Cat Spy

During the Cold War in a project called “acoustic kitten” the United States tried to use cats as spies to intercept conversations among the Russians. The Americans operated a cat so that they can put a small microphone and an antenna in the tail of the cat. This project had duration of 5 years to become true and had a cost of 20 million dollars!!! When they finally finished, a new problem come out, the cat get distracted looking for food. Then they made another operation to control the hunger of the cat. The first mission was to leave the cat near a building occupied by Russians’ spies. But the bad luck interrupted because the poor cat was killed by a taxi. The mission failed. The project was then abandoned.

It was very ingenious to use cats as spies; few people would think that cats were going to be used as spies. Many people would not even imagine they were being recorded in a simply cat. I think that if the cat would have not been killed maybe the Americans would have had advantage in the Cold War. Nowadays in the army it is important to have spies where the enemy would have not even imagined. I think that in the future with more technology there would be “spies” everywhere. The government will want to have recorded everything about us. There will be small cameras everywhere and the majority would not even notice where they are…….

Do we appreciate our family?

We all belong to a family, we all know that family is the base of society, but do we all appreciate our family?

Nowadays, people are always working, traveling, studying, doing a lot of things that are keeping them busy, this situation is affecting the relationship between brothers and sisters, parents and sons; they don't have enough time to talk, to hang out, and they don't realize that they are losing an opportunity to get closer to them.

If we analyze, the members of our family had always been around us; supporting us in every situation.

Our parents put a lot of effort to give us everything; to raise us in the best way. They were always protecting us and taking care of us.

Our siblings were also always present in every situation. We shared with them a lot of feelings and emotions that connected us a lot.

I consider that we all should try to do everything to prevent the lack of communication between family members. We should appreciate our family, we should care about our siblings and parents situation because they won't be here forever.

Venezuela's Government

Venezuela’s Government

When I thought about which topics I wanted to blog about, I thought about governments, because it’s something we’re discussing in class and it’s very linked to economics (my favorite topic). But, what could I possibly talk about? We all know what governments are for, and although communism is something I’m not a very huge fan of, I didn’t want to blog about it. Instead, I found a type of government that’s sort of communist but with other perspectives that can only be seen in one country of this huge world: Venezuela.

Hugo Chávez was elected President in 1998 with a campaign centering on promises of aiding Venezuela's poor majority, and was reelected in 2000 and in 2006. Chávez's policies have evoked controversy in Venezuela and abroad, receiving everything from vehement criticism to enthusiastic support.

I’m one of those vehement critics. Although I’m not an expert in the subject (I don’t even get close to that), I have heard enough from this man to be against his point of view. My best friend’s dad was born in Venezuela and studied there before coming to Mexico. He has talked about how bad his country is falling, he talks about how poor people are going, he talks about the fear that citizens are experiencing, and about how the media is controlling everybody.
Chávez “promotes” a political doctrine of participatory democracy, socialism and Latin American and Caribbean cooperation. He is a critic of neoliberalism, globalization, and United States foreign policy.

I don’t think a country can be powerful and fully developed if its government doesn’t believe in globalization because it is the latest tendency and perhaps the most important to be fully inside the best market. What can a country do without a universal policy for importing and exporting products? What can a country do if it's against the world's most powerful contry? I think Chavez is mostly interested in his own benefits (like most politicians) rather than on his country’s progress. I believe that he’s starting with a dictatorship that will last decades and decades, maybe following Fidel Castros’ example. I don’t think that a dictatorship is something good for a country, but neither have I thought that changing from leader too often is the best thing to do.

As a conclusion, I’d like to say that I think somebody or some organization should stop Chávez from what he’s doing to his people. I think that there are numbers and statistics that can prove that the country is going worse and worse with each year that passes. I think that people shouldn’t be afraid of him because, although he has powerful weapons, he’s just a man like all of us, and they should demand a non-reelection policy to stop him from continuing ruining this beautiful place.

Turkish girl buried alive because she had male friends

This is a good example that sometimes culture and tradition are not always looking the best in people. This was not necessary and extreme, and victims are mainly females or children.The sexism, the ignorance and hate can lead to cases of extreme violence. The excuse that the father and grandfather told to justify their actions was that she brought dishonor to the family. It's wrong and culture doesn't justify their actions,it's immoral,disrespectful and the family should be punished for their actions. Times have change, ideas have change too, women should be treated as human beings with respect and love and no living thing should be tortured and been killed in that way.

Annual March Against Abortion

A few days ago, the annual march agarinst abortion "March for Life" was celebrated in Washington, D.C. Thousands of abortion oppnents yelled and singed on the streets protesting against the 37th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe Wade decision which legalized abortion. I'm suprised to read that abortion is legal in the United States since 1973. I always had been against abortion, since I think is one of the surgerys that shouldn't have ever be invented. It's a woman's choice, but still the result of this choices are 50 million babies had been aborted. These are more victims than the attacks of 11/9. It's sad to read this big numbers. Now, woman should start considering other alternatives. It doesn't have to be this way. It's not the baby's fault. Even though is a little defenseless being, you are killing a human. Not only that, the main right of every human is being violated: the right to live. Regardless of the culture you are from, violating a universal human right is totally absurd. We shouldn't let this happen in our society. We need to be "conscious" of our actions, and be prepared for the consequences. Some of the solutions that are available are: adoption, prevention programs, support for pregnant woman and families, etc. The government needs to prioritize the rights of their people, even the smallest one that hadn't see the world, yet.

