I remembered this interesting site from Sociology class, a while back. It displays different facts about what's considered "acceptable" behavior in a variety of countries. It also gives you tips on how to avoid making a fool out of yourself if you visit that country. You'd be amazed at what's appropriate and inappropriate in Europe. Here's a few ideas I thought were pretty unique....
Italy--Italians are known for using the most body language of all European nations.
Germany--Do not give pointed objects (gifts) like knives, scissors, umbrellas (considered unlucky).
UK--Never try to sound British or mimic their accent. Also,
Humor is ever-present in English life. It is often self-deprecating, ribbing, sarcastic, sexist or racist. Try not to take offense.
Russia--Do not expect to find smoke-free areas anywhere. A standard joke among foreign businesspeople in Russia is that Russian buildings have two sections: "smoking" and "chain-smoking."
*Check out different countries. When finished, click on "The United States." I thought it was really funny what advice foreigners would recieve about us.
EUROPEAN TIPS
Russia Facts
No, i don't expect anyone to seriously read through these facts... but browsing through them might catch interest. I noticed that Russia has about 15 deaths to every 10 births. Under religion, the factbook states that Russia has a large population of non-believers. They also have a 99.6% literacy rate... compare that with the world average of 82% literate.
I also had no idea that Russia day is on June 12th. And Agriculture only accounts for 5% of their Gross Domestic Product.
"Our plan would give taxpayers a hundred dollar gas tax holiday rebate check to help ease the pain that they're feeling at the pump," I am not sure that this gas rebate is a good thing, because on the radio this morning they were talking about how essentially it is just returning our money back to us, wouldn’t it just be more beneficial for us to lower prices. I am not sure, say what you think, of this. I do also believe that it may be difficult to decide who gats one and who doesn’t, we will see if it even get through the senate.
This article focuses on the fact that Iran is not going to give up their nuclear power. I think that it is a sad thing that Iran will not, but I also think that they have the right to have the weapons. No one tries to take away our nuclear bombs. One problem I have with it is that is scares me is the fact that they have them and may not know how powerful beam they are.
YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE THIS!
Actually I just wanted you to check out my sweet picture on my profile. Check it out!
Goverment Problems
Today in the US we are dealing with mass chaos in the US white house situation with people stepping down and people wanting others to step down like Donald Rumsfeld, but in the UK a deputy under Tony Blair admitted to having an 2 year affair with another women. To read more go to this link.
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/04/26/uk.prescott.reut/index.html
Complaining about gas prices...look at this....
Everyone has been noticing the rising gas prices in the area and the rumors that have been swirling about it going to $4 a gallon. Take a look at this website and see what the prices per gallon are in Europe. I know we are mad about the prices here but I think we should be a little happy we aren't filling up our big SUV's with gas that costs $7 a gallon.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0826/p01s03-woeu.html
Is cheaper gas coming?
Bush Halts Deposits to Oil Reserve
President Bush ordered a temporary halt to deposits to the strategic oil reserves today in an effort to increase availability and reduce prices of gasoline for consumers. It sounds like this plan will continue until fall but wont have any negative impact on the oil reserves which are in place to protect against a sudden shortage of petroleum; in cases of war or natural disaster for example. He also eased federal environmental regulations on fuel production. Those regulations were scheduled to begin requiring refineries to blend ethanol with gasoline to reduce emissions.
The President said, “Our addiction to oil is a matter of national security concerns. After all, today we get about 60 percent of our oil from foreign countries. That's up from 20 years ago, where about 25 percent of our oil came from foreign countries.”
Today, Shimon Peres led 8,000 people on a two-mile walk from Auschwitz to Birkenau in commemoration of those who had perished in Birkenau and the Holocaust. Among the walkers was Shmuel Blumenfeld, a survivor from Auschwitz; the horrors of the Holocaust can never be taken away, but it is good to see the deeds we do these days to honor all of those who we have lost. For the full article concerning the march, go to the website below.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/04/25/holocaust.ap/index.html
Blogging Grades
Ok, I'm going back to April 1st and regrading all the posts and comments for the first three weeks of this month. I will take your total number of posts between 4/1 and 4/24 (to midnight) and create three new grading slips.
