Blog #12

World map view of the volcanic ash spread from the eruption.

1) Location of volcano

Eyjafjallajokull is one of the smaller glaciers of Iceland. It is situated to the north of Skogar and to the west of the larger glacier Myrdalsjokull. Underneath that was where the previously inactive volcano exploded.



2) Economics

The economic ramifications caused by the activity of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano are mouinting, with airlines reporting losses on the scale of $200 million per day following the shutdown of many European airports, and a wider impact moving across the globe as trade goods transported by air have been unable to reach their markets.


3) Physical Geography/Geology

University College London volcanologist Peter Sammonds told the U.S. television network PBS’ NewsHour April 16 "that the ash is being created by molten rock erupting from Eyjafjallajökull that is melting a glacier above it, and that the melted water is fragmenting the magma, thereby producing a very fine ash that is then ejected high into the atmosphere above Iceland." This could explain why this cloud has been causing so much confusion and chaos. The watery mist allows it to spread around much more effectively than if it was not under an iceberg.

The drifting cloud of ash and dust has been moving east from Iceland at an altitude of 20,000 to 36,000 feet, the range where airliners normally fly. Aircraft have been grounded because the small particles of volcanic material can damage jet engines


4) Politics

Europe's aviation industry has criticized the way the crisis has been handled, accusing governments of over-reacting and waiting too long to come up with a coordinated plan.

The head of the International Air Transport Association, Giovanni Bisignani said the scale of the economic impact on aviation, reaching $1 billion, is greater than the September 11, 2001, terror attacks when U.S. airspace was closed for three days.

He called the situation "embarrassing" and a "European mess."

Germany's aviation authority on Monday announced the resumption of long-haul flights by the country's flag carrier, Lufthansa, bringing some 15,000 passengers home from East Asia, Africa and North America. And Britain has dispatched three navy ships to bring stranded passengers back home across the English Channel.


5) Movement of People/Transportation

The airlines use the phrase, irregular operations, to refer to travel disruptions caused by blizzards, power failures and thunderstorms. But, what happened in the wake of this volcano eruption was referred to by a different phrase, total chaos. The number of flight cancellations of more than 100,000 between April 15 and 21 had affected millions of travelers, and the fallout is expected to cost the airline industry $1.7 billion. This has probably affected someone that you may know, as it almost disrupted the entire traveling world as we know it. Of all the angles and subject areas in this case, people and transportation were probably the most severely affected by this eruption.

Blog # 11

I looked at the Hong Kong International school, and saw many photos of white kids in the web page, and I wonder if that is the case, a majority of white kids in an asian country. I think that all of the white families in that area of Hong Kong probably send their kids there for a good American education, and not for a Chinese slanted education. But, at the same time, they will recive an understanding of Chinese culture and appretiation for China. It also sounds like a christan facility, so that the kids can learn spiritually as well. It also sounds like they have a pretty competative sports program at their school. Traveling internationaly and/or teaching internationaly would be super awesome, and i would take the oppertunity at the drop of a hat.

The influence a school like this could have is astounding, they have probably graduated many kids from all over the world whose parents live and work in Hong Kong. The christain out reach along with the education would be a wonderful place to teach, and I would be super interested in livning there, and influencing kids from all over the world.

Blog # 10

Probably one of my more favorite shows, it shows a guy who will eat almost anything in the world, but mostly huge quantities of food, or really exotic food. In this particular video, he is out to eat the hottest curry in the world, which is totally insane. The cook in this video has to wear a gas mask in order to cook the food, because it is just toxic and spicy to breathe ha ha. Now, on how people's food diets change around the world I think is relative to where they are. Food is related entirely to geography. The people in China eat rice, like everyday, do we eat rice that often? No, not really. So it must be related to where you live and what sort of food grows best in your climate.

Now us as Americans can safely say that we eat mainly grain and corn, because that is what grows best in our country, but people in Iraq probably do not eat whole grain and corn as much as we do, they probably rely on meat and vegetables alot more.

