Mom in the Cold War

Me: I have to ask you about anything you remember about being in the Cold War for history.

Mom: I was scared.

Me: Anything more?

Mom: Yea, I had the constant fear of being bombed. By the Russians. But now they're weak sauce.

WWII Pop Culture

Besides Maus, which we read in class this year, the only other book I read dealing with WWII was  also this year in english. A Separate Peace is a story about a boy attending prep school back east at the time when the war breaks out and the U.S. starts drafting young men. It shows intentions of going to war and the effects of going at such a young age. I have also seen two movies that relate to this topic. I saw Diary of Anne Frank, about a young Jewish girl who goes into hiding with her family, trying to escape the Nazi concentration camps, a few years ago. One of my favorite movies of all time is The Sound of Music, about a nun who goes to take care of the seven Von Trapp kids, whose father is wanted by Hitler himself to come work with the Nazis, forcing the whole clan to flee out of the country at the end. 

Pop Culture

The only books that I have read that deal with post-colonization are those that we have read in school. We read The Kite Runner our freshman year and Things Fall Apart. Although one was in Africa and the other all the way in Afghanistan, these books express similar ideals relating to decolonization. 

D'souza vs. Hitchens or D'souza vs Eddie Izzard

I decided to watch another youtube video of Eddie Izzard.  This particular video was about Religion, which made me think of D'souza who is one who argues on behalf of religion.  This video successfully put down the argument of Dinesh, and Eddie Izzard actually found a way to make Dinesh (I very smart and influencing man), seem like religion is the stupidest thing ever created because it is based off absolutely nothing substantial.  How does Eddie Izzard do it, see for yourself.  He managed to take religion, something which has been around longer than almost any other idea in the world, and made it seem childish.  They way he does it is by focusing on only the strangest parts of religion.  He also takes this huge complex thing we call religion, and simplifies it so much that it can be made fun of.  Eddie Izzard seems to have a couple points and I think that having an argument between D'souza and Eddie would be much more interesting than D'souza and Hitchens.

African and Middle Eastern Writer

I have read one book by an African writer, called Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.

I have read one book by a Middle Eastern writer called The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.

Health in Kenya

As I glanced over the numbers for Kenya, it didn't appear to be that poor of a country. They have about 23% of people below the poverty level which is a lot of people, but it is good compared to other countries in Africa. They also had a 73.6 % adult literacy rate, which isn't great but it also isn't terrible, which means that the schools must be pretty good. One scary statistic that I found though is that the average life expectancy is 50 years for men and 51 for women. That is a terrible number because it is a very young age to be dying. Also, the healthy life expectancy is only 44 and 45 years which is even worse because that is also an incredibly low number. A final statistic that I found disturbing is that the the under 5 and maternal mortality rates have increased in recent years. Since 1990, the maternal mortality rate has even doubled. 

Op-ed .... Finally

This week in history we both watched a film and read an article in the New York Times: Upfront, about the price that girls have to pay for attending school in the middle east, in this particular article: Afghanistan.  This article titled “The Price of Going to Class” and written by Dexter Filkins, was a real insight into the lives of girls in Afghanistan.  Honing in on one story in particular, about a young girl named Shamsia Husseini.  This girl while walking to school with her sister, was asked by a man on a motorcycle if the were going to school.  Not seeing any particular reason to lie she said yes, and the man splashed acid across her face.  I believe that this is just giving these girls more of a reason to go to school, acid wont kill them, and since they have already scars from acid, more wouldn’t be the end of the world.  I don’t think acid is going to stop these girls from going to school. 

            This article also gave its piece on the Taliban and how they were the first ones to openly forbid girls to go to school.  Before the Taliban girls going to school was just socially no yet accepted.  However, with the rise of the Taliban, came a more cemented feeling that women shouldn’t be attending school.  In a sense this whole ordeal in Afghanistan is very similar to Hitler, and Mussolini.  They built themselves up by convincing people to join, and after a while they had enough power to force their idea’s on people.  They would do so through violence and making people scared, which is very similar to the Taliban.  Plus the Nazi’s also forced their opinions about women (how they should stay at home and just be house wives) on the rest of the population, yet again similar to the Taliban.  I guess all bad things have one common thread.

