January 13

In class we took a test on Korea

Tuesday 1/11/11 and Wednesday 1/12/11

Today in class we finished the video on north korea and it was really weird and creepy how much his people love him.

Today we were off of school because of the snow.

January 7

Today in class we watched a really scary video about North Korea

January 5 and 6

In class we talked about Hilter and Kim Jong-il, along with the questions we were asked to answer about Korea.

Two Koreas-South Korea

1. The Republic of Korea http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2800.htm
2. Lee Myung-bak, his term length is five years long and he started in 2008. He was elected on his birthday in 2008 and he went to college at Korea University. His first main job was as a CEO at a big engineering company. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_South_Korea
3. South Korea was an official country after World War II ended. They were created because of an agreement that was reached in 1945. This agreement made the 38th parallel the boundary between the northern zone of the Korean Peninsula. They adopted a republican constitution and elected Syngman Rhee as their president. Was recognized as the legal government of in December of 1948. Japan was in charge of Korea until the end of World War II. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107690.html
4. http://aes.iupui.edu/rwise/countries/korea_south.html
5. North Korea, East Sea, Yellow Sea, and the Korean Strait all border South Korea. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_South_Korea
6. In 1945 Korea was divided at the 38th parallel, making it North Korea and South Korea. But in 1948 North Korea invaded South Korea.  http://virtualology.com/hallofamericanwarsandconflicts/38thParallel.net/
7. The relationship between North and South Korea is "tense and unpredictable." The North Korean government is isolationist and their country has a lot of power because of their leader. North Korea has a bad history with other countries around them, North Korea even abducted Japanese and Korean people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_North_Korea
8. Depending on where you live in South Korea it can be peaceful or dangerous. Seoul is clean and has many activities to participate in. More English is spoken in the Seoul area. They have monsoon seasons and most people live in small apartments. Smog is a problem in the city of Seoul. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101211134944AAv52P2
9. The United Nations had a meeting in December 2010 to try to "cool the tension" on the Korean Peninsula. They were concerned and they are talking about how North Korea needs to destroy all of their nuclear weapons.  http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTOE6BG05Y20101219
10. Seoul is the major city in South Korea.
11. South Korea has a "joint" military with the U.S. Based on the leadership roles in each country, South Korea's military is less powerful because they are not ruled by a dictatorship. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Korea_Armed_Forces
12. The U.S. deployed all nuclear weapons in South Korea for 33 years, this started in 1958 which was after World War II. Before weapons started arriving in the U.S. to be deployed the U.S. Far East Command Standing Operation Procedure found 2 locations in Korea that have the capability to receive and handle nuclear weapons. http://www.nukestrat.com/korea/koreahistory.htm
13. The U.S. and South Korea are very similar and during World War II the U.S. helped out South Korea. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Korea_%E2%80%93_United_States_relations
14. The 38th parallel doesn't allow North Koreans come into South Korea and South Koreans can't go into North Korea. Therefore, they cannot leave safely. (Based on class discussion)
15. Citizens regularly choose the President and members of the National Assembly in South Korea. Their government generally respects their citizens. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_South_Korea
16. In December 2005 South Korea launched its T-DMB service which includes both television and radio stations. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_radio
17. In South Korea it is a democracy and new Presidents are elected every few years and it is fair to all of their citizens. Unlike North Korea which is a dictatorship.
18. U.S. helped establish capitalism in South Korea and and helped an supported them in World War II and they respect the United States. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Korea_%E2%80%93_United_States_relations
19. South Korea's economy is a market economy and it is ranked 15th in the world, they are a high-income country with an emerging economy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_South_Korea
20. Dominated by the Buddhist faith and Christianity is growing.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_South_Korea
21. North Korea attacks South Korea on November 23, 2010 at Yeonpyeong. http://wn.com/korean_crisis_north_korea_attacks_south_at_yeonpyeong_23rd_november_2010?orderby=viewCount
22. Lisa Ling is an american journalist who was on the view in the 1990's up until 2002. Her younger sister Laura Ling was captured by North Korea and set free in 2009. Laura and her friend Euna Lee were detained when they crossed into North Korea from The People's Republic of China without a visa card. Bill Clinton flew over their to talk to Kim Jong-il in order to get Ling and Lee back. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Ling

Blogs for week of December 17

Tuesday: We are having a discussion tomorrow in class about India.
Wednesday: Discussion about India.
Thursday: We continued our discussion about India in class.
Friday: We brought in food for a party, and I brought in Indian food for extra credit.

