tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90783069250759402242024-02-20T15:51:25.732-08:00Our Time is LimitedJustin N.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14335379341657897447noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9078306925075940224.post-46692212760703520052015-04-29T12:30:00.000-07:002015-05-04T09:54:03.079-07:00Why We Should Trust Our Vaccinators<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://cdn.hollywoodtake.com/sites/hollywoodtake.com/files/styles/large/public/2013/10/15/jenny-mccarthy_0.jpg?itok=Zf0f_GhV" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://cdn.hollywoodtake.com/sites/hollywoodtake.com/files/styles/large/public/2013/10/15/jenny-mccarthy_0.jpg?itok=Zf0f_GhV" height="200" width="135" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jenny McCarthy,<br />
Anti-vaccinationist</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> On <i>Slate.com</i>, Allen Arthur quotes a celebrity <i>Playboy</i> model, Jenny McCarthy in his article,<i> </i>“Say it Ain’t So, O” (6 May 2009), “</span><span style="color: #1e1419; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">They're
making a product that's shit. If you give us a safe vaccine, we'll use it. It shouldn't
be polio versus autism.” Science cannot stress how faulty Jenny McCarthy’s
argument is. This misinformed celebrity believes that vaccines either do not
work, or cause autism, or both. However, scientific evidence backed by many
experiments says otherwise. Researchers have shown multiple times that vaccines
work very well and definitely do not cause autism. Parents should listen to
knowledgeable professionals, not uninformed popular figures, and thus should
continue to vaccinate their children for the safety of their communities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1e1419; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;"> In
order to disprove McCarthy, scientific evidence must be called upon. First, the
argument that vaccines cause autism must be disputed. There have been over
twenty massive trend and case studies that find a positive correlation between
increasing autism levels and vaccination levels, but absolutely no causation.
Correlation is not causation. For example, rising global temperatures
correlates with rising population, but rising temperatures is not the cause of
population increase. One study by H. Honda in 2005, which was published in <i>Bandolier </i>as a collection of studies
titled “Autism in the Absence of MMR Vaccine,” revealed that retracting of the
MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine from the Yokohama, Japan did nothing to
quench the increasing levels of autism diagnosed in children. Gerber and
Offit’s “Vaccines and Autism: A Tale of Shifting Hypotheses,” published in <i>Oxford Journals </i>in 2009, reveals the
same result in many other experiments around the world, including countries
like the United Kingdom and Canada. It is, therefore, legitimate to claim that
vaccines, particularly the MMR vaccine which has been accused of causing
autism, does not actually cause developmental disorders despite having
correlation with rising autism levels. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.jennermuseum.com/uploads/images/smallpoxeradication_r250px%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.jennermuseum.com/uploads/images/smallpoxeradication_r250px%5B1%5D.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Smallpox was eradicated in 1980</td></tr>
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Meanwhile, vaccines have been proven to
work on many accounts. For example, after its discovery in 1721, the smallpox
vaccine had been developed and applied to the world, bringing forth the
disease’s eradication, according to the <i>World
Health Organization</i>’s 2013 article, “Smallpox.” If one vaccine can, and has,
wiped a disease permanently away from Earth, why not trust vaccines to do it
again? One cannot argue about the statistics gathered by the many health
workers, scientists, and lawyers regarding the safety of vaccines either.
