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Yasmin Tandon

Rethinking American Foreign Aid - US Foreign Aid - 0 views

    • Yasmin Tandon
       
      Blue- Background Yellow- Yes Green- No Pink- Need to read further to get more detail
  • zSB(3,3)Sponsored Links World Affairs DailyGlobal Headline News & Commentary from International Media Sourceswww.worldaffairsjournal.org Winter Programme on UNGeneva Winter Programme on the UN and International Developmentgraduateinstitute.ch/winter The Progressive Realista metablog about American foreign policywww.progressiverealist.org zob();if(zsForeign Policy Ads Budget Foreign Aid Foreign Policy Congress Federal Budget US Government Budget zSB(3,2);if(zsSponsored Links Life Experience DegreesNo attendance - No coursework Accelerated - Worldwide Shipmentwww.universityofdublin.org 16th Int'l Education Expo660 Exhibitors from 25 Countries Why not Check Now & Meet Yours?www.cieet.com January 10, 2008 America's foreign aid programs are controversial
  • Polls indicate most Americans want the United States to be a generous donor of foreign aid.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • Explore US Foreign Policy
  • overestimate how much help we send overseas.
  • Others are concerned that our foreign aid falls far short of the global commitments made in the Millennium Development Goals.
  • And yet others say Western foreign assistance is focused more on "giving a man a fish" than on "teaching a man to fish."
  • The full report (215 pages, PDF) is available here.
  • The State Department budget plus all the foreign aid totals less than $40 billion (which is less than 1.5% of the federal budget). But Defense Department spending for this year, plus maintenance of America's nuclear arsenal, plus the cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars
Bhavya Puri

Shark fin soup alters an ecosystem - Page 2 - CNN - 0 views

  • Shark finning is not illegal. Taiwan has no law against fins taken from international waters coming into its ports. However, Taiwan does have what it calls a "plan of action" that requires the bodies of the sharks the fins came from to be accounted for and not dumped into the sea.
  • but identifying them and monitoring them and having a regulated fishery is virtually impossible."
  • Taiwan is not alone. Shark finning thrives off weak regulations around the world and only a few countries demand that sharks arrive in port with fins attached.
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  • The fin is one of the most expensive pound-for-pound item from the sea. And the beauty about the fin is that it's very compact ... it doesn't take up your hull and you can make a lot of money from it,"
  • ins can sell for $500 per pound, according to WildAid, which is campaigning for a global ban on shark finning.In recent years, Cocos Island has become another battleground in the fight to save the shark. Ads by GoogleShark Breaching and DivesGreat White Shark Breaching and Cage Diving Trips Gansbaai www.sharkdivingunlimited.com<<<123>>> We recommend You might like: Push begins to halt Pacific shark finning - CNN CNN.comSharks endangered by a bowl of soup CNN OpinionShark researchers study oil impact CNN USMan saves Australian woman during shark attack CNN World onmousedo
Aditi Buti

Jihad - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

shared by Aditi Buti on 16 Nov 10 - Cached
  • religious duty of Muslims
  • Arabic, the word jihād translates into English as struggle.
  • ppears frequently in the Qur'an and common usage as the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of Allah
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  • Muslims use the word in a religious context to refer to three types of struggles: an internal struggle to maintain faith, the struggle to improve the Muslim society, or the struggle in a holy war
  • t British orientalist Bernard Lewis argues that in the Qur'an and the ahadith jihad implies warfare in the large majority of cases.
  • Mahatma Gandhi's satyagraha struggle for Indian independence is called a "jihad" in Modern Standard Arabic
  • The term 'jihad' has accrued both violent and non-violent meanings. It can simply mean striving to live a moral and virtuous life, spreading and defending Islam as well as fighting injustice and oppression, among other thi
  • d that
  • A commitment to hard work" and "achieving one's goals in life" "Struggling to achieve a noble cause" "Promoting peace, harmony or cooperation, and assisting others" "Living the principles of Islam"[14]
  • mean "duty toward God", a "divine duty", or a "worship of God", with no militaristic connotations. Other responses referenced, in descending order of prevalence:
  • A poll by Gallup showed that a "significant majority" of Muslim Indonesians define the term to mean "sacrificing one's life for the sake of Islam/God/a just cause" or "fighting against the opponents of Islam". In Lebanon, Kuwait, Jordan
  • and Morocco, the majority used the term to
  • jihad is the only form of warfare permissible under Islamic law, and may consist in wars against unbelievers, apostates, rebels, highway robbers and dissenters renouncing the authority of Islam
  • aim of jihad as warfare is not the conversion of non-Muslims to Islam by force, but rather the expansion and defense of the Islamic state
  • encourages the use of Jihad against non-Muslims.
  • Sura 25, verse 52 states: “Therefore, do not obey the disbelievers, and strive against them with this, a great striving.”[41] It was, therefore, the duty of all Muslims to strive against those who did not believe in Allah and took offensive action against Muslims. The Qu’ran, however, never uses the term Jihad for fighting and combat in the nam
  • Allah
  • qital is used to mean “fighting.” The struggle for Jihad in the Qu’ran was originally intended for the nearby neighbors of the Muslims, but as time passed and more enemies arose, the Qur'anic statements supporting Jihad were updated for the new adversaries.[40] The first documentation of the law of Jihad was written by ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Awza’i and Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani. The document grew out of debates that had surfaced ever since Muhammad's death.[39] Early instances
Shawn Shin

