Piracy in Somalia

Believe it or not, piracy is a big problem that is affecting Somalia nowadays. It is not like it is pictured in the movies, of course, since they have to deal with reality were inequality and the survival of the fittest exists. I never thought that piracy was still practiced until I came across this article. In this article we can see how some retired pirates talk about their hard life in Nairobi. It is very difficult to get information about these types of activities, so I think this brings more curiosity to know how they lived. First of all, this people are uneducated, that's the main reason they become part of the crew were they will receive money by participating in stealing ships containing a good cargo. The pirate told that he had no other choice, since he doesn't have education. If he would, he would have taken another path. Here I think that education makes the difference in our lives. Every day we see a lot of people in the street that didn't take the opportunities or weren't given the opportunities. Now, it is crucial to be educated to survive in this world in order to have a decent life.


The pirate also mentioned about the inequality they lived day by day. The people who act and steal are only the puppets of the real pirates who hide behind them. They control the entire situation and just sit behind giving orders. They also are the ones who take all the money and invest it in real estates or businesses. They receive only the third part of what they are promised, like $10,000 to pay the "expenses". They are abused to live in cruel conditions and they are the ones who take the risk. However, this is a way they can gain money from the easy way. Their dreams of being rich are crashed with their hard work and low payment. Now, the pirate has abandoned that type of life and decided to look for a new beginning with more opportunities.


This is only just a news report that really depicts the life in Somalia if you don't have an education. Besides living as a puppet, it's really sad that people are still practicing piracy around the world. Stealing is just a shortcut to get what you don't deserve. Why can't people work for what they want and need? This is just unfair for the ones who really go to work and break their backs. But, there's also another side of the coin. Somalia is a poor country that still is struggling with his own economic problems. People will get whatever they want in order to live just one more day. It's a country with a lot of issues to solve from the civil war that leave the country divided in a lot of different states without a government that can't handle it all.

The Internet Revolution

This news report had caught my attention because it's new topic that I would like to talk about. As time goes by, technology had evolved to become part of our daily private lives. We should consider that this is a new type of "revolution" that will change how we interact in the world completely, including some aspects of our government. I'm talking about the impact of the Internet of course. We can't live an hour without it, we are much attached to it. Some people feel like an "addiction" to the internet by pages like Facebook, Twitter, etc. A friend told me they are even some groups to leave the addiction, something like Alcoholics Anonymous. Leaving the personal effect on us aside, the Internet not only affects how we as humans communicate and "stay in touch" but also, some experts says it will affect whole industries, even the government. We have seen this type of issues before with the Internet. I remember we discuss in class about how the freedom of speech is being violated by governments like China by banning the site of Google and YouTube. They are forgetting the main ideas of great thinkers who fought to defend their beliefs, and now we are taking steps back. I know that China is kind of a mixed country that is moving with big steps in the economic area but is decreasing in the political area. According to the article, the internet revolution will be very slow but painful. This means that industries will reborn from their ashes to adapt to the new challenging world. The government can take advantage of this tool in a positive or negative way. The positive way is that the people will be more informed on what's going around them to have a better judgment and make right decisions. It can also be a place where online cooperation is held and the people's opinion is heard well. Of course, everything has a positive and a negative side. The article says that some people think that this tool in the wrong hands can be a dangerous tracker of persons. With all that is going on, people uploading photos and personal information, this can also affect us. The Internet will change the world undoubtedly, but is up to us what we share and what we don't. This tool can be very useful to us if we want to, we just need to be careful and don't just go with the flow that every site is safe. It has already started, so adapting is the solution to it.

Looking for New Prospectings

I read a while ago about a news report talking about how Obama had authorized new explorations looking for petroleum. I choose this topic because petroleum had given a lot to talk lately, especially in our class. It was even included in the article of the exam, which has a link to this news. According to the article, Obama is now pushing the line to get out of the stagnation by looking for new resources in different parts of the world, such as the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean, and Alaska. I found this great since the quantity of petroleum had decreased in the recent years, so the price had increased. If we found more petroleum in our areas, Mexico will have a more stabilized economy because it will extend the years of U.S.A buying petroleum to Mexico. The sad part about this is that the business with petroleum could be better, since we sell them the barrels and they give us back the finished product more expensive. Almost everything is made out of this resource. We are now so dependent of petroleum that we are desperate looking for more of it, and the country who finds it will instantly become more powerful because every country needs it and it will guarantee its survival in the next years.


I also consider dangerous taking petroleum out of Alaska since it is in a delicate status right now. I'm saying this because nowadays that part of the planet is the one that is receiving most of the sun rays, by of course, the problem of the greenhouse effect. If they try to look for petroleum over there, they are going to alter the nature of the glaciers by doing the big holes and bringing huge machines. I hope the U.S. has this in mind, so that their search of petroleum doesn't affect too much. We are already having a huge impact in the world.

