China marks completion of Three Gorges Dam
Even though we have already discussed East Asia, I thought it would be interesting to post this article on the Three Gorges Dam.
On Saturday, China completed the construction of the controversial Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydroelectricity project. The 607-foot-high, 7,574-foot-long dam on the Yangtze River is the world's largest dam of reinforced concrete, with a total of 28 million cubic meters of concrete to be poured. The official China Daily in an editorial called for people to remember the more than 100 people who died during the dam’s construction, as well as the 1.3 million people facing relocation to make way for the dam’s reservoir. The $25 billion project has been criticized for its environmental impact and its affect on so many people. The entire project is set to be completed in 2009, when the reservoir will reach its full level and its 26 turbines will all come online, bringing its total power generating capacity to 18 gigawatts.
Supporters say the benefits of the project far outweigh the costs. The principal advantage of the project is to generate power to keep pace with China's economic growth. It is estimated that China's power output must rise by 8 percent annually to keep pace with 6 percent annual increase in gross national product. Another advantage of the dam is to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide; generating electricity equal to about 40 million tons of coal. China's growing coal consumption poses a huge threat to the environment. Sulfur dioxide emissions, which cause acid rain, are expected to rise from 15.5 million tons in 1991 to 1.4 billion. The project was also built to help prevent flooding of the river. However, the project also has its disadvantages. It is said to cause devastating environmental damage, increasing the risk of earthquakes and landslides. It will also threaten the rivers wildlife. In addition to massive fish species, it will also affect endangered species, including the Yangtze dolphin, the Chinese Sturgeon, the Chinese Tiger, the Chinese Alligator, the Siberian Crane, and the Giant Panda.
Three Gorges Dam
This is just a really good site called
Good News India. It shows many of the positive things happening in India that are not well known. I think it's great to have sites like this to remind people that the oh so depressing news is only half of whats going on.
Did you know that in India, 31 babies are born in one minute? I'm sure everyone has heard about population difficulties in both China and India, but recent studies have shown that the problem is growing worse for India. I found a good website that addresses India's population problems. It has some great information, including why these population dilemmas have even started in the first place. According to some citizens population is the the problem. The real problem is the lack of education and poor economic conditions. If the birthrate of India (31 per thousand people) continues, researchers believe that India will beat China in population by the year 2025. I think that the government needs to get more involved to create a better education system. If they don't, India just might be the next largest country (in population), in the world.
WEBSITE:http://www.indiaeyewitness.com/Channels/Issues.asp?category=Population%20Control
India stuff
I found a very interesting story about India online. It says that countrys defense installation is displayed on Google Earth is ok to have. After reading about that I wonder how many other things like that are on google earth and the consequences of having them on there. Here is the link to the website
Link:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1538679.cms
Human right groups fighting the practice of female infanticide in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu have launched a new campaign. They are now coming to the aid of mothers found guilty of killing their new-born babies. Surveys indicate that 16 new-born girls in every 1,000 in Tamil Nadu are killed. But rights campaigners say the mother of an unwanted girl child is as much a victim as the baby. Killing baby girls soon after birth is widely practised in poor southern districts of the state, with some areas reporting 15% deaths among female babies.
In this article, it says that 28 people were killed in India overnight from heavy rainfall and hail storms. 28 people died, while 14 others were injured during the storm. The high deaths were caused from houses collapsing and falling trees due to the thunderstorms.
U.S. Trade Deficit
I found this site that talks about how the U.S. trade deficit has improved. It says one of the main reasons for the improvement is because our deficit with China has leveled out. One of the reasons that it has leveled out is because of our wood exports to China going up, which we talked about last chapter. The link is below.
Trade Deficit
Yao Ming
As we are fairly self-centered here in the United States, we often don't think of people from other countries as being so much of a use to us. Many U.S. citizens are familiar with the NBA star Yao Ming, a baskeball player on the Houston Rockets who is actually from China. Not only is Yao a star in American basketball, but also a "up n' comer" on the movie celebrity list. Brett Ratner, director of the ever popular movie Rush Hour, has expressed much interest in having Yao Ming play a role in a coming movie he wishes to debut. Ratner says he has a specific basketball player that he would like Yao to play in the movie, and thinks this may add to the American attraction for it.