Nuclear Weapons Program - North Korea - 0 views

shared by Shawn Shin on 15 Nov 10 - Cached
  • Report on North Korean Nuclear Program by Siegfried S. Hecker, November 15, 2006 Richard L. Garwin and Frank N. von Hippel, "A Technical Analysis of North Korea’s Oct. 9 Nuclear Test," Arms Control Today, November 2006. North Korea’s Bomb: A technical assessment, FAS Strategic Security blog, October 16, 2006 Statement by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on the North Korea Nuclear Test, ODNI news release, October 16, 2006 Korea and US Nuclear Weapons, FAS Nuclear Information Project, September 28, 2005 North Korea's Nuclear Program, 2005, Nuclear Notebook, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May/June 2005. Visit to the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center in North Korea, Testimony of Siegfried S. Hecker, Los Alamos National Laboratory, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, January 21, 2004
  • The Nuclear Threat Initative's North Korea nuclear profile Report of U.S. Congressional Delegation Visit to North and South Korea, May 30 - June 2, 2003 led by Rep. Curt Weldon North Korea's Nuclear Program, 2003, Nuclear Notebook, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March/April 2003 North Korean Nuclear Weapons, CIA Estimate for Congress, November 19, 2002 North Korea's Nuclear Weapons Program, Congressional Research Service North Korean Nuclear Program, U.S. State Department release, October 16, 2002 Text of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Text of the Agreed Framework
  • North Korea's Nuclear Weapons Program Larry A. Niksch, Foreign Affairs and Trade Division, Congressional Research Service, October 9, 2002 STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS OF THE U.S.-DPRK FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT Thomas L. Wilborn, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College -- April 3, 1995 [40 pages, 125 kb PDF] Assessing the U.S.-North Korea Agreement Masao Okonogi Joint Forces Quarterly Spring 1995 [215 kb PDF] The North Korean leadership is attempting to sell its outmoded baggage of the Cold War. Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) The Nuclear Potential of Individual Countries Treaty on Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons Problems of Extension Appendix 2 Russian Federation Foreign Intelligence Service 6 April 1995 Nuclear Nonproliferation: Implications of the U.S./North Korean Agreement on Nuclear Issues (Letter Report, 10/01/96, GAO/RCED/NSIAD-97-8). N Korean Nuclear Arsenal By Lee Wha Rang, April 27, 1996 Joseph S. Bermudez, Jr., "Exposing North Korea's Nuclear Infrastructure--Part One," Jane's Intelligence Review, 1 February 1999, p. 38 Joseph S. Bermudez, Jr., "Exposing North Korea's Secret Nuclear Infrastructure, Part II," Jane's Intelligence Review, 1 August 1999 Joseph S. Bermudez, Jr., "North Korea's Nuclear Infrastructure" Jane's Intelligence Review, 1 February 1994, 74-79
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  • The Agreed Framework signed by the United States and North Korea on October 21, 1994 in Geneva agreed that: North Korea would freeze its existing nuclear program and agree to enhanced International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards Both sides would cooperate to replace the D.P.R.K.'s graphite-moderated reactors for related facilities with light-water (LWR) power plants. Both countries would move toward full normalization of political and economic relations. Both sides will work together for peace and security on a nuclear-free Korean peninsula. And that both sides would work to strengthen the international nuclear non-proliferation regime.
  •  
    This site have a long well defined history of North Korea's Nuclear Weapon, and this has a lot of Resources that you can use for this Project.
anonymous

Euthanasia in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 2 views

  • Euthanasia is illegal in all states of the United States. Physician aid-in-dying (PAD) is legal in the states of Washington, Oregon, and Montana. The key difference between euthanasia and PAD is who administers the lethal dose of medication.
  • Animal · Child · Voluntary Non-voluntary · Involuntary
  • the legal rights of patients, or their guardians, to practice at least voluntary passive euthanasia (physician assisted death). These include the Karen Ann Quinlan (1976), Brophy and Nancy Cruzan cases. More recent years have seen policies fine-tuned and re-stated, as with Washington v. Glucksberg (1997) and the Terri Schiavo case.
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  • District Court judge Dorothy McCarter ruled in favor of a terminally ill Billings resident who had filed a lawsuit with the assistance of Compassion & Choices, a patient rights group. The ruling states that competent, terminally ill patients have the right to self-administer lethal doses of medication as prescribed by a physician. Physicians who prescribe such medications will not face legal punishment
  • Ballot Measure 16 in 1994 established the Oregon Death with Dignity Act, which legalizes physician-assisted dying with certain restrictions
  • Texas hospitals and physicians have the right to withdraw life support measures, such as mechanical respiration, from terminally ill patients when such treatment is considered to be both futile and inappropriate.
  • In 2008, assisted suicide in the state of Washington was made legal by Initiative 1000.
  • A 2002 Gallup survey showed that 72% of Americans supported euthanasia
  • Recent studies have shown European-Americans to be more accepting of euthanasia than African-Americans, though this difference may be explained by other factors. They are also more likely to have advance directives and to use other end-of-life measures.[8] African-Americans are almost 3 times more likely to oppose euthanasia than European-Americans. The main reason for this discrepancy is attributed to the lower levels of trust in the medical establishment
  • Attempts to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide resulted in ballot initiatives and legislation bills within the United States in the last 20 years.
Dominick Wong

