A Blog where show any ideas, stories, experiences, thoughts, humor, curiosities and comments of those news or facts that call me the attention at present.
WHEN the police arrived last November at the ransacked mansion of the millionaire investor Raveesh Kumra, outside of San Jose, Calif., they found Mr. Kumra had been blindfolded, tied and gagged. The robbers took cash, rare coins and ultimately Mr. Kumra’s life; he died at the scene, suffocated by the packaging tape used to stifle his screams. A forensics team found DNA on his fingernails that belonged to an unknown person, presumably one of the assailants. The sample was put into a DNA database and turned up a “hit” — a local man by the name of Lukis Anderson.
Bingo. Mr. Anderson was arrested and charged with murder.
There was one small problem: the 26-year-old Mr. Anderson couldn’t have been the culprit. During the night in question, he was at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, suffering from severe intoxication.
Yet he spent more than five months in jail with a possible death sentence hanging over his head. Once presented with Mr. Anderson’s hospital records, prosecutors struggled to figure out how an innocent man’s DNA could have ended up on a murder victim.
Late last month, prosecutors announced what they believe to be the answer: the paramedics who transported Mr. Anderson to the hospital were the very same individuals who responded to the crime scene at the mansion a few hours later. Prosecutors now conclude that at some point, Mr. Anderson’s DNA must have been accidentally transferred to Mr. Kumra’s body — likely by way of the paramedics’ clothing or equipment.
This theory of transference is still under investigation. Nevertheless, the certainty with which prosecutors charged Mr. Anderson with murder highlights the very real injustices that can occur when we place too much faith in DNA forensic technologies.
In the end, Mr. Anderson was lucky. His alibi was rock solid; prosecutors were forced to concede that there must have been some other explanation. It’s hard to believe that, out of the growing number of convictions based largely or exclusively on DNA evidence, there haven’t been any similar mistakes.
In one famous case of crime scene contamination, German police searched for around 15 years for a serial killer they called the “Phantom of Heilbronn” — an unknown female linked by traces of DNA to six murders across Germany and Austria. In 2009, the police found their “suspect”: a worker at a factory that produced the cotton swabs police used in their investigations had been accidentally contaminating them with her own DNA.
Contamination is not the only way DNA forensics can lead to injustice. Consider the frequent claim that it is highly unlikely, if not impossible, for two DNA profiles to match by coincidence. A 2005 audit of Arizona’s DNA database showed that, out of some 65,000 profiles, nearly 150 pairs matched at a level typically considered high enough to identify and prosecute suspects. Yet these profiles were clearly from different people.
There are also problems with the way DNA evidence is interpreted and presented to juries. In 2008, John Puckett — a California man in his 70s with a sexual assault record — was accused of a 1972 killing, after a trawl of the state database partially linked his DNA to crime scene evidence. As in the Anderson case, Mr. Puckett was identified and implicated primarily by this evidence. Jurors — told that there was only a one-in-1.1 million chance that this DNA match was pure coincidence — convicted him. He is now serving a life sentence.
But that one-in-1.1 million figure is misleading, according to two different expert committees, one convened by the F.B.I., the other by the National Research Council. It reflects the chance of a coincidental match in relation to the size of the general population (assuming that the suspect is the only one examined and is not related to the real culprit). Instead of the general population, we should be looking at only the number of profiles in the DNA database. Taking the size of the database into account in Mr. Puckett’s case (and, again, assuming the real culprit’s profile is not in the database) would have led to a dramatic change in the estimate, to one in three.
One juror was asked whether this figure would have affected the jury’s deliberations. “Of course it would have changed things,” he told reporters. “It would have changed a lot of things.”
DNA forensics is an invaluable tool for law enforcement. But it is most useful when it corroborates other evidence pointing to a suspect, or when used to determine whether any two individual samples match, like in the exonerations pursued by the Innocence Project.
But when the government gets into the business of warehousing millions of DNA profiles to seek “cold hits” as the primary basis for prosecutions, much more oversight by and accountability to the public is warranted. For far too long, we have allowed the myth of DNA infallibility to chip away at our skepticism of government’s prosecutorial power, undoubtedly leading to untold injustices.
In the Anderson case, thankfully, prosecutors acknowledged the obvious: their suspect could not have been in two places at once. But he was dangerously close to being on his way to death row because of that speck of DNA. That one piece of evidence — obtained from a technology with known limitations, and susceptible to human error and prosecutorial misuse — might mistakenly lead to execution at the hands of the state should send chills down every one of our spines. The next Lukis Anderson could be you. Better hope your alibi is as well documented as his.
By OAGIE K. OBASOGIE, New York Times, July 24, 2013
Osagie K. Obasogie, a professor of law at the University of California, Hastings, and a senior fellow at the Center for Genetics and Society, is the author of the forthcoming book “Blinded by Sight: Seeing Race Through the Eyes of the Blind.”
Starting Friday, fines for texting, emailing and using handheld phones while driving will get more expensive in New York State. Fines for using mobile devices will increase to up to $150 for a first offense, plus a mandatory $80 surcharge for moving violations, and go up to $400 (plus the $80) for a third. A violation also costs a whopping 5 driver’s license points. In addition, teen and probationary drivers — arguably those most prone to violating existing laws — will face 60-day license suspensions.
That’s one expensive text message, and it puts your license in jeopardy.
