World Geography End of Year wrap up

As the semester comes to a close I reflect back on this course. I found it interesting to learn about other parts of the world, Some of the things that stood out to me the most was learning about the Middle East, seeing as it is in the news all the times. I enjoyed our class on food from around the world. And as difficult it was for me to get in the groove of doing these blogs, in the past couples of weeks I have found great joy in finding these articles and have learned so much from reading these articles. Doing these blogs forced me to read about things that I otherwise would have ignored. I look forward not only to the end of this semester, but to spending the holidays with my family, and the start of the next semester!

Good Luck to all~!!!!

Places to go for Christmas

If you are looking for somewhere to go this Christmas, you might want to check out these places. CNNGo listed the Top Ten places to spend your Christmas.

1.  Boston, Massachusetts. Boston lays on the New England charm , with snow-dusted cobblestone roads, locals feasting on roasted lobster instead of Christmas turkey and candlelight carols at the Trinity Church.The Sowa Holiday Market, which features works made by New England artisans, is a great place to get Christmas shopping done.

2. London, U.K. Head to London for the Dicksenian holiday experience with A Christmas Carol walking tour of the places characters Pickwick, Scrooge and Tiny Tim supposedly lived.

3. San Juan, Puerto Rico (my favorite). Head to San Juan in Puerto Rico, where Christmas celebrations run longer than anybody else's -- sing carols, from November through mid-January. On Christmas Eve, many Puerto Ricans head to midnight mass, to catch a re-enactment of the nativity scene. On New Year's Eve, locals might make you eat 12 grapes for luck, and the government hosts a free-for-all party. The climax of the season is El Día de los Tres Reyes Magos, or Three Kings Day, which is January 6, 2011.

4. Hong Kong, China. With stores still open on Christmas Day, shoppers can literally do last minute shopping.

5. New York City. The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is probably the most famous in the world and is illuminated by five miles of lights starting the week after Thanksgiving. If you're a tourist, throw on a pair of skates and jump into the rink for the quintessential "I'm in New York during Christmas!" Facebook photo. And with just a short 3 hour drive, is probably the closest to us.

6. Sydney, Australia
7. Salzburg, Austria
8.  Pogost, Belarus
9. Nuremberg, Germany
10. Reykjavik, Iceland

Parasitic Worms heal mans Ulcerative Colitis

A man suffering with Ulcerative Colitis, decided to take matters into his own hands, by ingesting parasitic worms. According to an article I read on CNN.com, the man was having 10-15 bloody bowel movements daily. Soon he was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, and treatments ggiven by his doctor were not working. His doctors gave him the option of being given intravenous rounds of cyclosporine, which would lower the immune system and have the potential to cause cancer later in life. If that treatment failed they would have to remove his entire colon, and would have a colostomy bag permanently. Frustrated and intent on finding a better treatment, he found a study in which some patients with ulcerative colitis showed signs of relief after ingesting trichuris suis worm, a parasite that lives in the intestines of pigs. Doctors in the U.S. would not provide this danger treatment to the patient, so he took off to Thailand, where he found a researcher who extrated the worms from an 11 year old girl's stool.

After ingesting over 1,000 eggs, he found relief within three months. When his bowel movements began to flare up again, he once again ingested eggs, this time extracted from his own stool. The relief soon followed. Later a colonoscopy showed the Ulcerative Colitis was in remission.

Egg House

I found these picture of a man in Beijing that built his home the shape of an egg, and almost the size too. The home is small enough to fit on a sidewalk. It is 6ft high, has a solar panel which provides its power, and is built out of bamboo strips, wood chippings, sack bags, and grass seed. check out the pitures below:

Storm Clouds

I found these pictures on Yahoo! News on storm clouds and thought they looked amazing.

This pictures is of a tornado funnel cloud that touched down in Orchard, Iowa on June 10, 2008.

The picture above is of a thunderstorm approaching a football game.

The picture above is from Phoenix, AZ, and shows a thunderstorm carrying heavy rains.

In this picture you can see the eye of Hurricane Earl from the international space station.

Lighting flashing the Parthenon Temple in Athens.