Privacy vs. Security

Personal Reflection, Class Article.

In class a team read an article about privacy vs. security, and we clearly saw that we could make a debate out of it.

Whenever there have been national emergencies, the rights and civil liberties of the public have been curtailed, and in many instances revoked completely. As technology has grown in leaps and bounds over the last three decades, it has also brought with it new challenges to protecting people's privacy and curbing privacy violations. In general, the public feels an increased sense of intrusion and loss of privacy. The new proposed measures by governments impact privacy and civil liberties.

For instance, The United Kingdom is the most controlled city in the world. They most probably catch criminals quickly, but innocent people are also watch over and followed. But precisely that is what means security; the degree of protection against danger, loss, and criminals. Security must take into account the actions of people attempting to cause destruction.

In my opinion, security is more important than privacy, is preferable to take some time in a register in an airport where they make you an extensive check, instead of living a terrorist attack that might get you into a difficult situation or even death. I think there are more benefits from security than the liberties and privacy ones.

Some of the benefits I am talking about are:

ü Reduces obvious threats and risks.

ü Can prove a deterrent

ü Can increase public safety by making identification of thousands of criminals and other offenders easier

ü Could reveal plans of suspects proactively to provide advance warning

ü Better background checks before entering the country reduces chances of threat

The proposed increases in security measures may be beneficial for the common good if it implemented in an impartial way throughout the community, regardless of race, religion, or ethnic group. Accountability and transparency in law enforcement procedures, especially concerning privacy issues must still be preserved, despite recent attacks. The judicial system must be empowered to deal effectively with any abuses of proposed security measures to protect the constitutional rights and liberties of all citizens. It should also ensure that anyone accused has adequate legal representation and a fair chance to prove their innocence, even under these circumstances. Ensure that the current atmosphere of rich ethnic and cultural diversity of the country living in peace with one another is not compromised. In one approach suggested by Mr. Etzioni, an expert on privacy-related issues, an optimal balance between personal privacy and the community good must be achieved, with both being given due importance.

However, privacy could be limited when it is in the interests of the common good, especially in areas of public safety and public health. The decision-making process could involve asking the following questions:

· Is this a real, tangible problem that we are facing?

· If it is, can we handle it without impacting/violating privacy at all?

· If not, can we handle it by making it as less intrusive as possible?

Any of you has another opinion?

Drug cartels in Mexico use rehab for recruits

As everyone knows, here in Mexico we have a really big problem of drug trafficking and everyday this problem is increasing. Mexico's powerful drug cartels have been operating drug rehabilitation clinics, turning some into bloody killing fields and forcing recovering addicts into their ranks of hit men and smugglers.They are taking advantage of the situation this people are going through and they tell the recovering addicts they have to help the cartels since they help them get clean or they are going to be killed.

This situation is unfair for all of us. The idea of the rehab centers is to help people who are addicted to some drug get clean not to force them to be part of the drug trafficking in Mexico. Besides, the people who could have stop this from happening didn't do anything to prevent it. The government is suppose to protects us not taking away our security. Because for this people the rehab centers helps them but since this is happening addicts are not going to go to this centers because they are no longer safe and don't do there purpose anymore.

All I Can See Is Art

I know you people know about how much I enjoy and love doing art so thats why I'll post something related to it.

In my life I have ecountered people that think that drawing isnt' useful at all.

I remember clearly that day on Art class at my old school CAP. A classmate made a comment about how much art wasn't helpful at life and that poetry is a lot better and is more useful.
I have heard comments from my cousin telling that art doesn't makes money therefore it isn't useful at all.

Hearing this comments of course made me sad, knowing that something I love and that I was good at wasn't helpful at all. It crushed my dreams and expectations. So I questioned myself, what is art? Does it have an actual function?

The truth is that everything we know was made by art itself. The computers we use were first designed by artists, the house in which we live were first drawn by architects and the movies we see were created first on paper.

Art are ideas. Ideas are actions. Actions create future.

Even if you think that a simple drawing, being not complicated or not good enough can't do anything by itself, you better watch your words, becuase an image is worth more than a thousand words. More than what an actual president says to his country at elections. More than what an actual writer or poet can write on a page . Even more than what we can talk on a day.

Thats right, for me art has an amazing power. The power to create new ideas, to change point of views. To create future.

India's Crisis, a Thirsty Giant

India’s water crisis defies a single easy solution. While there is fierce debate, there is also broad agreement that demand must be contained, particularly in agriculture, and supply increased.

Water conservation, management and disciplined use with commitment.

Possible Solutions:

ü Water management should be decentralized and local communities encouraged to manage their own water resources, rather than leaving it all to government.

ü Everyone who uses water should pay for it.

ü Those who pollute and overexploit the water should be strictly punished.

ü India should turn into more water-efficient crops and treating and reusing wastewater. Farmers should to be encouraged to grow nutritious, water-efficient food grains, like sorghum and millet, and the government should pay fixed prices for them.