But if that’s what it takes to deter device-dependent drivers from this obviously dangerous behavior, then so be it. Laws against handheld mobile phone use and texting have been on the books for years in New York, but we all know how widely those laws are flouted. In fact, despite drivers’ nearly universal disapproval of texting and emailing while driving, more than one in four of us admitted sending a text message or email while driving in the previous month, according to a survey conducted by AAA’s Foundation for Traffic Safety last year.
Texting behind the wheel is extraordinarily dangerous, research has shown. That’s because it engages the driver visually, manually and cognitively, creating a trifecta of deadly distractions. Studies show that on average, a texting driver takes his or her eyes off the road for about five seconds to read or send a text message, more than doubling a driver’s risk of a crash. At highway speeds, that’s long enough to cover the length of a football field. Yet drivers continue to do it. While increased penalties may be a painful lesson for some, a bigger stick is clearly needed to change widespread behaviors.
Over the past two decades, New York’s combination of stronger laws and enforcement led the nation in successful efforts to persuade drivers to wear seat belts and not drive while drunk. As a result, we helped establish a national model for other states, saving thousands of lives. Today, widespread texting and phone use while driving threaten the hard-earned reductions in motor vehicle crashes — a leading cause of preventable death and injury in the United States.
In fact, from 2005 to 2011, there has been about a 143 percent increase in mobile phone-related crashes in the state. In that same period, there’s been an approximately 18 percent decrease in alcohol-related crashes. We can’t let the progress we made saving lives erode.
Teenage drivers — the “digital generation” — are especially prone to distracted driving. Surveys indicate that on average, they talk on their mobile phones an hour each day and send 80 texts per day. Many have handheld devices with Internet capabilities. Ninety-four percent of them report keeping their mobile phones on while driving. Those are troubling statistics, given that car crashes remain the No. 1 cause of death and injury for that generation. Hopefully the state’s new laws will send a powerful message to our young and inexperienced drivers that texting and driving will not be tolerated in New York State.
Now that the new penalties are going into effect, state and local police departments have pledged to vigorously enforce these laws this summer, with checkpoints and undercover vehicles to catch distracted drivers. Some violators may be taken by surprise by the steep fines and points, but I say bring them on. One look around will tell you that many drivers won’t drop their devices without them. By JOHN A. CORLETT, NewsDay, July 24, 2013
John A. Corlett is legislative committee chair of AAA New York State, based in Garden City.
WHEN I retired in 2011 after serving 30 years in Congress, there was one set of issues I knew I could not leave behind. I donated $1 million of unused campaign funds to create the Center for Native American Youth at the Aspen Institute, because our country has left a trail of broken promises to American Indians.
As chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, I once toured a school near an Indian reservation where I encountered a teacher who told me that when she asked a young Indian student what she wanted for Christmas, she said she wanted the electricity turned on in her house so she could study at night.
That type of story is all too familiar. I believe that American Indian children are the country’s most at-risk population. Too many live in third-world conditions. A few weeks ago, I traveled to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. It’s hard just to get there. A two-hour drive from Rapid City brings you to Shannon County, the second poorest county in the United States.
The proud nation of Sioux Indians who live there — like many of the 566 federally recognized tribes — have a treaty with the United States, the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, which promised that their health care, education and housing needs would be provided for by the federal government.
Tribal leaders, parents and some inspiring children I’ve met make valiant efforts every day to overcome unemployment, endemic poverty, historical trauma and a lack of housing, educational opportunity and health care.
But these leaders and communities are once again being mistreated by a failed American policy, this time going under the ugly name “sequestration.” This ignorant budget maneuvering requires across-the-board spending cuts to the most important programs along with the least important. American Indian kids living in poverty are paying a very high price for this misguided abandonment of Congressional decision-making.
When we pushed American Indians off their tribal lands, we signed treaties making promises to provide services in exchange for that land. On my visit to Pine Ridge, I saw how we continue to cheat them. Sequestration, which should never have applied to sovereign Indian reservations in the first place, only compounds the problem.
It’s easy for many to believe those who say that automatic budget cuts aren’t hurting anybody much. But that’s wrong. And I can introduce you to the kids who will tell you why.
At a round-table discussion I had with students of Pine Ridge High School, I met a young man who qualified for the state wrestling tournament this year. The school and tribe had no money to send him. So the wrestling coach spent $500 out of his own pocket to pay for travel and food. The student slept on the floor of the gymnasium because there was no money for a motel room.
When I asked a group of eight high school students who among them had had someone close to them take their own life, they all raised their hands. More than 100 suicide threats or attempts, most by young people, have been reported at Pine Ridge so far this year.
The rate of suicide among American Indian youth is nearly four times the national average, and is as high as 10 times the average in many tribal communities across the Great Plains. At the same time, mental health services are being cut as a result of sequestration, with Pine Ridge losing at least one provider this year.
The youth center on the reservation is closed because of lack of funding. Money for the summer youth program, which pays high school students to work during their break, has also been eliminated.
I met a 12-year-old homeless girl at the emergency youth shelter. Her mother is dead. She doesn’t know the identity of her father. She’s been in multiple foster homes and been repeatedly sexually abused. She found safety in the shelter, but its funding is being cut because of sequestration — an indiscriminate budget ax, I might add, that was thought of as so unconscionable when I was in the Senate that it would never have been seriously considered.
The very programs that we set up to provide those basic life necessities on reservations are the same ones feeling the indiscriminate, blunt cuts of sequestration. How can we justify such a thoughtless policy?
