RESEARCH POST #2

I read an article called "Rwandan Genocide Aftermath" for one of my sources, to learn some of the effects of the Rwandan Genocide in 1995. These are some things I learned:
-From a distance, Rwanda looks pretty and unhurt, completely opposite of the past
-Over 18,000 refugees are crowded into camps
-United Nations are pressuring refugees to rebuild their broken country and get on with life, one example of this is cutting off the water source to camps
-Refugees are scared to go home, "we will be killed if we go home"
-about 1 million Rwandans are dead
-aid organizations have swarmed into Rwanda

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=M1ARTM0010384

Blog #15 (quarter 3)

On Oprah.com, I found an interesting article about Kanye West overcoming huge odds. In 2002, after Kanye was having a late-night recording session, he fell asleep at the wheel and crashed head-on into an SUV. This was a near fatal accident, and his face was crushed by the steering wheel, and his jaw was broken in 3 places. Kanye barely overcame the odds, but he did learn really good lessons. While his jaw was wired shut, he wrote the song, "Through the Wire". He also decided that he had learned that nothing in life is promised except death, and "If you have the opportunity to play this game of life, you need to appreciate every moment". The lyrics and ideas for his album, College Dropout were all developed during his recovery, and later won 3 Grammys. I thought that this article taught a good lesson, because I had never even heard of this accident, and it just goes to show that you can't take anything for granted.

weblink:
http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/oprahshow1_ss_20050909/2

Blog #14 (quarter 3)

For the blog post about love, I found an article on WikiHow called "How to Love". These were the 5 steps: 1. "Say it" This step says that when you tell someone you love them, that means that you reall want them to know that you do, and it's not just what you feel inside. 2."Empathize" This step says that to love someone, you should put yourself in their shoes, and realize that they could love you back just as much as you love them. 3. "Love Unconditionally" This step says that you should strive to love someone unconditionally, and if you don't want to improve their life, then you are not loving them unconditionally. 4. "Expect nothing in Return" This step says you shouldn't let someone mistreat or undervalue you, but you should realize someone might have a different way of showing that they love you. 5. "Realize it can be Lost" If you realize that love can be lost, then you have a greater appreciation for it when you have it. Those were the things I learned.

weblink:
http://www.wikihow.com/Love

RESEARCH POST #1

For my first research post, I read an article about the genocide in Rwanda.
These are some things I learned:
-This genocide took place in 1994 (it surprised me that it was so recent)
-800,000 Tutsis were killed with up to 10,000 killed each day (EFFECT)
-after the Hutus seized power, many Tutsis fleed, but came back demanding that the power be equally shared (CAUSE)
-after the Hutu president was assassinated in a neighboring country, more ethnic tensions grew (CAUSE)
-a United Nations group was sent to Rwanda to preserve peace (EFFECT)
-after peace meetings between the Rwandan pesident and Burundi's new president, the presidents were shot down (EFFECT)
-after this extreme effent, Rwanda plunged into extreme violence (EFFECT)
-killings spread throughout the countryside (EFFECT)
-as United Nations peacemakers were murdered, the others were being evacuated, leaving little help (EFFECT)
-U.N. security unanimously voted to abandon Rwanda (EFFECT)
-by the end, over 1/10 of the population was killed, estimated 800,000 people. (EFFECT)

citation:
http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/Genocide/genocide_in_rwanda.htm

Blog #13 (quarter 3)

For this post about war, I researched about the shortest war in history. What I found, was in a wikipedia article. The shortest war in history was fought between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar, and it lasted approximately 40 minutes. The war started because of the death of the pro-British Sultan, Hamad bin Thuwaini. This happened on August 25, 1896. Involved in this war were 3 cruisers, 2 gunships, 150 marines and sailors, and 900 Zanzibaris. 2,800 Zanzibaris defended the palace, and had lots of artillery and machine guns. At 9:02,the palace was bombarded, and the artillery was destroyed, the British sank a Zanzibari royal yaght and two smaller vessels, and some shots were fired, and then the flag at the palace was shot down and fighting ceased at 9:40. I thought this was interesting to read about, because i've never even heard of this war, and it was only 40 minutes long.

weblink:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Zanzibar_War

Blog #12 (quarter 3)

For this blog post, I read a Wikipedia article about the colonization of Africa. Particularly: the Scramble for Africa. Apparently Britain Portugal and France had already claimed huge parts of Africa, along with Italy and Germany. When the Chancellor Bismark was dismissed, it just became a huge scramble for Africa, and the Berlin Conference was needed. This conference was established to create guidelines and rules for the colonization. What I don't understand is, why wasn't Africa at this conference? And why didn't they get any say in the colonization of their own country?

weblink:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization_of_Africa#The_Scramble_for_Africa

Blog #11 (quarter 3)

The global issue that I found an article about was the global food crisis right now. The food prices have been rising, and in lots of countries this has resulted in food riots. In Haiti, the prices have been raised by 50-100%, which is a lot- and the Prime Minister was even forced out of office. Throughout the world, many people have been killed or injured, all because of this crisis. In this article, there were also summarizations of the recent statistics of this crisis. Global prices have risen over 83% over the past few years, wheat prices are 130% higher than they were a year ago, soy 87%, rice-74%, and maize-31%. These numbers may not seem big, but it's amazing what the effects are.

weblink: http://www.globalissues.in/index.php?node=23

Blog #10 (quarter 3)

Today, I found a text online about the 2009 Federal Holidays. I thought it was interesting to read about which holidays federal employees get to take off work. The federal law (5 U.S.C. 6103) states which holidays an employee can take off from work. If the holiday falls on a weekend, then the holiday is then observed on the following Monday. I always thought that if a holiday was on the weekend, then a worker wouldn't get time off. The federal holidays this year are: New Years Day, MLK Jr. Day, Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. Another thing I found interesting was that they reffered to what we call president's day as 'Washington's Birthday', because it is the policy to refer to the holidays by the names designated by the law.

weblink: http://www.opm.gov/Operating_Status_Schedules/fedhol/2009.asp

thinking map

Blog #9 (quarter 3)

Today the article about Bollywood that I read was called: "Bollywood Confidential". This article was interesting because I really got to understand the significance of Bollywood movies in India. It was interesting to me that Bollywood movies are almost as worshipped as the gods. I think it's cool that these movies have spread as far as they have, from viewers like Israelis, Pakistanis, Haitains, immigrants in Queens, and so on. These movies are so popular because Bollywood's style is very family-oriented, unlike the ones that Hollywood has been producing. I didn't know that every single Bollywood movie was a musical, so this was new to me. There was also a quote in this article that I found interesting- My shoes are Japanese, My pants English, On my head a red Russian cap, still my heart is Indian. This just goes to show how fast cultures can impact and spread.

weblink: http://www.suketumehta.com/nytm.html