December 8, 2010

Today in class we watched Slumdog Millionaire.

India- Not a Third World Country

India has the second biggest population in the world; they have approximately 1.17 billion people in their country as of July. 30.5% of people in India are between the ages of zero and fourteen, but people between the ages of fifteen and sixty-four is 64.3%. The smallest percentage of people are 65 years of age and older, they only make up 5.2% of the population. Even though parts of India are very poor and unsanitary, the life expectancy is 66.46 years which is pretty good for a country that has certain parts that are slum. The average of children born per women is 2.65 and in comparison to the world they are ranked eighty-one.  One fact that I found surprising about the population is that 2.4 million people are living with AIDS which makes India ranked fourth in the world. 310,000 deaths have been caused by AIDS. This is a lot of deaths just because of one disease; India is ranked second in the world for the number of deaths caused by AIDS. In the movie Slumdog Millionaire they show the little boy Jamal’s mother being killed because of religious beliefs. Hinduism is 80.5%, Muslim is 13.4%, and Christian is 2.3%, therefore the majority of their country is Hindu but they have been having disagreements for years about this particular topic. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html

One of the major problems in India is human trafficking. Human trafficking is a type of slavery that exploits people, usually women and young girls. The government is trying to be more committed to stopping child labor. They are even making laws and plans such as the Legislative Action Plan and the Child Labor Act. Both of these laws are dealing with India becoming closer to the United Nations so they can lessen the amount of child labor occurring in India. In certain parts of the movie they show young women and adult women being exploited and used for sexual behaviors. India was put on a list in 2007 that has people keeping a close watch on them because they didn’t try hard enough to decrease the amount of human trafficking. http://labour.nic.in/

The movie Slumdog Millionaire doesn’t correctly portray how the country of India really is. Throughout the movie, they show the slums and the shantytowns, not the established neighborhoods and the nicer, more sanitary areas of the country. In one part of the movie they show the Taj Mahal and that is probably the only part this shows the beautiful side of India. At the beginning of the movie they show where they have to use the bathroom and how all of the waste drains into the water that they drink. Slumdog Millionaire makes India seem like a third world country, almost like Africa. They show murder, disease, and extreme contamination all throughout the movie. I don’t disagree with the producers of the movie though; the point was to show the viewers how poor the characters in the movie are.

In conclusion, I believe that India is a country that could use support. When Haiti went through the earthquake and when Hurricane Katrina hit many organizations set up funds and programs to help those people. Maybe an organization like the Red Cross or a sanitation company can set up a fundraiser for India so they can put towards keeping their towns cleaner and having medicine to cure the many diseases there. India is not a third world country but it is struggling to maintain clean water, keep disease out, and have enough money to prevent a lot of unhealthy and bad things.

Human Trafficking

India is not considered to be a third world country, but parts of India are very dangerous and poor. Human trafficking is one of the major problems in India. Human trafficking is the act of transporting or receiving a person through a use of force, coercion or other means, for the purpose of exploiting them. In other words, human trafficking is a form of slavery. In India women and young girls are trafficked for sexual reasons, while children are sent as beggars and workers.  India has been placed on a list called the Tier 2 Watch List because over the past few years they have not tried to decrease the amount of human trafficking in their country. In the movie Slumdog Millionaire it shows examples of trafficking among women and children throughout their country.  According to the national labor and employment website, there are plans being devised in attempts to reduce human trafficking among children by passing laws such as the Child Labor Act and the NCLP. There is a program called Unicef that tries to protect children from around the world from violence, exploitation, and abuse. Unicef has developed plans such as The Medium Term Strategic Plan, and Child Protection Strategy. The Medium Strategic Plan is a four year plan trying to protect children by strengthening their relationships with the United Nations and by building national capacities.  The Child Protection Plan basically states that they want to ensure as much protection as they can in numerous ways. Their main goal is to have good relationships with the United Nations and to have a strong and supportive government.

http://www.unicef.org/protection/index.html

http://labour.nic.in/cwl/ChildLabour.htm

www.unodc.org/.../human-trafficking/what-is-human-trafficking.html  

Questions for 12-2-10

1. The film making industry in India produces far more movies than the U.S does and they include many more musical pieces.