While I was at Pine Ridge I also met with the Tribal Council, whose members described a severe housing crisis. In one district more than 200 homes are without electricity. Throughout the reservation, I saw many dilapidated homes missing windows and doors.
Pine Ridge students told me that many of their friends and families were homeless. “Our friends sleep in tents,” one student said.
Even in normal times, the Indian Health Service operates with about half the money it needs. Tribal Council members told me that some of their health funds last only until May. If you get sick after May, too bad. Now these health care programs, already rationing care, are subject to the sequester. The Indian Health Service estimates that as a result it will have 804,000 fewer patient visits this year.
Congress should hold a series of investigative hearings on our unfulfilled treaties with American Indians. Add up the broken promises, make an accounting of the underfunding, all of it, and then work with tribes to develop a plan to make it right. In the meantime, we must exempt Indian country from sequestration — right now.
By BYRON L. DORGAN, New York Times, July 10, 2013
Byron L. Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota, served in the House from 1981 to 1992 and in the Senate from 1992 to 2011. He is a senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center.
AT an office party in 2005, one of my colleagues asked my then husband what I did on weekends. She knew me as someone with great intensity and energy. “Does she kayak, go rock climbing and then run a half marathon?” she joked. No, he answered simply, “she sleeps.” And that was true. When I wasn’t catching up on work, I spent my weekends recharging my batteries for the coming week. Work always came first, before my family, friends and marriage — which ended just a few years later.
In recent weeks I have been following with interest the escalating debate about work-life balance and the varying positions of Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, Marissa Mayer of Yahoo and the academic Anne-Marie Slaughter, among others. Since I resigned my position as chief financial officer of Lehman Brothers in 2008, amid mounting chaos and a cloud of public humiliation only months before the company went bankrupt, I have had ample time to reflect on the decisions I made in balancing (or failing to balance) my job with the rest of my life. The fact that I call it “the rest of my life” gives you an indication where work stood in the pecking order.
I don’t have children, so it might seem that my story lacks relevance to the work-life balance debate. Like everyone, though, I did have relationships — a spouse, friends and family — and none of them got the best version of me. They got what was left over.
I didn’t start out with the goal of devoting all of myself to my job. It crept in over time. Each year that went by, slight modifications became the new normal. First I spent a half-hour on Sunday organizing my e-mail, to-do list and calendar to make Monday morning easier. Then I was working a few hours on Sunday, then all day. My boundaries slipped away until work was all that was left.
Inevitably, when I left my job, it devastated me. I couldn’t just rally and move on. I did not know how to value who I was versus what I did. What I did was who I was.
I have spent several years now living a different version of my life, where I try to apply my energy to my new husband, Anthony, and the people whom I love and care about. But I can’t make up for lost time. Most important, although I now have stepchildren, I missed having a child of my own. I am 47 years old, and Anthony and I have been trying in vitro fertilization for several years. We are still hoping.
Sometimes young women tell me they admire what I’ve done. As they see it, I worked hard for 20 years and can now spend the next 20 focused on other things. But that is not balance. I do not wish that for anyone. Even at the best times in my career, I was never deluded into thinking I had achieved any sort of rational allocation between my life at work and my life outside.
I have often wondered whether I would have been asked to be C.F.O. if I had not worked the way that I did. Until recently, I thought my singular focus on my career was the most powerful ingredient in my success. But I am beginning to realize that I sold myself short. I was talented, intelligent and energetic. It didn’t have to be so extreme. Besides, there were diminishing returns to that kind of labor.
I didn’t have to be on my BlackBerry from my first moment in the morning to my last moment at night. I didn’t have to eat the majority of my meals at my desk. I didn’t have to fly overnight to a meeting in Europe on my birthday. I now believe that I could have made it to a similar place with at least some better version of a personal life. Not without sacrifice — I don’t think I could have “had it all” — but with somewhat more harmony.
I have also wondered where I would be today if Lehman Brothers hadn’t collapsed. In 2007, I did start to have my doubts about the way I was living my life. Or not really living it. But I felt locked in to my career. I had just been asked to be C.F.O. I had a responsibility. Without the crisis, I may never have been strong enough to step away. Perhaps I needed what felt at the time like some of the worst experiences in my life to come to a place where I could be grateful for the life I had. I had to learn to begin to appreciate what was left.
At the end of the day, that is the best guidance I can give. Whatever valuable advice I have about managing a career, I am only now learning how to manage a life.
Autor: Erin Callan, New York Times, March 9, 2013
Erin Callan is the former chief financial officer of Lehman Brothers.
Animal rights groups said they will oppose at North Hempstead‘s town board (Long Island-New York), meeting Tuesday night a controversial plan to remove Canada geese from parks by euthanizing them.
A torrent of criticism followed Newsday’s report Sunday on a permanent way to cope with 600 geese that officials said eat grass in town parks and foul waterways and fields with droppings. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is surveying the situation, said its preferred method of euthanasia is carbon dioxide; in response, the town said Monday, it has received 20 calls and emails.
One animal advocacy group has mounted an online petition; another called the proposal “monstrous.”
Edita Birnkrant, New York director of Friends of Animals, an international group, said the town should consider alternative measures, such as modifying the geese’s landscape. Because geese prefer areas where they can watch for predators, the town could let grass grow taller and plant shrubs and trees to block their sight lines.
