Shanghai's world class fair

A really big fair will take place in Shanghai next month. What the Chinese city is trying to do is to get the recognition from all over the world as one of the best events on the planet, they want all the people of the world to know what is the “Shanghai Fair”, something like the Carnival that takes place in Brazil every spring. Since the mid-20th century, world fairs have lost much of their shine as air travel is now very easy to do now people can fly all over the world without a problem (people with money), television and the Internet became more efficient means of introducing people to new ideas and they forgot how it is to be in a city’s fair. Shanghai, a city where technology has advanced in enormous ways in the past years, now is trying to get an older type of event that congregates an important number of people. Of course, millions of tourists have already got a place to be in the fair that will begin in May. China opened to the world with one of the biggest and prettiest Olympic Games in history, impressing us with the inauguration ceremony and with the technology advanced structures they used for the competitions. Now they want to show us that they can be a great place for tourism with this impressive event. There is no doubt that they have improved socially and economically. In the economic aspect we all know that because of the big number of products they export, but I also said that socially because China is now caring more about their people and also people from other countries, something that did not happen in the past. It is great that this kind of events exist, it will surely motivate other important cities to make something real special for people. Today we mention the Brazil’s carnival and everybody knows that we are talking about a great event. We might later talk in a not so long future about the great Shanghai fair.

Polish President’s death, a big tragedy

As most people know, President Lech Kaczynski died last Saturday in a plane crash during a hard landing somewhere in Russia. Because many important people of the Polish government were in the plane during the accident, most people thought that it could be a terrorist attack. “Fortunately” it was not the case and it was an error of the person flying the plane. A lot of presidents have sent their condolences to the people of Poland and to the families of the people who died during the crash. Russian and Polish investigators are working side by side to analyze the flight recorders and evidence from Saturday's crash in Smolensk. Russian news agencies are quoting the transport ministry spokesman in saying the voice and data recorders are being analyzed at a special laboratory in the presence of Russian and Polish officials.

The body of Poland's president Lech Kaczynski arrived back home Sunday as his stunned nation mourned the elite victims of a jet crash in Russia that has left intense focus on the pilots' last actions. After observing a nationwide two-minute silence for the 96 dead, tens of thousands lined the route taken by the casket from Warsaw airport to the presidential palace. Also killed in the crash were Poland's national bank president, deputy foreign minister, army chaplain, head of the National Security Office, deputy parliament speaker, Olympic Committee head, civil rights commissioner and Kaczynski’s wife, Maria. It was a big coincidence that the country’s leaders were on the same plane at the time of the accident. Among the country’s leader that expressed their condolences to President Kaczynski was the prime minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu that said that Kaczynski was "a leader who did much for his country" and his death "constitutes a great loss for the Polish people and all peace- and freedom-loving nations”. Also, prime minister of England Gordon Brown said that Lech Kaczynski was a person that fought very hard to get his country’s freedom. Without a doubt everyone will remember Lech Kaczynski as a great man that did a lot for Poland, let’s hope that he is in a better place right now.

Energy = Garbage?

When I took the newspaper in Sunday morning I read a headline that caught my attention right away, the headline said “It is being analyzed how to create electric energy with garbage” , a little below it said also that Sonora needs 500,000 tons of sweepings each year to convert them into electricity. Recently we have seen the alternative ways of getting energy, such alternatives include windmills, solar panels and cells, geothermic machines and nuclear power as some options to get energy, but now that I see sweepings as other way to get electricity I’m very impressed. It is said also that the advantages and disadvantages are being studied. In Germany and United States this technology is already being used, so I think if Sonora starts using this way of obtaining energy it will totally launch us to next level of using technology because this can bring many more studies that allow us to get other types of technology in order to help our society. As a curious note it is said that in Sonora a total of 870,000 tons of sweepings are produced every year, good enough to produce a good amount of electricity. In the note it is also said that every town in Sonora will have a say in the decision: if this plants to generate electricity are constructed or not. Now that a new technology like this one can be installed here in our state, there is a good chance to find other forms of getting energy, as I commented before, it would be good if someone brought wind turbines to get energy from the wind or if the solar cells become every day more common it will definitely be a big step into a new Sonora full of technology and new ways of obtaining energy, something that should concern us more than it actually does.

