Research Paper

Should non life-saving situations be banned from plastic surgery due to the health problems patients may face?

Nowak, Rachel . "When Looks Can Kill." New Scientist 21 Oct 2006: 18-21. SIRS Researcher. SIRS Knowledge Source. Edina High School. 8 Dec 2008 http://www.sirs.com/.

Rachel Nowak is New Scientist's Australasian editor and her job is to make sure that the top Science news from Australia and near is heard all around the world. In this specific article "When Looks Can Kill." Nowak analyzes researcher's studies on the risks of certain plastic surgery. The main concern is the high risk of suicide from women who undergo cosmetic surgery. One study found that "women who recieve breast implants are two to three times as liekly to kill themselves as those who have not." Reasons of this include drug and alcohol abuse more likely in patients as well as BDD disorder and women's brain chemistry altered from leaking implants. However, Nowak states that many of these studies have not been proved 100% accurate, so many surgeons and researchers dismiss the "assumptions". One factor that also could contribute to the high risk of suicide is women's peronality traits and/or disorders that are not obvious to surgeons. One thing that Nowak states is "Some surgeons say if a patient elects to do it, shouldn't i go ahead? My answer is: You as the surgeon can elect not to do it." This article describes some of the issues of cosmetic surgery in the world today.

My whole break has been filled with The Tenth Circle. Even on Thanksgiving I escaped from my family games and read a few pages! It's too hard to put down!

 My new blog begins when Trixie and Zephyr throw a raging party to try and get Trixie's mind off Jason. Trixie's plan however is the total opposite and just wants to try and win him back with a little jealousy. On her way to Zephyrs, Trixie changed behind a neighbor's house into a see threw black top and such low cut jeans she couldn't even wear underwear. When she reached Zephyr's, immediately she was told to put on a bright red lipstick. The game was called "Rainbow" and the boy at the end of the  night with the most colors won. Shot after shot, Trixie began tumbling around the kitchen. By the end of the night, all that were left were Trixie Zephyr Ross and Jason. They decided to play strip poker, Trixie's perfect chance to make Jason jealous. Jason finally snapped when trixie threw herself on Ross after he took a picture of her in her bra. He punched his best friend Ross square in the face. Trixie thought she won him back at this, and once Ross and Zephyr went upstairs, she let Jason hold her in his arms. Before she knew it they were on the ground together. When she reached home that night, she felt horrible. When her father came into the bathrooom, she cried and said Jason had raped her.

I am completely obsessed with this book! Throughout the whole weekend, I could not stop reading!

If you remember from my last blog, Trixie is in love with a boy named Jason. He is a junior, two years older than Trixie, which scares Daniel but Laura makes sure that he stays out of the relationship. Trixie however is dumped by Daniel and is a mess. Her days are long and tiresome, she can't get him out of her head, and is comforted by a razor blade digging into her wrists. This isn't like Trixie but she knows that Jason is the only one for her and she just can't let him go. Her best friend Zephyr is the total opposite from Trixie and tries to help get her mind off of Jason. Zephyr let's say has been around the block a few times, and tries to convince Trixie that the more guys you do stuff with, the less it seems to matter. However, it doesn't help that Jason sits just a few seats behind her in Psychology. Friday night, Trixie is invited over to Zephyrs for a rainbow party. Trixie knows that Jason will be there, so she makes sure that she is looking hot. When she gets to Zephyr's however she starts to drink, and everything from then on out is a disaster...

I have just started reading the book The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult. I found this because of my obsession with My Sisters' Keeper that i read last year for outside reading. What intrigues me most about Picoult is that her novels really relate to today's society and the characters are close in age to young adults.
The Tenth Circle is about a girl named Trixie and her life as a 9th grade student at Bethel High School, along with her parents Daniel and Laura; Laura is a professor at Monroe College teaching the subject of Dante, and Daniel is a comic book artist. The book sort of switches off from each of the main characters, and their view on what is happening to go on in their life at the moment. Right now, I am learning all about the troubles of Daniel and Laura's marriage, and how they have begun to slip away from eachother. Laura is in the midst of an affair with one of her college students, and Daniel is so worked up in his new comic strip he hasn't payed much attention to her absence. However, Daniel puts much of his effort into his relationship with Trixie. He dwells over how fast she has grown up, and reminisces about the days when they would dream of becoming superheroes. Worst of all, Trixie has replaced her father with her new love Jason.