Appeasement Extra Credit

Although WWII, occurred years ago, the issues, and events that took place during that time are still relevant in our daily lives. One of the issues that I have noticed in movies, as well as Obama's Presidential campaign, was appeasement. In this video that I found, Obama speaks about how when Bush was suppose to be honoring, and celebrating Israeli independence, he instead bashed Obama, as well as all Democrats. Bush explained that he felt Obama and the Democrats were just appeasers like Hitler, who wanted to negotiate with terrorists. For the first few minutes of the video Obama continues to talk about appeasement. We learn about events, and issues in class, through what has happened in history. However, it is always interesting, when you notice something that is currently happening in the world that goes back to what was taught in class. 

Little Country, Big Country (countries)

When I first looked at the two maps, I tried looking really hard for a reason why there would be any conflict. Then I realized, a noticeable portion of the major oil-producing is produced in Kuwait. To the north east of Kuwait is the large country of Iran, to the south of Kuwait is the equally larger country of Saudi Arabia, and to the north west of Kuwait is the somewhat large Iraq. Being such a small country that produces a major amount of the oil that lies between three behemoths can start human conflicts like a forest fire. I don't have any other choice but to think that the miniature country of Kuwait has some thing that Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabi either don't have, need, or want (or an existing alliance). Other than those reasons, I don't see why one or all three of the countries can't just invade Kuwait, using their over-powering armies, and recieve the profit that Kuwait is gaining from their oil producion.

Comparison of two different Maps

In looking at both the map provided in the textbook, and the map that was put on the blog. The first difference that caught my eye was that the map in the textbook was all one color, as opposed to the map from the blog, which was different colors depending on the terrain. You can easily distinguish the desert from rural areas from the map on the blog. In addition, Egypt is two different sizes, in the textbook Egypt is miniscule and the Nile overpowers the country. This could indicate how plain and simple Egypt is, because the only significance is the river. However, if on the map provided from the blog, I noticed that Egypt is not all desert in fact the map indicates that small portion of Egypt is desert. Another difference between the two maps, which is a more obvious difference, the map from the blog stops at Afghanistan, where as the textbook map continues until The People's Republic of China. Lastly the blog map is more proportionate, and the textbook map is distorted. 

Out with the old, in with the new

In both of these examples for the textbook, chinese revolutionaries try to bring a new oder to China through violence. I believe that these 2 excerpts are very similar. In both, the peasants want to gain power and they do that by taking the wealthy out of power. In both these cases, the red guards and the peasants are doing what was previously unthinkable. In the first reading, a peasant hits an official and everyone freezes, because they don't know what to do. The reason that they freeze is that there is never a situation where someone of less power hits someone with more power. This is the same in the second reading, because she believes that since she is of higher power, she can control the angry red guards by showing them the constitution. This is clearly not the case, as they disregard her. In both of these situations, the peasants see a chance to get what they have never had, which is power, and therefore take it by following the revolutions.

Yes: they are the same

I believe that the measures taken have the same end goal. It is very easy to think otherwise as the measures taken were of two totally different ways of going for the goal. It's like, if two people had the same destination and while one person walked, another one took a plane. One of the ways the person got there might be totally different and may lead you to think that their "end goals" are different, but they are both going to end up in the same direction, even if walking is a lot slower and less reliable. What I do believe is that the less violent approach is a lot more affective in trying to reach the goal. When you take the violent approach, you are looked at as some radical group creating havoc, rather than a civilized party trying to make a point.

China

These stories are essentially the same thing.  The people wish to destroy the old, gentry way and establish a new way of doing things.  They take a more orderly route at first, but quickly ditch their initial plans after a few days of discussion and angst.  The second story begins violently and end violently.  The students wish to destroy the old government and culture.  They go so far as to ignore the Constitution of the People's Republic, claiming that it was abolished and that they only recognize the teachings of Mao Zedong.  The differences in the two stories are small and show the horrors on land reform in China.  The reformers often ignored any systematic, legal, and fair source to achieve justice, choosing to simply kill or torture whoever they please.  

The Cold War

Upon chatting with a couple of my parents, I was surprised to hear about the difference in impact that some events of the war had on them. Upon talking to my mom, I asked her about the Cold War and she had me remind her what the actual conflict was. When I described the conflict a little more, she kind of shrugged and said that she didn't remember anything and that if anything important had happened with it during her childhood, it surely wasn't significant enough to her for her to remember it. This alone I found pretty interesting, because the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred while she was in her teens, she still was not aware of any of the events surrounding the conflict. Based on some of the interesting stories of some other kids in the class, I thought that this recollection that my mom had of it was somewhat interesting as well, because it represents the fact that a lot of people sometimes in America don't always know about some important things that happen in a lot of events, and this goes for a lot of people and a lot of events in history.  My dad, on the other hand, talked extensively about the Cuban Missile Crisis, and how this really sparked some interest in him about Cuba and their dynamic of government at the time. Overall, I found it quite interesting that there could be such a wide range of interest and knowledge about a topic in a time that both my parents grew up in.

