Terrorism as a global issue

Terrorism is the global problem nowadays that endanger life of every person on the earth. If we want to solve the problem of Global Terrorism, we have to find the roots to it, we have to analyze the actions of countries taken against terrorism.

Mass media is currently struggling active against terrorism,  but they just blame whole nations without anything.

Terrorism is a systematic use of terror, often violent. With terrorism they intent to create fear in people.

Lately it has been easy to understand that this is an global issue.

-      -     Al Quaeda and his group attacked 80 different countries on September 11, 2001.

-        -   Over 6,000 US soldiers killed in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Possibly 100 times that number of civilians in those countries. Also a lot of soldiers from other nations like Norway.

The nations take this problem really serious, and they have made several new rules to prevent terrorism. Unfortunately does it still happened.

Some things they’ve done is at the Airport there are much stricter rules. Now you can’t carry any parfume/liquid. They have also made it much stricter to get across borders in some nations.

Through the General Assembly they have been trying to coordinate their counter-terrorism. They have also been active countering Terrorism through resolutions and by establishing several subsidiary bodies.

Endangered Species

1.      The global issue when it comes to endangered species are many, and it can occur to be a problem in the nearest future. One issue is that if a specie gets extinguished, it can affect the rest of a food chain and other species can be endangered as well. If this leads on to elimination of specie, it is in fact a problem for the next generation or century. We try our best to keep the endangered species alive so these animals can carry on in the future. It would be a shame to have lost a specie forever. There are many extraordinary animals that are dying out and are unique and beautiful in their own way. An examples of this are the Siberian Tiger.

2.      2. The IUCN red list is a list of all the species in the world that are extinguished, in danger of being and so on. This is a global issue because if one animal specie gets extinguished it can affect a whole food change and maybe lead to extinguishing of even more species as mentioned earlier in the text.

3.     3. Global warming: Leads to extinguishing of for example the polar bear

Overhunting: For example if you hunt down so many animals that the population can’t keep up.

4/5: Endagered species is a global issue which means that the whole world have to work together in order to help the population or the specie the nations have to make an agreement for how much of that specie you can fish or hunt, they may even have to preserve or protect that specie.

6: Global warming is an issue that connects with the issue of endangered species. Global warming has contributed to the melting of the ice in North Pole, which removes the hunting area for polar bears. This means the polar bears can’t have access to food and slowly die out. That is one example of the consequences global warming is interfering in the issue of endangered species. 

Marius, Tor Frithjof and Wetle 

What is Human Trafficking?

Human trafficking is a form of modern day slavery. Millions of people worldwide live and suffer in slave-like situations. According to the United Nations, human trafficking is ranked as the third greatest revenue source of organized crime just after narcotics and arms. While the U.S. Department of State estimates that 800,000 – 900,000 people are trafficked across borders annually, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and many other organizations taking the lead to eradicate trafficking put the number above 2 million. Adding domestic trafficking to those numbers, which is defined as people trafficked within the borders of one nation, the number reaches almost 4 million persons trafficked per year. Trafficked victims are often deceived, forced, or coerced into vulnerable situations that make it easy for the traffickers to hold them in forced labor and/or slavery. The overwhelming majority of victims of trafficking are women and girls. These women are often also victims of war, poverty, discrimination, and violence.

 

 We think that this happens a lot in poor countries with bad societies where nobody cares when you got raped or kidnapped. Or a lot of people in countries like this sell their child to different child traffickers because they need money to survive.

       People think like this because they need money, and then they start to do crazy things to get it. They use other people to get this money, and they even are willing to risk their life's to get it.

 

   One of today’s biggest human rights crises is the international trafficking of women and girls (and, to a lesser extent, boys) into sex slavery. Human trafficking is the third largest criminal industry in the world, outranked only by arms and drug dealing. The United Nations estimates that trafficking in persons generates $7 to $10 billion annually for traffickers. The number of people trafficked each year is estimated by most experts to be in the millions. Given its current growth rate, which is fuelled by its high profitability, low investigation rate and low prosecution rate, human trafficking is expected by some to take over drug trafficking as the second largest criminal industry in the world within the next decades.