Yao as a Celebrity
Okinawa Troops
As we have just finished studying East Asia in class, I was thinking about some of the important aspects of the chapter. I remember Mrs. Hartman mentioning that we had troops stationed in Okinawa, which is by Japan, but I realized that I had rarely heard anything about these troops. On the news Iraq is often mentioned, so do we assume the troops Okinawa are fine and dandy? There is some "drama" I guess you could say going on in Okinawa between the Japanese and the U.S. troops. Apparently, one of the Japanese men said on the media that U.S. soldiers were "nuts and wimps," which caused flare in the U.S. soldiers. The Japanese commander has since apologized, but the whole deal is kind of funny.
Okinawa Drama
Typhoon pics- I couldn't believe I didn't hear about this! Typhoons are a scary thing, and I am glad I don't live in an area that is affected by them. I read another article saying that after Chanchu hit the Phillipines it was supposed to keep gaining strength. I found this picture that the link is to and it was an awesome pick from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). In the picture, Chanchu had clearly developed a weak spiral form, but did not have tightly wound spiral arms or any apparent eye structure. The winds were estimated to be around 65 miles per hour at the time of the picture. It's a great picture, take a look.
I know we just took the test on this chapter so it's a little late, but I thought this was a cool article. I wonder how the major costal cities will be affected. I bet gas prices will go up for some stupid reason now.
Global Warming: May Kill Millions of Africans
"Rich countries must take responsibility for having largely created this problem -- and cut CO2 emissions radically." New calculations suggest that having risen by 0.6 degrees Celsius in the 20th century, global temperatures could surge three degrees by 2100. Global warming can affect many aspects of the world including the decrease in amount of fresh water, fertile land becoming scarce, and mosquitos to expand their ranges. Global warming is becoming a problem in our world today. We hear about it all the time and the affects that could happen, something needs to be done to decrease the problem!
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/05/15/climate.change.africa.reut/index.html
Bush's Immigration Plan
On Tuesday(May 15th) President Bush gave a speech to the public about his plan on coping with today's increasing immigration problems. Over the years millions of illegal immigrants, mainly from Mexico, have been coming to America and taking our jobs. In his speech he went over his five main objectives on stopping this problem. Take a look this article and tell me if you agree or disagree with Bush's decision.
http://www.sctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060516/NEWS01/105160001&SearchID=73244875633386
Top Ten
http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-top-ten/This site is very fun and interesting to explore. It shows many different maps of the world and the top ten in various categories. One of them is the healthiest another most ice cream consumers, there are also many other ones that are really cool. I thought that the life one was interesting because Japan was number one and we were just talking about them in class. The other one I thought was interesting, the ice cream one, is because it showed that Australia consumed more ice cream than us which I thought was interesting. I think that everyone should check this site out because there is a lot to see on it and it is very interesting.
(to work it jsut scrol down and there is an entire list of top tens)
I found a site about the long-time argued oil drilling in Alaska. Not quite two months ago there was an oil spill in Alaska...again. The oil spill was not found until five days after it happened in Prudhoe Bay. It was detected by a field worker and he smelled it driving by one day. This is making people even more angry about the Bush administration trying to drill oil in Alaska. It is clearly a questionable act.
Notes
Here are some links to notes if anybody missed notes from the last few days. Just click and it should open in Microsoft Word. I condensed my notes when I typed in class so things are a little more straightforward in this set and there are also some missed spots as well to watch out for. Today's notes are also available if you find anything missing from the original set.
