Vivo en Chicago?

Amount spent on train in chicago, $4. Bus fair with incorrect diretctions... $4. Cost of taxi... $5, tiping drivieres... $6. homeless man asking for money, $2. Attempting spanish and making a friend with a child on a train...priceless.

True story, and out of my experience in chicago comes some wisdom. First, that make sure you know where you are going in chicago direction wise, because chances are nobody else does. I asked four people how to get to the sheraton hotel and I was pointed in four diffrent directions, only one was right. After a hour of walking I decided to hail a taxi. But how did one do this? and how expensive would it be? Turns out the movies are right, jut put up your hand (like your answering a question in class) to a taxi as it's driving by and it will pull over. As for cost, it only cost me 5 dollars to get to a hotel that was maybe two and a half miles from my location. I heard that some times taxi drivers will take you the long way, so be careful I suppose. Aside from this, presenting at the APS convention in Chicago was worth the work. Last tip for those not native to Chicago, it's best to park outside of the city (like I did at bedford park) and take the train in. It's alot cheaper on marking, which is easily 25-40 dollars downtown. Oh, and my spanish friend? Yes, a seven year old boy with his parents who loved guitar and talking. I talked to him (although he knew more english than I did spanish thankfully)for 30 minutes, and gave him something to remember me by. I have to say, in a society with social norms it's great to have Children around to break them once in a while. Keeps us from taking ourselves to seriously.

Thoughts on faith despite evolution

In my class on “history and systems of psychology”, I am being taught the different scientific revolutions, including Darwins Evolutionism. Our professor stated that Darwinism came and crossed out our previous perception of intelligent design. First, I must disagree. In no way does Darwinisms theory of evolution attempt to explain the origins of life; his manifesto focuses on adaptation and survival, not on origin and existence. Second, He stated that it changed the way we previously believed about life. Originally we believed that there were three facets to life. Plants, animals, and humans. Today, the break up exists differently, where as the three main groups are Bacteria, plants, and animals. Humans are a subspecies of animals. I also noticed how the prof mentioned in a dismissive tone how religious groups were resistant to this idea. At first I didn’t see a huge distinction between believers in Cross Species Evolution and those who believe in Creationism. Yet the claims that humans arrived from animals must be questioned. For if this is truth, its implications are quite dangerous. In 1 Corinthians 15:39 it states “For all flesh is not the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for beasts, another for birds, and another for fish.” This verse talks more about our existence than our origins, and those uneducated about the evolution debate should focus on this point when conversing with unbelievers. For from this we recognize that “we must not live like beasts, as we do not die like them” (Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary).
Darwin “If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down” (origin of the species).

How a Cyclone halfway across the world affected me...

Anyone listening to the media knows about the severe cyclone that took thousands of lives in Myanmar on May 3. The hurricane was literally so destructive that it changed the terrain, leaving much of the Irrawaddy Delta flooded. The International Federation of Red Cross estimated the total population affected by the cyclone at between 1.6 million and 2.5 million. An estimated 2 million survivors are still in need of emergency aid, but U.N. agencies and other groups have been able to reach only 270,000 people so far. The UN today put the confirmed death toll at 38,491, with another 27,800 people missing. Hardship and hunger Are no stranger to the country of Myanmar. Before Tropical Cyclone Nargis struck, about one in three children in the country formerly known as Burma were malnourished. Now untold numbers of corpses have been left rotting in ground that is little more than a saltwater swamp, thousands of hungry people are begging in the streets, and most rice stocks are soaked and ruined. Fishing boats along the coast have helped ferry survivors to safety but can't make enough rounds a day to rescue everyone. “The trip is a stomach-wrenching journey”, said Maung U, a 36-year-old driver of a rescue boat. "Each trip takes five or six hours through a narrow waterway littered with dead bodies," he said. "Every few meters, you see another dead body, human or animal." Reading about such tragedy has left the question of “what can I do” circling in my head. I already took the liberty to donate to Gospel for Asia, an organization that has apparently been able to assist as it’s staff are comprised of locals to the area. Yet, is that it? I have food and a comfortable home and yet thousands are in need of a simple cup of rice and shelter. At first I brushed this situation off as a tragedy that’s beyond me, but I found a quote that has left me asking if I can do more: “Love will find a way. Indifference will find an excuse.” (Anonymous) (note some of this article was taken from a variety of news articles)
In addition to this article, I have comprised more exhaustive informative update of the situation in Myanmar by piecing together pieces of news articles and the history of Myanmar from the web (see the previous post). I think it is important to be well informed on the plights of neighbors both distant and near, so in case you’re still a bit unfamiliar of the situation, feel free to read. You may note that a bit of artistic license was used, and while the following was produced mainly form news articles, it is from my viewpoint, and contains many of my opinions about the situation.