 

 

Ragnhild F. og Henriette

Volunteer Work

Volunteer work, generally looked upon as a selfless act by most people. Volunteering is intended for people who are not or at least not greatly affected by a problem and/or issue regarding other people. The idea is to improve others quality of life by giving some of our time dedicated to help them for nothing in return (that is the idea).

A good example showing that volunteer work is a global issue is the websites http://www.globalvolunteernetwork.org/ and http://www.yci.org.

The cause of volunteer work is often other global issues such as poverty, trafficking, endangered species or similar problems. It often starts here and some of those who are not affected choose to volunteer to help the cause.

Generally organizations of all sizes are the ones who deals with volunteer work. And usually will be your best bet of getting into it, if you were to be interested in doing so.

This global issue is often interconnected with other issues in the sense that volunteer work is often something happening after a disaster or a tragic happening of sorts. But it doesn’t have to be, it could be for people who do not share the same quality of life as we do. Or just raising money for a cause people are unaware of.

Consumption

In 2005 there was a report made by 1360 scientists from 95 countries. They warn that almost two-thirds of the natural machinery that supports life on Earth is being used up. Reports show that in 50 years, all the oil will be gone. In almost every part of our daily lives we rely on the support of oil. We wear oil every day, we also eat oil. Actually, oil is not only important for transport, but it is also in our clothing, food, medicine and energy systems. We are so dependent on oil. We know the day when we have drained up all the oil will come, but will we be ready? I think we must prepare. If not we will get a huge shock.

The human demand for food, water, fuel, timber etc. has been higher the last 60 years than in the 18^th and 19^th centuries combined. Because of our high consumption, other species on the earth are becoming endangered, and some are exterminated. It’s not only the animals that are affected, but we also destroy the nature. Since 1980, about 35% of mangroves have been lost, 20% of the world’s coral reefs have been destroyed and another 20% badly degraded.

We have a high consumption of timber. It’s so high that the rainforests are being destroyed. Every year an area of the size of New Jersey is cut down and destroyed. The plants and animals that used to live there will either die, or must find a new place to live. It is really dumb to cut down all the rainforests. Only 2% of the Earth’s surface is covered in rainforests, and about two-thirds of all animal species lives there. The forests also help us in our fight against global warming, by producing oxygen.

The government tries to prevent the high consumption. First of all, we have to share more with the third world and the richest have to use less. More than 2 billion people live on less than 2$ a day. The diagram below shows the private consumption of the rich, middle-class and the poor people in the world.

Several agreements have been made to make the world a better place, like the Kyoto protocol. The Kyoto protocol is all about using less to prevent the natural resources. But countries like China and USA didn’t sign the protocol, because they thought that they didn’t have a standing chance to use less to prevent the CO₂ in the atmosphere. An Important person named Al Gore had big success when he made a film about Global issues.

He made a big documentary where he presented some of the most important global issues. This documentary made people realize how big the problem really was, and movies like these can be important, because we need to know what we are dealing with. Other big Medias have also made films about global warming, and the consumption that we have. Movies like: 2012, The day after tomorrow, Waterworld, The day the earth stood still, and an inconvenient truth. In movies like these, you see how the world can end because of our use.

I will conclude with that we need to think about what we use, and if we really need to use it. If every person thought about that, and tried to contain their private consumption, it would have been a really big step for the world.

- Marcus & Mikael

Global Issue - Refugees

A refugee is a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster. When people are given the status as refugees they are immediately guarantied protection of their basic human rights. And while being a refugee it’s not possible to be forced to return to the home country.

 The most important parts of the refugee definition are:

• Refugees have to be outside their country of origin;
• The reason for their flight has to be a fear of persecution;
• The fear of persecution has to be well-founded
• The persecution has to result from one or more of the 5 grounds listed in the definition, that is race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion;
• They have to be unwilling or unable to seek the protection of their 'source' country.

In 2011, there were 15.2 million refugees around the world. It is also estimated that 80 per cent of the refugees are women and children. The leading countries of origin of refugees in 2011 are; Afghanistan with 2.7 million refugees, Iraq with 1.4 million, Somalia with 1.1 million, Sudan with 500 000 and The Democratic Republic of Congo with 491 000 refugees.

