Pandemic II: The Online Game

This game is so addicting and relavant to this class.     

Check this game out that I just happened upon called Pandemic II.

Basically you creat your own disease and try and destroy the world. As your disease involves it can cause different symptoms, pick up different immunities, and develop different mediums of transmission. The game depends on a lot of chance as well, just like in real life. If there are 20 infected people in a country, what are the chances that one of them are gonna get on a plane and go to another country. A lot less than if there are 30 million people infected. Also the governments start to close borders, shut down airports, and close sea ports as the disesase becomes a more visible and serious problem. The world will try and engineer a vaccine that may work and put a halt to the spread of your disease, may fail and they may have to try again, or it may cause a mutation in your disease that will make it so that there can never be another vaccine made to stop your disease. I'm not sure how realistic the last possibility is, but you can always knock out the world's major hospitals and then they can't try and make a vaccine anyway.

Perfect example of what most people picture the apocalyptic disease that is going to destroy the world.

Swine Flu: Pandemic or Fear Mongering?

The swine flu is the newest disease that is going to wipe out a significant portion of the world's population. This is horrible because it happened after the world wide massive outbreak of avian flu, and our already decimated world infrastructure is vunerable to this new disease.

Obviously nothing I just said is true. None of this ever happened but I have spent the last weeks listening to the horrible "pandemic" that has gripped the nation and the world. Now I have already seen News stations giving advice on what to do when the NEXT swine flu outbreak occurs. There never was a pandemic. The World Health Organization pandemic alert system can be deceiving. When they raised the world from phase 4 to phase 5, you don't know how many people I heard talk about how bad it must be getting. But if you look at what this rating system means, a phase 5 means a pandemic is IMMINENT! Meaning we don't have a pandemic on our hands...

Another thing to note... we have drugs that reduce the severity of swine flu. Tamiflu and Rolenza are effective if taken within the first 48 hours of infection. 

I understand that Swine flu has killed several people, and is definitely an issue that we should be dealing with. My problem is that everytime something like this happens... I hear about how the world is gonna end. What are we gonna do when we lose 20% of our population and stores start to close? What are we going to do when the schools close? All public places are gonna be shut down! BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH. I'm sick of hearing these things and then the News completely forgets about the "end of the world virus" to talk about our week of bad weather. 

While it annoys me, I suppose I would prefer that we be overprepared than underprepared and if something serious did happen. I would think that our little freak outs over something like this will only help us prepare for something that actually become a very serious problem. I just think that by the time something serious DOES happen its gonna be the little boy who cried wolf situation (or at least for me), while the majority of the population seems to be suckered in to running to Sams and Costcos (who probably make a killing in these situations) and stocking up for the next giant disaster.

My Thoughts on Personal Solar Energy

So my mom was just watching Jon and Kate Plus 8 on TLC and it was a going green episode. One of the things they were doing were getting personal home solar panels. Within the last week or two we have considered different methods of alternative energy including solar. I know that solar panels are available to be used by individual households but I wanted to do some investigating into the price of solar panels.

So as it turned out it wasn't that easy to find any specific prices. I did come across some information that is interesting. Looking at an online retailer (alabamasolar.com), solar panels start at around 15,000 dollars. A significant investment for anyone. To soften the hit federal tax credits up to 30% are available along with state incentives such as Focus on Energy which is a cash back incentive that pays based on how much energy is being produced by the system. However considering that the average salary of the US population is around 40,000 dollars, this is still nothing accessible by the majority of the population.

Somali Pirates

Somali pirates continue to harrass and board boats in the seas around East Africa. A Dutch frigate, part of NATOs forces, intervened on one high jacking of a boat, freeing over 20 fishermen. Seven pirates were detained but were all release shortly after because NATO does not have any policy on detaining. Since none of the pirates were Dutch, the Dutch forces had no right to hold them in custody.

