Dying

What comes after death?
Do some people really "die" momentarily and then come back to life?

Are psychics truly able to predict death?
Can some people communicate with the dead?
Is everybody afraid of death, or are some people unphased by it?
Is it easy to accept an imminent death?

Life Expectancies
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2102rank.html
(CIA 2010)

• The life expectancy of the average citizen in the US is 78.11 years, which is 49th on the list of countries
• Macau is first with 84.36 years

http://www.actionbioscience.org/evolution/johanson.html.
"Origins of Modern Humans: Multiregional or Out of Africa?". ActionBioscience.

• Homo sapiens are believed to have originated and begun interbreeding around 2.5 million years ago

http://geography.about.com/od/populationgeography/a/lifeexpectancy.htm
 Life Expectancy, Overview of Life Expectancy, By Matt Rosenberg 2010

• Humans alive in ancient Roman times are only estimated to have had a life expectancy of 22-25 years

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/lcod.htm
by Jiaquan Xu t al, 2010

• In 2007, heart disease was the leading cause of death in the US with 616,067 deaths

http://www.thecentenarian.co.uk/how-many-people-live-to-hundred-across-the-globe.html
(Centenarian 2010)

• There are approximately 72,000 centenarians living in the US today

http://www.massagetherapyschools.net/blog/2008/101-ways-to-increase-your-longevity-and-quality-of-life/

• Ways to promote longevity are to:   Eat balanced, smaller meals, exercise, avoid smoking, laugh, think positvely, own a pet, get a job that you enjoy

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/06/AR2010040600758.html

• About 4.2 million babies were born in 2008

Afterlife
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/death
Death= The total and permanent cessation of all the vital functions of an organism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_death_experience#REM_state
(van Lommel P, 2001) "Near-Death Experience in Survivors of Cardiac Arrest: A prospective Study in the Netherlands," The Lancet, December 15

• NDE's are near death experiences
• NDE's usually include a 'tunnel' feeling, warmth and love, a life summary, an unpleasant sound, and a feeling as if a person is out of his or her body
• Pim van Lommel conducted a study in the Netherlands in 2001 and found that 62(18%) out of 345 revived cardiac arrest victims had experienced a NDE
• According to the Gallup and Proctor survey in 1980-1981, of a sample of the US population, data showed that 15% had an NDE.

http://www.wcg.org/lit/booklets/spirit/spirit4.htm
(Grace Communion International, 1999)

• Channeling: a paranormal experience alleged to be contact between a human being and an entity from the spirit world
• Thomas Edison conceived the possibility of instrumental communication with the dead

http://www.christianinformation.org/article.asp?artID=61

• According to a USA Today article (Greg Barrett, “Can the living talk to the dead?” USA Today, (6/20/2001), Section D) 28% of Americans “believe that people can hear from or communicate mentally with the dead.”
• “another 26% aren’t sure, but won’t rule it out.”

Confronting/Coping with death
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death
Aubrey D.N.J, de Grey (2007). "Life Span Extension Research and Public Debate: Societal Considerations" (PDF). Studies in Ethics, Law, and Technology 1 (1, Article 5)http://www.mfoundation.org/files/sens/ENHANCE-PP.pdf. Retrieved March 20, 2009.

• Roughly 150,000 people die each day around the world

http://www.allaboutscience.org/theory-of-natural-selection-faq.htm

• Charles Darwin developed the theory of evolution and natural selection to explain why people die
• Only the strongest and best-adapted organisms can reproduce and pass on their genes to thrive in the environment

http://religions.pewforum.org/pdf/report2religious-landscape-study-key-findings.pdf
(US Religious Landscape Survey, 2008)

• 70% of Americans affiliated with a religion belive that many different religions lead to eternal life
• 74% of Americans believe in an afterlife
• 59% of Americans believe in Hell

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/525639_1
"Cross-Cultural Beliefs, Ceremonies, and Rituals Surrounding Death of a Loved One "
(Clements et al., 2003; Spector, 2000)

• Hinduism follows beliefs in karma and previous lives
• After a person achieves enough good deeds through their lives, his or her soul is freed
• In Hindu culture, a deceased person's body has rituals conducted for it over a 10 day span, during which, it is believed that the spirit wathches over the deceased's family 
• On the 11th day, it is believed that the deceased's spirit leaves the body