The reason for this global problem is mainly war. Too many people have fled their home country scared and with hope to find a better life, although they are not allowed to settle in the country they fled too, but still away from persecution. There are also issues regarding natural disasters. For example in Japan, after the tsunami in 2011 125.000 buildings and homes were damaged or destroyed leaving 350.000 people without homes and no reason to stay in Japan. Africa has also been the in the middle of horror and suffering. For example a record 107,500 African refugees and migrants made the dangerous journey from the Horn of Africa to Yemen in 2012. This is the largest influx into Yemen since 2006 when UNHCR began compiling these statistics. The previous record was in 2011 when more than 103,000 people arrived in Yemen by sea. The reason for Africans to escape to Yemen, for example, and then looked upon as refugees are of the reasons mentions above: “The fair of persecution” is the main reason to become a refugee. The other parts of the definition are just placement in the world. People who create terror to people or different groups of people, like for example people who are from other religions or may be gay, people who believe something different in a country of settled beliefs have the reason to be afraid. And then to add hunger and poverty, people have another reason to leave whatever they had left.

The wide spread of people who want to do well are all thinking they would like to save the world. Although this is impossible, they have the chance to prove their words by helping in volunteer work in countries with refugees or countries that create refugees. To stop the “spread” one has to contain the source. 

The people actually doing something with this global issue are mostly non-governmental organizations, one cannot help hear about the Red Cross or other help services when a disaster strikes. In Norway we have the Norwegian Refugee Council Which provides assistance, protection and durable solutions to refugees, internally displaced persons, and returned worldwide.

What I mentioned about containing the source one has to make a better lifestyle in the country of origin. For example one can help out with food and shelter. Red Cross is great with this feature. But when people already have left their home country and need new help the organizations situated in different regions of the world are helping them with keeping them safe and providing food, shelter, health care and other vital parts of surviving.

This global issue is connected with almost anything we can think of. In a country where natural disasters strike, there are and will always be refugees. The same for where war strikes, the terror and use of global resources, the poverty that is spread across from nations to nations due to unemployment and bad school possibilities. There are also issues regarding health. This is all connected in one huge pile of sadness and bitterness, also known as global issues.

- John Ejnar

Sources:
- http://www.udi.no/Norwegian-Directorate-of-Immigration/News/2010/Who-comes-to-Norway-as-refugees-/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Refugee_Council
- http://www.refintl.org/get-involved/helpful-facts-%2526-figures
- http://www.geogonline.org.uk/as_g2ki1.42.htm

Health issues - Obesity

Our task about global issue is the health issues in the world, it´s a big theme and some examples is tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, malaria, polio, damages of radiation for example cancer, emotional problems and obesity. Obesity is what we are going to focus on in the rest of the task.  

Obesity is absolutely a global issue.  Obesity is when someone is so overweight that it is a threat to their health. This is increasing all over the world today, and there are not only people in rich countries that are obese. Obesity also varieties within every country, but is a problem on the entire planet. In 2005, approximately 1,6 billion people over 15 years old were overweight. WHO predict that by 2015, there will be approximately 2,3 billion overweight people. 

Male obesity: 2002, 2005, 2010           Female obesity: 2002, 2005, 2010

     

These pictures show that obesity is spread all over the world, but you also see which countries are most effected.

The causes of obesity are for example the society and the government. They make the unhealthy food with a lot of salt, sugar and fat, and this is cheaper than healthy food.  There are also more and more people that lose their self-confidence and eat to drown their sorrows. The food and self-confidence "combined with our increasingly sedentary lifestyles, increasing urbanization and changing modes of transportation, it is no wonder that obesity has rapidly increased in the last few decades, around the world." quote http://www.globalissues.org/article/558/obesity

Many countries have measures to prevent and help people who suffer of obesity.  There are many organizations and programs designed to help overweight people to lose weight and gain a healthier lives. Some stores in Norway have made fruit and healthy food cheaper, and that will hopefully make it easier for people to buy healthy food, instead of cheap and unhealthy food.  There is  also organizations for overweight people, so they can talk to other overweight people and make them understand that they are not alone. To talk with people who have lost weight and managed to get a healthy life can be a huge motivation for some.  The government, in a lot of countries, makes exercise a part of school, and that can be a huge help to prevent obesity among children. After-school activities is also a good way of preventing obesity among young people, so they can be social and active instead of sitting in front of the computer or TV and eating junk-food.