In recent days there has been a wave of big political violence in Bangkok the capital of Thailand. More than 800 people were injured in the clashes between the protesters and security forces, which came three days after Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva declared a state of emergency in Bangkok. Some protesters also acted in a threatening manner towards local journalists, accusing them of bias in covering the protests. A television crew member was injured when a protester smashed the window of his car. It is hard to watch this kind of news because it reminds me of the problem that Mexico faced 4 years ago in Oaxaca when the APPO issue put an entire region under the control of the army and broke several fights involving protesters against the Mexican army. What is even sadder is that Thailand is not the only country in the world with violence in the streets right now, it is not necessary to mention our country and the Middle East wars in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Returning to the initial topic of the post, the fatalities include 14 civilians, among them the Japanese TV cameraman Hiroyuki Muramoto, whom Reuters said had worked for the news agency's Tokyo bureau for more than 15 years. He was found dead near the Democracy Monument. The government’s failure to disperse the protesters from their encampments may have hardened the red shirts' position and deepened the crisis that is now the deadliest political violence in Thailand since 1992. The leader of the protest movement, called Red Shirts for their clothing, said they would not talk with the government after Saturday’s deaths. These are very hard times for people in Bangkok, there are a lot of civilians that do not have any trouble with government and because a group of radicals do not agree with the government’s policies they have made of Bangkok a dangerous place right now. The Red Shirts support former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed in a 2006 coup. They are demanding that Prime Minister Abhisit, who they claim was elected illegitimately, immediately dissolve the government and call new elections.

An example to follow

Every person that has investigated about the richest man on earth definitely has found the name of Donald Trump more than once. This American business magnate born in New York City 63 years ago is the owner of Trump Entertainment Resorts, which operates several casinos and hotels. He even has his own reality show called The Apprentice, a really interesting TV show in which the winner has the right to run one of Trump’s businesses. He is the owner of a lot of hotels and big towers around the world. But the reason I decided to make this post about Mr. Trump is because he reminds me a lot of what Tec is expecting us to do, be innovative leaders and be entrepreneurs. If it wasn’t for his big ideas, Donald Trump would surely not have even half of the money he owns right now. Reading an article in the newspaper, I found out that in1995 Trump bought a building located in Wall Street in New York. The old building was bought at the price of 1 million dollars. So Trump decided to make it a luxury building, with first class offices. Now the biggest businessman operates from there and the building is calculated to be worth around 400 million dollars, not so bad for an investment of 1 million dollars. This is the result of a person who thought and worked harder than others, he visualized a luxury building and he built it, ergo we have to learn from people like Mr. Trump.

Nuclear power: Weapon or energy source?

Our need to find new sources of energy is becoming greater every day. Electricity is a basic need in our lives, without it everyday life literaly stops. Fossil fuels are other of our energy sources, they are burned to get heat, the oldest type of energy source. These to sources of energy have become obsolete, they contaminate too much. At their shor term use we could use them with no problems or side effects, but now the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere have become too great. We are urged to get new ways of getting our energy, ways that do not pollute as much and ways that are also safe for us humans.

Nuclear energy is a very efficient type of energy. It could really be the solution to our problems. It is not cheap, but with a single atom we can produce a lot of energy. Atomic energy, as it is sometimes called, has to be produced in special plants that are filled with different security measures because the radiation that escapes from this enourmous amounts of energy is very high too. So there are also some down sides to nuclear energy, as to everything. We have to become a more efficient species but that is not without is losses. To save our planet from contamination we will have to sacrifice some of our species, we will have to risk human lives.