I did some looking in on the country of Somalia, just to find out a little bit more about the actual country. As it turns out they no longer have a national government. It has completely broken down. All conflicts are resolved on a local level and there is no system or guidelines in places. It is usually a mixture of english common law and islamic law. The country is in a state of chaos and is the perfect haven for these pirates.

With the increase of attacks from the pirates, one has to wonder how much longer will this go on and what will be the plan of action to put a stop to it. The non-existant Somalian government can't be expected to deal with it.

Update on Mexican Drug Wars

Acording to the Associated Press President Obama met with the Mexican President about an arms agreement treaty. The treaty was previously created during the Clinton adminstration but was never ratified by Congress. President Obama has pledged to push the treaty into being ratified and to punish lawmakers to pass it. 

Obama is standing a harsh stand against the drug cartels in Mexico. It's an international crisis that is close to home. As I said earlier, cash and weapons are going south into Mexico while drugs are going North into America. Obama has pledged to not only worry about what is coming in but also what is coming out. Obama is also pledging helicopter support for the Mexican army during the ongoing fight.

Hillary Clinton has also come out speaking about how America is partially responsible for the problem. Our giant demand for drugs in our country has contributed to the sucess of the cartels so far. Under the previous Clinton administration there was a ban on military weapons but the ban expired during the Bush administration and was never reinstated. The Obama administration does not want to get in a battle over gun rights at the moment. The ban makes deadlier weapons available for our population and makes it available to be trafficked.

Article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090416/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_mexico

The Drug Wars in Mexico

So I was watching the news and heard about the drug wars going on in Mexico. I got on CNN and Washington Times and read a little more on the subject. Apparently drug cartels (which have always been quite powerful in Mexico) have been growing in power. So much so that killings related to drug wars in Mexico have doubled to around 6,290 deaths last year! Over 1000 have died this year so far. The Mexican government has made a stand against the cartels using the army to fight them, however the cartels have weapons of their own. Weapons that have been shown to be coming into Mexico through the Mexican-American border. America certainly has weapons to spare and the cartels are taking advantage. Over 700 suspects have been arrested inside the US for working with the cartels. Obama has pledged to work on securing the border and putting a stop to the trafficking of weapons. Mexican police are confiscating enough gernades, ak-47s, etc. at such high rates, that is equals that of a battfield seizures. The problem is serious and many believe that Mexico could become a narcotic state within the next decade. Mexico has been deemed unsafe for tourism by Canada and the US, even though many say that Americans may be the safest because the Mexican government is making a point to protect the more touristy cities. If one tourist dies, their tourism will drop dramatically.

Another interesting note, Forbes magazine named Joaquin Guzman, a Mexican drug lord, one of the richest people in the world with over $1 billion US dollars in assets. So it is a lucrative business. One that needs to be taken down of course. As Americans we have labeled ourselves the world police with our going into the Middle East and South America to protect our own interest. I wonder how our response will be in helping our neighbors fight a serious problem that no doubt affects our own country. Drugs, including meth, marijuana, cocaine, and amphetamines, from Mexico go north and weapons and money go south into Mexico. Obama has pledged to begin stricter regulations on the border, but I am interested to see how effective this will be on cracking down on the cartels. I also wonder if it will be enough or should we do more.

Sunny San Diego

San Diego is the city I researched for my water project. It was an interesting situation because San Diego's problem is simply getting enough water. The projected population for California by 2050 is 64 million people, with San Diego having 4.5 million (and Los Angelas with 14 million!). They have already found themselves strained for water, and with their expected population their outlook is bleak. Their strategy has been simple, cut back on how much water they are using while obtaining more water. They do this by providing financial assistance for people who conserve water, recycling water, piping water in from other states, and, in some cases, desalination plants. However, with California's population growth the available water in California will be stretched far beyond its limits and with the increased dependence on other state's freshwater, those states in turn will find themselves stretched for water. Unless some major changes happen, San Diego (and California) will be facing some serious problems.