Violence in Mexico

Cambridge, MA – Drug trafficking, kidnappings, and violent crimes in Mexico have recently absorbed the headlines of the media throughout the world, but how serious is the threat they pose for Mexicans’ security and what can be done to mitigate it? Notable leaders from Mexico’s government, media, academia, and civil society will attempt to answer these questions at Harvard University between the 13th and 17th of April, when they attend the student symposium titled “Crime and Security Challenges in Mexico,” organized by the Harvard University Mexican Association (HUMA).

“We believe that Mexico’s problems, whether political, economic, or social cannot be resolved unless a multidisciplinary approach is adopted, and the crime wave Mexico is going through right now is not the exception. We believe our efforts will bring different perspectives and leverage alternative solutions to a problem that worries all Mexicans in the country and abroad” said Ricardo Godinez, Co-President of HUMA.

Failed, weak, fragile, and risky, among others, are adjectives that have been used to describe the Mexican State in the past few months. Observing the intense debate that emerged as a result of this, HUMA decided to hold a set of conferences with several keynote speakers that will try to offer a proper diagnosis for Mexico’s current state of affairs.

From the public sector, Sigrid Arzt, former Technical Secretary of Mexico’s National Security Council and current security advisor to President Felipe Calderón, will be speaking about the challenges of drug trafficking for the Mexican security strategy. To complement this discussion, Rommel Moreno, Attorney General of the State of Baja California, will offer a local perspective on the same issue.

Civil society will be represented by Alejandro Martí. Mr. Martí´s 14-year-old son was kidnapped and murdered in June 2008, and his case has become emblematic of the security issues facing Mexico today. Last November, he introduced the Observation System for Citizen Security (SOS), a civil society organization that will foment and finance efforts of civic groups that fight for improving public safety.

Dr. Denise Dresser and Dr. Carmen Reyes will provide analytical and practical tools from the world of academia to approach various issues linked with crime. Dr. Dresser will evaluate the risks that organized crime poses for this year’s mid-term elections in Mexico. On the other hand, Dr. Reyes will explain the most current developments on Geographic Information Science, an approach that has proven to be fruitful in criminology and security studies, and could provide a resource for logistics, tactics, and strategic purposes in the field of public safety.

Finally, Alfredo Corchado and Adela Navarro, both with exemplary trajectories on drug reporting, will give voice to the media. Mr. Corchado is the Mexico Bureau Chief for the Dallas Morning News. His years of groundbreaking coverage of the U.S.–Mexico border earned him the prestigious Maria Moors Cabot award in 2007. Ms. Navarro is Director-General of Zeta Weekly, a publication in Baja California, Mexico, that specializes on drug reporting. She won the 2007 International Press Freedom Award for her independent reporting of drug issues at Zeta. “We hope this symposium sheds light on the potential solutions to the complex problems that crime poses for Mexico today, but we’re sure that by providing Mexican students in the area of New England with wide-ranging perspectives on the topic, we’re taking a step forward,” said Sergio Holguin, HUMA’s other Co-President.

HUMA is a non-profit student organization that groups more than 100 Mexican students, professors, and researchers from Harvard University currently working in the fields of government, business, health, education, law, technology, arts and sciences. Founded in the 90s, HUMA promotes the presence of Mexico at Harvard through conferences, seminars, debates, cultural activities, and social events. At the same time, it seeks to strengthen the ties between the Harvard community and Mexican public and private institutions.

Source: http://www.tuboston.com/article-1916-crime-in-mexico-how-serious-is-there-a-way-out.html

Crime stats in Mexico:
http://www.nationmaster.com/country/mx-mexico/cri-crime

What does having a bad worldview mean?

It means having a worldview that influences you in a way that affects you or other people, sometimes in a indirect way, or the person who is being affected could think that is good for them. One example: the suicidal terrorists; they feel proud of dying, while other people think they are crazy, and they affect other people, but they think they are doing the right thing (this is also a example of how our worldview can affect our behavior).

Do you think everyone has a worldview?

I think that everyone has a worldview, even when they don't know it, because every person has a different way to see things. Perhaps we don't realize it is there because we are used to it.

If you behave in a "good" way, that will benefit the World, improve the World and make you happy.

So, why doesn't everyone behave in a "good way"?

Not everybody has the same perception of good and bad; what I see as bad could be seen as good or perfect for other people. Many people think they are improving the World by doing things I find crazy or horrible, but everyone has a different idea of what a "Perfect World" would be, and how they could reach it. Other thing to think about, is that doing the "right" or "good" thing, even when we have a clear idea of what would it be for us, is not always the easier option, and we end doing something we know we shouldn't be doing.

