decision. This wasn't new information, but what made it interesting is how they related the decision on which type of judgement to use to a battle within our brain, with the determining factor being the images evoked by the situation.

Without a picture of the situation in our minds, of course we are going to base our judgement off of the only things we know, the facts. This will lead to a logical conclusion and most likely the more rational conclusion of the two.

But when we produce a clear and vivid picture in our minds, we place ourselves directly into the situation and develop different ideas. The way that we picture things dramatically influences the way we think about them, and this is very interesting to me. Our brain determines all of this and more before we even have time to consider it fully. That is hard to believe and awesome at the same time.

Thinking about the examples in the talk as well as examples from my own life, I can't help but agree with the point they are making. When pictures come into play, emotions come into play. Emotions are what overwhelm us and can carry more weight in our decisions than anything else. Logical thinking will produce the best decision, but emotional thinking overrides our rationality.

While I do agree with this, I don't think it changes our moral judgement. I think the way our emotions impact our thinking is part of our morals, and is part of who we are. Yes we may not always make the best choices when our emotions take control, but our emotions are what make us who we are and we would be completely different without them. When I make decisions based on how I feel, it is my instinctual decision. Logic may produce the correct response, but not necessarily the right response.

My Writing Process

For me writing always has a purpose, and usually that purpose involves school or work. When I write I have a specific goal in mind and that influences how I go about the writing. The majority of the time, the hardest part about writing for me is deciding what I want to say.

Whenever I sit down to write I have to organize my thoughts way before putting any words onto the page. I am one of those people who will ramble on in their writing to waste time while I think of the next important thing that I want to say. To avoid that I try to think about and organize what I want to say in my head before I put it down on paper. I don't have to organize everything that I am going to say, but it really helps me to decide every point I want to touch on in my writing. That way when I begin to run out of things to say about one idea, I can simply move onto the next and not jumble everything up while I try to figure out what I am looking to say next.

Once I actually start my writing, things tend to flow fairly easily for me. Every once in a while I may stop and think of a better way to word something, or a better way to describe the things I am saying, but for the most part I leave that to the revision process and just get what I want to say onto the paper. Usually if I just focus on making it simple and concrete, I don't have to tweak it as much after the fact because it makes sense to me and sounds like me.

 The approaches I use also differ slightly based on the type of writing I am doing. If it is a scientific paper or a lab report, I try to be as straightforward as possible because the only thing that matters is cramming as much information and reasoning into as few words as possible. On the other hand, writing an essay involves much more freedom where I can play with the language and expand much more on my thoughts or ideas.

My approach to writing can change depending on the purpose of the writing, but I always try to decide the main points I want to touch on before I begin. Then I just do my best to let my thoughts flow onto the paper to fill in the gaps with whatever comes naturally to me in the context of the piece.

My First Blog

Well, this is my second time writing on a blog but the first time writing on my own blog. I did make one post on the group blog for the Costa Rica Research Trip that I went on this summer but this is a blog that I created myself so I still consider this my first blog. I have it up and running smoothly so far so be prepared for much more to come.