www.thenews.com.mx

BY THE WAY, ONE OF THE MEXICAN WALLS?

2009-12-01T01:11:39+00:00

1. Is there an echo of this problem in the Mexican society?

2. Are the Mexican politicians worried about this news?

3. Is this a big issue in the Mexican society?

Well, it seems it is more important to give more money to the Mexican governors now than to give money to the Mexican health..

What a shame!

Suman un millón 594 mil los casos

México, con más niños desnutridos en América

Se encuentra en el lugar número 22 entre las naciones con más menores de cinco años que padecen esta condicciones

México está en el top 25 de los 136 países con mayor población de niños menores de cinco años que sufren cortedad de talla, debido a la desnutrición materna e infantil crónica, según el ranking mundial del informe "Seguimiento de los progresos en la nutrición de los niños y las madres", publicado ayer por la Unicef.

Este problema de salud afecta a más de 200 millones de niños en el mundo, mientras que en el país suman un millón 594 mil los casos -cifra que lo pone a la cabeza en América-, con una prevalencia de 16 por ciento, es decir, que uno de cada seis niños mexicanos no recibe la alimentación adecuada para desarrollarse correctamente.

Según apuntó ayer en rueda de prensa la directora ejecutiva de Unicef, Ann M. Veneman, mientras presentaba los 24 países con más infantes desnutridos, "México es el único de la lista que no se encuentra en África y Asia", los dos continentes donde se concentra más de 90 por ciento de los niños y niñas que sufren retraso en su crecimiento. "En el país mexicano hay por tradición una falta de alimentación de nutrientes, lo que se transmite de padres a hijos", comentó la funcionaria.

Veneman también recordó que la carencia de una adecuada alimentación en los más pequeños provoca normalmente deficiencias físicas para toda la vida, además de "afectar la capacidad cognoscitiva", reduciendo la de aprendizaje y "las posibilidades de obtener ingresos decentes", con lo que se vincula la buena alimentación con el combate a la pobreza.

Además, según el documento, en México una de cada cinco embarazadas sufre de anemia, así como un tercio de los niños menores de dos años padecen del mismo mal. En cuanto a los bebés, 8 por ciento nace con bajo peso, más de 20 por ciento no recibe alimentación de pecho y cuando cumplen seis meses sólo 38 por ciento toman exclusivamente leche materna.

Sobre la pureza del agua que toman los mexicanos, el informe destaca que 91 por ciento de la población bebe el agua potable de la llave, 4 por ciento de fuentes no seguras y sólo 5 por ciento ingiere agua purificada con métodos mejorados.

En la población rural este problema es más grave, ya que 15 por ciento de la población en estas zonas bebe agua que no fue potabilizada bajo ningún método.

Aunque en cantidad de niños desnutridos México va a la cabeza dentro del continente, en proporción las cifras no son tan desalentadoras, ya ocupa el lugar 14 de América y el 97 en el mundo con una prevalencia de 16 por ciento de menores de cinco años desnutridos; no obstante, comparado con naciones similares, aún esta por debajo de Uruguay y Colombia, con 15 por ciento; Venezuela, 12; Argentina, 8%; Brasil, 7, y Chile, 1 por ciento. También está por debajo de países con economías muy inferiores como Cuba, Jamaica o Trinidad y Tobago, que tienen una prevalencia de desnutrición infantil que oscila entre 4 y 5 por ciento.

Los países con mayor prevalencia de retrasos en el crecimiento entre los menores de 5 años en el continente son Guatemala, con 54 por ciento; Perú, con 30; Honduras y Haití, ambos con 29 por ciento. Este mismo indicador en otras partes del mundo coloca a Afganistán como la nación con más porcentaje de niños desnutridos al alcanzar 59 por ciento, seguido de Yemen, con 58; Timor Oriental, 54; República Democrática del Congo, 46, y Corea del Norte, con una prevalencia de 45 por ciento.