ü India’s flood plains should be preserved and not used for development.

ü The government should offer incentives for farmers to install far more efficient drip irrigation, and do away with subsidized electricity to discourage the overpumping of groundwater.

ü The private sector should be enlisted to improve water management in cities, making certain kinds of water, like drinking water more expensive than recycled water, which can be used for gardening and outdoor use.

Also, I came to my own conclusion, people and government should agree to select the best options available for India in order to solve its major problem. Water is vital for us all, so they must work together so India can succeed, because the problem of water (its scarcity) brings many problems including a partnership with health problems, illnesses and deaths. No water, no crops, no food for Indian people, neither to sell to other countries, then sales go down, etc. will have an big economic crisis. I think it’s like a chain of complications. '

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What About Children?

When we mention the word child, we think about a cute, small and innocent human being that spends his o her time playing, growing and eating. At least that is what we all did were we were little. If this is how a child’s life should be, then why are they exploited, killed or force to fight as a soldier? Sadly, this is the situation of many innocent children around the world. In recent decades, there have been more civilian casualties than before in armed conflicts. And it seems that the percentage keeps on growing. About half of these victims are children.

It is estimated that about 20 million children have been forced to leave their home because of armed conflicts and violation of their human rights. These children are force to live as refugees in other countries and away from their family. They have no one to take care them and are left without protection. A child is a vulnerable human being. They are not independent and are not able of taking care of themselves. More than 2 million children have died as a result of armed conflicts around the world, only in the last decade. This number will keep on increasing if we do not emphasize on the protection of children and their rights. These unprotected children are used to be sold and to be physically or sexually exploited, reports UNICEF. This is just unacceptable; a child does not disserve to suffer like this.

I do not think these people who have decided to hurt children care about the consequences of their acts. We should. These people are destroying lives by stealing the happiest years of the person. All this violence will make these children traumatised adults and full of rage. We do not know what type of person they might be if no one was there to raise them. I think this is going to be a major problem in the future. These that are now children, are going to be the ones generating violence during the future generations. Violence is one of the biggest global issues and here is an option to reduce it in the future. Protecting and educating our children today can lead us to live is a safer world in the future.

Reading about this made me reflect on how lucky we all are. Living with our family, eating three times a day, going to school are things we just that for granted most of the time. These children have neither one of them and cannot do anything about it. I think all of us should feel thankful for the life we have the chance to live.

New Missile Defense System in Romania

Today, I found an interesting article, where Russia protested against the new U.S. missile plan. It took place in the Security Conference in Munich in which brings together foreign ministers and defence from 40 countries. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergei Lavrov said that his country's protest by the new U.S. plans to install components of a missile defence system in Romania, and demanded a thorough explanation. It was surprising for the Minister the U.S. announcement and demanded that conforms to the agreements reached so far about the disarmament.

It is possible that the relationship between Washington and Moscow could worsen after the approach regarding safety issues. The good news are that U.S. and Russia hold negotiations for a new nuclear disarmament treaty that will succeed the START-I treaty that ended in late 2009 that will reduce the number of strategic offensive weapons in both sides.

Russia released a warning that the installation of "hostile military infrastructure" near Russia's borders, near the Black Sea, violates the security interests of this country, so Russian soldiers will be deployed warships and submarines to the Black Sea to safeguard the security of their country!!!!!!

Revange Ellections

Today I came across an article that talked about how the PRI loosed the last elections for the government of Sonora. It said that most of the voters gave they support to any party but the PRI, not because of Epifanio Salido, the candidate, but because they were infuriated because of the ABC Day Care Center tragedy, and even more because the government wasn't punishing the responsables.

Whatever I agree or not, it is shamefull that politics in Mexico are about what politician or party do we hate the most, instead of which one has the best propositions.

It Is Our Fault Too.

I was reading my friend's posts, when I read Naiomi's point of view about crime and its impact on society. A certain comment about this captured my attention:

" And we pay for it like in higher prices for clothes, food, and in taxes to maintain criminals at jail. I don't think that this is fair we are paying for something that isn't our fault"

So I thought, what if it is actually our fault? If we think more deeply, why do criminals do the things they do?
Every criminal is a human being, and each human being is social by nature. So, it is imposible for a criminal to do those things without experiences he learned from somebody or certain emotions he had for somebody.

Here's an example:

-A thief shoplifts. Why?

A)He wanted food for his children.
B)He learned to shoplifting from his parents or friends at an early age.
C)The man in charge of the store said or did bad things to the thief before he actually shoplifted, and the shoplifter had an agressive character due to his parents.

and even if you think, why didn't he worked?
Well, he didn't worked becuase he is extremely poor and doesn't cover his basic needs like shower(lets face it, nobody ever contracts someone that smells); or he wasn't educated enough because he didn't got an scholarship( scholarships are scarce, they have an amount of scholarships to give and if you aren't good enough or didn't made it to the list, then you don't have it).

A criminal usually makes something illegal becuase the society pushes him to do it. In order for a criminal to do something bad, he needed to experience many harsh things about society and who compose the society? His parents, friends, people that surround him, and even other countries may influenced him indirectly too. Like war..