Speaking of resources to produce energy and other things, nonrenewable resources like the petroleum shouldn't be in our list anymore. We have to start looking for new forms of energy that are efficient and doesn't affect our planet. It says on the article that Obama wants the U.S.A to depend on the fuels produced in their own country, including renewable forms of energy. This is time to introduce concepts like solar energy, wind energy, among others to our daily life.

Killer Defending Abortion

George Tiller

Abortion is a delicate theme to talk about since it has its pros and cons, so it is a wonderful subject to pick in an open discussion. However, I don't want to talk about what we all already know religion vs. freedom. I want to approach a news report that caught my eye about a person who killed an activist of abortion, which at the same time was a doctor who did this procedure. The name of this doctor was George Tiller who lived on Wichita, Kansas and was a clear activist of human rights. The killer's name was Scott Roeder who was given life imprisonment for killing the doctor while he was at the church. According to the article, he still doesn't regret what he has done. He thinks he had saved babies from being killed. Well, I think that this is not right. What about the doctor's life and the family he has destroyed? After all, the ones who take the choice are the pregnant women. The doctor just followed his ideas of what he think it was right. This doesn't mean I support abortion, I think that they are plenty of other alternatives a woman can follow, like giving the baby in adoption. Still, that is not a reason to kill someone, it's just sick. While abortion is permitted in Kansas, there are people who don't like it at all like this man.

I think that toleration is now on the floor. Besides the people who had to be present on this act, the government applied a big sanction on this man. I think he deserves it because he killed a man. The sanction he received comes from all the months that this man Roeder stalked Dr. Tiller. I think that Dr. Tiller, as a women's right activist, supported this procedure because the woman will have the free choice. However, I disagree with this man about the free choice they are allowed to make. We're talking about a life here, which already has rights. They are violating the most important human right, which is the respect for life. A baby is too weak, he/she can't defend himself or herself. According to some studies, they cry their lungs out when the vacuum is introduced.



This man wants his opinion to be heard, but in the wrong way. There are better alternatives to achieve our goals. He violated the law he was defending, ending with the human life. We can't live guided by our impulses and desires. We have to stop and think twice before acting.

First Scarced Then a Surplus

This news report caught my attention because almost a year ago we experienced it here in Mexico causing panic like if it was a virus too, and now everyone seemed pretty normal about it. They even are dumping H1N1 vaccines because they had expired. The quantity of vaccines that are going to be discarded is surprising: 71 million! A year ago, everyone wanted to have the shot but now, there is a big surplus of vaccines. This is just so strange that they continue producing the vaccines, even though the "breakout" of the mutated virus had gone away. I remember that the information of this event was managed in a very suspicious way. If I was a pharmacist, I would take advantage of this opportunity and try to sell the more quantity of vaccines I can. Fear is one of the things that can easily be spread throughout a region. The bad use of information helped and now with technologies like the Tv, internet, etc. is easily to get "informed" of what is happening around. It was a big hit to some stores since everyone was inside of their houses "safe" from the pandemic virus. I think that the situation should be handled in a more appropriate way the next time something like this happens. There are still some mysteries surrounding this situation, which I doubt will be clearer in the future. This shows that the government in our country still holds a lot of power in controlling the information, like the Google problem in China, but not so strong.

With the experience that I lived at school, when our teacher entered and just said that we have go home and just get on the bus (one of my best days), there was total chaos everywhere. This makes me think how a small mutated virus that started spreading throughout the country can make the whole world shake.

According to the article, there are still producing more vaccines while millions are being dumped. How can this happen? If they weren't used, it means that they are just wasting money or maybe they had a treaty with pharmaceutical companies which of course obtain all the benefit. The U.S. had invested $1.6 billion in the vaccine program. A friend who lives currently on the U.S told me that it was obligatory to take the shot, which included long lines and a lot of time invested.

I think that this issue is good for us to reflect on whether the people are being protected or just another unnecessary spending from the U.S.

The Secret Behind Google

Google is now one of the most powerful enterprises in the world based on the Internet search technologies that we all know and use every day. For some people, especially students, it has become a powerful and necessary weapon to know more information to do our homework. The company was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, both from the Stanford University. The use of Google has become so popular not only because is free to use, but the usefulness of the page as it organizes the entire world's information in just one place. Almost 99% percent of the profits of Google come from its advertising programs. The search engine, which is the most popular among us, dominates the US market. I think that this enterprise is one of the most successful ones and that has impacted the society the most. If we don't know something, we just google it. Google even has a page for almost every country, like "Google Mexico". As we move to new technologies, such as the Internet, people become more in contact with information they want to know in just a few seconds. It's like opening the doors to the world. However, the freedom of information that travels in the search engine of Google has also been banned in some countries like China, where the government wants to control the information to avoid "dangerous actions" against them. Since there is another blog talking about this issue, I will focus more in what is behind the Google enterprise. When we were on class of Planeación de Vida y Carrera, they show us a video of how the Google business works. I was surprised to see the excellent treatment the employers received. Human capital is a crucial element in a business, so I think that a good treatment from the enterprise will have its benefits. People not only will be happier but the work they will do will have a greater quality. Their environment is amazing, since they offer all the services inside the building such as, transport (bikes), restaurants, free beverages, dress the way they want, etc. It would be cool to work there :)