La situación en Asia es considerablemente peor que en América, el primer país de la lista publicada por Unicef es India, con 60 millones 788 mil casos y con un porcentaje de prevalencia de 48 por ciento. Le sigue China, con 12 millones 685 mil casos y 15 por ciento de prevalencia (inferior a la proporción que hay en México), y Nigeria, con 10 millones 158 mil casos y una prevalencia de 41 por ciento.

Además de la cortedad de talla, otra consecuencia de la nutrición inadecuada es el peso inferior al normal, lo que también impacta en el desarrollo y la salud, según indicó la directora ejecutiva de Unicef, que a pesar de la gravedad de la situación, se mostró optimista al afirmar que "es posible reducir y eliminar la desnutrición", como se ha demostrado con programas que distribuyen sal yodada y suplementos de vitamina A.

Claves

El embarazo

• La leche materna es clave para una buena nutrición, según la Unicef, pero en México uno de cada cinco niños no se alimenta con ella al nacer.

La anemia, padecimiento relativo al bajo contenido de nutrientes en la sangre, afecta a 21 por ciento de las mexicanas embarazadas.
Uno logro contra la desnutrición en México fue aumentar el consumo de sal yodatada de las mujeres embarazadas, que subió de 28 a 91 por ciento.

México • Redacción, Milenio Diario, Tendencias, page 39By teh Jueves 12 de Noviembre de 2009

ESCA Web Profiles

2009-11-06T19:12:44+00:00

Dear Beginners 2 students,

This is the room for your Profiles:

There is an extension to post your Web Profile: From 6 pm to this Friday at 1 pm.

Take care,

jara

Are you the person you would like to be?

2009-10-12T04:48:59+00:00

Have you ever regretted doing something you should not have done or something you did not do which you have? At one time or another we probably all have. There is no time in getting depressed about it now. It is no use crying over spilt milk. However, there may be some gain in thinking about exactly what happened and why because we might be able to draw conclusions for the future. One thing we all do now and again is to lose our temper with a friend or close relatives. The odd thing is that we more often display great anger towards someone we are fond of than towards strangers. The explanation may be that we see friends and relatives as a kind of safety net, an opportunity to let off a bit of stream in a safe environment, whereas the consequences of insulting a stranger or a staff at work could be far more serious.

Being honest is usually thought as a virtue and undoubtedly this is the case. On the other hand, we have all experienced occasions when we have spoken our minds to someone, telling them exactly what we feel, and then have found ourselves overcome with feelings of guilt and remorse. Perhaps we should have kept our mouths shut.

Prevention or prohibition?

2009-11-06T05:20:05+00:00

Capital may alter hours for alcohol

By NACHA CATTAN

The News

A bill that would require all bars in Mexico City to stop serving alcohol at 2:30 a.m. passed a city Assembly committee on Wednesday.

The legislation would do away with after-hour clubs and cantinas in a bid to curb alcoholism and reduce drunk-driving accidents - one of the main causes of death among young people in the capital.

If the bill passes the full Assembly - which could happen as soon as Thursday - liquor stores would have to close up shop by midnight and nightspots will have until 3 a.m. to escort patrons out.

The bill also puts a cap on open bars, a measure that was applauded by liquor industry representatives on Tuesday, who said that unlimited and often cheap alcohol service promotes the unregulated sale of liquor beverages.

"The idea isn´t to stop young people from having fun, but to prevent their principal reason for gathering together [from being] alcohol," Isaías Villa, the assemblyman who introduced the bill, told The News.

But critics warn that barkeepers will simply bribe police to prevent their taps from running dry before 3 a.m. and hurting their business.

They note that current laws restricting watering holes from opening past 4 a.m. are often ignored.

"Police will come and owners will say, `Here is your 500 pesos,´ " said Enrique Alvarez, an education administrator from the Benito Juárez borough in Mexico City.

"Why do we have to suffer just because of a few people who get wasted and crash their cars?"