What can we do to stop crime?

The police can't. The only thing they do is create fear on people in order to keep them from doing something illegal.

The only ones that can help them is society itself.
We can help others or show that we care for them when they are living a harsh moment.

So, here is a final comment for Naiomi's point of view:

We pay for them in jail becuase we didn't helped them before they become a criminal.
It is our fault too.

Youth Students Assassin in Juárez

Cuidad Juárez, Chihuahua

Cuidad Juárez, Chihuahua has become one of the most dangerous cities in the world as reported in the news. On Sunday, January 31, 16 youth students were killed in a house.

The news report said, they arrived in four trucks, and they got down and started shooting all over the place. At first, it was said that the students weren’t part of any gang, but how are we sure… in my opinion, most of the kills are because of gang rivalry, it’s true that they kill innocent people that has nothing to do with them, but this time it was a bigger crime. Days later it was spread that one of the children who had died last weekend, could be related to organized crime, because in one of their cellphones was found photographs of them carrying rifles. The authorities report that the search for the responsible will be intensified in various parts of the city, which were installed in addition to military and police checkpoints.

Moreover, crime is now a global issue. All values are lost and they compared murders in Cd. Juárez with Iraq, and the results are that there are more deaths in Ciudad Juarez than in Iraq (a country at war). How come, a single city in the Mexican Republic has more deaths than a whole country? Mexico should really worry about this issue and make a big change out there.

Global Problem: Deforestation

Everyday we get rid of paper, specially us students who use notebooks, impressions, etc. so often and when we don't need them anymore or the teachers finnished checking them, we throw them away to the trashcan. We are not considering that all that paper that we are wasteing once was a tree, cutted down by humans, and the excessive cut-down of trees to the point it affects our environment is calles deforestation. Deforestation destroy the environment, such as millions of homes constructed by animals. Now a days deforestation has increased its level so much, and many of this workers don't plant new trees, not considering that trees provide oxygen for our longs. Greenlands are disappearing because of deforestation, we need to learn to use and produce paper in a moderate way. We should be able to recycle paper to its maximum, like for example in schools, recycling paper should be obligatory. Teachers should ask students to use recycled sheets on their works, this way students will be able to contribute with this cause in a repetitive way. We do need to cut trees, but whenever a tree is cutted down, a new tree should be planted, this way there will be future expectatives for a tree to arise in that specific area. Taking care of the paper we use everyday might be a significant task for us, but why can't we fulfill it? Also, having a trash can separately for paper algo helps peope that work on garbage identify and recycle paper and it not to be mixed among the other trash that is wasted, creating even more trash everyday. Save a tree by saving paper, recycle old notebooks, give out books to others who really need them. And finally, each one of us should plant one tree for all of those that have been cutted down.

!!!In Israel it was found a script of nearly 3000 years and it is the Hebrew oldest text ever found!!! Various archaeologists from the Hebrew University at Jerusalem found this type of ceramic piece that was written with ink nearby the fortress of Elah. This fortress is located in the old city of Khirbet Qeiyafa at Israel. An interesting fact is that this city is the same where the biblical story of David and Goliath happened. More details of this very old piece are that is 15 centimeters for each side. It also contains 5 lines but unfortunately they are still not decrypted.

An interesting object was founded, but what archaeologists and experts in symbols need to do is to try to solve its mystery. This could be a simple script or could also be a hidden message that could lead us to a solution of history. All that part of Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and also Egypt are full of mysteries beyond us. Many investigators are always there trying to find a piece of history of many things and then try to join them to form a big puzzle of history. While time passes new objects will be found and new discoveries will also be found. The objects are there, hidden, and why not maybe that object is hidden in the place where we never imagined that it could be……..

Still A Lot To Do

After several days of the Haiti Earthquake, it seems that there is still big problems going on that city. According to a recent new I read, Bill Clinton stayed that there is a lot of people that still need help. Giving a hand to those people is still very difficult because of the lack of organization. Mr. Clinton visited Port-du-Prince to "try to identify the things that aren't being done and need to be speeded up and fill thos blanks". I think that this man is doing a great humanitary job because is total chaos in Haiti. There are still people sleeping in the streets and lacking of a good health care system. According to the article too, there is about 1 million people that need aid. I hope that countries like ours could do more to help this poor country. Sadly, some news like the one of Cabaña's shot is taking away the spotlight of more important and urgent issues. After the magnitude 7.0 earthquake, officals said that 212,000 people died. Why do people are more impacted when one "celebrity" is shot than when a group of people is killed? Don't they deserve the attention because they aren't famous? They are humans, just like us. About 315 markeshift were installed around the city. It's sad to hear that these people who once have a home, lost it all. There are about 16 main distribution food centers around the country. However the lack of security in this place made difficult for person to obtain help. Some people asaulted trailers packed with food and water. This made me think that the situation over there is chaotic, like the survival of the fittest. Moral ethic values are on the floor. Another question that popped in my head is, do morals and ethics are completely forgotten in situations like this? I mean we can study the theory and applied it in some aspects of our life, but if a great natural disaster like this one happen in our city, will we lost all our sanity and just follow our instinct? Desperate situtations like this one is a clear example that when you live a tragedy personally it is a whole different world.

