Building Collapse

In Danka, Bangladesh 600 bodies have been discovered from the industrial building collapse that happened over a week ago. It is considered one of the worst industrial accidents ever. The architect that built the building said it was not designed to hold that much equipment. The industrial equipment is very heavy and then three floors were later illegally added to the building. Huge generators where is the building and turned on right before the collapse. The building was initially designed as a shopping mall. The fault for the accident has to do with the fact that the building was not make for heavy equipment and that the machines were vibrating. Cracks were discovered in the building and a engineer told the owner that the building should be evacuated. The police came to evacuate the building but Rana told workers to go back inside that everything was ok. Rana was arrested and has to serve 7 years in prison if convicted. I think 7 years is a scapegoat, because of his ignorance lots of people died. Kids lost their parents, parents lost their kids, friends lost their friends. In 2012 there was a garment fire and the government promised to make the garment industries safer by inspecting for flaws but there is yet to be action seen. Bangladesh is high in garment manufacturing because the minimum wage is very low. The European Union has threaten to halt buying from Bangladesh if better working conditions are not met. I think every area should tell this to Bangladesh. If you can not provide safe conditions for your employees then you should not be in business. It is the governments responsibility to take charge and enforce companies to provide better working conditions. I am glad that we live in America and don’t have to see tragic events like this happen due to laziness.

 

http://www.centurylink.net/news/read.php?rip_id=%3CDA6354G80%40news.ap.org%3E&ps=1012

Bollywood

After reading Q&A I learned a little about what Bollywood was. I randomly came across these 10 facts about Bollywood and decided to give them a try. Bollywood began 100 years ago and was not initially called Bollywood. The first film was Raja Harischandra in 1913. The film included a lot of cross dressing. Karma, a film in 1930, was banned for a kiss. Later it was brought back because the kiss was no longer a big deal to society. Most Indians do not even watch the Bollywood films. I wonder if this has to do with the fact that many of the people may not have a tv to watch them on? India has the highest number of tickets that are bought yet they do not make as much as Hollywood.  India has less than 13,000 screens and the US has more than 40,000 screens. Since the main target group that comes to see movies is males between 15-25 they have switched from romantic films to action packed films. Using superheroes to get the attention of the viewers. Like in Hollywood the Heroe is normally a male in his 40’s who woos a women. Song and dance are common in Bollywood films. High pitched singers much like opera will have big parts in the films. I personally don’t think I would like this. I am NOT a fan of opera. It hurts my ears. I think these sound a lot like musicals which I also am not a fan of. I like plays over musicals. Normally the dancing and singing in musicals is totally random and makes no sense at all. In traditional Bollywood films actors would dance around trees. The reason for this is because they were probably bad at dancing and needed to be placed behind a tree to look better. The choreography now a days makes a lot more sense. It is not just random dancing and appearing.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22349712

Invasive

Invasive species are a problem to the land, the people and other species in the area. Stink bugs are begining to emerge out of hibernation and are causing a problem for many farmers. These bugs cluster together and release a foul smell when they are crushed. The stink bugs originated from Asia and eat almost any type of plant. They are killing U.S. crops and farmers are loosing money from it. These bugs arrived sometime between the late 1990’s and 2003. These bugs are expanding in number because there is no predator to them. Birds are not eating the eggs of the stink bugs, probably because they may taste bad. Scientists have found a wasp that can kill the eggs of the stink bugs. This wasp stings the eggs of the stink bugs which kills them. In theory it would be nice to have a bunch of these wasp to be able to kill the bugs. If we did add in wasp other problems could arise. The wasp could kill other important insects to our society. They also could be a food source for other animals which would mean they have more food and could over populate. This certain wasp that kills the eggs would have to be imported from asia because the US wasps do not kill the eggs. These Asian wasp may kill other US stink bugs that are important to society and need not to be killed. Tax payers will pay for this to be done! There is a lot of research that has to be done before action is taken. They are trying to see what kind of sounds that stink bugs are attracted to. If something is not done about these stink bugs then farmers will continue to have issues will getting their crop counts up.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22115507

Measles

The scare of children who could get autism from getting a simple vaccine prevented mother’s from getting their children vaccinated from the measles. In England students who are 10-16 years old are getting vaccinated because they were the group of children who missed the vaccination years ago. The government has 1.2 million vaccines ready for the kids. This vaccination will protect them from measles, mumps, and rubella. In 2012 there were over 2,000 cases of measles.