Obesity is especially common in USA, 30% of all obesity in the world is in America. People in the west part of the world suffer most of obesity, but it is becoming more and more common all over the world. But in the rich parts of the world they can afford to do something about it before people die of overweight, poor countries do not have the money to help them. Women is more affected than men, and science shoes that obesity is something that becomes more normal when one gets older. 

Obesity isn’t very connected to other global issues, but it is connected to poverty, but in some causes just avarice. Healthier products are more expensive, and to not spend that much money, they rather buy cheap products. The cheap products don’t include healthy ingredients, rather a lot of fat and sugar, since that’s easier to get hold of, and therefore cheaper to produce. 

The main problem “health issues” is on the other hand connected to more global issues. Poverty leads to people not being able to pay their water and electric bills, and the health decreases because of worse hygiene. Increasing population and urbanization lead to more diseases because of people living closer. This creates a larger and easier spread of different diseases and problems. Pollution makes the air unclean, and terrorism and wars help in the increasing of pollution because of vehicles and weapons. Wars make people’s health worse, mostly because of this, but also because of the conditions this leads to.  

Sources:

http://www.globalissues.org/article/558/obesity

Linda, Ragnhild S. og Åsne.

Racism - Global Issue

What is racism?:

• Apartheid- the separation between the black and white people
• Discrimination
• The hatred of one person to another
• The belief that another person is less human because of skin color, language, customs or any factor that supposedly reveals the basic nature of that person

Racism is a global issue, because:

• You can find it all over the world 
• World War two was partially a result of racism
• It lead to a lot of historical events (slavetrade)
• You have groups all over the world that is for and against racism - KKK (for), Freedomfighters like Mandela (against)
• People around the world all belong to the same human race, they share the same tendencies to fear, domination and subjugation
• Civil wars in Africa

Causes of racism:

• Important wars, like the world war two- where Hitler
• Conflicts- disagreements between the superpowers in the different countries, cultural changes, like increase of violence
• Economic downturns

KKK - Klu Klux Klan

How do different groups/nations regard the issue?

Because racism is so big, and it exist in every corner of the world, it is difficult for someone to regard the issue, because it is everywhere. Of course, people here in Norway are not facing it as much as the people in Africa, so I think it is hard for us to imagine. But then you have some groups like KKK, that do not see it as an issue at all, that this is just right and fair. Hopefully, most people look at this as a huge world problem, and want it gone, but sadly enough, some don't, so I think racism will exist as long as mankind lives. 

How is this global issue connected to other global issues?

• If you ask us, racism is one of the biggest problem that has existed, and as we have already said, racism leads to wars, and that is certainly a global issue
• Poverty is one of the biggest global issues ever, and a lot of people all over the world are poor because of racism 
• Every global issue in the world is in some way connected to each other. 
• Terrorism is also a big problem, and even though most people look at terrorism as religion, you can find some racism in it as well. People are attacking each other because of their religion, and I think we can say that that is racism

Who deals with the issue?:

• Freedom fighters- Martin Luther King influenced the people with his speech “I have a dream”, Rosa Parks refused to give away her “white seat” to a white person, and Mahatma Gandhi who used non-violent methods. He got the Nobel Peace prize.
• Before, the police were racists too, but in these days they try to stop terrorist acts

  

  Rosa Parks

  

  Martin Luther King
  
  Hope you liked it - xoxo Mari and Sigrid 
   

In-depth analysis of a global issue

 

1.     Define your global issue.

2.     List facts to prove that this is a global issue.

3.     List and explain the causes of this issue.

4.     How do different groups/nations regard the issue?

5.     Who deals with this issue? How?

6.     How is this global issue connected to other global issues?

7.     PUBLISH your presentation on the blog.

CRITERIAS:

a.     The reader is supposed to learn something from your post – make it informative.

 

b.     Show reflection and an in-depth analysis

c.      Give relevant examples supporting your statements

d.     An interesting layout

Hence: Be effective, spend the time you are given and do some proper research!