Reginald Earnshaw a forgotten soldier

As we saw, history is a social science and here is an interesting story that not many people know but it is a history to be honered and respected.

He was 14 years when he lied saying he was 15 to enter and serve as a British soldier. He wanted to proudly represent his country during World War II. His name is now recognized as the youngest known British service casualty in World War II. His name was Reginald Earnshaw and served as a “one more soldier” but he never imagined he was going to be recognized as a hero in Britain. Earnshaw was serving as a Merchant Navy cabin boy when he died. The honorable soldier lived just 14 years and 152 days. He died when German planes attacked the SS Devon, the ship he was on, off the east coast of England on July 6, 1941. His grave at Comely Bank Cemetery in Edinburgh, Scotland, was unmarked for decades. Nobody (except his family) new about this teenager until a surviving shipman, Alf Tubb, spent several years looking for that guy he met in the army. His search was difficult because the war graves commission was never told where Earnshaw was buried, preventing him from receiving recognition for his brief service. But after a great effort he finally found the grave. The grave now has a headstone and Reginald’s sister Pauline can be able to write an inscription for his brother.

This story is a symbol of patrotism because this guy was so young, only 14 when he decided to be a soldier to protect his country from the Germans.

This story made me think of how many heroes are not valued or not even known. I think there are heroes in every country that they are still wating there, lonely, that wanted to help no mattering risking his/her life, but knowing they were fighting for something good. There are still there, unknown by many.......

Global Problem: Ground Pollution

Every time we get rid of our everyday food and it's packaging, plastic bags, boxes, hardware, just our everyday garbage, leads to ground pollution. When we think of how many garbage we get rid of everyday, it's not comparable to the garbage that industries get rid of. But, where do all that garbage go? Also, when we are so unconcious of ground pollution, we throw garbage to streets, water, etc., this is not only contaminating, we are also endangering many species that live in those environments. Some garbage like cans and bottles might be recycled, but what happens to the rest of it? There are certain processes that this non-recycled garbage go through, but it ends up filling the groud. Why should we throw garbage to streets, geenlands, water etc.? Sometimes people don't really realize what happens when they throw garbage where it's not supposed to. Animals, I believe, are most likely to be affected to this issue, since animals are the ones who have to live on a certain environment they are used to, and if we contaminate it, this specie will face a huge change on its surrounding. We are challenging this species in their own environment, why would we want that? The simple action of putting garbage in its place could make a difference. Another action that could make a difference is separating organic and inorganic garbage. Organic garbage such as food and inorganic garbage such as plastic packaging. Separating paper form garbage is also really helpfull, since this is something that can be recycled (cans and plastic might be good to separate too, since this may also be recycled). Help the environment, make an effort in making the world a better place for everyone.

Integration Is The Way

In one of our French classes we began to talk about how culture affects the society. The class was about how the "Burqa" was banned in France, and the effects it brings. The Burqa is a Islamic robe that covers both body and face. President Nicolas Sarkozy already make an statement and took a side: "Burqa isn't welcomed in France". He said that the burqa affects women's equality, identity, lack of a social life and made them prisioners behind a screen. He also said that they should adapt to the French culture in order to get opportunities to became part of the country.

I think that these is an issue that have both good and bad sides. Let's start with the good news, positive all the way. I think that what France is trying to do is to tear apart barriers that could affect the integration of immigrants to their country. The best way is for them to start a new life and share their culture. Also, the burqa automatically isolates the woman that are inside of it. Communication can't be completely accomplished since you can't even see who is behind it. I think that this will also be a good new start for any woman who wants equality and not to be beated by a man who has 5 more wives.

However, these decision can also bring negative effects. These new rules of France can create tensions with the Muslim world. Also, discrimination for these woman that can't leave their traditions, since they were born in that culture. It's hard to change those kind of ideas that were part of all your life, but not impossible. The french community need to also put effort on their part and give a chance to these people to show what they are capable of.

In conclusion, I think that these ideas the French government has adopted can lead to an integration of all the ethnic groups.

The Pencil

Yesterday, I watched a video of a men who said that everyone contributed to world-wide economy and he explain this with a pencil. He said that many people contributed to make the pencil; in Washington, people cut trees and export the wood, in Australia, people work in graphite and copper mines and export them, and finally people in Brasil cut rubber tree to make the eraser. Then , we buy it and all these people around the world obtain a benefit; the miners, the woodcutters, the factory that makes the pencil, the people who sell it, and so on. We all contribute to economy everyday, whenever we buy something, or pay for a service. This is a pretty simple example, but there are more and more complex examples, such as oil and precious stones. This process is more comlex because they are more demanded products, and have a higher price, so the economy of the country that exports these goods, is very affected.