Please reread the rubric. Quality counts. If you are going to post a comment that basically says nothing more than I agree with the previous post you are not going to get as many points as you would if you add something of substance. Please be aware that it is like anything else in your life, you get back in proportion to what you put in. You wouldn't expect to get playing time in your sport without practice or get a raise at your job without showing effort; you wont get a good blogging grade without putting in some thought.
I'm not going to dump this as an activity because some of you don't like it. I think it is a useful part of the class and it gives us an opportunity to learn and discuss things we don't always have time for. If you are having a hard time finding time to participate come and talk to me about an alternate assignment that you could do that would be substantively similar.
Revised Vatican Policy due to Condoms?
Currently, the Vatican says the best way to fight HIV/AIDS is through abstinence. However, this highly criticized stance could change. After Pope Benedict XVI asked the Vatican's council for health care to study the issue, there have been signs that the document could be a major revision of Vatican policy. Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini was quoted saying that the use of condoms was "a lesser evil". Although the Vatican has not yet made an official comment or projected a date for the revised policy, Cardinal Barragan told a newspaper reporter that, "Soon the Vatican will issue a document about the use of condoms by persons who have grave diseases, starting with Aids."
Did he just say condoms?
Area Codes
One area of geography that I was thinking of tonight is area codes. These are the small 3 digit set of numbers that are placed in front of your phone number to help identify where you live. What your area code in a large city area such as Minneapolis/St. Paul often dictates what area of the metro you reside in.
I think area codes serve an important purpose when making calls because they help to organize the phone number system that we use in the country. They are also important in the population geography of an area. I remember when Minneapolis/St. Paul had 1 area code (612), but now I believe they have 4 (612, 952, 763, 651). The number of area codes in this case clearly shows that Minneapolis/St. Paul has required the addition of additional area codes as suburbs and areas of the metro continue growth. Check out the Area Code website I found, and notice the pattern of a larger population equals more area codes.
Area Codes
My Space Students
Tonight KARE11.com ran a story about an eigth grader that is now in trouble because he has created a My Space profile, with the help of other students, that portrays his teacher a sex offender. Of course the profile is fake, but the students are now in a lot of trouble and could be facing expulsion. Two points: first, this really shows the growth and popularity in technologies. Years ago, even though the internet wasn't around, this story wouldn't be heard of. My Space has become such a popular site amongst tens of millions of people that now we begin to see cases like this develop. Second, we begin to see the impacts of technology on the people of the world. In this case, the impact of technology was bad because a student was using the site inappropriately.
As our world becomes more connected through social networking sites such as MySpace, we need to continue to be aware of what children are putting on the internet. My Space is like a large city online with so many people and everyone needs to know how to be safe.
Bad Students
Tonight KARE11.com ran a story about an eigth grader that is now in trouble because he has created a My Space profile, with the help of other students, that portrays his teacher a sex offender. Of course the profile is fake, but the students are now in a lot of trouble and could be facing expulsion. Two points: first, this really shows the growth and popularity in technologies. Years ago, even though the internet wasn't around, this story wouldn't be heard of. My Space has become such a popular site amongst tens of millions of people that now we begin to see cases like this develop. Second, we begin to see the impacts of technology on the people of the world. In this case, the impact of technology was bad because a student was using the site inappropriately.
As our world becomes more connected through social networking sites such as MySpace, we need to continue to be aware of what children are putting on the internet. My Space is like a large city online with so many people and everyone needs to know how to be safe.
Bad Students
Tonight KARE11.com ran a story about an eigth grader that is now in trouble because he has created a My Space profile, with the help of other students, that portrays his teacher a sex offender. Of course the profile is fake, but the students are now in a lot of trouble and could be facing expulsion. Two points: first, this really shows the growth and popularity in technologies. Years ago, even though the internet wasn't around, this story wouldn't be heard of. My Space has become such a popular site amongst tens of millions of people that now we begin to see cases like this develop. Second, we begin to see the impacts of technology on the people of the world. In this case, the impact of technology was bad because a student was using the site inappropriately.