The initiative would also require all hotels to offer condoms, either for sale or for free, in case customers request them.

Another key component of the bill would give city borough officials a 10-day deadline to reject requests to open restaurants, hotels and theaters.

If the borough does not respond to a request in time, the establishments can open their doors automatically instead of waiting months for approval, Kenia López, a member of the Assembly, told The News.

"This will boost jobs," López said.

I have some questions:

1. What do you think about this?

2. What do parents think?

3. Will this bill change young people's habits to drink?

4. Is this a good measure to stop car crashes after 2 am?

5. How will " the pre-copeo" be stopped?

I am quite sure the answer to many of today´s problems is "education".

How much do you know about October 2nd, 1968...

2009-09-23T02:19:29+00:00

Are you numb?

Are you really happy living in Mexico?

2009-10-01T03:24:15+00:00

This is the list of the subjective well-being in 97 countries based on reported happiness and life satisfaction, equally weighted. The rank is stated from happiest to least happy. Negative scores indicates that a majority of the population is unhappy/dissatisfied with life.

It comes from a combined data from 1995 - 2007 World Values Surveys.

Denmark (4.24)
Puerto Rico (4.21)
Colombia (4.1 )
Iceland (4.15)
North Ireland (4.13)
Ireland (4.12)
Switzerland (3.96)
Netherlands (3.77)
Canada (3.76)
Austria (3.6 )
El Salvador (3.67)
Malta (3.61)
Luxemburg (3.61)
Sweden (3.5 )
New Zeland (3.57)
U.S.A. (3.55)
Guatemala (3.53)

Mexico (3.52)

Norway (3.50)
Belgium (3.40)
Britain (3.39)
Australia (3.26)
Venezuela (3.25)
Trinidad (3.25)
Finland (3.24)
Saudi Arabia (3.17)
Thailand (3.02)
Cyprus (2.96)
Nigeria (2.82)
Brazil (2.81)
Singapore (2.72)
Argentina (2.69)
Andorra (2.64)
Malaysia (2.61)
West Germany (2.60)
Vietnam (2.52)
France (2.50)
Philippines (2.47)
Uruguay (2.43)
Indonesia (2.37)
Chile (2.34)
Dominican Republic (2.29)
Japan (2.24)
Spain (2.16)
Israel (2.0 )
Italy (2.06)
Portugal (2.01)
Taiwan (1.83)
East Germany (1.7 )
Slovenia (1.77)
Ghana (1.73)
Poland (1.66)
Czech Republic (1.66)
China (1.64)
Mali (1.62)
Kyrgyzstan (1.59)
Jordan (1.46)
Greece (1.45)
South Africa (1.39)
Turkey (1.27)
Peru (1.24)
South Korea (1.23)
Hong Kong (1.16)
Iran (1.12)
Bangladesh (1.00)
Bosnia (0.94)
Croatia (0.87)
Morocco (0.87)
India (0.85)
Uganda (0.69)
Zambia (0.6 )
Algeria (0.60)
Burkina Faso (0.60)
Egypt (0.52)
Slovakia (0.41)
Hungary (0.36)
Montenegro (0.19)
Tanzania (0.13)
Azerbaijan (0.13)
Macedonia (-0.06)
Rwanda (-0.15)
Pakistan (-0.30)
Ethiopia (-0.30)
Estonia (-0.36)
Servian Bosnia (-0.45)
Lithuania (-0.70)
Latvia (-0.75)
Romania (-0.8 )
Russia (-1.01)
Georgia (-1.01)
Georgia (-1.01)
Bulgaria (-1.09)
Iraq (-1.36)
Albania (-1.44)
Ukraine (-1.69)
Belarus (-1.74)
Moldova (-1.74)
Armenia (-1.80)
Zimbabwe (-1.92)

The score only showing the American nations:

Puerto Rico
Colombia
Canada
El Salvador
USA
Guatemala

Mexico

Venezuela
Trinidad
Brazil
Argentina
Uruguay
Chile
Dominican Republic
Peru

People in most countries around the world are happier these days, according to newly released data from the World Values Survey based at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research.