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/525639_5
"Cross-Cultural Beliefs Surrounding Death of a Loved One: Before Death: Beliefs"
(Sandra L. Lobar, 2006)

• Asian cultures assosciate the number "4" with death, so they avoid placing an ill person in a room with a "4"
• Asian cultures also do not like having an ill person's feet facing a door because their feet are carried out first if they die

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Rites
 Hapgood, Isabel Florence (1975), Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic Church (Revised ed.), Englewood NJ: Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese, pp. 360–366

• Christians have "Last Rites" given to them on their deathbed in the "Anointing of the Sick" ceremony

Power

How do people rise to power?
Is their no limit to the amount of power that one person can obtain?
Can success be measured by the amount of power that a person has?
What makes power such an attractive acqusition?
Do people feel a need to have power over others?
Is most of the power over our nation held by our government, the people, or something else?

Mind Control

Is it possible for one human to control another human's mind?
In what ways would mind control be either beneficial or detremental?
Would mind control be legal?
Are studies and research being conducted that are investigating mind control?
Is the ability to take over another human's mind ethical?

The use of mind control should not ever be permitted.
Morality


Existence/How it Works
http://www.factnet.org/Thought_Reform_Exists.htm

• Mind control exists through "coersive persuasion"
• The effctiveness of the control usually depneds on the relationship between a leader and his/her followers
• Physical harm or punishment is not used

http://www.factnet.org/coercion.html

• Mind control includes braiwashing, thought reform, and coersive persuasion
• Uses humiliation, repetition, and sleep deprivation to increase control
• A "cult", or a destructive group looking to use mind control, usually leads the operation

http://www.factnet.org/rancho2.htm#four

• The effects of mind control vary from person to person depending on the individual's psychological state, past memories, and personality
• Victims of mind control often join a cult that they believe is something different or more beneficial to them

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_control

• It is believed that the idea of mind control originated from the Chinese in the Korean War.
• American POWs were put through humiliation, peer pressure, and given promises of better conditions if they would release war informaton
• Forensic psychologist Dick Anthony claimed that the CIA termed the phrase "brainwashing" after the war to give a reason for the prisoners' admissions to communist loyalty

http://www.onlinecourses.org/2009/07/20/25-scary-facts-about-brainwashing/

• The Chinese attempted to use mind control after Chinese Communists took control over their country in 1949
• Isolation, guilt, stress, and the pursuit of perfection are usually imposed upon victims

Use
http://www.factnet.org/Thought_Reform_Exists.htm

• The goal is to produce specific attitudinal and behavioral changes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKULTRA#Revelation

• The CIA conducted Project MKULTRA in the early 1950's to approximately1964.

http://www.mediamonitors.net/harunyahya42.html

• The Nazis used brainwashing techniques in the forms of biased  movies, books, posters, and history in order to help gain support in their conquest to eliminate Jewish societies

Effects
http://www.erowid.org/psychoactives/war/mkultra/mkultra_article1.shtml

• In cases such as Project MKULTRA, it was apparent that drug-related methods of brainwashing mainly created amnesia and only a temporary relaxation of a victim's awareness of the situation

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g2699/is_0000/ai_2699000045/

• Brainwashing needs to be practiced for long periods of time in order to increase effectiveness
• Most brainwashing victims recover from their altered mindset after they are removed from their hostile environment

http://www.cultnews.com/archives/000026.html

• In the case of the infamous abduction of Elizabeth Smart in 2002, the fourteen-year-old girl undertook the new name, "Augustine"
• Elizabeth was seen by many witnesses as being very cooperative with her captors in public and she "acted like she was part of the family".Associated Press
• The police who talked to Ms. Smart said that she was also speaking in a biblical language

Greed

Why are humans attracted to greed?
Is greed seen as a positive subject or a negative one?
Can greed be avoided?
Even though wealth presents new opportunities, does greed accompany it as well?
Is greed found in everyone?
Where is most of the world's and nation's wealth concentrated?

Heart Attacks

Who is susceptible to heart attacks?
Why do heart attacks occur?
Can heart attacks be prevented?
What percentage of heart attacks are lethal?