Vincent Murphy

The only person that I know who was involved in World War II was my grandfather, Vincent Murphy. Although he has passed away so I wasn't able to talk to him personally, I have heard many stories about him and from him in the past about his experiences in WWII. He was stationed in Pennsylvania as a marine where he trained for about a year. He says that he remembers how everyone hated Hitler and how he wanted to fight just so that he could stop the Germans. He says that he fought the Germans and even earned a purple heart from getting wounded in battle. 

Post Colonization Pop Culture

Since I am not much of a reader in my free time, I haven't read any books about colonialization besides ones read in school. The ones that we have read in school are "Kite Runner" because it talks about how the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan and "Things Fall Apart", because it shows how the europeans came into Africa and tried to colonize it. Although I haven't read many books about colonialization, I have watched a few movies. I have seen "The Kingdom" which is about a secret service group going into the Middle East (I can't remember which country) and try to stop terrorism, but have to deal with the government power and foreign rule. I also saw "Blood Diamond" which is about diamond hunting in Africa and the live that people live there. It also shows the impact that the europeans have had on the countries. 

Black Gold: Oil

Many people in the blog has previously talked about oil in relation to the elevation of the land and such related topics, but i want to go in another direction; I want to talk about the post world war 2 history in the Middle East, and how that relates to our current oil struggles.  George Kennan, of the U.S. State Department Policy Planning in 1948 said, "We should recognize that our influence in the Far Eastern area in the coming period is going to be primarily military and economic. We should make a careful study to see what parts of the Pacific and Far Eastern world are absolutely vital to our security, and we should concentrate our policy on seeing to it that those areas remain in hands which we can control or rely on."  The Cold War happened next, providing the US with perfect opprotunities to do what they needed to in order to gain oil concessions, under the cover of protecting the US and other countries from Communism's stranglehold.  In Afghanistan, as documented in Charlie Wilson's War, we sent arms and money to those people who we know fight against (Osama Bin Laden), to help them gain independence from Soviet Russia.  When the US first invaded Iraq in the Gulf War, we were there arguably to protect our oil share in Kuwait.  Iraq was even accused of dumping oil into the Persian Gulf to keep our troops at bay.  We won the Gulf War, removing an Iraqi presence in Kuwait, and later went on to remove Saddam Hussein as ruler of Iraq.  All of this was done to protect our oil in the Middle East.

The world's oil is under the hand of public companies and state-owned organizations.  The public companies are known as supermajors, or the six largest non state-owned energy companies.  They own roughly 5% of the oil reserves and made approximately 45.6 billion dollars worth of profit last year. Not coincidentally, these companies are all either primarily US or English owned.  As for the state-owned companies, the three biggest ones, Saudi Aramco, National Iranian Oil Company, and Qatar Petroleum all trace their routes to US and British companies.  While it is interesting how oil, elevation, and population are all connected, I find it more interesting that the world's largest oil producers all are connected to the US and Britain, two of the greatest allies 

South Africa

South Africa proved to be the country that benefitted most from colonization. Once the white government accepted that Africans were going to be involved in the politics and economy of the country, democratic elections took place. The new presidents had to face rising unemployment, widespread lawlessness, chronic corruption, and an ominous flight of capital and professional personnel from the country. The poor people argue that the benefits of the political system didn't seep down to the poor, like the failure to carry out the proposed land reform policy. Nonethless, South Africa still remains the wealthiest and most industrialized African State. According to the WHO website, South Africa's gross national income per capita is 10960, while the WHO African region has a gross national income per capita of 2074. Also, the percent of the population living under the poverty is much less in South Africa than in the rest of the African region. In South Africa, only 10.7% fall into this category, but the rest of the WHO African region has 44% of the population living on less than one dollar a day. Literacy rates are also much higher in South Africa versus the rest of the African state, a result of colonization.

debate w/ dinesh

Here's an interesting debate between Dinesh and Daniel Dennett:

part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iw7J15TeDG4

part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7MGyayvAa8&feature=related

part 3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgK6M3WRFcc&feature=related

Part 4:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzUUnjcTkQg&feature=related

Part 5:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnGGOKDGLYw&feature=related

Part 6:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcunc_hQ8U8&feature=related

Part 7:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SryFVhNfvow&feature=related

Part 8:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8puuM-C9XIY&feature=related

Part 9:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0Ts_kPn5Tg&feature=related

Part 10:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMEu_pGCCU0&feature=related

Part 11:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqpumHZGx7c&feature=related

etc......