I-35W bridge collapse

A little over a year ago, August 1, 2007, the I-35 W bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River. The death of 13 citizens made the collapse even more devastating. A terrifying moment for the Twin Cities, the main priority that day was to try to rescue everyone, and later find the cause. This tragic event was a scary moment for me and my family, because we had relatives coming to our cabin that day across the I-35 bridge that same day. Thankfully they were OK, but ever since then I have wanted to know what made the huge bridge crumble into pieces. 

This article shares the design issues that investigators found when analyzing the bridge collapse. They discovered that the gusset plates, located in the center of the bridge failed to hold the 287-ton construction load crossing the bridge that day. Not only did this heavy load impact the collapse however; the constant heavy loads on the bridge daily were an issue, as well as the failure to calculate the thickness of the gusset plates. The gusset plates, only measuring 1/2 inch, should have been 1 inch, proving the designers did not perform the task of calculating the thickness. The investigators will share these findings to the Washington headquarters on Nov. 13, which will help determine the final report on preventing this problem in the future.

I hope the investigator's findings are correct, so there will never be this issue again in the future!

CAR CRASH

For my final blog, I found an article dealing with a horrible accident which happened here in the Twin Cities. Today on the news they had an extra on the car crash, so i decided to find more details from the Star Tribune.

Just this past New Years a young woman, by the name of Elizabeth R. Rhodes, (now married with the last name Jacobson) was apart of a fatal car accident on Highway 10, around 3:30 am. The victim's involved in the accident were Deputy Sheriff Joseph Lopez and his wife, Maggie, who died in her husbands arms. Rhodes, who was overly drunk, was going the opposite direction on the highway, and collided head on with Lopez's squad car. Earlier in the evening, Elizabeth and her then boyfriend were found by the police at their apartment, after a neighbor complained, and were told to cool down. By the time the officer who had visited Rhodes caught up to her car, it was too late. Recently, Rhodes went to the stand, and quote "entered Alford pleas to charges of criminal vehicular homicide and criminal vehicular operation." This means that the defended agrees their is enough evidence to arrest her, but she does not plead guilty. 

What a horrific story! Obviously Rhodes to me is in fault for the accident, but i'm sure she never intended to hurt anybody that night. In the real world however, that doesn't mean all that much if you intended to do something or not. Rhode's judgement was impaired, but that does not make her choice to drive while intoxicated ok. I think her choice to enter Alford pleas is stupid, with the evidence that the prosecuter has, but at the same time she has a family who she wants to be with and not in jail. The death of Maggie lopez is terrible and I hope that the Lopez family is doing better!

Petter's Scandal

For my fourth blog, I decided to go a different route than what I have been doing in the past. After hearing a lot of rumors dealing with the Petters Co. fraud, I wanted to see for myself what was up! The article, Petters' cronies plead guilty in fraud scheme, is from the Star Tribune website. 

In this article, Petters' business partners confess their involvement in the investment scheme; Petters' business, for over 12 years, created false documents to fool investors into funding fake merchandise. The company gathered over $3 billion from fraudulent loans. The process included falsifying bank documents, purchase orders and invoices in order to convince lenders and investors to fund their business. The laundered money was used to keep the scheme alive, and pay large bonuses to the employees helping the clandestine business. But most of all, a large portion was in the hands of Petters, helping him live a lavished lifestyle. This week, a whistle blower, by the name of Deanna Coleman, uncovered and admitted to participating in the scandal, and offered to help investigators with Petters' case. She, as well as other partners who came forth, are looking at huge fines and many years in jail. Petters', at this point, is in jail, and could be sentenced to life. 

I am amazed that this scandal lasted so long! It's crazy to think that Petters' got away with 12 years of fraud, and made so much dough! No one gets away with something like this though, it always comes and bites you in the butt! Yet the way the company totally made up merchandise, and the lenders didn't even think to look into it is SO strange to me! How long would the scandal have continued if it hadn't been for Deanna Coleman? She, to me, is somewhat of a hero. I know she committed a very large crime but to have the guts to confess, knowing she was screwed in the situation, shows she is a strong woman. I hope Petters' gets what he deserves, and way to go Coleman!!