Data from representative national surveys conducted from 1981 to 2007 show the happiness index rose in an overwhelming majority of nations studied.

"It's a surprising finding," said U-M political scientist Ronald Inglehart, who directs the World Values Surveys and is the lead author of an article on the topic to be published in the July 2008 issue of the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science. "It's widely believed that it's almost impossible to raise an entire country's happiness level."

The 2007 wave of the surveys also provides a ranking of 97 nations containing 90 percent of the world's population. The results indicate that Denmark is the happiest nation in the world and Zimbabwe the unhappiest. The United States ranks 16th on the list, immediately after New Zealand.

During the past 26 years, the World Values Surveys have asked more than 350,000 people how happy they are, using the same two questions.

"Taking all things together, would you say you are very happy, rather happy, not very happy, not at all happy?" And, "All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?"

Combining responses to these two questions, Inglehart and colleagues constructed an index of subjective well-being that reflects both happiness and general life satisfaction.

In the 52 countries for which a substantial time series is available (covering 17 years on average), this index rose in 40 countries and fell in only 12. The average percentage of people who said they were "very happy" increased by almost seven points.

"Most earlier research has suggested that happiness levels are stable," Inglehart said. "Important events like winning the lottery or learning you have cancer can lead to short-term changes, but in the long run most previous research suggests that people and nations are stuck on a 'hedonic treadmill.' The belief has been that no matter what happens or what we do, basic happiness levels are stable and don't really change."

The new findings from the World Values Surveys not only show that during the past 25 years, happiness has in fact risen substantially in most countries. Fully as important as the fact that happiness rose is the reason why. In recent decades, low-income countries such as India and China have experienced unprecedented rates of economic growth, dozens of medium-income countries have democratized and there has been a sharp rise of gender equality and tolerance of ethnic minorities and gays and lesbians in developed societies.

Economic growth, democratization and rising social tolerance have all contributed to rising happiness, with democratization and rising tolerance having even more impact than economic growth. All of these changes have contributed to providing people with a wider range of choice in how to live their lives---which is a key factor in happiness.

The people of rich countries tend to be happier than those of poor countries, but even controlling for economic factors, certain types of societies are much happier than others.

"The results clearly show that the happiest societies are those that allow people the freedom to choose how to live their lives," Inglehart said.

As an example, Inglehart points to the tolerant social norms and democratic political systems in Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Canada all of which rank among the 10 happiest countries in the world.

"The events of the past 25 years have brought a growing sense of freedom that seems to be even more important than economic development in contributing to rising happiness," Inglehart said. "Moreover, the most effective way to maximize happiness seems to change with rising levels of economic development. In subsistence-level societies, happiness is closely linked with in-group solidarity, religiosity and national pride. At higher levels of economic security, free choice has the largest impact on happiness."

He also notes that the largest recent increases on the subjective well-being index, measuring both happiness and life-satisfaction, occurred in the Ukraine, followed by Moldova, Slovenia, Nigeria, Turkey and Russia.

"While most ex-communist countries show low levels of happiness, many of them show large recent increases in subjective well-being," Inglehart said. "The collapse of communism was generally followed by a sharp decline in well-being, which tended to rise again with economic recovery."

"I have a dream" 1963-2008

2009-06-04T06:27:12+00:00

August 28th, 1963

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only". We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Martin Luther King, Jr.,

In 1950's America, the equality of man envisioned by the Declaration of Independence was far from a reality. People of color — blacks, Hispanics, Asians — were discriminated against in many ways, both overt and covert. The 1950's were a turbulent time in America, when racial barriers began to come down due to Supreme Court decisions, like Brown v. Board of Education; and due to an increase in the activism of blacks, fighting for equal rights.

