Blog topic #11

I chose this map because i am a huge baseball fan and i find it interesting that all of the teams have certain areas that their fans are based for the most part. There are some people who cheer for teams that don't live in the areas that they have marked in the map above, but it does a good job of showing just exactly where most of the people live for cheering for teams in the Nation live. My personal favorite team, the Minnesota Twins, is a very accurate claim for where all the Twins fans live.

Blog topic #10

I believe that we should go into Africa and help them build their infrastructure, trade, and industry because if we keep doing what we are doing now and just sending them aid they might not receive all of the money for aid that we have sent them. If we develop their infrastructure, trade, and industry there so that they can begin to become more developed and have better living conditions and be self sufficient. If you give a man a fish he can eat for a day, but teach a man how to fish he can eat for a lifetime. That is something that we should do to help the people of Sub-Saharan Africa and helping them become more self sufficient.

Blog topic #9

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/2011128125157509196.html

The protests in Jordan are the people demanding that the Prime Minister to step down and for them to be able to run the country for themselves.One of the main reasons that they really want to get rid of the Prime Minister is because they want to try to eliminate or at least lower the amount of debt that the country has right now. They have a struggling economy because the Prime Minister isn't trying to help them out at all and be able to let the economy thrive and become more advanced. The way that they people are reacting is respectable because they want to be able to become more advanced and help get on the global map and be a better economic player in the global economic scene and they think that they can get to their dreams by switching Prime Ministers or completely changing the face of the Government.

Blog topic #8

This picture from Google Earth, gave me a new perspective on the way the world looks from the arctic circle. As we grow up we usually have to look at a map that is flat and has north always at the top and south at the bottom of the map, but in this image we have to look at the world in a completely different way because the focal point is the Arctic Circle. It is also interesting to see how much of Russia is really close to the Arctic, and imagine how cold it could possibly get in those places and why no one would want to live there. You can see that most of the land mass of the world is located in the northern hemispheres and that from this view most of North America, Europe, and Russia is visible.

Blog topic #7

http://www.cfr.org/afghanistan/good-bad-news-afghan-opium/p21372

The good and bad news about Afghan Opium.

By reading this article about Opium in Afghanistan, there were a few things that came up that were interesting. First, there has been a recent decline in Opium production and there are many provinces in Afghanistan that are going "Poppy free." With there being a decline in production of Opium, there is some bad news and that is there is an increase in the focus on the refining, stockpiling, and transportation of Opium because they need to do everything in their power to keep the trade going and need to make money some how.
Unfortunately, there is still a ton of Opium that is being sold and produced in Afghanistan and a lot of that money is being used to fund the Taliban so they can buy weapons and ammunition, explosives, vehicles, and foot soldiers.
In the end, no matter what we do to help try to stop the production and selling of Opium in Afghanistan seems like it won't stop anytime soon and the Taliban will be funded for many more years.

Blog topic # 6

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2006/tc20060112_434051.htm

The great Firewall of China censors and filters out things on the internet that the government finds inappropriate towards it's citizens and they don't want them to know about certain topics. Western companies like Microsoft and Google go along with the Chinese government because they want the Chinese to do business with them so they specifically change parts of their operating systems in order to be able to work correctly and not be blocked by the Great Firewall of China.

Blog topic # 5

"Personal computers"

This cartogram is of the world and where personal computers are in the world. Based on this map a majority of the world's personal computers are in North America and in Western Europe. There seems to be a rise in East Asia and that is because most American companies are outsourcing some jobs that entail them to make the parts for the computers and it's software is often times assembled in East Asia which makes the computers more available to the general public and not to just high end upper class citizens, and not just for American's and European's. 

Blog topic #4

The bindi in India is considered a sign of high power in women in India. A red dot on the forehead is a sign of marriage and guarantees the social status and sanctity in the union of marriage. The area between the eyebrows is considered the place of concealed wisdom. The red bindi is considered to harness and retain the energy in the human body and control the various levels of concentration that is used in through the body. It is also considered the central point of creation itself. There are many different shapes and styles of bindis that women choose to wear and some are used for fashion, but they are all used to show the status of marriage and are considered to harness the necessary energy that the body needs to use.

Blog topic #3

This video is about some of the interesting animals that live on the islands on Indonesia and how they have adapted to the terrain of the country and the way that they move is based on human interaction around the way of the country. In the video the way that the snakes have learned to move is that they fly through the air from tree to tree which is the most effective way of movement on a very crowded land mass of Indonesia. I selected this video because it intrigued me as to why there were flying snakes and leaping lizards in Indonesia, as well as to why they had to fly and or leap from tree to tree. The geography of Indonesia is very tropical and has a lot of rain forests for these animals to live on and to be able to use their leaping and jumping abilities.

Blog topic #2

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/australia-day-to-showcase-national-spirit-20110125-1a404.html
This article that the author has published in the Sydney Morning Herald is talking about how the people of Australia celebrate Australia Day, which is the day that the first ships of the "first fleet" arrived in Sydney Harbor, back in 1788. They celebrate with fireworks in every city just like the Fourth of July here in the United States. The Australian people will do so many activities from playing cricket to swimming across the harbor in order to celebrate the day. The first people to arrive on the "first fleet" were criminals from England because the British needed a new penal colony to which convicts could be exiled and not be able to cause any more trouble. Eventually the British government were paying people to move to Australia because of the ways that they could make money in Australia rather than in England. They would even pay for the transportation fare of those too poor to afford it themselves. (Pg. 640)


http://www.smh.com.au/business/immigration-not-a-sure-path-to-higher-incomes-20101219-191vz.html
This article written by Ross Gittens talks about how immigrants are moving to Australia to get better jobs and to get a better income to live a better life, but in the end it's not such a sure path and it's not as easy as most people think it will be to achieve what they want. Gittens says ''population growth and immigration can magnify existing policy problems and amplify pressures on 'unpriced' entities, such as the environment, and urban and social amenity''. I think that that statement makes a profound statement about how immigration can have a negative effect on a country. The book talks about how people are moving to Australia for better lives and better ways of life and that there are large amounts of Asians now living in Australia, and that there are places that are like China towns here in the United States. The result of Immigration is that now about 25% of the people who live in Australia are now immigrants. (Pg. 646)

Blog topic #1

I find this image of globalization very interesting. the role that globalization plays in this picture is that no matter where you go in the world, you can find the products that we have in the United States like Coke and Pepsi. Even places like Asia where you wouldn't really think to look for big American brands, you can find them and enjoy the same refreshing drink no matter where you go. Globalization has had a big impact on remote places and has increased trade all across the world.