Concorde - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

  • -powered supersonic passenger airliner
  • Anglo-French government treaty
  • ntered service in 1976
  • ...25 more annotations...
  • ommercial flights for 27 year
  • 20 aircraft
  • represented a substantial economic los
  • ubsidised by their governments
  • ype’s only
  • crash on 25 July 200
  • n the late 1950s, the United Kingdom, France, United States and Soviet Unio
  • upersonic transport.
  • Bristol Aeroplane Company
  • Sud Aviation
  • Type 223 a
  • Super-Caravelle
  • ncreased radiation exposure
  • high altitude
  • Concorde
  • passengers received almost twice the flux of extraterrestrial ionising radiation as those travelling on a conventional long-haul fligh
  • pposition to Concorde’s noise,
  • Concorde produced nitrogen oxides in its exhaust,
  • o produce a net degradation to the ozone layer at the stratospheric altitudes it cruised
  • service was discontinued after three return flights because of noise complaints from the Malaysian government;
  • r transatlantic flights from London Heathrow (British Airways) and Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (Air France) to New York JFK and Washington Dulles
  • sonic boom, takeoff-noise and pollution
  • but with a history of tyre explosions 60 times higher than subsonic jets.
  • Safety improvements
  • specially-developed burst-resistant tyres.
Ben Walters

Were video games to blame for massacre? - Technology & science - Games - msnbc.com - 0 views

  • The shooting on the Virginia Tech campus was only hours old, police hadn't even identified the gunman, and yet already the perpetrator had been fingered and was in the midst of being skewered in the media.
  • Video games. They were to blame for the dozens dead and wounded. They were behind the bloodiest massacre in U.S. history. Or so Jack Thompson told Fox News and, in the days that followed, would continue to tell anyone who'd listen.
  • But whether Seung-Hui Cho, the student who opened fire Monday, was an avid player of video games and whether he was a fan of "Counter-Strike" in particular remains, even now, uncertain at best.
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  • Meanwhile, in the aftermath of the school shootings and the finger-pointing that followed, game players and industry advocates say they're outraged that the brutal acts of a deeply disturbed and depressed loner with a history of mental illness would be blamed so quickly on video and computer games. They say this is perhaps the most flagrant case of anti-game crusaders using a tragedy to promote their own personal causes.
  • "It's so sad. These massacre chasers — they're worse than ambulance chasers — they're waiting for these things to happen so they can jump on their soapbox," said Jason Della Rocca,
    • Ben Walters
       
      'common sense tells me'
  • When Jack Thompson gets worked up, he refers to gamers as "knuckleheads." He calls video games "mental masturbation." When he's talking about himself and his crusade against violent games, he calls himself an "educator." He likes to use the word "pioneer."
  • On those rare occasions when a student opens fire on a school campus, Thompson is frequently the first and the loudest to declare games responsible. In recent years he's blamed games such as "Counter-Strike," "Doom" and "Grand Theft Auto III" for school shootings in Littleton, Colo., Red Lake, Minn. and Paducah, Ky.
  • He's blamed them for shootings beyond school grounds as well. In an attempt to hold game developers and publishers responsible for these spasms of violence, Thompson has launched several unsuccessful lawsuits.
  • "It disgusts me," said Isaiah Triforce Johnson, a longtime gamer and founder of a New York-based gaming advocacy group that, in response to the accusations, is now planning what is the first ever gamer-driven peace rally. 
    • Ben Walters
       
      Counter Strike, the game he blamed for these killings, has two objectives. Protect an objective from a bomb that the team of terrorists are going to try to plant, or to plant this bomb. Neither of these objectives have to include murder, or solo missions.
  • authorities released a search warrant listing the items found in Cho's dorm room. Not a single video game, console or gaming gadget was on the list, though a computer was confiscated. And in an interview with Chris Matthews of "Hardball," Cho's university suite-mate said he had never seen Cho play video games.
  • "This is not rocket science. When a kid who has never killed anyone in his life goes on a rampage and looks like the Terminator, he's a video gamer,"
  • And in a letter sent to Bill Gates Wednesday, he wrote: "Mr. Gates, your company is potentially legally liable (for) the harm done at Virginia Tech. Your game, a killing simulator, according to the news that used to be in the Post, trained him to enjoy killing and how to kill."
    • Ben Walters
       
