Iraqi tennis players killed for wearing shorts
I was looking for something to post and I came across this article. In the article it talks about how three Iraqi tennis players were killed because they were wearing shorts. The coach and two players were killed because they were wearing shorts, apparently in violation of a warning by Islamic extremists. This was the second attack against athletes in just more than a week.
Killing in general and especially killing people because you don’t like the way they dress I feel is very unjustified. You can’t kill someone because you don’t like what they’re wearing. I’m glad I live in America where people have the freedom for the most part to wear what they please when they want to.
Tennis players in shorts
India has been testing nuclear weapons, and the American Government is not happy with them having nuclear weapons. The decision that we let them use nuclear bombs or not will greatly influence the policy of the indo-us nuclear agreement deals.
Tsunami
I was thinking about natural disasters in South Asia, and the only one that came to mind was the tsunami that took place on December 26, 2004 as a result of a massive earthquake in the Southeast Asia region. The tsunami affected the entire region with the injuries and thousands upon thousands of deaths. This website contains a map showing the shock waves from the earthquake. The shock waves travel practically all the way to the coast of Africa. The east coast of India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives would have been severely damaged. It is scary to think about the problems this caused especially since the South Asian region is so strongly affected by heavy rainfall.
TSUNAMI
Nepal Homepage
Most of chapter 12 was focused around India and Pakistan. This is not necessarily a bad thing, however, the smaller countries like Nepal and Bhutan were lost in the jumble. I wanted to know a little more about the basics of the country of Nepal. I find it very interesting that it is home to the famous Himalayas. This is the mountain range containing Mt. Everest! Also, the culture there is so incredibly different from the one we are a part of. For instance, the calander year in Nepal begins in our mid-April and is divided into twelve months. The weekly holiday in Nepal is Saturday, instead of Sunday. And the national income per capita is much less than that of an average person in the United States. Check out this website to broaden your horizons.
NEPAL
Kashmir
This website is one that is maintained by the Indian army that occupies Kashmir. It has many components including reasons for being in Kashmir, violence witnessed by Kashmir citizens, and even a chart representing the number of assault weapons found in Kashmir and Jammu up to April 30, 2006. I think this website is a bit scary considering the "light" way it is being regarded. If you wanted to, you could read army cartoons or other humorous statements. What's nice is that the website includes a historical perspective and also different opinions of the matter. Check out this website for more information.
KASHMIR
Keeping our air clean
I found some information on the internet about a few things that we can do to lessen or at least not increase the amount of air pollution.
About half of the air pollution comes from cars and trucks. Two important ways to reduce air pollution are to drive less -- even a little less -- and to drive smart. Taking fewer trips in your car or truck helps cut air pollution. And adopting smart driving habits reduces your car's emissions.
Driving less doesn't mean you have to stay home. Try combining driving with alternative modes of transportation:
Carpool.
Walk or ride a bicycle.
Shop by phone or mail.
Ride public transit.
Telecommute.
Driving smart keeps pollution at a minimum.
Accelerate gradually.
Use cruise control on the highway.
Obey the speed limit.
Combine your errands into one trip.
Keep your car tuned and support the smog check program.
Don't top off at the gas pumps.
Replace your car's air filter.
Keep your tires properly inflated.
Ready for Summer?
I love fishing, so I checked a bunch of sites to see how fishing opener went a couple of weeks ago. The lakes and fish are ready! The Nisswa lakes area has really good lakes. Mille Lacs, Gull Lake(where I go fishing every year) and some other lakes. Some guy caught a 55" muskie on Mille Lacs, the fish is a beauty, you have to see the picture. This is just a fun site that I thought some of you would enjoy before summer. Check it out!
http://fishingminnesota.com/fishing-reports.html
Throughout the world, hundreds of millions of plants and animals, worth billions of dollars, are traded each year, impacting directly on the survival of many species in their natural environments. Of particular concern is the fact that a quarter of this trade is thought to be illegal and is second in size only to the illegal trade in drugs.
This illegal commerce is threatening some endangered species such as tigers and snow leopards, and is trading the planet's natural heritage towards extinction. Unless action is taken to deter this illegal trade in destination countries such as the UK, we have little hope of securing a long-term future for these species.
World Wildlife Fund research shows that the UK is a major consumer of wildlife and wildlife products, many of which are traded illegally. Each year thousands of seizures are made (but not enough) at ports and airports, and shops across the country are found selling some of the world's most endangered species.
American Idol going global?
I found this site on a new show in India called Indian Idol. It's the same thing as American Idol. People compete in a singing competition to find out who is the best person the be crowned the winner of Indian Idol. This was its second year and on April 22, Sandeep Acharya was the lucky one to be crowned. Check it out!
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/25/news/idol.php
Interesting India Facts
This is a site of facts about India. No statistics or numbers. Just some interesting facts I thought we could end the school year with. It has some really interesting things in here that I would have never thought about India.
http://www.indianchild.com/amazing_facts_of_India.htm
Researchers are studying and showing how studies support the idea that people caught the AIDS virus from Chimps. The chimps that have this disease are said to be located in Cameroon. However, this does not mean that is where the virus originated from. Researched say that the epidemic actually took of in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. It is obviously true that you can't get this infection from petting a chimp, just like you can't get HIV from a toilet seat. It requires exposure to infected blood and infected body fluids. So if you get bitten by an angry chimp, that is a case where you might want to be concerned.