Global Problem: Global Warming

Global warming might be the most complicated issue on the world today. I will start by defining the term Global Warming' is ''the warming that happens when certain gases in Earth's atmosphere trap heat. These gases let in light but keep heat from escaping.'' (environment.nationalgeographic.com) The consecuences that follow the earth's atmosphere to overheat are the melting of glacieres, which causes the seas to oververflow, species like the polar bear, which is already an endangered specie due from man's hunting, to die because this animals depend so much on iced seas to hunt for food. We are causing so much danger for polar bears and millions of other species who depend on cold, icey climates to survive, and we are destroying their environment. How are we contributing to global warming? Everyday. When we use our car exessively, we need to know we are not the only ones who use a car in the world, just imagening how many people drive for hours and how many carbon dioxide is being liberated is unbelievable. We can make a difference, by just changeing daily attitudes and activities that due to the cause of global warming. Some of this changes might be tuning off lights when not needed, people should open windows insted, being lighted by daylight instead. We could ride a bike when we don't need to go too far, people are exerciseing themselves and at the same time helping decrease global warming. Simple everyday tasks like the ones mention will make a difference, be concious of your doing everytime you turn on a light, or a car, and ask yourself, how can I fulfill this actions but at the same time help our environment? Spread the word and make the action.

Unemployment in Hermosillo

As we have seen in class unemployment is an issue that derives from overpopulation. It has to do with the distribution of jobs and not having enough for all the people. This later on leads to immigration and so on. But right now we are focusing in how we can see unemployment in Mexico. I think we all are aware that this is a problem that has been talked about since a long time ago, but right now it is only getting worst.

With the change in the government in September many people have lost their jobs in government offices. There was more employees than needed, and those people were fired. Even here in Hermosillo, at the former "Hospital Materno Infantil", there were what they call temporal workers. These people have a contract for six months and they renewed it every time it finished with the last government. When it changed these people weren't payed for a month, but when they did, they fired them. I understand that they are trying to save money and maybe even think about efficiency, but some of them were known for being really good at what they did. Taking away their jobs from people just to do so is not a good reason, maybe saving money is, but there are more things than that to take into consideration. This actions aren't fair, they are not well thought, and it isn't the thing that would lead them to be better.

Rising Prices?

While doing the ethics homework, I found an article saying that starting today the gasoline's price will be rising 8 cents. The magna will be costing 7.94 pesos per liter, the premium 9.70 pesos per liter and the deisel 8.32 pesos per liter. The article at the newspaper, El Universal, states that it is being raised because the government want the prices to be the same as the prevailing prices at the United States, who is Mexico's main trading partner.

I think this will affect our country's economy in a GREAT way. Why? Simple, because oil and gasoline are on what our country relies. How do we get a product to the other side of the country? A truck takes it there. What does the truck need to get to the other side of our country? Deisel. The distributors need to recover the money that is being spent on deisel, so what do they do? Raise the product's prices. That I guess affects mostly the middle and low classes. Since for them, saving a few cents would be a great help to use it on other things.

BARBIE BOOM

WE FACE CHANGES EVERY DAY

Countries have been facing many changes through the years passed. Since the creation of the Barbie doll the world saw it as a stereotype of what a girl and women should be or look like. The Barbie model at firste was a stereotype of the perfect girl and women, but as the years passed on we could see how Mattel Co. (BARBIES CREATOR) changed the Barbie's original look, and also introduced friends and accesories; these can be used as a measurment of how society has changed.

When Barbie first came out she was a perfect blonde girl with the most fashionable outfits, but as years passed every girl wanted to be as cute and as blonde as Barbie. People started noticing this little thing that made this stereotype really bad for society. The first thing that was considered a controversy was Barbie's measurmentes. Because everyone wanted to be like Barbie, society started facing problems as anorexia and bluimia. Next controversy was that Barbie was blonde and it was being selled over the world which meaned that the perfect stereotype for girls was being blonde, so Mattel Co. have to bring out an idea to erease this thinking of discrimination. The big shot was when Mattel created Barbie's friends, but the interesting part of this new dolls was that every new friend had different physical charactereistics which mean that every friend was representing a girl from other side of the world. But there is also a really good part of this Barbie always have been seen in different carreers like giving women the chance to decide in a variety of things what they could be in th future this is a really good example of how things have changed in society through years.

Barbie was the first women looking doll, and she still is part ouf our life but with many changes. Changes in Barbie's appearance and creations of new dolls represent the changes we have had as a community like women and men being equal in society, and Barbie also showed us that everyone should be conisdered the sam without importance of skin color or clothes. Do not ever think of Barbie just like an 11 and a half inch piece of plastic. Barbie is now considered as a representation of women and dolls.

REMEBER YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL THE WAY YOU ARE, JUST BE UNIQUE.

Global Warming

One of the most important problems to ecologist right now is global warming, but why is it? Because global warming carries many MANY problems. Some of them are: the rise in temperature, the melt of icebergs, an increase in the oceans levels, among many others. The thing is what can we do?
There are many options and ways in which we can collaborate to reduce the impact of human actions in the environment and we've heard them before. For instance: to apply the three R's (reduce, recycle, reuse); to plat at least 4 trees each year; to avoid using products with CFC; and some others that we have already been told to do.
Sometimes it can be hard for us to follow all the directions and advices about this issue. The reality is that it's up to us if we want to make the difference.
My opinion about this global problem is the following: It is not about to stop living comfortably, it is about knowing how to live in harmony with what's around us. It's about learning how to live and letting live.