 

 

DEADLINE: 09.50

 

 

Capture the moment

2. October, in the autumn holiday I went to The USA/Canada with some friends. It was one of the best holidays I have ever had. We were a lot of places like Niagara falls, Toronto, Chicago, Detroit, Connecticut and New York . This picture was taken in New York – Times Square. We were on our way to a Spanish restaurant, which is why we were dressed so nice. On the picture I am with one of my best friends Debora, and we are standing outside our hotel.

My moment of truth

This photo captures my inner child.

The picture is taken at a candy store in Sweden on vacation with my "brother from another mother".

- John

Capture the moment

This picture is taken in sjoa. Marius and Tor Frithjof went rafting in a river at Sjoa with some other people form the school. It was lots of fun and a huge adrenaline rush.
Marius and Tor Frithjof

Week 5 news

In week 5 we have seen different news. It has been a lot of terror around in the world, and also something about nuclear bombs, and something about economy. Lately North Korea has hinted about sending out nuclear tests. State news reports from the capital Pyongyang claim that the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has presided over meeting at which "important decisions" regarding the country's military were made. We have no idea about when or where the meeting was held, but now night to 12^th February, Norwegian time North Korea had sent out some bombs. 

http://news.sky.com/story/1046870/north-korea-meeting-hints-at-nuclear-test

It has also been some trouble in Egypt, there were some violent demonstrations in Cairo, and police was shooting water and tear gas at the rioters. A 23 year old man was shot and died, and 53 people were injured. Demonstrators are demanding the overthrow of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. Youths threw petrol bombs and shot fireworks at the outer wall of President Morsi's Cairo presidential compound as night fell.

http://news.sky.com/story/1046469/egypt-protester-killed-amid-fresh-clashes

If we move on to USA a teen has been shot and died after an Obama preference. Police said Hadiya Pendleton was shot in the back on Tuesday in a South Side park. She was taken to hospital, where she died. The students were one of a dozed hiding from the rain, when suddenly a man jumped over the wall started to shoot. Also another teenage boy was shot in the leg.

http://news.sky.com/story/1045378/teen-shot-dead-after-obama-performance

Another thing happening in USA is that their Economy is starting to shrink. That is the first time for 3 years.  The Commerce Department said the economy shrank at an rate of 0.1% in the fourth quarter of 2012. Fewer exports and sluggish growth may be the reason for it. It’s also a sharp turnaround because in the 3^rd quarter the growth rate was 3.1 %.

http://news.sky.com/story/1045103/us-economy-shrinks-for-first-time-in-three-years

If we move on to Pakistan a girl has been shot in the head, and now British doctors want to repair it. The girl was shot by Taliban, in a Swat district. The bullet hit her left brow; it didn’t penetrate her skull. It traveled underneath the skin, the whole length of her head and into her shoulder. Within the next day she will do 2 operations and hopefully she will recover.

http://news.sky.com/story/1044907/malala-shot-teen-to-get-replacement-skull

This is a picture of Hadiya Pendleton. She was shot and killed by two men according to www.Guardian.co

This was a 15 year old marching band member who took part in Barack Obama`s inaugural celebrations. Police said Hadiya Pendleton was shot in the back on Tuesday 29. January

The student was one of a dozen teens taking shelter under a canopy during heavy rain when a man jumped over a fence, ran towards the group and started shooting. Another boy was hit in his leg.

Barack Obama has proposed to get a new gun law in the US because of all the shootings recently.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/12/hadiya-pendleton-shooting-murder-charges?INTCMP=SRCH

On this news site they write in detail who shot the girl and other great happenings in US (other shootings)

http://news.sky.com/story/1045378/teen-shot-dead-after-obama-performance

On skynews they write all about the girl being shot, but nothing on the men who shot her. That is because they who shot here fled in a car. 

Smoke

This picture shows the scene of Fagernes Cinema. It is the day the premiere of the musical in February 2012. Me and a pal sat here for an hour before people came, and the sound guy was testing party music with smoke and strobe light. 

Capture The Moment

This is a picture taken the summer of 2012 where the band I play in, which is called Hideous Habits performed on a festival called "Trollrock". I think this picture captures a great moment for all of us, and is therefore worth memorizing.