A rocket was set off in Florida without any passengers. This rocket is supposed to have the ability to track developing storms set for the U.S. This spacecraft is the first in a set of three that are going to be launched in the next few years. The new satellite, designated GOES-13, will be the first to have enough battery power to continue data collection and transmission all the time. This spacecraft will also be able to use sound waves to analyze the moisture content of storms. This important spacecraft will be used primarily to predict threatening weather moving towards the U.S.
Currently in Indonesia there is worry that the Bird Flu disease is not being spread by animal contact anymore, but instead by human contact. A family of 7 has recently died and there are no signs of any sick animals that may have had contact with them. Although it is unlikely it was a human-to-human spread, health officials are still studying it and not ruling that option out yet.
India Environmental issues
I found this website about different environmental issues. This website talks about energy consumptions, and carbon dioxide issues. For India being so populated it does not use as much energy and have as many environment issues as I had expect. This website it pretty interesting. Check this website out and see how India compares to some other countries.
Hinduism and Buddhism
So going with the whole religious idea still. We talked about both Buddhism and Hinduism. So I was looking this up also and I found THIS website that shares some of the similarities between the two religions and differences. If you go to the other website I have posted and read you will see that Buddha was first raised Hindu. So that is what made me curious about the similarities and differences about them. But if you read this website you notice that many Buddhist do not agree with Buddha being born Hindu and converting. It is all very interesting I think.
I am not sure if this one is going to work either so here is the website again if you need it http://hinduwebsite.com/hinduism/h_buddhism.htm .
Buddhism
So a couple days ago we were talking about the different religions in India and the surrounding areas. I am interested in what other people believe and why. I like to know what they do and why they do it. I try to make sense of everything. From what I do and believe to what other religious groups do and believe. Even in the “Christianity” religion there are so many different forms they are so different I try to make sense of it all. So anyway I looked up this website about Buddhism and it gives a little information about Buddha himself and what he all went through. It also talks about what they believe and what they base there faith around and the core of the religion. It is pretty interesting. Check it out.
For some reason the link does not work so copy and paste this into the address bar http://www.religioustolerance.org/buddhism.htm.
endangered species
http://www.fws.gov/midwest/Endangered/This is an interesting site that lists the endengered species in the area. Scroll to the bottom of the page to find the link. I would suggest you look at this page, there were some animals that I didn't know would be on the list that I found on there. One was the grey wolf I thought that they were more numerous, but obviously not. By clicking on the various animals, more information is also available, much of it is quite interesting and cool.
This article from the oprah show discussed the situation of poor Nepalese children. The guest was Olga Murray, founder of the Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation (NYOF). She stated that "One hundred dollars sends a girl to school, rewards her family and does everything she needs to do to stay home and get an education." In southern Nepal, families are trapped in poverty and are losing sight of opportunities. Facing low incomes, many send their daughters (some as young as 7) to work in distant cities. Many of these young girls face sexual abuse from their employers, while laboring for pitiful amounts of $30-75 a year. Luckily, a unique idea by the NYOF has been transforming the lives of young girls. Through this program, a piglet is rewarded to a variety of families. Then they raise and sell it for about the same amount of money they would get in exchange for their daughter's labor. In return, the organization pays tuition and other school fees for the daughter. I think that the founder, Olga Murray, has created very honorable programs and institutions to help less fortunate girls and boys. It's people like her that give helpless children the chance to become empowered and successful.
Check out the site
PIGLETS MAKE EDUCATION POSSIBLE or the
NYOF site:
India and United States nuclear deal
India/U.S. nuclear dealThe United States and India have created a nuclear deal, but many people are trying to get rid of it. The two countries administration, however, are fighting to keep the deal together so it can be passed this summer. Both countries are sending representatives to London tomorrow to update each other about what they have been doing to try and make sure the deal passes easily. This is a very interesting article that shows views from both the United States side and the India side about the deal.
We got a stadium, but no conservation...
Lawmakers and political advisors worked well into the morning on Sunday with many bills being passed. Topping the list were the stadium proposals that will give the Minnesota Twins a stadium in 2010, and the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team stadium in 2009. One of the key amendments that wasn't passed was the conservation amendment. In order for our state to continue seeing vast wildlife, beautiful forests/wetlands and clean waters, we need to pass this bill. Another year has passed and once again this amendment was not. Better luck next year.
http://www.startribune.com/587/story/446419.html
Economic Power
This is a very interesting site that I found. It talks about the GDP purchasing power of India, China, and the U.S. It shows that China is expected to be well ahead of us in the next 30 years, and India will be rapidly approaching us. It is a very interesting site, and I recommend that you all read it.
Economic Power
India Gas Imports
India recently passes a bill that allowed them to participate in the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) Natural Gas Pipeline Project. This would allow them to raise their total petroleum imports. India needs this as they continue to grow and consumer more and more petroleum. This is a big step into raising their total imports.