As our world becomes more connected through social networking sites such as MySpace, we need to continue to be aware of what children are putting on the internet. My Space is like a large city online with so many people and everyone needs to know how to be safe.
Mumps Case in Washington County
A mumps outbreak is currently occuring in Iowa and now there is worry that one case that turned up in Minnesota could be part of the outbreak. A woman was diagnosed with Mumps in Washington County and now officials are looking to see if it is somehow connected with the outbreak occuring in Iowa.
This is especially big news for us because we are close to the Iowa border. Already in Iowa 975 cases were reported. In today's world we especilly need to be careful because of the contact we have with people from so many different places.
The outbreak is in Iowa, but we live in a connected world so the outbreak doesn't have to stay in Iowa. We need to be careful as this disease begins to make a new showing.
Mumps in Washington County
This is actually old news, but I remeber it ever since finding that Nazi shaped building on Google Earth. A while back, a plane was going over the German wood during the fall season and happened to see a yellow swastika from the air. Turns out, in 1938, this infamous symbol was planted in commemerence with Htiler's birthday at the time. They have been trying to get rid of the certain yellow leaf tree but it keeps popping up. In my personal opinion I find this site almost historical and should be kept intact. But, I guess Germany would like to forget that age back in the forties. This news is from 1992, so i don't know if they've permenately removed it or not. But if they hadn't? Should this be kept as a global and historical notice for the world to see?
Britain's Economy Gets a Boost
Over the past three years, Britain has received more than 300,000 migrant workers to the UK mostly from Poland and Slovenia. They work in areas ranging from agriculture to hospitality and their hardwork has changed many aspects of life in Britain. The recent wave of immigration has regulated inflation, increased output, and increased tax revenue. Also interest rates are .5% lower. It has made the UK's workforce younger, more flexible and economical, and eased pensions. It is predicted that Britain's GDP will grow from 2.6% to 3% by 2008.
Economic Growth
I found a really interesting site that revolves around the lifestyles of swedish teens. I think that you can simply learn about a country by reading a text book. However, sometimes it's more important to hear from the citizens themselves. In this site you get the chance to meet 6 Swedes-Inga,Veronica, David, Märta, Mackan and Marcus. Each of them have their own stories, personal opinions, and view of Sweden from their very own eyes. One 19-year old girl who lives there belongs to an ethnic and linguistic minority called "Sami." She discusses her cultural lifestyle, filled with herding reindeer and making handi-crafts. I thought her quote was kind of amusing.......
***“It’s astounding how little Swedes know about the Sami. A lot of people think we’ve got polar bears running around on the strret and that we live in Lapp tents all year round. I surf and e-mail people at least once a week. We’re just as modern as anyone else.”
To go to the site yourself, click the link. Then click on one of the names listed. Each person has about 3 articles.
YOUNG_SWEDESI also think you should go here too. It gives you interesting facts on the country.
BRIEF FACTS ON SWEDEN
German Film Helps Rekindle Debate over Stasi
Since the communist rule fell in Germany in 1989, not many people have been made aware of Germany's Secret Service; the Statsi. At least not until the release of "Life of the Others", a film depicting the disturbing life in the Statsi prison. It has been a popular movie among the critics, but others think the movie (that took a year to interview former Statsi soldiers) demonizes the prison.
It's been said the Statsi created fear and paranoia on both sides of the Berlin Wall and that people deny the Statsi like they denied the concentration camps. Over 200,000 people served time in the Statsi prison from 1951-1989 where they were humiliated, intimidated, confused, and isolated. Prisoners would have to sleep face up, with hands on their sides if they didn't want to be abruptly shook awake. Also, they could have twenty minutes in the "Tiger Cage" a week, where they could exercise under supervised conditions. Finally a six meter wall surrounded the prison so many people didn't know it even existed. 100,000 court cases have gone up against the Statsi, although many didn't go through the court system. Their are many authors and former guards and soldiers that say all claims against the prison are false. However, the release of this movie will hopefully initiate the search for the truth.
Statsi