The town said it has tried, with little success, to scare off the geese, with noisemakers and specially trained dogs. Town spokesman Collin Nash said Monday in an email that “the Town is continuing to explore all options in regards to the public health and safety issue caused by the overpopulation of Canada geese.”
The euthanasia solution, advocates contend, is shortsighted. “They’re going to defy the laws of nature and say there’s no geese allowed in North Hempstead airspace or they will be gassed to death,” said Birnkrant, who plans to address the board Tuesday night.
David Karopkin, director and founder of GooseWatch NYC, a group that has challenged geese removals citywide, called the town’s plan “egregiously cruel.” The group has an online petition — he said it has several hundred signatures — and commenters have posted on the group’s Facebookpage.
“By killing the geese and creating a vacant desirable habitat, they’re ensuring that more geese will fly in to be killed next summer and the summer after that,” he said.
But Martin Lowney, New York State director of the USDA’s Wildlife Services program, argued other solutions come with a price. “You build a park so people can play soccer,” he said. “If you put in a forest, you’ll get rid of the geese, but you can’t play soccer. It’s a choice.”
Advocates look to Mamaroneck, in Westchester County. The village’s mayor said a contract with the USDA was signed to cull the geese last December. But three trustees were newly elected to the board that fall, and after public hearings earlier this year the village amended the contract to exclude lethal eradication measures.
Mayor Norman Rosenblum called the change unfortunate, but added he was content with the deal: Eggs will be oiled and the village will buy a giant vacuum to clean up the droppings. But, he said, “within a day or two, it’s covered again.”
So he is hopeful North Hempstead won’t buckle under pressure. “I encourage the supervisor and board to go ahead with it,” he said.
By SCOTT EIDLER , Newsday (Long Island-New York), May 14, 2013
Here’s a selection of photos and videos you may have missed posted on UN social media accounts from around the UN system over the past few weeks and shared with our social media team. Thank you to all who contributed!
A group of young graduates recently received their certificates after a training cycle on life skills for ‘out of school youth’ at a technical school for boys in Darfur. Thanks to the UN Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) for posting this and more on their Facebook page.
As part of Malala Day on July 12, UNICEF Africa tweeted this photo of young people in Democratic Republic of Congo standing up to support Malala’s fight for the right to education for all. Thanks to @UNICEFAfrica for posting this and more on their Twitter account.
Check out the highlights from the 51st Graduate Study Programme, one of UN’s flagship educational programmes, which took place in Geneva this summer on the theme of “Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.” Thanks to our colleagues in Geneva for posting this and more on their YouTube account.
UN Special Envoy on Youth Ahmad Alhendawi is scooting away at UN Headquarters! In his own words, this is part of what happens when young people get an office at the UN. Thanks to @AhmadAlhendawi for posting this and more on his Twitter account.
At the Economic and Social Council Humanitarian Fair in Geneva earlier this month, the UN Refugee Agency presented these prototype solar-powered shelters to the visitors. Thanks to UNHCR United Kingdom (@UNHCRUK) for posting this and more on their Twitter account.
Students at a technical school in Lebanon were taught the secrets of making pasta when a visting chef came to visit their Italian cuisine course recently. See more photos and read about the event here. Thanks to United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) for posting this and more on their website.
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Be a nice person, be a good person.
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If you contribute to other people's happiness you will find the true meaning of life. The key point is to have a genuine sense of universal responsibility.
THAT THE LOVE TRANSCEND THE RELIGIONS OR IDEOLOGIES THAT EVERYBODY HAVE IT AND ONLY A DESIRE OF LOVE, PEACE, JUSTICE, SOLIDARITY AND TOLERANCE, LEAD OUR LIVES TODAY, TOMORROW AND ALWAYS.
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Use differences in a positive way. Try to get energy from different opinions. Make dialogue, that is the proper way to solve problems.
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Compassion can heal not only inner anger, but the world's violence.
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A COMPASSIONATE STATE OF MIND BRINGS INNER PEACE, AND THEREFORE A HEALTHIER BODY.
If there is light in the soul, There will be beauty in the person.
If there is beauty in the person, There will be harmony in the house.
If there is harmony in the house, There will be order in the nation.
If there is order in the nation, There will be peace in the world.
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AS LONG AS WE ARE ON THIS SMALL PLANET TOGETHER, WE NEED HUMAN GENTLENESS, HUMAN AFFECTION.
If you cannot do great things do small things in a great way.
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Never Lose faith in the truth.
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IF YOU CAN, HELP OTHERS. IF NOT, THEN AT LEAST REFRAIN FROM HURTING OTHERS.
Dalai Lama:
IT IS IMPORTANT TO USE MONEY PROPERLY TO HELP OTHERS, OTHERWISE YOU STILL WANT MORE AND FEEL POOR.
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Genuine peace between nations will come from mutual respect, not from weapons or force.