Blizzard hits Midwest

20 inches of snow hit the Midwest today, forcing the closure of state roads across five states. Following the snow is a dangerous cold front, and it isn't even winter yet! North Dakota is experiencing wind chills of 20 degrees below zero. Temperatures across North and South Dakota, parts of Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin are expected to drop below zero due to the artic air. With road closures and zero visibility, thousands are stranded home.

New York losing greatest number of residents

At Forbes No.1 position of Top 10 States People Are Fleeing, New York came up on top.  Based on 2010 prediction from Moody's Economy.com, it is estimated that New York will lose 49,000 more people then it gained this year. The state has also lossed an average of 100,000 people for the past five years. Part of the reason for the large numbers is that New York has not seen the kind of housing meltown as other states have seen.
At No. 2 is Illinois, with an estimated loss of 27,000 people this year. This has been consistent over the past five years. The loss of manufacturing and industrial jobs has forced people to have to move out of state.
The rest of the top five looks like this:

No. 3- Ohio, losing an estimated 8,900 people. This estimate is a decline compared to the previous years which saw losses of 20,000 yearly.

No. 4 - Nebraska, losing 5,900 people. Considering the population of the whole state is 1.8 million, this loss is quite significant.

No. 5 - Kansas, losing 4,200 people.

Lost Civilization under Persian Gulf?

75,000 to 100,000 years ago, underneath the Persian Gulf, a once fertile landmass the size of Great Britain, may have supported the earliest human life. It then began to shrink due to flooding and was overtaken by the Indian Ocean until complete disappearance about 8,00 years ago. This article which I found on Yahoo!, stirs much debate amongst scientists over when humans exited Africa, which goes as far back as 125,000 years back or as early as 60,000 years back. Scientists also wonder which human inhabited this lost civilization. According to the article "Given the presence of Neanderthal communities in the upper reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates River, as well as in the eastern Mediterranean region, this may very well have been the contact zone between moderns and Neanderthals".  The location of this settlement would have been an ideal location, providing refuge from the surrounding deserts, and fresh water from the Tigris, Euphrates, Karun and Wadi Baton Rivers. The article also states: "These settlements boast well-built, permanent stone houses, long-distance trade networks, elaborately decorated pottery, domesticated animals, and even evidence for one of the oldest boats in the world."

Antarctic cruise ship is crashed

A cruise ship containing 88 passengers and 77 crew members in the Antarctic was crashed by massive waves. The was some damage to the ship and communication systems were lost for some time. Another ship nearby, the National Geographic Explorer, came to the rescue and accompanied the cruise ship and helped it restore communications. The cruise ship is headed back to the Port of Ushuaia , which is the southern most point of Argentina.

Cold and Flu Season

As I wake up this morning with body aches and sore throat, I find an article, How to fight colds and flu. The article offers some remedies you can take to help bolster your immune system.
 On the to do list:
- Vitamin D - According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, children who took Vitamin 2 supplements were 40% less likely to get the common flu virus then those kids who took the placebo. Although Vitamin D promotes bone health, studies indicate that the nutrient may help immune cells identify and destroys bacteria and viruses that make people sick.
- Green Tea- contains a potent plant antioxidants called, Polyphenol, which studies suggest may kill influenza viruses.
- Probiotics - this healthy bacteria, easily found in yogurt, suppress the growth of the "bad" bacteria and can activate the immune system to fight off diseases.

The Republic of the Marshall Islands

As further proof of the damage caused by global warming, the people of the Marshalls face the prospest of their nation disappearing. The cause? Rising sea levels due to expanding from heat and the melting land ice, which by 2100 may takeover the scarce land. Though the 61,000 inhabitants may be forced out long before then. The salty water has begun to infiltrate their wells and parts of the island are eroding away. The government of the Marshalls are seeking international assistance to help save their nation. Where will they go if they need to evacuate? The global treay for refugess mandate that nations shelter those fleeing due to persecution, however it does not cover for those fleeing due to the disappearance of their nation from climate change.

Can being too clean make you sick?