      See how bad his research is, the only possibility of him ever playing a game was on his computer, yet he blames Microsoft, who created a game for the Xbox (which would be incompatible for a PC) for directly and massively influencing these events.
  • Microsoft did not create "Counter Strike" but did publish a version of it for the Xbox.
  • Fed up with the scapegoating and lack of understanding, gamer groups have begun to get increasingly organized in their attempts to change public perception of their favorite hobby.
  • "You cannot tell me — common sense tells you that if these kids are playing video games, where they're on a mass killing spree in a video game, it's glamorized on the big screen, it's become part of the fiber of our society. You take that and mix it with a psychopath, a sociopath or someone suffering from mental illness and add in a dose of rage, the suggestibility is too high. And we're going to have to start dealing with that."
  • Dr. Karen Sternheimer, a sociologist at the University of Southern Calfornia and author of the book " Kids These Days: Facts and Fictions About Today's Youth," disagrees. She believes that it didn't require much skill for Cho to shoot as many people as he did. After all, eye witness accounts indicate many of the victims were shot at point-blank range.
  • And for all of Thompson's claims that violent video games are the cause of school shootings, Sternheimer points out that before this week's Virginia Tech massacre, the most deadly school shooting in history took place at the University of Texas in Austin… in 1966. Not even "Pong" had been invented at that time.
  • Sternheimer says the rush to blame video games in these situations is disingenuous for yet another reason. Although it remains unclear whether Cho played games, it seems nobody will be surprised if it turns out he did. After all, what 23-year-old man living in America hasn't played video games?
  • "Especially if you're talking about young males, the odds are pretty good that any young male in any context will have played video games at some point,"
  • "I think in our search to find some kind of answer as to why this happened, the video game explanation seems easy," she says. "It seems like there's an easy answer to preventing this from happening again and that feels good on some level."
  • The blame game
  • Jason Della Rocca agrees. "Everyone wants a simple solution for a massively complex problem. We want to get on with our lives."
  • As the leader of an organization that represents video game creators from all over the world, Della Rocca knows the routine all too well.
  • Someone opens fire on a school campus. Someone blames video games. His phone starts ringing. People start asking him questions like, "So how bad are these games anyway?"
  • Of course, he also knows that this is far from the first time in history that a young form of pop culture has been blamed for any number of society's ills. Rock and roll was the bad guy in the 1950s. Jazz was the bad guy in the 1930s. Movies, paintings, comic books, works of literature…they've all been there.
  • Still, Della Rocca believes that people like Thompson are "essentially feeding off the fears of those who don't understand games."
  • For those who didn't grow up playing video games, the appeal of a game like "Counter-Strike" can be hard to comprehend. It can be difficult to understand that the game promotes communication and team work. It can be hard fathom how players who love to run around gunning down their virtual enemies do not have even the slightest desire to shoot a person in real life.
  • "It's the thing they don't understand," Della Rocca says. "It's a thing that's scary."
  • While Thompson concedes that there are many elements that must have driven Cho to commit such a brutal act, he insists that without video games Cho wouldn't have had the skills to do what he did. "He might have killed somebody but he wouldn't have killed 32 if he hadn't rehearsed it and trained himself like a warrior on virtual reality. It can't be done. It just doesn't happen."
  • the members of Empire Arcadia — a grassroots group dedicated to supporting the gaming community and culture — have been so incensed by the recent attempts to blame video games for the Virginia Tech shootings that they've begun planning a rally in New York City with the assistance of the ECA.
  • "There we will protest, mourn and show how real gamers play video games peacefully and responsibly," organizer Johnson wrote on the group's Web site. "This demonstration is to show that gamers will not take the blame of this tragic matter but we will do what we can to help put an end to terrible events like this." Johnson says that, ultimately, he hopes the rally — scheduled for May 5 — will help people better understand video game enthusiasts like him. "We are normal people," he says. "We just play games."
Aditi Buti

Islamic terrorism - 0 views

  • Jihad
  • Jihad has been classified either as al-jihād al-akbar (the greater jihad), the struggle against one's soul (nafs), or al-jihād al-asghar (the lesser jihad), the external, physical effort, often implying fighting (this is similar to the shiite view of jihad as well).
  • Jihad by the sword (jihad bis saif) refers to qital fi sabilillah (armed fighting in the way of God for defensive purposes, or holy war to prevent a greater loss of lives), the most common usage by Salafi Muslims and offshoots of the Muslim Brotherhood.
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  • Islamic terrorism is inspired by the sources of Islam: the Qur'an verses, ahadith sira and sharia that justify or encourage attacks on non-Muslims or those who may not be regarded as pious.
  • Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies, of Allah and your enemies, and others besides, whom ye may not know, but whom Allah doth know. Whatever ye shall spend in the cause of Allah, shall be repaid unto you, and ye shall not be treated unjustly
  • Now when ye meet in battle those who disbelieve, then it is smiting of the necks until, when ye have routed them, then making fast of bonds; and afterward either grace or ransom till the war lay down its burdens. That (is the ordinance). And if Allah willed He could have punished them (without you) but (thus it is ordained) that He may try some of you by means of others. And those who are slain in the way of Allah, He rendereth not their actions vain. [Qur'an 47:4] And fight them until there’s no fitnah (polytheism) and religion is wholly for Allah.[Qur'an 8:39] Lo! Those who disbelieve Our revelations, We shall expose them to the Fire. As often as their skins are consumed We shall exchange them for fresh skins that they may taste the torment. Lo!
  • Remember thy Lord inspired the angels (with the message): "I am with you: give firmness to the Believers: I will instil terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers: smite ye above their necks and smite all their finger-tips off them." [Qur'an 8:12]
  • Allah is ever Mighty, Wise. [Qur'an 4:56] They long that ye should disbelieve even as they disbelieve, that ye may be upon a level (with them). So choose not friends from them till they forsake their homes in the way of Allah; if they turn back (to enmity) then take them and kill them wherever ye find them, and choose no friend nor helper from among them, [Qur'an 4:89] Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah, and those who reject Faith Fight in the cause of Evil: So fight ye against the friends of Satan: feeble indeed is the cunning of Satan. [Qur'an 4:76]
  •  
    "Jihad"
Ingrid Sande