Capture the moment

This picture is taken in Iceland, blue lagoon, when me and other swimmers from fagernes was at a training camp. I chose this picture because beeing in Iceland was a very great experience, and it has left me lots of good memories.

Capture the moment

In August 2012, the Norwegian reality show “Farmen” was arranged here in Valdres. I live on the camping site nearby the farm where the show was arranged, and we on the camping cooperated a lot with the crew. I participated on 4 out of 8 markets, which is the place the participants buy food once a week, and this was a great and memorable experience. I learned pretty much, and thought this was very fun. Every market I participated on, I was popping up on the television, though it could be hard to spot me all the time. The last market, they added a close-up picture of me, and that was very funny! This is something pretty special, and something I’ll always remember. This is an important and special moment to me, and I’ll never experience something  very similarly again.

capture the moment

Capture the moment

The protests against Muhammed Morsi does not seem to end

The protests that are happening in Egypt as we speak have been going on for five days now, and are still not under control. The Egyptian citizens are protesting against the president and specially his decision to impose curfew on the cities along the Seuz Canal.

During the protest dozens of people has been killed, and last night one man died during an attack on a police station, and several guards got injured. In total there are about 40 people who have gotten killed. The citizens does not seem to care about the rules or the decisions the president Muhammed Morsi have made.

 There is a big difference between the news pages. On CNN the protest in Egypt is not mentioned at all. You have to search for something very specific for it to show, and if you do, you don’t get very much information. But if you check out the front page on BBC, you can see the protest as the biggest and newest news. You also get an impression of it being the most important news. I think this has something to do with what kind of news the different channels focus the most on, for example international news, or news only from your own country. I also checked Vg.no and there is hard to find anything very spesific, and there has not been written so much about it. 

Wetle Wetlesen og Tor Frithjof.

Åsne, Linda og Henriette

Wikileaks

The text is about Wikileaks and what they have done through the years. It only tells about the bad things they have done, nothing positive. Wikileaks was founded in 2006 by Julian Assange, and it is five full-time volunteers and 800-1000 people they can call for expertise. They use their own website to write about the government’s secrets and stories that the people do not get to hear about. They have a dozen servers around the world, which makes it impossible for the government to silence them. The text also tells about how dangerous Wikileaks is for American officials that when they in July 2010 published confidential military field reports risked the lives of soldiers and civilians. Assange was arrested because of raping two girls when he was visiting Sweden. Then some of his internet supporters hacked into corporations and other institutions they believed were aiding his persecution, declaring the start of a “cyberwar”.

The Wikileaks has actually got a lot of attention through the medias, and with good reason. There are many positive and negative reasons that comes with Wikileaks, and many of us have not taken a side yet. The USA is especially against Wikileaks, because there is confidential information of the US government that has been leaked. People also think it is a bad thing because the information is not meant for everyone to know and it is harming national security. F.eks terror. If it comes out that a country is exposed to terror, this information will only create terror.

I think the text only focuses on the negative things about Wikileaks. There must be some positive things about it too. Some of them are that they let the people know things the government don’t tell, that we should have the right to know about. But of course, there are reasons why the government does not go public with everything they know. Like the safety of the people, soldiers and officials.

I also think that the reason Assange was arrested because of rape is because he is the leader of Wikileaks and they wanted him from the beginning.     

Pga nettverksproblemer fikk vi ikke lagt den ut før i dag..

Woman sacked on Facebook

Would you share everything on Facebook?

One day, after work, Lindsay went home and turned on the computer. She opened facebook, while she was angry at her boss. She wrote a status update, where she was letting off some steam.She updatet her Facebook status where she wrote how much she hated her boss, and her job. Perhaps it seemed like a good idea, but what she had forgotten was that she had added her boss as a friend at Facebook, and Brian (her boss) could see every posting of her social networking website.

In my opinion it’s stupid to share stuff like this at Facebook. First off all, no one really cares, and most people, including me, would only find it annoying. I have some friends at Facebook who’s complaining about everything, and I have either deleted them as friends, or hidden their status updates. What makes this even stupider is that she had her boss as a friend. He commented later that night, and it ended up with her getting fired. Was a status update really worth her job?

Marcus & Marius

Why not call it a Facebook revolution?

