jrieders's blog

     The 1918 Influenza killed more Americans in one year than those that died in battle in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. If a virus as deadly as the 1918 flu became a pandemic today, it would kill more people than heart disease, stroke, cancers, chronic pulmonary disease, AIDS, and Alzheimer's combined. Death estimates worldwide range from 20 million to over a 100 million, as many remote areas that were decimated by the flu did not keep mortality records. This strain of flu was 25 times more virulent than seasonal flu and it's death curve looks like a W, with mortality rates peaking for children under the age of 5, elderly 70-74, and the group that normally has the lowest death rate for the seasonal flu, people ages 20-40.

     The 1918 Influenza killed more Americans in one year than those that died in battle in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. If a virus as deadly as the 1918 flu became a pandemic today, it would kill more people than heart disease, stroke, cancers, chronic pulmonary disease, AIDS, and Alzheimer's combined. Death estimates worldwide range from 20 million to over a 100 million, as many remote areas that were decimated by the flu did not keep mortality records. This strain of flu was 25 times more virulent than seasonal flu and it's death curve looks like a W, with mortality rates peaking for children under the age of 5, elderly 70-74, and the group that normally has the lowest death rate for the seasonal flu, people ages 20-40.

Cell phones have become totally integrated into our daily lives. Sitting in the classroom, on the bus, at the dinner table, we find ourselves constantly checking our cell phones for messages and updates. Now that the internet is available on our phones some seem to literally have their phones glued to their hands.

The impact of cell phones is seen in our legislation, and even serves as key evidence in political corruption. In the celebrity realm a stolen cell phone can ignite massive scandals damaging to individual reputation, family members, and anyone associated with that celebrity. We've seen the emergence of new forms of bulling and sexual harassment, and new challenges to school administrators in determining their role in appropriate cell phone usage.

Senior Seminar in Biology and Society

Is Pain a Pleasure, and Why?

September 29, 2009

How many of us were glued to the television weeks after 9/11? How many of us slow down when passing a car crash? How many of us have a favorite crime show?

Introduction:

Julianne Rieders

An Anthropologist On Mars, Oliver Sacks

Julianne Rieders

Continuation on the Cultural Cognition Theory

            In my last paper analyzing Richard E. Nisbett’s theories about Cultural Cognition, I asked if stereotypes of the East and West affect research on this topicwithout elaborating on what these stereotypes are. Furthermore I failed todiscuss why China, Korea, and Japan could be considered a cohesive group, whichI called East Asia, in which members share similar ways of thinking.

To the contemporary American or Chinese person, it is nothing new to suggest that “Westerners” and “Easterners” act differently. As we have discussed in class, different behavior suggests different ways of thinking, and ultimately different organization of the brain itself.  One would then expect to see observable differences in “Eastern” and “Western” behavior, and some underlying neurological cause for such observations.

But what do the terms East and West really mean? Are these terms derived from a common region, culture, or language? The definition, to be sure, is a combination of many factors, which historically are ultimately selected to the definers’ (Westerners) advantage. For the purposes of this paper I will refer to East Asia as China, Korea, and Japan, and the West as America and Western Europe. The terms East and West are socially, politically, and economically weighted and the biases associated with them are so deeply rooted that even so called sinifiles may find themselves advocating the very stereotypes placed on the East by the West. For example, someone might argue how a mystic conformist society is far superior to an individualistic reason based society, without questioning how mystic or conformist Eastern culture truly is.