El globo rojo era su amigo. Si un globo de color rojo, rellenado de aire fue en la ninez de muchos latinos y algunos europeos (Francia) una nostalgica o idealista diversion infantil.Aquel globo de color rojo que "los tios queridos" (*) hicieron celebre en mi ninez, tan recordada y que la recuerdo hoy.Aquel globo rojo, antes las cosas simples nos […]
Con las vacunas de coronavirus de niños de 5 a 11 años que comienzan en los Estados Unidos esta semana, los padres pueden preguntarse si sus familias ahora podrán reunirse con seguridad para las vacaciones. (*)Ademas pueden conseguir 100 dolares por cada nino vacunado. (In New York City, parents of students can now get $100 if they vaccinate their children)E […]
Los museos para ninos es un tema interesante que puede servir para darle una educacion, util, variada, positiva y familiar para aquellos padres propios o de adopcion que quieren dejar huellas indelebles en los niños que tienen la suerte o privilegio de tener esta actividad compartida.En este reporte de Long Island (New York), ver fuente original al final. Po […]
Oficialmente hay un nuevo bebé Gerber en la escena. El viernes, la marca de alimentos para bebés anunció al ganador de su décimo concurso anual de búsqueda de fotos para bebés Gerber: Magnolia Earl, de 1 año, de Ross, California. (1)Un panel de jueces seleccionó a Magnolia de un grupo de más de 327,000 participantes para ser el "portavoz" de Gerber […]
Un diagnóstico de cáncer en los niños es algo dramatico; pues recien estan empezando a vivir y ya tienen que sufrir o hasta morir prematuramente.A continuacion presento un resumen del NIH (NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE) que nos aclara y actualize estas situaciones de salud al 2017. (*)En los Estados Unidos en este año (2017), 10.270 nuevos casos de cáncer serán […]
Los perros, gatos y loros u otras aves similares son las mascotas preferidas por las personas, las familias y tambien para los niños. Aunque hay otros tipos de mascotas "exoticas" que son parte de algunas familias.Aqui se pueden escribir muchas anecdotas o aventuras curiosas sobre los niños y su relacion con sus mascotas. Incluso detalles de los ti […]
Desde la prehistoria hasta nuestros días, los animales domésticos han desempeñado un papel muy importante (relevante) en la relación con los niños. Gracias a esa estrecha convivencia, son modelos a seguir para las distintas etapas de desarrollo de los pequeños, y les enseñan valores tanto fundamentales, como conocimientos básicos sobre la vida y la muerte, e […]
Los perros, gatos y loros u otras aves similares son las mascotas preferidas por las personas, las familias y tambien para los niños. Aunque hay otros tipos de mascotas "exoticas" que son parte de algunas familias.Aqui se pueden escribir muchas anecdotas o aventuras curiosas sobre los niños y su relacion con sus mascotas. Incluso detalles de los ti […]
Me contaba un amigo, hace unos anos, quien intentaba adoptar un nino ya que el y su esposa habian intentado muchas formas de tener un hijo propio ; pero los medicos le dijeron que no era possible; aunque le dieron dos opciones:1) Viajar a USA e intentar tener "un hijo probeta"; aunque necesitaban tener un minimo de $50,000 dolares,2) Adoptar un nin […]
Aqui podemos ver algunas fotos, obtenidas de medios publicos de todo el mundo, la imagen de algunas familias en diversos paises, culturas o condicion social o economica. Dicen que cuando vemos fotos reales comparadas, como poner a las "familias modelos o ideales" con la otra mayoria de familias que no las consideran asi; entonces muchas personas em […]
Look to this Day! For it is Life, the very Life of Life. In its brief course lie all the Verities and Realities of your existence. The Bliss of Growth, The Glory of Action, The splendor of Beauty; For yesterday is but a Dream, and Tomorrow a vision of Hope.
Look well therefore to this Day! Such is the Salutation of the Dawn!
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El dia de Ivan Kupala (Dia de San Juan Bautista) se celebra en Polonia, Rusia, Bielorrusia y Ucrania el 7 de julio del calendario gregoriano (el 24 de junio segun el calendario del cristianismo ortodoxo).La fiesta del Kupala fue originalmente un rito pagano a la fertilidad, aceptada despues dentro del calendario del cristianismo ortodoxo. Hay … Sigue leyendo […]
Tailandia (en tailandés: ประเทศไทย), es uno de los 49 paises que componen el continente asiático. Su capital y ciudad más poblada es Bangkok, centro de la actividad política, comercial e industrial. Tailandia (Thailand en ingles) tiene una poblacion de 69 millones de habitantes (Censo julio 2020) y es el pais No.20 mas poblado del mundo. Segun el manual: «» […]
Al parecer en estos tiempos a mucha gente no les gusta leer o tener libros fisicos. Mas bien prefieren ver los resumenes que hay en Internet o de algunos app en sus smartphones. Para quienes nunca han leido o sentido fisicamente la rugosidad de un libro, disfrutado o discrepado de un libro clasico no es … Sigue leyendo Estos libros no leídos tienen una larga […]
Los estadounidenses han crecido acostumbrados a las fotos de Abraham Lincoln en blanco y negro, reproducidas en los medios tonos de nuestros libros de historia. Las imágenes siguen siendo esenciales. Thomas Jones, un escultor que estudió de cerca la cara de Lincoln, señaló que puso una expresión formal, una «máscara de hierro», siempre que necesitaba … Sigue […]
La fusión de tradiciones cristianas y referencias paganas marcan la celebración de la Navidad en algunas zonas rurales de Rumanía, en la que destacan las llamadas “colinde”, composiciones musicales de origen medieval que sirven también para cohesionar a la sociedad. “El día 24 de diciembre, después de que oscurezca, van casa por casa a cantar, … Sigue leyend […]