Legal drinking age - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

  • The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 states that revenue will be withheld from states that allow the purchase of alcohol by anyone under the age of 21. Prior to the effective date of that Act, the drinking age varied from state to state. Some states do not allow those under the legal drinking age to be present in liquor stores or in bars (usually, the difference between a bar and a restaurant is whether food is being served). Contrary to popular belief, since the act went into law, few states specifically prohibit minors and young adults from consuming alcohol in private settings. As of January 1, 2007, 14 states and the District of Columbia ban underage consumption outright, 19 states do not specifically ban underage consumption, and an additional 17 states have family member and/or location exceptions to their underage consumption laws. Federal law explicitly provides for religious, medical, employment and private club possession exceptions; as of 2005, 31 states have family member and/or location exceptions to their underage possession laws. However, non-alcoholic beer in many (but not all) states, such as Idaho, Texas, and Maryland, is considered legal for minors (those under the age of 21).[14] By a judge's ruling, South Carolina appears to allow the possession and consumption of alcohol by those 18 to 20 years of age,[15] though a circuit court judge said otherwise.
anouska khambatta

Economy of India - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 1 views

  • The economy of India is the eleventh largest economy in the world
  • India was under social democratic-based policies from 1947 to 1991.
  • Since 1991, continuing economic liberalisation has moved the country toward a market-based economy.
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  • A revival of economic reforms and better economic policy in first decade of the 21st century accelerated India's economic growth rate
  • By 2008, India had established itself as the world's second-fastest growing major economy.
  • However, the year 2009 saw a significant slowdown in India's GDP growth rate to 6.8%[19] as well as the return of a large projected fiscal deficit of 6.8% of GDP which would be among the highest in the world.
  • Goldman Sachs has outlined 10 things that it needs to do in order to achieve its potential and grow 40 times by 2050
  • Improve Governance Raise Educational Achievement Increase Quality and Quantity of Universities Control Inflation Introduce a Credible Fiscal Policy Liberalize Financial Markets Increase Trade with Neighbours Increase Agricultural Productivity Improve Infrastructure Improve Environmental Quality.
  • However the subsequent government policy of fabian socialism hampered the benefits of the economy leading to high fiscal deficits and a worsening current account.
  • ince 1990 India has a free-market economy and emerged as one of the fastest-growing economies in the developing world; during this period, the economy has grown constantly, but with a few major setbacks. This has been accompanied by increases in life expectancy, literacy rates and food security.
  • India is often seen by most economists as a rising economic superpower and is believed to play a major role in the global economy in the 21st century.
  • Policy tended towards protectionism
Ingrid Sande

Minimum Drinking Age - 0 views

  • The U.S.
  • has one of the world's highest minimum drinking ages.
  • is illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to possess alcoholic beverages of any kind.
  • ...13 more annotations...
  • Search Story and Title Text Search Title Text Only Sort Option For Results List By Relevance Rank By Story Date Optional Date Range &nbsp;&nbsp;(reset) From:&nbsp; Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1986 1985 1984 1983 1982 1981 1980 1979 1978 1977 1976 1975 1974 1973 1972 1971 1970 1969 1968 1967 1966 1965 1964 1963 1962 1961 1960 1959 1958 1957 1956 1955 1954 1953 1952 1951 1950 1949 1948 1947 1946 1945 1944 1943 1942 1941 1940 1900 1850 1800 1700 1600 To:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 2010 2009 <
  • n many
  • laces, it was legal for people as young as 18 to purchase and drink alcohol.
  • The in
  • roduction of a
  • constitutional amendment lowering the U.S.'s voting age to 18 in 1971 ushered in a further wave of lowered
  • drinking ages in many states.
  • However, that tide was swiftly reversed beginning in the late 1970s.
  • federal law was passed in
  • 984 that effectively established a national minimum drinking age of 21
  • Is the current minimum drinking age of 21 a good idea, promoting safety and responsibility among American teenagers? Or has it backfired, causing an increasingly dangerous drinking culture among U.S. youth?
  • Critics, however, argue that the 21-and-over drinking laws have actually made for a more dangerous environment for American teenagers by prompting them to do their drinking in private, unsupervised environments
  • Supporters of the current minimum drinking age say that the higher age limit has reduced drunk driving deaths substantially, and generally makes for a safer environment. Teenagers and alcohol make for a potentially hazardous mix, supporters maintain, and any steps taken to separate those two elements should be welcomed. Additionally, the human body does not fully develop until around the age of 21, proponents say; the intake of alcohol can cause grave mental and physical damage to a still-developing body.
Anushka Gandhi