Martin Luther King, Jr., a Baptist minister, was a driving force in the push for racial equality in the 1950's and the 1960's. In 1963, King and his staff focused on Birmingham, Alabama. They marched and protested non-violently, raising the ire of local officials who sicced water cannon and police dogs on the marchers, whose ranks included teenagers and children. The bad publicity and break-down of business forced the white leaders of Birmingham to concede to some anti-segregation demands.

Thrust into the national spotlight in Birmingham, where he was arrested and jailed, King organized a massive march on Washington, DC, on August 28, 1963. On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he evoked the name of Lincoln in his "I Have a Dream" speech, which is credited with mobilizing supporters of desegregation and prompted the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The next year, King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

June 3rd, 2008

Posted at 11:15 PM ET, 06/ 3/2008

Obama Claims the Democratic Presidential Nomination

By Chris Cillizza
washingtonpost.com

Sen. Barack Obama claimed the Democratic nomination for president in a speech in Minnesota tonight -- an historic achievement that for the first time will place an African American at the top of a major political party's ticket.

After months of see-saw battling with his arch Democratic rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, ending tonight with Obama and Clinton splitting primaries in Montana and South Dakota, Obama will be immediately thrust into a pitched general election battle with Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the presumptive Republican nominee.

Obama also made a direct appeal to Clinton supporters, especially women, who may be unhappy about the tenor and the results of the Democratic primary. "At the end of the day we aren't the reason you came out and waited in lines that stretched block after block to make your voice heard," said Obama. "You didn't do that because of me or Senator Clinton or anyone else."

Barack Hussein Obama 1961-

Born: August 4, 1961 (Hawaii)
Lives in: Chicago, Illinois
Zodiac Sign: Leo
Height: 6' 1" (1.87m)
Family: Married wife Michelle in 1992, 2 daughters Malia and Sasha
Parents: Barack Obama, Sr. (from Kenya) and Ann Dunham (from Kansas)
Religion: United Church of Christ
Drives a: Ford Escape hybrid, Chrysler 300C
Education:
- Graduated: Columbia University (1983) - Major: Political Science
- Law Degree from Harvard (1991) - Major: J.D. - Magna Cum Laude
- Attended: Occidental College
Career: U.S. Senator from Illinois sworn in January 4, 2005
Government Committees:
- Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee
- Foreign Relations Committee
- Veterans Affairs Committee
- 2005 and 2006: served on the Environment and Public Works Committee
Books:
- Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance (1995)
- The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (2006)
- It Takes a Nation: How Strangers Became Family in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina (2006)

Will McCain win the presidential

elections?

JARA

This blog is thought to be a common place...a web page where you and I share.

2009-10-12T05:16:57+00:00

The following contribution is of a friend of mine whose name is Mellisa Trouyet Camil. She is part of the Dove Self-Esteem Fund.

Did you know that...

Only two percent of thousands of women from 10 countries around the
world consider themselves beautiful?

Looking at fashion magazines for just three minutes lowers the self-
esteem of over 80% of women?

6 out of 10 teenage girls think they’d be happier if they were thinner?
While only 19% of teenage girls are “overweight”, 67% think they need
to “loose weight”?

The body fat of models and actresses portrayed in the media is at
least 10% less than that of healthy women?

Most women agree that there is more pressure today to “look a certain
way” than there was in our parents' generation?

The incidence of eating disorders is increasing at an alarming rate?

When women are asked what they fear most in life, most will cite the
possibility of gaining weight?

Young people are exposed to an average of 1000 advertisements a day?

The majority of the ads we see have been somehow altered using
retouching technology to erase and minimize imperfections?

What is the effect of living in a global society that consistently
bombards us with narrow definitions of what it means to be beautiful? The effect
of these trends is that too many girls develop low self-esteem from
hang ups about looks and consequently fail to reach their full
potential in later life.