The disasters occured in Nagasaki and Hiroshima prove how strong nuclear energy is but how dangerous as well. To be able to control this type of power we have to be very responsible as to who gets to manage this type of technology. As an energy source it is permitted but as a weapon it should be shameful to even think about using. The effects nuclear energy has as a weapon are very painful, not only as a bomb but also all the side effects it has. Nuclear energy can become our next energy source but we must be careful as to who gets to manage it and how it is managed.

Facebook: Virtual addiction

Facebook is known as a very useful social tool by everyone in the world. A person with internet access will most likely have a facebook account or at least heard about facebook. I'm sure that at least 90% of teens that have an internet connection will have a facebook account. Facebook is used to keep in touch with people far away, or just with your regular friends. There are pictures, status updates, and many other ways to interact throught the internet. Having access to facebook from basically anywhere has made it possible to check our facebook accounts in a regular basis. We become sucked into the virtual world and begin to need our facebook accouts.

When we need to be connected to facebook to be at ease we know that this "social tool" has become an addiction. No addiction or excess is ever good. Checking too much facebook, and being all the time on facebook is very bad as as doing too much of anyhting. When you basically live through facebook you stop living your real life. There are real life cases of people who have become so sucked into facebook that rehabilitation is a must for this kind of people.

Facebook can get to be very useful and may help you keep in touch and stay connected to your loved ones. But there comes a time when you stop doing it out of need to keep in touch and start doing it out of the need to stalk people. Stalking is one of the issues people are afraid of when it comes to the internet, and the fact that facebook provides a great tool for this kind of privacy violation makes it not so safe. That is why we have to be very careful as to what we upload to this type of public web pages. Private information must not be published just like that, you have to upgrade security measures to avoid being checked by people who would want to do bad. You must be very careful when becoming a facebook user and the fact that many of us are means that we are very exposed to these kind of violations.

Internet acces: A fundamental right?

Internet is a tool we use on an everyday basis. We are used to have internet access all the time and at a very close distance. It solves many of our problems, provides information and we even use it to do our homework! Communication is another of the main uses of the internet. Sadly, not everyone has internet access, which to us is a necessary tool. Who of us could lead a life with no internet? At one point or another we would lack information for homeworks or be out of touch with someone. But why don't we all have internet access? There are many parts of the world that do not have internet access because they´re either too poor and don't have the resources or are not allowed to have access to that much information. Lots of people have to live without internet, thing we couldn't do and some people do everyday.

Internet access should become fundamental right for everyone. The internet has created new needs and even though before we could live without internet connection, nowadays we cannot live without internet access. There are serious implications to what this means. Internet access becoming a right, would mean internet connection for everyone. It's not an easy task to achieve but if we reach our goal, the whole world would have communication; infromation from the whole world would reach other parts of the world in seconds. Many surveys have been performed on this topic and Mexico is one of the main supporters of having internet access become a right. Mexicans (along with Brazil and Turkey) are three of the main supporters of the internet and the freedom of speech that can be achieved through this.

Like everything, internet is not all good. There is a bad side to internet too, along with access to lots of information you also have access to tons of bad things too. Through internet you can see violent and explicit content, fraud can be committed and many things can be downloaded illegaly. These problems are not to be taken lightly, but these issues can be controlled by the law. By regulating internet access, you can be sure no one does this. Once this problems are under control, internet connection can become a fundamental right and we will all be connected as one big world.

Tough spot for Greece

Greece was in the ancient world one of the main civilizations, they had great thinkers and made many advances in sciences and philosophy. Today, I’m sure the Greeks are nothing less of what they used to be, but sadly they’re not having the same luck. Greece is going through a very bad budget deficit brought about by many debts the Greeks have; Greece's national debt stands at about 300bn Euros. This budget deficit has forced the government to make many cuts both in wages and public spending. The economic crisis through which Greece is going will most likely affect the whole European Union.

Certainly the Greeks will be affected by all of this; many are complaining and going into strike due to the lack of support by the government. It is very bad that there are such great differences among all the economic levels of the European Union. These kinds of differences are likely to destabilize the Euro’s value and even reduce it. If Greek economy goes “over the cliff” it is likely to take with it Spain and create a chain of falling economies. It is imperative that the Greece does something about this, but also they have to be supported by the European Union because this also affects them.