Al-Qaeda - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

  • Reported beliefs include that a Christian-Jewish alliance is conspiring to destroy Islam,[12] which is largely embodied in the U.S.-Israel alliance, and that the killing of bystanders and civilians is religiously justified in jihad.
    • Anushka Gandhi
       
      An example for Western world (in this case: Christian-Jewish alliance) versus Islamic World
  • Al-Qaeda's management philosophy has been described as "centralization of decision and decentralization of execution."
  • "emergence of decentralized leadership"
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  • Marc Sageman, a psychiatrist and former CIA officer, said that Al-Qaeda would now just be a "loose label for a movement that seems to target the West". "There is no umbrella organisation. We like to create a mythical entity called [al-Qaeda] in our minds, but that is not the reality we are dealing with."[16]
    • Anushka Gandhi
       
      Individual views about Al-Qaeda
  • Osama bin Laden is the emir, and was the Senior Operations Chief of al-Qaeda (though originally this role may have been filled by Abu Ayoub al-Iraqi).
  • Researchers have described five distinct phases in the development of al-Qaeda: the beginning in the late 1980s, the "wilderness" period in 1990–96, its "heyday" in 1996–2001, the network period of 2001–05, and a period of fragmentation from 2005 to today.
  • Gulf War and the start of U.S. enmity
    • Anushka Gandhi
       
      Beginning of anti-Americanism and Western world versus Islamic world
  • Fatwas
    • Anushka Gandhi
       
      Osama bin Laden, along with the Al-Qaeda, introduced 'Fatwas' (binding religious edict) which portrays the hatred towards the US and also the strong beliefs in the members' respect towards their cause, organization/movement.
  • Al-Qaeda has been designated a terrorist organization by the following countries and international organizations:
    • Anushka Gandhi
       
      These countries and organizations have referred to Al-Qaeda as a "Terrorist Organization"
Ingrid Sande

Long-term effects of alcohol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

  • The long term effects of alcohol range from possible health benefits for low levels of alcohol consumption to severe detrimental effects in cases of chronic alcohol abuse. High levels of alcohol consumption are correlated with an increased risk of developing alcoholism, cardiovascular disease, malabsorption, chronic pancreatitis, alcoholic liver disease, and cancer. Damage to the central nervous system and peripheral nervous system can occur from sustained alcohol consumption.[2][3] Long-term use of alcohol in excessive quantities is capable of damaging nearly every organ and system in the body.[4] The developing adolescent brain is particularly vulnerable to the toxic effects of alcohol.[5]
Ari Kewalramani

Missing women of Asia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

  • in the form of selective abortion and perhaps even infanticide and female infant neglect - that is the cause of the skewed gender ratio.[6]
  • If the first child was male, then the sex of the subsequent children tended to follow the regular, biologically determined sex pattern
  • However, if the first child was female, the subsequent children had a much higher probability of being male, indicating that conscious parental choice was involved in determining the sex of the child.
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  • preference for boys and the resulting shortage of girls was even more pronounced in the more highly developed Haryana and Punjab regions of India than in poorer areas,
  • high prevalence of this prejudice among the more educated and affluent women (mothers) there.
  • Only recently and in some countries (particularly South Korea) have the development and educational campaigns begun to turn the tide, resulting in more normal gender ratios.[9]
  • Punjab
  • 1980s, girls were not receiving inferior treatment if a girl was born as a first child in a given family, when the parents still had high hopes for obtaining a son later. Subsequent births of girls were however unwelcome, because each such birth diminished a chance of the family having a son.
  • educated women would have fewer offspring, and therefore were under more acute pressure to produce a son as early as possible
  • affluent families opt for an abortion
  • r if a girl is born
  • decrease her chance of survival
  • One reason for parents, even mothers, to avoid daughters
  • As parents grow
  • expect much more help and support from their independent sons, than from daughters, who after getting married become in a sense property of their husbands' families
  • Women are also often practically unable to inherit real estate, so a mother-widow will lose her family's (in reality her late husband's) plot of land and become indigent if she had had only daughters.
  • Poor rural families have meager resources to distribute among their children, which reduces the opportunity to discriminate against girls.[9]
  • South Korea has led to a sweeping change in social attitudes and reduced the preference for sons
  • rapid economic development, combined with policies that seek to promote gender equality
  • sex ratio transition
Ari Kewalramani

Sex-selective abortion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

  • It has been argued that by having a one-child policy, China has increased the rate of abortion of female fetuses, thereby accelerating a demographic decline.
  • Baby Gender Mentor have become available for purchase over the Internet.[15] These tests have been criticized for making it easier to perform a sex-selective abortion earlier in a pregnancy.[16] Concerns have also been raised about their accuracy.
  • Gender bias can broadly impact a society, and it is estimated that by 2020 there could be more than 35 million young "surplus males" in China and 25 million in India
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • In those families where the first two children were girls, the sex ratio of the third child was observed to be 1.51:1 in favor of boys.[
Ben Walters