Walter Elias Disney

'Why should I run for Major when I'm already King?'
Walt Disney

Walter Elias Disney was born in Chicago, Illinois, on 5 December 1901. When the first World War arrived, he tried to enlist in the U.S. Army, but he was rejected as being too young. Instead he travelled to France with the Red Cross and spent his time driving an ambulance decorated with his own cartoons.

Settling in Kansas City after the War, he embarked on a career as a cartoonist and, in 1920, he created his first original animated characters, while working for Kansas City Film Ads. Two years after that, he started his own company 'Laugh-O-Grams', but the company quickly ran into financial difficulties and Disney decided to leave and, with his drawing equipment and an idea for a cartoon, move to Hollywood.

His new venture began in a garage. Together with his brother Roy, Disney launched Disney Brothers Studio. He started out with $500 borrowed from his uncle, $200 from Roy, and $2500 from his parents, who mortgaged the house to raise the money.

Mickey Mouse was born in 1928, making his debut in the first-ever sound cartoon Steamboat Willie. Disney continued to innovate within the cartoon medium. He introduced Technicolor to cartoons, and in 1973 he premiered the first featured lenght musical animation, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He took a huge risk with this film, it was the first of its kind, it costed $2 million to make, which in the 1930s (middle of the Great Depression) was a huge amount. Fortunately to him, the gamble paid off, and Snow White was followed by other full-lenght animated classics.

Disney wasn't an easy man to work for, he was frequently neurotic and obsessive and he imposed strict rules at his studio.

The second World War had temporarily sidelined the Walt Disney studio's output.

In 1955 Disney took his brand in a new direction: The Disneyland theme park in Anaheim, California. His investment was $17 million.

From the mid-1960s onwards, one project consumed the final years of his life. The 'Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT)', which was a Disney World with a social dimension. Disney World opened in October 1971, in Florida, with an amusement theme park, hotel complex, airport and 11 years later, the futuristic EPCOT centre, but he, however, was not present to witness the fruition of his plans. He died on 15 December 1966.

The magic of Disney is, nowhere more evident than in the fact that such complicated and often difficult man could atract such talented individuals to his studios, and somehow persuade them to produce their very best work. The vision and drive that spawned a billion-dollar international entertainment company was down to one man: Walt Disney.

'Steamboat Willie'

Source: 'Business the Ultimate Resource, New Edition'

World hunger

World hunger 'hits one billion'

Most of the world's undernourished live in developing countries
One billion people throughout the world suffer from hunger, a figure which has increased by 100 million because of the global financial crisis, says the UN.

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said the figure was a record high.

Persistently high food prices have also contributed to the hunger crisis.

The director general of the FAO said the level of hunger, one-sixth of the world's population, posed a "serious risk" to world peace and security.

The UN said almost all of the world's undernourished live in developing countries, with the most, some 642 million people, living in the Asia-Pacific region.

In sub-Saharan Africa, the next worst-hit region, the figure stands at 265 million.

Just 15 million people are left hungry in the developed world.

"The silent hunger crisis - affecting one-sixth of all of humanity - poses a serious risk for world peace and security," said Jacques Diouf.

"We urgently need to forge a broad consensus on the total and rapid eradication of hunger in the world and to take the necessary actions."

'Contradiction'

The increase in the number of hungry people was blamed on lower incomes and increased unemployment, which in turn reduced access to food by the poor, the UN agency said.

But it contrasted sharply with evidence that much of the developed world is richer than ever before.

WORLD HUNGER

Asia-Pacific: 642m
Sub-Saharan Africa: 265m
Latin America and Caribbean: 53m
Middle East and North Africa: 42m
Developed world: 15m
Source: FAO
"It's the first time in human history that we have so many hungry people in the world," said FAO spokesman Kostas Stamoulis, director of the organisation's development department.

"And that's a contradiction, because a lot of the world is very rich despite the economic crisis."

Mr Diouf urged governments to provide development and economic assistance to boost agriculture, particularly by smallholder farmers.

"Investment in agriculture must be increased because for the majority of poor countries a healthy agricultural sector is essential to overcome poverty and hunger and is a pre-requisite for overall economic growth," he said.

Urban suffering

The UK's international development ministry (Dfid) said the figures were "a scandal" and said it was helping some of the poorest farmers in the world to boost the amount of food they produce.

"In the last year we have pledged more than £900 million to lift millions out of hunger to help farmers boost agriculture production," a Dfid spokesman said.

The UN warns that poor people living in cities will probably face the most severe problems in coping with the global recession, because lower export demand and reduced foreign investment are likely to hit urban jobs harder.

Many migrants to urban areas would be likely to return to rural areas, it added, transferring the burden.

Incomes have also dropped "substantially" in some developing countries where families depend on remittances from relatives working abroad.