As far as future diets are concerned, I believe it will just become more mixed as cultures clash together in a titanic food battle. Speaking of, I love Chinese and Mexican food, European? Not so much. I hope the food of the world becomes more and more diverse, and more accessible for every ones enjoyment.

Bill Gates. I remember the first computer that our family owned, and it was a gateway 2000. I remember it because i thought it was the best thing ever, we could play games on it and surf the web! (on dial-up) I am betting is that this is how bill gates started to make some serious money, when he started selling computers to every family. Since then they have come out with Windows 95, 98, 2000, xbox, xbox 360's Windows Vista, Windows 7. This whole time, he has been racking in the dough, here is a link to how xbox 360's sold more than Wii or PS3 combined,

http://gamer.blorge.com/2008/06/06/xbox-360-beats-ps3-wii-in-popularity-amongst-american-gen-y-millennials/

and since microsoft produces all of the softwere for all computers and every home has a computer, that is like 50 bucks from EVERYONE in the United States. This is how Bill Gates has been the wealthyest man 14 of the last 15 years in a row.
Here is a video of what Bill Gates could but with all of his wealth.


Oh my goodness, he could buy 700,000,000 SUV's That is enough for everyone in America! Lets face it, this guys family is never going to have to work for the next 1000 years.

Blog # 8

I cannot belive that a spider could catch and eat a whole frog, usually you would think it would be the other way around. It is just an awesome video, you have to watch it! Heck, i did not even know that spiders could eat fish! How?! I dont even know, but watch this video!

Blog 7

The Myrdalsjokull icecap









Blasts of hot lava and ash shot out of a recently active volcano in southern Iceland on Monday, March 22nd, and small tremors rocked the ground, a surge in activity that raised fears of a larger explosion at the nearby Katla volcano. When the Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupts, Katla usually follows. But how soon I wonder? And Katla, located under the massive Myrdalsjokull icecap, threatens flooding and flying ice shards. (yes those long strange names are real, Iceland is weird) Saturday's eruption at Eyjafjallajokull which was dormant for almost 200 years, was a surprise for everyone, but some near by farmers had to move away to avoid further danger.
Iceland sits on a large volcanic hot spot in the Atlantic's mountain ridge. Eruptions, common throughout Iceland, are often triggered by seismic activity when the Earth's plates move and when magma from deep underground pushes its way to the surface. Like earthquakes, predicting the timing of volcanic eruptions is an imprecise science. Scientist use a devise called the Rictor Scale to measure how large earthquakes are, but we have no real way of measuring volcanic eruptions.

There are three main places where volcanoes normally occur along faults such as California's San Andreas fault line, along areas where plates overlapping one another such as in the Philippines and the Pacific ocean and in areas like Iceland, where two of the Earth's plates are moving apart from each other in a supposed spreading system.

The Past Katla eruptions have caused floods the size of the Amazon, and sent boulders as big as houses tumbling down valleys and roads. The last major eruption took place in 1918. The last big volcanic eruption in Iceland occurred in 2004 with the Grimsvotn volcano.



Here is a picture of Eyjafjallajokull erupting at night.




Here is a picture of Mt. Katla

A rotating skyscraper is slated to be built in Dubai. The structure, designed by Italian architect David Fisher, has floors that can each rotate independently of one another. Supposedly, the building will be powered entirely by wind and solar energy via outer solar panels and wind turbines between the floors. I'm curious to see how that works out. I'm also curious how you and your neighbors decide who gets the ocean view and when. I'm guessing it involves threats and a good amount of weapon brandishing. Condos are currently going for about $3,000 per square foot, or up words 3 to 32 million a piece.

Hit the Link below for a video including some computer animations of the building and an interview with the architect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq-QUkE1DGM&feature=player_embedded

The most interesting thing about this building will be that it will use the wind to its advantage with wind turbines, capturing power and making the building more than self sufficient. It will even give extra power to the city grid that it doesn't use.

Now its pretty obvious that the riches of Dubai are only going to last for so long, because when their oil runs out, what will be left? Dubai also has to rely heavily on the USA to buy its crude oil, otherwise they would not be quite as rich. So, what is the plan to keep making money later? Why of course all of the crazy buildings and tourist traps that they build with the oil money now. Building a huge modern commercial touristic city in which thousands of people will come visit every year (they hope anyway) and spend lots and lots of money.