The Super Bowl, more than a game

When we talk about the Super Bowl, we imagine an american football game with 22 players on the field tackling each other trying to reach the end zone to score a touchdown. But, have anyone think in the economic gain created but this game.

Every year, advertising is becoming bigger. If a company wants to announce it's product during the Super Bowl for 30 seconds, it will have to pay almost three million dollars! Miami is hosting this year's championship for a record 10th time, good news for the locals; America’s biggest sporting event brings in approximately $400 million to the host city. Tickets are sold out since October, and the event is tomorrow. There are tickets that are sold in "re-venta", more than three times the price of the original ticket. Some tickets have been sold in more than 5,000 dollars.

There's no doubt, talking in economics the Super Bowl is one of the biggest events in the world. And is not necessary to tell that is the TV program most watched in United States every year.
Fans should be ready for some fireworks on the field and for some hot parties in beautiful Miami. For those fans who have made the trip down to Southern Florida, this year's Super Bowl festivities could prove to be the best yet.

Nature vs. Human

Why most of the people are going green lately? Isn't too late to start taking action or are we on the right path? I think that global warming involves society, politics, economics, and even more. The human species is playing a game against nature, and we can already deduce who is going to win. Yes, we had made a progress in technology and now being "conscious" of our actions, but we can't control nature's fury can we? An example that comes to my mind with this question is Hurricane Katrina, which with on southern Florida on 2005, that leave destructions everywhere and the costs of them were high up in the sky. My point here is that we can't avoid a natural disaster to happen, just predict it and run away from danger like scared deer.We would have to abandon everything and start a new life elsewhere, which is not an easy thing. Nature provide us all what we need to survive, but we are so selfish that we always want to do it our way. Burning fossil fuels to create plastics, electricity, etc. We have some solutions to get clean energy, recycle plastic bottles, but the action is missing. Apply what is said is the hardes thing. Not only humans will suffer the consequences of the climate change, but also the beings that share this world with us. These beings include animals and plants aswell. Sadly, they will be carried away with our bad actions. The number of individuals of a species is reducing in great number, especially in the North Pole. The melting ice takes away the home for Polar Bears. It's not fair, not at all.

On the political side, this has also become a hot topic. In the recent world meeting "Copenhagen 2009", politics and activists from the main countries were supposed to get on an agreement to reduce their Co2 emissions so that the world temperature doesn't increase more than 2 °C. However, Greenpeace said that the "treaty" made was a weak poltical statement, because the agreement made weren't enough to reduce the emissions, and that the world temperture will increase at lest 3 °C. Climate change in inevitable. Some politics don't take this issues seriously. Time will make them understand, but we will all be affected. The more we help in little details, like recycling, the bigger the difference is. Hopefully, later in the future everyone include "ecology" in their daily actions.

We are running out of water

As we know, the scarcity of water in the world is a big problem, i’m going to focus on the one in Sonora. In the past years, this problem have become worst. More of 10 of the 72 municipalities of Sonora suffer of a extreme scarcity of water, what, in some way, changes the way people act. Since a long time ago, we’ve been digging wells to take out water from the subsoil, but we are running out of that water too.

As we are having problems with water, it is been control really well. That’s why “TANDEO” started. People is not conscious of the big problem we are having and they use it as if it is forever. That’s why I think that one of the solutiones and actions (the tandeos) it will have positive results because with this way of life, people it’s starting to realize that water is not forever and is taking care of it, trying to use less, to shower faster. What we need to save the planet is this kind of actions and actitud. We need this way of thinking, this way of living...looking foward to see a better world, to save the planet. What do we need? .. This way of life, of caring about our planet, should be taught to our generation and the ones coming.

Here is an interesting video about it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhvdvgpJKuM

Crime: A social problem

Nowadays, we are facing a lot of social problems here in México. All this problems are mostly an anwser to economic problems. The last years we’ve been living in a economic crisis, but, how does this takes us to have social problems?...This economic crisis changed the way people live. How?, a lot of people’s job were taken away, what made the family situation harder and crime, increased a lot.

I think that is normal that people who lost their jobs and are fighting to survive, attend to steal. I know, and I agree that nothing can excuse people to comete crimes, even when they are so desperate to get money somehow to buy food for his/her family. 95% of the crimes are reported, but the quantity is that big that the people in charge to take criminals off the society and put them in jail, can’t do all the job. This poverty takes society to another social problems like lack of education.

A guess we’ve all seen all the police cars going all around our city in high speed, searching for criminals and looking and fighting for a safe world. I actually can tell that my brother experienced something about this; he was walking back home from the supermarket , when a helicopter was flying above his head, he turned in a block, and the helicopter kept following him until he walked below a tree. This means that around us, we don’t know who but there are a lot of criminals, and police is searching for them in every corner of the city.

FIGHTING AGAINST CRIME.

Globalization

Globalization: nowadays, the world is a huge shopping mall.

Since very remote times, civilizations started with commerce and the exchange of products. In the Middle Ages, Europeans started a market characterized by long-distance trips that sometimes ended up in tragedy because of the pirates that were in the middle of the way, waiting anxiously to keep the treasures that were transported.