I think that this type of freedom can help people work in such a better way, they will feel free and less stressed. They don't have an established schedule and they even give them time to dedicate it to own personal projects. This is very important to maintain in an entreprise since it can affect it in a positive or a negative way. Sometimes I entered to businesses where the employeers seem so unhappy that they don't motivate you to buy anything or at least with a sensation of not coming back. Humans are not machines, we also deserve a good environment to work on!

Breathing Earth

This page I found is just a simulator where you can found the carbon emissions of each country and their born and dead rate. Why is this important to know this information? So that we can grow out consciousness of what is going outside our little world and notice how big the world is in reality and the way we are impacting on it. We have to take in consideration that this page is just a simulator, so it's not 100% accurate, but still I think it was a nice and creative idea to start with what can later be a more real simulator. As I entered the page, the first thing I noticed was that China and India are have a really high born rate and death rate, as well. Overpopulation can be a real big problem in the future, if our species continues growing in such a fast rate as it had been. However, that's the worst-case scenario, changes can still be made. For example in China, now there is a "One Child" policy, which the government is keeping an eye on closely. As resources are being used, more people are coming to the world, so how will we be able to sustain the human race if resources are scarce? That's a global problem that I think we should pay more attention to. Education and being informed are two powerful tools that can be used in order to combat overpopulation. If we had to go to extreme cases, we can apply policies not only to China but to India as well, which has a bigger birth rate.

Other important aspect that this page shows is our environmental impact each country made on the world. In each country we can see in how much time each country produces 1000 tonnes of CO2 emissions to the air. When I checked the data, I think that this simulator was lying, since for me the data it showed was too much. There's some information below on the page which says that the CO2 emissions that show the page were more probable to be too low than too high. Well, maybe the page is not 100% accurate, but sometimes truth is hard to swallow. Some of the countries that emitted more CO2 were China, Russia and the U.S.



In conclusion, I just thought that this page was a great idea to start with. I hope you have a look and decide for yourself if it's useful or not. I totally like it since it put things in perspective and one more thing: reduce has to become part of our culture so that we can continue living in this world with no side effects.

Behind A Big Lie

There's some tension going on now between Iran and United States as Iran's President Ahmadinejad launch serious accusations about the September 11 atacks. He said that this attacks were a big lie from the U.S. and just an excuse to invade Afghanistan. The tensions are still continue growing becuase Iran doesn't want to slow down his enrichment on uranium and nuclear programs. As I read this news, first of all it came to my mind why I think the U.S. is still on Afghanistan, after almost 10 years from the attacks at the World Trade Center. As time passes by, resources are being more scared and precious to a country, since GREAT part of economics are based on them, well, United States is not only there for peace. Oil is one of the most precious resources that a country can have, since almost everything is made out of petroleum. There are still a lot of theories out there and some information that doesn't match, but what matters now is that Iran is planning not to decrease his nuclear programs, which means that it represent a big thread to our planet. Even with the new sanctions that the U.S. wants to put on Iran for not respecting the limits established. The saddest part of all is that Iranians support the nuclear program. Hopefully, those sanctions make Iran think twice before continuing expanding his nuclear program, if not this could lead to a crumbling future especially between the U.S. and Iran. Iran said that the nuclear program is to create energy, but countries still doubt about the use they are giving to it, as they can develop nuclear weapons, which can result in something similar as the Cold War. Iran has to take the right place in this world and be more responsible to pick the right choices and left aside the selfish way to become more powerful.

Chile's Situation

As Haiti's news are moving aside, Chile now takes the hotspot in the media by the recent earthquake that striked off the coast of the Maule Region with a maginitude of 8.8 and lasting 3 minutes. I remembered that at first the president, Michelle Bachelet didn't want to ask for help because they thought the catastrophe wasn't so big or just to avoid the panick on people, since the earthquake of Haiti was still on the news. Now, I ask to myself if this is a normal situation, that 2 earthquakes strike in such a small period of time? Well, it's normal for people to think that it was a movement of the tectonic plates, others may say it's global warming, or just the end of the world; however, we have to move to the facts and the desperate situation Chile is going on. On March 4, the president said that Chile will need international loans in order to rebuild the damaging parts in 3 or 4 years. On the other hand, Chile's economic stability of the last years will help the get off this situation more quickly because they have a reserve of cash of about $11 billion. The government of Chile is one of the few governments form Latin America that can be trully admired. Chile has an average steady growth of 4%, which makes this country's economy maintain balance even after a catastrophe passed by. I never thought of Chile as a great country until I found this great news about them. There's a little damage that some cities and ports suffered lowering the economic growth from 5.4% to 5.0%, but after all what happened I think is great news that Chile is standing!