What I think the rich oil families should be doing instead with all of that money is to put it to good use, and create jobs and buy food and needs for the people of their country. They should use this opportunity to use this advantage to catch up to developed countries, and build a stronger nation with freedom and opportunity. For Example, a positive education system, better public works, a better military, stronger economic investing, seeking new ways to trade and perform industrial functions. These are ways this Nation could become a world power, not just a tourist slide show. Dubai might be rich, but they are not mature.

Blog 5

This HDI (Human Development Index) is a great big feeding ground of information that measures a country's many achievements in three main parts of human development. These not in any order are health, knowledge, and a standard of living or how much the average joe makes. Health is measured by how long someone lives after birth; knowledge is measured by how many of the adults can read and the max enrollment rate or all students. The website then uses this huge chunk of information to sort out countries into three categories. High, medium, and low Developed Countries. The majority of high developed countries being in the Northern Hampshire, and South America, and almost all the low developed countries are in Africa and Southern Asia. Taking a look back in time to 1980, much of the high developed countries were in the Western Hemisphere, namely North America and South America, but also Europe.




What this means is that Many counties in Asia are just coming to bloom with development and becoming more modern and educated, this also probably goes for wealth gains as well. Another interesting thing I noticed was America and China stayed the same every 5 years from 1980 to 2005. America being a high developed country and China being a medium developed country the whole 25 years. How does China remain stagnant? I think my theory is that China grows so fast in population, a good percentage cannot become schooled or literate. Many of the Chinese are farmers, and that's what they do their entire life. So, it does not surprise me that China remains where it started 25 years ago. Now Africa is probably the slowest developing Continent out there, and it doesn't come at any surprise. A great percentage of Africans did not get schooling, let alone being able to read. They will probably continue to struggle to develop along the same pace of the rest of the world.

Blog 4

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/30/us/30smuggle.html

The above links titled: "Two Charged in Deaths of Immigrants at Sea"

There were two men tried for the drowning of two illegal immigrants who fell off a overloaded crowded boat, and it capsized throwing everyone overboard. This occurred off of the California coast, and was a rare occurrence for common illegal smugglers. The two men, Fernando and Javier are being fully charged for this, and could end up in prison for life.

The rise in ground border surveillance and technology along the Mexican border is forcing more illegals to pay the fees of boat smuggling. This can get expensive, and the smugglers get a profit of upwards 5,000 dollars per person. The usual method of travel is a small makeshift raft called a panga, it gets usually overcrowded and they smuggle at night and use one motor. They are just asking for something bad to happen. Especially around this time of the year when the water is colder, and the weather makes the waves more choppy. Local authorities have noticed a sharp up rise in water smuggling, and since the boats carry no radios, it can get very dangerous.

I ask myself, what makes people want to risk their lives to get to America, the land you and I take for granted everyday? When you talked about in class the flow of people around the globe to job openings and opportunity, this just goes to show how far people are willing to give up to get a better shot at life. Life in Latin America is not a cozy one, and finding opportunity is a needle in the haystack. Not many people make it down there, but the risk of death is not too great for the truly desperate. If I put myself in the shoes of a Mexican whose life is supported by almost constant physical labor, I would do pretty much anything to get a better life. It is a very sad story, and unfortunately the world is not a free place where one may walk around and live where he or she chooses, it is a world of trials, pain, and hardship.