Six Wonderful Things About Games - 0 views

  • Research is mounting that playing games can make you smarter.
  • At the 2009 MI6 conference, he pointed out that games engage the same brain machinery that’s used when one is learning.
  • Is it a coincidence that “nerds” often possess an interest in computer games, as well as have an aptitude for subjects like maths and science?
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  • A huge number of engineers, designers and artists have taken up their careers because of the excitement they gained from their exposure to games. Games challenge the imagination, and designing them is a fun and rewarding experience.
  • Part of this includes challenging kids to design games
  • This hasn’t been lost on the Obama Administration, which is including educational games in a $260mm program
  • It is often said that playing video games improves one’s hand-eye coordination. &nbsp;This is a very important skill to have outside the realm of video games
  • playing games could help someone become a better surgeon (it does—a lot).
  • games have gotten people excited about learning something new.
  • eople do learn new things they might never have, just by playing these games.
  • Academic research has shown that games can increase the feelings that lead to creativity
  • laying WoW directly intersects with the study of applied mathematics.
  • ophisticated spreadsheets and statistical models to reach their conclusions
  • their first exposure to formal applied mathematics
  • well-researched tables, proofs and statistics.
  • If only my gradeschool teachers had come up with something this engaging to get me interested in in the almost impenetrable world of mathematics!
  • Furthermore, games themselves are becoming an increasingly creative medium
  • video and computer games
  • an be quite influential in fostering creative expression
  • Games even inspire creativity outside of the game
  • games as creative catalysts
  • we’re still at the very beginning of games as a means of artistic and creative expression
  • games provide a venue for expression
  • Furthermore, the study found that teens who are exposed to civics within games (e.g., city-simulators like SimCity, or running a guild/clan in other games) are more likely than other teens to be interested in political and civics activities.
  • players are learning real economics and business skills
  • Such claims have been repeatedly debunked after extensive research,
  • Unlike any other medium, games gets different people from different countries, political views and religions all playing together. Not because they are elite; not because they’re spectators, but because you must work together to solve problems.
  • I’m convinced that the more we play together, the more we’ll learn to live with each other
  • Games are fun, and that’s enough for me. Maybe it isn’t enough for you—or for your friends or for your family. I hope you the information I’ve presented is helpful to you in explaining many of the other positives about games. &nbsp;Not only are games fun, but they’re also healthy, and can promote positive brain development, career opportunity and social behavior.
Anushka Gandhi

Osama bin Laden - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

  • Bin Laden and fellow al-Qaeda leaders are believed to be hiding near the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
    • Anushka Gandhi
       
      One of those many possiblities of Osama's whereabouts
  • Beliefs and ideology
    • Anushka Gandhi
       
      His strong beliefs urged him to help form the Islamist movement Al-Qaeda and a number of activites, bombings, etc including the most important event- 9/11 attacks in the US.
  • "Allah knows it did not cross our minds to attack the towers but after the situation became unbearable and we witnessed the injustice and tyranny of the American-Israeli alliance against our people in Palestine and Lebanon, I thought about it. And the events that affected me directly were that of 1982 and the events that followed – when America allowed the Israelis to invade Lebanon, helped by the U.S. Sixth Fleet. As I watched the destroyed towers in Lebanon, it occurred to me punish the unjust the same way (and) to destroy towers in America so it could taste some of what we are tasting and to stop killing our children and women." – Osama bin Laden, 2004[
    • Anushka Gandhi
       
      What urged Osama to take this deadly step of the 9/11 attacks on the US....
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Claims as to the location of Osama bin Laden have been made since December 2001, although none have been definitively proven and some have placed Osama in different locations during overlapping time periods.
    • Anushka Gandhi
       
      True statement. This can be used in research paper while including reports of Osama's hiding locations
  • On October 18th 2010, Osama bin Laden is alive and well and living comfortably in a house in the north-west of Pakistan protected by local people and elements of the country's intelligence services, according to a senior Nato official
    • Anushka Gandhi
       
      Most recent update of Osama's 'whereabouts' reported by a Nato official.
Anjan Narain