There are several things that can be done about this deficit. Greece can begin by reducing its spending and making all those who evade taxes pay. They have to be very strict when dealing with taxes. The European Union should boost Greece’s economy and help it regain its strength. Reaching this goal will be tough because the Greeks have begun to complain and go into strikes. They should do the total opposite, they should be united and work hard to make their economy go up and reach their previous economic level.

The quake in Chilean economy

Don’t you find it weird that the Haitian earthquake got so much more press than the Chilean earthquake? Haven’t you realized how the Haitian earthquake was everywhere in the news and Chile seems to be unimportant? Well, that is mainly because of the vast differences between these two countries’ economies. The earthquake in Chile was stronger than the one in Haiti, yet the damages and the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake seem to be worse. Chile has a pretty good economy; it is in fact the 46^th richest country in the world. The South American country was much more prepared in its infrastructure to a catastrophe of this magnitude, whereas the Caribbean country is one of the poorest countries in the world and is not prepared to receive a natural disaster of this level.

Chile has a very stable economy and is prepared to affront the damages caused by the earthquake. Not without effort though! The catastrophe caused $30 billion in destruction and damages. Most likely if they invest their money properly they can rebound to how they were before. They are also recovering from recession since last year and their economy is expected to expand 5%. The Chileans can have a very great reserve of copper which they base their economy on, and if managed well they would be right back at where they were before the earthquake and before recession or even go higher on the world wide scale.

Haiti does not have such a good economy and that is why the world has aided them so much. Chile does not necessarily need the support that is being offered to them (which is much less than the support offered to Haiti), but help is always welcome. Even if the country is prepared to receive such a hit to their economy that doesn’t mean that the earthquake does not pose a setback for Chile; the Chilean economy would have grown more if it hadn’t been affected by this terrible and very sad natural disaster. And as we now know, the losses are not only social, but also economic.

An ageing world?

The world is in the midst of a unique and irreversible process of demographic transition that will result in older populations everywhere. As fertility rates decline, the proportion of persons aged 60 and over is expected to double between 2007 and 2050, and their actual number will more than triple, reaching 2 billion by 2050. In most countries, the number of those over 80 is likely to quadruple to nearly 400 million by then.

I believe this is not where the world should be going. I think that controlling the growth of the world's population is key in keeping a steady progress in human life but the actual decline of population growth is not good either. The fact that most people are becoming old must mean that less people are being productive. The reality is that old people aren't as productive as young people and that is why I believe this is wrong. A healthy number of young and old people is necessary to keep the world in steady production growth and actually keeping nations running. Old people are necessary too for the world's progress but there has to be a balance, no excess is good.

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.

Save Darfur

Sudan is one of Africa's largest countries. It has a very varied population and many different ethnic tribes. It is a place filled with life and variety. Even though there are many different tribes in Sudan they have always managed to live in peace and to coexist in harmony.

Sudan is affected by many issues that affect all of Africa. Sadly, it is also affected by social issues that are caused by its social inestabililty. The historic political and economic marginalization of Darfur caused two armed social movements to arise and fight against the government. These two social movements attacked many of the government's military instalations causing many damages and losses for the government. In an attempt to stop these two social movements the government killed the tribes that provided food and supplies to the armed movements. These left millions without a house to live in and destroyed over 400 villages.

The Sudanese government attacking it's own people is something hard to concieve. The sole act of destroying one's own possesions is crazy, much more the fact of killing your own civilians. It is not only antinational but also antihumanitarian. The actions that the government has taken are very wrong I believe and should be stopped or at least they should change the ways they do things. The social movements should also be more careful, they could make peaceful resistance instead of attacking with violence. The UN is trying to make a change in these areas and help all the homeless people that this civil war has left. We should all start to create a general knowledge of this kind of problems that really affect a big number of the population.