I think that this is silly that the mother’s would not protect their children from the measles. Measles can be fatal and taking the risk of not getting them protected seems silly. Mother’s were hearing about a study that was done that showed children who get the vaccine can in fact get autism. Since then the study has been discredited so mother’s started to have their children vaccinated but for the group of children who missed this jab it is important that they still get it. Some of the kids who got one shot never got the booster because their moms heard about this study and decided to not let them proceed with the next shot. These kids will be given a booster after the children are jabbed who have not had any protection. The measles spread like wildfire once someone gets them. I was curious to what America does for the measles because we don’t hear much about them in America. According to the CDC America has an average of 60 outbreaks of measles each year. In 2000 the disease was considered eliminated from the United States. In 2008 there were 18 deaths each hour from the measles around the world. I think that is crazy! America has had the power of eliminating this from the area and with a simple vaccine the rest of the world could save many lives by incorporating this into their system!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22276975

They used what?

Just last night in one of my classes I take at Kirkwood my teacher brought up the lawsuit of the French man who was using industrial grade silicon for breast implants. Many women (300,000) got these implants from countries all over the world. These implants that were used ruptured in the women causing them lots of medical bills and loss of money for their implants. The normal silicon that can be used has to be able to be used for humans but this was not the case. The women want to be treated just like anyother malpractice. I think that they should be. They paid lots of money for this to be done and now have to deal with something that should not have happened. The trial is expected to last until May 17th. If he is convicted then he could face up to five years in prison. America bans silicon implants to be used. I can’t imagine being one of those women who got this procedure done by him but has not had a ruture yet. I would feel like a time bomb. I think that they should have medical expenses paid to get them removed if they wanted to do so and as well get new up to standard implants put in. When the women decide to do this procedure they know that there is a risk to it but this is something to irressponsible that Mr. Mas is to blame. This case is considered to be the biggest trials in French history. The manufacture of these implants was shut down in 2010 after the findings of women who had rutures. I am curious to what it actually does not their health. It can’t be good to have a foreign object in your body rupture because the chemicals would get all over throughout your body.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22181137 

Bringing Hope to India

With all the things we have been doing on India like the junkyard instruments, Gandhi, Born into Brothels and Q&A I found this story about a young boy who wanted to help change children’s lives in India. Thomas Hircock was twelve years old when he visited India with his father. When he was there he was shocked with the poverty that he saw. Some of the children who attended school there told him that they needed bikes to help them get to school that is over 20 miles away. The children want to learn but having to walk a far distance to get to and from school can cause some to not attend or to be late. When he returned to his home in Philadelphia he started a fundraiser at his school to raise money to get bikes to India’s children. The first year enough was raised to send eight bikes to India. Since then the Bike Club charity, as they call it, has sent more than 400 bikes to India! Thomas is now sixteen years old and continues to try and change lives of children that live in India. I think that it is great that someone so young is able to see the poverty in people and WANT to change it. Some people will see it and be like yeah that’s so sad yet many of us never do anything to change how things are done. Even in America there is a lot of bad things that people see yet many of us go about our daily busy lives and think that someone else will take care of this. It is the I’m only one person thing. One person can make a difference. Thomas may not have changed the lives of all the children but for the lives he did change it sure made a difference!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22115506

Mining

In my APES class we have been talking about pollution and chemicals that can cause harm to human life. I was looking through the BBC articles and I found this one about kids who are showing signs of lead poisoning. One child has not been able to talk or hear since she was two. Her mother said that she feels she is lucky because her daughter is still alive. Since 2009 more than 460 children have died from the lead poisoning. The lead is from a gold mining area just outside of Zamfara. The mining is illegal but many families rely on the income that they get from it. The children are being effected because the bags are brought back and the dust escapes into the air and the children breath the dust in. The fathers who mine are coming home with dust on there clothes and it gets into the families home which the children then breath in. The government has put in a effort to help clean up this dust so that young children will not die. A medical charity center helps to treat the affected children but in some cases it can take up to fifteen years to treat. If the mining continues the families will continue to pay the high price of loosing family members. I think that the government should really be cracking down on these people. A good thing to get them to stop would to create more local jobs that these people could be employed at so that they still have a source of income. Lead poisoning  is rare in the United States because we have unleaded gasoline. On occasion children’s toys will be recalled due to detected levels of lead in the paint of the toys. I am glad that I live in a country where this is not a problem. It is not fair to these children who are being affected. They have no power to change this problem.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-22131829