Summary and comments of Cyclone disaster in Myanmar...

On May 3rd the Tropical Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar, taking thousands of lives and leaving much of the coast including Irrawaddy Delta flooded. In the midst of this disaster is a greater tragedy, Myanmar's ruling junta’s refusal to allow foreign aid workers into the country. This has left most survivors living in miserable conditions without food or clean water. First, the state controlled media did nothing to warn residents of the incoming Cyclone, and with a continuing possibility of an additional cyclone continue to do nothing.

Efforts to rush food and medicine from Labutta to lower-lying parts of the delta that were hardest hit have been slowed by the military's intense micromanaging. "The government wants total control of the situation although they can't provide much and they have no experience in relief efforts," said a leading aid worker for an international aid organization. "We have to report to them every step of the way, every decision we make. "Their eyes are everywhere, monitoring what we do, who we talk to, what we bring in and how much," the aid worker said in a soft voice, constantly looking around nervously as his assistant turned off all the lights except one dim lamp. "We don't want them to see you here. They don't trust us, as it is," he told a foreign reporter in Labutta. The few reporters and aid workers who have made it down to the Irrawaddy Delta continue to report heartbreaking scenes of hungry, homeless people who have lost everything and are now forced to wash and draw water from flooded plains where dead bodies are still floating.

The military, which has ruled since 1962, has taken control of most supplies sent by other countries, including the United States, which began its third day of aid delivery today as five more giant C-130 transport planes headed to Myanmar with help. The directors of several relief organizations in Myanmar said Wednesday that some of the international aid arriving into the country for the victims of Cyclone Nargis had been stolen, diverted or warehoused by the country’s army. Marcel Wagner, country director of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, confirmed that aid was being diverted by the army. He said the issue would become an increasing problem, although he declined to give further details because of the sensitivity of the situation. The junta has barred all foreigners, including credentialed diplomats and aid workers, from accompanying any donated aid, tracking its distribution or following up on its delivery. Mr. Wagner said he and his agency’s foreign staff members were now barred from the Irrawaddy Delta, even to areas where the group has ongoing projects dating from before the storm. Fortunately, he said, he has Burmese staff are permitted come and go through an increasing number of military checkpoints. A number of countries have offered to bring in aid and deliver it from the south, by ship, but the junta has adamantly refused. One of the generals’ most enduring fears is a seaborne invasion by Western powers it refers to as “foreign saboteurs.” “These guys really believe we are planning an invasion,” Ms. Villarosa said. The United States said this week that several of its military ships were in the area and ready to provide help in Myanmar. “It’s nuts! We’re not! But if they hear that a large U.S. ship is off the coast, they don’t receive the message that it’s a genuine humanitarian effort,” she said. Myanmar has long been suspicious of the outside world, which the junta fears could bring in destabilizing ideas and values, such as Western concepts of democracy and human rights. The junta has brutally suppressed any sign of dissent. At least 31 people were killed when troops crushed monk-led pro-democracy protests last September.

Myanmar's ruling junta told visiting Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej that it is in control of the relief operations and doesn't need foreign experts. "They have their own team to cope with the situation," Samak said after returning from Yangon. Despite condemnation over its stance, Myanmar's military government tightened access to the cyclone disaster zone Wednesday, turning back foreigners and rejecting new pleas from Thailand's premier Samak Sundaravej. He said the junta gave him a "guarantee" that there was no starvation or disease outbreaks among survivors. In Yangon, Samak visited a government relief center. Yet Un They insisted they can take care of their people and their country. They can manage by themselves," he said after the meeting with Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein.