According to an article by HealthDay News, overexposure to antibacterial soap, which contains the chemical triclosan, may lead to increase risk for hay fever, allergies. So it turns out being too clean can make people sick. This study also found that exposure to high levels of the chemical bisphenol (BPA) may weaken an adult's immune system. Triclosan is an antimicrobial found in many antibacterial soap, toothpaste, diaper bags, and medical devices; BPA is used to make many types of plastic. According to the article : "The triclosan findings in the younger age groups may support the 'hygiene hypothesis,' which maintains living in very clean and hygienic environments may impact our exposure to microorganisms that are beneficial for development of the immune system" .

Skyscrapers in China

China has 6 of the world's 15 tallest buildings. Compared to the United States who has 3, China is leading a wave of skyscrapers that are being built away from the U.S. and Europe. By 2012 China will have 34% of the 100 tallest buildings  in the world. Other cities also building skyscrapers at a rapid pace are India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia. Part of the reason for this boom in construction of skyscrapers, is to keep up with the demand for space in overcrowded cities, and economic growth. In China, the government is encouraging midsize towns to build these huge towers, to show off to the world their success. The interesting part of these skyscrapers is that they are not just being built as office space or apartment building, rather the are being constructed to be a combination of office space, hotel, shopping mall, and luxury apartments. The government of China has also placed the pressure on developers to build environmentally friendly skyscrapers, and as such the Shanghai Tower is being built with a double layer glass exterior to insulate it and cut heating and cooling costs.
The picture below is of the 121 story Shanghai Tower:

New World's Hottest Pepper

The world's new hottest pepper is so hot it could strip paint and has the potential to be used as a weapon according to a Yahoo! news article. The pepper is calles the Naga Viper and is the creation of a British chilli farmer and pub owner who combined the three hottest pepper known to man. He even makes customers sign a waiver saying they are of sound mind and body before they can consume the Naga Viper based curry. You can view a video of the cliftonchilliclub member consuming a Naga Viper pepper here.

Shark Attack In Egypt

An adult oceanic white tip shark is believed to have badly mauled 4 tourists in two days in Egypt. Authorities have placed a temporary ban on the whole coastline of Sharm El-Sheikh off the Red Sea. The victims are Russian tourists, who were at the resort town of Ras Nasrani, and were all flown to Cairo in critical condition. One womans are was bitten off, while another's leg and back were severely mauled and she had to be resuscitated. Authorities are now on the hunt for this shark, and want to capture and release to a remote location in the Gulf of Suez.

World AIDS Day

Today is World AIDS Day and many cities are hosting ways to bring up awareness of this Disease. Although AIDS is an uncurable disease, there is hope to finding vaccines and funding preventative measures. 30 years ago AIDS was a new disease and virtually unknown. Today with an estimated 33.3 million infected and 1,000 babies born each day with HIV in Africa, struggling economies are finding it hard to keep up with prevention and awareness. There are many reasons why countries in Africa and Asia are having difficulty in controlling the number of those infected with the disease; the lack of modern medicine, preventative measures, lack of education, and unstable governments.

The Leonid Meteor Shower

The Leonid Meteor Shower is an annual event that returns every mid-November. The shower is caused by material left behind the comet Tempel-Tuttle when it passes near Earth's orbit during its regular trip through the solar system. This year the Leonid Meteor shower will be best seen through November 18th  and 15-20 meteors per hour may be seen. I am fascinated by this meteor shower, and how it radiates like a constellation. According to the article on the Leonid meteor shower, on Yahoo! news, in order to get the best few of this shower is to get as far away from city lights as possible. Find a dark place, lay out a blanket and enjoy the view!

Cholera in Haiti

As if Haiti has not been through enough, this past year has been a nightmare. In January, Haiti experienced a 7.0 magnitude earthquake which devasted this already impoverished nation and claimed the lives of 230,000 people. This loss of life does not include the millions left homeless living in tent cities, with little to no medical care, lack of clean drinking water and lack of sanitary conditions. In the past couple of weeks there has been an outbreak of cholera, which as of today has claimed the lives of over 1,000 people and over 16,000 have sought medical treatment. Cholera is an intestinal infection caused by bacteria transmitted through contaminated water or food, the source of contamination is usually feces of infected people. Cholera causes diarrhea, vomiting, severe dehydration; can kill quickly, but is easily treated by rehydration and antibiotics. Protests and attacks have been occuring in Haiti mainly against peacekeepers and foreigners who have been blamed for this outbreak.