Calculated by the <i>Center for Disease
Control and Protection </i>in the article, “Possible Side-Effects from
Vaccines” published on 20 April 2009, for the single MMR vaccine, there is
approximately 0.0001% chance of causing a serious, possibly fatal allergic
reaction. The other side effects are mild, like a short-term fever or slight
rash. The <i>Center for Disease Control and
Protection </i>also published on 3 November 2014 in the article, “Measles
Vaccination,” that the death rate for measles, mumps, or rubella, exceeds
0.073%, or 7300 times the death rate for vaccination! There is essentially no
risk for vaccination. Rather, patients leave with immunity to three nuisance
diseases. No, vaccines do not cause autism, and yes, vaccines are totally safe
and do work. Parents should consider the facts about vaccines before believing
a celebrity’s ill-informed thoughts in the field of medicine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1e1419; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;"> The
best way to increase vaccination rates is to inform the population about the
truths of vaccines and to prevent public figures like Jenny McCarthy from
spewing misinformation. If everyone could trust science and vaccinate their
children, diseases will no longer be a threat to humanity. All immunizable
diseases will be eradicated eventually and the world will be a healthier place
to live. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #1e1419; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">Justin Nguyen</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #1e1419; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">UMass Lowell<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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Justin N.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14335379341657897447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9078306925075940224.post-75515908050852769232015-04-08T12:30:00.000-07:002015-05-04T09:41:37.455-07:00Delving into Khmer Cultre<div class="MsoNormal">
On the fourth
of April, University of Massachusetts Lowell’s Cambodian American Student
Association, CASA, set up a celebration for Khmer New Year at Lowell. This
celebration consisted of many different performances from many local sources,
ranging from the Angkor dance group to Lowell High School’s step team. The MCs
for the event were two members of CASA’s eboard: <o:p></o:p><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/legacy/i/partypictures/07_22_09/long/39_63383641072151000014830273_52_yyAngkorDance_071809_355.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/legacy/i/partypictures/07_22_09/long/39_63383641072151000014830273_52_yyAngkorDance_071809_355.jpg" height="200" width="191" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Random Angkor Dance group found on Google</td></tr>
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Sokreth and Lucky. The duo
guided a packed audience of many local Cambodians and people of other cultures
through a night of cultural celebration. In addition to the Cambodian
community, students from UNH, UMass, UMB, and UConn also arrived for the fun.
Furthermore, State Representative Rady Mom and Mayor Rodney Elliot also showed
their faces to bring on the fun. Throughout the night, many traditional and
modern performances linked together the older and younger generations of
Cambodian Americans. Meanwhile, the event also immersed the non-Cambodian
portion of the audience into Cambodian culture. Overall, the celebration of
Khmer New Year successfully integrated an eager audience into the diverse
Cambodian culture through various traditional and modern performances.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2804/4456472501_2360459b64.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2804/4456472501_2360459b64.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Random Coconut Dance group found on Google</td></tr>
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One of the
strangest occurrences during the celebration was the fact that the least
culturally-oriented performance was cheered on the most by the audience. Lowell
High School’s step team seized the crowd’s attention by performing their
routine dance that involves clapping, stomping, tapping, and snapping. Although
the night was technically dedicated to celebrate Cambodian culture, this group which
had nothing to do with Cambodian culture managed to successfully outperform
every other performer on stage. However, that is not to say that the other
traditional performances, such as the Angkor dance, coconut dance, or the
playing of the khhim, a traditional instrument, were not good. Because this step
team was allowed to perform at the Khmer New Year celebration, the goal of the
event was probably not just to celebrate Cambodian traditions. Rather, the
overarching goal was probably to integrate not only Cambodian culture into an
American society, but also to integrate more modern American culture into
Cambodian society. Thus, CASA’s event combines the different cultures of a
single community into one melting pot that brings everyone closer.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://m8.i.pbase.com/g1/80/736080/3/93878558.StJrjssQ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://m8.i.pbase.com/g1/80/736080/3/93878558.StJrjssQ.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Khhim - a traditional instrument</td></tr>
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CASA’s Khmer
New Year celebration integrated a whole local and distant community into a
night of celebrating Khmer New Year. The traditional performers such as the
Angkor dance group and the khhim player <o:p></o:p><br />
introduced culture brought from the
motherland to America, demonstrating a different dance style and an interesting
instrument. The modern performers such as the Lowell High School step team and
the UML Urban Choreography Club showed the older, more traditional audience new
forms of dance which Cambodian Americans and the rest of the community have
picked up from their years in America. Both sides were largely successful in
capturing the audience’s attention as cheers exploded in the hall after every
performance. One of the problems with the event, however, was that the food was
free for all, but the entrance fee was $3. Three dollars is very cheap,
especially since food always costs more than that. For that reason, a portion
of the audience was probably there just to steal a great dinner deal and not to
watch the actual show. In addition, there was not enough food for everyone, so
some volunteers and performers didn’t get to eat. Nevertheless, the Khmer New
Year celebration was very successful in integrating cultures and teaching its
audience of many Cambodian traditions. I would definitely recommend everyone
who has time to attend the event next year.</div>
Justin N.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14335379341657897447noreply@blogger.com0