A la patagonia chilena el NYT le puso , como parte del titulo de un articulo, que era como estar o llegar al fin del mundo. Abajo vemos el primer vistazo o foto que comparto en este blog. (*) El sendero que conduce al volcán Morada del Diablo (la vivienda del diablo) cruza un campo … Sigue leyendo Turismo al fin del mundo (Patagonia)
Este tipo de noticias tiene importancia y es interesante para quienes siguen el proceso historico del mundo en general y en este caso de USA; ademas de conocer detalles de la historia de USA, en aspectos poco conocidos por muchas personas, y de sus presidentes como Theodore Roosevelt (1). Tambien es ver la importancia y … Sigue leyendo Estatua de Theodore Ro […]
La venta en Sotheby’s el martes fue un punto de referencia para Kahlo y fue el trabajo más valioso del arte latinoamericano que se vendió en la subasta. (*) Un autorretrato de Frida Kahlo, un artista conocido por su intensidad emocional cruda, vendida por $ 34.9 millones en Sotheby’s el martes por la noche, estableciendo … Sigue leyendo Autorretrato de Frida […]
En estos tiempos de pandemia hay muchos curiosidades diversas en muchos lugares o temas. Aqui podemos considerarlo como una curiosidad gastronomica en tiempos de pandemia. Veamos algun detalle que nos aclare mas esta noticia. Cuando Alaska continúa luchando con altas tasas de transmisión de Coronavirus, los indígenas de todo el estado han estado viajando cie […]
Un salmón que nunca se ha visto en la naturaleza, pero crece dos veces más rápido que el salmón regular se acercó a las estanterías y los menús de los restaurantes. Un salmón atlántico patentado que incluye material genético de otras dos especies de peces, ha sido objeto de controversia durante años, pero ya la … Sigue leyendo El primer animal alterado genét […]
Mi respuesta personal seria que ello depende de algunos factores basicos de las personas como su edad, sus necesidades o metas personales, su estado de salud, el medio ambiente o lugar donde vive, etc.En general, de acuerdo a mi experiencia de vida, creo que es positivo mantener una rutina de ejercicios frecuente. Quizas no todos los dias; pero definitivamen […]
La selección nacional de fútbol de Brasil derrotó la noche del sábado a su similar de Colombia para convertirse en la campeona de la Copa América Femenina Colombia 2022. De esta manera la oncena brasileña conquistó su octavo trofeo del torneo de la Confederación Suramericana de Fútbol (Conmebol), que ha tenido nueve ediciones. El gol que dio la victoria a la […]
Esta interesante noticia muestra, textual y graficamente, como Afganistan tiene su seleccion de futbol que trata de participar en el proximo mundial de futbol (Soccer).Lo novedoso de esta seleccion es por la muy dificil situacion politica-economica que pasa el pais de afganistan y recientemente el mundo vio videos de los ultimos acontecimientos por los que […]
La Federación Internacional de Handball ha cambiado sus regulaciones uniformes muy criticadas para el balonmano de la playa, lo que significa que las jugadoras ahora usarán pantalones cortos en lugar de de bikini. (*)El cambio viene después de que el equipo de balonmano de las mujeres noruegas fue multado por usar pantalones cortos en un juego contra España […]
La prueba de Coronavirus se volvió positiva el sábado por la mañana para Alex Anthopoulos, el presidente de Atlanta de Operaciones de Béisbol y Gerente General, arquitecto de uno de los mejores directivos reconocidos en la liga de beisbol USA actual. Ahora tendra que quedarse en casa debido a los protocolos del virus y los juegos tendra que verlo por TV (*)C […]
Es interesante ver los resultados en detalle para ver como se dan los avances en los juegos olimpicos, historia o estadistica. Asimismo se ve el rendimiento por pais, regione o atletas de manera particular. Incluso especificando cuales son los deportes fortalezas en cada caso.En general los 3 paises primeros fueron USA, China y Rusia quienes a su vez son las […]
La llama que se quemó a lo largo de uno de los juegos más controvertidos de la historia se extinguió hoy domingo 8 de agosto del 2021, ya que Japón bajó la cortina en los Juegos Olímpicos de Tokio con ceremonias de clausura que eran tan inusuales como el evento en sí.La mayoría de los atletas ni siquiera estaban presentes; Fueron enviados a casa dentro de l […]
En la Copa del Mundo de 1982, los llamados "cuartos de final" se formaron cuatro grupos con tres equipos cada uno. Brasil cayó en el Grupo 3, junto a Italia y Argentina. Argentina, del joven Maradona, recientemente fallecido, perdió 2-1 ante italianos y 3x1 ante brasileños. Debido a esta mejor diferencia de goles, Brasil comenzaría el partido con […]
Auque sea un tema tratado muchas veces lo considero importante.Yo puedo dar testimonio personal de que el deporte recreativo o informal nos ayuda mucho en llevar una vida, fisica y/o mental, saludable mientras lo practiquemos de una manera rutinaria. Incluso aunque no sigamos rutinas ideales que muchas veces los imprevistos, accidentes o vaivenes de la vida […]
Revisando mis archivos personales sobre este deporte, que a pesar de agrupar a una afición minoritaria, respecto a otros deportes mas populares; sin embargo tiene un publico fiel, canales deportivos especializados en Golf y mueve muchos millones de dolares en negocios alrededor del Golf..Aquí vemos al legendario y excéntrico grupo de rock (Kiss) el cual pare […]
The hundred billion galaxies of our visible, each with a hundred billion stars, is but a grain of sand on the Sahara that exists beyond our horizon, grown out of that single, original bubble of false vacuum.