Daniel Dennett is a hardcore atheist and an Advocate of the Brights movement (naturalistic views).

He's a professor of philosophy at Tufts university: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Dennett

books/ videos

I haven't seen that many movies other than the battle of algiers (doing research for a french project this year)

The only books have been from school:

The kite runner

and

Things fall apart

Movies:

Blood Diamond

NBC showed the 50th ann. video to remind us of our history. The bomb and the developing of the bomb have effected us today. In the news today, we see so much about countries developing nuclear bombs (especially with north korea). I think that the history can put the picture together of how we got to where we are today (in terms of global issues). Also, we shouldn't forget how powerful these bombs are. Staying informed and education is important. People need to understand the severity of these bombs and the conflict that are going on in our world today.

Jackie Robinson Rotunda research:

Journalistic:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/sports/baseball/16vecsey.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/2008/04/15/2008-04-15_mets_unveil_designs_for_jackie_robinson_.html

argumentative:

http://lisa-olson.fanhouse.com/2009/04/15/jackies-legacy-still-shines-brightly/

It is hard to argue against a Jackie Robinson rotunda. Only a white supremacist would argue against anything commemorating Jackie Robinson. Jackie was a great man, a great baseball player, and most importantly a great person. He had a daunting task of representing every black baseball player. He had to be so mentally tuff and keep his head high. Anyone who has played baseball at a somewhat decent level understands how much failure you have to deal with in baseball. 3 out of 10 is good. Now put the pressure into the equation, the pressure from yourself, your fans, and all of the racists trash talking you. He had to endure something that no one should ever have to go through. 

The only arguments against the memorial is that it is in a weird place. Why is it at citifield? shouldn't it be somewhere like dodger stadium? That is the focus of my research pm part 1.

research questions

Jackie Robinson research quesions:

Would Jackie like the Rotunda? Does he really want all that fame?

Why is the rotunda located at Citi field (the home of the mets) when jackie had no affiliation with mets?

Jackie's legacy is very interesting. He was a great person and it is a mystery to found out what he would have wanted today.

Final Project

Some more sources for my final project:

Jackie Robinson Auto- biography

http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/nym/ballpark/citifield_overview.jsp

http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/mets/ny-spjack1512652824apr14,0,3517124.story

http://www.jackierobinson.org/

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/2008/04/15/2008-04-15_mets_unveil_designs_for_jackie_robinson_.html

Audio from mets home opener

http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=4552991

Part 2:

http://www.militarycity.com/valor/2534909.html

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/18/INGO0OEIE21.DTL

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local&id=5020558

http://iraq.pigstye.net/article.php/SiguaWilliamM/print

And future conversation with his mother

Cold war story

I talked to my mom about the Cold war and a moment where she was aware of the war. She said that she doesn't remember much about the war, but she remembers watching the news and seeing some events unfold. She remembers when she heard about the Cuban Missile Crisis. She remembers being afraid of a war with nuclear bombs. She said that a lot of people didn't know what to think of the Cuban Missile Crisis. She was scared, but some people were a bit skeptical of the crisis. She also remembers fearing at school and home a nuclear bomb coming to the US not just from Cuba but from somewhere else. 

Parents and Grandparents view on the Cold War

I interviewed both my grandparents and parents about the Cold War, and got some very surprising answers.  My grandparents were living in Connecticut at the time, and said that they didn't really notice any difference during the time.  They did say, however, that Nikita Khrushchev was a very scary guy, as evidenced when he slammed his shoes on his desk at a 1960 UN conference.  There was no consequence from this though.  My grandparents went on to say that business was as good as always, and there was significant growth during the time.  They said that Mikhail Gorbachev, the Russian leader later in 20th century, seemed to be a good guy.  My dad's response was slightly different than my grandparents.  He was in the 1st grade during the Cuban Missile Crisis and said the Cold War was a very frightening time. He lived in Spokane, Washington, where there was a weekly siren to warn for a nuclear attack.  Russia was widely regarded as America's greatest enemy, and also a world superpower.  In one particular memory, he said remembering looking up at the sky after the Sputnik launch, trying to find the satellite.  I find it very interesting that a change in age, a child and two adults, could cause such large differences in opinion.  I believe my grandparents weren't as concerned because they were older and more mature at the time.  