With the financial crisis hitting all parts of the world more or less simultaneously, developing countries have less room to adjust, the UN agency says.

Food prices

Among the pressures is the reality that borrowing from international capital markets is "more limited" in a global crisis, the FAO said.

Food costs in developing countries now seem more expensive, despite prices in world markets declining during the food and fuel crisis of 2006-08, it added.

They remained on average 24% higher in real terms by the end of 2008 compared to 2006.

"For poor consumers, who spend up to 60% of their incomes on staple foods, this means a strong reduction in their effective purchasing power," the FAO said.


Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8109698.stm

Religion - part 2

The God of the philosophers

According to the 'God of the philosophers', God is the eternal, all-powerful, al-knowing, all-loving creator of the universe, but the problem is that, when we look at this definition more closely, we run into all kinds of paradoxes, here are four:

1- The paradox of omnipotence: could God create a stone so heavy that he can't lift it? if he creates the stone, then he can't lift it, so there would be something he can't do, and if he can't create a stone, there would be other thing he can't do.

2- The paradox of change: this paradox arises when we ask how a God who is perfect can intervene in human history as He has traditionally been thought to do.

3- The paradox of sufering: this paradox arises from the twin assumptions that 'God is all-loving and does not want us to suffer' and that 'God is all powerful and is able to prevent us from suffering'

4- The paradox of free-will: if God is all-knowing, then He knows not only the past and the present, but also the future. This means that he knows not only everything we have done in the past, but also everything we will do in the future.

From Theory of knowledge, Richard van de Lagemaat

You have been sentenced to death. What method of execution would be your worst nightmare and what would be the most tolerable?

My worst nightmare would be every single way to die while im aware of it, or concious of what they are doing to me, and it would be even worse if it is painfull. The most tolerable would be every way while im not concious, preferebly asleep, or anesthetized, so I don't feel it.

Religion - Part 1

People turns to religion in seeking the answers to many questions in life, such as why do innocent people suffer? and is the death the end?. The trouble is that different religions give different answers to these questions, and some people are not satisfied with any of the answers that are on the offer.

There are three broad views about religion:

Theism: A theist believes that the universe is governed by an eternal, all-powerfull, all-knowing creator, God.

Pantheism: A pantheist believes that god is everything and everything is part of God, and that reality is spiritual in nature and the everyday world is an illusion.

Atheism: An atheist denies the existence of a creator god and believes the universe is material in nature and has no spiritual dimension.

They all have different beliefs about the meaning of life, the universe and everything. Beliefs are metaphysical, in nature and because of that we cannot determine wether they are true or false on the basis of experience alone. Some people have adopted a fourth position, "agnosticism", which neither it asserts nor denies the existence of God or some higher reality, but keeps an open mind about these things.

From theory of knowledge, Richard van de Lagemaat

Do you think of God as a 'he' or a 'she' or an 'it'?

I think of God as a 'something', not a he, nor a she neither an it. I think there is no proper word to describe God.

What difference do these different words make to the way you think about god?

I think that when we call God 'he' or 'she' we make God be in the same position as us (as a person) and, perhaps it is because of my religious formation since I was born, but I don't find it correct. I know I sometimes do it daily speaking, but is because I don't find other way to describe God's position. If we were to talk about him as an 'it', we will be treating God as less than us.

Do you think that God exists - or is supposed to exist - as a thing, or a force, or in an entirely different way?

I think that knowing it is out of our limits, God probably exists in an entirely different way. Even then, I always imagine him as a huge person with white hair.

About Alexander Fleming story:

It was too good to be true :( but is still nice:)

If you're thinking this story rings too good to be true, you are absolutely right. "Charming as it is," observes a Churchill Centre page devoted to alleged convergences between the lives of Winston churchill and Alexander Fleming, "it is certainly fiction."

Among the reasons set forth in support of that conclusion are:

•There is no record of Winston Churchill nearly drowning in a Scottish bog when he was young.

•There is no record of Lord Randolph Churchill paying for Alexander Fleming's education.

•Though it is true that Winston Churchill contracted pneumonia more than once during World War II and was treated with an antibiotic called sulfadiazine ("M&B"), he was never, according to available medical records, treated with penicillin.

That said, Sir Alexander Fleming was indeed the discoverer of penicillin, and Churchill did apparently consult with the brilliant physician and professor of medicine once in 1946 when he had a staph infection that proved resistant to the drug.

The Churchill Centre attributes the apocryphal tale, which has circulated in email form since 1999, to a 1950 book called "Worship Programs for Juniors" by Alice A. Bays and Elizabeth Jones Oakbery.


Source: http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_winston_churchill.htm

Other links:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Did_Alexander_fleming's_father_save_winston_churchill
http://www.snopes.com/glurge/fleming.asp