Treated Like Dogs

With all the things we have been learning about in India I thought this story would be interesting to read. To me from reading Q&A and watching “Born in the Brothels” India seems to be a very separeted place. A man from Nigeria who is black married a woman from India and they now live their together. One day he was arrested for possible drug charges. He and many other black men were later released and given an apology but there was no need to even arrest them in the first place. He says “The police treat us Africans like dogs.” His wife has even had friends who treat her weird for marrying a black man. When he tries to rent a flat or go to a restaurant he feels like he is being discriminated. His wife’s name is Sheeba and her parents are strong Christians and blessed them when they got married. The couple now has two children. She never use to understand why her society looked down on her for marrying a black man. She says she now understands. “Because our society is obsessed with white skin. If I had married a white man, I would have gained more friends and society’s approval too.” Even thought there is discrimination many of black residents in India say that they look after the Indians. They are all one big family. One man who was Indian was interviewed and said that he can not trust the black men. “They don’t find homes to rent in Mumbai, they only stay in Mira Road. Why? Because of the way they behave. They sell drugs and indulge in other illegal activities. They cannot be trusted.” I feel bad that there is this kind of sterotyping going on in India in today’s world. I think that the Indian people need to really think about who the majority are that are selling these drugs because the black people are not to blame.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-21826366

Milk Rationing

Today I began to search for articles on the BBC and it seemed to be that all of the stories were very depressing. I wish the news would focus on the good things just as equally as the bad news. I think if people start to read more positive stories it is likely that they will do good things. I found a story about baby milk rationing in China. This is not an uplifting story by any means, but it’s not as sad as some of the other choices. Parents in China go out and buy imported baby formula for their baby because the Chinese baby formula has lots of hormones and chemicals in it. The stores are having a hard time keeping stock of the imported baby formula and it has resulted in them having to ration it. After the Japanese power plants leaked many mothers became concerned that their child would be harmed. The mothers tend not to breast feed because they don’t have confidence in the quality of their milk. The imported is more expensive but those who can afford it will pay the high price. In 2008 300,000 suffered painful kidney stones after drinking the baby formula from China. Some of the food standards in China made my stomach upset. There has been evidence that the food cooking oil is from gutters outside of restaurants! These cans are being sold for greats amounts of money. China and other countries close by have limited the number of cans that can be purchased each day to two cans. The Chinese government is trying to improve the food saftey standards so that people will be comfortable buying the formula again. It will take time for the parents to trust the formula again but with the new laws that the Chinese government is placing on them they will have no choice to not use the Chinese baby formula. I personally think that this is wrong of the government to restrict the amount of baby formula they are allowed to buy from other countries. They are parents and should choose what is best for their child.

Slumdogs, Millionares

When I read this story I thought parts of it were really confusing. I am confused to how these people living in the slums can legally get by. I don’t understand if they have to pay monthly rent to live on this property or if the government lets them live on it for free knowing that no one will want to pay to live in these areas. At the end of the story a question was brought up “Does the slum redevelopment program actually solve the city’s problems, or does it just hide them behind walls plastered with ads for luxury goods?” I think that this is just prolonging the inevitable. I think that these people have a way of life and unless someone helps them to change it, it will continue to remain this way. The picture of the building where people are given a two-room areas already looks run-down. The people hung their wet laundry as a way to dry them over the balconies and it has ruined the outside walls. I bet the insides of these places are not all that nice either. When they were describing the new mall and how nice it looked they then proceeded to say that there was garbage behind the mall. I think that the government needs to find a way to get these people facilities like garbage pick up, water and electricity. If they get them these luxuries then I think that they will be able to do more and keep up the area because they will have somewhere to put their trash which ends up making the area look trashy. If was in one of the wealthy houses near by I would personally not want a slum right near me that when I look out my window that is what I have to look at, or when I want to get some fresh air I have to smell the trash from nearby.