Religions

I chose this map because I found where certain religions are located and how they rank among the other religions in the United States.  As you can see in the map Baptist are most represented in the southeast section of the United States.  This is not shocking to me because most everybody has heard the term southern Baptist.  We can also see the Church of the Later-day Saints are located in Utah and the surrounding areas.  Lutherans are mostly located in the Mid-Northern states and seem to be spread around to many of the same places that one could find a Concordia University.  Catholics are pretty evenly spread throughout the United States.   

Africa

 The article that you gave us to look at in your blog stated that “More than $500 billion in foreign aid—the equivalent of four Marshall Aid Plans—was pumped into Africa between 1960 and 1997” This number is outrageous especially when you notice that in 2004 the economic growth of Africa was only 5%.  This money that is being sent over by the millions in order to “aid” Africa is not helping at all it is only making the rich people richer and the poor people poorer. 

            I believe that instead of sending all of this money in “Aid” over to Africa we should send people and leaders over to help reform Africa.  Africans are receiving this aid and thus for example they are not providing their own means of textiles.  Which is the most common industry of developing nations.  I think that if we allow Africa to develop an infrastructure in order to become self sufficient we will help Africa out tremendously in the long run. 

Egypt

 In Egypt they have just successfully "ousted" President Hosni Mubark.  This revolution in Egypt began on January 25 2011.  The main spread of this revolution was different from many others in the world’s history because social networking sites spread information.  This revolution has started a major uprising of many countries in the Middle East.  In recent history the United States has devolved a no fly zone over Libya.  While they are trying to force there leader Muammar Gaddafi. 

Blog Topic 8

I choose this picture because of the maps that are in our school system nowadays most students think that Hawaii is a lot closer to the United States.  However, Hawaii is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  It is pretty much alone by its self and not anywhere close to California. 
I think that we need to make sure that in our schools today we make sure that the students to not mistake where Hawaii and Alaska are because on the map in are school books just show them off to the side.   Most people in the world do not really realize just how far away Hawaii is from the west coast until they fly there.  I have never been to Hawaii but i have heard from other people that it take a very long time to fly over there. 

Restrepo

 

In this video Tim Hetherington answers the question "how do we win?".  This question has been the point of many debates throughout the years that we have been involved in Iraq, and Afghanistan.  Tim tells us how at the point when we invaded the approval rate in Afghanistan of this was around 90%.  He then goes on to say that if we want to "Win" in this war that is going on we must "Win them over by giving them the best possible outcome"  We saw in the Movie Restrepo how that Afghan people are turning to the side of the Taliban because they might pay them a few dollars to lay down some fire.  We need to work to instill trust in these people and encourage them to stay away from the Taliban and focus on good ways of making money to provide for their families. 

I think that what these guys did by filming Restrepo is wonderful.  It allowed the American people a chance to see what the war in Afghanistan is really like.  Because it seems that the news nowadays always have some sort of a bias.  This movie gave a straight foreword view of how the war really is in this region of the world.  However I think that it is sad that we moved out of the area in which this documentary was filmed.  People gave their lives for this valley and we just backed out I do not understand why we did that but I guess it is all part of are plan for achieving success in Afghanistan. 

The Great Firewall of China

In China the government has established what has become known as the "Great Firewall of China".  This is government censorship of many web sites also includes many search terms such as the three T's.  Although as this article state the government in china is going to have a harder time controlling what is put on the web nowadays with podcasts and video messages it is becoming harder for the government to control what is being put on the web.  These podcasts and video messages require a deeper look then text files, which the government can easily watch. 

I also found this picture to be an appropriate descriptor of the government in china. It seems to some people that the government is looking at every thing that they do like they are under a microscope. 

This map shows the world in relation to the amount of movies that are watched in a movie theater by people each year.  We can see that this map is dominated by the USA, and India.  There are over twelve thousand movie theaters in India, which can very from a one-room shack to amazing movie theaters.  And of the 7.6 billion movies that were watched in one year almost 3 billion of those viewings happened in India. 
Bollywood, which is the Indian equivalent of the American Hollywood.  Makes a amazing amount of movies each year and we can see the effect of this out put by how many trips are made to the movie theaters each year. 

Children of India

In the movie Slumdog Millionaire we saw the lives of Jamal, Salim, and Latika.  We saw a little peek into the lives of children that live on their own in India.  This is a serious problem in India, and effects way to many kids.  Organizations such as the Railway Children try to reach out to these kids and offer them support and give them a better life.  Jamal and Salim lived on the Railways begging, and stealing as a means of survival.  We need to remember to pray for these kids in India that are orphaned and are left to fend for themselves.  This video shows another glimpse into the world of "Railway Children" and how just a little bit of love and affection can make a difference. 

  http://www.railwaychildren.org.uk/asia.asp

 This is the website for the Railway Children Foundation, who’s motto is “ Getting to street kids before the streets get to them.”  They have helped over thirty thousand kids in the past two years.  Hopefully through more organizations like this we can work together to fight this problem that has taken over the world. 

Ha Long Bay

In this video we see a little glimpse of a different Vietnam then many of us are use to.  Many Americans would never dream about living in small fishing villages on the water like people in this fishing village do.  This video also shows the impact of globalization on a country because after opening its trade borders with China, Vietnam was able to purchase motors for their boats cheaper, therefore they do not have to use the old method of relying on the wind to be able to move their sailboats.  The people in these floating villages are able to make money by fishing and fish farming.  Many of these floating homes have hundreds of fish underneath them. Although this has caused an increase in population, which is good, this rise has also led in the increase in pollution and over fishing, which led Ha Long Bay to become a world heritage site in 1994 to protect the delicate eco system. 

Australia

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/punters-well-aware-of-economic-case-against-more-immigration-20101123-185ij.html

The Article "Punters well aware of economic case against more immigration" is an article that shows two different senerios of what Australia could be like in 2020. The first scenario "measured growth" has to do with governments limiting population growth focused on making activities environmentally sustainable. The second scenario "global Australia" the government shall set aside the concerns about population and promote rapid population and economic growth therefore making Australia a part of Asia. It is no shock that businesses liked "global Australia" whereas everyday people found the "measured growth" scenario more appealing.

This article relates well to what we read in our book about Global Warming in Oceania. Australia is suffering more droughts and increased wild fires as well as warmer ocean waters causing widespread bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef. The booming economy of Australia has caused a 50% increase in emissions over the past few decades. (Pg. 636)

 

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/australia-day-to-showcase-national-spirit-20110125-1a404.html

 

The article "Australia Day to showcase national spirit” list many of the different activities that people in different cities can do to celebrate the birth of their nation. 

A few of the activities will include attending Sydney Habour. Cricket fans will be able to watch their game against England.  There will also be many back yard “barbies”, a RAAF air show, and horse races.  In a case to help rebuild and repair much of the damage caused by the recent flooding there will be fundraising. 

            This relates well to what we read in our book in 1788 the First Fleet arrived in Botany Bay arrived with 750 prisoners, this is now known as Sydney Habour.   The English people slowly started settling Australia and many of its activities such as cricket, which is a very popular sport in England and is the most popular sport in Australia.  (Pg. 640)

In this picture we can see the effects that globalization has had on many business that we have become very familiar with here in the USA.  We can see the spread of the "American" fast food chains through out the world.  When I talk to kids that come from different countries then the USA I find myself asking about the restaurants in their country.  But nowadays the restaurants that we grew up with as kids are they very same restaurants that that they grew up with.