 

We were given the topic – why not call it a Facebook revolution, but is it? Well, to find that out, we have to look at the known facts in the document. They have written that Facebook will be used by half the planet, by 2017. Simen and would call that some kind of a revolution. I can say that 90% of the people I know have a Facebook account. That is quite a number right? Chris Taylor writes that technology doesn’t make any revolutions. The will of the people is the most vital ingredient. We wouldn’t disagree on that one.

There are dictators over the world and they have banned Facebook because of the free writing and you can post whatever you like. If China and other countries in the Middle East continue to block Facebook and twitter, it wouldn’t stand a chance to continue the massive grow.

Our own opinions:

Facebook have changes a lot of things, for example: In the text, they say that we carrying a club in our pockets were we can do all kinds of stuff. And that is true! They didn’t have all this just a couple of years back in time. We would like to call this a revolution because it changed so much.

But what if Facebook takes completely over? And we don’t get socialist like before? Well, this is a question that needs an answer. But we cannot answer it before it happens.

Malaria has a new enemy - the smartphone

The article, “Malaria has a new enemy – The smartphone”, is a text about how the developers have invented and built up the software. It is also about the practical uses of this product, and places where it is the most needed, as well as how this smartphone app will increase the percent of accuracy of who is actually infected.

The app is developed by a company called Lifelens. They had a team of researchers that has developed an application which turns a smartphone into a malaria busting marvel. The software is designed to be used on the Windows 7 phone OS. The pictures are analyzed with an algorithm written in .NET and diagnosis is conducted using proprietary computer vision algorithms, written in C#, which can detect the present of a malaria parasite within the patient’s blood.

The hopeful goal of this product is to exchange it with the old method of finding malaria, which is a very inaccurate way that consists of cotton with a reactive agent that is supposed to change color when exposed to infected blood, called RDT test. Studies have shown that this method is highly unreliable giving false-positive results of around 60%. This means that this smartphone app, that is made to be so easy that anyone with experience with a phone could do the test, has a good chance of doing exactly what the Lifelens company want, to make every medicine count.

The reason we write; to make every medicine count, is because of the misusage of the medicine for malaria. Since the inaccuracy of the RDT test is so huge, the medicine is “wasted” to people who actually do not need it. That means that the promising accuracy of the smartphone app will increase the chances that the ones that really needs medicine, gets it.

Our personal opinions of the product are that if this really works, it can change the world. The world, mainly Africa where malaria is located primarily, can be affected in both good and bad ways. The facts are that the malaria kills 781 000 people every year, which means if this number decreases, the worlds’ population will rise a lot faster. And that is of course another issue, but worth considering. Although this is a factor, we do wish the best for everyone, and if this app can provide a healthier environment, we are all for it.

Have a nice day! :)

John Ejnar and Ragnhild

Can the world be saved on Facebook?

Hello readers! We are quite active today! Gotta love it :)

So, today's topic is; Can the world be saved on Facebook? For those of you that doesn't know Facebook, it is a type of Social Media, where people can post information about themselves, and create there own profile and things like that. 

So, we read this article, yeah, amazing, we know. So, what do we think? Hmm.. We don't think that Facebook can save the holes in the ozon layer, and stop the ice from melting. Hmm.. the computer gets quite warm after a while.. No, that is probably not the reason. Mari, I think we should be a bit more serious, don't you think? Ok, why not. 

It depends on how you see it. In the material world, it is obvious that it won't be saved by a Sosial Media like Facebook, but still, Facebook has a huge influence on people, and we have the opportunity to discover so many things on Facebook! Yeah, Bart got engaged last night. Shut up. Sorry. And also, you have this terrorists groups, that has accounts on Facebook, so maybe the world becomes more dangerous?

But, Can The world be saved on Facebook? Come on Mari, one, two, three, NO!!

Have a beautiful day, readers! <3

xoxo Mari and Sigrid

Algeria hostage crisis - part 2

Ooops, sorry fellas, we forgot the most important part! PICTURE! We thought that it would be more interesting to read, but you guys doesn't need it, because you will read it no matter what :)

Enjoy the rest of this georgeus day! At least we are !

xoxo Mari and Sigrid