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Hace 139 años ocurrió una tragedia en el famoso puente neoyorquino de Brooklyn. Exactamente ocurrió el 30 de mayo de 1883. No hubieron fotos o videos de aquella tragedia salvo el testimonio de miles de personas. Algunos de ellos dejaron testimonio escritos y dibujos que muestro aquí. El objetivo de este Blog es despertar el […]
Imagínate que estas en una fiesta privada rodeado de una 50 personas y tu junto con otros adultos están en la piscina. De pronto un ruido raro y una succión imprevista te hace sentir que alguien te jala debajo del agua en la piscina. Tratas de salir. El resto de personas en la piscina lo […]
Un reciente, exclusivo y extenso reporte del Washington Post (*) que acabo de terminar de leer y analizar bajo el titulo «Repeated police misconduct cost taxpayers 1.5 billion in settlement…» nos muestra una realidad que no es tan buena como otros medios masivos de comunicacion nos quieren hacer creer; sin embargo valoro el valor del […]
Un reciente articulo del Washington Post (*) nos muestra unos datos que deberian hacernos reflexionar y tratar de revertir esta situacion. Una de los peligros, sobretodo en las mentes de las nuevas generaciones, es asimilar que es normal vivir con un nivel de violencia diversa, incluyendo la mortal, y en ello algunos programas de TV, […]
Dichos casos se agrupan en los siguientes grupos: Acciones disciplinarias Arrestos relacionados a sustancias u objetos ilegales Violencia contra las mujeres Arrestos por crimenes mayores Si vemos mayor detalles (ver diagrama abajo), vemos que de un total de 412 casos los mas recurrentes son las acciones disciplinarias (74.8%). En segundo lugar estan los arre […]
Catorce personas encarceladas en el sistema de cárcel de la ciudad de Nueva York han muerto desde el 2020 de diciembre, al menos seis aparentemente por suicidio. Baños desbordantes y plagas de moho son comunes en las cárceles. Un monitor designado por el tribunal federal ha emitido un informe cada vez más mordaz que describe […]
Este caso, suicidio o asesinato, me llamo la atencion recientemente por 2 razones: Es posible que una joven profesora; sin razon aparente, se suicido con 20 cuchilladas por ella misma. Los padres de la joven; despues de casi 10 anos de su muerte, han regresado a los juzgados para reclamar que lo de su hija […]
Quizas el caso de Gabby es singular; pues ella era asidua usuaria de las redes sociales y en su pagina de FB , Instagram o YouTube, iban documentado o mostrando su viaje con su novio y ponian unas fotos que parecian la pareja mas feliz del mundo.
Hay personas que tienen enfermedades mentales serias; pues atacan, hieren o matan a personas que se les cruza en el camino, sin motivo alguno. Evitar dichos encuentros es basicamente imposible pues ocurren al azar o de forma imprevista. En este caso quedo grabado en video; pues fue en unos cajeros del banco Chase en el […]
Haiti es un pais que ademas de pasar con problemas economicos serios, que lo mantiene como el pais mas pobre del continente americano, se suma otras tragedias como el asesinato de su presidente por un grupo de mercenarios. Y una mas reciente como un terremoto con saldo tragico en perdida de vidas como recuerdo en […]
Bangladés es un país soberano ubicado en Asia del Sur. Su territorio se encuentra rodeado casi por completo por la India, a excepción de una pequeña franja al sureste donde limita con Birmania. Geográficamente, el país se sitúa en el terreno fértil del delta del Ganges, por lo que está sujeto a las inundaciones anuales…Leer más Como afrontan el cambio climat […]
Una foto vale mas que mil palabras. No importa que sea una foto arreglada. Si una persona hace un analisis logico y esta informado de las cosas importantes que pasan en nuestro mundo podra interpretar correctamente las fotos; aunque La semana en fotos en la ultima semana de este mes de julio del 2022. En…Leer más Fotos del mundo AP en Julio 2022
Si consideramos que 50 anos, en promedio empirico, es el paso de una generacion a otra de nieto (a), padres o madres y abuelos (as); entonces podemos decir que las ultimas 120 generaciones humanas han podido congregarse en comunidades, ciudades o paises que han construido ciudades que los alberga y que han ido evolucionando a…Leer más Las primeras ciudades e […]
Este es un tema historico que quiero mostrar algunos hechos que se pueden ver en diversos libros que esperan a ser leidos en varias bibliotecas publicas de USA y guardan graficamente algunos hechos que pocos recuerdan en la actualidad; pues parece que piensan que la vida recien empieza cuando nosotros nacemos. En fin, esta vida…Leer más Curiosidades de Indio […]
En este articulo editorial o de opinion (*), del New York Times, quizas mas interesante sean las opiniones de algunos de sus lectores, que dejan sus comentarios; aunque breves dicen muchas cosas de fondo en pocas palabras. Eso si para entenderlas cabalmente hay que estar al dia con los temas politicos o economicos, importantes, de…Leer más ¿Por qué las tropa […]
Los compradores de viviendas de Long Island en la actualidad tienen que pasar más, moverse más rápido y elegir entre una lista de los listados enormemente más pequeños que hace una década, según un nuevo informe del corretaje de bienes raíces Douglas Elliman y la firma de evaluación Miller Samuel. El precio de venta mediano…Leer más Los precios de las casas […]