Ch 10 WholeCh. 10 Today
This article revolves around a teacher, Debra Brenner who was selected by the Fulbright Memorial Fund to participate in a teacher exchange program. After teaching at a deaf high school for 20 years she was given the opportunity to travel to Japan to teach. She instantly grabbed the chance and had a wonderful time soaking up the culture. I thought her experiences were quite interesting. She was surprised that the students at the Japanese elementary school had to cook their lunches (chefs hats and all) and took on the responsiblites of scrubbing floors, etc. as the only janitors. From her story, it seems like the Japanese students are more attentive and eager to learn than U.S. students. They appear more disciplined and respectful during class. I also thought it was interesting that the Juku schools help to challenge and explore student creativity. However, I can't imagine such a long and neverending school day like that. It's great that these kids are getting such a fulfilling education but don't they need time be what they are--kids? Check out this teacher's article (I know it's a little dated, 1998, but it's still worth reading)
THE AMERICAN TEACHER GOES TO JAPAN
This chapter, I read that Japan is very innovative and is a leader in high-tech fields. This article definitely reinforces these ideas. It discribes how technology and cell phones are advancing in Japan. "With cellular phone in hand, Japanese consumers can purchase from vending machines, buy train tickets, order a bowl of noodles, trade stock, bid at online auctions and change channels on a TV set." One of the most clever ideas with the phones is their security feature. "Once a child returns from school and flashes the phone over a reader, the phone opens the door and automatically sends an e-mail to the parent reporting his or her arrival (kind of like a house key but way better:))." I also think that it's so cool that you can walk up to a concert poster and point your phone at the barcode. It will immediately take you to the internet where you can find out about available seats and ticket prices. The same goes for purchasing items from a magazine. Overall, it seems like people are always looking for ways to improve technology and add more convenience to our lives. This moblie phone industry is so successful in Japan, with 70% of the population owning one. With such revolutionary features, these mobile phones are just another example of the building technology in our world today.
Check out this article. It's pretty interesting.
MOBILE PHONE
Eking Out an Existence in China's Remote Badlands
I heard an interesting story about life in a rural Chinese village on NPR tonight on the drive home. The region is suffering from a ten-year drought and villages are disappearing as folks move out of the region to cities. There are a number of pictures, including one of a traditional house carved out of the side of a hill, and a slide show of life in north-central China. The slide show is particularly interesting with a lot of information about life for kids in rural China.
Update: here is the link to the slide show
Rural China in Transition
and here is a link to the related series of stories
Fattest Cities
I found this site where mens fittnes the magazine published which cities are the fattest and which were the fittest. They have a list of the 25 fattest cites and the 25 fittest cities. I thought it was pretty sweet. When I looked and the 25 fattest not many surprised me when I thought about them. The Fittest surprised me though. The biggest surprise was number 13, Minneapolis. I never thought Minneapolis was that fit of a city.
P.S. Ignore the pictures
China Wood Products
We talked about China needing more wood products in class. I found a site that talks about how the U.S. wood exports to China have dropped dramatically in the last 25 years, but they should go up again because China needs more wood in their country. The only problem is that we sell the wood for a lot more than every other country, so they might not want to be from us.
China Wood Products
McDonalds
I was trying to think of a subject that I could post on here. I was thinking what is something that is well known and is a global topic. Then it hit me McDonalds. So I went to there site to see what I could find, and on there site it has a pull down that says "I'm going to McDonalds... then you pull down the country your going to. I pulled it down and I was amazed at how many nations there were. Now I always knew there are McDonalds everywhere but I was still shocked. Some of the countries are the ones you would expect, Japan, Germany, Finland, USA, but then there is ones like Oman, Qatar, Kuwait. Some are weird. Check it out.
McDonalds
A Day Without Immigrants
On the radio a few days ago, I heard about the plans (and a few days later the results) of a strike by immigrants to the U.S. and their supporters. The plan was that one day, every immigrant (legal and illegal) would simply not show up for work just to show the country how much they need immigrants. Sitting in my car listening to the radio, I thought to myself "big deal, yea we might lose a few thousand dollars but they need us more than we need them". Turns out that it cost some businesses 10 grand, and several billion dollars as a whole country. I looked on the web to find an article about this, and sure enough I found one. It isnt that big, so its worth your time to read it. It is pretty interesting:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,193761,00.html
