pets for emotional support

People buy pets for many reasons, but one reason in particular has caught my eye. this is emotional support. Pets have comforted people for years.

Edwin Gelhert was on his death bed in a hospital when Tom, a tabby cat, came to him and comforted him during his last couple minutes alive. Tom allowed Edwin to pass away peacefully just by his presents. This is just one example of pets helping people with emotional support.

Pets, especially cats and dogs, bring a warm/lighthearted feel to no only their owner but to others as well. According to (www.webmd.com) pets can relieve stress and even lower the rate of heart disease by lowering blood pressure and cholesterol. 

http://abcnews.go.com/US/tom-cat-brings-comfort-dying-patients-calming-presence/story?id=26485583

Response to Ebola Outbreak

Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person to be infected with Ebola in the United States, died on the 8th of October after receiving 11 days of treatment. Two nurses came in contact with the infected patient, Amber Vinson and Nina Pham. Vinson Pham was diagnosed with Ebola the morning of October 15th. Before then, on the 10th MS. Vinson flew on a commercial plane even though she was supposed to be monitored. Who knows how many people Ms. Vinson came in contact with, how many people she could have infected.

The government needs to be more careful with this virus. Mr. Duncan came in contact with at least 70 workers at the hospital (BBC news). When an incredibly deadly virus is being treated in a hospital the workers should all have proper equipment, this means goggles, masks, full body suits, and gloves. We should do out best to contain the virus, but instead, due to the carelessness of some, we are spreading it. This disease is responsible for over 4,000 deaths in west Africa (BBC News). we can't let a virus like that damage our population that much. So what are we going to do?

In my opinion, since the virus is already in the US there is no use to do something irrational, and out of panic, like close of the borders from west Africa to the US. Instead we should put more effort into containing the virus, we need to have hospital staff in fully protective gear. We should also put more funding into the CDC and for scientific research, so that this kind of thing doesn't happen again.

According to BBC news here are a few ways to not catch Ebola

Avoid direct contact with sick patients as the virus is spread through contaminated body fluids

• Wear goggles to protect eyes
• Clothing and clinical waste should be incinerated and any medical equipment that needs to be kept should be decontaminated
• People who recover from Ebola should abstain from sex or use condoms for three months

There is no need to panic over something like this, but people should be aware that this is still a problem. The government needs to be more careful with this delicate situation. There needs to be more training done in hospitals and more money going into research for development of a cure.

Response to "Exposing Hidden Bias at Google to Improve Diversity"

Race and gender should not be a deciding factor in job placement and hiring. According to nytimes.com men make up 83 percent of Google's engineering employees and 79 percent of its managers. NY times also stated that "Google said that of its 36 executives and top-ranking managers, just three are women. In 2012, Google's interest in hidden bias was sparked when Mr. Bock read an article in the New York Times, the effect of the article was so persuasive that researchers theorized the discrimination must be governed by unconscious cultural biases rather than overt sexism (nytimes.com). After its self-realization, Google could tackle the issue of hidden bias that was corrupting its company by putting its employees through training.

In my opinion skill should be the only deciding factor when hiring employees. Gender and race should not play a role when hiring, whether it be that the company simply faces a problem with being bias or in response being bias the company starts hiring more women and more diverse ethnic groups not based on skill but solely because they feel like they need more diversity in the company. in any case I feel like Google made the right decision when it put its employees through training.

There is evidence that the training is working. Mr. Bock says "suddenly you go from being completely oblivious to going, 'Oh my god, it's everywhere,' ". In a new building, someone pointed out that all of the buildings were named after male scientists, in the past this may have gone unmentioned, but this time the names were changed (nytimes.com).

All though the hidden bias problem seems to be getting better inside Google. Even Google does not know if this will lead to long term change for the company and even the tech industry as a whole (nytimes.com).