Such insisting falls on deaf ears as the international community remains unfooled by such blatant lies. A top European Union humanitarian official said there was now a risk of famine, after the May 3 storm destroyed rice stocks in a main farming region in one of the world's poorest and most isolated countries. As for Samak, it is quite evident that his history is similar to that of the heartless generals. Currently the Prime Minister of Thailand since January 2008, yet in 1968 Samak became head of the renegade right-wing faction of the Ruling Party. In the 1976 general election, he defeated Kukrit Pramoj and was made Deputy Interior Minister in the cabinet of Seni Pramoj. He quickly became prominent for arresting several left-wing activists. In 1992, as Deputy Prime Minister in the Suchinda administration, Samak justified the military's brutal suppression of pro-democracy demonstrators by declaring that the government had the right to do so as long as the United States could send troops to kill people in other countries, a reference to the Gulf War against Iraq and Saddam Hussein taking place from 2 August 1990 to 28 February 1991. He remains unrepentant and continues to stand by his justification, stating that the military was merely trying to restore law and order after the pro-democracy demonstrators, which he branded as "troublemakers", had resorted to "mob rule".

This Friday a Thai medical team will be the first foreign aid group allowed to work in the ravaged region. That’s 13 days after the disaster! The European Union's top aid official, Development Commissioner Louis Michel, said today he is not opposed to the idea of air-dropping aid in Myanmar but does not think it will work. Others have suggested unilateral air drops to circumvent the junta's restrictions. Red Cross warned that the death toll from Cyclone Nargis could be at least 68,833 and as high as 127,990 -- considerably higher than the government's official count of 34,273 dead. Un’s Ban has made several attempts to speak directly with General Than Shwe, Myanmar's military leader, UN spokeswoman Michele Montas said Myanmar's mission to the UN gave Ban two phone numbers to call and no one has ever answered those phones. Ban said the operation to help the Myanmar people was entering its "second stage", reflecting views that almost two weeks after the storm hit, it may already be too late for many sick and hungry victims who have got little aid from a government that insists it can manage the catastrophe alone.

Yet of course the government is willing to except money. Myanmar's government told the UN yesterday that at least $260 million will be needed for rice planting next month, replacing livestock destroyed by the cyclone and rebuilding the nation's fishing industry. Yet in the delta town of Labutta, where 80 percent of homes were destroyed, authorities were providing only one cup of rice per family per day, a European Commission aid official told Reuters. The United Nations appealed for $187 million in aid, even though it is still not confident the food, water and tents flown in will make it to those most in need because of the junta's reluctance to admit international relief workers. India and Thailand both have been satisfied with unloading their supplies at the airport and leaving them for the junta to distribute. The UN is balking at that kind of an arrangement and threatened Friday to suspend relief fights when a shipment of its energy biscuits was impounded by the military. It quickly backed down, but it is still trying to negotiate an agreement that will ensure the world community's aid goes to those who need it most.

The U.S. has repeatedly criticized Myanmar's military, which has ruled the nation since 1962, over its corrupt and oppressive rule. Bush said two days ago the world ``ought to be angry'' at the way the junta has delayed the relief effort. The US has made attempts in the past to stop the human atrocities that occur in Myanmar, but with little results. While impervious to Western economic sanctions, the generals have avoided total isolation by using Myanmar's vast natural gas reserves to befriend energy-hungry China and India.

Groups opposed to the Myanmar regime are calling for an international day of protest on Saturday. These troubles added on top of global rice prices skyrocketing (triggered in part by export restrictions in countries worried about food scarcity) will cause further hardships for the Myanmar people, prices are expected to remain high.