On the other hand, Chile received a visit form the president of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, which state that they will totally help Chile to recover, as Chile also worked when Haiti needed help. I think that is very important to help nations in need because you never know when a natural disaster can hit your country, as it happened to Chile. Besides their economic stability, people are still in need of help such as hospitals, clean water, bridges, etc. as people need to move from dangerous areas and avoid illnesses. I'm conscious that Chile needs all the help possible, and I'm glad that some of my classmates are organizing a campaign to collect cans of food for Chile.

I Have Two Cows...

One of our French teachers decided to show us a page about some of the different type of governments it exists with and also how the different cultures affect the government. First of all, the article starts by saying that we are owners of 2 cows. From these 2 cows, the government is going to intervene in different ways depending on the type of government chosen. Some of the examples are a little bit exaggerated but you can see the funny side also, since is based on prejudices that people have by the actions this government made in the past or some of them still do. I can relate some of the material we learn in class in this blog post. For example, the blog post says that if you had 2 cows and live in a communist country, the state will take both of them and give you milk. As we saw in class, in a communist country, the state controls both resources and prices. It's cool to see their opinion of the other governments like, socialism, capitalism, etc., which by the way I also don't think there's one government that is better than another. Each country has the chance to success if they get focused on it, like for example China is now in the second place in the world's economy, just behind the U.S., and they have different government systems. This is the proof that there are different methods to be in the first place of the world's economy, not just one.

Besides talking about the different type of governments, the blog post also talks about the prejudices we have about how some countries manage their economy. The one that captured my attention was the French economy. I said that if you were a french person and you have two cows, you will declare a strike because what you really wanted was 3 cows. Recently, the teacher had showed us about a strike in the store "Carrefour", which make us laugh while we were reading this. Well, France was the country were the Human Rights were established, so I think its okay that they are claiming their rights. However, this has also created a bad image on France, as people make prejudices that they work only a few hours or if not they are in a strike. In a recent article that came on my French exam, says that France is fighting hard against this image that has been created around it. France invested around 10 millions of Euros in 3 years to create a campaign to show people the reality. I think is a very good idea of France to promote this campaigns so that more people gets motivated to work on there, or simply just to don't have the negative idea, just as we as Mexicans don't like to people think that Mexico = big sombrero moving on a burrito or taking a nap under a big sahuaro! Each country needs an opportunity to give the best of it.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Looking For Water

Had the future already reached us? This is a question I always ask when I forget that at 11 p.m. I don't have water anymore at home at that hour. The cistern of my house isn't woriking so well, so I have to watch out the clock and be sure to finish all the things I have to do with water before 11 p.m. reaches me. That's when I started really appreciating this valuable resource. Do we always have to loss something in order to appreciate it? I think the answer is yes, especially vital resources that have a lot of uses. I really miss the times when I always count on water to be there for me whenever I want. Sadly, the mistreatment of it and the location of this city doesn't help the situation. It's really uncomfrtable to really go this extent. I think that the previous authorities didn't really think of this issue, and now it's very easy to them to apply this measurements so everyone can have access to it. Can the lack of rains in this little city be related to the whole global warming issue out there? Maybe it is. This can only be the beginning of the climate change chaos, if we continue on the same path. And, I can recall, we depend hugely in this resource. But, can we do something to help the situation or do we have to wait for the government to do something? I think that at least we can treat better this type of vital resources. Just use the quantity that is needed. There are some tips we can all follow. For example, water the plants and grass at night avoids the water from being evaporated so quickly, especially with the intense heat we get in the summer. Another problem I found is that if we only get from 6-14 hours of water a day, should we pay less for it? I think that no. I always have thought that electricity costs are very high compared to the cheap facture we receive of the water. I think we should pay it backwards. Water is clearly more important than electricity. First of all, we can live without it! Electricity has also its importance, but let's wait some time in order to see our priorities with the effects this will cause. Also, the city of Hermosillo is growing very quickly. How can we assure this resource if the city is expanding each day? Not only the goverment should do something, even though they "promised" water; but we, as part of this community, beware of the use we give to the water. We souldn't play with nature. I hope we don't finish buying bottled water to take a bath, watch dishes, water plants, personal hygiene, etc.