Los temas politicos y economicos cada vez son mas rechazados por mas personas por diversas razones: Una por la gran cantidad de mentiras o campanas de desinformacion que existe. Incluso en grandes y «prestigiosos» medios de comunicacion. Tambien porque algunos temas o detalles no se entienden bien por la mayor parte del publico en general.…Leer más Inflacion […]
La Administración Nacional Oceánica y Atmosférica anunció que al menos 20 desastres de mil millones individuales ocurrieron en los Estados Unidos en 2021. Desde los tornados hasta las inundaciones, incendios y huracanes, el año presentó una serie de catástrofes, muchas de las cuales se hicieron más severas mediante el cambio climático inducido por los humano […]
Veamos la vision global del NYT sobre el tema de la inflacion en USA actualmente (Enero 2022). Abajo hago un resumen del reciente articulo, traducido y simplificado objetivamente, de Paul Krugman (*): El presidente Biden tenía lo que llamaría ayer a un momento humano. Después de que un corresponsal de noticias de Fox gritó una…Leer más La inflación y el pode […]
Siempre me gusta todos los lados, posibles, de algunos problemas o realidades importantes. En este sentido es leer y/o analizar los resumenes anuales que hacen diarios o revistas importantes en nuestro mundo actual. No importa la posicion politica o intereses de cada uno de ellos. Es bueno conocer todos. De esta manera nos acercamos a…Leer más El 2021 en Gra […]
Como vemos en la figura de abajo se puede lograr que una misma persona este en dos lugares diferentes y distantes, al mismo tiempo. Una forma es usando el truco de las fotos falsas que son tan comunes en nuestro internet actual; pero hay una forma real de lograrlo de una manera real. En el […]
Los que hemos recorrido algunos paises y lugares tenebrosos en dichos lugares, a veces, hemos sentido o visto presencias fantasmales o terrorificas en forma de mosntruos o de seres que nos causan temor. Un temor que va mas alla de lo humano, quizas mas cerca de lo infernal, de lo humanamente grotesco o sobrenatural. Tres […]
Antes de empezar las acciones de demanda de Nike esta situacion provoco una serie de rumores, historias o atencion de un publico numeroso que se encuentra en las redes sociales. De alli se hicieron bromas que otros no lo ven como bromas. Incluso otros, como los fanaticos religiosos, lo vieron como la senal de que el diablo ya esta en la tierra en cuerpos de […]
"¿Que esta pasando a nuestros jóvenes?. Ellos no respetan a nuestros ancianos y desobedecen a sus padres. Ellos ignoran la ley. Ellos se rebelan en las calles con nociones salvajes. ¿Que les esta pasando?" (Platon 427-347 A.C.)
Hay preguntas que pueden ser explicadas en gran medida por la ciencia actual; sin embargo siempre hay un espacio para lo sobrenatural, lo espiritual o lo divino que puede tener la existencia y muerte humana. Mi experiencia con cadáveres, de forma empírica, fue cuando era un estudiante y vi los cuerpos de personas solitarias que […]
En Argentina hay un pueblo fantasma muy extraño, llamado Epecuen, que pasó un cuarto de siglo bajo el agua. Hoy es un atractivo turístico en argentina y se encuentra ubicado en la posición geográfica que muestro en los mapas correspondientes: (ver fotos abajo) Epecuen fue una vez un bullicioso pequeño complejo junto al lago, donde 1.500 personas atendían 20 […]
Un cadáver misterioso llegó a la orilla en Nueva Zelanda la semana pasada, lo que alimentó las especulaciones sobre monstruos marinos y dinosaurios. El animal podrida fue descubierto por un grupo de vehículos de cuatro ruedas a toda velocidad a lo largo de la playa en la Bahía de Plenty. Según un artículo publicado en […]
Actualmente las potentes cámaras fotográficas pueden ampliar la visión de insectos y hacerlos ver como monstruos gigantes en una foto. Lo interesante aquí es ver detalles en las características físicas de algunos insectos que los hacen ver como monstruos y han inspirados a monstruos aterradores en algunas películas de terror. Tambien han generado monstruos a […]
El peruano Óscar Santa María Huerta, que fue piloto de la Fuerza Aérea durante 25 años, declaró en un acto anual sobre ovnis celebrado en EE.UU. que «está convencido que hay vida extraterrestre», ya que lo comprobó por su propia experiencia. El piloto fue uno de los seis representantes de América Latina que habló en […]
Las arañas han tomado parte en fábulas mitológicas desde tiempos inmemoriales a lo largo de todo el mundo. Esta presencia en numerosas culturas está relacionada sin duda con la distribución cosmopolita de los arácnidos. De hecho, las arañas se pueden encontrar prácticamente en todos los ecosistemas terrestres y, gracias a esto han entrado en la […]
Peacekeepers from Jordan recently hosted 
A group of young graduates recently received their certificates after a training cycle on life skills for ‘out of school youth’ at a technical school for boys in Darfur. Thanks to the 
As part of 
UN Special Envoy on Youth Ahmad Alhendawi is scooting away at UN Headquarters! In his own words, this is part of what happens when young people get an office at the UN. Thanks to 
Students at a technical school in Lebanon were taught the secrets of making pasta when a visting chef came to visit their Italian cuisine course recently. See more photos and read about the event 
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If you contribute to other people's happiness you will find the true meaning of life. The key point is to have a genuine sense of universal responsibility.
CARLOS Tiger without Time 