Today we have a totally new way of commercial interaction. We have means of delivery that nobody would have imagined 50 years ago. We have means of paying the products that nobody imagined even 30 years ago. So why is this all happening?

In the present post, I'd like to analyze the factors that have taken us to this point in history (that I'm sure will continue its evolution), and the consequences or the impact that it has in us as human beings.

So why do I refer to the world as a shopping mall? Well I think it's an easy analogy to do. But I think that the world is now even more simple than a shopping mall because nowadays we don't even have to walk 3 hours in order to get what we want, we can just click several times on a website and the package will be delivered at home in a certain lapse of time. Cool, huh?

While in my analysis, first of all, I believe that the factors that have lead to the world's globalization are: the development of technology, the improvement of transportation means, the new facilities we have in credits, transferring money from virtual accounts, the new means of marketing, the massive media that reaches every single point of the planet, and the government's policy of capitalism.

However, I actually think this ought to have it's negative approaches. Nothing in this world can be so good to be true. For instance, a lot of people who are ignorant in the uses of technology have lost their jobs in banks or in renamed companies because the knowledge they had has now become obsolete, and they have been replaced by younger people with better training. I know this is sort of natural but we have enough with the crisis cutting out jobs for this to be happening too.

However, it has more possitive approaches than negative, and I think this topic may lead to discuss other interesting global issues, because this shopping mall is also based in the principle of supply and demand, scarcity of resources, etc. So now, with this view of our world as a huge market, I think there's nothing that can stop us from being connected to whichever country we want, and from succeeding in the environment of selling.

Of all the topics we'll cover in this course, I'm specially interested in Economics. I love how the distribution of goods moves our world, and how it stimulates everybody's lives, even in the minimum way. I love to see the planet now as a shopping mall, building in my mind an image that will keep me from feeling fear towards international commerce and market, because now I see that it will become easier with each day that passes.

Disarmament

In 2007, world military expenditures totalled some $1.34 trillion. The need for a culture of peace and for significant arms reduction worldwide has never been greater. This applies to all classes of weapons.
On the danger of nuclear weapons, Albert Einstein reportedly said: “I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”
But the human and material cost of conventional weapons is also extreme. Of at least 640 million licensed firearms worldwide, roughly two thirds are in the hands of civil society. The legal trade in small arms and weapons exceeds $4 billion a year. The illicit trade is estimated at $1 billion. And such conventional weapons as landmines take an toll on life and limb that continues for years after the conflicts that spawned them are finished.

I believe that disarming every country that has too many weapons is essential to reach world peace. Even if conflict between humans is an essential part to human life I believe that disarming will make this conflicts much less fatal to a lot of people. The simple possesion of weapons by a country makes that country much more prone tu using those weapons. If a country lacks weapons it is much less likely that it will buy weapons to fight. I hope that disarmament becomes a reallity and helps save many innocent lives.

Food crisis

For two decades, leading up to the millennium, global demand for food increased steadily, along with growth in the world’s population, record harvests, improvements in incomes, and the diversification of diets. As a result, food prices continued to decline through 2000.
But beginning in 2004, prices for most grains began to rise. Although there was an increase in production, the increase in demand was greater.
Food stocks became depleted. And then, in 2005, food production was dramatically affected by extreme weather incidents in major food-producing countries. By 2006, world cereal production had fallen by 2.1 percent. In 2007, rapid increases in oil prices increased fertilizer and other food production costs.
As international food prices reached unprecedented levels, countries sought ways to insulate themselves from potential food shortages and price shocks. Several food-exporting countries imposed export restrictions. Certain key importers began purchasing grains at any price to maintain domestic supplies.
This resulted in panic and volatility in international grain markets. It also attracted speculative investments in grain futures and options markets. Perhaps as a result, prices rose even higher.
At the moment, food commodity prices appear to be stabilizing. But prices are expected to remain high over the medium to long term with devastating consequences for the world’s most vulnerable populations.

Demining

Landmines are a worldwide issue that still affect us today. We don't have to be in times of war to be affected by landmines all over the world. According to the UN landmines kill from 15, 000 to 20, 000 people each year, most of them children and women. They are an issue that is all over the world in many countries. Landmines are very small and difficult to detect and when not warned people will most likely be killed when entering a minefield. They are scattered in big areas of land that are frequently used as roads or any place that is strategically planned to kill many people. All of this can be summarized in a few words: Landmines kill indiscriminately the innocent and the guilty and many innocent people die when it's not even war time.

Landmines are very hard to detect and very rarely noticed. That is why demining is a very difficult job that has to be performed by professionals with very specific tools that are used to detect and remove these landmines. Professionals from the UN have been working in many of the countries affected by this evil weapons to remove these killer traps completely. Unfortunately as I said before it is a very difficult job and cannot be performed in a year's time. We will need many years to finally remove all the mines that have been set by wars and that are ready to blow at the cost of many human lives.

I think that in order for this problem to be resolved we have to stop altogether the use of landmines as weapon of war. If we stop now the use of landmines we can save thousands of lives each year. Not only that, landmines also affect many others that end up hurt by these explotions and many landscapes and geographical areas where people live. Even though wars cannot be avoided the use of guns that cannot be controlled and hurt innocent people should be avoided at all costs.