Seven Wonders of the World

Have you ever heard about the “Seven Wonders of the World”? This means seven famous constructions. It varies from time to time. In ancient world, Great Pyramid of Giza, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus, Colossus of Rhodes and Lighthouse of Alexandria are the seven wonders. Unfortunately, Great Pyramid of Giza is the only existent in the world. Most of other constructions collapsed because of earthquakes. In the Middle Age, seven wonders include Stonehenge, Colosseum, Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa, Great Wall of China, Porcelain Tower of Nanjing, Hagia Sophia, and Leaning Tower of Pisa.

On July 7, 2007, the New Seven Wonders were selected: Chichen Itza, Christ the Redeemer, Great Wall of China, Machu Picchu, Petra, Roman Colosseum, Taj Mahal, and Great Pyramid of Giza. At first, twenty one places were nominated as the New Seven Wonders, and these seven places were selected. Statue of Liberty or Eiffel Tower were nominated. There was also Japanese temple, Kiyomizu-dera in the list. This temple is famous for Japanese because of its unique architectural design. “To jump off the stage at Kiyomizu” is a saying that illustrates it. In English, it refers “to take a plunge.” From that, you might be able to guess easily that Kiyomizu-dera has a high stage. By the way, indeed, its stage is only 13 meters, I thought this stage has more than 13 meters, though.


http://www.new7wonders.com/

To Kill a Mockingbird

Now we are reading “To Kill a Mockingbird” in the civil of rights class. Harper Lee writes this novel and it was published as her first and last novel when she was 34 years old. She was born in Alabama where the story was set. This novel has been thought as one of the famous novels because of its sales. It sold millions in not only the U.S., but also other countries like Germany or France. Although I have never heard about this novel, it seems translated into Japanese too. At the same time, it is famous for award of Pulitzer Prize in 1961. Many people know this story not only through novel but also through movie starring by Gregory Peck. This movie also won famous award: Academy Award.

In this story, Scout Finch plays a role of a narrator. Her brother, Jem Finch and her father, Atticus Finch are the main characters of it. This story was set in 1930s when the time of depression. From Scout’s point of view, the story starts and narrates about her life and surroundings. At the same time, racism or discriminations are described too.

At first, I was surprised how small the letters are. I have read some books English, but this is the first time to read a book, which was written such small letters. Actually, if it were not used as a textbook, I would hesitate to read it. I have not read all of this novel yet, so I am looking for reading its ending.

This site includes lots of information not only about the novel but also about the author^^
http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/culture/HarperLee/

cell phone

On Friday, I finally bought a cell phone! I have really wanted to buy it, but I did not have chance to do it. By the way, do you know how many people are using cell phones in 2006?

2 billions!!!

It is amazing, isn’t it? We can see many cell phone users even in Portland. I think having cell phones are becoming essential for us. We can contact anyone in anywhere. We can take a picture and send it by instant messages.

In Japan, it is also common to have cell phones. Actually, sometimes cell phones are controversial. It has been said that the electromagnetic ray from cell phones can exert a harmful influence especially for whom wearing pace maker, which support movement of heart. Therefore, using cell phones near priority seats in public transportation is discouraged. So I took a bus in the U.S. at the first time, the scene that many people were using cell phones were surprised me very much.
Actually, the style of cell phones in the U.S. is completely different from Japanese one. I think Japanese use instant message more than calling. In addition, the color or shape of the cell phone is also different, I think. Actually, some cell phone has 24 color variations! Pink, green, blue, gray, white, purple… I have never seen such cell phone color in the U.S.

I was also surprised that the first cell phone was invented in 1979! Cell phone became popular only in 30 years. That was so amazing, I think.


http://www.cnet.com/Top_10_cell_phones/4520-6022_1-102337-11.html

The World Poverty

In the world, the number of people who are suffering from poverty is estimated as billions. That is, half of the world population is living on less than 2 dollars a day. One in two children in the world live in poverty. One child, who is 5 years old or under, is dying in every three minutes in the world. Over 100 millions of children cannot go to school. On the other hand, people in the developed countries are spending money a lot. See the statistics below:

Consider the global priorities in spending in 1998


Cosmetics in the United States - $8

Ice cream in Europe - $11

Perfumes in Europe and the United States - $12

Pet foods in Europe and the United States - $17

Business entertainment in Japan - $35

Cigarettes in Europe - $50

Alcoholic drinks in Europe - $105

Narcotics drugs in the world - $400

Military spending in the world - $780

And compare that to what was estimated as additional costs to achieve universal access to basic social services in all developing countries:


Basic education for all - $6

Water and sanitation for all - $9

Reproductive health for all women - $12

Basic health and nutrition - $13


Anup Shah, Poverty Facts and Stats, GlobalIssues.org, Last updated: Friday, November 24, 2006
http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Facts.asp


It was very surprising for me. What we have to do for saving one people is just bear to buy one ice cream, one perfume, one box of cigarettes, or one bottle of alcoholic drinks! We can start these things right now : )

　Nowadays, the U.S. is known as the country that has much diversity. It is very common to call the U.S. as “melting pot.” Many people who have different races, languages, religions and colors live in the U.S. I think it is very interesting. It looks like people all over the world are living in the same country: the U.S. Actually, we can see much diversity only in our classroom, there are Saudi Arabian, Korean, Japanese, American, and Taiwanese! It is amazing, isn’t it?

　That is why the video in the civil rights class gave me a shock. I have never thought about American history. There were many processes and struggles to be the U.S. what we know now. It is very sad that to discriminate people because of their race, but these things indeed happened before. Black people lynched without fair trial. Chinese were forced to work under extremely bad conditions. Native Americans were killed. Japanese were compelled to move to concentration camp. To my shame, I have not heard about Japanese discrimination. The Second World War was started by the Pearl Harbor that is a surprise attack to the U.S. by Japan. After the attack, the U.S. government enacted the law that set the rule of internment of Japanese-American. It has estimated that more than 120,000 Japanese were forced to live in camp. They were deprived of not only their surroundings but also their American civil rights. Although the war was ended in 1945, Japanese-American’s struggles lasted long.

　I think what I should do now is to remember their struggles and other people’s struggles. We have to make the world that never happen such things.



Japanese-American life in internment camp:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/anseladams/aamsp.html

civil of rights - the Rights of Vote

Today, July 1st is a day that was held the first election in Japan in 1890. At that time, the vote right was very limited same as other countries. Over twenty-five-year old men who pay certain amount of tax were allowed to vote. The number of people who could take part in the election was only one percent of the entire population. After about 30 years, over 25 years old men were allowed to participate in the election. That increased the number of participation about four times. Although men have had rights for vote gradually, women could not get it until 1945: after the Second World War. As an establishment of the law, all men and women who are over twenty years have rights to participate in election.
Recently, young people do not participate in vote. Main reasons for it is just politics does not attract them or just they do not want to go. I have heard that the rate of voting of young people is lower than the rate of old people’s. I think it is a very serious problem, which we have to solve quickly. Although it looks very small and unable to change the politics, it is important to participate in the politics. Now Japanese government is planning to change the age that can vote from twenty to eighteen. I think it is good to give opportunities to many people. However, I think the government should give educational opportunities for children. If children are interested in the politics, they will participate in election when they are allowed to vote. It takes about sixty years to get equal right of voting. We should find way how to make election that is more attractive.

He is Japanese prime minister.
http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2006/japan.decides/

Sleep

Now we are studying about sleep. According to the first article, we learned the connection between our memory and rapid eye movement sleep (REM) sleep. It is very interesting that people who have had stimuli, which had some pattern, during the REM sleep showed improvement of response compared to before sleeping. The second article illustrates the reason of deprivation of sleep. Nowadays people are required to work in everywhere even though in their bedroom. This is the very reason to cause lack of sleep. To take adequate sleep is important not only for improvement of efficiency of work, but also for one’s health. Some scientists said lacking sleep could cause double risk of a heart attack. In the third article, we learned about nightmares. I agree with the idea of this article except an idea that we can change our dream. I believe it is sure that emotion could affect dream. For example, when I was a child, I always saw funny dreams after I went to amusement park. However, whenever I do not want to see nightmare, I cannot control them.
Surprisingly, some scientists revealed that taking half an hour nap during daytime could decrease risk of heart attack. Although there are few clear explanation of connection between stress and heart disease, they said taking nap help to reduce stress. At the same time, they also said that it helps effective work. Actually, I have same experience. After taking a few hours nap, I can concentrate on studying. I am not sure but I have heard of the school that admits taking a nap after lunch.
It is important for our health to take enough sleep. We should think about our sleep habit to make better health and life, I think.

Daytime naps can help the heart
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17115245/