Pop Culture: WWII

World War 2: List of Movies

Schindler's List
Saving Private Ryan
Band of Brothers
The Pianist

These are just some of my favorites, the list can go on and on.

three sources for project

http://www.newseum.org/berlinwall/

http://userpage.chemie.fu-berlin.de/BIW/wall.html

http://www.berlin-life.com/berlin/wall

I have seen many WWII movies, such as 'Saving Private Ryan". Here is a link for the review http://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/savingprivateryan

Ma Boy Dinesh

Dinesh D'Souza has a negative view on Islam. I read that in a debate, he stated that the Koran has a lot a violent text. And that it is the cause for a lot of "hideous deeds". I think Dinesh D'Souza has a good point. Most of the terrorist acts that are performed today are fueled by their religion. Islam. I also noticed that D'Souza's arguments are very well thought out and worded whenever he tries to state his opinion. Although I never looked as Islam as a threat, Dinesh D'Souza convinced me with only a few, "sense making" points. In this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BqTrhrF86o) he even brings up the question, "Is liberty actually good for us?". He can take what people think as a largly popular view, and make you question it. Dinesh De'Souza's arguments about his opinions are substantial and can really change one's mind.

WHO stats

I read about South Africa in the textbook and therefore I looked up South America on WHO.  One stat that pops out to me is the deaths from aids/ HIV.  I think of South Africa as one of the more elite countries in Africa.  However when looking at the stat of death by AIDS, 52% of deaths are caused by AIDS, it makes South Africa seem like they aren't such an elite state when it boils down to it.  They themselves have having trouble containing AIDS despite any educational advantages that they have over other african countries.  AIDS causes the most deaths among people, and causes the second most deaths among children.  However, there is also a lot of data that supports my idea of South Africa being one of the more elite african countries.  For instance, 98% of the country has access to an improved water source.  There are a couple of conclusion that can be drawn by looking at these stats.  South Africa is an elite country, they just put more money into infrastructure instead of medicine, and the general well being of their people.  From my point of view africa is doing the right thing.  Almost all other african countries need to improve their infrastructure before they can even begin to think about improving the health program. 

Pop Culture: Decolonizatino

After learning about decolonization in class, as well as through The Battle of Algiers, when I think about it their have been a few movies, as well as a book that I recently read that deal with recent decolonization.

Things Fall Apart- Chinua Achebe

The Battle of Algiers 

The Kite Runner

Oral History Account: WWII

Although I wasn't able to directly talk to my Grandfather, I can remember stories that he told me in the past. He was on a ship, and he worked on repairing them. He was stationed in Japan, where he stayed for the entire war. He didn't face any combat, but he did suffer a horrifying leg injury. He broke it playing Soccer at the Ally Camp. He survived, luckily. That is where he met my Grandmother, who was a nurse in the war. 

Although he didn't see very much combat, he did suffer an injury. 

Christ the Redeemer research questions

What is the significance of the statue to the people of brazil? and how has it changed over time?

This is important because the statue is a symbol of brazil and often associated with them, but what do they feel about it. Also, what did it mean to them when it was first built.

My second question is why the statue has Jesus in the position that he is?

The position that he is in is interesting because it has him with him arms outstretched towards the city of Rio de Jainero. How did they pick that stance over other ones. 

My final question, which can also go along with my second one is Why is the statue at the top of the mountain in Rio de Jainero?

Is there significance to the statue being so high up or is it just for beauty?

Analysis of 50th Anniversary Newsclip of Atomic Bombs

The video about the 50th anniversary of the dropping of the Atomic Bomb in Japan is to commemorate the killings and so the people of the United States do not forget the horror that was inflicted on the Japanese. Also, I think that this video help advocate the anti-war or some of the outcomes that happen when war breaks out. To me, this video was very interesting because we learned alot about nuclear warfare and there is alot of unknown information about the Atomic bomb and the motives to drop it on Japan. Also, in this video there was great footage and its very interesting about the creating of the bomb. I have always wondered what it must had felt like to create a death weapon that could kill thousands of people and what that must have felt like to give a government a death weapon. Lastly, I agree that the United States did what the had to but it is had no to question the motives of anyone that killed thousands with one bomb.

The Tomb of The Unknowns: Research Questions

1. What will happen if all the unknown soldiers are identified and there are no longer any unknown soldiers?

2. Who had the power to pick each soldier at the tomb?

3. How was the WWI soldier picked to be placed under the sarcophagus? 

Above are my research questions for part 1.