Blog 3

This map here from world mapper shows which countries consume the most oil in the world. Obviously America is the number one customer of oil, but who was second? It caught me off guard when it was Japan. How does Japan use so much oil for such a small (size-wise) country? I believe that Japan is a developed country similar to the United States, and that most people use or own cars. That would be around 130 million people with cars. The estimated population total of Japan. Also, Japan is considered a wealthy country as well, so they can afford to buy gas for everyday driving use, and not just for emergencies, or for special occasions like other people in other countries. In third place was Germany, another developed country, and like the US they can afford to buy gas too. I was expecting China or Russia to use more gas, but I guess a majority of their populations do not own or use cars. African and South American countries have a very small percentage of gasoline usage, probably because they do not have the wealth of developed countries, and must rely on farming and self sustenance more

This here map to your left is a map displaying Forest Loss per year. I am not surprised at all by these numbers, since in my previous map, these countries did not use oil hardly at all. Instead of oil, it looks like using wood is the main source of fuel. Africa is losing their wood supply due to over grazing and desertification. The forests near the deserts are being cut down for fuel and farmland space, and since their are no roots to hold the fertile land in place, the desert settles in only one or two years later. Many Africans rely on this wood though, and must do it for their very survival, otherwise they might freeze at night, or would not be able to cook their meat. We take such things for granted in America. Now over in South America their problems are similar but still different. They are another expanding population, and they need more farmland to support it, and since their is little natural occurring farmland, they must cut down and clear rain forest to make room for farming. Everyday farmers down there cut down thousands of acres of rain forest to support this trend, and eventually the rain forest will be gone. The basic common trend on this map, is that poor countries must cut and use wood a lot more than a rich developed country would. It is a sad vicious cycle, I cut down trees because I am poor, and my land becomes poor, because I cut down trees.

Google Earth: A differant look into Latin America

This image of Latin America is to take a look at the many shallow plateaus that come out from Florida and Mexico into the Gulf of Mexico. It seems that if all that land was raised just a couple hundred feet higher, we would have many hundreds of square miles to move to or settle in.

Mexico would almost double in size, and Florida would be a lot wider. If this were the case today, wars and political structure would be pretty different. I know that Latin America seems very crowded, but this would allow for an even greater amount of people to live in this sub-tropical climate. I would even say that a new country would have sprung up, and maybe Mexico would have been a stronger world power with more land control and a possibility for greater farming and prosperity. This also means that the Gulf of Mexico would have been a lot smaller, so competition over the smaller sea would have been fierce for fishing and commercial trading purposes. Latin America could have turned out to be very different than how its looks today, and only a thin amount of ocean water covers possible land people could have easily lived on.



This angle portrays the deeply set blue chasms to the left of the Dominican Republic, and above Cuba, below Jamaica in this picture. As I scrolled over the elevation in feet with my mouse over those trenches, I was astonished to how fast they dropped below -10,000 feet elevation. I believe that this has something to do with the plates of the earths crust, and here is probably where they collide, or are breaking apart from another plate. I wonder what kind of marine life lives at the bottom of those trenches, possibly unknown life. I did not know there was such deep chasms so close to the American border. This may also explain why the Caribbean gets frequent earthquakes, such as the one that just happened in Haiti. Understanding these trenches may lead to understanding when and where earthquakes might strike, and could save potentially many lives. Why I pointed this out is because whenever someone talks about the Caribbean, they always mention good weather and vacations, but never what is lying beneath close by, a potential threat.

Haiti: A Look to Our South

This photo represents the Haiti Presidential Palace, and how it looked before the 7.0 earthquake struck. If felt this photo was helpful to point out the mass damage inflicted by this random act of nature. It helped me gain perspective on how much peoples lives are now in shambles due to something out of their control. I can only imagine how I would feel if I walked home to discover this was now my home.




For the video, I will start with this quote of a CNN news reporter. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta reported, "Simply getting through the streets to collect the dead bodies is seemingly an impossible task," , "Where shooting could be heard in the background." "There's hardly any heavy machinery to try and dig through the rubble, people are doing it by hand."

This allowed me to realize that this earthquake in Haiti was that much more horrifying than other earthquakes, simply because they were so poor, that the government didn't even have machinery to help dig trapped victims out. If you knew that your loved ones were tapped in a building, and you couldn't call 911 or ask for help because everyone around you is in the same situation, you would try and get them out with your bare hands, or get injured trying. You watch in this video, people carrying injured or dead bodies to an ambulance, and then showing people trying to rescue their friends or family in the rubble of some white house. It is a extremely desperate situation over there, and the road to recovery will be that much longer due to poverty. Haiti will have to depend on the generosity of wealthy countries to get through this.