India Gas Imports
I found this cool site that goes into great depth about American English, a "language rich with regional variety and cultural controversy". It has four main sections including: words that shouldn't be?, from sea to shining sea (varieties of American English..how many are there?), what speech do we like best?, and what lies ahead? This site could keep you busy for a couple hours, but just check out a couple of the main topics. It really shows how diverse the English language can be. Just think about it. We all associate "y'all" with people living in the south. "Dude" and "yo" in the west. And who can forget the Boston or New York accent?! It really shows just how diverse a single language can be in certain regions of a country.
Here is the main site...just click on the main sections and will take you there, it may also break off into small sections!
http://www.pbs.org/speak/This second one is on the same site, but its a little more difficult to find. Here you can try guess where a person is from by listening to samples of them talking. I tried it and I was only able to get the ones right in the south. Pitiful I know!
http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanvarieties/map/map.html
18 Injured at Valleyfair
This isn't exactly related to College Geo, but there was an accident tonight at Valleyfair with the Wild Thing. Apparently the back part seperated from the rest of the cars and it went off the track. The details on how the accident occured and the position of the car are difficult to interpert, but Valleyfair says they are coming out with answers to the accident soon. At KARE11.com, one person who was interviewed said they would never ride another roller coaster in their life. The Wild Thing is obviously safe as it has operated over the last 10 years with nothing like this happening, but it's interesting to see that out of its probably hundreds of thousands of runs, that this incident may hugely shake up confidence in the ride.
KSTP has good coverage of the ride, images and video.
Twins Stadium
This doesn't have a ton to do with much more than our state, but I figured in some way or another it will affect us all. The Twins new stadium was approved today which means NEW STADIUM! and more taxes for us to pay. Just thought it was interesting, and funny at the same time how many people in this state who couldn't care less about baseball are going to end up paying the money to support it, but that's taxes for ya. For some reason it will never allow me to link, so here is the webpage; http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-twins-ballpark&prov=ap&type=lgns
I started reading the next chapter about south Asia and I came across the section talking about a man named Koose Veerappan. Koose died nearly two years ago, but his actions have made a definate and lasting impression on India. Veerappan is India's most notorious fugitive and was wanted in connection with more than 100 murders. He was also a member of a gang in the 1960's, and went on, according to a local legend to kill more than 2,000 elephants. The article goes on to say other offenses this man had committed. In the end, one of his associates (or member of his gang), betrayed him. This guy kind of reminds me of Osama Bin Laden. The U.S. is accusing him as the mastermind behind 9/11. Just like Koose, Osama seems to be a mastermind at avoiding U.S. troops. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2219574.stm
Perhaps this doesn't have much to do with Globalization, but I'm posting it anyway. In Portsmouth, Virginia, three lab-mixed 10-week year old puppies were found duct-taped together in a marsh/drainage ditch area. By the time several people realized the cries coming from behind their house, one of them had already died. The good news is that the other two smaller ones survived, and are being taken care of at the Portsmouth Animal Control Center. I'm just trying to imagine who would do such a sadistic, cruel thing. I mean, if they had wanted to get rid of them then they could have easily sold the three. And puppies like that can go for, at the very least, 200 dollars each. Plus, it takes more than one person to duct tape all three, so this is more than a case of a single culprit. It just boggles my mind.
Indian Shares Take a Plunge
The value of stock shares in India were 6.8% down at the end of the day on Thursday. Analysts say the fall is because of falls in shares in other parts of the world. Andrew Holland of Merrill Lynch said, "Something had to give... the market had risen very quickly and was already fragile, so when we were hit overnight with fears of rising US inflation and weak Asian markets, jittery investors bailed." Then again the rumor of increased tax on foreign investments on the Indian market could have scared investors.
It is hard to optimistic about the situation because analysts don't know whether investors will put another $10.7 billion in India's market again like they did last year. It is going to be hard for India to again break barriers after this fall.
Stock Market
DaVinci Code Comes Late to India
I'm sure many people went to go see the DaVinci Code in many movie theatres this weekend. However, disclaimers at the end of the film led to a delay for the film's release in India. The Censor Board required the film to state: "it is a work of pure fiction and has no correspondence to historical facts of the Christian religion". However, at the end of the film, Sony Pictures states: "the characters and incidents portrayed and the names herein are fictitious, and any similarity to the name, character or history of any person is entirely coincidental and unintentional", and didn't believe they needed additional information. The Censor Board now is now among Catholic groups and the Christian community involved in the controversy over the film.
The movie is expected to be released this Thursday, as long as the disclaimers are inserted.
DaVinci Code
South Korean Part Leaders Face is Slashed
Police are investigating the slashing of Park Geun-hye's face during her campaign rally. President Roh Moo-Hyun says that,""In a democratic society, any acts of terrorism or violence during election campaigns cannot be tolerated under any circumstance for whatever reason." Tensions were high with the man that did it, but was this act of violence really needed?
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/05/21/skorea.slash.ap/index.html