That is why we created the Dove Self-Esteem Fund as an agent of
change to educate and inspire girls on a wider definition of beauty.
Committed to reaching 5 million young women by the end of 2010, the
Dove Self-Esteem Fund invites you to play a role in supporting and
promoting a wider definition of beauty. Please visit:

www.porlabellezareal.com.mx

macheteros. mx

2009-03-04T18:03:49+00:00

This morning the Queen of Great Britain opened Heathrow

Terminal 5.

Some features:

Construction started on the £4.3 billion pound project in September 2002 and is running on time and on budget.

2006 Stirling Prize winner the Richard Rogers Partnership designed Terminal 5.
Terminal 5 is the biggest freestanding building in the UK – the building is 40 metres high, 396 metres long and 176 metres wide.
Terminal 5 will be five times the size of Terminal 4, our current main longhaul base.
The building will be comprised of five levels, each the size of 10 football pitches – designed around the different stages of the passenger journey.
30,000 square metres of reinforced glass and 5,500 glass panels have been used to glaze the terminal building and roof giving the whole terminal a light and airy feel.
The baggage system is the biggest, single-terminal baggage handling system in Europe, containing 18km of belts and capable of transporting 12,000 bags per hour around the terminal.
The Terminal 5 site is located between Heathrow’s two runways on land previously occupied by a sludge works. The project has successfully moved 9 million cubic metres of earth and two rivers have been diverted to create space for the new building.
More than 250,000 evergreen ground cover shrubs, 2,000 metres of native hedgerow trees, 1,500 semi mature trees and 2,500 semi mature shrubs are being used to landscape the area around Terminal 5 in the next two years.
Water from Terminal 5’s rainwater harvesting and groundwater boreholes is being used for non-potable uses, reducing the demand on the mains water by 70%. The harvesting scheme re-uses up to 85% of the rainfall that falls on Terminal 5’s campus.
Waste heat from the existing combined heat and power station at Heathrow is being piped to Terminal 5 through an underground pipeline and will provide Terminal 5 with 85% of its heat on demand.

Something which I have picked up in my life is that when one compares, it is to be better at school, work, languages, etc.

In other words, one uses comparisons in order to be efficient and competitive.

I bring this up since the British spent almost 6 years on building this T5. However, we Mexicans, have not been able to have a decent international airport for ages.

In 2000, few "macheteros"-in San Salvador Atenco- stopped the Mexican government from building a better airport.

Don`t you think we ought to ask the British how they came to this decision on Terminal 5 so fast and without "macheteros"?

Valor de la palabra escrita

2009-06-17T19:49:43+00:00

http://www.filmhouse.com.mx/

In 1998, I participated in a suplement called "acento x", which appeared in UNOMÁSUNO.The following article was my first contribution.However, I think it is still meaningful to share it with of all you now. Maybe, I should have posted it at the very beginning of this blog.

Las palabras se las lleva el viento, solemos decir para alucir a lo efímero de la palabra pronunciada. Como contrapartida aseguramos que papelito habla. Como siempre, estas aseveraciones, que tienen su origen en la sabiduría popular, no dejan de tener razón en su inexorable realismo. También sabemos, por experiencia, que casi toda la realidad que nos rodea es ambivalente, es decir, puede en un momento dado, hacernos sufrir su aspecto negativo, por más que le veamos con optimismo. Dicho de otro modo casi nada es absolutamente negativo ni absolutamente positivo. No estamos en el cielo donde todo es perfección.

Uno de estos casos lo tenemos en la palabra escrita, de la cual alguien podría decir que es palabra muerta, si no cae en la cuenta de que tiene en ella un testimonio vivo y permanente que habla cada vez que la lee para preguntarle. Podríamos decir que el texto escrito se convierte en un interlocutor permanente al que puedo acudir para obtener mayor información cada vez que la necesito.

Ésto es tan cierto que, al hacerse prácticamente autónomo, habla por si mismo y hasta llegar a decir más de lo que su autor quiso decir. Vale la pena reflexionar en esto que escribimos o leemos. Es alentador saber que lo que aparezca aquí en este medio de comunicación no se lo llevará el viento.