There was even talk for a a UN-led "invasion" of Myanmar -- to rescue a desperate population from its ruthless dictatorship. Can’t say congress would justify “Humanitarian justice” as reason for making our casus belli. Not that such a threat would put that government off its lunch. Undistracted by global cries of horror and outrage, the country's ruling generals prefer to watch their citizens die by the thousands, rather than open the border to foreign aid workers who are trained to save lives by distributing tons of urgently needed food, water and medicines in a disaster zone. But still the junta refuses to let aid shipments land from the United Nations or from numerous international relief agencies who refuse to turn their precious humanitarian shipments over to a corrupt regime. The notion of human rights is not in this government's policy book. While the number of avoidable deaths after the cyclone may be greater than any other atrocity in its closet, this week's events are nonetheless just the latest evidence of a repugnant regime.

France is set to deliver 1,500 tons of rice aid aboard the warship Mistral, which would arrive in Myanmar's waters in the middle of this week, the French foreign ministry said on Sunday. France wants the aid on the Mistral to be distributed either by the ship's crew, or by the staff of NGOs already on the ground, or by U.N. teams, a foreign ministry source said French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told French newspaper Le Figaro on Saturday that France would not consider entrusting aid to the Myanmar authorities

Despite alarm bells from the international community about feeble cycle relief effort, the junta kept its focus on a weekend referendum on a new constitution, part of a "roadmap to democracy" culminating in multi-party elections in 2010. Myanmar's ruling junta, facing growing domestic and international pressure to ease its authoritarian rule, recently announced it will hold the constitutional referendum on May 10 as part of a "road map to democracy." Critics have said the charter is a sham designed to perpetuate military rule and to keep pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi from running for office.- Myanmar's generals diverted manpower from the cyclone aid effort Saturday to oversee a controversial referendum on a new constitution, while more than a million victims of the tragedy continued to wait for rescue. Myanmar's top general, Than Shwe, made his first public appearance since the cyclone, casting his ballot in the new capital of Nyapyidaw. State-run TV warned of "foreign interference" in a broadcast message urging people to vote yes for the constitution. Most people were expected to do just that. Of the 20 people Reuters interviewed near polling stations in Hlegu, only two admitted to voting no. Even then, it was in a whisper and with a nervous glance over the shoulder first. Critics say the referendum, which comes in the wake of the junta's grudging response to the devastation of Cyclone Nargis, only will serve to further cement the military's hold on power.

The referendum was the first vote of any kind in Myanmar since 1990, when Aung San Suu Kyi's National League to Democracy swept to victory in an election the general refused to honour. To the xenophobic regime, getting the vote out in areas not affected by the cyclone appeared as important as getting clean water, food and shelter to the 1.5 to two million of its citizens the United Nations now estimates were "severely affected”. Today Myanmar announced a 92 percent vote that keeps them in power (fake democracy). If the rulling Generals would take their foots of the necks of the people, the vote's to keep them would only be six, one for each general.

For a background on the distrust between the Burman government and countries in power, copy and paste the link in your Browser:

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

The cost of a Tooth...

Again, to any casual readers I apologize for my lack of writing. One of my biggest weaknesses is consistency, so this is my re-new years resolution for the summer. As the title suggests, teeth cost something, and not surprisingly are very expensive. How do I know? I chipped one. Well, actually my friend chipped it with his racket during our game of racket ball. He was swinging as I was dashing towards him for the ball. His racket and my mouth connected and I then saw half a tooth drop to the floor. I thanked everyone for the game and told them I had to retire on a mission to save my tooth. I rushed home, put the tooth in milk, and called my friend (a dental assistant) for advice. She broke the bad news, the piece of tooth didn't need to be in milk, it was lost forever. Since then I have had three dentist visits ( two more to go) and two orthodontist visits. They have drilled, plastered, scraped, given me x-rays, to my poor mouth. Right now I have a fake tooth in, but it is my hope that a real tooth will follow here shortly. As for cost, my insurance covers next to nothing, so all in all I am now 3,000 in the hole. Yet I have no reason to complain, such problems pale in comparison to hurricane destroying everything I have. All in all it has been an adventure. The lesson in all this? Two Words: Mouth Guard. You may look stupid for the moment, but loose a tooth and you will look stupid for a lot longer.