2. Jamal, Latika, and Salim.

3. Chai Wallah is a blend of spices made into a drink, somewhat like tea.
http://chai-wallah.com/about.html

4. The Taj Mahal is one of the 8 wonders of the world, built by the Mughals, houses the grave of queen Mumtaz Mahal, took 22 years to build, makes an octagon.

http://www.islamicity.com/culture/taj/default.htm

December 1 Questions

What is Kaun Banega Crorepati? 
 Is and Indian game show based on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaun_Banega_Crorepati

List five essential facts about Bombay (Mumbai).
A tropical climate.
Population is about 18 million people.
38% of the international air passenger traffic.
Money is country in rupees
Was renamed Mumbai in 1848.
http://www.mumbaiproperties.com/Mumbai_-_Fact_File/page_748140.html


What is Dharavi?
A slum or an administrative word.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharavi
What is a shantytown?  How many people live in shantytowns worldwide?
A slum settlement of impoverished people.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanty_town 
About 20% of the world lives in a shantytown.
http://www.bookrags.com/research/shanty-towns-enve-02/

Who is Amitabh Bachchan, and what does he have to do with Slumdog Millionaire?
He is a famous Indian actor and in the movie Slumdog Millionaire he is brought up at the beginning.
(in class)

What is Bollywood?
The Indian Film Industry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bollywood
How much is 250,000 rupees (or any amount of rupees) in American dollars? (Hint: find a currency converter.)
$5371.62
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Rupees_250000_equals_US_dollars

What were the Bombay riots?
Damage was about 3.6 million dollars worth of damage. The Muslims and the Hindus were fighting about religion. Occur in 1992-1993. Babri Mosque demolition started this riot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumbai_Riots

5 interesting facts about Mumbai

1. Second most populous city in the world.
2. Was built on seven islands including: Bombay, Parel, Mazagaon, Mahim, Colaba, Worli, and Little Colaba.
3. Some of the oldest catholic churches.
4. Has a tropical climate.
5. Schools are either private schools or municipal schools.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumbai

What is Dharavi?

It is a slum and administrative ward, over parts of Sion, Bandra, Kurla, and Kalina. In the 18th century Dharavi was an island. Has huge sanitation problems, including water supply.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharavi

What is Bollywood?
The film industry based in Mumbai. Can also called Hindi cinema. Song and dance is a big deal in Bollywood and the films are multi- million dollar productions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bollywood

Wednesday November 24,2010

Today we worked on answering 10 questions on India.

10 Questions about India

1,173,108,018 people as of July 2010
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html 

2.65 children born per woman

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html

25 percent as of 2007

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/world/asia/19iht-letter.html?ref=india

Islamics attacked and bombed a small diner in India. Afghanistan set off a car bomb in India.

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/india/terrorism/index.html?offset=25&s=newest

119th

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/world/asia/19iht-letter.html?ref=india

Flooding is a huge problem, like the one in Surat that killed 120 people.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/01/world/asia/01india.html

Raw sewage pours into the city through the river.

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2006/09/28/world/1194817098866/part-1-water-woes-in-india.html

61%

 https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html

Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh.

 https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html

Notes on India vs. China

1. Population for China is 1.35 billion people
2. Population for India is 1.21 billion people 
3. 40% of people on the planet live in China or India.
4. U.S., Indonesia, Brazil, and Pakistan are behind them but way behind.
5. China and India separate are much bigger than Africa and Europe or the entire Western hemisphere.
6. Every population measure, China is further along in its demographic transition than India.
7. China's life expectancy is 73 years and India's expectancy is 64.
8. China has more people settling into cities.
9. China and India try to ignore that there are immigrants coming into their country because they have bigger problems to worry about.

 

November 23, 2010

Today in class Katie, Kate, and I had to present in front of the whole class.

November 19,2010

Today in class we started to present our projects.

November 19,2010

Today in class we started to present our projects.

November 16,2010

Today in class we continued working on our coffee projects, and listened to latin music.

November 11,2010

In class today we got our new projects.