Essay on Euthanasia in America - 0 views

  • Euthanasia is a choice everyone should have, but like all rights, it should not be taken advantage of. By legalizing euthanasia the practice of assisted suicide would be an available choice as well as regulated to see that it does not get abused and used for the wrong reasons.
  • My four primary arguments for legalizing euthanasia are as follows: The mercy argument, which states that the immense pain and indignity of prolonged suffering, cannot be ignored. We are being inhumane to force people to continue suffering this way. The patients right to self-determination.
  • The reality argument. "Let's face it people are already doing it".
  • ...12 more annotations...
  • Some terminally ill patients who have been denied assistance in dying, have attempted to terminate they're suffering by ending their lives themselves or with the help of loved ones, who are not trained in medicine. Some patients have botched their suicides and brought further suffering to themselves and those around them. Patients should not have to resort to suicide to end their suffering. It is their life, their pain. They should be able to get the treatment they want.
  • " if we so choose, the end of life need not be preceded by intolerable pain, or by senility and loss of bodily functions.” Death with dignity is the right of every person who faces an incurable, painful or degrading future.
  • Caring for terminally ill patients requires a vast amount of money. In 1997, shortly after the senate voted to overturn the Northern Territory's euthanasia law, doctors from both sides of the euthanasia lobby united in calling for more funds for palliative care. There is a requirement for several hundred million dollars extra to really adequately provide for the needs of the dying, particularly in country areas.
  • Why does the government choose to outlaw euthanasia when it is done anyway? Legalizing it would mean that patients would be able to consult doctors, and not resort to taking it into their own hands, making it safer and better. There would be no need for suicide attempts; consequently there would be less tragedies
  • Passive euthanasia is defined as allowing a patient to die by withholding treatment, while active euthanasia is defined as taking measures that directly cause a patient's death
  • Those who argue against active euthanasia understand that there is a demand for active euthanasia as a response "to the fear of entrapment in a technologically sophisticated, seemingly uncaring world of medicine
  • offers several arguments in favor of the moral permissibility of active euthanasia, one of which is an argument from mercy. He begins by describing a classic case where a person named Jack is terminally ill and in unbearable pain and states that Jack's condition alone is a compelling reason for the permissibility of active mercy killing.
  • active euthanasia is morally permissible since it produces the greatest happiness
  • . The categorical imperative supports active euthanasia since no one would willfully universalize a rule, which condemns people to unbearable pain before death. It is also reasoned that it is considered bad to be the cause of someone's death and that death is regarded as a great evil. However, if it has been decided that active or passive euthanasia is desirable in a given case, it has also been decided that in this instance death is no greater an evil than the patient's continued existence
  • A good point is raised here, because death is supposedly inevitable in either case, so according to Rachel, if a doctor allows a patient to die or gives him a lethal injection, then the motives and ends are essentially the same.
  • In conclusion, denying patients the right to die with dignity and lucidity is unfair and cruel. If physician assisted suicide means giving a patient the right to choose between a life without dignity and hope, or ending their pain and suffering with an honorable closure on life, than it should be permitted.
  • When a patient has no desire to go on living and wants to die before their condition gets worse, they should be allowed to decide how their life ends and why. Assisted suicide is known to have been going on without fanfare and without legal support for many years. It is time to give physician-assisted suicide the legal justification that it deserves.
Aneesh Mysore

Video game controversy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

  • There are three types of aggression, measured along a mild-to-violent severity continuum: physical, verbal, and relational. Violence refers to physical aggression of which the victim is likely to suffer serious physical injury.
  • One study did find an increase in reports of bullying, noting, "Our research found that certain patterns of video game play were much more likely to be associated with these types of behavioral problems than with major violent crime such as school shooting
  • On April 20, 1999, 18-year-old Eric Harris and 17-year-old Dylan Klebold killed 12 students and a teacher in the Columbine High School massacre. The two were allegedly obsessed with the video game Doom.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • a 19-year-old Thai teenager, stabbed a Bangkok taxi driver to death during an attempt to steal the driver's cab in order to obtain money to buy a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV.
Puja DeGamia

Eating Disorders: Body Image and Advertising - HealthyPlace - 0 views

  • Advertisers often emphasize
  • he importance of physical attractiveness in an attempt to sell products
  • In recent survey by Teen People magazine, 27% of the girls felt that the media pressures them to have a perfect body
  • ...24 more annotations...
  • Researchers suggest advertising media may adversely impact women's body image,
  • ads made women fear being unattractive
    • Puja DeGamia
       
      this can lead to unhealthy behavior as girls strive for the ultra-thin body idealized by the media
  • he average woman sees 400 to 600 advertisements per day
  • and by the time she is 17 years old, she has received over 250,000 commercial messages through the media.
    • Puja DeGamia
       
      Shows the average amount of media exposure girls have targeted towards them
  • Only 9% of commercials have a direct statement about beauty,
  • but many more implicitly emphasize the importance of beauty--particularly those that target women and girls.
  • This constant exposure to female-oriented advertisements may influence girls to become self-conscious about their bodies and to obsess over their physical appearance as a measure of their worth
  • ty, and the bodies idealized in the media are frequently atypical of normal, healthy women. In fact,
  • Advertisements emphasize thinness as a standard for female beau
  • today's fashion models weigh 23% less than the average female
    • Puja DeGamia
       
      a young woman between the ages of 18-34 has a 7% chance of being as slim as a catwalk model
  • Women frequently compare their bodies to those they see around them, and researchers have found that exposure to idealized body images lowers women's satisfaction with their own attractiveness.
  • girls reported in a
  • Body Image Survey that "very thin" models made them
  • feel insecure about themselves.
  • Dissatisfaction with their bodies causes many women and girls to strive for the thin ideal. The number one wish for girls ages 11 to 17 is to be thinner
  • Eighty percent (80%) of 10-year-old girls have dieted,
    • Puja DeGamia
       
      The media is not only being exposed to girls who are well into their teens but young girls aged 10 or younger.  - media impact has started spreading through age groups making little girls conscious about their weight as well.
  • One study found that 47% of the girls were influenced by magazine pictures to want to lose weight, but only 29% were actually overweight
  • Research has also found that stringent dieting to achieve an ideal figure can play a key role in triggering eating disorders.
  • Girls who were already dissatisfied with their bodies showed more dieting, anxiety, and bulimic symptoms after prolonged exposure to fashion and advertising images
  • in a teen girl magazine.
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