Global Adventures

As the weather starts to get cold outside I am already thinking about my next vacation. As I was browsing through Yahoo! Travel, I found an article on Choose your own adventure which describes adventurous vacations unlike the traditional going down to the shore vacations. Some of the most interesting to me was the Scuba Diving in Belize, which includes night diving, the Blue Hole which is a 400ft deep sinkhole surrounded by the Lighthouse Reef and white sanded beaches.
Scuba Diving in Belize

Another adventure that caught my eye was Exploring Egypt, where there is an 11-day Egypt Unveiled Trip, which includes visits to the pyramids, tours of pharaoh tombs, and  4 day cruise on the Nile river which takes you to less visited locations such as Dendera, Edfu, and Kom Ombo.

Whichever vacation I decide to do I will be sure to look for something challenging, new and especially exciting. 

Election Day 2010

It's election day and the question on many peoples mind..."did you vote today?". I never really saw the importance of voting during an election when we weren't picking a new president, but this election has changed my view. Between the republicans trying to regain control, democrats holding on for dear life and the tea partiest? trying to shake everything up, it seems like all we talk about is this election. I wonder how much will really change if the republicans regain the majority or is this just another talk to win and when they get in nothing is accomplished. I also wonder how much can the tea party do if they are faced with opposition by potentially both parties. But what I think about most is how do Americans think 2 years is enough to fix years of damage done to our economy. I don't necessarily agree with all that has been done, but I do know that our economy will not recover overnight (or 2 years for that matter) and that it takes time and we while we may not all agree on certain policies we do agree that something's got to give and our nation must get better. So with that I ask you, Did you vote today? I did.

Chernobyl

Last night in class the professor discussed the disaster of chernobyl. I was very intrigued by this disaster that I had never heard of and decided to look up more information on it. It is considered the worst nuclear plant disaster in history. The disaster occured on April 26, 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant located in the Ukraine. Four hundred times more radioactive material was released then by the atomic bombing at Hiroshima. The Soviet Union did not initially publish disclose the accident, rather it was a nuclear power plant in Sweden that disclosed the accident after several of their workers had radioactive particles on their clothes. the disaster at Chernobyl affected hundreds in the months after the disaster and caused the evacuations of hundreds of thousands and many towns nearby. In recent studies it is estimated that so far 4,000 children and adololescents exposed have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

Chernobyl_radiation_map_1996

Tsunami in Indonesia

Indonesia Tsunami Kills 113

Mount Merapi

The picture above shows an Indonesian rescue team prepares to evacuate earthquake victims in Padang, West Sumatra on October 26.

The latest earthquake in Indonesia was caused due to the volcanic eruption of Indonesia's most unstable volcano's, Mount Merapi. So far 113 have died and thousands more are unaccounted for. This country is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because it lies above several fault lines.

Globalization and latin america

This article discusses how multinational businesses have been able to infiltrate Plaza's located not only in Puerto Rico but also throughout all of latin America. Plaza is the central location market of small towns locaed in latin America. The plaza is where locals go to for church,city hall, gatherings as well as small businesses. The article uses the plaza de ponce as a prime example of how globalization has effected latin American towns, and although locals give some resistance eventually change does come. The plaza de ponce came about the late 1700's and in the late 1860 consisted of a church, several residences and businesses. The article uses annual property tax records found in the ponce municipal to illustrate the changes in businesses from 1898 to 2000. The plaza began in 1907 with 2 international businesses located adjacent to the plaza. by 2000 there where 7 multinational businesses ( burger king, Mcdonalds,Church"s, taco makers, citibanks and baker's shoes)

Globalization

Globalizattion is the process by which society and cultures become integrated through a wide network or communications and trade. I recently read an article called " measuring globalization influence on the cultural landscape. spatial succession in the plaza of ponce, puerto rico" and which help me understand how  

Globalization has affected even parts of the wold that seemed untouchable!