Heart attacks occur in fewer instances when a person leads a healthy lifestyle by maintaining a healthy diet, staying physically active, and choosing not to smoke. 

General
http://www.cdc.gov/DHDSP/library/fs_heart_failure.htm
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Fact Sheets and At-A-Glance Reports." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (January 25, 2010). Web. Sept. 28, 2010.

• In 2010, heart failure will cost the United States $39.2 billion

http://www.cdc.gov/features/heartmonth/

• In 2009, an estimated 785,000 Americans had a new coronary attack

http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/artic/heart_attacks_nhlbi.htm

• 1.1 million Americans suffer from a heart attack annually (2003 data)
• 460,000 heart attacks are fatal

http://www.mamashealth.com/Heart_stat.asp

• Every 20 seconds, a person in the United States has a heart attack
• Smoking lowers the threshold for angina (chest pain resulting from a lack of oxygen in the blood)

Smoking
http://quitsmoking.about.com/od/tobaccostatistics/a/heartdiseases.htm

• Toxins in the blood from smoking cigarettes contribute to the development of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries)
• Fatty plaque is built up along the inner walls of the arteries, eventually forming blood clots

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4545

• Cigarette smoking is so widespread and significant as a risk factor that the Surgeon General has called it "the leading preventable cause of disease and deaths in the United States."
• Smoking decreases HDL (good) cholesterol

http://www.stop-smoking-tips.com/smoking-heart-diseases.html

• Almost 40 % of those who died from smoking die from heart and blood vessel disease
• Nicotine in tobacco smoke can increase blood pressure causing the heart to work harder.
• Carbon monoxide replaces oxygen in your blood
• Smokers who have a heart attack are more likely to die within an hour of the heart attack

http://www.mamashealth.com/Heart_stat.asp

• Smoking increases heart muscle oxygen demand by 10%
• Smoking lowers the threshold for angina (chest pain resulting from a lack of oxygen in the blood)
• People who are sedentary, or do not exercise, are almost twice as likely to have a heart attack

Healthy Diet
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/Cad/CAD_WhatIs.html

• Artery plaque is the build-up of a combination of fat, choesterol, and calcium

http://www.nutralegacy.com/blog/tag/artery-plaque/

• Foods containing many hydrogenated oils and saturated fats can lead to plaque build-up along the artery walls
• Fruits and vegetables help to treat and eliminate plaque build-up

http://www.cdc.gov/features/heartmonth/

• Cut back on foods high in dietary cholesterol. Aim to eat less than 300 mg of cholesterol each day.
• Aim to eat less than 2,300 mg of sodium per day

 http://www.annecollins.com/nutrition/heart-facts.htm

• When too much (low density lipoprotein) LDL-cholesterol is in the blood, it can lead to cholesterol buildup in the arteries.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/heart-attack/DS00094/DSECTION=risk-factors

• A high level of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (the "good" cholesterol) helps the body clean up excess cholesterol and lowers your risk of heart attack.
• A diet high in salt can raise your blood pressure
• If you're under stress, you may overeat

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/actintime/rhar/lew.htm

• The risk for developing heart and other diseases increases with a waist measurement of more than 40 inches in men and more than 35 inches in women.

Physical Activity
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/heart-attack/DS00094/DSECTION=risk-factors

• An inactive lifestyle contributes to high blood cholesterol levels and obesity.
• Obesity raises the risk of heart disease because it's associated with high blood cholesterol levels, high blood pressure and diabetes.
• Exercise helps prevent a heart attack by helping you to achieve and maintain a healthy weight and control diabetes, elevated cholesterol and high blood pressure.
• Walking 30 minutes a day, five days a week can improve your health

http://www.health.state.ny.us/diseases/chronic/cvd.htm

• Less active people have a 30-50 percent greater risk of developing high blood pressure
• Only about 22 percent of Americans report regular sustained physical activity (activity of any intensity lasting 30 minutes or more 5 times a week).

Paranoia

What is paranoia?
Is paranoia only self-inflicted, or may people impose it on one another?
Who is vulnerable to paranoia?
Is paranoia preventable?
What does paranoia lead to?